Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood

by Noakwolf

Rating: mature
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Adventure, Slice of Life, Crossover
Length: 522014

Two brothers embark on a journey through the war-torn Ironhoof province in search of their mother.

Neo and Adam are brothers who care about family more than anything, and for them their lives are good. That is until they are mysteriously given an out of the blue assignment leaving Neo crippled, and to top it off their mother completely vanishes without any explanation. Determined to find her, the two leave their calm life in Stable 142, only to face a war torn province with a mysterious past. It's up to them to find their mother amongst the chaos at any cost.

(WARNING: Comment section may contain spoilers!)
*Cover art by Pantzar, go look at him if you get the time!*

Also edited by, Thefullmetalbrony.

Written by, Noakwolf.

Kkat thanks for creating the world of Fallout: Equestria. As this story would not have even been conceived without the wonderful story you created for us.

(Enjoy!)

Published 2012-01-27 08:20:40 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-16 06:08:11 UTC

Changed Forever

Changed Forever

FALLOUT: EQUESTRIA-BROTHERHOOD
Written by Noakwolf

CHAPTER 1: CHANGED FOREVER

The great war began, and ended. In the beginning it was a war of rifles, soldiers, and diplomats. But, as predicted the war changed. It was the last war. The war of the Balefire bomb. It was then that the world was plunged into a dark magical abyss of spell-fire. Pony life was purged, their own greed consuming them by the very bombs they created. The ideals of friendship and harmony gave way to greed and power. The very fabric of society tore itself apart with the end of the world.

But, it was not the end of pony life in the world. No. Rather, it was just another turning point in pony history. For whatever the bombs did not destroy was consumed by the wasteland they created. Although for some it was not the end. A company called Stable-Tech built high tech underground bunkers called Stables. It was with the creation of these Stables that lead to some being spared the horrors the wasteland offered.

Although Equestria died those many years ago, its neighbors where dragged down to the dark magical hell with them. Enter the Ironhoof Province. Once a land of powerful ponies, it now stands like it’s brothers and sisters, buried under a blanket of magical radiation. Although it’s history is lost, many ponies still remember the hate they had for their neighbors, and how greed killed the world.

In this Province there were two Stables built. Stable 43, and Stable 142. Stable 43 became lost with the dropping of the bombs, but Stable 142 survived. For you see, most Stables were not meant to save anyone, instead they were used to house abnormal scientific research tests that would effect the Stables inhabitants. Only a few selected Stables were built for civilian use, Stable 142 was built for testing food growth indoors and mass water purification as well as civilian usage. But one day the great door of Stable 142 shut closed, it was not until the Overmare of Stable 142 decided that any and all could leave at their own leisure. Many ponies discarded the idea of leaving, and so the law was forgotten about. Even though the law was forgotten did not mean that its residents couldn't leave.

So the law was exercised falsely, keeping its citizens from leaving, because you lived in the Stable, and you died in the Stable. The doors would never open again, or that was until that faithful day when two normal brothers would embark on a quest that would ultimately change the fate of the Province forever. This is their story.

The bleak grey walls of the Stable didn't help Neo as he sat down at a terminal organizing archive files. Neo was a fine moderately built earth pony stallion with steel eyes and a jet black mane. His coat was plain white, and his cutie mark was a black compass rose. It was unknown to him as to why his cutie mark was a compass rose, but it didn't bother him. After all, it could be worse. He had dreams of leaving his dull life in Stable 142 and trading his life in for something, anything better than the life he currently had.

His eye lids were heavy as boredom and sleep mixed together causing him to slowly fall asleep. *Thunk!* Went his head as it rested itself peacefully on the keyboard of the terminal. It was nice and dark in the room, so he found it easy to drift off into a light slumber.

Neo was the archive scholar. He never asked to be the archive scholar but that was his job. He smiled as he shuffled his head around trying to get more comfortable on the keyboard.

The huge metal door slid open and Flipper came running through it panting heavily. "Neo!" He huffed loudly as he tried to catch his breath.

Flipper was the same age as Neo, with the same boring job. "What?" Neo said tiredly as he shot up from his napping position.

Flipper was still panting fiercely as he tried to explain what was going on. "The Overmare... is coming... She... Is... Checking on us..." He said just barely catching his breath.

Neo looked at him curiously. "What?"

He lifted his hoof up to him for a second telling him to hold on. "Okay." He said finally catching his breath. "The Overmare is coming to check on us." He said before moving over to his coworker to check his work.

"Do you have those archives rearranged yet?" Flipper asked looking at the terminal Neo was sitting in front off.

Neo was still sleepy, but he wasn't going to let the Overmare find out that he hadn't completed his job yet. "Damn it!" He swore as he started to sort out files in the terminal.

Flipper was bobbing up and down nervously. "Come on, she's just down the hall!" He said, nudging Neo to work faster.

Neo was rushed and stressed, but that didn't stop him from sorting files any slower. One by one, he moved each individual file to its respectable place in the terminal. Then, with a press of the enter button, all the files were saved.

"Yes!" Flipper exclaimed victoriously, throwing his hooves into the air.

Then, right there in the middle of the doorway was the Overmare. She watched the two get themselves together at her presence. "I see you boys managed to sort out those archives properly?" She said giving them a cheerful smile.

They stood next to each other and gave her a sharp salute. "Yes ma’am." The two colts said in unison as they addressed the Overmare.

She just smiled at them cheerfully. "At ease soldiers." She said playfully to them.

They obeyed her and dropped their hooves back to the ground as they loosened up from the stiff soldier pose they gave her earlier. "Yes, we managed to get all four hundred and thirty six archives stored and checked." Neo said to her proudly.

She nodded to them both. "Good, good. I knew I could count on you."

She was such a nice pony. She was never mean, never strict, and she always help you with any problem. The reason she was treated as a dictator was because the former Overmare, which was her mother, was a cruel leader who ruled the Stable with an Iron hoof. Since her retirement her daughter took over and everyone was treated equally and fairly. She had a silky white mane, and a clean brown coat. She had one of the most kindest faces you would ever see, with a smile to match her personality.

Neo rubbed the back of his neck a little embarrassed by the way he acted. "Sorry, I still think you're your mom sometimes." He apologized with a sheepish look on his face.

She raised her hoof slightly and put it on his shoulder. "Its okay Neo. I understand my mother was a hard ruler, but she's retired, and I'm in charge now." She said softly while still retaining her smile.

"Yeah what he said." Flipper added sheepishly.

But the Overmare gave him a stern look. "Don't you think I didn't know about you running off to the Stable Pit, leaving poor Neo here all alone to do all the work." She scolded at him.

He backed away and folded his ears down ashamed. "Now you get to archive the next three thousand files, without any breaks." She continued, still keeping her temper down. Neo chuckled at the remark. He knew she wouldn't put a load like that on anypony, not even Flipper.

"Yes ma'am." He muttered quietly, hanging his head low with shame.

The Overmare turned back to Neo with her kind smile back. "Neo?" She asked kindly.

"Yes?" He replied.

"You have an appointment with me in my office tomorrow with Adam." She continued. "Three thirty sharp, no exceptions." She stated to him.

Neo scratched his head puzzled at the order. "Um, excuse me?" He asked curiously.

"Yes?"

"Why is it you need me and Adam tomorrow?"

She just started to make her way to the exit with her kind smile. "You'll see." She said before stopping in the middle of the doorway. "As for you." She stated sternly looking at Flipper. "You better have that done by tomorrow if you plan to keep your job." She said giving him a sarcastic look.

"Yes ma'am..." Flipper replied shamefully.

Then she looked at Neo again. "Neo, your off for the day, and there won't be any work tomorrow either so enjoy your free time." She said sweetly before she exited the room.

*Swoosh!* Went the door as it closed behind her. "Yes!" Neo cheered to himself while bringing his right forehoof into him.

Flipper moved to the terminal next to the one Neo was using and sat down angrily with his hoofs folded. "Oh you can't have any fun Flipper, bleh bleh blah." He mumbled to himself negatively.

Neo turned to his work partner with a slight smirk on his face. "You brought this on yourself you know."

"Shut up." He replied with a pout as he just sat there and looked at the green terminal screen. He was severely pissed and Neo knew it, but like he said before he only brought it on himself.

Neo turned away from the room and started to make his way to the exit. "See you later Flipper." Neo said to him, but he just sat there pouting at the screen.

Neo just shrugged and left the room with a skip in his step and a heart filled with joy as he made his way back home. This was the first time he had a whole day off, besides the weekends of course. Little vacations like these only came very rarely for him. The only thing that bothered him though was what the Overmare had said to him. Why did she want Adam and him? What could she possibly want? The questions never seemed to end. So instead Neo pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and cheerfully made his way down the long metal corridors to his small living quarters on the second level.

Neo trotted down the grey corridors with only the colors of other ponies passing by to add an emphasis to the dullness the Stable gave off. Neo had trotted down this path before. Down the next two hallways was the Stable Pit, and down the next hallway was the bio-chambers. The Stable Pit was the bar and dinner that everypony loved to go to when he or she had time off. It was mostly popular with stallions and mares Neo's age, but a lot of older and even younger folks found their way there every other day. The bio-chambers was were they grew their food, from apples to celery, and from vegetables to fruit. You name it, the ponies in the bio-chambers grew it.

Neo had never been in the bio-chambers before, and come to think of it nopony he knew had been in there before other than his mother of course. Then again, he didn't know everypony in the Stable.

He stopped every now and again to observe passing mares his age that he found attractive, but before they could turn around or realize that he was looking at them he would quickly turn his gaze away and continue on his way. A lot of the mares his age were fillyfoolers, so they weren't really interested in stallions, and those mares his age that were into stallions were all taken by the security guards. In some ways being a security may actually be more boring then the job he was currently holding as a archive scholar.

He was almost home before he saw a small group of ponies come trotting down the hall in a small mass. The group was lead by Greaser. Greaser was probably the worst name he had ever heard a pony be given, but his slick black mane, and fabulous orange coat made all the ladies quiver at his hooves.

Neo lowered his head as he approached the mass. He hoped that none of them would notice him as he made his way to his living quarters. "Just don't say a word and they won't notice you." He thought to himself as he carefully maneuvered his away around the crowd.

"And I said, hey that's my sweet roll punk!" Greaser shouted proudly to his group of followers as the chatted about completely random things. They were way to busy to notice tiny Neo slip past them as they made their way to the Stable Pit which was in the other direction.

Neo raised his head up as he looked behind him to check if the herd had moved on. "Whew." He sighed before trotting down the rest of the hallway.

There at the end was a small automatic sliding door. It was just like the others in the Stable, but the only difference between this door and the others was that it was labeled with a the number 62 in bright yellow. As he approached the large door he looked to the side of the door where a small yellow keypad lay. He plugged in a series of numbers into it, and with a small beep, it opened.

Neo happily made his way into his home with a small cheerful smile. His home was nothing special, it was just a single room with all the essentials. A bed, a sink, a few drawers and a desk with a terminal. He imminently went over to his bed and plopped himself on it.

"I love you bed." He muttered to himself as he turned over now facing the metal ceiling.

"There's not much to do right now." He thought to himself as he closed his eyes. "I'm not hungry, I don't know where Adam is, and I really feel like just sleeping." He thought to himself as he relaxed his muscles, and he then slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.

In his sleep he just saw darkness. Then he started to think to himself, "Was the outside like this? What would life be like outside of here?" The more he stared into the void the more deep the sleep became. Question after question raced through his mind as he thought more and more about it. That was until he heard a small metallic tapping.

*Tap, tap, tap.*

He opened his eyes slightly and sat up from his comfortable position on the bed. There was somepony at the door. *Tap, tap, tap.* It went again.

Neo stretched as he made his way to the door to see who it could be. *Swoosh.* Went the door as he opened it to see who it was.

"Hi brother." It was Adam.

Adam was his younger brother. He was five years younger than Neo, and in some ways a lot brighter. He was a kind soul. He never wanted to wrong anypony. It also didn't help that his name was Adam, which wasn't really an average pony name. Because of this he got picked on constantly by the other fifteen year-olds in his class. He had a brown mane, and a solid blue coat. His eyes were a bright emerald green, and his face and voice made him seem three years younger than what he really was.

Adam just looked at him with a guilty look on his face. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" He asked.

"Yeah, what is it Adam?" Neo grumbled tiredly as he scratched his neck.

Adam gave his brother a kindly look. "Mom wants you over for lunch today."

Neo's eyes popped open. "Lunch?" He asked curiously. When he went to sleep it was 6:00, now its lunch time. That meant that he had been asleep way longer than he had originally thought.

Adam looked puzzled. "Yeah, why?"

"I went to sleep at six yesterday!"

"Whoa, that means that you've been asleep for a good seventeen hours."

"I know! And that means that part of my free day is up." He said toning down his voice.

Adam just looked at him before coming back to topic. "So, are you going to come for lunch?"

Neo thought about it for a moment. He did feel a bit more hungry than before he went to sleep. Plus other than going to the Stable Pit there wasn't a whole lot to do.

So Neo gave his little brother a small warm smile. "Sure, I guess there’s no better way to spend my day off than to have lunch with you and mom."

Adam jumped up in the air with joy. "Great!" He exclaimed jumping in the air.

Adam turned around and made his way back the way he came, but then he stopped for a moment and looked at his brother with curious look. "Aren't you coming brother?" He asked to Neo.

Neo returned the same look to him. "Why? What time is it?"

"Eleven forty-five."

Neo was surprised he had really slept that long. He felt great because of the long amount of sleep, so apparently he needed it more than he thought. "I guess I could go now." He said stepping out of his doorway.

Adam gave him his warm smile again as he waited for his brother to come with him to their mothers living quarters. Their mother lived with Adam, and since they lived on the same level in the Stable it was easy for them to see each other and it was nice that they got to live close to each other.

It was only a few minutes before they reached their mothers living quarters. It had a big 67 imprinted on it in the same yellow numbers. Neo used to live with his mother and Adam, but then when he turned seventeen he decided to try to live on his own. That wasn't really saying much considering that he only lived down a few hallways away from them. Adam visited his brother frequently, and he also used his brothers living quarters to hide from bullies that chased him.

Both brothers loved each other. After all, family was the only thing they had in the Stable. Even if Neo was five years older than Adam they both found some way to get along.

Adam tapped on the grey steel door for their mother. The door slided open exposing their mother on the other side of the doorway. "I see you took up our offer for lunch." Their mother greeted them with a smile as the door fully opened.

Their mother was one of the head research officers for the bio-chamber research team. She was a unicorn with a solid blue coat and green emerald eyes. Her mane was long and smooth, like a field of wheat. She was a good mother. She raised them well, teaching them right from wrong and how to be the best ponies they could be. Most mothers in the Stable sent their kids off to school or let them wonder on their own while they had fun doing whatever they pleased. She always found time for her sons, even with the hectic busy life she lived she would still find time to spend with her boys. Her smile melted their hearts, she was what few would call a heavenly spirit. But she was just as smart as she was pretty, and she always wore a lab coat. Always.

"Yeah, I figured why not?" Neo said as he entered her and Adams living quarters, Adam followed after his brother.

She had almost all of the food prepared on the small table in the corner of the room. "I have it almost ready, all I need is you boys." She said with a warm smile.

Their living quarters were considered a mansion compared to Neo's one room living space. There were three doors in the main room, each one leading to a different room. The main room had a red carpet with a series of small chairs placed around it. In the Stable you had two options for dinning, either you took food from the mess hall or you ate at the mess hall. Every now and again their mother would bring food back to their home so they could eat together as a family.

The small table had four metal bowls, three of which looked like dinning bowls while the fourth was a bowl holding extra fruit. "Who's hungry?" Their mother said as she made her way to the table.

Adam dashed to the table and sat down at one of the three chairs. "Mmm, I can't wait!" He said, gazing at all of the fresh fruit.

Neo made his way to the table with his eyes locked on the food. "It looks great mom, how fresh is it?" He said sitting down at the table.

"Its freshly picked. I got it today fresh from the bio-chambers." She said with a warm smile as she joined them at the table.

Once she sat down she used her horn to levitate the fruit from the middle bowl and place a fair portion in each bowl. When she was done she levitated the middle bowl off the table. "Dig in!"

Adam's mouth was watering extensively. "Oh boy!" He said before digging into the meal she had got for them.

Neo wasn't as enthusiastic about eating as his little brother was, but it was fresh food and that was a treat.

Together they ate and enjoyed the afternoon telling each other about the previous day. Neo told them about his terminal story with Flipper and the Overmare. Adam told everyone about how he was building his own Pipbuck attachment. The only odd thing was that their mother never truly told a story, rather she just sat there and listened. It was almost like she had something she wanted to say, but she just sat their watching her boys enjoy their meal together.

After the meal their mother started putting the bowls back in their places in the small cabinets next to the table they had eaten at. "Did everypony enjoy that?" Their mother asked, looking at her full sons.

Neo and Adam were rubbing their stomachs with big grins on their faces. "Yeah that’s some of the best fruit I've had in a long time." Neo commented cheerfully.

"Yeah, I'm stuffed." Adam moaned blissfully as he patted his full stomach.

Before their mother had finished putting the last bowl away she looked down at her Pipbuck for the time. It said "3:23 pm."
Her eyes shot opened as she turned quickly to her sons with a worried face.

"Boys, your going to miss you appointment with the Overmare!" She shouted at them.

They just looked at her puzzled. "What are you talking about?" Adam said to his mother with a raised eyebrow.

Then it hit Neo again. "Damn it!" He said as he facehoofed himself. "I completely forgot about that!"

Adam looked to his brother for answers. "What are you talking about brother?"

"We have an appointment with the Overmare at three thirty!"

"We do?" Adam responded.

Neo hopped down from his chair and made his way to the front door. He could feel his weight had increased from the meal. He pressed the button that opened the door to the rest of the Stable from their mothers home. "Come on Adam!" He yapped at him trying to get him to hurry up.

Adam to could feel that his weight had increased. "Okay, lead the way. You know more about this than I do." Adam said as he waited for his brother to go.

But just before they turned around to leave their mother stopped them. "Stop!" They halted instantly.

When they turned around to see what she had to say, she just held her forehooves open for them, her eyes looked like they were about to cry. "Don't leave just yet." She muttered sadly as if she was about to burst into tears.

Neo and Adam looked at each other and went over to their mother to give her a hug goodbye. As they embraced her she let out a few tears, "I'm so sorry..." She whispered to them as the hug continued.

Neo barely noticed what she had said and asked, "What mom?" She let them go and backed away from them. She tried to wipe away the tears she made as they had embraced.

"Oh, its nothing..." She quietly whispered to herself mournfully.

The brothers were puzzled by her behavior, one moment they were laughing and thankful that they were together, the next she was practically crying.

Adam took a step forward. "Mother? Are you alright?" He asked softly.

"Yes... I'm fine, now just run along..." She cried a bit more.

Adam turned slowly to the door and walked out. Neo stood there watching their mother. "I'm sorry if something happened, I hope you'll feel better once we're back."He tried to make her happy with a smile, but it had no effect on her.

"Goodbye mom." Neo said sadly before trotting out the door to catch up with Adam.

"Goodbye Neo... Adam..."

They dashed to the Overmares office at top speed as dodging and maneuvering their way through the steel halls of the Stable. As they went on their way Neo had two questions in his mind. One, how did she know about the appointment, and two, why was she crying.

The more he thought about it the more confusing it became. Adam didn't seem to notice how she knew about the appointment, but then again he didn't know about the appointment until a few minutes ago. Still why was she acting this way, and why did they have to see the Overmare. Neo was in deep thought over the situation, or that was until Adam stopped him with his right forehoof.

"We're here." He said to his brother as he snapped back to reality. To his surprise they were at their destination. In front of them was a large steel door with a large 01 written on it.

Neo lifted his right hoof up to the door and knocked on it soundly. *Tam, tam, tam.*

The door swooshed open as the Overmare greeted them with a welcoming smile. "Come in boys, your just in time." She said stepping to the side allowing them to come inside. The brothers walked into the Overmares office and waited for her to give them permission to sit down.

"Please, sit." She said to them as she moved to her large round wooden desk.

The room had large terminal screens lining the walls, and a round porthole window to look out into the bio-chamber. She made her way to her leather chair and sat down neatly. Neo and Adam each took one of the two chairs in front of her desk.

"Boys. Do you know why I brought you here?"

They both shook their heads in unison.

"As you know already, when a Colt or Filly turns ten in our Stable they are taught how to run the water pumps." She stopped for a moment to give them a quick glance. "It is your duty to help work the purifiers when I instruct it. It is your turn to watch over them for the day."

Both brothers sat up strait as they made huge abnormal grins. "Really!" Adam exclaimed happily.

She didn't smile at them, instead she just nodded at them and continued with what she was saying. "Yes, and you will get payed the normal amount for working the pumps."

Working the pumps was one of the highest paying jobs in the Stable, and it was one of the most special. You only got to work there if the Overmare personally assigned it to you, and she didn't just choose anypony for the job. It was still a mystery to Neo as to why she would pick an archive scholar and a fifteen year old to watch one of the most important places in the Stable. He had so many questions, and to few ponies to answer him.

Neo's grin died down a bit as he raised his right hoof in the air. "Yes?" She said to him.

"Why did you choose us?"

She looked down at her desk grimly. "At this time I can't tell you. But, what I can tell you is that you'll be working there for the next six hours. Then you will get your pay, and you will be able to go back home." She said still retaining her grim look.

After the meeting was over, both brothers left her office and made their way to the purifying chamber. Neo was a little upset that the Overmare didn't answer his question as to why she had him and Adam doing the job, but once again he tried not to stick to the million questions racing through his mind.

As they trotted down to the purifying chambers, Neo decided to bring up the Overmares behavior with Adam. "Adam?"

Adam was in a rather content mood as he replied to his older brother. "Yeah?"

"Did you notice the way the Overmare reacted back there?"

Adam thought for a moment, and his brother was right. She was acting a little more gloomy than normal. "Now that I think of it, yeah she was acting a bit strange."

Another thing that bothered Neo was the idea of having a free day and then being given a job, good pay or not. It didn't really matter, after all they had been personally given this assignment by the Overmare herself.

Neo's deep thought managed to spread to Adam, now he was in deep thought. He was thinking about all the things they learned in class the day before. One of those things was clouds and evaporation.

Adam was curious now about clouds and the outside. "Brother?"

"Yeah."

"What do you think its like on the outside?"

Neo was a little taken away by the topic Adam chose to talk about. "Why do you ask?"

"Yesterday in class we studied evaporation."

"So?"

"We learned about clouds. Brother, what do you think clouds really look like on the outside?" Adam said looking up to his brother for answers.

He didn't answer, rather it was him this time who stopped him before they bumped into their destination. "We're here." He said as he placed his hoof in front of Adam.

The door was much larger than most of the doors in the Stable. In the middle were the words, "Stable Water Treatment Room." In bright yellow lettering.

Just like outside of Neo's living quarters there was a small number pad. Before they left the Overmare gave them each the code to the chamber. Neo went over to the pad and punched in the code, and with a click and a beep the large door slid open.

A loud humming noise filled the air as soon as the door opened. Both of them flinched a bit at the instant change in noise. The chamber had a small control room that branched off to the side next to the entrance. It was a decently sized chamber, with three large steel boxes pumping hundreds of gallons of clean water through them with each passing second. On the side of them were large metal slabs with pistons slamming into them as they released pressure from the machine.

The control room to their left was almost like a small hallway with hundreds of tiny little dials and buttons covering the room. Their were two small chairs in the room with a long glass window above the buttons.

In one of those chairs was an old buck with a white mane and a ragged old green coat. He was Caretaker. He was the official work pony for the Stable Water chambers. Although the Overmare did assign others the duty of taking care of the water purifying chambers, this did not mean they always looked after them. So whenever the Overmare didn't assign anypony to work at the chambers, she would make CT do it.

He was sleeping in one of the chairs with his nose pointing to the ceiling. "Snnnk!" He snored loudly.

Adam went up to him cautiously. "CT?" He said before poking him in the gut once.

"Snnk!" He snored.

Neo was hatching this brilliant joke in his mind were if he tried to act like the Overmares mother than it would scare the living daylights out of him.

Neo looked at his brother with a devilish grin. "Here watch this." He chuckled as he put his mouth close to the old bucks ears.

In his best Overmare impression Neo shouted in his ear. "Mr. Caretaker! How dare you sleep on the job!"

The bucks eyes shot open as he blasted off his chair. "What!" He shouted as he fell to the ground.

Adam and Neo started to burst out into an almost insane form of laughter.

From the ground he looked up at the laughing strangers with a confused look. "Heh? What the? Who are you? An'wheres the Overmare?" His voice was raspy like an old record player.

Adams laugh started to die down a bit. "We're here to take over sir." He said wiping a tear from his eye.

The old buck got up with a dazed look. "Whut?" He said leaning closer to them with a hoof to his ear.

Neo raised his voice a bit. "We're here to take over your shift."

"Oh. Well, you know what yer doing?"

Adam and his brother nodded at him. "Yes sir." They said in unison.

"Meh, alrighty then, if yeh say so." He grunted angrily as he walked away from the two pranksters.

Neo and Adam could hear the big door slide open as the old buck made his way home. "I'm sure he'll forgive us." Neo said with a smile.

"Yeah, he's had worse." Adam chuckled.

Adam looked out the big window that was above the controls. "Wow, look at all the piping." He said in amazement, gazing at all the technology in the room outside.

Neo took one of the chairs and started to go over some of the pressure gages. "Yeah." Neo said blankly as he went through different buttons on the control pad.

Adam pouted at him before sitting down at the other chair. Adam started to look at the main pressure, the little needle on the dial moved almost at the half way point. "Brother, the pressures a little off at the second pump."

Neo sighed, "Okay, I'll go check it out." He complained.

Adam just smiled at him before returning to his work.

Neo made his way out of the slender room and into the main pumping system. The large pistons hung over large iron slabs, every other second they would hold themselves over the a slab before slamming straight back down with nerve racking might.

Neo looked at the pistons to see if anything might be wrong, but it looked perfectly fine to him. He looked back to the control room and shouted to Adam. "Everything looks good here!" He shouted to him from the railing that divided him and the pistons.

It was at this exact moment that the Stable started to shake violently. It only lasted for a few seconds but it was powerful enough to knock Neo off balance, causing him to fall over the railing.

His right forehoof landed right under the large piston. Then like lighting the piston came crashing down. *Clank!* Neo felt a terrible gut wrenching pain fly through his body as his right foreleg was crushed completely. His whole arm was completely removed from his body. His blood and bone covered the dark iron slab as his warm blood oozed out his side.

"AGH!" He shouted as he felt the pain engulf him. He layed there, helpless right next to the slab. He was shivering with pain, as his blood started to gather in a warm pool around him.

Adam was slightly shaken from the small quake, but that wasn't what truly bothered him. What bothered him was the terrible cry of pain he heard coming from the pumps. Then it hit him. "Oh no, brother..." He thought to himself as he dashed out of the control to inspect what had happened. When he arrived he was stunned with fear at the gruesome sight. His brother was next to the slab quivering at what used to be his right foreleg.

Neo's voice was rough and he was choking on the pain as he tried to look at his brother. "A-Adam... G-Get... H-help..." He stuttered as he moved around slightly in the pool of his own blood.

Adam stood there in full shock with his eyes wide with fear. "Brother?" He whimpered quietly as he looked at the remains of his brothers old foreleg on the iron slab.

With the last bit of strength Neo mustered all breath he could into one final yell. "Adam get help!" He shouted before his body went numb in the red pool.

Adam snapped out of his traumatized state. "I need to get help! His lifes in my hooves! But what do I do!" He panicked to himself as he looked around the room for a way to get help quickly.

Then he remembered the self alert button in the control room. As quickly as he could he raced over to the control room and he instantly started to scroll through the sea of buttons to find the self alert button.

The self alert button was a small glass covered red button in the middle of the control panel. Without giving it a second thought he slammed his left hoof down on the tiny button. The glass tore at his flesh as he heard the loud alarm go off. "Warning, the alarm has been set off in the Water Treatment Area. All security personnel are to arrive there imminently." Said a feminine voice from the speakers.

Adams hoof was hurt and bleeding from the glass shards that had made their home in his flesh. He was crying, he was so scared. Adam decide to limp over to his bleeding brother and wait for help to arrive.

Neo tried his best to move his head. With the little will he had left he looked up at Adam from the ground. Adam was in tears holding his bleeding left hoof. "I'm so sorry brother... I'm so sorry..."

Neo's body gave way to the numbness, “I’m really going to die... So this is what death feels like..." He thought to himself as the darkness slowly covered his vision until there was nothing but an empty void.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Momma’s boy: You gain +2 skill points in all your mothers skills like science and medicine with every level.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Swift learner: +10% XP whenever XP is earned.

Proofread by:

Myself

RaiderRy4n

(Please note that my writing get's better as it progresses, and I am trying my hardest to brush this up so thanks if your still reading!)

What We Lost

CHAPTER 2: WHAT WE LOST

Small flashes of light blurred into Neo's vision as he tried to open his eyes. Small glares and shadows waved in front of him as he tried to regain consciousness from the day before. Every now and again he would hear a tiny high pitched beep that kept up with every beat of his heart. There were shadows hovering above him, although he couldn’t tell who exactly they were he could tell that they were in fact ponies. Neo could faintly hear muffles coming from one of the ponies hovering above him. He tried to speak but he couldn't get a word out.

One of the ponies looked down at him and then turned its glance to the pony on the other side of Neo. Once again he tried to speak but it was no use. He managed to move his head to the left, all he could see were fuzzy images and uneven shapes. He used the last of his energy to move his head to the right. He could hear and feel his heart beat at a steady pace as he squinted his eyes to improve his vision. It was hard to see but he could make out a large long object. He didn't know if it was metal, but it was a light grey color so he thought it was safe to assume that it was made of metal. The large grey object levitated itself into his side with a orange glow surrounding it.

The object stopped moving for a moment, the blurred pony levitating it was looking at a smaller figure. It was a blue fuzzy shape with what looked like a brown mane. "Adam?" Neo thought to himself as he just stared blankly at the pony.

Then, his eye lids got heavy. He struggled to keep them open but it was no use. The unicorn levitating the metal object and continued to move it towards him. Then with a muffled click, a sharp rusty pain flew throughout his body. Neo jerked a bit at the horrible feeling that he just felt, he wanted to yell but his voice was still gone.

His drowsiness returned to him in full force. He could no longer hold his eye lids open as he slowly returned to his dark empty state. All he could see was darkness. It was like the time before he woke up, it was dark. He felt alone in the empty nothingness that stared at him. Now he thought he was dead, "This is probably what hell is like... Great, what did I do to deserve this?" Then the small beeping noise returned only this time it was more clear. His eyes didn't feel as heavy anymore, so he attempted to open them. They slowly opened to look into the world again, and at first the new lighting burned a moment as he looked back at the world of the living.

Everything wasn't fuzzy anymore. He could hear normally again, and he could see more clearly then he did before. His sense were becoming more and more sensitive with every passing second. He looked down at his chest, he was in a medical apron lying in a medical bed with a heart monitor hooked up to him. He looked around the room for a moment to see what else there was to see around him. It was already clear to him that he was in the medical office, or the surgery part of the office anyway.

Neo was laying on one of three other medical beds. His bed was slightly tipped upright so sitting up was easier than normal. He looked around the bleak grey room where injured ponies came to get patched up. There was nopony else in the other medical beds, and there was certainly no other ponies in the room except him. "Great." He thought to himself as he sat there blankly looking into the empty room.

*Swoosh.* One of the doors opened as a green unicorn with clipboard came into the room. "Oh, your awake." He said looking up from his clipboard.

Neo gave him a slight smile. "Yeah, I'm awake."

The doctor went next to him and turned off the heart monitor. "Won't Adam be glad to hear your awake! And look at the motor control on your forehoof, looks like its all working out after all." He said as he continued to remove wires and other attachments from Neo's body.

"What does he mean my forehoof?" He thought to himself as he looked at his left hoof. To him there was nothing different about his hoof, so he looked at his right one.

His eyes shot open as he looked at the fake metal forehoof, "How did this get on here!" He shouted to the doctor.

He looked at him oddly for a second before smiling cheerfully at him. "Why, Adam built that for you." He chuckled taking the last wire from his body.

Adam had always been a young protégé when it came to fixing or building things. Heck, he could build or fix anything as long as he had a screwdriver in his mouth and a few minutes available to him.

Neo lay back in his bed. "He did." He said quietly as he put his new hoof in front of his face.

The doctor nodded at him with the same smile on his face. "Mhmm, he sure did. It took him four days just to make the darn thing. It really only took one, but it was pretty hard finding all the pieces needed to build it."

He moved over to one side of the bed to look at the doctor. "I've been out for four days?" He said with a little worry in his tone.

"Yes you were. I was just about to remove the heart monitor when all of a sudden I found out you were already awake."

Neo looked down as he smiled a bit at the thought of seeing Adam and his mom again. "Were's Adam anyway?" He said finally sitting back all the way in his bed.

The doctor put a hoof to his chin as he thought about the question. "I think he went home about one hour ago. He said something about getting your mother. We told him you should be awake any time now so I guess he went to go get her."

Neo looked at the doctor with a small grin on his face. "So, when will I be able to get out of the bed?"

The doctor pushed the monitor to the side and moved some more medical equipment around before he answered. "Now if you want to leave, you just need to make sure you pick up a new Stable suit before you go."

Neo looked down at himself, and he was right the only thing he was wearing was his Pipbuck and the light blue medical apron. "So were can I get a new one?"

The doctor made his way to the Stable door before answering. "Just ask the nurse on the way out, once your done I'll send word to Adam that your feeling better and on your way to their living quarters."

"Thanks, that means a lot." Neo said with the same small smile he gave him earlier.

"No problem, its the least I could do." The doctor said returning the smile before leaving the room.

Neo looked down at himself and removed the dull itchy medical blankets from under him. He swung his legs over the edge of the medical bed so that he could try and move normally again. Slowly and gently each hoof touch the ground softly as he made his way out of the bed. Soon all four hooves touched down on the ground neatly.

"This isn't so hard." He thought to himself as he moved one hoof slowly forward.

It was just one hoof after another. The new limb was a totally new experience, he couldn't feel a thing, but at the same time he could feel the ground move under his hoof. It wasn't hard to get used to, of course he fell over a few times before reaching the door. Then a few times turned into several trips, then into lots of trips and falls.

After finally catching his balance he made his way into the main office of the Stable medical center. At a small desk was a cute red earth pony mare with a pink mane. She wore a medical cap with a red cross and four red hearts decorated on it.

She looked up to the white stallion. "I'm guessing you want your suit, correct?" She said plainly as she stared at him from across the desk.

Neo looked at her sheepishly. "Mhm." He nodded to her.

She ducked under the desk and pulled out a neatly folded Stable 142 suit. "Here you go." She said laying it gently down on the desk in front of him.

"Thanks." He said kindly to the nurse.

She just shrugged and went back to looking at her terminal in front of her. Neo on the other hoof started to change into his Stable suit. He was glad you didn't have to change cloths often because the hardest part about putting cloths on is getting the sleeve to go under your Pipbuck. Within a few minutes of struggling and fighting he managed to get his sleeve through the bottom of his Pipbuck.

It was the first time in four days Neo had been out of the medical office. Despite the small headache he had he felt great. If there was one thing you could count on it was the medical staff. He felt like nothing had happened, even the accident with his foreleg at the pumps didn’t seem to have happened at all. But that was all in the past, he was looking towards the future. He was looking forward to seeing his little brother again, and he wondered what his mother was going to do when she found out. He was pretty sure she must have heard about the accident by now. After all, the alarms did go off.

He trotted down the bleak corridors like usual as he made is way to the resident level. He was in a rather good mood, he felt great, Adam and his mom were probably waiting for him back at their living quarters. He couldn't help it when a small smile found its way across his face.

The resident district was quiet, it was dinner time at the mess hall so almost everypony was there eating. That meant that most of the districts were probably the same way. Just up ahead Neo could see the large 67 at the end of the hallway, all he could think about was the warm look his mother and brother would give him when he got home.

He went up to the large steel door and tapped his new metal hoof on the door. *Ting, ting, ting.*

"Don't come in!" Adam screamed from the other side of the door.

Neo's warm smile died at the sound of his little brothers voice. "Adam?" Neo said from the other side.

His voice was choked up like he was crying heavily. "Brother?" He whimpered from the other side.

"Yeah Adam its me. Whats the matter?" Neo was worried, his thought of warm smiles and family faded away.

The door slid open exposing the miserable looking pony. He had tears running down his eyes by the gallons and his face was quivering with sadness.

Neo stood there shocked. "Adam what happened!" He asked with a worried tone.

Adam lowered his head. "She's gone." He whimpered as more tears fell from his face.

"What?" Neo replied talking a step forward.

Adam moved to the side and motioned his head to one of the chairs in the center of the room. "Just listen..."

Neo cautiously moved into the room and made his way to one of the chairs. On it was a small holotape with the words, "For Neo and Adam."

Neo looked at it oddly. "What is it?" He asked as he looked to his younger brother.

"Just listen." He returned mournfully as he made his way to one of the other chairs in the room.

Neo looked down at the small black metal square. Neo restrained himself as he nervously put his hoof to the play button on the top of the device. It clicked and started to make a small noise like some audio had been recorded on it. Then, it started to play.

It was their mother. "Hello boys. I don't have a lot of time to say my goodbyes." She started to cry a bit. "I just wanted you to know that I love you... And that I'm leaving the Stable. I can't tell you why, but I am. I... I just want you to know that I didn't plan on leaving, but there are some things I need to finish. Things I should have taken care of a long time ago."

She paused for a moment. "I wish you could understand why I had to leave... I just wish that I could see you one more time."

A small voice in the background could be faintly heard. "We need to get going."

"Remember, don't come looking for me. Please, just don't. I want you two to live long happy lives in the Stable... Goodbye." The message ended.

Neo was shaking, his legs felt weak as the whole message echoed in his mind. The questions came back, and with that he could no longer hold himself up. He fell down to the floor still trembling. He was angry, but at the same time sad, and curious.

"Why would she leave..." He whispered to himself as he looked blankly at the ground in shock.

Adam lifted his head up to look at his brother. "I thought we were happy... I thought she cared about us, I thought she was happy..."

The mixed feelings in Neo started to twist and turn into a confident idea. His shocked look left him as he looked towards Adam with a tiny twinkle of hope in his eyes. "Adam!"

Adam was still whipping away the tears from his drenched face. "What?" He whimpered.

Neo moved over to him and put his new hoof around his brother. "I have an idea. Its a long shot, but it might just work."

Adam just started to look down as his older brother continued. "What if we left the Stable."

Adams face shot strait as he looked at his brother with worry. "Leave the Stable?" He said as he tried to handle what his brother had just proposed to him.

He thought about it for a moment. "But, we don't know whats out there. I mean there could be monsters, or nothing, or-" Neo interrupted him.

"We won't know for sure if we don't try." Neo said with a kind smile, he was trying to cheer his little brother up with the warm smile.

He still looked unsure. "I don't know... What about your job? What about school?"

Neo shook his head at each one of the things he listed. "I don't care anymore, plus who needs a boring job like mine." He chuckled a bit.

Adam was slowly coming out of his depressed mood. "Yeah, I'm way smarter then any of the kids in my class anyway." He added with his own smile.

"And just think about it. One day we'll see mom again, and we'll all come back home. It'll be like nothing ever happened. We'll be a family again."

Adam got up from his chair slowly. "But how are we going to get out of the Stable?"

Neo turned his gaze to the holotape on the chair. "There was somepony else in this room when she recorded that message."

Adam remembered the faint voice in the background. "Wasn't that the Overmare?"

Neo's ears perked up at the thought, and come to think of it the mare in the background did sound like the Overmare. "I betcha she knows how to leave the Stable."

"She might also know were mom went." Adam added.

Neo ignored his brothers comment as he started to think. He thought about what would happen if they couldn't find their mom. How would Flipper react to him leaving all of sudden. He started to rethink his plan.

"Adam, what if we don't find her. What if you get hurt or I lose something more than just my foreleg." He looked down at his metal hoof with the memory of when it was flesh and bone.

Adam proudly strutted over to his brother with a proud goofy grin on his face. "I can take care of myself, I'm fifteen after all. Plus you'll be there beside me the whole step of the way."

Neo liked how his brother was encouraging him to go farther with his plan. "But I just got out of the medical office. Do you think we should really go now?"

Adam nodded to him. "Better now then never."

Neo thought about it for a moment, then with his spirit restored he returned to Adam with a solid nod. "Plus there isn't a lot more we can do other than go to the Overmare."

"Then what are we waiting for!" Adam shouted with excitement as he hopped to the door.

"Not so fast Adam." Neo said stopping him before he went through the now opened door.

"Are you one hundred percent sure about this?"

Adam confidently nodded to him.

"Then lead the way then." He said moving up to him. Soon the two both made their way to the Overmares office to find some answers to the millions of questions spinning around in their heads.

There was nothing different about the trip to the Overmares office, but it was odd to think that she helped out with their mothers disappearance. Why would she do such a thing? Maybe that was why she acting the way she was a few days ago. Then it hit Neo, how come Adam didn't realize that their mother was gone till just recently.

He decide to ask about it. "Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you didn't know about mom till earlier today?"

He looked slightly sad. "Well, I was worried about you. I spent those four days cooped up in that office trying to build that. Come to think of it, I can't recall seeing mom, even on the way to the medical office from the purifying chambers."

Just down the hallway was the Overmares office. "Do you like it?" Adam said sheepishly.

Neo looked down at his hoof before stopping at the door. "Yeah, so far it seems to be working fine. But you can't beat a good old fashion right hoof."

Adam looked down at his own right hoof. "Yeah, we were lucky we found you when we did."

Before Neo could answer the Overmares door slid open. The Overmare was standing in the doorway looking at the two brothers. She looked guilty, it was as if she knew what she had done.

"Hello boys." She said with a shameful tone.

Neo looked at her sternly. "You know what happened didn't you?"

She nodded with the same shameful look on her face. "Come in, and I'll explain." She said stepping to the side for them to come in.

Like before she went to her round desk, she leaned forward on the desk with her hoofs together. "Sit." She said with her soft ashamed tone.

The two brothers each took a seat in one of the two seats in her Office. For a moment she just looked at them. The two brothers returned the glare as the three looked blankly at each other. It was like each one of them were waiting for someone to speak.

"I should probably start from the beginning, huh?" The Overmare said turning her gaze to the two.

They didn't answer.

"Your mother, she was... An interesting pony. I never really understood why she did some of the things she did, but I think you should know that she loves you." She paused and returned her gaze to the desk. "It's funny. I never really thought she would leave again."

"Again?" Adam added.

"That doesn't matter. At least it doesn't anymore. What does matter is are you two going to follow her?"

Both of them gave her a stern confident nod.

She sighed. "Boys do you know what it's like out there?"

"Do you?" Neo added still retaining his straight look on his face.

The Overmare looked puzzled as she stared at them in a serious fashion. "No." She waited for a moment before continuing. "I care about all my ponies in this Stable. Even the ones who don't obey the laws. I don't understand why somepony would leave..."

Neo spoke up before she continued. "She's our mom. In a way, she's all we have in the Stable. Family is it. It's everything. I want you to understand that."

The Overmare continued as if she was never even interrupted. "It's almost funny... She said that what she was doing would make us all happy. Even the Stable... I wonder what she meant... To think she left just before you had your accident happen."

With a small smile she looked at them warmly. "I'll let you leave if you want." She said in an almost whisper like manner.

Their jaws hit the ground at her statement. "Really?" Adam said with a surprised look.

She nodded gently to him.

"I thought that you couldn't leave the Stable." Neo replied.

The Overmare leaned back in her chair with her hooves still together. "When I was a young filly, my grandmother made a law that stated any and all could leave the Stable whenever he or she wanted to."

Adam became interested. "What happened then?"

"Most ponies didn't like this idea. In fact many of them demanded it to be removed immediately. She thought that one day somepony like yourselves would come along and want to leave. So, she told everypony she got rid of the silly idea, but she kept it active secretly." She continued.

Neo was confused, he had always been told that leaving the Stable was forbidden. "Your just going to let us go. Just like that?"

The Overmare got up from her chair and moved over to the door. "Get water, food, and what ever else you thing you need. Once your done come back here." She said with a worried look before opening the door to her office.

Neo and Adam made their way out of the office with confused looks on their faces. Before Neo left he turned around to the Overmare on the other side of the doorway.

"Is that all?" He asked.

"Yes that's all." She whispered before closing the door to her office.

She looked like she was about to cry. It was a whole mess of emotions, she was happy, sad, and worried all at the same time. Neo didn't want to think about it anymore. All he cared about was getting all the items she listed to them.

Adam trotted up to his big brother with a dedication in his eyes. "Brother, we need to get going."

Neo shook his head trying to come back to reality. "Sorry, I was just... Thinking."

Adam nodded at him. "I understand, but we need to go get all that stuff."

"I'm guessing your going to go to mom's place, right?"

Adam replied to him with a nod. "Yep, and your going to your place right?"

"Mhm."

Adam turned away from his brother for a second. "Once you've got all your stuff lets meet back here in twenty minutes."

"Right." Neo said as he watched his little brother gallop off down the grey hallway.

And just like that Adam dashed off to his home, and Neo dashed to his. They were fueled by the hope that one day they would see their mother again, this was their final moments in the Stable. Because after today, they would possibly never come back again.

At each of their homes they grabbed their saddle bags and the few items the Overmare listed. They packed food, two canteens of water each, and some personal items. It didn't take long for them to gather each of their stuff, and it wasn't going to take them much longer to get back to her office.

Neo was trotting down the hallways to get back to the Overmares office. He wasn't in a great rush, so he decided to take it easy for the moment as he made his way there.

Without thinking he rammed head first into a speeding pony. The two ponies lifted up into the air for a moment before falling face first into the hard ground. Neo picked himself up from the accident. His head hurt a bit from the collision with the other pony. After he rubbed his face better of the soreness he took a look at the pony he had smacked into. It was Flipper.

Flipper was just as dazed and sore as Neo was. He stumbled around like a drunk as he pulled himself together. He shook his head trying to get rid of the aching soreness.

His tone was angry and negative as he recovered. "Watch were your-" He stopped when he realized it was Neo he had hit.

"Hello to you too Flipper." Neo said sarcastically as he continued to rub his head better.

"Oh, ah... Hi there Neo, I didn't see you there... Heh..." He was slightly embarrassed about what he did.

"Yeah, I can tell." He replied rolling his eyes sarcastically.

"Why were you in such a rush?" Neo added.

"Oh, well... You see I was on my way to the Stable Pit when I-" His eyes went wide as he looked at Neo's right forehoof.

He got close to his right foreleg, "Whoa, that's your new metal limb Adam made for you?" He said getting more closer to Neo than he would like. He failed to notice the full saddle bags on his back.

Neo backed a bit from the creepy pony. "Um, yeah how did you know?" He said nervously.

Flipper picked his head back up. "Oh, the whole Stable knows about that. I mean really, Adam set off the whole Stable alarm system."

Neo looked to his hoof for a second. "Wow, I didn't know the whole Stable knew." He said a little shyly.

"Yeah, I mean your the only one in the Stable that has a limb like that!" He exclaimed with a big goofy smile.

Although he enjoyed talking to Flipper, he had somewhere to be. "Uh, Flipper. I'd love to stay and chat, but there's someplace I really need to be."

It just hit him that he too was wasting time just talking when he had a place to be. "Shoot! Me too, hope you have a good day, and... Yeah... Bye!" He said before giving him a quick grin and continuing his race towards the Stable Pit.

Neo watched as he raced down the hallway before turning sharply behind the corner. "Bye..." He said softly while raising his eyebrow. He was a little bit confused about his behavior, but he was on his own mission and he need to get back to his.

Adam was impatiently waiting outside the Overmares office, he was bouncing up and down in place as he anxiously for his brother. He had packed all that he deemed worthy of taking, preferably his favorite books on science and technology. He also found it to be useful if he packed a few extra parts for his brothers new foreleg in case it needed repairs.

Up the hallway he could see Neo dashing down the hallway. His face turned sour at the sight of his tardy brother. "It took you long enough!"

Neo stopped right in front of him panting heavily. "Sorry... I... Ran into Flipper, on my way here." He said huffing from exhaustion.

"It took you ten extra minutes to talk to Flipper?"

Neo caught his breath and continued. "No, I had to finish finding all the stuff I needed. My living space isn't that big, or that full of anything useful for that matter." He said giving his little brother a slight chuckle.

Adam liked it when his brother laughed, even when he was angry at him, it made him feel happy to be his brother. "Well. Are you ready?" Adam returned to him with a smile.

Neo nodded confidently in response.

"Okay, whenever your ready." He said stepping aside for Neo to knock on the door to the Overmares office.

Putting his hoof to the door Neo started to knock. *Tap, tap, tap* Within seconds the Overmare opened the door for them.

She had a terrible look on her face, it was almost like she was watching somepony die for the first and last time. "Come in, its all ready for you."

"We're really greatful your doing this for us, we really are." Neo said taking a step forward.

She put a hoof up to stop him. "You still have a choice to go back... to stay..." Her eyes were becoming more tear filled with every second.

Adam stepped up. "We need to get our mom back." He said with confidence burning in his eyes. "She's all we have left." He continued. "So whats the point of staying in a place when your not happy?"

The Overmare looked down shamefully. "It's your choice, not mine." She swayed to the side allowing them to come into her office.

Together the three moved into her office. Her desk was lifted up by several large metal pistons, which exposed a small staircase leading down to a small metal door. Neo and Adam stood at the top of the stairway looking down at the small metal door at the bottom.

The Overmare stood at the side of her erected desk. "Just head down the stairs, go through the door and go to the guard at the end of the hallway." Her emotion didn't change.

Both brothers nodded sternly.

"One last thing." She said before they started their decent. "Just don't forget about me." She said as she tryed to muster a smile.

"I don't plan on it." Neo said with a honest glare.

Adam thought about it for a moment, then he came to terms with himself he was going to give her one last hug before they left. She was a little shocked by the gesture but she was happy he cared enough to show how much he cared before they left.

Hugging her tight Adam whispered to her. "I won't forget you. I can't forget you... Just, don't forget us okay?"

She wrapped her hoof around him gently. "I won't, I promise." She whispered back in a kind peaceful tone.

Adam let go of her and went back to his brother. Then, they both started to make their way down the steps to the metal door. Without even trying the door hissed open exposing the other side. On the other side of the door was a long metal corridor with large white lights lining the ceiling.

With a deep breath the two started their march down the large corridor, each step was a blow to their morale as they trotted on. Their hoofsteps echoed faintly with every step, until they finally made it to the door at the end. The door at the end was much like the door before, it was large had made of finely crafted steel. Like the door before it hissed open making a ear bleeding screech as it opened. Both of them cringed at the sound of the steel screeching as its hinges cried madly. On the other side of this door was a smaller room with a ramp going down to a large steel cog shaped door.

The room was empty, except for a large metal object that looked like a key hanging on the ceiling. Below it was a guard standing at a control panel. He was a strong looking stallion with a security helmet and visor perched soundly on his head.

"Are you the ones the Overmare said was leaving?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's us." Neo said as he started down the ramp.

The guard nodded at him, before starting to flip several switches on the control pad. Then Adam dashed to catch up with his older brother at the bottom of the ramp.

*Hsssssshhhh* Went the big metal arm that descended from the ceiling. A loud alarm followed as it creeped its way over to the cog shaped door. Like a key going into a lock the arm put the front piece into a tiny hole in the corner of the door. With another hiss the door rolled open. The opening of the door was followed by violent shaking. It was apparent that the door wasn't used to opening.

It was when the door was finished that they realized that the door might have caused that shaking. It might have been their mother who caused Neo to fall over and loose his foreleg. Whether that was the case or not wasn't important. What was important was them finding their mother.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Cause when I close that door thats it. I won't open it again."

Neo looked up to the guard for a moment with a calm smile. "I understand that, we have to do this."

The guard shrugged. "Whatever you say."

It was at that moment that both of them gulped and took their first few steps toward the empty dark cave that lay in front of them. As they slowly left the cog shaped doorway they were imminently greeted by black charred pony skeletons. They littered the floor of the cave with tattered burnt signs bearing rants and protest. They both eyed the skeletons as they moved onward to the end of the cave.

At the end was a boarded up wooden door with tiny specs of light dotting it. Neo and Adam were almost at the door when the terrible shaking and hissing returned. They both turned to look back at their former home. And just like that, the large cog with the number 142 shut closed with a loud clank. They were truly outside the Stable for the first time.

Neo looked down to his little brother. "You ready?"

Adam gulp nervously. "Yep."

With a deep breath, and a whole lot of confidence, Neo pushed on the large door until it opened. Then they were taken by a wave of white light.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Iron hoof: +5 points to Unarmed Damage.

Would you like to Level up Adam?

Yes-

No

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Coltprehension: +1 additional skill point whenever a skill book is read.

Proofread by:

Myself

Neverknown

(Its done! We’ve gone through and check most of the spelling and grammar. I tell you writing this sucker was hard. Also, how will they react to the wasteland? Find out in chapter 3!)

A Whole New World

CHAPTER 3: A WHOLE NEW WORLD

Neo was the first to put his right forehoof out the door. He closed his eyes and stepped outside, and then he opened one eye to inspect what the outside world was like. Soon both his eyes fully opened as he was taken in total awe over what he was seeing. His little brother followed closely behind.

“Ah!” Adam said as he looked at the outside, his eyes straining to adjust to the new lighting.

Neo just stood there, at first it was beautiful, but then the beauty slowly died away revealing a dark desolate land scarred by time. It was cool, there was no sun. Only the remnants of a long forgotten past remained. It made them feel, alone.

“Brother? Is this really the outside?” Adam asked as he looked up to him for answers.

He just stood there, wondering how they were going to find their mother now. “I don’t know, if this is what it is, then yes this is the outside” Neo replied.

Looking out into the land, they searched for some kind of high point they could look from.

Neo tried to focus his eyes to see a little farther than he already could. He looked down at his PipBuck to see what it had to say. Rather, a map of the area had already been loaded on to it.

“Huh.” He shrugged as he was amazed that it would load such an accurate map in such a small amount of time.

“Brother, where are going to go now?” Adam asked.

Neo pointed to a small group of houses in the distance just downhill from their position.

“I think if we get to those buildings down there we can maybe climb up one of them, and get a better view of the area.”

“You think that those buildings are safe to enter?” asked Adam, who was slightly worried about the idea.

“I hope so.” Said Neo with a speck of enthusiasm in his voice.

Those words didn’t help Adam at all. He gulped and muttered to himself, “this is a bad idea...”

The two brothers trotted down the cracked scorched road, carts and black frayed pony skeletons littered the road up, and down. Slightly disturbed by the sight both brothers managed to trudge on to the small group of houses that were just up ahead.

Once they arrived at their destination, they sat down to take a break for just a moment or two. The homes where creaky old destroyed buildings that had seen it all. Some of the buildings had collapsed from the wind or the lack of stability, for those homes, all that was left was a black pile of rotten timbers and bricks.

For a moment the wind picked up and a small dust devil crossed the old road, only to disappear into nothingness a few seconds later.

Adam looked up at the sky, “Brother look at all the clouds.” The sky was covered entirely not letting a single ray of light through the massive ocean of clouds.

“What?” Neo looked at him, and then turned his gaze towards the sky.

“Yeah, there are a lot of them.” He said looking up. He moved his eyes back to Adam,“is this how it looked in your book?” He asked.

“No.” He said sadly. “The ones in my books looked white and cheerful, these just look gloomy and bleak.”

Neo moved towards him and sat down on the dirty ground with a soft thud. He put his metal arm around his shoulder,“Don’t worry I bet when the sky clears up there’s gonna be the nice fluffy white ones you see in the books. Just wait and see, just wait and see.” He told Adam reassuringly.

Neo got up and dusted himself off, “Well, lets get a move on. Lights burning as we speak.”

“Here.” He moved his right hoof out to help Adam get up.

“Thanks brother.”

Neo helped him get on his feet and then they moved towards the first house they could see.

The house they entered seemed to be the only one that wasn’t about to collapse on them, and squash them whole. Neo peeked his head through the empty doorway to take a look inside. What he saw was what seemed like an old living room of some sort. Old candles and chandeliers hung everywhere, there was a self portrait of somepony tilted sideways above an old mantle. Everything was scorched, and or badly burnt, even the self portrait of the pony who used to live there oh so long ago.

“Brother, do you see anything?” Questioned Adam.

“Nope, but lets go inside and see if we can get any higher in this place.”

They both walked in slowly, each step was followed by a creak from the old structure. To the left of the living room was a door, and in front of them was staircase leading upstairs.

“I think I’ll head upstairs, you check that room for anything.” Neo ordered while stepping over a ponies skeleton. Neo shivered at the thought of what that poor pony must have went through before he, or she died.

Neo went upstairs to check out the place, and Adam went through the door on the left.

Adam quickly looked at his EFS to check for anything behind the door before he opened it. Adam had always used his EFS to watch out for bullies on his way to school, but that was of course back in the Stable. After seeing that there was nothing behind the door, he opened the door with a creak. He cringed at the sound the door made as it opened. He poked his head inside the room only to find the corpse of some dead pony, flies hovering around its eyes and mouth. With this sight, a blast of some awful smell filled his nostrils. He covered his face with his left hoof as he backed away from the dead pony.

He closed the door as he moved away from the corpse, the smell of death filling the room. Tears ran down his eyes. He had never seen a dead pony before, nor had he ever seen one decomposing right in front of him. Adam trotted upstairs to his brother, the horrible image still fresh in his mind.

Once up stairs he stopped covering his face, relieved that the smell was finally gone.
He took in a deep breath and looked for his brother.

In the upstairs there was a short narrow hallway lined with trash, and junk. Holes dotted the ceiling and walls as light from the outside seeped through wherever it could. At the end of the hallway was a broken window with white curtains hanging from it, the wind was rustling the curtains, and caused the building to creak loudly.

“Brother?” Called Adam.

“Yeah? I’m in the room to the right.” Replied Neo from behind a wall in the other room.

Adam moved his way down the hall and into the room to the right, there he found Neo looking at his PipBuck. The room Neo was in had a huge gaping hole in the outer wall of the room, a small breeze tickled the his coat.

“Brother? What are you doing?” asked Adam.

“What? Oh I’m checking the radio stations.” Neo said as he fiddled with his PipBuck.

Adam looked at his PipBuck, and Neo was right there was a few radio stations.

“Brother, that means that there are others out here!” Adam Exclaimed.

“Yeah, but they're each faint signals.” Said Neo as he put his PipBuck down.

“What now?” Asked Adam.

“Well, what did you find downstairs?”

He had just managed to forget the scene until Neo brought it back up again. “Well, I found... a... dead pony...” He said hesitantly.

“Really? Where?”

“Down stairs in the next room.” Said Adam in shy soft tone.

“Lets go take a look then, see if we can find anything else.” Neo said as he walked out of the room.

They both moved back down stairs to see the corpse Adam had discovered. Once down stairs, they instantly got hit by the smell the corpse was making. Gagging a bit and covering their noses Neo said,“Wow! Thats one terrible smell. Ehg!”

They managed to make it to the room Adam was sent to earlier, and like he said before there in front of them was an orange colored buck with some kind of tanned hide armor. It was roughly configured, and blood stained. The corpse looked no more than a week old.

Neo looked at his cold lifeless body, wondering who he was, and what his life was like up until his death. Neo put down his hoof and said in a serious tone, “We need to bury him.”

“What?!” Adam said surprised at his statement.

“It’s disrespectful to leave his body here.”

“But I don’t want to touch it!” Said Adam.

Neo put his hoof over Adam's shoulder, “It's what he probably would have wanted.”

He gave Adam a calm smile. “Okay brother. But if I get a disease from touching it, it’s your fault!”

Neo chuckled at his remark, “Okay, just help me with this.”

After about an hour later, they found a small hole already dug behind the house they were in. They had placed the body in the small hole and covered it with the dirt right next to the hole. Once they had finished, they patted themselves down and decided to move on. But just before they were about to head off further down the road, they heard two loud pops go off in the distance.

“Those sounded like gunshots.” Neo muttered.

“Brother, how do you know what a gunshot sounds like?” Asked Adam curiously.

“Back at the Stable, the guards held a shooting party once every two months. I used to go to those parties and shoot guns with the guards.”

“Really? You got to go to those? That’s no fair I always wanted to go!” Said Adam kind of upset that he never got to attend those parties, and probably never will.

“Now is probably not the time to be telling old stories, we need to see where those shots came from.” Neo snapped at Adam, bring them back on topic.

“Right!” Adam agreed.

Just over the hill to the west of the houses they heard three more gunshots. As they got closer to the source of the noise they could hear some faint voices over the hill.

Once they got to the top the brothers saw seven ponies downhill. Four of them had outrageous manes and crudely made leather armor. There was also two mares, and a young foal amongst the group.

The Ponies in the armor each had a weapon on them. A unicorn had a combat shotgun, a earth pony had combat knife, another earth pony had a box shaped pistol, and the last one who was a unicorn had a roughly made iron machete.

The four ponies backed up the two mares and the foal into the corner of the ridge.

“Dance for us you little fuckers!” exclaimed one of the raiders, two more pops from her shotgun followed as she shot at the feet of their victims.

Quickly, Neo and Adam dived for cover behind an old boulder on top of the hill.

“Brother, what are we going to do?” Whispered Adam.

Neo looked at his EFS, it showed four red dots and three yellow ones.

“Here let me check who they are.” Neo whispered to Adam as he glanced over the bolder they were hiding behind.

Neo went into SATS, and targeted the oddly dressed ponies. Everything froze for a moment, and a yellow highlight appeared over the torso of one of the ponies. In SATS it classified them as "Raiders". Neo had used SATS before to help beat up bullies that dared to harm Adam, or him in the Stable. These ponies were no average school bullies they didn’t just crave his lunch money, no they wanted blood.

“Help!” Cried one of the mares being tormented by the raiders.

“I’m going to have some fun with this one! Come’er!” The unicorn with the machete said in his scratchy rugged voice, as he pounced on one of the mares attempting to rape her.

“Adam we have to do something!” Neo exclaimed to his brother.

“But what?”

Neo looked around a bit thinking, “Think, think, think!” He said to himself why hitting his head on the bolder.

The bolder nudged a bit.

“Brother?” Adam said.

“Not now Adam! Think, think!” He continued till he felt the bolder move completely forward.

Neo stopped, the whole bolder was now moving down hill exposing the two Stable dwellers. They just watched as it started to pick up speed, and roll straight into the raider group.

“Yo! Switchblade lookout!” Shouted the unicorn raider with the combat shotgun.

“Huh? What?” Switchblade stopped his struggle to rape the mare.

Within seconds Switchblade, and one of the earth ponies was flattened under one ton of speeding rock. Both mares and the foal managed to make it out of the way before it slammed right into the ridge behind them.

“What the fuck was that!” Shouted the combat shotgun raider.

The flattened maimed bodies of both Switchblade, and his companion lay everywhere. Guts blood and skin lay tattered and frayed all over the bolder.

“It was them! Up there! Those two bastards killed Switchblade and Brutus!” Shouted the Raider as she pointed towards the top of the hill were Adam, and Neo sat. Quickly both raiders dashed towards the two on the top of the hill with only one goal on their mind, to kill them.

“Brother, I think you made them mad.” Adam commented.

“You think?” Neo answered sarcastically.

Neo was scared, but at the same time excited to fight the hostile aggressors that where dashing for them.

“Adam, they’re coming for us!” Neo yelled to his brother.

But Adam just stood there, looking at the blood and innards of the fallen raider ponies.

“Adam!” Neo snapped at him.

The first raider approached Neo, it was the earth pony with the combat knife.

“Time die you stupid fucker!” He said in a loud muffled, rage, and insanity glinting in his eyes.

Holding the knife in his mouth he charged at Neo with his knife trying to stab him. Neo dodged it once, and then again till finally the raider dropped the knife and pulled out his gun from his saddle bag.

“Oh shit!” Neo swore as he avoided the two shots fired at him by the raider.

As this was happening Adam was about to go head on head with the unicorn with the combat shotgun.

“Is baby a wittle scared?” The raider mocked him as she slowly approached him levitating the combat shotgun closer, and closer to his head.

Neo dodged four more shots barely from the earth pony, “Shit!” The raider said as he tried to reload his gun. It was very easy to tell that he wasn’t used to reloading guns before. Quickly out of pure instinct Neo dashed for the combat knife only seven feet from him. He picked up the combat knife in his mouth and ran towards the raider with full force. The raider gasped as he fell lifeless to the floor, the combat knife lodged deeply inside his neck. Blood oozed from his lifeless neck. Neo backed off, the taste of raider blood and saliva still lingered in his mouth.

“Did I just kill somepony?” He thought to himself as he looked around for his brother.

“I did! I killed him in cold blood! I’m a murderer!” He thought to himself.

“No, they were gonna kill that little foal, and murder those two mares too. Did they deserve to die? Was I actually doing something good?” He was conflicted with himself whether or not he was a murderer, but at this exact moment in time that didn't matter, what did matter was protecting his brother. Just twenty feet from him was his brother, who was about to become the next dead victim of the raider.

“Say goodnight punk!” Said the raider tauntingly as she pulled the trigger to her gun.

She pulled the trigger once, but all that could be heard was a faint click from the gun. She pulled it several more times, but nothing happened.

“Piece of shit gun!” She barked at her rifle attempting to fix it.

Neo thought to himself, “If I let my brother die out here I won’t ever forgive myself!”

Quickly Neo pulled the bloody combat knife out of the dead raiders neck, and charged at his brothers aggressor. Still petrified with fear Adam stood their, eyes wide and helpless.

“There we go.” She said happy that she had fixed her shotgun.

Before she could get a fix on Adam again, Neo went into SATS and stabbed the raider once in the chest, once in the right forehoof, and once in the neck. Adams aggressor was no more, her body now lay in front of him lifeless. Cuts and huge gashes were displayed all over the raiders once living body. Neo face was covered with the blood of the filly raider, a serious powerful look was in his eyes.

“B-b-brother?” Adam stuttered.

Neo dropped the combat knife and went down to him, “It's okay, you're fine. No ones gonna’ hurt you anymore.” He said patting him on the back reassuringly.

“B-brother, I really thought I was going to die.”

“No, not here, and not now.” He said gently.

“Brother?”

“Yes?” He answered softly.

“Do you think this was a good idea?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore, but we still need to find mom at all costs.”

Adam managed to muster a smile thinking about their mother.

“Now please get up, for her... for me.”

Neo put his hoof out for Adam to grab. Adam grabbed his hoof, and got up off the dusty brown ground. The two mares and foal approached Adam and Neo, slowly. The first one up the hill to meet them was the unicorn mare.

“Thank you for helping us.” She said thankfully.

Neo turned to her his eyes closed, “It was really nothing special I-” He opened his eyes only to see one of the most beautiful mares he had ever seen. Her mane was like waving brown wind, and her eyes like emeralds. Her coat was a beautiful light beige, and her cutie mark was a dove with a heart in the middle. she was truly a real looker. His heart started to pound like crazy as he gazed at the stunning mare.

“Uh-uh... I... yeah, It was nothing special,” Neo stuttered to her.

“Are you and your friend okay?” She asked, the other two followed her up the hill.

“I’m fine, my brother is a little shaken, but I think he’ll be fine.”

She smiled back at them.

“What are you doing out her anyway?” She asked curiously.

“We’re looking for our mom.” Adam asked trying to shake off the event that just taken place.

“I see.” Said the unicorn mare.

The earth pony mare came up the hill, “Allie thanks for waiting.” Grunted the mare trying to catch her breath. This mare was orange with a green mane and purple eyes, and the foal behind her had a cyan colored coat and a purple mane.

“Allie. What a wonderful name.” Neo thought to himself as he was still basking in her beauty.

“Oh, this is Kat,” Allie gestured her hoof to the earth pony mare, “and, this little one is Newt.” She patted the little one on the head.

“I’m Neo, and this is my little brother Adam.”

“Hi.” Greeted Adam as he waved to the other ponies.

“Hey, you guys are from a Stable right?” Kat commented.

Her voice was scratchy, and informal like that of those speed demon ponies in movies and books of the old days.

“Yep.” Adam said proudly.

“You look a lot like that one lady who came through Maneton a few days ago.”

Adam and Neo looked at each other, their spirits rose at the sound of those words. In unison they exclaimed, “Did she have blue eyes? Or a pretty smile, or a horn?” They were talking a million miles an hour, trying to keep up Kat shouted, “Slow down!”

Neo and Adam stopped talking.

“Yeah we saw some lady come through Maneton just about four days ago, she was wearing the same clothes you two have.” She said trying to remember details about the Mare.

“Where is Maneton?” Adam questioned.

Allie pointed down the road next to the hill, “It’s about three miles down this road.”

“Brother that might be a good place to start looking for her.” Adam said looking up to his brother.

“I agree Adam, but is it a safe place?” Neo said to his brother.

“Yeah its a nice little town, we all live there, so it should be fairly safe to stay for the night.” Allie commented.

Neo looked at his brother, and then turned back to the two mares and the foal, “Mind if we come with you back to Maneton? We need a place to start looking for our mom, and Maneton sounds like a great place to start.”

The mares turned around and started to discuss something, Neo and Adam wondered what they were discussing.

They stopped and turned back to the two brothers, “Sure you can come with us.”

Neo and Adam smiled, the thought of them finding their mother again was rejuvenating to the body.

“But, aren't you gonna loot the bodies first?” Kat commented.

Both brothers looked at each other, and then looked at the corpses left over from the small battle Neo had fought.

Just the thought of stealing from dead ponies was nauseating.

“Yeah, I almost forgot.” Neo said trying to make it look like he knew what he was doing.

Adam watched as Neo look through the bodies for Items. Neo found the combat shotgun, the combat knife, a box shaped pistol, a scoped revolver, and bottle caps.

“Bottle caps?” He questioned as he looked at the tiny leather pouch holding fifty or so bottle caps.

“Yeah, we use those as money out here in the wastes.” Said Allie.

Neo looked back at the group. “Okay?”

Neo still didn’t understand the wasteland, all he knew was there were ponies who wanted to kill him, and ponies who didn’t. Neo finished looting the bodies, and returned to the group, his bag was significantly more heavy than it was before.

“Alright, let's head out.” He grunted, trying to adjust the strap on his saddle bag.

“Okay, follow us, and try to keep up.” Kat said mockingly.

“Oh, and you might want to wipe that blood off your face.” Kat commented to Neo.

Neo looked puzzled for a moment, and then he remembered about the blood on his face.

“Oh yeah,” he took out a dusty old napkin from his saddle bag to wipe the blood from his face. Once he was done he put it away, and started to walk to Maneton with the rest of the group.

All Adam could think about was their mission and what it would be like to see their mother, and all Neo could think about was the beautiful mare, Allie. Together they marched off down the desolate old prewar road on their way to the first sign of civilized civilization in the wasteland.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Swift learner: +10% XP whenever XP is earned.

Would you like to Level up Adam?

Yes-

No

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Child at Heart: Unlocks many unique dialogue options with children.

Proofread by:

Colonel Lat Muffin

Noakwolf

(This now contains 95% less errors, and should be good to read.)

Maneton Life

CHAPTER 4: MANETON LIFE

The sun was setting, or that is what Neo and Adam thought as the color of the world turned from it normal dull bluish grey, to a rather sickly looking brownish green.

They were about thirty minutes into their trip, and to their surprise nopony had said a word since Neo and Adam rescued the three. Even the Foal with her squeaking and laughter was totally silent, all that was heard was the sounds of the groups hooves tapping at the ground. Adam could no longer hold it in him, he needed to know why everypony was being so quiet.

“Um, why are we so quiet?” Adam whispered to Kat.

She looked back to him sternly and put a hoof to her mouth, signaling to stay quiet. All that did was add to the confusion.

After fifteen more minutes of silence, Kat, Newt, and Allie all let out a huge sigh in unison.

Adam saw this as a sign that they could speak again.

“Why were we so quiet?” He asked anxious to quench his thirst for an answer.

“Well, that was raider territory, and I’m just glad you kept quiet so long.” Kat said to Adam.

Neo looked surprised, “That was raider territory?”

“Mhm, hundreds of them, all looking for ponies like us to take away and fuck us up.” She said rather calmly like she was being funny.

“Why did we go through raider territory again?” Adam asked.

“It's faster that way, it would be a whole nights walk and I sure you don’t want to be sleeping out in the middle of nowhere.” Allie commented.

“Fine that makes sense, but what about Newt? Why did you bring her out here with you?” Adam asked again, still not satisfied.

“Oh, she had to come or we would have to leave her home alone again. And we don’t want that again.” Kat rolled her eyes in remembrance of something terrible.

Up ahead only a hundred feet was a large roughly configured metal gate, with two large lamps on the very top.
“We’re here!” Allie exclaimed.

“Yeah its about time, I’m beat.” Kat announced to the group.

Neo looked down to Adam, “This is it, this is where we can really get started looking for mom.” He told Adam.

Adam lit up with joy, “I just can’t wait brother! We’re really gonna find-”

That joy was short lived as he heard a gunshot hit a rock right next to Neo.

Kat looked up to the big metal gate that was about twenty feet from them, “Benny...” She muttered in low tone.

Kat raised her left hoof up to her mouth and called out to the gate which now stood right in front of them. “Beny! I know you're in there!” Kat yelled at the gate.

There was silence, but then a rough voice came out from above the gate.

“Kat? Is that you?” The old voice called out.

“Yeah you old dust bag! What's with the shooting?” She replied angry that he had shot at them.

“Oh well, I’m sorry I just got a little taken away there...” He said poking his head out from behind the wall.

The buck who poked his head over the wall looked like he had been born a hundred years ago, and his mane matched his looks. He was a unicorn with a old farmer hat on top his old small head.

“Are you gonna let us in?” Kat yelled up the wall to him.

“Eh? Oh yeah, I’ll let yeh in. Just give me a secon’d.” He called back.

The old buck went back behind the wall, and after a few seconds a loud clanking noise followed. It turned from a clanking noise, to a drilling screeching noise, like when you scratch a blackboard. Then, the metal doors creaked and rattled open slowly.

Once the gate was open, Beny poked his head around the corner.

“Heh, heh. Welcome back missies.” He said tilting his hat at them.

“Hey!” He shouted before they took another step forward.

They stopped. He walked up to the group and moved over to Neo and Adam.

“Who are these two yungins?” He questioned looking at them with his old tired eyes.

“They’re with us Beny, don’t worry they're not raiders.” Allie told him in a soft almost giggle like manner.

Neo and Adam just smiled at the creepy old buck.

“Meh, if you say so miss Tales.” He said as he turned away from the colts.

“Have a good’n in Maneton.” He said walking to the big lever to shut the gate.

The group entered the town.

Foot Note: You have discovered the town of Maneton.

The town itself was a large square shaped town. Up the main street was a list of roughly built prewar buildings, and metal shacks. The town was lit up with lanterns hung from wired connected from building to building, and the occasional lamppost. In fact one building was a huge tower built out of four massive billboards towering high above the town. All around ponyfolk were talking, playing, and living their daily lives in their only little way.

“Wow this place is amazing!” Adam said amazed at the lighting system.

“Yeah, it is something if anything, but it's not nearly as nice as Ironhoof city.” Said Allie.

As they made their way through the town, it got darker, and darker until finally night had fully arrived. Once they made a few turns they approached a small two story metal shack.

“Welcome to our little piece of Maneton.” Allie said opening the door for Kat, and Newt.

Adam went through the door and thanked her. Neo stopped and moved to take over, “Here, you go, I got it.” He said lowering his eye lids.

“Oh, thank you.” Allie let go of the door and went through smiling.

Neo then followed her into her home shutting the metal plated door behind them.

When Neo entered the house he was instantly taken by surprise because the inside was nothing like you would have guessed judging it by the outside alone. The inside had a large center room with a variety of different carpets and rugs woven together to fill up the first floor. The walls were decorated with a roughly painted tapestry of small pony shaped figures of all shapes and sizes. One of the most notable features was that it was relatively clean. Neo and Adam liked the fact it was clean, more or less.

“I’m going to get something to eat.” Said Kat, as she moved over to the corner of the room looking through cabinets and pantries for some kind of food lying about.

Newt moved over to a small rusted blue chest next to the stairs heading to the second story of their home. She opened the chest which was stuffed with old toys, she ruffled through the chest and pulled out what looked like a pink filly doll. She started to play with the doll pretending it was alive and dancing.

Allie turned around to the two brothers, “We have one guest room just up the stairs.” She gestured towards the stairs on her right. “Its the only room upstairs so it shouldn’t be hard to find.”

Neo chuckled a bit, and Adam just smiled.

“Hey Allie! Do you guys want something to eat?” Kat asked from across the room.

After all that had happened that day food was the least of their concerns at this point.

“Nah I think we’re good.” Neo and Adam both said scratching their manes.

“Suit yourself.” Allie shrugged and went to join Kat in getting something to eat.

Adam started up the stairs, Neo paused and called over to Allie and Kat, “I think we’re just gonna try and get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow and all you know how it is."

Allie looked at Neo and said, “Sure thing, just let me know if theres anything you need.”

For some reason, Neo blushed at her remark. Trying to hide it he quickly seized the moment, “Well, I’m really sleepy! I better get to sleep now, gotta get up bright and early... Yeah.” He moved up the stairs a little more faster than his brother did. Allie looked at Kat oddly, “What was that all about?” She asked Kat.

“Beats me. I don’t really care right now.” Kat shrugged before continuing to get her meal together.

Neo got upstairs and into the room. His brother had already sat down his saddle bag which had become heavy after carrying it all day, Adam was lying down on what was the only bed in the room. The room was small, with only a small space in between the bed that was against the wall, and the small wooden chest across the room from it.

“Brother a real bed!” Adam said as he bounced a bit on the bed.

The springs on the bed squeaked loudly with each movement he made.

“Yeah the only bed in the room.” Neo said in a bland tone.

“Oh, sorry brother. You can have the blanket if you want.” Adam said gathering the small brown sheet from the bed.

Neo smiled, “Thanks Adam.”

Neo took off his saddle bag, it was three times more heavier than his due to him carrying all the loot he had took from the dead raiders he had killed. Neo sorted out the blanket so he could get the most comfort out of it he could. He plotted himself soundly on the carpet ready to leave this day behind and start a brand new one.

“Brother, do you miss home?” Adam asked.

“We’ve only been gone a day?” Neo replied.

“I know but I miss my bed, and my room with all my tools and widgets.”

“I miss the ice cream that we would get at the dinner, and the sweet apple pie.” Neo said resting his head.

“Yeah, I miss that too. But you know what I miss the most?”

“What Adam?”

“I miss our family being together.” Adam said, laying his head down.

Neo yawned, “I do too *Yawn*” Neo finally drifted off into a deep calming sleep.

Adam smiled at his sleeping big brother, “Good night brother...”And soon, Adam too was grasped by a sleepy heavy sleep.

In the doorway, Allie was listen to them talk. All she could do was smile at the thought of what their life was like before they came out into the wastes, and what their mother was really like.

In the darkness, there is nothing. Only empty space, a lifeless oblivion made only for those who deserve it. That is what is outside the Stable. There is no world left to tread. It was all gone, all of it. Those who left the Stable would only meet a silent quick death as they were engulfed by the void. This was what we were told. We didn’t believe the stories, after all it was just an old ponies tale. Thats what we used to believe, now after being out here in the outside maybe those stories were true. All we can do is live, and hope we complete our goal before the void takes us into eternity.

“Brother! Wake up brother!”

Neo raised his head off the ground to see what Adam wanted.

“Brother we got to get up, it's time to start the day.” Adam said excitement racing through him.

Neo dropped his head again back on the carpet he was resting on. He was still half asleep, and Adam seemed wide awake.

“Not now, I’m still tired.” Neo grumbled as he turned over to continue sleeping.

“Brother we need to start looking for mom.” Adam said disappointed.

“We will when I’m done sleeping.” Neo mumbled under sheet.

“Fine. I’ll go see the town and start looking for mom.” Adam left the room leaving his lazy brother to sleep.

Neo picked up his head again, “Wait, I’m not in my room.” He mumbled trying to wake up. It had been ten minutes since Adam tried to wake him up.

His eyes opened wide as realization hit him straight in the face. He leaped up, still wobbly from the rough night's sleep he had. Neo sighed, “I’m still tired, but Adams right.” He shook his head shaking off some of the sleepiness from his mind.

Downstairs everpony was making food, except for Allie, Newt, and Adam. So that just left Kat.

Neo came slowly down the stairs into the main room. Kat was at a roughly repaired old stove cooking some kind of stew, and Adam was sitting at the table looking over one a old toy Newt had from her toy chest.

“There all fixed.” Adam said to Newt putting his screwdriver away in his bag.

Newt picked up the old toy which was some kind of orange train from the old days.

“Yay! Train train!” Newt hopped around happy her toy was working again.

Adam gave her the train, and smiled at her. She then took the train and started to play with it, pretending it was taking ponies from place to place.

Allie walked out of a door just under the stairs. She looked tired and slow, but her mane was still as beautiful as it was the day before.

“Good morning everypony.” Allie said sitting at the small table in the corner of the room.

Neo joined in and sat at the table filling in the last chair.

“Celestia, I’m starving. What are you making Kat?” Neo asked scratching his mane.

“Stew.”

“What kind of stew?”

“Stew.”

“Can you please be a little more clear?”

“No.”

Neo’s eyes widened, he turned to Allie, “Whats with her?” He whispered.

“Shes not a morning pony.” Allie whispered back.

“Oh, I see.” Neo nodded as Kat brought a big iron pot to the table.

“Newt get the bowls.” Kat said sternly.

“I can get them Kat.” Adam said. For some reason Adam had been in a surprisingly better mood than he was yesterday.

Adam went over to one of the top cabinets and pulled out three bowls.

“There.” He said putting the bowls on the table. “One for brother, one for me, and one for Newt."

“I’ll get Allies and mine.” Kat mumbled her ears folded back.

Kat went to fetch the other bowls for her and Allie. While Kat was getting her bowl Allie started filling up each bowl with a small ladle inside the pot.

“Soups up, Take a bowl and eat up!” Allie said with a smile on her face.

Neo and Adam each took a bowl. Looking at the stew there was what looked like carrot bits, a few bits of old celery, and meat.

“Meat?” Adam questioned.

“Yeah its Brahmin stew.” Allie said.

“We don’t have meat in the Stable, we only eat fruits and vegetables.” Adam said looking at the meat float around in the stew like old mud chunks in a pool of water.

“Its okay, try it.” Allie nudged the stew towards him with he horn glowing.

Adam looked over to his brother to ask him what he thought, “Brother are you eating the-” Adam paused shocked that his older brother was scarfing down the whole bowl.

“Brother?” Adam asked looking awed.

Neo stopped for only a moment to reply, “This is really good Adam! I never knew meat tasted this nice!” He then continued to inhale what was left of his stew.

After about five or so bowls Neo was finally full. Nearly half the pot was gone and everyone was still on their first bow still amazed on how much he consumed.

Once breakfast was done Kat decided stay and clean up after the rather, filling meal. Allie agreed to take Neo and Adam around town to get supplies, and look for their mom.

The morning was very cool, with a sweet dampness was surrounding the air, townsfolk walked around opening shops, and preparing to start off their day. The clouds were still thick and gloomy, not once had they even broken up or lightened up. It was just like it was the day before, a gloomy dark grayish blanket that never seemed to end.

Neo, Adam, and Allie all walked down the dusty dirt road that divided the two halves of the town.

“Where are we off to now?” Adam asked Allie.

“We’re off to go get your stuff checked out at the general store.”

“Oh, how far is the store from your place?”

“Not to far, it just up the road here, the town itself isn’t very big.” She replied.

Allie then decided it was the right time to start giving the tour of the town as they made their way to the Maneton general store.

“This is the Main Square of Maneton, and over there is the town hall, and thats the sheriffs office.” Allie said finding excitement showing the town off to the Stable dwellers.

Allie found it mandatory that every little detail about the town was explained as the moved farther up the road. As the time passed more ponyfolk came out to perform daily duties and chores. Adam who didn’t really care about the tour was just amazed on how they had their lighting and pipeline set up. Thinking about how each pipe went into each home, and how much power it must take to get the water flowing at a productive rate was fascinating to him.

Neo on the other hand enjoyed the tour, listening to every word Allie had to say.

About five buildings from the general store there was a unicorn in a balcony of a building working on what seemed to be a large fuse box. She was swearing at the large metal box connecting to a large wire that stretched across the street.

“Piece of junk!” The unicorn swore hitting the box.

Adam stopped and move to the balcony to see what was wrong.

“Hey! What's going on up there?” Adam called too the unicorn.

She stopped for a moment to wipe some grime off her face, she turned her head to Adam.

“Its nothing kid, run along.” She said gesturing him to go away.

“No really I can help! Thats if you need it anyway.” He persisted.

She paused and thought for a moment, and then went back to Adam, “If you say you think help me. Than what the hay.” She said shrugging at her decision.

A huge smile found its way across Adam's face.“How do I get up there?”

“Just come on up through the house, up the stairs, and right out the only door to the balcony.” She shouted to him from her position.

Neo and Allie noticed Adam was no longer with them, and for a moment Neo felt paniced, but that panic was short lived when he turn around to see Adam talking to a green unicorn on balcony.

Allie and Neo stopped Adam before he started to make his way into the house.

“Adam where are you going?” Neo asked him.

Adam turned around to his brother. “She needs help fixing that big fuse box up there.” Adam pointed to where the unicorn was at.

“Don’t worry Neo, thats Nova. She's our local mechanic and magic technician.” Allie said answering Neo’s question as to who she was.

Adam looked at Neo and started to beg, “Please brother! I want to at least try and fix it! I’ll be careful I swear!” He said with a big sad puppy dog face trying to convince him.

“Well...” Neo said thinking rubbing his neck with his metal arm.

“I guess you can help her.” Neo said to Adam.

Adam’s grin grew double, but then his smile died down when Neo continued “But come strait to the general store when your done.” He said seriously to Adam, his great smile returned shortly after his statement.

Adam tried to dismiss the smile, and get serious, “Don’t worry brother I’ll be careful. You don’t have to worry about that.” He said giving Neo a serious trustworthy expression.

“Well? Go on help her, she isn’t going to wait all day.” Neo said dismissing his brother from the discussion.

Adam walked off into the house to help Nova fix the fuse box. Neo and Allie looked at each other and continued on their way to the general store.

The general store was a large wooden two story building. An old wagon wheel with several lights strung about it was used as a chandelier. An old zig zag black and white patterned rug was used lying in the center of the room. Shelves of assorted goods filled the shelves of the store, and on the front counter which was where the shopkeeper was. He was a young earth pony colt who looked no younger than Neo did, he had a red bandana neckerchief wrapped around his yellow-orange neck. He looked bored out of his wits, like when a young filly had to take a test in school or listen to a lecture.

As the two entered, a small metal bell rang softly as they opened the door to the store.
Immediately the shopkeeper perked up, he sat up straight and looked more alive than he previously did.

He looked to the two customers, “Welcome to the Maneton general store, I’m Isaac how can I help you two today?” He said in a cheerful friendly tone a big smile shining off his face.

Allie moved over to the counter where Isaac was, “Oh hi Isaac, we just wanted to bring by some stuff to sell, and maybe buy some stuff for my friend.”

“Alright let's take a look at what you’ve got then.” Isaac said rubbing his hooves together anxiously.

Neo swung his saddle bags on the counter spilling most of the bags contents. Neo started to separate the stuff he wanted to sell and the stuff he didn’t into different piles. The stuff he wasn’t going to sell was put back into his saddle bags, and put back on his back.

Neo started to list the items in the pile that he was selling, pointing to each item as he called them, “There's this box shaped pistol, a shotgun, a glass cup, and some bits from the Stable.”

Isaac eyed each item inspecting them closely making sure he wasn’t being ripped off.

Holding the combat shotgun he said, “Well this shotguns in pretty good condition considering it used to be a raider weapon.” He took out the barrel clip from the gun looking it over for ammo. “Its got two shots... I can give it to you for, twenty caps.”

Neo pondered if that was either a very good deal, or a bad deal. In his mind the amount of caps he offered sounded like a lot, but at the same time it didn’t. To him it was just confusing and strange.

“I think I’ll keep it, just for protection.” Neo told Isaac.

Isaac shrugged, “Suit yourself, if you wanna sell to me later than you can. I’ll be here all day if you need me.” Isaac set the shotgun back down on the counter.

He started to look at the pile again. Isaac spotted the the box shaped pistol and instantly his eyes widened and he got a surprised look on his face.

“Where did you get a laser pistol?”

Neo looked puzzled by the remark, “A what?”

Allie leaned forward to get a closer look at the weapon, “Whoa! I can’t believe my eyes, one of those raiders actually had a laser pistol on them!” She exclaimed in astonishment.

“What's so special about this gun?” Neo asked still unsure on whether or not he was going to sell it.

Isaac looked at Neo, “Why this little thing you got here is a state-of-the-art laser pistol, and damn, its in good shape too.” Isaac had a big greedy grin on his face.

Neo paused to think about it for a second. On one hoof he had no ammo for it, on another hoof it seemed rare and giving it away might be a bad idea.

“How much are you willing to take it for?” Neo asked hesitantly.

“For the quality, 55 caps.” He replied leaning against the counter.

Neo looked down for a moment, and he said with a sigh, “60 caps.” He said looking deeply at Isaac.

“Whoa there buddy.” Isaac said gesturing his hooves for him to back off.

“60 take it or leave it.” Neo said with sly smirk on his face.

Isaac bit his lip and folded his ears down, it was clear he was debating with himself on the matter.

Finally he looked at Neo and sighed with frustration, “Fine 60 caps, but don’t you think I’m soft on you. Cause I’m not.”

“Deal then.” Neo said with a rather victorious expression.

“Deal.” Isaac muttered disappointed that he had just lost 60 caps.

Adam was looking at his Pipbuck for fuse box symbols, he was sitting next to Nova directing her actions. He had fixed fuse boxes before back in the Stable, like when the resident chambers had lights that went out, rather than send for the repair pony he was called instead.

Adam pointed to a green fuse with his right forehoof, “Right here, put the wire 637 here.”

She levitated the wire into the appropriate place with a click.

“There, should be working now.” Nova said wiping grease from her hoof.

“It should work, I mean I double checked all the wires.” Adam commented checking through the tragic mess of wires and fuses.

“Okay hold your breath kid.” Nova said closing one eye and turning away slowly pulling the power lever down.

The leaver sounded rusted, and old as it squeaked loudly as she pulled it farther down. The lever was now fully down, and nothing happened.

Both their them were not surprised by the fact it didn’t work, or the fact that it didn’t explode on them when they turned it on.

“Piece of crap!” Nova swore as she hit the side of the fuse box, and then suddenly a loud humming noise sparked up out of nowhere.

The lights on the street light up faintly, and soon were lit up, bright, and beautiful.

“Well Celestia be praised you did it kid!” Nova exclaimed jumping up and hugging Adam tightly.

Adam was happy that he had succeeded in fixing the lights, but since he also couldn't breath it made it hard for him to be overjoyed. “Let me go please.” He whimpered as he gasped for air.

The green unicorn stopped her celebration to let Adam go, “Oh, sorry kid.” She said slightly embarrassed by her actions.

Adam took a deep breath of fresh air relieved that he was breathing freely once again.

Adam started to rub his sides trying to massage the pain away, “No it fine, I’ve had worse.” Adam gave her a smile.

She smirked and helped him up, “You ain’t to bad around technology, for an earth pony.”

Adam turned to his side to show off his flank, “My cutie mark is three copper gears with a wire, I’m made to be good at this stuff. Back home, I’m even better at repairing than anyone else I know.” That wasn’t saying a lot considering that he was the only one in his residence district who could repair anything back in the Stable.

Nova just smirked at him, “I guess you better head off now. Don’t want to keep you friends waiting.”

Adam turned back around facing her, “Oh yeah, thanks for letting me help you.”

“No, thank you for helping.” She said patting him on the head.

“Now get outta here.” She said nudging him out the door of the balcony gently a small smile on her face.

Adam walked into the room and started to go back down the stairs, Nova sighed in a content mood, “I just hope he doesn’t get into trouble, or worse. Get killed.”

Adam went back out the building into the dirt street. Adam remembered that Neo had told him to go to the general store right after he was done, and that he should help find information about mom afterwards with him. Adam considered it in is best interest to get to the general store which was only about a hundred feet away, but something interesting caught his eye in the window of the shop next to the general store. It was a book with a pair of goggles next to it. The goggles were made for training ponies, but he fell deeply in love with the fine leather and thickness of the goggles. He needed them, and the book next to them was a blackish book with yellow lettering on the cover saying "Wasteland Survival Guide".

“Its just two minutes, it can’t hurt if I look at them both for two minutes.” Adam thought to himself walking into the store next to the general store.

Inside the general store Neo and Allie had managed to barter 60 shotgun shells, and 30 shots for the other pistol Neo had looted from the raiders. What was the most surprising was that he did it all with 50 caps, and Isaac wasn’t too happy either.

Isaac sighed, “Is that all you need?” He said nervously hoping to Celestia that they didn’t ask for more.

“Actually I think we're good now.” Neo said with a victorious smirk on his face.

“Praise Celestia! I can’t keep being this nice to people.” Isaac thought to himself as he waved goodbye to them.

“Come again.” He said nervously, a fake smile on his face.

“Will do Isaac.” Neo said walking out of the general store with Allie.

Isaac sighed in relief that he didn’t have to trade with those two anymore, “I need to think about improving my bartering skills.” He said putting his head on the counter.

“That went better than I planned.” Neo said to Allie proud of himself that he managed to become quiet the trader.

Allie smiled at him, “But did you look at Isaac's face when you sold your glass cup for 20 caps.”

Neo started to laugh a bit, “Or when I bought repairs for the shotgun for under 18 caps.”
“Yeah, he looked like he was about to explode!” Allie added.

The two both started to laugh at their experience in the store.

“I haven’t laughed like that in months.” Allie said calming down, and wiping a tear from her cheek.

They both looked at each other, a feeling of happiness and joy filled them as the looked deeper into each others eyes.

The moment was short lived when Adam came dashing over to them from the store next to them.

“Brother!” Adam shouted jumping on Neo.

“Whaa!” He said as he was tackled by his little brother, “Hi brother.” Adam said getting off of Neo.

Allie chuckled a bit at the comical scene.

Neo got up and dusted himself off before asking Adam how the repairs went with Nova, “Did you help fix that fuse box?”

“Oh yeah we sure did, the lights are running now.” Adam said helping Neo get the dirt off his stable suit.

Allie looked at them both. “Now that we got supplies, and lightened your bags, we need to see if we can try and find some information on your mother’s whereabouts.”

“Yeah, but where should we start looking?” Neo commented.

“A lot of travelers go into the Maneton saloon, that's probably a good place to start.” Allie stated.

“Then lets head to the saloon and see what we can find.” Adam said.

Adam started to dig through his saddle bag to pull out his new goggles. Neo looked at him curiously wondering where he had got the goggles.

“Adam where did you get those goggles?” Neo asked him.

“I bought them with the caps we got from those raiders, why do ask?” He said tilting his head in puzzlement.

Neo looked surprised, “You had those caps!”

“Yeah I thought you knew.”

“No, I didn’t know! I need those to buy a... New...Thing!” He shouted.

Neo calmed down for a moment, “How much did you spend?” He asked calmly.

“All of it.” Adam said smiling.

Once again Neos face lit up with rage, “Why did you spend them all! What did you buy!”

Adam smiled nervously with his ears folded back, “I got this book, and these goggles.” Adam went through his bag to get the book he had bought from the store.

He held it in his mouth for Neo to see, on the cover it said, "Wasteland Survival Guide. By Ditzy Doo".

Allies face instantly lit up, “Wow! You got the only copy in town! How did you buy it?”

Adam put a hoof to his head remembering what had happened in the store, “Well, I walked in and bought the goggles for 15 caps, then I asked him for the book, and he said it was 100 caps. I thought that was terrible price for a book so I asked him why it was so expensive, and he said, ‘This is the only copy of this book in the whole Ironhoof Province.’ And I said that was stupid so I told him I would trade my book on bio magical technology for the book. He looked at it and said that it was worth a trade so we traded books, and here we are.”

“I see but how about the rest of the caps?” Neo asked upset that he had spent half of their money.

“Oh thats easy, I lost them.” He said with the same big embarrassed smile on his face.

“I give up.” Neo said hanging his head down.

“Lets... Just go look for mom at the salon.” Neo said trying to shake the negative feeling from his mind.

--

The saloon was a large brick building with three floors, and a large windmill on the top of the building. It looked like some kind of old hang out in the days before the war. There was no door in the front and it was silent. All the noise that could be heard was the sound of a cough every now and again.

They entered the old saloon slowly, the gaze of everypony was on them as they advanced further into the saloon. Everypony there was like a shadow with eyes, like a monster that a foal would find under their bed.

Neo, Allie, and Adam sat down at the bar. A large brown unicorn stallion was levitating a glass, washing it with a dirty old cloth.

He moved over to them and in a gruff hardened voice he asked, “What’ll it be?” He said looking at the trio.

“Nothing for the moment, I do need to ask you a question though.” Neo said leaning closer to the bartender.

“I won’t talk if yeh don’t buy somthin.” He said spitting in the glass he was cleaning using his saliva as a cleaner.

Neo looked at Adam and Allie, “What do I do?” He whispered to them.

“Buy something.” Allie replied shrugging.

Neo turned back to the mean looking colt, “I’ll just have...” Neo said looking at the many different bottles on the shelf behind him, “That, I’ll some of that.” Neo's said pointing to a brown bottle in the corner of the shelf.

With a mellow expression the unicorn's horn faintly lit up as he levitated the bottle to a glass. He poured a thick steaming brown liquid into the glass, “There, that’ll be ten caps.” He said blankly.

Neo went through his bag and pulled out ten caps, and gave it to the unicorn. He slid his left forehoof over the counter to collect his pay.

Neo just smirked slightly at the drink which looked strikingly similar to oil, only it was more disgusting.

He gestured his head forward telling him to drink it, and with a gulp and a little faith he put his head down to drink the oily beverage.

*SLURP* In one whole swing he inhaled the whole glass of gunk, an almost deathly look came shortly after he finished it. Neo coughed a bit trying to clean it out of his system, the taste of oil and rotten garbage still hung around his mouth.

Neos voice was still soggy from the drink, “So... Did you happen to..Ugh.” He gave up trying the beverage proved to be too strong for him, and he was left unable to talk for the moment.

Adam took over the conversation, “We need to find our mom, shes a unicorn for a Stable like us. Have you seen her?”

He looked at him bleakley, “Can’t say I have, I don’t remeb’r all the folks that come through my saloon.”

Adam and Neo's hearts sank at the sound of the news he had given them.

“I know where your mom went.” Went a filly's voice from across the room.

The trio turned their heads towards the direction of the stranger's voice, it was dark in the room and it was hard to tell what she looked like.

“Over here.” The voice called softly.

Over in the corner of the room was a round table, and there sat a grey Pegasus pony with a leather duster coat, and a brown fedora. A sniper rifle sat next to her.

The trio moved towards the table and sat down.

“What do you know about our mom?” Asked Adam.

She looked up at him, “More than you think kid.”

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Silver tongue: You have a way with words when it comes to trading, you gain a 25% discount every time you buy items from a trader.

Foot Note: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam?

Yes<

No

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Careful reader: You gain +2 points whenever a new book is read.

(AN: I did some basic editing with this, so hopefully it is slightly more readable now. However there is still things I need to fix. Originally I did editing with a few proofreaders but due to some technical difficulties on my part I lost the edited version of this chapter. I will continue to edit it and improve in the near future. Thank you - Noakwolf)

Luck

CHAPTER 5: LUCK

“You know our mom!” Adam exclaimed in excitement.

The strange Pegasus nodded at him. “Yeah I know who she is.” She said taking a sip of a some kind alcoholic drink on the table.

Neo looked at her in disbelief, “What does she look like then?” He asked her curiously still not trusting her.

She looked at the trio with a rather stern and bored look on her face, “Shes a unicorn, blue coat, brown mane, Stable suit, that stuff.” She continued not giving the brothers time to respond. “Last thing I can say is that she was heading for Ironhoof City.” She took another sip and went on, “I saw her myself, she is quiet the nice looking mare if I do say so myself.”

Neo leaned closer to the Pegasus, “Do you know why she is out here? Or, why she left?”

She retained the same stern bored look that she had before, “Listen.” She said pushing her drink to the side. “I like you, I can tell you love this mar-, I mean mother of yours a whole lot.” She paused as she picked up her sniper rifle and leaned against it, “I MIGHT be willing to help you with you problem.”

She stopped talking for a moment, and everyone was silent. Adam took this time to ask a question, “Are you going to help us find our-” Adam was interrupted by the Pegasus again. “Yeah, I'll help you.” She said in a low monotonous tone.

“Great! Now-” Once again Adam was stopped by the stranger. “But, I want you to help me with something first.”

Neo leaned back into his seat to listen more carefully, Allie on the other hoof decided to ask her a question. “How do we know we can trust you?”

The Pegasus sat up strait and turned her fedora around so that they could see the side better, and on the side that she exposed to them was a yellow sun. Neo and Adam recognized the symbol, it looked just like the sun princess Celestia used as her insignia in the days of old.

“Whats that supposed to mean?” Neo said to the Pegasus not really impressed by the small symbol on her hat.

Allie looked surprised. “Your a Guardian?”

The Pegasus nodded back to her.

“Whats a Guardian?” Adam asked curiously while he was scratching his head.

The Pegasus was quiet and intimidating just blankly starring at them with her eyes halfway open.

Neo turned to Allie as if he was lookig for answers, “Allie what are Guardians?” He asked her.

She paused to think about the details, “Well from what I’ve heard the are a group of traveling warriors that conquer evil, and defend the weak. In some areas I’ve heard they have entire squads of fighters ready to fight anything. Or at least thats what I've heard.” She stopped for a moment trying to think of other information she might have on the Guardians. She shrugged, “Thats all I really know about them, besides that there really isn’t much to tell.”

“She pretty much summed it up for you.” The Pegasus said moving her sniper to her lap. She looked up at the two brothers, “I’ll help you find your mom in Ironhoof, if you help me while your there.” She gave them a small smirk.

“Help you do what?” Neo asked curiously, he didn’t like the fact that he had to help her do chores in order to find their mom.

She started to name things they needed to do, “Help me make deliveries to traders, help stop theifs, and help me clean my house. Stuff like that, and hell if you do a good job there just might be some caps in it for you.” She went back to having the same bored expression she had earlier.

“I’m willing to do it if it means finding mom!” Adam said still determined to finding their mother.

Neo sighed, “Fine, we’ll help you ONLY if you promise to help us find our mom.” He said folding his forehooves.

She took her left hoof and crossed her chest symbolizing she promised to help them. Her bland looked quickly changed grim, “There is just one small problem, its a three day walk from here to Ironhoof, and I could fly but my supply cart I use was taken by raiders just north for here. Naturally I would get it myself, but I already checked out the place and there are way to many for me and my sniper to pick off.”

“Were going to have to kill them?” Adam mumbled.

“No, were going to give them flowers and cupcakes...” She said sarcastically.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Adam said folding his ears down his mind filled with the images of his brother killing the raiders they encountered on their first day in the wasteland. It made his stomach turn in knots just by thinking about killing more ponies, and see more death.

Neo stood up sharply, “What are we going to use this cart for anyway?” He asked.

“Why your going to ride in it of course.” She said with a clever smirk on her face.

Adam tried to shake the thoughts from his head, “Remember mom, I can’t fail now. I won’t stop looking, I won’t.” He thought to himself as he pulled himself together.

“When do we leave?” Neo and Adam said in unison confident grins spread on their faces.

Allie smiled at the thought of how powerful their bond together was.

“When you got weapons and ammo then were ready to go.” She said picking up her rifle and putting it on her back with the strap connected to it.

“Well its probably a good thing I went to the store before we came here then.” Neo said positively.

“Well I guess you are ready to go then.” She got up from the table they were sitting at. She turned around to tell them something, “Meet me at the entrance of Maneton when your ready. Oh, and the name is Lucy, Lucy luck.

The Pegasus finally left the saloon leaving the trio alone at the table.

Neo looked at Allie with worry in his eyes, “Its probably safer if you go back home and wait for us to get back.”

She just looked at him and sighed, “You and Adam better come back safe.” She said grinning slightly.

Adam jumped from the table with a powerful aura surrounding him, “What are we waiting for?” He said a determined look in his eyes.

Neo told Allie goodbye, and joined Adam on their way to the front gate.

At the front gate Lucy was waiting kicking an old rusty can as she waited for the two brothers. She looked around to see if she could see them, and there she saw them coming down the main road of Maneton.

“You boys ready to roll?” She said slipping a clip of ammunition into her sniper.

“Yep.” Neo nodded.

“Good I don’t like to wait much, I want to get my cart back.”

Adam stopped her before they started to head of to the raider camp. “Don’t you wan’t to know our names first?” He asked.

“Make it quick.” She said in a rude tone.

“I’m Neo, and this is Adam.” Neo said pointing to his little brother.

“Okay, Neo and Adam, got it. Now lets just get going now please.” She said trying to rush them.

"Right." The two replied in unison.

*****

After about one hour of walking they made it to the raider outpost. They got down behind some rocks just over a hill next to the raider outpost.

The raider outpost was a small house with several large holes exposing the inside of the building. The building itself was decorated with graffiti in an asortment of colors, pornigaphic insults and slang were splattered on every inch of structure. Dead pony skulls were displayed on sticks as decorating, and mutilated pony bodies dangled form chains only adding to the gruesome place those raiders called home.

There were roughly twenty or so raiders patroling the house, just outside the house was three large cages each of which had two ponies inside. The ponies inside looked starving and tattered from the harm the raiders had caused them. It made Neo angry to see what those ponies where doing to them, and he wasn’t going to let them suffer anymore. On the other side of the house was Lucy’s cart which was the primary goal for the mission.

Lucy pulled out her sniper and looked down the scope to see what would be the best way to attack. Neo and Adam followed her lead and peaked over their cover to see which way was the safest.

“WHAT!” Lucy shouted as quietly as she could.

“What is it?” Neo whispered to lucy.

“Look at my cart!” She quietly shouted again.

Neo and Adam turned their gaze to the cart. The cart was violently moving back and forth fiercely.

“Are they...” Neo questioned disgusted by the thought of two raider ponies going at it.

“Aw sick.” Adam said turning away from the sight equally disgusted by the thought.

“Oh no, not in my cart!” She exclaimed furiously turning the safety off on her sniper.

Before she was going to start shooting she turned to Neo and Adam and whispered, “I want you two to charge down to those rocks down their.” She pointed down to a small pile of boulders next to the house. “Then I need you to take out the raiders next to the cart, I’ll take cover you as you go. Next, I want you to take out all of the raiders on the other side of the house. Got that?”

Neo and Adam just looked at her trying to retain what she had just told them. Adam slowly raised his hoof and asked his question slowly, “I think we got that al-” Adam was interrupted by the angry Pegasus.

“Great! Now when I say go, you book it? Okay?” She said chuckling insanely looking down the scope of her sniper.

Neo reached over to pull out his revolver he had looted from the first raiders he and Adam met.

With the gun in his mouth Neo was more than ready to fight those sad excuses for ponies. Adam started to go through Neos bag to look for a gun of his own, he found a 10mm pistol that Neo had haggled from Isaac at the general store. Both brothers held guns in their mouths ready to attack.

“Go!” Lucy shouted.

Neo and Adam jumped up to their feet and dashed down hill to the rocks as fast as the could. Three shots went off, and three raiders on the second story of the building fell flat on the ground their heads completely blown off.

“OH shit! Were under attack!” Yelled a unicorn raider holding a hunting rifle.

With that alert it was now made clear that all the raiders knew about their presence. Three shots were fired from a raider pony near the cart, he was shooting at Adam and Neo. They dove for cover dodging the wave of bullets being sprayed at them. Once behind cover Neo leaped up for one moment to go into SATS, he auto targeted a raiders head, another raiders chest, and then the head again of the first raider pony.

Neo pulled the trigger once with his tongue, the first bullet missed, but the second one hit the first raider dead set in the eye. He fell to the gound dead, he pulled the trigger one more time, and it was a direct hit in the heart of the second pony.

Neo quickly went back behind the rocks to take cover while he waited for SATS to recharge. Adam looked down at his EFS to see how many there were, ten little lights showed up on the tiny bar that told him which way was north and south.
Adam never fired a gun before, and he was both excited and terrified to fire a gun for the first time. He closed his eyes as he got up and randomly popped off four shots. Adam cringed as every shot he fired was a blow to his self esteem. Quickly he dived back into the rocks for cover.

Neo looked at Adam with an eyebrow raised, “Wuff wasf dat.” He mumbled with the gun in his mouth.

Adam looked back at him, “I fuws shooting aut fthe wayders.” He replied mumbling with his gun in his mouth.

Lucy took three more shots each one was a direct kill. The raiders in the wagon had stopped their intercourse for a moment to see what was going on outside. A earthpony and a unicorn sat up in the cart. The unicorn was levitating a 10mm pistol with her magic, and the earthpony held a small crowbar in his mouth.

With SATS fully recharged Neo poked his head over the rocks to take a few shots at some more raiders. The only two he could see at the moment was the two who had gotten up from their intercourse in the cart.

Neo once again went into SATS as he got up from his cover. Within a blink of an eye he targeted the pony with the 10mm pistol three times. *Pop!* The first shot missed completely. *Pop!* The second shot hit the raider in the knee causing her to fire once. The last shot Neo fired hit her right in between the eyes. The bullet had made a small cloud of blood as it punctured her skull. Neo pulled the trigger one more time hoping he could hit the crowbar pony, but *Click* He had run out of bullets. “Oh crap.” He thought to himself as he went back to cover to put away his useless pistol.

The crowbar raider saw Neo jump back into cover and charged towards the rocks he and Adam hid behind. It was apparent that the raider was not happy because he was having a good time in the cart till they showed up.

Then another sniper shot fired, followed by a green metal apple. The crowbar raider had part of his head blown completely off by Lucy.

“Serves you right you bastard.” She muttered softly to herself. She was happy she killed one of the ponies who fucked in her cart.

The green metal apple landed in next to Adam. Adam looked down and saw the apple just sitting there. Neo looked back to Adam, and before he cold say a thing he pushed Adam over and kicked the Apple back into the house. “Whoo.” Sighed with relief as he wiped sweat from his brow.

“Ah fuck! HIT THE DECK!” A raider pony yelled inside the house.

*BOOM!* A large explosion followed shortly after he swore.
Adam put his gun way in his bag and then turned to his brother, “Brother what was that?!” He asked, surprised that the tiny apple was actually an explosive.

“It was a grenade.” Neo said taking out his combat knife and lying it on the ground.

“A grenade?” Adam asked.

“Its a tiny explosive, you pull the pin and through it. I think you know the rest by now.” He picked up the combat knife in his mouth and put it away as Lucy came down the hill towards them.

“But, how did you know what it was?” Adam pondered.

“Easy, I saw a few for sale at the general store.” Neo mumbled smiling back at him.

“Not bad, not bad. I have seen worse.” Lucy applauded as she came down from the hill.

She put her sniper rifle to her back and made her way to the cart. She went right up to it and started to hug and kiss the thing as if it were her child. “Mama’s here sweety, I won’t let dose bad, bad raiders hurt you again.” She said in a motherly babyish manner.

Neo and Adam chuckled a bit at her reunion with her cart, but the comic scene soon disappeared as she became serious again.

“Why are you two just standing there? Loot the place!” She yapped at them.

The brothers jumped in fright as they began to carry out Lucy’s orders.

Outside The house Neo found three metal boxes each of which had a few caps inside, and some extra ammunition for his revolver. Adam looked outside and found a crowbar from the dead pony Lucy killed, and the 10mm pistol from the other raider Neo killed. Although he didn’t like the look of pony brains splattered everywhere he wasn’t as grossed out or nauseated as before. Neo checked each body outside for supplies. One raider wore a bandana around his head, for some reason Neo found it rather nice so he took it for himself.

Lucy had finally finished getting her cart fixed up, and that meant cleaning up after the raiders love session. Neo went back to get his combat knife and Adam waited for Neo to help him on the other side of the house. Together they both went to the other side of the house where the raider captives were.

Inside the three cages were four ponies, each looked like they had been through hell and back again. One of the captives was a small colt who looked no older than Newt. It was sad, and it made Neo and Adam furious to think that little ones like him everywhere were dying slow painful deaths.

One of the captives, a pink unicorn filly looked up to Neo and Adam and with a weak wheezy voice she muttered, “Help... Us.”

Neo knelt down to the cage. “Don’t worry we’ll get you out.” He said reassuringly, he had a friendly honest look him that made the captive feel peaceful, and at ease.

Adam was looking around each cage searching for a way to open it. Adam looked at Neo, “We need to check the inside for keys.”

Neo got up and looked back at Adam. “Thats probably the best thing to do.”

Adam moved over to what seemed like a doorway to the raiders former home. Neo followed closely behind his younger brother. The inside of the raiders home was just as just as dirty and disgusting as the raiders who used to live here. The whole house smelled of vomit and decomposing flesh, limbs and dead bodies littered every bit of the home. The walls were covered in blood, and graphic graffiti of ponies doing it and dying. Small blood stained mattresses covered one third of the first floor of the house, to the left was two raider bodies completely splattered all over the wall. Neo asumed it was those very unlucky ponies he had kicked the grenade to, and there right next to a first aid box was a large iron key.

Adam and Neo step through the bloody mess they and Lucy made during the battle. Their hooves were covered in the warm blood of the raiders, Neo checked the first aid box which was a yellow tin box with three pink butterflies painted on it. Inside was 3 healing potions, a small tin of metals, and a thing of radaway.

Adam grabbed the keys in his mouth and dashed off for the door, Neo wasn’t to far behind him. They finally got back to the outside where the both took in a deep breath of fresh air. They were relieved from having to smell the inside of that hell hole of a home, still the dirty musty outdoor air was definitely a big improvement compared to the inside of that house.

Adam held the end of the key in his mouth, and one by one each cage clicked open. Lucy trotted over to the two brothers as they helped the captives move out of the cages.

Neo looked over to Lucy, “How are we going to get these ponies out of here? They are in no condition to travel to Maneton, even if its an hours walk from here.”

“Well thats an easy one. I’m gonna take them in my cart.” She answered him pointing her head in the direction of the cart.

Adam perked his ears up looking up at Lucy with surprise, “Are we going to get to ride in the cart?” Adam asked, a puppy dog look on his face.

“Yeah kid, your gonna ride in the cart.” She said in a modest tone.

Adam squeed at the thought of riding in the cart while it was flying, his face lit up with happiness.

Lucy looked back at Neo. “Did you check the place for loot? Upstairs too?” She asked.

Neo had completely forgot about the upstairs, “Y’know I almost forgot about it, heh.” He said scratching his head in embarrassment.

Neo decided to head up stairs in the house, the stairs were creaky and old, they reminded him of that first house they visited one their first day in the wasteland. As he creeped up the stairs he felt a slight tug on his left forehoof, “Huh?” He muttered as a large pony carcass came flying at him from the other side of the wall.

With a large thud the dead pony body smacked against his body instantly cracking two ribs. A sharp pain spiked throughout his body particularly in his rib cage, it also knocked the air right out of him leaving him breathless. He stubbled and fell down the stairs till he fell in a pool of raider blood at the bottom of the stairs.

“Help...” He wheezed as he struggled for breath. Neo felt helpless he was completely immobilized, shaking with pain.

Adam went through the door looking for his brother, “Brother we’re about to go.” He said looking for his brother in the house. Adam was shoked to see his older brother at the bottom of the stairs shaking in a pool of raider blood.

“Brother!” He called to Neo diving to help him.

Adam tried to help him up but he moved slightly wheezing, “No, get-t...Me...Heal-ling...Pot-tion...” He was breathing heavy trying to get a real breath, but his lung was damaged and two of his ribs cracked.

Adam set Neo back down on the bloody floor, and started to look through his bag for a healing potion. Finally after digging halfway through his bag he found a healing potion. He popped the small bottle open and put it to Neo’s lips. He started to drink it slowly, and soon he stopped drinking gasping for air. It was then that all of the pain in his body started to numb, and his ribs only felt slightly sore now.

Adam put the bottle away as his older brother slowly started to get up, although Neo was still shaking he felt significantly better than he did a few seconds ago.

He took in a deep breath in, “Thanks Adam.” He huffed stilling breathing heavily.

Adam smiled at Neo. “No problem.” Adam said patting his brother on the shoulder.

In the corner of his eye Neo saw a raider unicorn pony crawling in the corner of the room dying but levitating a shotgun with her horn. With her last dying strength she fired one last shot before dying. *Pow!* The sound echoed as Adam slowly turned around three gashing holes in his neck, leg, and torso."Brother..." Adam whimpered before he fell to the ground bleeding severely, His eyes wide with with shoke.

Neo just looked at him a moment, his eyes wide with terror and panic. “LUCY!” Neo shouted as he dug through his bag for his healing potion, and within seconds he pulled out a bottle. He poped the top off and started to give it to Adam, “It going to be okay Adam, its going to be okay...” He muttered his vision blurred by tears.

She came rushing in witnessing the horrible sene. “Neo what the hell happened!?” She shouted to him.

“I don’t care he’s dying! We need to get him to Maneton!” He shouted as tears rolled down his eyes.

Lucy didn’t comment, instead she just helped get some magical bandages she had in her bag to help stop the bleeding. Neo picked up Adam and carried him on his back blood dripping all over him. The two dashed to the cart were the former captives sat and waited for their rescuers to get them.

Quickly she hooked herself up to the cart. “Neo get Adam in here!” she shouted.

Neo was crying while he lay his brother down in the cart. He closed up the end of the cart preparing for take off.

Lucy looked at the captives, “We need to get this one to the hospital in Manetone, don’t worry we’ll come back for you just stay put untill we do.” She said quickly as she rushed to take off and get Adam real medical help.

She spread her wings and started to flap like crazy each powerful flap kicked up a small cloud of dust as she slowly made the cart lift up from the ground.

*****
"Peace is where you find it.
Weather its in the dark, or the light.
In life, or death.
For me peace is with my family, and my brother.
This is peace, and they will help me find it."

Adam woke up in a small bed in a large wooden building, a fan slowly moving on the ceiling. A desk and small terminal with a surgery table were on the other side of the room. He looked again still trying to make out the scene, the one think he could make out was his brother siting next to him in a chair sleeping soundly. Adam although still sore from his wounds, smiled. Just watching his older brother be alive made him happy. It was night outside because the windows were dark and he could here insects outside making music welcoming the night. He slowly closed his eyes, letting them rest as he drifted off into a calm sleep.

Adam awoke the next day, feeling much better than he did the previous night. In the room he was in Neo was looking out into the world through a window in deep thought.

“Your awake.” A soft calm voice said.

Neo looked to Adam a happy smile followed by a few tears, Neo was overjoyed to see his brother again.

Adam sat up, “Brother?” He said scratching his head.

A hoof stopped him from siting up further it was a earthpony Mare with three yellow butterflies on her flank. She was about Adams size, and wore an old preware medic hat with a red cross on it.

“Don’t worry you should be fine, you can get up and move in three hours.” The Mare said giving him a peaceful smile.

Neo moved over to the chair next to Adam and sat down. “How are you doing?” He said gently, a tear going down his cheek.

“I’m doing much better brother.” Adam replied softly.

Neo lay his metal hoof on Adam and smiled with a peaceful look on his face.

“He is going to need to rest if he’s going to get better.” The Mare stated cleaning up the area around Adam.

“You better listen to her.” Neo said softly patting Adam with his metal hoof.

“If thats what it takes to get to Ironhoof faster than don’t worry brother.” Adam said looking up to his brother from the medical bed.

Adam nestled down in the bed closing his eyes. Then he muttered in a low childlike manner, “Brother?”

“Yes?”

“Can you sing me that song mom used to sing when we were young. You know, that lullaby that she sang to us when we we young."

“Okay, just this once though.” Neo said gently.

Neo closed his eyes and began to sing quietly to his brother. Dispite the fact he didn’t normally sing he was actually pretty good.

“Do not ever cry, now child mine.
Do not expect me to forget.
Now that the day ends, you must go to bed.
And dream you worries away.
Beautiful child soft, and neat, please do not fret, for we are complete.
Look head and sleep for me, and dream sweetly softly tonight.”

Allie, Lucy and Kat watched as Neo sang his brother to sleep. Allie was crying tears of happiness, it was rare to see such a bond like this in the wasteland. Lucy was watching in almost on the verge of crying, but not there yet there yet. Something was stopping her, instead she just stood there, watching them. Kat watched Newt who was sleeping on a couch in the other room, the nurse stopped to watch for a moment before returning to the captives they had rescued in the other room.

Later that day, Adam packed up and loaded his things in Lucy’s cart outside the Maneton entrance.

She leaned on the side of her cart waiting impatiently, “Come on you Stable babies we need to get going if we’re going to get to the city before night comes.”

“Almost done!” Neo called out loading his bag into the wooden cart.

Adam hopped over the side and sat in the cart waiting for his brother.

Neo removed his Stable suit and came up to Adam with his Stable suit on his back. “Take your suit off.” He said reaching out his metal arm to him.

At first Adam was confused as to why his brother wanted him to take of his Stable 142 suit, but after looking at it he realized that taking it off was probably the best thing to do. Both of their suits were blood soaked, filthy, and beyond repair with large holes through them.

Adam took off his Stable suit and gave it to Neo. “What are you going to do with them brother?” Adam wondered.

“Burn them.” Neo called to him as he ran over to a small fire in a iron barrel arcoss the street.

“Burn them?” Adam said curiously.

Neo approached the fire slowly, knowing that once he tossed them in the orange flames that they would never wear a Stable 142 suit again. Closing his eyes, and turning away he tossed the ragged blood soked blue garments into the flames. Adam watched as Neo came back to the cart with only his Pipbuck on his body. Now the only thing Adam had on his body were the goggles he had bought from that one store on the main street.

Adam moved his goggles up to his brow, his goggles now resting on his forehead.

Neo trotted back to the cart and looked at Adam. “Hey Adam can you get me that bandana in my bag?” Neo asked his brother with a gentle smile.

“Sure, one sec.” Adam said as he started to search for Neo’s bandana.

Adam popped up from the cart with Neo’s grey bandana in his mouth, Neo took it and tried to put it on his head. He struggled for a bit till suddenly it started to float on its own, and it even tied itself perfectly on his head. He looked around only to see Allie behind him.

She gave him a pleasant look as she put her bags into the cart.

Lucy’s eyes popped wide open in anger. “Oh no you don’t missy!” She said marching over to her anger deeply infused in her eyes.

“What?” She said looking towards the angry Pegasus.

“I have to carry enough trash in this cart for one day, and I don’t need you to add more to the pile.” She said frustratingly.

“Hey.” Adam snickered at Lucy’s remark.

“I’m coming end of story.” Allie replied hopping into the cart next to Adam.

Neo of course didn’t have a problem with this at all. But, Lucy had a short temper, and nack for getting angry about nothing.

Neo hopped in the cart waiting for Lucy to cool off. “What about your friend, Kat or whatever? And the foal too?” Lucy asked trying to convince her to stay.

“I talked with them before I came here, and although Kat isn’t to happy with the idea she understands why I want to go.” Allie said with a positive tune in her voice.

“And what exactly are those reasons, Hmm?” Lucy smirked as she leaned closer to Allie waiting for a response.

“I want to see Ironhoof city, and I feel like I can’t just leave these guys on there own.” She looked at Neo and Adam with a friendly look in her eyes.

Lucy sighed, “I guess theres no stopping you.” She said as she rolled her eyes thinking why she was letting her come along.

Lucy moved over to the harness of the cart and hooked up to it. She tied down her hat to a string next to her, she then looked to her side and spoke in a friendly and proper manner.

“Ladies, and gentlecolts this is air Lucy, I’m your pilot and captain for this evening. Please reframe eating, drinking, or smoking during our flight. If you need to exit the cart at anytime, please do so, and end your life. It makes my job easier if you do. So please lay back, and enjoy the ride.” She said opening her wings to take off.

“They better enjoy this.” She complained to herself.

With three beats of her wings they were airborne, and off to Ironhoof City, where Neo and Adam planned to find their mother. It was a grand moment, much like the time they took their first steps outside of the Stable.

“We'll find her. One day, one day.” Neo said looking up at the orangeish clouds that covered the sky, streams of light poked through everywhere it could. It was truly the first real time they felt close to their mother again, and for the first time it felt like they could achieve anything.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Colt of Action: You gain +2 in sneak, and +2 in small guns with every level.

Would you like to level up Adam?

Yes-

No

Footenote: Level up

New perk: Pipnut: You gain +2 in repair, and in +3 science with every level.

(Hi, this chapter contains some errors. My editor and I both missed these errors and are trying to fix them. Thanks-Noakwolf)

Ironhoof City

CHAPTER 6: IRONHOOF CITY

The sun was fully set, and darkness had consumed the land. Neo was lying down in Lucy’s cart, resting.

The wind raced by as the cart moved silently through the night. Adam was resting his head against the edge, looking at the world below. To him this experience was heart lifting and new, even though he could feel the cart beneath him, it still felt magical.

Allie was resting calmly behind Adam, gently breathing. The beating of Lucy’s wings sounded powerful and mighty, like the sound of pistons moving in perfect sync with other machinery making a symphony of power.

In the distance was a faint light on the horizon, but it wasn’t like other lights that Adam had seen before. This light was large, and growing. Soon, smaller lights of other shades sprouted up as they drew ever closer to the large illuminated mass. Lucy had started to slow down and descend slowly back to the world below.

“We’re almost at Ironhoof,” Lucy shouted back to the tired passengers.

Her shout woke up Neo. “Huh?” He muttered trying to wake up, he was still half asleep a bit.

Adam turned to his brother, “brother, we’re almost there!” He exclaimed standing up trying to get a better look at the city.

Neo moved over and nudged Allie, urging her to wake up.

“We’re almost there, its time to wake up.” Neo said softly to her.

She opened her eyes and sat up, stretching high into the air. “We’re there already?” She asked scratching her head.

She looked over to her right only to see a massive city of lights before her. Then with a thud the cart touched down on the broken prewar road that moved towards the city. Lucy paused for a moment giving the passengers a chance to get a better look at the city from a distance.

Large metal skyscrapers towered high into the sky lights blasting off into the dark cloud covered sky. Everypony watched in awe as they were taken by the magnificent sight.

“It’s amazing!” Adam yelled with excitement.

Lucy leaned her head back to talk, “yeah it sure is something. That is of course, till we get inside the city.” She said grimly. She turned her head back with a grim facial expression.

“Get out of the cart, flights over.” She said folding her wings.

Everypony hopped out of the cart but Allie, who helped levitate their bags out of the cart. Once she was done unloading the bags, Neo and Adam helped each other put their own bags back on their backs. Allie followed them out of the cart onto the hard, rocky road.

The road had been cleared of wagons, from where they were to the city, not one wagon was to be found. Everypony was out of the cart with all of their things on their backs, Lucy turned her head to see if everypony was without their things.

“Okay let’s get moving, its not safe outside the city.” She told them still retaining the grim facial expression.

The three looked at each other puzzled as to why Lucy was acting strangely defensive. Neo just shrugged, “it’s her business. She doesn’t need to tell us about it.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Adam said turning back to the city.

Lucy started trotting towards the city without another word, the others followed closely behind, anxiously awaiting to see the fabled Ironhoof City.

After trotting a mile to Ironhoof City, they finally arrived at a large ramp made of metal from different rusted slabs, it lead straight up the great metal walls that span from side to side.

Lucy stopped at the beginning of the ramp, and turned her head sharply to the other travelers. “Listen, don’t wonder off, what ever you do stay close to me. This isn’t as nice as it looks, ponies die here. I want you three to keep to your selves if you value anything. Got that?” She said with a sternly and worried look in her eyes.

Neo and Adam had learned that by now she didn’t like rules broken, especially hers. They both stroked their mouths symbolizing that they had zipped their lips. Allie just kept to herself quietly.

“Good, we’re clear on this?” She asked menacingly.

Neo and Adam looked at each other and nodded up and down consistently. Allie just nodded once at her.

“All right then, let’s get going, we’ve wasted enough time here.” She said turning around, dragging her wooden cart with her.

Their hooves made a pinging noise as they climbed up the old metal ramp, Neo’s hooves made the most noise due to his mechanical foreleg. Farther, and farther they climbed up till they reached the top of the wall, a smaller wall of roughly configured metal lay dead ahead of them, bordering the top of the wall.

There was a small steel gate with two green plated soldiers sleeping in a window next to the gate. Lucy walked up and knocked on the wall, waking the sleeping soldiers, their gas masks covering up their surprised expressions as they jumped up to attention.

“What!? What?” They both cried as they scrabbled to order.

“Yeah... Uh do you always sleep on the job you lazy asses.” Lucy said rolling her eyes at the lazy stallions.

The first guard sat at the window his voice muffled by the mask he wore that connected to his helmet.

“What is it wastelander?” Barked the soldier.

“I live here ass wipe, now let me and these three in now.” She demanded in low bored tone.

Not paying attention to her remark the soldier leaned forward, “Do you have your entrance pass?” He asked.

“Yeah, yeah one sec.” She said pulling out a small metal card from a pocket on her duster.

She gave it to the soldier, he took the card and levitated it to his eyes, It was just a Iron card with a roughly drawn horseshoe with a bunch of random lettering on it.

He gave it back to Lucy, “Yeah, your clear, enjoy your stay in Ironhoof ma’am.” He said nodding at her as he signed for the other pony to open the gate.

“Yeah, whatever kiss ass.” She said moving through the steel gate that rattled open.

Neo, Adam, and Allie all followed Lucy into the city, but instead of a large city they say a large rusty elevator that lead up a large steel skyscraper. It was significantly darker behind the building than it was a mile away, but it was much more scary below the small bridge that moved into the building from the gate. In the small gorge below them was a charred barren mess, carts, and skeletons littered the entire city floor.

Adam looked down the bridge for a moment to see what was down in the dark gorge of ruin and war.

“Whoa.” He muttered under his breath looking at the city floor.

“Kid!” Lucy snapped at Adam.

Adam turned quickly looking back at the group who were in the rusty elevator.

“Come on Adam, were about to go.” Neo called to him waving his hoof.

“Okay coming!” Adam replied, looking briefly at the gorge for one last moment. After a moment he turned back to the elevator and dashed towards the rest of the group.

“Missy? If you would please?” Lucy taunted Allie nodding her head to the large red button on the back wall of the elevator.

Allie gave her a mean look as she moved her way to the button to press it.

With a click of the button, a large metal sheet moved in front of the elevator entrance shutting tightly. A large creak followed, before they shot up, going level after level of empty flooring. White beams of light flashed by as they traveled floor after floor. The three travelers watched in amazement as they soared higher into the sky.

Within a few minutes the elevator reached a dramatic stop at the last level. With a small ding, the door in front of them slid open exposing a massive city built on top of the old prewar buildings. Small cloth tents and rusty metal shacks covered the top of the building.

The four stepped out of the elevator, completely taken at the magnificent site. Hundreds of ponies of all shapes, sizes and colors filled the town on the building. Larger buildings towered further and higher than the one they were currently on, each building was bearing large colorful magically light signs advertising hotels and businesses. Each building looked like they were brand new except for the bottom layer which was dark and invisible to see from on top of the building.

Neo, Adam, and Allie all followed behind Lucy as she pulled the cart through the crowd.

“Welcome to the trade district.” Lucy shouted to the group as they continued through the district.

Traders were yelling out into the crowd of ponies trying to sell what ever they had. There were shack's for rent, slaver tents where one could by slaves for any use, and booths that sold anything from junk, to weapons and ammo.

“My place is just up that building there.” Lucy called to the group as she pointed to large round building towering a little higher than the building they were currently on.

Adam and Neo looked around as they saw large bridges connecting to building, to building. Small housing areas and other facilities sat on large metal pads that extended from the building nearest to them.

As they approached the bridge that branched off from the trade district building they saw small spritebots float around playing some kind of message on its speakers. The voice on the floating robot was sleek and proud.

“My fellow ponies, Did you know there was a time when ponies like your selves could walk freely about our land and not have to worry about raiders, or super mutants. I do. And if you join the Ironhoof legion then we can live in times like those again, but it is only through the strength of our stallions and mares that we can succeed. Join us in the fight for a better future, join us for tomorrow! I am Emperor Vladimir and I approve this message.” Chanted the sprite bot as it drifted past a few ponies on that were on their way to the trade district.

Neo trotted up to Lucy to speak to her. “Lucy?” He asked.

"Who's the Ironhoof legion?"

"I'll tell you later."

Neo jumped to the side avoiding a small group of mares. "One more question. Where does the city get all of its power?"

“What?” She replied.

“How does this city get all of its power?” He asked trying to maneuver his way through the crowd.

“Beats me,” she shrugged.

“Oh, well how far ‘till we reach your home then?” He asked dodging an Earth pony.

“Its up ahead.” She said motioning her head forward.

Neo looked ahead of the bridge to see a sign that said in large, pink, magically lit lettering, "Central living district".

They left the long bridge that span from the first district to the next, and approached a small metal shack. It didn’t look any different from the others, but it was apparently her home.

Lucy pulled over to the shack, and pulled her cart over to the side of the building.

“A little help please?” She asked pointing to the straps binding her to the cart.

Neo and Adam moved over to the cart to help Lucy with the straps. It only took a few minutes to unhook her from the wooden cart she had pulled from Maneton to Ironhoof. *Click* Went the strap as they unlatched her from the cart.

She moved away from the cart to stretch and shake off the dirt on her.

She turned to the shack entrance and unlocked the door with a key she had in another pocket on the front of her duster. She opened the door and waved her hoof around motioning them to come inside. One by one each of the travelers entered the dark metal shack.

Lucy was the last to enter the shack, closing the door behind them. It was pitch black inside her home, or it was till the group heard a small click, and then suddenly the whole room lit up. Three small lamps, and even some old hearths warming eve lights were hung about her home lighting up the dark room.

The inside of her home was small, there were two bunk beds on each side of the wall facing each other, with a large screen and keyboard in the back of the shack. Old prewar pictures and a large blue flag bearing Celestia’s sun was draped along the wall.

“Who’s flag is that?” Adam asked moving up to it curiously.

Lucy turned to him after setting her sniper down in the corner of the room.

“That's the Guardian flag. Each guardian is supposed to have one in their living quarters.” She said plainly as she put her bags in a metal footlocker that sat along the edge of a bunk.

She popped her neck for a moment looking rather tired, “All right off to bed with the lot of you.” She said shooing everypony to their bunks. She then started calling out everypony’s bunk for the night.

“Neo, you get top left bunk.”

“Adam, you get the one below him, I get the top right, and Allie below me.”

Adam pouted and kicked at the ground upset, “dang it, I wanted the top bunk.” He muttered.

Neo walked by him with a smile on his face, “hey it’s okay.” He said patting him on the back with his mechanical forehoof. “You take the top, I’ll get the bottom. How’s that sound?” He said looking at him with a smile on his face.

“Really brother?” Adam asked his eyes widened with happiness.

“Yeah sure, just don’t move around a whole lot.” Neo said with a small chuckle.

“Thanks!” Adam exclaimed dropping his stuff on the ground and climbing up to his bed.

Allie walked up next to Neo as he watched his brother climb to his bunk. “You really are a good brother aren't you,” she said looking at him.

Neo smiled a bit, a small tingling feeling tickling his spine. “Yeah, he’s the only family I got left. If I don’t look out for him, nopony will.”

They both looked at each other staring into each others eyes. A warm fuzzy feeling went through Neo as he gazed endlessly into her bright beautiful eyes. She felt the same looking into his white steely eyes. The moment was then interrupted when Lucy barked at the two.

“Are you going to bed or not?” She yapped at them.

They both shook their heads snapping out of the mood they were in. Allie giggled once a bit embarrassed by the whole moment as she turned to her bunk.

Neo’s head fell down with disappointment in himself, “You blew it Neo! Good work, you were that close! That close!” He thought to himself as he threw himself on the bunk.

Neo sighed trying to shake his thoughts from his mind. “Well, at lest its a real bed this time.” He thought to himself, pulling the green tattered covers over him.

It was very early the next morning when Lucy decided to get up. The sun was still set, or at least it seemed that way. The only light in the room was the faint glow of her large terminal screen which covered most of the back wall of the shack.

She got up quietly out of her bunk trying not to wake anypony. Everypony was still fast asleep dreaming. Lucy tiphooved to the terminal, and put on an old prewar air-force headset. After she had placed them tightly around her ears, she turned on the terminal. With a small click of the power button the whole screen light up in a greenish hue.

A small green box flashed up on screen stating, "Password". A small box beneath password flashed on. With her hooves she quietly started typing in the password to the terminal, then with a click of the enter button, a whole list of boxes began popping up like crazy. She used the arrow keys on the keypad to scroll through the boxes till she came to a box named "Contacts".

A list began to unfold of numerous random ponies. She moved the box scroller down the list of contacts till she came to a contact named, "Command".

She hit enter, and a small green telephone appeared on screen. She could her the sound of ringing in her headset as she waited for the message to be answered. *Pop!* Went a small noise as somepony answered her call.

“This is the Steelhoof Coalition HQ, if you are not part of our order please hang up now. If you are part of the order, or any order affiliated with the Coalition please speak to-”

The message was interrupted by Lucy. “Yeah, cut the shit. Its me Province Guardian Lucy Luck.”

“Please state your Coalition ID code.”

She rolled her eyes ready to face hoof at the marketer. She sighed as she listed her ID code. “Code, 1337-473-913.”

“One moment... Yes, that is a valid code, what can I help you with guardian Luck?”

“Finally, I need you to put Carter on the line.”

“One moment... Yes he is available at this time. Would you like me to patch you through?”

Lucy’s head was about to explode out of pure frustration. “Yes...” she said, massaging her head of the headache the marketer had given her.

There was another loud pop as the line switched to another call. *Ring...Ring...Ring* There was the sound of some giggling in the background as a stallion picked up the phone, “Hello?” He said breathing deeply as if he was physically exhausted.

Lucy finally facehoofed, “Carter?” She questioned. “Are you having sex?” She mumbled angrily.

He could be heard in the background trying to make the small giggling the background stop. “No.” He replied.

Lucy sighed, “I have news to report.” She said grimly.

“Hmm? Like what.”

“Here let me show you.” She then turned a tiny camera on with a small green light. “Do you see me?”

“Here one moment.” He said moving the phone around.

“There, I’m at a terminal, and yes I see you.” He sounded unhappy.

“Oh boo-hoo, did I ruin the big boys fun?” She mocked him.

“Ha,” he laughed sarcastically. “Now what is it you want me to see?”

“Look.” She said as she pushed the camera sideways towards the bunks were Neo and Adam were sleeping.

“So? They’re just sleeping kids?”

“Listen, their not just kids... They’re...” She paused for a moment. “Her kids.”

“Who’s kids?” Lucy facehoofed again.

“One word, Stable.” She growled angrily.

“Oh shit,” he said shocked at the statement. “What the hell are they doing out here!” He shouted at her.

“Shhh,” she said gesturing him to be quiet.

“Right,” he said toning his voice down.

“So then, why are they out here? She said they were in the Stable.”

Lucy turned to their bunks looking at them. “They went looking for her.”

“Damn it! This could ruin the whole operation if she finds out!”

“I know, but hold on to your balls for a sec.” She looked around the room for a moment checking if anypony was listening. “I have a plan.”

It was finally morning when everypony woke up, the yellowish brown light pierced the small holes in the shack walls. Lucy was up stretching in her bunk still tired from the day before. Adam and Neo were still sleeping when they were woken instantly by Lucy, who decided it was a good idea to push them off their bunks to wake them up.

She moved over to Neo’s bunk, put her hooves on his back and gave him a mighty push. *BAM* Went Neo as he fell face first on the solid ground, he was awake now.

He shot up to look at who pushed him off his bunk and ruined whatever dream he was having at the time. He looked around only to see Lucy on the other side grinning tiredly.

His face turned red with rage as he started shouting at her. “What the hell was that! Why did you push me off my bunk!”

Neo’s shouts woke the others up from their slumber as they arose to see what was the matter. “Brother? What is it.” Adam said rubbing his eyes.

Neo looked at him from the other side of the bed and yelled, “This crazy lady tried pushed me out of my bed!”

Adam looked down to Lucy, but all she said was, “I did push him, and he snores.”

Adam looked puzzled like whatever had just happened was completely random.

Adam climbed down from the top bunk to see what had happened, “Brother, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine... She just better not do something like that again.” He snickered, rubbing his sore face.

Allie got out of her bunk to inspect Neo, but before she could find out what happened Lucy started shouting from the back of the room.

“Okay listen up everypony!” She shouted, “I want all of you fed and dressed so we can get our first day of work started!”

Adam helped Neo up from the floor and turned his head to Lucy, “But we burned our only set of clothes in Maneton.” Adam stated.

“Don’t worry I’ll take care of that for you, but I want Neo to help me for a bit before we all head out to do some real work.” She said with a small grin on her face.

“What! I haven’t had anything to eat, or anything! And now your making me work right when I get up!” He shouted frustratingly.

“Cry all you want you little kid you’re not gonna get a meal till you help me with a small chore first.” She told him resting her forehoof on the terminal chair.

Neo eyes lit up with anger as he bursted, “Who are you calling a little kid! I’ll have you know I’m twenty years old! I’m a full grown adult! A full gown adult!”

Adam hugged his brother patting him on the back trying to cool him off. “Its okay brother, its okay. Just, calm down.”

Neo sighed as he cooled off from the comment she had made about his age. “Fine I’ll go help you with your chore, but don’t expect me to be happy until I eat something.” He sternly told Lucy as he moved to the door.

“That's a good boy.” She said with a cocky expression on her face as she and Neo went out the door.

The door behind them slammed shut. Allie and Adam were alone in the shack together. Allie moved over to Adam, “So we should start to make something to eat, Neo will probably be in a better mood if we do.” She said with a smile to Adam.

“Yeah that's probably a good idea.” Adam replied.

It suddenly hit Adam that most of their food they had brought from the Stable was still fresh. They still had purified water in their canteens, and some food like sugar apple bombs, and dried apple slices.

“Hey, we can have the food we brought from the Stable, I mean its probably gonna go to waste if we don’t eat it soon.” Adam pointed out.

Allie never really tasted Stable made food before, but she didn’t want to be rude and eat the little food they had brought with them. She did think about it for a moment, and she was hungry, and those apple slices did sound nice. “Okay, lets get it all ready for when they get back.”

Adam nodded to Allie in agreement.

Together they both got out the days breakfast and waited for Neo and Lucy to get back.

Adam was sitting in the middle of the floor with the food all laid out for when they returned. Allie was sitting across from Adam staring at the food bored.

Adam looked up to Allie and said, “Why did you come with us?”

“Huh?” she looked to Adam surprised at the question.

“Why didn’t you just stay in Maneton with Kat and Newt?” He repeated.

She looked shy as she started to rub her right foreleg with the other. “I don’t know...”

“Its okay, you can tell me I’m great at keeping secrets.” He said with a friendly grin.

“The day I met you, when I saw Neo kill those raider that attacked as... When they attacked you. I saw something, and I felt something too.” She stopped for a moment, thinking about that day.

“When Neo first looked at me, no other stallion has looked at me like that before. I felt, at peace. And when you left with Lucy to take care of those raiders, and get the cart... I felt, empty. Empty inside, like a piece of my soul was gone.”

Adam looked at her with the small warm grin on his face.

“I’ve never been into stallions before. In fact me and Kat had something going on, but I felt complete with Neo there. I was to embarrassed to tell him how I felt if that's what I really feel, and even last night I felt something.”

“Brother really likes you.” Adam said resting his back against the side of the bunk.

“He does?” Allie muttered her eyes wide with joy.

Adam nodded back to her, “Yep, he is totally crazy for you.”

She blushed a bit at the remark. “How do you know? Has he told you?”

“Nope, but I’ve seen him in love a few times, and I can guarantee he likes you.” He said warmly fixing the leather goggles on his forehead.

She just smiled at Adam her eyes watering up. Then, the door flew open. Lucy and Neo came through the door, Neo looked miserable. “Celestia kill me,” he muttered looking to the ceiling.

“Wasn’t that fun Neo?” Lucy commented smartly.

“I just want to eat some food, that is all. And next time you drag me out of bed just to hull scrap of to some old merchant, I'll kill you.” Neo snickered at Lucy.

Lucy just grinned back." I would love to see you try."

They were both shocked when they saw Allie jump up from where she was sitting.

“Welcome back!” Allie said rushing up to Neo and giving him a large hug. Neo started to blush as she caressed him with her arms.

Neo used one of his hooves to hug her back. The moment was shortly lived when Lucy closed the door and saw the mess on the floor.

“What did you do to my floor!” She shouted.

Adam rubbed the back of his neck as he explained, “Its breakfast, heh.” He chuckled nervously.

Neo’s ears perked up at the sound of the word, at that instant he pounced at the meal on the ground.

“Food!” He yelled as he leaped to attack the nice meal Allie and Adam prepared.

The three watched in awe as he started to consume a bowl of dried apple slices. “Does he always eat like this?" Lucy commented.

Adam and Allie nodded in unison.

“We better start eating before there’s no food left to eat.” Allie said as she sat down to eat with Adam.

Together, the four ate their meal merrily, even Lucy was happy. They drank most of the purified water that Neo and Adam had brought from the Stable, and they had just about filled up on almost all the food they had kept in their bags too. Once they were done, Lucy gave Neo an old Guardian duster which did not bear the Province Guardian sun symbol. Adam was given an old dark brown leather vest with a bunch of pockets to keep things in, and Allie was given a purple bandanna to wear around her neck.

Neo managed to get his white doo-rag on his head with some help from Allies magic. Lucy got her coat on, and her Guardian fedora. Within a few minutes the four were ready to start their first day in Ironhoof City.

Lucy turned around sharply to a footlocker that was right next to her. "Can't leave without you." She said a she picked up her sniper from the locker.

Neo stood next to the door with the rest of the group. "What are we doing today anyway?"

Lucy trotted up to the shack entrance, her sniper hanging at her side. "You'll see."

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Twitcha! Twitch! : You are limber, and can sense when enemies are close by or when a trap is located.

Footnote: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Buck yeah!: Your buck/punch has increased damage by 20%, you also gain +2 in unarmed per level.

Proofread by:

Myself

Wayofthepen

Dracoliat

(I tell you this chapter was a pain to proofread, but here it is chapter 6! Please tell me of any mistakes me or my proofreaders missed. A big thanks to these guys for helping out!)

Ground Level

CHAPTER 7: GROUND LEVEL

The city was bustling with activity as ponies of all kinds went about their lives, strolling the skytop streets. It was a rather brownish morning, a cool breeze brushed by every other second past the sky city. The four ponies exited Lucy’s shack all geared up and ready for a hard days work, more or less. Lucy locked her door with a key she kept in her pocket, her sniper rifle hanging at her side.

“Gee, I’m stuffed, I haven’t had a meal that good since we left Maneton.” Neo said satisfyingly, rubbing his stomach merrily.

“I hope you ate well, you consumed half of the fucking food.” Lucy said negatively, moving away from the shack door she had just locked.

“Yeah brother, you need to start eating less... and a little more slowly.”

“We at least he was kind enough to leave some for the rest of us.” Allie said, fixing her saddle bag.

Lucy moved up to the group standing just outside her shack, “You kids done yapping. Cause we’re burning cloud light.” She said, starting to walk off without them, a grumpy, pissed off look spread on her face.

She stopped for a moment and looked back to the group to see if they were even moving. It didn’t surprise her that they were still standing at the door. She sighed with frustration as she walked back to the group. “It’s this way? You can see that, can’t you?” she snickered at them.

“Oh yeah, we know, its just that, brother is trying to help Allie with her bag.” Adam said cautiously.

Lucy looked at the two for a second, “Meh.” She grunted as she waited for them.

Neo finished attaching the last strap to Allie. “There, all done,” Neo said patting her bags down gently.

“Thanks for helping me Neo,” Allie said giving him a cute smile.

Neo blushed a bit at her. “Its no problem, really I like to help, heh.” He said shyly.

“Can we get going now?” Lucy complained rolling her eyes at the two, and then walking back to her original route.

“Yeah brother, we should really start moving.” Adam said, starting to trot towards Lucy.

“Okay, we’re coming!” Neo and Allie shouted at them as they dashed to catch up with Lucy and Adam.

The city was not as pretty as it was the night before, the lights were still on but the increased brightness made them harder to see. There was also a significantly low amount of ponyfolk in the resident district, but that soon changed the farther they moved into the city.

They were taking a different route then the one they had taken entering the city, rather the bridge they crossed this time descended to a lower building. The building they were approaching was much, much larger than the trade or residential district, it looked to be at least five times the size of both together.

As they walked along the metal sheeted bridge to this new district, a huge glowing sign welcomed them to the new area, “Welcome to the Commons District” It displayed in orange lettering.

The Commons District was huge, small shops and tents were everywhere selling an assortment of items.

“Fresh metal! Straight from the Quantum mines!”

“Free relief slaves, you get an hour with them, if you don’t like’um then try another! Now selling colts and fillies at discount price!”

Neo went up to Lucy to talk with her. “They sell slaves here?” He asked quietly as they passed the slave trader tent.

“Eeyup.” She said plainly as if it were nothing. “Welcome to the city.”

“That's, not even right. How come other ponies treat each other like that? Throughout history not once have ponies enslaved ponies before, and-” He was interrupted by a smack to the back of his head. “Ow! What was that for?” He said rubbing his head were she had hit him.

“Shut it. This district is crawling with slavers, and they don’t get to happy when a punk smart ass kid gives them crap about their business.” She scolded at him quietly.

“And what the heck is a relief slave?” Neo whispered to Lucy putting his hoof down.

She lifted her hoof up preparing to strike, “Please, not again!” Neo said as he flinched at her gesture.

“Listen kid, have you ever wanted somepony to do anything for you before?” She asked him.

“Uhm, no not really.” Neo said hesitantly.

“Well, those slaves in their are for those colts and fillies who like to fuck a lot.”

Neo cringed a bit, “That's sick! Making somepony do that against their will, that's basically rape!” Neo said stopping his hoof down in anger.

“It’s a messed up world kid, it’s a messed up world.” She said returning to her trotting.

Adam didn’t pay attention to the slaver tents, rather he was just taken by the many booths and tents selling old, prewar tech. Tech from Equestria, some local tech, and even some new technology they had created. You name it, the place had it.
Out of all the things in the district one thing made Adam squee, it was a little disc levitating a rock. He thought that if he slipped away from the group for just a moment to check it out that nopony would notice. He stepped away from the group for just a moment as he ran over to the tent to talk to the large unicorn running the stand.

Neo noticed that Adam hadn’t really spoken for a while, so like any good big brother he slowed down so he could talk to him. To his surprise when he stopped and looked behind him Adam wasn’t there. Instantly a thousand scenarios went racing through his mind, “Adam got taken by slavers! Or he was taken by thugs, or maybe he got lost in the crowd... Or maybe he.” He stopped panicking for a moment as he sighed with relief, he found Adam just barely sticking out of the crowd looking for them.

“Hey guys wait up a sec for Adam.” Neo said to the group before running towards his formally lost brother.

The group paused for a second waiting for Neo to get Adam. Neo dashed up to Adam with worry in his eyes. “Adam!” He barked. As he looked down at his little brother. Adam knew he did something wrong, he backed up flattening his ears.

“I know, I strayed off... but I just wanted to look at the stuff and-” Neo interrupted him furiously, “I don’t care! You could have been taken, or hurt, or...” He stopped his worried rant for a moment and cooled off. “I thought I would loose you.” He said looking sorry.

Adam perked up a bit, “Its okay brother, I shouldn’t have wondered off without your approval first. I am fully aware of what I did was wrong, I am sorry.” He said seriously.

“Well, I just don’t want to have to beat up a hundred guys today.” He said with a small smile on his face.

“My lie worked!” Adam thought to himself going along with Neo. “Now I have a good present for him when his birthday comes, oh and isn’t he going to be surprised!” He had a maniacal laugh ringing through his head like he was some kind of mad scientist pony.

“Now lets get back to Lucy before she hits me in the head again.” Neo chuckled facing the group again before trotting off with Adam to catch up.

They were half way into the district when they started to see a significantly large amount of guards, spritebots, and posters. The posters themselves were well drawn pictures that were displayed on tents, walls, and windows. Large guards saluting a green hoof with a star in the middle where displayed on each poster stating:

The Legion Needs You!
Join now and restart the future, today!

One of the odd things, besides the large amount of guards, was the graffiti that was painted on several posters. Every other poster bared giant blue X’s painted on them, some of the words where replaced with, "The legion lies!" It was apparent that Lucy knew what was going on with all the guards, as for the rest of the group they were clueless as to what was happening.

Neo looked around at the guards and tiny orb robots that hovered through the air broadcasting messages of peace, love, and progress. “My little ponies, this is me, your Emperor. I hope I do not need to repeat myself when I say that irrational behavior will not be tolerated. If we are to build a better tomorrow for our ponies, than we must be willing to obey law. For, you see, law is order, and order is progress. Just remember the laws of 10, and you shall live freely without worry, and now, our nations national anthem.” The powerful voice changed to patriotic music as the little machine drifted away.

As they started to leave the center of the district, they approached large crowd standing in front of a stage. The stage had six or so green armor clad soldiers, with helmets connected to gas masks. They almost didn’t look like ponies with their dark visors, and clanky metal armor.

Behind the guards facing the wall was four ponies, two Earth ponies, and two Unicorn ponies. They each had blind folds on and stood perfectly still, except for a unicorn who was shaking violently with terror.

“What’s going on over there?” Adam asked stopping from a distance to see.

Lucy stopped to answer him, “Listen kid if you don’t want to vomit I suggest that we keep moving.”

Adam didn’t listen, instead he watched the whole thing unfold. Allie and Neo noticed it as well as they joined Adam in watching.

A guard moved up on the stage and moved to the middle, displaying himself more than the other five. He spoke in a loud booming voice so that the whole crowed could hear. “These four have been accused of slander, and irrational behavior against his majesty High Lord Vladimir. The evidence is that these four were found with blue paint stolen from the trade district. They are also accused of disgracing his majesties recruitment centers and posters.” He stopped for a second as turned to a unicorn guard and nodded at him. The other guard then began removing the blindfolds from each pony.

He then started to continue his speech. “The blindfolds of disbelief have been removed. The laws and punishment will be listed, the accused shall be given their last words after the trial.” He pulled out a piece of paper and levitated it in front of his face so he could read.

“The accused have broken three of the laws of ten of the Ironhoof Legion. You have broken law three, never disgrace the legion, you have broken law six, resisting legion arrest, and law 9, speaking for rights. In correlation with this you have been sentenced to death by firing squad. May Celestia guide you to the afterlife.” He stepped back and nodded to the rest of the soldiers.

“No Travis!” An earth pony filly screamed in the crowed. Tears ran down from her eyes as she watch the firing squad line up with the criminals. She started struggling trying to get up on stage to help him, “Travis, don’t die! Please! No! Please!” She cried out as she was being held back by two guards.

She coughed on her sorrow as she saw her loved one stand ready to meet his death.

“No, please Travis!” She called once more.

One of the guards shoved her back into the crowd. “Shut up or you’ll join him,” he threatened.

“The accused will now speak their last words. Each one shall step forward state their will and step back.” The guard with the paper shouted. He motioned his head to the first criminal.

The first one was an Earth pony colt, he was violently shaking in fear. He stumbled forward and shouted to the crowed. “I’m innocent! I didn’t do anything! Please, I’m not one of them!” His face was terrified and ragged, tears ran down his eyes as he begged for help.

“Step back!” a guard near him barked.

He stepped back mumbling his innocence.

The guard pointed to Travis, Travis took one step forward. In his eyes he knew what he had done, and he was ready to embrace death. With a deep breath he shouted proudly into the audience. “I am Travis! I am a Captain in the Steelhoof Coalition! I die for freedom! Honor! And everything these tyrants stand against! Let me not be forgotten! Let freedom be brought to the Province!” He stopped and looked down for a second, a dark loom hovering over his face. “I’m sorry Bella...” He muttered softly, stepping back with a gentle tear rolling down his face.

“Next criminal.” The guard barked, but the Earth pony just stood there looking out into the crowed with a hardened serious facial expression.

“And you?” He barked to the next criminal. He did the same as the previous pony.

“Very well,” He said while turning to the firing squad.

“Marksponies ready?” He commanded. The firing squad prepared their rifles.

“Aim!”

“Fire!”

Neo Adam turned away from the horrible scene. *BANG!*

They looked back to see all of the criminals on the ground, dead. Large gashing wounds pierced their bodies as blood seeped out of them. “The bodies will be kept here for display until tomorrow. Let this serve as a sign to any who appose the legion!” The guard shouted.

“All hail the legion!” all the guards chanted in unison.

The filly who’s loved one was part of the accused just lay there on the ground, mopping with sorrow. The whole crowd dissipated, with a gloomy aura hanging over them.

“That isn’t right...” Neo said turning back to Lucy slowly. “Law shouldn’t be handled like that...” He muttered grimly walking away from the scene, his head hung low in a mournful fashion.

Adam just stood their, looking down, thinking. He thought about who the legion was, and why they would sentence ponies to death for graffiti. To him, it didn’t make sense at all.

“Adam!” Neo called to him. “We’re going!” he barked angrily.

Adam snapped out of his thinking state returning to reality. He then turned his gaze to the group, and dashed towards them without saying a word.

Lucy stood in front of a large old wooden board covered in variety of colored paper. The board had a small iron rectangle at the top with the words "Work Board" engraved on it. There was four sections to the board, each one had a small label on it which categorized each form of work. One box was labeled food service, one was labeled military work, and the other two were for work in the under-city.

Lucy skimmed through each paper in the under-city section. Neo, Adam, and Allie managed to catch up to her and join her starring at the large board.

“What are you looking for?” Adam said staring at the tens of jobs available on the board.

“I’m looking for...” She paused for a moment narrowing her eyes to inspect one paper.

“There.” She announced, putting her left forehoof on top of the job.

The other three moved closer to her hoof to see what it was, “So, whats the job?” Allie asked.

Lucy removed her forehoof causing Adam and Neo to back away from the board. “This job is very, very important. If you screw this up, there will be hell to pay, and not only that but you'll probably get killed.” She said negatively.

The trio looked puzzled at the remark. “Whats so special about this job?” Neo stepped in.

Lucy sighed, “I can’t actually tell you, like I said before I’ll probably get hunted down if we fail. So please, just don’t ask questions, and just do what your told okay?”

“Fine.” Neo said stubbornly.

Together the four started trotting to a small metal box shaped building that was behind the board, it was exactly the same as the elevator that had brought them up to the city originally. Lucy pressed a large red button that stuck out on the left side of the entrance, then *Clank!* a large metal door slid open exposing another elevator. Lucy decided to move inside first, the others followed directly behind her.

She turned her head to the group with a smirk on her face. “Going down,” she said slamming the down button on the left hoof side of the elevator room.

*Clomk!* Went the metal doors sliding shut quickly, and before they knew it, they were starting to descend into the deep, dark depths of the city.

It was loud, and dark inside the elevator with only a small red light for illumination. The elevator bumped up and down as the elevator passed floor after floor, streaks of light passed by them as they continued their descent.

After about two minutes the elevator began to draw to a halt, and with a small cheerful ding the doors slid open exposing a long dark hallway. The hallway was made of dark iron, and lined up and down with pipes creaking and shuttering, by the pressure deep inside them. A loud echoing followed adding to the eerie feeling the hallway was giving off. Small lights lit up the path as the four emerged from the elevator into the corridor.

Adam was shivering with fright as the four moved down the hallway, Neo was shivering coldly noticing the temperature difference in the air. He could see his and everypony's breath in the faint glow of the tiny lights that lit up their way to the end.

Allie moved closer to Neo shaky slightly, she moved close enough to be brushing against him, before turning into a full snuggle.

“It’s to keep warm.” She said softly snuggling up to him.

Neo blushed as he felt a small surge of warmth race throughout his body. He was no longer aware of the grim place they were in, rather he was content. That was until the reached the end of the hallway.

Once there Lucy tapped on the huge metal door that stood before them. A small slit opened up near the middle of the door exposing only a colts eyes, a shy young voice came from the other side.

“What do you want?” The voice demanded.

“I am Province Guardian Lucy Luck, and this is my crew cupcake.” Lucy mocked him.

“I didn’t ask who you were, I asked what do you want.”

“Well cupcake, I just want to take up that mean little job that nopony in the city wants to do.”

“One sec, how many ponies do you have?”

“Four.”

“Okay, hold on.” He closed the slit in the door and went silent for a few seconds.

A few moments later and he reopened the slit exposing his dark eyes again. “You can come in, but make it fast or you’ll let out the heat.”

The slit slid closed as the door shook and clanked open. There on the other side was a unicorn colt wearing a dark green suit of some kind, with a large gray helmet on.

“Come in! Come in!” He barked at them motioning them to come in faster.
The four hurried in as they felt a blast of warm air bristle along their coats. Lucy only stopped for a moment to address the stallion, “Thank you cupcake,” she said tauntingly as she patted him on the cheek and continued on.

He started to mumble negative insults to himself as he pressed the button that closed the door.

“Cloudy! We have workers here!” He called out to a door to the right of the exit.

“One sec, I’m trying to get the suits together!” A mare called back from behind the door.

The stallion who had let them in removed his helmet with his magic, exposing his head, he looked no older than Neo, and no bigger either. He had a white mane, with a light green coat. “Well welcome to the entrance to the under-city, we’re UC entrance nine. My name is Deja, I’m the gate keeper.” He said proudly moving over to the next door.

He pressed another button opening what looked like a living quarters area made for them. Inside was a light brown unicorn mare wearing the same kind of suit. She was levitating three neatly folded suits, that looked just like the ones they were wearing, “One sec, I need to get the last one, and then I gotta find the helmets.” She said going through a footlocker next to a green bunk. “There we go!” She exclaimed levitating the fourth suits along with the four helmets that went with them.

She exited the living quarters and moved into the small room the other five were standing in, “I have your suits ready!” She said cheerfully as she rested each suit in front of each pony.

Adam looked down at the suit, he was curious as to why they needed them at all.

Lucy looked surprised, “Well your not as stupid as I thought, these suits are actually in decent condition, for once.”

Adam raised a hoof in the air trying to ask a question, “Yah, what is it?” The mare said looking toward him.

“Uhm, yeah, I was wondering as to why we need these in the first place.”

The brown filly looked to Lucy after his question with a odd look on her face. “Is this kid for real?” She asked Lucy.

“Mhm.” Lucy nodded to her.

“Great." She said rolling her eyes. "But before I go on, is there anypony else, who hasn’t been down here before?” She asked looking to the Allie and Neo.

In unison Allie and Neo said, “Yeah, pretty much.” The both looked embarrassed a bit at the situation.

“Okay, lets give you all a real quick lesson on radiation.” She grumbled.

She started to speak in a babyish tone “Radiation is bad, weally bad, and if you get to much of it you die. And out there, radiation is everywhere, so in owder to keep you wiving you need to keep deese wittle old suits on okay?” She ended her lesson with a forced grin on her face.

Lucy was smiling at the speech she had given, the other three however, didn’t find it as amusing as Lucy did.

With a strait face Neo spoke, “You know I’m twenty right?” He pointed out.

Her smile died as she sighed, “Just get the stupid suits on.” She grumbled angrily.

The other stallion had already moved to the door to the right of the room, waiting for them to finish getting their Rad suits on. The Deja and Cloudy giggled and chuckled at the sight, watching Neo and Adam struggle to get the dark suits on.

Neo had finally managed to get the suit on, with some help from Allie’s magic, within a few minutes all four of them had their suits and helmets on.

“Damn, these thing are really hard to put on.” Neo commented as he checked the suit to see if it was secured properly.

“Brother, it wasn’t that hard, or at least it wasn’t when you get your legs inside.”

“Yeah kid, its not that hard, you just gotta suck up your fat gut and it’ll squeeze right on.” Lucy taunted to Neo.

“Yeah, yeah, very funny.” Neo replied sarcastically.

The brown filly moved next to the colt and helped him pull a large copper leaver opening the door. Inside the door was a small dark room with a few shower heads attached to the ceiling.

“All right kiddies, into the shower you go.” The filly said moving her hoof in the air signaling them to enter.

The four moved into the small room awaiting further orders. The filly moved into the center of the entrance to speak. “Now, I need you to help bring back a special water talisman that can only be found in the central water system, roughly three miles from here.” She paused for a moment to nod at Deja his horn started to glow as a rim of blue magical energy gripped the leaver.

She started to speak again, “There are two rules you need to know before we let you go. Rule number one, Whisper, and talk through the short range radios in your suits. Rule number two, you must always keep your suit on at all times! If you don’t it won’t take you long to find out why you need it. But the one thing you gotta remember is that once it turns dark out there, we lock these doors till morning, and we open them for nopony.”

She gave them a strait look, “Celestia speed.” She said before the metal door slammed shut.

The closing of the door was followed by a loud alarm as the four were sprayed by hot steaming water. The suits managed to keep the water from physically touching them, but they could still feel it pound on them from outside their suits. *HONK!* Went the alarm again as the door on the opposite side opened. It creaked open slowly as dim blue rays of light beamed through the exit.

Within seconds they could see the outside and all of its horror. The exit was on top of hill giving them an over overview to what looked like the ground level to the city. Small rays of blue moon like light dotted the dark ground. The city floor itself was charred and melted. It was as if the sun itself had landed on the city torching everything, and to the sky was the hundreds of bridges that span from building to building not letting the light properly touch the surface.

Hundreds of black scattered skeletons of dead ponies lay everywhere along the small broken roads. Metal carriages and wagons lay melted and broken throughout the city.

“Whoa.” Adam said, taken in awe by the grim sight.

“Remember what she said, no talking, not a single fucking word.” Lucy said stepping out of the chamber.

Everyone stepped outside the chamber and into the world of the past. They were all stopped by Lucy who took out two small metal chips from her bag.

“You two come here.” She whispered to them.

Neo and Adam came to her without saying a word. “Here.” She whispered, as she started to download something onto their Pipbucks.

“This’ll mark our objective on your maps.” She whispered putting the chips back into her bag.

Neo and Adam both looked at their Pipbucks, noting the download. On their E.F.S. a small orange blip was shown flashing slowly.

They both put their Pipbucks down, “How did you get that out of your bag without using you mouth?” Neo asked quietly.

“These suits have literally a million features. They have a small levitating spell built into them, its there so earth, and pegasus ponies can access their inventories easily.” She replied making her way down the hillside. The others took her lead and made their way in the direction of the yellow flashing blip.

The four moved quietly along the side of the old road stepping lightly as they went. The bridges overhead creaked as they continued on, each stepped seemed to echo faintly throughout the old buildings, only provoking the empty feeling the streets gave.

At this time, Adam took it into his interest to point out all the prewar posters he could make out on the sides of the buildings. The only problem with that was that most of them were badly burnt, or torn up by time. One poster he saw had a Yellow unicorn filly, standing proudly into the sky holding a shovel with bright yellow words at the bottom saying:

"Do your part for the nation! Join the Ironhoof Equestrian workforce today! Remember, Industry is our future!"

After covering seven blocks they arrived at a tall building, it was burnt like the others and didn’t have any real, significant differences to it. The small blip on Neo and Adam’s E.F.S. was flashing faster and faster the closer they got to the building.

They got to the entrance only to find it melted into the rest of the building, “Damn.” Lucy swore quietly.

The four started to look around for another way into the structure. Adam spotted a small collapsed bridge stuck between two buildings. He continued to follow the bridge and saw that it connected to the building next to them.

Adam nudged Lucy getting her attention. “What?” Lucy said looking to him.

Adam tried to be as quiet as he could, pointing out his plan as he spoke.“I think if we climb up that building there, and go across that bridge we could get into this building from that one over there.”

Lucy closely looked at the route he had mentioned, and to her it looked safe enough to try. “Fine, but we need to pick up the pace if we’re going to get out of here before dark.”

Lucy nudged Neo and Allie, “you got it.” They both nodded at her.

Together they crossed the street to the next building, it was pale and quiet with only the sounds of their hoofsteps to comfort them. The building they entered had destroyed glass doors, with a closed sign dangling from the edge of a broken piece of glass. The interior was just as scorched and destroyed as the outside, black perfectly preserved pony statues lay scattered throughout the room in terrified poses.

“They look scared.” Adam whispered to himself as he followed the rest of the group to a staircase in the corner of the room.

It was now that Adam realized that the building they were in was an old apartment complex, he could tell by the frayed posters on the walls advertising for their business. Neo accidentally nudged a metal stick on the ground that barely tapped on one of the horrified figures, and before he knew it the figure had dissipated into a pile of ash. He backed away from the former figure with surprise, “What in the world could have done this? What kind of power could cause such suffering and death.” He thought to himself sadly.

The four made their way up the dark stairway that towered up to the second floor of the building. The stairs ended at a hallway that continued into eternity, in front of them was a door which had been blasted off by a tremendous force. It was outside this room that the metal bridge from the city above had made itself lodged in between the apartment building and their objective.

“Warning, radiation detected. Threat level, high.” An artificial computerized voice said.

Neo and Adam jumped at the sound of the loud voices random statement. “What the heck was that?” Neo whispered loudly.

Lucy put a hoof to her helmet. “Sshhhhh, not so loud. That’s your suit, its tells you when there’s radiation around."

“Hmm,” Neo shrugged as he put his Pipbuck to his ear to listen for the radiation meter, and just like Lucy said there was the small ticking of his Pipbuck radiation meter.

“Now be quiet!” She quietly snapped at them.

Neo nodded back to her understandingly. Lucy was back to facing the bridge placing her hoof on it lightly and adding more pressure slowly.

“It looks safe, but we’re probably gonna have to cross it individually to make it to the other side.”

“Lucy.” Adam interrupted. “Why can’t you just fly over there?”

She pointed to her back showing him that her wings were inside the suit. “Oh, heh, I didn’t notice.” Adam said shyly.

She Ignored him and slowly started to make her way to the other side across the bridge. She stepped lightly, trying to make her way over to the other side as the bridge creaked and shook as she continued. Within a few minutes she had made it to the other side safely, she turned around to face back at the group on the other side waving at them to come across.

Allie stepped forward and started to make her way to the other side. Neo was watching nervously as she carefully made her way across. Soon, she too made it the other side to join Lucy. Adam stepped up and started to cross, about midway into his crossing the bridge slid down a bit jerking him slightly to the side.

Adam felt a jolt of panic race through him as he struggled to get a hold of his balance. Everyone else gasped as they held their breath, even Lucy panicked for a moment. Stabilizing himself, he managed to stand still for a moment and continued on crossing.

Adam was almost on the other side when Neo noticed a small working terminal in the corner of the room. It was just barely functioning, but it was still activated. He moved away for a brief moment to investigate. The first thing that appeared on the screen was the audio logs. There where about five logs from somepony named Tuesday. Knowing that he wouldn't have the time to listen to them all right now he decided to download them onto his Pipbuck for later.

Adam made it to the other side just as Neo finished up downloading each audio log. Using the short range radio Adam called to Neo from the other side. “Come on brother, we’re waiting for you.”

Neo stepped up to the old metal bridge with fear and excitement gripping him. He couldn’t help but think what chance he would have if the bridge fell, would he survive the fall? Or die a painful death? He shook his head trying to dismiss the thoughts, and just like the others before him he put one hoof in front of the other, and slowly inched his way to the other side.

I took him a few minutes before he joined the rest of the group on the other side of the bridge. He sighed with relief as he looked back to see how much ground he had actually covered.

“Whoa, that was scary... I just hope we don’t have to do that again.” He commented

Lucy ignored his comment. “Okay, listen, we’re in the building now. All we need to do now is get that talisman and get the hell out of here.” Lucy whispered pointing to the center of the building.

“Right,” everypony replied.

Footnote: Sneak increased by 2.

The tapping of their hooves echoed throughout the dark building as they descended a small stairwell into a large gray room. The large room had a tattered, burnt, red circular carpet, and an old metal desk, which was also melted into the floor. Large rusted letters dangled from the wall behind the desk spelling, “Iro h oo Wa er.” Some of the letters were missing making it look odd. Lucy pointed to a large metal door in the corner of the room with dusty copper letters above it. Adam looked down to his Pipbuck to check his E.F.S. which showed the small blip flashing towards it.

The four approached the door and inspected it to make sure it wasn’t welded into the door frame like the other doors. A large handle was in the middle of the door, Lucy assumed it was the door handle. She looked to Allie for help, hoping that she could use her magic to open it. “Allie, try and open the door with your magic.” She whispered.

Allie nodded and attempted to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. It turns out it was locked from the other side and it either needed a key, or it need to be picked.

Adam kicked his hoof at the ground disappointed that they couldn’t reach their objective.

“Ah that’s just a load of bullshit right there. Anypony got any ideas?” Lucy swore looking to the group for answers.

Neo and Adam shrugged, they were just as stumped as Lucy was. Allie on the other hand was levitating a bobby pin and a screw driver that she had got from her bags. “You can pick locks?” Lucy said sounding surprised, Allie nodded back to her.

She started to pick the lock slowly, inching it across the key hole near the center trying not to break her bobby pin. Gently she moved the screw driver sideways making the lock click unlocked.

“Ta-da!” Allie cheered quietly putting her things away.

“Wow! Good work Allie,” Neo cheered softly for her.

“Yeah, way to go!” Adam followed.

“Yeah, yeah, whoopdy-doo you can pick locks.” Lucy cheered blandly.

Allie pouted at her cheer, “Thanks Lucy.” She muttered.

The four helped push open the large metal door, it ached and creaked loudly as it slowly opened. Finally, they managed to open it enough for them to slip into the other side. Behind the door was a hallway with glass windows along the side, rippling glowing water was being projected on the wall by the little light coming from the surface.

“Warning, Heavy radiation detected. Threat level, high. Rad’s outside +5 per second.”

The two brothers Pipbucks ticked faster and faster as they continued down the hallway until they eventually reached the end.

“Caution, radiation lost. Warning radiation source detected in the water, calculating... +15 rads per second if exposed, threat level medium.”

The room they entered on the other side was massive. A large humming sound came from the center of the room, it was the talisman. The talisman was nestled softly between two large orbs holding it in place in the center of the large circular room. The only thing standing between them and reaching the talisman was a large river of bright glowing blue water.

The whole room was lit buy the mysterious blue liquid, it was then the suits read the stats of the water.

“Warning, blue chemical water. The chemical used is highly radioactive and can severely damage organic matter if exposed for to long. Caution is advised when proceeding.”

“Damn, I thought this was going to be easy.” Lucy muttered angrily.

Everypony looked around the room for a way across, but it was Neo who spotted a few metal planks near the river.

“We can use those metal planks to get to the other side.” Neo pointed out.

“You sure kid?” Lucy insisted.

“Lets try and find out.” Neo said, dashing over to the planks.

He pushed them around, till they crossed the glowing river and touched the other side. “See, they do reach.” Neo called back to them.

“Great, now all we need to do is cross it.” Lucy said.

Lucy thought for a moment before stating her Idea, “I don't think Neo or I should go, we’re the heaviest in the group, and those planks don’t look to strong or steady. So the question is who wants to cross it, Adam or Allie.”

“I’ll go.” Allie said stepping up.

“Thanks for volunteering,” Adam said kindly.

She just nodded to him before making her way to Neo and the plank.

She approached the plank with caution as she gulp at the sight of the pulsing river. “Be careful, please.” Neo said worriedly.

“I’ll try, I can promise that much,” Allie replied.

Her heart was racing as she gently put her first hoof on the plank, and then the next, and then the next one till she was completely over the river. Neo was almost as worried as she was. He cared for her safety, and he did what he could to help, so he put is hooves at the end of the plank trying to stabilize it for her.

“No pressure Allie, no pressure, take it nice and slow.” She whispered to herself as she crossed the plank.

The plank shook a bit and bobbed up and down as she continued on. After a few feet she managed to reach the other side of the river, she sighed with relief as she took a big step off of the terrifying thing.

Lucy nudged Adam, “Now you go.”

Adam turned to her sharply, surprised at her remark. “What? Why me?”

“Cause your the next smallest, and a good mechanic. That talisman isn’t going to come off by just looking at it, your going to need to disable the magical field holding it there.”

Adam whimpered scared for his life. “Okay, I’ll do it.” He grumbled stumbling his way to his brother and the plank.

“Allie, Adams crossing, use your magic to hold the plank still.” Neo called to her with the radio on the suit.

Allie nodded back to him. She tilted her head down to the plank, a white glowing energy outlined the end of the plank.

Adam stepped up to the plank terrified, “brother, if I fall in will you get me?” He asked nervously.

“I won’t let you fall, I promise,” Neo said reassuringly.

Adam took a deep breath in and started to cross. Adams trip across was much smoother than Allies because of the extra stability, he had small drops of sweat build up in his helmet as he nudged his way onward. Before he knew it he was at the other side with Allie, “Congratulations you made it.” Allie congratulated him.

“Whew, that was scary,” Adam commented, looking back to his brother on the other side.

“You get the talisman, I’ll wait for you.” Allie said pointing to the talisman.

Adam went up to the big machine and opened the control panel on the bottom, a small green screen flashed up.

“Welcome to the Ironhoof Water Treatment plant, please insert commands below.”

Adam started to type in a command in the text box below.

“Do you wish to deactivate the levitation field? Press 1 for yes, and 2 for no.”

He typed in 1.

“Processing... field disabled, have a nice day.”

Adam smiled on how easy that was. And just like that, the talisman fell straight down to him. The faintly glowing cross was beautiful to hold, even just holding the blue glowing item was magical. Adam turned to the rest of the group and held it high in the air.

“Good work kid, now you and Allie get across and we’ll get the hell out of this freaky place.” Lucy told him on the radio.

Adam nodded back to her and placed the talisman safely is his bag. He passed by Allie as he stepped back onto the plank, he was nervous but not nearly as much as he was before. Step, by step he made it across in double the speed, “Whoa.” Adam sighed touching down at the other side.

“Good job Adam.” Neo said patting Adam on the back, “Now its your turn Allie.” Neo said on the radio.

Allie waved to him signaling she was crossing. Gently she moved across the plank carefully trying to keep her balance. Then with in a short second she lost her balance, and stumbled into the glowing river.

“Allie!” Neo cried loudly.

“Sshhhh!! Kid, you can’t get her, shes gone!” Lucy snapped at him.

“To hell with you!” Neo screamed as he jumped into the river after her.

“Brother no!” Adam shouted reaching out for before he leaped in, but it was to late he had already gone in after her.

“Stupid fucking kid.” Lucy yelled at him holding Adam back.

“He doesn't know how to swim! I need to help him!” Adam yelled struggling to get free from Lucy’s grasp.

“Let me go!” Adam yelled once more finally breaking free. He managed to knock Lucy back on her flank as he broke free, he then started to looked for something to throw in the river to his brother. He spotted on the wall an old fire-hose box. Quickly he dashed for the box and threw it open taking the end of the red hose in one hoof, and bolting off to the edge of the glowing liquid to help his brother.

There at the edge, him and Lucy waited for something to surface, but there was nothing, only silence.

“Come on brother, come up, please come up.” Adam chanted to himself nervously.

Then two dark figures took shape in the water as Neo breached the surface struggling for breath. Without hesitation Adam threw the hose into the river towards his brother, Neo in panic just barely felt the hose nozzle and gripped it tightly with his hooves. Then, with the combined force of Adam and Lucy they pulled Neo to safety with Allie on his back.

He started letting out hacking coughs as he took deep breaths in, “*Cough*... That was, to close*Cough*...”

“Brother are you okay?” Adam asked helping him up.

Once he was up he unlatched his helmet and let his head feel the air, quickly he went down to Allie, she was unconscious. He helped unlatch her helmet open so that he could put his ear to her mouth and listen for her breath, but the was nothing. Then he did the only thing he could think off, which was to start giving her air through her mouth.

“One, two, three, and breath,” he said, putting his mouth to hers feeding her air into her lungs.

“One, two, three, and breath,” he said once more giving her more breath, and just like that she started coughing up some of the blue water.

To her everything was blurry,“Ow, what happened.” She said trying to reclaim her vision. Soon her sight was focused again as she saw Neo over her, he was smiling slightly with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Welcome back,” Neo said softly to her.

In her mind she remembered what Adam had said to her earlier, “If I die right now, then I want to be looking at him...” She thought to herself as she slowly drifted off into an unconscious state.

“Allie?” Neo asked gently

Allie just lay there with her eyes closed and a peaceful look on her face.

“Allie?” He asked again, only this time he was more worried.

She didn’t respond again before her body became fully numb.

Neo started to panic, “Is she dead?” He asked nervously.

Lucy shoved him to the side angrily, “Get out of the way! I need to help her.”

Then her suit levitated a small bag with a reddish-orange potion in it. “Drink this up cupcake.” She said putting the bag to her lips. She slowly drank the potion down to the last drop.

“There, that should save her.” Lucy said satisfyingly putting her helmet back on.

“And you!” She shouted angrily pointing to Neo.

He backed away at the angry mare. Quickly she swung her hoof into his head, knocking him on the ground.

“Ow!” He yelped in pain sitting up, rubbing his sore head. “What was that for!” He snapped.

“That's for being stupid,” Lucy said negatively.

“Here brother, let me help you.” Adam said coming to help his brother up again.

“Okay, now that I’ve got that out of my system, get your helmet back on and lets get the fuck out of here.” Lucy said resting her hoof down on the metal ground.

Adam helped Neo get his helmet back on and Lucy position Allie on his back so he could carry her back.

A few minutes later they were back in the bleak quiet streets of the old city. It was significantly darker than it was when they arrived. It was almost night time dark in the under-city. Swiftly they maneuvered their way through the streets and back the way they came.

Neo was just trotting normal when he felt something tug at his leg for a brief moment. “Huh?” He said looking down at the ground. It was a small wire that he had pulled in between two destroyed wagons. A loud swoosh followed as a large wagon attached to wire swooped down across the street and hit a huge metal water tank across the street making a loud booming noise.

*BBOOOOONNNNGGGGGMMMMMM!!!!*

Everyone paused in place for a brief moment, the noise echoed throughout the dark buildings.

“Who the fuck did that!” Lucy shouted quietly on the radio.

“Lucy, why do we have to be quiet anyway.” Adam whispered on the radio.

She grunted, “Its nothing, maybe they didn’t hear-” She was interrupted by a loud, deathly screeching howl.

“HHHWWWAAAARRRRR!” The group turned around to see one pony standing on top of a destroyed wagon, but this pony didn’t look normal. Rather, it had no mane and its skin was tattered and frayed. Small bits and pieces of the creature were missing from its legs and face. Then four more showed up around it, then ten, then twenty.

“Run.” Lucy whispered, but Neo and Adam just stood there as more and more joined the deathly looking creatures.

“Run!” She shouted, and at that moment, hundreds of the zombie ponies raced straight for them. It was at this time that Neo and Adam decided to run.

Hundreds howled as they chased them through the streets, Adams E.F.S. was completely full of red dots as more from everywhere behind them joined the frenzy. Some tripped and stumbled, some even got trampled by their own kind. The hill which lead to the entrance back into the city was just up the street only two hundred feet from their position. Adam and Neo ran side by side as the murderous creatures closed in on their position. They were so close they could hear their panting as they sprinted after them. They run up the hill trying to open the door to the city, the ghoulish creatures were now just a hundred feet away. Lucy manged to get the door open and started shoving Adam in, “Come on Neo! Jump!” She yelled to him as he leaped for his and Allies life through the metal door frame.

Using all of their mussel Adam and Lucy shut the door before the creatures could get to them. The door shut with a *CLANK* as they caught their breath.

“What the hell where those things!” Neo barked to Lucy.

“Yeah, what kind of monsters are they.” Adam asked panting heavily.

“Their ghouls, former ponies. They’re what happens when you get too comfortable with radiation.” Lucy said grimly while she removed her helmet.

“They eat ponies, they aren’t even-” She paused.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said putting her helmet down on the floor of the shower chamber laying against the metal door, with a hundred meaty hooves were pounding on the door behind her.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: You should have given me the sweetroll: You gain +10 hp every time you eat food, and drink water. You also gain an additional +20 hp if you eat looted or stolen food.

Footnote: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Brotherly bond: You gain +xp every time you are around Neo, and +AP in S.A.T.S. when he is close by.

Proofread by:

Myself

Dracoliat

Jakeboss

(Let me know about any mistakes we might have missed! Oh and chapter 8 is gonna be good!)

Champions

CHAPTER 8: CHAMPIONS

It was the next day, and the four had completed their mission at returning the talisman. Allie was slowly recovering from radiation poisoning, and Neo was getting his arm fixed at Lucy’s shack.

“Ow!” Neo shouted painfully as Adam messed around with his brother’s arm.

Neo’s arm was resting on a small desk in Lucy’s shack, small metal parts were scattered everywhere. Nuts, bolts, and small sensors covered the small space around them.

A small blue screwdriver was in his mouth, as he dug through Neo’s arm.

“Ow!” Neo yelped, as Adam pushed farther into his brothers arm.

Allie was resting in her bunk and Lucy was out getting food for the night, which in some cases, was probably a good thing.

“Adam, why does it have to hurt so much?” Neo asked, turning his head away from his arm, gritting his teeth trying to accept the pain.

Adam put down the screwdriver for a moment to answer him. “Because when you jumped in that water to save Allie your arms nerve sensors got water on them. And when I made this for you I didn’t make it water proof.” He picked up the screw driver and continued to work on his arm.

“Ow!” He yelled. For some reason his yelps didn’t wake up Allie. “That wasn’t my question, my question was why does it hurt so much when you work on my arm like this?”

Adam put the screwdriver back down on the desk and sighed. “Well, your nerve sensors are in the way of the motor control relay, so in order for your arm to even work at all I need to move your nerve senors to get to your motor relay.”

Neo gave him a puzzled look, “what?”

Adam gave him a bland facial expression. “I have to move the thing that hooks up to your nerves, so I can make the arm stiff, and you can use it like a support. Cause if you use it now your nerves to your arm could get severely damaged. Heck, I’m just amazed it lasted this long.”

“I see, so how long will this take?”

Adam moved his goggles on his forehead down onto his eyes. “What? Oh, just a few more minutes.”

Neo sighed with relief. “Just work as fast as you can, cause this is torture.” He slouched in the chair he was sitting in trying to relax the best he could while Adam operated.

Adam jerked forward into his arm with the screwdriver in his mouth. Instantly a huge throbbing pain went flying through Neo’s body. “Oooooooow!” Neo yelled as he felt his arm stiffen.

Adam put the screwdriver away in his bag and wiped his sweaty brow. “Whew, I’m done. I’m finally done.” He adjusted his goggles back up to his forehead.

“Yes, finally.” Neo said getting rid of some sweat on his neck.

“Here let me close it up and you should be good to go.” Adam said before closing his brothers arm, returning it to its normal state.

“You can move around now.” Adam said backing away from his brother.

“Great now, lets just get you down from the desk.” He said to himself, planting his right forehoof on the ground.

Neo smiled as he took one step with his left hoof, but when he moved his right he stumbled a bit and then fell down with a thud on the hard ground right on his face. “Does the pain never end?” He moaned to himself as he tried to get up from the ground.

“Oh, you can’t move your arm normally. I locked it up, think of it as a peg-leg from an old pirate story,” Adam added.

“Great,” Neo muttered standing completely up on all fours finally.

“How are we supposed to find mom with me like this?” He complained.

“Your going to have to wait till this weekend when I get more parts for your arm. Until then, your going to have to be peg-leg Neo for a while.” Adam chuckled.

Neo’s jaw dropped. “But I don’t want to be peg-leg Neo.” He stopped trying to move forward, “And how am I supposed to do anythi-” His sentence was interrupted by the floor coming into contact with his face again.

“Are you okay brother?” Adam asked helping his brother up.

“I’m fine, thanks Adam.” He sighed while rubbing his sore face with his other good hoof.

The shack door opened with Lucy standing in the doorway. “Hello boys,” She greeted them before closing the door.

“Tell me you at least brought food back?” Neo begged, while he was leaning against Adam for stability.

Lucy turned to him with a blank pessimistic face. “What’s with you?” she asked looking at the two.

Adam helped his brother move to his bunk before replying to Lucy. “I locked up brothers arm so he could move around, but it turns out that he can’t really move around any better than he could before.”

“So what, is he peg-leg Neo or something?”

Neo face-hoofed at the remark with his left hoof. “Really, you too?” Neo’s reaction was followed by a small chuckle from Adam.

“Well,” Lucy yawned, “I brought back some food. It’s irradiated, but its food.” She threw the saddle bag on the ground and opened it for them. “Get it when you need it, I’m off to bed.” She said moving over to her bunk.

“Oh, and Neo. Don’t eat to much of it, we need it to last more than two minutes. And plus its irradiated, so you don’t need any more radiation after that stunt you pulled back there with Allie.”

“Aw,” Neo pouted laying back in his bunk, “oh you can’t eat Neo because of radiation, blah blah blah.” He continued to himself quietly imitating Lucy.

She dove onto her bunk and pulled the sheet over her, “Night.” She said while rolling over. She didn’t even take off her fedora, she just went straight to sleep.

“Well, I guess we eat something, huh brother.” Adam said moving to the saddle bag.

“Yeah that's if I don’t eat it all first, right?” Neo commented sarcastically.

“Heh, yeah. So I better be careful on what I give you.” Adam replied taking some of the food from her saddle bag.

Everypony was fast asleep in their bunks, except for Adam. He rolled around in his bunk as he wrote some things on a paper. It was a list. He looked through it up and down to check if everything he wanted was written down. It was dark in the room with only the small glow from the large terminal screen in the back of the room for light.

Adam smiled as he held the small pen in his mouth. He thought to himself his plans and how he would carry them out.

"Looks like I've got everything I need down on the list." He looked over to Lucy in her bunk.

"Know all I need it to get Lucy to buy the stuff, bring it back, and get brother out of here so I can make this stuff."

"I can't wait to tell Lucy and Allie, and wait until they see the look on his face when he finds out his birthday is tomorrow."

Adam gently set down the pen on his pillow in front of him, then he carefully pulled the blankets off him. As he did so he tried to make as little movement as he could. As he moved off the bed, he tip-hoofed over to Lucy's bunk on the other side of the room.

He held the small paper in his mouth as he crept over to Lucy. At the bunk, Lucy was sleeping soundly with her fedora laying awkwardly on her head.

He poked her head with his hoof. "Lucy."

She just twitched and continued to sleep.

He poked her again. "Lucy..."

She slowly opened her eyes and yawned. "The bathrooms outside kid..."

"That's not what I wanted to ask."

She yawned again before sitting up in her bed. "Then what do you want? Cause if you haven't noticed I was sleeping..."

"Here," he put the paper down in front of her.

"The hell is this?" She grumbled while scratching her head.

"It's a list of all the stuff I need to build brothers presents."

She looked at him for a second before turning her gaze to the paper in front of her. "Two nerve attachment units, six carbonic resination tubes? Four steel pads that are twelve inches at each side, and an enchanted steel blade that measures at four inches. Lastly a new robotic limb..."

She just stared at it a bit before picking up the paper and putting it in a pocket of her dust she wore.

She turned her head to him with an odd look. "Wait a second... presents?"

"Yeah, his birthday’s tomorrow."

"He's like four right?"

Adam frowned at her response. "No, he'll be twenty one tomorrow."

"Are you sure, because I was sure he was at least three."

"Could you please just get me the stuff on the list?"

She looked at him blandly for a moment before answering. "Sure, I know were most of this stuff is, but I can't promise I'll get everything..."

Adam smiled at her. "Thanks Lucy, this means a lot to me."

She laid back down and pulled the green sheet over her head, "yeah, yeah I'm too nice..."

Adam looked at her for a moment before returning back to his bunk. "I just hope brother likes the stuff I'm getting him."

The next day was like the others before, cool, crisp, and gloomy. The only thing different about this day was that instead of the average brownish morning, it was a white, baby blue morning. It was a rather better morning, mainly because of the lack of wind blowing.

Allie woke up first to see Lucy already awake and working. She was just about to leave when Allie stopped her, “morning.” She said tiredly while rubbing her eyes in her bunk.

Lucy turned to her sharply with a surprised look on her face. “Oh... Morning Allie.” She said sheepishly.

“What are doing or, where are you going?” She asked, now sitting up dangling her legs off the side of the bunk.

She looked at Neo carefully and moved to Allie carefully. “Can you keep a secret?” She whispered.

Allie nodded.

She looked around the room again to see if Neo, or anyone else, was listening in. “Well, Adam gave me a list of stuff to buy, cause Neo’s birthday is tomorrow.”

“Really?” Allie replied with a whisper.

Lucy nodded, “I have to tell you I like Adam much more than Neo, but he said he’d make it up to me if I did this so... yeah.”

Allie lay back in her bunk and pulled the covers over her. “Okay, I can keep that a secret,” she said happily.

“Good,” Lucy replied sternly. “Just sleep a bit more, and I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Allie just smiled at her and rolled over in her bunk, trying to get back to sleep.

Lucy turned away with a small grin on her face. “I better finish getting this stuff before the crowds come.” She thought to herself as she left the shack quietly closing the door behind her.

A few hours later past and Neo woke up lazily like he normally did. He smacked his lips trying to get saliva to quench his parch mouth. “Adam you awake?” Neo asked tapping the bottom of the bunk above him.

Adam rolled over opening his eyes slowly. “Yeah, I’m awake,” he mumbled.

Neo slid out of bed carelessly dropping the blankets on the ground as he emerged from his bunk. He moved over to Allie and tapped on her bunk with his right forehoof, which was still locked up and stiff.

“Allie you awake?” Neo mumbled to her.

She rolled over with her eyes open, “Mhm,” she returned.

Neo gave her a gentle smile before moving over to a cabinet next to Lucy’s terminal. But just before he managed to get to the cabinet the door slammed open. *QWANK!* Everypony in the shack turned to the door to see what was the problem, and there in the doorway was Lucy with her fedora tied to her head by the small string.

She had the same old pissed cranky look about her, which meant nothing was different. “Sorry about that,” She said plainly.

Neo grinned at her and rubbed the back of his neck to calm himself. “Its okay Lucy you didn’t scare us to muc-” Before Neo could finish she interrupted him. “I wasn’t talking to you.” She added Neo’s grin dying with her words.

“Than who were you talking about?” Adam asked curiously.

“The door.” Lucy replied blankly as she gently closed it. Neo frowned at her remark before returning to the cabinet to get something to eat.

Lucy moved to Adam, while his brother was busy getting something to eat. She moved close to Adam and put her mouth close to his left ear to whisper to him. “I got all the stuff, even the special order.”

Adams face lit up as he replied quietly. “Great, won’t brother be surprised!”

“Yeah, he better like it,” Lucy replied negatively.

Adam just smiled at her, “don’t worry I guarantee you he’ll like it.”

Lucy just shrugged and went over to Neo. “Hey fat flank, stop eating for a second.” She insulted Neo as he ate some dried apples next to the cabinet.

Neo ignored her insult and continued eating. “What do you want this time?” He said with a calm tone with his mouth full.

“I need your help taking some scrap to the smelters today.”

Neo sighed frustratingly. “Fine, when do we leave?”

“Now.”

Neo almost spit out his apples at her response. “Now?” He said still shocked that he had to go and help her now.

“Yeah, and its going to take, all, day, long.” She gave him a wicked grin.

Neo whimpered a bit before grabbing his leather coat and do-rag. Before they left, Allie helped Neo put on his do-rag with her magic, and get his saddle bag ready for the long day of work.

“Be safe,” Allie said before giving him a small goodbye hug.

Neo’s spirit raised as the warm little gesture that flew throughout his body making him feel much more happy than he was a few moments ago. Within a few minutes, Lucy and Neo left the shack to deliver scrap, although it is unknown him as to why Lucy delivers scrap to others, it didn't really matter nor did he really care.

“Bye Neo,” Allie said waving goodbye.

“Bye brother,” Adam said waving his hoof with a big quirky smile on his face.

“Bye,” Neo said waving goodbye to the two before Lucy closed the shack door on him.

Adams wave and smile faded as he turned to Allie. “Good he’s gone,” Adam said mischievously.

“Do you know where Lucy left the stuff?” Allie asked.

“Yep, its outside on the other side of the building.” Adam said with a smirk.

“How long will it take to make?” Allie asked while she walked to the door.

“I did it in four days, heck, with the hard stuff mostly done it’ll take me five hours tops.” Adam boasted proudly.

“Okay, than lets get the stuff and get to work,” Allie said raising her hoof in the air.

Adam lifted his hoof up and clapped it with hers. “Lets do this,” Adam said with a confident smile on his face, as he moved his goggles on his eyes.

Night slowly came to the Sky-top city as all of the buildings lit up with an assortment of bright neon colors. Lucy and Neo didn’t manage to beat the crowds and so they had to dodge and maneuver their way through the massive crowd of ponies on their way back to Lucy’s shack.

Neo hung his head low as he waddled his way through the crowd. He was sad that Lucy made him come with her, and he was sad that she kept calling him, “peg-leg Neo”.

He was in a depressed state, which wasn’t normal for him, or at least it wasn’t ‘till he came out into the outside.

The worst part was Lucy mocked him with a pirate accent making, the torment even more old. “Avast peg-leg Neo! How goes yer search for treasure?”

She was referring to him hanging his head low, which made it look like he was a hound dog, sniffing out treasure in the ground. In his mind he did the best he could to block out the pirate insults from Lucy. “Why Lucy? What did I do to deserve this...” he thought to himself as he waddled side to side trying to get back to the shack as fast as he could.

Lucy stopped insulting him for a moment to wipe a tear off her face, “wooow.” She exclaimed blissfully. “I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.” She said to herself aloud.

“Yeah, laugh all you want...” He thought as he continued to walk up the path that lead to her shack.

She caught up to him and nudged him playfully. “Hey it’s all in good fun...” She stopped for a moment, her face looked like it was about to explode with laughter. “Peg-leg Neo,” she squeaked before busting out into an insane laugh.

Neo just frowned and did the best he could do to ignore his tormentor. “Would you please stop?” he begged.

“Nope,” Lucy replied happily with a big smile on her face.

Neo looked up from the ground for a moment to see where he was, and to his surprise he was only about a hundred feet way from the shack. His eyes widened, and his face lit up with joy as waddled quickly to get to the shack.

He got to the door before Lucy, and he just stood there knocking on the door violently. “Adam... Allie... Let me in please?” He begged pitifully as his smile turned into a sour frown.

Lucy slowly approached the entrance with her normal look about her. “One sec.” She said nudging him to the side.

She raised her hoof and knocked on the door three times in some kind of specific pattern. From the outside Neo could hear Adam and Allie shuffling around inside whispering to each other.

Then the shuffling stopped, and the door suddenly clicked unlocked. It slowly opened, and exposed Adam in the edge of the doorway. “Oh hi brother... Lucy...” He said to the two giving them a fake smile.

Neo tried to look over his brother to get a better look inside the shack. “So...” Neo said curiously. “What are you doing in there?”

“Oh, just stuff,” Adam said giving him the same big smile.

In the background Allie quietly called out to Adam. “Its ready!” Adam turned his head back to see if she was telling the truth, and with a nod, Adam opened the rest off the door for his brother and Lucy.

And in unison Adam, Lucy, and Allie yelled, “surprise!”

Neo was shocked at the sight, his face was baffled by the event. “What is this?” Neo asked softly.

Lucy patted him once on the back. “Don’t you see? Its your birthday you scurvy dog.”

Neo looked to Adam with his baffled look still on his face. “My birthday?” he asked as he was still computing the moment.

Adam gave him a real smile this time. “Yes brother, it's your birthday!” Adam said jumping slightly in the air.

Neo thought for a moment about the date of his birthday, and well it had been a few days since they left the Stable. His whole sense of time and date was completely messed up, but if Adam said it was his birthday, than heck, it was his birthday.

Neo suddenly felt himself lift up from the insults that Lucy had thrown at him throughout the day, and with a new spirit in his step he gave them a smile. “Thanks guys,” he said gently, as he and Lucy walked through the door.

There wasn’t really anything different about the inside, other than some food that was in the middle of the floor, and two large items next to the meal. The items were oddly shaped and covered with two of the blankets from the bunks.

Adam moved over to the center of the room and sat down near one of the gifts. “Sorry if we didn’t wrap the gifts with paper, it was the best we could do.” He said rubbing the back of his neck with a gentle grin.

Lucy sat down on one of the bottom bunks to watch them, and Allie levitated the first object over to Neo with a smile on her face.

She lowered it gently in front of him as all three of them watch anxiously as he sat down to open it. “You didn’t need to get me anything,” Neo said humbly looking down at the green blanket wrapped gift.

“No trust me, you need it,” Adam said leaning a little closer.

“Okay if you insist,” Neo said before moving down and opening the blanket with his mouth, exposing a large metal square with a blue light going down the middle of it. It looked like a saddle of some sort, it was made of steel, and had two flat black disks on the top connected to the blue neon lit light.

Neo looked at it curiously, eyeing the mysterious contraption. “What is it?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.

Adam went over to his brother and nudged him to stand up. “Here I’ll show you.” He said holding his brother still.

Then, he turned to the metal device and with a stern looking stare, a small ring of blue light enveloped the item causing it to float.

Neo jumped for a moment in amazement as he watched Adam levitate the object towards him. “What the? How are you? How!” He stuttered as Adam moved his brothers duster up a bit exposing his back.

“Here, just watch.” Adam said reassuringly as he placed the cold metal pad on his back.

The cold little device sent shivers down Neo’s spine as Adam rested it gently on his back. “One second.” Adam said before the device made a small clicking noise. At that moment Neo felt a jolt of pain go through his body for only a brief moment before it died back down.

“Ow!” He said after the pain kicked in.

“There we go.” Adam said successfully as he moved away from his brother. “Now you have one just like me.”

Lucy leaned forward to see them better, “Brother stop spinning, please?” Adam said trying to get his brother to stop spinning.

Neo was spinning around and around, trying to get a better look of the thing on his back. “What is it?” He said as he finally decided to stop moving around in circles.

“I made it myself, it really wasn’t that hard to make.” Adam smiled proudly.

“No really, what is it.” Neo asked Adam again.

Adam adjusted his goggles a bit before explaining. “Its a levitation saddle. Kind of like those ones we used in the radiation suits in the Undercity.

Neo looked at him puzzled. “So we can levitate stuff?”

Adam nodded. “Yep, and they work ten times as well as those ones the suits had to.”

Neo looked to his back again before returning to his brother. “Okay, but, how do they work?”

“Simple,” Adam stated. “Just slightly concentrate on the item you want to levitate, and wal-la! Your floating things around, just like a unicorn.”

“Okay, that seems easy enough.” Neo said as he looked around for stuff to levitate.

Quickly he chose the first thing that caught his eye, which was a bowl of noodles. He narrowed his eyes at the bowl trying his best to concentrate on it. And with almost no effort at all the bowl lift itself off the ground and moved its way to his mouth.

At this time he started to consume the noodles, “This is really a great gift Adam!” Neo exclaimed as he scarfed down the noodles. But then, he heard a ticking noise which stopped his feast. He lifted up his Pipbuck to look at the source of the ticking, and on the small dial on his Pipbuck the arrow on the dial started to shift over into a small red zone with a +1 on it.

Suddenly Neo felt sick, “I don’t think I want to eat the noodles anymore.” He said sickly as he lowered the bowl back to the ground.

Allie chuckled a bit. “Yeah all the food is slightly irradiated so your going to have to go easy on the food.”

“Yeah fat flank, guess that means no endless feasting for you.” Lucy pestered him with a wicked smirk on her face.

Neo ignored the comment and moved over to the next blanket wrapped gift. “What’s this?” Neo asked pointing to the small wrapped item.

Adam got a stern look on his face as he quickly nodded to Lucy and Allie. Without any warning Lucy and Allie pounced on Neo holding him down on the ground.

“What the hell?!” He shout as he struggled to get free from his attackers.

Allie just held his legs down giving him a calm smile. Lucy on the other hoof was enjoying herself a little to much. “Hold still you big baby!” She yapped at him as Adam came over to his metal arm.

“I’m not a baby!” He returned angrily as he continued to struggle.

“Just shut up!” She yelled at him again trying to make him shut up as he wiggled more to get free, but it was no use.

“Just hold still brother, this will only take a second.” Adam said unwrapping the blanket.

It was hard to see what was in the blanket because Lucy was in the way. Adam got up levitating a screwdriver and a steel forearm that looked just like his other one. “Adam, what are you doing?” Neo asked nervously, sweat being to build on his face and neck.

“Don’t worry, It’ll only hurt for a second.” Adam said reassuringly as he started to unscrew his old arm off the socket in his shoulder.

His heart was racing as he felt a rusty sharp pain just like the first time go though his entire body. “Gah!” He yelped as he felt his arm come off, and the other one replace its former spot.

Then, once again, another surge of pain went through his body as Adam tightened the last screw on his shoulder. “There.” He exclaimed tiredly as he put his things way and stepping back from his brother.

“You can let him go now.” Adam said cheerfully as Lucy and Allie let him go.

Neo’s face was frozen with fright as the three backed away from the shocked soul. “Are you okay Neo?” Allie said in worried tone.

Lucy rolled her eyes and started to count down blandly. “3... 2... 1... Wake up.” As soon as she said “wake up” he arose sharply from the floor sitting up strait breathing heavily.

“See? He’s just a big actor,” Lucy commented blankly.

Neo huffed a bit and then turned to his new arm. “My arm...” He said quietly. He moved his arm around a bit, testing its flexibility. “My arm, I can move it normally!” He shouted joyfully.

“You like it?” Allie asked moving closer to him with a calm smile.

He was overjoyed with excitement. “Yes! I love it! Thank you Adam!”

Adam shrugged modestly, “aw, it was nothing.”

Neo leaped up from the ground and hugged his brother warmly, “Thanks Adam, I really like it.”

Adam gave him a small chuckle, “It was nothing, but I did add a few features to this one.”

Neo’s overjoyed expression faded away with the sound of these new features Adam spoke about, “What new features?”

Allie stepped in, “You’ll see.” She teased him.

“Hmm?” He grunted returning to Adam.

“Well for starters it’s fifty percent lighter than your old one.” Neo moved his arm around a bit realizing it was a significantly lighter than his old one. “Another feature is it's one hundred percent water proof, and bullet proof too, or at least it should be.” Neo smiled a bit inspecting the new shiny steel arm. “It's the best enchanted steel I could ask for, and it comes with a magically enchanted blade.”

Neo looked surprised. “A magically enchanted blade?”

“Yep.” Lucy interrupted as she sat back down on the one of the lower bunks.

“Just think of the blade, and it should unsheathe itself.” Adam said pointing to the end of his hoof.

Neo inspected the hoof carefully thinking about a blade, but unlike the levitation saddle Adam gave him this was much more difficult to use. Just as he was about to give up. *Sheeth!* The small blade extended itself from the bottom of his hoof through a tiny slit at the end.

“Whoa!” He yelped as he jumped at the small blade that emerged from his right hoof.

“Yeah, and it never dulls to,” Adam pointed out.

“Really,” Neo returned before his blade sheathed itself back into his hoof.

Lucy got off the bunk and sat down at the food. “Great!” she shouted sarcastically. “Now that we got all your gifts open and used, can we eat now?”

“Yes Lucy, we can eat now.” Allie muttered turning to the meal she made for Neo’s birthday.

Neo looked at Adam calmly with a cheerful smile on his face. “Well, I’m still hungry. Even if this food makes me sick, it's still my party right?”

Adam smiled back at him. “Yeah it’s your party. Now lets eat before the food gets cold.” Adam chuckled.

“Yeah,” Neo sighed happily.

But then it struck him that he no longer had a stiff arm, and so he got a devilish feeling about him. “Oh Lucy?” Neo said turning to her with a wicked grin on his face. “Guess who doesn’t have a peg-leg anymore?” He taunted her.

She pouted a bit before starting to eat. “You don’t,” she replied blankly rolling her eyes at how childish he was acting.

He started to laugh at her. “Ha, ha! Who has the last laugh now!” He mocked her.

She facehoofed with her left hoof. “Can we just sit and eat, please?” She begged him.

And so, on that night they ate merrily as Neo enjoyed his new arm and levitation saddle. Although Lucy kept quiet to herself during most of the meal, she couldn’t help laughing at some of the jokes and stories they shared as they enjoyed the night they had together. It was then that Adam realized that laughter brought them together, and it was then that he felt that Lucy was truly a real friend.

It was the next morning, the sound of ponies gathering in a massive horde woke them up. They had slept in, it was already noon by the time they woke up from their party they had all night long.

Lucy slouched upright as she put her hoof to her head trying to help the aching soreness in her head. “Dammit...” She moaned to herself as she turned around to see the others laying where they could for the night.

Neo was on the ground with a small empty box on his mouth, and Adam and Allie were laying on their bunks lazily in awkward positions.

Lucy’s mane was tangled and messy from the rough nights sleep she had gotten. “Damn...” she whispered to herself getting up from her bunk tiredly.

She started to make her way to Neo on the ground who was snoring loudly. Lucy didn’t like this at all, so she spit on her hoof and started to gently rub his right ear softly. As she preformed the gesture, Neo squirmed around blissfully with a big smile on his face.

“Oh Allie... I didn’t think you wanted to...” He moaned to himself before opening his eyelids slowly, and there staring at him was Lucy with a cocky smirk on her face.

“Hi there sleeping beauty,” she whispered to him.

His eyes popped open as he leaped up and backed away from Lucy hitting one of the bunks as he moved quickly away from her. “Was that your spit?” He asked with a worried tone.

Lucy nodded at him with her quirky tired look.

Neo started to rub at his ear furiously trying to remove the Lucy saliva from his right ear. “Get it off, get it off, get it off!” He yelped to himself, as he rubbed his ear.

Lucy started to chuckle maniacally to herself as she watch him try to remove her saliva. Neo managed to wake up Adam and Allie from his small panic attack.

“Its all over my ear! Get it off!” He yelped to himself as he finally stopped his violent rubbing.

A little pissed Neo, looked at the tattered Pegasus with an angry look. “What the hell was that for!” he yelled at her.

“You’re welcome,” she replied sarcastically.

Adam hopped down from his bed, and rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Brother, whats going on?” Adam said, still trying to wake up.

Allie joined them in the center of the room looking just as tired and crashed as the rest of them. “What did I miss?” She asked Lucy while she scratched her brown mane.

Lucy turned her head to Allie showing her the quirky look she gave Neo. “I pulled a little prank on him...” she said calmly with her wicked grin.

“That crazy lady put her spit in my ear!” Neo yelled at her.

Lucy giggled softly to herself, “I sure did.” The giggled she made was almost evil.

Neo managed to cool down a bit before replying. “Yeah, well you had your fun. But just remember that I have my arm back so that means I can move properly now, so watch yourself.” He muttered to her in an almost angry tone.

She slowly stubbled away from him to the cabinets in the corner of the shack hanging her head low tiredly. “Yeah, yeah I’ll be sure to do that...” She mumbled before tripping over something long and hard.

*BAM!* Her face made contact soundly on the hard floor. “Ahow...” Lucy moaned as she looked over her shoulder to see what she tripped on. To her surprise the item she tripped on, was her sniper rifle.

“How the hell did that get there?” She said scratching her head.

Neo moved over to her and started to taunt her. “Ha!” He pointed to her. “Who’s the one falling on their faces now?” He taunted her, as he enjoyed every second of her failure.

Lucy just ignored him and got up off the floor, “laugh it up kid.” She said plainly, while she dusted herself off.

Adam looked down at her rifle on the ground. It looked like she managed to break the scope by denting the side. “Um, Lucy...” Adam muttered softly as he moved over to her.

“What Adam?” She said negatively looking at him with her eye lids low.

He pointed down to her rifle on the ground. “Your scope is a little... off...” He said cautiously trying not to upset her.

She shrugged before looking down at her rifle. “I don’t now what you mea-” She stopped as her eyes shot open. “What happened to my rifle?” she muttered angrily.

Adam could see the fire building up in her eyes, “You did it yourself, when you walked away from brother.” Adam said sheepishly putting his fore hooves infront of himself trying to block any rage that she could throw at him.

Allie and Neo jumped behind the nearest bunk for cover from her rage. “Take cover she’s gonna blow!” Neo said jumping behind the bottom left bunk.

But, nothing happened, instead she just got up from started to pick up boxes and putting them in a pile. Neo and Allie poked their heads up from their cover behind the bunks with baffled faces. “Why didn’t she explode?” Allie said scratching her head.

Neo shrugged to Allie, “I don’t know?”

Lucy stopped her trash collecting for a moment, she just stood there with her head hanging low. “Neo, Adam?” She sighed.

Adam approached her carefully. “Yes?” he answered quietly.

“Go to the arms district, and get me a new scope...” her tone was quiet and soothing, but it was easy to tell that even the slightest thing could detonate Lucy’s rage.

Neo gulped from behind his cover as he asked nervously. “Where is the arms district?”

Instead she replied just as calmly as she did before. “Pipbuck, local map, get caps, go buy scope, now.” She emphasized on the now.

Adam decided it was safe to ask another question. “What about Allie?” He gulped.

She looked at him with wide demon looking eyes, “scope, district, buy, now.” She said almost ready to explode.

Adam nodded quickly and grabbed his stuff and dashed out the door, slamming it behind him as he left. “Wait for me Adam!” Neo called out to him as he put his saddle bag on and jumped out the door, he also slammed it as he exited the shack.

“What just happen-” Allie was interrupted by the pissed Pegasus.

“Just help clean up!” She barked at her.

She snapped at attention, “yes sir.” She yelped as she quickly moved around the room picking up trash from the night before.

It was cold and damp outside with small trickles of rain falling easily down to the world. Small rings of thunder and lightning could be heard booming out from miles away.

Ponies of all kinds walked along the metal ground splashing in small puddles of water as they went.

The rain was the first thing Adam felt, every tiny drop was cold and tingly. “Look brother, rain!” Adam exclaimed merrily looking into the dark cloudy sky, he forgot all about the previous objective Lucy had given them.

Neo snapped him back to reality. “Yeah, falling water that’s a good thing,” he said sarcastically looking down at his Pipbuck.

Adam shook his head, trying to forget about the magical rain falling from the sky. “What does it say?” Adam asked as he pulled up his Pipbuck up to his face to inspect the map of the city.

On his Pipbuck was a small orange display that said area map. Right next to it was a box with the words local map. Using his teeth, Adam turned the small knob on his Pipbuck. The screen then flashed a map of the city in full detail.

"Whoa! There's a full map of the city already here!"

"Mhm," Neo nodded to him as he continued to look down at his Pipbuck.

Adam pressed a button on the side that let him move around a small cursor on the screen of his Pipbuck. He moved it up and down looking for the Arms District.

"Found it," Neo exclaimed before putting his Pipbuck down.

Adam put his own down with a cheerful look on his face. "So how far away is it?"

Neo looked at him with a small smile. "Well it says it's about one mile away from here, which isn't too far if you ask me. It's next to some place called the Arena though."

Adam looked puzzled by the word, "Arena?"

"Yeah, you know fighting, sports, that kind of thing."

"What?"

"It's a place were ponies sit and watch fighting and sports and stuff."

"Oh," Adam said nodding his head. "So then, which way do we go?"

Neo looked around a bit before bringing up his E.F.S. The small orange screen popped up in front of his face. On the screen was a small orange blip flashing slowly to the west.

"Well it says that it's this way," Neo said pointing his left hoof to the west.

Adam looked in that direction. "How long do you think it will take to get there?" Adam asked looking up at his brother.

Neo shrugged. "It shouldn't take more then a few minutes at most."

Adam smiled a bit. "Then what are we waiting for!" He exclaimed as he jumped up in the air happily.

Neo couldn’t hold back his own smile, even though they might be a million miles from finding their mom he still held a strong positive attitude.

Neo looked to him, "lead the way." He said merrily as he motioned his hoof to the west.

They both turned to the west and started to make his way to the nearest bridge that moved to their destination.

After trotting out of the district they made their way to the next district over. This was the Pound District. As they trotted along a huge metal bridge that span to the other building they took note of all the magically lit signs that covered the top halves of the buildings.

"Boxcar Suites and Inn, world famous for it's top notch room service!"

Another sign said. "Ironhoof Artillery and firearms. Best in the whole province!"

There were also several signs with mares or stallions dancing on poles in a hypnotic fashion. It was both amazing and stunning to see the city in full life. Then, before they came to the other side of the bridge they saw a huge purple neon sign say: "The Ironhoof slayer Arena. Join the fight, and become a champion, today!" Below the sign was a list of times and dates.

"What do you think that means?" Adam asked with an eyebrow raised as he looked at the huge sign on the building.

Neo glared negatively at the sign as he answered his brother. "I don't know, and frankly I don't really care, but it's probably best if we stay away from it."

Adam looked down for a moment, "if you say so."

As they trotted to the end of the bridge there was a massive blue neon sign that had the words, "Welcome to the Arms district!" imprinted on it.

As they crossed into the the new section of the city they were blasted by a wave of foul smelling air.

Adam gagged at the smell as it entered his nostrils, "Ugh! What's that smell!" he said putting a hoof over his nose.

Neo was equally disgusted. "I was thinking the same thing."

They looked around the district as they moved on through the center path that ran straight through the middle section of the district. Unlike most districts they had seen this one had normal buildings. Each one was made of dark steel that made each one loom like a shadowy monster. These builings all looked mostly the same, give or take a few tents and wooden slaver stands here and there. Besides tents and stands there were small brahmin pens holding three or so brahmin inside each one.

As they continued they saw ponies covered in battered armor that made each one look like a gladiator. Each pony was filthy and grimmy, and anypony who wasn't covered with armor were cover with large scars or were using skulls as pieces of their armor. Each pony they passed gave them a threating glare before returning to their original task.

The one thing Adam seemed to like about this place was the lights that were strung from building to building. It reminded him of Maneton, he missed the small town and it's townsfolk.

Both Adam and Neo jumped in fright as they saw a pony crash through a window and land five feet away from them. He was a unicorn stallion with a orange coat and a brown mane.

He had small cuts and bruises all over his body. He moaned a bit before attempting to get up. An angry looking Mare charged out of the structure he was thrown out of with a double barrel shotgun levitating in front of her.

The stallion got up and looked at her with his bruised eyes. He spat out a bit of blood to before he wiped his mouth of extra blood.

She was a unicorn and it didn't take Adam or Neo long to tell she was pissed at the stallion. She had a long red dress that looked like it was made of some kind of silk, and a red velvet bow perched on top of her purple mane.

She marched up to him in with the shot gun pointed at his head.

"You have five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now you sick son of a bitch." She threatened him with the barrel hovering two feet from his head.

He gave her a wicked grin. "Shoot woman! I don't give damn! I got all I wanted out of you!" He replied with a chuckle.

She was losing her temper. "I'm going to shoot you, you know that?"

"Ha! Pull the trigger, see if I care! Make my day you stupid bitch!" He shouted with an intimidating look in is eyes.

Those were his last words before his head exploded into a million pieces. The shotgun blast echoed through the city as she lowered her gun.

"Serves you right you perverted fuck." She snickered at his headless corps.

She then spat on the body, turned around and marched back inside with her nose held high. All the other ponies in the street just shrugged and continued on with their lives as if nothing had happened.

Adam was shocked by the event that had just taken place in front of them. "b-brother? D-did she j-just kill him?" He whimpered as he stared at the once living pony.

Neo's stomach churned and twisted as he watched the body seep blood into the street.

Adam was trembling, he just saw a pony get murdered right in front of him! Although, for some reason this time was different. It wasn't like watching a raider die. No, it was just a normal pony, one second he was there, and another he was gone.

Neo wanted to go and get away from the dead pony, and if possible leave this the damn district as soon as possible.

Neo's tone was quiet and sad. "Come on Adam let's go before we see more ponies die..."

Adam turned his head away from the body and continued onward into the district with his brother.

Neo trotted a little faster than normal to try and find Lucy's scope so they could leave this the damn place. As they continued the district got cleaner, and more and more shops popped up as they moved on.

Adam had the image burned into his mind, he tried to think of something else but it was no use, it just stayed. So, he decide that maybe if he talk with his brother maybe they both could forget it.

"Brother?"

Neo was still upset, and slightly sick from the murder they just saw. "What?"

"Aren’t you the least bit curious as to where I got all of that stuff for you?"

Neo thought about it for a moment before answering. "Not really, I figured that you just found this stuff where you could."

Adam pouted. "Well of course I did that. But aren't you curious on how I made all of it so fast?"

Neo looked down at him. "Well, now that you bring it up, it would be nice to know how you built these two saddles, and my new foreleg in just a few hours."

Adam smiled a bit, he was anxious to explain how he built each item. "Well the levitation saddles were the hardest part, first I used those levitation pads I found at that trader tent on our way to the work board. Then I just used some old scrap metal out back for the base, the nerve systems were probably the hardest part to build. You need to make sure the cryo-cells are properly aligned with the magical expander. And trust me, it must have took Lucy forever to find those. Now, putting them together was as easy as counting to three! And I just got Lucy to find you a new arm somewhere, and I just added the blade myself."

Neo looked at him with a baffled look. "What?" He said raising an eyebrow.

Adam gave him a playful look before responding. "It wasn't hard making them. It was just hard getting the pieces." He said with a slight chuckle.

Neo laughed a bit to. "Well, you could have just said that."

"Now what fun would that be if I said that?"

Neo started to laugh and so did Adam.

It was nice that he had managed to get the murder out of his mind, now if only he could completely erase it, then all would be perfect.

Their happy little moment ended when Neo hit a tough looking mare in the street. Neo almost fell over into the dirty ground, luckily his new arm caught him before he fell.

Adam went over to his brother. "brother are you okay?" He said with a little worry in his tone.

He shook his head and turned to Adam. "Yeah I'm fine, I just hope she's okay."

The mare was laying face first in a pile of brahmin droppings. She picked herself up and violently shook her head of the shit that was on her face.

She was pissed, and she wanted to know who bumped into her. "Who the fuck did that!" she yelled as she wiped some brahmin crap out of her eyes.

Neo got a good look at her, she was about his size and clad in a suit of dark armor with a pony scull replacing the left shoulder pad of her suit. Her blood red mane covered her head to her lower neck, and her purple bloodshot eyes made her look like a demented monster.

Neo was scared now, he didn't mean to piss of a gladiator. "Um... sorry about that." He said cautiously as he backed away from the angry mare.

She fixed her eyes on him, and him alone. "You!"

Adam looked up at Neo with a worried look, "I think you made her mad."

"I think we've been here before Adam." Neo said still backing away slowly.

She moved over to him before he could get any farther. "You! Watch the fuck where your going next time!"

Neo backed down and folded his ears back. "Sorry, I didn't see you there..."

She just glared at him before pulling away from him with an evil grin. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today... I just won the jackpot at Fray's Casino just a few minutes ago. Cause any other day and I would've killed your sorry ass." She paused for a moment and gave him an evil grin. "Plus, you'll probably be dead in an hour or so anyway," and just like that, she turned around and started trotting in the other direction.

Neo sighed with relief, "Damn, that was scary..."

"I'll say," Adam replied.

"Let's just find Lucy's scope and get out of here."

"Agreed."

"Now," Neo said, looking around as he still tried to calm down after what had just happened. "Where can we buy a scope for a sniper," he said narrowing his eyes.

Adam joined in and started to look at signs on buildings, "maybe we can ask somepony."

Neo shook his head, "that's the last thing we want to do."

"Now that I think about it, yeah that's probably not a very good idea..." He said with a nervous chuckle.

Neo smiled a bit at him before returning to his search for a weapons store. He looked around and apparently they were in some kind of round trading area. In front of them was a large round structure on top of a building that was right next to the one they were currently on. On it were the words: "Slayer Arena."

Several guards in dark green plated uniforms marched around with sprite bots hovering next to them.

One sprite bot passed the two boy's blasting some kind of message. It was the same voice as before, and it was still just as proud and smooth as it was the first time.

"What ever happened to us? You see, when I was a small colt I lived in a province that was unified under the belief that we could find a future. Let me say that again, unified, but now we live in a province filled with violence, death, and war. We stand divided amongst ourselves, so, let me ask you one thing my fellow ponies. What ever happened to the Ironhoof province... what ever happened, to us? I'll tell you what happened, war... war happened, and it is because of war that our families, friends, and loved ones live in a constant state of fear and hopelessness. Well, I'm here to tell you that those day are over. For, you see, The Ironhoof Legion is starting over, and with your help we can build a greater future. One without the fear of war, a future, with peace. I am your Emperor, and this is my promise to find and build a better tomorrow."

The two brothers watched as the tiny robot flew off into the crowd of ponies.

"What do you think it meant?" Adam asked.

Neo looked down at him. "Well I can't really say, all I got from that, was something about unity and what ever happened to us."

They hadn’t noticed it but the area had become extremely crowded with ponies. There were so many, that they bumped into a pony with every step. There were ponies crowding the streets, and there was no sign of the crowd lightening up anytime soon.

"Brother, how are we going to find her scope if we can't even move?"

"I don't know Adam... I'm trying to see if we can get out of this crowd or something." He said hopping in place trying to look over the heads of the ponies in the crowd.

Across from this district was the Arena, the entrance to the Arena was large and open with long meat hooks and chains dangling from the ceiling. Inside the large entrance were two skinny tan stallions with black checkered suits on and well kept groomed manes. One of them was pacing back and forth nervously while the other one was looking at him with a desperate expression.

"Jib! Think! We need to find some contestants before Tiger company comes and makes us fight for them!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to think damnit!"

"Well think faster, cause if we don't get somepony out there soon we're going to be the ones fighting Asmodeus!"

"Just shut up will you, just shut up!"

He stopped for a moment and looked at the other stallion, "I've got it!"

The other stallion just looked at him oddly, "and?"

"We just need to send somepony out there right?"

He nodded back.

"Then let's just pull some random shmuck out of the crowd and send them into the Arena."

The other stallion put his left hoof to his chin as he thought. "That's cheap, dirty, and totally immoral... I like it!"

"Then it's agreed?"

The other stallion nodded back to him with a greedy smile, "agreed."

They both then turned to the exit and dashed out onto the bridge that connected the Arena to the Arms district. The bridge that connect to the arms district was only fifty feet long, so the Arena wasn't to far away from the main building. Once they got to the end the two stallions looked through the crowd for a shmuck they could fool into coming into the Arena.

They narrowed their eyes and put their hoofs up to their brows to help search through the crowd.

"How about... that one." One of the stallions said pointing into the crowd.

"Nope, she looks to smart."

"What about..." He scanned though the crowd again. "That one." He said pointing to a scrawny looking mare.

"No, we need one that looks new..." He looked through the sea of ponies, "Somepony like... Those two!" He pointed to Neo and Adam who were in the center of the crowd.

"Who? Where?" The other stallion said as he looked for the two the other had mentioned.

"Those two." He said taking his partner by the head and focusing his gaze on the two brothers.

"How did you spot them?"

"You have to have an eye for good ponies to deal with, even the stupid kind." He said in a proud professional boast.

"Agreed, especially in our line of work!" the other stallion chuckled.

Then, with a bow the stallion that found them said. "Shall we, hire our clients?"

The other stallion returned the graceful bow. "It would be terribly rude if we didn't offer our... once in a life time deal."

"Then it's agreed?"

"Agreed."

And just like that they trotted merrily into the crowd to get the two brothers.

Neo was still looking for a gap they could jump through or a way they could go to get out of the crowd.

"brother, it doesn't look like it's going to let up."

"We can't give up, we just got to time it right and-"

His heart about jumped out of his chest when he felt a hoof touch his shoulder.

Adam saw the odd pony before his brother did. Neo turned sharply to the stranger with a surprised expression.

The first thing he saw was a skinny groomed tan stallion with a black checkered coat. "Who the hell are you!" Neo shouted at him as he brushed off his hoof.

The stallion grinned at him and moved closer to him. "I'm Jib, and that handsome chap behind that one there is Jab."

He motioned his hoof to Adam, and like he said there was Jab standing right behind Adam.

"I'm sure you boy's want to get out of this nasty crowd, correct?" Jab said with a grin that went from ear to ear.

Adam was kind of creeped out by the over friendly stallions.

"Yeah?" Adam muttered cautiously.

"Then just follow us dear, and we'll get out of this nasty crowd." Jib said in a creepy manner.

Neo was cautious about the two odd strangers. "Just get us out of the crowd." Neo said with a threating glare.

"Of course! Of course! Just follow us and we'll be out of here in no time." He chanted in a cheerful tone.

So together they managed to bump and push their way to the bridge that took them to the Arena. Once they were their, They took a moment to rest.

"That was much harder then I thought it would be Jib old boy! Whew, I say."

"Yes, agreed." He huffed a bit.

They had managed to push all the ponies out of the way so all Neo and Adam had to do was follow them. Now, the only thing Neo and Adam wanted was to leave, and soon.

"Thank you for helping us, but we need to do something, and be somewhere." Neo thanked them blandly.

Neo and Adam turned around and started heading off the bridge before being stopped by the stallions again.

"Wait!" They both cried out in unison.

They both turned around to see what they wanted. "What is it?"

Jib and Jab each took one brother and wrapped their arms around them merrily with big smiles on their faces.

"We have a little... Job for you boys."

Adam looked up at the strange pony. "Job?"

"Why yes! But this isn't any normal job, no no no, this is a very... special... Job." Jib hesitated a bit while he spoke.

"We're not interested," Neo replied in a negative tone.

"You say that now, but why not hear us out first?"

"Yes, this job will make you rich, powerful, and best of all it's completely easy!"

They started to pull the two with their arms wrapped around their shoulders. As they explained their proposition they slowly made their way to the Arena. As they spoke each one took a turn to speak the next portion of the conversation.

"You see, my dear boys we work at the Arena."

'Yes, we handle the score earnings, and wages, and such."

"And we have run out of fighters today."

"And without fighters their is no show."

"And if there is no show, ponies don't pay."

"And if ponies don't pay our other clients get upset with us."

They were now in the entrance of the Arena. Adam noticed this and decided it was probably a good idea to point it out. "Brother... Um, we're in the Arena..."

Neo looked around at the dark entrance they were now in. "Hey what's with big idea bringing us here!"

The stallions let go of them and moved around to face them. "Oh, well you see we need you to do something simple for us."

"Yes, very simple." Jab added.

"Like what?" Neo said rolling his eyes at them.

"Well all you need to do is go out onto the feild for ten minutes, then just wait for a bit and... Bam! Your done!" Jib waved his arms in the air like he had just made an explosion.

"Once your done we will give you a lovely payment off 500 caps." Jab stated in a rich, persuasive tone.

Adam looked unsure about the the whole situation and Neo just wanted to leave. "If we do this will you leave us alone, and let us go?" Neo said gritting his teeth with frustration.

The two stallions crossed their hearts with their hooves. "We swear it," they said in unison with big wicked grins.

Neo sighed and looked at his little brother. "Adam, what do you think about all this?"

Adam looked up to him with a strait face. "I don't know... I mean we really don't have much of a choice... It's either we go do this, or we go back out there to the crowd..."

He didn't want to go back out into the mess of ponies back at the Arms Districted, and if they had 500 caps then they could use it to help them find their mom, or better yet repay Lucy for the stuff she had bought for him so he could make his brothers gifts. In the end he smiled a bit, and nodded at the two stallions.

"Sure, I'll do it."

"Are you sure about this Adam? I mean, are you positive about doing this?"

Adam looked up to him and nodded. "Just think about all the stuff we could do with five hundred caps!"

Neo sighed and then turned his gaze back to Jib and Jab. "If he says yes, then that's my answer too." Neo agreed.

"Good, good, then it's settled."

Jib and Jab stepped to the side and pointed to a small door on the other side of the entrance. They still had their abnormally sized grins spead wide across their faces.

"Just go through that door right their, and tell the Arena master that we sent you."

"Yes, and don't forget to do your... um... best! yes, do your best... heh..."

Neo and Adam gave them both an odd look, before slowly making their way to the door.

"This better be worth it," Neo complained to himself.

"Don't worry it can't be that bad." Adam said warmly as he tried to reassure him with a smile.

"I just hope you’re right about this." He sighed.

Just as they got to the door they looked back at the two stallions grinning at them from the entrance of the Arena. "Go on then!" Jib called to them as he motioned his right hoof for them to go in.

The two brothers turned around to knock on the iron plated door. *Mumb, Mumb, Mumb.* The iron door made an odd noise when Neo knocked on it.

Then, door flew inward and a armored mare was standing at the end. Once the two managed to get a good look at the mare on the other side their mouths hit the floor.

"Look who decided to fight, it's about time I had-"

She stopped as she stared at the two who were in front of her.

At the same time all three of them shouted, "It's you!"

Neo suddenly got very scared. It was the mare he bumped into on the way.

Her surprised expression quickly turned into a evil grin. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to come to the Arena." She chuckled menacingly.

Neo was at a loss of words. "But.. You... how? I mean, how! Your the.. the..."

"Arena master?" She continued for him.

"Yeah." Adam finished.

Neo gave her a big grin as he put his arm around Adams shoulder. "Well that's enough excitement for one day! Come on Adam let's go!" He said spinning around with Adam.

"Don't take another fucking step!" She barked at them.

Neo and Adam turned around sheepishly with their ears folded down. They looked at her with a small shy smile.

"Don't look at me like that!" She barked again.

They straightened up and watched her eye them carefully with her left hoof rubbing her chin as she thought. "Well, you aren't the weakest ones to come here I'll give you that much." She started to circle them, here eyes moved up and down as she went.

She stopped circling them and stepped to the side of the door with a hoof extended to the door. "Go in and have fun kids..." She gave them a devilish smile and an evil looking glare.

Now they were really worried as to if they should go or not. "Um, one question before we go..." Adam squeeked quietly.

Her evil look left and was replaced with a stern angry expression. "Make it quick, I don't have all day."

Adam nervously rubbed one arm with the other. "Um, what is it we are going to do in there exactly?"

She sighed and tried not to let her temper best her. "You'll go in there, stand around for ten minutes and then go, it's as simple as that." She lied.

"Now please get in there before I make you do it myself!" She barked angrily.

A little scared for their own well being Neo and Adam went inside the small room she had been in before they had seen her. Just as they entered she took the handle of the door and slammed it shut behind them.

"Whew," She sighed.

Her gaze immediately turned to the two stallions in the entrance. "We won't see them anytime soon." She chuckled with an evil sinister look.

Jib and Jab approached her with blank expressions. "Indeed, we just need them to be out there, that's all." Jib said as he pulled out a paper from one of his pockets on his checkered coat.

Jab looked at it closely from his companions mouth. "Yes, as long as we have somepony out there every day, Tiger company pays a small fee of a thousand caps to us per match. That was the deal we made with them, and if they need somepony to fight, then they'll see somepony fight."

It didn't look like the mare cared about their contracts or their affairs with Tiger company. "Listen I don't really care, I just want to get payed, nothing more."

Jab gave her a smirk. "Indeed, and you will, they just need to live for ten minutes and then after that we get our pay and that's it. It's over, we'll never see those two ever again."

Jib started to chuckle a bit. "Yes I say, I think we did quite well."

"Yes, I do too brother of mine." He joined in with his own chuckle.

Jib looked at the armored mare again with a greedy look in his eyes. "Say, I have an idea, why don't we bet on how long they'll last out there? Of course it's all for the fun of the game, what say you ma'am?"

She shrugged. "Aw what the hell, I won the jackpot today anyway, so yeah, I got some caps to spare."

"Indubitably, after all, this round in the Arena should be extra special with the emperor being present and all." He stated in a proud boastful manner.

Neo and Adam sat there in a cold dark room with only the lights from their Pipbucks to give them light. The room they were in was small and dirty, small meat hooks and chains hung from the low ceiling in the dark creepy room.

"I'm really thinking this was not a good idea now..." Adam sighed as he listened to the loud cheering coming from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, we should have just left when we had the chance Adam." Neo said as he recalled the whole series of events that lead up to this point.

Then their ears perked up at the sound of the cheering growing louder. On the other side they could hear a muffled voice. Adam and Neo put their ears against the door so they could hear what has happening on the other side.

"Fillies and gentlecolts of Ironhoof City!" The voice was loud, amazingly, and quite powerful to listen to. "I give you the most insperational! Amazing, show to ever come to this Arena, now stomp your hooves on the ground foooooor." He stopped for a moment before continuing. "Our new contestants!"

With that the door they were leaning their heads on suddenly opened with amazing speed. They both fell flat on their faces on the sandy Arena floor. They picked themselves up and helped each other dust themselves off before stepping out entirely into the Arena.

A small blast of white blinding light hurt their eyes as they slowly made their way out into the sandy field. The cheering was now earbleeding, as hundreds of ponies of all shapes sizes and kinds yelled cheers out into the Arena.

Adam felt like panicking, he had never been in front of so many ponies before. "B-brother, t-there are s-so many ponies..."

Neo looked around the Arena and the hundreds of face looking at them. "I didn't think that there would be this many!"

Adam was trembling as he looked around. "Now I really think this was a bad idea..."

Neo looked at him with a terrifyed look on his face. "The feeling’s mutual Adam... The feeling is mutual."

Things didn't get any better either, the door they had come from closed right behind them. *Clank!* They turned around to see it shut, and in pure terror they dashed towards it and started to bang on it begging them to let them go.

"We didn't want to do this! Let us out now!"

"Please open up! Please!"

Then they stopped for a moment to look at the announcer at the top of a tower next to the bleachers. The tower was on the right side of the stadium, and it was perched safely along side the high walls that protected the audience from the activities in the Arena.

The stallion who was announcing was yellow with a ragged orange mane and a microphone with two swords crossing it as his cutie mark. He wore a old prewar headset that was connect to some speakers next to the tower.

"Fillies and gentlecolts I give you our new fighters for this evening!" He announced enthusiastically while pointing a hoof a the two brothers in the Arena below.

The annoucer pony waved his hoof in the air and pointed to a small dark balcony on the opposite side of the Arena. "Before we begin, let us honor our proud emperor as he gives these brave fighters his blessing."

The only thing Neo and Adam could see was several dark figures in the small balcony. "Now, without further a due, I give you their challenger!" As soon as he finished saying challenger the crowd started to cheering wildly.

Now they were really scared. They looked around the Arena and saw hundreds of pony skeletons with some red rotting meat still on some of them. Destroyed chariots and wagons made of metal and wood littered the floor of the area. On the other side was another door, only this one was massive. It was not a normal door, instead it had large dark rusted iron bars keeping whatever it was holding inside, away from them.

The annoucer started speaking again, as he spoke he did several weird posses as he annouced each thing about their challenger. "He's the meanest! The strongest! And the most terrifying creature alive! He's our one and only Manticore of death... Aaaaaaasmodeus!" As soon as he finished there was a loud clanking noise which sounded like the gate holding what ever it was behind the door back was being unlocking.

Both their eyes were wide with both panic and terror as they watched the dark figure behind the bars kick up small puffs of dust from it's breath. Then they saw two evil glowing green eyes stare back at them from the darkness that covered it.

Within a spit second, the gate holding the creature back slowly opened, and is it did the hinges creaked and squealed as the rust on them cried out into the stadium.

Then, everypony was silent, the crowd was completely still and calm as they watched the Arena below. All that could be heard was the moans and aches of the old stadium.

Neo and Adam were glued to the wall as they watched the dark opening on the other side. The creatures eyes vanished into the darkness as the silence continued.

Adam nudged his brother slightly, "Do you think it-" His sentence was interupted by a loud, gut wrenching howl. It was as if hell itself was screaming right at them.

Instantly they both froze out of pure terror. So they just stood there looking at the dark cave. They hadn't noticed it but the crowd had started cheering madly again.

Then they saw a huge dark grey paw emerge from the dark opening, and just like the first one the second paw followed. They looked like they belonged to some kind of cat, but it was unclear as to what kind of cat that would be.

The glowing green eyes returned as they moved closer to the light, it only took a few moments before the head was we completely outside. The entire creature was grey with a ragged old battle worn mane. Small pink scars were scattered across it's powerful terrifying snout. As it came into full light it showed off it's powerful scorpion like tail, as it swayed back and forth slowly.

Its eyes were fixed on them as it prowled slowly in their direction. It was carefully maneuvering its way around the broken carts and chariots of fallen fighters as it approached the two terrified ponies.

Neo leaned close to Adam and tried to whisper to him. "Listen Adam when I say run... we book it for the door on the other side."

Adam leaned back to answer him. "Are you sure, this thing looks like it can run pretty fast..."

"Don't think about it like that, we just need to get out of here. So when I say run we-" He paused for a moment to look infront of him, and there standing in front of them was the large vicious looking creature standing over them.

"Run..." Neo whimpered as he stared into it's big green eyes.

"W-what?"

"RUN!"

With that shout came a loud roar from the monster as it lunged its tail forward at them. *BAM!* It managed to barely miss them as they jumped to the side. And without even thinking they both took off in opposite directions. Adam dashed off to the left and Neo to the right.

The creature looked back and forth between the two as it decided which one was going to become its next meal. It didn't take it long to decide on Adam to be its next target.

Neo saw the creature dash over towards Adam. "Adam!" Neo shouted back in full panic.

Adam heard his brother and looked behind him to see what he was shouting about. At first he didn't want to believe it but his suspicions were true, and like he thought the giant monster was racing straight for him. It was gaining speed at a unbelievable pace and he needed a place to hide, and he needed it now.

He spotted a large steel wagon that had looked like it supported some kind of cannon or gun on top. He assumed it would be strong enough to lure the monster away for a moment so he could catch his breath. So, without another thought he dart to the right and made his way to the destroyed battle wagon.

Asmodeus hadn't let him out of his sight for one second and the very moment Adam had turned so did he. With a huge leap Adam dove inside the metal wagon that had been flipped over. For the moment he was safe, until he heared pounding and scratching as the monster beat and clawed at the wagon trying to get it's prey inside.

Neo stopped running and saw the terrifying beast pound and scape the destroyed wagon and with it he faintly heard his little brother cry out.

"Brother help me! Please! Help me!"

Just hearing his little brother scream that way made his fear vanish. Instinct had kicked in, and he was pissed, with not even a moment to spare he dashed to the monster as it tried harder and harder to get the taste young pony inside. Then a huge rock hit the side of it's face, and at first it didn't notice it. Then, it felt a large one hit its face only this time it actually did something.

"Hey you ugly fuck, eat me! Eat me! I'm over here!" Neo taunted the big thing as he jumped up and down waving his hooves in the air.

The beast turned it's gaze to him with a ferocious snarl. And at the second Neo lost the powerful instinct inside him when he realized that he just fucked himself.

He dropped his hooves and looked at the beast get off the wagon and move it's way to him. "Ah crap..."

It crouched back and lunged itself at him with lighting speed. Neo managed to see the thing come before it landed so he dodged to the side and ran off towards the place the creature had emerged from. Asmodeus hadn't noticed his new target move so it checked under its paws to see if he had caught his new prey. Once it saw nothing under its paws it looked around to see where Neo had gone, and it didn't take long to spot him again.

Neo looked back to see if he was chasing him and like he had suspected he was. "Shit!" he thought to himself as he increased his pace.

As he passed Adams wagon he called out to it. "Adam! hurry and help do something!"

Adam heard his borothers message so he crawled over to a small opening next to him so he could see what was going on outside. Neo strayed off from his original plan and was trying to get rid of the beast by moving through small carts and wagons.

He jumped, dodged, and dashed through several smaller wagons to try and slow down the horrifing creature, but it was pointless. It just kept jumping and swiping at the carts he passed by destroying them in one swing. Every time Asmodeus would destroy something the audience would either boo or cheer wildly.

Adam just watched as his brother tried again and again to get away, but the beast would always find away to destroy the obstacles that were in its way.

"I need to do something, I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Adam thought to himself.

"Think think think!" He was shouting at himself in his mind as he looked around the Arena for something they could use to stop it, or at least slow it down.

Then it hit him, he had a saddle bag, and it had weapons in it. Quicky he looked at his Pipbuck to hopefully find something he could use to fight it. As he looked through his inventory nothing showed up, or at least nothing that would help them in this particular situation.

Once he had gone through his entire inventory and not once did he find anything worth using. Just caps, and some other small items.

He stomped his hoof down at the ground in frustration, because he had to go back to plan A which consisted of looking around the Arena for something to stop it. He looked back outside to see his brother, but all he saw was Neo running around trying to avoid the massive creatures claws as is swiped and lunged at him.

Neo was getting tired, after all he wasn't used to running this much. So he did the last thing he could think of, and that was to dash with the last bit of energy he could to the wagon Adam was under.

The Manticore was getting closer and closer, as Neo pushed himself to get to the cart. Adam noticed his brother approaching it, so with the most strength he could muster he tried to make the hole that he was looking out of larger so that his brother could slide in.

Once he had made the hole slightly larger he poked his head out and shouted for his brother to slide inside. Neo was only ten feet away before he leaped forward towards the cart. As he leaped so did Asmodeus, and Neo felt safe when he finally slide into the cart, but then he felt a huge pain go throughout his left leg. Asmodeus had pinned him with one of his claws. It pierced straight though his upper, left thigh.

The sore pain got worse as the hungry beast licked its chops as it pulled him towards it.

"Help Adam! It has my leg!"

Adam looked around urgently for something to break the monsters grip on his brother. Adam found an old rusted sword in the corner of the cart that he hadn't noticed before, so without hesitation he picked it up in his mouth and stuck his head outside the cart through the hole.

Although it took him a few seconds to get his head with the sword out he managed to fit it all through the hole without cutting his brother. He positioned his head so he could hit the paw that had his brother. With three powerful jerks into its paw it finally let go of Neo.

Happy to be free he finished crawling into the hole with blood dripping down from his leg.

Adam Dropped the sword and returned to his hiding place with his brother. Although as lucky as he was to have found the sword it didn't last very long, upon the third strike the sword had snapped into two pieces.

Adam layed back against the wall of the cart and tried to slow down his violently beating heart. Neo was laying in front of him with his hooves pressing against the bleeding wound.

Neo was panting heavily as he chocked on the pain. "Adam, we need to get out of here... I don’t think were gonna live much longer if this keeps up."

"I didn't think we would have to fight this thing. I just thought we wou-" He was interupted by Asmodeus pounding and scratching on the outside.

"I don't think this thing can keep us safe for much longer..."

Adam began to lose hope. "Brother, I don't want to die here..."

Neo choked on the pain coming from his leg again before answering. "Listen, we need to get my leg better if we want to have a chance... and don't worry, you won't die here, not today, not now."

His words were comforting in a small way. "So please help me get back on my hooves so we can find mom, and get the hell out of here."

Adam nodded at him sternly before pulling up his Pipbuck to his face. He looked through the list of items he had on him, and although he didn't have weapons on him, he did managed to have a roll of medical bandages. He levitated them out of his bag and helped wrap them around his brothers leg.

Neo felt the pain die down as Adam wrapped the magical bandages. Once he was done Neo sighed with relief as he moved his leg around.

"I'm just happy that he didn't get the bone."

Adam shrugged a bit before putting the remaining bandages in his bags. "I’m happy it didn't bleed as much as I thought it would."

The crowd was booing outside as the creature continued to attack their shelter. Neo sat up and looked over to Adam, "listen, I think I might have a plan to get out of here, and maybe in one piece. It might be a long shot, but at this point I think it's our best bet."

Asmodeus was gnawing on the corner of the wagon with his dagger like teeth until he felt a small rock hit the side of his face. He turned sharply to see what tossed the small rock, and there was Neo waving his hooves around and shouting madly at him.

"Hey! Hey! Down here!"

It growled at him for second before it charged at him with all its might. Neo started to gallop at full speed towards the Wall that separated the audience and the battlefield the two brothers were stuck in. He ran along side it with all the energy he had, and right behind him was the demon monster himself.

Adam poked his head out of the small hole and scanned the area for something he could use to stop the creature. He recalled what his brother had said when he told him about what his plan was, and sure enough there was a large metal wire attached to a cart on the other side of the field.

With a small burst of speed he sprinted over to the cart that had their only hope of survival attached to it. Within a few seconds he managed to get to the wire which was coiled and attached firmly to the cart. Adam grabbed the end and pulled hard on the wire so that it would unwind. Once he had completely unwound it he dashed back to the only cart that proved to be safe from Asmodeus. The crowd was now in a frenzy as they cheered for both the brothers and Asmodeus.

As Neo ran he would check to see if Adam was carrying out his part of the plan. "Adam hurry!"

He was almost at the cart when all of a sudden he felt a large tug on the wire. He looked back to see that he had completely used all of the wire. Adam started to panic, the whole plan relied on this wire being tied down to the wagon.

He jerked is head around as he looked around for a place to tie the wire, because it was clear that he couldn't make it to the original spot. To his right was a smaller wagon that was made of iron with both its wheels missing, and a pony skeleton hanging off its side.

It didn't take him long to get to it, and it took even less time to tie the wire to the cart itself. The wire now stretched tightly across the middle of the Arena.

Adam shouted back to his brother with both hooves cupped at his mouth. "Hurry brother! It's ready!"

Neo heard him from across the field and made a mad dash for the center of the Arena where the wire stretched across from one end to another. His legs burned and his wound throbbed but he sucked up the pain as he came right up to the wire.

He slid underneath it on his belly as Asmodeus gained on him. Adam watched fearfully as his brother managed to lay on his back before the massive monster tripped on the wire.

Instantly both carts holding the wire jerked forward as Asmodeus's face smacked right into Neo who was right in front of him. Then, there was silence.

Adam looked carefully at the fallen creature, it was not moving, and his older brother wasn't anywhere to be found.

Adam cautiously approached Asmodeus, and as he moved closer to his face he saw his brother with both forelegs in it's eyes. Neo had green blood rolling down his right foreleg.

Neo was struggling to get out from underneath its head. "Help Adam... I'm stuck and my right arm stuck in its eye..."

Adam nodded and helped lift the head up a bit which gave his brother enough space to wiggle out from under its head. Once Neo got his body free, it made it easy for him to get his arm free from the bloody eye it was stuck in. He pulled his metal arm out of the creatures eye with a large stream of green blood spitting out of it. His blade was extended and covered in the green goo.

He picked himself up and shook off his arm a bit before looking at the creature again. "Is... Is it dead?" Adam asked poking it with his hoof.

Neo retracted the blade and nudged it's head to the side. "Yeah, I think it's dead..."

The crowd just stared at it for a bit before bursting out into a loud uproar of cheerful shouts and cheers. The announcers mouth hit the floor as he looked at the two wave shyly to the crowds that cheer for them.

He was at a loss of words, so quickly he put the mircophone that was attached to his headset up to his mouth and began to speak in a baffled tone.

"Well... This is the first time anypony has done that... He's dead... Asmodeus is dead!"

He looked around a bit before finishing. "Well folks, there you have it. Our new Ironhoof City Aaaaarena champions!"

Adam nudged his brother playfully. "Did you here that, he called us champions." He said giving him a happy smile.

Neo looked down at him returning the warm smile. "Yeah, just don't let the fame go to your head."

"I just can't believe that worked."

"Yeah, and it didn't even work out the way I intended to either."

"Maybe, Celestia is looking out for us."

"Maybe Adam... maybe..."

They both chuckled a bit as they listened to the crowd cheer in unison, "cham-ions! champ-ions! champ-ions!"

In the balcony across the Arena was a shady figure sitting on a velvet chair that was decorated with golden symbols that twisted and turned like waves on the beach. Standing around him was two green armored ponies with gas masks attached to their helmets. In the corner were a few beautiful eathponys and unicorn mares laying on several silky pillows with metal collars on their necks. On the other side of the room was three robed ponies with crimson robes that were stripped with green and gold down the middle of their backs and hoods.

The pony in the chair motioned one of the few ponies standing in the corner to come to him. One of the robed ponies looked at him before approaching.

With a small graceful bow he answered. "Yes m'lord, what is it you need."

He leaned over to the pony next to him, and as he spoke he did so in almost a whisper. "Those two down there, who are they?"

The robed pony looked out into the Arena for a moment before returning to him. "I am not sure m'lord, as far as I can tell they are just two commoners from the city."

"Yes, but they managed to kill Asmodeus... Nopony before has been able to do that. Even with my skills and power it took me three years to catch him."

"Then what shall you have me do."

The dark figure put a hoof to his mouth before answering. "Invite them to the tower. I would like to meet the two that killed Asmodeus... After all, I have been waiting three years for somepony to end that miserable creatures life, and now that somepony has, I'd like to meet them."

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Blade of Glory: You now have a blade that extends from your mechanical limb, with it you now have a fully functioning melee weapon on you at all times. This increase unarmed by +2 and melee weapons by +2 with every level.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

Foot Note: Level up

New perk: Champions Heart: You feel like a champion! You gain +2 in medicine and +20 hp when healing yourself or others. You also gain +2 in unarmed.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Colonel Lat Muffin

Dracoliat

(AN: I have to say that I had a lot of fun writting this chapter. I know it was a long read but chapter 9 won't be that way. Anyway, thanks for reading! Oh and point out any mistakes me or my proofreaders might have missed! )

PS: colonel lat muffin is epic.

The Gods of the New World

CHAPTER 9: GODS OF THE NEW WORLD

Neo and Adam were sitting on a small pile of old moldy hay in the entrance of Arena. It had stopped raining, and the crowds cheering had seemed to have died down. Neo had his metal arm around his brother as they waited for Jib and Jab to stop talking on the other side of the large entry way.

They spoke quietly trying not to let anyone but themselves know what they were discussing.

"What ever happened to, 'oh we'll never see those two again' crap!"

Jab was overloading with frustration. "Listen, Jib I know what she said, but those two made it... I... I never suspected this would happen."

"Well, it did. So now what are we going to do?"

Jab was Looking at the ground in deep thought, then with a sigh he gave him an answer. "It's simple, we kill them."

Jib pulled his head back a with surprise as he looked at him oddly. "Kill them?"

"Yes, kill them."

"But, that's not the way we operate. We get ponies to do that for us... I mean really, are you just going to kill them?" He said with a slight stutter.

Jab pulled his head up and looked at his brother with a greedy look. "What would they do with five hundred caps anyway. It's not like they really need them."

Jib looked over to his brother for a moment and then looked at the two recently declared Ironhoof City champions. "How do you plan to do it?"

Jab opened his checked coat a bit for his brother. Inside was a small revolver holstered nicely under his overcoat. "It will be fast, painless, and simple. After all ponies die in this district every day."

"That is a rather... Clean way of doing it." Jib chuckled softly.

"Indeed, after all, you shouldn't send a merc to do a simple job like this." He joined in on the soft laughter.

Then Jib went stiff and pale as a frightened surprised look snapped onto his face. "J-J-Jab..." He stuttered madly as he started to tremble.

Jab was still in his good mood as he looked at him oddly with an eyebrow raised. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"L-look behind you..."

He turned around with a cocky smile on his face, "It can't be anything too seriou-" He too had the terrified expression his brother had.

It was a Zebra clad in dark plates that were attached to his body by leather straps. Some of his darker stripes were painted red, and he wore a black blindfold on with two white dots painted where the eyes should be. On his flank was a black tiger paw, and at his side was two box shaped pistols and a long jagged knife with spikes on the outside of the grip.

His voice was dark, and smooth like the very voice of death itself. "I hope you weren't thinking on killing those two boys over there, were you?"

"N-no Warchief Bloodstrider." The two wimpy stallions whimpered in unison.

He snorted at them before continuing, "good, because if you even touch one hair on their heads, I will personally make sure you never see another day so long as you should live."

Jab fixed his coat real quick to try and conceal the gun inside. "No, in fact we were just talking about giving them their pay for fighting in the arena... yes, that was what we're about to do... heh..."

"Yes, what he said." Jib added with a nervous nod.

He just looked at them with a blank facial expression. "I hope so, for your sake."

They just stood there for a moment looking at the terrifying Zebra with forced grins. "Well?" He stated leaning closer to them.

They both shook their heads before Jab answered him, "Oh, what? Oh yes the payment... Heh, it almost slipped my mind."

Jib and Jab marched away from him with the very unconvincing smiles, and once they were out of his way their grins turned into sour frowns.

Neo and Adam looked up to the two stallions that offered for them fight out there in the beginning. Neo looked up at them with a small glint of hope in his eyes. "What is it?"

Jib and Jab looked at each other with disappointed frowns before returning to the two brothers that sat in front of them.
So, with a heavy depressing sigh Jab answered. "Well, here is your pay... As promised..."

Jab pulled out a large brown sack that rattled and jingled merrily as he sat it down in front of them. Neo and Adam looked down at the bag, "This is our pay you promised?" Adam asked curiously.

They both nodded. "Yes, there are five hundred caps there, just as promised."

Neo and Adam got up and levitated the bag into Neo's saddlebag, "Thanks, now, if you excuse us we'll be going." Neo said with a smart smirk.

The two tan stallions hung their heads down low and did not answer. Neo and Adam started to walk off back out to the bridge that connect the Arms District with the Arena, before they were stopped by an armored Zebra.

"Stop."

The two looked at him oddly. "Yes?" Adam asked quietly.

"I am Warchief Bloodstrider, I am the commander of Tiger Company, and I am quite impressed with your performance today in the Arena. It would please me if you would give me your names, I would like to know who did what many could not."

They both felt a small shock of fear at the words "Tiger" and "Company". To them he looked like he was ready to murder them right on the spot so they tried not to look scared or intimidated. "I'm Neo, this is my little brother Adam."

The strange Zebra approached the two calmly and slowly. They both backed away a bit before stopping, he put a hoof on top of Neo's head. "Your, Neo." He said with a small kind smile. Then, he moved over to Adam, "You are Adam." Adam looked up at his hoof, before looking at his eyes which were covered by the black blindfold.

"You... Can't see, can you?" Adam muttered softly.

The stranger just stood there for a moment before speaking, he ignored Adams comment and continued. "You two won in the Arena, and as such you have gained my, and Tiger Companies respect. If you boys need help, then just ask, and we will answer." He turned away and started to move away from them.

Neo stepped forward and stopped him, "Wait!"

The Zebra turned around with a small swing in his movement. "Have you seen a blue unicor-" He stopped for a moment and realized he was blind. "You mean your mother?"

Adams ears shot straight up. "You've see- I mean you've heard where she is?"

He nodded, "Yes, and she is not in this city, that much I can tell you." The Zebra swiftly turned around before continuing on the path he was on.

Adam wanted to ask him more, but he did look like he didn't like to be bothered. And pissing off another gladiator was the last thing him and Neo needed. Neo looked down at the cold metal floor for a moment before turning back to the bridge. "Adam, we need to talk to Lucy..."

Adam followed next to him closely, "I can only image what you want to talk to her about."

"Yeah, and if she's not here then we need to find out where." He said with a straight face.

The breeze was cool and crisp as they moved over to the Arms District again. They were about halfway into the middle of the circular trading area they were in before Jib and Jab found them. Across from them they heard a loud voice call out to them. "Hault!"

They turned sharply to the five green armored ponies with gas masks attached to their helmets, "Hault!" The middle one called out again.

They just looked at the group approach them, "We're this famous already." Neo chuckled.

"Maybe they're going to congratulate us." Adam added with his own chuckle.

As the guards approached them, the middle one who seemed to be leading them had slightly different armor then the rest of them. His green plated barding had red paint along the edges, sides, and middle of his armor. Even down to his tail he had a long silver braid attached to his dark blue tail. At his side was normal 10mm pistol holstered in a brown, roughly made holster. The other ponies around him each looked like the guards they had seen before with the normal green armor, and gas masks connected to their helmets. Each soldier carried either a normal looking worn pump action shotgun or a small rifle of some sort.

The guards haulted in unison five feet from them. They all stood at attention, not moving a single mussel. Neo and Adam eyed the strange guard ponies with an odd look before speaking to them.

"Can I help you?" Neo asked with a straight facial expression.

He just stood there looking at them before answering, his voice was muffled slightly by the mask he wore over his face. "Yes, High Lord Vladimir of the Ironhoof Legion request to meet with you tonight at the Iron Tower."

Adam and Neo looked at the ponies behind him for a second before returning to him. "What for? Did we do something wrong?"

He shook his head. "On the contrary, he wishes to commend you for killing the Manticore."

Adam took over the conversation for a moment, "When does he want to see us exactly?"

"He stated he would send a cart for you at your living quarters. He also requested you tell us where you live so he may send for you when he is ready."

Adam stepped forward, "We live in a shack in the commons district."

"Where exactly? We need an exact location, so please, think hard about the where it is specifically."

Neo pulled up his PipBuck and looked for Lucy's home which he had marked on his PipBuck map. "There, it's right there." He said as he showed the guard his PipBuck screen.

"Noted, thank you. His majesty looks forward to your arrival." With that he gave them a swift salute before turning to the others in his group.

Adam stepped forward and called out to him before they started walking. "Wait!"

Neo blinked at him, "Adam what is it?"

Adam turned his head to his brother, "I want to ask them something real quick."

The guard turned back to them, "Yes, what is it, we have tight schedule so make it quick."

"We need to buy a scope for a sniper rifle for a friend, so if it wouldn't be too much trouble could you please tell us where we could buy one."

He pointed a hoof to a shack on the right of them, "Go ask her, she sells rifles and attachments for them."

"Thanks." Adam said with a wave as they marched off.

Neo started to feel a small hint of anger hit him as they walked away, as he watched them it reminded him of the guards that had killed the criminals on their first day in the city. "Brother, what's the problem?" Adam asked as he turned to the shack the guard had mentioned.

"Those guards are like the ones that executed those ponies when we were on our way to get the talisman..."

Adam put a hoof on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "I know you didn't like what they were doing, and even I can't get some of those memories out of my head. But right now, we just need to focus on moving ahead, because that's all that really matters right now."

Neo couldn't hold back his own smile, "You always have a positive outlook on things, I don't know how you do it, but you just do... Thanks Adam."

Adam chuckled. "What would you do without me?"

He nudged his brother playfully, "Hey, let's race to the shack with Lucy's scope, first one there is the winner."

"Your on!"

Neo ready himself next to Adam as he counted down. "3... 2... 1.. Go!" They both dashed to the shack the guard had mentioned so they could finally find, and buy the scope they originally got sent out to buy.

Lucy was staring at her terminal screen with her hooves up to her mouth as she glared into the empty screen in deep thought. Allie was lazily laying on her bunk staring at the ceiling. It had been hours since Lucy had sent Adam or Neo off, and it was getting darker by the hour. Allie rolled over in her bunk and looked down at Lucy from one of the higher bunks.

"Lucy?"

Lucy blinked and turned around to answer her. "Yeah, what do you want..." She said with an upset tone.

"You think we should go looking for them or something? I mean they haven't come back yet, and I'm kind of getting worried about them..."

"I..." She paused for a moment, "I don't know where they could be, or happened to them..." Her mood and tone was different than her average cocky smart, and or negative attitude. Instead it sounded more worried, and sad then normally.

Then, they heard a knock on the door. Allie hopped down from her bunk hoping that Neo and Adam were at the door.

"You think it's them?"

Lucy's expression turned normal again. "It better be."

Allie opened the door and saw Adam and Neo standing on the other side with sheepish smiles. Neo rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Hope we aren't interrupting something, but we thought we should stop buy and see how you’re doing."

Allies face was already beaming with joy as she tackled Neo with a big hug. He put one of his own hooves around her, returning the kind gesture. As Allie hugged him she noticed the blood stained bandages on his leg.

"How, did you get that?" She asked looking at it better.

Adam walked inside and answered her. "It's a long story..."

Lucy waved her hoof for them to come in, "Yeah you sorry bums, get in here." Allie followed Neo into the shack before closing the door behind them. "And where the hell have you been anyway?" Lucy barked at them in her chair.

Neo gave her a threatening stare before setting his saddlebags on the ground. "Adam, you tell Lucy why we took so long to get her stupid scope..."

He levitated the scope out of his bag and tossed in at her. Lucy caught it with both her hooves and set it down on the keyboard of the terminal. "Yeah Adam, tell me why you took so long."

Neo sat down on his bunk, a hint of anger glinting in his eyes. Before Adam began, he sat down next to him on the old bunk. As he hopped on top of it small squeaks came from the old springs that supported the mattress they sat on.

"After you sent us off to get your scope we saw more parts of the city. I didn't take us long to find the Arms District, and after we got there we saw..." He paused trying to not let the memory of the murder bother him. "Somepony die... It wasn't right, and it wasn't like raiders dying, it was more... gruesome..." He looked at the ground before speaking again. "Then we got caught up in a crowd, but out of nowhere these two ponies, Jib and Jab is what their names are I think, took us to the Arena. "

Lucy's facial expression changed from straight to surprised. "Wait, you went to the Arena? Like the Slayer Arena?" Adam nodded at her.

"After that we fought against this big monster... It caught brothers leg, and it almost got me a few times..." He looked sadder than when he started. "I was so scared, and brother and I managed to kill it by pure accident... It was just living one moment, and then... It wasn't.

The crowd called us champions, and even the emperor wants to meet us." Adam tried to smile a bit as he finished the sentence.

Lucy looked angrily at him, "You two are both stupid... You don't want to meet him. He's just a monster, there's no difference between him and the raiders or slavers he protest against."

Neo looked over to her with his pissed look. "That's not all we found out..."

Allie leaned forward to hear better. "Yeah? And what might that be?" Lucy snickered at him.

"Our mom isn't here."

Her eyes shot open and her ears perked up as she looked at him completely taken by surprise. "But... how did you-"

"Why did you lie to us!"

Adam looked at her with his head hanging low, "We just want to know why you told us she was here..."

Allie looked almost as surprised as Lucy was, "Is this true Lucy?"

Lucy looked down shamefully, "Yes..." She muttered softly under her breath.

Lucy took in a deep breath for a amount and looked them in the eyes. "Your mother works for the Steelhoof Coalition. Her job is to run some special project somewhere in the province, and frankly, I'm not really a hundred percent sure where she is."

Neo gritted his teeth as his rage bubbled inside him. "And you thought it was a good idea to make us do free labor for you?"

She gave him a heavy sigh, "listen, I have a plan. One that will get you to your mom eventually... and it-"

Neo hopped up from the bunk in a blinding rage. "Do you think I'm going to fall for another one of your lies! Your lies almost got me and my little brother killed twice! The next thing me or Adam needs is another one of your stupid plans to kill us!" He was breathing heavy as he tried to calm down.

"Why should we believe anything you say anymore..."

Adam put his hoof on Neo's shoulder. "Brother, as much as I agree with you, I think we should give her one more chance. Please try and listen to what she has to say, please?"

Neo let out a relieving sigh, "Fine..."

Lucy smiled at them, "Thanks Adam."

"But, just do one more thing for me... please?"

Neo looked at her oddly, it was odd hearing the word please be used properly from her. "Just go onto the roof and fix my transmission antenna, then I'll tell you my plan."

Adam looked up to him with a hopeful face, "Please brother."

Neo put his hoof on Adams head and ruffled up his mane playfully. "Okay, I'll do it, but only because she asked nicely for once."

Neo looked at her curiously. "Lucy, why do you want me to do it?"

She turned her chair around so she could sit back in it. "I thought about sending Adam, but something tells me you'll do a better job."

Neo shrugged, "Then what's the problem?"

"The code files are out of place, I was actually trying to fix it from here before you guys showed up."

Neo started to make his way to the door, "I can fix that, no problem... This plan of yours better not be another lie though."

Lucy gave him her usual cocky smirk. "Don't worry, I think you'll like this idea, and this time I can promise you that I'm not lying." She crossed her heart with her right hoof, "you have my word."

Neo gave her a small nod and left to do the task he was given. He went outside alone into the cool crisp night. The gentle breeze tickled his coat as he climbed a small ladder that was attached to the side of the building. A few ponies in the pathway in front of the shack splashed in the puddles that reflected the light from the colorful lights from each building.

"I hope this plan of hers is worth it." He thought to himself as he positioned himself in front of the small thin piece of wire that came out of the roof.

It was a little cooler than normal outside, and he could see his breath form small puffs as he breathed in the moist cool air. Attached to the antenna was a small green terminal screen. He pressed the small red button on the side to turn it on, and almost instantly the small green screen flashed up with a list of numbers and boxes listing names of random stations.

He pulled up his PipBuck and looked at the stations on his PipBuck and compared the ones on the terminal with his. Oddly the signals he got were significantly stronger than when he last saw them on his first day outside the Stable. Then he found the main station that the most channels seemed to be on and help connect it.

"No wonder Lucy gave me this, it's almost easier than sorting files in the archive." He thought to himself as he watched the screen bring up a loading box.

"Now I just wait for it to connect then I'm done." Then he heard a voice come from next to him.

"Hi." The soft voice said to him.

"Holy mother of the goddesses!" He screamed as he felt his heart jump in surprise.

It was Allie on the other side of the roof across from him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything."

He was rubbing his chest as he tried to calm down from the shock Allie had caused him. "No it's fine, but." His voice trailed off. "How did you get up here, and why are you up here?"

She just giggled, "Adams helping Lucy set it up inside. I decided you shouldn't be alone up here, so I came up here with you."

Neo scratched his head, "Okay, but how did you get up here?"

She cocked her head sideways with her gentle smile. "There's more than one ladder on this shack you know."

Neo chuckled a bit, "Well thanks for coming up here. I managed to figure out what the problem was, and now all I need to do is wait for it to connect to the station."

Allie moved up to him and sat down next to him. She got close enough that it was almost like a snuggle as she looked up at the colorful city that surrounded them. Neo joined in and looked around at the beautiful city, "Besides all the terrible things that happen here, it still holds a certain beauty to it."

Allie nodded. "Yeah, it looks so peaceful at night..." Allie scooted closer to him.

"In a way it reminds me of Maneton. Sometimes, during the Maneton day celebration, they put out all kinds of colorful lights. Sometimes it doesn't even feel real. It's just... magical."

"I can only imagine what it's like. Because back in the Stable, we don't really celebrate anything except the occasional birthday. And even those aren't very memorable."

She laughed a bit, "Life in the Stable isn't really all it's cut out to be huh?"

Neo smiled at her, "Nope, usually you just go to work, eat, sleep, and repeat. Not much to do other than that." She chuckled a bit at his answer.

Neo looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "You never told me why you really decided to come with us."

She looked at him in his eyes, deeply gazing into them passionately. "I... Just wanted to see the city, and..."

Neo saw past her excuse, "I know that's not the real reason." He chuckled a bit. "You can tell me, I'm sure it's not anything worth hiding."

She took a deep breath and looked at him, "I... um... I..." She stuttered.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Neo looked at her with a shocked expression, "Wow... that was straightforward a bit..."

Neo got a big smile on his face as he started to laugh loudly. "What's so funny?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

He settled down before answering her. "I love you too, actually I've liked you for some time now. I just didn't think a girl like you would like a guy like me, and-"

He was stopped by her pushing his head into hers as both their lips met. He felt a soothing warm, fluttering like sensation flow throughout his body as he savored every second of the wonderful kiss. And after a few more seconds she let go and looked at him, her eyelids halfway down.

"You need to stop talking and be quiet more often." She giggled.

He was speechless, that was the first time a real mare wanted to actually kiss him. The only kiss he ever got close to getting was a kiss from some drunk mare he talked to at a part when he was younger. But this... This was real, and it made him feel a hundred times better about everything. The angry, confusion, and hate all left with that small gesture of affection.

He shook his head and tried to focus again. "Wow... that was..."

"Good?"

"More like amazing."

They both laughed at his answer. "Neo, how much longer till it's done connecting?"

He looked at the screen then back to his PipBuck. "Not much longer. Only about a few minutes left at the most."

She looked down at Neo's PipBuck and saw it was opened to notes and messages. Though what really caught her eye was the several recordings on it. "Neo?"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you get those recordings?"

He looked at his PipBuck again and looked at the list of recordings left by that pony who lived in the old apartment complex back in the Under-City. "I almost forgot about these. I found them in a terminal in the old apartment complex. I thought I should download them and listen to them later."

She snuggled up next to his warm body. "Well we have a few minutes, let's listen to them."

Neo chose the first one on the list and pressed play.

It was a mares voice she sounded younger, like she was a little younger than Neo and Allie.

"Well, today was a big day for me. I swear, the longer Celestia helps the better my pay gets! Sure I have to work in that stupid old factory, but hell if I'm making 200 bits a day I'm not complaining. Though there is talk about Equestria hiring
ponies from the province to come and fight with them in the war. I don't think I could fight in the war, or let alone kill another pony. " Her voiced paused for a moment. "Oh, and did I forget to mention this is my first audio log. My friend Waving Sun said that having an audio log helps relieve stress of something... Come to think of it, I do feel a little more calm than normal. Maybe she was right after all."

The recording ended. Neo moved down to the next recording and pressed play. When she spoke this time her voice was more sad and mournful then last time.

"It's been a few weeks since my last log. And..." She stopped for a moment again before continuing. "There was a battle at Shattered Hoof Ridge today. At first I didn't want to think the Zebras could come that far into Equestria, but there they are. Somepony named Big Macintosh or something took a bullet for her... for the Princess. The war seems to get worse every week it goes on. If Equestria decides that we should fight then I can't image what would happen... I'll try and get another audio log up sometime soon... hopefully."

The recording ended again.

Neo looked back at the terminal screen to check the progress on the connection. On the screen the little green bar the indicated the percentage at which the connection was loaded said, 76% and counting. "We've still got some time left, let's listen to the last two recordings." He pulled up his PipBuck again and selected the next recording.

Her voice was extremely different from the last time, instead of a sad depressing tone it was almost as if she was about to cry. And as she spoke, her words were muffled by the sound of her crying. "I... I don't even know where to start... So much has happened so fast. Okay, calm yourself Tuesday, you need to get a hold of yourself... Okay. My name is Tuesday, I am a technician in the Ironhoof weapons factory. It has been several years since the province offered to take financial aid from Equestria." She stopped for a moment, in the background it sounded like she was getting losing it. "The troops... they're saying the mega-spells won't affect us if they're dropped in Equestria, but they're just lying to keep us from panicking... Maybe I can get to Stable one hundred and forty two, maybe it hasn't closed yet." She stopped at the sound of chants and explosions in the background.

"...Damnit, the protesters are outside... The streets are filled with them, my friends think that these riots and protest will help us. They're just being stupid, Luna and Equestria stopped giving a damn-" Then a loud long drawn out siren could be heard. "Oh no. Oh dear Celestia no! This can't be happening! First the sky, now a mega-spell!" She started to cry and let out hacking coughs as she spoke. Before she started again the sounds of gunshots and panic could be heard. "Fuck... Just fucking great... This is it then... my name is Tuesday... This is my final audio log... I should have listen but I was stupid, I didn't l want to leave. I just wan-" A loud explosion and then a sort second of static followed.

Neo was speechless. What he had just heard was, terrible. Simply terrible. Just thinking about what it would be like at that moment when everything in the world was just, gone was gut wrenching. Allie hung her head low as she payed respect to the owner of the recordings.

"She sounded like she was just trying to get by in some hard times..." Allie said mournfully.

"Nopony deserves to die like that..."

Neo looked at the last recording on his PipBuck, the date seemed more recent. In fact it was recorded only a few days ago. "Should we even listen to it. I mean after hearing that?"

Allie nodded at him. His hoof pressed the play button and the message started. This time it was not the mare from the other recordings, rather, it was a more familiar voice. "I don't have much time so I'll make this quick. I just got away from four ghouls, and damn those things can run. I want to find the idiot who sets up those damn tripwires and crap, and kill the stupid fuck. Anyway, my names Cloudy. I run one of the entrance gates to the ground level of the city. If you find my body, don't take my stuff. I'm leaving this as a message so in case I die doing this fucking errand then somepony can tell others that I tried. I swear, why I help the Coalition is beyond me. But they want this talisman and their paying good money for it. They said something about this unicorn from a Stable wanting it in the town of Arkcannon or something."

Neo's perked up at the statement, "Mom?" he said while she paused for a moment.

"You know what? Fuck this. I'll just get somepony to do it for me, I don't have to do this. I'll just post this as a job or something on the work board later or something." The recording ended.

A voice from in front building called out to the two on the roof. "Hey! You two up there!"

Neo and Allie turned around and looked at the yellow unicorn stallion with a nicely decorated cart hooked up to him. "Yeah, what is it?" Neo replied from on top of the roof.

He levitated a piece of paper in front of him, a small green glowing aura surrounding it. "I'm here for the two from the Arena? Is this the right place?"

"Yeah, you've got the right place."

"Alright then." He put the paper in a small bag at his side and he cleared his throat before speaking. He spoke with a proper pompous tone. "His majesty Lord Vladimir requests an audience with you at once. I have been sent to take you to the tower where he resides."

Adam and Lucy heard him from inside and came out to inspect what was going on. "Who the hell are you?" Lucy said eyeing the pony with a pissed glare.

"I'm Rick Shaw. I take ponies to destinations in the city via my cart." He said placing his left hoof on his chest in a dignified manner.

Adam called out for his brother with his hooves cupped at his mouth. "Brother we need to go!"

"One sec I'll be right down!"

He looked at Allie again with a pleasant look on his face. "I'll be back soon. I promise."

She nudged him in the solder. "You better be, and don't keep us waiting like you did last time."

"Don't worry about it. It's just a meeting, I'll be back in two hours tops."

Adam was practically bouncing in his seat as they passed by huge magically lit neon buildings that seemed to tower endlessly into the sky. Neo liked looking at the new section of the city, even if the ponies glared at them as they went. The cart they were in didn't bump or shake as Rick Shaw masterfully pulled it across bridges and across the tops of buildings. The cart they were in was probably the nicest cart they had seen so far, it was decorated in a soft velvet red cloth that felt soft and silky like a newborn foal. The entire chart itself was a piece of art, with its golden details around its sides and curved edges, and the four wonderful sleek steel wheels that supported it.

Slowly the city around them started to change, it was becoming less crowded, and less and less buildings could be seen as they continued. Finally they came to the last building in front of them. Beyond them was a dark circular field that exposed the ground level and all its horror. All around the field was the rest of the beautifully lit city, it was clear as to where they were now, because they were at the very heart of the city itself.

Rick Shaw came to a slow stop at a gate that connected a long dark iron bridge to the only building in the center of the dark field. The building towered higher up than any they had seen before, and it's large spotlights displayed it like a trophy in a case. From the top to the bottom the building was separated into different segmented pieces that seemed to get smaller as the tower got higher. One of the most notable features was the large gashing hole that seemed to connect to the large iron bridge that span across the dark abyss below. The last most noticeable thing about this building was the four large green flags draping over each side of the building. At the center of each flag was a large black horse shoe, and a equally as black star to match it at its center.

There were several largely built ponies in dark green armor, only these ponies wore an armor that looked more like something a knight would wear instead of a soldier. Their eyes glowed a sicking yellow, and the helmet that they wore had long tubes connecting to the heavily armored body of the wearer.

One of the ponies came up to Rick Shaw with a battle saddle armed, "State your business commoner."

Rick Shaw levitated the small piece of paper he had earlier and showed it to him. He glanced at the paper before signaling the other ponies at the gate. Then, with a bow he backed away from the cart. "I will inform his majesty of your arrival, enjoy your stay." He stated before returning to his post.

The trip across the bridge didn't last long, and once they had crossed Rick Shaw cocked his head back to the two passengers. "We’re here."

Neo and Adam hopped off the cart and observed their surroundings. They were in a massive room with large pots with glowing gems filling them. Small golden elevator shafts lined the back wall of the inside of the building. As they looked up they say more of the same flags hanging from the high ceiling that towered several stories high.

Ponies with robes and the normal dressed guards marched around the area in an orderly manner. But the last and most admirable piece of the interior was a large iron statue of a magnificent unicorn stallion standing proud on a copper pedestal.
Adam went over to the statue and looked at the details of the figure. It was clear to them both that whoever the emperor was he lived a very high form of life.

At the bottom of the statue was a small plaque with an engraving on it: I am the beginning, and end of the new world. For I am its new god.

Adam looked up to his brother for answers. "Brother, what do you think it means?"

Neo gave him a puzzled look as he looked at the saying. "I don't really know Adam. Your guess would be as good as mine would."

They both flinched a bit as they were taken by surprise by a guard with the same red stripes down his middle. "Are you the ones his majesty sent for?"

They both looked at him and nodded in unison. "Good, then please, follow me." He turned around and made his way to one of the few golden elevators that had stopped at the bottom.

The two brothers followed right behind him and waited as several other ponies left the elevator in front of them. "Please, guests first." The guard insisted with his hoof motioned at the elevator.

So, cautiously they entered the elevator first before the guard followed behind them. He pressed one of the many golden buttons on a the control pad on the elevator. Then a with a tiny ding, the doors closed and the elevator shot up the shaft to the higher floors above. It only took a few seconds for the doors to reopen again. The floor they were on was much more different then first floor which was now below them.

In front of them was a long hallway, with a high ceiling that was decorated in a variety of different artistic figures and chandeliers.

The guard pointed to the end of the hallway with is left hoof. "Just go through those oak doors at the end, once you're there you will be in the presence of his majesty. So, it would be wise to act respectful in his presence."

Neo and Adam gave him a calm nod before he went back into the elevator. The ding softly rang as the golden doors closed behind them.

Looking down the hallway they trotted at an even pace as they admired the amazing architecture of the building, but the one thing they found most intriguing was how amazingly clean the whole place was. In fact it look brand new, like time itself had no effect on this stunning place.

Once at the door Neo nervously knocked on it. But, before Neo could touch it the door creaked open slowly and the same smooth voice from the spritebots called out to them from inside the room. "Please. Do come in." It sounded welcoming, in a creepy sort of way.

Neo nudged the door fully open with his snout and they both walked into the dark room. Inside was a large fireplace with a hellish like fire burning inside it and a golden mantle surrounding the top. There was a small purple coach and a blood red leather chair that was turned to a huge window that looked over the city.

"Please, sit. Make yourselves at home." Called the voice from the chair. Adam trotted over to the coach and jumped on it enthusiastically.

He bounced a bit before sinking into the comfortable seat. "Brother, you should really try this thing, it's so.." He wiggled around in it a bit to get more comfortable. "Soft..." He finished blissfully.

Neo shrugged and decided to join him. After all, he did say to make themselves more comfortable.

The chair was turned around and in front of the couch the two sat on. Neo curiously looked at the chair across from them as he too enjoyed the amazing coach.

Both of their ears perked up as they saw the chair slowly turn around. "Hello there. I take it you enjoy the coach?"

The pony who was speaking was a larger then average unicorn stallion with a pure red coat, and a flowing black mane the drapped across the side of his head and neck. He was middle aged so the occasional silver streak mixed in with the rest of his dark mane. His horn was also significantly bigger then most unicorn ponies, and he looked more healthier than any pony they had seen out in the wasteland.

"I, am High Lord Vladimir of the Ironhoof Legion." He said in a dignified manner.

Neo and Adam bow their heads slightly in respect, but he stopped them before they had started. "Please. Do not bow."

They lifted their heads again and looked at the unicorn smirking at them from his chair. "So. Shall we begin?" He said levitating a small glass of wine that was on a small nightstand next to him. Adam and Neo looked at each other and gulped quietly, the moment had turned around. At first they were happy, and in some ways thrilled to meet this fabled emperor, but now that they were actually here, and looking at him only made them nervous.

"Please don't be shy." He said in a smooth, calming tone.

"I'm Neo, and this is my little brother Adam."

"The pleasures min-" He stopped only to focus onto their PipBucks.

"What is it?" Adam said out of curiosity.

He took his gaze off their PipBucks for a moment to answer. "Oh, it's nothing. Though, it would be nice to know which Stable you came from?"

Their eyes both widened at his statement. "Y-you... you know we come from a Stable, but how?" Neo stuttered.

"I can tell by just looking at you." He took a small sip from the glass he was levitating next to him. "You two look too healthy to be born and raised out here, and those PipBucks look far too new to be used."

They both started to look at themselves to see what he meant by clean, because they clearly haven't had a bath in several days. What made it worse was that they even looked more filthy than some of the ponies in the Arms District.

"Oh, and I do apologize if my pet managed to injure you." He looked at Neo's wound on his leg.

Adam glanced at it before looking back at the red stallion. "But I'm sure you gave my pet a proper punishment for it by killing the damned beast."

Neo and Adam smiled sheepishly. "We didn't mean to kill it, honest. It was just by accident that I killed it after it tripped."

"Nonsense," he said shaking his head. "It doesn't matter if you killed it by accident or not. What does matter is that you in fact killed it."

"So, since you did kill it. I'm going to make you a deal." He grinned at them wickedly. "I want you two become captains in my army. You will have a good place to rest, decent pay, and the better of the food." He took another sip of the wine.

"All you need to do is say yes. It's as simple as that."

They looked down in thought, and even though the offer sounded nice that would mean that they would have to become just like those ponies who killed those criminals in front of a whole audience. "I... I don't know..." Adam scratched his head.

"Brother, what do you think?"

Neo recalled the whole scene on the first day in the city. It was still as clear and vivid as the day he was there. He managed a strait serious face, "I'm sorry but the answer is no."

The unicorn lay back in his chair with a disappointed look on his face. "What about you? What's your answer?" Neo and Adam looked at each other and knew clearly what the answer was.

"I'm sorry, but I'm with him on this."

"Him." He grunted. "Pity, it really is..."

"You're not mad, are you?"

"Not at all, rather I respect your choice."

They both had a puzzled look. "Really?" Adam asked.

"Indeed, really."

He got up from his chair and moved to the fire place. He sat down on the red carpet the covered the floor. The golden flames danced and moved like mystical dancers. "You know. There is truly a lot of history within these old buildings..."

Neo and Adam just let him finish. "These buildings are made of refined Dark Iron, or at least the structure is." He placed a hoof on the side of the fire place. "It's amazing to think that at one time ponies lived in these without fear. Without having to look out onto this sad world... I envy them. I really do."

"Now," he motioned his head to Neo and Adam, "do you believe the goddesses still live?"

The two brothers were taken back by the random question, but they already knew the answer. "No, in the Stable records it says the goddesses died almost two hundred years ago." Neo said recalling the very records that had this information.

Vladimir chuckled, "Well... you are right, they are dead." He took another sip of the wine. "Do you two know what happened to this world?"

They both shook their heads. "Well," he chuckled, "let me tell you real quick." He paused and looked at them from in front of the fire place. His shadow cast an ominous figure against the wall behind them. "Two hundred years ago a weapon of great power was created. A weapon of mass murder meant to destroy all forms of life on this planet. There was a war. A terrible war that turned us into something horrible... something evil. Eventually our own greed and hate gave way and we ended it all those many years ago..."

Neo spoke up. "The Megaspells?"

"Yes, the Megaspells..."

He spun around back to the flames. "It was then the world ended... and though all the ponies of this land and others might have died out, these buildings survived... They were preserved... and eventually, awaken to live out their purposes once more."

"So there was some kind of war, and in the end both sides used megaspells on each other?"

"Yes Neo... and with the end came a new beginning. Because the megaspells were meant to clean the hate and filth from our world, but instead it cleansed the world of everyone else leaving only the very thing it was meant to destroy."

"Why are you telling us this?" Neo asked leaning against one of the arms of the coach.

"Because very few ponies out here understand what really happened, or why I do what I do."

"What is it you do?" Adam added.

"What I do? I have started a path that will pave the way to a bright new future." He was fully standing now, he had a small spark of energy that they hadn't notice was there before. "For sixty years I built this empire, and once I finish taking this province I will move on to becoming the new master of Equestria, and then... the world."

Neo leaned over to Adam, "This guy's crazy." He whispered.

Adam laughed quietly at what his brother had said. Vladimir didn't seem to notice his little laugh and continued. "I have risen to the top so that any and all will live a life much like it was in the old times. And when that day comes I will be god of the new world."

"Okay, this guy is totally nuts." Neo thought to himself as he listened to him.

"Though, there are others that share my idea of a new world. You could say that it could be a battle of the gods, after all it is an open world just waiting to be fixed..."

He got back into his chair and poured a new glass of wine. "But enough of my dreams, what is your goal in this world? You must have something that you want to do."

They gave him a weird look as they debated whether it was a good idea to tell him what they were looking for. "We're um..." Adam muttered under his breath.

"Please, speak up. I won't bite." He said with a dark smile.

"We're looking... for our mother..."

His grin faded, "Oh, well then I wish you luck on finding her. But, might I ask who she is?"

Adam suddenly felt happy that he was being asked questions about their mother. "She's a unicorn with a lab coat, and the most warmest smile you'd ever see, and she makes amazing cookies, and she is the smartest pony I know and-"

"Please." Vladimir said with a hoof raised, it was clear he was slightly irritated by Adams perky response. "I just asked who she was, not what she does."

Neo decided to take over the conversation. "She's a unicorn who used to work for our Stable, she left, so now we're out here looking for her."

"Interesting..."

Then a small fuzzy beep came from the chair he was sitting on. "Sir, he's here. What do you want us to do?"

Vladimir pressed a small button on the arm of his chair and answered, "Send him up, tell him I'll be with him in a few minutes.

"Yes sir."

Vladimir looked at them with his hooves together, "I'm so very sorry. I truly am, but there is some business I need to take care of. Maybe we could meet again sometime, and continue our little conversation."

Neo nodded at him, "Yeah... It was... nice." Neo said shyly.

Adam nodded in agreement.

The door they came through opened and the same guard from before was standing in the doorway. "Ah!" He said looking at the soldier behind them. "Captain please escort them back to their home." The soldier gave him a swift salute.

Neo and Adam went over to the door, "But, one last thing before you go." He said stopping them.

"My offer still stands if you ever change your minds."

"We'll think about it." Neo said before turning back to the hallway they came from.

The door closed with a loud echo that rang throughout the room. Vladimir's face went straight as he took another sip of his wine. "If those boys are who I think they are, then they hold the key to winning the game... If they find out who they really are, and who she is then this could complicate things..."

He looked back at the flames, "but if all goes according to the way I planned it out then I should find her even if they don't work directly for me..."

The door on the other side of the room opened with three ponies standing in the doorway. "Sir, we brought the mercenary like you requested." Said one of the green armored soldiers.

Without turning he replied. "Good. Mercenary step forward so that we may talk."

The mercenary trotted over to him with both guards standing at each side of him. "We found him at some bar kiss up on some mares before we brought him here."

"Does he fit all the requirements?"

The first soldier nodded. "He's Equestria born, he's willing to do the work, and he's not well known in the province sir."

Vladimir chuckled. "Good... but, can our mercenary confirm all of this?"

He nodded at him.

The mercenary was tall, with blood red stripes down his neck and legs. His coat was a dark, jet black, and his mane was a blue that was just as dark as his fur. He wore a long black trench coat that hung over his sides. The many leather holsters, and small pouches on his body were empty, and a rough, old gas mask hung from his neck.

Vladimir turned his head slightly to him, "Ah and you're a pegasus too... This makes things... interesting."

The mercenary just ignored his statement and shrugged. "Yeah, whatever. As long as you've got the caps I'm willing to do anything."

"Yes, I'm sure you are." He looked back at the flames, "you do know what your task is, correct?"

He shook his head. "Then let me tell you. Your task is to find and follow those two boys, I'm sure you saw them on the way over here correct?"

He nodded slowly. Vladimir spoke again, only this time his voice had a faint amount of anger in his words. "Good. I want you to stay out of sight, and make sure they don't die as they look for their mother. They hold the key to winning this game with the Coalition. And once they find her, I can finally take back what they stole from me."

"Seems simple enough. What's the pay again?"

Vladimir looked down at the wine in his glass. "You will receive a total of two hundred and fifty caps every two weeks if you deliver an expectable, or otherwise useful amount of information back to us. You may receive your payment at any Legion outpost or facility as long as you have confirmed your findings with us."

"So, follow these two, tell you where their going and what their doing, and I get paid lots of caps."

The red unicorn smirked. "I'm glad your ears work."

The pegasus ignored him and continued to listen. "If you should fail at bringing us valid information... well, let's just say you won't be a very happy pony after I'm done with you."

Vladimir set his almost finished wine down on the floor next to him. "We will give you all the equipment you will need, free of charge of course. You may have access to all of our armories throughout the province. Though, I do ask you don't take too much of my weapons."

The mercenary growled at the two guards next to him who flinched a bit as he spoke. "Don't worry, once your stupid guards give me back my gear that'll be all I need."

"Good, then are you willing to sign a contract?"

He nodded.

"Very well." Vladimir turned his head and pointed his horn at his chair, and there just out of nowhere a quill and scroll came floating over to him. "But, before you sign I would like to know your name. Spoken by the names owner."

The pegasus started to sign the document, "The names Skyward Flame, and count the task..." He said before getting done signing the document. "Done."

Vladimir chuckled as he took both the scroll and quill. "Very good. I expect only the best from you, after all you are under a contract."

Foot Note: Level up

New perk: Spirited: You've got spirit! You gain +1 in strength and +1 in perception and luck with every level.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

Foot Note: Level up

New perk: A little elbow grease: Hacking terminals is now 15% easier. You also gain +2 in repair and +2 in science with every level.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

wayofthepen

Colonel Lat Muffin

(I know there are some errors but then again two of my main proofreaders are gone for awhile. Tell me what you think! I feel like this came out very well.)
(Thanks guys!)

The Steelhoof Coalition

CHAPTER 10: THE STEELHOOF COALITION

They were halfway back to Lucy's shack as Rick Shaw pulled the cart through the tireless city. The wheels splashed in small puddles that had formed during the storm earlier that day. A cool breeze blew by every now and again as the two brothers sat and waited for their ride to end. Like before, the ride was smooth and calm despite a few glares from the ponies they passed by.

"I can't believe he thinks he's some kind of god. Maybe it's the stress or something." Adam said keeping his voice low.

"His view on himself is a little... off."

Adam chuckled a bit, "more like a whole mile off."

Neo joined in on the small laugh, "it seems that way, doesn't it?"

"Yeah..." Adam looked up to his brother curiously. "You know, if our mom isn't here, then where do you think she is?"

Neo pointed down to his PipBuck. "I downloaded a few messages from when we are at the lower part of the city. After listening to some of them, one of the gate workers said something about a unicorn working with the Coalition. Though what really gets my attention was that she said, she was from a Stable."

Adam's face lit up with joy, his eyes practically twinkling with happiness. "What else did she say?"

"She said that she was in some town called Arkcannon, or something." Neo sighed heavily, "but I don't have a clue where that is, or if we're able to get there."

"Maybe Lucy's plan will help."

It had slipped Neo's mind entirely. Lucy did have a plan, and she was going to tell them about it before she sent him to fix her communication antenna. Neo was still a little weary of the idea, but if it got them any closer to finding her then it was well worth a shot.

"Hopefully, I wouldn't get my hopes too high though. But doing anything right now would probably be better than doing nothing at all."

"She looked like she knew what she was talking about, so that has to count for something, right?"

Neo playfully ruffled his mane with his metal hoof. "Yeah, she does seem sure about it this time."

Adam smiled contently, his mane was all frazzled and shaken up. "See, just have a little hope in her. I'm sure we'll get to finding her once she tells us."

They both lay back in the comfortable seats as they watched the city pass by. Every time they would cross a bridge Adam would look over the side and gazed at the city below. It was pitch black, and small shapes and roads could barely be seen from where they were.

Neo noticed that the Commons District sign passed right above them as the cart finished crossing the bridge. Rick Shaw cocked his head back to the two without stopping. "Hey you two, we're almost there."

Neo sat up straight and nodded to their driver. And within a few minutes they pulled up right in front of her shack. "Alright, everypony out. Rides over." Rick Shaw said with his head turned to the side.

Neo hopped out of the wagon first, then helped Adam get out after him. Neo went up to Stallion who had carried them, "Here," he said as he levitated a small amount of caps into a pouch on his saddle he was hooked up to.

Rick Shaw looked surprised at him, "Well, thanks for the tip. I don't usually get tips for my services."

Neo nudged him in the arm. "You earned it. The trip was nice, and you did a great job keeping the cart steady."

"Well..." he sighed shyly, "I am one of the very few ponies in my line of work. It only proves that I should be the best." He put a hoof to his just with pride beaming off him. "Say, how many caps did you give me anyway?"

"Just fifty or so."

His face looked shocked. "F-f-f-fifty?" He stuttered.

Neo looked at him oddly. "Yeah, is that bad?"

He shook his head violently, "No, it's just I whenever I get a tip, i get ten caps, but fifty. Wow, I'm... I'm just shocked."

Neo smiled at him and patted him on the back. "Just don't waste it, okay?"

"Don't worry about that."

Neo nodded at him before he trotted off in the other direction. Adam waved to him as he left, and sad after he was completely gone, "He’s a pretty good guy."

"Yeah, I just hope nothing bad happens to him." Neo said before going to the front door of Lucy's home.

The door made a faint creak as they opened the door, Lucy was on her bed snoring softly on her bunk. Allie was on her bunk wide awake as she waited for the two to return. Allie had turned to the door as it opened, she put a hoof up to her mouth to make sure they didn't cause any extra noise.

They both nodded at her. Adam climbed up to his bunk, and tried to make as little noise as possible. Neo tip-hoofed over to Allie at her bunk, "She fell asleep so soon?"

She nodded at him, "mhm, I helped her finish fixing her communication unit. Then she just laid down on her bunk and started snoring."

Neo tried not to chuckled, "And she says I snore."

"You know, she still didn't say anything to me about her plan yet."

He sighed, "I'm just curious as to what it is. A little piece of me still thinks I should have said no, but I can't just walk away without hearing what it is."

"I'm just as curious as you are, and hopefully she'll tell us tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow..."

Neo smiled at Allie, "well, I'm beat. I'll see you tomorrow, good night."

"Good night," Neo lightly stepped over to his own bunk and took off the dirty old duster he had used throughout the day. He lay down and thought about what the next day would hold, and if this plan of hers was really worth listening to.

Neo saw nothing, just blackness. Ever since he was a small colt the only dreams he had were dark, and empty. Occasionally he had a short, romantic dream, but besides that he never really did dream. Adam on the other hand had wonderful powerful dreams full of life, and energy. Adam enjoyed his dreams. Neo didn't. Neo just lay there trying to dream, but the more he thought about it the harder it became. Then he felt a small tingle on his body, pain followed shortly after.

"Rise and shine you Stable baby!" Lucy yelled as she watched Neo groan and turn on the ground.

"She's back to normal, isn't she..." He moaned tiredly on the ground.

Adam crawled down from his bunk and rubbed his eyes. "Lucy, did you push him off the bunk again?"

She had a big smile on her face, like she had just won some kind of lottery. "Yes I did, and now that you and him are up we can finally get packing!"

Adam’s older brother got up and rubbed his sore face with one hoof. "Packing? Are we going somewhere?" He was still a bit sleepy even though she had pushed him off the bed.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed we are numb nuts! Now, get your stuff on, and check what gear you're taking. Cause’ we ain't going to stop for food or water on the flight."

Neo and Adam woke up at the sound of the word flight. "We're going to fly again?" Adam asked with a curious expression.

Lucy's good mood face didn't move. "We're going to Steelhoof Keep. Now get your stuff and shake down, I'm going to help Allie outside and get the cart ready."

Like a bullet she dashed out the door. "Wow..." Adam said in awe.

"You said it."

"Did she take an energy pill or something?" Adam said just staring at the door she went out of.

Neo, who was just as confused about it as Adam was. So he just tried to forget her energetic mood, and get his stuff together. "We better get packing Adam. Make sure you don't leave anything, or you probably won't see it again."

He put his filthy duster on again, and Adam got his stuff on except his goggles which were still on his head. It only took a few minutes to go through the few items they had. Adam got rid of some old food from the Stable, and Neo got rid of an apple that was sour and rotten. After digging a bit more he found a small tin opened with a smiling zebra on the front. "Party time Men-tals?"

He eyed the small tin for a moment. Lucy came in through the front door holding her head low like she had been suck clean of all the life in her body. "My fucking head..." She moaned as she stepped through the door.

Neo dropped the tin and stared at her. "What the hell happened you?"

Adam looked at the wasted pegasus. "Lucy are you okay?"

She plopped herself on her bed, "Go... desk... green potion... now... damnit..."

Adam went into her desk and dug through the drawers till he found a tiny bottle with glowing green fluid inside. He went to Lucy and put the bottle to her lips. She chugged it down within a second, it only took a moment for her color to flushed back to her. She looked significantly better, but she didn't look the way she was before she was wasted.

Neo put his saddle bags on and sat next to Adam. "Lucy, what just happened? First you were as jumpy and energetic as a new born foal on a sugar rush. Then you looked like you got wasted or something."

She sighed at him. "You brought Party Time Ment-als and you didn't tell me. That's what happened."

Adam gave her a puzzled look, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"For some time I was addicted to those things. They give you a rush like no other. You can see clearer, go farther, and do anything. It's... amazing. But after awhile your body begins to need the stuff to live. I managed to break the addiction, a friend of mine taught me how to make that potion you just gave me. It flushes the stuff right out of you in no time at all."

Neo looked down at the small tin on the ground. "So you took one from my bags?"

She gave him a sheepish look. "More like... seven or so..."

They both reeled back at the thought, "You took seven!?!" They both shouted in unison.

She rubbed the back of her neck and got up. "I came back in once I felt the rush slow down. Damn did it hit me like a bull." She looked back at Neo and Adam with a straight face. "Yeah, well I got to get back outside Allie will probably need my help soon. Oh, and I'm taking these with me." She went over to the tin and put it in her hoof.

"But Lucy, you just said that you were addicted to those things!" Adam said cautiously.

She smirked at him. "I don't think they can bother me once I throw them off the side of the building, now can they."

Adam's face went sour at her reply as he plopped himself back down on the bed with his front hooves folded.

"We're leaving in five minutes, so hurry up and get your stuff ready." Lucy said with a smirk before she trotted out the door with the tin in her hoof.

"Brother, I hope we find mom soon, because Lucy is kinda getting on my nerves."

Neo went up to him and put his arm around him. "I try to deal with it, and once you learn to cope with her insults and comments, it really isn't that bad."

Adam looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, what about the time she called you peg-leg Neo, remember?"

Neo laughed, "I wish I could forget."

Adam got up and made his way to the door with his saddle bags ready. "We better get out there before she has a fit."

He nodded and followed him outside.

Allie was putting some stuff inside the cart. She put some gas masks, their weapons, and some other things they might need. Lucy was coming back from the side of the building. She flapped her wings a bit as she came to the front of the cart. "Allie, did you get the cart loaded?"

She nodded at her. "Good," her gaze turned to the two brothers. "Well, we're about ready to take off. You sure you got everything?"

They both nodded. "Good," she moved her fedora down onto her neck, and tied it tightly. Once she was done, she came over to the front and hooked herself up to the wagon. "Hey Allie, give me one of the gas masks in the wagon." She motioned her head toward the cart.

"What for?"

"You'll see sweetheart." Her eyes moved over to Adam and Neo. "You two hop in and get a mask on, and whatever you do keep your head down until I say so, got it?"

The two did what they were told and hopped into the cart, the entire thing was filled with an assortment of different kinds of gear. They both found a mask of their own and put them tightly on their heads. Allie came over and got her own, and Lucy's as well. Neo helped her get hers on, and Allie got Lucy's mask on.

Each mask was rubbery and smelled like old boots, but it didn't seem to bother any of them. "Alright listen up! I'm doing something real stupid, like Neo stupid." Neo frowned at her under his mask. "I'm going to take off from here. The Legion doesn't really like it when ponies, especially pegasus do these kinds of things. So, just keep your head down and try not to move. It makes my job a whole hell of a lot easier."

Adam raised his hoof in the air as Allie hopped into the cart. "Yes Adam?"

"What are the masks for?"

"The Legion doesn't like it when ponies do this, so it's best they don't know who you are. Since I’m a pegasus I stick out like sore thumb. But I know how to cover up my tracks when it comes to them looking for ponies who do this kind of thing."

He nodded at her. "Anypony else have anymore questions?" No one said anything in return. "No? good."

She spread her wings out and flapped them a few times before she started to run with the cart. Each step was followed by two flaps from her wings. Within a few feet she managed to get airborne along with the cart. It was odd already being so close to the clouds.

The wind picked up, and the cool moist air beat their coats as the cart flew through the air. Adam loved the feeling. He loved to feel the wind, and see the clouds so close. In his mind this is how pegasi felt as they flew freely in the air. It was a heavenly feeling, much like the first time. Only this time it was day time and the whole world could be seen below.

It didn't take them long to get out of the city, and once they had Lucy gave them the OK to take off their masks. Adam would look over the side with Neo and they would count the many buildings they would pass by or how many carts on the old road they could spot before they were out of site. It was times like these that made the two feel alive, and hopeful. Though the question as to what her plan was still bothered Neo a bit, even when his mind was focused on other things.

Every now and again they would pass by a house or building that would have several raiders inside, and despite the few shots fired at them, there wasn't much to worry about. But the meaty bloodstained cages, and dismembered ponies outside the structures could clearly be seen, even from the sky. It made Neo and Adam sick, especially since they had been in a building like those before. Though, it didn't seem to bother Allie as much, but they figured since she had lived in raider territory for so long she was used to it.

Neo snuggled next to Allie as the trip continued, and they talk about their friends they knew from when they were young. Allie mentioned how she met Kat, and how they found Newt in a old cart all alone as a foal. She told him that she had met Kat when she was abandoned by her parents when she was young, and how her family adopted her. Neo didn't have much to say. He just told her about him and the crazy things he and Flipper did as kids. But, now that he looked at it Flipper came up a lot... he had never really considered him a friend but yet the more he talked about him the more it felt like he really was a friend.

Adam just watched as the two talked, and the cart slowly made its way to the barren world below. The cart bounced a bit as it made a rough landing on the side of an old road. They each look around a bit before hopping out of the cart. Adam helped Lucy get her mask off, and put it away inside the cart.

Neo thought about it for a second before finally deciding now was good time to ask her about the plan. "Lucy?"

She looked at him with her average bland pissed off look. "What is it?"

"What is the plan exactly. If it's centered around us I'd really like to know what's going on."

She smirked at him. "Sorry, but my lips are sealed. I'll let your curiosity eat you till you find out."

He sarcastically laughed at her his response. "Hahaha... very funny. Then, if you're not going to tell me what the plan is, can you at least tell me how far our destination is?"

She pointed to the one of the many rolling hills in front of them. "It's just over that hill."

Neo nodded at her and went over to Adam and Allie who were standing near the cart. Adam was looking at an old red billboard that was cracked and scared by time along the side of the road. He could just barely make out what was on it. A pink pony with a big poofy pink mane was smiling brightly, and her big eyes looked almost soul piercing. In a way it creeped Adam out, but it also fascinated him as to who it was. Adam decided he would read the words on the sign out loud. "Pinkie Pie wants all of Equestria to be happy! Join the Ministry of Moral in a local Ironhoof recruitment center today! Because remember, Pinkie Pie is watching you... Foreeever."

Neo and Allie briefly looked at the sign as they passed it. "Who's Pinkie Pie?" Neo said with a curious tone.

"I saw a sign like this outside of Manetone, only it advertised for Stable-Tec." Allie added.

Adam smiled at the word Stable. It made him think of his mom, and the ponies he used to go to school with. "I miss home..." Adam sighed.

"I do to Adam." Neo said as he came up to him with a smile.

But before he could say anything Lucy was already at the top of the hill, and she shouted at them from the top. "Hey, come up here you slowpokes!"

They all galloped to catch up with her, but once they got to the top they were taken back by one of the most powerful things they had seen yet.

It was a massive castle like fortress, with tall stone walls that were edged with dark iron. From the high towers that covered the higher sections of the main building at the center, one could see the rest of the fortress climb up the mountain range that was behind it. On its towers and around its battlements was large blue flags with a white hoof positioned near the left of each flag.

"Welcome, to Steelhoof Keep. Home of the Steelhoof Coalition, and the Steelhoof Province Guardians."

"Wow..." Adam said with wide eyes.

It marveled everything they had seen before, and what was most notable about it was the fact it looked new. Time had not even touched the magnificent fortress.

Lucy continued down to the keep, without giving them a warning. Allie yelled at her to wait, she didn't. So they had to gallop once more to catch up to the impatient mare.

It took them a few minutes, but it wasn't long till they had reached the front of the fortress. Though, on the way they needed to dodged and maneuver their way around the field that was in front of the keep. Neo asked why they need to take such an odd rout, and all Lucy said was, "because if we don't we'll die."

That was more then enough information for him.

They stood five feet away from the massive steel gate that was covered in scars and blast marks. The walls were much higher up close, and much more menacing.

Lucy raised her head up and called up to the wall. A pony with light steel plated armor poked his head over the edge with a rifle at his side. "Who is it?"

"I'm Province Guardian Luck. I'm here to speak with Wilco."

She looked confused. "Wil who?"

Lucy faced-hoofed, "Commander Ironside."

"I see, one moment." He went back and disappeared from their sight only to come back a few seconds later. "Let me see your sun badge."

Lucy looked at Neo, "Neo, get my hat off my neck and toss it up to him." She yapped at him.

Neo came over to her and untied her hat and tossed it up to the pony on the wall. She caught it with her hooves and briefly looked it over. She tossed it back down to Lucy and nodded at her. "I'll open the gate, but you'll have to confirm the others what you have with the commander."

She once again disappeared behind the wall, and, like she said, the gate slide open. It only opened enough for them to pass through, and Lucy had to make sure she didn't get the cart stuck in between the the two halves of the gate.

As they each came through the gate each pony entered what looked like a courtyard of some sort. It was large, and filled with steel plated soldiers. At its center was one of the many flags waving on a flag pole. Lucy pulled the cart to the side and unhooked herself, Neo and Adam had to help her a bit, but they got it off in the end.

Neo glared at her angrily."Lucy. I know you want this to be a surprise, but I, and everyone else here wants to know what your plan is."

She looked at him with the same smirk she always used. "Listen, Neo." She wrapped a hoof around his shoulder. "I'll tell you... later."

Neo continued to give her his angry look. "Later?"

"Mhm, later. Deal with it."

And just like that she let him go and trotted off towards the fortress. Adam went up to him and looked up to him as if he was waiting for him to say something. "Adam, she's really starting to make me angry."

He waited for Allie to join them before he answered. "I know, but she is who she is, and she isn't going to change. Even if she gets on our nerves."

"I don't know..." Allie added. "There are a few times she seemed actually not seem so pissed all the time."

Neo smiled at her, "well I guess it could be worse."

Adam patted him on the back. "That's the spirit! Now, lets go see what this plan of hers is." Adam was the first to take off after Lucy, while Allie and Neo followed him into the stone fortress.

The four walked through the long stone hallways. Every now and again they would pass a soldier who would look at them oddly before continuing on with whatever he or she was doing. They stopped at a room with an opened door with several mares and stallions all gathered at the center of the room. Each one wore either a large suit of steel armor, or a long brown duster. Lucy stopped and listen for a moment on the conversation inside. Neo, Allie, and Adam followed and listened in on the conversation.

One of the mares at the end of the room was shouting in an angry tone. "I don't know how you're going to pass Ironsteads defences but we can't keep wasting men like this! And we're not even sure if the Legion has project Iron Hammer there!"

A blue earth pony stallion with a finely made and decorated duster spoke up. "I understand that, but it's the only place we know of that might be holding it. Plus we've cut them off, and they have no way of actually breaking through the perimeter without half of their forces dying in the process."

The mare glared at him, "Listen Carter, we don't need to be there! We need to be focusing all of our efforts in the southeast, near Arkcannon."

An old buck stood up to speak, "I have to agree with Harpsichord on this one. We're wasting valuable lives on something we're not sure about."

"But if we leave and it is there then we'll have fucked ourselves! It'll be too late to say oops when the Legion roll that thing out here."

A unicorn mare put her hoof in the air and took over. "I think that you both have a good point in the matter. But, until we find out if the Legion is holding Iron Hammer at Ironstead then we can't be sure of anything."

"So what do you suppose we do? Wait till they do something?" The stallion instead.

"Yes. That's exactly what I plan to do."

Several of the ponies in the room looked at her with awed faces as a faint murmur fell over the group. "But we can't just wait and do nothing! The Legion is looking for the project-"

The blue stallion was cut off by Lucy. Several of them looked at her standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" She cooed softly.

The blue pony looked at her before bowing slightly to the mare at the end of the room. "I'm sorry fillies and gentlecolts, I have some business to take care of."

The mare at the end nodded at him. "You are dismissed commander." She said waving her hoof at him.

The blue stallion went out of the room and into the hallway outside. He had a cleanly made duster, that was decorated with several small badges. His mane was a deep midnight black, which was neatly made on top his battle hardened face.

He spun around and looked at her. "What is it Lucy? I was in the middle of an important meeting."

She gave him a cute cocky smile. "I missed you too cupcake."

He cleared his throat hoarsely. "What is it you want." He said in slightly shy tone.

"Look who I brought with me." She stepped to the side and held her hoof out to the other three. He gave them a stern look before stepping up to them. He circled them, eyeing them carefully as he inspected the three. "Well, they're not weak or flabby."

He stopped his inspection and turned back to Lucy. "You sure you want them to be Guardians? I mea-"

"You want us to be what!?" They all said in unison.

Lucy cocked her head to the side with her playfully cocky smile. "Surprise."

He looked at them for a moment. "As I was saying. I really think they could work as Guardians, however they need to have done something worth recognition. So, the question stands; have they done anything to prove they have what it takes? Or can I just brush it off and get back to the meeting."

Lucy brushed against him. "You're so tense, this isn't the way I left you. What's buggin you hun?"

He blushed a bit, "L-Lucy, lets not get into that now. I just want you to answer the question."

She trotted playfully over to Adam and Neo and got in between them. She wrapped her hooves around them both and reeled them close to her. "Look at them. You can't tell me that you wouldn't let these two not become Guardians. After they did kill Asmodeus."

Carter pulled his head back with wide shocked eyes. "That's bullshit! I fought the thing myself, and you can't tell me that these two really kill that damn thing... did they?"

She nodded at him with her cocky look. "They sure did. They even got to meet the Vlad."

He gave her a suspicious look. "And what do you have to prove they did anything at all, hmm?"

Lucy spun Neo around and pointed to his once injured leg. "There you go, proof." Neo didn't like how she was showing him off to this strange pony, but he held firm and just went with it.

Carter narrowed his eyes and examined the bloody bandage. "Well it did look like something caught you... four inches... curved... those sound like his claws." He pulled back and turned to the meeting room he was once in. Before he went inside he stopped and looked at her again. "I'll look deeper into this, and tell you if they really did what you say they did. Until then, I'll send word throughout the keep that you’re guests."

"Sounds good to me. Oh, and after you find the time we need to... catch up." She winked at him.

He went stiff for a moment before nodding at her. "I-I'll talk to you tomorrow, just take your crew and spend the night in the Guardians quarters till tomorrow."

Lucy turned around and made her way down the hall. "Okay darling, have fun."

The other three followed Lucy and were completely and utterly confused as to what just happened.

Neo trotted up to Lucy's side as they continued down the long stone corridor. "Lucy, what the hell was that !? Is that really your plan, or are you just screwing with us again?"

She didn't bother looking at him as she went on. "Yep that's my plan. Don't like it? Well too bad, cause that's it."

Adam went next to her with the same confused and totally surprised look. "But how is that going to get us anywhere! I thought this was supposed to help us, not sign us up for an army!"

Lucy was overloading with irritation, a few more seconds and she might just burst into an all out fiery rage. She slowed down her pace to a nice smooth walk before she answered him. "Listen kid. It was the only thing I could think of besides blindly wandering the province for your mom. And have I told you that this province is very big? Because it is."

"That still doesn't explain why you would even considered that option."

Lucy sighed. "Hey, you're lucky. He doesn't usually agree with my ideas, and convincing him to even consider this was a miracle on it's own. So I wouldn't be complaining if were you..." She stopped at a large metal door at the end of the hallway, "Listen, I really think this is the best option. Tomorrow Carter will talk about it, just please don't screw it up."

Adam was getting the idea Lucy was going someplace... alone. "Lucy. Are you going somewhere?"

The door opened with a loud clank. "I'm going to... catch up a bit." Then, she just walked through the door leaving the three alone in the hallway.

All three of them just stood there as the door rattled and slid closed. "And she just leaves us here..." Neo sighed blandly.

"So... what now?" Adam added.

Allie just shrugged before the door in front of them opened again, only this time a armored pony soldier was looking at them from the other side of the door. Her armor covered her cutie mark, and most of her velvet mane. She just ignored them for the most part, and continued with what she was doing. The three looked at her as she trotted past them with saying anything. "Um, excuse me?" Adam asked.

The soldier just looked at him oddly, as if there was some where she needed to be. "Yeah? Could you make it quick. They're almost done serving food down stairs."

"Um, I was just wondering where the guest quarters are."

She bit her lip. "Hey listen, they're going to stop serving food soon, and I haven't had anything to eat in almost two days."

Neo and Allie felt hunger, and a slight pain come from their stomachs, and when she mention food. Well, then food was the only thing they needed. "If you're going to get food, mind if we come? We haven't eaten in awhile either." Neo insisted, his mouth watering at the thought food in general.

She looked at the three and shrugged. "Yeah, sure, whatever just come on they stop serving in ten minutes."

Together the four made their way down several smaller stone passageways, and other rooms that were covered with technology. As they passed by they noticed more and more soldiers on their way to the mess-hall.

The mess-hall was huge, a high ceiling covered with lights was above them, and several tables were scattered throughout the room. At the end was a grill, and to the far left wall was a bored looking pony behind a glass window. The smell of cooking meat filled the room, and the aroma was almost torturing to smell.

Neo gulped down the tons of saliva as he and the others approached the grill pony.

He was a large unicorn pony. More so in weight then mussel, and he wore a blood, and charcoal stained apron. His dirty yellow coat and orange mane only made him look more suited for his job. A burning coal was his cutie mark, and only one can assume how, and why he got it.

With a butcher knife he slid meat onto the hellfire like grill that gave off a blast of heat as he put both meat and coals on it. In the counter in front of him was several dirty plates with what looked like strips of meat. The soldier approached the counter to grab one of the many trays with the delicious juicy pieces of meat.

"Do we just grab one?" Adam asked looking at the soldier.

She nodded at him before leaving to find a table of her own.

Allie, Neo, and Adam each grabbed a tray and took it to the nearest table they could see. They each sat down and looked at the steaming succulent pieces of food. Adam was still not used to eating meat, and the filthy plate it rested on wasn't helping him with the problem. Allie slowly munched on the meat contently. "It's almost like the way Kat makes it... only the plates are somewhat clean..."

Neo cringed a bit at the thought of eating the food on the filthy plate, but his stomach begged him to eat. And the smell wasn't helping either. He took a few bites of the meat, at first it wasn't that bad. A little burnt maybe, and a little dirt covered but overall not bad.

Another soldier came by the counter and winked at the grill pony. "Whoa, Mac you gotta slow down. Meal times almost up and you're still workin like it's rush hour."

Mac looked up at her and wiped sweat from his charcoal covered brow. "Yeh' ah know. But yeh never know when more hungry mouths come, wantin sometin't eat."

She shrugged at him. "Fine by me. Just don't work too hard, ya hear?"

He nodded at her. "Will do, thahnks'f the concern." Mac moved back to his grill and continued his work.

She didn't take any food instead she looked at the three at the table and moved over to them with a friendly smile on her face. "Hey, I haven't seen you guys before. You new or something?" She sat down at the table next to Allie.

It was a little shocking seeing somepony come up to them and act so friendly so fast. Even in the Stable ponies never acted this nice to them. "Um, yeah. We got here earlier today." Adam replied.

"Neat. I'm Golden Cog, I'm chief engineer at the wagon depot."

"I'm Neo. This is Adam my little brother, and over there is Allie." Allie waved slightly to her.

The mare took off her tan, steel plated helmet and rested it on the table. Her mane was snow white, and her coat a deep dark orange. Her eyes, for the most part, look just like Adams.

"So. Where you folks from?"

They all looked at her oddly, like they didn't want to give too much away so soon. "Don't worry, I'm not a bad pony that's out to getcha. My jobs to help build stuff to stop ponies like that." She said with a reassuring look.

"Me and Adam are from Stable one hundred and forty two. Allie here is from Maneton."

She looked at them with big eyes that seemed impressed. "Wooow, your from a Stable? Like, an actual Stable, Stable?"

Adam nodded with a faint smile. "Yep."

"That's sooo cool! I've never seen ponies from a Stable before. What's it like to live underground?"

They were both kind of embarrassed at the whole thing. "Well, it's not much I can tell you that much. Just boring grey walls, and a whole lot of nothing to do." Neo said while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

She nodded at him. "That stinks, I thought it was all sunshine and daisies or somethin."

"Nope, just a whole lot of nothing."

Adam chuckled a bit. It was sad saying their home, the place they've been born and raised in the whole lives was nothing. But, then again it was true.

"So, anyway. Who'd you come up here with. Not too many ponies know this place is here, and I'm pretty sure you didn't just find it by accident."

"We came up here with Lucy. She has this wild idea that if we become Province Guardians that we'll find our mom."

She motioned him to slow down. "Whoa, whoa whoa. Hold the phone here. You're telling me that you got the chance to become guardians?"

Allie nodded at her. "Tomorrow this guy's going to tell us more about it, and what's going to happen."

"Ah, well good luck on that. Very few, and I mean very few get an honor like that."

"My Brother and I just want to find out why she wants us to do this. I mean, I'm sure it's an honor, but I don't know if were cut out to do anything like that."

She leaned over the table and nudged him in the arm with her hoof. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll both do fine. Lucy has an eye for worthy guardians. Though her old crew would say otherwise."

Neo rolled his eyes. "I can only imagine why..."

"How long have you stayed with her?"

"About a few days."

She reeled her head back and hissed. "Dang, Celestia's lookin out for you from above to give you the tolerance to put up with her."

The other three laughed a bit at her statement. "I know, but you get used to it after awhile... kinda." Neo added.

"Yeah, she is queen of the angry pants. Though she's got a good reason to be that way."

Neo, Adam, and Allie all perked up and moved slightly closer to her curiously. "What?" Adam asked softly.

"She has a good reason to be pissed, and honestly if I did the things she's done then I would be the same way too."

Neo motioned his hoof for her to go one. "Please, it'll help if we know why she acts like a complete jerk."

The earth pony mare shrugged and rubbed her neck with an unsure look. "I don't know... you sure you want to know?"

They nodded at her.

"Well," she sighed. "Here we go."

She sat up straight before she started. "Lucy was born and raised in a little town that used to be near the northern border. She lived there with her... You know what? Why am I telling you. I have access to the guardians recordings. She's got the whole story on tape... though I gotta warn ya, it's real gut wrenching."

They all thought about it. The food didn't even matter anymore. In fact, this could explain everything, and knowing her reasons for doing the stuff she does would help to understand her better. "Okay, I'm willing to hear."

"I guess if brothers willing so am I."

"It'll look bad if I say no, but I'm just as curious as they are." Allie agreed.

The mare stood up and put her helmet back on. "Alright, follow me. But don't say I didn't warn ya."

They were all sitting in an empty grey room with only a few lights for illumination. Golden Harp had already looked, and found the recording on the terminal in front of her. All four of them were crowded around the small screen and waited to listen. "You ready?"

They nodded sternly at her. "Alright. Here we go..." She pressed the play button on the terminal which started the recording.

The first voice was a stallion. "Guardian log, 298. I'm Archive scholar Folded Write, and I'm recording Province Guardian Luck."

"Can we just get this over with."

"The faster you answer these question, the sooner you can go."

"Pfft, I didn't see why I need to do this."

"Because the Steelhoof Coalition doesn't like mentally unstable guardians. So, for future reference we can refer to this in case we need to-"

"Fine, ask away then."

"Fine. What's your name. Your real name."

"Lucky."

"Good. Next, how long has your training been to get here?"

"Six months."

"Good. Now the last question. Why did you become a guardian?"

There was a pause from her.

"I was born and raised in the town of Canterson, near the northern border. I was born from two healthy pegasus ponies. I had two brothers, Chills, and Wing Mark... For most of my life I wanted to help ponies, and the freelancers that came into our town told us about their adventures and lives out in the wasteland. Then me and my brothers would play like we were ponies saving others from raiders or slavers..."

She started to sob, and her voice became low and dark. "Then... I was sleeping in our bed one night. My brothers next to me, and our mom and dad just talked. I was dreaming about what the world would be like if war didn't exist. If the threat of slavers, raiders, or the Legion never existed. It was... peaceful. Then I heard shouting. The windows were glowing, and we woke up to the sounds of screaming from the outside. Gunshots followed... so many gunshots. I heard ponies yelling, 'Search the town! Kill every last one! Leave no survivors!' I was scared, and dad went to get his gun from the wall. Then we heard a loud explosion that broke the glass from the windows. Three guards came in with rifles ready. I couldn't see their faces behind the masks it was... like they weren't even ponies. Just... it happen so fast..." Her breathing was heavier, and her sobs stronger.

"The first one used his shotgun and killed mom. There... there was a huge gashing wound in her side... I... I saw her blood. It was everywhere, I've never seen so much before. Then dad fought with one of them and then he got knocked over, and one of the soldiers took a piece of the glass and... he was gone too...

Me and my brothers sat in the corner, shaking. Mom's blood was slowly coming towards us. One of the guards came to me and pulled me away. I screamed, but nothing came out. I struggled, but I didn't move. I was helpless. He took one of his side arms and put it in my mouth. He said, 'we're going to have a little fun with this one. Let's see if we can make her snapp shall we?' The others nodded at him. He put his head next to mine, his voice was muffled by the mask, but the whisper was as clear as the terrifying noises from outside. 'kill them' he said to me, 'kill them or my friends here have a little more fun with you and your brothers' They looked at me from the corner. Hugging each other. Shaking. Their eyes wide with terror. All I could do was watch them, 'kill them!' he barked at me. It spooked me... I didn't want to do it. I had closed my eyes, and for a moment all was silent. When I looked again... They lay there... looking at me with the same eyes... only, there was no life in them. I heard another gunshot, and all went black for me... I woke up later in a camp outside the ruins of the town. Some trader took me in. He fixed me up."

There was a long pause between the two. Her sobs turned into a full blown out cry. "That is why I joined. As long as I live, not one more being in this province or in any other will suffer anything similar to that. I promised my family, when I went back to the ruins..."

Golden Harp ended the recording.

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Fixed concentration: Your concentration has increased by 3. This makes use of the levitation saddle easier to operate.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Cat's luck: Sneak, and lock picking increase by +2 with every level.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Dracoliat

LyronAzakura

(Tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comments! It helps, it really does! - Noakwolf)

Bunker 37

CHAPTER 11: BUNKER 37

The sky was a pale brown as morning slowly came to the world. Adam was staring out into the world from the edge of a balcony. His legs dangled and swayed as he and his brother watched the morning come to the cloudy, brown world. His face was halfway buried in his crossed legs that rested on the low railing of the balcony, and the world was empty and vast, but as he stared into the land he felt a great sense of loneliness... it puzzled and bothered Adam how empty the world was, and how much life could have existed in the world before.

"Brother, I can't stop thinking about Lucy..." Adam sighed heavily.

Neo put his arm around his little brother. "I know Adam. After hearing that, I couldn't stop thinking what her life was like. And the more I think about it the more I can see her and how happy she was. I just don't understand why the world has to be this way, why the world we learned about turned out like this."

"That's what Lucy said. She just wanted to live with her family and make the world a better place. I feel bad that she had her family taken away from her... Brother, I hope nothing like that happens to us."

Neo wasn't sure what to say. The very thought ate at him from the inside, and just to think what would happen to Adam if he were to... He tried to let the very thought not enter his mind. "I hope so too."

"What do you think her brothers were like? Do you think if they lived now that Lucy would be happier?"

"I'm sure she would be, but sometimes we have to forget about the what ifs and move on. I remember mom telling us that when we used to come back from school after failing a test."

Adam started to build up a tear in his eye as a slow sadness washed over him. "I miss her..."

Neo rubbed him calmly with his hoof, a gentle smile on his face to help cheer up his little brother. "I'm sure wherever she is right now, she also misses us."

He smiled at him. "Neo, Adam." A voice called from behind them.

They turned around to see a soldier with Allie next to her. "You finally woke up Allie. We were afraid you might not wake up at all." Neo chuckled softly.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned, her mane was a mess and her eyes dark. "Yeah well you have to thank her for that." She motioned her hoof to the soldier next to her.

Both brothers got up and looked at Allie and the soldier she was with. "What is it?" Adam asked.

"Commander Ironside wished to speak with you two."

"Is this about the whole guardian thing?" Neo ask.

She nodded sternly to him.

Neo took a step forward before answering. "How does this thing work anyway? I mean, is there some sort of thing we need to do first?"

"No, but he looked through our reports and he confirmed that you two did kill Asmodeus. And, once we were able to get the proper equipment ready he sent me for you. Now, please excuse the statement. But we must be going, the commander isn't patient when it comes to these things." She stepped to the side for them.

"I still don't like the idea, but this is the only lead we've got." Neo said before getting up and trotting off to the door.

Allie looked at Adam, "He doesn't seem to be too happy about it."

"Brother doesn't like the idea because he thinks we're just being sent into a war or something. But I'm sure it won't be that bad."

The soldier threw them a negative glare. "I'm sorry, but it is imperative that we leave at once."

They both nodded at her. "Right, sorry." Adam said shyly.

"No apology is necessary. Now please, if you would follow me."

Together, the soldier took them through the fortress. As they went they saw ponies getting armor and weapons together as they prepared for the day ahead. Though it didn't take as long as they thought to get to their destination, in fact, their destination was a small room. A grey stone room that had only one door, and a white screen in the front. A small projector, and a table with various items were laid on top of it at one side of the room.

The soldier did not enter the room, instead she just showed them in. "Sit down please, the commander will be with you shortly." She said before closing the door.

Allie didn't come in, most likely the meeting was between them and Ironside. So Neo and Adam didn't waste any time taking a seat. The room was terribly quiet, with only a faint humming sound coming from behind the walls.

"Brother, what do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know, maybe this is where they take future guardians." He said while looking around the room.

The door opened behind them, and the soldier, Lucy, and Ironside came through the door. "Hello boys." Lucy said with a smirk.

Neo looked at her oddly. She looked way too happy to be normal, at least it wasn't normal for her. "Lucy where have you been this whole time?"

She went over to a corner and leaned against the wall. "Oh I just went around talking to old friends, and did some more stuff like that."

Ironside blushed faintly. "Well, enough of that Ms. Luck." He muttered softly.

She winked playfully at him. "Whatever you say Wilco."

"And please don't call me that..."

"Sure thing Wilco."

He frowned at her and made his way to the front of the room.

The mare who had escorted them stood silently next to the projector with a button under her hoof. "Lucy, the lights please." Ironside asked with a slight bow.

Lucy unfolded her wing and flapped the light switch off. "Thank you." He replied.

He stepped to the side and nodded to the soldier next to the projector. "Private, if you would please." Right after he was done speaking she pressed the button under her hoof.

A picture of the province flashed on the screen next to him. It was green, with a black background, and thin grid lines marking miles and distance covered the map from top to bottom. He picked up his hoof and pointed to the middle of the picture.

"This is the Ironhoof Province. As you already know this territory isn't small, and it certainly isn't safe."

Neo and Adam for a brief moment marveled at the size of the map, and he was right the province wasn't small at all. "The province is a circular territory, and we’ve divided the province into four different sections."

He pointed to the top right part of the map. "This is the North Eastern Province, this section is-" he noticed Adam sitting there with his hoof raised.

"Yes, what is it?"

He dropped his hoof and gave him a curious look. "Um, why are you talking about the province? I thought the whole reason you brought us here was to talk to us about being guardians."

He sighed heavily. "Fair enough. Unlike the Freelancers, we just go through a basic debriefing of what you're going to do. Then we send you out there. Though for new ponies like you we usually give you an assignment before going out into the world on your own."

"Then what's our assignment?"

"I was about to get to that."

"Oh..."

"Right, as I was saying..." He straightened himself up and pointed back to the top right section of the map.

"This is the North Eastern part of the province. Please note that the north is mostly Legion controlled, and even though they have laws preventing guardians from being killed on sight a lot of them still don't take too kindly to guardians."

He moved his hoof down to what looked like a group of tiny boxes spread throughout the area. His hoof pointed to the first box, and generally moved down to the others as he named them. "This is the Legions Eastern outpost, this is where they make their supply runs, so if you can, stay away from here. The next place is the town of Jerky Town. Do not, and I repeat, do not go here. All it is is a town of slavers and junkies, and the Legion makes a killing off of its brain dead population. The rest of these places are either slaver, or Legion outposts. You can't restock at them so make sure you remember that."

Ironside nodded to the soldier and with a tiny click another picture flashed on the screen. This time it showed a different part of the province, not the whole map like before, but rather a small section of it. "This is the south Eastern Province. Most of the territories here are controlled by the coalition, so you can go to the outpost if need be. Though we are currently running low on supplies so you might not get anything if you plan to ask for something.

Now, to the south of here near the Dark Iron mountain range is the town of Arkcannon. We control this town, and believe it or not this is your first assignment."

He stiffened his posture and gave them a powerful look. "We lost communication with the town about two weeks ago, and all efforts to communicate with them have failed. Naturally we would send scouts or others to check on the settlement but unfortunately some kind of monster keeps attacking the caravans we send to trade or make contact."

He turned and pointed at a small road between Arkcannon and a small dot with the words, Bunker 37 next to it. "This is the Highway 26, and usually this is where the caravans travel, but reports of some kind of monster killing members of the caravans keeps coming up. We need you to go to Bunker 37 and find out what's killing them, and hopefully stop it... Any questions?"

They both looked baffled. "You want us to do what?!" Neo screamed slamming the desk with one hoof.

"We need you to kill, or at least find out what's killing these ponies. That way we can continue trade with the town, and finally start communicating with them again."

"Are you out of your mind! We don't know anything about this thing or why it's doing this, and you expect us to go out there and just find it?!"

"Yes, that is exactly what I want you to do."

Neo sat back down and folded his front legs. "What if we do find out what it is, then what?" He said in a negative tone.

"You'll be sent off to Arkcannon, as requested by Lucy."

Adams face lit up with joy at the sound of those words. "Brother that's where mom is! We'll finally get to see her again!"

Neo smiled at him before looking at Lucy. "You, requested it?"

She smirked at him. "Yep, and don't you ever say I'm not nice to you, cause I am."

Ironside nodded at Lucy which queued her to flip the lights back on. He trotted over to a table on the other side of the room. On it was two folded dusters, and a small holotape. "The holotape has the location of Arkcannon, and your mission on it."

They looked at the items from the table from their seats. Only it was a little difficult to see all the stuff on the table from their spots and so they shuffled around trying to get a better look. Lucy only laughed at them as she watched they try to get a look at the items.

"You can get up now." She chuckled.

Neo and Adam looked at her embarrassed. "Well that might help a bit won't it?" Neo said while nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"It would, wouldn't it?" Lucy added.

They both got up and went to the table to download their mission onto their PipBucks. It didn't take long for the download to finish, and once they were done Ironside continued to explain what everything else on the table was.

With a straight and serious expression he pointed to the dusters on the table. "These are guardian dusters. They are, and will be your clothing from now on. If you go into a town without them you will not be treated as a guardian. As such, it is vital that you wear them as often as possible."

He turned to his side and showed off his own duster which looked strikingly similar to the ones on the table. "Not only will these be a symbol of who you are, it will also serve as a form of protection." He looked at Neo and the tattered duster he wore. "If you compare mine and his you will notice mine is both scar and damage free."

Neo eyed his duster he wore and frowned at it. He was right, the old thing was worn and filthy. "The duster I wear and the ones on that table are enchanted. They will protect you from most small arms, and small sharp items, though anything bigger then a sword could cut through it."

He turned back towards them and motioned his head towards the dusters on the table, "Now, put them on." He said in a deep darker tone.

Without saying a word they both took off their dusters and tried to put the new ones on. While they did so Ironside noticed the small metal pads on their backs. He moved up to Adam and looked at the strange object on his back curiously. As he did so Adam stopped and watched him look him over, even though he felt like his personal space was being a little invaded.

"What are these?" He asked looking at Adam.

Neo stepped in to answer him. "They're levitation saddles. Adam made them for me and him when we were in the city."

He looked back to the machine on his back before answering in a pleased, yet stern like manner. "I see. Do they work?"

Adam backed up from him a bit and smiled at him. "Yep, and they can levitate items as heavy as two hundred pounds! Though every now and again I need to make sure they're working properly."

With a hard smile he glared at him. "Show me."

Adam nodded at him calmly, and just like he said the duster was engulfed in a faint blue aura and it positioned itself on his body. "See, works like a charm."

The commander circled him and looked at him carefully. "Hmm. I have to say, I am impressed. These things you've got will help a whole lot out in the world, and trust me, with levitation on your side your lives will be a lot easier.

Neo was surprised at the remark, after all unicorns in the Stable lived much easier than Earth ponies, but just thinking about what ponies with levitation out here did baffled him. They could use all kinds of spells, maybe even ones that he or the ponies of the Stable didn't know about, but what was worse was that he was going out into a world with ponies like that out there.

"Then it's probably a good thin-" He was interrupted by the door slamming open and a stallion soldier stumbled into the doorway with Allie behind him.

They all stared at him as he panted and saluted to Ironside. He had a worried and urgent look on his face, while Allie looked completely confused. "Sir! We've got a message from Ironstead sir!"

With a straight face he trotted over to him. "What is it soldier?"

He lowered his hoof and straightened up his posture. "Sir, we have confirmed Iron Hammer is not there sir."

His eyes widened in terror. "How do we know? Have we broke their defensive barrier?"

He shook his head. "No sir, they just let us in. A few scouts went into the place and came out with a note on a piece of paper."

"And?"

"It only had two words on it... Try again."

He slammed his hoof down on the stone ground with rage while Lucy came closer to the soldier. "Was there anypony in the fortress when the scouts went to check out the place?"

"Negative, they found this in an empty chamber after ten minutes of searching."

Ironside shook with rage, "Damn it! I knew it was there! Why didn't they listen to me!"

Lucy went up to him and patted him on the back. "Was there anything else there when they searched the place?"

He hung his head low. "No, just an empty fortress."

Ironside straightened himself up and inhaled deeply, trying to cool himself down. "Fine. I better talk to the council about this."

He looked at the two brothers who looked confused over what had just happened. "You're dismissed." He muttered softly before marching out the door with the soldier in the room and in the doorway.

Allie walked into the room with a puzzled look on her face. "What just happened Lucy?"

She sighed heavily. "The Coalition has been besieging the fortress of Ironstead for the past few weeks now. Though the only reason they're doing so is because of some fabled weapon the Legion found. The Coalition call it Iron Hammer."

Neo stepped forward. "And they thought it was there?"

"Yes, or at least we did till now."

"Why is he so upset about it? I mean it sounds bad that it's not there, but he looked more then just angry." Adam asked.

"You see Adam, for the past few days he was absolutely sure it was there, and for weeks the council was against him. They considered pulling out of the area, but he insisted it was there. After all this time he was right, but now that it's gone we're not sure where they might have it now." She looked at him a moment then trotted grimly out the door. "If you need me I'll be in the courtyard..."

Allie stepped in, she was unsure as to what to say to the two brothers. She looked at them shyly and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Well, I'm not sure what to say about all of that..."

Neo looked at her calmly and made his way to the door, "Neither do I Allie, but I'm sure they're going to have to sort it out eventually. And I'm certain they won't want extra ponies like us in the base while they try to figure this all out."

"But brother where do you plan on going?"

Allie stopped him with her hoof which caused him to look at both her and his brother. "Yeah, you can't just run off like that without telling us. We wouldn't want you becoming a Lucy now would we?" She chuckled softly.

He smiled at them. "I'm going to take our first big step to finding our mom. Now that we have an idea where she might be I don't want to sit and waste anymore time."

With a light trot Adam came up next to him with a playful look. "Then I take it you want to get out of here, huh?"

"Well that's one way of putting it." He said merrily while patting him on the back.

Cheerfully Adam pointed to the duster he and his brother both wore. "And with these we won't have to worry as much about raiders. Oh! And maybe Lucy will get to fly us to where we need to go!"

Together they both laughed a bit before making their way to the courtyard where Lucy was.

The dark grey clouds in the sky grimly loomed above them, and a blue hue washed over the world. Though the sun wasn't shining the weather was fair and the wind blew only slightly in a gentle breeze that seemed to be both refreshing and dry. Lucy was reorganizing her cart so her take off would be easier with less items onboard. Neo, Adam, and Allie all stood contently next to the cart as the soft breeze gently blew by.

On the other side of the courtyard several soldiers, who were mainly unicorns dashed back and forth as they crowded a large metal door on the other side of the area.

Adams ears perked up as he saw Golden Cog go by to the crowd. "Hey! Golden Cog!" He shouted to her with his hooves cupped at his mouth.

Neo and Allie looked at him before turning their heads to the pony they had met the other day. She stopped for a moment as Adam's voice reached her, she smiled at them from the other side of the area and made her way towards them. "Hey guys, what's up?" She said as she came up to them with a her same friendly look about her.

She looked at Adam then to Neo. "Woow, looks like you've come a long way from from being those kids eating meat off dirty plates to kids with guardian gear. Then again it wouldn't really be that long of a way considerin I saw ya yesterday." She chuckled.

Adam spun around to show his duster off, "I know! We even got the badges and everything." He said in a proud happy tone while he pointed to the small sun on the collar of his duster.

Neo stepped in with a goofy smile on his face. "Hey don't forget about me, you're not the only one who got to become a guardian."

She shrugged, "Meh, you don't look much different. The duster’s a lot nicer though."

Neo laughed a bit. "Yeah, it doesn't feel any different then my old one, minus the small enchantment on them and all. Plus it feels clean... er."

"Heh, I wouldn't know anything about clean clothes, when you work in the wagon depot you can never stay clean no matter how much to try. Plus a bath is rare in these parts, so having that alone is a good thing."

"Speakin of which, is that the wagon depot over there?" Allie added while pointing to the large metal door on the other side of the courtyard.

Golden Cog looked towards the depot and nodded. "Sure is, I was on my way there till you guys called my name."

Neo blinked at her. "Oh, we aren't interrupting something you need to do, are we?"

She shook her head, "Naw it's fine, they just got in an air wagon we found outside the keep about seven miles out in some storage house."

Adam instantly became interested as he pondered what an air wagon might be. "What is an air wagon? I know there are normal wagons a pegasus can fly with but I've never heard of an air wagon before."

"I'm not surprised, nopony in the province uses them anymore. In fact I've never really seen one till now. I mean I've read some old pre-war books about them but I've never really seen one in real life before."

Neo turned his gaze toward the depot where the metal door concealed the fabled air wagon inside. "What's better about the wagon we found is that it's a TB-51 air wagon."

"Bullshit." Lucy interjected while she stepped away from the cart. "Those things don't exist, and I know that for a fact."

Golden Cog cocked her head to the side and shrugged, "Well we found one, and only one. The rest were either melted pieces of crap, scrap, or both."

"What's so special about them anyway?" Neo added.

"Well shoot," Golden Cog said tipping her helmet upwards, "they're only the most high class air wagons you can find! They don't need four pegasus ponies to fly them, instead ya need just two. Next, the pilots are inside the thing which means they're less likely to die when their flying them. Lastly, they run on turbine power generated by the two pilots."

"Well what about the pilots? Don't you have any?" Neo asked.

She hung her head low, and looked at Lucy who continued to work on the items in the wagon. "Well..."

"What? Aren't there enough pegasi you can use to help?"

"Well... not exactly... You see, pegasi are rare, especially in the province. Ever since..."

"The Purging? Yeah, they don't need to know about that." Lucy rudely stated while not stopping what she was doing.

Golden Cog rubbed her neck nervously. "Well... yeah... then it's probably not a good idea to talk about the enclave either huh?"

"GC! Get over here the chief wants you ASAP!" A mare in the standard coalition soldier barding shouted from the other side of the courtyard.

She moved her head in her direction and put a hoof to her mouth and replied, "Coming!"

Quickly she turned back to them. "Well guys it was nice talkin to ya, but I need to get to the depot. Me being one of the main ponies over at the depot means I gotta be there for stuff like this... well most of the time anyway."

They just scratched their head at her. "Okay... bye."

"Yeah, I'll catch ya on the flipside guys." She said before dashing off to the others on the other side of the courtyard.

Adam cocked his head to Allie, "Allie, what's the enclave?"

"Yeah." Neo agreed.

Lucy stepped away from the cart with a normal look on her face, and after patting herself down she went over to Neo and Adam. "The enclave are a bunch of pansy ass clowns who think this world is too bad to fix and there's no hope for it... ever."

Allie just shrugged at them. "I may have lived out here for most of my life but the info I get is from travelers and the radio. And my knowledge on them isn't very extensive."

"What about that purging thing?" Neo asked again.

"That's none of your fucking business, and it's best you refrain from asking that too many times unless you like to piss me off."

Neo and Adam backed away from her a bit scared for their own well being. "Okay, I get it. You don't want to talk about it."

She smirked at him. "Good, I'm glad we can agree on that." She went over to the front of the wagon and got her straps ready. "Well, she's all fixed up. Gears clean and fixed, and we're all ready to go."

Neo sighed and hopped into the cart. Adam and Allie followed behind him. "You know, it feels like yesterday we actually came out here. It just... It just seems like it's gone by so fast. But in the amount of time we've been out here we have done so much. It kind of amazes me now that I think about it."

Allie got next to him and smiled warmly. "I remember the time you guys saved me and Kat. Or when you helped me when I fell in that radioactive water in Ironhoof."

"Now that I think about it, brother’s right. It does seem like yesterday that we came out here. Now look at us." Adam added.

While Lucy tied off her fedora and strapped herself into the cart she cocked her head back. "I don't see what you're talking about. You still look like the same Stable babies to me. Only with different clothes on."

They all laughed at her. "I'm glad we're still Stable babies and not crazy murdering Stable babies." Neo said looking towards her.

Lucy finished hooking herself up, while she positioned herself for take off she flapped her wings a few times. "Well kids. Take a good look at this place, cause you probably won't see it again for a very long time."

With a brief wave from the three in the cart Lucy slowly started to trot and as she did she gained more speed as she did until she finally took off into the sky. They were on their way to where their journey would really begin, and where they finally have hope again. Hope that they would find their mother out in the vast open new world.

In all directions there was emptiness. Rolling dark hills dotted with small shriveled up black trees were spread out in the distance. Rocks and dead shrubs along with the pale blue cloud covered sky added to the emptiness the wastes had.

There were five ponies arguing with a velvet filly outside an old round metal dome. The dome had a flat top, and a huge metal door that seemed to be several inches thick.

The filly was a unicorn with a light velvet coat and no cutie mark on her flank. Her mane was like light blue icing on a cake, and her eyes were a deep shade of blue. The ponies talking to her had a two headed cow bearing several sacks and bags filled with various items and trinkets. All five of the ponies wore leather barding except the middle who wore a more formal red jacket. Two of them had massive machine guns that were hooked up to saddles on their backs.

"Listen kid, you're freakin crazy." Said the mare with the red jacket.

"But, you can't stop making your rounds! We need the supplies you and the other caravans bring."

"I'm sorry, but I lost two of my best guards back there because of that thing and I don't plan to lose anymore."

"That doesn't mean you can't still come halfway to here! We depend on you for supplies."

She sighed and rubbed her arm with a sad look on her face. "Look, it's just become too dangerous for us around here anymore. A lot of the ponies I travel with are good friends and it hurts me to see them die by something we couldn't even see... so we're just going to have to stop coming up this way."

The filly hung her head downward, and with a heavy sigh she nodded. "I see..."

The mare in the jacket patted her on the back with a reassuring smile. "Hey cheer up, I'm sure that soon this thing will move on, and when it does we'll be back."

"Yeah..." She sighed.

She turned around and motioned for the caravan to move out. Before she moved with the rest of the group she looked back at the sad little filly. "Tell your Dad and little sister we said goodbye okay." She said before going back to the others.

She just hung her head low and sat down on the ground, moping to herself. "Now what are we going to do..."

A faint noise caught her attention as she looked up into the sky. It was a grey pegasus with a cart, and she was slowly coming down towards the ground. "What the?" She muttered picking herself up and walking towards where they might land.

Lucy found a clearing only about a hundred feet from the dome and landed roughly on the brown wasteland soil. With a panicked look on her face she quickly unlatched herself and went to the side of her cart. She leaned against it and stroked it slowly while cooing to into in a gentle tone.

"It's okay, mama's here. Those meanie wheenie stupid ass raiders won't put any more holes in you. But you're a strong girl, and you show them who's boss. Yes you do, yes you do."

Neo and Adam climbed out of the wagon shaking. The ride had proven to be the most shaky they've had yet. Adam stubbled queasily over to a rock. "Brother, I think I'm going to be sick..." He gagged a bit as he leaned against the rock.

Neo laid down on the ground, he gagged a bit as he lay there with an awful feeling in his stomach. "It was such a smooth ride till we passed those raiders..." He moaned.

Allie tripped and stumbled as she tried to get her balance. "I know... She's making a big deal about a cart..."

Lucy shot up from her spot next to the cart and gave Allie a angry glare. "It's not just a cart!... It's my cart. There are many, and I mean many like it. But this one... yes this one, is mine."

Allie backed away slowly from her giving her a nervous smile. "Okay, okay, I think I get it..."

"Good." She snorted. "Now, Neo get off your lazy ass and help me unload the cart!" She barked at him.

He got up slowly and looked to Adam first. "Adam? Are you gonna be okay?"

Adam stumbled to him with sickly face. "I think I'll be fine..."

"Just don't think about it. It'll go away soon enough."

"I hope so..."

Lucy was getting impatient, "Listen, I need you guys to unload this. I've got somewhere else to be believe it or not." She said as she took a combat shotgun out from the cart.

The little filly curiously watched them from behind a rock that was about thirty feet away from the cart. "They look like... wait a sec, I recognize those dusters." Then a big grin managed to make its way onto her face.

She stood up from her hiding place and walked calmly to the four that were unloading the variety of things from the cart. "Hey! Are you guardians?" The little one cried out to them.

Adam was the first to look at her. "Who's she?"

Neo and Allie looked at her as she approached them. Neo and Adam were more curious as to where she had come from, and why she was asking if they were guardians or not. Lucy unloaded the final thing from the cart, which happened to be Neo's saddle bag.

"Oh that's Lavender Wind. She's Professor Thunderwill's daughter." Lucy said as she went through Neo's bag.

"Ah, but where did she come from? I mean she just kinda came out of nowhere." Neo asked without noticing her going through his bag.

Lucy quickly pointed to the round metal building that was to the right of them. "She came from the bunker right over there."

Neo blink as he wondered how he could miss the building that plainly stood there openly. He nodded at her with his eyes closed. "Ah, yeah well now that you point that out that does make a little more sense..." He said embarrassed slightly.

Adam put his saddle bag on and the rest of his gear on as well. Allie did the same only after she was done she went to meet the little one.

Lavender stopped and looked at Allie oddly. "Are you a guardian?" She asked.

Allie shook her head with a calm smile on her face. "Those three are, and you are Lavender Wind right? I'm Allie."

"Nice to meet you Allie. Are those three here to help us?" She asked while looking at the three next to the cart.

Allie looked back to them and nodded. "Mhmm, well I think they are anyway."

Neo watched Allie talk to Lavender for a moment before starting the search for his own bag. He started to look around the cart for it, as he did so he decided to see if Lucy had seen it. "Hey Lucy have you seen m-" He stopped his search and watched as she took hundreds of caps out of his bag.

"Lucy! What the hell are you doing! Those are mine!" He yelled at her while he scrambled to get his things from her.

She pushed him back and waved her hoof at him disapprovingly. "Nope, some of these caps belong to me, namely about four hundred and thirty four of them."

Neo eyes widened as he took his bag from her and placed it on his back. "Why in the name of Celestia do you need four hundred of them?!"

"Because you see that shotgun, or the well repaired gear you have in your bag, well all the cash that cost to repair that crap came out of my pocket. So I am getting what you owe me."

"That's," he stuttered, "that's unfair! Me and Adam won those fair and square!"

She put the caps she had taken and put them in her own bag. "That might be true, but I repaired your gear with my caps. So I get a share of the caps."

Neo's brain was about to explode with frustration, "Fine, just keep the stupid things." He sighed, "I didn't need the extra weight anyway."

Neo walked over to where Allie and Lavender were so he could catch up with them. Lucy smirked at him while Adam trotted up next to her. "Brother means well, he just... has a tendency to dislike it when other ponies take stuff that's his."

She shrugged. "Whatever, just hope he gets used to it cause out here, a lot of ponies will be wanting to do just that. Only they may want to off his dead corpse."

Adam didn't like the thought of his brother dying, or having to watch, or just the thought in general made his stomach churn. "Just drop it..."

Lucy nodded at him and went back to the cart to hook herself up. "See ya around kids. Oh, and tell Neo he needs to grow up will ya." She said to Adam while she put the last strap on her body.

Adam had a surprised look on his face. "Aren't you coming with us?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. You see I've got to get back to Ironhoof, with half of our guys gone there they'll need me there more then ever." She said in a quiet, almost sad tone.

Neo, Allie, and Lavender didn't seem to notice that Lucy was about to leave. "But you can't just go! You haven't said goodbye yet!"

"I just did kid. And cheer up, we'll see each other again. I mean really you know where I live so it shouldn't be too hard."

Adam felt a cold sadness wash over him, like he was losing a friend. "Just stay safe okay Lucy."

"You too Adam, and make sure your brother doesn't act stupid while I'm gone." She said with a smirk.

He gave her a smile and nodded. "Alright, try not to get hit by raiders on the way back."

Lucy nodded at him and stretched out her wings for take off. With three powerful beats of her wings she and the cart were off the ground and in the air. Within a few moments she had taken off into the sky and was out of site.

Neo turned around to see Adam looking up into the sky. Curiously he trotted over to him and looked up with him. "She left didn't she..."

"Yeah..." He sighed.

Neo chuckled a bit. "Good riddance I say." Adam threw him a dirty look.

"She wasn't too bad, minus the name calling and things..."

Neo bursted out laughing. "Well you are right, but I still think she needs to see somepony about her problems. Then maybe she can be a nice as a red apple."

He raised an eyebrow at Neo. "Why are you comparing her to apples?"

He shrugged and smiled. "I don't know. Why not?"

A small cough came from behind them. Slightly surprised they both turned around to see Lavender and Allie looking at them. "If you two are done talking about apples then we kinda need to get inside. Nighttime is when the wildlife comes out, and.. the monster too..." Lavender said while looking around nervously.

"Monster?" Adam asked.

"I'll tell you later let's just get inside, it'll be dark in an hour."

Without making another comment the whole group went to the dome shaped bunker where a large thick metal door stood in their way. Along with the many small tubes and bolts on the door a large 37 was imprinted on it. Though the number was chipped and worn from the elements. On the side of the door was a small intercom with a small red and green button next to each other.

Lavender pushed the red button and spoke into the intercom. "Lu? Can you open the door for us?"

A young voice answered from the intercom. "What's the password!" The young voice said.

Lavender facehoofed, "I'm sorry she tends to be a little odd sometimes."

She pushed the button again to answer. "Lu, I'm your big sister please open the door or get dad please."

"Say the password and I'll let you in!"

"I don't know the password."

"Password or GAN."

"GAN?"

"Go Away Now."

"Let me in, Lu or I'm telling dad!"

"..."

"Lu, I'm going to start counting."

"..."

"One... two... three... f-"

"Okay! Please don't tell daddy..."

"Promise not to do this again?"

"I promise..."

She turned around and looked at the group with an embarrassed smile on her face. "Sorry, she's a little goofball... heh."

A loud click came from the other side of the door before it slowly opened for them. Lavender motioned her hoof for them to go inside. One by one each pony went through the square metal doorway that lead into the bunker. Lavender was the last to enter, and as she entered she push the door shut behind her. With a loud click the door locked itself once again.

The room they were in was round and empty, only a grey metal ground and walls surrounded them. In the center of the room was a hatch that was fully open with a metal ladder going down the small hole the hatch would cover if it was closed.

Lavender stood next to the ladder and put her hoof on the ladder itself. "Watch your step as you go down, and be careful as you go down. We don't want anypony to fall and hurt themselves."

Allie went down the ladder first, it was a little difficult for her to keep her bag on her back, even with her magic it was still slightly difficult in a way. "Which one of you wants to go next?"

Neo stepped forward and slowly made his way down into the shaft. Adam was kind of nervous, especially with ladders. He didn't understand why, but for some reason it freaked him out. His knees started to shake as he felt slightly nervous.

"What's the matter?" Lavender asked.

Adam shook his head trying to get rid of the feeling. "Nothing, I-I'm fine."

She could tell he was nervous, though she didn't say anything about it. "Alright just go down when you're ready."

Adam position himself on the ladder and slowly made his way down. Lavender went over to the door and made sure it was locked before going down herself.

The chamber below was round and branched off into four round hallways each with its own set of four doors, with two at each side. On top of the grey metal hallways was white round light bulbs that illuminated the underground bunker. The only thing that seemed slightly different about each hallway was the hallway to the far right. It, unlike the others, had an extra door at the end.

Behind the grey dull metal walls was a faint humming coming from them. The ceiling was low and the air smelled clean, and in a way it was like being in a Stable again. Which felt both warming and cold at the same time.

Lavender pointed to the first door near them in a hallway to the left. "My goofball sister should be in there."

As the group moved into the first hallway they each observed the wondrous place. Memories came flooding back to the two as they continued to inspect the bunker.

The door she had pointed out earlier made a faint swooshing noise as it opened for them. In the room was a small yellow unicorn filly with a neatly combed pink mane on top of her head. Her eyes were a bright baby blue, and the red bow on her head was just as large as the blue eyes that stared at them.

She was sitting on a metal stool in front of several flashing buttons and terminal screens with a big headset on that looked way too big for her.

She took off the large headphones and set them down on the large panel of buttons with a rather guilty look on her face. It only took her a moment for her to hop down off the stool and shuffle saddly to Lavender. "I'm sorry... please don't tell daddy! I didn't mean to use the big voice. Promise!"

Lavender shot her a stern glare. "Then why were you joking with us if you didn't mean to, hm?"

The little filly hung her head lower and folded her eyes back. "I'm sorry..."

She patted her head gently and let the other three in. "Lu, these are our guests. This is Neo, Allie, and Adam."

"Hi." Adam said with a small wave and a gentle smile.

Seeing the new ponies had done something to perk up the little one, because her face lit up when she saw them. "New friends! Yay!" She exclaimed while jumping in the air several times.

"Yeah Lu, and they should be staying with us for a few days too."

She squeed and giggled at her. "How many days big sis?"

She scratched her head and looked at Neo for answers. He just looked at her oddly as he tried to remember how long Ironside had said they were staying at the bunker. "I think we were told three days... I think."

"Aw... You and your friends won't get to stay long..."

Neo noticed the word friends, and not friend and decided to step in. "No, me and him are brothers."

She got a big smile and tackled Neo. "Big brother!" She yelled as she attacked him.

Everypony backed away as Lu got away from Neo. "What just happened?!" He said while Adam helped him up.

Lavender chuckled. "Shes always wanted a big brother, and she does that with ponies she really likes."

She looked at Adam next and crouched down to pounce on him. "You're my big brother too!"

"Wha-?!" He said before having a yellow filly attack him.

She giggled before hopping off him. "You two are funny."

Adam rubbed his sore head as every pony gave out a small chuckle. "Does she do this all the time?"

"Only when she meets somepony."

"Oh, well I'm glad that's over with..."

The kind moment was interrupted by a faint cough. "E-e-excuse me. I don't believe we've met."

They all looked at who the strange pony behind them was and saw a yellow unicorn stallion with an orange mane looking at them. Though unlike Lavender and Lu he looked sickly and tired, as if he had not slept in days. He wore a brown coat with pockets all around the middle section of it, and on his face was a pair of old circular glasses that were perched in front of his pale green eyes.

Lu jetted over to him and hugged his leg. "Daddy!"

"Hey dad." Lavender said with a smile.

She motioned her hoof to him. "Everpony, this is my dad."

He gave them a nervous smile, followed by a laugh. "Pleased to meet you all, I-I'm Professor Thunderwill, but you may call me Will if you would like..."

Neo, Allie, and Adam nodded their head to him. "I'm Neo, and this is my little brother Adam, and over here is Allie."

"T-The pleasure is all mine."

"Dad I was just about to show them to their rooms, but I wanted to see if you could do it for me so I could get dinner ready."

He looked at her nervously, and with a shy tone he said, "Okay, but don't take too long now dear."

She gave him a quick nod and trotted off to another door across from them in the bunker. "She's a good girl. So independent and s-spirited..." He looked at the three, and Lu and pointed to a hallway to the left. "Please follow me. I hope you f-find this place comfortable." He said as he guided them to the hallway.

Neo trotted next to him to talk to him more easily. "We used to live in a Stable before we came out here, so we're pretty used to life like this."

His eyes looked at him dully as if he were not himself, then he stopped at the first doorway ignoring Neo's statement, "Neo will be staying here with her," he pointed to the door across from the door he was standing at. "And Adam will sleep with Lu."

Lu started hopping up and down again, "Yay! Big brother gets to sleep over!"

Adam patted her on the head, "Yep... great..."

"We'll read stories, and eat pie, and eat pie while reading stories! It will be sooo fun!" The little one squealed.

Neo Stepped through the doorway to peek inside the room. It was a fairly well sized room, though he chuckled a bit when he realized it looked bigger then his living quarters back in the Stable. He continued to look around the room which had a small lamp, a velvet chair, and a terminal with a desk. But the one thing that caught his attention the most was the fact that there was one bed.

"Um..." He muttered with a faint blush in his cheeks, "There's only one bed..."

"You'll have t-to work it out."

Neo looked at Allie who gave him the same kind of expression he had. "Now if you e-ex-excuse me I need to go back to work... I-I have a-a-a lot to get done..." He stuttered nervously.

Without saying another word he turned away from them and went off to the hallway on the left of them which had the door at the end of the hallway. "Bye daddy." Lu said with a little wave.

Allie looked at Neo with an embarrassed look. "Well, we should probably find out how we're going to work this out... heh..."

"Yeah... heh..."

Adam turned to the door that was supposedly Lu's room. "Well I've got to get my stuff all put away, I guess I'll just leave you two to it then..." He and Lu trotted off to her room so he could unload and rest while Neo and Allie did the same. As he went away Lu's talk of how much fun she and Adam would have could be heard as he trotted away with her.

"Maybe, we can find out what we're going to do after dinner..."

Allie nodded at him. "Yeah, yeah, sounds good to me."

The small grey room had the smell of baking beans and cold metal in the air of the kitchen. A faint mist was above ceiling as steam came out of a pot on a stove. Adam, Neo, and Allie all sat at a low table with bowls resting in front of them while Lavender levitated a pot over to the table. Lu sat there and stared at Neo's metal arm and PipBuck.

She pointed to the tiny device on his arm. "What's that?"

Neo looked at his wrist where his PipBuck rested, "What, this? Well it's a PipBuck, in the Stable when you turn ten you get your very own Pipbuck, and you get to take on the responsibilities of an adult."

She raised her hoof up in the air. "Yes Lu?" He said.

She put down he hoof and scratched her head. "What's a Stable?"

He scratched his left arm with his metal hoof. "Maybe I'll tell you sometime later, it's a little hard to explain."

"Oooooh," she cooed, "then where did you get that?" She pointed to his metal arm.

He looked at her with a darker look, "It's a long story, and I'd rather not talk about it..."

"Oh, okay..." She said feeling slightly embarrassed for asking.

"Soups up everypony!" Lavender shouted while Levitating a pot of beans to them. She circled the table and as she did she took a ladle out from each side of the pot and put a small serving in each bowl. "Tonight we're having beans... and beans... and, more beans."

After she was done she took a seat of her own and started to eat her own serving. Neo and Adam looked at the 180 year old beans that had long been expired. "You know Adam, the wasteland cuisine never ceases to amaze me."

He looked at Adam and Allie with a surprised look as he watched them eat the disgusting looking gruel like candy. With a smile, and a full mouth Adam pushed Neo's bowl towards him. "Go ahead brother. It tastes much better than you'd think."

With a bit of confidence he forced himself to put a bit of the stuff in his mouth, and to his surprise it wasn’t that bad. A little stale maybe, and a little burnt tasting but not at all terrible, well at least not inedible. As they ate Adam got a little curious about the bunker and decide it would be a good time to talk about it with Lavender.

"So, Lavender. What does your dad do anyway?"

She stopped eating to answer him with a puzzled look. "Well, he says he makes potions. Some kind of strength potions and he gives them to the coalition and travelers. But he never lets us go down to where he works though. He says it's not a place for fillies."

"Well what about your mom? Where is she?"

Everypony stopped and looked at him. "She's... she's not with us anymore... Dad said she got sick, and then she died. He didn't even let us see her before she passed away..."

"I'm... I'm so sorry... I didn't kno-"

"It's okay... I just don't like to talk about it a whole lot... that's all."

Adam hung his head down slightly in his chair and thought about his own mother. "What about Lu?" Neo asked.

"What about her?"

"Where did you get the name Lu from?"

Her horn faintly glowed as she started to pick up the empty bowls. "Well, dad said he named her Luna, after the goddess. But when he found out that ponies around here didn't like the name so we started calling her Lu."

Lu giggled as she just stared at Neo, which kind of creeped him out. "I see, so why do you live in the bunker?"

She put the bowls away in a sink and turned to him. "Well this place is the only safe place dad could do his work. Or that's what he tells us anyway."

Allie stepped in with her own question before Neo could ask another. "What about this monster everypony keeps talking about?"

Lavender sighed heavily and sat herself down at the table again. "Well... It's been here for years... but not till recently has it been a real problem. It attacks caravans and it kills some of them, then it just fades away. So far it's scaring off the traders that we rely on for food and supplies... Isn't that why they sent you? To help us with it?"

"That's what we were told." Neo added.

Lu started punching the air with a serious look in her eyes. "Yeah! We'll beat that nasty thing cause nopony messes with us!"

Lavender smiled at her. "You gotta love her spirit, this place wouldn't be the same without it."

"Especially when somepony new comes here, then they get a real blast of it... literally." Adam chuckled.

Everypony joined in the laughed as Lu continued to fight an imaginary monster in her chair.

Adam lay there in his bed in Lu's room with his eyes shut. He breathed slowly as he tried to let sleep take over. Though the more he tried sleeping the more it got harder, but he still tried anyway. He rolled over in his bed and looked at Lu sleep peacefully in her bed on the other side of the room.

"Come on Adam... sleeping isn't that hard, after all you've been doing it most of your life." He thought to himself in the dark metallic room.

Once more he closed his eyes and tried resting, only this time he could feel his body relax and loosen as he drifted off. At first all he saw was darkness, just darkness. Then, the world started to come back into light as he found himself in a small room. It looked like the inside of his room in the Stable. The posters and desk which he worked at were all there as clear as crystal. He decided to walk out of his room and into the main living room where their mom used to bring back food for them. Though what puzzled him was the window next to the door. It was a oval shape and usually you could see out into the hallway, but it was just black... He put his hoof up to the button to open the Stable door out to the hallway, but he paused for a moment as he felt a faint warmth coming from the other side metal door.

"What the?"

He pressed the button and the door slowly slide open, a bright wave of orange light took him off guard. He put his hoof to his face to block the light till he could see again but when he put it down his eyes went wide with terror as he saw a town street with ponies running around. Every building was on fire and cinders and ash dropped down from the sky like snowflakes. He saw ponies in green armor with masks shooting and killing everypony they saw, even the ponies that screamed and cried at the side of their fallen loved ones.

"Leave no survivors!" Called one of the soldiers before he shot a mare who trembled at his hooves.

Her head was cracked open and bleeding at his hooves. He felt an urge to run, to hide but he was frozen. He forced himself to lift his hoof to press the button and close the door, but he couldn't move. "Mom! Brother! Lucy! I can't move!" He cried but before he could get another word out all the terrible noise stopped, and all went silent.

Then he heard a kind, gentle voice from behind him. "Adam dear." The muscles in his legs were freed and he could look around to see who it was, and his terrible feeling almost went away when he saw his mother standing there.

"Mom..." He whimpered.

The glowing from the fires flooded the inside of the home as the blue unicorn stood there and looked at him with a sad look on her face. "Why haven't you found me yet Adam? Don't you care about finding me?"

He wanted to hug her, but like before he was immobilized. "Mom... I can't move..." He cried as huge tears rolled down his cheeks.

She just smiled at him gently which melted his heart. Then one of the many shadows on the walls took shape and pulled out a steely white glowing knife.

"Mom! Behind you! I can't move, run mom please!"

"Brother, where are you! It's going to get her! Help! Please!"

The dark figure took the knife and struck downwards at her with it. Adam screamed, and that's when he realized he could move again.

He was sweating profusely as he breathed heavily. He had shot upright and was now sitting up straight, he looked around and saw his goggles next to his bed and his duster sticking out of his saddle bags on the floor. Lu looked at him with big wide curious eyes with a small teddy bear in her hooves.

"Big brother, I had a bad dream..." She squeaked.

With his left hoof he sighed and wiped the cold sweat from his brow. "I did too Lu, I did too."

She looked around the dark room nervously before staring straight at him again. "Big brother, can I sleep with you... I don't want to have the dream again."

Adam moved over in his single pony bed and let Lu get under the covers. She hugged the small stuffed animal and snuggled close to him. Adam gently stroked her mane before laying down to get back to sleep, and for the moment everything was peaceful once more.

Just as Adams eyelids closed his ear twitched. He could hear a slight metallic knock echo faintly down the hallways. It happened again and again till it could be clearly heard from the room. Both Lu and Adam sat up and went to the door to see where the noise came from.

The door whooshed open, Neo and Allie were on the other side scratching their heads as they walked down the hallway to see where the banging came from. Lavender was already in the main room were the hallways met and the ladder to the upper part of the bunker was.

"It woke you guys up too?" She asked as the others gathered around the ladder.

Neo looked up the ladder and placed a hoof on the it. "Yeah it did, only I have no clue what it could be."

"Maybe it's a creature or something." Adam added.

The pounding got louder the more they stood there, and Lavender was already ready to climb the ladder to see what it was. "Lu stay here, anypony else who wants to come up and see what it is come with me."

"But what if it's the monster..."

"I doubt it Lu, it's probably a mole rat or something." She said before climbing up to the upper part of the bunker.

Neo put his hooves on the metal bars with the intent of following her. "You guys wait here, I'll go with her and see what it is."

"Be careful." Lu squeaked while holding her bear.

He smiled at her warmly. "I'll be careful, I promise."

Neo climbed up the ladder and into the dimly lit round room where they had entered from. Lavender was next to a orange glowing keypad with several buttons on it. She sat there and looked at him with a ready face as the pounding grew more faint.

"Is anypony else coming up?"

Neo shook his head. "Alright, let's hope it's not a hellhound..."

With a gulp he nodded at her. "Alright, whenever you’re ready."

With that she pressed the button that opened the door. It slowly opened, creaking and screeching followed as the door drew open. A cool dry breeze drifted inside, but as soon as it opened a red coated mare who looked like a merchant fell down in the doorway.

Huge scars and cuts covered her blood stained body. The whole front of the door was covered in bloody hoof marks where she had been pounding on the door.

Lavender gasped and looked as the mares blood dripped everywhere, she felt scared as tears built in her eyes. Neo scrambled to get the injured mare in his back. "Hurry and close the door we need to get down the ladder and help her!"

Though Lavender was on the verge of vomiting she closed the door and helped Neo get the mare down the ladder, "Is she dead?" She muttered nervously.

"I hope not, do you have medical equipment here?" Neo asked as he positioned the pony on his back so she wouldn't fall off as he climbed down.

Lavender nodded at him with a sick look. "The first aid box is in the kitchen, do you think she'll be okay?"

Neo looked up at her from the ladder before climbing down. "I hope so... for her sake."

Foot note: Level up

New Perk: Down the rabbit hole: Your sight adapts to dark places underground faster, as a result SATS now works 20% better in the dark.

Foot note: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Little big brother: +3 in Speech and some unique dialogue choices are now available when talking with younger ponies.

(Wow she's an unlucky one. Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! I really like writing dialogue for Lu, I don't know what it is, but she is just a fun character to me. Leave a comment and tell me what you thought!)

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Colonel Lat Muffin

Wayofthepen

LyonAzakura

Predators

Predators

CHAPTER 12: PREDATORS

Adam sat outside a metal door in the bunker with his back against the wall. Lu had a tiny green wool blanket that covered her as she breathed softly while laying her head on Adam. He had his head cocked towards the door so he could hear what was happening inside. Though the only noise that he heard was the faint humming from the walls of the bunker and the mummers and muffles coming from behind the door.

"Neo, use your blade here to cut the bandage. Allie help me get her cleaned up. We need to hurry!" Lavender shouted.

Neo was sweating as he helped cut and wrap bandages around the injured mare. The room was dark, minus a small lamp that sat on a metal nightstand. It served as the only form of light in the room as the three operated.

Lavender had her tongue sticking out as she carefully placed the last badge on the mares forehead.

She wiped the the sweat from her brow and looked at Neo and Allie with a relieved expression. "Well everypony, she looks like she's gonna live. I'm glad we got to fix her up as fast as we did, another ten minutes and she would have been gone."

Allie sighed and cleaned off her hooves with a rag. "You're pretty good with your medical stuff, even the doctor in Maneton isn't that good when it comes to emergency surgery."

Lavender looked up at her. "When your home is the only stopping point within ten miles, injured ponies come here all the time. A few traders taught me how to bandage ponies, even with real deep wounds."

Neo patted her on the back gently and looked at the resting mare in the bed. "I wonder what kind of monster did this. To think it's just roaming out there picking these poor souls off gets to me."

Lavender stretched and yawned loudly. "Well, ponies say it has a black round shape, and it flashes orange before teleporting to a pony with a white blade. Or at least that's what survivors tell us anyway."

"Based on that this thing sounds more like a murder rather than some monster."

Lavender gave him a grim look. "I know but it's... never mind... I just want to drop it."

The door clanked open as Adam and Lu poked their heads through the doorway. Lu was rubbing her tired eyes as she still tried to wake up, the blanket hanging loosely at her side. "Big brother, is she okay?"

Adam ruffled her mane playfully with a smile. "I think so Lu."

Neo turned to them with a calm look in his eyes. "Yeah she'll be fine, though I don't know how she's gonna act when she wakes up."

Adam and Lu calmly went up to the three and looked at the resting mare who had barely survived the fabled monster. "Wha-What is going on here?" A low shallow voice said from behind.

Once again everypony in the room turned to see the professor standing there with the same tired look in his eyes. "Dad we helped somepony who was attacked by the monster." She put a hoof to her chest in a boasting type manner, "and I think we did a pretty good job fixing her up too."

"G-good, I'm glad to see you helping ponies... I just came up to see what was a-a-all going on." He turned away but was stopped by Adam.

"Professor, were you in your office this whole time?"

He gave him a soulless glare. "Y-yes, and the cor-correct t-t-term is laboratory." He stuttered almost negatively.

And with that he turned back around and went back down the hallway. Lavender hopped off the stool she was on and yawned once more. She smacked her dry mouth as she slowly trotted out of the room. "Well I'm off to sleep, it's been a long night and I want to at least sleep for a bit before day comes."

Neo hopped off his stool and rubbed his eyes. "A bit of sleep does sound good right about now."

Adam yawned even louder then Lavender as he shook himself a bit. "Yeah I've been up most of the night, and sleep is the one thing I need."

Allie chuckled and made her way out of the room, "Come on Neo, let's get back to sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow."

Neo's face drooped. "Yeah... a long day... uhg."

Lu looked at him tiredly. "Big brother you're funny."

Neo patted her twice on the head. "I try."

Everypony was in the kitchen and Adam was helping Lavender make beans. Though they had had beans once before they didn't look forward to eating them for the majority of their stay at the bunker. The beans boiled in the steel pot as Lavender levitated the wooden spoon in the pot and stirred the warming food. She faintly hummed as Adam got the plates and bowls.

Neo had his duster off his body and folded on his back so Lu could use it as a saddle. He walked around the kitchen as Lu sat on his back pretending to blast aliens like the pony in the Cosmic Muffin comics she read every now and again.

"Big brother watch out for the space monkeys!" She yelled pointing out to Lavender and Adam as he approached them.

Neo turned left and heroically avoided disaster with Adam and Lavender, or the space monkeys. Allie laughed a bit as Neo made spaceship noises as he walked around the eating area, and even though he did feel a little embarrassed doing such a childish thing around Allie he found a sense of joy out of it.

"Get your blasters ready Lu the space monkeys are back!" He would call as he passed Adam and Lavender again.

Adam set the bowls on the table and turned to his big brother and the filly on his back. "Brother the foods ready." He said warmly to them.

Lu hopped off Neo's back with a sad look on her face. "Aw... but I wanted to go to the muffin planet."

Neo took a seat at the table and helped her get up on the seat. "Don't worry Lu maybe later we can both go to the muffin planet." He couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

Lu's sad face turned happy at those words, and just like that she was back to her happy usual self. "We're having beans for breakfast... again." Lavender said as she levitated the pot and spoon while giving each pony their own portion of the meal.

Lu frowned as she stared at the food in front of her. "But why do we eat beans all the time big sis, why can't we ever have muffins?"

Lavender put the pot on the counter and went over to her seat on the table. "Because Lu the traders stopped coming through and without the traders we can't get new food."

Adam smiled at Lu with his mouth full, "Just pretend it's mashed sweet carrots. That's what I do to take my mind off the flavor."

"Okie dokey loki..." Lu said unsure look as she slowly started to eat the 170 year old food.

Neo was halfway through eating his meal as he looked around the kitchen curiously. "Lavender, isn't your dad going to join us?"

Adam perked up his ears and nodded at him. "Yeah we hardly see him around."

Lavender waited briefly to finish the food that was already in her mouth before answering Neo. She swallowed and looked down at Lu as she poked at her food curiously, as if it were alive.

"Ever since mom and my other sisters died he works non stop in his laboratory. He only comes up once in a while to talk to us and spend a few hours with us every now and again, but other than that he stays down there for the majority of his time."

"What about food? He has to eat doesn't he?" Adam added.

"He wakes up early before everypony else and gets something light to eat before going back down to his work... sometimes I wonder what he does down there so much..."

"You said he makes potions right? Well how many does he make?" Neo said before hopping down from his seat and putting on his duster and dew rag on.

Lavender looked up at him but before she could get a word out Lu stood up in her seat and stretched her forehooves out to both sides. "He makes this many!"

Lavender and Allie chuckled at her briefly before she sat back down. "Sometimes I've counted hundreds. Though his shipments aren't frequent."

Neo and Adams eyes widened at the thought. "Wow, and he makes them all on his-" He stopped suddenly as he and the others felt the bunker shake. The shake had merely lasted a second but everyone had still felt it and wondered what it could have been.

The professor suddenly stumbled through the kitchen doorway, coughing and clearing his eyes as soot and small puffs of black smoke rolled off his body.

Neo went over to him with his hooves ready to catch him in case he fell. "Professor what happened?"

"Daddy are you okay?" Yelled Lu as she rushed down to hug her father's leg.

Allie helped Neo get him to a chair to sit before he spoke to them, and after a few more hacking coughs he answered them. "M-my memory transistor just blew out... I needed it to finish this b-batch of potions, but the old thing just gave out on m-" he let out a few more coughs before continuing. "Blast it! If only I could get another..."

Adam butted in with a rather perky look about him. "You mean a 23 millimeter quantum memory transistor?"

Everypony looked at him oddly like he had spoke some kind of foreign language. "I-I have to say Adam I quite surprised. I didn't expect y-you to know about it."

He shrugged modestly. "Brother's old terminal had the same component, I usually had a few laying around in my room just in case something like this happened to his terminal."

He lowered his head and gazed grimly at the cold metal floor. "Y-yes well it doesn't matter anyway, my work is over..."

Allie patted him on the back. "Don't you have a spare somewhere you can use? I'm sure there's one somewhere around here."

He shook his head and continued to look towards the ground. "N-no, I-I'm afraid there isn't a spare in the bunker... It's hopeless the Coalition won't continue to support me and my children then we'll be forced out into the wastes..."

Neo slammed his hoof on the ground in anger."Don't talk like that! There must be something we can do to help, because I won't let you go out into that hell hole because of stupid terminal piece!" Neo yelled with determination in his eyes.

He lifted his head up and brushed his rugged mane to the side. "T-there is one way you could get it... though the risk is high... N-n-no! I won't let you do it." He said while faintly shaking his head.

Adam put his hoof on the professors shoulder, "We're willing to do whatever you need to get the transistor."

A dark look in his eyes followed by a faint, almost unnoticeable grin followed. "Fine then.... about two miles to the east is the ruins of a small town. In that town is a factory with hundreds of unnaturally large terminals, each one has a transistor. All you need to do is find one of them, and get it for me..."

Allie nodded confidently at him. "Sounds easy enough, where do we-"

"But, that's not all..." He interjected.

"Like I said before, there's a risk..."

"And?" Adam asked.

"Before the bombs dropped that town was home to a series of new robotic weapons. Traders give them the name Predators."

A small hint of fear and death lingered around the word Predators as he spoke about them. "And what is worse is they guard the town and kill any and all regardless of who you are."

Neo gulped and imagined what the horrifying creatures might look like. In his mind all he could picture were large scaly metal monsters with fire blazing out of their mouths. Though, with a lot of confidence and a deep breath he agreed to go and get the transistor still regardless of the risk. "I'm doing this for Lu Neo, and for the ponies who come through here." He thought to himself.

“I’ll do it.”

The professors tired shadowy eyes looked oddly at him."I'm shocked Neo, to say the least. Most do- I mean, I'm surprised you jumped in so fast to make the decision."

He gave him a cocky look. "It doesn't sound that hard, and who knows that damn thing that's killing these ponies might be there too."

Lu leaped in the air while punching rapidly. "Yeah and we'll beat that meanie thing!"

Adam patted her gently to calm her down. "I'm sorry Lu but it's too dangerous for a little filly, heck even I'm scared a bit."

"But I'm not scared of anything! And neither are you big brother." She said while looking up at him with her large eyes.

Lavender stepped in with and gave the little one a stern look. "Lu, only the big ponies get to go, you have to stay here with me till they get back."

She folded her ears down and kicked the floor with one of her hooves. "But I wanted to help too..."

Lavender scooted her close to her and wrapped an arm around her. "You can Lu, by staying here you help them by throwing them a party when they get back."

She continued to mope to herself. "Okay big sis...."

The professor stood up and patted Neo and Adam on the backs. "Then it's decided, I'll give you the coordinates to you on your Pipbucks and give you the things you'll need to survive out there incase you get stuck for the night."

Adam nodded at him. "We won't let you down professor!"

Lavender looked at Adam with worry in her eyes, "Just be safe okay?"

"Don't worry Lavender, we'll be okay."

Neo butted in confidently with the same cocky look on his face. "Hey it can't be that long of a way away and besides you have the Ironhoof Champions doing this, so how hard could it be?"

Allie, Neo, and Adam walked slowly through the plain empty world. A fair wind blew at their backs and both Neo and Adams duster flapped calmly in the wind. Adam wore his goggles to protect his eyes from the bits of sand and dirt that would occasionally fly at his eyes. Neo and Allie, on the other hoof, didn't have the same benefit of protection as Adam did.

"Why did I think this would be easy!" Neo shouted as they walked along the side of an old highway.

"Brother you need to understand that you like to think a lot of things are easy..."

"Yeah well he said two miles!"

"We've only walked one."

"I know Adam, but it feels more like eighteen! And Celestia knows what Lucy put in my bag to make it this heavy!" He shout while looking at the rather large bump in his bag.

Allie trotted next to him with her bandana over her face. "Why don't we check, see if we can lighten the load a bit."

Neo nodded to her and called for Adam to stop. Once they had all stopped Allie went over to Neo's right bag and just before she was about to open it Lu sprung out and attacked Adam who stood right next to Allie.

“Rawr!” She shouted as she leaped out of the bag, "I gotcha big brother!"

"Lu what in the world were you doing in my bag! We told you not to come, so why did you?"

Allie helped Adam up as Lu bounced around playfully with the happy feeling that she had just surprised Adam. "I came to help you."

Allie stepped in with a angry glare. "We know that Lu, but we told you not to come."

Lu stopped her hopping and looked at them with her big eyes and red bow on her head. "I know, but pleeeeeease let me stay. I'll be a good pony promise!"

Neo sighed with frustration. "We've already come this far, and as much as I hate to have her come we're already all the way out here."

A giant grin found its way to her face. "So I get to come with you big brother."

Neo sighed again, hanging his head low. "Yes."

She jumped up in the air joyfully. "Yay! I get to come!"

"Just stay quiet Lu remember about the monsters your dad talked about." Adam said giving her a hoof across his mouth showing her to zip her lip.

She made herself get low in an almost laying down position and whispered. "Okay big brother, I'll be quiet."

With that they continued their way down the road, on the way they would pass by an old cart which they inspected to see if there was anything of value inside. Though they found nothing it made Lu happy to help look for useful stuff inside the vehicle.

Soon the flat world turned into a hilly landscape with dead trees and weeds swaying in the distance. In front of them was a large green sign with white lettering on it: Welcome to Shanesgrove! Home to the Ironhoof Robotics center, and world's largest cheese ball!

Below the welcoming was the population which was 3,456 ponies. Though the group was sure that number had shrunk significantly throughout the years.

Down the road was what looked like the main street of the town, small stone buildings that looked like old businesses lined the street up and down. Some of the old shops had collapsed or caved in on some parts of the buildings. Like before, skeletons could be found hugging each other as they braced for the end, and wagons were found melted into the old road. Some posters, though dirty, old, and worn were still readable on the walls of some buildings.

"War is not the answer! Join the Ironhoof ministry of peace district today and help prevent the end today!"

Below that was a rude rebellious type poster with a crudely drawn pony hitting Luna with a bat. "Help knock some sense into the damn mare!" the poster read.

Lu giggled at the poster, to her it looked goofy and silly. Neo remembered what the recordings on his Pipbuck said about how the ponies of the province felt about Equestria and the way Luna ran it. It was made clear that whatever Luna had done all those years ago it seemed to have pissed them off.

As they continued down the main street of the town, while staying close to the buildings on the side. They came up to a large hangar like building that seemed to connect to a building that resembled a factory.

Both Neo and Adam brought out their Pipbucks and checked their EFS to see if this was the building they needed to enter. And just like they thought the small orange marker that pointed where they needed to go was flashing towards a rusted metal door near the factory building.

Most of the windows had been blasted out and the stone the building was made of was chipped and fractured by the elements. Three large smoke pipes towered high into the sky and loomed hauntingly before them. A large sign near a ruined parking lot for the factory was tilted down as if it had been knocked down by a large force. It was covered in graffiti and large scratches. The old sign that seemed to have advertise the robotics center had a message of it's own, but the graffiti and scratches covered the old message, replacing it with warnings.

Turn back! Leave before it's too late, This is a tomb, and many more were just a few of the messages they could see.

The door of the factory was a pale red and it stood on a small patio that would naturally have security guards or robots guarding the facility.

Lu stared up at the large factory from the door and marveled at it. "It sure is big..."

"Yeah, it's very big." Neo said with a chuckle as he approached the door.

He wiggled the knob a bit and to his surprise it was locked. "Dang, and here I thought it might have been easier."

"Here let me get it." Allie said pulling a bobby pin and a screwdriver from her bag.

As she started to work on the lock Neo leaned in closer and watched her work on it. She stopped for a moment and looked at him oddly. "Um, what are you doing Neo?"

"Observing."

"Um, yeah it's a little freaky..."

Neo backed away a bit with a faint blush in his cheeks, "Yeah sorry, I just want to see how you do it is all..."

She gave him a playful smile. "If that's all then here I'll teach you."

Neo leaned forward again to see how she picked locks. "See this? It's the pressure point, when I place the pin here you activate it. The you want to-"

Adam and Lu sat down on the patio and waited for Allie to finish teaching Neo how to pick locks. Lu would sit there and count the different kinds of wagons she saw in the street and make a game out of it. Adam joined in and helped her find wagons that had a blue tint to them and see how many they could find.

"And then you turn the screwdriver around like this and..." the lock clicked open. "There we are, one door ready for opening."

Neo was amazed, he had always thought lock picking was some kind of complex matter with pistons and complex inner workings. Though the lesson Allie had just gave him proved otherwise.

"Thanks Allie, it'll come in handy if I need to do it myself."

She blushed faintly at him. "No problem... no problem at all."

"Are you two done yet, we have monsters to fight!" Lu said while trying to do a kick in mid air.

Neo and Adam chuckled a bit at her enthusiasm. "Lu we're not here to fight monsters, we're here for the transistor."

"Trans-what?" She said while scratching her mane.

"Never mind, I'll tell you later okay Lu?" Neo said ruffling her mane she had just scratched.

"Okie doky loki big brother."

The door swung slowly open as the dim light from the outside flooded the inside of the factory. Old desks and cabinets lined the walls and bits of trash and debris covered the old tile floor. A faint cloud of dust and dirt could be seen as the wind from the outside gently blew inside.

Neo was the first to step inside, from his bag he pulled out the combat shotgun Lucy had repaired for him and readied it. Neo looked through his bag real quick and found a 10mm pistol that had a full clip of ammunition and gave it to Allie. She levitated it close to her as she too cautiously walked inside. Adam had his magical laser pistol which he had found got from the first raiders he and Neo had met on their first day outside the stable.

Neo turned to Lu and whispered to her. "Lu stay close to me and don't wander off."

She shook a little as the frightening place creaked and echoed the wind that blew outside giving a feeling the building was breathing. She nodded at him as she huddled close to him, "This place scares me... Is-is this where the monsters live."

Neo and Adam both turned on their Pipbuck lights which illuminated the the area around them. "Yes Lu, this is where they live."

Adam did the same as his brother and turned his own light on. After he did so he looked at his EFS to see where they needed to go.

"Brother, it says we need to go over there." He whispered as he pointed to a large red door with the words, Factory Offices on it.

He nodded at him but before they left the room they checked each desk, cabinet, and box that was in the room. Though the only things that were of any value was some bottle caps, a few 10mm bullets, and a shotgun shell. It seemed to puzzle them as to why ponies kept ammo and bottle caps in cabinets and desks, but then again it was just good to have them and not question why a pony would put them there.

In the next room there were several small dividing walls that separated the many small work spaces in the room. Chairs were flung over and desks were turned upside down or damaged in one way or another. Posters of different kinds were on the walls and pictures of the founding ponies of the robotics center hung crooked and burnt on the peeling old wall. Light calmly came in from the two broken windows on one side of the room, which left the other side completely dark.

Allie motioned for them to split up and cover the room for anything that might be valuable, and since the room wasn't too large nopony could get lost. Allie had done this kind of things many times before, and as such the looting was mainly handled by her. Adam searched a few desks but found nothing. Allie did the same, and like Adam she had no luck finding anything. Neo and Lu looked at a few desks along the wall, and to their surprise one terminal on one of the desks was still operational.

"Does it still work?" Lu asked as she eyed the terminal.

Neo went up to it and started to look at the home screen. "Looks like it Lu, I wonder if there is anything worth looking at..."

On the screen was three options, one was office files, the other was purchase records, and the last was recordings. Neo didn't really care about the rest and went straight to recordings. Lu watched as he chose the first recording on the terminal, to keep things quiet Neo had an ear bloom which he kept in a compartment on his Pipbuck. Adam had made little compartments on their Pipbucks so they could keep things like spare parts and their ear blooms inside them. He put the ear bloom into the side of the terminal he gave one to Lu so she could listen too, and started the first recording.

"This is Lead robotics Programer Marshmallow Twist. Today we started research for the Equestrian military, hell, only three months till the war started and they already have us making weapons. The chief is telling me that I need to work on programing something the board calls a 'Predator', though I have no clue as to what the design is or what I'm really supposed to do. I mean sure I need to program this thing but I don't have a clue as to what it is they want as far as intelligence, attack protocol, and mortality. I'll have to ask him later and see if he can tell what exactly this thing is."

The recording ended with a beep.

Below the recording was a box with image files and another recording attached to them. Curious, Neo went to the first image file as he opened it, as he opened it the message started to play automatically.

The image on the screen was the blueprints for the Predator and how it was to be built. Lu looked at it oddly, and with a puzzled expression she poked Neo.

"Big brother what is it?"

Neo stared at the picture for some time before answering. "I don't know Lu..."

The robot itself was a massive cat like machine, a long spike like spine ran down its back and a sharp edged metal frame covered the different parts of the monsters body. The plates looked more like armor then anything else, and the sharp edging only added to the feeling that these were tools of death. It's legs had synthetic mussel, and claws that were razor sharp and nearly five inches long. The tail was a long black tube that looked just like the mussel that supported the legs. At the tails tip was four barbs with sharp ends, and in the center was a long thick syringe.

From the tip of it's plated steel head to the artificial mussel neck was rows of diamond tipped teeth, and it's eyes were like that of a lifeless demon. Only red dots were in the place of where real eyes should be. Pointy cat like ears were also on its head, and according to the design they were meant to really hear.

"This is- You know what? To heck with it. I couldn't sleep last night. About a month ago I was told to program these things and when they showed me the blueprints for them... I lost it, and it got worse when they told me what they wanted them to do. Dear sweet Celestia... at first I found it easy, but... but then when I took the program I had made and gave it to the board I thought it was over, that I had contributed my most to this project. No... No, they invited me to the demonstration of the first prototype. I went to demo grounds and sat in the bleachers where we watched the weapon perform. Okay... one moment... I-I can't believe I made these things work... to think these will actually kill, and they'll die horribly because of my programs... Get ahold of yourself Twist... you're fine. Okay, where was I.... Oh yeah the demonstration.

I sat there and when they brought it out it prowled like a monster, like from an old Daring Doo novel. At first it bowed to the audience which comprised of the lead developers, then when we sent out test dummies... this is where I lost it. The thing hacked, slashed, and maimed them. But that’s not the worst of it, you see these things once they're done killing their prey, they-"

The recording ended.

Neo backed up and looked for anymore recordings, unfortunately there were no more. "Dang it." Neo said taking his ear bloom back.

Lu looked at the picture a bit longer. "Are those the monsters?"

"Yes Lu, and we better move quickly before the monsters find us."

"Neo?" Allie said poking her head around the corner of a dividing wall across from them. "I didn't find anything, and Adam hasn't had much luck either."

Neo sighed and turned off the terminal. "Really? Not even one thing?"

"Nope." Adam said trotting in from behind them.

Allie came out and stood next to Lu and Neo, now all eyes were on Adam. Adam pointed to a door at the far end of the room. "We go through there and then we go up stairs and across the hallway over into the factory. From there we go up a flight of stairs and there should be a room with a control terminal there. Hopefully the transistor is there."

Neo calmly asked. "Is that what your Pipbuck says?"

Adam nodded, "Yep, and it tells me we have a 78% chance of finding it there too."

They walked over to the door and into a large room with a high ceiling. Inside was a pad where tests were done to robots, as such robot limbs and pieces were scattered throughout the room. Skeletons lay back against the walls with large claw marks behind them. Along the side was a staircase which lead to a control room near the top of the ceiling. Ignoring the bones, the four made their way up to the control room, and minus some shaking on the unstable stairs they each made it up to the room in one piece.

In there was several control panels with two skeletons sitting at the chairs. At the end of the slender control room was a door, which was flashing continuously on both Adam and Neo's EFS.

"No red lights so far, that's a good sign." Adam thought to himself as they entered through the door and went across the walkway that divided the Factory and the office buildings.

The factory itself consisted of several lines of conveyer belts and robotic building arms. The windows in the main factory level they were on were blown out which allowed small beams of orange light to seep in. Around the area was a catwalk that seemed to go just about everywhere on the factory level. Adam pointed out the path that took them to the main control center, and just like the other catwalk they were on this one was just as unstable.

Treading lightly up to the main area was difficult because Lu found it fun every time the walkway shook. So to keep her from knocking them all down Neo put her on his back so she wouldn't break the only way up to their destination.

Just like in the other building the control room looked the same, only there were no skeletons in the chairs, and instead of a basic control pad a large terminal replaced where it should have been.

"Bingo." Adam said cheerfully as he took open the bottom and started to work to get the transistor from it.

Neo stood by the door with his combat shotgun ready and Lu and Allie watched Adam work on getting the transistor inside. Adam pushed wires and cords out of the way till he found the transistor laying there in the center of the inner workings.

"Now all I need to do is get this thing loose..." He muttered as he levitate his screwdriver out of his saddle bag. "Okay one more screw... and..." The component was now loosely dangling in the mess of wires.

"Now to get it out." Adam wrapped his hoof around it and tugged on it gently, but it wouldn't move.

"What the?" He pulled a little harder, still no luck. "Okay Adam one more time." He thought to himself putting both hooves on it. And with a little force a string holding it in place snapped which sent him falling back onto his back with the transistor in his hooves.

"Well... I got it." Adam said getting up and putting the small thing in his bag.

Neo looked over to him and lowered his shotgun. "Then we can go now?"

Adam nodded at him with a calm smile. "Yep and I can't wait to get-"

A loud raspy barking sound cried out throughout the empty factory. Then the loud cry called out three more times as the last one echoed through the emptiness.

Lu tugged on Neo's duster. "Big brother what was that?"

Neo gently put his hoof on Lu's mouth and motioned everypony to be quiet. For the moment all was silent, and all they did was listen.

All four had one ear twitch as they heard a faint, but slow screeching and tapping sound come up every now and again. It, in a way almost sounded like something was walking. Slowly the noise got louder and louder, till the very sound started to loudly echo through the whole building. Sweat started to gently drip down Neo's forehead, and Adam and Allies hearts bounded like crazy as they breathed heavily. Then the sound was gone.

It vanished and the silence came back and all was as it was before, quiet.

All four sighed with relief, "Maybe it's gone." Allie whispered.

Neo nodded to her. "Yeah I think it's gone. Let's just hope we don-"

The window next to him was attacked by a large steel monster with blood red glowing eyes. Biting and Clawing at the frame of the window to get inside.

Lu and Adam screamed as they jumped out of the way, Neo pulled his shotgun up and let off two rounds at the monster's face as it tried to get in. Sparks flew from the creatures face as the bullets hit it, but to their surprise it did little to nothing to stop it from destroying the window.

"Hurry we need to get down stairs now!" Neo called out.

Quickly they all tried to get downstairs without causing the catwalk to collapse, but just as they reached the bottom the metallic monster stood at the doorway looking at them with its lifeless red eyes. They all stared up at it for a moment, Neo took the second and went into SATS which highlighted the monster. Every limb was at 100% strength and the Pipbuck marked as a Predator.

Neo got out of SATS and urged Adam to pull out his laser pistol. Adam did so and shot at it as it leaped from catwalk to catwalk as it made it's way down to them, hissing and shrieking as it came closer to them.

Even in SATS Adam barely hit the fast moving target. It was now only fifty feet away from them, and out of common sense they decided to fall back. Running for their lives they made a left near the bottom to the only other door in the room besides the one they had come from.

Allie and Lu had managed to push it open for Neo and Adam as the thing leaped on the walls to get to them faster. Adam leaped through the door and made way for his brother to jump in, with the murderous beast only five feet away from Neo he jumped for dear life. As soon as Neo was fully in Allie, Adam, and Lu shut the door and put their backs to it.

They were in a long industrial like hallway that seemed to branch off to another hallway. Pipes and vents covered the ceiling along with rusted old lights that dangled from above. Everypony was panting heavily with their backs to the door. All of their hearts were racing, even this seemed more frightening then the battle they had had with the manticore back in the city.

Lu was scared and on the verge of crying. "I don't want to fight the monsters anymore... I... I want to go home." She sniffled.

Neo took her and hugged her gently, "It's okay, I don't think it can get us from here." He cooed softly to her.

Adam got up and put his eye to the keyhole on the door to see if the Predator was there. All he saw was the monster sitting on the ground watching the door carefully, its tail swaying back and forth slowly as it waited.

"Were those the things the Professor was talking about? Or are those something else entirely?" Allie said levitating her pistol close to her head.

"Those were them all right. What I want to know is how it found out we were there."

Adam sat back down and put his back to the door again. "Maybe there's somepony else here and they came here to hide and it just found us looking for them."

Neo got up and got his shotgun ready, "Well it doesn't matter now I guess, the thing we need to worry about now is getting out of here alive."

Everyone nodded at him and backed away from the door slowly trying not to make any noise as they left the door behind them. Together they turned around and looked down the hallway that branched off into two ways. One way went right another when left.

"So which way then?" Allie asked looking down both ways.

Neo looked at Allie and started to discuss which way they should go, as they talked Adam's ear twitched. It was as if he could hear something, he looked at the vent next to him on the wall that was awfully large for a normal vent. Lu looked at Adam as he leaned close to see if he could hear something.

Neo gave her a nod, "Yeah that sounds good, left should take us outside... or at least it should." But before he turned around to Adam he noticed how he was listening to the vent.

He raised an eyebrow and leaned closer in to hear as well. "What is it?"

"I think I hear a voice..."

Neo gave him a weird look. "A voice?"

"Yeah..."

Faintly Neo could hear the sound of metal gently tapping echo down the vent. But the longer he listen the louder it grew, and it kept growing getting louder with each passing second. That's when he realised, it wasn't a voice or a pony for that matter.

He reeled back, "Get back from the ven-!" A large metallic paw with dagger like claws shot out of the vent and started swipping randomly at the group.

Neo wasn't fast enough to back up and two of the claws cut huge scars across his chest. He yelped in pain as he put a hoof to his chest to hold the stinging pain.

"Run! Hurry to the left!" He yelled as the four dashed to the left.

But one by one vents everywhere sprung open as claws reached out to slash at their targets. As they ran they continuously got beat and cut by the swarm of claws.

Adam felt several sharp pains run down his side and back legs as they ran to the end, Allie's legs were swiped at viciously as she too was scarred all over her lower legs. Lu had managed to dodge most of the claws but one that had managed to get her clear across her cheek.

She screamed in pain, she had never been cut that badly before and she couldn't hold back her tears as she ran for her life.

The door at the end of the Hallway was a large oval shaped metal door with pistons and large locks on it. On the side of the door was an orange glowing button which had a large O imprinted on it. Below it was a large yellow button with a large C on it.

Once they were at the door Neo went straight for the buttons on the one side of the door. The metal creatures swiped fiercely as they tore away at bits of the ventilation shafts that were holding them in. The door the group was standing at opened with a clank as it fell down to the ground through the floor.

Without hesitation they each hurried through the door and closed it behind them. Out of pure instinct Adam took his laser pistol and shot the pad that opened and closed the door. They all sat down and tried to catch their breaths from the dodging and running they had to do.

The several scratches they had received stung horribly, and the fact that their hearts were racing didn't help the faint throbbing in their injuries.

"Thank the goddesses that's over." Neo sighed before looking around the room they were in.

Lu had small tears roll down her eyes as she sobbed quietly putting her hoof to the small cut on her cheek.

Adam noticed her sobs and went over to her with a calming smile. For him each one of his scars stung as he walked over to her, but the only thing at the moment he could do was fight the pain and help Lu.

"Lu what's the problem?"

"My cheek hurts..." She sobbed.

Adam took a better look at her face and the small cut she had wasn't bad but it did look like she was in pain. "Here," he said taking a small canteen and rag from his bag. He put a bit of water on it and helped clean her face up.

"Ow! It hurts!" She yelped as he tried to clean her face.

"Lu I know it hurts but it'll make it heal faster."

She gave him an unsure look with her ears folded down. "...If you say so big brother..."

"Thank you Lu."

Neo looked all over the large, dark room. The ceiling was high and only a few windows with faint beams of yellow light came in through the broken windows overhead. Though most of the room was covered in large metal crates baring some old worn out symbol on each crate. One of the most notable features was the odd looking machines in each corner in the room. On his EFS it showed them as friendly, though the dark metal and large red spot in the middle of it seemed to give off a rather hostile feeling.

Neo turned to the group and motioned in hoof forward. "Come on, we better keep moving."

Adam put his things away and nodded at him. "Lets just be careful and hope there aren't any of those things in here."

The four slowly made their way into the sea of metal crates, as they went they all had their weapons ready in case more decided to come out of the vents again. Though deep in their heads they knew that the weapons they had did little to these things, because how could you kill a tool of death? That was the question that floated around in their minds and pecked at their confidence.

About halfway through the crates they heard a loud hissing noise, like that of metal being cut by a blowtorch. Neo put his hoof up and looked behind him. Though he couldn't see the door from where he was at he could hear the sound clearly from behind several of the crates they had passed.

He turned to Adam and Allie. "Here, if you help boost me up I'll go see what they're doing to the door."

They gave him a quick nod and positioned themselves next to a crate so he could climb up. Neo quietly climbed up on top of them and pulled himself up to the crate. Once on top he looked over at the door, from where he was he could see a glowing red light with sparks flying from it draw a circle that looked big enough for a large pony. It was almost complete when he saw it.

"Dear Celestia." He whimpered to himself his eyes wide with terror.

He jumped down from the crate with a thud. Instantly he shouted, "RUN!" At that very moment a large clank echoed through the large room. The loud screams and murderous cries from the beasts rang out from the end of the room.

They ran through the complex maze of crates trying to get as much distance from the predators as possible. All the while the predators would leap on top of the crates and with their bright red lights coming from their eyes, they searched for the group. Finally the four had made it to a small clearing with a control pad against the wall. Adam looked at it curiously, wondering what it could be for.

Neo stopped and took him by the shoulders. "Adam we need to go! They're coming for us!"

He shook him off and made his way to the controls. "Adam what the hell are you doing!"

To be honest with himself he wasn't sure either, but something was calling him to that control panel. Whether it be his gut, or some higher power, he needed to use it.

Neo and the others followed him as he chased after Adam. Adam looked at the many buttons and knobs on the panel, on the top was a label which read, Security turret controls.

He turned on the controls and pressed several buttons next to four glowing markers. Then several flashes and loud gunshots could be heard as the monsters cried out. Neo and the group stopped to hear what was happening, whatever Adam had done, it seemed to have helped.

Then large flashes of red shot out from the top of the crates, each turret that was in the room burst into flames and crashed down to the floor in a smoking fiery heap.

"Great..." Neo sighed before getting everyone together and continued to run from the predators.

They made several sharp turns as that pathway the stacked crates made got smaller and smaller to where they had to run in single file to get through. Finally they saw the end where a large metal door was and hopefully a way out of the nightmare.

They ran with a hopeful spirit guiding them as they bolted to the only way out, and just as they all got out of the sea of crates a bright red light shown on them.

Within an instant a large metal creature had pounced from above them on everypony but Lu. She got knocked back by the creature's tail into an opened crate with several sledge hammers.

The monster sinked it's long dagger like claws into Allie and Adams back which went straight through Adams levitation saddle. The jaw of the monster though was focused on Neo. It went under him and bit on his leg right leg with its long devilish teeth. They all cried out in pain as blood splashed out across the floor and cries of agony could be heard.

It started to shake Neo around, keeping its claws on the other two. With every jerk it made Neo cry out in gut wrenching agony. He couldn't turn around to stab at it with his arm knife, and Allie and Adam were pinned as they watched and waited for the creature to finish with Neo.

The monster dragged him closer and let go of his leg as its head reeled back to bite his neck and end his life. "I'm sorry everypony, I tried." He whispered tears coming down from his eyes as he prepared to meet his fate.

Just the monster lunged its head forward a huge sledgehammer covered in a faint pink aura slammed right in its face making it stagger backwards.

Its hold on Allie and Adam was broken, they got up shaking as their blood ran down their backs, and the pain from the claws could still be felt in their backs.

The hammer came slamming down as Lu stood up with a serious angry face. "Don't hurt my big brothers!" She shouted at it.

Once the monster had shaken its metal head it looked at her with rage burning in its soulless eyes. She stepped back and looked back at it terrified as it crouched down to pounce on her. It had totally forgotten about its previous prey, because now it just wanted Lu.

"Big brothers, help me!" She screamed as it jumped at her.

"Lu no!" Everypony else shouted in unison.

Then a loud crack followed by a bright flash of blue light sent the monsters chest ablaze as it collapsed on the floor, lifeless. Two more predators came up from the crates and like the one before they stared at them from above with their red glowing eyes.

But like the first one both seemed to have exploded into a blazing heap of steel and purple goo. Neo tried to roll around but his torn up leg wouldn't let him.

"Hurry, get him up! Before more show up!" A fuzzy looking dark figure shouted as Neo's vision and hearing became blurred and distorted.

"Is big brother going to be okay?" He could hear Lu say as his vision became more blurred.

Neo’s breathing got slow as his body became limp. Adam noticed this and went to his brother putting his head in his hooves.

"Brother?" He said in a mournful tone with tears building in his eyes. He too felt light headed and woozy but his brother wasn't moving, and the only thing that was was his chest that slowly rose and lowered.

"Brother! Wake up!" He shouted.

"Neo get up!" Allie joined in.

"Shut the hell up you two!" Called a pony with a long dark trench coat and a gas mask covering his face. At his side was a large odd looking rifle that was connected to a saddle he was wearing on his back.

"My brother’s not moving... we need to help him!"

"If you don't help me with him he won't get any help!"

Adam, though tired and in pain helped the stranger get him on his back as the five ponies walked over to the metal door at the end of the room.

As the door clanked open Adam held some of his wounds with one hoof. "Why are you helping us, and just who are you?"

"My reasons are my own, you'd do best to remember that. As for who am I, I'm nobody."

Adam glared at him angrily but if he was willing to help them why turn down a helping hoof. Though he told himself to keep his wits about him, even if a pony looks nice it wasn’t smart to just jump in and trust him.

The door clanked open and the five ponies walked up the small flight of stairs that was on the other side of the door. Adam watched as Neo’s blood dripped from the strangers back as he carried him up.

This whole scene reminded him of when his brother helped him at the raider shack. And just like how Neo did what he could to save him he wasn’t going to let him die. Because he was his older brother, and the only thing he had in this new world.

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Wub wub your friends: Whenever a friendly in your group is injured your healing on them is 20% more effective.

Foot Note: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes<

No

New Perk: Quick thinking: During combat if you repair a weapon or piece of equipment that weapon or piece of gear gains 25% more damage or durability until you repair it again.

Side Note: Lu leveled up

New Perk: Lu the monster hunter: Although you might be cute you pack a mean punch! When you attack a critter or robot you gain a 20% damage bonus.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Wayofthepen

LyonAzakura

(AN: I felt it almost necessary to give Lu a perk. Just this once, cause I think she deserves it. I mean I like Allie and she is a main character but Lu needs the perk. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! Comment at the bottom what you thought, and tell me what you liked about this chapter!)

Monsters

CHAPTER 13: MONSTERS

The air was thick and musty as Neo slowly regained consciousness. He looked up at the peeling dim ceiling, his vision slowly returning to him. He felt sore all over his body, he couldn't remember what had happened after the Predator had bit him. That and what had happened to everyone else, and how they were doing.

"I think he's waking up!" Adam said placing his hoof to his brothers head.

Neo looked up at him, the dim light glaring faintly against one side of his face. He had a warm smile looking back at him, which made the soreness in his body dull.

Allie leaned over Adam and looked at Neo kindly. "You were out for a long time, we almost thought you might not make it."

Neo coughed a bit at the heavy air in the room. "Wh-where are we?"

Allie rested a bandaged hoof on his forehead and laid him back down. "Shh, you need to rest." She cooed softly to him.

Neo didn't say anything, instead he just smiled back at her and lay his head back on a something that seemed leathery. Adam patted on his hoof and got up and moved to the other side of the room.

The room they were in was small, brown walls and a broken ceiling fan hung from above and a lamp attached to a small battery powered it. It served as the only lighting in the whole room, there was two doors, both metal and green. A cot was attached to the wall and a damaged desk was next to it. A small pile of supplies and assorted items were inside a few wooden boxes in the corner of the room which had medic supplies and food.

An odd dark pony with red stripes down his neck and body with a gas mask hanging from his neck was cleaning some sort of weapon attached to a saddle. Adam was next to him inspecting the damage done to his duster.

"Great, I've only had this thing for a few days and it's already totaled. Just look how big this hole is!"

The dark pegasus pony looked at him dully, "You get used to it."

Adam pouted at him and turned to the metal pad that lay next to him. "The good news is that my levitation saddle kept my back safe for the most part."

He picked it up and inspected it further. "But the thing is damaged, and I probably won't be able to fix it till we get back to the bunker."

Lu came up to the saddle and poked it curiously, "Oh, when we get home can I help big brother?"

Adam smiled at the yellow filly. "Sure Lu."

She giggled and went over to Neo and sat down eyeing the many blood stained bandages on his leg and body. "Hey big brother? Are you gonna be okay?"

He sat up stiffly, trying to ignore the soreness. "I think so Lu, I already feel better."

She stared at him fondly with her blue eyes. "Mhmm, and I saved you from the monsters too!"

He cocked his head to the right puzzled. "You did?"

"She knocked it back with a sledge hammer which made it let go of us." Allie said stepping in and patting Lu on the head.

"Without her we probably wouldn't have made it out of there alive."

The dark pony set the saddle down on the desk and moved over to the boxes in the corner. His gear rattled and jingled gently as he walked to the supplies. "That little one you have there is a real brave one. Not like the ones back in Equestria. No, those little foals would pick your body clean and book it with their own lives. Or at least the fillies I've seen."

Neo turned his gaze over to him as he popped open a Sparkle Cola, "And who are you anyway?"

He threw him a hard stare. "My name is Skyward Flame, and I saved your sorry ass."

Neo laughed sarcastically at him, "Heh, yeah thanks." Neo sat up straight, "So what are you doing out here, and why did you help us anyway."

He shrugged. "Cause I can, I guess."

Neo looked at him negatively, "You helped us cause you could? Is that the only reason you have?"

"I have others, but that's my own business." Adam stepped in and went over to his brother with a bottle in his mouth. "Whell it doshn't mahter, ash long ash he halped ush and ficshed ush up."

He motioned Allie to take the bottle and give it to Neo. He smacked his mouth to get rid of the dust that was on the bottle. "Hopefully with this health potion, and the other stuff we gave you you should feel as good as new in no time."

Neo chuckled. "By the way, how long have I been out?"

"Not long," Allie said, "about a few hours."

A glowing aura surrounded the bottle and moved it over to his mouth. Neo drank down the magical liquid inside and felt as the soreness slowly faded from his body. "That's not too long, I thought I had woken up three or four days later.” He chuckled.

Adam gave him a playful look. "Not this time, and let's be thankful it wasn't like one of those times."

"Yeah, and I'm already feeling better. That potion I drank really helped clear up the soreness." Neo said moving around his arms and stretching them out.

"Good," Skyward flame said, "Cause you're going to have to move out as soon as possible.”

Allie looked at him oddly. "Why, might I ask?"

He looked at her seriously, as if she had called blasphemy. "Why? Why not! Those things have a goal, and they are willing to die to complete it. Right now, your group is their goal, and they won't rest till you're, one, out of their territory, or two, dead."

Neo tried to stand up, but the weak feeling in his legs made it hard to move. "Then what do you suppose we do? Those things will know we're out there and there isn't anyway we can go that they don't know about."

He smirked at him. "That's where you're wrong. The way I came in from is totally secluded, and, best of all, those stupid metal things have no clue it exists."

Neo gave him the name pessimistic stare. "And how do we know we can trust you?"

"Because you can. Or you can stay here and wait to die. I would love to see you come up with another plan, or does rotting here sound good to you?"

Neo looked down feeling insulted. "Your little brother and I went over the plan while you were out."

Adam nodded at him. "I have the path marked on my PipBuck, and everything. The downside is it's through an old sewer system, but it takes us right outside of the town."

"Far enough away to get back to wherever you came from." He added.

Lu's face lit up with joy which caused her to jump in the air. "Yay, home! When we get back, we can play Cosmic Muffin again, and big sis can help defeat the space monkeys with us! Right big brother?" She chanted before looking towards Neo with a happy look.

He gave her an equally heartwarming smile. "Yep Lu, and those space monkeys don't stand a chance against Lu, The Monster Slayer."

She giggled and gave him a hug. "You're so silly big brother."

Neo sat up with his duster folded neatly next to him as he and Allie slowly undid the bandages on his leg. He restrained himself from itching the sticky bandages that stuck to his fur. "Almost... almost, there all done." Allie announce placing the bandages to the side.

Neo sighed with relief and itched his leg with his metal hoof. He looked over his leg, and looked for scars and other noticeable features the predator might have left while it attacked him.

"Well it looks good, at least I can still move it." He said wiggling his leg around.

Allie nodded at him. "Yep, and with your leg back to normal we can finally move out now."

She got up and went over to their bags, which were stacked up in a pile in one corner of the room. Adam was already there with his ripped and bloodstained duster on getting his stuff ready.

Neo put his duster back on, he cringed a bit at the dry blood stains that covered it, but it was the only thing he had for protection at the moment. He levitated his white bandana to his head and tied it. "At least the levitation saddle still works."

Adam rolled his eyes and looked at his own duster, "That's more then I can say about mine."

Lu looked through the rather large hole that was in the middle of it. "My big sis knows how to fix holes."

Adam smiled at her. "Once we get back I'll see if she can help me fix it up."

She giggled, and walked over to help Neo pack the rest of their things. Skyward Flame came around to one of the doors, pulling back a small latch that covered a small peephole. He looked through it and went back to the desk where his saddle with the gun attached was. He picked it up and placed it on his back letting his wings go through small slits so that he could fold them naturally.

He bit down the small bit that connected itself to the gun on his back, and with a click the gun reloaded itself. Adam watched the pegasus walked towards them from the desk, his eyes set on the saddle on his back.

"What is that exactly?" Adam asked eyeing in oddly.

Allie stepped in before he could answer. "It's a battle saddle."

"A what?" Neo asked while putting the last of his things on his back.

"A battle saddle. They're things ponies like to use for weapons, preferably heavy weapons like this. Since we don't have the benefit unicorns have we've got to use these saddles."

Adam watched him unlock the green metal door by removing a large metal plank from the center. "It's kind of like a levitation saddle, minus the levitating."

He nodded dully at him. "Eeyup, this particular model is a Gauss Rifle saddle. Found it here, and it seems to be the only gun here that can kill those bastards."

Skyward Flame put both forehooves on the door and pushed causing the old rusted door to screech and rattle as it opened slowly. Once it was open Skyward Flame looked down the dark staircase that went down into the dusty old part of the factory.

"Are there anymore of them here?" Neo asked.

He shook his head. "Kid, if there were more, trust me, they'd be gone by now. Hell I was lucky to find this one."

The rest of the group agreed with him in a faint murmur. "Now are y'all ready to move out?"

"Oh! Oh! Oh!!" Lu interjected with her hoof raised.

"Yes Lu?" Neo asked the tiny filly.

"I need to get my hammer."

He looked at her oddly. "Her... hammer?"

Adam laughed a bit and ruffled her mane. "The sledge hammer she hit the predator with, we brought it up here with us and I promised her we'd take it back with us."

"Yeah!" she said with a jump, "My epic hammer!"

Everypony but Skyward Flame laughed at her enthusiasm, "Just make it quick. We don't want to wait too long. These things will patrol this section of the factory soon."

Adam went over to the room and found the rather large hammer and tied it off to his back. "There we go Lu." He grunted with a heavy smile.

She looked worryingly at him, "Is it too heavy big brother?"

"Nope..." he coughed, "it's fine."

She giggled at him. "Okie doky loki big brother."

Skyward Flame interrupted the moment with a rude grunt. "Listen, we don't have much time so if you would, the door."

"Yeah, sorry." Adam apologized.

Together Skyward Flame lead them through an old dark section of the factory. The structure moaned and creaked as they moved down the corroded metal hallways. Their hooves tapping on the cold floor and the chilled air bristling against their coats as they followed the mysterious pegasus.

"So..." Neo asked him.

He tilted his head towards him without slowing his pace. "Yeah, and keep it down if you're gonna talk."

"Right, so what's your story? And what are you doing here?"

He didn't bother looking at him directly, and instead kept looking straight ahead. "Business." He answered dully.

"Business?"

"Yes, anymore than that and I might kill you."

Neo gulped a bit, "I see."

"What about you?" The expression on his face quickly changed to a more friendly look.

"We're trying to get that stupid transistor for somepony, then we're off to Arkcannon."

The look on his face changed at the word Arkcannon. "I see, nice town I was there a few weeks ago."

The group started to near the end of the hallway, at the end was a large hatch with the words "sewer system" in bold yellow letters above it. "Well, here it is, your only way out." He said placing a hoof on one of the large opening levers.

Neo hopped up on the other lever and helped pull it open. Neo and Skyward Flame pushed hard, they forced the old rusted seal open. Sweat built up on their brows as the hatch slowly came open. "There." He said as the hatch hissed fully open.

He stepped aside and motioned his hoof for the others to go down the hatch. "Watch your step, and keep quiet as you go down."

Neo went up to the hatch first looking down the dark moist hole. The smell of two hundred year old sewage filled the air making him sick to his stomach. He put a hoof to his nose, hoping that it would help him cope with the smell.

Just as he put his hoof on the cold iron edge when his ear twitched. He paused along with everyone else for a moment to listen. "The hell." Skyward Flame cursed quietly, lifting his saddled weapon up.

"What was that?" Adam whispered.

He lowered his weapon and turned to the group with worry in his eyes, "It might have been nothing, a radroach maybe. Just hurry up and get down."

As they turned back around they suddenly froze at the sound of a loud clank come from the end of the hallway. The loud noise was followed by a stream of sparks cutting a hole in the door at the far end of the hallway.

"Ah shit! Quickly down the hole now!" The dark pegasus barked while arming his weapon.

Neo jumped down and splashed at the bottom. He was knee high in old sewage water, and what made matters worse was it was almost completely dark in the old tunnel. Lu followed Neo as he caught her as she came down. Allie dropped her stuff down and hurried quickly down herself. Adam dropped his bags down the hole and started to make his way down.

The hole the metal beasts were carving in the door was nearly complete, a hot glowing ring was formed in the old metal door. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"No, I have my own way out. Just go and don't stop!" He yelled before spinning around and pushing Adam down the hole.

He screamed at the random act and soon found himself covered in the murky water. The pegasus jumped up to the hatch and slammed it shut, the impact caused the hatch to automatically seal itself. It hissed as the final bar sealed on top of it. He sighed, and readied his gauss rifle for the oncoming battle.

He grinned wickedly. "Two things done at once, it's my lucky day." The door the predators had made fell open, and three horrifying, metal cat like monsters came out from the newly created entrance.

The group could hear the gauss rifle’s muffled blasts as they sat there in the dark tunnel. They looked up at the hatch they had come through wondering if the strange pony who had helped them would be alright.

Neo turned towards the endless dark tunnel behind them. He turned on his PipBuck light, the sound of water gently flowing down the tunnel filled the moist air. "You heard him, we better move before those things find a way to get down here."

Adam looked at him with a grim expression. "But we never even got to thank him for the help..."

Allie patted Lu gently before she came up to Adam and looked up at him with her bright blue eyes. "Big brother, maybe we can thank him later. Maybe big sis can make him a cake later, and we can have a party too."

Despite the condition he smiled at her and turned on his PipBuck light. "Maybe Lu."

Adam went up in front of Neo and pulled up his EFS. A tiny orange marker blinked down the long endless tunnel before them. "Like brother said, we better get moving."

They all marched down the foul smelling tunnel, the darkness had a feel to it as they went along. It was as if it were alive, breathing, watching, as if it were hunting them. Allie didn't like the feeling, more so since the rumors of the monster stalking and killing ponies rattled around in her mind.

"So, Neo." She whispered.

He cocked his head back to answer her without breaking his stride. "Yeah?" He whispered back.

"I just wanted to talk seeing as we might be down here for a bit."

"Fair enough, so what's on your mind?"

She gave him a sheepish look. "Oh, um well then... So how did you get your cutie mark?"

He looked at her puzzled as he walked as if he was unsure what to say. "Well I took the CATS test just like everyone else," he paused for a moment and looked at his black compass rose cutie mark. "I finished the test and well there it was. I'm not even sure what it stands for, but it's just there and so far nopony has been able to tell what it stands for."

She nodded at him, "Do you have any clue as to what it stands for? Even a tiny hunch as to what it might be?"

"No, I've looked in every book we had about cutie marks but none of them had anything on mine." He said shaking his head doubtfully.

"Ah, by the way, what's a CATS test anyway?"

He smiled at her. "I'll tell you later, when we’re not underground and knee high in water."

She chuckled at his statement taking into account of their situation and how true it was. It was humorous in a way, and it did her well to think of it that way than think negatively about it.

"What about you?" Neo asked.

"Hmm, oh well I got my cutie mark one day when I had written a little speech for my parents. Then poof, after I was done there it was."

"So what does it mean?"

She glanced at her cutie mark, which consisted of a white dove holding ivy in its mouth with a heart behind it. "It stands for peace, and reason. In fact I'm quite the leader back home." She said in a proud manner.

"Oh?" Neo said surprised, "I didn't think you did that sort of thing."

She nodded at him, "I ran for mayor twice, the only reason I didn't get it was cause of my friends Newt and Kat. So I just help the community anyway I could, salvaging, helping travelers and fixing up the town."

He smiled at her warmly. "What about now, do you plan to go back and see your friends back in Maneton when this is all over?"

She brushed some of her brown hair to the side, "Yeah, if we make out then yeah when this is all over I'll go back to Maneton and look into going for mayor again."

She blushed faintly, feeling weak in her stomach as she thought. "D-do you think you and me could, you know, get together when this is all over?"

He thought about what that might be like, a house in a town, their mother visiting, and Adam trying to find somepony. The very thought made him feel warm and at peace inside, and if all went well and their mother came back with them that future might just be possible.

"Yeah, I would like that." he replied softly.

Suddenly he bumped into Adam who had seemed to stop. He staggered forward, trying to reclaim his balance before falling into the old murky water. "Hey what happened?" Neo asked him.

Adam looked back at the group and looked up at a hatch with a ladder connecting to it. "Is that the exit?" Allie asked looking up at the rusted cast iron hatch.

He nodded at her with a gulp. "Yep, and we have to climb a ladder again... great." he whimpered.

Neo patted him on the back with a grin on his face. "I'll go first if you want."

He nervously grinned at him, "No, no, I think I'll go in case I fall you guys can catch me."

"Adam it's like six feet up."

"It looks a lot taller than you think!"

Neo chuckled with his metal hoof around his shoulder, "If you say so. I'll wait for you to go up before I send Lu and Allie up. How’s that sound?"

Adam continued to eye the rather short ladder cautiously, "Alright, just please don't let me fall..."

Lu came up to him and hugged his leg. "A good luck hug, mommy would give me those when I tried something new or scary."

He patted her on the head softly, "Thanks Lu."

She giggled at him and stepped back. Adam let out a few calming breaths before starting up the ladder. Hoof by hoof, he slowly made his way up. Once he reached the top he used his teeth to unlatch the exit and prop it open with his head. He stuck his head out of the top and look at the world above.

All around them was rocks, rocks, and dead grass. The rocks covered most of the view, and besides the clearing the exit was in it looked safe. He quickly turned his head to the sky only to be greeted by a grey bleak sky covered in the same clouds that had blanketed it before.

He took a long breath of the dry cool air, and even though it was musty it was much more easier to breath the outside air than the air in the sewer. He climbed up out of the hole and out onto the dry clearing. "You can come up now, the coast is clear."

Neo nodded to him from inside the sewer, "Right."

He looked down at Lu who came up to him first, she had a rather confident look on her face. "You ready to go up with Adam, Lu?"

She nodded at him with a brave smile. "I'm ready big brother."

With a gentle pat on the back from Neo she was ready. She slowly ascended the ladder and back up to the outside world. Neo looked back at Allie, "You ready to go?" he asked.

She nodded at him and climbed up. It didn't take her long to reach the top, nor did it take Adam long after she got up to call for his brother to come up. Neo climbed up the first few steps of the ladder, but midway up he looked back down the dark empty tube they had come down. In his mind he thought of that odd pony they met, and he thought of what his motives were, or if he had made it out alright.

"Brother are you coming up?" Adam asked from above the exit.

He stared back into the abyss once more for a moment before answering. "Yeah, one sec."

He then turned and finished climbing up the ladder back into the outside world above. Once up he felt the cool dry breeze brush against his coat as he took a deep breath of fresh, well somewhat fresh air.

Allie and Adam closed the hatch into the sewer and turned the large seal on top to lock it. “Y'know, the air out here isn't bad once you've been down there for a bit." Neo chuckled.

Adam agreed with a nod, "Yeah, I'd much rather fight raiders then stay another ten minutes down in that place."

Allie looked up at the sky while Neo and Adam looked at their PipBucks for the bunkers location. Lu watched the small screens on their wrists and marveled at how cool they were.

"See Lu, this is a PipBuck, where we come from you get one when you're ten. When you do get one it means you're a big pony and you have to start living like one." Neo explained to her.

"Does that mean when I'm ten I get a big pony watch like you?"

Neo laughed a bit at her. "Maybe, I might get you one when you’re ten and if we visit."

"Cool!" She exclaimed with a small leap in the air. "I'll be a big pony and find lost ponies in space with my big pony watch, like Cosmic Muffin!"

Neo and Allie chuckled, then turned to Adam to see if he had found the bunker on his map yet. "There, I have it marked. Surprisingly it's not too far from here. Maybe about a mile or so... that way." He pointed out to the side indicating where it said the bunker was.

Allie looked once more to the sky, then turned back to Adam. "It's going to get dark out soon, and out here night is when the bigger critters like to come out."

"Yeah, you're probably right Allie, Lavender mentioned stuff coming out at night."

Lu pointed to the sledge hammer that Adam was carrying on his back with a courageous look in her eyes. "We don't need to be scared of them, as long as Lu is here!"

Adam picked her up and sat her on Neo's back, "Yeah they wouldn't dare mess with us as long as you're around."

Lu flexed and did several heroic poses on Neo before the group started walking back to the bunker. They were heading back, and hopefully their efforts to get the transistor was worth the pain they had to go through to get it, and maybe, just maybe, they might not eat beans when they got back.

Inside the cold metal walls of the bunker, Lavender sat at the table while a radio on a shelf played soft music. She laid her head down on the cold tabletop and worried. She worried about how they were doing, if they had made it out alright, or if Lu went with them. It all bothered her, and the more time passed it only made her lose hope more that they wouldn't come back.

The professor was in the kitchen cooking some sort of meat in a pan. It sizzled and cooked evenly as the rich smell filled the air. But Lavender didn't care, she was too sad to eat, even if it was something different.

"Ch-cheer up dear, they'll show up... I-I'm sure of it." He stuttered before returning to his cooking.

"And maybe, I'll say, maybe..." The song trailed off and was replaced with a cool smooth deep voice, "That was Maybe kido's by I don't really know at this point but oh well. And it's me! Haha! Coming at you from the Silvermane outpost, Cool Blue, given you all the news and sweet tunes your little hearts desire. Today, we got a urgent public service announcement, kidos listen some kind of things been killin those innocent traders down south of Arkcannon. So, if you're a trader, know that you and your pals could wind up as minced meat or worse. But there is still hope, I've got reports the Coalition has some guardians lookin into this thing, and to those two who are helpin out with the problem, thanks. A lot of ponies need you guys to solve this thing... And enough about depressing news let's move on to something happy to brighten up your day." A very bouncy song with drums and saxophones played loudly.

Lavender got up and turned off the radio. She sighed heavily, and returned to her chair with a sad feeling in her heart. She sat there for a moment thinking, the radio didn't help her try to forget about them, and it didn't help that this was the first time they weren't having canned beans for dinner and they'd miss it.

While her head lay on the table her left ear twitched, then again, and again. She soon heard a faint knocking coming from down the hall. Her face lit up as she dashed out the kitchen and over to the monitor room. The door clanked open and exposed the several glowing terminals on the wall. She pressed a few buttons on the large control pad and watched as one of the screens broadcasted the outside world. She gasped happily as she saw Adam, Neo, Allie, and Lu's faces on the screen.

"They made it..." She whispered, with tears building up inside her.

She bolted out of the room, leaving the small stool she was sitting on spinning behind her. She raced up the ladder and went to the door. On the small keypad she typed in the pass code for the door. The door hissed and clanked as the latches came unlocked on the heavy door.

The door slowly opened inward, and the first thing Lavender saw was Lu jump at her, "Big sis!" She cried as she flew through the air to tackle her.

She hugged Lu on top of her with small tears rolling down her eyes. Lu hugged her back, and got off of her, "Me and our big brothers fought monsters, and found a pirate pony and went into a spooky old place and-" she continued on about what they had done in the past days. Though she couldn’t hear it all due to the fact she talked at a speedy pace.

Lavender let everypony else in and shut the door behind them. "I'm so happy you made it back. I thought... never mind. Welcome back."

Adam nodded at her, "I'm sorry if we took longer then normal but we ran into... some trouble along the way."

"A little more then just trouble Adam." Neo added.

Adam rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well yeah a little more than that..."

She chuckled at him, "Well you can talk all about it over dinner. Oh, and Neo?"

Neo looked at her before he made his way down into the bunker. "Yeah Lavender?"

She smiled at him. "You'll be happy to know we're not having beans tonight."

"Yeah! Something different!" He exclaimed merrily before going down the ladder to the bunker below.

Together they all went down to the kitchen where the professor made meat steaks. The rich smoky flavor filled the room, Neo's mouth drooled as the smell of food filled his nose.

Adam and Allie came in and smelled the same thing, a rich flavor of sizzling goodness. "Wow, that smells really good." Adam commented to the professor before taking a seat at the table.

Neo sat down and watched him cook for a moment. "Yeah, I didn't know you could cook professor."

He nodded at him with a nervous, modest look. "W-why, yes. I-I've cooked f-f-for quite a while to be honest..."

Neo shrugged at him, "Never would have guessed it."

Lu sat down at the table with her bow untied in front of her. She fumbled the red ribbon around as she tried to tie the mischievous thing. "Big brother, could you help me..." She asked Neo.

"Sure Lu." Neo said with a smile.

He came over to her and showed her how to tie it on her head. He used to help tie bows similar to this with his mother when she was getting ready for an event or party.

The professor placed the now cooked meat on a plate and placed it on a counter. He opened a drawer and pulled out a razor sharp knife and started cutting up the delicious pieces of meat. He chopped them up harder and harder, "Damn it... I was so close to losing her, and those three... how did they make it out...?"

He soon felt a long sharp pain go across his left hoof. He dropped the knife and held his now bleeding hoof. "Damn it!" he swore quietly to himself.

"I'm sorry, I can't join you. Please help yourselves to the food." He levitated a serving of his own with his horn and held his bleeding hoof close to him before leaving the room.

Lavender sighed. "He never stops, always working."

"Has he always been that way?" Allie asked.

She hung her head with sorrow in her tone. "He's worked non-stop ever since my other sisters died."

Neo raised an eyebrow at her. "You had more sisters?"

She nodded grimly at him. "Four older sisters, each one of them got sick and died like my mother. I never really got to meet since I was just a foal when they were around."

Adam patted her on the back. "I'm sorry for your loss. I never knew my father if it counts."

Neo frowned at the mention of his father. "You don't want to know about him either, he's a lying bastard who didn't love mom at all. I'm glad he's gone."

"Neo, he's your father you shouldn't talk about him like- Never mind, let's just stop talking about it." Lavender interjected.

They all ate their food, which in a way cleared some of the sad feelings away. "Lavender, Where does your father get the meat?" Neo asked with some food in his mouth.

"Oh, he says he goes hunting every now and again. He brings back some wild animals and stores them downstairs."

"I see."

"When I see him again I need to give him his transistor, and then me and Adam need to look for this thing."

"Are you sure? I don't want to have you end up like the trader pony we have in the spare room."

Adam perked up a bit, "And how is she doing anyway?"

"Fine... she's still recovering but she should get better soon."

"Tomorrow, I can talk to her, and see what she knows about this monster and maybe we can finally catch it and continue looking for our mom in Arkcannon."

Lu shook her head at him. "Not before we battle the space monkeys, big brother."

They all laughed at Lu's statement, "Alright Lu, first we'll battle the space monkeys."

In a dark metal room the professor ate at his meat on the plate. He tore it madly with his teeth. He sat in a chair watching them on a monitor on a large terminal screen. "That caravan pony we have simply must go. I can't have them asking questions and snooping around. Not while I'm so close to another cycle."

He spun around and placed his hoof to his mouth and thought about what his next move would be. "My powers to drained to continue with caravans, and those damn guardian ponies didn't die like they were supposed to at the factory... but then again they brought back Lu, and I need her here... I might need to take them out the old fashioned way... Yes I'll do that, plus it will be more fun that way..." He started to chuckled to himself, as he thought of how the plan would unfold. The chuckle grew louder until it developed into a full laugh with a twitch in his eye. "And they think they can complete their plans... but, they... can't, catch, me... heh, heh...."

He calmed down for a moment and lay back in his chair, panting heavily. With a large devilish smile he said, “I think it’s about time I hurried things along. I won’t be long before I start the next cycle... not long at all...”

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Honest hearts: When talking to ponies telling the truth matters. When you tell the truth you gain a 20% chance in that option to convince ponies to do something or believe you.

Foot Note: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Canter on: You can now sprint longer, and tire out less often while sprinting.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

wayofthepen

LyonAzakura

(AN: I personally liked this and believe me when I say this, the next chapter will blow you away. I felt a few really good emotions while writing this, and to say the most I had quite a bit of fun with this chapter. Oh and for those of you who are curious the predators will come back later. So anyway, If you liked this chapter comment down below and tell me what you thought!)

Onward

CHAPTER 15: ONWARD

The sky was dark and thunder cracked silently in the distance in the early morning. None of this bothered Neo as he sat there on a rock with his forelegs folded looking blankly into the hills and far of mountains. Adam, who was five feet away from them had just finished packing their things once more, but he too said nothing and felt equally as sad as his older brother.

He turned to his brother to tell him he was done packing their things, but before he could speak he felt the words just die down and went back to their things. The bunker and outside was quiet and calm, only the sound of wind and dead shrubs blowing in the breeze could be heard. Allie sat with Lavender in her lap, she had stayed awake the whole night after what had happened. Inside she was scared and unaware of what she was going to do now, after all her life, home, and family were all gone now.

Allie had called the coalition outpost on a short range radio the professor had in his lab- no neither Adam nor Neo wanted to call it that now. Because it was a grave now. A grave for all those who the professor had killed, and his family.

They had dug a small grave next to the bunker for Lu, and Neo even carved her name and information into the wooden plank they had decided to use for her tombstone.

Adam sighed and turned to his brother who starred endlessly into the wide open world. "Brother... Lucy should be here soon, the coalition said they had called her to come check on us... and I managed to pack our things too..." But his brother didn't respond.

Adam decided it was best to leave him be. He didn't feel any different about what had happened, after all he shot the professor and killing a pony for the first time in his life was... he didn't like to think about it.

Allie looked out into the distance and saw a small yellow speck traveling through the sky. Lavender got up from her lap and watched the pegasus get closer to the bunker. Even Neo had seemed to notice her approaching them and got up all the while still having the same mournful feeling inside him.

Lucy came in slow pulling back on herself as she and her cart landed roughly on the dirt ground. She came up to them and pulled the wagon up to the side of the bunker. With one quick motion she removed the harness and trotted over to the four mournful souls.

At first she gave them her same old, quirky smile she always gave them, but upon looking more carefully her smile slowly faded as she felt something was wrong. "Sorry for being late, the weather’s kinda bad so it took me a bit longer then usual to get here."

"I don't care." Neo said negatively while grabbing his bags and and going back to the rock he was on earlier.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And what's wrong with Mr. Happy pants over there?"

Adam shook his head at her. "I'm sorry Lucy but now's not a good time."

She looked around at the rest of the group as if something was missing. "Where's the other daughter, you know the smaller one? L-Lu's her name right? I thought she was here too?"

The rest of the group gave her a sad look. "S-she's not with us anymore..." Allie stated grimly.

Lucy blinked at her, and respectfully took her fedora off and put it to her chest. "I-I see, so that's why Neo's the way he is?"

Adam nodded at her. "I'd rather not talk about it... too much has happened too fast."

Lucy rubbed the back of her neck nervously, which wasn't normal to see her do. "Well the news ain't gonna get much better..." Neo turned his head slightly toward the rest of them to hear a little better on what Lucy was going to say.

She put her hat back on and went through one of the buttoned up pockets on her duster. She pulled out a small folded letter that looked worn and old, "I was making some scrap runs in Maneton when that one pony named Kat came over and gave me this. She looked like shit and said I should give this to you, and to bring you back."

They all opened their eyes in surprise at what she had said. "Give me that!" Allie yelled in a slight panic taking the letter from Lucy.

Her eyes skimmed quickly back and forth as she read over the letter, as she read her expression became more and more scared. "Oh, my dear sweet Celestia..." She whimpered sadly.

Neo had got up as she had read it to herself and had come over to see what the matter was. He peaked at the note next to her and looked it over.

To Allie,

Sorry I haven't, well you know I tried to write to you and all. Not just that but getting this far alone to reach you was a miracle on its own. But anyway, look things have gotten bad here. I mean really bad, about three days ago a raider group attached the town, some of them managed to get through the wall. One of them had an RPG and took out one of the main supports of the building Newt and I were in. It took me awhile but I got Newt out pretty much untouched. But I can't say the same about myself, my leg got busted up pretty bad while I dug through the wreckage to save Newt. I still can’t feel it. Doc says I might not be able to use it again after that... But that's not all, like I said before things are rough right now, and I can't take care of Newt alone right now. So Allie if you're reading this, that guardian that took you needs to bring you back, cause I need you more then ever now.

- Kat

Neo stomped his hoof in the ground violently and turned away from the group gritting his teeth. "First Lu, and now you have to go too! Why! What did I do!"

Allie lowered her head in thought and Adam took lavender by the shoulder, this wasn't good for any of them especially her. "It's not my call sweet heart. She looked pretty banged up back in Maneton."

Allie didn't answer, but instead continued to think of the different outcomes depending on her answer. "But what about Lavender? And if Allie goes, who knows when we'll see her again!" Adam stated trying to comfort Lavender, who stood there almost on the verge of tears.

Lucy put her hoof to her face in frustration, "Listen Adam, it's not my choice, Kat needs her back. I'm just following the orders she gave me."

Adam looked at Lavender, who looked confused and sad. "What about Lavender? If she comes with us it might be dangerous, and I... I mean we, don't want to lose her too."

Lucy and Adam continued to talk back and forth about what would happen, what wouldn't, how everything would turn up. Inside Allies mind though she thought about how life could be in Maneton for her... She and Kat had the means to provide for another soul, and plus Newt would have another friend to play with back home. But Neo and Adam would be on their own, left out to be alone in the dark vast world.

She lifted her head and interrupted the two and their conversation. "I've made up my mind." She stated clearly.

They both stopped their conversation and looked at her eagerly. "And?" Adam asked.

Allie sighed heavily, "I'll go back, and Lavender will come with me."

Neo turned around sharply to her with a puzzled look. "W-what?"

She turned to look at Neo with a serious aura looming about her. "I'll take Lavender and go home. Kat needs me, and Lavender will be safe in Maneton."

"B-but... I thought..." Neo was confused, the very idea of her leaving left him almost speechless.

"Allie, you can't go... I thought you were going to help us..." Adam added sadly.

Lavender sniffed softly to herself as she latched herself to Adam’s foreleg. "It's alright Allie, besides I'll just cause more trouble, it's probably best I stay here and die. That way I can see Lu and mom again..."

Adam nudged her gently. "Don't think like that! Would Lu want you to do that?!"

"He's right, Lavender. You should listen to him." Neo stated duly.

"But... What will I do? How can I move on... just yesterday I was down in the bunker making breakfast with my sister and now... Everything... I-It's all gone..."

Allie came up to her and tried to give her a smile. "I'm sure you can help somehow. After all with only me taking care of everypony, it'll be hard on my own."

"But what if I..."

Allie put a hoof to her mouth. "You'll be fine. Plus living with us isn't so bad."

Lavender sat there thinking about it for a moment, as she thought she clung onto Adams foreleg. She sighed and let go of Adam. "I'll go... For Lu..."

Allie smiled and ruffled her mane a bit trying to act more happy than she really was. "That's the spirit, now let's go get you things. We won't be coming back here for a long time..."

She nodded plainly to her and went off to go get what little she had in the bunker. Neo came up to her and looked at her in the eyes. "So... this is goodbye then...."

"Yeah... I guess it is...."

"Kat needs you, and Adam and I still have a task we need to complete. That's the promise we made, and we intend on keeping it."

"I hope you find your mom, Neo."

Neo, with a little willpower, managed to muster a small smile. "Yeah, me too."

"Maybe we'll get to see each other again... You know, like we talked about in the sewer..."

Allie chuckled softly. "Yeah, not the best of places to ask me out."

Neo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I just hope everything works out in the end and-"

Just before Neo could finish she hopped at him and gave him a large emotional hug. "I'll really miss you and Adam..."

Neo put his metal foreleg around her. "I will too..."

Lucy rolled her eyes at them. "Sheesh, when did you two get so close, if ya need me I'll be waitin by the cart Allie. Oh and see ya Adam."

Neo nodded at her before Allie let go of him. Allie turned to the bunker and looked at Neo gently. "I'll go help Lavender pack... just, stay safe out there okay?"

"We will."

"You promise me?"

"I promise."

Adam got his saddle bags on and set his Pipbuck map to take them to Arkcannon, and with luck their mother would be there. That is, if all went according to plan. Neo and Adam, with their dusters flapping calmly in the wind said their goodbyes to Lucy and her cart again. And trotted over to Lu's grave one last time.

Neo came up to the small plank of wood with her name carved into it. Inside he felt his stomach churn, and his heart sink as he thought about the night before. "Lu... Whatever I do, I won't forget you. And as long as I live I won't let another filly like you get hurt by anypony..."

With that, Adam motioned for his brother to follow him and they went down the old pre-war road that would take them to the fabled town of Arkcannon.

Wind blew mildly on the two brothers as they marched down the old pre-war road. Cracks, dirt, and old carts from the old days dotted the road as they went on. Through the first few hours they had walked Neo had said almost nothing, occasionally he would ask Adam for where they were or how long it would take them before they would reach the town. Though Neo had his own Pipbuck that had their destination imputed into it, Adams was designed to calculated distance, time of arrival, and whether or not they had the supplies to make it there based on his inventory.

Though those were all things he had implemented as test programs for other things while in the stable. He never thought that he would be actually using using them, but then again here he was using those very programs.

It was about lunch time, well it looked that way. It would have been easier to tell if they could see the sun. Trees, or rather dead trees, and hills covered the land around them. The landscape gave them an empty feeling, because up until now they had been in places where there were lots of ponies, but now there was no one. Not a soul, and the only living things was them, and the few vultures above that would circle them then disappear only to come back again.

Adam sighed as he felt the soreness in his hooves ache terribly from the long walk. Even Neo felt it, and in a way Neo enjoyed the pain. It seemed to take his mind off the night before, and the fact that the only nice mare he's ever met had to go home.

"Brother, you think we should stop and rest for a bit." Adam said cautiously as the thunder in the sky grew louder.

Neo looked into the sky and the dark clouds that swirled and churned above them. "Yeah I think you're right. Maybe we shou-"

He paused for a moment when he felt a small drop of water hit his nose. "What is it?" Adam asked looking at him oddly.

Neo held his left hoof out to see if he could feel another drop. "I think I felt a drop of rain."

Adam too felt a small drop fall on to his ear. "Yeah I felt one too!" Then they felt another, and another. Till finally there was a gently down poor on them.

Neo frowned. "Great, of all the times in the world it chooses now to rain."

Adam chuckled at him, "Cheer up! It's not like a little rain killed-" He stopped speaking when he heard his Rad-meter on his Pipbuck start to tick madly. Neo's too was ticking at a fast rate.

Neo looked at his Pipbuck and then turned his head to the sky. "Adam the rains radioactive!"

"That's impossible, the rain wasn't in Ironhoof!"

"It doesn't matter we need to find cover, now!"

They both bolted down the road and looked for any kind of cover from the rain. Unfortunately the only things they found were melted down wagons, dead trees, and rocks. None of which would be of any help in this particular situation.

Then after traveling a little bit up the road they saw a small side path along the road which had a small collapsed shack next to it. In dire need of shelter they both dashed for it and found their way under the only dry place they could see.

They huddled up close as they listened to the rain beat the old collapsed metal roof above them. In a way, they both felt grateful that there was some protection from the rain, and in a way it made them finally decide that as magical as rain was that they hated it.

Adam and Neo shivered as a cool wind blew against them from under the small collapsed shack. Not only this but the radiation they had absorbed from the rain took effect as they felt themselves become weak.

Adam went into his bag and pulled out his only Radaway he had. He felt weak as the radiation slowly set itself into him. Neo didn't have any Radaways left, and as Adam had it there in his hooves he offered it to his older brother.

"Here," he coughed. "You'll need it to clear up," he coughed once more as he felt the effects get worse, "the radiation..."

Neo pushed it away and smiled at him. "You take it, you need it more then me... I'll-" he let out a loud cough of his own before finishing. "I'll be fine."

Adam looked at the orangish potion in his hooves and shook his head. "If you won't take it, then we'll just share it instead."

Neo coughed for a moment, "that sounds like a fine idea to me."

He popped open the potion and drank half of the orange liquid, then gave the other half to his brother. The effects work almost instantly and they could already feel a small bit of their strength coming back.

Down the road a bit, they heard the faint sound of music over the sound of rain battering metal. It was loud marching music, the kind ponies would play in parades or during celebration marches. A tiny spritebot passed by, as it did the music suddenly stopped and was replaced with Vladimir's voice.

"Greetings my loyal subjects! I have great news for you all, the new world has waited long and hard for a new ruler, and a new start. And I am here to tell you that that day is coming. Soon, my little ponies, the Legion will have the strength to reclaim this land, and purge those traitorous Coalition dogs, and put an end to this great feud between us. But until then do your part, support our soldiers and you too will live in a world of peace once more. This is your friend, your emperor, and your god. Signing out."

Neo rolled his eyes as the bot passed them. "Some god..."

Adam chuckled before coughing lightly. "He can dream can't he?"

"Even that seems a bit too good for him." Neo added playfully.

Then they heard the sound of heavy splashing coming from the way the spritebot came from. "Hurry Bill! Don't let that thing get away!" Called a hard, yet cheerful voice.

The owner of the voice came into view a few seconds later. He was a tan unicorn with a shaggy brown beard and a long dark coat that was covered with random junk. His horn was glowing around him which made a shield and protected him from the rain. A donkey behind him had a dull look on his face as he followed behind him. He had an old umbrella attached to a saddle on his back.

"Y'know Two's this isn't worth the trouble... it's just a spritebot...." The donkey said in a low deep tone.

The odd unicorn pony came up to him with a playful look on his face as he put his hoof to his mouth. "Shhhhhhh, you hear that?" he put his hoof off his mouth.

The donkey looked around for a moment and heard nothing but the rain against the shack and the rain itself. "What? The rain?"

"Nope, that's the sound of me not caring."

"So you not caring sounds like rain?"

"Yes," he boasted. "W-wait, no that's not what it sounds like!"

"But you said..."

"It doesn't matter what me not caring sounds like, Bill!"

The donkey, who by this point Neo and Adam assumed was Bill had a confused look on his face. The unicorn pony facehoofed himself. "Never mind, let's just get back to the tent, dinner should be done anyway."

Neo eyed them cautiously with his shotgun pulled out as he watched them walk away. "They didn't notice us brother."

Neo waited a few seconds and made sure he couldn't see the two before speaking. "I don't think they did. Let's wait for the rain to calm down before we move out ag-"

He was interrupted by the unicron who had managed to somehow pop in front of the collapsed shack and looked at them with a big goofy grin on his face. "Hello, were you here this whole time?"

Neo held his shotgun up ready to fire as he eyed him. "Yes, now beat it before I shoot you."

The pony still had his shield protecting him as he raised his hooves in the air in surrender while still maintaining his grin. "Whoa there buddy, I wasn't gonna harm ya. And old Bill here has got more fight in him then a baby foal."

The donkey named Bill duly walked slowly over to the unicorn and stood there next to him idly. "I don't care, just move on and I won't hurt you."

The unicorn chuckled a bit. "Your funny kid you know that?" He looked at the two Earth ponies in the collapsed shack and pointed to Adam. "Your friend there has got some decent rad poisoning, and you aren't looking too good either."

Both Adam and Neo were a little taken by his knowledge about them. "Shut up! Get moving or I shoot!" Neo barked at him.

He laughed once more and leaned over to his donkey friend. "Twenty caps if the kid doesn’t shoots us."

Bill sighed, "Whatever, you're always right with these kinds of things..."

"Heh, yes I am Bill. Yes I am."

"Well?" He grinned, "Shoot."

With the word shoot Neo felt the very same as he did the night before as the professor begged him to kill him. Taking the life of a raider was one thing, and an insane pony but he wasn't insane, or Neo thought he wasn't. Then again it all confused him. Neo yelled at him and pulled the trigger, and Adam covered his ears so he couldn't hear the two ponies die, or at least try to help not hear.

There was a faint clicking sound, and Neo froze. Wasn't there a shell in the gun? His EFS had said that it had ammo, but it didn't fire.

The unicorn pony lowered his hooves and shrugged. "What did I say? I told you it wouldn't fire." Neo just looked at him in shock, how was he right?

"That's a basic combat shotgun, most of them have a little pin you can see outside it pulled back when it's about to fire. Yours didn't have it back, so there wasn't a shell there. And I must say the pony that loaded that weapon did a half ass job of it."

Lucy... Neo thought to himself in anger and when he did check again, his EFS still registered there being no shells ready to fire. "We really didn't mean to harm you, just go on and leave us here." Adam asked nervously.

"Hey we don't want trouble, and you two guardians don't look like you're havin a good time under that metal shack. Or what's left of it anyway."

He calmly approached them and placed a damp hoof on Neo's gun and lowered it. "Just put the gun down boy, you'll shoot someponies eye out with that thing y'know."

Adam got up as high as he could and pulled out his laser pistol. "Why should we trust you? And why so accepting?"

Neo put his gun down and watched Adam point his weapon at him. "I'm sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Two Socks, traveling merchant and repair pony. I do acting, singing, and some magic tricks too! Because I‘m Two Socks the traveler, and I'm here to please you!" He chanted.

"Woo-hoo..." Bill added blandly.

He stepped back and pointed to the donkey behind him. "And this ball of sunshine is Bill. He's a donkey."

"I don't care," Neo interjected. "Now either you leave us alone, do something or I'll shoot." Neo said trying to be cautious before making sure there was a shell in his gun this time.

He shrugged once more with a calmer grin. "Suit yourself, I usually help guardians because it makes me look good in Coalition settlements, but you're not interested.... soooooo bye."

Just like that he spun around and motioned for his friend to come with him. "Come on Bill we've got a fresh meal waiting for us back at camp!"

Neo and Adam both felt their stomachs grumble as they heard him mention food. Though they had food on them the sound of a warm meal sounded good to them.

"Adam." Neo asked his brother in a whisper.

"What?”

“You think we should go with him? He seems nuts to me, but they said they have food and maybe even supplies we can buy off them. What do you think?"

Adam coughed hard for a moment before answering. On one hoof there was possibly food and a warm place to rest till the storm passed, on the other hoof they would get mugged and probably die. Then again, out here that could happen at anytime and always assuming everything was bad might be both a good thing and a bad thing.

"Let's give them a chance," he coughed once more, "maybe they can help mark down a faster route to Arkcannon."

Neo sighed, "If that's what you've decided the let's keep our guard up. Hopefully they aren't lying to us."

"Hey!" Neo called out from under the shack.

The trader pony and the donkey both turned around in surprise. "Changed your mind have we?"

"Yeah, we'd like it if you could help us... please..."

He shrugged once more. "I don't see why not."

He focused a small portion of his magic on the two and a small shield appeared over them. "Just come on out, I've got a shield blocking the rain for you!"

Neo looked to Adam and nodded, Neo got up and moved out slowly from the shack and put out his hoof for his brother. "We're making a gutsy move doing this."

Adam took his hoof and coughed for a second. "Yeah, I hope we're right about this."

They soon both were out of the shack and made their way to the unicorn who had both a small shield above himself and them. "Our camp isn't far from here, and just wait till I tell the rest of the caravan! Guardians, real guardians in our camp! Ha! This was a great day, minus that spritebot bit... but who cares! You guys are guardians, right? Yeah, well our caravan really likes the Coalition, yes we do!"

Neo whispered to his younger brother, "Come to think of it sitting inside that shack wasn't such a bad idea...."

Thunder cracked up above as the four ponies walked through the thick mud on the ground. Neo and Adams Pipbucks were covered in the muck, the only good news that came from out of this was the fact that their Pipbuck's rad meter wasn't going off. But besides their Pipbucks being covered it wasn't all bad, though the pony Two Socks as he called himself didn't like to stop talking.

From sports, to landmines, to places he's been, to things he's seen the list of things he talked about went on forever.

Finally, after what seemed to be an thousand years, they finally saw a small group of tents glowing in the distance. "There they are, our caravan! To think we managed to beat that monster thing and make it all the way past the killzone it lurked in."

Neo and Adam felt their mood sink instantly at the mention of the professor, "Say, Cool Blue said on the radio that the coalition got some nice guardians to help out with the problem. You two happen to know anything about that?" He asked curiously while still retaining his smile.

Neo frowned at him and turned away his head so he didn't look at him while speaking. "The only thing I know is that the thing is dead. That's it."

Two Socks rubbed his gruff bearded chin. "Ah I see, right that's good! That means business won't be as... risky."

Neo didn't answer, instead he just kept quiet to himself. "Yeah I guess so...."

Adam didn't say anything he found that if he talked about what had happened in the bunker it would only deepen the sadness inside him.

They soon entered the camp where about ten ponies worked on Brahmin and items under tent tarps that protected them and their things from the rain. A zebra with a black blindfold on and a tiger symbol on his flank stepped up to Two Socks with a rather agitated facial expression.

"Where were you Two Socks?" He cooed smoothly in his deep voice.

He shrugged at him. "Here, there, oh and I found some guests!"

The zebra looked at Adam and Neo distrustful glare. "Who are these two?"

"They're guardians... Me and Twos thought they might need help seeing as they were under a broken down shack." Bill commented.

Two socks nodded vigorously at Bill before turning his gaze back to the zebra. "Yeah, what he said, that's who they are."

He snorted at them. "We shall see..." He strolled over to Neo and Adam and looked them over, though it puzzled them both as to how he could see if he was wearing the blindfold.

"They are guardians, I can smell the dark steel of their badges. I feel they mean no harm." He said with a grunt before trotting over to the trader pony Two Socks again.

"Do not wander off again, as a member of Tiger Company, I and my squad have a duty to keep all of you safe, do you understand me?"

The unicorn nodded nervously. "Good."

With that he turned around sharply and went into a tent nearby. It was odd that the rain didn't seem to bother the zebra at all, the water was irradiated after all which wasn't good for anypony. The shields above both Two socks and the two brothers faded in and out frantically before coming back to normal a few seconds later.

Two Socks shook his head as if he were in pain. "Come on, let's get inside I can't hold the spell much longer."

The four ponies all entered a dull white tent that was at the end of the small camp. Each one felt a small tingle of warmth as Two Socks held the door flap open for the others, as soon as everypony was inside the tent he went in himself and closed the flap behind him.

"Well it's really bad outside, good thing it's nice and warm in here." The trader pony said taking off his jacket and plopping it on the floor as if it were trash.

Bill took off his umbrella and put it to the side and huddled around the small stove with a boiling pot in the middle of the room. Two Socks made his way to the center as well and looked over the stew in the center of the room which gave off a strong beefy smell that filled the room.

"Please," Two Socks said extending a kind hoof, "Sit, make yourselves at home. Just know that everything you see here is on sale! The only things that aren't though are myself and the crap on that coat over there. But Bill over there is up for sale if you're looking to buy."

The donkey snickered at him. "I was just kidding! Though if you find anything you like please say so."

Neo rolled his eyes and sat down in the the nearest clear spot he could. The floor of the tent was littered with mats, junk, more junk and knick-knacks everywhere. "Is this really where you live?" Adam said marveling over all the assorted crap on the ground.

Two socks nodded at him before tending to his soup, which look over cooked. "Eeyup, my- I mean our own little slice of heaven. At least until the group moves here in a day or so." He then picked up the ladle and put it to his mouth and sipped it loudly.

He smacked his lips tasting it. "Needs more paprika... well sucks we don't have any." He said contentedly before continuing to stir it.

Neo and Adam weren't too fond of this new pony, but his cluttered tent was a big improvement then that old shack. Adam still felt a little weak, for some reason Neo seemed fine, the only explanation he could come up with was that since his foreleg was gone it made him less rad absorbent so the radiation faded quickly from him when he took the potion. This was the only reason he didn't get radiation poisoning when when he saved Allie from the irradiated river in Ironhoof City.

Adam coughed hoarsely once more, Neo who was sitting next to him took his brother and held him still as he coughed hard. Two Socks looked at the two curiously, "Looks like he needs some Radaway, kids got a bit of the poisoning still in him."

Neo rubbed his brothers back as he recovered from the cough attack. "Just get some out of the satchel there, and don't try to take anything. I rigged most of the stuff here to explode if it leaves this tent without me disarming it."

They both looked at him like he was insane, would somepony really make everything rigged to explode if you tried to steal it? Was that possible? It was a confusing thought, one that not even Adam wanted to ponder.

Neo leaned over to the satchel and pulled out some of the Radaway inside it. He held it nervously as the thought of his other foreleg coming off if he took something raced in his mind.

"Here Adam." Neo calmly said to his brother as he gave him the potion.

Adam started to take the potion just as Two Socks had tried the soup once more. "It's finished!" He cried in a singing like manner.

As quickly as he spoke he levitated four bowls out from underneath one of the many piles of junk and plopped big spoonfuls of over cooked goop into each bowl. "Eat up! You'll need your strength if you are willing to buy anything!" Two sock then started to engulf the contents of the bowl furiously.

Even Neo cringed a bit at the sight. But he was hungry and at the moment food was food, and it didn't smell completely like crap.

Adam, who tried hard to eat his food, but something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. He noticed a small satchel laying across from him that read, "Secret shit" on it. In his mind he could only think of Two Socks coming up with that kind of name for something like that. That and it was drawing him to it, like a magnet to metal.

Just as Adam leaned over to look at it Two Socks quickly swiped up the bag and held it close to his chest. "Mine! You can look at everything, but this!"

Adam cocked his head to the side, "Why?" He asked.

"Just don't, okay there are things in this world nopony should see. Even one as young as yourself shouldn't look at stuff like this! Who knows what could happen to you..."

Bill yawned and lay back against the junk while putting his dirty empty bowl to the side as if it were nothing. "We'll two's I'm off to sleep, been a long day for me."

Two socks frowned. "Aw, but there's so much I want to talk about, and I need you to be awake to help tell these two!"

Neo and Adams eyes widened at thought. In fact, Neo almost spit out his food once he heard him say that. Adam on the other hoof felt just like not eating anymore.

Neo set down the bowl he was eating from down with a nervous looking smile as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, it's been a long day for me too, what with the rain and the walking, I think I'll try and sleep a bit too."

Adam looked clueless for a moment before answering in a stutter. "U-Uh... yeah! Me too, whoo, I'm beat. With being sick and all it really takes the life outta ya! So I'm with Brother on this."

The trader pony frowned again. "But I was going to tell you the time I was a courier, and the time I met a tribe of Buffalo and-"

In unison Neo and Adam smiled fake smiles at him and laid down. "Good night!"

He hung his head low. "But it's not even late yet, and I still need to show you my stuff we've got almost everything on-"

"Night!" Neo and Adam called out together.

Though the ground was hard, and the junk poked into Adam and Neo's legs it was a lot better than listening to that pony talk for another 200 years.

It was late now, crickets chirped quietly in the now dark night. Adam lay there uncomfortably and tired, this was really hell with no bed, terrible food, (Not to say that the food wasn't already old and stale) and what had happened a day ago lingered around in his mind. Not that this was important but he also wondered about what Two Socks might have in that bag. But if he had to guess it might be something stupid like a key to a lunch box, a hammer made of copper, or something like that.

Neo quietly tried to pack up their things quietly without waking up Two Socks or Bill. Though Neo personally didn't mind Bill, he was afraid he might say something and wake up the trader. Adam knew he was awake for a bit now, he just wanted to see if he could get some sleep that night, but it was hopeless.

The one thing they both were looking forward to was the town they were heading to, if their mother was there then not only would she be there they would be able to sleep in something close to a real bed.

This whole moment reminded him of when he was younger, as a young colt their mother would sing to them when they slept or if they had bad dreams or restless nights she would tell them stories about two brave ponies that went off to save a kingdom. Every time she told that story to them it would always remind them of her and their father. Adam never met his father, though the very few times their mother talked about him, she would always say he was nice, kind, and caring. That's all he needed to know, that when he died that at least he was those things.

A tear built up in one of his eyes and slowly ran down his cheek as he lay there and thinked about his family. Neo stopped his packing and looked at Adam with worry.

"You okay Adam?" Neo whispered.

Adam rolled around and wiped his cheek. "Yeah," he sniffed, "I'm fine..."

Neo wanted to say something, but he was afraid that if he spoke too much it might wake up the chatty unicorn. "Here." Neo said levitating Adams bags to him. "Make sure you've got everything with you before we go. We don't want to have to come back here because we left something."

Adam nodded at him with a sad look that. The image of their childhood, the memories they had as colts it was all so good. It was hard to believe that while they had that life others out here lived in fear for their lives everyday. They lived in a world where there was no clean place to live, no good food, and rain that could kill you. This was truly some cruel hell that fate had made to punish pony kind.

Adam got up and put his bags on his back, he had made sure he had his goggles and his duster with the badge they had been given to show that they were guardians.

Neo did his best to get his stuff on quietly and tip hoof to the door without making too much noise. His mechanical hoof, which tapped faintly against some of the metal items on the ground made him cringe as he made his way to the door. As he made it to the door flap of the tent Neo motioned his younger brother to come quietly.

Adam, who followed the same path to the exit as his brother, made his way over the assorted crap that littered the floor. Once he reached the exit he sighed and looked back for a second at the two sleeping souls in the dark tent. "Bye." Adam cooed to himself before both him and Neo left the tent and out into the damp outside world.

The air was cool, crisp, and moist as the world around them was dark and though they had learned from Lavender that most of the creatures came out at night they were determined to get to Arkcannon as soon as they could.

Neo looked at his brother before setting his Pipbuck to their destination. "Alright, we're good to go, the trip should only take us the rest of the night and half of tomorrow."

Adam smiled at the thought of their mother being at the town. "Good," Adam added, "Well let's get going the sooner we start the better."

"Wait." Whispered a calm strong voice from behind them.

They both turned around sharply in surprise, for all they knew it was Two Socks or another trade who might wake up the others.

Once they turned around they saw that it was the Zebra with the blindfold from Tiger Company. "Oh... it's just you..." Neo sighed.

He cocked his head to the side as if he didn't understand the statement. "You're leaving, correct?"

The both blinked at him. "Uh, what does it loo-" Neo stopped and realized again that he was blind. "Um, yes. Yes we are."

"You both are going to Arkcannon, correct?"

They both nodded at him. "Neo, Adam. Please hear me. Though I know you seek your mother there, not everything is truthful in these lands. Please know this as you travel."

They were both shocked, not only did he know what they did without saying anything, he knew what they were planning on doing. That or he could see, and he overheard about what they were doing. Either way they looked at it it still amazed them.

Beside the fact that they were surprised, Neo nodded at him weakly. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind." Neo turned around and motioned his brother to come with him off in the direction of the town.

Adam gave him a quick nod and thanked him before following his brother off into the night. "I hope the War chief was right about them..." He whispered to himself.

The main street of Maneton was quiet with only the lights that were strung across the tops of the buildings for light. Everypony was at home and quiet as the night slowly went on. Lucy alone walked down the street herself with her wagon behind her. She enjoyed nights like this, quiet, damp, calm. It reminded her of her home, and not the loud always bustling Ironhoof city. This was the main reason Maneton was her favorite places to go and do business in her spare time.

There were small puddles of water built up in small ditches in the road which glared the light from the buildings as she made her way to the bar at the end of the street. The same windmill and sign that advertised the boring little drinking center, so at least nothing stupid had happened while she was gone.

Once she got to the bar she unhooked herself from her wagon and kept the fedora attached to the wagon. She pushed open the swing open doors into the dimly lit bar inside. There were four ponies in the bar minus herself. An odd pony at the counter, and the bartender who looked slightly impressed as he watched the strange pony drink whatever he was drinking. Then there was some old drunk buck sleeping in the corner of a booth near the corner of the room. At his side was a mare who was writing something down next to him.

This is how she liked the bar. Quiet. She had a smirk on her face which shouted out that she had some smart remark coming up as she sat down next to the stallion who was at the counter. "Hey Wester, how ya doing ya old metal head?"

The stallion she was addressing was a large stallion covered with a large, thick leather duster which was battered and worn. From his forelegs to his hind legs almost every bit of him was covered with scratched and scarred metal armored plates. His chest piece had a small white W imprinted on his right breast. On his duster was a crudely drawn W where his cutie mark would be. His head had a soldier like helmet that was connected to a breather piece that covered his whole head. Two large pistols and a folded anti-armor sniper on his back hung loosely on him.

He ignored her, and she just watched as the bottom section of his mouth on his helmet separated with a faint hiss and formed a mouth. Within an instant he drank down what looked like dirty water in little under a second.

"We are functional." He had a deep almost soulless robot like voice, like that of a mechanical god or demon.

His jaw came back together with a hiss, and he turned his gaze to her. His eyes were covered by a pure red visor which did not show his emotion. "Good to know. Know seeing as you're here you got my message a few days ago."

"Affirmative." He answered.

"Right, so first things first, what are you doing right now?"

"Current objective: Survive. Main Secondary Objective: Find and kill Big Lot. First Objective: Meet Coalition Province Guardian 216, aka Lucky, or Lucy Luck at the Maneton Saloon at this hour."

Lucy took one of the many bottles on the counter and gave it a quick swig. The bartender didn't seem to mind, and continued with cleaning and maintaining the bar. "Well then, think you have enough room for another objective?"

It took him a moment to answer. "Affirmative, we have space for another objective. Note: Objective complete."

"Good," she grinned. "Besides you owe me. You still owe me, right?"

"Affirmative."

"Right, you see there are these two boys and personally I think they might need some... extra help out there in the wastes."

Foot Note: Level Up

New Perk: Cautious minded: You become more aware of traps! Every time you see a mine, tripwire, or other kind of trap you are alert of it before it can harm you or others.

Foot Note: Level Up

Would you like to Level Up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Wishful Thoughts: You think positively and wishfully! As you talk to others you are given new more positive speech options which give you good karma if you choose them.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Fragment12

Colonel Lat Muffin

Quad Ruple

(AN: I will give anyone points if they spotted the big reference here. This chapter was really fun to write, mainly the beginning and end, plus I got to introduce one of my favorite characters who we’ll see later. Well, as always if you liked this chapter tell me what you thought!)

The Town of Lost Hope

CHAPTER 16: THE TOWN OF LOST HOPE

Neo and Adam trudged tiredly down the road. Hills with dead pine trees and open land were unevenly spread in all directions. But both brothers didn't care what the land looked like, whether it be alive or dead, what mattered most to them was how far they were from their destination.

Their hooves ached, their backs were sore, and their bags felt heavy as they continued onward with determination. "Adam," Neo panted, "We’re... Almost there..."

Adam sighed and nodded at him sluggishly. "Yay..."

They had been walking for hours without stopping. It was late at night once they left, and now it was day, the same usual day as it was. Clouds covered the skies above, the wastes surrounded them, and all signs of life seemed to be sucked up by the grim bleak world.

Adam paused feeling the soreness overtake him, "Brother... I need to stop..."

Neo wiped his brow and looked at him with agreement. "I agree... We've walked quite a while..."

They both dropped themselves on the rugged black road and felt as the pain in their hooves melt blissfully away. They both moaned and sighed as the pain left. Neo pulled out his canteen, which was nearly empty. He looked down into the canteen and thought hard about whether he should drink the last bit of his water.

Adam puzzled the same, as he too pulled out his own canteen that was about to run dry. "I'm almost out of water, brother."

"Same here. How far is the town from here?"

Adam looked at his Pipbuck map. "About seven miles from here." He said with a hint of enthusiasm.

Neo smiled and took a sip of the last of his water. "Good, we'll rest for another second and keep going."

Adam drank his own water and frowned at him. "But, we've only just stopped, and the town is still a ways off."

He put his canteen away and moved over next to him. "I know, but think of all the rest and stuff we can get once we arrive. Warm food, real beds, and water. Lots and lots of water..."

Adam nudged his brother playfully. "Stop it, I just ran out and you'll make me thirsty again."

He smiled at his little brother and stood up with a moan. "Damn, that doesn't feel good..."

"Aren't you getting up?" Neo asked him with a few blinks.

He felt nervous, sitting down the pain was gone, and after seeing his brother get up only reminded him that the dull soreness in his hooves would come back once he got up. "Yeah, give me a sec."

His older brother put out his metal foreleg that he had built for him. "Here." He said offering him help.

Adam sucked it up and took his brothers hoof and helped him up. Though the pain wasn't as bad as it was a few minutes ago, his hooves were still sore.

Once they were both ready again, they trotted up the road bit more, in the distance, they could see old houses that were abandoned by farmers in the old days. They checked a few of the carts ahead, but found only a few bottle caps and a rusty spoon. Though what was puzzling was, why someone would leave a rusty spoon in a cart, but then again, it didn't really matter.

Up ahead of them, they could see an old roadside pit stop with a large red arrow like sign that was tilted advertised that it was there. Adam looked off into the distance and pointed it out to his brother. "Do you see that?"

Neo looked out into the distance in the direction his brother pointed to, and there, far off down the road, was the small roadside building. "Yeah, maybe there is something there we can loot. Like water, or better."

"And even if there isn't any loot, we can take another break once we get up there."

He looked up at his brother. "Can we take another break there?" He asked sheepishly as he felt the soreness in his hooves.

Neo nodded at him calmly, with an equally calm smile. "Sure, and the town shouldn't be too far off from that place anyway."

Together they made their way to the roadside pit stop. It took them about an hour to get over to the place, which was much longer than they had hoped. But on the way, they didn't pass up the chance at checking each chart, box, and thing worth looking at as they went over to the building. Unfortunately, their search proved to be unfruitful as usual.

As they came up to the cracked pavement of the roadside building, they approached it cautiously. It had boarded up windows, peeling walls, and huge cracks running up and down the dull red building. Even the door looked like it had been boarded up, and recently too. Though the hinges still show, and it looked like the door might have been boarded up as a re enforcement to make it stronger.

From outside, a foul smell lingered faintly around the building. A little nauseous by the smell, Adam got out an old rag he had in his bags and put it on his face. After he pulled out the rag, he had felt a slight hint of fear tingle down his spine which urged him to pull out his laser pistol for good measure, just in case anypony inside wasn't too friendly.

Adam bucked open the rusted boarded up door to the old rest stop along the road. It was dark and musty, and it smelled of rotting flesh. Adam levitated his laser pistol in front of him as he looked at the inside of the old building.

"You find anything Adam?" Neo said from behind him.

"No, but it looks like this place might have some stuff in it." Adam said putting the rag over his face tighter to hold back the smell.

Neo noticed his brother putting the rag on. "That’s probably a good idea, Celestia knows what kind of stuffs in there." He said getting his own rag out of his saddle bag and placed it over his mouth and nose.

Neo levitated his combat shotgun off his back and put it to his side. "Is anypony in home?" He called into the dark room.

Adam took a step inside. "I think its safe." He stated before moving into the building.

Neo followed him into the old prewar building. The building had small blackened shelves that covered the inside of the only room. Small papers and rusted cans littered the floor, only the sound of the wind outside could be heard from the inside of the dark building.

The two brothers looked around the room for a moment to see if there might be anything they could loot. In the room there were only two things that looked interesting, one was a semi-operational Sparkle Cola machine, and a safe that looked untouched on a wall behind a counter.

Neo turned to his little brother. "Look around for food, I'd like to see if there's anything to eat, I'm starving." He said keeping his voice low.

Adam nodded back to him. "Yeah I could really go for an apple right about now." He mumbled rubbing his empty stomach.

Neo made his way to the counter, and Adam started to look down each row of the old shelves, but there were only cans and dust.

"Ah shoot." He swore as he turned back to his brother. "There's no food over here, or anything for that matter." He called to him.

Neo looked back at Adam before going over the counter. "Right, lets check the safe over here and see if there's anything worth taking."

Adam nodded at him and started to make his way to the counter. Neo hopped over the top of the counter only to step right onto a decomposing corpse.

"Ah!" He yelped as he jumped back at the sight of the dead pony.

It was an earth pony, she had a yellow mane and a tattered blood soaked coat. She looked like she had been dead for two days at least. She had a large laceration across her neck, the old pool of blood that surrounded her had mostly dried up.

Neo stepped over the body and knelt down to it. "Oh no..." He sighed sadly as he closed her eyes with his right metal hoof.

Adam came up to the counter to see what his brother was doing. "Brother, did you find-" He stopped talking when he saw his brother hovering over the dead body.

"She looks a little older than me." Neo said mournfully. "Poor thing, she didn't need to die this way." He continued.

"How did she die?" Adam asked sounding just as sad as his brother was.

He pointed to the large gashing scar on her neck. "She got her neck sliced. I'm guessing she used to run this place. Then somepony thought it was a good idea to kill this poor thing."

Adam looked down at the body once again. "How do you know that?"

He looked up at Adam. "I don't. I'm just assuming what happened." Neo said before getting up and patting himself down.

Little puffs of dust came off him as he cleaned off his duster with his hoof. "You can put your gun away." He said putting his own on his back.

"Yeah, its probably best if we put our guns away." Adam chuckled.

Neo turned around to the safe behind him on the wall with a bobby pin ready. "Hey Adam? Do you have your screwdriver with you?"

"Yeah, I didn’t want to leave it behind." He said cheerfully as he gave Neo his blue screwdriver.

"Thanks Adam." He said as he took the screwdriver and started to work on the lock.

He jiggled the screwdriver around in the lock a bit, but the first bobby pin broke. "Damn it!" He swore before getting a new one and trying again.

Adam had decided that he should check out the old Sparkle Cola machine and see if it still had something in it. On his way to the machine he heard a loud snap, followed by a "Damn it" from his brother. He chuckled a bit as his brother continued to struggle with the safe. Once he had made it to the Sparkle Cola machine he started to inspect the the large machine. Its lights that advertised the beverage flicked on and off frantically.

"At least it still works." Adam said as he pulled up his Pipbuck to look through his inventory.

Luckily for him he still had four bits from the last place they looted, which was the old factory with the predators. So, he took all four bits and slid them into the coin slot. Then, he pressed the button for the Cola and just like that within seconds he heard two loud thunks come from the bottom of the machine.

There at the bottom lay two Sparkle Cola's neatly inside the dispenser box at the bottom of the machine. "Brother! I got Sparkle Cola's!" Adam called back to his brother.

Neo didn’t hear his statement and continued working on the safe. "Yes!" He cheered as he opened the safe with his two hooves. His eyes were glistening at the thought of what treasures the black safe might hold. His good expression was killed when he opened it only to find a few notes and three bottle caps.

"Really Celestia? Really?" He said pointing his head to the ceiling.

Adam creeped up behind him with the Sparkle Cola's. "What's the matter?" He asked standing at the counter.

Neo turned sharply forgetting about the safes contents. "I give up! You win Celestia, are you happy now?" He yelled looking up at the ceiling.

Ignoring his big brother’s behavior, Adam smiled at his brother and shook the bottles around. "Look, I got two bottles out of the machine."

Neo looked at his brother with a bland facial expression which wasn't noticeable under his face mask. "How is that supposed to fix our food problem?"

Adam shrugged. "It won't, but at least we can drink something."

Neo hopped over the counter. "I'll have to admit, it at least fixes out thirst problem." He said trying to look on the positive side.

Together both brothers went outside and sat down at a old wooden bench outside the front of the rest stop. The brothers both took off their masks as they stared into a small pair of depressing rocky hills. Neo was slouching back on the bench lousily as he sipped the carroty sparkling cola. His hooves felt relieved as they pain had slowly died away from the endless amount of walking they had done.

"You know Adam, just behind those hills in front of us is the town of Arkcannon. Our destination."

He took another sip of the Sparkle Cola before continuing. "Just think about it for a second. Its been two days since we've seen real civilization, and two days since we've had a proper meal that isn't crap... I miss those beans Lavender made..."

Adam smiled at the thought of a nice meal. "I miss them too, and if you don't stop talking about food you're going to make me more hungry than I already am!" He said nudging his older brother playfully.

He returned the chuckle. "Yeah, I'm gonna make myself more hungry than I already am too."

"Yeah..." He said calming down.

Neo blinked at him. "Something on your mind?"

He shook his head as he looked at the almost empty Sparkle Cola in deep thought. "It's just..."

"Just what?"

"What if mom isn't there... and what that Zebra said... it bothers me a bit."

Neo shrugged at him. "Meh, don't listen to him. He was just speaking crap, he doesn't know anything about us."

Adam was about to respond till he caught a whiff of burning smoke in the air. The smell was followed by faint sound of loud gunshots in the distance. "Do you smell that?" He asked getting off the old bench.

"Smell what?" Neo said getting up from the bench.

Neo smelled the wind for a second, the smell of burning timber and gunpowder faintly crossed his nose. "Yeah I smell it too."

"Do you think it's-"

Neo finished his sentence with a worried tone, "Arkcannon."

"Yeah."

"It could be. I hope it isn't though."

Neo pulled up his Pipbuck to look at a map of the area. "I have the town marked, and yes its just a few miles beyond those hills."

"Should we check it out?"

"It wouldn't be the worst thing to do, plus, from up on top of those hills, we should be able to see the town."

Adam nodded sternly at him before they both galloped up the nearby hillside. After maneuvering their way through the rough twisted hillside. They slowly approached the top, but once they got to the top they were completely taken by the horrific sight before them. In front of them was a large flat plain, and at its center was small town made up of tiny metal shacks.

The small town was surrounded by a tiny metal wall, the towns gate was busted down and its walls were filled with large gashing holes. The large stacks of smoke coming from the settlement added to the dark gruesome scene. But the one thing that bothered the two the most, was the large green flag with a black horse shoe in the middle waving in the center of the town.

Both of them were completely shocked. When they told them there was a war between the Ironhoof Legion and the Steelhoof Coalition but they never thought they would actually get caught up in it.

"They said this was a Coalition controlled settlement! They said the war was in the north!" Adam yelled as he was looked down at the burning town.

Neo was still shocked, his face was baffled by the scene. "Adam, somethings happening. This place wasn't supposed to be touched, it was supposed to be safe."

Adam looked up to his older brother for answers. "What are we going to do?"

"Hope Adam. Hope they haven't killed everypony yet. Because right now, thats all we can do."

Adam frowned and looked down at the town with panic in his eyes, "What if mom is there? What if they're doing something to her!"

Neo didn't turn to him and looked at the town with a glare of determination as he gazed at the burning down. "Like I said, let's hope that isn't the case. It's probably best we get down there and see just what the hell is happening. Hopefully, we're not too late..."

It had taken them an hour to climb down the hill and walk the vast open plain that surrounded the town. In the distance were godlike mountains that had peaks which pierced the massive sea of clouds above. They could see as they came up to the town the large stacks of smoke that towered high into the sky. They trotted at a hustling pace so they could see the damage done to the town, and maybe, just maybe, their mother was there and she was all right.

The green Legion flag that flew high in the sky was clearly visible now, like a dark shadow, it cast a dark aura over the land around the town. The feeling of panic, and anxiety ate them, and it only got worse the closer they got to the town.

Within moments the once small wall that covered the town from the distance was now more clear and detailed. Holes were scattered across it, as if it had been pelted by large shotgun shells, though the real question still echoed and lingered in their minds as to whether their mother was there.

They saw the gates and paused as they say the two large doors to the village broken down and bent inward as the lay there at the side of the opened gate.

In horrifying awe, the two brothers looked carefully at the town as they heard the faint sound of gunshots and shouting on the wind.

"Brother... I-I'm scared..."

Neo gulped hard, "I-I am too..."

Adam took a deep breath and stuck out his chest sucking up all the courage he could muster. "B-but mom's in there... And those ponies... T-they need help."

Neo tried with all of his might to shake the fear from himself, which proved to be pointless. "You're right Adam... we need to do this, after all, we've come this far haven't we?"

He nodded sternly. "Right then," Neo added, "Let's do this."

Once again they each took a deep breath in, and made their way to the gates ahead of them.

There was a small dirt road leading from the front gate into the center of town. Standing post at the entrance were two Legion soldiers clad in thick green military armor with their identities hidden by thick pre-war gas-masks. Both of them happened to be unicorns who toted in bleeding tangerine auras semi-automatic rifles that looked sleek -- perhaps even fabricated in the town itself.

On the soldiers' backs were swords sheathed in new tanned leather bearing the Legion's horseshoe crest.

They noticed as Adam and Neo approached the gate and readied their weapons. "Halt! Who approaches the gate?"

Adam and Neo tried their best to hide their fear as they came up to the two guards. "I am Guardian Neo, and this Province Guardian Adam. We just want to get into the town."

The guards looked at each other before looking back at the two brothers. "Captain Cyrus has given us orders to not let anypony in the town, and anypony that leaves is to be shot on site."

"You'd be smart if you just turned around and went back the way you came." Said the other guard.

Neo lowered his head for a moment and took a minute before he answered the guard. "Alright, I see. We'll just head back then."

Adams eyes widened, "B-but..." He whispered to him.

Neo gave him a serious glare. "Thank you for your time." Neo said turning around.

Adam, who was completely speechless followed his brother away from the town. "But brother why did you say that! We can't just give up that easily!"

"I know, but we're not going in through the front. If we knocked those guys out then who knows what would happen if more guards came. So, since there are these holes in the walls then maybe..."

Adam started to catch on to his idea. "Then maybe we can get in the town through the gate!"

Neo nodded confidently. "This way, we won't have to stress ourselves out, and we'll less likely die."

Adam agreed and followed his brother till they were out of sight of the two guards at the gate. Then they went around to the side of the wall near the gate, and looked for a weaker part in the wall that had taken more damage. It took them a few tries and a few minutes of searching but after awhile of pushing on the wall, and shaking it as discreetly as possible they finally found a section that was big, and weak enough for them to slip into.

They removed the part of the wall that was loose and slipped inside. Neo let Adam go through first as he watched the for guards that might be patrolling the wall. Fortunately the coast was clear, which was a big relief to them both as Neo slipped in next through the hole and carefully places the metal sheet back where it was.

A hard nervous feeling grasped them as they scanned the area around. On the other side of the wall were several buildings, each one was either made of a dark dull brick, or a roughly constructed structure made of only metal sheets and steel beams. They were behind a building, and the shadow from the building helped hid them well.

Neo went over to the corner of the building they were hiding behind and looked down the alleyway to the main street. Several boxes and cans covered almost the whole alley, so he couldn't see much more then the boxes and cans themselves.

Adam looked around the corner after his brother and listened to the loud shouts that came from the street on the other side of the junk. He felt himself grow sick as he heard the sound of cries of pain that came from ponies he couldn't see, and to some degree it made him deadly curious. Curious to see what just was going on.

Neo put a hoof to his mouth to make sure Adam understood they needed to be quiet. So, before they moved on any further, Neo removed his duster and put it in his bag.

Adam gave him a puzzled look. "Brother, what are you doing?"

After he had finished stuffing it in his bag he looked at him and pointed to his duster. "I realized our dusters make us dead giveaways if were spotted. This way we look like normal towns ponies, or at least that's what I'm hoping."

Adam thought about it for a moment, and his brother was right, if the Legion spotted them like this they were unsure what would happen. Then again, their levitation saddles would show and that could be disastrous.

“Brother, what about our saddles?”

“Just keep the strap on your bag over it, that should work for now.” That did make sense and at least this way they had a better chance at looking around the town.

He then took off his own duster like his brother did, and nodded at him that he was ready to move again. Neo nodded back at him and then trotted softly off down the wall till they found an alleyway that wasn't blocked off.

After looking down a few alleys, they found one that was empty. As calm and unnoticeable as they could they went through the alleyway and into the main street that ran through the town.

Ponies were lined up along both sides of the street, they were crying and comforting their loved ones as they watched what was happening in the center of the street. They carefully moved into the crowd and did their best to blend into the townsfolk.

In the center, ponies with green armor and the same masks covering their faces stood at attention as a pony without a mask walked along each side eyeing the ponies of the town. Among the normal Legion soldiers were three large black wagons that we entirely made of metal, they had four large wheels, and a monstrous like turret on the top which had a gun that look like it could punch a hole through a stable door. Pulling the wagons were large thick green armor covered stallions that had massive steel helmets covering their heads.

As the pony who walked up and down the crowds for a second time came back up to the end of the crowd that Neo and Adam were in, he paused and looked at the whole population of the town. I didn't occur to the two brothers but off to the side wagons that were covered with tarps were covered in flies as Legion soldiers loaded up bodies of ponies onto them roughly.

"Citizens of Arkcannon." He boomed. "You have just seen what happens when there are those who defy our order!"

He began his walk down the crowd of ponies once more. "Order is Law, and Law is Order. In order for any society to survive we must have order! Without it, we are nothing more than Equestrian ruffians! But in order to maintain law, we need supplies, and Legion law dictates that every settlement under Legion control must give a total of five thousand pounds of food every three weeks. The punishment, as you have seen just now, is that for every one hundred pounds not given one pony dies."

He stopped his march once more and turned to the whole town sharply. "Now, for this cycles trials."

With that, there was a loud murmur over the whole town. He motioned one soldier to come next to him, the soldier who he called pulled out a piece of paper and held it to him so that he could read it.

"Breeze Heart. Step forward." There was a moment of silence as he eyed everypony carefully.

"No?" He cooed. "Well then..."

"You!" He pointed over to a unicorn mare in the crowd randomly.

She stumbled out of the crowd shaking nervously, "Up here. Don't be shy." He called to her pointing in front of him.

She moved slowly up to him and stood quivering in front of him. "Breeze Heart, you have been accused of being in contact with the Coalition and violating Law 17 of the Legion. As punishment for your crimes, you will have your wings removed by sword."

She didn't dare look at him in the eyes as fear overtook her. "B-b-but, I'm n-not a p-pegasus..."

He looked her over real quick before nodding at her. "Indeed. So you'll suffer the same fate as those who broke Law 19."

Her eyes widened as she got down on the ground and pleaded to him with huge watery tears rolling down her cheeks. "Please! I'm not her, I didn't do anything!"

He nodded at two guards who bolted over to her and held her still. "Then let her come out to get her punishment!"

One of the guards who held her down gave him a sword they had on them. The sword had a strap so that it could be used by an Earth pony. "Please!" She cried as he placed the sword to the base of her horn.

"As the right of the Ironhoof Legion, I do so hereby charge you as guilty of treason, murder of Legion soldiers, and of illegally opposing the judgement of the Legion."

He lifted the sword up and prepared to bring it down with brutal force but just before he let it strike down on the poor unicorn, another mare called out and stepped out of the crowd. "Wait!" She cried.

He paused and looked at the beautiful pegasus come out with a regretful look in her eyes. She was small, with a fine build and two powerful wings. "Fine.” He said, giving the blade back to the soldier.

He slowly walked over to her, and nodded at a soldier to come over to her. "Remove... One of her wings."

The armor clad pony soldier loomed over the pegasus mare, and gave his sword to the captain. He placed one of his free hooves on her head and pushed it low to the ground so that her breathing could be seen puffing small clouds of dirt. Placing the blade to the base of one of her wings she struggled a bit gritting her teeth at him as she glared at him angrily.

Before he performed her punishment he leaned down to her face and smiled. "You have lovely wings. A shame you had to use it against the new order. But then again, what did I expect from a rebellious pegasus. Your entire race is pathetic."

She spit in his face a she held her head against the ground. He flinched as her spit hit his face, and with a calm movement he wiped it off and proceeded to punish her for a crime Neo or Adam didn't know about.

"Rot in hell..." She muttered under her breath.

"Oh, gladly." The captain said with a smile before striking down on the base of her wing.

The entire town turned their head as he hacked at her wing. Her screams of pain echoed through the quiet town. Blood covered the area around the captain and the mare. He gave back the soldier his bloodstained sword and held her now severed wing for the whole town to see.

"This is what happens! Two weeks! Don't disappoint us next time!" He dropped her wing next to the mare who was shivering and paralyzed by the pain of having her wing removed.

The Captain jerked his head and motioned his hoof for all of the soldiers to move out. For a brief moment he looked back to the sorrow filled ponies. "You know the consequences!" With that, he and the rest of the Legion soldiers, and their armored wagons, dashed down the road and out of the town. It took a minute or so before all of the soldiers had completely left the town.

A faint cloud of dust was left in the air as the town watched the soldiers leave in the distance. A pony with a stetson stepped out to the mare in the road and went down to her. "You folks know what to do." He called in a mournful tone.

A pony who looked like a nurse came up and picked her up and took her to the building across from them which had a large red cross above the door. The large crowds dissipated into smaller groups that went off to do different things in the town. A grim and sad feeling hovered over most of the town as they all went sluggishly about doing what they were supposed to.

Adam felt queasy, he held his stomach as he recalled the punishment he had just witnessed. "Brother... I think I'm going to get sick..."

Neo patted Adam on the back, reassuringly while he watched the ponies go about doing things for a moment. "And who the hell are ya'll two?" A voice asked negatively from behind.

Neo turned around with his brother, who still looked sickly. The pony behind them was a pony in a thick leather trench coat and a rusted iron star buttoned to his dirty white stetson. He was an Earth pony, with a fine build and a light brown coat. "I said, who the hell are ya'll." He added forcefully.

"Oh..." Neo said in a slight daze for a moment, "Here, one sec." He took out his duster, and with a little effort he put it on the way he had it before he came into the town. Then he pointed to the small little metal sun on his collar. "I'm Province Guardian Neo. This here is my little brother Adam, he's a Guardian like myself."

The rough stallion glared uneasily at him. "We'll see..."

Adam looked dizzy. "Yeah... I'm gonna puke..."

The stallion ignored Neo's sickly brother, who at the moment was vomiting what little food he had in him up on the dirt road and continued to look Neo over. He went to his badge and bit it curiously, then he proceeded to sniff Neo's neck. Both of the things he did made him feel violated, after all, this random pony, whom he assumed was the sheriff, was biting and sniffing him. The sheriff reeled back from the slightly disturbed pony and looked back at him with a small smile on his face.

The sheriff took one of Neo's hooves and shook it warmly. "Sorry for the rudeness, Ah'm tryin to keep my town safe, and you can't be too open with just anypony, y'know."

Neo awkwardly chuckled. "Also sorry fer yer brother there, sorry ya needed to see that. She should be fine... her wing won't work, but she'll be jus fine, hopefully, we got good medical care here."

He stopped shaking his hoof and patted Adam on the back a few times as he recovered from puking. "You gonna be okay, Adam?"

He wiped a bit of the puke that was still on his face with his hoof. "Yeah... I'll be fine..."

"Heh," the sheriff chuckled. "Well, anyway, welcome to Arkcannon, not much of what it was, but these are trying times, and we're doing our best to git by as ya just saw."

"As for me, I'm Sheriff Westwood. Ever since the Legion came by and killed the coalition soldiers a bit ago, me and a few others are the only protection this here town has."

He took off his hat and placed it to his chest, “And I regret that, even though we try ta get by with them bastards, life ain't much easier here than it was b'fore."

Adam groggily put his duster on as the sheriff described the towns condition. "But enough of that, what are ya'll doing here?"

Neo gave him a serious stare. "The coalition sent us to check on the town, but it looks like things aren't too great over here."

Westwood’s jaw almost dropped as he heard Neo speak. "Yeeee-haa!" He cheered, almost throwing his hat into the air.

Neo and Adam looked at each other as they watched the pony celebrate to himself. "If ah weren't a stallion, I'd hug ya! I knew the coalition ain't forgot about us! I jus knew it!"

Those words made both of the feel warm inside, as if they were finally doing something right for once. "Yeah, they sent us, but we're also looking for somepony too..."

He stopped his cheering and looked at him contently. "Ah see, what can I do ya for? Who is it ya'll lookin fer?"

"A pony by the name of Dahlia. She's about Adam's height, blue, has a Pipbuck. Does any of that sound familiar to you?"

He scratched his head for a moment. "Can't say ah have... But if she's around, she might be at t'clinic over yonder." Westwood pointed to the clinic that pegasus mare was taken to.

"They might’ve saw somepony like that, but ah'm not sure."

The very mentioning of their mother being in that very clinic sent their hearts a flutter. Joy and relief soared inside them as they could feel their quest coming to an end. Both brothers smiled at him. "Thanks, this means a lot to us."

He tipped his hat to them. "Ain't nothin. But shoot, you fellars need a place to sleep, ah'll tell Cotsworth at the inn you folks need a place. Ah can't wait to tell the town that real guardians are here, boy won't they be happy!"

A mare came up from behind him and tapped him on the solder with a dark sadness in her voice. "Sheriff, some of us are going to put those souls we lost today at rest. Care to help get the families and graves ready? We want those poor souls to at least have a proper place to rest."

The sheriff nodded to her reassuringly. "Ah'll go now if ya need me."

"Yes, that would be nice, my friend’s sister was killed as part of this cycles punishment, and we want to have real ceremony for her."

He gave her a slight nod and turned back to Neo and Adam for a second. "You boys take care now. After ya'll are done at the clinic, head on over to the inn and Cotsworth will get ya a bed setup."

"Alright, thanks again Sheriff."

"Anytime." After that he looked at the mare and they both went off across the street to where the legion had piled bodies in the carts.

Neo sighed, and turned to look at the clinic. "We're almost there..."

Adam too took a moment to look at the clinic. "Mom..."

"This is it," Neo whispered to himself, "This is the end of our journey."

The door to the clinic was opened with a loud creak, and a small bell jingled on the corner of the doorframe as the two brothers came in eagerly. There was a small old wooden desk that had a chair and a small terminal, the wall behind it had posters of a yellow mare that advertised something called the ministry of peace.

Old pictures and knick-knacks covered the rest of the old peeling wall. To the right of the desk was a worn wooden door that lead off into the back part of the building. Both Neo and Adam went up to the desk and rang the little bell that was on the it. But, like they had guessed, no one showed up.

There were also three old school chairs in the room, which they had assumed were for waiting ponies who had loved ones in the clinic. But the room was empty, and the old sound of creaking ached in the floor. And the sound of yelps and ponies rushing behind the door that was next to the desk.

Once again out of curiosity, Adam ringed the tiny bell on the desk, and like before, nopony showed up. Neo shook his head in frustration. "Screw it! We didn't come this far to be stopped by waiting for service!"

With that, he marched up to the door and went through. Adam tried to stop his brother from doing such a rash thing. But it was too late. He was head strong when it came to things like this, and trying to stop him with something like this was almost impossible to do.

Adam felt a little guilty for not giving them time to come and help, but then again, he wanted to see if their mother was really here and the anxiety ate him from the inside out. Inside the door, was a long room that had two opened windows at the end. Eight green medical beds were lined up against the wall with stands piled with blood soaked bandages. Six of the eight beds were taken by ponies who looked injured horribly. The room itself smelled of blood and warm meat. Nurses and normal ponies alike dashed back and forth taking care of five of the injured ponies who screamed and wailed as they had stitches, or limbs fixed up in a brutal medieval like fashion.

One pony in the far corner who had a cast on his leg lay there contently helping the ponies who were tending to the others by giving them medical supplies as they passed him. He had a yellow coat, and a fairly spiky red mane with deep red eyes.

An earth pony mare who was passing by the two brothers stopped and looked at them oddly, like as if they didn't belong. "Can I help you? We already have enough ponies being treated as we speak." She said in an agitated rushed tone.

Neo nodded his head at her. "I understand, but this won't take long. We just want to know if you're caring for a specific pony here."

She turned around and pointed to a clipboard on the wall at the end of the room. "Look over that, if they came in here then they'll be on that list. Now if you excuse me, I need to get some Med-X for a patient." With that, she took off down the room and over to the unicorn at the end who gave her what she needed.

With a light trot they both made their way to the end of the room and looked over the clipboard and the many names that covered it. Each brother muttered to themselves the names of the ponies as they looked through each one of the names that were listed. Neo started with the first name, as Adam would mutter the next.

"Lemon Jello, no."

"Fitz, no."

"Bloomberg, no."

"Cranberry, no."

They scanned the paper again, and again but no sign of their mothers name. Neo got angrier and angrier with each passing name. "No... no... no! No! No no no no!" He screamed.

Neo shoved the clipboard of the wall and hit the wall with his metal foreleg with brutal force. He grit his teeth as his brother looked sadly at the clipboard on the ground. "S-she's not here...."

Neo stomped his hoof hard on the ground in anger almost breaking the old wood floor. "Of course she isn't! I see it all now! Damn it! Why was I so stupid to not see it!?"

Adam cautiously approached his brother. "Maybe, there was a mistake! Maybe they didn't write her name or..."

Neo turned sharply to Adam and looked him straight in the eyes. "Don't you see Adam. They used us! Lucy signed us up, just to go on some wild goose chase for them! We did what we were told for nothing! I watched Lu die! I, Allie, and you almost died to escape those predator things, for what! We came all this way, FOR NOTHING!"

Tears began to build up in his eyes as he lowered his head. "Adam... My little brother..." He sobbed to himself.

Adam was on the verge of tears as well. "What is it, big brother?"

"I-I'm so sorry." He said giving him a hug and sobbing into his shoulder. "I didn't want any of this... I... I just wanted us to be a family again..."

Adam patted Neo on the back and let out a few of his own tears. "It's okay... We told ourselves we were going to try... And we did... I just wish things... W-went better..."

The injured unicorn on the bed watched them mourn to themselves. "You two lose someone in here, cause I feel ya."

Neo glared at him. "It doesn't matter, not anymore..."

"We've had something, happen... now isn't the best time."

The unicorn rolled his eyes. "I understand, we’ve all lost somepony here, I was just showing some sympathy. If it was somepony I knew then..."

Neo let go of his brother and wiped away the tears that ran down his cheeks. "It wouldn't matter... She's wasn't here to begin with."

"I don’t know, maybe she came in." The unicorn added.

"Her name is Dahlia." Adam said warmly as if they were talking about all the happy moments in their lifes.

His red eyes widened as his mouth dropped open. "Y-you know her?"

They nodded slowly at him. "She's our mother." Neo added in a grumpy tone.

"Ho-lee-crap. You're really her kids? How old are you two?"

Adam pointed to himself and then to his brother as he stated their ages. "I'm fifteen, and he's twenty."

He narrowed his eyes at him. "Wouldn't of guessed it. I would shake your hooves if I could get out of bed."

Neo looked at puzzlingly. "You've heard of our mom?"

He rolled his eyes again. "Sure I have, Dahlia right? Most ponies in the Coalition know who she is."

Neo's both sad and angry feeling melted away as he leaped at the unicorn and looked at him excitedly. "Do you know where she is! Tell us! Now!"

Adam, who was equally as curious went up to him closely and grinned at him. "Yeah, do you? Do you!?"

He pushed them back from him. "Uh yeah, no. I know who she is though."

The both lowered their heads as their smiles and hope died inside them again. "Ah..." Neo sighed in disappointment. "Just as I thought that we could come close again..."

The yellow unicorn looked at them and smiled. "I may not know where she is... but I think I know someone who does."

They both raised their heads, "Really? Who?" Adam replied.

The unicorn lay back in his bed with the same smile on his face. "He goes by the name Sharp Note. Not much to look at, but he's loaded with info on stuff about ponies. Though I can't promise you anything, he likes to hang out at the inn, that's the first place I'd try looking for him."

Neo looked towards his brother with a faint glimpse of hope in his eyes. "This just might not be over yet! Adam, if this guy has info about her, we might just get much closer."

"Right! Plus, the sheriff recommended we head there so, we'll get two things done in one sitting."

Neo took the unicorns hoof merrily and shook it up and down gently a few times. "Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me and my brother."

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Aww, it was nothing, just tryin to help folks. Hopes something we need a lot more of around here. So I try and spread it when and where I can."

Neo let go of him and nodded. "Well then, thanks again." With a quick motion of his hoof both Adam and Neo trotted off to the door leading out of the clinic.

Just before they left the unicorn stopped them. "Hey! What're your names?"

Adam smiled at him. "I'm Adam, and he's Neo."

"Adam, Neo," He muttered to himself remembering the names. "Kay, the names Red Glare. Now get a move on, you don't have all day!"

After he said that, Adam and Neo nodded to each other and left the building and made their way to the inn. "I like them, hope Sharp Note can help em."

He looked mournfully at the different ponies in the room who sadly lay in their beds with massive bloody bandages covering whole parts of their bodies. "We all need a little more hope in these trying times."

Adam and Neo stood in front of the large rectangular building that had a worn festive light covered sign that bared in big yellow letters, Inn and Saloon. It had four windows, and like Maneton, doors that flipped open were at the entrance. A little bit down the road, ponies were fixing the large steel gate that was once busted open, though it hadn't been long and it seemed they had it almost repaired. Though judging on how long they had been under the Legions grip means that they had to adapt to fixing the town at a moderately fast speed, lest raiders or other such things get into the town.

A pony with a four others with behind him wore signs that advertised the burial later that evening. Each one looked more depressed and sad as the next. "Burial for the dead, and tribute to those who dreamed and hoped for a better future! Burial for those who have lost somepony, pay tribute to them and let them not be forgotten!"

The whole town was in both a scrambled and mournful state as ponies worked to fix the walls and gates, and those that sat outside of buildings were crying or comforting loved ones who lost somepony they cared about. It was hard to stare at the town for long, everywhere they looked, more and more ponies weeped for the fallen, and tiredly worked on what they could.

Turning away from the scene Neo looked back to the entrance to the Inn and Saloon. "Come on Adam, let's get inside."

Adam agreed and followed his brother into the old metal building.

The inside of the Inn was large. The ceiling went up two stories as a small walkway with wooden railing was at the second floor that had ponies looking down from it to the floor below. A small old fan hung from the ceiling, and various creatures decorated the walls around the first floor along with different pictures of ponies, and old pre-war posters. Flipped over tables were being put up sluggishly by two ponies who had a depressing expression on their faces. There was another pony in the corner of the room in a round booth with a guitar, he had his back hooves up on the table as he slouched back and played his instrument to himself quietly.

Three ponies stood at the bar at the end of the room talking to the brown earth pony bartender. One was a stallion who looked worn and ragged and one of his hooves was around a mare that was next to him. The third was a filly who looked no older than Lu who looked at the bartender with little tears going down her eyes.

"Can't you take some from the reserve? Would it be that hard to give us just a little?" Said the stallion to the bartender.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but the Legion took almost half the reserved food. I'm afraid tonights the only time we'll open it to give some to the rest of town."

"But my family hasn't eaten in three days! We need something, Lily needs at least something... me and her can get by till tonight."

The bartender sighed. "I know how you must feel, trust me, but I can't even be sure there's enough for the whole town for tonight alone. And giving you some might just make us get behind in our supply."

They all hung their head as the stallion sighed to him. “I see, I’ll see if we can get by...”

The bartender conspicuously looked around the room for a moment. "Listen, here take this, but that's all I can give you." He pulled a small can from under the counter and gave it to the mare at the stallions side.

They smiled at him. "Thanks Cotsworth, you don't know how much this means to me and my family."

He smiled back at them and whispered. "Just do me a favor, if anypony asks where you got it, you didn't get it from me."

The mare nodded at him. "Will do, Celestia bless you Cotsworth."

"Now hurry before the sheriff or some official comes along and scolds me for that." He said with a shooing gesture.

The three ponies walked away from the counter and past Neo and Adam till the passed out through the push open doors. With that the bartender turned the small radio on in the corner of the room and went about cleaning his area around him.

Neo and Adam came up to the counter and looked at him. "Hello?" Adam asked.

The bartender looked at the two solemnly. "Yes? You two are new, you travelers or something? Is there anything that can I getcha?"

"Uh, yeah, we are a little new here. But we're looking for somepony, have you seen him? We were told he likes to hang out here." Neo asked putting his hooves on the counter.

He leaned on the counter and looked more directly into their eyes. "Why? Did somepony I know did something?"

The both shook their heads. "No no no. We're looking for our mother."

"You two look a little old to be lookin for your momma."

They frowned at him. "No, no we're not. Now please can you help us, there’s somepony here that can help us out."

The bartender rubbed his nose a bit before answering. "Depends? Who's it you're lookin for?"

"A pony by the name of Sharp Note." Adam added.

Cotsworth looked over their shoulders and pointed to the both in the corner of the building. "He's over there, just don't kill him here, if you're going to do that take it outside."

Neo and Adam chuckled nervously, "Ahaha, uh no, we're not here to do that."

"Good, cause that's the last thing we need here."

After the bartender was done speaking, they thanked him for helping them and went over to the pony in the corner. The pony in the corner who lazily slouched and played his guitar was an earth pony with a blue coat and a tan fishing hat and a tan vest on that loosely hung on his body. The cutie mark on the stallion was a vinyl disk with a headset in the center.

He stopped playing as they approached him. "Can I help you?" He said tipping his hat up in a deep smooth voice.

They both sat down in the booth and looked at him. "Yeah we're told you can help us."

"Maybe I can, maybe not. You'll have to tell me your names first."

"I'm Neo, and that's Adam."

"You two friends or something?"

"No, we're brothers."

"Really? How old are you?"

"He's fifteen and I'm twenty."

He about burst out laughing. "You're twenty? You look about five years younger."

Neo snickered at him. "I'm not a kid okay, I'm an adult, a full grown adult got that?"

"Whatever you say daddyo. Now, who you two looking for?"

"We're looking for our mother. Her name is Dahlia." Adam added.

Sharp Note about stood up in his seat at the mention of her. "Ya'll not serious are you?"

"We're dead serious." Neo stated.

"Hell son, well I could help you, but there's a problem."

"What problem?"

He leaned over the table and called out for the bartender to turn up the radio. The bartender, who at the moment was cleaning an old copper pitcher went over to the small radio and turned it up for the whole place to hear. A proud deep ponies voice boomed on the speaker. "Hello my little listeners! It's me, Cool Blue, bringing you the local news today! In recent news, the old highway leading up to the settlement of Arkcannon has been reported monster free! Ya, that's right caravaners, you heard me, monster free! And it's all thanks to two guardians over at bunker 37. If you two are hearin this, then you've earned the respect of the whole southern province. Just be sure you keep up the good work, cause we could all do with a little more do gooders nowadays. In other news-"

Both Adam and Neo sat there for a second and thought. Did he just mention them? The whole mission they had been given didn't seem that big, but apparently it was much more important than they thought. But he was thanking them, as if out of all the failure they had gone through back at the bunker they had actually done something right. It was a joyful feeling, and to be honest with themselves, it was a feeling neither one of them had felt before.

"Hear that voice?" The blue pony cooed leaning inward.

"W-what?" Neo said in a slight daze as he tried to comprehend that he and his brother were mentioned on the radio.

"Brother, we were on the radio!"

"Hey!" Sharp Note snapped. "I'm still here, and I'm trying to help you."

They both shook their heads and gave the blue pony their attention again. "Sorry, it's just a little shocking is all. You were saying?"

"Yeah well, before you two lost focus I wanted to say that pony on the radio is me. Well, the speaker anyway."

"But, the speaker is there, how can you be there but be here at the same time?"

Sharp Note lay both hooves on table. "Cause I'm stuck here. The voice you're hearin there is my wife. She's got a voice maskin spell like Pon-3 up north past the border."

"For several days now I've been stuck here, the Legions got patrols that cover the outer borders of the town, and anypony trying to leave gets gunned down from out of nowhere though they lighten up the patrols when they come here." He lay back in his seat again.

"Now, she probably knows where your mom is, and even if she doesn't, she knows someone who does know where she is."

They both leaned in closer to him to listen better. "Where can we find her?"

He grinned for moment before answering. "Silvermane tower to the north. But the Legion patrols won’t let ya leave. By now they’re re-establishing their positions up there."

They glared at him curiously. "So, don’t just kill the ponies that try to leave right?"

“Anypony who leaves dies, that’s how they work. They’ve been blockin our radio broadcasts from here, and the only source of info we can get from the outside is Cool Blue’s station. Even Pon-3’s station is not pickin up anymore.”

Neo sat back in his chair and sighed. “Then, what are we supposed to do then?”

"You’re Guardians, right? Those are Coalition dusters, if I ever saw them."

They looked down at themselves and frowned, Neo specially looked at his own with more hate than his brother. "After today, I'm not sure if I'd like that title anymore."

"Well, if I were you, I'd call yourself a guardian. Folks around here need something to have hope in, and once the word goes around the town that you guys are guardians ponies will start perkin up again. Not just that but you need a place to crash till you can find a way out of here."

"Now, you better have your selves a place to stay, cause it could be awhile till you leave."

It was dark in the world, the grey dark clouds overhead loomed over the world much as they always did. A lone pegasus with dark fur and red stripes and thick gear covered his trench coat as he trudged tiredly up down a small dirt path. He was pulling a large cart with an old tarp covering the contents inside. His gear rattled and clicked quietly as he moved towards what looked like camp up ahead.

Small white tents that were formed in neat rows had tens of ponies marching, and walking about the camp as the day slowly passed. It was a Legion camp, the same that was monitoring the town of Arkcannon that was only an hour or two away.

As the pegasus made his way into the camp, a soldier near the edge of the camp snapped to attention as he approached and readied his weapon. Quickly he shouted for an officer to come quick with others before returning to the approaching stranger.

"Halt!" He shouted pointing his weapon at the traveler.

The pony halted his advance and look blankly into the eyes of the young soldier who nervously held his gun at the stranger. "Put that gun down son before you hurt somepony, or do something stupid."

He shook his head quickly as if he was totally afraid. "No! Not till you identify yourself!"

The dark pegasus pony rolled his eyes at him, "Is there somepony else I can talk to?"

"N-no, I mean yes... I-I..." He stuttered.

He nearly jumped as a pony in green armor with bronze outlining and a captains hat came up and put his hoof on the soldiers gun. "At ease soldier, he's working for us."

The soldier put his weapon to his side and stood at attention. "Yes sir." He said sternly while giving him a sharp salute.

The captain motioned his head for the pegasus to follow him into the camp. "Come with me."

Without responding the pegasus followed him into the camp. "I got what you asked for, and I've got some information too."

"Heh, good work." The captain chuckled. "His majesty will be most pleased with this news, that I can assure you of."

They went into a large tent near the center of the camp, it was large enough for the whole cart to fit inside, and large enough for many other ponies to work inside if need be. There were a few lanterns that hung from the roof of the tent that provided dim lighting for the whole tent.

There was a terminal on a stand on one side of the tent that glowed a faint green. The captain helped the pegasus unhook himself from the wagon and looked inside of the cart by holding up a part of the tarp. Within the first second of looking under the tarp, he lowered it and stood back from the cart with an awed pleased expression.

"Good, good, you did managed to take a few from the ruins. How many are in there?"

"Seven, that's as many as I could kill, and that's as many as I could haul."

"You also managed to keep them in fairly decent condition. You might just get a bit extra in your pay for that."

The pegasus grinned for a moment before shortly returning to his dull expression again. "Great, I was hoping for something like that."

"But," the captain added, "I have a question."

"Is it true these things run on the blood of their prey?"

He nodded slowly at the captain. "Excellent." He laughed. "Once again, these rogue monsters will serve their purpose again. Only this time, rather than fighting for peace, these machines will fight for a better world, and with them, we'll be well on the way to achieving that."

The pegasus glared at him oddly, as if the captain were crazy. "Whatever, as long as I get paid, I don't care what the hell you do with them."

"Heh, yes. Speaking of which, I need to go get your pay, wait here. I had a bag of caps ready for when you arrived." With that he lifted the flap to the tent up and left. Just before he had walked off he stuck his head back inside.

"Yes, well, that terminal there can be used to communicate with his majesty. You might want to inform him of your progress. Oh, and you did bring the blueprints for them?"

He nodded once more at the captain. "Good, good." Once again he pulled his head out of the tent and made his way off to fetch the travelers reward.

The pegasus looked a the terminal and glared uneasily at it. He picked up his hoof and just stared at the terminal for a moment before putting his hoof down and shaking his head.

The captain came through the door with a small rattling bag in his mouth. He dropped in in front of the pegasus and grinned at him. "Well, now that that's over with... let's discuss what we'll do with the Predators."

Foot Note: Level up!

New Perk: Wanderer: As you wander you have a 25% chance of finding rare loot in the most oddest of places.

Foot Note: Level up!

Would you like to Level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Jellyfish: Random things can happen, might as well get something good out of it! Keep exploring and searching to find out what the wasteland has in store!

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

a racist zebra

wayofthepen

(AN: Well I found this chapter to be little of a pain to write, not that it was hard but editing, and time for me to sit and write was it was difficult due to life. However this is the first chapter out of a few that I am really looking forward to writing. And as always, leave a comment if you liked the chapter! I really appreciated the feedback!)

The Road to Freedom Part 1

CHAPTER 17: THE ROAD TO FREEDOM PART 1

A dark ceiling, that's all the two brothers saw as they looked up at it from their beds in a small room in the inn. Together on separate beds, they stared endlessly into space. Neither said anything to the other as they both knew they were thinking the same thing. That one thing was, how they were going to leave, and where this place Sharp Note, or Cool Blue or whatever he was called mentioned the day before.

It was clear that if they tried to leave the normal way, all they would get was a face full of bullets and to become food for the wastelands monstrous creatures. It bothered them, it made them think about how much more of this hell they could take. Or if this hell was going to get worse, and if it did, how? Could there really be worse things in the world that were worse than what they've seen already? These questions really rattled in their minds, and it was also because of these questions that they didn't get much sleep that night.

They were on the second floor of the inn, and just outside the door they could hear the ponies down stairs murmuring to each other as the morning continued. The sound of plates, dishes, and chairs rubbing against old wood floors echoed faintly up to their room. And even though the sounds were muffled and quiet, it still broke their concentration every now and again.

"Adam." Neo sighed.

Adam turned his head to him. "Yeah?"

"Why do you think she left? As far as I can tell, nopony should be exposed to this, and if I were her, I would never think about coming out here. Even to escape boredom."

Adam thought about it for a moment and answered, "Well, I don't know... I'm sure she had her reasons to leave, but to just leave like the way she did and not tell us... it baffles me."

He sighed once more. "Yeah... I wish the stupid Legion wasn't around, then we could just go right now and find her."

Then, as if out of nowhere, there came a knock on the door to their room. It scared them half to death as they both jumped slightly at the four loud booms that came from the door.

They scrambled to pull themselves together as they recovered from the sudden shock. "Who is it?" Neo asked while getting out of bed and fumbled around in the dark looking for the light switch.

"It's me, Sharp Note." His muffled voiced replied.

After a little bit of goofy wandering Neo found the light switch and turned on the lights in the room. The light from the single light bulb in the room hurt both Neo and his brother's eyes as the light blazed brightly.

Neo went to the door and opened it for Sharp Note, he rubbed his sore eyes that were still adjusting to the light. "Yeah? What is it?"

"I came to get you and your brother. The Mayor wants to see you two."

Neo rubbed his eyes at him as if he didn't understand what he had said. "What?"

"The Mayor wants you kid. Both of ya, and it's pretty important."

Adam, who also stumbled about the room tiredly came up to the door next to his brother and cocked his head curiously to the side. "What is it?" He mumbled.

Sharp Note, who just stood there and frowned for a bit looked at them both and sighed. "Think there's a meeting or something, and she wants you two to come too."

"What for?" Neo asked, "We haven't done anything... Have we?"

"Listen," He insisted, "Just come on. She said she needs ya there now."

Neo rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. "Alright, let's just hope we haven't ticked anypony off."

"I don't think we've done anything to do that... I think." Adam added while leaving the room.

"Pretty sure you haven't." Sharp Note said taking out a cigarette, "But you did sneak in here, barge into the medical clinic and-"

"Let's just go to see what the Mayor wants." Neo interjected.

"Right, sorry got a little carried away there for a moment." With that, the three went downstairs, said hello to Cotsworth and continued to the street outside the inn.

The morning air was crisp and light with fresh moisture in the air to add that extra coolness to the early day. The three ponies went down the dirt road that went through the middle of town to the end of town. Most of the townsfolk seemed to be gathered around the town hall near the towns center. It was an odd site to see tens of ponies crowded around the small stone building, more so was it odd that they all lingered around the windows as if they were trying to see inside.

Sharp Note didn't seem to notice the odd amount of ponies gathered there, then again, he was mostly likely there not too long ago and as such, he already knew about them. Though, it seemed odd to the two brothers as to why the Mayor wanted them to go see her, or him. There were two outcomes, which bounced around in their minds as they walked to the center of town. One of those outcomes involved them getting in trouble, and the worst would be getting killed. The other outcome was either a greeting, or a favor. But then again, the number of alternatives was endless at this point.

As they approached to what looked like the front door, they saw the crowd of ponies part as the two brothers followed Sharp Note. The whole group of ponies outside gazed at the two curiously as a faint murmur befell the crowd. Neo and Adam, who looked sheepishly at the group, just waved and smiled nervously as they followed the Buck inside.

The Oak wooden doors closed behind them and the anxious crowd of ponies returned to the windows and peeked inside. The room inside was large with several small old flags hanging from the beams that held the floor above. Pictures and posters of old mares and stallions outside the building decorated the walls. Bookshelves with old books, lamps, old cameras and movie cameras lay on top of the shelves neatly.

In the center of the room was a podium with an old ministry of Peace butterfly on it. A sword went through the rusted yellow butterfly that posed on the old wooden podium.

Several small chairs with several ponies sat, were talking uneasily to each other. Next to the podium was a chair, where a gorgeous orange mare sat. Her red eyes and long wavy red hair flow neatly down her neck, her cutie mark was that of a heart with bottle caps stacked up in a uneven tower in the center. On the other side of the podium was sheriff Westwood, who sat uncomfortably as he looked over the room.

Neo stared at the mare in the corner and eyed her with wide observant eyes. The shape of her body, her mane, her eyes and hips they were just stunning to him. Adam looked back at his brother and waved a hoof at him to make sure he was still among the living.

"Hey brother, you okay?" Adam asked while Sharp Note showed him to a seat.

"Wha?" He asked snapping out of the trance.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just saw something cool, that’s all."

He raised an eyebrow at him. "Whatever, just don't let your mind wander too far or you might bump into somepony."

Neo and Sharp Note sat down and looked at the podium in the center. A tan mare with a flowing long mane and an orange stripe that went down the side of her white hair. Her cutie mark was a scroll which was rolled up and sealed with a blue ribbon.

She stood up to the podium and put her left hoof in the air so that everyone in the room could see and quiet down. As the faint chatter from the other ponies in the room died down, they all looked up to the mayor eagerly as she began to speak.

"Alright everypony calm down, we're going to begin."

She looked around the room to see if she had gathered the rooms attention completely, and once she was sure that she did she went on speaking. "Most of you know why we're here, and why I've selected you to come to this meeting."

"As you all can see, for the past two and a half weeks, the Legion has loomed over our town. It has been devastating for us to live like this, and it can't continue! We're down to our last few supplies and it's just going to get worse. We should have done something about this a long time ago... But we were scared, disoriented, and unsure of the consequences."

She sighed heavily as her tone became sad. "It is with a heavy heart that I say that I am to blame for not acting sooner. We've lost so many good folks... We've all had somepony close to us affected by those bastards and their order. But enough is enough! Good citizens of Arkcannon, our town was once one of the most prosperous and thriving settlements in the province, but now... Look at us... If we don't do something, then we won't last much longer."

A unicorn mare stood up and spoke. "And what do you plan to do? We've already lost our main defence force, and it's not like we can just leave!"

"Yes I know, but I think that we have to hold on to hope, the Coalition hasn't abandoned us yet, and-"

The mare interjected. "Of course they haven't! They just decided to leave us here and rot as they sit back and watch us slowly die at the hooves of the Legion! Face it, there is no help coming!"

A faint whisper of agreement and disagreement fell over the room. "But there is! The Coalition hasn't forgot about us!" The mayor shouted.

"Oh yeah?" A stallion disagreed, "Well if that's the case, maybe they can help us mine the mines and help build an army of robots to help us. Then, maybe, we could go off to the magical land of fluffy bunnies and shit where there aren't any problems at all!"

"Yeah," The mare agreed, "What proof do you have saying otherwise? How do we know the Coalition ain't forgot about us?"

The mayor gave them a proud hopeful look. "Because they sent us guardians! Guardians who have come to, not only help us, but support us till they coalition can come!"

Neo and Adams eyes popped open as they sat there shocked that she had said that. They hadn't said anything like that, let alone come to help. They were told to come by and see how things were, check if their mother was there and go. Quick and simple, but for some reasons, things just had to become more complicated.

Neo and Adam turned to Sharp Note who was calmly watching the mayor. "D-Did you say that..." Neo said in his bafflement.

"Why would you do that?" Adam added.

"Hey," He said without breaking his relaxed position, "I didn't say nothin."

"Well then," Boasted the mare, "Bring them up."

"Very well." The mayor insisted.

She turned her gaze toward the direction of the brothers, this imminently shocked them as she now stared directly at them. "Guardians, please come up here." She said with a motion of her hoof.

Neo looked at his little brother, who just like himself gulped. They both looked at each other nervously before turning their attention to Sharp Note. Who just shrugged solemnly and gestured his hooves for them to shoo and go up to where the mayor was.

They both glared at him suspiciously before sheepishly making their way up to the podium the mayor stood at. "Come on up, the whole town would like to hear the news come from your mouths."

Neo and Adam came up to the podium, Neo first stepped up to the podium and watched the mayor step back and let him speak. "Uhh..." He said in a scared tone.

He'd never had to do something like this, even when he was young, the class would look at him awkwardly as he tried to read a paper in front of the class. These memories and more came back to him as he looked at the crowd of ponies before him, each was eager to hear what the guardian had to say.

"Well... Uhh, the Coalition sent us to check on you..." Neo looked over to Sharp Note, who from his spot motioned for him to keep going.

Neo took a deep breath and built up the courage to speak again. "We were told that communication had been lost here, and so they sent us to come and look things over. We... Uhh, came here, with hopes that nothing would be wrong, and that everypony was fine."

Sharp Note continued to make his gesture to keep going. "Now, I've never lived in this town, and I haven't lived out in the wasteland my whole life either..."

There was a faint amount of whispers being exchanged around the room. "But that doesn't mean that what they are doing here is right, and the Coalition knows that. But when I see these ponies I know, I see strong, loyal, good folks here and with that alone, we can make it out of these hard times."

The mare who had spoken out before raised her hoof before speaking. "How do we know you're really guardians?"

There was a faint murmur of agreement amongst the group. The sheriff stood up proudly and answered the mare, "Ah personally checked em both. They are who they say they are, so don't think their'a lyin."

The mare shrugged and sat down again, and after she was seated, Neo continued. "I know I might seem like I know what's happening, but I don't. All I can say is that we're here, and as long as we are here, the Coalition won't forget about you. And even though me and my brother might just be two ponies, we'll try all we can to help. That’s all I can do for now..." With that Neo stepped down from the podium and let Adam get up and speak.

"Umm... Hi... My name’s Adam. I'm a guardian too... Yeah, my brother said just about everything, yeah... Thanks..." With a sheepish smile he stepped down from the podium and let the mayor take control over the meeting once more.

As soon as she stood up, a slow stomping of hooves started, and as seconds went by, it got louder and louder till it developed into a full applause. Ponies in the group were smiling and whispering to each other on what they had just heard. The mayor signaled the group to calm down, so that she could continue on with the meeting.

"Now that you all believe me, now comes the time were we decide to take action. With a show of hooves who here wishes to take action harmful or not to gain our freedom?"

There was a pause for a moment in the crowd, then just as one pony raised their hoof in the air another pony raised theirs. And just like that another one raised theirs, and another, and another, till a majority of the room was filled with raised hooves.

"And those that oppose?" The mayor asked.

Even those that did not vote the first time did not raise their hooves. "Then it is unanimous, after the meeting, I will take the main council and we'll discuss our next plan of action. Till we have our plans fully prepared and our options analyzed we’ll call for the vote of the town again."

"Till then," She pounded her hoof on the podium loudly, "The meeting is adjourned."

Ponies all over the room got up and talked to themselves in small groups as they slowly made their way out of the building, while discussing what they had just heard. The only ones who stayed inside the room was an earth pony mare with a medical band, the sheriff, the beautiful mare who sat next to the podium, and the mayor. This, and a few other ponies who sat quietly to themselves.

Just as Neo and Adam made their way to the door with Sharp Note, the mayor called for them. "You two! We'll need you here to help us plan out our next course of action."

They lowered their heads and looked up at Sharp Note. They both sighed heavily and looked at each other once more. "What have we gotten ourselves into now..." Adam sighed.

The ponies who had stayed took a seat in the first row of chairs around the podium and watched the mayor sit in front of the podium rather than stand at it. It puzzled almost everypony as to why she wanted to sit on the floor, but it was where she wanted to talk from and no one was going to argue with her about it.

Neo and Adam sat down in one of the chairs along with the few ponies who had stayed and listen to the mayor talk. "Alright, now that we have the main council here, how are we going to go about doing this?"

A unicorn stallion with a small pair of glasses and a silver mane looked over the group disapprovingly, "I think we should fight them. We have the ponies, and with the second armory that they haven't raided, we can use the weapons from there to beat these blasted ponies back."

There was a large amount of angry stares that looked at him as he made that statement. And, as if the very voice of heaven itself spoke, the younger mare next to the mayor stood up and looked at him. Though her voice was slightly angry, Neo still found it soothing.

"That option is out of the question! We don't have the food, nor medical supplies to support a militia, let alone, fight a well equipped army."

"So what? We've got the weapons? It won't take much to punch through their defences, so why not!?"

"I've counted the numbers, we don't have the resources! It would be like walking into lava with suits drenched in oil!"

He gave her a rude snicker and sat back down in his chair with a grunt. Adam sat and thought hard about what they could do. As he thought, Neo lazily stared at the mare whom he thought looked... Nice, Adam stared down and thought harder. Faintly and, in an almost muffled tone, he heard more ponies suggested brash, suicidal alternatives to gaining their freedom.

His left leg touched the ground and he watched his hoof move back and forth on the wood as he remember a pony talk about mining. "Mines..." He whispered to himself, "Mines... Mine... Mining..."

It then hit him that he had an idea that, like the others it was dangerous and risky, but it was an idea that he thought might work. He nudged his brother who quickly snapped out of his half bored and awed state for a moment and looked down at him as if he had just woke up.

"Yeah?"

"I have an idea, brother."

"Alright, raise your hoof then."

"But I don't want too. What happens if they laugh at me? What if they think it's stupid, it'll be like back in the stable... Like when I would talk to the class... I-I don't want that to happen. Can you tell them for me?"

"Sure." He agreed with a smile.

Adam leaned closer to him and whispered his idea to his brother. Neo nodded at him and raised his hoof. Damn this feels like school all over again...He thought to himself.

The mayor blinked at him. "Yes guardian... Neo was it? Sharp Note said that was the name of one of you two."

"Yeah I'm Neo." He said putting his hoof down.

"Well? What's your idea?"

"Earlier, somepony said there were mines near here. I wanted to know what kind of gear they have there."

She looked puzzled for a moment, but before she could answer, a red maned mare with a durag on her head stood up to speak. "Oi, why you want t'know?"

He looked at her and asked. "Just curious."

"Well, we've got about everything from pick axes t'drills. We've even got three large tunnel diggers, ones a little fritzy though, and might need some work before she'll work again."

Adam leaned over to Neo and whispered the rest of his idea to him. "Alright then." Neo added.

He quickly looked back at the mare and said, "I think we should dig our way out of here."

There was a large amount of confused looks that stared at the two. One mare, who was across the room, looked at them and started to chuckled a bit. "Wow, I have to say out of all the ideas, that has to be one of the most stupid!"

Neo's heart sunk, as he looked at his brother who just lowered his head in embarrassment. For a moment Neo put his hoof around his brother’s shoulder and gave the pony across the room an angry glare. The mayor motioned her hoof to the group so that the soft chuckles could stop.

"Okay that's enough... Now, is that really all of your idea?"

Adam raised his head and shook it at her. "No, it isn't."

"Then please, go on." The mayor replied.

"Yes, please do!" The mare mockingly stated.

The mayor gave her a hard stare. "Quiet you!"

The mare's face went sour as she sat there quiet. "Go on, please."

Adam sheepishly stood up and continued his idea himself. He hoped that hopefully once they had heard his full idea they would be more open and positive towards it. "If the drills that pony from before mentioned are Diamond Dogs mark-V tunnel clearers, then my plan would maybe work... Are they Diamond Dog mark-V tunnel clearers?"

The mayor nodded oddly, as if he had read somepony mind. "Yes... I believe they are."

Adam nodded to her then. "If that's the case, we could use them to dig a tunnel past the Legions perimeter around the town, and if they're in decent condition, then it'll take us only a few days to make it out... That is, if the perimeter isn't ten miles out."

There was an exchange of opinions in the room in whispers, as the mayor thought about what he had just said. "Well, from what we can tell, the perimeter is about three miles out. Far enough away to not be noticeable, but close enough to manage us."

Adam smiled. "Then, if that's the case, if we dig a tunnel five miles out, we can go right under their defences and sneak out without being noticed before they can suspect a thing! And with those diggers, it'll only take four to five days to dig the tunnel!"

After he was done speaking nods and signs of agreement came from several ponies in the room. "Are you sure about this? Do you have any knowledge about the diggers?" The mayor asked.

"I had to research stables and how they were made when I was younger. I found out about those diggers while I did my paper... I even studied the things out of curiosity. Cause Stable-Tech used the same kinds of diggers to make stables."

"Are you sure these calculations of yours are accurate?"

He nodded. "They should be, give or take hours and who we can get to operate them. But if we work most of the day, or if need be the whole day we can get out of here before we run out of supplies."

A stallion stood up to speak. "What if the Legion decides something's up? What then? If they find out we're leaving they'll slaughter the town!"

The mayor nodded at him. "Yes, I agree, what happens if they do find out we're doing this?"

"Then we need to stall them as long as we can. And if push comes, to shove fight them." Neo added.

The mayor lowered her head in thought once more. "This idea could work... If Iron Vain is willing to get his crew together we could do this... And if we got a small defense force together then maybe..."

"So what do you say?" Adam asked hopefully.

"It's worth a shot... What do you all have to say? Raise your hooves if you agree to this plan." Several of the ponies in the room including the sheriff and the mare next to the mayor raised their hooves. "Those that oppose?"

Only a few raised their hooves. "Then it's decided. I'll talk with some of our head representatives and see how we'll organize this. Till then, this meeting is over. I’ll talk to the town later about the plan at a later time."

With another loud stomp of her hoof the meeting ended, and the last of the ponies in the room left outside. Neo and Adam walked back out into the cool air of the morning as the ponies outside the building looked sheepishly at them both. Though they had a glint of hope that glimmered in their eyes, they couldn't help but notice. It was apparent that they had heard the whole meeting from the outside, which meant that a lot of them understood what might happen next.

The mayor was surrounded by several ponies, including the sheriff and Iron Vain, who talked privately to one another about how organization of the plan would work. Sharp Note, who had left the meeting earlier came up to them with two small warm opened cans of beans for them.

"You two did great in there. I got to listen to the end bit about the whole digging thing. Sounds like the way some prisoners would get out of a jail or something."

Neo and Adam sat down on the small porch in front of the town hall and ate the beans in the cans ferociously. "Whoa, slow down there, I'd make it last if I were you. You won't get much food till later tonight and even that ain’t much."

They both looked at him and slowed down. "Yeah, you're probably right, but right now you're my best friend Cool Blue, for bringing these." Neo added with his mouth full.

Sharp Note quickly put a hoof to his mouth and shushed him. "Don't call me that. I haven't stayed alive this long in the wastes telling everypony who I am. I’m wanted by several ponies, and they would love to know that I'm here."

Neo nodded with a rather shocked look on his face. "Alright, noted."

"Good." He stated sternly.

The mayor, who seemed to be done talking to other more important ponies in the town. Came over to the brothers and Sharp Note, along with the sheriff, Iron Vain the earth pony, and the gorgeous mare that sat next to the mayor before. “We talked for a bit and we've decided how things are going to work. About a mile east of here are the iron mines, one of the diggers is busted and the other two that we have there need patching up."

The rust colored stallion who had a pick axe and an ingot of iron as a cutie mark stepped up. "If you say you're good with these diggers like the mayor says, then I'll head up there with the boys and help fix them up and dig in the old waterways below the town."

The mayor spoke again in determined manner. "Yes, and we need extra fuel and food for the miners digging the tunnel below the town. Once we fix them up and get the other things we need we'll dig westward till we pass the Legion perimeter."

"What about the defenses?" Neo added curiously.

The mare who was next to the mayor stepped up and answered. "While we're away, sheriff Westwood here will start checking ponies and see who can and can't fight. Once we get back from our scouting mission, we'll start planning defenses that we could set up around the town and-"

Neo shook his hooves for her to stop. "Whoa, wait a second. You're telling me I'm going in the scouting party to go get the supplies for the diggers?"

She nodded. "Yes, and your brother there will go with Iron Vain and Red Glare to fix up the diggers while we're gone."

Neo shook his head fiercely as he stood up. "No, I can't let him do that, I won't have him go off on his own. His personal safety is one of my top priorities. Where he goes, I go."

"I'm sorry, but it's the only way we can take advantage of the situation. If we don’t take you both, we may delay the dig for a whole day, and we can't waste that time." The mayor said.

Neo looked cross, he didn't like the idea. Well, there was a lot of ideas he didn't like, but the very thought of leaving his brother even for a few hours made him edgy.

"I can do it, brother." Adam said softly.

Neo looked down at him surprised. "A-Are you sure about that? What if something happens and I'm not there, or-"

"I'll be fine." He reassured him.

The mayor chuckled at them. "You both should be gone for no longer than a few hours. Not much longer than that, and the mines are safe, we haven't had a accident for several weeks."

Neo wasn't sure, he still had a terrible feeling something might happen and if he wasn't there then who knows what could happen to Adam. "Adam, are you really sure about this?"

Adam nodded warmly. "How hard could it be? It's not like I'm going to fight raiders or anything."

"Great then!" The mayor interjected. "I'll see to it that the groups get together for each party. I'll also send for somepony to check on Red Glare, hopefully, we'll get this done in one sitting."

Neo sighed with an uneasy feeling in his gut. "I still don't like this, but I have faith in Adam... When do we head out?"

"Soon, I'll get each team set up. Once I've got everypony, you'll meet at the gate and your brother there will meet the miners at the clinic."

Sharp Note nodded at them all and turned his eyes to the inn. "Well now that y’all are set up, I'm headin’ off to the inn."

"Alright then." The mayor agreed. "As for the rest of you, we've got work to do!"

Adam had already made his way to the clinic as Neo sat there on a dead, dried up log waiting for the other ponies in his group to get ready. It's only a few hours Neo, he'll be fine... But, what if there's a manticore in the mines? No there can't be, they don't like mines... Do they? What if, there's a dragon? No, they don't like mines either, but what if there's gold in the mine and- He didn't want to keep thinking about the many terrors there could be. Still, the likelihood of giant monsters being in an old mine was for the most part very low. But then again, some of the freakiest crap he had seen had been out in the wastes, and from his understanding there was plenty more freaky crap to see.

The gorgeous mare from before, whose name he still didn't know, was preparing for their hopefully short trip. Along with her, there was four other ponies coming along. One was a strong black earth pony stallion, while the other two looked the same. Both were mares, both had purple manes and orange coats, only one had red eyes while the other had blue ones.

Neo assumed they were twins, either that or they were clones. Did clones exist in the wasteland? More irrelevants questions poured into his mind as he watched the group prepare for their departure.

It didn't take Neo long to get ready, after all he didn't really unload any of his things since they had arrived. The mare from before came up to him and motioned him to come join the rest of the group. Neo got up, and joined the rest of the ponies he would be traveling with.

"Where are we going again?" Neo asked as the black stallion talked to a pony next to the gate.

The mare just looked at him and blinked. "We're going to the ruins of Arkcannon outside the town."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "If those are the ruins, doesn't that make this town New Arkcannon?"

The question puzzled her. "No, but I can't give you a straight answer with that."

"Ah," Neo replied, "Then, what kind of stuff do we plan to encounter while there?"

"Hopefully nothing, raiders were spotted up there before the Legion came. We're hoping the Legion ran them out. And if that's the case the place and its supplies should still be there."

"Ah, what about the ponies who are coming with us? Who are they?"

The mare turned around and pointed to the black earth pony stallion, "He's Cosmo, we like to call him Cosmo." She then pointed to the two twins who stood there idly talking to one another. "Over there's Do and Ray." You can guess what they're good at."

Lastly she pointed to a green unicorn buck. “And he’s Carp, it’s short for Carpediem.”

Just as she had finished the front gate started to screech loudly as it opened for them. "Say, before we move out, can I ask you a question?

"Sure." Neo said in a calm low tone.

"Is your Pipbuck working?" She asked.

Neo looked down at his Stable Pipbuck with a curious expression. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"It has something called ESRB, or something. Does your ESRB work?"

For some reason Neo blushed at that. "Umm... Yes my ESR- I mean EFS works." He said nervously.

"Fantastic."

"Hey, Cherry! Gates open, we're ready to move out!" Cosmo called out to her.

Cherry is her name.. huh... Neo thought as the group started to make their way outside the town. "Neo? Are you coming?"

Heh, she remember my name too. "Yeah, one sec." Neo looked back to the clinic real quick before he went off with the rest of the group. Stay safe Adam, I'll be back a soon as I can.

It didn't take Adam and the other miner ponies long to get the tools they needed for their job. Red Glare, they had said, was also good with these kinds of things and was supposed to meet up with the rest of the group later. They had already taken off to the mines, which weren't too far away from the town, in fact, the mine was just about a ten minute walk from the town wall. From a distance, it looked like a small little hill with an opened entryway compared to the other small hills that surrounded the area.

The ponies Adam was with were Iron Vain, and six other ponies, whose name he hadn't been given. Adam had a feeling of excitement soar through him as they saw the mine entrance ahead of them. He hadn't been in a mine before, and nor had he repaired something so cool as tunnel diggers. He had always wondered what it would be like to see one of those diggers he had learned about long ago. They were the famous tools used by the old world to help make their home, and this was his chance to finally see one in real life.

The entrance to the mine was made of large old wooden supports that made up the frame of the entryway. Inside was a dark, spine chilling void that seemed to go on forever. There was an old metal box next to the entrance which Iron vain went to open. With a loud click he flipped a lever that was inside the box. He flinched as several sparks flew from the old lever as several hanging light bulbs lit up the interior of the mine.

Adam looked down the now lighted cavern before him with awe. Even with the lights on, he still couldn't see the end of the mine. The ponies made their way inside as Adam stood there for a moment just taking in the cool place.

"Kid, you comin’? We've got to hurry up as fast as we can. If this plan of yours is gonna work, we've got to get these things up and running pronto."

Adam quickly snapped out of his wondrous trance and nodded to him before he lightly trotted over to the rest of the group. Iron Vain told everyone to get into a single file line, and to watch their step as they went through the mine. Adam was right behind Iron Vain, and the other few ponies were behind him.

The air of the mine was cool, moist, and still, not like the dirt filled air of the outside. They made their way down several large tunnels with ceilings that were almost ten feet high. Small drops of cold water dripped down from the tunnel ceiling and landed on their coats as they went on deeper into the unknown. Large old metal supports surrounded the cave that held up the roof of the tunnel.

Finally after a few minutes of walking through what seemed like an endless amount of tunnels, the group had made their way to a wide open area that was not the same straight tunnels they had gone through. The area had several tools scattered around the floor along with three large drill like machines with large metal tracks on both sides of each machine. Pickaxes, old lanterns, and small drills littered the floor, along with a whole plethora of different small metal pieces.

The dim lights flickered on and off spontaneously every other moment. "Don't worry, the lights are old but they won't give out on us." Iron Vain said to Adam as they came up to the drills.

Adam marveled at how large they were. One alone looked like it could drill straight through the world and out to the other side. "This is really here... Wow... I never thought I'd see one before..."

"Well, yeah, here they are. The other two just need to be touched up, and the one in the middle there needs fixing badly."

Adam went over to middle digger that was placed next to the rough cave wall. "Why didn't you fix it before?"

Iron Vain made sure that the other ponies who had come with them started to get to work on the other two drills before answering him. "Well, the Legion loves the iron we get from these mines, and every time we dig some up, they just take it for themselves. We figured if we don't mine they don't get any. So far it hasn't ticked them off, but we haven't got to mining since we stopped for that very reason."

Adam looked back to the machine and put a hoof on the cold steel frame. "I've never fixed something so big before..."

"You havin’ second thoughts, kid? Cause we're here, we need to get at least two of these running and-"

"No," Adam added. "I think I can handle it... I studied about these things, and I can fix them if I try."

Iron Vain grinned at him. "Good, I think we can do it."

"Sure we can!" A voice echoed through the chamber.

Iron Vain and the other ponies in the room jumped at the booming voice. Iron Vain drew a pistol he had holstered and pointed it at the pony who had made the sound. It was Red Glare, and he was standing in the entryway of the small work area in the cave.

He sighed and holstered his pistol. "Damn it Red Glare, I was about to took your head off!"

He grinned nervously back at him. "Yeah I can see that, I was just having a little fun is all."

"We ain't got time for fun, the future of our whole town depends on us getting these working again."

He nodded at him and walked over the drill they were at. "I know, just calm down okay."

Iron Vain grunted at him. "Just try and don't fool around, okay?"

"Whatever you say, you're in charge."

"You're damn right I am! You'd do best to remember that."

Red Glare just nodded at him and sat down on the ground next to Adam. Adam looked up at him with a puzzled look. "You're the guy who helped me and my brother at the clinic, right?"

Red Glare blinked at him. "Yeah, the doc up at the clinic let me out after being cooped up in that place for a while."

Iron Vain coughed loudly to get their attention. "Now that you're listening. This drills engine and motor are busted, not sure what the problem is, but that's why we're here."

Red Glare saluted him and went about opening the small steel door to the engine and drill motor. "You're Adam, right? How's about you work on the drill motor, I'll take the engine."

"Alright." Adam said as he climbed the large machine carefully before opening the drill motor hatch at the top. Inside the machine was a twisted and tangled mess of wires, tubes, pistons, and gears. Adam felt a deep feeling of intimidation as he gulped nervously at the cluttered inner workings of the machine.

Adam pulled out his Pipbuck and turned on the lamp to have extra lighting before he got out his screwdriver from his bags. "Well Adam, here we go..."

Adam dug through the wires, making sure not to damage anything as he looked over the small metal motor box inside. It didn't take long for the sound of small metal pieces ringing and rattling to echo in the room as ponies were working busily on the machines. Red Glare picked up a wrench and a screwdriver from the ground and had already started working on the engine.

As he worked, he talked to Adam. "So Adam... where are you from?"

"Huh?" Adam sighed as he paused his work to answer him. "Why do you ask?"

"Don't know, we'll be here awhile, might as well get to know one another."

Iron Vain, who was oiling and tightening bolts on the drill, snickered at him for a moment. "Hey, can't we have a nice simple chat while we work?"

"Fine." Iron Vain grunted.

Red Glare picked up a monkey wrench and continued working. "Yeah don't mind him, he's been through quite a bit. I would feel the same way as him if I lost my whole family the first time the Legion came..."

Adam looked over to Iron Vain with a mournful look before returning to his work. "Why is his hate directed towards you?"

"I was part of the Coalition, and for the longest amount of time we were given the responsibility of protecting the town. When the Legion invaded the town, they killed all the soldiers stationed back there. I was late to my patrol and they thought I was another citizen. It's a little funny really, saved by sleeping in."

Adam didn't feel like chuckling but Red Glare didn't seem to mind his lack of laughter. "So Adam, if you don’t mind me asking again, where are you from?"

"I'm from a Stable."

Red Glare nodded with an impressive smile. "That's cool. That explains the Pipbuck then. So, what's it like living in a Stable?"

Adam paused for a moment. Just hearing those words made the life he lived before just come rushing back to him. Memories of what his life was filled his head. Adam smiled feeling the tingle of nostalgia tickle his spine. "It's great... You don't have to worry about life, just how you're going to go about living it. You have jobs, food, money, and... Loved ones to worry about."

Red Glare paused and closed his eyes for a moment and pictured what life like that would be. The wonderful scene he could picture left him having a goofy smile spread out across his face. "Sounds lovely.... Really lovely."

"It is." Adam said quietly before going back to work.

"So why did you leave then? Don't you have loved ones back home?"

That statement itself made him freeze. "No... I don't have anyone there anymore..." He sighed in a somber tone.

Red Glare looked up at him from down on the ground. "Really?"

Adam nodded dully. "My brother and I are all we have left. We look out for each other, and we make sure we get through the day okay. I bet brother’s probably freaking out thinking a giant monster will eat me or something." He chuckled for a moment.

"Heh, your brother sounds like a good pony. I wish I had siblings, or at least siblings like that."

"He's helped me out of hard times. And though I can't do much to repay him for all the times he helped me with in the Stable, I still feel like he just likes to make sure I'm safe."

"Well, I know you two are determined to find your mother, and with a brother like yours, finding her shouldn't be that difficult."

Adam continued to work on the motor and, as he did, he pictured the last time he saw his mother. That day, when he and his brother were sent off to work with the water purifier. "I hope you're right... But deep down inside, I can feel that we'll find her, and when we do..."

There was a loud roar like that of a monstrous machine howling out to the world that it was alive. Everypony in the room looked over to the drill on the left as its motor purred and hummed magnificently. "Well that's one down. Two more to go." Iron Vain said with a smile.

With that, everypony got back to work instantly. Adam worked hard trying to remember how the inner workings of the drills worked, but deep in the back of his mind, he felt a slight feeling of guilt. He felt guilty that he left his brother, and make him worry over nothing, and just imagining him complain and list the many things that could happen to him was lengthy.

"Be safe brother, I'm alright..." Adam whispered to himself.

Neo looked over the side of a large boulder that gave him and the others in the group a visual view of the ruins ahead. In front of them were large brick structures with blasted out holes and thick cracks lining the walls of most of the buildings. A small wall made of metal sheets bordered the outer part of the town. Large sharpened sticks with rotting pony heads were posted all around the outer area around the town. There were also cages with old pony skeletons hanging from large poles that extended outward from the wall, displayed so that the whole world could see.

It made Neo sick to his stomach, but it wasn't like it was an uncommon sight out in the wastes. Cherry, who scanned the scene eyed each small detail to the ruins carefully.

"Neo, how many enemies do you see?"

Neo looked at his Eyes Forward Sparkle compass which displayed several red dots indicating a large number of hostiles within the walls. "A lot, I can't even count how much."

"Can you give me an estimate?"

"Probably fifty or so... there may be more inside."

"Damn it!" She swore turning her head so she could think. "Guys, we need a plan, we can't storm in there, there are too much enemies to fight... Speaking of which, what are the ones inside the ruins?"

Neo popped into SATS and looked at one unicorn that patrolled the gate that lead into the town. His Pipbuck had labeled them as raiders in small red letters. Time unfroze as he came out of SATS and looked at Cherry with worry in his eyes.

"Raiders... lots of them." He said grimly.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" She looked over at Cosmo with a hopeful, yet troubled expression. "Cosmo, you're good with plans? Any suggestions?"

Cosmo went over to the edge of the boulder they were behind and looked at Old Arkcannon. "None on the top of my head, the only way I think something could get through here is if we were raiders, or slavers. But since we ain't any of those, I don't know what we could do."

Cherry sighed with frustration and patted him on the back. "It's all right. We might just have to head back and hope we don't run out of supplies. Because without the extra food, the miners digging out the escape tunnel will eat twice the normal amount if we work in nightly shifts."

The whole group lowered their heads, they had come out here prepared to help contribute to the effort for nothing. However, Neo thought about Cosmo's words, Only raiders.... and slavers....He thought to himself. Then, he got an idea which in his mind might have been a long shot, but it was better than just giving up and calling it quits.

"Cherry, I think I might have an idea."

She blinked at him. "Yeah? What's your idea?"

Neo looked back over at the town below and pointed to the raiders guarding the gate into the town. "Cosmo said that the only way we could get in is if we were raiders or slavers right?"

Cosmo nodded at him with a dumbfounded expression. "Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?"

"How about we dress like slavers, and take a few ponies in the group and make us look like we are going to trade with them."

"Then what?" Cherry added.

Neo looked at himself and thought about how it would work. Then he looked at his Pipbuck and switched to his map. He had hoped that it had loaded the area onto his map, so that he had a good idea of what to do next. To his surprise the whole town had loaded itself onto his map, which was odd to him because after looking at other locations, it seemed that everywhere he had been was marked down on his map as a discovered location.

It looked like, from where they were, there was an armory which, hopefully had weapons that worked inside. "Then we head over to the armory once we're inside. Simple enough, we take some of their stuff and go."

"Easier said than done." One of the twins stated.

"Yeah, but if there's someway we can bribe them..."

"I think we should try it... The raiders out here in the southern province like to trade and deal with slavers." Cosmo said putting his bags down before looking through them.

"We could try." One of the twins said confidently.

"I do not know... but if she says yes, so do I." The other twin agreed.

Cherry sighed and put her own bags down and started to look through them. "I guess that's what we're doing then. I got rope, lets see how convincing we can make us look...."

Cherry had just got done smothering dirt all over Neo. The twins had been stripped of their gear and had ropes tied around their hooves and necks to make it look like they were in fact slaves. Cosmo had mixed up the little barding he had on to make it look more mean and unorganized. Neo wore the twins small leather barding over his duster, which made him look far more menacing than he actually was.

"There, all done." Cherry said proudly as Neo looked at himself disapprovingly.

"Never in my whole life have I felt so dirty... and not in the sexual way either."

"I'll take it that I did good then." Cherry teased him.

"Yeah..." He said sickly as he could smell the sweat and dirt fill his nostrils.

Cherry went over to the twins and roped and tied herself up. "Alright, so Neo's the slaver leader. Cosmo, you're a guard, and so is Carp. Listen we need to act as believable as possible, but hopefully them not being that bright they won't notice us at first sight."

Neo got up next to the fake slave ponies and nodded at her. "Okay take your positions."

Everypony got to where they needed to be in the group as each one of them hopped the plan didn't end up with them being dead. "Okay, just act normal, we don't want them suspecting anything."

They each prepared themselves as they got their most battle hardened, tough, and depressed looks on their faces as they went over to the raider settlement. Once they got to the gate, two rough, spiky maned ponies looked down at the group and prepared their weapons.

"That's close enough you little fucks! Who are you! Speak!" One of them yelled while pointing a sniper rifle at Neo.

"Hey, we're slavers, and we've got ourselves some fresh slaves here. I was hopin’ you might need some extra... Fun if you're low on it."

As Neo had said that the Cherry and the twins tried hard to not laugh or look suspicious. "Oh... Those slavers huh?" One raider pony said lowering his weapon.

He eyed the three ponies that they had in ropes and licked his lips as he stared at them with a lustful look. "Yeah, I see what you mean. Oi! Brawler! Get this fuckin’ gate open! We've got slavers!" The pony yelled moving off the wall.

The gate opened with a hiss, two ponies both of which were mares stood at the sides of the gate and eyed each one of them carefully. "Hey nice flank whitey, come by my place later, make sure to bring your friends too!" One of the mares tauntingly called out to Neo.

Neo just shrugged at her and didn’t reply, and continued his way inside the town with the rest of the group.

Overall there was twenty raiders in the small confined urban area. Chains with freshly hung body parts hung from the porches of each building with large profound and vulgar pictures drawn crudely all over each wall. Vending machines and crude artwork decorated everything that was metal. Bloody mats with pony bodies that had been raped and torn apart lay everywhere along the side of the main road. And in the eyes of the three would-be slavers, this was truly a cruel sight.

"So..." The evil looking raider stallion cooed.

He went over to Cherry and eyed her carefully. "How much for this one? I want her." Several other stallions looked at the mare he had chose and nodded vigorously in agreement.

Neo stepped in with an angry glare. "How much are you willing to pay?"

The raider thought about it for a second, "A hundred caps."

Neo thought about it, or rather acted like he cared at all about the price. "Nah, how about weapons? You willing to trade anything for her?"

The raider instantly nodded to him. "Follow me, I'll take you to the armory, and for that mare, you might get a special deal on a weapon." Neo got behind him and followed him off to their armory.

As they moved out the others followed them till they were stopped by the loud sound of weapons readied to fire. "Hold it!" A raider mare cried to Cosmo and Carpediem. "You two stay here, let him go with Claps to the armory. And if you dare complain, BAM! Hahaha!"

The two fake guard ponies looked at each other with worry. "Let's hope Neo knows what he's doing..." Cosmo muttered to himself.

Neo followed the raider to a brick two story building with an old wagon parked at the side of its entrance. The raider took out an old key and unlocked the rusted green metal door to the armory. The door squeaked open before the raider turned on the dim blue lights inside the cluttered building.

Neo's jaw hung open in awe as he saw hundreds upon hundreds of weapons piled everywhere throughout the building. Shotguns, rocket launchers, snipers, gatling guns, every kind of weapon one could imagine was inside this one building.

"W-Where did you..."

"Get all these guns?" He boasted, "Well, when that monster to the west of here killed somepony, not only did we get a free meal, but all the shit them caravans had on em. That was before the Legion came though, can’t get out much and scavenge with em around."

"So... See anything you like?" The raider added in a menacing cheerful tone.

Neo walked in with his eyes wide as he scanned the many weapons they were scattered about. This was the part he was unsure about, there was a few options he could choose from. Either he could kill the raider inside the building and with these weapons take out all the other raiders, or find a way to take the load of weapons without killing anyone. Neo didn't want to kill the raider, even if he was the lowest of all ponies, no even considering these monsters ponies was hard. However, he needed to act soon, either that or the group he had come with would die, and their whole mission here was for nothing.

"I need the opinion of my crew here. If I make an unfair deal with you, then where's the good in that?" Neo said with a smirk.

The raider frowned at him. "You fuckin serious? There ain't no way I'm lettin your guys in here, period!"

Neo shrugged and made his way back to the door. "Suit yourself, then I guess that mare you want won't be yours after all. So nice doing-"

The raider stopped him urgently. "No wait!"

Neo glanced at him oddly. "Change your mind?"

The raider looked confused for a moment as he debated with himself, then with a sigh he nodded at him. "Fine... Your guys can look, but don't touch a fucking thing, or I'll cut your balls off and make you eat em!"

Neo nodded and waited for the raider to let the rest of his crew come over to the armory. They themselves were marveled by the many guns that filled the structure. "Hurry up, I want to fuck my slave." The raider yelled as the three ponies looked around.

Neo looked at the local map on his Pipbuck and looked at the surrounding area. He hoped that there might be a tunnel or sewage pipe they could go through, and to their surprise the old building had one. Though it seemed that the entrance was blocked on his map, Neo wanted to investigate this new exit further.

Neo and the three other ponies walked over to the back of the room the weapons were in and saw where the entrance to the underground sewers were, however part of the ceiling above seemed to have collapse on top of it. Then Neo had another idea. One, that if properly done would mean it would be less dangerous for the group. But that was only if things went according to plan.

"Oh my dear sweet Celestia!" Neo shouted holding up one of the more damaged weapons.

The raider quickly un-holstered his pistol and came over to see what the matter was. "What the hell happened?" The raider exclaimed as he saw Neo with the gun.

"Each one of these weapons are rigged to explode! If several of them leave the building, half this town will explode!" Neo said in shock.

The raider holstered his pistol and marched over to the gun with a rather pissed off expression. "Oh yeah? Show me?"

Neo clumsily dropped the gun next to a small patch of grenades and looked at the raider sheepishly. "Sorry, metal hoof an all, you lose your grip on stuff."

He just grunted at him and rolled his eyes. "Clumsy fuck"

Neo went down to pick up the gun, and as he did he took one of the grenades from the pile and put it armed on one side of the gun. He lifted it up and threw it. "Oh fuck! Something's armed it!"

Neo, Cosmo, and Carpediem all dived off to the side and took cover as the raider went over to the gun laughing loudly. "Hahahaha! Look at you pussies! There ain't any armed exploding weapons in-"

Before he could finish his sentence the gun itself exploded sending small hot pieces of metal flying in all directions. "Oh fuck!" The raider cried as several pieces hit his legs and neck.

Luckily for him, it only left burn marks that stung fiercely. "Luna's hooves fuck my skull! What the living fuck was that!" The raider shouted getting up and going to Neo with his weapon ready.

He held Neo up by his collar till Neo's face and his pressed against each other. "You did this you little fuck! You tried to kill me!"

Neo shook his head quickly. "No no no! I tried to warn you! I can take care of the problem if you want? And get you even better slaves!"

The raider dropped him and thought about it. "Yeah? How's that?"

Neo got up and brushed himself off, "I know how dangerous these things are. They are rigged to explode in certain area's."

"Yeah? And if lots of these guns here are rigged to blow, how are we gonna get rid of them huh?"

Neo pointed over to the pile of rubble where the entrance to the sewer was. "If you clear that stuff there's a sewer right under it, the seal to the sewer should hold back the blast in case these things blow."

"So, just throw ‘em away? Fine, how much weapons are like that one?"

"About half of them."

"WHAT!"

Neo nodded. "Just image what would happen if the explosion hit those big bombs right over there and-"

"That's enough out of you! Now, what about the slaves? Since we're throwin’ half our shit out, I need more than just one slave."

Neo nodded in agreement once more. "I have some more slaves back at the camp."

With an unsure stare the raider looked him over. "Prove it."

"Well... Um... I..." This time Neo really wasn't sure what to do. Neo put a hoof up and looked through his bags quickly. Besides the supplies he had he didn't have anything to convince him. Then he found an old picture of a mare that went to his school when he was a teenager, he had forgot that these were the same saddlebags he used when he went to school himself.

"Here. Look at her." Neo said giving the raider the picture.

The raider stared at it with wide eyes, drooling at the mare. "Look at her, she's so clean, and look at that flank! Hot damn, I'd love to make her scream..."

Neo took the picture from him and nodded. "You can have her, and the other three if you give us half a wagon full of food."

Once again the raider thought about it, but his lustful urges and the urge to take one of those mares was too strong for him to think. "Yeah... I'll do it!"

Neo bowed to him, and nodded. "It's agreed then."

"Agreed."

"However... I don't have the slave collars here, and the mare you want is back at camp. Me and my boys here will need to get them and come back. I'll even clean them up for you if you throw in more food."

The more he looked at the picture the more and more the idea became a better choice. He couldn’t control himself, he felt the need to have these ponies for whatever the cost may be. "Yes! Yes yes yes! Do it!"

"Alright then. Also don't forget to throw those weapons out, we wouldn't want one to go off on us now, would we?"

The raider shook his head to snap out of his imaginative trance. "Oh yeah, that... Yeah yeah, I’ll get my guys to throw that shit out. Just know that if you bail out on me, and I'll go out there and hunt you myself. You hear?"

Neo gulped a bit. "Yeah, got it.... Deal?"

"Deal." He said taking one of Neo's hooves and shaking it.

Neo stood at the entrance to the area of the ruined raider town. Several of the raiders off to the side were cooking a large hunk of meat over a large grill which filled the whole area with the smell of cooking meat. Cosmo had the wagon hooked up to him with a small pile of food safely packed inside. A mare in leather armor came up to the raider who had sold them a lot of the food for the promised slaves.

She leaned over to him and whispered urgently. "You sure we should give em this much? We're getting like six slaves, and with the whole weapon things, we're gettin low on supplies."

He shushed her and continued to think about the many things he and his slave would do together. "It doesn't matter, what matters is that I get my slaves... My clean... Warm, soft, juicy slaves.... Mmmm." He purred.

"Yeah I know, but what about the rest of us? You ain't out there for yourself, are you?"

He gave her an agitated stare. "Are you telling me that I am not a good leader? Is that what you are fucking telling me!?"

She backed away from him cautiously. "Whoa there buddy, calm down. I just don't see why we need to give them all that shit for a few measly slaves."

He gave her the same stare as before as he got up to her closely. "Measly slaves? Measly slaves! Two of those slaves are some of the best looking mares I've seen in my life! I'm not going to miss out on this deal for the fucking world!"

She pushed him away from her. "Fine you whiny little bitch. Keep your slaves, I'm going to talk to the rest of the gang and see what they have to say about it."

As she trotted away he just gave her a pissed look. "Stupid bitch, once I got my slaves I won't need ya anyway."

He went back over to Neo who had the rest of the group ready to leave. "So let me get this straight, you are gonna go clean em up real good. Bring em back with the slave collars and that's it?"

Neo nodded, even though he wasn't too sure what a slave collar was. "Yep, by early tomorrow we'll have your slaves here all ready for you."

"Good, good." He muttered anxiously.

The raider scratched his head for a moment, "Hey speaking of slave collars, why don't these slaves have any?"

Neo was stumped again, but this time he could make up an easier lie. "Well, these are for show. To show what nice slaves we sell. I like to make sure you can see all of the slave, even the neck before I sell them."

"I guess that's fine." He said before nodding to the raider on the gate, "Just bring back my slaves by tomorrow or I'll find you. And when I do, I will kill you, your crew, and fuck the slaves myself and take em as my own." He menacingly keeled towards him. "Understand?"

Neo felt a sway of intimidation wash over him. "Y-yeah..."

"Good. Now go get me my fuckin’ slaves."

With that, Neo nodded and trotted off with their food and the rest of the group back to Arkcannon. Once they were out of hearing and visual range they took the ropes off along with the extra armor from the twins they put on themselves. "Well that went... Better than I hoped." Cherry said with a relaxing sigh.

"You're telling me." Neo added groggily.

"But, what about our weapons? I mean, as long as we go with food we're good, but with those extra weapons, the defence of the town would be better."

Neo smiled tiredly at her. "That whole thing with the exploding weapons was part of my plan to get them. They threw them into the sewer, and the entrance to that sewer is far away from the ruins themselves. All we need to do is go back to the sewer entrance and get the weapons at the end. Simple right?"

Cherry playfully nudged him and the rest of the group chuckled at the idea. "You did good Neo, and not one pony died. Though for a second there, I was sure you were gonna give me to that sleazy raider."

Neo laughed. "Hah, let's just get back to town, we'll get somepony to get the weapons tomorrow. Today was quite a day."

"Hey!" One of the twins called. “Where did you come up with such a funky? You know, the exploding weapons.”

“I hate to give him credit, but a trader pony taught me about those.”

“Well, I hope he knows that his idea saved us, we could have been slaves for our entire lives if something bad were to happen.”

Neo chuckled once more. “Let’s just call it a day, and be happy that nothing happened.”

"Speak for yourself, " One twin said.

The other twin spoke right after her. "We were the slaves the raiders drooled over."

Neo laughed before wiping his brow once more without answering them. Though they had made several close calls, and had almost went back with nothing, they managed to leave with more than they ever thought. But to Neo, the best part of the day was going back to the town, and seeing his brother again.

Foot Note: Level Up!

New Perk: Snake-like tongue: You gain +1 in Bartering with every level, and you also gain special dialogue choices while trading with another pony.

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Free thinker: Usually normal obstacles with hard problems become easier. Because of this you gain +2 in hacking and +1 in lock picking with every level.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Wayofthepen

A racist zebra

LyonAzakura

(AN: Though this chapter took longer than I originally intended, I still had a good time with this. I personally think that it came out pretty good for the most part. As always if you enjoyed this chapter please don't hesitate to leave some feedback and tell me what you thought!)

The Road to Freedom Part 2

CHAPTER 18: THE ROAD TO FREEDOM PART 2

The gates to the town opened with a loud rusted screeching sound as the guard pony along the top of the gate looked down at the small supply team with joy. "You guys did it! You made it back alright!"

The whole group looked up at him with a look of pride that let him know that they had done a good job. "That's right Proverb, we did more than that, and I'll tell you about it later!" Cherry yelled merrily to the gate pony.

Proverb nodded to them and pulled a lever that closed the gate. "I look forward to it Cherry Blossom!"

The group went along through the main dirt road that went through the center of town where ponies from every direction came out to watch them pull the huge cart of food through the street. Young fillies and colts came out to watch the wagon with the one thing the town needed the most. It warmed their hearts to see them smile, and awe at the wonderful gift they had brought back to the town. Neo's heart above all others was warmed the one most, this was the way ponies were supposed to look. Happy, and nothing could be said that would break that feeling he had at that moment.

Neo playfully nudged Cherry. "So you name is Cherry Blossom now?"

Cosmo chuckled at Neo. "Of course that’s her name, what did you think it was? Cause it sure ain't just Cherry."

Cherry gave Cosmo a smirk and a motherly stare. "Behave yourself Cosmo, I was going to tell him sooner or later."

"Pfft," Cosmo huffed, "As if."

She just chuckled at him and turned to Neo. "Yes it is, but everyone around town just calls me Cherry."

Neo shrugged childishly. "Alright Cherry just don't keep too much from me."

"Sorry not promise anything." She replied.

Up ahead of the road where the town hall proudly stood were several ponies, some of which were unicorns, all gathered around three large drill like machines. Older stallions and mares put young ones on their heads or backs so they could get a better look at the magnificent machines.

Cosmo, the twins, and Cherry stopped and looked over to Neo. "Well, I have to go find my mother and tell her about all that happened, I've also got to go and help Cosmo and the rest of the gang put this stuff in our food storage."

Neo blinked at her and smiled. "Will we see each other later? So we can, you know... Plan out some more stuff for the town," He added shyly.

She winked at him. "Maybe, lets see how things go. Till then, Neo."

With that, she and the rest of the group turned away from Neo and made their way to another part of the town. Neo stood there for a moment and watched them go off on their own way. Once they were out of sight he sighed and went over to the diggers to find his brother.

There were ponies that surrounded the teams who were attempting to get the diggers underground. Neo could see that the unicorns that surrounded the machines held them in place with their magic as they fit them into a large repair door on the side of the town hall. It looked as if it lead down below the town, and as such meant they could start production on their escape.

Iron Vein was helping the small team of unicorns by guiding the diggers safely into the doors which lead to the underground waterways that ran through the city. Neo only watched them for a moment before continuing the search for his younger brother. Adam came out from the crowd and looked at the whole group of ponies that curiously watched the unicorns and other ponies he had helped repair the diggers with the machines underground.

Just as he was about to turn around, he saw his brother in the corner of his eye. He could hear his brother call out his name in the small crowd looking for him, unaware of his current position. This gave him a fun little idea, one that he didn't want to think twice about. With the greatest of care he tip hoofed over to his unsuspecting brother, and just as he came close to him he shout at him while lunging straight at his body.

"Brother!" He exclaimed tackling him playfully.

"What the!?"

They both fell down to the ground with Adam laughing as he got up off him. "Where did you come from?" Neo asked in a surprised confused tone.

Adam didn't answer the question, but instead just grinned at him and helped him up. "I got you good, you need to be more aware for tackling ponies. Especially me!"

Neo rolled his eyes at him. "I am aware... It's just, you sneak around like a little ninja, that’s all..."

Adam chuckled at him once more. "Right, but you still need to watch your back or I might just sneak up on you again."

Neo gave him a questioning devilish look. "You wanna bet on that?"

Adam glared back at him. "I don't know, do you?"

"Well..." Neo said acting suspicious.

Neo then grabbed his brother and put his metal foreleg around his neck and took the other hoof and ruffled his mane furiously. "Didn't see that one, huh!"

Adam chuckled and laughed as his brother ruffled his mane in a playful manner. "Stop it brother, I give up! You win, I give up!" He cried in a burst of laughter.

"What the hell is goin’ on here?" Sheriff Westwood stated stepping up to them.

They both paused for a moment and looked at him sheepishly. Neo let go of Adam as they both gave him shy innocent smiles. They both stood at a more orderly posture as Adam tried to fix his mane with his hoof.

The sheriff glared frustratingly at them. "We don't need ya to be messin’ around! We got t'have a defence plan for the whole town if we're standin’ a chance in case of an attack!"

Neo and Adam both looked at each other with confusion in their eyes. "But we just got back, aren't we supposed to plan this out tomorrow?" Neo stated.

"Well, Ah’m sorry, but the Mayor wanted me to getcha when you got back from yer trip. An we ain't gettin troops together, not yet. We're gettin a general idea of how much firepower we've got, an how good a chance we've got defendin’ this here town."

Neo and Adam sighed. "And let me guess, you want us to go with you now regardless of the fact I might have just come back from a deadly supply mission. Right?"

The Sheriff looked at him with amazement. "Well, yeah, and we ain’t got much time left today to just sit around."

Neo patted himself down and gave a out a light sigh. "Alright, but before we go on I've got a few things to tell you that might just help us in defending the town."

The mayor of Arkcannon paced herself back and forth in a smaller room with several ponies watching her think whilst sitting around an old wooden table. The table in question had a large map of the town on it that displayed every building, street, and porch. Old bookshelves with old books hardly readable lay peacefully along with several old non colored pictures of law ponies that had helped run the town through the years. This was the sheriffs office, or that is what a sign over the entrance stated. And the whole room looked as if it were made for early law enforcement of the old days. The jail cell was behind the office where the sheriff and the other local law enforcement were supposed to work. However, the Legion didn't have guards posted at the town, and in some ways was more effective than actually having an armed force in the town itself. It was like the whole town was being watched. Watched, and inspected by a being that stood omnipotently over them all.

Red Glare, who was one of the first to arrive at the smaller private meeting since they were done fixing the diggers, looked at her with worry. "You know we have the supplies right? We're going to start digging our way out of here soon. Why are you so paranoid?"

There was an empty chair at the end of the table where she took a seat at. With a relieving sigh and a slight massage to her head she answered him glumly. "I'm not sure... I fear for the worst, what if we're not doing the right thing? What if we just end up killing ourselves?"

"It won't come to that." Red Glare answered reassuringly, "If we can plan out our defense now, get it set up and drilled tomorrow, we won't have to worry as much. And if all goes to plan we won’t have to worry much longer about such things."

She leaned back in her chair and nodded at him with baggy eyes. "I see what you mean Red Glare... It's just... This past weeks, the Legion has been over this town... It's bothered me. Children used to play in the streets as traders brought trade and stories from across the land. I used to worry more about Cherry's trouble with stallions more than anything during those times... And at one time, I looked at our town and thought we did good... But now, so many lives I've known all my life are gone. Just... Gone... Like a good memory you just can't seem to remember. Doing this puts everything at risk... And to see our townsfolk die because of some stupid act of rebellion... I dare not think further of it."

He smiled at her. "Listen to me Ms. Mayor. We are a determined bunch, and if it's one thing I know we can do, it's pull our way through these trying times."

She took a deep breath in. "Thank you."

Before he could respond the door to the building opened with a wooden creak. Neo, Adam, and the Sheriff Westwood came through the door and took a seat at the table in front of them. "Guardians. Sheriff. I'm glad you could make it, we were just about to begin."

One of the other mares at the table motioned her hoof to three empty old wooden chairs that surrounded the table. "Now that we're all here I would like to begin the defence meeting. Now, I know this might seem a little sudden to some of you, but the sooner we plan this out, the better we are off in the long run." The mayor announced.

She calmly looked over to the mare who had shown the three their seats. "First, let me say that Infinite here, who works at the food storage, has told me about the little raider move Neo pulled off just a bit ago."

Neo was a little shocked at the fact she had found out so quickly, then again, this was a small town and word could spread fast. "Yes, and I can say with the dearest of pride, that not only did we gain a lot of extra food, we also gained access to a variety of weapons." Neo added.

"Oh?" The mayor cooed intriguingly.

The Sheriff took the opportunity to answer her. "Eeyup, and they were tellin’ me bout it on the way here ma'am. In fact, tomorrow mornin’ ah'm gonna take a party down to the place Neo here told me where the weapons are."

"Do you have the location on your Pipbuck Neo?" The mayor asked.

"I do, and I'll give them the location later today."

"Good, how many weapons are there?"

"I can't say for sure. I do know that if they got rid of as many as I think they did, that should be quite a few at weapons at least." Neo added.

"I see, at least with even a little extra firepower we gain something out of it. Good work, I'll thank the other members of your team later." The Mayor said calmly.

She looked towards Adam and the sheriff. "As I was saying before, we have the diggers working, thanks to Adam, Iron Vain, Red Glare, and the rest of the repair team. With the diggers operational and the food, we have come very far in just one day. Though the true path to freedom will be paved by hardships though not evident at this time."

Adam blushed slightly at the mention of his work being praised. "Next, and lastly for this day, we need to prepare to train ponies for defending the town. However, right now, we need to plan positions for the defence of the town. That is what we will discuss today."

"So then," The mayor looked at everypony at the table, "What would be the best course of action?"

Red Glare raised his hoof and spoke. "These walls aren't of the strongest kind in the world, and positioning ponies on the wall if the Legion attacks would be suicide. Especially if they rolled out those iron wagons they have. They'll punch and tear right through them, and even if they don't, anyone posted up there won't be around to much longer."

"So you can you safely say that the iron wagons are our biggest concern?"

Red Glare leaned back in his chair and yawned. "Well that depends, we're not even a hundred percent sure what all they're packing over there. For all we know, they have tamed some kind of dragon or something. Not saying there is but we don't know what all we’re going up against."

Infinity leaned over the map and said, "We do know that there are normal basic Legion infantry and those iron wagons. We also know that their numbers are somewhere between five hundred or so. We gathered that much from the weeks they've oppressed us. Though they could have received reinforcements by now, which would mean their numbers could be significantly higher."

The mayor sighed once more and rubbed the sides of her head with her hooves in frustration. "We'll just have to plan out a defence, get ponies to places, and prepare for the worst."

Neo looked at the map on the table which show a detailed overhead view of the town and its buildings. He pointed over to two large two story buildings on the map. "How well structured are these buildings?"

The Mayor blinked at him. "Well, good, I suppose... They could take a few hits from something large and stand up if it comes to that."

"If those raiders got rid of the weapons I think they did, then they should have thrown out three large machine like guns. High powered by the looks of them, and in decent shape too. And if we place them up on these buildings we can funnel them through the center of town and take them with those."

There was a slight murmur of agreement in the group. Adam looked over to Infinity as he too had an idea. "What about explosives, will those do anything?"

Red glare looked over to him and answered for him. "Well, yes and no. The wagons won't get damaged too much from mines or grenades. However, any infantry that do come through will be affected greatly by them."

Adam looked over the map for a moment. "I see, so... If we hide a bunch of explosives near the gate and along the outside of the wall, then we can take out, or at least slow some of them down, and we could counter them."

"In the armory we've got a fair amount of explosives, though they aren't too special or in the best of shape. But we can make due if need be." Infinity added.

The mare nodded at the group with a hopeful look. "So, tonight we'll see the armed force we can gather, and look about setting up explosives at these specific places. And with those gunners on those buildings, we can also put grenadiers up there to help wear those wagons down."

The sheriff nodded as he imagined their defence on the town map. "Yep, an’ if we need to fall back, we can head on back to the town hall. If we fortificate it all nice like, we can get down to the tunnels and leave. That buildin’ is a strong one, and nothin’ I know, not even them iron wagons’ can take down that buildin’."

"Good idea sheriff." The mayor added. "Well, now that we have those covered we need to talk about protection and the evacuation of the non-fighting townsfolk."

"I'll look into that." Infinity added.

"Good, and what about armor for our fighting force?" The Mayor asked.

The sheriff spoke out and answered her question. "I'll check mahself while I recruit ponies tonight."

The mare nodded as the very sound of fresh ideas pleased her. She paused for a moment and ignored the rest of the meeting only to look towards Adam and Neo with an insightful look in her eyes. "What do you think about this, guardians?"

Neo and Adam looked at her for a moment in a rather puzzled way. "I think that if we can organize this right, we can hold them off for quite a bit.... But I don't want it to come to that. Just today, I saw ponies look at me and what we were doing with hopeful smiles. Now, I haven't been here long, but I hope with all the strength in me that it doesn't come down to fighting the Legion. I just can't handle it when families are torn apart because... I just can’t stand it.." Neo added in a worried, yet hopeful tone.

Adam put a hoof on his brother. "I know." He said softly.

"I agree with you Guardian Neo, but when a fight comes, a fight comes, and we need to be ready for it." The Mayor stated.

"Let's just hope those drills don't brake on us, because within a few days, we'll be free of these Iron Legion bastards once and for all." Red glare added.

The mayor looked to the whole group with a fierce determined stare. "But all we can do at this point is hope. Hope for the best, hope for the days to pass quickly as we pave the road to freedom."

The Legion flag flapped calmly in the gentle breeze of the afternoon day. The main Legion camp was calm, with ponies maintaining their armor and weapons while snipers talked and patrolled the outer perimeter of the camp.

A pony in the standard Iron Legion armored barding approached a large army tent, which was three times the size of a normal tent. He moved the flap that lead into the tent and stepped inside. "Captain, I need to speak to you, urgently."

The pony inside was a fit stallion with dim gold lined green plated armor and a officers cap which laid next to him. He was shaving himself with a bowl of water and a razor all set up on a small stand in front of him. He didn't act surprised and continued to look at himself shave in a mirror that was right in front of him.

"Yes?" He said not breaking his concentration.

"Lieutenant Covert has requested you meet with him on the lookout post on the end of camp, sir."

The Captain didn't answer but instead continued with his shave until he was finished. Once he was done, he washed his face off with a rag and placed the officers hat upon his head. He turned around to him in a swift decisive motion and motioned a hoof to him. "Is that all private?" He asked sternly.

"Yes sir."

He waved a hoof dismissing him. "Fine then, you are free to go."

With that the soldier gave him a sharp salute and trotted off to another part of camp. The Captain, however, left his tent and made his way to the edge of camp where the Lieutenant wanted to speak with him.

There was a small covered wooden lookout stand posted on the side of a hill right next to the edge of camp. The Lieutenant stood there stiffly looking out into the wastes with a pair of binoculars to his eyes. The Lieutenant himself was a fit unicorn stallion, with a brown mane and coat, and a set of bronze lined armored barding.

The Captain trotted up to him and joined him in looking out into the wasteland. "You needed me, Lieutenant?"

"Yes Captain. I have news for you."

"Why couldn't you tell me yourself?"

"This is more... important, and something I wish to discuss with you, privately."

The Captain gave him an odd stare. "And what might this important news be, hmm?"

"It's the townsfolk." The Lieutenant stated duly.

"What about them?"

"The spy we placed inside the town has confirmed our original suspicion of rebellion. Not only this, but their idea for freedom is rather odd, one I would have not even thought possible."

"Oh? And what have they gathered?"

"They are tunneling their way out with those giant drills they had in their mines."

The Captain raised an eyebrow in confusion. "They aren't really attempting that, are they? Do they know what they are doing could kill them faster than our perimeter force? Do we know which way they are even tunneling?"

"No, unfortunately."

The Captain stood there and pondered the whole thing in his mind for a moment. "Damn it! We give them too much freedom, if only the emperor gave us the order to fully occupy the town then maybe this wouldn't happen!"

"Agreed, however I did speak to the Emperor last night."

"And?"

"I spoke of what we know, and his orders are to stay and watch the town. He said he'll give us the order to take action on the matter in two days."

"Two days? We need to snuff this out now!"

"I know Captain, but his majesty was quite clear with his orders."

"His orders are getting more and more odd with each passing day. These headaches of his are just getting worse, and his mental stability isn't getting any better either."

The Lieutenant sighed. "I know, and he wasn't happy either when I told him there were guardians in the town."

This really shocked the Captain, and he felt a rage boil in the lower pits of his heart. "And when was this discovered?"

"Last night, sir.”

The Captain gave him a warning like glare. "Fine, and do we have any idea as to who these guardians are?"

"No."

“Damn. At least we can rest easy, those implants we put into our spy during the first week was a brilliant move on my part. The spy doesn’t even know we are watching them. So, hopefully in due time, we’ll find out who these guardians are, and just how they got past our perimeter.”

“Indeed sir, it was a good move on your part. But I have another subject to talk to you about.”

“And that might be?”

“The Predators, sir.”

“What about them?

“With the limited supplies, we have been able to repair one of them. However, because of the lack of supplies, we needed to send the others off to the Dark Mines.”

"Good," The Lieutenant cooed.

“Indeed, I do enjoy the good news.”

The Captain gave him a unsettling chuckle. "Some good news.”

"Indeed, Captain.”

"By the way, where is our little errand boy now, hmm?" The Captain sadistically said with a rather uneasy smile.

"He's staying here in the camp with us till tomorrow, Skyward something or other is his name."

The mention of his name bothered the Captain. "Oh, I remember him now... A pegasus, right? Filthy creature, he doesn't deserve to live with the pure in this camp!"

"That may be so, but he is about to leave and his job is not properly completed yet."

"What has the emperor said about him? Is he relaxed with this?"

"No, in fact, that pegasus was the only one who would take up the mission he proposed to so many other mercenaries. But if I remember correctly he said something about killing him if he made any trouble in the slightest of ways."

“I see, excellent...”

“By the way Captain, what are our orders? Are we just to lay here and watch the town all day? Or, is there something you have planned for us, sir?”

The Captain looked out into the distance with agitation. "Well...” He sighed thinking for a moment, “As for what we plan to do next, scouts have mentioned that the raider town not too far from here has supplies. Valuable supplies, and if we get to them... Well, let’s just say our lives will be a whole hell of alot easier."

The pony next to him curiously glanced at him. "Oh? So we plan to investigate then?"

"Perhaps," He coughed, "I haven't decided what we plan to do yet. But I'm sure soon we'll stop by that town for a... negotiable exchange in resources."

"As for Arkcannon," He muttered. "We'll pay an early visit to it, and claim the due taxes the town rightfully owes us."

"Hmm," the Lieutenant chortled, "The next few days should be... Interesting."

The light outside was getting darker. The windows from the towns buildings glowed dimly as ponies gathered inside their homes. Neo and Adam just sat there on the porch of the Inn and Saloon as ponies came in and out of the old establishment. Some tired, some old, some happy, and some drunk. Though, there was something calming to just sit outside in the cool still night with the sound of ponies calmly enjoying themselves in the warmly lit Inn. Sharp Note leaned back in an old chair on the porch as well, with a guitar in his hooves as he played a soft slow song.

In some ways, it made both brothers feel at peace as they thought how their presence in a town could make this much of a difference. They had only been in Arkcannon for a couple of days, and yet so much had happened. They helped with the plans of defenses, get the drills, get weapons and supplies and more. Accomplishment was the feeling they felt, and for once in the wide open wasteland, they felt it. Not in a bustling city, or an underground stable, but a real sense of accomplishment from good ponyfolk.

"Not many ponies can make what happened today a reality." Sharp Note said smoothly whilst not breaking the mood of his song.

"Heh," Neo chuckled, "If only we were really that great, then I could truly be proud of myself."

Adam looked up to the dark grey sky and admired the large sea or rolling grey that the sky. "Cool Bl- I mean, Sharp Note, not to sound random, but what do the stars look like?"

He continued to play his song as he looked up to the sky himself. "From the few times I've seen'em, they're bright and mystical. Billions of them, all twinkling and shining, just lookin’ down on us like there ain't a care in the world."

"I wish it were that way down here..." Adam added.

"Don't we all, kid. My great grandad told me about when the world was nice, and a peaceful day could be found everyday. He was a young colt at the time, but he still remembered enough to tell us about it."

Neo looked up to the sky as well. "I wonder... I wonder what others think of us, to look down on our small little world and watch us kill each other. But there I go, rambling on about something random..."

"Nah, it's fine," Sharp Note replied, "This is the most peaceful I've seen the town in a while. So it's okay to sit down and think about something like that. Though, once we get out of this place, I can imagine what my wife will think once I get back..." He shuttered. "So much yelling..."

Neo smiled at him and looked inside the inn. "Where will the town go after they leave? Where is a safe place to house everypony?"

"Yeah, there has to at least be a hundred and something ponies here." Adam added.

Sharp Note just nodded at him while keeping the beat of his song. "The coalition outpost north of highway 37 is the safest place I could imagine these folk head off to. It's got the stuff to help a town like this fed for a long time, and it's pretty fortified. I should know, I've been there a few times before. If the Legion didn’t cut off our communication with them, we might just be getting the aid we need out here. But that’s where we’re off to, or we should be at least."

"Indeed. I can't imagine a safer place to go in these times." The Mayor interjected playfully with Cherry at her side.

All three of them looked to them in surprise, and even though the two mares took their attention Sharp Note kept playing as if no one was there. "Hey there Ms. Mayor, how are you this fine night?" Sharp Note greeted her.

She kindly smiled at him. "Fine, thank you, we thought we should come down to the inn and rest for a bit. I also wanted to check on the Sheriff and see how his militia roster is coming along so far."

Neo looked over at Cherry with a shy smile, she just looked at him back and blushed. "So, what are you doing here Cherry, just wanting to relax a bit?"

"Yeah, today was... Well, pretty rough for us. And after all the hard work we've gone through today, I think we all deserve it."

Neo got up and stretched for a moment. "I think I might head inside the inn as well, eat something, chat for a bit, go to sleep, that kind of stuff."

Adam chuckled, "Okay, I'll spend some more time out here. This is a wonderful night, and I want to enjoy it some more."

Neo patted him on the back. "Alright well, just come in when you're ready Adam."

"Alright brother."

Sharp Note continued his song as Adam enjoyed the fresh night air while Neo, Cherry, and the Mayor went inside the inn together. The swinging doors swung open with a faint creak as the three came inside to the warmly lighted tavern. The sheriff was sitting at a table off to the side of the room with another pony next to him, and a rather large book in front of him. Ponies quietly chatted to themselves while drinking whatever it was they preferred. Some ponies were in a booth to the side of the main open area of the inn, these ponies were the loudest ones there. They had cards out as they swore and cursed at each other as each of them discussed a topic whilst playing.

Cotsworth, the bartender, whipped brown mugs and tended to the few ponies on the bar that sat and talked quietly to one another. The Mayor made her way towards the sheriff to check on the roster, and seeing as there were several ponies lined up to sign it made her feel even more confident that they were well on their way to gaining their freedom.

Cherry took Neo by his foreleg and tugged on him to come sit down at a table with her. "Neo, let's sit here." She said cheerfully taking him over to a seat at a small table across from the ponies playing poker in the booth.

Neo sat down nervously, she was acting a little weird, and even though he found it attractive, he felt something hold him back. Like a wall that he had placed there himself to stop his impulses. Cherry called over to Cotsworth to bring them two mugs of Apple cider.

"Heh," Neo chuckled uneasily, "I... Uh..."

She gave him a puzzled look. "What is it?"

"Well... I..." He tried to tell her he hadn't drank a bit of anything alcoholic in his life. His stable prohibited drinking, though he was dieing to try alcohol before, he never seemed to get his hooves on anything like that.

"Well, it-it doesn't matter really..." Neo added in a slight stutter.

She just shrugged as Cotsworth brought them their drinks. "Put it on my tab Cots. I'll pay you back later."

He just nodded at her. "Just make sure it's before we all make it out of here or you'll never pay me."

She nodded back to him and looked at Neo. "Well, drink up! This is the one thing we've got plenty of in this town and it's cider!" She exclaimed before taking her mug and drinking its contents heartily.

Neo looked down at the brown golden liquid in his glass and just wiggled the cup a around unnervingly before putting the glass to his lips. "Bottoms up..." He groggily said taking a gulp of the cider.

He looked down into the glass and thought about what he had just drank, and he wasn't going to lie to himself, the stuff tasted good. Better than he had thought originally too.

"Wow... This is what it tastes like..." He said in an awed manner before taking a few more gulps of wonderful cider.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You act like you haven't had cider before."

Neo shook his head, "Well, umm... No, it's just... This stuff tastes better than... Uhh, any of the other ciders I've had before..." He finished with a sly smile and faint squee.

She looked at him sarcastically. "Sure..."

Neo rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Yep..."

As he rubbed his head she got to see as his metal foreleg in full form. "Wow, you know I've seen a lot of ponies come through this town but none that have a leg like that."

Neo looked at it as if it were never there before. "Oh this thing? Yeah it's neat I guess, doesn't beat a good living one though."

"Yeah," She chuckled unnervingly feeling her own right foreleg. "How did you get that anyway?"

That sentence sent him back to memories of blood, screaming, horrifying pain all at the same time. "It's... It's a long story. Let's just say that if I didn't have my little brother I wouldn't have a right foreleg right now... or be alive for that matter."

"He seems to know his stuff when it comes to technology, huh? Seeing as he helped fix those diggers and his knowledge of stuff like that." She said taking his other hoof sympathetically.

"Yeah," Neo added with nostalgic smile. "He is good with that stuff, back in the stable, you should have seen some of the stuff he would come up with. The trouble we would get in when he had some great idea to change the stable I tell you. Heh, seems like that wasn't too long ago."

"Is that how life is in a stable?" She asked.

"Well..." He said recalling his life before. "I've told this story before, and somehow I enjoy retelling things about it... I guess I’m just a sucker for nostalgia."

She smiled at him again. "Mind telling it once more?"

He leaned over the table and relayed his life before. "Life in a stable is... Well, different from life here. Much different. The floors, rooms, food and water are clean. There is never a shortage on anything, and the only worry you have is that if you are late to work that morning. Your loved ones are close and...” He paused for a second, “They always seem to be right next to you all the time..."

"It sounds lovely." She sighed blissfully.

"It is... But there really isn't much more than that. Right now, though taking care of Adam and finding m-... Nevermind." He said getting watery eyes. "Look at me, getting all watery over memories." He added wiping the wetness from his eyes.

"Before the Legion came I would help my Dad and mom run the festivals we would have every year. We'd launch fireworks if the scavenge team could find them, and I'd run this little sack race game. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the outside world could touch us. And the travelers that would come! Oh, I wish you could have heard the stories and things they would bring. Some told their stories and adventures across old world structures and the treasures they would find, the ponies they met, and the brave fights they would have. I would go home and my dad and I would dress like we were on an adventure. I'd wear this old explorers hat and he would wear an old military helmet... And the adventures we'd go on!"

She looked as if she weren't even speaking to Neo anymore. "We loved going on adventures together..."

She suddenly looked to him. "What about you? What was your father like?"

Neo frowned and lay back in his chair trying not to think about him. "He's a jerk, that's all I know. He left us before Adam was even born... He probably died doing something, and I don't care. He left my mother on her own and I hate him whether he's dead or alive."

She put her hoof over the table and took his other hoof. "I'm sorry to hear that. My father was kind, wise, and always fun to listen to. He, helped save our town when a huge raider gang came to attack the town."

"He sounded like a good pony."

"He was." She said in a mournful nod.

The sheriff could be seen getting up and folding his roster book while talking quietly to the Mayor. The other ponies that the sheriff was with stood up with him and gather their things before thanking the ponies that hadn't left the bar yet for registering.

The Mayor followed the sheriff and his deputies over to Neo and Cherry’s table. "Ya did a good service for our town t'day. Now ah'm off, so ah'll leave you with a good night t'both of ya." He said tipping his stetson to the two of them.

Just before he was about to make his way to the exit he paused and turned back to Neo. "Oh, and I'll need yer help tomorrow mornin’. We got ourselves a lot of ponies who signed up tonight an’ we're gonna need the help preparin’ them for an attack if it comes a knockin’."

Neo nodded in an unsure manner at him. "Okay, I'll see you in the morning I guess?"

"Count’ on it." He said with another tip of his hat.

The Mayor came up to the table and motioned her hoof for Cherry. "Come on Cherry it's getting late, and we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Cherry gave Neo a shy grin. "Sorry we didn't get to talk long, but it was good while it lasted, eh?"

"Yeah..." Neo sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Sure." She said getting up from her chair and walking with the Mayor out of the inn. Just before Cherry could leave through the doors she waved goodbye to Neo. He waved back before she followed the other ponies out into the now dark street of the town.

Neo really didn't do much after she left, he just sat there thinking, ordering and drinking more cider as he thought. Though one thing he did notice, was the change in his perception of the world. The room got slow and hazy, everything seemed to be shifting and unsteadily moving around. By this point he wondered how much ciders he had actually had, or better yet, how much alcohol was in just one glass? Well, by this point it was several glass but to him it didn't seem like that many. But he felt as his eyelids slowly came down, and regardless of how hard he tried to keep them open they eventually forced themselves shut. One they did, his head let gravity take it as it clunked onto the table.

Adam took in a deep breath and came inside through the swinging inn doors. Most of the ponies inside the inn were gone and had already left to whatever home they had. He did, however, saw his brother laying there on the table like he had passed out. Curious to see if he was okay, Adam came over to him and nudged him gently.

"Brother?" He asked him with a poke to his head.

He just twitched a bit and continued on in his unconscious state. Cotsworth just looked at the two while cleaning up the bar area. He had a little too much to drink. "I'll help ya carry him upstairs if you want, cause he ain't moving even for a mega-spell."

"But he hasn't drank a day in his life, why would he be passed out like that?"

"Heh," The bartender chuckled, "He's really fond of the cider we've got, and I don't mind him drinkin’ it as long as he pays me tomorrow morning." He said while hopping over the counter and over to the table Adam and his brother was.

"Here, take one of his legs and put it around your shoulder."

Adam did as he was instructed and helped him pick up Neo, who by this point was as heavy as concrete. They both struggled a bit to take him upstairs as his back legs hit the stairs they ascended on the way to the brothers room. "He's going to sleep like a baby." Cotsworth grunted while helping Adam take him upstairs. "But he'll be hatin life once he gets up tomorrow."

"Great..." Adam whispered to himself. "Of all the times you choose to drink brother, it had to be tonight..."

Large smokestacks cascaded high into the sky from the old ruined raider settlement of old Arkcannon. Raiders shouted out in horrifying pain as Legion soldiers stood inside the walls of the raider settlement. Though these cries came from the many raiders who pleaded and begged to be spared as many were lined up against walls for firing squads. Most of the buildings that the raiders had used before the Legion arrived were burning brightly. Flames and cinders poured out into the nighttime sky from them, and loud snaps and cracks could be heard from the burning structures.

Cyrus, the Legion captain, marched proudly down the middle of the now burning settlement. He grinned and chuckled to himself as he watch the ponies of the settlement die slowly. For the firing squads didn't shoot them in the head or anywhere that could kill them fast, but rather line them up with their backs turned and their hooves against the walls and fire at their lower spines.

Most of them passed out. Some just tried to kill themselves with blunt objects they could find on the ground, or they were thrown off into some ditch the Legion had made for them to die in. They wouldn't get anywhere in the condition they were in once thrown into the ditch, so why worry about anyone escaping? Soldiers in their standard armor went into the armory the raiders had and, plundered it by the cartful. Every kind of weapon or killing tool they could find was loaded and piled inside small wooden carts the Legion had brought.

Cyrus halted his march through the town and ordered a soldier at one of the ditches to come over to him. "Yes sir?" The soldier said with a proud salute.

"At ease. It has come to my understanding that they aren't dying fast enough. Now I understand that usually we operate differently but we do have little time to spend watching every single one of them die in a ditch."

"What will you have me do sir?"

He grinned wickedly at him. "Burn them, and not just normal a nice sizzling burn. One that takes awhile to kill somepony, but will get the job done even if we leave. Is that understood private?"

He saluted him once again. "Yes sir, it will be done sir."

"Good." He said giving him a pat on the shoulder before the soldier went off to perform his task.

Buildings were collapsing now. The flames eating slowly at the old beams and supports that had kept them up for so long now giving way to the will of the flames. This is why Cyrus loved the Legion, the sounds, the feeling of the heat of fresh burning buildings. It was all magical to him, and in a way almost pleasing. He was a captain on the frontlines of the northern border, and he stayed there for a majority of his time while in the Legion. It was because of this he loved war, he was exposed to the harshness of brutal and grizzly combat, the likes of which hardly any could take.

He watched as soldiers took several screaming ponies whose guts and innards hung out from their bleeding bodies were thrown carelessly into the pit of the dead and dying, the Lieutenant rushed over to him. Quickly throwing a salute as the Lieutenant straightened himself up to his commanding officer.

"Sir, we have a pony, and he says he has information that could be important sir."

The Captain rolled his eyes at him. "Just another beggar, gut him and throw him into the pit with the others."

"But sir," He added, "He said that slavers came by earlier."

The Captain's eyes widened as he cocked his head towards the Lieutenant. "Slavers? Impossible! Nothing could get past the perimeter. Nothing!"

"These did sir, and he said he has more information on them too sir."

"I see..." The Captain hummed while putting a thoughtful hoof to his under jaw. "Bring him to me, we'll just see how much he really knows."

"Yes sir." He grunted before trotting off to get the pony he had mentioned.

Two guards dragged a pony with an old linen apple sack on his head. He was covered in small cuts and bruises as the Lieutenant and the two Legion soldiers carried him to the captain. They jerked him down onto the ground and removed the sack from his head. The soldiers raised their weapons at him and stood ready in case he decided to try anything spontaneous.

The shadows from the fires loomed over them as the Captain leaned over the raider. The raider sniveled pitifully to him. "T-Thank you, I've always liked the Legion! And I-I-"

"Quiet you whimpering filth!" The captain spat at him.

The raider reeled away from him with despair deep in his eyes. "Good..." The Captain cooed.

Cyrus looked him over with pity. "Have the raiders of this province grown soft on us? There was once a time, where surrender was never part of the raiders vocabulary, but now... Look at you, ponies like us feared facing you and your kind, the very name of raiders was feared everywhere you looked. Just look how far you've fallen. You're weak, pitiful creatures, who no longer serve a place in this world!"

The raider just whimpered and covered his head in fear of the Captain. "But," Cyrus added softly placing his hoof gently on his head, "You are not completely useless, but rather, we might need of you."

The raider looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "R-really?" He stuttered.

He nodded at him with a dark smile. "Do you fear death, raider? More than you fear anything?"

He nodded furiously at him. "Y-yes!"

"Well then," The captain softly said leaning to his head. "I offer an escape, from your old life, from this... Do you know what I speak of?"

The raider thought for a second and nodded once more to him. "Good. Now, raider do you truly wish to join the pure of the Legion?"

He stared at him with confusion for a moment. "J-Join you?"

With a calm nod the Captain said, "Yes. And to escape a fate worse than what your friends face, all you need to do is tell us what you know. Once you do, just show us who these ponies are that came past the perimeter... That is all I ask."

He had a tear of hope run down his cheek as he stood up from the ground. "Y-yes! I can do that! I will help you!"

"Do you give up your old ways to live a pure noble life with the just?"

He thought for a second, but under the conditions he faced he agreed. "Yes!"

The captain smiled mischievously at him. "Excellent... You will serve a higher cause with the Legion."

The raider had a hard time speaking as joy fluttered about in his chest. "Y-yes sir! I will not fail you!"

The Captain turned away from him. "I know." He stated gently before ordering a soldier to take him back to the camp.

The Lieutenant came up next to Cyrus and followed him through the center of the burning settlement. "You really think he is useful to us, sir? Just taking him like that, how do we plan to do this? And what plan of yours concerns that- that raider!"

"I understand your viewpoint on this matter," He chuckled, "We'll go through the spy tapes tomorrow and see what our spy has uncovered in the town."

"If these ‘slavers’ came to this settlement, they most likely went back to the town, even in it's terrible condition."

"Yes sir, however I'm not sure I follow. Where does this raider come in, sir?"

"I have plans for him, and for my plan to work, I need to have the raider calm and with a clear mind.."

The Lieutenant oddly stared at him. "I still don't understand, sir. What does he have to do with anything?"

"Like I said, we'll have a real chat with him back at camp, and if he doesn't give me what I need, then... Well, let's just say that what the rest of the raiders had will seem just like pinches compared to what I will do to him."

"As for the rebellion sir, does it have anything to do with them?"

"But of course, and if things go the way I plan, that town will wish they never even considered betraying the Legion!"

Foot Note: Level up!

New Perk: Drink up me hearties yo ho!: Alcohol, preferably Ciders and Rum, have their abilities boosted by +2 when consumed.

Foot Note: Level up!

Would you like to Level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Wise guy: Intelligence increases by +2 points with every time a computer is hacked successfully.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Fragment

The First Shot

CHAPTER 19: THE FIRST SHOT

How much is one going to give for freedom? For one's ideals. A heart, a life, his soul or more. In the end though, the cost of freedom is much more than that, and that is something we will never truly understand.

The cool wind blew hard in the early morning in Ironhoof City. The city never slept, and in some way or another, it was always busy, always moving. Emperor Vladimir stood out in the small iron railed balcony of his tower, the wind blowing his fresh new mane in the wind as he gazed at the faintly glowing city around him. Like always, the top halves of the buildings were lit, while the bottom halves remained dark and mysterious. His dark green eyes looking intensely at the whole of the city endlessly. Never blinking. Never moving. Just staring. Thinking deeply to himself.

He had cut his mane the night before, rather than the old curtain mane that hung down his neck and head, he removed it and made a new style for himself. His new mane was made into a ponytail with shorter bangs in the front of his head that parted ways shortly down the middle. He rather enjoyed his new look, it made him feel younger, stronger, and more confident with himself as opposed to his older, more hideous look.

There was a small stand next to him with a hole in it and a terminal next to the hole. In this opening was a large bottle of wine. Red wine, and a very fine old brew that was older than he was.

It was still early dawn, and light had still not shown itself to the world. And as the morning progressed the wind became more calm and tame with the starting of the new day. All the while he continued to think. He blinked for the first time in a few minutes as he felt a sudden, but sharp pain emerge from inside his head. With a quick and urgent motion he grabbed the wine bottle with a kinetic field from his horn and quickly gulped a single swig of the wine. Within second the pain subsided. He put the wine back down into its place and sighed stressfully whilst rubbing his head with one hoof gently.

"What am I going to do..." He moaned, "I try, and try, yet they still seem to happen..."

He levitated the wine over to him as he looked at the label upon the front. "Is this what it has come down to..."

"Yes, you know it to be true." A dark masked hissing voice cooed to him.

He turned around to look behind him in panic and saw a black shadow like alicorn standing right behind him. It's features were distorted, and blurred, but it's soul piercing blank white eyes stood out clearly of all the few features the specter had.

Vladimir frowned at the figure. "It's you again..."

The shadowy creature moved to his side, chuckling to itself. "It would seem so."

"What is it you want this time?"

The creature reeled back and mockingly stated, "Me? Wanting something from you? Never!"

"Answer the damn question." He grunted.

The specter shook its head disapprovingly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Red, my dear boy, is that the way you to talk to a friend? I mean, what would your mother think of you using such harsh words?"

He turned his head to the shadow, "Is this what your purpose is? To taunt me?"

"Well, yes and no. My purpose is to remind you of what you are, Little Red. And to ensure you live out your... Full potential out in the wastes. Though it is fun to see you squirm when you get nostalgic."

Vladimir turned away and looked down in saddening thought. "T-that name..."

"Yes, Little Red, your mother liked that name, though personally I think it sounds stupid. What about Crimson Red? Oh, now that's a name! Nothing like that idiotic name your mother and father gave you-"

"You watch what you say, you demon spawn!" He snapped, "If you dare speak about them that way again I'll-"

"You'll do what?" He purred intriguingly. "Hit me? Sentence me to be crucified like all those pegasi you killed during the purging? Or would you rather have me gutted like those traders you so willingly killed?"

He put his hooves to his ears to block out the voice of the shadow. "No! I- I didn't mean too, I... I hated them! They needed to die! T-they, they took my.. My... Shut up! Leave! Leave me alone!"

"I'll never leave, so long as you live." The shadow put its head close to his hoof covered ear and whispered, "How does it feel, Little Red, to be alone?"

In rage, Vladimir flailed his hoof at the shadow. "Leave me alone!" He shouted seeing as nothing was there.

In demented anger, he panted heavily, looking nervously around the little area around him. He rubbed the back of his neck before taking a quick sip of the wine next to him. Shuffling groggily he went over to the railing on the edge of the balcony and leaned against it as he tried to calm down and relax.

He breathed in and out slowly as he examined the area around him once more. This wasn't the first time he had seen whatever the thing was. Not till recently had it happened to him, till he started seeing the apparition. For most of the time, he heard it only as a voice. The kind of voice one hears only in the farthest reaches of their mind. Though most times, it would come and go within minutes, and it’s new more physical visitings lasted longer.

It was all in his head, or at least he thought it was. Though, he found the only thing to delay, and prevent at times the sudden headaches and spectral moments was red wine. He wasn't too sure as to why it worked, but it did and that was all that mattered to him.

A Legion soldier stepped out onto the balcony from inside the building. He looked to his emperor and saluted him sharply before speaking. "Are you alright sir? You look a bit pale."

Vladimir was still breathing heavily to calm himself down, however he tried his best to lighten his breathing to appear more calm. "Y-yes, I'm fine. What is it?"

"On the main line, Lieutenant Covert of the Arkcannon perimeter, wishes to speak with you on the terminal, sir."

Straightening himself up, he nodded to the soldier. "Is that all you wish to tell me?"

"Do you require more wine, sir?"

"No, now please get out. I want to speak with him alone."

The soldier bowed graciously to him before leaving. "Yes, m'lord."

The soldier left, going back inside, leaving the emperor alone on the balcony once more. He turned to the terminal on the small stand that was next to his wine and turned it on. For a moment though, as he stared at the now working screen of the small computer, he looked around him once more curiously to make sure that he was alone. After he finished scanning the area behind him he went back to the terminal and switched it the the main channel his Lieutenant was on.

It took a second for the terminal to switch over to the main channel, but once it did, he could hear the Lieutenant clearly. "Yes, what is it Lieutenant, and please do speak quickly."

"Yes, m'lord, I will try."

"Good." He stated bluntly, "Now, what is it?"

The Lieutenant spoke with urgency in his tone. "It is the Captain, sir. He doesn't seem well, I have mutually agreed with his decisions, but I truly believe he is no longer mentally capable of leading."

"How so?" The emperor purred sourly.

The Lieutenant lowered his voice as if he were in an almost whisper like volume. "He has sentenced many to death in the town that don't need to die. He punishes those who have broken small laws you created, he destroys and questions your actions and orders. He has even spoke of treason, m'lord."

Deep inside his chest, the emperor felt a sense of fear touch his heart at the word treason. "Are you sure of this? How dare he even consider that!"

"Yes, sir, it is true. In fact, he is even more determined to take the town on his own now that he believes some guardians reside in the town."

He put his hooves to the sides of his head as he felt panic and anger build and fester inside himself. "What the hell is that bastard of a pony think he is doing! If I knew that keeping him out of action this long would affect him this much, I would have never put him in that position."

"I understand sir, but we must act fast if we are to ensure your plans aren't jeopardized."

Vladimir sat down on the balcony floor and leaned forward toward the terminal screen thinking to himself quietly. He heard a faint shuffling noise come from the Lieutenants end as if he had saw something from behind him. "What was that?" The Lieutenant grunted curiously.

"What is the matter, Lieutenant?"

"N-nothing, m'lord... Just the wind..." He said in an unsure manner.

The emperor didn't reply to him but instead took a second to think. But the more he thought, the more his thoughts burned, and with his hooves he tried to rub the pain away as he thought. It was like rational thinking was lost and he felt the burning become worse and worse, till the pain became searing and horrific. He took the wine next to him and drank some of it quickly to get rid of the pain.

"M'lord? Are you there? How should I proceed?" The Lieutenant asked quietly.

His voice sounded off as the emperor heard the dark mysterious voice once more whisper in his ear. "Kill him, show that insolent captain who is god and who is the peasant. Only then can you prove your dominance..."

The pain left his mind as he glared with a determined anger at the screen. "Let him know his mistake, but watch him, for I will deal with him myself... And I'll properly show this town what the true meaning of fear is. However, if he steps too far out of line, take him and I'll see he is punished for all his accounts..."

The Lieutenant was, in a way, shocked at his change in tone and replied. "Y-yes, sir, I'll see to it, please though he plans to attack, or prepare to attack soon."

"Very well." He cooed with a slight insane chortle. "But what you don't understand is that there are far more terrible things one can do to punish one as insolent as him..."

The Lieutenant wasn't sure if he was talking to him or to another. "Sir? Are you addressing me?"

"Shut up!" He snapped. "It doesn't concern the Lieutenant, he is loyal! I, and only I can decide that!"

The Lieutenant's tone sounded worried as he tried to speak to him. "I-I will carry out your orders sir... Please, try and rest... Perhaps you should let me handle him instead-"

"No! Nononono! I'll choose his fate! I am god! Only I can decide his fate!" He shouted madly at the Lieutenant.

"...V-very well sir... I’ll report on the matter later if need be. Covert out."

Like that, his voice went silent as he left the conversation. Once again though, Vladimir sat there, breathing madly, his mane frazzled as he reflected how he acted. He looked down onto his hooves with fear and confusion.

"Oh, what fun it is to mess with your mind!" The voice hummed, "I can't wait to see what you do to him... It will be, spectacular... Oh what fun! Oh, what fun!"

"B-but that wasn't me..." Vladimir whimpered.

"But of course it was, dear boy! Have I ever lied to you?" Said the bodiless voice.

He put his hooves down and looked to the sky for just a brief moment, and in a quiet gentle tone in his voice he said, "No..."

Neo was asleep, very asleep. The kind of peaceful rest that one would have on a lazy slow day. And at that moment, hardly anything could wake him. Well, at least, he could have wished that was the case, because Adam opened the door to their room in the inn. The light from the doorway leaked into the dark silent room his older slept in, and with a smile, he turned on the single light that illuminated the small room.

"Wake up brother, you've slept in long enough!" Adam called, coming over to his older siblings bedside.

Neo's eyes peaked open before he hissed in agitation, whilst quickly covering his eyes with his forelegs. Instantly he felt a soreness develop in his head. "The light! It burns!" He moaned in agony.

Adam sat down on the edge of his bed and helped him sit up with his hooves still protecting his eyes from the dim light that supposedly hurt his eyes. Neo's head soreness slowly subsided as he sat up, however he refused to take his hooves off his eyes.

Adam put a hoof on his mechanical foreleg as he spoke to him in a reassuring way. "Brother, please open your eyes. Red Glare, the Sheriff, and Mayor want you to see the defenses we've set up earlier this morning."

"No Adam, my eyes. Can't I just, you know... Go blindfolded?" Neo suggested.

Adam gave him a playful sarcastic glare. "You had five ciders last night..."

Neo put his hooves down with a rather dumbfounded look while keeping his eyes closed, "Really? Because I'm pretty sure it was a hundred..."

Adam put a hoof on his older brother’s shoulder, trying to speak as reassuring as possible. "Just try and open one eye."

"Are you kidding me? And risk my eyes frying like cooked meat? Nope, no way." He protested.

Adam frowned at him, yet he still retained his reassuring tone. "Brother, don't be stubborn. You can't help if you can't see."

Neo sighed. "Are you sure it was just five?"

Adam nodded, and gave him a kind smile once more. "Just open them slowly, and one at a time. Like taking foal steps."

Neo was unsure of the current situation, but he trusted his brother, even if he wasn't any kind of medic. "...Fine," He grunted.

He slowly opened his left eye, and even though it stung his eye, he continued to open it. Once it was open, the pain gradually subsided. And with the other, he did the same, same stinging sensation, and the same feeling of regret. He really didn't want to get up, even if he didn't get anything done.

His eyes were fully open and blinking, and though the stinging slowly died down, he still wasn't happy he had to get up. "Was that so hard?" Adam snickered at him in a playful manner.

Neo folded his forelegs swallowing up his pride. "No..." He muttered.

Adam chuckled and got off the bed he sat on and motioned his head for his brother to come with him. "Come on, brother, we've got a long day ahead of us. And I heard Cherry might be with her mom checking the defenses, and they have food with them."

He raised an eyebrow at him, "Well, when you put it that way..." He said with a small leap from his bed and a quick rub of his eyes.

Neo put on his duster and rolled up the sleeve on the leg his Pipbuck rests on before grabbing his bags and his head rag. They both walked down the stairs of the inn, and once they were at the main floor of the building, Adam pointed out the number cider mugs where he sat last night. Neo just chuckled awkwardly, and shrugged, retaining his embarrassed grin. Once Adam was done pointing out the few ciders he had the night before, they went through the saloon like doors of the inn and stepped out into the main dirt road of the town.

What surprised Neo was just how busy everyone was. All the town folks seemed content with what they were doing as they ran boarding up windows, preparing positions in case of an attack. Even on the second story of buildings there were ponies preparing upper battle positions. Colts and fillies even helped with small things as they fumbled and chuckled as they performed simpler tasks around the town.

Near the main gate of the town, the Mayor, her daughter, Red Glare, and the Sheriff, stood holding weapons while surrounded by several other ponies listening to them speak. Neo followed his brother as they approached the group ahead of them. Neo was surprised though; they had got so much done in one morning. It was clear that these ponies were driven, driven by the wonderful and promising hope of freedom.

As they approached Neo noticed a large rope made into a large half circle that went around the inner section of the main gate. Inside the area the rope covered was small almost unnoticeable lumps of dirt. Though it didn't seem important, it was still an odd thing that hadn't been there before.

Red Glare and the other town officials stood at the mid center of the group with him speaking to the small group. "Once the mines go off, you'll have to focus on the remaining iron wagon drivers. If they get too close to the main hall, we won't last much longer. But, the key factor to remember here, is that we are just trying to give the digging team time. That is, of course, if the Legion attacks us while we're still digging. If all does not go well, we need to fall back to the barricade in the center of town, from there, we should have a decent fortified position where we can continue to buy us time. Now, first things first, we need to get that barricade started. So, go into your homes, find whatever you can and pile it outside in the street near the middle of town. Once we’ve got that all together, we can start building the actual barricade. Until that’s done, you have no more orders, I’ll call you all back when you’re done.”

As the two came up to the group, the Mayor dismissed the talk and sent them to go to finish setting up their positions. Red Glare and the other officials saw them coming up to them and greeted them. "I see you've got Neo up." The Mayor said.

Neo gave them a faint sheepish stare. "Yeah..."

"It took a little convincing, but I got him up." Adam stated proudly.

"Well I'm glad he's up." Red Glare stated sternly. "We've come a fair ways away from our old occupational days. Though thanks to Neo, Cherry, and the rest of the group we can eat for a few days."

"What about the weapons, and where is the food, Adam?" Neo asked.

“Oh... Well, they’re really not giving it out... Yeah sorry, but it was the only way I figured you’d get up.”

Neo just rolled his eyes at him and tried to forget that food was gloriously waiting for him. The other ponies didn’t pay any mind to the two, and Red Glare instead went about answering Neo’s question.

"From the data you gave us on the whereabouts of the weapons, we showed the Mayor and she gave us the green light to retrieve them. I sent a few ponies to get them, and hopefully, there is something good. Or else we might be a few guns short, and a little low on ammo."

"What about this rope? What's it for?"

Adam put his hoof high in the air as he eagerly wanted to answer the question. "Go ahead Adam." Cherry told him with a smile.

"Well, it took me a few minutes, but once you learn how signals work it's not that hard to set up remote detonated mines."

Neo looked at him oddly, with a single eyebrow raised at his statement. "Remote activated mines?"

"Yep," Adam squeaked with pride. "This rope marks the zone the mines are in. Once trouble comes though, we'll remove it and we can remotely activate them from the town hall."

The Sheriff took a step forward and added, "Not only that, but they'll blow em’ iron wagons to smithereens if'n they get too close fer comfort."

"So far though, the defense seems to be well placed for now. We're just touching things up while we wait for the recovery team to bring back the weapons under the raider settlement." Red said levitating a gun out its holster and spinning it in the air impressively.

Red Glare put the gun back in its place and nodded to the others. "Neo, Adam, Cherry, it would be a load of help if you go into the digging site and check on the miners. That's the one place we haven't checked on yet today, and from what I hear though they've dug pretty far in the little time they've been digging."

"As for me and the rest of us," Red glare sighed tiredly looking to the Mayor and Sheriff. "We need to check on the barricade supplies, and if all goes well we may not need a center barricade."

With a tip from the Sheriff’s hat and a nod from the other two Red Glare said, “Good luck checking on them, and tell Iron Vain I said hi, will ya?” It didn’t take long after he had said that to take the Mayor and the Sheriff off to check on the barricade supplies. This left the three others alone.

Neo turned around to the town hall and gave a out a small relieving sigh, “Well, I guess we’ve got stuff to do... Guess we better get started. The sooner we get do this the sooner we can eat.”

Adam and Cherry chuckled to themselves. “Let’s just go, you can think of food later, brother.”

After Adam had said that, the three ponies made their way down the street to the town hall. Cherry had taken the lead and was taking them to where the tunnel was being dug.

On the dirt road and all over the town, ponies ran and trotted taking chairs, tables, and other random assorted items with them as they went in all sorts of different directions around town. There were two two story buildings across from each other, and the three took it into account as they watched ponies in the windows setup what seemed to be bombing stations. As the three walked up the street a small colt, with a young filly at his side came up to them. They had blue and red striped bands tied to their forelegs with large old metal pots which acted as creative but childish helmets on top their small heads.

"Cherry, cherry!" The colt yelled in an excited manner.

She and the two brothers paused for a moment as they watched them come up to Cherry. "Hello Tale. Hello Tattle." She said in a calming warm tone to them.

The small orange coated colt had a small saddle bag on his side that looked stuffed. His expression was vibrant as he and the filly hoped in excitement. "Look what we're helping mother with! They’re Coalition bands, and all that extra fabric she had from scavenging is being use to make them!"

She leaned down to them with a motherly smile. "My my my! You sure have been busy this morning. Did you make these all by yourselves?"

The little colt puffed his chest out and gave her a cocky grin. "You bet! Me and my little sis did this all by ourselves! Mom says it'll help ponies when we fight the Legion!"

Cherry gave him a stern look. "If we fight the Legion. And are you being truthful about this?"

Retaining the same boastful look the little colt boasted, "I ain't lying! Right sis-Oww!" She nudged him hard into his left foreleg, which caused him to lose his boastful spirit.

"Tell her the truth, Tattle!" His little sister demanded.

He rubbed his sore foreleg with a agitated expression. "Well, mom helped... But only a little!" He added.

Cherry chuckled at them. "Well, just don't around telling ponies you did all the work, your mother must be working equally as hard and others need to know."

Tattle stopped rubbing his foreleg and with a nod from his sister they each took bands from the bag the colt was carrying. "Here," Tale said, "Take one, mother wants everypony in town to have one."

Adam took the band and tied it to his left foreleg, and with a smile and a pat on the fillies pot covered heads he thanked her. The colt gave a band to Cherry before she tied hers to one of her forelegs. And as the filly came up to Neo with a cute innocent smile. Neo looked down at her uneasily.

The closer she got to him the more she reminded him of Lu. The filly he had put down, the one who had called him big brother. His eyes got wide as she looked up at him curiously. "Are you okay, mister?" The little filly asked Neo.

His heart rate increased as those eyes stared into his, like a flash of his life went before him he saw it all again. The mad evil pony who stood there. Smiling, chuckling madly as he stood in front of the monster he had created. The world became muffled as he blinked trying to force the thought out of his mind. "Brother..." He heard faintly, and then in an almost booming voice he snapped out of his trance. "Brother!" Adam called waving a hoof in front of his face.

The filly cocked her head to one side puzzled at how he was acting. "Here you go, mister, I hope you aren't sick." She said tieing the band to his left foreleg.

Cherry thanked them and the two young ones dashed off to finish giving ponies the bands they had made for the town. Adam went up to his brother and looked at him with curiosity. "Are you okay? What was that? You just kind of... Stood there."

"You had a really shocked expression too, like you saw a ghost or something." Cherry added.

Neo shook his head and gulped quickly to subside the tension in his body. "No, it was nothing... I'm fine." He replied in a somber tone.

"Alright," Cherry stated unsurely. "Lets go check on the miners, then we can help with the rest of the town." Cherry said striding off towards the town hall at the center of town.

Before Neo or Adam went to follow her, Adam went over to his brother and looked him in the eyes with a stare that spoke for itself. Though Neo heard nothing from his brother, he could tell he knew, even to some degree, what might of happened.

"You thought about her, didn't you?"

Neo shook his head and started walking to the town hall. "...I don't want to talk about it.” He softly said in a depressed tone of voice.

Adam stood there for a moment before and spoke to his brother. Neo paused and turned his head to his younger brother, not looking at him directly.

Adam took a deep breath and sighed. "Brother, I didn't think that this would have affected you this much... And you're not the only one who misses her."

Neo looked down onto the ground for a moment before looking to his brother. With sad, almost blank eyes Neo spoke, "I know, Adam." He turned his head back to the direction of the town hall.

"I miss her..." He stated mournfully before hurrying to join Cherry.

Adam shook his head and looked up at the pale grey cloudy sky above with a deep unknowing feeling inside him. "Mom, what would you do in this situation?"

The inside of the town hall was dim with pale light as the three entered the structure. The windows were boarded and the door fortified by planks and smaller metal poles. The once empty main room was now filled with tools and supplies for digging. Early in the morning, some of the miners had brought them up from the mine. They did so secretly, though as soon as they were done, they returned to work on the tunnel below.

There was an empty drawer that was used to barricade a small door on the other side of the building. Its drawer was open, and as the three passed it, Cherry went over to it and looked inside out of curiosity. It had a small wrapped up old flag inside, and a small old piece of parchment with a little writing on it laying there undisturbed.

Neo still felt bad inside, he should have controlled himself. Now, he was left following them with a feeling of guilt and regret. Though it was not unbearable, it was still present, and that is what bothered him. Adam tried to let it go and move on. He hoped his brother would just let the feeling move on too and focus on the task ahead of them.

Neo blinked at Cherry as she stood over the opened drawer while examining the contents inside. Adam came up next to his older brother and went to see what she was looking at. The two brothers looked inside the empty old oak drawer box and watched her pull out the old flag.

"What is it?" Adam asked looking over the dark blue red striped flag she held.

"Heh," She chuckled briefly, whilst looking at it nostalgically. "It's one of the old coalition flags we used to fly over the town. I thought the Legion had burned them all..."

Neo looked at the curious flag she held before turning his attention to the piece of parchment in the box. He levitated it up to his face and read it. "They're song lyrics. To some kind of hymn..."

Adam went over to his brother and read the writing on parchment. "They are, but why are they in the drawer?"

"Here," Cherry said calmly taking and looking at the paper herself. "Oh, it's just an old thing the coalition used to sing, the guards used to sing it sometimes... It would be probably be better if we leave these things here. We need to go and check on the miners."

"You sure you don't want to look at this stuff a little longer?" Adam asked in surprise of her decision.

Neo turned to away from the two ponies who stood over the items in the box with the intent of completing their assigned task. "She's right, let’s just get this job done. We can always come back for it."

Adam went over to join his brother at his side, "He's right, come on, we've got the rest of the day, let just get this out of the way first."

She put the things back down into the box, with a glimmer of sadness in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm coming." Once she had replied she went over to the two brothers, who had already started to leave the room, to check on the miners. Though, as she went to leave the room to the cellar door into the lower section of the town, she could not help herself to stop, and look back at the things they had looked at in the drawer box. Even if it was just a moment, she just looked at it with an old sadness before going down to where the miners were working.

But, as the cellar door closed, the main entry door to the town hall creaked open as Tattle and Tale poked their heads inside the dim room. They both stuck their heads through the small crack in the door and scanned the room cautiously.

"You think we're supposed to be in here while the grownups work?" Tale asked nervously.

Tattle gave her a puzzled forceful look. "Of course we're supposed to go in, mom said we need to give everypony a band. She said it would help spread," They both stepped inside as he tried to think how to pronounce a word. "More... Morals... Morales?"

"Morale?" Tale stated conclusively.

"Yeah, that's it. I knew how to say it."

"...No, you didn't."

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Tale thought of a way to outsmart her older brother, and smirked in a sly like manner at him. "Did too!"

And in a boastful tone Tattle said, "Did not!"

She just smiled at him for a moment, giving him a winning expression. "...Wait..." The small colt said realizing what he had just said.

"That isn't fair! You cheated!'

"Nope, there are no rules to arguments. Just who's wrong, and who's right." Tale taunted him.

He pouted and lowered his head with his ears folded back. "You're lucky you caught me off guard."

"You're always off guard." She mocked him with a cocky snicker.

"Am not!" He retaliated in defense.

"Are we going to go there again?"

"..." He thought about it for a moment. "...No..."

"Good, now let's focus. How do we get into the mines the grownups talked about. After all, they're going to need bands too!" The little filly said searching the room.

The little colt just nodded to her with a content and dull look. He still didn't like the fact she outsmarted him. But they were on a mission, and they wanted to find where the miners were so he needed to join his sister in the search for the miner ponies.

Tale came over to the opened drawer towards the end of the room and look curiously down at it. She called her brother to come over and look at the odd things she had found inside the little wooden container. She took the old flag inside it and carefully examined it.

"What'd you find, sis?" The colt asked looking at the flag himself.

"I don't know, but it looks like one of those flags we used to have wave over our town."

Then the little colt had a small light bulb spark to life in his mind as an idea took form. "Hey! Maybe the Mayor doesn’t know about this flag, and imagine how much morale it will spread!"

The little filly put a hoof to her chin as she thought, "Yeah! That's a great idea!"

"Good, I'll stuff it in my bag for later, and we'll show her." Tattle proclaimed putting the flag roughly in his small saddlebag.

But just then, Tale noticed the small parchment inside the box. "Huh? What is this?" She said picking it up and reading the words written on it.

Tattle noticed what his sister was doing and eagerly poked his head over her shoulder to get a look at the paper she was reading. On the parchment, the words were lyrics. Lyrics to the hymn of the Steel Hoof Coalition. The song on the parchment read:

Do you hear the ponies cry,
Crying a lone and heartfelt tune,
It is the tune of lonely ponies in the dark without a light.

Do you hear the ponies rise,
Rising their arms up to the cause,
the cause of angry ponies that will surely win the night!

Do you listen to the tune,
The tune of distant cheers,
it is the sound of ponies marching for today the bullets bite!

Do you hear the ponies cheer!
Cheering on the edge of days long gone,
it is the future that they fight for tomorrow's dawn!

They both smiled at each other and put the paper in Tattles bag, "This is cool! I never knew they had a song. We should learn it, and show mom! And the mayor will be, like, really proud of us and stuff!"

She nodded with her excitement building. "It'll be so cool Tattle! She might even let us be part of the guard ponies!"

Tattle made his way to the door with his anticipation building. "Let's go now! The sooner, the better, right?"

"But what about the miners? Don't we still need to give them bands too?"

The colt rolled his eyes. "We've got all day, we'll do it later. Right now, let's go learn this song, and find a stick or pole for the flag."

Tale felt a little unsure with the idea, but a large portion of her wanted to go with her brother and impress the Mayor and their mother. So, she let her interest in the song and flag overtake her as she caught up with her brother. "You're right, we've got all day. I don't think they're going anywhere either, plus, we have tomorrow, right?"

"Yup!" Her brother stated opening the door for them. "And the Mayor will be super happy when we show what we've learned!" And with that, he went outside with his sister and closed the town hall door behind them.

The way down below the town was dark and musty, with the smell of damp dirt in the air. And as they came down the dirt incline which lead down they saw a dime yellow light glowing at the bottom of the path. At the bottom was a huge almost oval shaped tunnel that stretched widely across from wall to wall. And the tunnel went so far forward that the end was difficult to see.

All three of them looked in marvel and awe at what the miners had accomplished in such little time, and to think they still had much more ground to cover. To make their visit quick, they all galloped down the long cave the diggers had created and as they went along, they noticed small lights nailed to the tunnel wall and along the ceiling were small round silver disks. The disks, had small green and red blinking lights at the center. These odd things puzzled Adam. He had researched about the diggers before, but this was something he hadn't seen before. But then again, it was possible that the miners put the disks there and not the diggers.

It took a few minutes of galloping, but they finally found the three diggers and the sixteen or so miners working on the tunnel wall in front of them. As the diggers moved forward a bit, a large tube at the end of the machine reached up to the tunnel ceiling and with a loud hiss of steam it pressed itself onto the top of the tunnel and retracted itself leaving the small metal disk behind.

Adam paused to look at the machines work, to Adam it was like watching a miracle happen before him. And it amazed him so much, so he just sat there and stared at the machines in awe as they worked. Neo patted him on the back before they went to the miners. "Take it in. It was your idea."

Adam stood up and shook his head, snapping out of his awed trance. "Yeah, it's a little shocking to see the whole thing unfold so clearly..."

Neo just calmly smiled at him before one of the miners noticed them. It was Iron Vain and he looked as if he were expecting someone to come down. He had an iron mining helmet which supported a small light on the front with a pair of old working goggles dangling from his neck.

"Well, I was getting worried for a moment. Before I came back down from last night the Mayor said she'd send somepony down a long time ago."

"We're sorry about that, Iron Vain, but we hit a few tiny little things along the way." Cherry said in a shy manner.

"Heh," Iron Vain shrugged. "At least you came down, work has been a little slower now that we've hit a small quartz vein. But progress is coming along well."

Adam looked over to the drills, eyeing them impressively while they dug. "I can see, and the books didn't lie when they said these things could dig! Look how far you've got in one night!"

"Yep," Iron Vain said while adjusting his mining hat, "We're getting closer to the perimeter every hour. Soon, we'll be home free, and we can leave that town and it's issues behind us."

Iron Vain looked back to the diggers and scanned them, calculating something in his mind. "And based on the speed and ground we're hauling, we should get out of here in two days."

"Heh," Adam rubbed the back of his head for a moment feeling proud about himself. "See, I can do the math."

"Yup, and boy can't I wait to get out of here. And it's thanks to you, Neo and Cherry, we've got something to eat every now and again while we work."

Cherry smiled at him with a gentle nod. "So, is there anything I should report to the surface?"

Iron Vain rubbed his chin with a hoof in deep thought. "Well... I can't think of anything at the moment, the recycling systems on these babies are a little old and unstable, and the disk supports won't last us more than a few more days. But we'll be out of here before they become real problems."

Neo stepped in with a puzzling stare at the miner. "Recycling systems?"

"Yup, these babies couldn't run without them!"

Adam looked up to his older brother, "Here, let me explain. The biggest issue with digging is the large amount of dirt you have to relocate while digging. Though most machines just chunk dirt back, these drills not only dig but disintegrate the dirt into a fine magically charged white powder."

He pointed to the tips of the machines and distinctly pointed out the small, almost unnoticeable sparks coming from the diggers drills. "The ends have filter vacuums that suck up the stuff, then it gets recycled into energy and sent back out as dust."

"Not too much dust, and the method isn't the kindest on the engines. But this is the way we've had to do it without consuming wood, or a valuable fuel source." Iron Vain added.

"As for the discs," Adam continued. "I'm not sure what those are. Didn't you say something about them being tunnel supports?"

Iron Vain nodded. "I sure did. Those things magically hold up the tunnels ceiling, and every now and again we need to place another to support the tunnel."

"How come they aren't in the books I read? I thought the field manuals, and construction book listed all the features?"

"Well kid, they aren't there ‘cause they aren't included with the basic model. These drills had them on as an attachment when we found them. Before the Legion came, we would take the discs and support tunnels as we mined in unstable areas."

"Hey, boss!" One of the digger operator ponies called out.

Iron Vain turned toward the digger and called back. "What is it Mac? I'm talkin’ here!"

"Yeah, but we need one more guy helpin’ us on this thing!"

Iron Vain just looked back at his visitors and smiled shyly at them before yelling back to his work pony in an agitated tone. "Just get it workin’, I'll come over there myself after I'm done!"

The worker pony just gave him a disapproving stare before going back to his work. "Anyway, things are running smoothly down here. Once the next shift later comes, I can help topside with preparation of the town’s defenses."

"Well, thank you, Iron Vain. Watch after the miners down here, we wouldn't want something to happen." Cherry cooed hopefully.

He waved his hoof at her playfully. "Pfft, we've got it covered down here. I haven't had one accident while digging, and I don't plan on having my first anytime soon."

"Just stay careful anyway." Adam commented.

"Heh, I wi-" He paused as he noticed a pegasus mare with one wing bolting down the tunnel. "Breeze Heart? What they hay is she doin, down here?"

Neo looked at her oddly, "Isn't that the pegasus from when we got here?"

"Yeah, what is she doing down here?" Adam asked.

The rest of the group turned to her as she homed in on their position with a worry in her eyes. "Guys! Guys! The weapon retrieving team is back, and the whole raider town is gone!"

They all looked at her in shock. "What do you mean, gone?

She panted heavily for a moment as she caught her breath from the sprint she had made. "They found the weapons, but the whole town was completely razed! The whole raider town burned to the ground! They also found the tens of raiders in pits dying, dead, or completely mutilated. They found one pony, who was alive but found beat up in a cage. He wasn't a raider, and he begged for help so the guys are bringing him to the clinic."

The two brothers looked at themselves in terrified confusion for a moment before looking back at the one winged pegasus. "What does this have to do with us?" Neo asked.

Neo and Adam felt a small shock of fear run down their necks for a brief moment. "Red Glare also asked he see you immediately, it's about the weapons they found."

Cherry stepped in and answered for the two Brothers. "Fine, take us to where Red Glare is, Iron Vain, get back to working on the tunnel, and Adam and Neo let’s go."

The pegasus took another second to catch her breath for a moment before motioning them to hurry with her back to the surface. As they left, Iron Vain waved to them and called down the tunnel. "Good luck! The best of wishes from the miners!"

As they were running Neo thought to himself as he felt fear and an exhilarating sensation of determination. What happened? What could be wrong with the weapons? This doesn't make any sense! I can't just keep asking questions, I need to just focus on finding out what’s going on once we're up there. I hope that what Red Glare has to say is good, because I have a feeling that things are going to get a hell of alot worse.

Lieutenant Covert stepped outside his tent into the cool outside air. He quickly scouted the area around him for suspicious behavior. As it would seem, Legion ponies went about their day in the camp, though what he did notice was ponies gathering weapons and armor together. Even if it wasn't a huge thing to be concerned about, he still thought it odd for the men to be acting that way. Though, he needed to check on the Captain who was at the main tent. He wanted to inform him that the emperor was coming to help address the rebellion in Arkcannon, and he hoped that the news would change his mind on attacking the town.

As he marched his way to the Captain's tent, he could hear the sound of the Captain yelling out to someone in his tent. The Lieutenant didn't want to disturb, nor let him be aware of his presence. So he moved silently over to the side of the Captains tent and placed an ear to the tent wall and listened to what was being said inside.

"Why isn't it working!"

"I'm sorry sir, but the blueprints that mercenary gave us didn't detail the fuel these things run on."

"I. Don't. Care! I plan to arm the troops and move out to the town today! If you and your sorry ass can't get the damn thing running by the time this army moves out, I'll gut you and eat your insides!"

The pony the Captain was speaking to had a fierce tremble in his voice as he stuttered a reply. "Y-yes, sir... I'll look into it s-sir."

"You better." He growled at the pony inside the tent.

Though after a few seconds he heard the flap to the inside of the tent flap open as the nervous armored soldier stepped outside. The soldier took a deep breath to calm the nervousness and went off to complete his task.

The Lieutenant curiously trotted over to the tent before quickly jumping back behind the side wall as another soldier came up to the tent. But before he entered he suspiciously scanned the area before going inside the Captain tent.

The Lieutenant who suspected something might not be right put his ear to the tent wall once more and listened. "What is it now!"

"Sir, it's me, I completed the task you asked of me."

"Oh, private it's you... I thought for a moment it was that stuttering foal Latch Key."

"Yes sir, and I listened in on the Lieutenants conversation with the emperor, sir."

There was a hint of pleasure in his voice as he responded to the Private. "Oh? And what is it they were talking about."

"They spoke of your actions sir, and said that you are committing treason, sir."

There was a brief pause from the Captain. "What! He talked of me and treason! I am the Captain, not him! And what I plan to do will start a new age for this section of the province! I am the loyal one! ME! NOT HIM!" He roared in fury whilst panting heavily.

"...What should we do, sir?"

The Captain took one last calming breath before answer. "Let's keep it under wraps. Let him think he's going to win, then, I'll see to it that the Lieutenant suffers for his crime against me when the best moment arises."

"Is that your final orders, sir?"

"Yes, yes. You've done well, Private, and you have rightfully earned that promotion I promised you. But only when the Lieutenant has been punished will I grant you your reward."

The was a quick rustle from the sound of armored barding rubbing against itself as if the soldier inside has saluted to him. "Very well, sir, I will help the others prepare for tonight, sir."

"Very good, Private, very good... Now, leave... I've got planning to do, and the spy we’ve got inside the town has lost communications with me. And we've got no clue as to how their defenses are set up if they have any at all."

He could hear the armor of the soldier inside the tent move as he assumed that he saluted the Captain. Shortly though, the soldier came outside the tent and looked around the area quickly before strolling off back into camp. The Lieutenant needed to follow him, and if he told the other soldiers that he was a traitor, the whole situation might not be salvageable. So he acted decisively, and took off for the soldier who had told Captain Cyrus of his and the Emperor's intentions.

At first, he calmly followed the soldier once he was at a fair distance away to not draw attention to himself. But as he moved closer, he picked up the speed of his walk to that of a quiet trot. He homed in on him with a plan that he hoped would fix the whole mess Cyrus was about to put the whole perimeter in.

He came from his side and grabbed the unsuspecting soldier, and took him over to an empty tent to the side of them. He shoved him inside the tent and closed the tent flap behind him. The soldier stood there, looking at the eyes of a determined loyal subordinate. The soldier scrambled to get himself together as he nervously tried to get a grip on his current status.

"O-Oh, well, sir it's... Uh, w-what can I help you with... Uh, sir?"

"Silence, you traitorous dog!" The Lieutenant hissed at him trying to keep his voice in a quiet tone.

The soldier reacted instinctively and snapped to attention. "Y-yes, sir..." He whimpered.

The Lieutenant looked down at him disapprovingly. “I overheard your little... Chat with the Captain.”

He came up next to the stiff soldier and swung his foreleg around the soldier in a friendly manner. “What you are doing with the Captain might be seen as treason in the eyes of our lord.”

The soldier himself looked bewildered at him. "I’m not sure what you mean, sir."

“The hell you do!” He barked.

The soldier flinched as the Lieutenant cooled off from his outburst. “Listen, as you know, our emperor is coming. If he were to find out you helped our Captain with treason. Oh I can’t dare imagine what he might do to you!” He whispered in a almost sing song tone.

“L-like what?”

“Well, for one, you might be crucified. Or you could be gutted, ground, beaten to death, hooves removed and thrown into the wasteland or-”

“Please, sir!” The soldier interjected nervously.

“But I would be more than willing to give you... A second chance, if you will.”

The soldier thought about it for a moment and nodded to him. “If I help bring the Captain down, will I be forgiven?”

The Lieutenant patted the soldiers breastplate softly. “Why, of course you will! Not only that, but I can smell a promotion to whoever helped bring him down as well.”

The soldier nodded in thought as the Lieutenant proposed his deal to him. “The only thing I need from you is to get the other troops to help when I give them the signal to take him down.”

The armor clad pony thought deeply on the matter for a moment longer, “Is that all, sir?”

“Yes.”

The unsure look on the pony’s face was present and clear as he thought hard on the subject. The Lieutenant eyed him with a tempting smile. "Well? All it will take is for you to tell the others."

With a relieving sigh the soldier straightened himself and saluted the Lieutenant. "In the true name of the Legion, I will serve only the faithful in this Legion."

"Good," The Lieutenant took out an old pocket watch from one of the pockets in his armor and quickly glanced at it. "Now, what are your orders?"

"To aid you in taking down Captain Cyrus, sir."

"And what did you not hear?"

"Hear what sir?"

The gave him the same pleased smile. "Excellent. Now go inform the others, and tell them not to act until I give them order to apprehend him."

With a quick salute he agreed. "Yes, sir!"

The Lieutenant and the soldier left the tent, while the soldier made his way back into camp the Lieutenant looked once more at his pocket watch. "Hopefully, the Emperor won't make it here too late."

"Lieutenant!" He heard the Captain scream to him as he stood there in front of the tent.

He looked at him, and hoped. Hoped he wasn't calling him for the reason he was thinking of. The Captain though approached him with an excited, yet pleased aura about him.

"Lieutenant! I've had a stroke of genius! I figure from the information our spy we've set up inside the town that their defenses are not yet up to defensive standards. Though I haven’t been able to contact her as of late, it might be possible the Reckoning might be above this part of the province."

The Lieutenant let out a mental relieving sigh, "I see, this wouldn't be the first time the Reckoning has been over in this part of the province. So, do you plan to go through with an attack? I spoke to the Emperor early today, and he plans to help take care of the matter himself."

The Captain turned his back at the stallion. He thought hard on the matter for a moment, and with a slow almost unnatural turn he grinned at him. "Let him come... It won't ruin my plans. Nope. Not. One. Bit... Heh..."

The Lieutenant already knew of his plans, and everypony in the whole perimeter could tell what he was planning. But, something inside him still hungered for him to ask. With a rather curious raised eyebrow he ask, "Is there something on your mind... Sir?"

In an almost devious chortle he coughed. "Yes. We’ll attack. You see, that town has not only defied me, but the whole of the Legion! His majesty chose me. Me, of all the others to be the one to discipline this town... Yet, he wants me to sit here and watch them... H-heh... I don't like it when we don't do anything... Day after day it's just SITTING!"

The lieutenant gazed at him with worry as he tried to salvage the situation. "B-but sir, shouldn't we think about this? Wait for his majesty instea-"

"No!" He boomed, "He'll see what I did, me! He'll reward me, yes! Like on the border, I'll be embraced by our god as a hero. A hero!"

"T-Th... Then what are your orders, sir? When do you plan to attack?"

He had wide eyes. Eyes which bear no intention of reason filled the void where his soul should have been. "Huh... When to attack... We're going to attack the town tonight... Yes, that should work very well."

The Lieutenant had become very cautious of his actions, and in his mind his conscious screamed to take him down and stop him. Then again, a wall of fear built itself inside him. Fear that had managed to build a thick wall around him, preventing him from acting. Though he did not show it, he was struggling to make the decision.

He asked in a firm posture. "S-should I order the snipers to prepare a-along with the other troops, sir?" Though his fear could be clearly heard in his voice, he still hesitated on acting.

"No. Order the wagons, troops, and mortar team to prepare... I want to get down and personal with them..."

"But wouldn't the mortar team contradict that order... S-sir..."

He looked at him in a confused manner with his grin completely gone. He leaned forward to him, keeping the same bewildered terrifying stare at him as he towered over him. "What was that you said?" He whispered on the edge of insanity.

The Lieutenant could take it anymore as he felt fear overcome him, he look to the ground in fear. "N-nothing, sir..."

He lowered himself back down to eye level with him with his grin slowly returning. "I thought so..."

"I'll go get the troops inform, sir... W-when will the attack be again, sir?"

His eyes became more calmer as he smiled gently at the lieutenant. "I have often wondered what it must be like to die... I'd always imagined it to be glorious."

The statement confused the Lieutenant, at this point all he knew was that he could stop the Captain yet. "W-what, sir?"

He turned his back and chuckled briefly. "Just prepare the troops, Lieutenant, we attack tonight before the sun completely lowers."

"Y-yes sir."

With a rather weak and pitiful salute, the Lieutenant turned to complete his ordered assignment. Even if he knew he didn't need to do it, his emotions drove his thoughts as he did what he was told. But just as he started to walk off towards the center of camp, the Captain purred something to him which froze his movement for a brief moment.

"I can tell the coming battle will hold... Interesting things for us both." He said nothing more and continued on to his tent humming to himself.

The Lieutenant blinked for a moment as he thought about those words. He was stuck in pure fear, for he saw his own death as he stood there. He shook his head rapidly trying to loosen fears grip on him before going to gather the troops. But if he didn't stop the Captain, and tear down this wall in his mind not only would the town suffer, but so would he.

Neo, Adam, and Cherry, along with Breeze Heart, dashed as fast as they could to the clinic. They were all tired from the mad and sudden sprint to see what the issue was with the weapons and this survivor pony. As they approached the clinic, they saw some of the volunteer militia ponies from earlier standing outside on the porch of the medical building.

They slowed their speed as they came up to the porch before stopping and asking what had happened.

The stallion just shrugged and said what he knew about the matter. "All I know is that they brought some stallion with a note clipped to his neck and a blindfolded around his eyes into the clinic."

"Is that it? Has he said who he is, or what happened?" Neo asked urgently.

The militia pony in his simplistic leather barding shook his head. "Nope, though the guy does look beat up a bit. And he kept yelling fuck once he woke up when Red and the Sheriff brought him in."

Though there weren't many ponies, minus Lucy, that Neo and Adam could think of who would just shout fuck consistently. They still nodded to them in satisfaction. "Alright, thanks. Is Red Glare in there? I need to talk about the weapons the salvage team brought back."

"I'll also need to talk to him about it." Cherry added.

The militia pony just moved over to the side with a nod toward the door. "Head in, he's inside. They said they found him in a cage beat up bad, he was mumbling about a slaver and the Legion beating him or something. I gotta tell you though, once he woke up, he was as feisty as a hyped up filly on sugar."

His response was shocking to both Neo and Cherry as they thought about who the survivor could be. There were slaves and other raiders that could have seen their little trick they pulled back at the ruins. In the off chance it was somepony like the raider they dealt with, things could get bad fast. They all went over to the entrance of the clinic, but before entering, Adam stopped and thanked the pony for his help, and with a generous grin the militia pony went back to his lazy guard duty.

Inside the clinic, Red Glare, the sheriff and two other clinic workers tried their best to restrain the pony the team had found. He whipped around furiously in a chair as the clinic ponies tried their best to hold him still while applying a bandage to a small bleeding wound on his neck. Meanwhile the survivor pony spewed out horrible profanity at them.

"Stay the fuck away from me! Don't you dare fuckin’ touch me! I'll get out of here, and I'll fuck each and every one of your skulls till you can't think no more!"

In an instant, Neo and Cherry could tell who the pony they were trying to take care of was. But, he looked different. His mane was shorter, he had fresh scars and bruises all over his body, yet personality wise he didn't seem to mind nor care about these things.

"Oh sweet goddesses in heaven, are you serious..." Cherry said in a bafflement.

Neo face hoofed. "You've got to be kidding with me. Is this some sick joke or something?"

Adam looked up to him. "What is it about him that surprises you two?"

"Adam," Neo said in a almost shameful tone of voice. "That pony over there is one of the head raiders we got the supplies from... For some stupid reason though, he's right there..."

"And here I thought we wouldn't see him again..." Cherry grunted in frustration.

The raider stiffened up and quieted down as he heard Neo and Cherry’s voices. The clinic ponies were relieved at his sudden halt in retaliation and seized the opportunity to finish operating on him. "Is that you, slaver? Cause if that is you, I want these fucking pansies to untie me and let me kill your sorry ass!"

Red Glare ignored his statement and instead looked to see who he was addressing. He had a delightful look about him as he saw the three ponies he had sent for next to the entrance of the clinic. "Ah, you made it. Not a moment too soon either. This guy has been giving me trouble for the past five minutes."

Cherry rolled her eyes. "I thought so, he gave us a fair amount of trouble at the Arkcannon ruins."

He stiffened again as he heard her voice, and in a wooing like tone he spoke out to her. "Oh? If it isn't my little slave. How about you help your master out of here. Then, we'll find ourselves a real good spot to serve me, and if you do well I'll even let you-"

Cherry interrupted him and trotted over to his childishly grinning face and smacked it once with tremendous force. Though the raider didn't seem to notice at all the pain she had inflicted on him. "Oooh, kitty got a bite! I like it! Now do-"

"Just shoot him! Somepony please shoot him, I can't stand it anymore!" Cherry interjected.

The raider himself realized that she was serious about shooting him and struggled more to get himself free from his bindings. "Whoa there, girl! Shooting me won't do you much good when the Legion rolls out and tears this town apart!"

Everypony in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at him with shock. It was Red Glare who stepped up first to speak. "Heh, you really want to get out, don't you? Using an excuse as stupid as that won't help your situation."

The raider relaxed himself in the chair and gave him a devilish smile. "Take it as you want. I don't care, you're the ones who aren't going to heed my words. And when they find me, and I tell them I did my job, I'll be free to go while you fucking morons burn! Hahaha!"

Neo came up to him and put himself close to the raiders face, looking at his blindfolded eyes. "If you're so confident about that, we'll just have to change you up a bit. By the time we're done, the Legion won't know the difference between you, and us."

The raider frowned instantly at him as he struggled madly to get free. "Fuck no, man! I'm not going to stay here! Let me go! I'm not going to die in this pansy ass town!"

Neo just smirked at him and shrugged. "Well, too bad. Looks like we might just have to keep you here, and we're not even sure you're telling the truth so, why should we worry? Plus, it'll be fun making you look all pretty like a little foal!"

Everyone in the room understood what he was going at, and if they could fool him once they could do so again. Cherry stepped in and played along. "Oh yes! I have some nice bows, and even a little dress you can use! It's a wonderful shade of violet and I think it would look amazing on you!"

"Please... Fucking let me go! It's the truth I tells ya, it's the truth!" He wailed compulsively.

Neo stopped his teasing and let Red glare come up to him. "Are the Legion actually coming? Yes, or no?"

The raider was struggling in his seat while he answered. "Are you fucking kidding me? That dumbass Legion Captain gave me a whole lecture on the subject alone before he got his boys to beat the shit outta me and put me in one of our slave cages!"

Adam looked at him carefully and asked him a question of his own. "Alright, if you are telling the truth then answer this. What did he look like?"

"What the Legion boss guy? You know, I'm a sick fuck, but that guy is a psycho. He wore some kind of Legion coat thing, with a weird little hat. Made him look all important like, and he had this insane smile, like some demented drugged up drinkin’ buddy of mine. I tell you though, that fuck just told me all that shit. Told me to tell slaver over there that they’re coming. Then he tied me up, and blindfolded me. Then that dumbass bastard got his stupid little fucks to beat the livin’ shit outta me! But he'd said he’d let me pass the perimeter if I did this. Then your guys came by, and saw me. Busted me out of that damn cage and brought be here. Though some kind of rock or some shit hit me on the way out or somethin’...”

Adam turned away from him without saying another word. He thought about what the raider had said, and took into great consideration that he was telling the truth. Even if he was a pony whose whole purpose in life was to lie.

"I think he's telling the truth." Adam stated.

"What!?!" Cherry yelled in surprise.

"Adam," Neo said putting a hoof on his shoulder. "This guy is messed up, he'll say anything to get out."

"But everything he's said matches the way the team found him. It also explains the injuries, and we all saw what the captain looked like when we first came here. I believe him, even if there’s a chance he’s lying."

"Let's just kill the sad fuck!" Breeze Heart exclaimed from the corner of the room.

"Calm down, Breeze! We need to think about this." Red Glare replied in a restraining tone.

Adam looked at the raider and though he knew how foul and corrupt the pony was. Taking his life for no reason, other than how legitimate his statements were, made him no better than the raider. Adam motioned his older brother to follow him, and Neo came over to him and listened to what he had to say.

"I need you to cut him free."

Cherry and a few of the others in the room glanced at him oddly. Even Neo was a little hesitant on the action he wanted. "Adam," Neo said looking into his eyes, "Are you sure you want me to do that?"

His younger brother nodded to him confidently.

Neo nodded and sighed. "Alright then, I trust you... But if things turn sour, I don’t know what might happen."

Neo looked towards Red Glare and held his hooves in the air as if he was going to catch something. "Red Glare, give me a gun."

Red Glare tossed the small hunting rifle he had at his side to Neo who caught and levitated it at his side as he approached the raider. He unsheathed the blade in his mechanical foreleg and cut the raider free, though he did not remove his blindfold.

The raider hopped out of the chair and stretched himself out feeling his joints loosen. "Much better, I thought you'd see it my way. Now to get this fucking blindfold off."

Neo put the end of the gun to his head as he reached for the blindfold on his face. "Don't take it off." Neo said sternly.

He felt the cold metal of the barrels end touch his fur as he slowly put his hooves back down. "Alright, slaver... Just calm the fuck down... We don't want that thing to go off..."

Adam just went up to him looked him over before looking to the clinic ponies. "Do you think he could walk one thousand paces in his condition?"

Both clinic ponies looked at each other in uncertain stares. "Sure, but why do you ask?"

Adam smiled at them and motioned for his Brother and Red Glare to follow him. "Red Glare, take the raider and follow me, brother, keep that on him and make sure he doesn't do anything brash."

Neo confidently nodded at him and readied the rifle as Red Glare took him and pushed the raider towards Adam. He lead them over to the exit of the clinic and back out into the dry wasteland air. As they made their way outside everypony in the clinic and outside either watched them shove and push the raider along, or followed them to see what they were going to do with him.

As the raider tumbled and fell, he swore consistently at Neo and Red Glare. "Fuck you two! Fucking stop it! I'm warning you, if you fucks keep jerking me around like this, I'll- Hey! Fucking stop!"

Adam had lead them all down to the town gate, and over the deactivated mine zone along it. He nodded to one of the ponies who understood what was going on and opened the gate for them. The gate screeched and squealed as the old metal of the gate worked to open it.

The raider became antsy at their sudden halt. "What the fuck are you doing? Why did you stop! Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Adam came up to him and in a serious tone he said, "Walk one thousand paces forward, don't take off the blindfold till you reach one thousand. If you do, we have a sniper on the wall ready to take you out." Though there was no sniper, the threat of an imaginary one was just as scary. But what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Sort of.

"B-but I can't fucking see? And I can't even count straight while fumbling around like a fucking idiot!"

"You seem to understand what you need to do, and that's good enough for me. If you want to be free, here's your chance. I'll start counting to five if you don't start, the sniper will shoot you, okay?"

He spit in his general direction. "I'm not taking orders from a fucking kid!"

"One." Adam started.

"Fuck you!"

"Two."

"Fuck you!"

"Three."

"..."

"Four."

"Fucking stop! Fine!"

"Remember, a thousand paces." Adam reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah... Whatever. Just know if I ever run across you guys ever again... I'll fuckin’ kill you."

"Fiv-"

"No! Okay, I'm going! I'm going!" He cried taking his first step.

The Raider felt his hooves around carefully as he tried his best to move on his own with no sight. The whole group of townsfolk watched him for a moment as he counted to himself, generally making his way into the wastes. After awhile though, Red Glare ordered the gate to close and turned to the group of ponies amassed around the gate.

As the gate finally closed, Neo gave one of the militia ponies the hunting rifle and looked at Red Glare as he stared out into the small crowd before him.

His tone was dark, and sad as he regretfully told the ponies before him of the news they had just received. "I regret what I'm about to say, but it's something you all need to know... A horrifying truth, and one I hoped was not true."

He paused for a moment. "The Legion is coming... And by the way the raider we had found acted; I would say they're coming soon..."

There was a murmur of confusion and uncertainty spread throughout the crowd. "But the Legion doesn't know we're doing anything! How could they know?" One pony exclaimed inside the crowd.

"I don't know..." Red Glare said with the shake of his head. "But they do, and they are coming."

The ponies in the crowd whispered to each other in a disoriented manner as fear picked up.

"What if the Legion comes in an hour!"

"What if we aren't ready for an attack?!"

"What about the children! Will they be safe?"

Neo, Adam, and some of the other town officials calmed the crowd down. Neo spoke next out to the crowd to reassure them that everything would be alright. "Now, please, the last thing we need to do is panic. We foresaw this, and we've done our best to prepare."

"He's right!" Breeze Heart said coming out of the crowd and turning to them. "For weeks now, we've seen loved ones die for the enjoyment of that bastard Captain! For too long have we sat idly as they came here and took what we worked so hard to earn!"

Several ponies nodded in agreement as they listened to her.

"And when they come, they’ll hear the voice of the ponies who cry out in anger and resistance! We have the weapons, brave ponies, and food and that is more than enough to kick their sorry asses back to Ironhoof, where they belong! We're a ready town, and the blood of free will and determination runs through us. But if we stand here, cowering below them, we have already lost! Look around you, we haven’t lost and we’ll die before we let them think they can win!"

Several of the crowd raised their hooves up in an up roaring agreement. "So, don't ask what will happen, except what will happen! Because when they march at our front door, we'll be ready! Because the passion of freedom is ours, and ours alone! And that, is a weapon no army of the Legion could ever have!"

In a glorious cheer the whole crowd shouted in unison a glorious chant of victory as Breeze Heart raised her hoof high into the air and screamed, "We will not be slaves again! Do you hear me, Cyrus? The Legion will fall!"

The town officials looked at Breeze Heart who looked upon the group with pride. With a gentle pat on the back from Cherry, Red Glare, Neo, and the sheriff they all thanked her for her speech.

Neo nodded to the group and spoke up, "We still need to work hard though. If we really try, we can make it out of here before the Legion can come. I've seen you work, and I can tell you that, within another day and night, we can make it. But remember, we still need to be vigilant. Keep that in mind."

Red Glare motioned his hooves for the crowd to move on. "Let's all get back to work, everypony. We'll keep a lookout for the Legion, but let's not lose sight of what needs to be done."

In a murmuring agreement the crowd dissolved as ponies went back to preparing the town for the now evident attack. Even Breeze Heart went her own way as she returned to helping prepare a barricade in the center of the town. Red Glare sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck in an unsure manner. "That could have got out of hoof real fast..."

Cherry came up to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I understand, the last thing we need is for ponies to panic."

"I know," Red Glare sighed. "But with all that's going on, I'm not sure we'd be able to hold an attack if it came."

"I'm not sure how well we would either, but giving these folks hope is the best thing we can do for them at the moment." Neo added.

Adam smiled to Red Glare merrily. "But it can't be all that bad, after all, those weapons and things you guys brought back should help us."

Red Glare just looked down, not daring to make eye contact with Adam. "The weapons you guys brought back will help... Right?" Adam asked in a unsure tone.

Red Glare did not say a word, but rather he started walking along the side of the wall making his way to a large wooden wagon. The wagon had an old tattered cloth covering the top section of it, with old metal wells, and several small carvings on it’s side.

Neo, Cherry, and Adam along with the other town officials followed him over to the old wooden wagon that was parked crookedly to the side. With his mouth, Red Glare ripped back the cloth so that it floated in the air for a brief moment before landing on the ground softly.

The whole group looked inside the wagon that had all the salvaged gear inside, and what was inside shocked them. All that was inside, were several leather armored barding chest pieces, hunting rifles, and a few machine guns, one gatling gun, and five grenades. There was little ammunition included, just scattered bullets of multiple different kinds of weapons, and to add on, it didn't even look like some of the weapons were in the best of condition.

Neo grit his teeth and turned his head away from the supplies the ponies had brought back. He didn't dare look at what little they had brought back. "What happened? What happened!?! We went in there and I was sure they would get rid of half their weapons. Half!"

Adam went up to him and tried his best to comfort him. "It's not that bad. It could be much worse, brother. We need to be happy with what we're given, not with what we expect to be given."

After a quick pat on the back Adam went into the small stash of weapons and pulled out two of the leather chest pieces and put one on himself. With it under his duster, he already felt more prepared for battle.

"See. The armor is in decent condition. Just come over here and try it on."

Cherry nodded to Adam. "I do agree with Neo that I was expecting more... But you're right, what we have is what we have. We can't change it."

Neo sighed and looked to Cherry a moment before looking over to his little brother. "But... With that, how do we plan to protect anyone?"

Red Glare leaned on the wagon with the salvaged items inside, and with a thoughtful look he said, "I'm not proud of what we found either. And I'm not sure how much it will make a difference in a fight, but we'll have to do what we can... I'm just not sure what we can do is enough."

Neo came over and sighed calmly taking the barding Adam had and looked at it. He thought about what Red Glare and the others had said. "Brother, let's try to do what we can. We'll make it through this." He said putting his hoof on the armor his brother was levitating.

Neo took off his duster and put the leather chest piece on his body before putting the duster over it. He looked at it, and felt thinking about how much of a difference this all had on the town’s defences. But, he had to suck up his pride, and this time, there was no arguing. They were right. Though it disappointed him there was little he could say.

"I guess we'll have to do our best, huh? Even if we didn’t get the weapons I expected." Neo calmly said with a smile.

Red Glare and the other still looked as if there was no way they could take on the Legion, even though they seemed prepared. Instead, Red Glare put the tarp back on the wagon and asked for the others to follow him.

"Let's finish prepping the town. We've still go to help get the barricade up."

"We'll help with that." Neo said hopefully with his brother at his side.

Cherry came up alongside Adam with a rather cheery smile. "I'll help too."

The Mayor saw them all walk off to the pile of assorted furniture and items in the street and saw them help get a barricade made to protect the center of town. "I just hope all this talk of rebellion doesn't end the way I think it will, I just hope I’ve done the right thing and kept quiet about all this." She sighed before calmly trotting down the street.

The cloud covered sky was colored a faint orange hue as the evening slowly turned to night. Most of the work had been done for the day, and the barricade and defenses they had spent the whole day preparing were only partially done. Though to finish the massive barricade they had created in the center of the town all they needed to do was just continue to pile a whole plethora of assorted items and fortify what was already there. Which considering that the townsfolk of Arkcannon had used most of their home furniture to build the barricade it was fairly impressive though not completed yet.

But as the night encroached on everypony in town, minus most of the miners, were resting and preparing for the next day ahead of them. By resting, this of course meant they were at the inn where Breeze Heart stood on a table chanting and preaching about the victories they would have against the Legion.

Red Glare didn't approve of her almost constant patriotism, but never the less, he would have much rather had the ponies of the town cheer with hope rather than panicking in fear. The whole town by now knew of the now inevitable attack by the Legion. And every time ponies became agitated or uneasy by the thought, Breeze Heart the one winged pegasus who would just praise their new found strength, and how their bravery would win the day.

Of course Neo and Adam didn't join in the merriment inside the inn. Rather, they stayed outside and watch the sky peacefully turn darker as time passed. It was the closest they had come to seeing the actual sun. Just imagining the large shining disk in the sky was enchanting. And with all the noise inside it made the experience all that much more better.

Cherry wasn't inside the inn either, but rather with many of the little fillies and colts of the town playing out in the cool evening on the main dirt road that lead through the town. They tumbled and chased each other playfully as the two brothers watched them and the sky.

"I can see it now, everypony! The whole Legion running at the sight of their slaves holding their own! Nothing could strike us down, nothing!"

There was a cheer from the mass of towns ponies inside the inn. "How many of you want to see the dawn of a new day? Free from worry, or fear? I say that every day is not just a fantasy, but a reality! One we, as a whole, can see dawning over the horizon! I know I won't let them take that from me, will you let them take that from you?"

Another victorious roar boomed from the inside as the two brothers listened to them from outside the inn on the porch. "I say, let us drink to our victory! Because nothing can stop the winning with the spirit of hope at our sides!"

Neo shook his head chuckling lightly to himself. "What a character she is. I'm glad Red Glare let her speak out like that to them."

"It is better to believe in something than nothing at all, brother."

Neo ruffled his younger brother’s mane gently with his mechanical hoof. "Yeah, let's just hope they don't decide to do something stupid because of those beliefs."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Cool Blue said coming out of the inn and onto the porch with his guitar at his side.

He sat down next to them and pulled the instrument up to his body and started to play a slow calming tune. Adam looked towards him, "How is it you can play that without magic?"

He didn't halt his playing as he answered. "Practice, kid. Lots and lots of practice, and a little bit of nagging from my folks."

Adam went back to the way he was as he was satisfied by his answer. "You guys headin’ up to Silvermane tower after all this?" Cool Blue calmly stated not losing the beat of his song.

Neo blinked at him as if he could not think of a proper answer. "You said your wife might be able to help us... I'm not sure how I am about it. I've been told things, and at times promised things too, yet they all turn out to be hoaxes or lies in one way or another. Just like the way you lie to a little kid about a promise you know you can't keep."

"Heh," The musical pony chuckled for a brief moment, "I won't lie to you, but you're right. I can't promise you two that she'll know where she is. I can say though, that if there is anyone in the province who knows where she is. It's my wife."

The two brothers looked at him once more. "Then again, I know DJ PON-3 will actually know where she is. I've met that girl, and she doesn't fool around when it comes to getting information."

"And how far away from here is she?" Adam asked.

"Kid, you'd be better off going to Silvermane. Unless you plan to head far into central Equestria, she won't be much help to you. Not even half the province gets her radio station, and that should tell you something about how far away she is from here."

Neo sighed and rubbed the sides of his head with his hooves in frustration. "But, what if we end up just going there for nothing? I don't want to go through more just to say we're not any closer."

"That might be so, but by the way you make it sound, it looks like you've already given up before you even tried. No famous pony on this planet ever got anywhere by just giving up."

"But what about-"

"But nothing! You two, and you especially need to man up, buckle down, and do what you set out to do regardless of your success!"

Cool Blue sighed before putting his guitar down. "I'll tell you this again, and I mean it when I say it, but, Neo, listen to me. I can't promise that going to Silvermane tower will fix your problems, but it's your best shot regardless of what you say."

Neo rubbed the back fur of his neck indecisively. "I'm just not sure how this will end... And I-"

He took Neo's Pipbuck calmly with a peaceful glow in his eyes. He worked the small foreleg computer as if it were his own until it beeped once softy. With a gentle movement he put his foreleg down and patted the device. "I put down the location of the tower on your Pipbuck. If you really want to find her, this is where you should go."

Neo didn't say anything back to him, he couldn't think of anything worth saying. But instead of saying anything at all, they contently listened to the merriment of the ponies inside the inn as they watched Cherry play various games with a few of the young ones in the cool evening air.

"You know," Adam said hopefully. "I feel like nothing could ruin this peaceful night."

Over the hill of the town, Captain Cyrus looked down through an old pair of binoculars at the rather peaceful town below with a greedy, envious glare. The Lieutenant stood at his side and watched the small town below with him as the other troops unpacked their equipment just out of viewing range of the town. The Captain had ordered the motor team to prepare the attack on the town until he gave the order to start the bombardment.

The Lieutenant looked back to the team of motor ponies ready to fire when ordered. The Lieutenant inside though still felt repressed at the idea of taking on the Captain face to face, and ending this madness.

The hold fear had on him was strong, strong enough to make him almost lose interest in stopping him. It was a harsh mix of feelings that devastated him on the inside, though he did not physically show it.

With a rather merry grin, the Captain examined the town. The Lieutenant looked to his Captain after seeing the motor team give the signal they were ready to commence the bombardment.

"They're ready, sir. You may give the order."

The Captain chuckled to himself once before he gave the binoculars to the Lieutenant. "Can you hear them? Can you hear them sing?" He said with the same wicked grin.

The Lieutenant tried to hear the singing he mentioned but could not hear anything. "No. I'm afraid not, sir."

"Ah," He sighed peacefully with his grin intact. "They are singing. Singing about the dawn of a new day."

The statement puzzled the Lieutenant. "And what does that have to do with anything, sir?"

He just looked down at the small dimly lit town grinning. "Prepare the first round of the motors to fire."

"W-what, sir?"

"You heard me." He cooed, "Prepare the attack."

The Lieutenant though conflicting with himself automatically saluted him. "I'll tell the crew s-sir?"

"Yes, but do be quick," He purred softly. "If they want a new day to dawn, then they shall have that day. For a new age will dawn, one that sees this town put back in its place."

"Yes... I-I see, sir. I'll go tell the troops to get ready at once, sir." Said the Lieutenant before trotting off to the Legion soldiers.

Cyrus waited for the Lieutenant to finish preparing the motor team, "Heh," He chortled, "I do believe the worst is just beginning for this town. In fact, I think after the first shot goes off and I have their attention, I might just have a word with them... Hah, yes that will be nice... H-hah."

The Lieutenant rushed over to the motor team and told them to wait for the captain’s signal to fire the first shell at the town. Once he had made sure they were prepared he went over to the Captain with his hoof in the air to give the order to the motor team who waited for his signal.

The Lieutenant just stood there with his hoof in the air waiting impatiently for his order. “Well, sir? The team is r-ready to fire when you are.”

He stared at the town, as he did his grin widened into a large unnatural smile. And with a calm, whisper like tone he said, “Fire.”

Foot Note: Level Up

New Perk: The looking glass: Your Pipbuck now detects close-by sneaking targets. So keep your wits about you!

Foot Note: Level Up

Would you like to level Up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Tech Galore!: Repairing items with a low a percentage now repair twice as good. Especially things like small computers, or energy weapons and armor.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Exiled Wing

Wayofthepen

Author's Note

I really did try a new way of writing. I tried to add more detail, and take things a little differently. And like I have said before, I always strive to get better. But, anyway. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Noakwolf

Responsibility

CHAPTER 20: RESPONSIBILITY

If you can't bare the burden of responsibility, then you do not deserve to have it.

The whole town was suddenly stopped with panic as the sound of a single bomb boomed above the city in a flash of light. Ponies scrambled out of their homes and places of comfort into the cool night air to see what had caused the explosion.

The lookout on the wall traced the small trail of smoke that lead back down to the hills off in the distance. Neo and his brother came bolting down to the gate lookout to see if the watch pony had spotted the Legion.

Red Glare pushed several ponies out of the way as he raced over to the look out pony with panic and urgency in his eyes. "What the hell was that!" He cried up to the lookout pony on the wall.

The lookout pony scanned the hills around the town desperately trying to find the Legion. Though beyond the hills were the smoke trail ended he could not see anything.

"It's the Legion!" One pony screamed in terror.

With that single act of fear, many more of the townsfolk out near the gate started to act edgy, and anxious. That was, until the lookout cried out in a sudden declarative shout. "I see somepony over the ridge! Seven of them!"

Breeze Heart pushed her way out of the crowd she was in and dashed up to the top of the wall. Though once she had started most of the other town officials started up to the wall as well. That was, all except the Mayor.

Neo, and his younger brother stood next to Red Glare and Breeze Heart who stared hard at the shadow like figures coming to the town in the distance. All their minds raced as each thought of the Legion, and all the things that they could want, or need.

Red Glare had a hunting rifle ready at his side as he ordered the lookout pony to have his own rifle ready. Neo and his brother couldn't speak, as fear overtook them. Holding their breaths, they saw the shadow like figures take form as once dark faces became visible in the early night.

The ponies coming out of the night closed in on the town gate and generally halted their sprint as they came up to the gate. One of the ponies out of the seven was Captain Cyrus, and he was proudly positioned in the center of the group. Quickly the group of Legion soldiers came to the town’s entrance, and gradually slowing their pace they stopped twenty feet from the metal gate.

With an evil insane smile he looked up to the ponies who watched him from atop the gate. "Ah, my subjects." Purred the Captain.

"This town is overdue for its supply taxes, and as your protectors, I demand your pay!"

The towns ponies from behind the wall could hear him and his demands clearly. Adam and Neo looked down at them from the wall with suspense at the Legion soldiers below. Though it was Breeze Heart of all the ponies who spoke out first. "Well, we aren't rather excited to be part of the Legion today!" She taunted him.

Red Glare tried to intervene with her, and the stupid sense of patriotism that fueled her hate for the Legion Captain. "Breeze Heart! We need to think about th-"

"No! No more trying to talk and forgive. I'm through with that!"

Cyrus chuckled to himself. "Heh, so the one-winged bitch has some fight in her after all! I'm just surprised you didn't show the same spunk when I took your filthy wing!"

Her attention was redirected to him. "And you! Why in the world should we give you our supplies? What have you done for us?!"

Retaining the same demented smile, Cyrus shouted at her, "Because I said so! That is why! You are mine, and our lords property! You'd do well to start realizing this you sad waste of flesh!"

"Oh, look who's talking, you soulless prick! Me and the rest of the town would rather die before subjecting to you again!"

The Captain chortled softly to himself in an insane, devilish way. "And why should I show you any respect? You’re just a stupid pegasus who has no other purpose but to be crucified in the name of the purity of our lord!"

"Respect?" She called leaning over the wall, smiling. "I haven’t had any respect since the day I was born!"

Cyrus had started to laugh uncontrollably before giving her a stern determined glare. "Rightfully so. None of your race deserves to have any respect at all. You and your friends might as well just pay your taxes, because you stand no chance of surviving!"

"Alright," She said with a nod, "We'll give you what is due."

With a quick rough gesture she took Red Glare's gun and pointed it at the Legion Captain's head. "And to start off, you can have some of our very own Arkcannon lead!"

Two shots came down around the Captain as he evaded them quickly, but not before having one clip his cheek. In pain he recoiled himself, and put a hoof to large bleeding scare that now rest horizontally on his cheek.

In awe, Cyrus looked down at his blood covered hoof. It was as if he had seen blood for the first time, as hate furiously churned itself in his heart.

In a slow motion Cyrus’s hoof lowered itself down to the ground. A small whisper of laughter formed, and with every passing second the uneasy laughing grew louder. "Y-you think... You've d-done well by hurting me, haven't you?"

Red Glare angrily took the rifle from the mare, who with a smug look stared down at the insane Legion Captain. "Why yes. Yes I have."

"H-heh..." He chuckled once more.

Without saying another word he turned to the hills with his back to the town. In a slow movement he motioned for the few Legion soldiers to follow him back over the hills. Though, before Cyrus made his way back he whispered to himself. "So it begins then..."

The ponies on the wall quickly made their way down back to the crowd of ponies that had gathered at the gate. Red Glare went up to Breeze Heart and smacked her right behind the head in agitation. "What the hell was that Breeze!? We're trying to help our people, not kill them!"

She rubbed the back of her now sore head, "And you consider talking to that psychopath to be helpful? No! We're past the point of negotiation! Either we hold our ground till we can get out of here, or get massacred for the pleasure of that sadistic bastard! I don't know about you folks, but I'd rather fight than die!"

The townsfolk, though scared of the idea of dying had little choice. It was either they fought, or gave up and died. And the odds were against them, but all that talking Breeze Heart had been doing influenced them in some way or another.

They all nodded at her with determination, for there was no other option. It was do or die. Neo came up to Red Glare, who facehoofed at how bad things had just got. "I hate to say this, and I don't know how well we'll fair, but she's right. At this point we have little choice."

With a heavy sigh Red Glare agreed with him. "Fine... Let's just hope those miners can pull overtime down there. If not we’re in a whole heap of trouble."

"And let’s hope they can." The Neo stated.

Cherry overheard the two and gave both of them a nod of her own before addressing the whole of the crowd. "Everypony to the barricade! Those with positions, set up and get ready! Get your weapons and barding on! We prepared for this, so let's go! Move!"

Ponies throughout the group scrambled off into various directions, getting their weapons and armors together as some helped fortify the barricade they had set up in the middle of town. Cherry went over and stopped a mare before she had taken off, and told her to inform the miners to work harder as the Legion was attacking soon.

"Neo," Cherry said urgently. "You and your brother get ready. Adam, get those mines ready to blow. I'm going to check on the clinic ponies and see if they've got everything they need to tend to the wounded during the battle."

The two brothers looked to her and nodded at her. She smiled briefly before taking off to the clinic. "Well Adam, hurry and get those mines set up, I'll go get our gear and help build up the barricade."

"Okay, I'll meet you there." He said before galloping off to the town hall, which was almost no longer visual in the center of the main road.

Neo did his best to watch out for ponies as he made his way to the inn. Though as Neo made his way to the small two story building they had stayed at while in the town, he prayed. He prayed for a miracle. Because it would be a miracle if they got out of this alive.

All the troops were ready to move as they stood prepared for the coming battle. The power-armored iron wagon ponies, and the footponies all checked their weapons carefully. Each had their full sets of dark green armor with a large gas mask attached to each of their helmets. It was practically moments before the battle, and the Captain had just made it back from the town.

Fury stirred in the stallion's heart. He paced himself back and forth in one spot murmuring his plans quickly, and quietly to himself. Then, in a sudden halt, Cyrus stared towards the Lieutenant who looked at him nervously.

"Lieutenant..." He coughed, "Are all the men prepared?"

The Lieutenant gave him a quick, single nod. "Yes s-sir."

Smiling profoundly, Cyrus marched over to a large army of soldiers who stood ready to move. The Lieutenant followed him up to the army and stood by his side as he addressed the army before him. "Tonight, is a special night." He called out, "One that the town below us will not forget. And let me say, it is us, our lord's chosen ones, who will pave the way to a more brighter future!"

The crowd did not respond but let him go on with his speech. "We are all loyal to the Legion, and those peasants down there dare turn away the beauty of being in our legion! I say no more! We'll go down there, and burn, raze, and kill all those who had dare consider rebellion against us! For this is the end of it! The end of this insane procrastination! All the while those ponies down there mock and taunt us! So, this night, is the last night of guarding that accursed little town!"

"So, soldiers! Be strong! Be brave! And remember who you are, and what we fight for!" With a strong motion of his hoof he ordered the army to advance down to the town.

"For victory! For honor, and for our lord march to war in his name!" The army obeyed, and the iron wagons screeched and squeaked as every Legion soldier marched onward towards the town below.

The Captain smiled while watching the army move to the town, the Lieutenant stood there thinking to himself. Two guard ponies had stood next to the Lieutenant and the Captain, though it was clear they did not seem to notice their leaders blind obsession. But, watching the Captain stand there. Smiling. Thinking how well he had done, by committing this selfish act of self obsession. In his mind he tore and hacked at the wall fear had built in his mind desperately to gain free will to do the right thing.

As each second passed, more and more of the army had already started to make its way to the town. Some five hundred soldiers had been gathered for this very moment. He needed to act fast. The emperor would be here hopefully tonight, and that was his only hope at possibly calming the storm of chaos Cyrus had created.

"You need to end this. "A voice cooed to Covert inside his mind.

He answered silently in his mind. "B-But, he's more stronger than me... He won't hold back on me if I turn on him now."

"You need to do this, for the good of the Legion, and for the honor of your position. Because if you let that town die, all those dreams of honor in this legion are gone."

Those words he heard in his mind, they rattled and festered as the wall fear had made in his mind began to weaken. He could feel himself being opened up, but only slightly. So, seizing the moment, Covert pulled out his pistol on the Captain.

"C-Cyrus!" Barked the Lieutenant while holding the pistol towards him. "Your plans end here! I-I won't allow this insane chaos to go on any longer!"

The once beaming smile the Captain had, died as Cyrus faced the scared pony with the gun. "Heh..." The Captain chuckled.

Holding out his hooves open, he exposed his chest to the Lieutenant without fear. "Is this what it's come down to?"

The lieutenant did not answer. "Well?" Cyrus asked once more.

"I-I-" Covert stammered.

"Shoot me!" He yelled keeping his hooves open for the shot.

"End this! I said shoot me! End it! Here, right now! SHOOT ME!"

The gun the Lieutenant had shook furiously as sweat ran down the sides of his head. A clammy feeling went throughout his body as Covert motioned his head uneasily to the guards next to the Captain.

They nodded to him, and each guard took the Captain by one foreleg and held onto him firmly. "W-what? No, not me! Him!"

The two guards had managed to get a good hold on the Captain as he whipped around in a frenzy of confusion and anger. "Let me go! I'll kill him! I'm the loyal one! ME! I am of the pure in our order! Our lord shall honor me as a hero!"

The Lieutenant's stuttering had subsided, yet a small shake in his voice and hooves we still present. He holstered his weapon and went up to the Captain's face looking into his deranged wild eyes with pity. "Put him into custody private. And contact the Emperor of our whereabouts, I'll try and lead the troops as best I can until he arrives to help clean up this whole mess."

Instead of saluting Covert, the two guards just nodded to acknowledge his orders. The two guards drug the Captain away buy the forelegs as Cyrus shouted madly back to the Lieutenant. "You think you've won? Ha! You! Can't! Win! I am the hero! Me! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

His shouts became more silent as the soldiers and the Captain slowly faded into the night. With a heavy sigh, the Lieutenant breathed in a fresh lung of air. The feeling of repressed fear was gone. And like a great burden it had lifted itself, and for a moment he felt at peace.

"Now..." The Lieutenant sighed looking to the dimly lit town below. "How am I going to solve this mess?"

Ponies hammered, piled, and added to the barricade in the center of town anyway they could. And the now eight foot high wall of assorted furniture and items laid ready in the center of the town. The barricade itself span from one side of the main street of the town, all the way to the other. There was small secluded areas about one pony large so that if needed, ponies could easily go to the other side of the barricade while still having the ability to defend it efficiently.

Neo was on the opposite side of the barricade which faced the town hall in the center of town. Everypony hoped that this, along with the many different positions they had set up to defend the town; would hold them off long enough so that they could escape. But it was completely dark out now, and the standard Legion soldier wore dark, heavy covered armor which would make them harder to spot.

The only source of light for the townsfolk who defended the town, was the lights that were strung from building to building. Though it was not much light, it was better than nothing at all.

Every now and again, they would hear a motor shell go off above the town. None of the bombs actually hit the town, but the sudden boom of explosion the bombs would make over them was startling enough.

The children had been moved to the safest place they could think of, which at the current moment, was the town hall. Mothers who dare not fight and children, who could not hold weapons, were not present amongst the resistors preparing for the coming battle.

Neo was on his belly looking over the top of the barricade as the last few ponies positioned themselves for the attack. He was waiting for his brother to get back, and during Adam's absences, Neo had managed to get ammunition for his combat shotgun, and a small rifle. Neo had got the rifle for Adam, because he saw the state of both his laser pistol and his shotgun were not in any sense of the term in perfect condition. In fact, Neo would be perfectly happy if his gun didn't jam up on him while he was in the middle of thick combat. It was sad that most of the other townsfolk had taken all the other working weapons. Though, was his main reason for getting Adam the rifle, for his laser pistol he had kept for so long was worn, and to make it work effectively would take a miracle at this point.

Ponies were lined up all behind the barricade as they watched intensively at the metal gate ahead of them. Cherry was below Neo to the left with a small semi-automatic rifle surrounded in a pinkish aura that levitated calmly at her side. She watched as Adam came up from the town hall with a small box in his mouth.

Cherry smiled at him as he gave her what seemed like the detonator. "Is this it? Will it work?" She asked.

Adam nodded to her. "It should."

Neo noticed his brother and slid down to him from his position on the barricade. Adam saw his brother wondered as to why he had two medium sized weapons at his side. "Brother? Where's my pistol?"

"I looked both of our weapons over before I went to go get ammunition from the salvage cart, we had brought back here through the barricade before it was done. And let's just say our weapons aren't in the best of shape at the moment. But this rifle I found seems to be okay. I couldn’t find my self anything, so I’ll just have to settle with what I have. "

Neo held the small rifle out to his brother, who took it hesitantly. "Thanks..." He said with a sigh.

His older brother blinked at him. "What's the matter?"

"It's just..." Adam paused for a moment, "What if we don't make it? What if we just end up dying here?"

Neo gave him an unsure stare. "I don't know... I'm trying my best to not think about dying. Because we still have to find her, and dying won't get us anywhere."

Cherry didn't move from her position on the barricade as she gave them both a motherly look. "I think we can do it. Plus I don't think there are as many Legion soldiers as we think there are. When they came here all those times there were a hundred at most."

The two brothers looked up to her with appreciative air about them as Neo spoke to her. "You're probably right, we can do this an-"

He was suddenly stopped when the sound of a large metallic bang came from the gate. All noise had ended leaving only the now faint ring of the metal bang that had been made. All of the towns ponies look towards the gates as they readied their weapons. Even Neo and Adam climbed up to the barricade to watch the gate.

There was another loud boom that followed.

BANG.

Sweat ran down the brothers necks and brows as another boom came.

BANG.

Every heart raced as they felt the air in the town thicken with anticipation. Ponies got to their positions along the upper stories of the buildings, and along the top section of the barricade.

BANG.

No soul in the town bothered to blink, for they dare not turn away from the gate that was before them.

BANG.

All eyes and weapons stood ready as they waited. Waited for their gate to fall and the Legion to rush in at a moments notice. They could only imagine what it would be like to defend the town against the iron wagons on the wall. The wall was made only to keep out and defend against small groups of raiders, not a full blown well equipped army.

Though, the quiet hum of the bangs was still present in the dark nighttime air, they listened further to see if the bangs had stopped.

But just as the bangs had ended, a faint drilling sound took the place. This gentle drilling noise only lasted for a few moments before becoming quiet again. Just as soon as it ended, the sound returned, only it sounded as if it were coming from one of the opposite corners of the gate. Sure enough, the drilling had stopped moments later, and started on the last corner of the gate.

Neo levitated his combat shotgun closer to his right eye aiming down the divided iron sights. "Adam, stay close to me." He whispered feeling the tension grow.

A loud explosion followed as the town gate was cleanly blown apart leaving the outer frame the gate was once sitting empty. A large thick cloud of dust and dirt cloaked the town entry. The breeze churned, and twisted the dense cloud calmly as a single dark figure emerged from the cloud.

Without warning, a mare on the barricade snapped as the tension was too great for her. She screamed violently taking the small rifle she had and fired madly at the figure in the cloud.

More shots from the townsfolk on the barricade shot randomly into the haze. Even Neo and Adam shot a few times into the murky dust. The cloud twisted and turned as bullets shot down into the unknown. Then, as the mare who had shot first stopped her frenzy the whole of the town stopped their barrage. She was panting heavily, straining her eyes to look deeper into the now thinned out cloud.

There was the sharp squeal of old iron wheels being pulled as a large dark object took form in the light cloud of dust. But, halfway into the cloud the machine stopped, as two armored ponies could be faintly made out pulling the large machine. As they stood there though, the large gun on top of the machine moved towards the barricade. And with a loud hum it spat out a hail of hot metal bullets at the townsfolk along the barricade.

"Duck!" Cried out the sheriff as the machine tore boarded up windows and other objects in its range to pieces. Neo and everypony that saw it went behind the barricade. Within moments the machine stopped its attack, and the sound of tens of ponies charging into the town could be heard from behind the barricade.

Breeze Heart picked up the sen-automatic weapon at her side and screamed taking aim at the on coming ponies. "Fire!"

In quick retaliation the towns folks in the second story of buildings overlooking the road in the center of town opened windows and pelted the Legion soldiers below with bullets.

The Legion soldiers in the town took what little cover they could along the sides of town's buildings. It did the soldiers no good as the Arkcannon militia fighters pelted the soldiers with a heavy stream of gunfire. And like shooting fish in a barrel, the soldiers out in the street were torn down.

The ponies on the barricade climbed to the top to get a better view on the Legion soldiers in the road, and while many of the barricade members climbed to the top, Neo watched from a lower position. His eyes went wide as he leaped down from the barricade grabbing Adam as he fell. "Get down!" He shouted.

For the hum of two iron wagons was now present, and the ponies along the top of the barricade did not see them. In a loud rattling bang the ponies on the top of the barricade were ripped to pieces. Their screams echoed through the town as the bullets from the wagons subsided. In the end, those unlucky few along the very top of the fortification were almost nothing, but a shredded lump of mutilated flesh.

Neo helped Adam up as ponies took their positions along better placed areas on the barricade returning fire. Cherry, who was up on the barricade, watched as several Legion soldiers broke through a two story building outside the barricade. Each Legion soldier carried heavier weapons, and as they went into the building she realized what their intent was.

If those soldiers got to the gatling ponies on the second story they would lose a key weapon in the defense of the town. "Neo, Adam!" Cherry called to them.

"Quickly, get in that building to the right and take out those soldiers. Hurry!"

The order she had given was sudden, and though more detail would have been good Neo did his best to follow the order. "Come on Adam, and remember, stay close to me!"

It was dark in the town, with only the dim lights above and the muzzle flashes coming from ponies guns as the fighting continued. Neo and his younger brother poked their heads from the corner of the barricade. From the corner of their eyes they could see the few Legion soldiers move into the building twenty feet from the barricade.

Bullets hit the wood where their heads were causing them to flinch backwards as debris from the splintered wood shot out everywhere. But it didn't take them long to come back to the corner and peek out into the battlefield. At the current moment most of the Legion soldiers seemed preoccupied with the ponies along the top of the barricade, which given their current objective was good. In the long run though, it would mean less attention would be drawn onto them.

They both gulped nervously, as they sucked up the gut tearing nervousness inside them. And with a heavy exhale of air they both looked to each other, nodded, and booked it to the building the Legion ponies had made their way into.

Bullets flew past them like lighting, and the gunshots echoed off of the buildings loudly as they came to the now bashed in door of the building.

Jumping quickly inside they readied their weapons swiftly, before they looked inside for the Legion soldiers. The two story brick building itself looked as if it were somepony’s home. Tables in the corner and all over the room had been flipped over to provide cover. And normal household objects became barricade like items for the defending ponies to use.

The brief sudden flashes from the gunfire outside leaked into the room in thin beams of light from the creases in the boarded windows.

In a saddening look on the two brothers faces they looked over to a single pony body in the room, which lay upon the ground. It was blood covered, with a huge bloody hole through one side of the poor souls head.

There was a small staircase at the end of the room that lead up to the ponies using the gatling weapon above. Both of them could hear the creaks and squeaks from the old floor above indicating somepony’s movement.

In a urgent rush they both tread lightly making their way to the staircase. The shadows from the assorted items flashed on the walls from the fighting. Neo and Adam felt fear and tension build inside their chests while making their way up. Both had their weapons ready, and just as they reached the final step up to the second story, both brothers jumped at the sound of several loud random gunshots.

In an almost instant reaction they charged up into the room above and went straight into SATS. The world around them froze as three large Legion soldiers stood over the now blood covered ponies who were operating the gatling gun.

Neo took his highlighter and marked one soldier's head and the other's legs, which was less protected. Adam did the same to one of the other soldiers, before switching over to the less protected places of the next pony.

In a fast decisive series of gunshots their guns fired directly at where they had targeted. The Legion soldiers screamed out in pain as blood shot out from their necks, heads, and legs. Within an instant all three soldiers fell down to the ground.

One of the three ponies manning the station rolled around moaning to himself holding one of his forelegs to his blood covered side. The two brothers didn't say anything, and instead acted swiftly to help aid the injured pony.

"It's alright,"Neo cooed reassuringly to him while helping the injured pony up, "We'll get you to the barricade."

Adam was just about to help Neo get the injured pony up, when he saw from the corner of his eye one the Legion soldiers move. The lone surviving Legion soldier in the room ripped off his mask hacking and coughing out blood, and with a heartless demented glow in his eyes he took a grenade from his side.

Just as Adam had noticed the soldier, the armored Legion pony pulled the pin and let out his last chest bursting cough. "Brother, look out!" Adam screamed before out of nowhere the whole room boomed in a flash of light as shrapnel and dust filled the room. A invisible shock wave pounded Neo in the chest sending him falling to the ground.

The warm blood from the suicidal Legionnaire sprayed all over Adam's blue coat. But the shock didn't end there, the floor creaked and moaned as Adam shook his head to clear his mind of the event. His senses were blurred as the dust in the air burned the buck’s eyes and lungs.

Neo coughed horsley getting up, "Adam what happ-" He didn't even get another word out before the floor beneath their hooves weakened.

With a loud powerful snap the old floor they were standing on fell down at an angle. Causing them to tumble and roll down into the pile of assorted barricaded items on the first floor. Neo had rolled down and hit the end of a table, while Adam had landed against a flipped desk with his back to the old piece of furniture.

Both brother’s bodies ached, and their vision dazed. It hurt to breath as now all the dust had made its way right down to them on the first floor. Adam had just opened his eyes, and was getting a grip on what was happening. The bodies of the ponies they had tried to save landed right on top of him.

One of the dead ponies faces was right up to his, and as Adam’s vision became generally more clear, Adam looked directly into the eyes of a pony with one of the most horrified expressions he had seen.

In panic, Adam threw the bodies off of him. Backing away from the dead corpses, he looked down at them and their lifeless faces. Adam's eyes were wide with panic, and with a trembling hoof Adam felt the warm liquid that now covered his body. Falling back onto his haunches, Adam just stared at the lifeless ponies as Neo got up from the rather horrific fall.

Neo himself coughed loudly again while trying to find his balance. "A-Adam?" He said in a hacking cough.

His younger brother did not answer. Terror filled him, he had realized looking down at those ponies that they were too slow. They couldn't save them fast enough, and it was their fault they were now dead.

"Adam?" Neo grunted feeling the soreness all over himself as he trotted groggily to him.

Adam didn't say anything, as tears in the corners of his eyes began to form. While trotting to his brother he picked up his and Adam's gun. "Adam? Are you okay? Is anything broken?"

Neo before asking again, looked to the bodies that lay before his younger brother. Adam though after a moment of sulking shook his head whilst wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. "No.. I-I'm fine."

Neo sat Adam's weapon down on the ground as he tried to ignore the soreness that was spread all over his body. "Come on." Neo said offering a hoof to his younger brother with a reassuring smile.

"If we don't help fight, those ponies will have died for nothing. And then we can truly be sorry."

Looking up to his brother with a mournful look in his eyes Adam took his brother’s hoof and got up. Take his weapon from next to him, Adam tried to rub the dust out of his eyes. "Right, let's just head back the way we came. We'll be able to get back to the barricade from their. And hopefully, we can prevent the gunners on the other side for suffering the same way." Neo stated.

Adam gave him a gentle nod, though the feeling of guilt had not entirely left his mind. They both trotted over to the door which was loosely opened letting in a thin line of light from outside the street. Just as they came up to the door Legion soldiers could be heard just outside.

"Hurry, take up the next position! We need to over take the barricade!" One of the ponies near the outside of the door cried out.

"Damn it!" Neo swore quietly stepping back from the door.

"That screws that idea. See anywhere else we can go Adam?"

Adam looked around, and saw that the gatling gun lay next to the dead ponies who manned the station before. With an idea forming in his mind, he went to the gun and levitated it to his side. Neo gave him an odd, puzzled look at first before catching on to what Adam was doing.

"Might as well go the way we came." Neo said with a impressed grin.

Levitating the gun up to his side, Adam got ready for the dash he and Neo would make to get back to the barricade. Neo had also picked up a small wooden table, which he thought would act as a temporary shield from oncoming fire as the two brothers went back the way they had came.

There was tens of little red lights on both of their EFS’s. And just the mere sight of the dots made them nervous. But, if they wanted to get back this seemed to be the only decent way.

Adam hadn't worked with a gatling gun before, and he tried working it to the best of his abilities. It did take him a moment to get it started, and once he'd figured that out, the firing part was clear.

Both brothers looked to each other before making their way out into the battle infested street. The large gun at Adam's side hummed as the barrels spun ready. And, with a deep breath, and a bit of courage they ran out the door into the street.

The main road through the town was covered in the bodies of dead soldiers from both sides. Some had no limbs, while others crawled away bleeding by the gallon. Bullets flew by hitting brick, wood, flesh, and armor as the terrible battle continued.

Though, what the two brothers didn't suspect was the fact that there was now twice the amount of soldiers than there was before. Out of pure shock and surprise, Adam let loose a storm of hot metal onto the nearest Legion soldiers he could see. It was hard keeping the gun still as the recoil caused the gun to bounce around wildly.

Turning back to the barricade Adam shot randomly while Neo did his best to provide cover with the small table he found. Then, with a loud bang, Neo tripped and fell to the ground roughly. A bone splitting pain was spread all throughout Neo’s left hind leg. Blood sprayed itself in a red mist as whatever had it him sunk deeper into his flesh.

The sudden pain caused Neo to drop the table and his gun. Neo screamed and put his hooves to the now huge gushing wound on his leg. A Legion soldier was right in front of them with a large single shot shotgun. Adam noticed that the gatling gun had little to no ammunition left. So with the last of his bullets he fired at the shotgun soldier, severing the soldier's left foreleg completely from his body.

Adam dropped the gatling gun and went to his brother trying to avoid incoming gunfire. Getting low he looked at Neo's wound. The look in his brothers eyes cried out in pain as more and more blood came out of the wound. Adam took off his brothers head cloth and put tied it tightly to his wound to slow the bleeding.

"A-Adam..." Neo moaned.

"Shh, I'll get you out of here." Adam said trying to calm him.

Neo's breathing became slower as Adam picked him up from the ground. Adam slung his brother’s metal foreleg around his neck before putting Neo fully on his back. "We're not going to die here... We've still got a chance, and I'm not leaving you behind!" Adam grunted now barring the full weight of his brother on his back.

Though it made him slower, he tried with all his strength to dodge bullets. Adam made a dash away from the barricade, as there was now too many soldiers for him alone to take on. His mind racing, everywhere was dangerous, and no place seemed safe. Legion soldiers threw bombs, and fiery weapons which exploded small doors and windows. Soldiers rushed everywhere, distracted by the ponies on the barricade, or on the upper stories of the buildings to directly notice him for the time being.

And just as Adam had felt like there was no way out of the cruel hell, a few orange lights appeared on his EFS. The lights came from inside a building, not more than twenty feet away from him. Without a second thought he seized the opportunity for his brother's sake.

With his small rifle he shot the best he could with Neo on his back. And once he had made it to the door Adam pounded on the door fiercely. "Open up! Please! I need help!" He cried hoping that the ponies inside would hear him.

The door swung open as a militia pony pulled him in before closing it swiftly behind him. "What the hell were you doing out there kid!" The stallion who had pulled him inside shouted.

Adam shook his head to help clear his mind before answering the militia pony's question. "They took out one of the gunning positions. Cherry sent us to stop them from doing so, but... We weren't fast enough."

The stallion in his lightly armored barding stomped a hoof on the ground in anger. "Damn it! The fighting just started and they’ve already got the first gunning position down!”

There was four other ponies in the room, each of which was a mare who, like the stallion, had light barding as their only means of protection. Upon hearing the Adam's report the mares started going about fearfully mumbling to each other.

"Well, I hope it doesn't get worse out there," The stallion grunted putting several large chairs back against the door. "Or they'll start going for the ponies above us who are pelting them down their."

"So you're their defenders?" Adam asked laying Neo on the wooden ground.

The stallion came over to Adam and looked at his injured brother that lay before him. "Yeah, and I thank Celestia in heaven they haven't decided to bust this door down and come in here."

"What happened to him?" The militia stallion added.

Adam was getting out his saddlebag while checking the medical supplies he had on his Pipbuck. "He got shot pretty bad in the leg. The shock from the injury knocked him out, but I think I managed to stop the bleeding good enough to keep him alive."

"Well, I hope you two guardians know that you can't go out there again. It's a fucking shit storm, and by the sound of things it doesn’t sound like its getting any better."

Adam found a half roll of magical bandages, which he started to apply to his brother's leg before answering the militia fighter. "Then what are we supposed to do? We need to get back to the barricade, and it doesn't look like you guys are prepared to defend this place if a bunch of Legion soldiers come busting in."

Adam was right, and the stallion thought about what he had said. "Well, you know the town has back alleyways. Though most of them are loaded up and blocked by all kind of crap. I should know, I helped block them up."

The thought of having to traverse the blocked up barricades with Neo on his back was unnerving. He didn't want to have to hurt himself trying to get back to the central barricade, and even if he did make it over a few of the alleyway blockage piles; what then? Though Adam was much more keen to the idea of climbing piles then running in odd patterns to dodge bullets.

Adam put Neo's old bloodstained head rag in his bag once he had applied the last bandage to Neo's leg. "There. That should help him. Now, I'm no doctor or medic, but I think my brother will be fine."

"Well, does that mean you're just going to leave us here?" The stallion asked.

"Would you rather come with us?" Adam replied still sitting on the ground next to his unconscious brother.

The militia stallion looked around the little set up he and the few other mares had and smiled proudly. "Nah, the least you could do is tell Cherry we're doing fine here, and we've haven't seen a single soldier try to break in ye-"

Before he could finish a voice from the second story down to them scream urgently to them. "In coming!"

A loud booming hum was soon heard, as giant holes burst through the walls, windows, and door. Adam out of pure instinct fell flat to the ground. In an instant, the clueless stallion and two of the three mares had their sides, or limbs blown clean off in a sudden horrific manner.

It didn't even take a second. The mare who had survived covered her mouth with her hooves dropping her weapon to the ground in shock; as the two friends she had, who a moment ago were just living, lay dead. Dead, with large sections of their bodies blown completely off. Tears formed in her eyes, pools of fresh warm blood formed in the cracks and swirls of the old wooden floorboards.

Even the militia stallion who had been just spoke to Adam had been hit in the side of his body. His half busted organs lay slouched and shredded while the body unnaturally twitched.

At this moment another surprising thing had happened. Large fire like orbs had been thrown into the large gaping holes in the windows. And, on contact they shattered causing a large raging fire to form where the bombs had landed.

Adam didn't feel emotion as adrenaline pumped through his body. Mourning the now dead defenders was useless as the flames grew all around the inside of the building. Putting everything in his saddlebag, Adam quickly put his brother once again on his back and looked for the exit to the alleyways.

Still in complete shock the lone surviving mare now held one of the dismembered ponies she once knew in her hooves, rocking back slowly crying softly to herself.

"How do we get out of here?!" Adam shouted to the surviving mare amongst the sound of the loud crackling of the growing flames.

She didn't answer, and Adam didn't have time to snap her out of the shock she was in. He needed to act fast. Because not only his, but Neo's life rested literally on his shoulders. The flames grew brighter with every passing moment, as the flames continued to gradually consume the old building.

Adam could feel the blazing heat grow, and in a urgent panic he scanned the room for the door to the alleyway. Within moments his eyes spotted it at the very end of the room, covered in several dancing shadows from the flames, the door to the alleyways. Or, at least Adam hoped it was the way out.

Galloping at full speed Adam approached the door. Trying to open it though, was a different matter altogether, for the door itself was locked tightly. With little time left, taking his hind legs he beat the door furiously. The heat burned while the timbers above him creaked while burning. The whole building might come down, and since the ponies in the upstairs hadn't come down from the second floor he assumed the flames had already got the crew above.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Went his back legs. For the more effort Adam put into bucking, the more tired he felt. Until, the door hinges started to splinter and crack. And, with one more powerful kick the door swung open powerfully.

Feeling the cooler air from the outside Adam did not even think a second thought. Jumping into the darker cool alleyway he could feel the almost instant change in the temperature.

Panting tiredly, the barricade blocking the alley way was now visible. It was roughly eight feet high, and consisted of mostly old barrels and metal boxes. With a determined look in his eyes, Adam pounced onto the alley barricade, and began his way back to the barricade.

It was hard. His brother felt heavy on his legs, and he himself was coughing having breathed in some of the smoke from the building he was just in. Neo moaned once or twice, but Adam didn't pay any mind to it. Either it meant he was getting better, or Neo felt more pain while gradually regaining consciousness.

As the blue coated buck reached the top the barricade objects wobbled from atop the pile of stuff. And, with the greatest of care he made his descent down, taking one hoof step at a time. With a relieving sigh he made it down to the midsection of the alleyway. There were still a few more piles like the one he had just climbed to get over, and there was no telling if the Legion had bypassed the barricade or not.

So, without wasting a second he started his climb up the next one muttering to himself, "I won't let you die here. I won't let you die here, you're all I have left out here. And I won't let you die out here!"

Finally making it over the second pile, Adam felt the soreness in his legs. And, with every large breath the struggling buck continued to quietly mutter, "You can do it Adam... I know you can. You're... strong, and you won't forgive yourself if your brother dies... Just keep going...”

However, once he reached the top of the third alley barricade, one of the boxes was loose. In a heart jumping instant, Adam screamed tumbling down to the hard dirt ground below. With a thud, Adam and his unconscious brother lay silently together in the narrow alley.

Adam coughed, feeling the soreness increase as he recovered from the fall. Rubbing the back of his brown mane, Adam stiffly got up.

He felt pain in his legs and all over his body, even his lungs faintly burn at the smoke in the air. The dark sky above was orange, with embers and smoke stacks towering high above the town. With the best of strength the young buck had, he took his brother once more and placed him on his back.

The world was fuzzy, and hazed. Adam's sense were blurred, the only way out from where he stood in that narrow alleyway was a door to a building. It hadn't been burned down yet, or damaged. At least, that was how it looked from the back of the building.

In a groggy, exhausted walk, Adam came to the door. Leaning desperately against it, he pushed. It didn't move. He tried again, and just like before nothing happened. Almost stumbling back Adam tried the simplest, but most risky thing he could think of. He knocked on the door.

With three slow, sluggish knocks Adam waited. For a moment he tried the lock, no luck. It was locked which was no surprise to the tired pony. His legs were too tired and sore to buck at the door, and more than likely the door was barricaded. But, after waiting a few moments, there was still no answer.

Breathing heavily, his throat dry and irritated. Adam drew Neo's shotgun and put the barrel to the lock. He didn't care if there was possibly a barricade. He needed to get Neo help, and no door on heaven or in the wasteland would stop him from completing that goal.

Levitating the gun limply to the lock he fired one shot. The gun kicked back, as a small torn up hole was now where the lock had once been. Despite what Adam had originally thought the door, with a gently push, creaked open.

Several ponies with rifles ready stood aiming right at him from behind all sorts of turned over furniture. Adam just stood there, staring at the militia ponies who looked back at him in shock.

"Heh." Adam chuckled under his breath.

And with a single slow step Adam fell down. The ponies in the room lowered their rifles and rushed over to them urgently. Two ponies came by to Neo and picked him up, while another stallion came by to help Adam up.

"You okay there? Sorry for the uneasy welcome, didn't expect somepony to blow that lock off and come in from the alleyway."

Adam regained himself and let the stallion help him regain his balance. "I.. I'll be fine," Adam coughed, "Are we behind the barricade?"

The militia stallion nodded, "Yeah kid. We're just repairing weapons for the ponies on the barricade, and you gave us quite a scar popping in behind us like that."

"Good," Adam cooed, "My brother needs medical help..."

With a quick understanding nod, the militia stallion next to Adam motioned his head to the ponies who were carrying Neo. Turning his attention back to Adam, the stallion asked, "Is there anything you need?"

"Yeah... Just one thing..."

"What is it kid?"

"Water... Would be nice." Adam said before falling down on the ground again.

The gunfire raged on, not nearly as much as it had before, though it was still present. Ponies on the top of the barricade ducked and leaped from side to side, and all over to avoid oncoming fire. They had done a fairly decent job keeping the Legion from climbing the barricade. And even though the iron wagons, which kept their distance from the rest of the shooting, still fired at them in a loud periodic hums.

Adam sat down and rested on the porch of a building behind the barricade. The town behind the barricade was like a small camp. Ponies running back and forth from building to building doing a whole assortment of things. From weapon repair, to medical attention to the wounded, to switching out places on the barricade. Everypony tried hard to maintain their position the best they could.

Motor shells that had yet to officially hit the town continued to burst above. The town in front of the barricade glowed bright orange as flames poured out of the buildings closest to the gate.

Three iron wagons stood there at the gate side by side, blasting anypony that dare come out from behind the barricade, and unto the streets. Adam would look across the street to the clinic and sigh heavily. The few medical ponies who worked there did their best to handle all the injured they could. In fact, the inside of the clinic was so full of wounded ponies, that some had to lay on mats or old busted up cots outside on the porch.

Neo was one of those ponies who got to stay outside. He had been awake for a few minutes now, and some of the medical ponies gave him a potion or two to heal up his wound. Though, someone had told Adam it would be an hour or so before Neo could get back up and help the other in the fight.

Red Glare was up in the second story of a building behind the barricade sniping with a scoped rifle, and announcing Legion cover positions to the ponies on the barricade. If there was a place a Legion soldier hid in the road, Red would know where it was, and have somepony on it with in moments.

Cherry came down from the barricade and motioned for another pony to take her place. And sure enough, another pony rushed over to where she was previously, and continued to retaliate in her spot.

Cherry made her way to Adam, who sat there with a half full glass of water in between his hooves. Sitting down next to him with a loud relieving, blissful grunt, she stared at Adam curiously. "He'll be fine." She said.

Adam hadn't noticed Cherry had said something, "What? Oh, yeah... They said he'll be fine."

Cherry cocked her head to the side. Adam looked more like he was thinking about something else, than his brother. "Then, what's bugging you? There's a fight going on, and you're alive for the time being. I'm not sure there's too much to think about."

Adam drank the last of the water in the glass before answering her. "It doesn't matter... I just wish we could’ve... Never mind."

"Alright, you can keep it to yourself. Just know that the more you keep things to yourself, the worse the thing will feel. Especially if those thoughts hurt."

Adam managed to give the mare a small smile. Though the smile itself died away into a solemn content look that was there before. "Thanks, I just hope this will end soon, and maybe we'll get out ali-"

Before Adam could speak, Red Glare bolted down to the barricade with several other armed ponies following him. "Cherry, and Adam! Hurry! We need to blow the gate! Now!"

Looks of sudden confusion were spread on the two sitting ponies faces. "But why!? We've got it under control we don't need to-"

Red Glare and the several ponies had already started up the barricade to position themselves. "No time! This is the first time a most of them have gathered at the gate! If we blow it now, it could change the whole battle!"

Cherry and Adam both got up and trotted to the barricade towards Red Glare's position. They didn't climb themselves, but instead looked up at the ponies fighting on top the barricade. "Damn it! This isn't the time, Red! We need to think about this!"

"Look," Red Glare grunted. "Three of the iron wagons, and half the infantry are all amassed at the gate! If we blow the mines now, that whole force that could take the barricade is gonna go! We need to do this now!"

Red Glare kept his head low to the barricade, with his body laying against the structure as the yellow stallion looked out at the Legion army amassing at the gate. "We've got them! Cherry, get the detonator out! Hurry!"

Cherry looked in the pockets at her side for the detonator for the mines, though once she had it in her hooves everything around her suddenly felt... Different to her. Red Glare's heart was pounding madly with anticipation, they had them right where he wanted them.

"Okay, do it!"

The little box with a red button and lever sat there in her hooves for a moment. Flicking the small lever upwards made the button flash red. Blinking off and on, the button signaled it was ready to explode the mines. Adam didn't watch her arm the mines, and instead went to the corner of the barricade to watch the explosion take place.

Several other militia ponies watched from the small opening in the corner of the barricade they guarded. It was all exciting for them, as this could be the thing that scared the Legion off, and if luck was with them, it would end the attack altogether.

Though, as Adam gathered there at the edge and looked out to the ponies at the gate, he felt guilt build inside him once more. Adam wasn't sure why this feeling had found a away in his chest again, but it had, and it bothered him. Rubbing the faint pain he felt build inside around his heart Red Glare yelled out the order to fire.

Cherry hesitated. For a few seconds she questioned the decision, but a large section of her wanted to see the townsfolk survive. And if this little box made that reality that much more real than she needed to do it. So, with the gentle press of the flashing button the mines went off.

Time was slow, or it seemed that way to Adam. It was like watching flames from the very pits of hell unearth themselves from the earth below. The armored bodies of the soldiers were consumed by the light. Sparks, dirk, metal, and everything near the gate was consumed in the bright flames.

It was his fault they had to die. He had said the mines should be set up remotely, and now his very work was being done before him. There was no pride to be felt, and in moments, the slowness faded and time resumed as it had always.

Limbs and bodies went flying, and the once monstrous, invincible iron wagons that stood undefeated were now reduced to nothing more than twisted torn metal husks. The echo from the explosion still rang off in the distance, and those Legion soldiers that had survived away from the gate looked back to see what had been done.

In anger, several of the soldiers turned to the barricade, and in a vengeful frenzy they cried out charging up to the barricade from the safety of their cover. "Cherry, Proverb, Breeze, we need help up here!" Red Glare called out.

Charging up the barricade, several Legion soldiers took their weapons, and shot rounds from their rifles at almost four feet away. In retaliation, the ponies on the barricade pushed and shot the climbing Legion soldiers who got near the top. One of the Legion soldiers was a higher ranking officer, who had a pump action shotgun levitating at his side.

With revenge blazing in the commanding Legion soldier he put the shotgun to Red Glare's head. Red Glare hadn't noticed the soldier, and saw the barrel point at him from two feet away. "Stop!" Red Glare screamed to the Legion pony.

Though there was no way to tell what expression the Legion pony had on his face, because of the gas mask he wore. But it was clear that the sudden command from Red Glare was received as the pony had stopped. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now!" Demanded the Legion soldier.

Holding his rifle ready at the Legion soldiers head, Red Glare stared deeply into the dark eye pieces of the mask the soldier wore. "If you don't fall back, I'll blow the barricade as well!"

Adam and Cherry were shocked, and while making their way closer to the standoff between Red and the Legion soldier neither of them interrupted the two ponies. "You liar! You'd just take out you, and all your mates as well!"

"It wouldn't matter, at least all you would be dead."

"You're bluffing!"

Red Glare motioned his head for Cherry to come to him. "Look down there, see her? She's already got the next set of bombs ready to got off."

Looking down at the mare from on top the barricade the Legion soldier thought hard about the current situation he and his fellow soldiers were in. "You're fucking crazy..."

"What'll it be, hmm? If you fall back, we won't blow it. If you move so much as take another inch further she'll take this barricade to the moon."

The Legion pony stood there in deep thought, his gun pointing to Red Glare's head. Putting the shotgun down, the Legion soldier motioned for the rest of the troops who had started up the barricade to fall back. "Fall back! Fall back! Fall back!"

As the Legion troops got down from the barricade Adam climbed up to the top to see the soldiers go back towards the gate. Smiles, and cheers of victory echoed throughout the ponies on the barricade as the Legion ponies fell back. Though the cheers and victorious spirit did not last long. For the now destroyed iron wagons still served the Legion, even when destroyed.

Each blasted iron wagon shell lay together side by side, and the Legion soldiers had noticed this advantage. The Legion soldiers had managed to fall back, and use the three destroyed iron wagons as a barricade of their own. Only their barricade, unlike the Arkcannon militia's, was made of metal, and they had access to reinforcements. Red Glare looked back at the ponies who had fled from their barricade, only to gain a better position than they had before.

"Ah, hell..." Red Glare swore in shocked awe at what had just happened.

Jumping down from the barricade Red pointed over to two ponies with larger rifles and gestured them to go up on a higher position. "Get up there and watch them. If they try anything, don't hesitate to warn us!"

After sending the two ponies off to a higher spot to oversee the Legion's movement, he rubbed the sides of his head to relieve some of the frustration that had built up inside him. The whole moment was sudden, and it didn't go the way he intended at all.

Cherry came over to him and hit his already sore head. "Hey!" He moaned.

Cherry gave him a stare only a mother would give to a child who had screwed up bad. "What was that!? Telling them we've got bombs on the barricade!"

"It worked didn't it?"

"Yes it did, but now they'll try and find a way to blow it up with those bombs, which you told them are there!"

"I'm not following..."

She hit him once more. "It means they might try very hard to look for weaknesses in our defenses. Even more so than ever now that they think there's something there!"

Rubbing the spot she had hit his head, he calmed himself before addressing her. "Listen, we'll just have to watch them. Make sure they don't rush us while our guard is down. In the meantime, we can heal up what ponies we can, and prepare for another fight."

She glared viciously at him. "You better not say anything else stupid like that, or we all might suffer worse." And in anger Cherry trotted off to help ponies recover from the battle before.

Adam came over to Red Glare who, at the current moment was both annoyed, and frustrated with what had just happened. "Adam," he said with a sigh, "Please, to make this easier on my nerves could you please go check on your brother and the other injured ponies. I need someone up here who isn't a mare nagging at me like my mother at the moment."

"But you've got me, and-"

"Just go and get the sheriff or something... I need a second to cope with the headache she gave me."

Adam didn't want to question his decision. And to be honest with himself, he didn't really want to talk about it anymore. That faint feeling of guilt lingered inside him. It festered inside quietly, not bad enough to be an annoyance, but still present to feel hurtful. Though, the buck tried his best to not think about it, and instead went over to the clinic, and with some luck Neo could help relieve the thoughts from his mind.

Neo was on the porch of the clinic building, sitting up with his back against a wooden porch support. There was several small layers of bandages covering the leg he had wounded when they were out in the street. Though, Neo himself seemed awake and fairly well. The clinic ponies haven't removed any of his cloths, minus his saddlebag which lay next to him, and the white head rag that normal was atop his head.

Adam sat down next to him with the somber expression that had developed on his face. Neo gave him a gentle smile as Adam placed himself by his side. Not looking at Neo, Adam sat there, trying to relax.

Neo noticed Adam's look, and trying his best to shuffle in his sitting position Neo put a hoof on his little brother's shoulder. "Adam, what's wrong?"

Adam just shifted himself a bit in the place he sat. "I... Well... I-I just..." Adam said in a stutter trying to explain how exactly he felt before ending in an irritated sigh.

"Hey." Neo sternly said taking Adam's head and making him look at him directly.

"I don't like getting injured and end up getting visited by my little brother when he's all mopey about something."

Adam didn't answer him, and tried to avert his gaze from Neo's. "Adam. What's the matter? You don't normally act like this. Hell, I'm the one who got shot, and I'm not holding anything back."

"Well, it's... It's about the bombs at the gate..."

"What about them?"

It took him a second to find the right way to say what he was thinking before actually saying it. "Have you ever felt guilty about killing a pony... I mean, really guilty, even if you didn't know them?"

Neo chuckled for a moment, "Well it's a little late to say if it bothers me a whole bunch now... But, in the beginning, when I killed that raider that was going to kill you, I felt guilty.... But I wasn't going to let that pony kill you; and nothing at that moment could have stopped me from thinking about doing what it took to keep you safe."

"But did it bother you to kill them, right?"

Neo's rather warm glow vanished as he thought back. "Yes... Yes it did. But I've learned that, out here if you hold on to it, that it just makes life worse. You get this terrible realization that you took life, and I know when you shot the Professor you felt something, but you had to keep me and everypony else safe. Which you did, and that’s what mattered."

"That explosion though... All those ponies dead... Even if they were attacking us, they had lives, a-and they had loved ones..."

Taking Adam firmly, Neo looked him in the eye with a calming smile. "You were protecting the ones you loved. Me, the kids in the town hall, and everypony else. And, I know it must feel bad at first. And you don't want to let it go, but just think about it. They were doing what they were ordered to do, and all you were doing was protecting us. And Adam I can tell you, you're no murderer."

The small, gentle smile Neo had on his face made a small section of that awful feeling leave. "We've all we got left, remember." Neo said playfully nudging him in the foreleg.

"And when my leg here gets better we'll get out of here. You'll see."

Cherry was watching them from across the town while leaning on the wall of a building. With a deep sigh Cherry thought about what she was seeing. Just watching the two made her mood feel better, and even with the sound of bombs going off above them, and the orange glow of flames from across the barricade burn, life seemed at peace. Even if it was just for that single moment.

Breeze Heart trotted up to the entranced mare and waved a hoof in front of her face. Snapping out of the trance she was in, Cherry straightened herself out. "What is it, Breeze?"

There was a look of sorrow about her. "I just got back from listening to some of the boys who just got back up from below the mines talk about the tunnel’s progress. The good news is they think they could have the tunnel done by morning."

"So? Isn't that good?"

"That's not the worst part. The Legion's setting up defenses on their little barricade in the front of town. If any of us step out there, well you ain't going to be around much longer. Though we've got them pinned too. If they step out onto the road, they'll be cut down too."

"I'm not seeing the problem here. You look like something's wrong."

"We're low on ammo. Dangerously low. Not only that, but the moment the Legion find out we're bluffing they won't hesitate to storm over the barricade."

Cherry put a hoof to her chin in thought. "This little stalemate we've got here is good. It'll keep them stalled for a while. But if they do try and take this part of the town we'll basically be fucked..."

"I had an idea though."

"And?"

"I thought that maybe one of the upper story buildings past the barricade might still have some ammo stashed inside. You know, from the ponies who were inside there before. If the building isn’t completely on fire, or burnt to the ground that is."

"And how do you plan to get to these buildings if there is some ammo left inside them?"

Breeze Heart gave Cherry a quirky grin. "Remember the alleyways? Well I figure that since they're blocked up, a team of two or so on both sides can go through each building. Not only would be under the Legion's nose, but we could get some guards watching the alleyways, and maybe do more."

Cherry pondered the idea. It could work hypothetically, and in the situation they were in ammunition was needed... So, it was either risk it, or risk the compromise of their defenses. But, if they had the ammo, it would make their lives a hell of alot better.

"Fine. I'll leave that up to you to organize that. I'll tell the sheriff and Red about it too, just because he deserves to know."

Breeze Heart shook her head furiously. "No way sister, the moment he finds out that I've got an idea like that is the day hell freezes over."

Cherry gave the cocky mare a disapproving stare. "I really think he and some of the others deserve to know."

Smiling slyly at the mare Breeze Heart fixed up her gear in a rather generous fashion, while giving her a convincing look. "Look. Red and me don’t really see eye to eye. Plus, we'll be in and out like that. He'll never even know we were gone, and that the ammo was never low."

"But I-"

"Hey," Breeze Heart had a friendly smile on while trying to convince her. "It'll be okay, you know me Cherry. I'll be in and out, ten minutes tops. Cross my heart."

With a disappointed tone she sighed and nodded to the mare. "Fine, just fine. But if you're gone longer than ten minutes I'll tell him all about you're little idea." She scolded the cocky pegasus.

With a victorious pat on the cheek Breeze Heart smiled. "I had hoped you'd agree."

Silence.

It was quiet. Hardly any sound had come from the town in minutes, and no bombs went off above it either. The motor team had stopped their scare tactic and waited. However, the almost calming glow of the fires from some of the burning buildings could be seen in the far off distance. It was the only thing visible in the vast empty distance, or at least it was the only glowing noticeable thing in the distance.

The Legion camp established outside the town was quiet. Tent flaps ruffled and flapped calmly in the gentle breeze of the nighttime air, and crickets chirped merrily away as the night went on.

Cyrus was in a tent. An empty tent, with only the darkness and the dirt to comfort him. The guards had took him and tied his hooves to the thick iron tent support. He was imprisoned, and all the mad pony did was stare endlessly at the only source of light in the dark tent. The light in question was a single crack, not more than an inch wide letting in the dim blue light from the outside.

Two guards were outside the tent speaking to one another while guarding the pony inside. They didn't seem to care if the Captain heard anything, because in their minds Vladimir was coming, and he'd soon deal with the pony soon enough.

"I swear, I'm gettin’ worried. I haven't heard anything come from the town in five minutes." Said the guard on the right side of the tent entrance.

"You think we won?" Replied the other guard.

"Maybe. I wouldn't get your hopes up. Besides, our job isn't on the battlefield. It's ere' guardin’ this phyco."

"Did you think the Captain would ever be batshit insane like he is?"

"Heh, well I frankly didn't care. So long as I'm gettin’ food, and my pay; I don't give two shits if he's tellin’ us he fucked the princesses for a hundred years."

"Well, that's true I guess. As long as we get our stuff, we're set."

The guard to the right laughed, "Ha! Ain't that the truth!"

"Can't say the same 'bout that pegasus though."

"Wot? The one with the stripes?"

"Yeah, that one. Shady character he is. Wouldn't want to be stuck in a room all alone with that fella."

"Where'd that guy go anyway?"

"I heard he took off. Probably for the best, they might'ave shipped'm off to the front lines in the town or somethin."

"Well good riddins I say! That bloke looked like he'd gut ya in your sleep if you was alone."

"Heh, I agree to that. I hope the emperor gets ‘ere soon though. I'm gettin’ awfully tired of guardin the Captain."

"Hey," The soldier to the left chuckled nudging his companion. "Don't worry, hopefully within the hour we'll be done with this whole guardin business."

"Why's that?"

"I 'eard from some guy takin’ a mare back with an injury that the emperor’s almost here. And they says that within the hour, he'll put an end to this battle once and for all."

The soldier to the right smiled in a devilish manner, and while putting his head to the crack in tent flaps he said, "Hear that mate? You'll get what's comin’ to ya in no time at all! Ha ha!"

Cyrus adjusted himself where he sat. Never once did the stallion break eye contact with the crack of light. Like a moth to a light Cyrus stared into it as he thought. It took him a few moments to adjust himself to where he was the most comfortable, but once the former Legion Captain did find the right spot, an evil grin inched its way across his face.

The disadvantage to his predicament was that being an Earth pony you didn't have the benefit of magic, or the agility of a pegasus. However, he did have something better. The will to withstand pain. And the only way a pair of tight rope bondings would let his hooves slide out was if one hoof was broken.

So, taking his hoof he bent it against the dirt floor, and the poll against his back. While slowly applying pressure, his left hoof became sore. With a few seconds of pressure in a sudden sharp instant Cyrus's wrist cracked. Trying not to moan, or give away the fact he had broken something, Cyrus quickly bit his lip hard.

Letting the pain subside for just a moment, the Legion pony wiggled the rope bond on the left side of his foreleg to get the broken hoof through. It was limp, and the more he moved it the worse the pain would become. Yet, using only the will to escape, Cyrus took his hoof out of the ropes.

Quickly feeling the cool air touch the place the ropes had once been, he rubbed the spot gently. Cyrus used his mouth to help undo the last rope on the right hoof, and after a few struggles with it the stallion had managed to free himself.

Grinning, the former legion captain chortled quietly to himself. Freedom was his, and no pony, not even the Lieutenant, Breeze Heart, or even the whole of the Legion could stop him from seeking his revenge.

Sitting back down the now freed Legion Captain put the ropes behind his back, and got in the most convincing captured position he could make. With a quiet laugh to himself Cyrus called for the guard ponies.

"Can you two give me some water? Am I not entitled to the basic rights of a prisoner?"

One of the guards just his the side of the tent and shouted at him in an agitated tone. "Oi! Quiet you. And no, you can't ave’ water so shut up!"

"But," Cyrus moaned. "If I am to die here I at least require something to drink. Anything really. That's all I ask."

"Will you shut up if I give you something?"

"Oh yes." Cyrus purred. "It could be wine or ale, anything will do."

In an annoyed tone the guard sighed, "I'll give him some water from my canteen. I'll be right back, and then we can talk about where we want to be station next."

With a nod the other soldier agreed as the first guard came inside the tent.

It was dark inside the tent, and it was the perfect amount of darkness that gave one the ability to have decent stealth. "Oi, here you go." The guard said taking his water filled canteen and going down to him. Though the guard felt odd, as he could only make out the faint outline of a smile on Cyrus's face.

"What the... Hfm!" In a swift motion Cyrus locked the pony in a headlock with one foreleg, and with a powerful squeeze the guard to lost the ability to scream or call for help. And with his non-broken hoof Cyrus put it at the base of the guards head and twisted his captor’s neck quickly.

The once living guard pony’s neck crunched like a snapped twig before Cyrus caught him falling in the air. The sound of the ponies neck snapping soothed him, and while gentle lowering the body to the ground Cyrus did his best to imitated the guard's voice.

"Oi! This is real odd, you might need to come and look at this mate!"

Curious, the other guard poked his head inside the dark tent. Unable to see much the soldier stepped fully inside cautiously. "Are you alright? What's the matt-"

Before the soldier could finish Cyrus had already taken the first guards short sword, and had rammed it straight into the second guard's neck. With a trembling hoof to his stabbed neck the guard felt death pass over him. Cyrus took the opportunity to finish the kill and sliced the rest of the pony's neck open before letting him fall to the ground dead.

The guards heart was still pumping. Blood jetted out small shorts of blood, oozing and spraying out of the huge laceration across the now dead guard's neck. Cyrus looked down at the two ponies who had once guarded him. "Pitiful." He grunted.

Looking over to the pony whose neck he had snapped, Cyrus got an idea. Taking the armor the limp pony had on by his right hoof, and with a unnatural grin the former Legion Captain smirked. "I don't think you'll be needing these anymore."

Cyrus struggled to get the armor on. But with it, sneaking past the army into the town would be simple. Or it should be, because if all didn't go well while Cyrus tried to get into the town, then a small fraction of himself would never live peacefully with those he hated still living in this world.

Determination pulsed through his veins. It was the war he started, and if those who Cyrus thought needed to die lived, he wouldn’t rest till they were dead. And he would savor every moment of horrific murder he'd perform on them. The screams, and moans. Warm blood running through his fur, tears of fear or of pain made a smile appear as he thought joyfully about it.

Putting the final piece of armor on, Cyrus was ready to move. With the gas mask covering his face, and the green iron barding shielding his cutie mark all was ready. That is, except his hoof. For, the stallion could not move it, and unless something was done about this not much could be accomplished.

Poking his head outside the tent flaps into the dark night air, Cyrus looked quickly around the general area before moving on. Once the cost was clear, the stallion did what came first to his mind, and that was to find the medical tent. The Legion, especially the Arkcannon perimeter, was always supplied with the finest medical equipment in the province. And he knew this all too well. Cyrus figured if the tent had a brace, and a healing potion, the two together should fix the broken hoof issue quite quickly.

Trying not to seem inconspicuous, the former Legion pony limbed through the camp in search for the tent. Passing by tent after tent, Cyrus desperately looked harder for it. Finally, after a going through multiple lines of tents, there with a large red cross on it, was the tent he had been searching for.

Picking up the pace of his limping, the Captain hurried himself along into the tent. It was dark, and cramped with metal boxes and first aid kits stacked on top of each other. Each box was loaded with an assortment of healing tools and potions. From curing burns, to sickness somewhere in the tent was a treatment for what ailed you.

He dug through box after box. And it wasn't until the third box Cyrus had found a brace. A small one, and for the time being it would do just nicely. The pain whilst moving the limp hoof onto the brace felt sharp. Biting his lip, and drawing blood from it to resist the pain paid off, as the brace not supported the hoof in place. Though, he particularly liked the fact that the brace supported hinges on the sides, allowing him to move his hoof freely at will.

But in its current state of limpness, it still wasn't any good to him. Now after a healing potion, the Captain went through the first first aid box. Two potions were neatly placed in the first box he had chosen. And, with a smile of demented joy behind the thick mask; Cyrus used the right hoof to remove the mask.

In huge gulps it took seconds to consume the two now empty bottles. Dropping the bottles were he stood, the left limp hoof slowly healed. A tingling sensation spread itself throughout the injured area of the bone, as the potion worked its magic. The pain left, and feeling began to make its way back. Though even the potions could not completely heal the wound instantly, and the brace would help support his hoof until it did heal up all the way. Though time was short. The battle could be over soon, and with the emperor close his quest for revenge seemed almost impossible. That was, unless he acted fast.

Sparing no more time, Cyrus chuckled quietly while putting the gas mask back on. In a sing-song tone the Captain hummed to himself, "Oh, my pretty little Breeze Heart. It is you I crave first... For we have to have a chat... H-heh... A lovely little chat... Yes, that will do just fine. So dance, and sing your songs of freedom. For the wolf will come when you least expect it! He he!"

There were several ponies in the standard Legion garb sitting and watching the Arkcannon barricade from behind the safety of their makeshift one. Several Legion soldiers kept their heads down with their weapons at the ready incase of a random fight were to break out. It was clear that the Arkcannon townsfolk did the same, as neither side had fired a single shot in more than an hour. Several of the buildings were gone now. Reduced to nothing more than collapsed piles of rubble, and smoldering embers. Some buildings had fires still burning, and for the most part produced the general lighting for the current moment.

Lieutenant Covert, hunched over a piece of paper on an old beat up table marking down the dead. With both hooves to the sides of his head the Lieutenant rubbed both sides in a slow clockwise motion.

Two ponies from a radio next to the barricade came marching over to the stressed leader. "Sir. We have news from the emperor."

Halting the pain relieving motion the Lieutenant lurched over his shoulder to see what the soldier wanted. "Yes? Can't you see I'm trying to get our numbers together?"

"I see that, sir, but we've got news about his current position."

The news seemed to have perked Covert up, as his ears and face gave off a sudden joyful expression. "Oh? How far is he away from our position?"

In a stiff, orderly posture the soldier stated, "Less than an hour, sir. He also says that he'll take over command upon arrival."

"Splendid..." Sighed the Lieutenant. "I've struggled to maintain this army here... But, it's grown too hard for me... At least this stalemate will offer some relief from the fighting..."

The first legion soldier saluted sharply before snapping to attention. "That is all the news from his highness. Permission to dismiss?"

With a lazy wave of his hoof Covert dismissed the soldier. Right after the first pony left the next took a step forward and presented himself. "Sir, what are your orders? Some of the ponies, and myself would like to know what it is we're supposed to do, sir."

Closing his eyes and laying back Covert sighed, "We wait."

"For whom, sir?"

"Who do you think?" The Legion Lieutenant sighed sarcastically.

"Right, sir.... What about positions? Is there anything else we can do while we wait?"

Looking towards the soldier in the eyes, Covert spoke in a rather agitated tone, "Well, if you really want to do something then you should-"

In mid sentence he stopped. For in the corner of his eye there was a Legion soldier making their way along the town wall. Of course there were soldiers everywhere, and it was nothing new to see one near the wall, but this pony... No, this pony was special. And Covert couldn't put a hoof on it, but there was a significance about that pony.

"Sir?" The guard interrupted, looking in the general direction Covert was gazing.

Shaking his head suddenly the Lieutenant snapped back to full attention. "Oh, well... Umm, just gather ammunition, and tent to the wounded. You know, that sort of thing."

"I-Is that it, sir?"

"Yes, now please, I've got a headache and talking won't help much."

With a less formal salute, the soldier went off on his own to tell the others of the Lieutenant’s orders. Though, once the soldier was gone, Covert turned his attention once more to the pony who was along the gate. However, there was nopony there. Had he seen things? There was a pony there, that was certain. Or, maybe there wasn't. Shaking his head and dismissing the thought the Legion Lieutenant sniffed the cool night air and sighed heavily once more.

"Once this is all over, I'm done with the front lines."

Ponies along the barricade kept their heads low, with their bodies pressed firmly to the large roughly configured wooden structure they had built. Red Glare and Cherry were side by side, watching the Legion soldiers scurry about behind their own cover. At this point, neither side wanted to start something, and for the townsfolks, this sudden stalemate was possibly the key to their freedom. That was, as long as the Legion thought they had the barricade rigged everypony was safe for the time being.

Tattle and Tale had managed to sneak out of the town hall, where most of the non-combatants stayed during the fighting. With the flag they had found, and the song in their heads; the young ones sneaked up to the side of the barricade to catch a glimpse of why the fighting had stopped. And once the two young ones found a place small enough for them to remain hidden at the barricade’s side, they waited for what would happen next.

Adam sat down on a porch, waiting for Neo to get better. While he had waited, Adam ate a can of something that looked like meat. Though it took some getting used to, the meat's old oily taste of the pinkish stuff soon settled with the young blue pony.

Breeze Heart came up quietly behind Adam, and taking her left hoof she tapped the unsuspecting pony on the shoulder. In a surprise Adam swiftly turned to Breeze, Adam sighed with relief seeing just who had snuck up on him.

Putting a hoof to his fast beating heart Adam said, "Breeze, you surprised me."

The one winged pegasus chuckled quietly before answering him. "Heh, sorry kid."

"Hey kid... There's something I got to ask you," Breeze Heart looked to Red Glare who lay on the barricade watching out into the now calm street.

Adam cocked his head to the side curiously. "You need me? For what?"

Keeping her voice low, the pegasus whispered leaning closer to him. "A supply run."

The request puzzled Adam. "A supply run?"

"Yeah, and Red Glare wouldn't be too keen as to how I'm going about doing it."

"So, you're going to just sneak off somewhere and get supplies?"

"Exactly, and I need your help."

"Where exactly do you plan to go? With the Legion everywhere, there really isn't many places we can just walk to with stuff we can use."

"Now that, my boy, is not entirely true."

Raising an eyebrow the buck asked, "What do you mean?"

"The few buildings that haven't fallen yet, might still have ammo and supplies from the ponies who were positioned there."

"But, how are you going to get over there without stirring up the Legion?"

The pegasus smirked. "The same way you got your brother over here."

Adam blinked. "Are you serious? Through the alleyways? But we'll have to climb over all that stuff just to get anywhere. And if we're coming back with a lot of stuff; you might as well haul large amounts of iron in your bags, cause that's what the trip will be like."

"Pfft ha!" The cocky pegasus chuckled, "It'll be a short trip, plus we're only grabbing a few things. If things start to look bad, then we’ll take off."

Adam unsurely rubbed the back of his head, and in a undecided tone of voice he said, "I don't know. I went through those already once tonight. Plus, won’t Red Glare, you know... Not approve of it?"

Nudging Adam playfully in the foreleg the pegasus gave the blue colt a friendly convincing stare. "Ah, come on! We'll be in and out in ten minutes tops. Plus, what Red doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Well..."

"Come on Adam, we can do this. With you and me together, they'll thank us for getting them that stuff."

Adam sighed; based on what his brother had said about protecting the ones he cared about, this seemed to be one of those moment. If they were to find some ammunition from those buildings for the town, it would make protecting everypony that much more easier.

"Fine, but ten minutes. If we're gone any longer than that, it's straight back to the barricade." Adam said sternly.

With a crossing motion from her hooves on her chest, and an angel like smile Breeze Heart sealed the promise. "Ten minutes. I swear."

Getting up and patting himself down Adam looked up to her. "So when do we head out?"

Breeze took the buck by the shoulder and turned towards Red Glare. Red Glare seemed to be talking to Cherry on the barricade on the Legion's movements, and to Breeze this seemed like the best time to move out. "Let's head out now."

Her reply shocked Adam. "Like right now? But I thought you would want to wait a bit or something?"

Trying to gently push him towards the building Adam had come from with his brother she whispered quickly. "You know, I would but I think now is a good time."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, come on kid, like I said, ten minutes. No more, no less." She said nudging the Earth pony buck to the building.

On the way to the building, Breeze never broke eye contact on Red. There was not one move Red Glare made that she didn't see. Though to Adam it was odd as to how she was able to get both of them to the building without actually looking where they needed to go. But once both of them were inside, the one-winged pegasus scanned Red Glare, and his movements. Once it looked like they would be clear to move out, Breeze closed the door softly.

The building they were in for the moment was empty. It was the place ponies who cleaned and fixed up weapons worked. So naturally, gun cleaning tools and cleaners were scattered around several the place. With tables and other furniture used as cover incase somepony were to come in through the front or alley. Though based on the a second glance at the interior, it had seemed as if the building before was somepony’s home.

Moving over to the door, Breeze Heart opened it for Adam into the back alley way. With another cautious look around, she herself went through after Adam. The crickets could be heard chirping their merry tunes in the night as the two ponies stood outside in the narrow alleyway.

To their left and to their right were large stacks of barrels or other assorted items blocking the way. Fortunately for them, climbing these piles was not impossible.

"Come on Adam, let's hit the building after this one. It should have something good in it." Breeze Heart whispered.

She had already started up one of the piles leaving Adam down below. Staring back at the piles he remembered how much of a pain these things were to climb with Neo on his back. Though, at least this time there wasn't anything heavy to carry which would make the trip that much more easier.

Climbing up the small alley barricade himself the two gradually made their way up. Once on top of the pile, they descended it slowly. As some of the items were not stable. Finally coming to the next barricade the two did as they had before. Climbing up it, before going down carefully.

Adam was amazed at how much more easier it was this time around. Not only that, but they didn't go as far as he did the last time he had come through these alleyways.

From the back of the building they had considered going into, it looked relatively intact. Which was a good sign for the most part. Though the whole building could not be judged officially from the back, and in the dark it was hard to tell which building it was. The one thing Adam did know was that the now mostly collapsed building just a little more down the alleyway, was the place Neo and himself had taken refuge from the fighting earlier.

Breeze came over to the door and tried opening it. Unfortunately, the door itself was locked, and within moments the pegasus mare went to lockpick it. Most of the doors in town had fairly simple locks, and since very few ponies knew how to lockpick in town it made Breeze a very special pony.

Adam got closer to her nervously. There was sounds of faint hoofs tapping off the sides of the alley. "Hey Breeze?" Adam whispered in a cautious tone.

'What?" Replied the mare, not breaking her focus on the lock.

"I thought I heard something on the other side of one of the barricades."

Still not losing her attention to the lock she said, "It's probably nothing. Just remember, it's probably the sounds from ponies on the Legion barricade being carried off the walls or something."

Scanning the area around them for other mysterious noises, Adam gulped a bit. A terrible anxiousness settled in his stomach. Though, why he had got this sudden feeling was beyond him. So, rather than try and question it, Adam just shrugged dismissed the feeling as best he could, and try to cope with the random feeling.

With a quick, metallic snap the door was now ready to open. Breeze Heart gave herself a faint victory grin opening the door to the building.

With Adam following behind her, both ponies took light steps entering the place. It was dark, and from the little light that came from the opened door they could see they were in a storage closet of some sort. A drink storage closet to be exact.

Keeping her voice to a low volume Breeze Heart whispered, "Oh, I know what this place is. I worked here once. This is the that old liquor store Vineyard used to run."

Adam didn't say anything, but instead followed her timidly, as the feeling of fear and anxiety grew with every step. At the end of the narrow storage closet was a drape covered doorway leading out into the main room.

Most of the items that would normally be stored inside this particular closet were gone, with only a few empty bottles and dusty shelves left.

Taking the utmost care with stealth, the two peaked behind the old dusty drape, that covered the doorway. From where they were the sounds of ponies calling out, and shouting muffled things could be heard. But that didn't seem off to them, as they were near the Legion fortifications, and there was bound to be some noise from them.

Now coming into the full room, Adam and Breeze looked started to look around. Beams of orange light leaked in through the larger gaps in the boards on the windows. Tables were turned over on their sides, and old furniture was thrown aside by the ponies who had once been there.

The whole room itself was fairly large and open. Excluding the turned tables and furniture. A crooked old wagon wheel chandelier hung loosely by a few wires on the old wooden supports above. A small business counter could also be found right next to the drape covered doorway, with a cash register perched neatly at the end. Towards the side of the room was a staircase leading upstairs to where the pony Vineyard would have probably been living.

Still keeping her low tone Breeze said to Adam, "Spread out and look around for any kind of ammo or weapon. We've only got a little bit to search so, let's try and make it count."

Adam nodded to her, and began to scout the place for something of worth. Breeze went over to a few drawers near the front door and poked around inside, while Adam went over to the counter to check for items. Though, some of the ground seemed wet for some reason, and with the dim lighting it was hard to tell that there was some kind of liquid.

Adam's heart skipped as his hooves lost control. Almost falling over, he managed to catch himself right on the edge of the counter before falling over completely. "Whoa... That was close..." Adam muttered in a relieving tone.

Breeze just looked to him as Adam recovered himself smiling. "Just try not to kill yourself, okay?"

"Yeah... I'll try." Adam replied shyly.

Breeze Heart gave him a faint chuckle before going back to her own search. Upon investigating the counter, Adam found a bottle of water, with a small portion of water still inside. This puzzled Adam, as the bottle itself was on it's side dripping periodically to the floor. It was as though somepony had been in the building before them. But who? The door was locked, and it didn't seem like there was anypony inside.

But for the moment it didn't seem to matter, so he just continued on with searching for anything useful. Getting low to the ground Adam inspected the inner section of the counter. There was a few boxes under the counter, and a few small holes letting in some of the dim orange glow from the outside peak through them. But, once again, due to the lack of lighting, Adam slipped on the liquid covered floor.

Adam hit his head on the floor, with his entire body sprawled out. Moaning, he felt the pain in his head throb, before putting a hoof to it.

Breeze had turned to see what had happened, and with the same playful smile she sighed and went back to searching. And having heard him moan once or twice, it gave her an idea that he was alright.

Without turning around she spoke out to him in a whisper like tone. "You know, so far I haven't found anything... Damn I was really hoping there would be something in this blasted things..."

She heard the sound of a heavier body moving down the stairs, and with her same childish smile she looked towards the place the sound was coming from. "Now now, I thought that we could-"

Her expression turned sour, as shock and fear suddenly overcame her entire body. For it was not Adam at the stairs, it was a Legion soldier.

Quickly pulling out a small pistol from a holster on her leg she held it tightly in her mouth. With a intimidating stare Breeze Heart stood ready for him, and if even for a second the soldier pull some ritzy stunt, she would not hesitate to draw attention to them by shooting the stallion.

The stallion just stood there, still with the one winged pegasus mare staring at him. Anxiety, and adrenaline pumped itself through her body, as the anticipation between the two grew.

The Legion soldier cocked his head to the left, as if he were curious about who she was. Though within moments the stallion started to laugh.

At first though, it started as a low chortle, and generally building up into a full laugh. It was an insane sort of laughter. The kind that only a pony driven to the brink of insanity more than once could utter. And it was spine chilling. Sending a sense of fear down the mare's spine.

Adam watched the two, and he was frozen. He lay there behind the counter, one of the holes in the wood gave him an almost clear view of the two, and their every action. And yet, that great sense of tight freezing fear overcame him. At this point, there was not much he could do.

"Heh..." The soldier squeaked, his laugh having died down. "Is that you, Breeze Heart?"

She didn't reply, and instead stood her ground. With another loud laugh the soldier cocked his head to the side once more. "You really don't know who I am, do you?"

"Well..." He cooed playfully, "First, let me get rid of this old thing..." Taking his left hoof the Legion soldier removed both the mask and helmet from his head.

Letting both the mask and helmet drop to the ground Breeze Heart finally got a look at the dark face of the soldier. With a wide, demented grin Cyrus gazed deep into her eyes.

The intimidating stare she once had on him vanished, only shock could be found where the courage had once been. Dropping the gun from her mouth in panic she backed away slowly from him. With every step she moved back, Cyrus would move two closer. Never breaking his stare on the terrified mare.

"B-but I thought..."

"You thought what?" The stallion said encroaching onto her. "That these walls would keep you safe? Oh, no no no, my dear child... For you see, this is something more personal..."

"W-what do you want from me? I-I'll-"

Halting his advance Cyrus put a hoof to his chin and thought. "Oh, my dear Breeze! I don't want something from you..." Not moving the rest of his head the deep terrifying pupils of the stallion’s eyes locked onto her once more. And, drawing the sword he had found of the guard's armor, Cyrus put the blade's tip to the wooden floor. "I want to give you something."

Now taking smaller hoofsteps forward to her, the once courageous mare now stood with her back to the wall. With each step Cyrus made, the knife dug deeper into the wood as he moved forward. "Yes... Yes... I seem to remember this little present you gave me earlier tonight." Cyrus said in an edgy tone, pointing to the healed scar on his cheek.

"Or all that trouble you gave me in my town before... This...."

Looking at the gun she had dropped, and fearing for her life the mare perked up and spoke, "This isn't your town you bastard!"

Cyrus chuckled madly. "Oh really? And why is that?"

She didn't bother to answer, and instead jumped for the gun. For a moment the sudden move took Cyrus off guard, but he was keen to movements like this. "Not so fast missy!" He shouted tackling her before she could reach the gun.

With him on top of her, and the sword next to them both, Cyrus pinned her to the floor. Smiling down at her, his left eye twitching. "You thought that was rather clever of you, wasn't it?"

Breeze gritted her teeth, and spat in his face. Though Cyrus didn't seem to notice, nor care that she had done so. Instead of replying, Breeze felt the hooves on her forelegs weaken for just a moment. In a quick motion she slid her left foreleg from his grasp and turned the tides of the situation. With this action, the two now fought each other furiously. Pulling, punching, biting, and beating the other relentlessly.

Though, it was Cyrus who had once again managed to overcome her. With his haunches on her back, and her head in a headlock; the Legion Captain used the only other free foreleg he had to wipe the blood dripping down from his mouth. "You did think that was clever, didn’t you?"

Her only other wing flapped violently as she tried resisting Cyrus. Once again, the stallion smiled. Only he leaned down to the mare's ear and whispered into it. "I commend you for your fight against me... And I can truly say I hate you... I hate you with all the hate I posses. Though..."

Cyrus gave her wing a lustful glare. "You still need to pay for your crimes, Breeze Heart... H-heh..."

"You know... When I was a young raider, my parents loved pegasi... especially when we'd eat them. Though the best part of it all was when I got to see them carve them alive..."

Thinking about his old memories Cyrus licked his lips in hunger. "Oooh, the sounds our food made... The tearing of the tendons, the splash of the blood, and the moans and screams of the live gutting... Oh, I miss those days..."

Still trying to struggle from her captor Cyrus continued. Only this time, moving her head closer to his. "But... There is one thing I always remembered from those days... It was a song. A song my mother would sing as I helped carve the victims. Would you like to hear it?"

Breeze didn't respond and continued to struggle. "I said... Do you want to hear it!"

The mare stopped her struggling, as she realized what he wanted to do. Her first thought was to call for Adam to help. Because if Adam didn't, there might be no chance for her. Trying to call for help, Breeze Heart only managed to get wheezes out, as the stallions foreleg around her neck proved too strong. And this is what it was now... She was in the hooves of fate now. If Adam was watching, she prayed he would help... No, she begged in her mind to the goddesses above for help.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Cyrus exclaimed cheerfully.

Breeze's wing flapped furiously, and though it was hard Cyrus had managed to pin her head to the ground, while one hoof caught and laid the wing flat on the ground.

"Now... Mother always said, that if you don't want food to run, get rid of the legs..."

Taking the sword next to him, the pony hummed to himself merrily while using the knife on her forelegs. Breeze Heart had tears build in her eyes. Shaking all she could wouldn't help... It was her time, and Breeze knew it.

Stabbing, cutting, and tearing away the flesh from each foreleg the mad Captain sang each verse with every limb he sliced.

"Chop, chop, chop goes the knife!"

Breeze Heart moaned, and tried to cry for help but it was hard, as the pain was unbearable.

"Chop, chop, chop goes the strife!"

In short.. Whimpering wheezes filled with pain, "Pl... Please... Ad.. A... H-h..."

Stabbing ferociously at where her cutie mark was Cyrus started to carve the Legion insignia where her special talents mark lay. In a low, rasping scream she cried out, feeling the knife bury itself deeper into her flesh.

"Chop, chop, chop goes the knife! To make the make the flesh taste right!"

Adam watched... Frozen in terror. Inside his head, he cried out to himself to help her. To stop it before she died. But his legs and body were frozen solid... W-why can't I move? I-I need to help her! Breeze, don't die! Fight him! Get up! Please! Get up! Get up! I-I can't help... I-I can't do anything...

Tears trickled down his face... Blood was everywhere... And the stallion performing this insane act of murder on her chuckled with every swipe. It made Adam feel helpless, for the moment, he was the spectator... And it hurt him inside.

"Chop, chop, chop goes the knife! Lick the bone and bite!"

Now finishing with her legs and body, Cyrus's turned his attention to the single wing left on her mutilated body. Eyes twitching, excitement pumping through his body, and a lust to see her die Cyrus put the dullest part of the blade to the base of her wing. Without breaking the rhythm of his merry tune he continued, and with each word sung one chop from the sword would come down onto her wing.

"Chop! Chop! Chop! Goes the knife! Watch the blood spew!

The skin was tore, and the veins and blood vessels were now exposed at the wing's base. "Chop! Chop! Chop! Goes the knife! Because we're having a sweet pegasus stew!"

With the final word, the bone split. And with a strong pull on the now loosely connected wing, Cyrus tore it off. As it came off the tendon it made a horrible shredding sound, that seemed to please the stallion.

Breeze was covered in blood and tears. Only faint breaths, and soft sobs came from the mare now. On top of her though, Cyrus gaze upon the wing he had just brutally ripped off in awe. "Heh..." Cyrus chuckled. "It's... It's glorious..."

But the awe of his victory did not last long. Slowly turning to the dying mare before him, Cyrus flipped her body over. Breeze's underbelly was soaked in blood, though it was relatively cut free.

Beaten, mutilated, and dying, she coughed horsey, with blood coming out in huge globs with every cough. But instead of digging straight into her, Cyrus calmly put his head to her chest, and listened to her heart beat. It thumped fast, as her body worked hard to keep up body functions with the lack of blood.

"Do you hear that, my dear?"

Breeze only coughed up more blood, and did not reply. "Doesn't that sound just bug you? That constant thumping... Thump. Thump. Thump. Bleh! The sound irritates me to the core!"

In a rather innocent manner Cyrus lifted himself up and shook his head disapprovingly at her. "Now, I can't do anything with that sound bothering me. Y-you don't mind do you? Of course you don't. I'm sure you'd be more than happy to get rid of it by now. Am I right?"

Outside the sounds of soldiers screaming to each other, and Arkcannon townsfolk calling out could be heard. Yet, nopony in the room cared nor, paid any attention to it. Not even Adam, who in his mind prayed it was quick...

Putting a hoof to his sword Cyrus leaned closer to listen to what Breeze had to say. "What was that? You hate the sound too? Oh, what luck! Then, let us be rid of it. For both of our sakes."

And, in a slow, robotic like motion. Cyrus took the sword, and like a stake being driven through the ground he positioned it over her heart. "Long live the Legion." Cyrus muttered with a huge merry grin across his face.

Though just as the sword came down, Breeze stopped him just above her chest. The former Legion Captain was taken back by this sudden move on her part. "Ah ha! So the bitch does still have some bite left in her after all!”

But her hooves were weak. The pain, and light headed feeling caused the strength that she had summoned to quickly vanish. Shaking, with tears running down her cheeks, Breeze resorted to the last thing she could do. Plead for her life.

"P-Please... Please..." She sobbed feeling the strength in his grip over the sword increase.

"Oh? What is it that you want?"

The sword came closer to her chest with her heart beating faster than before. "I-I.. I don't want to die..."

The tip of the sword now touched her flesh, and with every second it came closer to touching the beating heart below. "I... I... Please... I don't w-want to die.. Ad... Ad.. Ada... H-help..."

"There's no one to help you dear.Only me, and by ridding you of that awful noise. I am helping you."

The sword pierced her flesh, and a sharp pain made its way to her mind. In a desperate last second attempt she tried to beg, "Ple-please... No..."

"Shhh, child. Now let the noise..."

Adam felt himself feel the fear grip him harder, but this was it. If he did nothing she would die, and remembering how far he'd come to ave his brother he wouldn't let another pony die today because of him. So, in a loud sudden shout Adam shouted, "Stop!"

Cyrus stayed his blade and looked towards the counter in puzzling awe. He hadn't known that there was another in the room with him and Breeze. "W-what?" He muttered.

Adam trembled violently getting up from where he was laying. It was hard, for his joints and limbs felt weak and loose from the event he had watched take place. Breeze turned her head to the side and with a hopeful tinkle in her eye she smile at him. "A-Adam..."

"I said... S-stop!"

"Heh," Cyrus chuckled staring wildly at the young buck before him. "And who the hell are you to tell me to stop!?"

Adam leaned against the bar trying to get stable, all the while not taking his gaze off of the deranged stallion on top of Breeze. "I'm Adam, and I want you t-to leave her alone."

Cyrus eyed the buck more carefully before answering him, and upon further inspection he saw the small sun badge on his collar. Though it was covered it dust and blood Cyrus could still make it out, and it pleased him to know that the pony before him was one of the two guardians that had been reported in the town.

"Hah! Isn't this wonderful! I get two! And here I thought it was going to be hard to find you!"

Moving his gaze to Breeze Cyrus smiled. "You're not going anywhere my dear, so do not fret. I'll be back to you shortly."

Breeze wheezed and grunted trying to tell Adam to run, and leave her but the pain that was all around her body made it hard to speak. Adam went over to his Pipbuck secretly, putting a his hooves under the counter he worked the small personal wrist computer from underneath the counter staring determined at Cyrus. The former Legion Captain grinned with his blood stained sword attached around his hoof. In slow movements he prowled over to Adam in a smooth light walk.

Just as Cyrus came within five feet of him Adam pulled out his laser pistol fro his bags, and even though Adam knew it was in terrible condition there was not many other weapons he could use. He levitated it to his face swiftly ready to fire at the stallion in front of him. Cyrus's insane grin faded just before he stopped and looked at the scared buck before him. Raising an eyebrow Cyrus looked deep into his eyes.

"You're not a killer are you?"

Adam's hooves trembled in fear as the gun levitated itself in front of him, not giving the captain a reply. "No... You've killed before... But you don't like to, do you?"

A look of joy found it's way cross Cyrus's face as he looked more at the buck. "Ah! So you don't like to kill then do you... To be honest when I heard guardians were in this town I actually felt generally threatened. But now... No, just look at you. You're not even a fully grown stallion are you?"

Cyrus spit down on the ground before Adam, "It's sad that the Coalition has to send children to help fight their battles! Where is the fun in killing them when they have no fight left in them!"

Adam levitated the pistol closer to his face as the things his brother said echoed in his mind. This was to protect Breeze, and everyone else whose been murdered by Cyrus. Before this, he was nothing but a scared kid, but now was not the time to be weak. Not anymore. It was his duty now, and his alone to help her.

Spreading out his hooves and opening himself up to him he smiled again at Adam. "Well guardian shoot me! Kill me, and be the killer I can see inside of you!"

Adam took the pistol, feeling the suspense between the two of them grow. The warmness in the air evaporated the sweat that ran down his brow and neck. "I-I won't let you hurt anypony ever again!" He shouted.

"The kill me! Let's see if you can do it!"

Adam saw Breeze bleeding on the floor and felt in his gut what to do. "Do it! Kill me! Or I'll-"

Before Cyrus could finish Adam shot at three red beams at him. Though because of the condition of his weapon the shots were not straight, and hit different places on the Captain's body. Falling to the ground in tremendous pain Cyrus coughed blood feeling the lasers burry themselves deep into his flesh. Adam lowered the pistol and looked at what he did.

"I... I did it..." Adam whispered under his breath in shock at what he had done.

Breeze coughed hoarsely while on the ground. Adam shook his head and noticed her. Quickly jumping over the counter he went down to help her. Tear's built up in her eyes as she looked up to him hopefully. "Adam..." She wheezed.

Adam wiped some of the blood off of her with his hoof before speaking softly to her. "I'm... I'm sorry Breeze, I didn't act fast enough... But I won't let you die here. Not tonight, and we came in her together, and we'll leave here together."

Taking her with his hooves he put her on his back. "I let so many ponies die today because of me, and I won't let another die tonight."

With Breeze now on his back Adam, shifted her on his back to make sure she was secure on him. "Now, let's get you back before we run into anymore problems." Adam said with a grunt.

Though just as he made his way out to where they had come from before Cyrus moaned once more to him. "Kill me... I deserve my death... Give it to me... I-I demand it..."

Adam stopped for not even a moment to look down at the poor wounded captain on the blood stained floor. And saying nothing, Adam turned back to the back entrance of the building with Breeze on his back and left.

Cyrus watched as the two left the room back into the alleyways leaving him all alone in the room. The burning in his chest and body was terrible. It hurt to live, and Cyrus moaned and cried out in anger as his kill got away from him. Rolling there on the floor the Legion Captain felt he'd die, and it sadden him for his death would not be that of a glorious warrior. And that feeling of failure scratched his soul and heart raw.

Though, after screaming and moaning in pain, and fury he heard something that took him by surprise. The front door to the building broke off its hinges. It took a second for the door to fall down to the ground, and when it did it made a loud wooden thud. Rolling over to see what had happened he prayed it was a rebel, or something to kill him. Maybe then he could get a death that would satisfy him.

But in the front doorway there was a figure. A large dark figure with green colored armor covering his legs, torso, and hooves. A long dark green cape was on his back, which rest neatly and still. It was Vladimir, and in a feeling joy Cyrus spoke out to him in a raspy dying voice.

"My lord... Help me..."

Vladimir just stood there staring down at the blood covered stallion, who was slowly dying on the floor. "When I arrived but moments ago, I expected you to be under custody. Instead I come here to find you screaming and moaning like a little foal."

"Please, lord... Kill me..."

Vladimir continued to gaze at him with pity. To see one of his most fear soldiers reduced to no more than a whining sad creature was troubling. "I had such hope for you. You showed such promise, and when I chose you those many weeks ago, I thought you could do all that I asked of you and more."

"Pl-please... D-don't let me die like this..." Cyrus coughed.

Looking at the pistol that lay on the ground Vladimir focused on it. A dark red aura engulfed the side arm and levitated in the air. Aiming carefully at his head Vladimir was ready to kill the sad creature that lay injured and dying before him. "I'll give you your death, and this Legion can finally be rid of you, and the trouble you've brought it."

Smiling with tears running down his eyes Cyrus said in a dying tone, "Yes... Please, m-make it glorious..."

Just as Vladimir stood there ready to kill the cause of all the troubles this town had the voice in his mind purred softly to him. "You really shouldn't kill him..."

"And why is that?" Vladimir replied agitatedly.

"Because, you said yourself that he had to pay for his crimes. Killing him now Little Red wouldn't do much. It would just make him happy. And to punish a criminal with giving them what they want... Well, I thought your father taught you better than that."

Lowering the gun slightly Vladimir glared down at the Captain once more. "But look at him, it's sad to watch him exist any longer! He needs to die, and what I say is what will be done."

"No. I think he should be deprived of that which he wants most."

"But, I need to kill him. I am the one who needs to punish him!"

The voice screamed at him, "No! Stop acting like an ignorant child! I have never lead you astray before, and now is no different! Leave him. It is only fair for what he has done..."

"Now..." The voice purred, "put the gun down."

Vladimir dropped the gun on the floor while staring down at Cyrus, who was dying second by second. "Now, let the mad pony die, we've got other pressing matters to handle..."

With that the voice left his mind, and in its place a sudden sharp headache took form. With a swift motion Vladimir took a canteen at his side and drank its contents quickly. Feeling the pain leave his head was relieving. Though it didn't seem right, or at least Vladimir thought it wasn't, to just leave the pony to die in a building like this was wrong. But the voice in his mind said otherwise, and despite the fact he thought differently of the situation the voice was right.

So, with a calm sway of his body Vladimir turned around and faced the outside of the building. He paused for not even a second before going to into the street to handle the townsfolk.

Cyrus looked out at the doorway with wide eyes as seeing the orange light come in from the outside world. The burning in his chest got worse, and his vision became darker. And within moments the life slipped slowly away. And in moments the spark of life in his body was gone, and the pony who had caused so much trouble for the town was dead.

Foot Note: Level Up

New Perk: Heavy Liftin Pony: Big Guns now weigh 25% less when picked up.

Foot Note: Level Up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: It's a Bug Hunt Now!: Insect enemies now show up on your EFS farther away, and you gain a 20% critical bonus every time you engage in combat with an insect.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Reggie the Griffon

Author's Note

This chapter was, for me, hard to write. As I had completely jumped out of my comfort zone on this one. Because up until now I had never wrote a large scale battle like this before. But, I digress. I really did like this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it too. And as always thanks for reading!

Noakwolf

At the End of the Night

CHAPTER 21: AT THE END OF THE NIGHT

Within a single night, anything can happen. For within that brief amount of time, life, as you know it, could be changed forever.

Adam came through the doorway that lead into the alleyway with Breeze on his back. Blood from her wounds ran down his duster and fur as he carried her towards the ponies outside behind the barricade. Out of the front door to the weapons repair building, Adam came with the mare on his back. Ponies from all sides dashed back and forth in panic. It was clear that they had seen Vladimir come into the town, and this was a sign that everything could go wrong at any moment.

The first place Adam wanted to go was to the clinic, where several of the least injured soldiers were. Some of the injured ponies the clinic ponies helped were still wounded though, with terrible wounds that hadn't had long to heal. One clinic pony was helping Neo stand up. And to Adam, this made him feel all the more better, even with the shocking event that had just happened to him and Breeze.

Making his way to the clinic, Neo noticed Adam coming and forced himself to stand up. As soon as he was up on his own, the clinic pony gave him his things, and went off to help another pony. With Breeze resting on his back, Adam came up and lay her down on the porch of the clinic.

Neo's leg hurt immensely, but besides the pain, nothing was broken and no flesh was damaged enough for him to not move. But he tried to ignore it, and while Adam had got her off his back, Neo felt it only right to help him with her.

"What happened to her, Adam?" Neo asked, helping Adam lay her down gently.

With a somber look in his eyes, Adam said, "We met Cyrus in a building while looking for ammunition. The whole town is low on it, and if the Legion storms the barricade there won't be much we can do to fight them off."

Neo stared down at the wounded mare before them, and called for one of the clinic ponies for help. "She looks like she's been through hell. How did she get that way? What did Cyrus do? More importantly, are you okay?" Neo said in a worrying tone.

The clinic pony Neo had called for saw the mare and gasped whilst leaning over Neo. "By the goddesses..." She gasped, "I'll go fetch some bandages, and a potion or two, I'll be right back!" The clinic mare urgently stated.

Adam nodded to her before looking down at Breeze’s face, giving her a small smile as she rest there breathing softly. "Adam, what happened to her?" Neo asked.

"I... I don't want to talk about it." Adam whispered as the warm expression died away.

The clinic pony came back with another stallion at her side. Each of them carried some form of medical bandage or tool to help heal Breeze's wounds. "You're lucky son," The stallion said as he and the other clinic pony started to bandage Breeze up. "It looks like you got her her just in time, a little longer and I'm not sure what we could do. This is one of the semi-last rolls of bandages we've got, so your timing is impeccable."

Adam got up and stepped back to give the clinic ponies time to work on Breeze Heart, "Will she be okay? Is there anything too damaged?"

One of the mares bandaging Breeze wiped her brow and sighed, "Hopefully kid. We'll just have to see."

With that, Adam decided not to say anything. Because for the moment, she was safe, and that's what mattered.

Tattle and Tale were watching from the corner of the barricade, eager to see what happened next. They could see the whole street beyond the barricade. And out in the very center of it, stood Emperor Vladimir with Lieutenant Covert at his side. The two didn't do anything but stand there in the street, looking directly at the barricade as if they were waiting for something.

Cherry was rushing back and forth trying to help organize the town so that everypony didn't get flung into a complete panic. "Sharp Note, go with the Sheriff! Red, keep an eye on Vlad, and Songbird, take three ponies to get the severely wounded into the main hall! Hurry! Go! Go! Go!"

Cherry was just about to shout out another command until the sight of Breeze being bandaged caught her eye. In that instant, a chilling sensation went down her spine, as panic and shock befell her. Hurrying to the clinic, she went over to the mare where the two clinic ponies were working on, and urgently leaned over the pony before them.

Her eyes went wide, as a now bandaged Breeze Heart lay resting on the old wood porch of the clinic. Falling on her haunches, she looked over the blood stained rags that covered her legs and body. "W-what happened?"

Adam lowed his head and his ears flattened. "I-I'm sorry, Cherry..."

Taking the bandaged hoof of Breeze Heart, Cherry looked down at her and gently pushed a strain of her mane off to the side of her face. "I told you not to do it... I told you... Why couldn't you listen?" Tears began to form in her eyes as Neo too lowered his head in a mournful fashion.

Ponies were taking injured fighters on stretchers and carrying them to the town hall. Cool Blue and the sheriff helped move the injured back as well, while the others got what ammunition they could find, and prepared themselves along the barricade.

Finally, two ponies with a makeshift stretcher came along and took Breeze. Letting go of her hoof, Cherry said goodbye while they carried her off to the town hall with the other seriously injured. She stood there, with both brothers on both sides of her. All of the wounded were carried, this left few able ponies to fight in the town. For what had once been an armed force of more than a hundred was now cut down to merely less than twenty. Of course, this excluded those who were inside the town hall, and the miners digging their now only hope of escaping.

Red Glare watched the Legion's emperor and his lieutenant from atop the barricade intensively, as several other militia fighters got along the top of the barricade as well. And once every other fighter was positioned well on the barricade, they waited for the Legion to make a move.

Then, as if the voice of thunder itself spoke, Vladimir addressed the town. Though, as the Emperor spoke, his voice had a faint hint of sympathy and kindness to it, "Citizens of Arkcannon! Hear me speak. For hours, now both our sides have spilled blood in the name of our ideals. I say no more! Let us lay down our arms and come to an agreement. That way, there will be no more blood spilled upon the road of your fair town!"

As soon as the Emperor was done speaking, he waited for a response from the citizens of the town. No one along the barricade spoke, even as Adam and his brother made their way up to a spot on the roughly built wall of junk, they remain silent. To the townsfolk, the very thought of speaking could be a sign of weakness, and even though the thought of the fighting stopping now was wonderful, it was only a clever trick. One that the ponies of Arkcannon would not fall for.

"Please," Vladimir called out with worry in his voice, "Do not do this to yourselves. You know as well as I that you are in no position to fight me. So let the fighting stop! Do what any sensible pony would do and lay down your arms!"

Taking his right hoof, Vladimir gestured an X shape on his dark green metal breast plate. "I promise, that no harm will come to those who cooperate with us. This, I swear."

A pony next to Red Glare was nervous, and while biting his left hoof in fear the pony whispered quietly to him, "Red, why don't we do what he says? I mean, we could get out of here! J-just look at all those soldiers, we can't win! This is our chance! We need to-"

Red Glare quickly put a hoof to the frightened pony's mouth to shut him up. "Hush up! Just watch, if we don't give him an answer it might buy us time..."

The once warm friendly glow that Vladimir had soon disappeared as he waited for a reply. And in a dark, almost threatening tone the Legion Emperor said, "Fine! I see how this game wants to be played. Just know that I am a kind leader, and I have faith in your townsfolk. If you don't respond within the next five minutes... Well, I won't be as kind the second time around!" With that, he turned towards the Legion’s iron wagon barricade on the other side of the town motioning for his Lieutenant to follow him.

As the two Legion ponies went back to their fortifications at the town's gate, Covert curiously wondered what the Emperor was planning; and in a low whispering tone Covert asked, "Sir, what are you doing? I know you might mean well, but your actions are puzzling."

Chuckling quietly to himself Vladimir replied, "It gives them hope, and they'll let down their guard coming up with a plan. I want you take the iron wagons behind our barricade and go around the town. Take several troops with you, and some demolition technicians too. Have them blow the back wall and attack from behind. Once they give me an answer, we'll storm them from directly in front of the barricade, and from behind. It will be the last thing they'll see coming."

Covert saw what was happening, and while rubbing his chin thinking about the plan, he grinned, "Hmm, I see, m'lord. So you want this to be over quickly, correct? What if they do surrender? What shall I tell the troops?"

"Tell them, that if they don't surrender, kill them," As he continued walking, he looked around the smoldering ruins of the town, "They've lost enough as it is and this town isn't even worth saving if they resist."

"And if they do surrender, sir?"

The voice that echoed and hissed in Vladimir’s mind cooed lightly to him, "Take those that are loyal, and kill those who dare disgrace you and your authority..."

"Why, kill them of course. However, take the few that did not fight and put them into custody. Especially the children, they could prove helpful in the future if were to raise them under our rule."

They both halted at the metal barricade the Legion controlled on the other side of the street, and with a gracious bow, Covert said, "It will be done, m'lord."

With a respectful glare, the large crimson stallion looked down at his officer, "Good... This ends tonight. One way, or another..."

Red and a few other fighters, including Neo and Adam, came down from the barricade to discuss their next plan of action. There were few ponies left, and based on the number of Legion soldiers on the iron wagon barricade, it was clear they had troops to spare. The only thing currently keeping them alive, was the time Vladimir had given them, and the bluff that their barricade was rigged.

So, eight of the ponies who had got down from the barricade came together in a circle. Red and Cherry looked over the few ponies that were left along the barricade, and in the circle. Cool Blue, Adam, Neo, the Sheriff, and some other fighters were amongst the group. Tattle, and Tale were running along the bottom of the barricade giving ammunition to ponies, and even though the ammunition was little to nothing, the two felt proud to help in the effort.

"So... This is it, huh?" Red stated looking at the group.

"It looks that way." Neo replied.

All of the ponies looked tired, worn, bandaged, or worse. And to think about fighting more was simply terrible to imagine. Light had just started coming back into the world, for the world around them started to gradually become a faint grey. The day light itself seemed sad, because even it didn't transition to the usual orange glow that came from the cloud covered sky above in the morning.

A mare, whose head was low realizing their position asked, "So, what are we going to do?"

Neither Red, nor Cherry spoke. Instead they all sat silent. That is, until Neo spoke up, "How long until the tunnel’s done?"

Red Glare glanced at him with tired eyes, "I'm not sure... It could be almost done, or it could be half done. There's not much we could do to find out, unless Iron Vein or another miner came out it would take forever to get information on their progress."

Adam looked at the town hall behind him, and remembered what the town council had discussed. He recalled, that the building was strong, and in the event of a last stand could take a serious beating. Then he recalled the bluff about the barricade being rigged.

"We can put grenades on the barricade," Adam suggested, "Then that will give us time to fall back to the town hall."

One mare, whose face was covered in gunpowder smudges and dirt stepped up, "And what's so bad about giving up? He said he won't kill any of us who lay down our weapons, so why not just give up?"

Neo shook his head, "After all this, I doubt he'll just let us lay down our weapons and walk away. If we're going to leave, we're going to need to do it soon. And quitting is not an option."

"But we can't win!" The mare exclaimed, "Look at all those soldiers, there is no way in heaven or hell we'll make it out alive!"

"Shut up! We're going to make it out of this, you'll see," Red snapped at her, "I like Adam's plan. It'll buy us enough time just to get back to the town hall. While we've still got time let's gather all the supplies we can and set up the trap."

Looking at the ponies in the circle, Red Glare felt deep down inside himself that this might be their last chance to escape. Because, when it boiled down to it, all that was needed was to buy the miners time. Time, that while on the barricade, they couldn't buy on their own. At least, this way they would have cover on all sides and be safe from other oncoming forces while inside the town hall.

"Alright Adam," Cherry said, "What do we do?"

Adam gulped and thought quickly, all the while scanning the area around them to see what could be done first. "Alright, Brother and me will set up the grenades on the barricade. Everypony else, take what you can and get it back to the town hall."

Red Glare nodded and started calling out to the militia ponies, "Okay everypony you heard him! Let's go! Move, you've got three minutes lets go! Go! Go!"

Breaking up into groups, the last of the defenders of Arkcannon spread out and went into each building, taking the first thing they saw that was worth any value. They took food, water, weapon parts, and a few other assorted things. Though ammunition was scarce, if they were to make a last stand, they would need ammunition.

From across the road on the other side of the town, Covert looked at the large wall of assorted junk and waited. To his left was Vladimir, who, without blinking or breaking focus, stared at the only thing dividing them from the last defenders of the town.

And as time passed, Covert looked at a watch he had every now and again to see how much time they had left before asking for an answer to the Emperor’s proposal.

"It's almost time sir." Covert said glancing at his watch.

"Heh," Vladimir cooed, "Then we shan’t keep them waiting, shall we?"

"Indeed." Covert replied motioning for troops to get ready to follow him.

Soldiers along the Legion barricade loaded their weapons, and positioned themselves in ready to march. Each Legion soldier stood side by side, along the shredded makeshift metal barricade. Their masks hid any fear or anxiety that might be on their faces, giving them a look of pure courage. Like machines, made for battle and that without hesitation would gladly die in the name of their Emperor.

Vladimir, along with tens of soldiers, came marching down the main street of Arkcannon. On the other side of the wall, his troops had already positioned themselves to attack from behind. Charges were set on the back wall, and the last few iron wagons that could at one point not make it into the city, would soon be able to wreak complete devastation on the unsuspecting town folk.

Tattle and Tale had paused to see the small army amass outside the Arkcannon fighter barricade. All the while ponies dashed back and forth taking supplies as they searched everywhere. Neo was helping his brother set up the trap. The trap itself was nothing too complex, it was a simple rig set up with the some of the last grenades they had attached to the barricade. The detonators had been removed and the ignitions ready to fire in a little less than a few minutes. Adam assumed that as soon as their answer was given that the Legion troops would storm the barricade, regardless of Red's bluff. It was calculated that the time it would take for the soldiers to get over the barricade the bombs would go off, and hopefully it would spook them long enough to delay their advance.

Giving the all clear, Adam and his brother backed away from the trap. All that was needed now was the Legion troops to attack, and hopefully within the detonation time.

The small filly, and colt had watched the battle and saw how grim things were getting. In their minds, there must be something they could do to help the effort. Of course, they had helped them by giving ammunition to ponies while some of the lighter fighting was going on, but there had to be something more. But looking at the large army in front of them, their once bouncy courage started to fade.

"Tale," Tattle said in a worrying tone, "How do you think this will end?"

With unsureness in his eyes, Tale said, "I'm not sure... Do you think the Legion's gonna hurt us?"

Cherry was coming up to them, and before the other young one had any time to respond she injected. "No, they won't. Don't worry, I'll make sure, you and your mom aren't hurt."

Both of them looked up at her, hopefulness building inside them. "Do you think... We'll ever come back? Do you think the town will be the way it was?"

Cherry gave them a warm motherly smile, "I'm sure we will. But first we've got to-"

But just before she could speak another word, a loud voice, like that of thunder, boomed out to the ponies behind the barricade. And as he spoke, every pony instantly stopped what they were doing, and listened. "Citizens of Arkcannon! Your time is up! What have you chosen? Will it be death, or a better tomorrow for you? Speak now! I demand an answer!"

Red, who was next to the barricade came up to Adam and his brother who stood along the trap they had set up, and whispered to the two brothers. "Is it set up?"

Neo nodded in response. "Good," Red Glare replied, "How long until it goes off?"

Adam looked at his Pipbuck, which had the time set on a counter. "It goes off in one minute starting... Now."

Then, without replying Red Glare went up the barricade. And though his bags were heavy, and his rifle with fewer than a few shots in it, he grinned. From atop the barricade Red looked down at the whole of the Legion's troops. Lifting his rifle in the air with one leg he shouted, "Here’s an answer for you! If you want this town, come and take it!"

Vladimir frowned at him, gazing at the red maned unicorn stallion with hate. And, with a simple jerk of his head, Covert took a small one-shot pistol and fired it into the sky. A large purple colored fireball came shooting out from Covert's gun, and traveled high into the sky with a loud whistling sound squealing loudly as it went higher. Then, as it reached a certain height, it popped, and the dim fireball was now a slow descending beacon.

Readying their guns, and swords, all of the Legion soldiers prepared to fight. Vladimir just stood there for a moment, and looked at the rebellious stallion on the barricade with a smirk.

Covert saw the look on his Emperor's face and drew his sword as well, and with loud courageous cry, Covert shouted, "Charge!"

The Legion soldiers upon hearing his command stampeded up towards the barricade crying out fierce battle cries as they advanced. Red's grin left as he saw them coming, and quickly he jumped off the barricade and dashed off to the town hall. All the while he called out for the everypony to fallback.

It was at this time, that every soul in the town could hear the roar of tens of Legion soldiers charging onto them. Even Neo and Adam heard the Legion coming and quickly bolted back to the town hall.

Militia ponies stumbled and tripped over themselves as they tried their best to run back. Though their bags were heavy and their bodies tired from the fight that had lasted the night. There were some ponies behind the town hall gathering the last of the supplies they could before a loud explosion went off at the far end of the wall on the other side of the town hall.

Dust, dirt, and rubble went flying, as the boom echoed from the south wall off the buildings. A large dusty cloud was now present were the south wall had once been, and for the ponies who were near it, the next thing they heard was the roar of a large weapon firing down on them. Dirt was kicked up, and large hot glowing shells were flung fiercely at them from behind. Like a firing squad shooting down a group of prisoners, those that were behind the town hall had limbs blown off, or bodies completely obliterated, leaving small clouds of red blood mist where they once had been.

The Legion soldiers along the barricade had reached the top, and had started firing down at retreating survivors. However, Adam's plan had managed to work. Because just like he had hoped, the grenades went off below the Legion soldiers. Several loud explosions followed, and the kicked up dust and debris from the barricade blocked the soldier’s view, and stunned the Legion soldiers on the Arkcannon barricade for a few moments.

Cherry was making her way back with Tattle and Tale to the town hall before a stallion militia fighter next to her tripped while retreating. Quickly trying to help him, she noticed that out of pure panic, the Legion soldiers on the barricade had started opening fire at random. Shooting aimlessly into the road in front of them each soldier hoped to hit any retreating militia fighters as they ran back to their only safe haven.

Taking the stallion by the torso, she helped him up before feeling a powerful metal bite on her lower back. Screaming out in pain, Cherry fell down to the ground. The noise from the fighting was loud, and the panic strong in the stallion she had helped, and without a second thought that stallion had already made his way to the town hall without noticing she had got hit.

Neo and Adam's hearts raced. Bullets flew past their heads and bodies with whistles and pings indicated the closeness of the bullets to them. Neo had his shotgun out and levitating, so that every now and again, he could return a suppressive shot to the ponies who were laying down heavy fire on them. Though, while both of them were on their way back, out of the corner of his eye, Neo saw Cherry down on the ground struggling to move as bullets hit the ground around her.

Without thinking another thought, Neo bolted to the left to where Cherry was, hoping she wasn't badly injured. Adam noticed his brother stray from the direction they were going and called out to him, "Brother! Where are you going!?"

While bolting off to Cherry, Neo called back to him loudly over the sound of the gunfire, "Just get back to the town hall! I'll be right there!"

Adam saw Cherry on the ground with his brother galloping his way to her. It was clear what his brother was doing now, but taking a full grown mare like that would be a difficult task, especially under the heavy fire. So, disobeying his brothers orders, Adam turned himself to the side and sprinted over to where Cherry lay.

Neo lowered his head, while gritting his teeth as he came up to Cherry, "Cherry! Are you okay?" He called out to her loudly.

She moaned in pain with one leg behind her back putting pressure on the place she had been hit, "I-I can't feel my legs..." She grunted.

Hearing those words was all Neo needed to hear, because now things had just got a lot more difficult for him. "Don't worry Cherry! I'll get you out of here!" Neo exclaimed taking her right foreleg and wrapping it around his neck.

Her bags were full of supplies and while he picked her up from her position, he struggled as her weight was far greater than he had expected. Grunting, and straining himself to pick her up, he suddenly felt her weight drop. Like Cherry herself was being lifted by some other force, and looking to his side he could see Adam's foreleg around her as well. Adam smiled at him, while helping his older brother take her back to the town hall.

Now with the mare in both of their care, they took her and moved as quickly as they could to the town hall. It was hard, the bullets clipped and scratched them as the deadly shots sporadically flew in all directions.

They were a little less than five feet away from the door of the hall with Cherry in their hooves. Red Glare was beside the door firing short controlled burst at the oncoming Legion soldiers to give the two some form of slack from the hellfire like rain of bullets. And, with a small leap, the two brothers and Cherry went into the hall. Red Glare however, made sure that everyone that was out in the street was in before quickly jumping inside himself.

Right as he had jumped in one pony slammed the door behind him, while two others took several small tables, or chairs and barricade the door. Neo and Adam were panting, and with careful slow movements, they laid Cherry down in a nice relaxed position on the ground.

Neo looked around the hall and called out to the many ponies that were in the building, "Can we get a medic over here! Cherry's been hit, and she needs help!"

Upon saying those words three ponies came out of the crowd inside the cramped crowd and came over to Cherry. One of the ponies pushed, and shoved other citizens out of the way madly to see Cherry. This pony was the mayor. Tears built up in her eyes as she approached the resting mare on the dust covered wooden floor.

"Cherry..." She gasped, putting a hoof to her mouth in disbelief. "C-Cherry?" She cooed once more, falling down onto her haunches next to her wounded daughter.

Wrapping a single hoof around her daughter’s face, Neo stood by his brother and gave the two room. Legion soldiers could be heard outside the building, moving and searching for a way in. The barricaded entrance creaked, as soldiers pushed, and tugged at the door hoping it would budge open.

The two ponies who had come over to Cherry with the Mayor went down to Cherry, just before gently moving her body to the side so that they could inspect the wound. The Mayor's voice was low, and hoarse while small tears ran down her cheeks.

"I-Is she alright?" She coughed in the middle of her quiet sob.

Neo's tone was low, and mournful. "I... Don't know."

"I just hope we got her to here in time. If brother hadn't saw what happened when it did, she might have been still out there." Adam added with the same tone of voice.

Red Glare, Cool Blue, and several other ponies had their backs against the barricade on the door trying to keep it back as well as they could. The room itself was filled with ponies. Most of which were unable to fight. Those souls had paid dearly to be living, for some had no legs, no forelegs, and no type of huge injury that hasn't affected them greatly. Even the ground itself was littered with bloodied rags and small boxes upon which colts and fillies too young to fight sat with their parents.

It was a sight that not even an old war book could depict, and the longer they sat there, the more the Legion came up with ideas to get in. Adam had even heard one Legion soldier outside cry out to get a battering ram to help break down the door. At least, that is what he thought they had said. From the shuffling and murmurs coming from the frightened ponies who crowded the only room of the town hall made the Legion's commands mumbled and difficult to hear.

Red Glare and the few ponies on the door's barricade shuffled items around to help fortify the block they had created. And whilst right in the middle of their quick rearrangement, a powerful bang followed by a forceful push came from the other side of the door. With a quick reflexes the ponies holding back the door quickly scrambled to push back onto it. Even Neo and Adam hurried to the door to help them.

Like the first time, another great push came with the sound of splintering wood cracking roughly on the door. Giving it all they had, every other pony who could helped push back on the door as several more forceful pushed came at the door, splintering and cracking the wood further with every hit.

Red Glare grunted loudly while helping keep back the Legion from breaking in, "We can do it! I know we can! Just... A little longer!"

Among the loud beatings of the battering ram against the town hall entrance, a smaller, more hollow knock could be heard from inside the room. At first, ponies hearts jumped at the sudden noise, but once the ponies on top of where the sound was coming from moved, a pony's head came popping out from the cellar door in the middle of the room. The pony whose head had came out from the cellar was Iron Vein. The brown dirt covered stallion blinked a few seconds while he scanned the room before him.

Red Glare looked over to him from the entrance of the building while holding his place against the barricade, "Iron Vein!" He grunted, "Any news on the tunnels completion?"

Putting his hooves on the edge of the floor he got himself up and out from the cellar and into the crowded town hall. "What's the situation up here?"

"What does it look like?!" Red Glare fumed holding back the door.

"Iron Vein, please just tell us if the tunnel any close to being done!" Neo muttered.

Iron Vein saw the room and all the wounded and tired ponies in the town. Most of the ponies he had know were not part of the few who had made it this far. And it made his heart heavy thinking of all the souls, especially those he knew who gave their lives to help keep their town safe.

"It's almost done... If ya head down now, they should be finished by the time you catch up."

Felling the door boom and crack behind them, Red Glare smiled before raising his head to the ceiling, "Thank the goddesses in heaven. That's the first ounce of good news I've heard all night."

The other ponies in the room heard what Iron Vein had said, and desperately hurried to the opened cellar door with whatever they could hold in their hooves. Iron Vein tried to keep them back, as panic and chaos filled the building. The Mayor was with her daughter, and the other wounded tried to get them ready to be moved out of the building and into the escape tunnel. All the while, huge chunks now came off the door, as the Legion with every push came closer and closer to breaking in. Time was running short for them, and with everypony in a panic no one could organize anything.

That was until a loud voice called out from above the distressing voices of the panicking ponies. Everypony froze. Even the ponies who were about ready to kill Iron Vein to get into the tunnel stopped and looked to the wounded group where the voice had come from.

It was Cherry, who had spoke, and once the room was completely noise free, she spoke, "We're not going to get anywhere fighting each other... We all want to get out of here, and I know a lot of you are scared, and worried for your loved ones... But, storming out of here like that won't do anypony any good at all... So please... Don't lose who you are when we're so close... To..."

She closed her eyes once more, and she went limp as her muscles relaxed. The energy that she had used to get the attention of the ponies inside the building had taken it out of her. Red Glare backed off of the barricade, and looked down at the ground in thought.

"She's... She's right. This is our last chance everypony. We either leave now or never, and acting crazy about it won’t do anything."

All the other ponies on the door heard him and backed away from the barricade. "Then, what are we going to do first?" Cool Blue asked.

Neo stepped up to address the town, "If we really want to get out of here, we're going to need to get the wounded out first. Once they're down in the tunnel we'll get the children and their parents down there as well. And, if we hurry we'll all get out of here..."

Looks of determination could be seen in the eyes of the ponies in the room. It was all their goal to get out, and finally be rid of the Legion, and here it was; the golden moment.

Red Glare looked out to the group with a warm, encouraging smile and clapped his hooves together fast, "You heard him! Let's go! Get the wounded on stretchers! Gather what supplies you can, and line up behind the wounded. We need to be out of here in three minutes! Let's move! Move! Move!"

Ponies took what they could with what they could. Some put personal items in bags, while others put items wrapped up in old linen blankets. Though, many of the ponies were already ready to leave into the tunnel, for most of their major possessions were simple. Some had just their families, while others had small cans of food or a bag with them. The few that had already gathered what they needed offered blankets, and cloths to the clinic ponies to help make stretchers. The clinic ponies themselves tore off table legs, or anything that was long enough to carry a pony. The stretchers that had already been made beforehand were already below the ponies who were too injured to move on their own.

Taking those whose limbs were too injured to move, were taken by anypony they could. Even the ambitious young ones Tattle and Tale offered help with moving the injured ponies. However, other than carrying some supplies, there wasn't much more they could do. Neo and his brother helped put some more objects on the door so that it delayed the Legion, who still beat and pounded on the door with a battering ram trying desperately to gain entrance.

Iron Vein didn't help, though. Instead, the miner pony watched as many of the townsfolk started their descent into the cellar, which lead to the tunnel he and the other miners had been digging. There was a small hunting rifle next to his hooves, and while staring at it he thought to himself. In his mind, he pondered everything that had happen and what life would be like outside.

It didn’t take long for the ponies in the room to gather what they could. Once they had got most of the supplies they could carry one by one ponies went down under into the escape tunnel the town had so desperately fought for. Now was the moment, and once all the ponies, especially those injured were down inside the cellar only the sounds of the braking door, and chants of Legion soldiers could be heard.

Neo and Adam had stayed up with Red Glare near the entrance of the cellar so that they could help ponies down. And once the last of the ponies was down inside the cool cellar, Red Glare helped the Sheriff down. Then Adam, and Neo went down quickly, as they heard the pounding of the Legion forces increase as time went by.

Neo and Adam poked their heads from out of the cellar entrance on the floor and blinked curiously at Iron Vein who stood there, looking aimlessly at a rifle on the floor next to him.

“Iron Vein,” Neo called to him, “Come on! We’ve got to go, they’re almost through!”

Iron Vein shook his head, and turned sharply towards Neo before pausing once more, and in a quiet sigh he said, “Yeah... I’m coming. I was, just thinking...”

Motioning his hoof for him to come down the cellar Neo called for him urgently, “Just come on! We need to go!”

And with slow sluggish steps he made his way down to the cellar entrance where Neo and his brother were. Though, as soon as Iron Vein got down with them they started to make their way down into the cool damp underground.

Iron Vein however, poked his head once more out of the cellar entrance and looked one more time at the town all around him. It was empty, with only boxes and torn up pictures of better days that were only memories now.

He sighed once more, and taking the cellar door with one hoof he said, “Goodbye.” And with a heavy tug on the cellar door it closed.

Now, the ponies of Arkcannon walked down that tunnel that they had tried so hard to defend. With little supplies on their backs, the injured on stretchers they marched. Though, while the last of the fighters marched they remain quiet. For they had got what they wanted after that long night. They had their freedom, but the cost was something that nopony could forget.

It was early morning, and the air outside was cool. There was no wind, or anything to disturb the calmness of the morning. The light had come back to the world, for a dim blue covered the world. All was quiet at the Coalition outpost and the miners had managed to dig under the Legion's perimeter, and like Adam had planned they easily snuck right underneath them, to the Coalition outpost several miles from the perimeter.

The outpost which the former Arkcannon residents resided had a large lookout tower made of an old bus stacked up so that it was standing vertically in the center of the outpost. A small wall of piled wagons, and other vehicles made up the rest of the main structures of the outpost. Tents and storage crates were also lined against the outpost's walls. Though from a distance it would seem like the outpost itself would be deserted, or occupied by salvagers. However, that was not the case on the inside.

Those that had been injured during the battle were now being treated in various tents along the wall. And those who were not injured rested after the long night.

Adam was sitting on a old log near the central watch tower with a bowl of old dried fruit in his hooves. He just looked at it, thinking about all that had happened the night before. Neo came trotting up from behind him, a dried piece of meat gripped with his teeth, and both their bags hovering at his side.

And once he had come next to his younger brother he sat down next to him. Neo's voice though was muffled by the jerky in his mouth making his words sound muffled, "Adam, they'ff got da lasht of da injured taken care of."

Adam's look was somber, but regardless of his mood he still replied, "What? Oh, well... I just hope everyone does alright while they're here."

Taking the jerky in his mouth, Neo began to bite off bits of it as he spoke to his brother. "Also, look what the outpost did." Neo said while patting his and Adam's saddlebags.

"Three days of supplies, and a little bit of ammo too. I told them we were stationed at the town, and they offered to give us this stuff."

Adam didn't reply, but instead he went back to the small bowel that rested in his hooves. "I know... There were several ponies there that I knew who died, but at least we made it." Neo said.

Adam shuffled around where he sat for a moment before replying, "But, it's just what happened to Breeze that concerns me... I... I think I need to talk to her."

"You should. After all that, having somepony there to comfort them might be good for her morale. But... Adam, I've been thinking... Remember when Cool Blue talked about that place called Silver Mane?"

"Yeah?"

"Well," Neo paused and took the guardian badge from his duster collar, "What if being guardians wasn't such a good idea. What if, we just... Quit."

Adam looked at him surprised, "Quit? Why?"

"Think about it for a second. Ever since we've been guardians, bad luck seems to follow us wherever we go, like a lost puppy... I know it was supposed to help us find mom but, at what cost? First it was Lu... Then the town... What next will we lose because of this position? Me? You? Or maybe somepony else."

Adam thought about what his brother said, and to some extent, there was some truth to it all. Sure, they had had some things happen before then, but when they got the positions, everything changed. And it was possible it could get worse from there onward.

"And, that thing Cool Blue said about growing up. About making our own decisions. I already heard the captain here contacting the Coalition about us, so it'll only be a matter of time before we have something else to do... But if we're going to find mom, we're going to have to take life by the reins, and plot our course ourselves. Together."

"Then, what are we going to do?" Adam asked.

"Well, the first thing we need to do is leave the outpost, and soon if we can." Neo said standing up, and stretching his foreleg.

When Adam saw his brother stand up, he too felt the urge to get up from where he was sitting. "But, before we leave, I need to talk to Breeze... It's... It's something I've been needing to do."

Neo patted his brother on the back with a calm smile, "Don't worry. We won't leave without saying our goodbyes."

Adam smiled for a moment, before getting his saddlebag next to Neo and slinging it onto his back. "Can we see her first?" He asked.

Neo nodded, and started to make his way to the other side of the outpost. "Follow me, I'll show you which tent she's in."

Adam blinked, and trotted off with his brother while following closely behind him at Neo's left side. Ponies calmly sat and ate what food they had took with them from the town, while those without food were given something by the members of the outpost.

In front of them was a fairly rough looking green tent, with several grey metal boxes sitting next to the entrance. The two brothers came up to the tent entrance and stopped. A pony opened the flaps just as they had come up to the tent itself. The mare who had come out of the tent wore the basic steel armor of the Coalition with a red cross painted on her left shoulder piece.

She stopped and looked at the two curiously, "You two are here to visit one of the injured?"

They both nodded. "Well, two of the injured in there just fell asleep. You guys had a rough time out there, and it shows. Is there anyone specific that you're wanting to see?"

Adam stepped up and answered, "Her name is Breeze Heart. She's a pegasus, but...," He found it hard to speak about her wings, "Her... Wings aren't there anymore."

The medic brushed off one of her legs while nodding to him, "Well, I've got good news and bad news. The good news being she's awake and with time she'll be okay. The bad news is, whatever happened to her really did something. She mumbled in her sleep when you guys brought her to us. Something about help, and 'he's killing me' or something. So if I were you, I'd try to not get her too excited."

Adam calmly replied, "Thank you. I'll be sure to remember that when I talk to her."

The medic nodded back in response and trotted off to another tent on the other side of the camp. Adam gulped nervously as they both stood there. And after a few moments, Adam took in a deep breath and looked up to his brother, "Can I go in by myself? I want to talk to her alone."

"Sure, Adam." Neo answered.

With that, Adam moved forward into the tent. He moved the flaps to the side with his left foreleg, and came into the dimly lit tent. There were four medical beds inside, with small lockers at the end of each bed. Breeze was at the far end of the tent, laying on her side with her back facing Adam. This was it for Adam though, he could apologize finally for what had happened, and hopefully be forgiven for what had happened to her.

He slowly came over to her bed, and sat down next to the side of her bed. Adam extended a hoof to her, and gently lay it on her shoulder. In a surprised reflex, she quickly turned around to see who was there with a scared gasp. Though, once she had seen it was Adam, she sighed with relief and looked at him while laying on her back.

"A-Adam?" She cooed.

Adam smiled at her, feeling tears build up in his eyes. "Yeah... It's me."

Breeze sounded tired, and weak as she spoke, "You came to see me... I don't know what to say."

"It's okay. I just wanted to stop by and say..." Adam found it hard to apologize for the feeling of guilt started to grow in his chest, "I-I'm sorry... For what happened..."

She blinked lightly at him, "I know... But I want to ask you something..."

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you help me?"

Adam slouched down where he sat with a tear going down his cheek. "I was scare... I saw him there, with the shadows filling the room. I was frozen, and I felt like a pony watching the whole thing happen on a screen with me far away unable to help..."

She lifted a hoof up to his cheek and wiped away the tears on one of his cheeks. "I know, and I'm thankful you got me out of there. I just can't can't help this feeling like I needed help, and you just didn't. I don't know what to think about it..."

Adam sighed feeling more tears run down his cheeks, "I understand..."

She smiled at him though, looking up from her bed at the sad buck, "I will say thank you though. For fighting your fear. It saved us both, and I can say honestly that, even though you weren't fast enough, you helped me in the end."

Adam nodded while wiping some of the tears away, "Go find your mom, and don't let anything like that scare you again... It could be somepony else's life you have in your hooves. Not just m-" Before she could finish, she coughed hoarsely while closing her eyes, "I... I can't talk... It's hard... Just promise me, you'll never let those things affect you again."

Adam took her hoof and put his head to it, and promised. "Good... Take care of Neo..." She said with a peaceful sigh.

Soon, her muscles became relaxed and her breathing shallow as she drifted off. Adam lay her hoof back down patting it gently as she rested peacefully. And, just before he stood up, he looked down at her and whispered. "Goodbye Breeze. I won't forget you."

Outside the tent, Neo had the small sun badge in his metal hoof as he watched the light from the grey sky reflect off of the tiny metal badge while he waited for his brother. Adam though, came out of the tent with a content look on his face. Traces of the tears he had shed a few moments ago were still visible, though deep down inside, there was a sense of peace inside himself. That talk he had with her, while brief, was just the thing he needed to lift that heavy burden from his chest.

Neo saw him coming out, and noticed the wetness around his eyes. "Adam, are you okay? Did everything go well with her?"

Adam sniffled faintly with a small smile on his face as he nodded, "Yeah. It went well..."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." Adam replied softly.

"Well that's good to hear, I hope she gets better."

"She will." A voice said from behind them.

Neo turned around to see who it was, and to his surprise, Red Glare was standing behind him. "I talked to the doc who was working at that tent earlier. She said she'd be fine. I don't know about Cherry and some of the others though, hopefully, things turn out well for them too."

Both brothers noticed that he was loaded with bags, and armed with a rifle that hung at his side. "We can all hope that things turn out for the better. We made it this far, and I don't think those who got injured during the fighting will give up just yet." Neo added.

"Heh, we can hope... As for those of us that are okay, we're moving out." Red Glare sighed smoothly.

"Is that why you're packed like that?"

"Yeah, most of us are just going where we think is best. Some have family in Ironhoof, while some are just going to wait for the caravans to stop by and join them."

"And what about you?" Adam asked.

"Well... When I was thinking about all those good folk who died fighting for us to get this far. They died so we could make it out and live freely. The best I can do to honor them is remember their sacrifice and live the best I can. Though, to tell you the truth, I might head on down to Maneton. I heard it's fairly quiet there, minus the raiders and such."

"Maneton's a nice place. You'll be happy there." Neo added.

"Then I'm making the right choice heading there." Red Glare said before walking off towards the gate of the outpost.

Though, Neo stopped him just as he had started to walk off, "Red. One last thing before you go."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Did Coo- I mean Sharp Note leave already."

"Yeah, I heard him say he was heading north somewhere. Says he's got family up there or something."

"I see, thanks again, Red. And good luck out there."

Red Glare nodded back to both brothers, "You too, and good luck finding your mom. If you're in Maneton don't hesitate to find me." He said before continuing to the gate.

Adam smiled at Red Glare as he walked alone towards the exit. "I hope him and the rest of the town does okay..."

"Yeah... But before we head off too, I need to say goodbye to one more pony."

"Cherry?" Adam added.

"She was a good leader, and... A good friend. I'd hate to leave her before saying goodbye."

"Which tent do you think she's in?"

Neo scanned the area around them, and pointed out the the tent on the far end of the outpost wall. "Let's just start from there and work our way down. I've got to see her."

So, starting from the farthest tent, both of them poked their heads inside each tent and scanned them for Cherry. In the first few tents they had looked into, only a few of them had injured ponies. None of which had the mare they were looking for. But, just as they came to the tent nearest to the gate, they saw the Mayor. The Mayor herself was sitting on a box at her daughter’s bedside, crying soft sobs to herself while muttering quietly.

Adam and Neo took their heads out of the tent, and stood back. "I'll wait out here if you want, brother." Adam said.

"Thanks... I'll see if the Mayor will let me talk to her. Wish me luck, she doesn't look like she's in the mood to talk."

Adam motioned his head to the tent while stepping back for his brother. Neo took a large gulp and hoped for the best, if all went well he could at least say goodbye to her. Because if there was one thing he wanted to do it was to say his goodbyes.

Neo came inside slowly, and carefully with light hoof steps while coming closer to where Cherry lay. "Uhh... Mayor..." Neo muttered softly.

She turned towards him her eyes drenched with tears. "What is it?"

Neo inhaled deeply before speaking, "I wanted to see if I could speak to her."

The mayor didn't answer, but rather hesitated for a moment before returning to her daughter in the bed. "She's... A-asleep." She stuttered quietly.

But before Neo could say anything she continued in a heavy tone, "You know, this is my fault... I should have done something in the beginning... When it all began. But I was so scared for my town... For my daughter, that I gave in without thinking. They came in and killed the Coalition defenders stationed there. When they were done though, Cyrus came up to me and told me he could make a deal with me... A deal that would keep the town and it's citizens safe from the law of the Legion. It didn't take me long to think about it... The deal was if I reported on any rebellious activity in the town he wouldn't have the townsfolk hurt in any way... But every day, they would come and demand more and more from us. And each day, we would give and give in fear of them... And when we couldn't give any more... He started killing ponies, so that there would less mouths to feed, and kept taxing us as he had before. Yet, I still helped him. I reported on rumors, and rebellious ponies in town... I-I can't tell you how I feel about it. Even my daughter started resisting the Legion, and if something wasn't going to be done soon, I might have lost her... It all changed when you came though. Everyone's hearts were alive, and hope came back once we heard the Coalition remembered us. Just look at what hope did for us... It could have been avoided. Prevented, or even not even a threat if I wasn't so afraid to act in the beginning. We had the numbers, we had the force to stop them..."

The Mayor looked hard at her daughter's resting face with a smile, tears rolling down her cheeks as she continued, "I just wish.. I just wish I could fix it all..."

Neo took the guardian badge on his duster and lowered his head with the tiny badge in his hoof. "Then, when she wakes up... Could you give this to her?"

The Mayor blinked at the stallion to the side of her, "G-give it to her?"

Neo extending his hoof to her, and nodded with a serious look in his eyes. "Yes."

She took the small trinket from his hoof and looked at her reflection in the worn metal. "Y-you want her to have your guardian badge? Why?"

"I don't need to say. But when she wakes up, I would like you to tell her something when you give it to her."

"Yes," the Mayor replied, "What is it?"

"Tell her... That she's a hero now. Just like those travelers she admired when she was young."

"I'll... I'll tell her."

Neo smiled without saying anything in response. Instead, he turned to the exit and stopped right at the tent flaps. Then, looking back at the Mayor he calmly said, "Oh, and one more thing... Tell her, I said goodbye." Upon saying his final statement to the Mayor, he opened one tent flap with his foreleg and left.

Adam blinked at his older brother and followed next to him as he started walking off to the gate. "Brother, did it go well? Are they going to be okay?"

Neo stopped, and gave Adam a content smile. "Yeah, I think they'll be okay."

Adam smiled back at his brother with his own badge in his hoof. "I hope so..."

"Are you going to leave the badge?" Neo asked.

Adam looked down at it, remembering the day not too long ago that they got it. "When I look at this, I remember the reason we got it in the beginning. These were to help us find mom..."

"And we'll find her," Neo said putting a hoof on Adam's shoulder, "With or without it."

"And we'll do it together." Adam added.

"We'll do it together."

Adam paused for a moment, looking at the badge rest in his hoof. Then, with a slow tilt of his hoof and an extension of his foreleg, he threw the badge off into the distance, and it flew high up through the air before hitting the powder-like dirt on the ground. "Like I said. We're going to find her, with or without them." Neo stated once more.

"Do we even have an idea of where to go?"

Neo nodded, facing the gate of the outpost, "Yeah. We're going to Silvermane. We're going north."

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level up Neo?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Carnivore: You now gain +25 health points every time meat is consumed.

Foot Note: Level Up.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Veteran of the Night: If you should happen to attack somepony while sneaking you gain an extra 35% chance at getting a critical.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Colonel Lat Muffin

(AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter everyone! It took awhile to make, but I pulled through. And with summer right around the corner I'll have plenty of free-time to write. As for Cherry, you'll just have to wait and see what happens. See you at the next chapter!)

Noakwolf

The Stable of The Forgotten Gods

CHAPTER 22: STABLE OF THE FORGOTTEN GODS

"The test subjects will undergo the worst form of pain imaginable. However, it is through this pain that new leaders will be born."

Adam awoke to the soft patter of rain hitting the corroded metal above him. He was laying down on a few piled up cloths on the damp ground with some dry hay scattered about the area around him. Adam himself was in an old highway drainage pipe with one end sealed off by fallen rocky debris. Neo had managed to collect a few things for them to rest on while they were on their way to the north. It was about five hours into their walk that the lack of sleep from the night before finally hit the two brothers. Unfortunately, rain had just started to come down on them as they went along, and it didn't take them long to find the drain which for the most part acted well as a temporary shelter.

In this shelter, they had decided to sleep some of the day off to regain some of the lost sleep they had from the battle at Arkcannon. But, the few hours they had tried to rest, went restless, and with the crude sleeping arrangement, they didn't seem any closer to resting.

It was grey outside, as the soft booms of thunder could be heard clapping in the far off distance. Neo sat at the entrance of the drainage pipe and looked out into the grim world silently. Adam tossed and turned on the cloths, hoping to gain a comfortable spot that didn't make his back feel like a continuous cramp.

What Adam did find nice was the fact he had slept at all, even if it was for a little bit. Though, just as he turned around to face his brother, his back pain ached once more. At that point Adam sat up and stretched out to relieve the pain.

With a tired yawn and a blink of his eyes Adam looked to his brother, "Brother? What are you doing over there? Did you get any sleep?"

Neo shook his head and sighed looking back at Adam. "No, the rain is about to stop though. Once it does, we can move out again."

"Is it irradiated like the rain we found on the way to Arkcannon?"

Neo stuck his hoof out of the drainpipe entrance into the rain. A few raindrops hit his hoof, and after few seconds slow ticking began start clicking away.

Neo pulled his hoof back in and looked at the small radiation meter in the corner of his Pipbuck. "It is, but not as bad as it was when we were on our way to Arkcannon."

"Huh," Adam sighed, "That's odd."

Just after he had said that, Adam stretched out his forehooves once more before getting up and gathering his things. Once he had collect his bags, Adam sluggishly trotted over to his brother's side and sat next to him.

Outside, there was what seemed like the ruins of an old roadside town. In front of them was a cracked road that lead off into the distance in both directions. Dead twisted trees lay damp and unmoved by a large stone building bearing the words, Entertainment Hall written in big green worn letters on the front above the boarded up doors.

Adam looked carefully at the building, and wondered what his brother was doing just staring at it, "Is there anything you see?"

"Nope," Neo muttered, "I've been looking for a way inside. I think there might be some stuff inside, but until recently the rain's been too heavy to go and check."

Adam didn't respond, but instead scanned the building as well looking for a way inside. He noticed a small sign on lower section of the buildings main sign. It said, "Bed and Breakfast inside."

The very thought of warm food and a bed at the moment was wonderful, but it was clear that neither of them would get something like that for a long long time. Though one thing caught Adam's eye. A small wagon was pushed against the wall, only this particular wagon's end was extended outward making a small gap that looked like a small pony could fit through it.

"What about that wagon over there?" Adam said pointing out the object.

"Yeah, I saw that already. I was thinking if we go check it out we can try and pull it open."

Adam looked up to the sky and noticed that the once lightly drizzling rain was now reduced to a few light drops every other second. "You think we could go now? It seems to have slowed down enough."

Even with the duster covering most of his body from the wind, Neo felt the chill of the air against his moist coat. The very thought of going out was hard, but staying inside the drainpipe would just leave them more cold and miserable. At least if they tried it would be dry inside the old structure.

Neo sighed, "I hate the rain, though if we move quickly we can get in there. Do you have your things?"

Adam nodded patting the saddlebags that rested on his back. "Alright then." Neo said.

Neo shivered for a moment before speaking once more, "Then, on the count of three, we book it over there, okay?"

Adam got up and readied himself for the quick sprint over to the cart, "One.... Two...."

"Three!" Neo shouted as they both dashed over to the side of the building ahead of them. All the while Neo shouted to himself as they moved feeling the chilled breeze against his already cold self.

"Cold! Cold! Cold!" Neo said coming up to the cart with Adam, and without saying anything but the word cold, he motioned Adam to take the edge of the wagon and pull it. Neo himself also took the other edge and pushed against it, aiding his brother in opening the way inside the building.

The wood of the cart scraped against the wet pavement of the cold ground as both brothers pushed and pulled on the heavy object. Within moments, the wagon was moved enough for both of them to enter through the crack that was before too small for them to go through. And eagerly, the two of them jumped inside the the hole in the building the cart had covered without a second thought.

Both of them stood there for a moment, inside the dark building shivering with their teeth chattering loudly. The good news for them was that it was dry inside, and relatively warmer than the drainpipe they had sought shelter in earlier.

"Damn, I'm freezing." Neo said shaking extra water off of him.

Adam while still shivering slightly nodded, "D-d-ditto."

Neo turned on his Pipbuck lamp, and pat his hooves on the old red carpet they stood on. "Dryness... I love that feeling."

Adam was still cold, but the shivering had seemed to subside for the moment. "Let's just hope we can find a place to sleep that’s dry." Adam said before turning his own Pipbuck lamp on.

With both their lamps on, the whole room was dim lighted. Shadows danced and moved about on the walls as their Pipbucks moved around. The room had a high ceiling, with a hole punched out in one corner of the room. A huge grey light shaft solely gave the room the extra light their Pipbucks didn't. A desk, which looked like it had at one time let ponies check into the building, was now cracked and dusty. Moldy red carpet covered the rest of the floor, while old hanging lights dangled high above.

On one wall were two doors, each one had an old sign above them indicating where each door lead to. Though, due to the weather and elements the words were faded, and unreadable. Old posters with propaganda against Luna and the war, covered several areas of the floor in large piles.

The two brothers came up to the two doors curiously, "Which do you think leads to where they had the beds? Or better, the food." Adam asked.

"Hmm..." Neo hummed, "Let's go through the right door first. Maybe we’ll find something in there."

The two brothers went through the right door into the next room. Inside was a massive auditorium. Old red chairs covered the room with skeletons slouching over in some of the seats. An old stage was positioned at the very end of the large room. In the center of the stage was a grand piano, which for the most part seemed relatively untouched.

Adam looked at the room in awe. "Look at this place! It's huge, can you imagine what kinds of things that were performed here?" Adam said walking slowly down the center aisle that divided the seats.

Neo walked with Adam picturing the sounds of hooves clapping after the pianist had got done performing. The cheers he imagine though, it was as if Neo himself could hear them crystal clear while they walked. Magical was the thought of being here when shows were performed. But never again would a concert or play be performed in this place.

Adam climbed up onto the stage, and examined the piano closely. The old floorboards creaked loudly as Adam walked around on the stage. Neo could hear the creaks echo off of the walls, while Adam put a hoof on the wonderful old instrument.

Neo climbed up onto the stage as well, watching Adam as he inspected how the piano worked on the inside before turning his attention to the white dusty keys. Neo stood over Adam, watching as he tried to play the instrument.

"I remember trying to play a harp once." Neo said.

"I remember how that went, you almost killed the teacher thinking it was a bow."

Neo flattened his ears in embarrassment, "Hey! I got good air with the little wooden stick I found!"

"I think that was Flipper’s bow, it might of went to his violin."

"Heck, I almost hit the apple on her desk too."

Adam chuckled briefly before returning to the keys in front of him. Then, with the lightest pressure he could, Adam played the first note on the piano. He smiled as the wonderful noise echo sweetly throughout the auditorium. He pressed another key with his other hoof, and soon, he started pressing several others. While he didn't make any sort of melody or song, the very sound of the piano making the whimsical notes was mystifying.

The sounds from the piano even vibrated the floor a bit, causing the weak wooden boards to creak loudly. After a few more notes Adam and Neo heard a loud crack suddenly pop as Adam played. Stopping instantly, both brothers looked down to see that the area around the piano had cracked.

Adam did his best to breath lightly, and not make any sudden movements. "Brother..." Adam whispered worryingly.

"I know, Adam, I know." Neo worried, as he scanned for a way to get him off of the piano bench.

Neo put out his hoof for Adam to grab, "Just grab onto my hoof and I'll gently help you off."

Adam nodded quickly, before taking Neo's hoof. While Adam moved, he held onto Neo's hoof. Making slow light movements Adam tried to get off the bench, and with each movement the ground creaked louder, while the wood snapped and popped more and more.

And just as Adam was about off, he let loose his breath feeling he was safely off of the cracked area. However, just as the breath had escaped his lungs, the floor cracked from underneath him, sending him off of his brother's arm and down into a dark pit below.

"Adam!" Neo screamed as his brother fell down into the pit.

The piano snapped, and rang out soul piercing notes as the whole thing broke down. Adam fell down on his back on the rubble with his head hitting the tender wood that gave in.

Adam's head was sore, but besides that, he hadn't fallen far. Neo looked up from the hole above him and called down to him. "Adam, are you okay?"

Adam sat up and rubbed his sore head. "Yeah..." He moaned, "I only fell a few feet."

Neo looked around the stage for a away down to his brother, "I think I see some stairs going down there. I'll be right down, don't move!" Neo said before taking off to the steps he had mentioned.

Adam patted himself down, and felt as the solid levitation saddle on his back managed to help guard his fall. This wasn't the only time that thing saved his life, and he was happy he had made it. Even if it broke more times than he would like. Getting up from the debris from the piano and floor, Adam looked around the room to see where he was.

The orange glow from his Pipbuck, faintly illuminated the room. All around him, old dusty stage props were lined up against the walls. Some of the props had large darkened sheets draped over them, while others were broken or decaying. Every object in the room was fascinating, and even though his body was a little sore, the many old pre-war items that surrounded him distracted him from the pain.

Curiously, Adam got up and start to inspect the odd objects. Swords, manikins with colorful costumes, and broken wooded trees filled several corners of the room. At the far end of the long rectangular room was a small staircase that lead up onto the stage, and down it came Neo in a hurry.

"Adam?" Neo asked coming down the stairs.

Adam turned his head slightly toward Neo without averting his gaze from the items in the room. "Yeah... I'm right here."

Neo approached him with worry in his eyes, and while looking Adam’s body over for injuries he said, "Adam did you get cut or something? Did your levitation saddle bust? Or..."

Adam shook his head for a moment, "Oh, no I'm fine. A little sore, but fine."

Neo sighed with relief, "Great. Now let's go find those beds, and let's try to avoid anything that looks like it would collapse on us."

Just as Neo started to move back towards the stairs, Adam spotted one last thing that caught his eye in the room. It was a door on the opposite side of the room. A room marked, "Restricted" in worn black letters.

As Neo started to walk towards the stairs, he noticed Adam move away from him to the other side of the room. Puzzled by Adam's actions, Neo trotted over next to him, "Adam, where are you going? The stairs are over there." Neo said pointing back to the stairs.

"I know," Adam muttered, "But this door over here... There's something about it."

Neo slowly walked next to him staring at the door Adam was going up to. "What about it? It just looks like a door to me."

Adam came up to the door with his brother, and together, they stood there looking at it. "Let's just look inside. Maybe we'll find something." Adam said looking at the rusted door knob.

"Just real quick," Neo said in an unsure tone of voice, "Then we head back."

Adam nodded to him, and pushed on the door. Surprisingly, it opened inwardly with hardly any force at all, as if it had been opened before. The door creaked open, which lead into a dark room with only the orange glow of their Pipbucks for light.

At the end of the room was a tunnel. A long tunnel which was circular and large in size. To them, it seemed to go nearly a hundred feet into the darkness at the end of the tunnel. Compelled by curiosity, Adam walked forward with his brother on alert as they advanced.

Their calm soft hoof-steps echoed gently along the tunnel walls, and as they got closer to what seemed like the end of the tunnel, they saw the faint dark outlining of what looked like a cog. At that instant, both of them dashed quickly to the end to see if what they saw before them was in fact the entrance to a stable. And as they came closer, the dark cog shaped figure began to take its full shape and color.

With wide awestruck eyes the two brothers stood before the grey metal entrance of the stable. "I-Is that a..."

"Yep..." Neo gulped finishing Adam's sentence.

A large yellow 43 at the cogs center glowed brightly as the light from their Pipbucks shinned up onto it. Suddenly, Adam had an idea. If there were ponies living inside, they might be willing to help them. That was, if this stable was anything like their stable. But they had never heard of another stable not being any different than their own, so it was worth a shot to see if anypony would answer.

"Brother," Adam asked, "Do you think there's anypony in there?"

Neo shook his head, "I'm not sure..."

"Do you think they'd be willing to help us if we asked?"

Neo thought about it for a moment and like Adam, he had the same thought. After all, no other stable he had heard about was bad. Then again, the topic of other stables was hardly a subject covered in their own stable. In a few moments though, Neo came to a conclusion, they would ask for entry. Because if they had never heard of anything bad from a stable before, then surely nothing that could be bad could come out of a stable. Especially if it was like their own.

There was a small control panel at the side of the door, which like their own stable was just the same in almost every way. "Let's try. After all, it can't be that bad, right? I've never heard anything bad about stables before. And if this place is anything like our's, then they should be pretty good folk."

Adam nodded at his brother and trotted over to the control panel Adam. The panel itself was decorated with several multi-colored lights and knobs, along with a small number pad bearing numbers from zero to nine. Adam looked at it oddly, and scratched his head while examining the panel. "Here, give me a sec. We might had lived in a stable all our lives, but the only time I've seen a panel like this was when we left our own stable."

Neo smiled at him, "Just take your time. If you can't figure it out, we'll head back."

"Don't worry, I can do it." Adam said confidently.

And just as Adam had said that, Neo noticed a small surveillance camera looking down at them from the top corner of the door. However, just as he turned his head to look at it, the camera snapped away from them, and back to looking down the tunnel.

"What the...?" Neo whispered suspiciously.

Then, the panel started to beep. Adam backed away from the control panel in shock, for the panel itself was putting in the code to open the stable. "What?" Adam said cocking his head to the side.

"Did you do that Adam?" Neo asked hearing the machines on the inside of the stable move.

Adam shook his head, "No, I just started to look it over when it just started to operate itself!"

Neo looked at him in bewilderment, "What? Like a ghost or something?"

"I don't know what is happening! It just..." Adam and Neo both froze as the sound of metal locking with metal could be heard. And, with a loud metallic screech, the stable entrance retracted itself, and rolled to the side. Light from the inside flooded the dark tunnel the brothers stood in.

Putting their forelegs to their eyes, the light for a brief moment was blinding, though it did not take long for their eyes to adjust to the light. Once their eyes were adjusted though, they both stared into the now opened stable.

Turning off their Pipbucks both of them gulped in unison. "Do you think we should go in?" Adam asked his brother.

"We've come this far..." Neo said in an unsure tone.

They both gulped once more and started to walk into the clean entrance of the now opened stable 43. The air as they came through the entrance was clean, and warm. Though, the faint scent of dust and charcoal lingered about. It didn't bother the two brothers though, so they went onward cautiously.

The entrance area was much like their own stable's. It had a ramp leading up to a door, which if they were not mistaken lead into the stable itself. A small control pad rested at the top of the ramp, and a large mechanical mechanism dangled from the ceiling about which extended out to open the stable door.

"Hello?" Adam called, as they went up onto the ramp.

But there was no response, and while looking to his brother, Adam asked, "Who opened the door if there's nopony at the control panel?"

Neo shrugged, "Maybe they're controlling it from somewhere else."

Adam didn't respond back, instead, the two brothers continued onward to the door at the end of the room. Upon approaching the door, it automatically pulled itself back into the wall with a quick series of clangs, and squeaks.

They both paused for a moment to look at the door, their stable didn't have automated doors. It was always press a button and they would open, but these doors must have some way of telling when a pony was near them. At the moment though, little could be done to find out why the doors operated the way they did; what was odd was the fact that they hadn't seen anypony yet.

The door had opened up to a large hallway, that went forward a hundred feet before stopping at another door at the very end. The wide metallic hallway had no distinct features apart from pipes and lights that ran along the walls.

And, just as the brothers went through the doorway into the dull hallway, a voice came on a loudspeaker which made their hearts skip in surprise. The voice in question, was a kindly perky male voice, one that sounded like he had just won the lottery, or was too hyped up on sugar.

"Hello, brave Equestrian citizen!" The voice boomed, "You have been chosen by our very own Stable-Tech Ironhoof district committee to take part in becoming a resident here at Stable 43!"

The voice seemed to pause for a moment, and as it did the brothers moved onward to the end. "Please, proceed to the end of the hallway for a quick, and educational introductory video!"

"Introductory video?" Neo muttered looking up towards the ceiling.

It did not take them long to reach the end of the room, and like the door before it, opened on its own for them. This door lead into a much smaller room. There were two seats, seated in front of a large monitor. Two doors were also placed on opposite sides of the monitor. One door had a large green light over it, while the other had a large red light. The whole setup was confusing to both brothers, but the voice had mentioned this was where the video was. And seeing as there was a huge monitor meant that this was the introductory room.

Neo and Adam sat in the seats, and as soon as their flanks had made contact with the soft cherry-red cushions the lights went out. They squirmed in their chairs, eyes darting about the dark room when a murky green screen snapped on in front of them.

On the screen, loud clear music was playing as a small banner circled a rotating globe. The banner read:

"And now a message from the Ministry of Ironhoof Sciences, and the Ministry of Arcane Technology!"

After a few seconds, two unicorn mares in well-fitted suits, with the exception of the left who wore a pristine lab coat over it, faded into view on the screen. Each of them sat in large armchairs chairs next to one another.

"Hello citizen, and welcome to your new home." The finely dressed mare on the right said, "You have been selected based on your DNA or your skills with bioengineering to permanently stay here in Stable 43.

"Since you're here, that means the worst has finally been realized, and the world as you know it has ended. Millions have perished, our nation, our province, all have been blasted into the annals of history. This means, unfortunately, that it is likely our fair goddesses have as well."

"But do not fret," The lab coat mare said, "All is not lost. While here, you will be able to help create a new world. For it is with your efforts that we shall prevail through this world, now sodden with dark magics, and rise up from the ashes of the wasteland above, to rebuild society.

"Please continue through the door marked with a green light, and remember. Stable-Tech was made so you could rebuild the future, and create a better tomorrow. Today!"

As soon as the mare had finished speaking, the monitor went dark once more, and the lights flickered on. The door to the left marked with a green light over it made a soft whistling sound before opening up for them.

"Now, this is just getting freaky..." Neo said completely confused as to what was happening.

"I agree..." Adam added.

Neo hopped out of the his chair and stretched his left foreleg. "Well, that's enough excitement for for one day! Let's head back Adam before some more weird stuff happens."

Adam nodded while still dazed over what had just happened, "Yeah..." He muttered, "I second that thought."

As Neo came up to the door, terror filled him. The door that they had come through was closed, and it seemed as if there was no way out. "Adam..." Neo cooed in distress as he felt the wall frantically for a button or switch, "There's no button or switch on this door..."

Adam turned sharply to his brother and raced over to the door, "What!?"

Together they looked around the doorframe for a button, a switch, and emergency release -- something. Nothing. Neo placed his back to the wall and slid onto his haunches with bloated eyes swimming in a terrifying realization.

"W-We're trapped in here..."

Adam gave the door a hard determined stare before looking back to his brother, "No, somewhere there must be a control room that allows the residents to manually operate the doors in this stable. If we find it, we can get out of here."

"If we do find it, do you think you could control the doors and locks?"

Adam fixed the goggles on his forehead with a confident smile, "Sure I can. But finding it will be the hard part."

Neo got up, and patted Adam on the back. "If you say you can do it, then let's not waste any time. I bet the longer we're here, the weirder things will get."

Adam nodded in response and with determination about them, the two went off to the door marked with a green light. As they went through the door, the first thing they noticed was how clean the facility was.

Apart from the white sheen off the walls, dark scorch rims were streaked across every stable door. The hallways seemed the same as their own stables, even the rooms looked the same. That was, of course, the few they could enter. Every other room was locked, even the cafeteria was locked up tight, and with it all hopes of getting food.

Despite this small feature, they continued searching. Checking every corridor, and occasionally checking storage closets. For reasons not known to them, the closets were locked too, and the thought of locking something as simple as a storage closet was in of itself odd.

After climbing the last flight of stairs they could find, there, down a dim corridor, was a door marked in bright yellow letters, "Control Center." Eagerly, the two galloped down the hallway to the door, only for Adam to stop halfway to the room.

Adam had noticed a large windows on both sides of the corridor that gave viewers inside the lengthy hallway a look into the massive rooms inside. The reason this particular room caught Adam's attention was the many pod like capsules that seemed to be stored inside. On the other side of the corridor out of the other window was a chamber with three machines lined side by side. Each with piping and glass half-spheres running down the huge dark mysterious machines to chambers with iron pedestals perched in the center.

"Adam? You okay?" Neo asked.

Adam shook his head, "Wha? Oh, yeah I'm fine it's just those rooms..."

"Well, we're not going to worry about this place much longer," Neo muttered in a low tone whilst scanning the area around them, "The control center is right there. Let's get in there and leave before something weird happens again."

Adam recovered himself, and joined his brother in galloping back down the hall. As they came to the door, it like the first door they had seen in the Stable, opened for them automatically allowing them complete access into the control center. The control center was wide, with a large control panel lined with buttons of all colors repeatedly flashing on and off. Terminals lined the upper part of the wall, some on while some showed nothing more than blank static. Though, the oddest feature of the room, was a bed and drawer at the far end of the room next to the control panel. Likely, it was for those working overtime when the stable was fully functioning, but it seemed inviting enough, even if it appeared to have not been touched in years. It was clean, soft, and best of all -- normal.

Both of them came to the massive sea of buttons, scanning intensely for the section that controlled the doors. Adam was the first to find the controls near the farther left section of the panel, "Ah, here we are." Adam said coming to the controls.

With a smart grin Adam rubbed both his hooves together, "Don't worry, I'll have us out of here in no time."

Neo smiled back at him as Adam began working on getting them out, "Let's see, this should bring us the main menu screen... And then the selection screen...."

Keeling over the control panel, Adam narrowed his eyes at the terminal screen in front of him, "Huh..." Adam muttered.

Neo blinked at him, "What is it?"

Adam went back to sitting straight and shrugged at his brother, "It's just odd, usually I would think something like this would ask for a password. But it says that the user is already online..."

"Weird... Then again, what else isn't in this stable?" Neo added.

"At least it won't be an issue," Adam said continuing his work, "Because after I do this, all we need to do is let my code bypass the main controls to the doors near the exit. Once that's done, we're out of here."

"Great! It's just, how long do you think that will take?"

"Well, if these controls are anything like most other controls I've dealt with, it should take a few secon-" Adam paused with his eyes wide and fixated on the terminal screen in awe.

Neo waved his hoof in front of his face to gain his younger brother's attention. "Adam? What is it?"

"Well..." Adam moaned slouching over the panel disappointingly, "My code is going to finish bypassing the doors controls."

"Okay? Then what's the problem?"

"See for yourself," Adam sighed pointing to the terminal screen.

Leaning in closer to the screen Neo read the text to himself, "Bypass code traveling through system. Percent till bypass is finished, 1%. One hour, thirty minutes remaining."

Reeling back from the screen Neo's right eye twitched a few times, "One hour... In here... One hour..." He whimpered.

Adam shrugged, "Why this is happening is beyond my knowledge. So we'll have to wait till it's done moving through the system."

Neo picked Adam up by the shoulders and shook him wildly, "I thought you were the genius! I thought you could do anything!!!"

"Brother, please, stop shaking me!" Adam exclaimed while Neo shook him.

Neo blinked, and stopped shaking him, "Oh... Uh, sorry about that, I... Got a little carried away... Heh..."

Adam hopped down from his brother's forelegs and brushed himself off, "It's alright, but I may be good at fixing stuff, but when it comes to hacking the systems of a whole stable... I'm not the best pony for the job."

"Then we wait, huh?" Neo sighed.

"Eeyup." Adam replied.

"Yeah, so if you want to rest a bit you can," Adam said stretching his left foreleg.

Adam felt the levitation saddle on his back shuffle around, and with his hoof still in it's stretching position, he had an idea. This idea, he thought, if done properly, might get rid of the need for levitation saddles. Best of all, he knew how he could pull off the wonderful idea he had.

Neo, slightly tired, shuffled off to the bed at the end of the room and plopped himself down hard onto the bed sighing merrily as the soft bed caressed his body. "You know," Neo blissfully said feeling the comfortable bed, "This may not be that bad after all. Especially with this bed here."

Adam smiled at him before going through his bags for his screw driver. "Brother, I had an idea to help get these things off our backs."

Neo turned around in the bed to face his younger brother, who trotted up next to the bedside, "Huh? How?"

"I remembered an old attachment I put on our families Pipbucks to store extra stuff if we needed it. I also remember how I never finished it, so I thought that if I can take the levitation circuits and connect them via the attachment to our Pipbucks, then we'll have an easier and more convenient levitation."

"So... No more of these uncomfortable things on our backs then?"

"Yep." Adam said coming over to his brother, and collecting his levitation saddle. "I'll get to work on that as we wait, if you're going to rest, put your arm out onto the panel. While you rest I'll add the circuits."

"Sounds good to me," Neo yawned loudly.

Adam smiled at him before gathering all that he needed onto the panel to begin work on his new idea. Though, just as Adam had started to get his tools together, a terminal right in front of him flashed on with audio dairies archived in order.

"What the-?" Adam thought.

"What is it, Adam?" Neo mumbled in a drossy manner.

Adam read the rest of the content that was on the screen to his brother, "There's a set of audio diaries here... Some videos too. Left over by a Doctor Peptide, who, according to the brief summary, worked here when the Stable was working."

Neo sat up, "Maybe they can tell us a bit more about the place."

"Yeah, I'll set them to auto-play while I work and you rest up a bit."

Neo laid on the bed, putting his right hoof out onto the control panel for Adam so he could upgrade his Pipbuck. "Just start playing them when you're ready," Neo yawned, "I'll be listening."

Adam chose the first audio diary, and set it to play.

"My name is Doctor Peptide. It's happened, hasn't it? The world is gone. Torn asunder by war, and whipped clean of life by dark fire. I guess I should have expected something like this when I was chosen to come live here. Though, deep down inside, I feel like the very moment that my eyes saw the cryotubes, we would awake to a world long gone, that nopony ever wanted to exist. Yet... There it is. We've been asleep for more than one hundred and fifteen years waiting for the enhancement potions to age... I hope what we do here can make a difference... I hope we can do something to bringing a future back to the world above."

The voice on the audio-log sighed heavily, "I was told by some others who woke up with me that making these logs would help relieve stress. That it would keep me from going insane. But what is science but testing insane theories? I digress. I'll make more audio dairies once we've begun testing in the next week."

"Day seven, seven forty-three PM. We started testing today. I thought we'd do some more data collection on the potions, get them read, and like the rest of the week all the chief would need me for was to do some work with combining the tinctures' amino acids. That, and there was something mentioned about positive fertility. Well, after the first day, I now realize what we are doing. Several pegasi were put under cryogenic sleep as well, and they were confirmed with positive fertility... This is the part that threw me off. While we haven't started this section of the testing yet, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it... Basically we drug the female pegasi with the chemicals and proceed run tests on them. The drugs should cause a child to be conceived for a week before it becomes ready to scan for probability. Then, we begin the procedure, and the normal unicorn, earth pony, or pegasus is tested on. We splice all of the three genes together with the potions... and... and... I... I didn't sign up for this, but there was a talk that if we do it, we'll go down in history as heroes... I-I've never amounted to anything as high as that, and to think that I would go down history as a hero is... I-I'll make another dairy once we've began testing again..."

"Day fifteen, eight PM. At first, I had second thoughts if I could go through with it, but after some convincing from my colleagues, I went in and did my best. I was assigned female number 343, and she's quite lovely... Drugged, but lovely. I basically make sure her vitals are in order, and monitor how her heath is. I'll update the log when we perform the next stage of testing."

"Day twenty-three, eight o'five PM," The voice on the recording sighed disappointingly, "We had performed testing on the subjects. When the testing began, we had expected good results. Instead, the few who were ready... I didn't know this, in fact, I almost lost my lunch when I heard it. We were testing on children. The children we created with the test subjects. But we got... These hideous monsters. Malformed, and disfigured. But then again, creating an Alicorn is much more difficult than we had hoped..."

"Day forty eight, sheven thirty-sheven... P... Pee? I dunno... Lot's of days have passed... Yep... But you know what? I'll tell you what, heh heh... I've got the besht job ever! All I do is tesht, fail. Tesht, fail. Tesht, and guess what? Fail again! Yeah... I love it..."

The pony sounded as if he was taking another swing of whatever it was he was drinking before continuing, "AH! That's good stuff... The other guysh and me, we're pals. We love our job. LOOOOVE LOVE gotta have love love ahahahaha!"

"Day thirty, six PM. After that incident a few nights ago where we decided to get alcohol involved, I've had trouble sleeping. Our testing goes on though, and we've made some progress -- it turned out that the subjects that were exposed to high amounts of taint, and they genetically mutate slowly over time. And with the help of the mutagens we've already put into our fertile subjects, we've seen less deformity inside the body and the head of the creatures they produce."

"There's no time for the date! We just hit a breakthrough! It turns out we can accelerate the growth at which the fertile subjects grow. From small infants to fully grown adults! All in less than a week! It's taken much time, but we found altering some of the genes works wonders. I'm about to see the final results now. I'll update the log once I've observed results of this new adult testing."

"I... I've never seen this before... T-the subject spoke... It said a complete sentence. Though, the very words it uttered still linger clearly in my mind. The only three words it said was... Celestia, help me if I can repeat them... 'Please kill me.' Though, it was speech, I'm starting to think that we're getting too deep with this..."

Adam paused the recordings, and stopped his work. With his emotions churning inside him, he stared deeply into the terminal screen in deep thought. "T-that was..."

Neo looked up at him somberly, with his arm laid out on the panel and his Pipbuck's inner workings exposed. "Should we go on? Listening to that bastard ramble on about the shit he did?"

"Let's see if something happens, maybe it will tell us why everypony in the stable is gone," Adam said clicking continue on the terminal, and returning to work on upgrading his brother's Pipbuck.

However, nothing played. And for a few moments the two brothers wondered why. Adam checked the list on the terminal, what was there though was odd. As the next several parts of the playlist where text logs. So, just to see what they were Adam opened the first one.

It said, "Day thirty-seven. Watched the subject. Tested. No new results."

Adam opened the next one, and like the previous log it said, "Day forty-five... I wonder if the bar is still open?"

And the next one said, "Day sixty-three. Fucked. All fucked. All of it. This dumb place. This dumb chair. Fucked. FUCKED. FUCKED!"

Adam, had decided that the next dozen might yield something, so he opened them all side by side on the terminal screen. Only, for what seemed like weeks he repeated the same thing again and again. The more he read the more drawn out the brief messages seemed. Until, having gone through all of the text logs, he managed to find where the audio dairies had come back. And with an uneasy press of the play button on the control panel, the dairies had started to play again.

A long drawn out pause could be heard with nothing but sighs in the background. "What is my life? For weeks, we’ve done the same thing. Every week I go, come back, wait a few days to test, fail. I then go to bed, and wake up ready for a new day. Even with the small intervals between waiting for the foals to grow up and the next testing session, I sit and do nothing. Everyone here is cold. The walls confine me, and, even as I sit here, they seem to close in around me. What is my life? Am I to continue with this endless cycle of repetition till the day I die? Going week after week with no end to this madness? There are even sometimes I can hear the screams of those I murdered here. Haunting my thoughts, telling me of the lives they could of had and the potential they could have brought to the world."

The next long was dated the day after the last one was made, which for the most part puzzled them as all the previous ones had a week, or two between each log. "Day... Oh, I don't even care anymore. I just went to visit my test subject. But, while in the room with her on the testing bed laying there, with tubes and drugs keeping her alive, I just stared at her. Wondering. Just... Who was she before she had been brought down here? Was she a teacher, or a student? With all the treatments we've given them they look as if they hadn't even aged a day... At all. Though, I wonder what she was like. Did she like art, or music? Or to dance, and go out with friends? These questions rattled in my mind as I watched her unconscious body... You know... I think I'll lower the drug dosage... I'll see what happens."

"Day seventy-four, six o'eight PM. She woke up! I-I... Well didn't know if I could wake her up, but she did! I have to keep the dosage low though. They have scanners that pick up if she still has the chemicals in her system. However, I found that if I keep the dosage to a controlled low she will regain consciousness, and the scanners should think nothing of it. Clever, if I do say so myself. Though, I think in about two weeks or so, she should be back among the world of the living... Or really, the world of the awake, as it were. I kid myself, I'm just so thrilled! I haven't felt this way in months, maybe doing this was a good idea."

"Day eighty-nine, eight o'eight AM. It's been a few weeks since I've started lowering the dosages on her. I visit her often in secret. If the others ever found out what I was doing they'd lock me up, and do Celestia knows what to her. As such I've been very careful when seeing her. Coming to her only in the early parts of the morning. She's still a little groggy, but she's capable of speech now. I haven't had a full conversation with her, but she can respond and understand me. I hope that within a few more days she'll come all the way through."

"Day ninety-three, six PM. Her cognition is fully restored. I was lowering her dosage yesterday when she suddenly snapped awake and panicked. She started screaming and yelling at me in mad confusion. I can't say I blame her. She's been through a lot, more than she will ever know. It took some time but I calmed her down. I explained to her the best way I could as to what happened. She broke into tears. I just hope she doesn't do anything brash while I'm not there."

"Day one hundred and five. In the past few weeks I've been sneaking extra food from the cafeteria into the subject's room. Since she's not on the drugs and tubes anymore, she has to eat normally. I visit her as often as I can. I try my best to comfort her by bringing books, and talking to her. She's actually quite an interesting pony. She was a cook before she was brought down to the stable. From what she had told me, she used to cook at a dinner three towns away in Hoofston. I can still tell the tests bother her, and I hate to be a part of it now, but every now and again, I look back into those once scared eyes and see something... Something other than the scared unsureness. I'm not sure what it is, it might be her adapting. Maybe? I don't know. I'll continue to update the log more often. Oh, and before I sign off a reminder to myself. Make sure you shave next time you go see her, she was giving you a weird look at your chin-scruff."

The next log had him humming soft tunes to himself in a giddy, childish manner, "It's been several weeks since I made another log. Know I said I'd make them more often, but really this... This is something. We talk, laugh, and even I sneak her back to my room to listen to music and dance. I found a way to trick the security programs using a few lines of code inserted into the scanners. Father always thought the coding club was a waste of time, well who's laughing now? We think hardly anything of the testing now. It's just something that seems to get in the way of the fun things. Sometimes, we read things together, and we even watch old pre-war films. She's really sweet, I'm sad that she had to be subjected to all of this. And while the testing goes on with no sight of progress being made at all, I'm content. I feel alive around her, like my body is lighter than air. It's magical... I've... Never known what love feels like before... Is this what it feels like?"

"Day one hundred and seventeen. Okay Peptide you can do this. Today's the day. I've been with her for so long now, and just a few nights ago I looked into her eyes and saw something. I think she feels the same way about me that I do about her. But I've been cowardly, I've loved her and yet I'm too scared to come out with it and tell her. No more, I'm going to march over to her chamber and confess. Or damn it I'll piss myself doing it!"

The next log on the playlist had two voices, one was Peptide while the other was a mare's voice, "This is Flare. She's the one I've been talking about."

"Uh, hi I guess." The mare's voice chuckled merrily.

"Well, if you read the date this is recorded, you'll find it hasn't been too long since I've updated this old thing. She's going to sleep over in my room. For the first time. Nopony ever goes into the chamber, and as long as she's there for the scanning on testing day she can stay here. For once, things are look up, even if we're not getting anywhere with our research."

"Day one hundred forty-nine. Something weird has happened during the testing. We tried to keep some of the subjects alive while in their normal state. The adults and foals alike, reported hearing voices, and seeing dark figures with symptoms of severe headaches. One scientist found that some kind of chemical in red wine calms these symptoms. Good thing the stable has plenty of wine, nopony was drinking it in the first place, everyone here's a whiskey drinker -- trust me. Now, it at least serves a purpose, it's the very least we can do for these suffering souls."

"Day one hundred fifty-two. I found in a storage closet an old Mr. Handy robot. Flare and me spent the last two days working on the robot. It didn't take us too long to make it run again, but the only issue we had was that it didn't know what to call itself, so we came up with the name A.L.F.R.E.D. as his new name. The name stands for: Artificial. Levitating. Friendly. Robot. Emergency. Drone. While the name itself doesn't make much sense we still thought it was funny. He's been helping me with my work, and I have to say he's been a wonderful helper."

"Day one hundred seventy-six. This stable is going mad. Every scientist has grown corrupt with power. They think they're gods or something because they can choose whether to keep a subject alive or not. Hell, some don't even test anymore. They just drink heavily, and even get into fights. Just this morning a guard shot a scientist who was drunk, as he tried to rape her. Flare and I have stopped testing altogether. The Overmare said that she'll look into the situation and address what needs attention. Which, in my opinion, she needs to do something about the whole damn stable."

"Day one hundred and ninety-nine. I've been looking into ways we can leave the stable. It's forbidden to do so, but if the whole place goes to hell, we need to get out of here. But the Overmare did put a lot of effort into putting the trouble makers behind bars, so, hopefully, it won't come to us leaving. I've also been talking to A.L.F.R.E.D. in private about... Well I'm sure Flare might hear this... I should delete this before she finds out what I'm planning to do... You know what, just don’t say anything. It might be safer that way."

"Day two hundred and three. I proposed to her today... She smiled at me, with tears gently rolling down her cheeks she said yes. I-I've never been so excited in my life before. Me, of all ponies, is going to get married. Heh, who would have thought. I talked to A.L.F.R.E.D. about performing the marriage. In a few days we'll be married... With all that has happened since I got out of the cryogenic pods I feel that it was all worth it. But that small pain of guilt has been inside me for a few days now. I thought if I forgot about it the feeling would go away. But I've been done things I'm not proud of, to so... many ponies... I need to lay down for a few minutes and think some things over. I have to shake this feeling off."

"Day two hundred and sixty-sixty. I was running through some old logs of mine, deleting them in hopes to keep Flare away from my surprises I had for her before the wedding. I was up late the night before, and with the lack of sleep, I hadn't realized I deleted several extra logs. Fantastic. I will say that the wedding did go well. In fact, we've already talked about having a child. A real child. We talked about it for that last few days, and having thought it over we think the life we can give our child here would be fine. It's just... There isn't any other children in the stable, none for him or her to meet anypony else. That is why we've come up with a plan. I've hacked into the stables outdoor monitoring system, and I’ve been checking for radio waves. I managed to pick up one, something about a DJ... I'm not sure what, but they talked about going there if somepony needed refuge... Or at least, that is what I think it said. I'll have to look deeper into it later."

"Day five hundred and seventy-four. He's a boy... My baby boy. I-I'm at a loss of words... I'm a father now. Me, of all ponies, a father. Surprisingly, with the help of the chemicals, our son was born healthy. He shows no signs of mutation that seem to damage his body physically. Flare and I have named him Red, based on his crimson colored coat. Though at the moment, we like to call him Little Red. But just to be on the safe side, I'll have to keep watch on our boy though, and see what happens, and make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens."

"Day five hundred and seventy-eight. I can't believe this... My son is the key to fixing this stable's problem. For months we've gone week after week of testing with little to no sign of decent progress. But my son... He's one hundred percent perfect for genetic melding. If he was to undergo the DNA merging he would come out a full blooded Alicorn. But the pain that would cause him... I won't subject my son to that kind of pain. Not after all the pain I had caused to so many others. But his I.Q. is an odd thing on it's own as well. He's very intelligent, showing amazing brain structure and nerve impulses even at this extremely young age. I'll try and see if I can teach him the Leader curriculum Stable-Tech made in the event that we had succeeded. I just want to see how he does, but that is, of course, when he is older. For now, I plan a way out of here. The Overmare has been acting strange though, as she mingles more and more with the few more corrupt of our group."

Adam screwed in the last screw into his own Pipbuck, concluding the upgrade he added to his and Neo’s Pipbucks. At this time though, both of the brothers had noticed the recordings had stopped. However, Neo lay in the bed levitating an empty shotgun shell above his face. "I feel bad for that guy... At first, he was an asshole, but I guess he changed for the better. But the way he talks about his wife, it reminds me of..."

Adam relaxed himself while sitting on the floor smiling with memories of their time with their mother in their own stable. "Do you think Dad loved Mom the same way?"

Neo rolled his eyes and frowned at Adam's statement, "If our father really did love our mother that much, he wouldn't have left us. I remember the look on her face several years ago when you were just a foal. She was so torn up by what that stupid stallion did. If he's alive I'll..." Neo quickly halted any further hateful comments towards their father.

Adam had lowered his head, giving off a look of deep sorrow, "I never got to know dad..."

Neo sat up in the bed, feeling an awful sense of guilt in his chest. "I'm sorry Adam. I-I know you wanted to meet him, it's just he hurt mom by doing what he did for no reason..."

"It's alright," Adam added raising his head, while retaining the look of sorrow in his eyes, "Let's listen to the last bit. The override is almost done going through the system..."

Neo moved himself back till he came up to the wall next to the bed. Laying his back against the wall, he sat up and nodded for Adam to continue the audio-dairies without saying a word.

There was a gap between the audio-dairies. Days, months, and even years between the time older dairies and newer dairies were made. What puzzled Adam was that, while he looked through each audio log many had been restricted for hearing. This was odd, considering that all of the files up to this point had been free for them to hear. Though, there was little Adam could do about it, so he continued to scroll through the dairies to the next available one.

The next log was not a audio-log. Instead it was a video, while not that long it still was odd seeing a video recorded among the audio and text logs. On the screen two ponies sat directly in the center of the video, one pony was a tired looking brown earth pony, while the other was a small red unicorn with emerald gleaming eyes, and a dark black mane.

The small colt sit on a chair right next to his father, gazed with wide eyes directly at the screen in wonder of the odd machine his father was showing him. Peptide smiled at him, and pat him gently on the head.

"This is a terminal son. It's used to help ponies with important things."

The young one didn't answer, but instead gave quiet wonder filled oohs. "It can also record things, for other ponies to hear and see. Like right now, I'm making a video of us. Say hello to all the ponies out there, Red."

The little one was shy, reeling himself back now knowing that other ponies were possibly watching him. Peptide ruffled his mane playfully. "It's okay, Little Red, they aren't watching you right now, we're just making a video that we'll show Alfred."

"Oh, will momma watch too?"

"Yep, she'll watch it to. But right now, show the ponies the cool trick you learned today."

There was a small set of three marbles put in front of the colt, each marble lay side by side undisturbed for the colt before them. With a few curious blinks at the marbles, Little Red leaned closer to them. "You mean the spinny trick, dad?"

"Mhm, that's the one." Peptide said with a nod.

The little colt smiled now understanding what it is he needed to do. With his eyes fixated on the small glass spheres, his horn was soon encased in a faintly glowing magical aura. Within moments, an aura of the same red crimson color covered the marbles, and focusing slightly harder on them they started to float up into the air. Once they had been lifted, the colt started to spin them around and around in the air in circles.

"Very good! Soon you'll be able to do all sorts of things with magic. Maybe later you'll be able to pick up Alfred!" The stallion chuckled.

The video then ended with the two ponies laughing merrily. It was heartwarming to hear them being happy. But just as soon as the video ended, another video came up next automatically. It looked as if Peptide was reading something to his son with his wife next to him, a book that neither Adam nor Neo could identify, "And then with powerful joyous hoofsteps, the knight came back to the village having slain the evil dragon. The town rejoiced as he came trotting through the village square, and with cheers of joy the ponies celebrated their hero’s return. And everyone, even the knight, lived happily ever after."

"Wasn't that a good story, Little Red?" Peptide said.

"I liked it, I especially loved the part where the knight fought the dragon in the evil castle." A soft mare's voice added.

"Where did you get the story, dad?"

"I brought it with me from the outside."

"What is the outside like?" The little colt asked.

"Well... I'm not too sure right now son. It's probably much different than it was when I was your age."

"What was it like when you were my age?"

"Hmm, well. It was a wonderful place. The sky was blue and white clouds floated high in the sky. Cities were bustling with ponies, and life for many of us was good. New inventions came every month that made our lives more fun. Even the terminal over there was made when I was growing up. But back in the day, me and your mother dreamed like this. And the heroes were everyday ponies, and ponies did good things for each other."

There was a slight pause in the conversation. "Dad. Momma. When I grow up, I want to be like the knight in the story, and help ponies with the problems in the world."

"That's a very good dream to have, Little Red," The stallion said with a warm smile.

"But first, you'll have to wait until you grow up and get big and strong. Because now it's time for young knights to go to sleep, you can't save the world if you're all sleepy!" Flare cooed softly wrapping the young one in her forelegs.

The next video was dated a few years since the last one was made, and like the last log, this one too was a video. In the main living room of Peptide's stable living quarters sat Little Red, only this time, he had changed from a small colt to a young buck. His father was standing in front of him with a large chalk board with several graphs drawn on it, while Little Red was watching intently as his father gave him a education lecture.

"Now, Red, if a territory is lacking in resources what is the best method to asking neighboring countries if trade is an option?"

The buck remain silent for a moment, before sitting straight confidently and answering sternly, "It is best to first check relations with the neighboring countries. That way, it is easier to evaluate whether any of the countries would be willing agree to a trade between our two factions. If however, there is a chance multiple nations may be persuaded, it is always an option to gain the support of both."

Clapping his hooves together in applause, Peptide nodded his head proudly. "Very good! Though, you must also take into consideration that in every situation, you must be willing to have something to offer as well. That is how trade works, after all. Though I am very proud with your answer! I'm sure when we get to this semester's test you'll do well."

"I've been studying hard, dad, if I hope to become a good leader one day, I need to understand all of these concepts." Red stated.

"Indeed," Peptide chuckled patting Little Red on the back, "With that mindset, you'll have no problem at all in the open world."

The video had ended, and another came up in it's place automatically. In this video, Peptide was standing in the doorway, with saddlebags filled with papers, and notes. Little Red was at a desk in the living room of Peptide's stable living quarters. A large textbook was opened in front of the colt, and he concentrated hard on what he was reading. "I'm going to get your mother. I'll be back soon, and remember not to answer the door for anypony."

The colt turned around in the rolling chair he sat in towards his father, "Alright. I'm almost done with this chapter of the advanced leadership guide."

Peptide smiled at him, "Good, when I get back, we'll pull out a board game, you've been studying hard, and it's about time we've had some fun."

"Sure thing, dad, I'll see you when you get back."

Opening the stable door, Peptide said his last goodbye and left to get his wife. Though, as soon as he had left, the buck hopped down from his chair and went to a drawer at the corner of the room. Just before going into it, Little Red scanned the area behind him one quick time before opening the bottom drawer. From the angle the terminal camera was, at it was difficult to see what Little Red was looking for inside the drawer. However, after a few seconds of searching, he pulled out an old red oakwood music box.

The young buck smiled at the box sitting it down on the floor next to him. Just as he opened it though, golden carved words on the top of the music box could be seen. While the words were upside down, it was still easy to tell what they said. These golden letters which had been carved onto the top of the music box where, "Happy Birthday Red! Love Mom & Dad."

Though, within a few seconds, the words on the top of the box seemed to fade from the brothers thoughts, as calming chimes came from the musical box. The music box played a haunting melody, the likes of which neither of them had heard before. Unfortunately, after a few moments the music had started, the video cut off, and a small list of the last audio dairies started.

The next log was with Peptide's voice alone. His tone while speaking was uneasy, and urgent, "I've stopped testing all together. Things are becoming too chaotic as of late. Nopony comes to work anymore and instead, they just find their unconscious test subject and have their way with them for however long they want. Days go by quickly, and each new day brings something worse. The stable is going to hell and it wouldn't be long before they find out what I've done. What made matters worse though, was the fact that some scientist overthrew the Overmare. They claimed that her ideals of restricting their urges, and continuing progress with the tests was a poor choice. I have to get my family out of here. We’re running out of time."

The next log was a dated a few weeks since the last audio diary, "I've done it! I've finally found a way to get out of here unseen! If I can hack into the main central computer I can lock down the path to the stable entrance, and with some luck, go unnoticed. Once we're out we'll have to move on from there. But to be honest, I'm more scared of getting out of the stable than going into the outside. Oh, and a reminder to myself, make sure that when you are done hacking the system, to hurry out as soon as possible. While my plan may work, hacking the system will send off a little red flag to all of the higher ups here. So I need to act fact if we're going to get out. Within the next few days, we'll get ready to leave. I'm going to say goodbye to this hell hole. Once, and for all."

The next log was dated a week later. Though, in the background urgent rushing than the sounds of ponies packing could be heard, "Honey, stop messing with that thing! We need to get going!" Flare called to him.

"I know, but I need to delete this information. If they ever found out we even had him, they might come out looking for us! The least I can do is cover our tracks."

Flare's voice was hinted with a mix of nervous tension and uneasy anxiety, "Okay, but please be quick dear, I've got Red and myself packed and ready to go. We're just waiting for you."

"Okay, I'll try my best to hurry, and- Ah shoot! It's recordin-" The log cut off while Peptide was in mid sentence.

The next log puzzled the two brothers, as this log was transferred from a security recording off of another terminal. Panic could be heard in all the voices of the family. Loud thunderous booms could be heard in the background, followed by the sound of demented screams of mad ponies. Based off of this, the brothers assumed that the three ponies were locked in some kind of room.

"Damn it! We were so close!" Peptide swore as the mad ponies continued to beat on the metallic door in the background.

"How did they manage to find us?" Flare exclaimed.

Peptide stammered lightly, "I-I... It must have been the hacking I did to get us out of here... There's no other way they could have found us!"

"Peptide! Let us in! We know what you've done! Give us the boy, and that freak of yours before you make things worse for yourself! Open up! Before we break open the door! Let! Us! In!" A muffled stallion's voice called out to them.

"Dad, that's the only way out! What are we going to do?"

There was a pause from Peptide, as he nor any of his family members said anything. Based off of the silence though, Neo and Adam assumed he was thinking. "The vent! Quickly!" Peptide yelled.

"But dad, it's only big enough for me... What about you and mom?"

Peptides voice was clear and urgent, "Son, just get through it, and get to the stable exit. The code to get through it is 013ID."

The buck could be heard crying in the background, "But dad, they'll get you and mom! I don't want to go without you!"

"I know it's scary, but it's our only shot at having a normal life. But listen to me, son... We love you so much. Just go, and find the exit. We'll be right behind you, I promise."

Once again, the muffled stallion cried out to the family as a loud hissing sound had started, "You hear that, Peptide? Now, you are going to pay! And that bitch is the first to go!"

Sobbing came from all three of the ponies in the room, "Dad... I-I don't want you leave you. You and mom are all I have... Please, dad. Please!"

"I'm sorry! It has to be this way! Go! Now!"

"They're about to break through!" Flare screamed in panic.

"Please dad..." The buck whimpered.

"We'll find you! We'll find you, I promise!"

At that moment, a loud explosion followed, and with that the recording ended. That log... It had left Neo and Adam wide eyed, with tears gently rolling down their cheeks. Though, as they came to the last two logs they wondered why these logs were put here, and why all the odd things in the stable had been happening. Things still didn't make sense, and they hoped by the time that the last recording played that things for him might turn out for the better, and that hopefully their questions would be answered.

With that, the semi-last recording played. It was Peptide's voice, and his alone. His tone was heavy, and mournful with a deep sense of sorrow lingering about it. "....T-they... They killed her... They killed my wife... I was there, with her in my hooves, and they ripped her away from me. She screamed my name, and held me back as they drug her off to the side and... Flare, I-I'm so sorry..." Peptide lost it, and started crying heavily.

"One shot... One shot is all it took, and I saw as she died right there... W-what did I do? I payed my dues, I understood my sins and crimes! Was I never meant to be happy? To have love in my life? I've killed so many innocent souls, for what? Science? No... I understand those deaths are on my hooves and mine alone! I pray to them, and hopefully they will hear me... I want forgiveness... Please, I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry... Now, my son is alone... Somewhere, in a world he knows nothing about... And here I am... Locked away in my quarters with nothing more than this terminal, and a bed... But if I don't do something, who will?"

There was a pause from Peptide, "This whole stable is corrupted... I need to do something, or they'll go out there and find him... And I won't let that happen..."

The last log was made nearly four days since the last. A loud clatter could be heard in the background, with the sound of small hollow metal objects rattling, "This is it Peptide... You're almost there... When we came here we were taught about the stable cleansing system. In the event a infectious biohazardous material was released into the air, a section of that stable would be sealed off, and purged by fire leaving nothing alive inside. I've spent the last few days working my way into my stable quarters controls. Once I've got the door..." The rest of the recording faded before stopping entirely.

But, just as the last one had ended, one more log appeared below the last log. This one was made only two days after the last, and like the others, it started to play on it's own automatically. The loud sound of the stable's alarms could be heard in the background, with the sound of muffled voices panicking faintly as Peptide spoke. His voice was slow, and tired while he made the log.

"Day... Well, I guess it doesn't matter now, does it? I've done it. Within two minutes, everything in this stable will burn alive into a fine ash-like powder. All those ponies we tested on... All of those poor, poor souls who suffered through all the things I and the residents of this stable did to them will finally be at peace. My only regret is that I didn't get to see my son one last time... I only have this picture in my lab coat pocket to remind me of that brief time I had here... And for once, I was happy and loved..."

A few loud metallic hoof beats could be heard in the background, with a stallion calling out to Peptide in a muffled voice, "Peptide! Open the door! Don't do this to us! Think of all the good things we've done together... Stop this madness before you do something you'll regret!"

"Heh," Peptide chuckled blandly, "I've already done things I regret. And this is my only way to fix everything. If I were to go out and find my son they would have to shot me, threw my body into a furnace, and forgot I even existed."

Peptide sighed heavily, "...At least this way, no more lives will suffer because of this place. Not mine. Not the test subjects, and not my son... They've talked about finding him, and now they'll never get him. I just pray to the goddess they protect him as he is out there..."

Peptide had started to choke up, sending him into a light sob, "Alfred... My old friend. Please, I can't *static* without knowing if *static*... There has to be some way? Is there?"

"Well, master," A kindly proper voice answered, "I do *static* if that is your wish you must act fast, you have less than a minute left."

"...Alright. We'll do it. It will be worth the wait." And it ended. The last of the recordings, and at that moment the program Adam had set up finished now unlocking the door out of the stable.

Though, it was as if the program was made to delay until the recordings were finished, but neither of the brothers payed attention to it, nor did they care if they had. Listening to the last words of that stallion on the recording was gut wrenching. A sour, churring feeling tossed around in their lower stomachs, for they had found out what the stable was, and how it became what is now. Thinking about it, they could understand why there were burn marks on the doors, and why all the other doors in the stable were locked, minus a few exceptional doors of great importance. But, if there had been a total cleansing of pony life in the stable, why there was any kind of ash? No remnants of the ponies that had once lived here, minus the logs that were provided.

There were still questions that they were left unanswered, although, at the moment, all they could do was sit back on their haunches and absorb what they had just heard.

Neo looked down to the ground in mournful respect, "Why is all this happening? Why were we given all of this information? To hear this guy story... I-I don't understand."

Putting his things away back into his saddlebag, Adam felt the same feeling of sadness and confusion fester inside him. Because, like the pony they had heard in the dairies, they too lost almost everything they loved. And it all happened so quickly.

"I just hope they're resting... The very least we can do is leave now. This isn't a stable anymore, this is a tomb." Adam muttered lowly.

Neo found it hard to pick himself up for a moment. The information still weighed heavy on him, though when he did stand up again he sighed while looking at the many terminals covering the wall in front of them. "Yeah... You're right. Even if I've got more questions about this place I don’t think I could stay here much longer..."

Both of them sluggishly made their way to the room's exit. The whole stable was a mystery, and it was best if it was left locked away. Just as they came up to the door though, an odd sound caught their attention. It was the sound of a jet. Not a very loud jet, but a jet nonetheless. What was more odd to them, was the fact that the noise was growing louder. And after hearing about the things that had happened in the stable, for all they knew it could be a terrifying mutant monster or giant cyborg creature.

Neo got out his shotgun and readied it to fire. Though as he pulled on the locking lever of his gun, a rusty ear grinding noise squealed as the lever moved. "Ah, great! Not now of all times!"

Adam got a 10mm out of his bag, that had less than half a clip of ammunition. "Is it jammed?" Adam asked in a worrying tone.

"I don't know... Let's hope not..." Neo said nervously as the noise grew more clear.

Adam gulped, "Yeah... Let's hope not..."

Gritting their teeth with anticipation sweat started to form on their brows. The noise was now loud and clear, for whatever was coming to the door was there, waiting for them on the other side. And, with a loud swoosh, the door opened.

On the other side of the door was a floating robot with a large sphere like head connected to a long jet that allowed it to be suspended in mid air. Several small twig like arms surrounded the machine on a metal ring that surrounded it. But, it was the large single light in the center of the sphere that immediately caught the two brother's attention.

Neo and Adam yelled fiercely in unison, with SATS ready to lock onto the floating figure. Though just before they had done so, the robot moved back in shock and cried in terror, "Please! Don't shoot! I don't mean you any harm!"

The two brother's panicking battle cry died down as they saw the robot cower before them. They both lowered their weapons and blinked curiously at the robot, "Excuse me?" Neo asked.

The robot had put some of it's more long arms in front of it's large head to protect itself. "I-I said I mean you no harm, good sirs! I am merely a droid!"

As the robot was practically trembling before them, Adam had noticed several large white letters on the robot's side. These words read, A.L.F.R.E.D. only the last D in the name was worn and chipped.

"And how can we trust you, huh? Just because you're a robot doesn't mean you aren't dangerous." Neo said sternly.

"No, wait," Adam said interjecting his brother, "I think we can trust him."

Neo looked towards Adam with bewilderment in his eyes, "What? How come? For all we know, one of those wacko scientist that used to live here programed him, or-" Neo stopped in mid-sentence looking at Adam, who smiled back at him causing his sentence to come to a halt.

"Brother, this is Alfred."

"What?" Neo said in a confused tone of voice.

Then, quickly looking back to the robot, he looked harder at the frightened machine. And like Adam had said there on the side of his head was his name in large white letters. "You survived?"

The robot peaked over it's arms to look at them, "Y-yes... Yes I did..." The robot whimpered.

Adam gave the robot a friendly smile, "It's okay, I'm sorry me and my brother didn't know who you were at first. With all the crazy things we've seen and heard in this stable we weren't sure what to expect." Adam said reassuringly.

The robot lowered it's arm slowly, "Oh... I see. It's just that when the master told me about you two, he said that you would be more... Well, more welcoming to me."

Adam and Neo both widened their eyes at him, and in unison they said, "Master?"

"Oh, yes. The master was the one who locked the doors. And before I forget, he sends his apologies for the confusion, but in order to get any help, some tiny precautions must be taken."

Neo glared at Alfred, "So, he locked us in here for what reason? And who does he think he is? Locking ponies up in a place they know nothing about. It scared us half to death with all the freaky stuff that's been happening!"

"To be fair, the master did see that you two willingly wanted to come in."

Neo flattened his ears while frowning at the robot in embarrassment. Neo tried to ignore the the previous statement, and instead get some answers from the robot, "And who is your master anyway? I thought everypony in the stable was... You know, dead."

"Well, yes. But my master has been waiting a long time for somepony to come here. He's one of the few things left, minus myself of course. In fact, my master has been dying to meet you two. Though he had to be cautious, the last pony to come here was awfully rude. Taking research and chemicals and mumbling his plans of becoming some kind of terror god or something when he found out what this stable was made for."

"The Professor..." Neo muttered angrily under his breath.

"What was that?" Alfred asked.

"What? Oh, nothing... I was just, remembering something..."

"Ah, I see. Well, if that's the case we shan't waste anymore time! Please, gentlecolts, follow me." Alfred said turning around.

"And where do you plan on taking us?" Adam asked.

The floating robot looked back at them, "Why, to meet my master of course! That was the whole reason he let you in."

Neo and Adam looked at each other, and without saying anything both of them could tell what the other was thinking. If they went and saw his master, the last of their questions could be answered.

Turning their heads back to the robot, they both nodded at him. "Alright. We'll go with you." Neo said.

"Jolly good! It won't take us long, and my master even said that once you've met him you are free to go."

"Then lead the way, we'll be right behind you." Adam said with a smile.

"Very good, please right this way." The robot directed them.

All three of them went down the long clean hallways of the stable on their way to see Alfred's master. As they went down the hallways though, the question of who his master was made anxiety fest and churn deep inside their stomachs. But at the same time, their question might finally be answer.

The three had gone down several corridors, and nearly three flights of stairs. It was clear to both brothers that by the time they had gone halfway through the stable that it was clearly much larger than their own. Though, just as they had started to understand how truly elaborate the stable was, Alfred brought them to a large steel door mark with a giant 1.

Moving over to the side of the door, Alfred opened the door and let them in. "Right this way, please." The robot said formally.

The room was long with empty metal boxes stacked, and piled against the walls. On the floor was torn up pieces of paper, and what looked like a dusty untouched locker laying at the base of a tall computer at the end of the room. The computer had a small screen, and an array of lights flashing on and off on its lower sections. A thin green horizontal line could be seen in the computer's screen's center. However, the only real controls that seemed to be on the odd machine was a keyboard and large red button.

After Adam and Neo had entered the room Alfred hovered closely behind them. "Master, I've brought them just as you've requested."

There was no response, and as the two brothers came up to the computer they blinked at it while cocking their head to the side in curiosity. "This is... Your master?" Neo asked hesitantly whilst looking back to Alfred.

"Yes..." A low humming voice answered.

In surprise both Adam and Neo snapped their gaze to the tall computer before them. "W-what?" Adam stuttered.

"I'm Alfred's master..." The voice replied. As it spoke the thin green line on the screen moved in a rhythmic pattern.

Both brothers gulped, "You wanted to see us?" Neo asked in shocked awe.

"That is correct." The voice responded duly.

Adam took a deep breath to calm himself before replying to the machine, "And why did you wanted us? Why did you lock us in here?"

"The master saw the Pipbucks you had and realized what kinds of models they were. We did a quick scan and found that the Pipbucks you two wear come from our sister stable. Though, we needed to test you first. If you were willing to listen to the recordings all the way, instead of doing something else, and understand this stable's story, he would send me to speak to you. If you didn't listen, he would unlock the doors, and drive you out with the purging alarm."

"So, you're the one controlling the stable?" Neo asked again.

"That is correct. And you've passed my small test."

"What was the point of all of this? Why do you need us?" Adam questioned stepping forward.

"I kept you here because you've seen the outside world. A place I have no eyes to. To survive the purge, I needed to seal myself inside the stable's control mainframe here."

Neo recalled the last recording, and how it was cut off before it could finish. And, with wide eyes he uttered quietly, "Peptide?"

"Yes. I went by that name at one point. Though, those days are long since dead."

"But how are you trapped in there? Where is your body?" Adam asked.

"My body burned away, like all the other living things in this stable. Alfred helped put my consciousness inside the stable's control mainframe as a last chance to answer my last question..."

Adam stared deeply at the computer's screen with sadness in his eyes, "Is that why you need us?"

"Yes."

"We may or may not be able to help you. But we can do our best." Neo added.

"Very well. Inside the locker in front of me is a music box. Please take it."

Adam went down to the locker and took the box from metal container. The music box was dusty, however it seemed to be in decent condition despite the events it had went through. And, after looking it over for a moment, he put the box inside his bags.

The bodiless voice muttered sadly, "Now... I just want to know... Is my son still alive?"

Neo and Adam looked at each other mournfully before returning to the computer, "In some of the recordings you see my son... Is he out there? Is he okay? Is my baby boy still alive?"

Neo thought long and hard about what the computer had said, and to tell him his son might be dead would completely destroy what was left of him. For it may not be decades until another pony like them comes around. Though, Adam felt inside him it was best to tell the truth.

"Well..." Adam muttered unsurely, "He's-"

Neo interjected him quickly with tears building up in his eyes, "Fine..." He stuttered, "He's fine..."

"Really? Is he alive? How is he?" The voice responded in a hopeful tone.

Neo looked up at the computer with a smile, as tears rolled down his cheeks, "H-He's doing well... He has a home, and friends... We met him before in a town..."

"Friends? A home?" The voice choked in happiness.

Adam looked to his brother worryingly, "But brother."

Neo put his hoof on his brother's shoulder and looked at him with the same smile he tried hard to keep with the tears rolling strongly down his cheeks. "Adam... He's happy."

Adam realized what his brother was doing, and his eyes began to water. "Yeah..." Adam muttered sadly, "He's living a happy life."

The voice sighed heavily, as if a great weight had been lifted from him, "My son is alive... I always knew he'd make it... Deep down inside I knew it!"

"There's just two more things I want to ask you two." The voice spoke again.

Both brothers tried hard not to break down into tears in front of him. So Neo tried his best to smile at him warmly, "W-what is it?"

"Please give him the music box... It was... Special to him."

Neo wiped away some of the tears on his duster sleeve, "I'll make sure he gets it... I-I promise"

"Good, that's all I needed to say... I have spent my time thinking about what I've done. The ponies I've killed, and the horrible things I've done to them. I have made peace with the goddesses wherever they might be... But being trapped inside this system has cost me... I'll soon give out, and the power to this control mainframe will burn out. As my existence has caused the system to heat."

The voice sighed one last time, "These boxes held coolant capsules, and I am on my last one... I will live a few more years, as this is the largest..."

"But I ask you to do one last thing for me..."

"Y-yes... Anything..." Neo stuttered.

"I can rest now... Knowing my son is alive is all I needed to know. So please press the red button on the keyboard... And kill me..."

Foot Note: Level Up

New Perk: Whisked away: The universe is on your side as it guides your bullets. Weapons with lower than 45% durability have 15% extra accuracy.

Foot Note: Level Up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Steel Coating: Bullet and Magical energy damage reduced by 15% when wearing leather, metal, or power armor.

(AN: If you liked this chapter go ahead and give it a like! If you really liked it go ahead and comment! That is... If you want too. I had lot's of fun with this chapter, and even made me tear up a bit. I just hope you enjoyed the chapter too! Thanks for reading!)

Proofreaded by:

LyonAzakura

Noakwolf

Thefullmetalbrony

Hooves of Steel and Iron

CHAPTER 23: HOOVES OF STEEL AND IRON

This is my mech, there are many like it but this one is mine.

Nothing was left but the smoldering, decimated ruins of Arkcannon. Legion soldiers carried the corpses of both their dead, and the Arkcannon rebels. Dead legion soldiers though, would be stripped of their armor before being cast into a large pile of burning corpses. The dead townsfolk were lined up side by side in the middle of the road, laying down with their fore hooves put at their side. Across from the townsfolk were fallen higher ranking legion officers.

One of the dead officers laying upon the ground was Cyrus. His body was separated further away from all the other officers, as during the battle one night ago he had betray the legion for his own self gain. His ignominy would be shown even in death by being separated by the very troops he once commanded.

Vladimir stood over Cyrus. Glancing down at him in disappointment. Yet, a hint of regret stirred around in his stomach, and he wasn't sure why. All he could say though while looking at the traitor captain was, "Pity. You had done such an outstanding job along the border."

While he was speaking to Cyrus, his newly promoted Captain Covert had trotted up to him. Without looking to Covert Vladimir, he continued to stare down at the corpse of the traitor. "Did you find anything useful?" Vladimir asked.

Covert shook his head, "Unfortunately not, m'lord. The town's residents managed to take just about everything with them."

"What about the tunnel? Surely we must have found something from that."

"I'm afraid not, the whole tunnel collapsed. So for all we know it could loop around, and come out somewhere completely different."

Vladimir let out a frustrated sigh, "Very well. However, did we discover who the supposed guardians were? I would very much like to know how they passed our perimeter.”

"We found nothing on them, sir. Even if they did die here, many of the bodies we found inside the buildings were burned to an unrecoverable state.”

"This is all rather disappointing," Vladimir muttered while scanning the destroyed town around them, "this place could have been so helpful in giving supplies to Iron Hammer. It pains me to think of all the lost potential this town had."

"Yes, m'lord, it was truly a sad loss for us. Though, what are we to do now? The bodies are almost disposed of, and now that the townsfolk are gone Arkcannon doesn't need us anymore."

"Heh," Vladimir chuckled once, "send the soldiers back to the Dark mines with me. Those that don't come with me send them back to the border. I've heard that Big Lot got lazy while leading the border troops. I would very much like to see how you perform as a commanding officer at the border. You've shown rather excellent skills as a leader, I am curious to see how you perform."

The Captain's face was in awestruck shock, "You mean it, sir? Am I going to be a commanding officer on the border?"

"Yes," Vladimir said in a low dull expression before making his way to the Arkcannon gate, "while you're up there, make sure that idiot Big Lot doesn't slack off too much. The next thing we need are Steel Rangers, or Red Eye's forces coming into our land."

Covert gave Vladimir a stiff salute while moving next to him, "I won't let you down, sir."

Vladimir stopped at the gate and looked down at Covert with a rather devilish smile, "I hope you can live up to those words. Cyrus’ fate was most unfortunate, I would hate to see a fate similar to his repeat itself. Now, wouldn’t that be unfortunate?"

Covert shook his head and gulped, "Yes sir, it would sir."

"Good, I expect good things from you now that you've been able to show me your true potential."

"Yes m'lord," Covert said with a graceful bow, "but before I go, is there anything else I can do for you?"

Vladimir thought for a moment, and whilst rubbing his chin he said, "Yes, actually. You could order an iron wagon to take me to the Crossroads station. I've been meaning to visit the Dark Mines for some time now. I've heard that their coming close to finishing project Iron Hammer, and I wish to personally see how it is coming along."

The newly promoted captain saluted his emperor once more, "Yes sir, it shall be done. Is there anything else I may do for you?"

"No," Vladimir said with a dismissing wave of his hoof, "just make sure that all I have asked is done."

"Very good sir, I'll let the station and the iron wagon know of your orders." The captain said with a bow before trotting off to complete the task given to him.

Vladimir watched as the captain went down the street of the ruined town. While he continued to gaze at the ruins, he felt that same twinge of regret fester inside him. As if he had cared for the town in some way, that even though he meant to use the town for his own gain, seeing it in its current state made him feel... Sad. The crimson unicorn didn't know why, but the feeling was still present.

"I've got to get to Iron Hammer. Hopefully, this feeling will go when I leave this forsaken place..." He whispered to himself before taking a quick swig of wine from the flask he had.

Outside the stable, Adam and Neo sat with their backs turned to the now shut entrance of stable 47. After what had happened to Peptide left them with a feeling of mournful emptiness. It was, unnerving.

Neo had the oak music box in front of him in his hooves, peering at the details of the box. Adam looked down at the small musical box, and thought to themselves mournfully. The likelihood that Little Red, wherever he might be, being alive was slim. They themselves were threatened the very moment they stepped out into the world, and they could only imagine what a kid younger than both of them would have to endure. Odds were that he was most likely dead, and they both knew that.

"What are we going to do with it?" Adam asked.

Neo sighed heavily, "Keep it, I guess. It's the least we can do."

Picking up the box with both hooves Neo put it back inside his saddlebag. "It just feel so wrong... Keeping this box makes me feel like I’m robbing an old tomb."

Just as the box went into his bag, the hinge keeping it closed unlatched itself causing it to open. Out of the box came a letter that landed on the powder like dirt.The letter was made with old stained parchment and sealed by a dried red wax seal.

The letter landed in front of Adam face up, with the words “To Little Red” written on it. Neo blinked at the letter on the ground, before taking the box and resting it next to him. His brother picked it up, and inspected it curiously.

Both of them had stood up, gazing at the mysterious letter that had come from the box. “Brother, what do you think it is?” Adam asked his brother, holding the letter with one hoof.

“A letter, but it could be anything. Photos, a note, or something else.” Neo said picking up a hoof to take a look at the contents of the letter

His hoof was just about to touch the letter when suddenly, he paused. Adam cocked his head to the side, “Are you going to look at it?”

Neo retracted his hoof, and picked up the music box next to him. “No. I don’t think it’s right.”

Adam nodded in agreeance, “You’re right.” He replied putting the letter in the box and patting it gently.

“It would be disrespectful.” Adam added.

Once more Neo put the box back into his bag, this time making sure the latch was properly locked. “We should go. The sooner we go, the sooner we can leave Peptide to rest.”

Adam took one final look at the massive steel structure before joining his brother, “Not only that, but we’ve got a long walk ahead of us.”

“That we do. And hopefully, we could find a better place to sleep this time.”

“And maybe there’ll be actual beds.”

“Maybe Adam... Maybe.” Neo responded hopefully, with his robotic foreleg around his brother’s shoulder. And together, they walked down the damp dark cave. Their Pipbuck lights glowing against the moist, grey walls.

Damp and cool was the outside air. A calming breeze blew gently across the ruins of the old roadside town. Both brothers had managed to make their way outside of the entertainment hall and back out into the street. Looking down at their Pipbucks, they found their position and followed the marker Cool Blue had said would take them to Silvermane up north. Before they left the roadside town though, they went into some of the empty buildings to check for supplies.

In each building, they found a little something. Sometimes it was just a few bullets, and sometimes it was just a single can of food. While it wasn't much, it was something. And that was all that mattered to them.

Fortunately, they had enough supplies to last a few days, and with some luck and a little careful rationing, they wouldn't run out before getting to their destination. But rather than staying in the small town all day, they had decided to continue heading north towards Silvermane.

As they went across the barren landscape covered in grim, shriveled up trees, Neo would check the map periodically. By the way things had looked, Silvermane wasn't too far away. And as the day went on, the very thought of Silvermane being so close was rejuvenating, as the hard rugged ground slowly wore their hooves down.

In the distance they could see a long mountain range stretched across in a straight line along the horizon. One or two of the peaks from the mountainous range would scrape the surface of the clouds above. Though, just barely it was still awing to see such massive, and powerful things in the distance.

After a few hours of wandering, they found an old dirt road that seemed to head northward. They figured, since it was going in the general direction they were going in, it was only fitting to follow it. It would not only save them time, but neither of them would have to continuously look down at their Pipbucks to see if they were still going the right way.

A little ways up the road was a hill, and after trudging up that hill they came to a stop. And, for a moment, they both decided to rest themselves. Neo and Adam both panted loudly before taking small sips from their canteens.

They were resting on their haunches while enjoying the quietness, and cooling breeze the day had given them. Neo brought his Pipbuck close to his face and checked the map.

"Adam, it looks like we're getting there. But I'm not sure how much longer it will be until we actually get there." Neo said before resting his hoof down.

"Well, it can't be that far away, can it?"

"Nah," His brother replied shaking his head, "there's no way it can be farther than another day or so."

"Good," The blue coated colt sighed, "then it shouldn't be long now."

"Yep, we're almost there, and hopefully all this will be over before-"

But, just before Neo could finish his sentence, an odd noise had caught their attention. The sound itself was a whistle echoing in the distance. While it was unclear as to where the noise was coming from, both of them knew it wasn't an average whistle. No, this whistle was much more... Distinct.

No sooner had the last whistle been heard that yet another distinct whistle was howling somewhere in the distance. In an attempt to find the sources of the sounds, both brothers frantically started scanning the area around them for the source of the noise.

"Where is that coming from?" Adam asked standing up, and searching around them.

"More importantly," Neo added, "what's making that noise?"

Once more, the distant whistle howled, only this time it was much closer. With curiosity furiously tugging at them, they decided to look around the hill. As Neo trotted over to the other side of the hill, off in the distance he could see a few small structures gathered around what seemed like a large black train.

Neo squinted his eyes in an attempt to get a better view of the black object in the distance. And while he did, one more whistle went off. "Adam, I think that noise is coming from a train."

Adam froze upon hearing his brother's sentence. "A... A train?" Adam stuttered remaining frozen in place.

"Yeah," Neo said raising a hoof over his brow squinting harder at the distant object, "it's not too far away either. I think if we walked over there we could-"

Though, while in mid-sentence he was interrupted by Adam who stormed over to his side said exclaiming, "Where?!"

Adam's eyes were wide with excitement as he peered off into the distance, "Is that a real train? Like a steam powered, rivet bolted, honest to Celestia train!?"

"Yeah?" Neo answered unsurely as he looked at his younger sibling oddly.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" Adam shouted, with his eyes fixated on the black object.

Quickly, Adam checked his Pipbuck before returning to his brother with large puppy dog like eyes. "Brother, it's in the direction we need to go... So... Can we please go see it? Please! Ever since I read about them back home when I was young, I've always dreamt of seeing one in real life!"

Neo rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, "Well... Since it is in the direction we’re heading I guess we can take a look at it. I bet that place has some supplies. We might be able to get parts for our weapons, and maybe some more water."

Adam had a grin which reached from ear to ear, "What are we doing sitting here then? Let's go! Who knows when it will leave!" Adam declared in excitement before bolting down the hill towards the settlement in the distance.

"Adam!" Neo called back to him, "Wait for me!"

Together, they both galloped towards the small group of buildings in the distance. Neo knew inside him that while Adam was smart, he still was very much a teenager. And he himself had reacted just the same to these sort of things. While his interests were much more different than his brother's, in this world they were living in just sitting back and being a kid was a rare thing, and Neo want his brother to feel that way. Even if it was just for a little while.

Steam hissed loudly from the massive metal machine. Pistons and pressure tubes lined the huge boiler tank that span nearly twenty ponies long. It was an impressive machine. Even if it was stationary, the old pre-war vehicle was truly something to behold. Both brothers stood at the machine's side gazing upward at the train. An old water tower with a tube extended out towards the top of the train poured water into the boiler tank; while what looked like the train’s operator was on the top helping the water in.

Eight wheels, connected by long pistons, and long metal pieces covered each wheel in a complex manner. Adam eyed each section of the train blissfully from where he stood. His mouth opened in awe, and eyes wide with wonder.

"It's... Amazing..." Adam whispered in total awe.

Neo didn't see the appeal of the train. But he still smiled, as just standing there letting him observe it was warming to his heart. What did catch his attention was what the train was carrying. Down the tracks right behind the train were several train cars, some of which were old wooden cattle cars, while some were worn red passenger cars.

What made the matter more interesting was that ponies were coming off of the passenger cars. However, it was only a few ponies, but the fact of the matter still remained. They were passengers, and they had rode the train.

Neo looked around them, hoping there would be somepony around who could tell them how to get on. That was, of course if the train headed north. Next to them was a train platform, one that looked as though it was used for civilians before the war. Across from that were three large wooden buildings, each of them being side by side.

The building to the far left had on top of it a large multi-colored neon sign with the words "saloon" blazed in different colors. It was just the second O in the sign that didn't seem to be completely lit, as it flickered on and off sporadically.

The middle building looked like a casino, even if it looked more like an old one story farming home. Posters with Legion propaganda and fighting ledgers with the names of tens of different ponies covered the outside walls.

Lastly, the building to the far right was a two story motel. A humble little porch stood out in the front, with ponies peacefully rocking back and forth in old rocking chairs.

Though, Neo jumped suddenly as the sound of the train's whistle blew loudly next to him. Which convinced him to ask his brother about riding the train, "Hey Adam, do you think this train heads north?"

Adam stopped his scan of the train, and faced his brother cocking his head to one side, "Huh, I'm not sure. But how cool would it be to actually ride it! I can only imagine how that would be."

"Well," Neo said looking back at the train platform, "let's see if it heads north. We just might be able to catch a ride northward."

"But how are we going to get on?"

"Come on, I've got an idea on how we might be able find out." Neo said making his way to the platform.

Adam followed next to his brother closely, while he himself was curious about what his brother was doing. And as they came up to the platform they saw a small booth, with a bored looking unicorn stallion mundanely staring out his cracked window. Next to the booth was a small bell, which Neo rang.

In an instant the booth pony suddenly snapped to attention, and upon seeing the two brothers returned to his dull expression. "Yeah? What do you want?" The stallion asked monotonously.

"Um, yeah... Hi, I was wondering if the train goes north... Does it?" Neo asked.

The stallion rolled his eyes, "Yes it does, all the way up to Maneton. Where are you two heading?"

"We're heading to Silvermane tower, sir. Will it get us close to there?" Adam asked resting his hooves on the small counter in front of the booth.

"Well, I suppose you could just take it to Maneton, and from there get up to Silvermane. The tower is directly north of Maneton after all."

"How far?" Neo asked once again.

The stallion gave them only a dull sleepy expression while he shook his head at them, "Well, it isn't far. Twenty miles, maybe..."

Neo looked down to his brother, who in return looked back up to him. "Adam, you think that will work? It should save us time. Maneton is a long way away, and if it's a straight shot from Maneton this might be the best option."

Adam thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement. "We'll be just heading back to where we started, but at least we'll be close to Silvermane. And with the train's help, we'll get there in no time."

"Do you want to ride the train or not?" The pony insisted rudely.

Neo smiled at his brother, and turned back to booth pony. "Yeah, we're going to ride the train."

"You want tickets for just you two right?"

"Yes." Neo replied.

"Okay, five hundred caps please."

Neo's mouth hit the floor in shock, "Five hundred caps!?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

Neo pound his hooves down on the counter in front of him in anger, "Yeah I got a problem with that! That's five hundred caps! That's outrageous!"

"Is there any other way we could get on without paying that much for the tickets?" Adam asked curiously.

"Well..." The pony plainly growled. "You could always use a Legion ticket. Only members of the Legion have them. If you got one I could let both of you get on."

Neo rubbed the side of his head in pure frustration, "Do you know where we could get one?"

The grey unicorn behind the booth shrugged, "Beats me. I just know that if you get one, you and your friend-"

"Brother." Neo corrected him.

"Right... Your brother, can get on." He finished groggily.

"Are you sure there isn't some other way?" Neo insisted.

"Listen," The unicorn said leaning forward, "either you got a Legion ticket, the caps to for the tickets, or are one of the train’s staff, or you ain't getting on."

With his tired eyes, he peered at the two brothers with an inspecting gaze, "I can tell you two don't have any of the three. Seeing as that's the case, scram." He said before pulling a black curtain over the window of the booth.

"Hey!" Neo said knocking on the window furiously.

"What is it? I told you two to scram." The unicorn said peeking slightly out from the side of the curtain.

"Can you at least tell us when the train leaves?"

The booth pony was silent for a moment; then with a quick sleepy tone he said, "It leaves in a few hours. Now, scram." He said finally closing the curtain fully.

"Thanks for nothing, pal." Neo grunted.

"What are we going to do now? We can't get on the train, and there isn't much else we can do here." Adam added.

"Well, we can head to that saloon over there, maybe there's somepony who can give us some parts to help fix up our weapons. Ever since we left Arkcannon, our weapons haven't been in the best of shape."

"That's a good start. But are we going to head back north by hoof right after that?"

Neo sighed, "Probably. Looks like another pretty good walk from here."

Adam lowered his head and also let out his own sigh, "Walking... Yay..."

Though, just after Adam had sighed, they both made their way to the saloon. As the two came up to the saloon, they noticed several carts and wagons parked outside. Along with the carts were several other ponies, who lazily lean against the front wall of the saloon under the large, but rather unstable looking awning of the building.

Like most of the saloons they had been to, this one had the same flap doors that parted as both brothers entered the drinking establishment. Ponies all sat shadily at several tables, not even bothering with making eye contact with anypony else in the room. This solitary feeling that the two brothers felt was clear. So, they both thought it was wise to keep to themselves. That way, once they had got their weapons repaired or found a pony who could give them the supplies to do it themselves, they could go before trouble had started. Caused, or not by them.

A record player was at the far corner of the room, eerily playing a song neither brother had heard before. At the opposite end of the room was a dull looking unicorn bartender. Who for the most part, looked completely devoid of life.

Taking very easy, but calm hoofsteps, both brothers went over to the bar counter to speak to the bartender. While they went to the counter though, Adam had noticed something odd about all of the ponies in the room. Many of them had mechanical limbs. Whether it be on one set of legs, or just a single limb, many of them had them.

Adam could only glance at their limbs for a few seconds. For the owners of mechanical limbs would throw him nasty, or horrible looks. In response he would quickly divert his gaze, and continue walking with his brother.

Neo rested his mechanical foreleg on the counter to support him. "Hi." He said.

The bartender stopped what she was doing and looked at him mundanely, "Yeah? What do you want?"

"Geez, everypony in this town is rude." Neo thought.

Instead of frowning, Neo tried a different approach and tried to smile back at her instead. "Well, we were hoping if there is anypony in town that can help us repair our gear."

She shrugged, and wiped her nose rudely, "Here." She said pulling out an old clipboard from behind the counter.

"There's a lot of your type comin to town. These are ponies you'd be wantin’ to see." And, as if she had not even spoke to them to begin with, she sluggishly continued cleaning mugs.

Neo's smile died, as he looked at the clipboard. "Thanks." He said taking the clipboard.

Together, the two found a small little table along the side of the wall, and sat down at it with the clipboard in front of Neo. Glancing down at the old wooden clipboard, Neo read the names listed.

The names that were listed each had the building the pony resided in, and sadly, upon going through the list quickly, nopony specialized in weapons repair in the bar. Those who could lived either farther out of the settlement, or were listed as gone. One pony, named Dual Shock however, was still in town. And apparently he lived in a house just a half mile outside of the settlement.

"We might want to go see this guy on the list... His name is Dual Shock, and he only lives a half mile out." Neo said.

Adam pulled the clipboard to him, and glanced at it himself, "It also says he specializes in mechanical limb repair too."

"I know, but who knows how much that costs. I'd just be happy if we can get our weapons parts."

As they were talking though, two ponies loudly came through the saloon entrance with large saddlebags jingling noisily. Both of them had neat slicked back manes, and neat black pinstripe jackets. Almost identical in look, both unicorns came parading in with a boastful swagger.

"Jib, my boy, that fight was our finest yet! Just listen to all that money we made! Oooh, the sound of being rich is music to my ears!"

"Here, here, brother!" Said the other stallion.

"In celebration of our success, let me treat you to a drink." Jab, offered with a gracious bow.

Jib shook his head, "Oh, no no no! But you couldn't brother of mine! Let me treat you, I insist."

Jab raised a hoof up to his chin in thought, "It seems we are in a pickle here, brother of mine."

Then, with a flick of his hoof, and a beaming smile on his face he exclaimed, "I know! With our new amount of winnings, let us both buy the other a drink! How does that sound?"

"Haha! You always know how to make the best of deals, dearest brother!" Jab laughed.

By now, there was not a single soul in the saloon not looking at the two overly exuberant stallions. Even if the looks most of the ponies in the saloon gave the two ponies were quick glances, they had the whole saloon's attention.

Adam and Neo turned to them, to see who the loud newcomers were. Just as their eyes gained a fix on them, they turned right back to themselves in a quick panic. Neo folded up the collar of his duster to better protect his face from Jib and Jab. Adam did the same, in fear for his life.

These were the two ponies they had managed to mock in front of Iron Hoof City. If for some reason they found out that they were there all hell could break loose, and neither brother wanted that.

"Brother," Adam whispered, "are those guys who I think they are?"

Neo nodded stiffly, "Yes... And they won't be happy if they find out that we're here."

"Do you think we can sneak out?"

"Maybe, but we'll have to be careful about it." Neo replied inspecting the two stallions movement.

"It looks like they're celebrating something, and if we can just calmly get to the door, we could find this repair pony and get the heck out of here."

Adam gulped nervously. "Alright. Let's try..."

Without making a noise both brothers pushed their chairs back, and crept towards the exit. Each of them tried their best to take advantage of the low lighting in the room by moving between the other tables carefully. Jib and Jab seemed overly indulged with their celebration to notice anything but their drinks, and each other. And over the loud noise of merry laughter getting out out the saloon became much more simpler than either brother would have thought.

And with their final steps past the swinging flap doors, the two managed to get out without being noticed. Sighing in relief, both of them felt the cool dry air hit their coats. "I'm glad they didn't notice us." Neo sighed, huffing softly to calm himself.

Adam nodded feeling his own heart race. "Agreed."

Neo recovered himself, and looked down at his Pipbuck. "Let's just find this Dual Shock guy and get out of here before Jib and Jab decided to come out for a stroll."

Oddly enough, the map of the whole area was loaded onto his Pipbuck. This had happened everywhere they had went, but what puzzled him was how it was even able to do so. Then again, it wasn't a huge concern so he kept such questions to himself.

Like the clipboard had said though, the place Dual Shock lived was not that far away. Not even half a mile away from where they were, which was good considering the distances they had walked before.

Both brothers jumped at the sudden sound of Jib and Jab's voices growing louder. "Brother..." Adam whispered worryingly.

"I'm with you there. Let's get to this guy, and quick." Neo replied before trotting off with his brother off to the place Dual Shock lived.

Though, just as they were on their way, one thing instantly caught Neo's eye. A pony was hanging a wooden sign outside of the arena building. The sign said in weathered white letters, "Mech dual. First to beat Iron Fist wins one of the following: 100 caps, or a two Legion tickets."

A dust cloud formed around Neo's hooves as he slid to a stop facing the sign. Adam didn't notice his brother's abrupt stop, and bumped into him head first. Pulling himself back, Adam rubbed his sore head.

"Brother! Why did you stop?"

Neo seemed dead set on that sign, for not even the collision with Adam didn't seem to bother him. "Brother?" Adam asked worryingly.

"Adam, Dual Shock may have to wait." He said without removing his glance from the sign.

"Why? What about Jib and Jab? They'll see us, and what about our weapons?"

Neo looked down at his little brother and pointed to the arena building, "That place is giving away two Legion tickets."

Adam glanced over to the arena building with an unsure look in his eyes, "Are you sure? Usually those kinds of things come with a catch or something. Don't you remember the last arena we went to?"

"We can at least try. Plus, if we get in there now, Jib and Jab will hopefully pass right by it."

"I guess we can try, but if things start to look bad, we get out of there."

Neo smiled warmly at him, "Okay, I promise."

So, with a steady gallop the both made their way to the arena building. Where hopefully they could find out more about the tickets that the sign had mentioned. With those tickets, they would easily kill days worth of walking, and it would lead them that much closer to their destination. All the while hoping Jib and Jab wouldn’t come their way.

A small bell at the corner of the arena building's door chimed invitingly as both Neo and Adam came inside. The inside was much more different than what they were expecting. In fact, it didn't even seem like an arena at all. Rather, the inside was rather small despite its outside appearance.

To their right was a counter, with a pony like the ticket pony they had encountered earlier. Strangely, he looked just as sleep deprived, and dull as the booth pony. The rest of the building was filled with small circular tables, only illuminated by small candles at their centers. Like in the saloon, a record player playing an oddly slow, and rather unnerving tune sung almost unnoticed by the few who were inside the building.

In one corner of the room was a mysterious looking earth pony mare with an enormous stetson lowered to hide her face from any who looked at her. Though, besides the few other ponies at some of the tables the entire building was quiet and empty. As if something came down and sucked the very life out of room.

It was at the end of the room that caught the brother's attention. For two large luxurious leather seats sat across from one another, with only a thick metal table as a divide between them. Around these chairs was rusty old rope posts that had strung from one another thick red rope.

Neo stepped up to the counter and placed both fore hooves upon it. "Hello?" He said to the pony at the counter.

Lazily the desk pony sighed and addressed him, "Yeah?"

"I noticed your sign outside, and I have some questions about the prizes."

The rather tired looking stallion put one foreleg on the counter and used it to support his head, "Sure, go on."

"Okay... First off, how do I sign up?"

With the hoof he wasn't using he pointed to a roster with blank spots for future contestants. Though, Neo was a little discouraged by his lack of responsiveness, but he continued to ask his questions anyway.

"How much is it to enter? If there's a fee, that is."

In a dull tone of voice he replied, "One hundred caps. If you lose, you lose it all. If others bet on you, you'll get a cut of the bidders money. If no pony bids, you just get a hundred."

"But, if I pay that just to get it back what's the point?"

"Hey, winners make their money off of the bidders and their gambles. If you don't have anypony bidding on you, that’s too bad."

The attitude the counter pony had irritated him, "Are there any bidders today willing to bid on me?"

He shrugged at Neo, "I don't know, you tell me. Ever since Jib and Jab came, they've been screwing every contestant with their friend Iron Fist. If you saw the smug fucks prancing around with a bunch of caps, you know why. Today they were up against Rocky, the best foreleg mecher this side of the north eastern province. Stupid pricks, I had seventy caps on Rocky..."

"Whoa," Neo interjected, "what's a mecher?"

The counter pony picked himself up and stared puzzled at Neo with an eyebrow raised, "Are you telling me you were about to sign up for something you didn't even know about?"

Once he had said it like that, he did realize how silly the mistake he was going to make was. "Uh..."

The pony sniffled, and chuckled briefly before returning to his mundane state. "That's rich, kid. I'd give you somethin’ for that, but the two smug assholes who just won a little bit ago are prancing around town with my cash."

"Anyway, what it is- Wait... I'm getting ahead of myself. Do you got a mech?" He asked Neo.

"A mech?" Neo replied.

"Yeah, you know a foreleg that's all techy and stuff."

Neo rolled up his right sleeve and showed the counter pony his mechanical limb, "You mean like this?"

Quickly the counter pony peered intriguingly at Neo's mechanical limb whilst rubbing the scruff of his chin. "Yeah... Yeah, that's pretty nice. Good quality too, I haven't seen one like that for awhile. Even Rocky's was all scratched and crap..."

Neo had noticed that while he was showing his foreleg to the counter pony it had caught the attention of the mare with the stetson in the corner. Only, once he turned to look at her she quickly averted her gaze from his own, and went back to minding her own business.

"I'm rather proud of it, if I don't say so myself." Adam added.

"Huh," The pony said looking at Adam, "never seen a kid build one before. Especially one this nice. You two are an odd sort. I like that."

Neo put his foreleg back down and rolled down his sleeve, "So, what is a foreleg mecher?"

With one hoof the counter pony scratched his orange shaggy mane, "Have you ever heard of foreleg wrestling?"

"Yeah."

"Well, basically it's like a more extreme version of that. Anypony who participates in foreleg wrestling with their mech is considered a foreleg mecher."

Neo smiled contently, "So I just foreleg wrestle with my foreleg then?"

"Yep."

Neo whipped his brow in relief, "Here I was thinking I was going to fight a huge monster or something again."

"Yeah, no. That's crazy." Replied the counter pony.

"But anyway, to get those prizes you saw on the sign, you're going to need to beat Iron Fist."

"That doesn't sound that bad." Neo said.

"Did you just get here?"

Neo nodded, "Yeah, we did."

"Alright, well, all you need to know is that he's one fucking tough cookie."

"Do you know where I can find him?"

"Well, he's usually with Jib and Jab. I saw him take off towards the inn while they went to the saloon. But I'm sure they're going to regroup soo-"

Just before he was done speaking the door to the building swung open, with three ponies standing in the doorway. One of the ponies was a huge grey earth pony stallion with massive muscles, and an Iron Fist as his cutie mark. Both his forelegs were massive, bulky mechanical machines, like that of a large construction machine. And at both his sides was Jib and Jab, their saddle bags full and jingling merrily.

Iron Fist took a long, loud sniff of the air, "Vat is dis? Dah Fist thinks there are newcomers." He muttered curiously.

Instantly, the two brothers and the counter pony turned their gaze to the new ponies. As soon as both Neo, and Adam's eyes saw just who it was a deep sense of panic overtook them.

Once, Jib and Jab had their shiny eyes on the two they knew who they were, and they smiled devilishly. "You are correct, Mr. Fist, they are newcomers... Very new indeed." Jib cooed slyly.

The three ponies stepped in, and closed the door behind them roughly with Iron Fist giving them a puzzling look. "Do you two know des two?" Iron Fist asked, scratching his head in slight confusion.

Both Jib and Jab came up next to one of the brothers, and slung their slender forelegs on their shoulders. "Why, of course we've met them before! Isn't that right, Jib old boy?"

Jib nudged Adam slightly while retaining his devious smile, "Yes, brother of mine, how could I forget these two? After all, they are the reason we got thrown out of the city."

Ah, crap... Neo thought as they continued to speak, and as they did Neo could see his brother petrified next to him. "In fact, are you two aware of what happened to us when Bloodstrider went to us after that stunt you pulled in the arena?" Jab queried.

Before either of the brothers could answer Jib responded, "Of course they don't, dearest brother! They're far too busy with other matters to care about us! But just so you boys know, ol' Bloodstrider wasn't happy with us. So he kicked us out. For what? Sending you into that godforsaken arena, with little chance of surviving. It was just all in the name of business."

"He didn't see it that way though. So now we live a life here. With Mr. Fist as our key to a new life out in the commoner's land of the Iron Hoof province." Jab finished.

Neo felt annoyed slightly by their presences. Especially the way they spoke to his brother and him. Shrugging off Jib from his shoulder, he glared negatively at them. As Jib stumbled back from the irritated stallion he regally brushed off his clean suit.

With a more somber look about him Jib went back to Iron Fist's side, "I'm sure you rather enjoy hearing about why we're here, but what puzzles us is why you two are here."

Neo was about to speak, and after seeing who Iron Fist really was the very thought of fighting a beast such as him was daunting. Though, it was the counter pony who spoke out before Neo.

"This one here was about to sign up to fight Iron Fist. In fact, we were just talking about where they could find him."

"Well," Jab cheerfully exclaimed clapping his hooves together, "you want to see if you can take on Mr. Fist, do you?"

Iron Fist stood proudly, showing off his left foreleg with a few flexes. "Dah Fist will accept any challenge, at any time! For dah Fist is always ready!"

Adam rolled his eyes at the huge pony. "That's right..." Neo answered quietly.

"If that's the case then..." Jib cooed winking to his brother, "then let us take care of the entry fee! And we'll get you two set up right now. Wouldn't want to keep Mr. Fist waiting now, would we?"

Neo saw how things were getting, and he promised Adam that if things started to look bad to leave. So, he gulped and said, "You really don't need to... Actually, we were just about to go and..."

"No, no no no, my dear boy, we insist!" Jab interjected taking both of them by the shoulder and bringing them to the counter.

"Yes, we highly insist you stay. After all, it would rude to turn down our... Generous offer." Jib sneered.

"I'm sorry, but we-" Neo was rudely interrupted by Jab, who had a small bag of caps in one hoof.

"It's decided! I'm sure you two don't want to wager anything, do you?"

Adam frowned at the two stallions. "No, we don't. We just want to-"

"I didn't think you wanted to wager anything. Wilson! One round between whitey over here, and Mr. Fist please." Jab announced, before putting the bag of caps on the counter forcefully.

"No wagers. Just the two. Winner takes the money."

Wilson, the counter pony, took the small bag of caps and quickly counted the number of caps inside the bag. "Everything seems to be in order."

"Fantastic!" Jib cheered putting a hoof Iron Fist's shoulder.

Wilson put the caps on the counter inside an old box, "Good luck fellas. And Celestia speed, kid."

"Thanks..." Neo muttered sarcastically.

All of the ponies went over to the two luxurious chairs at the end of the room. Adam was by his older brother's side, worryingly looking at him. "Brother, do you think you can do this?"

"I guess I can try. Besides, I have a feeling that if we take off, they'll get muscles over there to get us."

"Then we don't have a choice do we?"

"Yep..."

Adam looked up at the ceiling and whispered to himself, "Please keep brother safe."

Though, once more he looked at Iron Fist's huge mechanical forelegs before returning to gazing up to the ceiling, "Please keep brother really safe..."

Jib opened one of the dividing ropes for the ponies with a wide grin. "After you." He said in an overly friendly tone.

As the ponies came to the metal table, Jab pulled Iron Fist aside, "Listen, when you take on this kid don't hold back. In fact, I'd like you to... Encourage, your forelegs a little more than usual."

The muscular stallion seemed puzzled by the order Jab gave him, "But dah Fist does not understand... Dah Fist's mechs are undefeated, and dat pony is small and-"

Trying to hurry up the conversation Jab quietly interjected him, "I know that! But these two have a knack for doing things others can't. I don't know why or how, but they do. I saw that first hoof at Iron Hoof city. So, you're going to encourage your mechs to do better... Or we'll leave you the same way we found you. Is that understood?"

For a moment Iron Fist seemed troubled by Jab's words, but with a heavy sigh he answered, "Dah Fist understands..."

"Good," Jab chimed quietly taking a screwdriver from his coat, "I understand you like to play with no tricks, and until now, we didn’t need to. But to beat these two we’ll need them, plus there simply isn't any money to be found in playing fair." He said tightening a red bolt on his right mechanical foreleg.

"Now go and make us proud." Jab purred patting Iron Fist on the cheek before carefully concealing the screwdriver back inside his coat.

Neo sat down on one of the soft leather chairs. His stomach churned and twisted with nervousness, but this seemed like the only way he could get those tickets. Even if he needed just one, he could easily sell the other to help pay for even better repairs on all of their gear. That was, if he could beat Iron Fist.

Iron Fist stretched out his right foreleg, making it pop and hiss menacingly. "Are you ready, little pony?"

Deep down inside, Neo knew he wasn't, but he had to try. And while it took some effort, he tried to keep a calm look. "Yeah, I am." He replied in a somber tone.

Jib stood to the side of the table and watched eagerly at the two stallions. "It seems like both you boys are ready. So, without further interruption. Please place your mechs on the table!"

Both contestants placed their mechanical forelegs on the table, "Gentlecolts, what is your prize?" Jib asked.

Iron Fist stared at Neo as he answer, "Dah Fist requires da basic winnings."

"And you son?" Jib asked again leaning towards Neo.

Like Iron Fist, Neo kept his gaze on his opponent. "I want the two Iron Legion tickets."

"Fantastic!" Jib exclaimed, "And now that we have everything in order let's begin! Mechers, get ready!"

Neo and Iron Fist raised their right forelegs and interlocked them, with both of them leaning in close ready to go. "Get set!" Jib continued.

There was a brief pause, and while the silence was present fear, anxiety, and weakness all seemed to vanish from Neo. But that moment was short lived, as Jib said the final word before beginning their match.

"Go!"

Adam watched nervously as within a split second both stallions were now competing. The weight of Iron Fist's foreleg came just as sudden as Jib's start had. Neo could feel the pistons and gears inside his foreleg work fiercely to keep Iron Fist's hoof back. The more he seemed to fight back, the worse Iron Fist's force on his own limb seemed to be.

It was tiring, but then again, it also appeared that Iron Fist himself was growing tired. This little sign of fatigue was a glimmer of hope for him. If only he could last out a bit longer he could beat Iron Fist. Even if Neo himself didn't think he could last longer, it was his only shot at winning. And it was a shot he was willing to take.

Jib and Jab watched uncomfortably at Iron Fist's current state, and while it looked like Neo wasn't doing any better, it still troubled them. So, inconspicuously Jib nudged Iron Fist's back. At first Iron Fist didn't notice, after a few seconds though it was clear what they wanted him to do.

With vigorous force Iron Fist pushed hard against his opponent. And Neo felt it. The once great weight intensified by five. What made matters worse for him, was the noises his foreleg was making. It wheezed and hissed unnaturally, while the gears cracked and grind in an unnerving way.

With a little more force onto his foreleg he felt something pop, which was followed by a sharp pain. It was with that, that his hoof came crashing down onto the hard metal surface of the table.

With large devious grins Jib went over to Iron Fist's right foreleg and lifted it up for all to see. "And we've got ourselves a winnah!!!"

Even though Iron Fist had won, his facial expression said otherwise as it looked agitated and angry by his victory. Neo could hardly move his foreleg, and every time he did a sore feeling followed by a cringing grinding could be heard. Jib and Jab both stood at the red ropes with Iron Fist sadly walking next to them.

"Brother, are you okay?" Adam urgently asked rushing to his side.

"Yeah," Neo moaned clutching his foreleg with the other hoof, "it's hard to move it though..."

Both of the well suited ponies chuckled merrily to themselves giving Neo and Adam a gracious bow, "It was fun boys, it truly was." Jab said.

"But sadly it is time for us to depart." Jib added.

With a cheerful swing they turned towards the exit with their champion, and strode off boastfully. As they went by the counter Wilson gave them their winnings before promptly leaving the building whistling. Once they were gone, the building was once again silent. Leaving nothing but the soft sound of ponies murmuring to one another about what had just happened.

Adam returned to his brother with worry in his voice. "How hard is it to move it?"

Neo's foreleg hissed and squealed as he tried to get off the table and stand up. It was hard trying to keep his balance, but once he had found a good position to rest his foreleg he sighed.

"I can’t move it too well. But, I can't say I'm surprised. I mean with forelegs like that he must be able to move mountains."

"I disagree," Adam said pulling out some of his tools from his back, "for a moment there I knew you were going to win."

Getting low to the ground Adam went to work on his brother's foreleg, "Didn't you see him though? He beat me."

"There was something going on, I saw Jib put something in his coat after he pulled Iron Fist aside."

Neo watched as his brother went into the fine inner workings of his foreleg. "Are you saying they cheated?"

Adam nodded, "I can't say I blame you for thinking that. That's what Jib and Jab are good at."

As Adam continued to work, he felt several short, but sharp pains in his foreleg causing him to flinch, "Did you find out what was wrong?"

With a heavy sigh Adam backed away from his brother's foreleg, "That's just great..."

"What?"

While putting his tools away Adam explained, "Well whatever tension that stallion put on your foreleg really did a number on some of the rotary gears. Not to mention some of the nerve receptors are damaged."

"Can you fix it?"

With another sigh Adam looked down at his brother, "Not without the proper pieces."

Putting one hoof for his brother, Neo took his brothers hoof. Pulling back on his brother’s good foreleg Adam managed to help his brother up. And, with his metal foreleg slung around his younger brother’s shoulder, he managed to keep himself up.

Neo lowered his head, "And I'm guessing if we stay here much longer they'd do something else for a laugh. Those bastards..."

"You're probably right." A voice called from behind them.

It was hard to turn around, but along with the help from his brother, Neo managed to get himself into a good position to see who it was. "What?"

The mare with the stetson got up from her chair, and walked over to them. "Ever since those two came to town they've been cleaning a lot of us out of our money. And no money means mechers can't fix themselves. And that's bad news for me."

Both brothers blinked at the mare, "And who are you?" Neo replied.

The mare adjusted her stetson slightly, "The name is Dual Shock. I'm the town's local mech mechanic."

Adam was intrigued by her occupation. While they did hear about how she worked on repairs, it was interesting to see a pony who worked on repairing mechanical limbs.

Adam shifted his brother’s foreleg slightly before responding to her, "We've heard of you. We were hoping to pay you a visit and get our gear fixed. Oh, and you wouldn't happen to have a gearlock model 67 by any chance?"

Dual Shock came over to Adam, and leaned in closely to his older brother’s foreleg, inspecting it carefully. "When you were showing Wilson your foreleg I couldn't help but notice how nice it looked."

Neo blushed embarrassingly, "Uh... Thanks?"

"Did you make it yourself?" She asked Adam.

Adam nodded, "That's right, I did make it.. This is the second version though. I managed to build this one in Iron Hoof with vast amounts of supplies they had there."

"Hmm," She purred cheerfully with a smile, "Well, you did an awfully good job. Though, I can tell you that if you would have adjusted the pressure systems on the nerves the reactions would be stronger."

Adam used his free hoof and facehoofed himself, "Great! I knew something was off with the pressure, it was such a simple fix too!"

"To answer your question though, yes I do have a gearlock model 67. But only one."

Both Neo and Adam's faces lit up hopefully, "We're willing to pay for it. How much are you selling it for?" Neo asked.

Dual Shock tipped her stetson and grinned, "I'll do it for free, on one condition."

They both nodded at her, but it was Neo who replied. "What is it you need us to do?"

"I need you to fight Iron Fist again. And win."

Upon hearing what she wanted both of their jaws nearly hit the ground, "What?! But I couldn't beat him last time, and even with my foreleg repaired I'm not sure if I could take him on."

"Listen," She added, "they tightened the pressure on his nerve sensors. That was the reason you lost. But I believe that if I gave your arm a little... Extra, something you could beat him."

"Wouldn't that be cheating?" Adam said.

"Yes, it would be. Just hear me out first. Ever since they came to town they started waving around Legion mecher badges, claiming they were mechers for the Legion. I'm not even sure that's a real position, but the Legion soldiers that come through town seem to believe it's real. So, they've been prancing around beating every mecher that comes through town, and getting filthy rich off of them. What's worse is that without an even amount of mechers traders won't come to town, and those caravans are the only way I can get my supplies."

She sighed heavily before continuing, "My point is, business around here has died since they've been here. And we'll all starve and go broke if we don't do something. With the last of my mecher parts, and you two I believe we can beat them."

"So, what happens when we beat them?" Adam added.

"I heard you two wanted Legion tickets. Well, if you beat them you'll get your tickets. But the real prize here is their mecher badges. If you can convince them into bidding them, and you win them they'll have to leave town."

Both brothers thought about it, and after looking around the town they could see how Jib and Jab had managed to suck the life out of it. Doing this would get them closer to Silvermane, and in helping themselves they helped the town. As far as they could see, her plan seemed solid.

"What do you say? Will you help a gal out?" She asked warmly.

Neo looked at his brother, who in returned looked back at him. "We'll help you. But it's going to be hard to get me around."

"Don't worry," she said helping Adam support Neo, "once we get back to my place I'll have you fixed up as good as new."

The door to Dual Shock's home creaked loudly as they entered. Neo limped, with both his brother and Dual Shock giving him support as they held him. Upon seeing the interior of Dual Shock's home, Adam was taken completely aback by everything around him. Mechanical limbs, and metal foreleg exoskeletons hung from beams along the ceiling, and counters and tables were crowded with piles of old technology. From scrap, to old non-functioning terminals the mare had it all. Even her single bed had some sort of tools, or parts on top of it. For Adam, walking into the single room building was like walking into his own bedroom back in the stable.

"Here," Dual Shock said directing them to a chair, "we'll rest him here. I'll get my stuff together to help repair your brother's leg."

They rested Neo down on the chair with his mechanical foreleg resting on a small clearing on the table. "You've got quite a place here." Neo said looking around.

"Yeah, it's a chaos, but that's just the way I like it." Dual shock replied while searching through an old toolbox.

Adam looked up in awe at all the various blueprints, and exoskeletons she had. "I thought you said you didn't have pieces or equipment. But look at all of this! You have enough parts here to build as many limbs as you want!"

Taking a tool belt she placed several tools from the toolbox onto the belt before answering, "Look again. It may look like I've got parts to spare, but the fact of the matter is what you see is crap, scrap, or both. Hardly none of it is actual mech building equipment I can use to create or repair any finished works."

Pulling a chair up to the table, she sat down and began working on Neo's foreleg. "I'm really hoping these modifications I make to his mech really take down Iron Fist," She said opening his mechanical foreleg, "those guys really need to be taught a lesson."

"It wouldn't be the first time." Neo added.

Dual shock shot him a curious look, "Oh?"

Adam cleared a small spot on one of the counters for himself, and said, "Back in Iron Hoof, there was an arena they worked at. We were just trying to run a small errand for a friend when they pulled us aside and put us into the arena. I think it was to settle something with a group called Tiger Company, or something."

"Yeah, I've heard of that place. Never been to the arena in Iron Hoof myself, but I heard few if any really do come out alive." Dual Shock said taking the gearlock model 67 out of her belt.

"Not only that, but I can see why they would put some random pony into the arena. You do not want to piss off Tiger Company."

"Why is that?" Neo asked.

"Because," She said before pausing to take out the old damaged gearlock out of his foreleg, "they might be nice guys, but don't let their calm nature or blindness get to you. If you piss off even one of them, they'll kill you without hesitation. And you’ll be gone faster than you could blink. Period."

"What about Iron Fist? Last time we saw Jib and Jab he wasn't with them."

"What I heard was that he was some traveling show pony. He did tricks for money, like lift heavy objects and that sort of stuff. He's actually a very nice guy, a little competitive maybe, but a nice guy."

Adam recalled the way Iron Fist looked after the match Neo had with him, "He did look a bit disappointed with himself."

"I wouldn't blame him, he may beat everypony, but he's done so without any aid. Your match was the only time I've seen those weasels tweak his mechs to win."

Neo frowned at the thought of Jib and Jab, "All those bastards wanted was to see my leg break. Get a good laugh at seeing me all busted up."

Pulling a socket wrench out of her tool belt, Dual Shock started tightening a section of his foreleg forcefully, "Hey! Could you be a little more gentle? That's my foreleg you're working on."

"Well, if you two want those tickets, then I'm gonna have to be a little rough, kiddo." Dual shock grunted tightening a bolt on the inside of his foreleg.

She was right, and while it did cause him to feel an annoying dull pain in his arm he tried to ignore it. "I'm not a kid, I'm a fully grown stallion..."

"Okay... Well, I'm almost done." She muttered tiredly twisting the wrench one last time.

With a quick wipe of her brow, she closed up his foreleg. "And... there. Good as new. This one won't break for sure, and if it does you must be moving mountains or something."

Neo stood up feeling the dulled pain slowly fade away. The feeling was odd, his foreleg felt lighter, stronger, and more sensitive to his actions than before. Even with a calm canter, his leg felt new.

"Wow." Neo cooed in awe walking around with it.

Feeling the smooth and almost noise free movement made him feel like a new stallion. Dual Shock herself leaned on the side of a counter watching him test the improvements she made with a boastful grin.

"Like the way it feels?"

"Yeah, definitely." Neo smiled, still feeling the smoothness of his foreleg.

Adam chuckled a little at his brother's reaction to the improvements Dual Shock had made. It was always nice to see him happy. In the stable, little things like this made Neo as giddy as a foal during hearths warming eve. And it always made his spirits lift seeing his brother happy.

"You think you're ready to take on Iron Fist?"

Neo tested the automatic blade in his hoof, and like a dream it unsheathed itself smoothly before quickly retracting itself. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Let's not keep them waiting then!" Dual Shock cheered trotting off towards the door.

Both brothers nodded at her, and made their way to the door. Adam could tell that the improvements she had made to Neo's foreleg would help. Though, while it was nice to see his brother happy, he couldn't help but think what would become of Jib and Jab afterwards. This was their way of life, but then again, it was because of it that the small settlement suffered. The time for the rematch was getting closer, and he needed to be there to support his brother. Even if he felt inside him that cheating was wrong.

All of the ponies in the dark musty saloon were silent, as Jib and Jab laughed exuberantly with full mugs in their hooves. Iron Fist sat quietly in between the two overjoyed stallions, who at their table continued to celebrate their victory over Adam and Neo.

Iron Fist gently rocked his full mug back and forth in thought, as the disgracing feeling of cheating still lingered inside him.

"Oh! I just can't get over it, brother of mine! I mean, I would pay double the entry fee just to see those poor saps lookup at us in defeat again!" Jib chortled.

"Why, I believe the blue one was even shaking when we finished the match!" Jib's brother added laughing.

"Shaking? Like a young filly?" Jab added.

"I dare say so, dearest brother."

They both stared at each other for a moment before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter. As they enjoyed their merriment, both of them noticed the lack of enthusiasm from Iron Fist.

Punching his shoulder playfully Jib smiled at the concealed stallion. "Why, Mr. Fist old boy, whatever does seem to be the matter with you? Aren't you happy that you beat those silly kids? You do like a good challenge. So, what's the matter?"

"It vas not dah honorable vay, to break another pony’s leg cheating..." He muttered in a low, agitated tone.

Both brothers chuckled at his response, "Honorable? My boy, when you're in this business honorable is not a word you should even have in your vocabulary." Jab snickered.

"Maybe, vee should leave dis town be. Dah Fist thinks that he might be done fighting."

"Heh," Jib chuckled glaring at him, "We won't leave. This place is a goldmine! Besides, until you get beat, we own you. Or would you rather go back to struggling to find a job? Lifting carts, and working in gang controlled mines for days on end for a living. Is that what you want?"

"That's right, Mr. Fist. We've got you under contract." Jab added in a threatening tone.

Iron Fist didn't reply. But instead he thought about what it would be like if he went back to the way things were before he had met them. Was a life on the road entertaining others that bad?

Not wanting to wait another second for a response, Jib and Jab patted him on the back. "That's right. We're your friends, and as long as you're with us, you'll never have to worry about anything." Both of them said in unison.

A loud sudden boom at the entrance of the saloon caught their attention. With all eyes on the entrance, bright white light from the outside flooded the inside of the normally dark saloon. In the blinding light stood three figures. Close together, with an intimidating aura surrounding them.

Jab pushed his chair aside and stood up in puzzled awe at the three ponies at the entrance. Stepping into the building, the three ponies at the saloon's doorway came into the room. Their faces now visible with the closing of the flapping doors.

Once Jib and Jab saw their faces, the cocky grins they had before returned. "Ah, did you come back for another serving?" Jib sneered.

And wrapping his foreleg around his brother, Jab added, "And what is this? You've brought Dual Shock as well? Ha! Maybe she fixed them up with those parts she doesn't have, or maybe she wants to bet on us. After all, there's no pony within nor outside of the province that can beat Iron Fist. Isn't that right, brother of mine?"

"Well said! I say well said!" Jab laughed.

Dual Shock stomped right up to their laughing faces, fury raging in her eyes. "No thanks to you two that I've got little to no business!"

Both of the slick stallions averted their gaze from her own, and admired the silver cufflinks on their clean pinstriped coats. "Well, that may be. But you and that sad excuse of a set of brothers over there are here for a reason. After that rather dramatic entrance, you must be in here for something." Jab replied discourteously.

"The question, dearest brother of mine, is what they want." Jib added.

"We want a rematch." Neo demanded.

"A rematch?" Both of the stallions chuckled to each other in unison.

"Well, I do think that they want another serving of cold humiliation." Jab stated with a snicker.

Whilst still inspecting his cuffs Jib added, "It would seem so. Although, if you want a rematch, you'll have to pay to enter. We're not feeling as generous as we were earlier today."

"Fair enough." Neo answered.

Jib pranced over to Iron Fist, who was still seated, and smacked his back robustly, "Seeing as all that is arranged, we'll meet you at the mech building in... Oh, say, thirty minutes? Just so Mr. Fist can... Warm up, before the match."

Neo glared bitterly at Jib and Jab, who simply stared back at him with smug grins. Without saying anything back to either of them, Neo turned back to the entrance and trotted off with Dual Shock following behind him. Before Adam followed Dual Shock and his brother though, he saw Iron Fist sit grimly looking back at him.

He recalled what Dual Shock had said about Iron Fist's honor, and it was clear that ever since that match Jib and Jab's cheating had really affected him. So, like his brother, he said nothing and made his own way to the door.

The doors closed calmly once Adam had left the saloon. And with the sly brothers alone with their champion, their smug grins faded to sour frowns. "Apparently, one time wasn't enough for them." Jib growled.

"This time, we'll make sure his leg snaps in two. Then not even that stupid bitch can fix it." Jab continued.

"So," Jib said with a smile pulling out the screwdriver from his dress coat pocket, "let's make sure that's what happens."

Coming over to Iron Fist with the screwdriver in hoof, Jib took Iron Fist's right foreleg and prepared to tighten it. As he was about to begin Iron Fist pulled himself away slightly from Jib.

Jib smiled uneasily at him, "Now, now. You're ours, remember? And if we say fight, you fight. If we say win..."

Jab stepped behind Iron Fist and pushed him gently back towards his brother, "You win..." He finished.

“And if we want you to snap his leg in two.”

“You’ll do so, without question.”

"After all, m'boy," Jib cooed starting to tighten the tension bolts, "you do love challenges. And you'll beat that sad excuse for a mecher. And you will win."

The arena building creaked loudly, as the howling wind outside caused the building to shift. For the corner, where Dual Shock had sat at before, was where all three of them waited. Neo was becoming anxious waiting inside. He tapped his hoof rapidly on the old weathered table as they waited.

Looking down at his Pipbuck Neo sighed, "It's been thirty minutes... Where are they?"

"Maybe they changed their minds." Adam answered.

"I knew they were dishonest, but I never thought they'd lie about not showing up. They did seem rather enthusiastic about showing up. I even payed for the match already."

Dual Shock laid back in her chair, and put her stetson over her face, "They'll show up." She yawned.

Adam felt warm inside the building, and the inviting thought of a cool breeze compelled him to get up from his seat. With a deep sigh, he lifted up his forelegs and stretched them tiredly.

"Brother, I think I might go outside for a few minutes. Let the cool air wake me up."

Neo instantly sat up, and looked at his brother with concern, "Adam, are you sure? They haven't shown up yet, and-"

Adam gave him a reassuring smile, "I'll be fine. Besides, if they don't show up in a few minutes you can come join me."

Relaxing himself back in his chair he still kept a concerned look about him, "I trust your judgement. And if they don't show up in a few minutes, we'll leave. It'll be sad that we're going to have to walk the whole way there."

"I'll see you in a few minutes then, brother." Adam said turning himself to the door.

Neo rested his foreleg lazily on the table, "I'll stay here with Dual Sock then..."

Upon the end of his sentence Dual Shock began snoring loudly. Neo cringed slightly at the coarse noise of her snoring. "Though, if she continues snoring like this, we might as well head out sooner..."

Adam laughed briefly before making his way outside. When he was opening the door though, he could instantly tell the difference between the air inside, and the air outside. It was cool and crisp. And while the dust in the air was still present Adam grew used to it. Not only this, but inside the arena building it as like breathing heavy thick earth.

Outside, it was significantly clearer. Taking a deep refreshing breath of the air Adam sat down and glanced at the enormous black train across from them. The machine still fascinated him. Just the sheer thought of the how it worked boggled his mind.

"It is nice, ya?" A low, yet calming voice said next to him.

The mysterious voice caught him off guard, causing him to flinch in sudden panic. "What?" Adam replied seeing who had spoke to him.

And there, standing no more than a mare's length away from him was Iron Fist. Alone. "Dah train. It is nice, no?" Iron Fist asked raising an eyebrow at him.

Adam was baffled by his presence. Yet there he stood, right next to him, but neither Jib nor Jab were anywhere to be seen. "Yeah, it is nice... But, where is Jib and Jab?"

Iron Fist looked back towards the saloon and frowned, "Dey vanted to drink some victory drinks before coming. Dey'll be here soon. I came slightly early, you know to... How do I say dis? Take a break from dem."

"Are they that tough?" Adam asked sliding over for Iron Fist.

"Ya.." He sighed sadly.

Iron Fist looked puzzled at Adam's action, "Come on, sit down with me." Adam said in a friendly tone patting the spot next to him.

At first the stallion hesitated, but with careful motions he took the spot next to Adam. Who compared to him was four times smaller than himself.

"You look sad. What's the matter?" Adam asked.

Iron Fist twiddled his massive iron hooves nervously, "Vell, I like a good challenge. But ven I am forced to cheat. Bleh, it dishonors my name. As a mecher... As a performer, and as a stallion."

"I know they did something to make your forelegs stronger to beat my brother the last time. Is that what they're doing again?"

"Ya, look for yourself." Iron Fist said showing him the huge pressure tubes on his forelegs.

With his other hoof Adam tried moving them around. However as he tried the metal tubes didn't seem to move. "As hard as rocks. Dah pressure is turned up, and so I have more power."

"Have you cheated before?"

He shook his head, hanging his head low. "No... Before I fight your brother, I beat opponents with my strength, and skill. Dey are desperate to win though, and dey told me to break your brother's leg dis time."

"But you can't break his leg! He's my brother, and I've already seen it get smashed once..."

Adam looked down for a moment remembering, "And I don't want to see that happen again."

"I don't vant to break his leg though." Iron Fist added.

"Then don't, only you can choose what to do."

"Dey have my hooves tied. If I don't vin, I go back to struggling to get by."

"But are you happy now? Doing their dirty work, so that they can live happily?"

"I need to be beat to break my contract. And nopony has been able to do dat."

Adam looked up at him with a hopeful glisten in his eyes. "But are you happy now?"

"No." He sighed.

"I heard that before you were a mecher you were a heavy lifting performer. Is that true?"

"Ya, I did dat at von point. And it vas glorious."

Iron Fist stood up and remembered, back before Jib and Jab. It was as if he was back in time, even the sounds of the ponies cheering could be heard as he thought back. "Ponies clapped their hooves to see me do da impossible! To lift great carts in da air, and flip over large objects with dah greatest of ease! And dey would cheer. Oh, how dey would cheer..."

Watching him remember was enchanting, though as he finished his mood became somber once more. Sitting down with on the wooden porch he sighed, "I vas loved. Though it came at a price. Mainly I got tips from ponies, no real money. So it vas hard to get by. I did get by, but it vas hard."

"But," Adam cooed, "you were happy, right?"

Iron fist looked down at Adam and gave him a small smile. "I guess I vas... Happy."

"Then you don't have to live like this. You could go to Iron Hoof, or to some towns and perform."

Looking down at his large, powerful metal hooves he thought hard about what he had said. "Dese hooves were made for performing. Not meching. Could I make it in da city?"

Adam smiled at him again and patted one of his massive forelegs. "Bad things happen because we choose to not do anything about them. But when we choose to do something about these things, we can be happy that we made sure they didn't happen."

"Thank you, small pony. Your words warm dah Fist.”"

"You're welcome." Adam said rubbing the back of his neck with a smile.

"What do we have here! Hic!" A sluggish voiced called to the two.

It was Jib and Jab, forelegs slung over both their shoulders with huge goofy grins on their faces. One thing that caught Adam's eye though, was their uneasy swaying.

"Well, I do say, deasht brother of mine, that," Jab paused for a moment to burp, "Mr. Fist decided to come firsht."

As usual Jib added, "That's a good boy. Helping hish bosses by showing up... Hic! Early..."

"Well, we've had our fun... Now! Let's go and... Win this, thing..." Jab mumbled.

Adam and Iron first followed them into the arena building. All the while making sure they kept a fair distance from Jib and Jab, who swayed and stumbled jaggedly.

As soon as they had entered, Neo stood up and tapped Dual Shock on the shoulder to wake her. In a startling panic, she awoke. Just barely catching herself from before falling off her chair she shot up, and scanned the area around her.

It took her no more than a few seconds to spot Jib and Jab, stumbling, and shuffling their way over to them. Just as they had made their way to Dual Shock and Neo, they paused. Both of the drunken stallions glanced over at the ponies in the corner, and quickly directed their attention to Wilson.

"Wilson m'boy..." Jib muttered leaning against the counter, "did these ponies pay already?"

With a dull nod, he remained silent. "Excellent!" Jab exclaimed.

Jib looked at his brother, a goofy smile frozen on his face, "Dearest brother... I'm feeling lucky today... Are you?"

Jab had the exact same dumbfounded smile his brother had. "Yes indeed I am... Brother of mine... Hic!"

Lazily he twirled his head back to Wilson, "Can we still place bets?"

Like before, Wilson did not vocally reply, but instead tiredly nodded at him. "Good..." Jib purred in a drunken slur.

With a single hoof, Jib fished around clumsily in his saddlebag. The way both brothers had acted was bewildering. Even Iron Fist, who had been with them for days seemed to be completely taken back by their drunken behavior.

In an instant, Jib awed with glee as with a single hoof he pulled a rather large bag of caps out from his bag. Forcefully dropping the bag on the counter, Jib and his brother stepped back.

"Two hundred..." Jib mumbled.

The smell of alcohol on them was strong, and it lingered in Wilson's nostrils. Waving his hoof in front of his face Wilson, leaned closer to collect the caps Jib and Jab wanted to bet.

“Is that all you are going to bet?”

Adam remembered what Dual Shock has said about their badges. If he stepped in at that moment he could possibly get them to bid them.

“Say,” Adam added in a friendly tone, “those badges look nice. Maybe you could bet those too. Just a thought really.”

In their drunken state, their senses were dulled and the idea to them sounded good. They both nodded to each other, each taking the badges off of their cloths and placing them on the counter.

“These, too... They’re shiny, and valuable.”

Wilson gave the two stallions a troubled stare, as if the very sight of their behavior bothered him. “Alright... If you two are willing to bet those too...”

Using one hoof Wilson slid the badges into a box, and held the bag of caps in a hoof feeling the weight of the caps inside. As before, he did not say anything after taking the money. Rather, he motioned his head for them to continue to the mecher table to begin the round.

They bowed, hooves still slung over the other's shoulder, as they proceeded to the mecher table. "Let's get this over with." Jib grumbled.

"Ah, don't worry... Hic! Brother of mine. With their caps I'll buy us some rounds. How's about that?"

With a dumb nod Jib smiled, "Oh, you are too much..." He ended with a brief giggle.

Dual Shock lifted the crimson rope and one by one, each pony stood around the square table. Neo and Iron Fist both stared intensely at each other as they made their way to the chairs. And, without breaking eye contact, they both sat down.

Dual Shock stood at the table's side, before checking both sides quickly. Jib and Jab let go of each other and went to Iron Fist. Both brothers had took one of Iron Fist's sides. Both of them leaned their head's in closely to his own; almost to the point that Iron Fist could hear, and feel their breathing.

Jib chuckled, and whispered in his ear, "Remember..."

"We own you." Jab added giggling.

"We say you win."

"And you will." Jab finished.

And with a few gentle pats on his huge mechanical forelegs they pulled away and watched. "Are the contestants ready?" Dual Shock asked.

She first looked to Neo, who in response nodded. "Are you ready?" She asked Iron Fist.

At first he didn't notice her question, for the things that Jib and Jab had said to him rattled, festered, and bothered his mind. "Hey? Are you ready?" She tried asking him once more.

Shaking his head to clear his mind Iron Fist nodded. "Ya. Dah Fist is ready."

Dual Shock raised her hoof in the air, "Then, when I say go, you may start. Ready?"

Both Neo and Iron Fist placed their right forelegs onto the table. "Set?"

Locking them together in an upright position they both continued to concentrate on the other. Adam leaned next to his brother's ear and whispered reassuringly to him. "You can do it brother. I know you can."

Neo gulped, not giving a response. Sweat running down his brow while the tension grew. Iron Fist looked equally as nervous. Though, Neo didn't know why. After all, he was bigger, bulkier, and tougher than him. What reason was there to be nervous?

Quickly waving her hoof in the air Dual Shock shouted, "Go!"

Instantly, all thoughts evacuated his mind. It took less than a second for Iron Fist to react, and like before the sound of tightening metal, and pressured gears could be heard. What was surprising to Neo was how much easier it seemed to resist Iron Fist. It turned out that those modification Dual Shock had did to his foreleg really did help. This way, lasting longer in the match might be simple. And finally, he felt like he could win for sure.

Neo could hear his brother mutter encouraging comments to himself as the match went on. But already he could feel the strain of Iron Fist's forceful push tire him.

Iron Fist was in thought as the match went on. He could see Jib and Jab greedily rubbing their hooves from the corner of his eye. Just sneering, and hiccuping to themselves as they imagined seeing Neo's foreleg snap in half. As Iron Fist was thinking, the threats they had made earlier to him rang clearly.

"We own you."

"You'll win."

"If we say fight, you fight. I we say win, you win."

He closed his eyes and grit his teeth, feeling the threats become strength. Neo grunted loudly as his foreleg creaked noisily. Inch, by inch, Neo's foreleg moved to the right. Trying his best to retaliate Iron Fist decided to open his eyes.

The first thing he saw when he did was Adam, and the sad, worried look he had for his brother. Then suddenly, the words Adam had said to him could be heard. Those kind things he had told him out on the porch.

And the thoughts of ponies cheering for his spectacular performances flashed before him. It was in this instant that he knew what needed to be done.

So, with a relaxing sigh he let go of all power he had in his foreleg. Instantly Neo could feel the difference in pressure, and took the moment to act. Quickly, Neo put all the force he could muster into one push. Closing his eyes Neo gave it all he had, and within seconds he felt metal hit metal. Followed, by a loud bang from the table's surface.

One eye at a time, Neo carefully opened his eyes to see what had happened. Down on the table, with both of their mechanical fore hooves locked was something that surprised him. Everypony in the room watched speechless at the sight in front of them. For it was Neo's foreleg that rested on top of Iron Fist's.

At first, Dual Shock found it hard to speak. As she sat there though, sinking in what was in front of her she smiled, and in a joyous uproar she exclaimed, "That's it folks! We've got a winner!"

Neo chuckled briefly, feeling a warming sensation of contentment inside him. Adam rushed over to his brother and hugged him tightly.

"You did it, brother! You did it!" Adam shouted lifting his brother out of his chair for only a moment.

Out of his chair Neo stood there, as Adam let him go before patting his older brother on the back a few times. Like Adam, Dual Shock tipped her stetson to him with a smile, before giving him a few pats of her own.

Neo grinned, diverting his attention to Jib and Jab. Who, stared wide-eyed, and jaws hanging low from their heads. Iron Fist turned around in his, chair with one foreleg resting on the back of the chair, a mocking smirk on his face.

"B-but, how... I mean, what..." Jib and Jab muttered together.

"Heh," Dual Shock laughed stepping towards them with a cocky victorious sneer, "well boys. Looks like you're not having such a good day after. Wouldn't you say?" She finished mockingly beating her eyelashes at them.

Rage started to consume the two brothers, "Mr. Fist! Take these three out of here! Show them what happens when you mess with us!" Jab bursted in a drunken rage.

"Do it! Get them out of here!" Jib added shouting.

Everypony in the room did nothing but watch the two pant and breathe profusely in complete rage. Both were shaking with anger. Their neatly slicked back manes now frazzled and wild. Their coats, now loose and uneven.

Both now confused stallions stared back at the four ponies with contempt. "Well? Do it! We own you!" Jib desperately added.

Standing up from his chair Iron Fist cracked his neck. "Dah Fist does not take orders from you anymore. If you didn’t notice, your badges are gone."

Urgently, the two brothers patted themselves down in panic looking for the badges, only to find nothing. “But.... But...” They both stammered.

"We have a contract!" Jab screamed in desperation.

His massive forelegs hummed ferociously as he came closer to Jib and Jab. With each step he took, Jib and Jab, ears flattened, and bodies low to the ground, looked up at the massive stallion. Who, in return, looked down at them menacingly.

In an intimidating snort he grunted, "Not anymore. I lost. My contract vith you, is kaput."

Stomping his hooves on the ground, he stared deeply into their frightened eyes. "Go. Now." He growled.

Like frightened dogs they stumbled and tripped over each on their way to door, and with the alcohol still in their systems their tumbling seemed more clumsy.

"And don't come back, you bastards!" Dual Shock called to them as the two stallions slam the door behind them.

Dual Shock chuckled, "'Once ponies hear that those two are gone, life's gonna start right back up here. Just wait and see."

Neither Neo nor Adam could hold back their smiles. The very thought of making the train town a better place was uplifting. Even Adam could see that Iron Fist was at peace, because now he no longer had to worry about being controlled by them. He was free of their greedy, dishonorable way of life.

However, from the corner of his eye Neo saw Wilson groggily walk towards him with a bag in his hooves, and two rectangular metal plates in his mouth.

His tired, dark eyes looked at him, "Take da ticesh."

Neo blinked at him, and took the two metal plates from his mouth. Wilson moved his jaw around for a moment before replying. "Also, take these. You not only won the entry money, but the two hundred those two bid, and those badges... Congratulations..."

The bag was heavy as he gave it to Neo. "Thanks." He grunted.

"Whatever." Wilson moaned going back to his counter.

Putting the bag and badges on the ground, Neo glanced down at tickets he had in the other hoof. Adam though, was more than eager to see them. He moved his face close to the two metal tickets his brother held with large excited eyes. Adam's excitement was so strong, that the sound of him squeeing with joy could almost be heard.

"Are we gonna?" Adam whispered looking up at his brother.

With a kind smile Neo nodded at him. Adam didn't even say a word in response. The very thought of riding an actual train was overwhelming to him.

Dual Shock chuckled at Adam, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen somepony get so excited about getting tickets before."

Adam's blue fur did nothing to hid away his embarrassed blush, "I can't help it, trains fascinate me."

Iron Fist himself let a few chortles get by, while he looked down contently at the small earth pony that had helped him earlier. Without his kind words he wouldn't have had the motivation to deny Jib and Jab.

"Vonce again, small pony, Dah Fist is grateful for your kind words."

Adam playfully nudged Iron Fist's huge forelegs. "It's no problem."

"But... Vhat vill you do vis all dah caps, and dose badges too?" He asked.

Neo put the badges inside the bag of caps, and picked them up with one hoof, looking to his brother. "Adam, what do you think we should do with all of this?"

Adam took the bag from his brother, and held it. He felt the weight of the hundreds of caps move and shift as he held it. "I think you deserve this." He said placing the bag in front of Iron Fist.

The huge stallion was taken back by the gesture, and with greatest of ease he lifted the bag from the ground. "You vant dah Fist to have dis?"

"Yeah," Adam answered, "it'll help get you started."

Iron Fist shook his head, "No, no. Dah Fist can not take dis. Your brother von it. Not me."

"We're fine as it is," Neo replied, "we've got what we wanted."

Adam stepped up the the massive stallion, and trying the best he could, Adam stood up on his hind legs to reach the bag the stallion had in his hoof. And, putting one of his hooves on the bag Adam smiled at Iron Fist.

"Like my brother said. We've got what we wanted, now you can have what you want."

"Thank you, small pony. I vill not forget dis."

Adam got back onto all fours, and stepped back. Outside of the building, the train whistle blew twice loudly. Though inside the arena building it was muffled, the sound was still audible.

The sound had made Adam and Neo look towards the door, "What does two whistles mean?" Neo asked.

"If I remember correctly, it means that it's going to depart soon." Adam answered slightly worried.

"Well?" Dual Shock added motioning her head toward the door, "you didn't just win so you could miss the train! Come on then, before it takes off!"

After she had said that, the group bolted off toward the door. Leaving Wilson alone in the arena building. And as the door slam shut, the tired pony slouched over the counter, sighing to himself. "I've really got to put a sign telling ponies to shut the door softly on that door, before more lunatic ponies come through today..."

Steam from the train hissed, and twisted in the cool air whimsically before fading away completely. All four ponies saw as Legion workers dressed in dark green chest pieces, barring the Legion's insignia prepared the train for departure. The small booth at the depot was now open, with the dull looking ticket pony drowsily humming a slow, depressing tune to himself.

Neo and his brother approached the booth enthusiastically, with one ticket ready. Neo placed both hooves on the small counter at the booth's window, laying the ticket down in front of him. It took a second for the sleepy pony to notice Neo, when he did, the first thing the booth pony did was give him a sour frown.

"Didn't I tell you to beat it?" He grumbled.

Neo pushed the ticket on the counter close to him. "Yes, but this time is different."

"Oh?" The booth pony huffed, sounding the most energetic he had all day. "How so?"

Neo pointed to the ticket on the counter. "We got a ticket."

Lazily, the pony's eyes looked down at where Neo was pointing. Like he had said, there on the the counter was a ticket. "Good. You've done something productive today. I'm glad you’re not here to waste my time again."

Neither Neo, nor Adam approved of his foul behavior, but then again soon they would both never see him ever again. Sluggishly he took the ticket, and put it under a rather odd looking machine with a drill. Once the ticket was underneath the drill, the booth pony pressed an orange button that started the machine.

With a loud metallic screech, the drill went straight through the small metal ticket, making a single hole in it. However, he had brought the drill up once more to put yet another hole in it. Before he did so he paused for a moment, and returned to Neo.

"It was two passengers right?" He asked, the drill loudly roaring.

Neo nodded back to the booth pony, who when seeing Neo's response proceeded to drill the second hole in the ticket. As soon as the second hole was done, he pressed the orange button once more, stopping the machine. And, with a lazy pace, he gave the ticket back to Neo.

Both brothers stood there for a second and looked at the holes he had made in the ticket. It puzzled Adam the most, as he had read about ponies using paper tickets, never metal.

"Will that be all?" The pony asked.

"Yeah, thanks." Neo replied calmly.

"Then beat it." The pony responded, closing the booth curtain again.

Dual Shock and Iron Fist approached them with welcoming looks. "Did he put the holes in them?" She asked.

"Yeah," Neo said turning his head back slightly to the booth, "only, he could have been less rude about it."

Dual Shock shrugged. "Eh, don't worry about him. He's an asshole to everypony."

The train's whistle blew twice, just before a pony near the passenger car called out, "Five minutes till departure! Everypony on!"

Iron Fist had turned his to the car for only a moment before speaking, "I guess dat means it is your time to go."

Neo nodded his head, "I guess this is goodbye."

Dual Shock tipped her hat at the two brothers. "It was real fun. Just know that if you guys ever need something to stop on by. I'm not going anywhere, so don't hesitate, ya hear?"

They both smiled at her, "Don't worry, we'll be sure to do so." Neo replied.

Iron Fist stepped up next smiling, "And I vont forget vat you have done today."

And, with lightning speed he engulfed Adam in his forelegs in a powerful hug. Surprisingly, Adam found it easier to breath in Iron Fist's hugs, as opposed to his brother's which usually left him breathless.

"If you need anything, small pony or older pony. Just ask dah Fist."

"I'll be sure to ask you right away if I can." Adam grunted inside his powerful hug.

Letting go of Adam, Iron Fist patted him on the shoulder sporting an embarrassed grin. Behind them, the conductor pony called out once more to the group, "Any and all passengers must be on the train! This is the last call for any passengers!"

"Looks like that's our cue." Neo said making his way to the train.

A door to the passenger train was wide open, with a small set of stairs leading up into the car. The conductor stood on the very last step waiting for the two brothers to climb on.

The conductor pony, dressed in his dark green Legion uniform blinked at the two ponies in front of him. “You two ready to get on?”

With Adam by his side, Neo held out the ticket for the conductor. Glancing down to the ticket he held, the pony inspected the holes quickly before nodding in satisfaction. “Everything seems to be in order.” He said moving up the stairs.

Once more he called out to the platform, “Last call for departure!” And after a few moments, he saw that no other ponies seemed to want to get onto the train.

So, believing his work to be done, he moved back into the car.

Standing up on the first step they stood in the entryway of the train car. On the entryway were two dull brass railings, which both brothers held on to looking back at the ponies they had met. Grabbing the brass rails tightly, they waved one last time from the passenger car.

Two loud whistles blew clearly, as the sound of steam hissing could be heard. Suddenly, the car jerked forward for but a moment before gradually moving forward. As the car had started moving slowly, both brothers watched as second by second their friends became farther and farther from them.

And they waved until the train had fully left the platform. So, halting their wave, they stepped inside the train car to take their seat. The interior of the train car was just like Adam had imagined it. Wooden ceilings with brass railings above the brown cushioned seats, were meant to hold luggage; while oak framed windows sat next to each seat in the car. Dimly lit lamps above them shook and jingled as the train continued to gain speed.

Oddly, it seemed as if there were no other passengers on the train. The whole car itself could of held twenty, or forty ponies at most. But it was just them. Though, one thing did distract him. For while everything was just as he had seen in his books, everything seemed worn, scratched, or chipped. Then again, it was to be somewhat expected.

Taking a seat near the center of the car, the two brother's looked out into of the window at the passing world. It all looked different to them. The calm rocking of car, as the objects close to them dashed by, while larger objects in the distance moved slowly by them. The feeling was calming, and it reminded them of their first time in Lucy's wagon. Because that sense of movement gave them a feeling. A feeling that they were that much closer to finding their mother.

And with the train's help. They'd come that much more closer to Silvermane. Bringing them that much closer to their goal. All they could do looking out into the world from the window was smile hopefully. Because this was it, and it wouldn't be long until their quest was at an end.

Foot Note: Level up!

New Perk: I Can Swing My Sword, Sword!: With modifications done to your mechanical foreleg, you can now do extra damage when using it in combat. +5 damage and +15% of receiving a critical hit during combat.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

Foot Note: Level up!

New Perk: What Goes Around Comes Around: When using a melee weapon, if you've missed a target with a swing you have a chance of a critical strike on the next. +15% of receiving a critical hit when you've missed a target on the first swing.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Killer-931

Thefullmetalbrony

(AN: I enjoyed writing this chapter. I always enjoyed writing simple chapters, because with small little moments the whole mood of a scene can make me feel something. Now, this did have something to do with the plot. As like Jib and Jab we will be seeing someone again from this chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I look forward to making the next. Till next time! - Noakwolf)

Northward Express

CHAPTER 24: NORTHWARD EXPRESS

From north to south, the train will take anything. Weapons, ponies, or just about any form of cargo you want. That is, if you're willing to pay the price.

Gently, the train car moved, the soft sound of the wind racing by the car hummed as the train sped on. The lamps above jingled and shook as the sounds of soft snores quietly echoed in the empty car. Both brothers had their heads rested on the cushions of their seats, sleeping. It was the first time in a while since they had lay down to rest themselves. Especially with all that had happened the last few days, they were more than enjoying their calm rest.

Every now and again, a conductor would stroll up and down the car's center aisle to check on the two resting ponies. Sometimes, he would just take a seat and rest, or slick back his brown mane before fixing his dark green Legion uniform before moving on to the next car.

Faintly, the sound of two train whistles woke Adam up. At first, he blinked a few times tiredly, then, sitting upward, he stretched out his forelegs. His eyes sagged sleepily as he looked out the window to see where they were at.

Despite the fact that it were cushions they were sleeping on, it was the most comfortable sleep he had in some time. However, when he looked outside, he noticed the speed at which the train was going at. Had he slept that much? Were they already at their destination? He wasn't sure, and it made him wonder how long they had actually slept.

Adam noticed that the conductor was making his way down the center of the car. "Excuse me." Adam said rubbing his eyes.

The conductor pony stopped and answered him, "Yes?"

"Why are we stopping?" Adam asked, sounding slightly more awake than he had before.

The pony pulled out a polished silver pocket watch from his pocket and glanced down at it quickly. "We're stopping at the crossroads station. All I was told was that we were stopping there to pick up some things."

"What kind of things?" Adam asked.

The Legion conductor shrugged, "Not sure, to be honest. Where is your stop?"

Adam scratched his head, "As far north as this train will take us."

"Then your stop is at the northern outpost station. Once we're done at the crossroads station, it'll be another few hours until we get to your destination." He answered.

Looking once more at his watch, the conductor added, "Will that be all?"

Returning to the window, Adam nodded. "Yes, thanks."

"You're welcome." The conductor replied, returning to his walk through the train cars.

Suddenly, the train had come to an abrupt stop. All of the cars jerked forward causing the lamps above the seats to jiggle and sway. The sudden halt though, had woken Neo up as his head was shook forward by the car's movement. He blinked tiredly, whilst rubbing his eyes.

"Are we there yet?" Neo muttered in a low, tired tone.

Shaking his head, Adam continued to look out his window. "No, we still have a little ways left to go."

Neo squinted regaining his vision, as he too looked out of the window to see what his brother was looking at. "Where are we?" Neo asked.

"I'm not sure. Something called the crossroads or something."

Outside of their window was what looked like a massive Legion camp. Campfires and green Legion tents all orderly lined up covered the area around the train. Piles of wooden crates, labeled with chipped red paint had the words, "Iron Hammer" roughly painted on them. Near the center of the camp were several Legion flags flapping gently.

Iron wagons, pulled by ponies clad in thick dark green power armor, hissed, and strode across the roads between the tents. All the same, Legion soldiers marched rhythmically in groups of nine. Rifles at their sides, and a commanding officer at the front keeping them at a well paced march.

One thing that caught both brother's attention was a larger lifting crane from the old world lifting large boxes onto the train. However, for them to even get a slight glimpse of the machine, they needed to press their faces hard against the dust covered glass.

"Is that a crane?" Adam awed, trying his best to get a better look from their seat.

"I think so. But what are they loading on the train that they would need a crane that large?"

Though it was hard to see, Adam could faintly read some of the writing on one of the massive boxes the crane was lifting. On it, was the words, "Special Package" written with the same red paint as the other cargo.

Adam pulled himself away from the dusty window, and gently rubbed the dust from his face with the sleeve of his duster. His brother did the same, before commenting on what they had just saw.

"It's a massive camp. No wonder they had so many troops at Arkcannon." Neo said.

Remaining where he sat, Adam turned his gaze once again to the window, "How many do you think there are?"

"Too many." Neo replied.

"Heck," He added, "after seeing that out there I'm surprised the Coalition has lasted as long as it has."

Adam gazed off at the huge army, imagining the war the coalition was fighting. "It makes me feel sad for them. I just hope everything works out for them in the end."

Another thing that came up to the train was an Iron wagon. Unlike the other Iron wagons in the camp, this one in particular was surrounded by several heavily armed soldiers. Neither brother noticed the wagon, or the gathering around it, but out from the Iron wagon came Vladimir.

A cape hung loosely on his shoulders, as he stepped off the wagon. An officer greeted him with a bow, before escorting his leader to one of the train cars farther down the line. A conductor saw that the Legion's leader was onboard, and quickly waved to the engineer. In moments, the conductor got one whistle from the engineer, and went to the passenger car's entrance. The train whistle howled twice loudly, as the conductor stood at the end of the car waving to the engineer. In one sudden jerk the train moved forward. Neo relaxed in himself in his seat, and tried to get comfortable.

"I feel the same way Adam, but we've got to look ahead. They're capable ponies, and besides, it won't be long till we get off."

Adam continued to watch the train gain speed while the large Legion camp passed by them. "Just try and relax. For once, nothing wants to hurt us."

Adam sighed, watching the camp disappear and the bleak world return. Although, something in the back of his mind told him something. He wasn't sure what, but whatever it was he hoped to Celestia that it wasn't something wrong.

The car swayed relaxingly as Vladimir made his way to through the narrow passenger car hallway. He finally passed the cramped narrow entrance to his car, he sat down on the lovely velvet silk cushions of his own personal train car. And, oh, was it glamorous. Unlike the dim, dull passenger cars normal passengers were seated at, Vladimir's own car was made for royalty.

There were four seats, seated right across from the other. Edged with dull golden paint, with fine detailed carved corners. The walls were a heavenly crimson, with a diamond like pattern edges using the same color of gold his seats had. Above him were miniature chandeliers, with working light bulbs new and bright. Although the only thing the other cars had opposed to his own was size. As his car was significantly more cramped than the average passenger car.

His car had only two windows, which passengers riding on either side could look out of if they chose to. It was only himself inside the car though. Alone, with only his own mind. He liked traveling alone. Even in Iron Hoof, he liked the peace of silence. All of his officers knew this, and even those who soldiers didn't felt it best to leave him be when he traveled.

Keeping a solid, thought provoked look as he stared out the window feeling his head ache. "What is it this time?" He asked, not breaking his gaze from the window.

Across from him was a mysterious shadow-like figure. Genderless, the alicorn like apparition sat contently. "Are you sad for the lose of the town?" It cooed.

Vladimir didn't answer, "So you are. You really shouldn't keep secrets from me, Little Red. It isn't good for your health."

"You're not good for my health. And I can keep whatever I want from you to myself."

"Aha!" It laughed, "Why, that's silly, my boy. I can't believe I just heard you utter those words. I'm heart broken!"

It purred softly to him resting its foreleg on the edge of the window. "All I want is to see you succeed. Besides, that little town was insubordinate. If I didn't give you so much control I would made the troops find each of those escaped rebels, and make them kill each other in the ruins of their own town."

"Mmm,” It purred, “now, that would be fun. Don't you remember those days? When we enjoyed killing?"

"No!" Vladimir interjected, breathing heavily. "Those... Those days are behind me..."

"Oh, but it was through those days that we were able to build all of this." The figure added pointing to the train they sat in.

"I don't have time to argue with you," Vladimir added, taking a metal flask from a pocket in his cape.

Just before he took a quick drink from it, the shadow chuckled. " Heh, heh... I'm getting stronger."

With the flask almost at his lips he paused, a terrible sense of terror holding him. "Until recently, I found that you were wise enough to keep your will. However, as of recent, I've seen you go through a... Change."

"I... I..." Vladimir stammered.

"No matter, drink your filthy red gunk. Just know, if you show more weakness in the future, I'll have to... Step in."

Putting the flask to his lips Vladimir took two large gulps of the wine. Almost instantaneously did the apparition disappear, with only the faint sound of it's devilish chuckles echoing into silence. Laying back in his chair, a great feeling of relief came to him.

Sighing, whilst massaging the side of his head he muttered. "Mother... Father... What have I done to deserve this?"

Placing the flask down gently next to him, he looked down at both of his hooves in thought. "Is this the burden all leaders bare? To be tormented by my own mind..."

Relaxing himself, he sighed once more. The sound of a door opening had caught his attention, and from out of the narrow corridor came a Legion soldier. Dressed in the basic metal plating, with a thick gas mask covering her face.

Poking her head from the corner of the corridor she knocked on the wall. "Is everything fine, m'lord? I heard you talking to somepony."

Vladimir shook his head, "No, I'm fine. Just leave me be." He finished with a dismissing wave.

The Legion soldier bowed quickly, "Very well. If you shall need me, I will be in the next car."

The Legion soldier left, shutting the door calmly behind her. Leaving Vladimir alone once more. Returning his gaze to the outside, he did not reply.

Music softly played from Neo's Pipbuck in the brother's empty train car. It was a nice song, with a nice easy rhythm that calmed them as their trip went on. Adam swayed side to side to the beat of the music while his brother was inspecting all the other channels his Pipbuck could pick up.

"So, that's Cool Blue's channel, huh? I'm surprised we didn't start listening to it sooner." Adam commented maintaining his rhythmical sway.

Neo nodded while still looking at the other stations on his Pipbuck radio, "He does play a lot of decent music. I just hope he made it back to the tower okay."

Just as the song had started to slow Neo switched it to a channel that played booming, patriotic music. "What channel is that?" Adam asked.

"It's the Legion's channel."

Adam lay back in his seat listening to the spirit lifting music. "Well, it sure does make you feel like a patriot, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Neo chuckled, "it's kind of ironic. They have a dictatorship, yet they play patriotic music."

"What other stations are there?"

"Let's see." Neo said switching to the next station.

The next station Neo played was hard to make out. It was quiet, and what little sound they did hear was smothered by static. Loudly, the static played and it only took Neo seconds of hearing the loud clatter before he switching it to the next station. Although, the next station played the very opposite of the last station. For it was completely quiet, with nothing playing.

Adam leaned forward in his seat, "What channel was that?"

Neo shrugged, "It says it's DJ-Pon3's channel. But I guess we don't get a very good signal out here."

"Brother, could you put it back to Cool Blue's station?"

"Yeah, one sec." Neo responded quickly switching the radio station.

As soon as he had switched the station a soothing low voice spoke out from Neo's Pipbuck radio. "Good afternoon my provincial brothers! It's me, Cool Blue, here to give you the news. First off, my sources are telling me that they found the ruins of Arkcannon today. That's right, the whole town is burned right to the ground! We can thank our local dictatorship for that. So, in respect for their fallen let's give them a moment of silence...

But folks, despite this horrible news I've (oddly enough) got some good news. It turns out some of the population got away, and they're out there somewhere, livin’ life. So if you see somepony from Arkcannon give them an ol' pat on the back. They went through a lot."

There was a pause from Cool blue before he spoke, "In other news. A pack of ghouls has been spotted outside of the northern outpost station. Hopefully, they should have moved on by supper time, but for all you nice folks near that area stay alert. There's no telling which way those things plan to go next. But that's enough of that for a bit. Let's get back to some tunes from that darling angel Sweetie Belle, singin’ Gone with the Sparrows."

A new song had started to play once Cool Blue stopped speaking. It was a nice tune, with a mare singing to the calming sound of a guitar. Once the song had started though, Neo turned down the volume to speak to his brother.

"Isn't that place the conductor had mentioned. You know, our stop?"

Adam nodded, "Yeah, it is, but you heard what he said, those ghouls should be gone by the time we're there."

Neo relaxed in his seat and sighed revealingly, "You're probably right. It’s just I’m used to running, and fighting everyday..."

Hills encompassed the landscape as the train steamed onward. Large puffs of white smoke rose up from the train's smoke stack, and steam hissed from the pistons on its wheels. Old pre-war buildings tattered and blasted dotted the hillsides. On one hill, far above the train tracks was nearly two dozen of ponies laying low to the ground.

Each one of the ponies was clad in tan leather armor that was overlapped with plated steel. Almost each one of them had goggles of some sort to protect their eyes from the wind, and those that didn't have goggles had bandanas that covered their mouths. A pink mare with a double striped patch on her left front hoof lay down on her belly, looking down at the tracks from the top of the hill though a pair of binoculars. In the corner of her mouth was a cigarette, half burnt out. A yellow stallion with a single striped patch was laying next to her with a rifle at his side.

He looked back down to his group and counted the ponies, and wagons they had before returning to the mare at his side. "Everypony seems to be ready. Any sign of the train yet?"

She continued to scan the area around the tracks, "No, not yet."

The stallion looked down at a watch on his foreleg, "Intel said that the train should have left the station already! Where the hell is it?"

"Patience, private," She muttered scanning the area, "we've been here all day, and since we haven't seen the train yet, waiting another hour won’t kill you."

The stallion sighed, holding his gun closer to him, "Is it true, though? Did the Legion finally manage to get Predators from down south?"

"Eeyup," She nodded, "and based on what else we've been told they're going to use them to protect Iron Hammer. Wherever it may be."

She let out a few large puffs a smoke that blew off into the wind, "That's the other reason we're here. That train is bringing supplies to Iron Hammer, and if we find out where it is, it'll bring the coalition that much closer to bringing down the Legion."

The stallion didn't reply, instead he went back to helping her scan the tracks for the train. For a moment his ear twitched. And a few seconds later it twitched again, followed by the distant sound of a train's whistle. Feeling the excitement build inside him, he nudged the mare next to him urgently.

"I hear it! I hear it!"

Quickly, she listened carefully for the whistle of the train, and just as he had said the whistle howled distantly. Pulling the binoculars to her eyes she glanced at the tracks in hopes of finding the train. Searching all around the area she finally found it speeding towards their area.

She grinned putting the binoculars inside her bags, "Let's get the others. We can't afford to miss this!" She exclaimed standing up.

Then, looking down at all the other coalition soldiers, she yelled, "Soldiers of the coalition! We have waited the whole day for this moment. Failure is not an option, for the fate of our order may very well depend on the success of this mission!"

All of the troops picked themselves up and continued to listen to her. "Just remember where you're supposed to be. We need this to be a quick mission."

With a firm nod to the stallion next to her, he responded with his own nod in return. And, putting a tan helmet on his head, he marched down to the other coalition soldiers calling out orders as he went.

"Get your rifles ready! Boarding wagons, and the runners get hitched up, we're moving out in one minute!"

Soldiers hurried around gathering their gear, and hitching the runner ponies to the boarding wagons. The coalition officer mare stood at the top of the hill looking down at the oncoming train. Raising her hoof in the air she waited for the right moment to strike.

Within moments the troops had managed to ready themselves. Some jumped inside the wagons, their weapons ready. The yellow stallion nodded his head to the other coalition troops to see if they were ready to strike. Giving him the OK he waved at their commanding officer at the top of the hill.

"We're all set!" He called up to her.

Remaining silent, she stood there holding her hoof high in the air. And right as the train had come close to their hill she swiftly waved her hoof downward shouting, "Charge!"

And, like bolts of lightning, the wagons blasted forth up the hill. Dust trailed behind them in massive clouds, as the metal bolts of the wheels squeaked loudly the faster they went. Just as the last cart had come up to the coalition officer she jumped on, and joined in on the charge downhill.

Like an arrow intercepting a target, their raiding party bolted towards the train. They had come down at an angle, that way as the train moved forward they could catch up to it faster. And as predicted, they intercepted the train.

All of the wagons pulled up to the train's left side. The hooves of the runner ponies pounded fiercely against the ground in efforts to keep up with the locomotive.

While the wagons were at the train's side, soldiers hopped onto the nearest train car entrance they could. Each soldier helped the next on as, one by one, they all climbed aboard. The coalition officer went up near the runner pony, and shouted to him.

"Take us down to the cargo cars! That's where they have the predators!"

Sternly nodding in response the runner pony slowed down to get to the cargo cars near the back. Once the last of the boarding wagons were emptied the runners broke off from the train's side, back into the hills. Leaving the soldiers on the train on their own.

Adam was watching his brother smiling. Neo had his forelegs crossed and a tired look on his face. Keeping his head low, Neo sighed sleepily, "I don't like work, and Neo keeps sleeping on the job. Why couldn't I have been a security guard like my dad wanted? Blah blah, stuff." He said in a deep tone.

"Hmm," Adam purred in thought, "let me guess... Flipper, right?"

Neo lay back in his seat and grinned, "Did I give too much away on that one?"

"Just a little." Adam answered.

"I'll have to try harder next time. Anyway, you go."

Adam cleared his throat and sat up stiffly, and in a high scratchy mare-like voice he said, "My my, Adam you silly boy! Stop drawing such weird things! Nopony has time for blueprints when there is math to learn!"

"Heh," Neo chuckled folding his forelegs, "Mrs. Blackboard, right?"

"Yep, although if I wanted to do it right I should of had a ruler with me."

Neo shuttered slightly, "That stupid ruler. Screw getting hit with bullets, that thing was like getting hit by a missile."

Giving his brother a slight wave from his hoof to go on, Adam said, "Your turn."

Putting a hoof to his chin he thought. "Hmm, well-"

However, a sudden jerk from the train halted his sentence. Both brothers tried to recover themselves from the spontaneous event, only just as they had it once again jerked wildly before returning to normal. They both repositioned themselves on their seats. Each of them were dazed, and slightly confused about what had just happened.

Looking out the window, Neo tried to see if there was anything he could see that might have caused the abrupt movement. Only, outside there seemed to be nothing but the empty hills, and twisted trees of the wastes passing by them.

"Huh," Neo muttered.

"Did you see anything?" Adam asked.

Neo scratched his black mane, "It doesn't look like there's anything out there."

"Maybe it was something on the tracks... Or maybe it was a gust of wind." He suggested.

At the back of their car, two Legion soldiers opened the back car door in a rush. Not even bothering with closing the door they dashed past both brothers muttering to themselves. Neo had managed to catch what one of them had said, sadly it was only a single sentence.

"They've boarded the train." Was what he had heard, and by the tone the soldier had he assumed something urgent had happened. Who boarded the train? More importantly, why?

These questions sat around in his head as the soldiers sped off to the next car. "What was all of that about?" Adam asked looking over to the door they had dashed to.

Before Neo could reply to his brother, a loud bang clearly rang from the next car. This was followed by several more loud shots, as the sound of ponies shouting in pain could be heard all from the next car. Neo stood up with his brother, and prepared for whatever was in the next car to come.

Getting their weapons out they got low, and took cover behind Adam's seat. In almost an instant, the door the Legion soldiers had went through busted open with a tan, steel armor plated unicorn standing in the doorway. And with a rifle lifted, and ready to fire she called out to the whole car.

"I know you two are there! Drop your weapons, and put your hooves in the air!"

Poking his head above the top of the seat Neo saw that the pony calling to them was a member of the coalition. "Ah crap." Neo swore.

"What?"

"It's a coalition soldier."

"What?! But, why is she here?"

"I don't know, but being a Province Guardian right about now would have been perfect for this situation."

"What are we going to do, brother?"

Neo thought for just a moment about where they were, and what their options were. That was, until the coalition soldier reminded them of her presence. "I said come out with your hooves up, and weapons on the ground! This is your last chance!"

Neo sighed, "Just do as she says."

And, standing up, they both threw their weapons down the center aisle of the car, and sat down in their seats again. Both of them put their hooves in the air as they watched the soldier come carefully towards their weapons.

"Good, and don't do anything stupid if you plan to make it out of this alive. We've got dozens more of us on the train, and you'll have to answer to them if you get past me."

As she approached their guns the back train car door flew open as two Legion soldiers charged into the car. It didn't take the coalition soldier more than two seconds to realize her position and take cover.

"Shit!" She swore diving behind one of the seats.

The Legion soldiers did not hesitate, and with guns ablazing they let loose every round they had at the coalition soldier. Soon the train car became a firefight between the coalition soldier, and the two Legionaries. Bullets flew above them, as both Adam and Neo kept low to the ground.

Bullets hit the the old chandeliers above shattering them into pieces, and the stuffing from the seats shot out from the cushions as bullets flew back and forth. Adam saw their weapons on the ground next to them, and focusing on the guns they moved themselves over to them. Picking up their weapons, Adam leaned closer to his brother to speak.

While it was hard to talk to his brother over the sound of gunshots being fired Neo could still hear him. "Brother, we need to get out of here!"

"I know! I just don't know how!"

Adam looked around when he could, making sure that every option of escape ended with them still alive. One thing he had noticed, was that the space underneath the seats was large enough for both of them to move under. And if they could make it to the door behind the Legion soldiers, hopefully they could get out of the fight in one piece.

"Brother," Adam said nudging his brother and pointing to the spaces under the seats, "if we can crawl through there, we could avoid the oncoming fire above."

Not seeing any other options Neo nodded to him, "Lead the way, but be careful!"

Confidently Adam smiled and got down onto the ground crawling under the first seat. Not far behind him was his brother, who crawled on his stomach following him.

The ground was covered in dust, and cushion stuffing. In some places on the ground, glass and bullet casings rolled around while they crawled. It was musty and filthy, but it was one of their few options. They could see the Legion soldiers fighting behind some of the seats across from where they were crawling. Although, it seemed that the fighting had most of their attention for the moment.

Just as they came to the last pair of seats the fighting didn't seem to stop. One thing Adam had realized when coming to the end of the seats was that they would have to go through the center aisle to get to the door. That would mean getting directly into the line of fire. So, getting up from the ground they took cover behind the last pair of seats.

"What now?" Neo asked crouching low.

Adam had to think for a moment, when it hit him. There was no clever way to do it, they just had to run and hope nothing hit them.

"Well..." Adam gulped.

"What is it?"

"We run."

Neo had a confused look as he responded to his brother, "We... Run?"

"Yeah." Adam replied unsurely.

"Are you sure that's what we need to do?"

"It's either that or we wait for more fighting to break out," Adam said.

"When they slow down to reload we make a run for it, right?"

"Exactly."

"Okay..." Neo murmured worryingly to himself.

Within moments the fighting slowed as both the coalition soldier, and the Legion soldiers reloaded. At that moment Adam galloped quickly to the door at the end of the car. Adam's instant dash had taken Neo completely by surprise, as he tumbled and tripped galloping behind him to the door.

And just as the fighting had started itself up again; They had managed to finally get passed the fighting in their train car, and into the small space that divided the train cars. The small area that divided the train cars was just as loud and heart pounding. Wind rushed by them furiously as the tracks raced below them. From side to side, the trains cars moved while the chains on the car links rattled.

Both brothers found it hard to stay still, for there was little room for both of them, and with the train's movement it became difficult to remain stationary. They knew this almost instantly, so Adam decided to go first into the next train car.

Opening the next train car's door carefully Adam went inside. Neo followed closely behind him, with his shotgun ready. The next train car was not a passenger car. Instead it was a dark wooden cargo car. Light peaked in from the cracks in the wood on the walls, and the whole car creaked uneasily as it moved.

Wooden crates stacked up branded with Iron Hammer's name filled the whole room. They were huge crates, tied down by old moldy rope. And as light creeped in from the outside the room was an almost disorienting mix of blue light and shadows.

Adam moved over to one of the crates, and knocked on it with a single hoof curiously. "What's inside these things?"

Neo circled around the crate Adam had looked at. On one side of it, he noticed a pin in between two grommets acting as a latch keeping it closed.

"Well,” he said, "let's take a look."

Pulling the pin from the latch he slid the top of the crate back, exposing some of the materials inside. Both of them looked down at the crate's contents oddly.

"Rocks?" Adam muttered.

It was filled with rocks. Plain, dusty rocks. With no sign of being special or at all holding any value in the slightest. "What would the Legion want with rocks?" Neo asked.

Several gun shots caught their attention before either of them could respond. They had heard gun shots from the last car over, but this time the shots they heard silenced the constant sound of gunfire. What startled them even more, was the spine chilling sound of one of the car doors opening.

Both brothers quickly tried their best to shut the crate, and hide. If it was the coalition soldiers they could be captured or killed. If it was the Legion soldiers, they might be killed as well. Both of them knew the risk was high, and in their current position their best option was to hide.

The combination of light and shadow amongst the crate piles made it easy to find a place to hide. Diving off to the side both of them got behind the set of crates nearest to them. No sooner had they found a spot to hide did four ponies come through the door into the dark room.

By the way they looked in the dim light, they seemed to be coalition soldiers. If that was the case, they must of killed the two Legion soldiers back in their car.

One of the four ponies spoke, and it sounded like the mare who had ordered them to surrender earlier. "I'm glad you made it. I wasn't sure how much longer I would have lasted in there."

A dark stallion among the small group replied, "You really shouldn't have of took off like that. This whole train is crawling with soldiers. If we're going to take the train, we're going to need to stick together."

"It doesn't matter," A firm authoritative mare interjected, "what does matter is that we need to find the predators. If the Legion manages to get those to Iron Hammer, it'll make our job of getting to it almost impossible."

"Yes, ma'am." Both soldiers replied in unison.

"Now, check some of these crates. If they're not here, we'll move on."

The mare who had given out the orders stood there for a second as the other three soldiers checked the car's cargo for the predators. Like Neo had done earlier, they opened the latches on the crates and looked inside. They did this several times, checking every other crate they could see that seemed to be large enough to hold something like a predator. Though, each time they found the same thing. Rocks. The same bland, normal pieces of rock that the brothers had found earlier.

"Ma'am..." One of the soldiers uttered lowly.

"Yes?"

"They're full of... Rocks, ma'am."

"What?" The mare responded in disbelief.

"He's right, ma'am." One of the other soldiers added.

Taking a few of the rocks out of the crate, the soldier showed what the brothers believe to be their commanding officer the rocks. With one of the rocks in hoof, the coalition officer dropped the rock onto the ground.

"Is that what all of the crates are filled with?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Great," She grunted in frustration,"let's move on. We've still got several other cars to check. And if we don't find anything. Blow the train apart. At least we'll put this stupid railroad out of commission."

With another ‘yes ma'am’ from the other soldiers, they all made their way to the door and left. The very moment the door closed, Adam and Neo came out from their hiding spots. Feeling a great sense of relief, they finally realized why the coalition was on the train.

Turning to his brother urgently, Adam said distressed, "Brother, do you know what this means? They have predators on the train!"

Neo recalled when they had first encountered the dreaded catlike hunting machines. "What does the Legion plan to do with those things?"

"I'm not sure, but imagine all the kinds of havoc they could cause with those things. And if the coalition can't get them..." Adam's eyes widened with fear, as he remembered what the officer had said they would refer to if they failed to find the machines.

"We have to get off this train! Who knows what they're going to do!"

Neo holstered his weapon and gave Adam a worried look. "Any ideas? You know more about trains than I do. Maybe there's an escape pod or something on these things. I don't know!"

"No, there isn't any escape pods on trains... Although..." Adam murmured in thought.

"There might not be any escape pods, or escape devices, but we can use the train to escape."

"How?" Neo asked.

"There are links linking the train cars together. If we can unhook one of the cars farther down the line we can escape this before something happens."

"Which car though?"

Adam thought a little more before responding to his brother, "Well... I remember reading that the caboose had an emergency brake, and on some old pre-war cabooses they had easy to unlock links."

"Isn't that at the very end of the train?"

"Well, yes. But it's our best shot at getting off in one piece."

Neo sighed, "It's never easy, isn’t it?"

Adam shook his head, "Yep, it's never easy."

"Then let's hurry. Hopefully, we can tail behind those soldiers and get to the caboose undetected."

"Right," Adam nodded in agreeance.

Together they took off to the end of the car. Hopefully Adam's plan would work, because if it didn't they weren't sure what would happen. Although one thing was clear if they were to fail, because most likely it wouldn't end well for them.

Vladimir sat idly looking out into the world from the comfort of his car. The car shook several times over, each time not distracting him from his content mood. The brief, but distant sounds of gunfire could be heard inside his car. The noise was muffled, and even the sounds of his soldiers in the other cars fighting off the coalition raiders seemed to not distract him in the slightest.

Urgently, a stallion clad in the green metal armor of the Legion slammed the door open to Vladimir's train car. The unicorn soldier levitated a rifle at his side, while with one hoof he held a bloody wound fresh from the fighting going on in the next car.

"Sir!" He cried, "The Coalition has boarded the train! We need to get you out to safety!"

Diverting his peaceful gaze toward the wounded soldier, he replied, "I see. So that's the cause of all the ruckus, correct?"

"Yes sir, we need to move to the farther end of the train. I'll call for reinforcements when I can to help take care of the rebels."

Remaining completely calm, Vladimir stood up regally from his seat. "Very well, let us move. And do be quick about it, I was enjoying myself."

"Right sir, as you wis-" Before the soldier could finish the back of his head erupted into dozens of bloody pieces, followed by the sound of a shotgun being cocked.

There on the ground, in a bloody mess laid the soldier, and as Vladimir stared down at the body in disgust, three coalition soldiers stormed inside. All three of them stood in the narrow hallway leading out of the car. Rifles aimed at his head, and guns ready to fire. The coalition soldier who had killed his soldier with a shotgun stood in the middle of the trio grinning.

"Put your hooves over your head, or we'll-" The shotgun pony stopped in mid-sentence realizing who was in front of him.

His grin got wider, as he stared down Vladimir, who returned a dull unimpressed expression. "Looky what we've got ourselves! The tyrant himself! Whoo-whee! I'm gonna enjoy blasting your sorry ass across the walls!"

"That's all very nice, but you see I need my... Oh, how do you put it, 'sorry ass' in one piece."

"So," He added taking a flask out from his pocket, "will you be good sports and step aside for me?"

The massive grin the soldier once had faded, "You trying to fuck with us? Cause I ain't going to listen to your bullshit anymore! Light 'em up, boys!"

Just as the soldier had gave the order, Vladimir took a sip from the shinny flash. At that moment, the voice before giggled slightly. The chuckled was followed by Vladimir's horn glowed brightly, surrounded by a magical aura. The very same aura had started to glow around the soldier's shotgun, and quickly pulling itself from the pony's side the shotgun placed the end of its barrel against soldier’s head and fired.

Little remained of his once whole head. It had all happened so quickly the other two soldiers stood there petrified. The blood and brains of their companion covered their shocked faces and bodies. Finishing his drink in the flask, he sighed distastefully, realizing what had happen. And, putting it back into his pocket, he stepped up to the frozen soldiers who look up at him in terror.

In his voice was low and weak, with an unsettling feeling stirring in his stomach. "Now, if you would be so kind as to step aside... I-I would greatly appreciate it...."

Dropping their guns the soldiers slumped against the bloodstained walls. He did not respond. Rather, he simply continued walking forward, feeling queezy in his stomach.

With slightly more heavy steps, he walked between them to the next car, only before he did it, he stopped in the doorway. He realised that the reaction he had on the soldier had left a horrible feeling in his gut. And he didn’t know why.

Finding it hard to speak at first, he said to the soldiers as sincerely as he could. "If... If I were you I would find a way to get off this train as soon as possible." After he had finished he moved on to the next car.

In the next train car, coalition soldiers stood ready to fight any more oncoming Legion resistance. There were five soldiers, armed with short swords, and small firearms. They took cover behind several supply crates they could get behind. An orange stallion with an officers symbol branded onto his tan helmet at the end of the room noticed who it was that came through the door.

And, without hesitation he exclaimed, "Open fire!"

Quickly, Vladimir realized his situation and dove to the side, taking cover behind one of the crates. Bullets rain down on his small little crate, and with each shot fired, time for him was running thin.

His head was pounding, and the little bit of wine he had in his flask he had already drank to numb the pain when confronting the previous soldiers. Sitting across from him was the shadow-like figure, legs crossed in a lazy manner.

"You’re weak." It hissed.

"Shut up." Vladimir growled.

"I could... Take over, if you wish. It would give you strength."

He thought about it for a moment, though the more he thought the stronger the aching pain in his head became. "I... I... I'm not sure if I can handle it..."

"Oh, come now, Little Red. It will only be for a little while." It persisted.

It crawled closely to him wrapping its cold shadowy foreleg around him. "The pain will stop for a little while, and before you realize it, this mess will be over."

Vladimir remained silent in thought as the constant sounds of gunshots rang in his ears. "J-Just... Make it quick..."

"Smart boy..." It chuckled.

In an instant, it vanished. The pain started to clear from his mind, and a feeling of energy, and strength came to him. Picking himself up he kept low against the crate and snuck around the boxes next to him. Once he had reached the end of the nearby boxes, he peaked over the corner to see a soldier watching for movement.

Vladimir grinned wickedly, keeping his hoofsteps quiet and quick. Gradually, he moved from box to box. Cover to cover before only being a few feet from the coalition soldier. The soldier in question, was a purple earth pony mare, wielding sub-machine gun in her mouth. Listening carefully from behind his cover he could hear them talking to one another.

"Did we get him?" One voice called out.

"I'm not sure. Go check it out, just remember to be careful." The officer replied.

Vladimir heard the sweet clicking, and jingle from the gun as the soldier reloaded her weapon. And, just as the final click was heard, he knew it was the time to strike. Leaping over the crate he dashed up to her, taking her by surprise.

Wrapping his hooves around her neck, she gasped in fear. "Please..." She whimpered.

But without giving her any other chance to speak, he snapped her neck causing her to dropped the gun from her mouth. Across the room one of the other soldiers had heard the commotion, and quickly turned to the sound's source. Taking cover behind another crate Vladimir took the weapon the mare had dropped.

"He's over there!" Shouted the soldier across from him.

With the gun levitating in front of him, he took a quick moment to breathe. And standing up from behind the crate, he proceeded to unload the clip of the weapon on the soldier. Bullets flew by the soldier, the sounds of weapons firing, and bullet casing hitting floor echoed throughout the car.

The sub-machine gun he had stolen was halfway out of ammunition by the time the soldier he was shooting at had taken cover. All of the coalition soldiers shouted madly at each other, while they tried to get an idea of what was happening. Vladimir took this to his advantage and dashed across the car to the soldier he had been shooting at. Two of the other coalition soldiers, including the officer, saw him dash like a bullet to the other side of the car.

"I saw him! North, look out, he's after you!" The officer exclaimed.

The coalition soldier Vladimir had been shooting at, whose name he now knew was North, peeked over the top of his cover.

"Where is he?!" He replied in a terrified tone.

Terribly frightened by his position North pulled out a combat knife from his side. The knife in his hoof shook wildly, as fear overcame his body. Vladimir was right next to his crate and carefully glancing over the corner of the box he was behind, he could see the scared soldier.

Grinning wickedly, he dashed lightly toward North, the weapon aimed right at his head. Before North had known it, he was staring right up the barrel of the sub-machine gun. Vladimir didn't even give him a moment to gasp before he unloaded three rounds right into his petrified face.

All of the other soldiers heard the sounds of the gun firing, "Quick, move in!"

Vladimir was almost out of bullets in his gun, so taking both the combat knife, and pistol North had, he waited for the other soldiers to get closer to him. Each hoofstep the soldiers took was careful. A mix of terror and anticipation mixed inside of them. And even with their weapons ready, and their numbers greater, these feelings were still present.

One of the soldiers wielding a revolver came close to Vladimir's position. With the knife levitating at the ready, Vladimir popped out of his cover for but a brief moment. Like a bullet on it’s own, the knife flung itself with lighting speed at the soldier. And stabbing itself five inches into the pony's skull, the knife had struck him right in the left eye. Dropping to the ground, the soldier lay there twitching spastically a knife protruding from his eye.

It was only a moment that the other soldier coming onto his position look down at the pony with a knife sticking into his eye. She gasped, with the rifle still ready to fire at her side. It was, however, that one moment of distraction that Vladimir needed.

And, just like the first pony he had killed, he took North's weapon, and fire two deadly accurate shots at her head. Like all of her companions before her, she lay on the ground dead.

The only one left was the officer, who by this time, now had halted his advance, and stood there in place. All of the gear on his body rattled and shook. Fear took over his body causing him freeze in place.

"C-come out!" He stuttered.

The orange stallion turned pale, "I s-said... C-come out!"

The car creaked as the train went on, and every noise it made put him more on edge. One last time, he mustered the courage to speak. "T-This is y-your last-"

He stopped speaking, for the sound of faint hoofsteps caught his attention. The sounds seemed like they were moving around him, but because of all the boxes the sound bounced off of the walls, and crates. Vladimir had moved to his side, and from behind the safety of the crates he saw his chance to strike.

Hopping over the crate he galloped at full speed towards him. Taking the officer completely by surprise he tackled him causing the weapon he had to fall and slide off to the side. With his weapon out of reach, Vladimir pinned him to the ground, with the revolver's barrel pointed to his head.

The stallion's heart was pounding outrageously, "P-please..." He muttered.

"Why are you here?" Vladimir snarled at him.

"W-what?"

He shot once to the side of his head as a warning. "I said, why are you here?"

"Please... I don't..."

"Heh, surely you're not here to kill me. The coalition would have sent somepony a little more... Competent."

"N-No! We're... We're here..."

"Why are you here?!" He screamed in the pony’s ear.

The officer had started to sob, "The predators..." He murmured.

Leaning his ear close to the officer's mouth he asked, "Excuse me? I didn't quite get that, run that by me again."

"T-The... The... P-predators..."

"That's a good boy... I’m glad I can kill you... You’re such a waste of lif-"

The gleeful murderous mood he was once in faded, as little drops of blood dripped down onto the terrified soldier. Putting a hoof to his muzzle he tapped his nose, and looked back at his hoof.

To his surprise, the blood was his own, his nose was bleeding. The pain had started to come back, only it returned at full force. In terrible head splitting pain the headache came back. The pain was so severe his vision had become disoriented, and blurry.

Suddenly, a feeling of guilt came over him realizing the situation he was in. "W-what?" He mumbled looking down at the confused coalition officer.

He realized the gun was at his head, and the five ponies that had once been shooting at him now lay dead across the car.

"To some extent I saw this coming." The mysterious voice hissed.

While the shadow-like figure was nowhere to be seen, his voice was still clear. "You're back in control now. Finish the job."

"Why? We could hold him for questioning. We could learn more about what-"

"No!" The voice added angrily.

"He is just another soldier who will do nothing but get in the way. We can find another to question. This one dies!"

"But-"

The voice sighed, "I've got all the the information we need. Just do it. Pull the trigger and let him die!"

Vladimir felt wrong, and looking down at the pony who was at his mercy made him feel scared. "I can't... I..."

"DO IT!" The voice screamed at him.

Upon hearing the screaming voice ring through his aching head the gun fired. The bullet from the gun lodged itself right in the forehead of the officer. Feeling weak in his legs Vladimir collapsed to the side. The room around him spun, and the taste of blood was in his mouth.

He coughed horsley, "Why?" He wheezed, feeling the pain spread through his body.

"Good boy," The voice purred, "For a moment, I had thought you were going soft on me."

And as the voice faded away, Vladimir lay there on the cold ground of the train car in horrible pain. He could faintly hear one of the doors opened on one side of the car. In muffled echoes he heard a voice say, "It's his majesty! He's down! Quickly, help me with him!" As the voice had stopped speaking the world around him became dark, as he passed out into unconsciousness.

Crates filled the train car. A few lightbulbs above flickered overhead in the car. Unlike the last car, it had an inviting atmosphere about it. Probably due to the dim light that filled the cramped space. Adam and Neo poked their heads through the door into the car. Coalition soldiers were farther into the car searching every box they could see.

Neo put a hoof to his mouth and whispered, "They look busy. If we sneak past them, we can get to the door and to the caboose."

Taking the greatest of care they opened the door. As it opened, the door creaked loudly sending shivers down their spines. They didn't need the door to be completely opened to get through, and when it was opened enough for both of them to get through both of them stepped inside with lightly steps.

Neither of them tried to speak or mutter even the smallest of noises as they moved through the car. The first box they came to was large and covered in metal plates. Once they were behind it, Neo peaked over the top of the box to see what the coalition soldiers were at. It appeared that they had covered most of the boxes along the walls of the car. So Neo thought about their position, and a plan sprouted in his mind.

Remaining silent, he motioned Adam to peak over the top with him. Adam looked over the top of the box, all the while trying to keep as low as he could. His brother motioned his hoof to the sides of the walls. By what Adam could see, the way the boxes were stacked and organized, small paths were made between them.

Adam pointed to the paths behind the boxes and nodded at his brother. Neo nodded back to him.

Adam smiled. It seemed like a good plan and since the boxes were large, it made movement that much easier. Patting Adam softly on the shoulder, Neo crept forward to the side paths made by the boxes. It was slightly more congested than they had thought initially. And they found that despite the better cover from the soldiers, it was a little more risky.

Plates that had started to come off of the boxes stuck out a few inches, making them almost like razor sharp knives. So, to prevent themselves from slicing their legs apart, they took extra caution while moving.

"Ma'am," A stallion's voice said, "we haven't found the predators yet."

"Damn it!" A mare's voice replied, "Keep searching. We're not leaving without them. If we can't find them here, we'll try the next car."

"Yes, ma'am." The voice answered.

The brothers were halfway through the pathways when all of a sudden the train jerked slightly. It wasn't enough to make them fall over, but for a moment they lost their balance. Almost out of nowhere Neo felt a sharp pain jab into his left leg. Out of pure natural reaction he screamed, "Shit!"

Neo and Adam froze in place, as Neo promptly put his mechanical foreleg over his mouth. He felt warm blood drip down from his leg. One of the outward plates stabbed him in the leg. Removing his leg from the metal plate they stood there hoped the soldiers didn't hear.

"Wait," A voice said, "did you hear something?"

The sound of guns shifting could be heard as the rest of the soldiers spoke. "Yeah, I heard something. Do a quick sweep, we might not be alone..."

Both brothers knew they needed to move quickly. Especially now that they suspected that they were there. Fortunately for Neo the wound didn't seem that bad, although it was sore the pain was tolerable for the moment. They picked up their pace, and moved more quickly through the narrow path the boxes made.

They could see the end of the path, just around the corner from it would be the door. If they were quick and silent enough, they could get out without alerting the soldiers. As they came to the end of the path, they quickly turned around the corner of the ending box only to be met by a soldier holding a larger than average high-powered rifle.

The coalition soldier blinked a few times at them before she held her gun up at them. "I found them!" She shouted.

Neither brother could think of something clever to do in the situation, so they did the next logical thing. They raised their hooves in the air to surrender.

Two other coalition soldiers came to their comrade's side, a stallion and a mare. Holding their own weapons, they looked at the two ponies before them oddly.

"Don't move! If you do we'll shoot! And you won’t be getting away from me this time!" One of the mare’s commanded.

Another mare's voice called over to the group of three ponies that cornered the brothers, "Bring them out here in the open. I want to see who they are."

"It’s alright, ma’am. They’re just a bunch of Legion scum I confronted earlier." The pony with the high-powered rifle replied.

“I don’t care, I want to see who they are! And that’s an order!”

The mare they had encountered before stepped aside, and motioned her gun for them to move. "Well? Come on, move!"

Stepping carefully past the soldiers they moved to the center of the train car. They hung their heads low, and hoped they didn't get mowed down. Both of them stopped before a mare near the center of the train car. A light bulb flicked right above her, as she stood there smoking a cigarette.

Unlike the other soldiers, she wore a double striped patch on her left foreleg. Goggles hung from her neck, as she stood there puffing out small clouds of smoke. "What the hell are you two supposed to be? Minus Legion scum, that is"

Both brothers looked at each other curiously. "Excuse me?" Neo asked cocking his head to the side.

She took the cigarette from her mouth, and tapped it gently letting the burned excess part of her cigarette fall off. "I said, what the hell are you two supposed to be? You don't look like spies, because if you’re, then you’re fucking horrible ones. And you don't look like Legion trash either, even though Widget over there says different."

Taking in a deep breath with the cigarette in her mouth, she blew a huge cloud of smoke onto the two brothers. Their eyes watered, and they coughed smelling the strong smoke.

"I'll ask you this again..." She said opening her holster on her leg, "What the hell are you?"

"We're passengers." Neo coughed fanning the area around his face with one hoof.

"Bullshit," The mare grunted, "you don't look rich. And only rich folk get to be passengers on this train. They're the only ones who can buy tickets."

"Well it's the truth. We won some tickets in a little town off of the tracks."

She raised an eyebrow at them, and turned her gaze to the dusters they wore. "And where did you get these?" She muttered poking Adam's duster.

"The dusters?" Adam asked.

"No, the pink floppy hats y'all are wearing. Of course I mean the fucking dusters!"

They had to think hard about their next response. By the way things had look she seemed to only get more annoyed every second they stood there. So Neo thought of something that might just get them out of this mess.

"They were given to us." Neo answered.

"By whom? Those are genuine provincial guardian attire, and your telling me somepony gave them to you?"

Neo knew that if he told her that they had been province guardians that she wouldn't believe them. They had earned their dusters, but to get him and his brother out alive he had say otherwise. "Lucy gave them to us."

She looked at them conspicuously, "You know Lucky?"

"Yeah, she gave us the dusters."

"Heh, then you don't mind answering a question then."

"Shoot." Neo replied.

"What's her favorite thing she owns? This should be easy if you know her." She snickered at them.

Adam scratched his mane for a moment, "I don't know which is her favorite. I always thought she treated her gun and wagon the same."

The officer’s face turned sour, "Ah, fuck."

"What do you want us to do with them, ma'am?" The stallion coalition soldier asked.

She gave them a dismissing wave of her hoof, "Just let them go. These two aren't worth shooting."

All of the other soldiers just looked at each other unsure of her order’s legitimacy. "L-Let them go... Ma'am?"

The coalition officer flicked her old cigarette to the side and pulled out a brand new one from her pocket. "Are you deaf and stupid? What did I just say?"

They saluted her, "Yes, ma'am!"

Taking a lighter she lit the end of her cigarette, "You two are lucky I owe Lucy some favors. If you didn't know her and I wasn't indebted to her I would have shot your asses down. Just don't go sneaking around us again. Or we'll shoot you."

Stepping to the side, the soldiers made way for Adam and Neo to get to the door. Although, before leaving, both brothers looked puzzled at each other. Neo made it a note to remember who she was, that way when they met Lucy again they could see what kind of favors she did for her.

Cautiously moving back they kept themselves facing the intimidating mare, "Okay... Thanks..." Adam muttered unsurely.

Nearing the door there was a loud clatter coming from the other side of the car. At first it was muffled, but second by second it grew louder. Within moments it was clear. The sound was that of several Legion soldiers stampeding toward the car they, and the coalition soldiers were in.

Pulling out the gun from her holster, and taking cover behind a metal plated crate. The coalition officer faced the door at the other end of the car.

"We've got company!" She announced.

Instantly all of the other soldier's jumped behind the nearest thing they could use as cover. The only things left in the open were the two brothers, who at the moment found it best to keep going to the door in the opposite direction of the noise.

The door at the end of the train car bursted open, as a Legion officer, and soldiers raced in. They didn't hesitate to start firing, however, they themselves were met with the loud gunshots of the coalition soldier's guns.

Bullets flew back and forth smashing, and shattering the framing on the crates. Adam and Neo ducked, dodged, and avoided the bullets that flew past their heads and bodies.

Hurrying as quickly as they could move to the door, they threw it open and slammed it behind them. The small glass window, and the thin wood did little to stop bullets from bursting through the door. And, to better avoid the oncoming fire, they placed their backs firmly against the wall next to the door.

On opposite sides of the door, they seemed to be safe from the incoming shots fired by the Legion soldiers. The wind blew fiercely in the middle section of the train car. If they moved forward, they could just go through the next car's door. That, though, would mean potentially being shot by the bullets coming through the door.

"Adam!" Neo shouted loudly, over the sound of the loud wind.

"What!"

"What do we do now!?"

"I'm thinking!" Adam replied.

"What?!"

"I said, I'm thinking!"

"Oh, okay! Take your time!"

Adam thought about it, and the best logical answer was to get onto the next car. It would be risky, but he believed they could do it. "We're going to get onto the next car!"

Neo raised a hoof to his ear. "What?!"

"I said, we're going to have to-" Adam stopped speaking altogether, as a Legion soldier opened the door to the next car.

For the moment, the continuous stream of gunfire had seemed to have subsided. Only the three ponies stood there, staring at each other in surprise. The unicorn Legion soldier pulled up his rifle to fire, only to have Adam push him back and close the door.

Once again the Legion soldier pulled open the door, and like he had done the first time, Adam pushed him back inside the train car and closed it once more.

By now, the sounds of many Legion soldiers could be heard. While it was unclear as to what they were saying, both brothers knew that they were pissed, and ready to blow the door open to get to them.

Now from both cars Legion soldiers encased them, and the coalition soldiers in the previous car. Adam had to think, within moments, the Legion soldiers stormed through the door in front of them. Looking around their environment he saw a small metal ladder lead up to the top of the car.

"Brother! We need to climb the ladder!"

"What?!"

Adam rolled his eyes in frustration, "We need to climb the ladder!" He added this time pointing to the ladder.

Neo glanced at the ladder, and understood what his plan was. Nodding back to him, Adam started first up the ladder to the top of the train car. Neo followed behind him, and as he did a slight twinge of fear rolled around in his stomach.

Adam reached the top of the ladder, and looked across the flat train car tops. They were a dull grey metal, and each of the tops seemed to be worn down. Placing one hoof, then another on the top of the train car's roof he crawled onto the top of the train car.

The breeze was significantly stronger than that of the breeze before. Just like Adam had, Neo crawled onto the top of the train putting a hoof over his eyes breaking the powerful breeze. Below they heard the faint click of the door below them open. Commands, and loud battle shouts could be heard coming from between the cars.

Adam gestured a hoof for his brother to follow him and together, they trudged onward. Both moved at a good pace, keeping one hoof in front of their faces to break the wind. Their dusters flapped and waved wildly. Adam decided that he might need both hooves for the trip along the top of the car. So, taking the goggles around his neck, he placed them over his eyes.

With both hooves free, he picked up his pace. Neo struggled to keep up, but as he did, he noticed that another pony had wanted to catch up to them. From between the cars, three Legion soldiers had climbed the ladder up to the top of the car with them. Like Adam, they wore protective goggles shielding their eyes from the wind.

Coming to the end of the first car, they leaped over the small divide. Neo checked behind them, and, slowly but surely, the three Legion soldiers were on their tails. Neo noticed this and dropped the hoof he used as a windbreak to speed up his movement. Although his eyes watered profusely, he had to use both hooves to move if they were going to get away from their pursuers.

Adam too looked behind him. Panic raced through his mind as the soldiers pulled out their weapons and began firing at them. Due to the high winds and moving cars, it made their shots sporadic and random. Neo levitated his shotgun, and shot downwind of them.

It slowed them down, as with each shot he fired, the Legion soldiers dodged his shots. Together, they came to the end of the next car and swiftly jumped over it. Now, moving as fast as they could on the train car tops, they dashed to the end of the train. It was incredibly hard for Neo to see, for only a small blue fuzzy object was the only thing he could make out.

Just following Adam, he relied on him and his actions to get to the end. Just before they reached the end of the semi-last car, Adam made sure his brother was ready to jump across. With confirming nods to each other, they jumped across.

The Legion soldiers were gaining on them, now only a few feet from them, they reloaded their weapons in preparation to fire. Looking back one more time, Adam noticed a large metal beam that bare several rusted train signs on it come up across the tops of the train cars.

Urging his brother to move faster, they rushed to the end of the car. With the steel beam only seconds away from sweeping everything off of the top of the train. The divide was in view and after letting his brother go down the ladder first, Adam jumped down, and ducked.

Overhead, the beam swiped across the top of the train cars, taking the Legion soldiers who were following them with it. Adam sighed in relief and wiped his brow before climbing down the ladder. Together, the brothers entered the next car, taking the utmost caution.

Neo levitated his shotgun closely, and as they opened the next door, they were taken back by a horrifying sight. The train car they were entering had a narrow hallway leading into a the nicest car they had seen all day. And in said hallway, there were two bodies. By the tan, steel plated armor, it was clear that one was a coalition soldier. And the next one next to him bared the green plated armor of the Legion. But the more grueling fact of the matter, was both ponies had half of their heads blown clear across the walls.

Closing the door behind them, Neo holstered his weapon. They both tried to respect the dead ponies and stepped over their bodies. Both of them inspected the beautifully decorated interior of the car. It had wonderful red cushions and majestic shining golden edged wallpaper. And a sparkling chandelier above them illuminating the car.

Adam pointed to the end of the regal car, "Just past that door is the caboose... Or at least it should be."

Neo continued to admire the fine details of the car in awe, "What do you suppose they use this car for?"

"Royalty, maybe?" Adam answered.

"Hmm, interesting." Neo added.

Adam opened the door at the end of the car. Cold wind rushed inside, "Come on, brother." Adam said holding the door open for his older brother.

Neo stepped through the door and into the divided section separating the caboose from the fancy train car. Each of them stepped on the caboose's side and glanced down at the link holding the train together. Adam and Neo stared down at it curiously.

"So..." Neo hummed loudly looking at his brother.

"So, what?" Adam replied trying to speak over the sound of the wind.

Neo shrugged, "How do we un-linkify the caboose?"

Adam returned to the train car's link. "I... I..." Adam found it hard to respond.

"To be honest, I don't really know..."

Neo's jaw hit the floor in shock, "What!? I thought you were the train guru or something!'

"Hey! I might know a lot about trains, but I don't know everything!"

Neo sighed, and inspected the link that held the two cars together. "Maybe that little chain thing there has something to do with it."

Adam saw the little chain his brother mention, and connect to it was the bar keeping the link together. Adam's eyes lit up, "That's it! Or it should be."

Neo shrugged, "Let's see. Maybe it is..."

"Right," Adam agreed taking the chain in his mouth, "Letsh try and pull it out. Our levitashion saddles can't handle the force."

Neo picked up a section of the chain, and helped his brother pull. "Alright, when I shay pull. We pull, okay brother?"

Neo nodded. "Okay... Pull!"

Together they pulled the chain back forcefully. They grunted, and yanked on the stubborn chain until the bar linking the cars together started to squeak. Little by little the bar loosened with every tug.

Finally, pulling it one last time with all the strength they could muster, the bar holding the cars together popped off. Both brothers fell back against the caboose with the chain in their mouths.

Recovering themselves, they stood up and watched as the caboose gradually slowed. The train they were once on continued on down the tracks while their little caboose drifted away.

"We did it, brother! We did it!" Adam cheered hugging his brother.

Neo cupped his hooves together around his mouth,and shouted boastfully back to the train that rode off without them, "Yeah, you hear that!? We ain't dying today!"

Adam smiled, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small wheel next to the ladder that lead up to the top of the car. Inscribed on the wheel were the words, "Caution. Emergency Brake."

Moving up to the wheel, he spun it around quickly. "Here," Adam said spinning it faster and faster, "this should help us slow down a bit more quickly."

Sparks flew from the small wheels of the caboose, as it came to a screeching halt. It took a few moments for the caboose to fully stop, and when it did the two brothers sat there on the edge of the caboose looking down the tracks.

For once, all was quiet. Only the calming sound of the wind blowing, and the sand being blown on the ground could be heard. Neo nudged his brother playfully with a smile.

"We did it." He said.

Adam smiled warmly, "Yep... We did, didn't we?"

"Although, how far away are we from Silvermane tower now?" Adam added..

Pulling up his Pipbuck, Neo looked at the marker on his map. "Actually, we're not too far away. If we walk now it'll be half a day's walk from here to Maneton. Then we can rest there and be at Silvermane by tomorrow."

Adam didn't reply; instead he continued smiled warmly. Neo wrapped one hoof around his brother's shoulder, "So... How was your first train ride? Was it all you had hoped it would be?"

"Yeah, I only wish we could have rode it all the way through... Without being shot at."

"Well," Neo sighed, "maybe we'll get to do that one day."

"Yeah... Maybe one day." Adam chuckled.

Together they looked down seemingly endless tracks that rolled and climbed over the hills. It seemed almost endless. Even with all that had gone on, just sitting there, appreciating each other's company was reassuring. Because soon they would move on, but before they did, they just wanted to enjoy the fact that they were alive.

Vladimir was spread out lazily on a long green cushioned seat along the side of the refreshment car. Across from him, a bartender tended to his counters with a dust rag in hoof. Bottles and small tables lined the sides of the car on the other side of him. A dark green ceiling with stars painted filled the space above them. Like most of the other cars, chandeliers with lightbulbs rattled and shook gently as the train swayed ever so slightly.

A unicorn soldier stood attentively at his side, while he relaxed on the seat. Levitating closely to Vladimir, the soldier had a silver tray with a fresh bottle of red wine ready for him. With a glass in hoof, Vladimir tipped his drink toward the soldier, who promptly filled the glass halfway.

Taking a few sips from the glass, a Legion officer with a cap bearing a single white star stood in front of him. He was a blue stallion with a silver beard and a sword at his side.

"Are you feeling better, m'lord?" The officer asked.

Vladimir took a few sips from his glass. "Yes... Much better, Lieutenant."

"Very good, sir. I'm just happy we found you in time."

Gulping down more of the wine, he motioned his glass to the soldier next to him. "Yes, well, after that whole ordeal I went through, I'm surprised I didn't die."

"It would be terrible to think if that was the case, m'lord. Let's just be thankful it did not turn out that way."

He looked down his at his drink regretfully. In his voice, a faint hint of hesitation could be heard, "Yes... Let's be thankful of my good fortune..."

The door at the end of the car opened and out marching stiffly came a Legion officer. Like the other officer before Vladimir, he had a cap with a single star. Only that at his side was a large combat rifle. Brushing his orange fur on his neck tiredly he stepped up to Vladimir and saluted.

"Your majesty. Permission to give my report, sir." He solidly asked.

Waving a hoof tiredly, Vladimir gave him permission to speak. "Sir, we had captured the last group of rebels that had boarded the train."

"Oh?" Vladimir muttered curiously.

"Yes sir, two were killed in the fighting when we were on our way to retrieve you. Near the end of the train though, we encountered the last group. Two of the coalition soldiers died during our counter attack. Fortunately, the last group was quickly outnumbered when we had troops trap them from both sides of the car."

"How many did we capture?"

"Three, m'lord. One who we believe to be their captain, and the other two had explosives and radios on them."

"Can you bring them in here? I would like to talk to them."

Bowing his head slightly to Vladimir, the orange coated officer motioned a hoof for one of the soldiers to bring in the prisoners. Through the door at the end of the car came stumbling, locked tightly together by chains, the last members of the coalition boarding party.

Side by side they lined up in front of the Legion Emperor. Cuts, bruises, and scars covering their beaten bodies. Vladimir sat up in his seat, although as he did an aching soreness festered throughout his head each time he moved at all.

"Kneel before his majesty!" The blue Legion officer commanded.

The mare in the middle smirked at the officer from behind her pink mane. "I don't kneel to tyrants." She sneered.

Taking the end of his rifle the orange coated officer hit her, and her two other companions behind their forelegs. Grunting in pain, all three of them kneeled before Vladimir, who looked down on them. All but the pink coalition officer in the middle looked back at him with contempt.

"Rise." He said, keeping his gaze on the pink mare.

"Now," Vladimir said taking a few sips of his wine, "who are you, and minus coming for the predators, what was your mission?"

"Hell, we don't even care anymore. If it pisses of the Legion, we do it." The mare chuckled.

One of the officers rose his rifled to beat the mare, "Why you- I'll beat you for talking to his majesty that way!"

Just before he did, Vladimir raised his hoof, halting the officers actions. "Please Trireme. Let her speak freely. I want to hear what she has to say."

Vladimir could feel the soreness in his head still as he spoke, "I'll ask you again... What was your mission?"

The two other soldiers shook slightly, as the sight of the Legion's Emperor sent a terrifying feeling down their spines. Turning his attention to the quivering soldiers next to her, he addressed them instead.

"Do you know how many Legion laws you've broken today? Hmm? Do you?"

They didn't respond. "You know, each one of those crimes is easily punishable by removal of a limb, castration, or even death. The best part is that I can easily let one of my officers punish you now. Because blood, while difficult to get out of the carpet, can be cleaned. But a limb... Oh, you see, without a protege in magic around, you won't be getting that limb back, and that is something you can't fix quite as easily as could clean a carpet."

Relaxing himself in his seat, Vladimir continued, "I was just faced with death by your people, and I am not in the best of moods right now. So, here's the deal. You say something that I find remotely informative, and you get to keep your balls. And for the fine lady over there, she gets to keep her legs."

Tipping the glass toward them he said, "What do you say? Do we have a deal?"

All but the mare continued to shiver in fear, not giving him even so much as a glance. Vladimir sighed, "This is all very frustrating, did you know that?"

Another soldier came through the door urgently and saluting he said stiffly, “Sir! I have news!”

Vladimir turned to him, “I was in the middle of something... Make it quick.”

“The caboose is... gone, sir.”

Giving the soldier an odd glare he said, “What? It’s... Gone? Are the predators still on the train?”

“Yes sir, they are still on the train. However, the caboose is gone.”

Vladimir sighed in frustration, “This is fantastic... Lieutenant, have somepony go back for it once we arrive at the crossroads station.”

The blue Legion officer named Trireme bowed, “Yes sir, it will be done.”

“Good,” Pointing to the soldier who had informed him of the caboose he returned his attention to him, “as for you, run off, I’m sure you have something that needs to be done.”

The soldier saluted him and went back the way he had came. Massaging the side of his head with one hoof, Vladimir moaned feeling the pain ache in his head.

Returning to the ponies in front of him, he added, "Sadly, I just can't control what might happen if I let my officers do what they wish. You may not come back out of this with all your legs. Maybe one of you might even lose a horn... I'm just not sure."

One of the Legion officers pulled out his sword and ran the tip gently across one of the soldier’s body. Both coalition soldiers breathed heavily in fear for their lives. "Because my officers can be very... Creative, when it comes to pain."

Just as the sword tip came to the pony's neck, Vladimir interjected, "But! There is a chance you could walk out of here with everything. You can go back to your friends, your lovers, or whatever you have back home. For all I ask is for some simple information."

Sheathing his sword the officer stepped back from the coalition soldier. "Now, look up at me." Vladimir commanded calmly.

Only the two coalition soldiers looked up at him. "Good," He cooed sweetly, "what was that mission of your’s again?"

At first the two soldier's found it hard to speak. Sweat ran down their pale grey coats, as a nervous heat gathered under their battle worn armor.

"We... We came for the predators..." The soldier on the left answered.

"Yes, and what else? Surely it was not to murder me."

"N-No... We came, just for them..." The soldier replied.

Smiling at them, he said, "See how easy that was? All this talk of torture and death can have a real effect on one's nerves."

The pink mare spat at her comrade’s hooves, "Fuck you, we would have got away with it too if you fucking pussies didn't give up on me. You dishonored our whole order, our freedom, and your dignity. You make me puke!"

"Freedom is a relative term, ma'am. Any creature that does not have some form of control can be free." Vladimir added.

"You see, before my Legion, there was nothing. Bandits roamed freely pillaging, raping, and murdering innocent ponies. Raiders destroyed entire towns just to see them burn and mutants devoured the poor souls that crossed their paths. Salvers, junkies, lawless violence. These were the things your order misses. What kind of freedom is that? The freedom to live in hell? What I bring is order, structure, and law to a world that has been deprived of it."

She glared at him viciously as he spoke. "Of course, we kill many; of course our laws are strict. But it is necessary to rebuilding society. Those souls who wish to destroy order, sanity, and peace are the true tyrants. What has your order done? I can tell you mine has brought back working roadways. Three trains are fully functioning in the province and towns are protected from raiders. I don't want to exclude the decrease in raider activity, and mutant activity as well."

"We have a full standing army that feeds, protects, and ensures peace throughout this province," He leaned closer to her face, fighting the pain in his head, "if it were me... I would fight for a world with a chance for real peace. For real freedom, than for the lawless hell our land once was."

She remained silent, staring at him with wild rage in her eyes. "Now... Is there anything you want before I send you off? Anything you are itching to say?"

All but the mare shook their heads slightly, keeping their gaze off of him. "And you, is there anything you have to say?"

The coalition mare grinned, "You got a smoke?"

"Heh," He chuckled and turned to address an officer, "get a cigarette."

Saluting him, the blue coated officer went over to the bartender, who gave him a cigarette. With the cigarette in hoof he asked, "What shall I do with this, sir?"

"Put it in her mouth." He answered.

Like he had ordered, he put the cigarette in the corner of her mouth. "Now, be a good lad and light it please."

Taking a lighter from a pocket on the outside of his armor, he gave it Vladimir, who levitated it to the cigarettes end. Lighting it only once, he held it at the cigarettes end until it was burning. Quickly removing the lighter he smiled and patted her on the head.

"Will that be all?"

The coalition officer took in a deep breath, and through her nose she let out a cloud of smoke onto him. "If it’s not too much trouble, you could order one of your lackeys over there to fuck you. That would be pretty nice." She snickered.

"Cute," He laughed.

Giving his officers a dismissive wave of his hoof he said, "Please, take and lock them up somewhere. They'll make good workers in the Dark Mines. Especially her, the Warden will have his work cut out for him."

Both officers saluted at him in unison. "Yes, sir!"

Moving them back towards the end of the car, they left Vladimir alone with his wine server and the bartender. Sipping the wine from his glass, an echoing voice hissed in his ear.

"You could have killed them..." It said.

Vladimir did not respond, but instead he took a few more sips of his drink. "Are you going to ignore me, Little Red? After all the fun we had earlier?"

Vladimir continued to drink his drink as if nothing was there, "Aaaw, you make me sad... Just know, next time you act soft and let traitors like them get away, I'll take over myself and show you what real authority is."

Like that, the voice was gone. He waited to make sure the voice had left. Once some time had passed, he sighed, resting his almost empty glass next to him. And, burying his face in his hooves, he thought hard about his decision. But something inside him felt good about what he had done... For all the death it had made him do, he was strong enough to pardon some of the lives. Even if it required him to act menacing, he felt much more happy that they lived than torturing them to death like it would do. And that left him, in some ways, feeling content.

Both brothers stood at the top of a hill with the cold wind blowing strongly against them. Off in the distance was the caboose they had left behind. It had seemed like the Legion wasn't going to come back for it, and even if they did, they were not going to be around when they did.

According to their Pipbucks, Maneton wasn't too far off. Their hopes were that, by the end of the day, they could make it. Because at night was when the bigger, more hungry creatures came out in search of prey. Trudging swiftly through the hill-covered landscape, they came to a rather large flat open area.

The flat area they had stumbled upon looked like a small junkyard. Wagons and buses were crushed on top of one another. Huge piles of scrap littered the few places vehicles didn't. Unfortunately, the hills around them blocked any other part of the junkyard, making it almost impossible to predict how big it was.

A massive billboard worn and beaten by the elements was positioned next to the junkyard. On its front was a cyan unicorn mare dressed in a smart black suit. She seemed to be pointing to whoever was reading the sign with a sincere look on her face. Above her, in white bold letters, the sign read, "Help rebuild our future! Only you can restore our land to its former glory!"

Both brothers stood there at the top of the hill scanning the junkyard carefully. "It looks clear... But I'm not completely sure it's safe." Neo muttered trying to inspect the junkyard.

Adam looked to the sky and saw that the clouds above were turning a dim orange, "Maybe we should go around. It'll be a little while longer, but we'll avoid anything that's down there."

Neo checked once more the area around the junkyard. Nodding, Neo agreed, "Let's play it safe... We just got away from the Legion, the next thing we need is to come close to death again in one day."

Going across the hills, the two brothers marched. Dust devils twisted and spun before vanishing into the wind. Coming over the next hill, they could now see the junkyard and it's entirety. Neither of them had guessed how big it really was. From the small flat area, it stretched further over the next set of hills.

Looking down both ways, the two saw no other paths. The wasteland was cruel like that, giving them obstacle, after obstacle. Fortunately for them, there didn't seem to be any signs of raiders or soldiers.

Adam coughed breathing in some of the dust in the air that the wind kicked up, "There's no going around this, isn’t there?"

"It looks that way..." Neo moaned tiredly.

"Let's move quickly, if we can get through before it gets too dark, we won't have to worry about anything."

Adam didn't reply, he was exhausted. And, carefully maneuvering their way down the hill, they came into the junkyard. Walls of rusted steel of vehicles were piled high. Tools, trash, and a whole plethora of different scrap covered most of the ground. In huge heaps it sat weathered by time and the elements.

The brothers referred back to their Pipbucks as it was their only eyes in the maze of junk. Twisting and turning, they trotted on through the junkyard. Sometimes hopping over old concrete dividers or pushing loose dangling metal out of their way. By the time they had gone through a majority of the maze, they had had enough. Their minds were dulled, and their hoof steps sluggish.

As they walked on, something perked their ears up and sent a bone-chilling sensation throughout their bodies. It was a loud screech. Not the kind a pony would make, but the sound of a bloodthirsty animal.

Turning sharply to the sound's source, there, standing along side almost fifteen others, was a ghoul. It was glowing a pale green color. Flesh and tendons were exposed, dripping glowing green fluid from it’s wounds. The other ghouls in the herd were zombie-like in physical appearance. Clothes torn, or ripped apart hung loosely from their scrawny bodies while they too were covered in rotting flesh.

Once again, a loud screech came from the glowing ghoul. And, dashing toward them, it panted heavily with every hoof step. Memories of the ground level at Ironhoof city came rushing back to them. With panic and adrenaline pumping through their veins, the brothers ran.

"Run, Adam! Run!" Neo shouted running away from the herd.

Tripping, stumbling and running, the ghouls were all fixated on catching them. Nervous sweat ran down their brows as it seemed the ghouls started to slowly come closer to them. It was clear their pursuers wouldn't stop, even if it meant tripping, bumping, or shoving the other members of their herd to get to them quicker.

Neo and Adam searched their surroundings and found that a broken down bus splitted in half could slow them down. Making a mad dash for their only hope, they climb inside and hurried on to the end of the bus. Opening the pulling door, they jumped through it to the other side of the bus. The ghouls at first found it hard to maneuver through such a small and consecrated spot.

But even the bus didn't help them before they shoved and trampled the others in their herd to get past the obstacle quickly. Both of the brothers continued to run until they came to a dead end of the junkyard. The hills around them were blocked off by huge walls of metal vehicles. The only other path they could use to escape was near the ghoul herd, making them trapped.

The ghouls still had their sights set on them and, with time running out, both Adam and Neo pulled out their weapons. Levitating them closely, fear overtook all other emotions in their minds.

"Brother?" Adam asked worryingly, "What are we going to do?"

Neo gulped watching the ghouls speed closer to them, "We do what we can. Stay close to me, and don't let them get a hold on you."

The glowing ghoul that had screeched earlier took the lead as the first ghoul in front of the herd, and just as it came ten feet away from them, a huge noise boomed off of the walls of scrap. This noise was followed by the head of the ghoul blowing into pieces.

All of the ghouls stopped, and turned their attention to the direction of the noise. There, at the top of the hill, was a pony. He was a unicorn, clad in dark power armor and a red visor across his eyes. He wore a brown duster over the armor that seemed to cover every inch of his body. A “W” was inscribed on the flank area of the coat along with another W just under his helmet.

Levitating in front of him was a huge sniper rifle. Nearly three times larger than the one Lucy had, firing bullets that matched the size of the gun and the pony wielding it.

Letting several more shots out four more of the ghouls in the herd had their heads explode into a cloud of red mist. Screaming dementedly, they charged for him. Each step the ghouls took towards him was another kill for the armored pony. Finally, what remained of the herd reached him. Jumping, they tackled him. With vigorous force, the mysterious pony shoved them off of him only to buck them back and curve stomp those he had knocked over.

Pulling a large python revolver from a side holster, he shot each ghoul that came at him with deadly accuracy. He started walking toward the brothers shooting, and killing each ghoul that came up to him. When he had run out of ammunition for his weapon he holstered it, and fought hoof to hoof with the remaining ghouls.

Unlike before, it looked like he struggled fighting the ghouls with only his hooves. The mad creatures bit, scratched, and pounded on him. Neo and Adam felt that this pony had helped them. Whether or not the pony meant to harm them after the ghouls were gone was irrelevant. Because deep down inside, it was the right thing to help him.

Pointing his shotgun to the few ghouls left, Neo began shooting the few ghouls that surrounded the armored pony. Adam did the same, using VATS to get the best shots on the mutated ponies. One by one, the creatures fell dead until none remain.

Both brothers panted tiredly as the pony recovered himself and stood up. Neo approached him cautiously with his weapon ready to fire, "Are you okay?" He asked with caution.

The pony picked up his sniper and folded it in half before holstering it onto his back. Neither Adam nor Neo had seen a sniper fold in half before. Then again, Adam found it intriguing that he had modified the rifle to be more compact.

The metal clad pony dusted himself down. His voice was low, firm, and metallic. "Affirmative. I am functioning properly."

"Why did you help us?" Adam asked with the same amount of caution as his brother.

The pony just stood there, it was hard to read what he was thinking due to the helmet and visor that covered his head. "I owe Lucky. Her orders have become my main priority. Main priority: Protect brothers that were described as white coat, black mane, province guardian. Smaller pony, blue coat, brown mane, province guardian."

Neo raised an eyebrow at him, "So... Lucy sent you, to protect us?"

"Affirmative." He answered.

"That makes you our ally, correct?" Adam asked.

"Affirmative."

Neo stepped forward inspecting the pony before them. "How did you find us? Have you been stalking us or something?"

"Freelancer guardian reports identified two ponies leaving a caboose and moving toward Maneton."

Adam's eyes grew wide, "Are you a freelancer guardian?"

The stallion nodded once. "Affirmative."

Without taking his eyes off of the pony for a moment, Neo put his weapon away carefully. "Can you get us to Maneton safely?"

"Affirmative. I can escort you safely to the settlement of Maneton."

Gesturing a hoof for him to move on, Neo said, "Then lead on, but don’t think for a second that I’m taking my eyes off of you."

"Order confirmed," The stallion said turning away from them, "follow me."

Adam approached his brother and whispered to him in a curious tone of voice, "Brother, should we trust this guy? He just came out of nowhere, and we know nothing about him."

Neo pulled up his Pipbuck and showed Adam the screen, "It looks like he's going in the direction of Maneton. And don't worry, I don't trust him. Like I said, I won’t take my eyes off of him."

Adam felt unsure about the situation, and a troubling feeling irked itself at the bottom of his stomach, "Alright. We'll just have to be careful then."

Neo smiled at his brother, "Don't worry, just be ready to draw on him if he shows any signs of suspicious behavior."

Adam continued to walk at his brother's side remaining silent. Like he had said, he needed to be ready to draw on the armored pony, even if the stranger had helped them.

Neo trotted up closer to the iron stallion, "If we're going to go to Maneton together, at the very least, I would like to know your name."

Neo bumped into the stallion as he abruptly stopped. Then, turning his head to Neo he said, "Wester. I am called Wester."

Foot Note: Level up!

New Perk: The Circle of Stats: Two skills that have less than 5 points now go up by +2 each.

Foot Note: Level up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Handsome Jack: Bartering increased by +2, as well as charisma by +2.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Thefullmetalbrony

Blackflames

(AN: I really enjoyed making this chapter. I always thought that train robbery/hijacking scenes in books, movies, and just about everything was cool. So I told myself when crafting the story that I would do a chapter with one. And this is that chapter. Some of you may might be a little confused on the ending, and just who this mysterious pony is. If you want to refresh your memory a bit, head on over to the end of chapter 15. Just so you guys know. Anyway, as always I look forward to the next chapter! - Noakwolf)

Iron Clad Guardian

CHAPTER 25: IRON CLAD GUARDIAN

Don't cry kiddo... I... I promised myself I'd always protect you...

Crickets chirped sweetly as dusk overshadowed the world. A mixture of dim lighting and the ever encroaching darkness of the coming night encased the landscape. Together, the three ponies trudged up the rolling hills around them. They had been walking for an hour over the hills, hoping that the pony that was leading them to Maneton was not lying about who he was.

Neo didn't trust him in the slightest, even if for the moment he seemed to be fairly passive. Adam had his own weapon drawn, though, after nearly an hour of watching the mysterious pony, it appeared that he wasn't any danger to them. But he needed to remain vigilant, because at any moment, he could strike them.

Yet, the pony named Wester intrigued him. And the very thought of what, or who he was, stirred the curiosity is his mind.

"So..." Adam hummed, "What kind of armor is that you're wearing?"

"Power armor." Wester answered.

"Oh," Adam replied puzzled by his vague answer, "then how do you know Lucy?"

"She was part of a squad the Steelhoof coalition formed shortly after she became a guardian."

"You said you were a freelancer, right? Do you still hold any loyalty to the coalition?"

"Negative. I hold loyalty to her, you, and my contractors."

"What did she do for you? You know, to get you to help us." Adam asked.

Wester stopped walking. Frozen in place, he stood there, looking out into the distance. Both brothers found his sudden halt odd, and waving a hoof in front of his face, Adam tried getting his attention. Shaking his head, Wester continued walking. Leaving Adam without an answer to his question.

"Was it something I said?" Adam asked his brother.

Neo shrugged. "I don't know, that guy is a mystery."

Coming to the top of a hill, they could see a faint halo light reflect off of the clouds above. Down below the hill they could see Maneton. The little town had not changed since they had visited it last time. Just like when they had first emerged from the stable, the town looked alive and it looked especially well during the earlier evening.

"We're here." Wester said pointing to the town below.

"Huh," Neo muttered, "look's like he was leading us to Maneton after all..."

Looking at a watch wrapped around his armored leg, he said, "We should get inside the walls soon. Night is when the raiders around here like to hunt for traders and travelers. If they find us, there is a low percentage we'll make it alive."

Neo looked around them, feeling as though something in the hills was watching them. "I didn't think I'd say this around you , but I agree. Let's get down there. I'm getting a bad feeling the longer we stand out here in the open."

"Affirmative. Let's not waste time anymore."

Trotting down the hill, they came to the roughly configured steel-plated gate of Maneton. As they got closer to the entrance of the town, something seemed off. Large blast marks, and dozens upon dozens of bullets holes were spread out all along it. Like the first time they had come to the town, the gate was closed.

Wester stepped up to the mechanically sliding gate, and pounded on it with a single hoof. An old pony peaked his head over the top of it and inspected them closely. In a rough, grinding old voice, he called out to them.

"Eh, who is it?" He demanded.

Wester looked up at him. "It's me, Wester."

Putting a hoof to his ear he leaned closer toward Wester. "Eh? Run that by me again, sonny?"

Wester sighed, "I said it's me Weste-"

"Eh, I knew it was you, sonny. Only you prance around in that armor. In my day, we didn't have ponies prancing around with armors. When we got shot at, we only had luck and skill protecting us. None of that fancy dancy-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir, but nightfall is coming. And we really need to enter the town." Wester interjected as politely as he could.

"Alright son, I'll do it, jus’ gimme a moment..." The old stallion said, disappearing behind the gate.

In moments, the entrance to the town shrieked metallically sliding to the side. Once it had completely moved open for them, Benny the Gate Pony motioned them with his hoof to come inside. "Come on in ya youngins. Dangerous folk be about when the dark comes."

Wester approached and bowed his head slightly toward him respectfully. "Thank you."

"It ain't nothin’, sonny. It's mah job."

Neo and Adam followed behind the armored pony into the main street of the town. But something was different about the town. For the most part, everything seemed as it did when they were last there. The lights that were strung across the street were illuminated and ponies looked like they were happy. However, they noticed that around some of the buildings construction, scaffolding was set up. Along with this were ponies with tools in their hooves working on the structures as though the buildings had been damaged.

Once again screeching loudly, the gate behind them closed shut. Benny took several large metal bars, and locked the gate tightly by sliding them into grommets along the side.

"What happened here..." Neo whispered to his brother.

Adam shrugged, "Maybe this was the reason Ally had to leave. You remember, right? The letter she got about something happening with Kat?"

"Maybe... Let's see if we can find Ally. Maybe she can shed some more light on it."

Wester stopped them, and looked at both of the brothers with his one piece red visor. "You know somepony here, correct?"

Neo and Adam shot him a surprised look. "How did you-"

He pointed to the metal ear sections of his helmet. "I have advanced hearing. My sense of hearing is greater than that of the average pony by approximately fifteen percent."

"Could you have told us this sooner?" Neo asked.

"You never asked." He responded.

Neo peered at him with an irritated glare and not responding went on, not answering his comeback, "To answer your question though, yes, we know some pony here."

"Ally Tales, correct?" Wester queried.

Both brothers nodded in unison. Wester didn't respond immediately after receiving their answer, instead, he took a moment to scan the town for Ally. It had only took him a moment before he pointed out where she was with his large armored hooves.

"There. Near the end of the street."

What he had said was true. For there, at the end of the street in front of the town hall, was Ally talking with an older stallion, who looked like he might be in his late fifties.

Wester took the folded rifle on his back, and inspected the ammunition cartridge. "I take it you'll be taking shelter with her for the night?"

Neo nodded at him. "Yeah, and what about you? Where do you plan on staying?"

Putting the cartridge back into the gun, he folded the weapon in half once more before swiftly returning it to his back. "I don't sleep much."

The armored pony's response at first puzzled the two brothers. Then again, most things about him did. After all, their time out in the wastes never had they found a pony quite like him.

"I'm needing to resupply myself. After rescuing you two, I've found that I am low on ammunition and supplies." He added, turning his gaze to Isaac's general goods store.

Returning to them, he pointed at Ally at the end of the street. "Please, get yourselves settled. I'll rendezvous with you at her living quarters in an hour."

"It takes you an hour to get ammo?" Neo questioned him.

"No," He replied, "it takes me an hour to restock and repair."

He started off toward the general goods store, "I'll return in an hour. We'll discuss your plans when we engage in conversation once more." With that, he left them in the middle of the dusty street of Maneton.

They both blinked. What had just happened? Did that pony just relay plans to them and just leave? This didn't help them at all learn more about the pony in the slightest. Then again, it did feel good to be in Maneton again and to some degree that compensated for the irritation the stallion caused them.

Neo made his way down the street toward Ally, who, with her back turned to them, hadn't noticed their arrival. Each step made Neo's heart beat faster and faster, and with the addition of his stomach feeling off sweat built itself up on his brow.

Taking calming breaths, Neo tried to calm himself. Adam noticed his brother's nervous behavior, "Brother, are you okay? You’re acting kind of odd."

"What? No no no, I-I'm not acting weird, no. It's just we haven't seen each other in a while, and well... What if she doesn't like me anymore? Or what if she's forgotten about us or-"

"Brother," Adam interjected sternly, "you're freaking out. Just calm down."

Taking in a deep breath Neo sighed, "You're right... I can do this. I've fought armies, Con-ponies and raiders to get this far... Talking to a filly i-is a walk in the..."

As he approached her he stopped, his white muzzle blushing brightly. "...Park..." He finished.

He was terrified, but with a few confident nudges from his brother, he coughed. Clearing his throat, the blushing around his muzzle didn't seem to fade.

"Uh..." He muttered nervously behind her, "Hi Ally..."

The pony with whom she was talking to looked behind her. "Ms. Tales, I think you've got somepony wantin’ to speak with you."

She turned around swiftly, sending Neo into a petrified state. The very moment his eyes looked upon her he stood completely still. Staring at each other, Neo mustered his courage and rubbed one of his forelegs shyly. "Uh... Hey..."

Her eyes started to water, and she started to cry. Neo was confused by this, "Ally? D-Did I do something wrong-"

Before he could finish, she dashed up to him and hugged him tightly a few small tears rolling down her soft brown cheeks. "No, you’re fine..." She cried hugging him.

The red color around his muzzle intensified. "Why are you crying?"

"Because... Because, you're okay... And you came back..."

She released him, and took a few steps back from him. Trying as hard as she could to stop crying, she chuckled slightly, wiping away some of the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry... I just... I just lost control of myself for a moment."

Adam noticed the older stallion behind her. "Did we come at a bad time?" He asked.

Sniffling slightly, she shook her head. "No, no, not at all. I was just talking to the mayor. We were almost done with our discussion about the repairs being made to the town."

The mayor stepped up to the two brothers with a friendly smile on his face and shaking both their hooves, he said, "I'm the Mayor Timberline. It's nice to meet you two. Ms. Tales here has told me a lot about you two."

Neo blushed again. "Really?"

Twitching his grey mustache, the mayor added just as warmly, "Why sure, she said that someday, you'd come back to our little town. I'm glad she wasn't wrong, I'm just sad you had to come when we were fixin’ up the place."

Adam glanced at the scaffolding that covered the fronts of certain buildings around them. "Why are you repairing the buildings anyway?"

Ally patted the grey back of the mayor. "Not too long ago, a massive group of raiders came through and attacked the town. That was the reason Kat sent me a letter asking me to come back. Several of the buildings got hit by bombs they launched over the walls. They managed to fight off the raiders before I got back, but Kat had broken her leg in the attack. I had to support her for a bit while she recovered."

Rubbing the back of his silver mane, the mayor said, "We're jus' cleanin the mess them blasted raiders made. Good news is, thanks to Ms. Tales here, we're almost done with pickin the town up."

Both brothers smiled, however, Neo was the next to speak. "It's great to hear that everything turned out okay. I can tell you guys are gonna get this place picked up and back to the way it was in no time."

"Yep," The mayor chimed merrily, "though since we covered the dates, we're going to take down the scaffolding. I'll be off to inform the other ponies workin."

Ally gave him a happy smile. "You don't mind if I catch up with them, do you? It's been a while and-"

The mayor waved his hoof in the air whilst shaking his head, "No, Ms. I believe that should be it for the night."

"Thank you, Mr. Mayor." She replied.

Before he went on his way, he wished them all a good night. Trotting off to the other ponies at the scaffolding, he left them alone in the well lit street of Maneton.

Ally turned her attention to the two brothers, "So. What have you been up-"

She paused for a moment for something that had caught her eye. Cocking her head to the side, she realized that both of their duster collars were bare. Neither one of them had a badge of Celestia.

"What happened to your badges?"

Both of the brothers looked down at their collars, and grinned in embarrassment. "That's sort of a long story..."

"Do you want to come over? It's getting late, and Kat's fixing up supper as we speak."

The loud grumble of empty stomachs shortly followed after the word food was mentioned to the brothers. "What's she making tonight?"

She shot him a playful smirk. "We're having meat stew tonight. Not just any meat stew, brahmin meat stew."

Neo and Adam's mouths watered. It was Neo's mouth though that was practically flooding the the area around him at the mere mentioning of the soup she spoke of. "If we head over there now, you guys can clean up and we'll catch up, okay?"

Despite Neo's craving for food, the thought of sharing a meal with her again melted his heart. "Sure... Lead the way."

Adam rolled his eyes at the way his brother acted. Only he would act that way when in the presence of a pretty mare. Especially around one that liked him. Though, together, the three of them strolled off to her home where promises of food and safe shelter were abound. Fueled by these feelings, they cheerfully went into her home, ready to finally rest after a very long trip.

Ally nodded, listening to both brothers telling her about the many adventures they had prior to their arrival at Maneton. From the train to the mech duel, all the way back to Stable 43, and the war they fought at Arkcannon. The ponies they met and the ones that didn't make it. Every small detail they could fit in was included. Along with their tale, Kat would serve them hot tin bowls of brown savory meat stew.

Neo didn't spare any time eating his food. Every chance he had, he took another gulp of the soup before quickly returning to their story. Newt, the small filly that lived with them, had a few pieces of brightly colored chalk, which she used to draw cute pictures of ponies dancing on the walls.

Serving Neo his fifth bowl of soup, Kat gave him a concerned look. "Kid, if you keep eating like that, you're going to puke out all that good food..."

Even Adam noticed this and while it did concern him as well, his brother had done this the first time they came to Ally's house. He also took into account that if he did, in fact, expel the food, he would quickly learn his lesson. Yet, he felt for his brother's sake that he needed to be at least informed of the dangerous rate at which he was eating his food.

Chuckling uneasily, Adam said, "Brother... You need slow down, or like Kat said, you'll lose the only food you've eaten all day."

Neo ceased his quick eating, and blinked at him. Taking the last huge gulp of his soup, he placed the bowl down on the table. Grinning with embarrassment, Neo rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry... It's just really good soup."

Kat stirred the savory broth in the large steaming pot on the old pre-war stove. "I'm glad you like it. Just be sure to tip me before you leave or I won't have the cash to buy the rest of us something to eat."

Ally and Adam chuckled, "It's not my fault I have to be hungry! We can thank the universe for making me starve." Neo pleaded jokingly in his defense.

After things had started to calm down, Adam continued on with their story. "Anyway, that's what we've been doing. Right after that pony named Wester found us outside of that junkyard, we came here. The rest is pretty much clear from there."

Ally leaned forward, putting a hoof to her mouth in thought. "So you guys went through all of that? Wow... I missed quite a bit, didn't I?"

"I'm just happy we were able to make it out of all of that alive. It's a lot of stuff to take in for one day." Neo said.

Ally nodded, agreeing with him. "It is a lot... When I heard about what was happening in Arkcannon, I was terrified. I thought that something might of happened..."

"Hey, it's alright," Neo reassured her resting a hoof on her shoulder, "we're fine. Thanks to luck and that Wester guy we're still in one piece."

Neo pushed his cup back and glanced at Ally slightly unsure, "I have a quick question though... What happened to Lavender, after the bunker?"

She smiled hopefully at him, giving off a reassuring aura. "We found her a home with one of our neighbors. She still sort of off since that night, but she's shown signs of recovery. I'm still a little chiller about everything that happened that night. I just glad to see her happy."

Neo smiled, "I'm glad for her..."

"Yeah, she's a nice filly, and she deserved more." Adam commented.

Though as Neo sat there, he felt he didn't need to hold on to the thought of the bunker. Of Lu. It still haunted him, and rather than keep the feelings fresh in his mind he moved on. He had to. Adam had to also move on before old memories blurred his concentration.

"By the way," Adam added, "who is that pony anyway? You know, Wester."

Ally contemplated his question for a moment, "I don't know too much about him. He only passes through here every other week. Usually it's just to drink water and re-supply. I know him and Lucy are close, but other than that, I don't know too much about him."

Kat took the stew off of the stove and set it down on the dusty metal counter next to her. Picking up an old carving knife she held it close to her face, inspecting it menacingly, "Some say he's an alicorn who used to be normal before the war. Then, once the taint set in, he wore some freelancer gear he found and became a soulless cyborg. Now he roams the wastes, looking for other ponies to steal their souls just to become beautiful once more!"

All of the ponies in the room, including Newt, looked at Kat in complete bewilderment. Shrugging she returned to her pot smirking. "That's just a story I heard from some ponies down at the bar... You know, the drunken stupid type."

Just as she had finished, a loud knock could be heard coming from the door. Kat placed the knife back on the counter, and wiped her hooves on an old washcloth before rushing over to the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She muttered.

To her surprise, the pony who had knocked was Wester. Standing there in the doorway, the armored pony bowed respectfully, "Good evening, ma'am. Do you mind if I come in?"

Kat was slightly baffled at his sudden arrival. In fact, this was the first time she had actually met him face to face. From up close, he was slightly intimidating with his thick battle-worn armor. "Uh.."

"I hope I'm not intruding, ma'am. My main objective is to protect two brothers. A small blue one, and a white one. Are they here?"

"Uh, yeah... They're here. Come on in..." She stammered.

He bowed slightly once more, thanking her. Trotting on inside the building, he pulled off the huge folded sniper from his back and his saddlebags. "May I put my things down here?" He asked politely.

Kat, nodded gently as she continued to peer at him curiously. "Yeah... Sure thing..."

Placing his things down in the corner of the room, he trotted heavily over to the table where Ally and the brothers sat. Newt, the little filly, approached him with wide awed eyes. She tugged the corner of his duster and looked at him.

"Are you a robot?" She asked.

With his reflective red visor looking down at her he replied. "Heh, no kiddo, I'm Wester."

"Ooooh," she cooed answering like she understood who or what that was.

Sitting on his haunches, he gazed at the trio at the table silently. Every pony in the room had their eyes fixated on the armored stallion. Scanning the ponies around him he asked, "Did I say something?"

Everypony in the room shook their heads and returned to what they were doing. "No, not at all." Ally answered him.

"Very well, what is it you three were talking about?" Wester asked.

Adam had forgotten what they were talking about before mentioning Wester, but then the thought of their destination spawned in his mind. "Well, we were going to talk about where we were heading."

"Yeah, where are you two heading?" Ally queried.

Neo pulled up his Pipbuck map, and found the location marked on his map by Cool Blue. Showing it to the ponies around the table, he pointed to the small orange glowing blip on the small screen of his personal Pipbuck. "We're heading to Silvermane Tower."

Wester cocked his head slightly at him. "Silvermane tower? That is our destination?"

That last question surprised Neo. "What do you mean by our destination?"

"My objective is to protect you."

"So you're coming with us?"

"Affirmative." He answered.

"But I thought you just needed to help us get to Maneton. Not follow us around the wasteland! How long do you intend on following us?"

"Until your objective is complete."

Both brothers were taken back by what he had said. For now, not only did they have to still get to Silvermane, they also had him coming with them. Neo sighed, feeling like nothing they could say or do would not change his mind in the slightest.

"Even if we order you to stay here, you'll still follow us?"

"Affirmative."

Neo lowered his head and flattened his ears murmuring miserably, "I thought so..."

"You know," Ally added lightly, "the repairs are almost done, and Kat's pretty much healed up, so you know I could always... You know... Come, with you..."

Kat gave her a puzzling look. "You're going to leave? Again?"

She shook her head, blushing with embarrassment. "That is if you still need me here, Kat. Because I won't leave if you can't do well on your own."

She smiled at Ally and came to her side. Nudging her softly in forelegs she said. "You can go, you big dummy. Just this time, before you do, please say goodbye. You left in such a rush last time."

Ally's eyes grew wide as she leaped from her chair and hugged Kat tightly with excitement. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you, Kat! I'm so happy I could-"

She realized her sudden outburst of exuberant joy and let her friend go, just before taking her seat again. "Sorry, I just got a little carried away there for a second..."

"Just remember to say goodbye. Okay?"

Ally nodded at Kat, who yawned loudly before responding. "I'm freakin tired... I'm off to sleep, guys. You can stay up however long you want, but as for this gal, I'm out."

Just as she made her way to her bedroom door another knock echoed from the door. Slightly irritated, Kat frowned and made her way to the door to answer it.

Ally stood up, "I can get it if you want-"

"No," Kat sighed going to the door, "I'll get it..."

Opening the door, she plainly addressed the pony at the door. "Hello?"

With her hoof raised as though she was going to knock another time, Lucy blinked at Kat. The gray pegasus stood there for a moment before lowering her hoof. She had a large white bandage wrapped around her left wing. Which was supported by a metal splint between the wrappings.

Using one hoof, Lucy made gestures to help describe what she was looking for. "Yeah, my friend came through here. Big fellah, covered in armor. Ya seen him?"

She nodded, and step to the side for her. "I have, come on in."

Lucy tipped her hat toward her, "Much obliged."

Coming inside the house with a slight swagger in her step, she paused for only a moment looking at the ponies gathered around the table. Kat shut the door and with her head hung low, she tiredly shuffled her way to her room.

Everyone in the room looked at who the new visitor was and to their surprise, it was Lucy. It was slightly puzzling as to why she had a heavily wrapped bandage around her wing, but then again, they were happy to see her. Neo especially felt an uplifting sensation seeing their old friend again, even if she had been a complete nuisance in the past.

"I think that's all the visitors I can handle for one day... I'm off, see ya tomorrow morning." She mumbled.

Once Kat was gone, Adam got up from his chair and hugged Lucy. At first, she was taken back by the sudden act of kindness, though after a moment, she took one of her own hooves and returned the gesture warmly.

"We missed you, Lucy." Adam said hugging her.

"Yeah, I missed you kids too. Though, seeing as you're still here, that must mean that Neo didn't do something stupid to screw you over."

Neo sighed, lowering his head again. "I missed you too, Lucy..."

Adam let her go and noticed the bandage on her wing. Cocking his head curiously he asked, "Lucy, what happened to your wing?"

"Yeah," Neo added, "that's a pretty thick bandage you got there."

Glancing at her wing for a moment she rolled her eyes. "Fuckin’ raiders. I swear, some of those fuckers are willing to wait days for me to fly back just to shoot at me. Well, they got me. Pretty good too. I just got back from the clinic, the doc did her thing and I walked off."

"Do you want to sit down then? I could always get another seat-" Ally offered.

Lucy shook her head, "No need, I'm a big pony. I can take the pain."

"Then come on," Adam invited her, "join us. We were discussing our plans for tomorrow."

Around the table, all of the ponies in the room conversed. Lucy explained how in detail the raiders had shot at her and how it limited her flying. The brothers also covered their destination. Telling them how Silvermane was the best chance at finding their mother.

Lucy nodded, her eyes shut thinking about their plan of action. "Well, you kids sure have a goal. Unlike last time with Arkcannon, I'm sorry you kids had to go through that. I should have checked to make sure one-hundred percent that your mother was there."

"I'm also sorry about Wester kind of latching onto guys so suddenly. I don't trust Neo's judgement, completely. Plus, out there you’ll need the extra muscle."

"We got along just fine without him before and we could probably keep going without him." Neo said, looking at the armored stallion.

"Too late, kid, you're saddled with him till you find your mom. Deal with it."

"If I may," Wester added, "you were outnumbered in that scrap yard. You had roughly a twenty-four percent chance of surviving. If I hadn’t of intervened, you two might of been killed."

Lucy patted her armored friend on the back heartily. All the while, she tried to mask the fact that she didn't know what he was talking about. "Yeah, see? He helped you with that... Thing, in that scrap yard. You need him."

Before either brother could speak, Lucy continued, "Also, it just so happens that Wester here knows the fastest route to Silvermane. Don't you, Wester?"

"That’s correct." He replied.

Neo laid back in his chair pondering what she had just said. In his mind, he debated whether or not having Wester around would help them. If what Lucy had said was true, then there was no doubt that it would make their overall trip safer, faster and easier for all of them.

Neo sighed, with a hint of stubbornness in his voice he said. "Fine... I guess he could come."

She nudged Adam in the forearm playfully, "See! I knew he'd be useful. And with me and him by your side, you'll find your mom in no time-"

Neo's eyes shot open, and leaping up in shock he shouted. "What?! What do you mean you're coming too?!"

She blinked at him. "Well, isn't it obvious? If you're going to find your mom, you'll need a crew of skilled badasses, like myself and Wester here."

Neo was left speechless, he knew well what would happen if he disagreed with her. He didn't, in any way, wanted to feel the non-stop pain of his head being beaten by the crazy pegasus.

Pointing to her wing, she said, "And with my wing out of commission, I won't get any assignments. Won't that be fun? It'll be like the good ol' days!"

Neo slumped down onto his seat, sighing heavily he raised a hoof up cheering in rather low and saddening tone. "Yay..."

"Cheer up, brother," Adam said poking his brother, "it won't be that bad. Ally is coming and with them on our side, we won't have to worry about gangs or ghouls overwhelming us."

Adam's words did make him feel better about the situation. Especially now that Ally was coming. "Listen to Adam, Mr. Grumpy pants. It won't be that bad."

She shot Neo a devilish smirk. "Besides, I won't be too rough along the trip... Well, for most of it anyway."

"If that's decided on, then what do we plan to do tomorrow? What's our route?" Ally asked.

Wester walked over to his bags, and pulled out an old folded up stained map. Placing the weathered map on the table, he unfolded it. He placed the end of his armored hoof on Maneton. "We'll get supplies tomorrow and leave early. You'll need enough food, and water to last us the few days we'll be traveling."

He slid his hoof across the map up to Silvermane, which was located north of Maneton. "We'll travel the hillside country north of here, keeping to the lowest hills here. Not only do they give us better protection, but they make the trip easier for us. With that, we can gain better speed and cover more ground. If all goes well, we should be there before midday."

Neo yawned loudly. "Well, if we're going to have to get up early, we might as well call it a night."

"I second that thought," Adam agreed, "my brother and I have had a pretty long day, and a good nights rest sounds really nice right about now."

"Alright," Lucy said, "I'll probably head on over to the inn then. They fixed up the place for the most part."

Wester and Lucy got up from the table, together they made their way to the door. Just before they left Lucy turned back to the group inside. "Sleep tight, fellahs."

Wester nodded, "I'll be outside, waiting for dawn. If you should need me I will be out on the porch."

It was still very strange how he didn't need to sleep. Though, as the two ponies left, closing the door behind them, the last few ponies that remained got up from the table. "I found an old mattress you can sleep on, Neo." Ally said pointing up to the spare room.

"When you were gone, I remembered how you slept on the floor the last time. I found that extra mattress so other ponies didn't need to sleep on the floor."

"Heh," Neo chuckled nervously, "thanks. That means a lot."

She smiled at him, "Well, see you two tomorrow. We've got a long trip ahead of us."

"Yeah," Neo cooed softly, blushing brightly, "see you tomorrow."

As she went off to her room, Adam started up the stairs to the spare room of Ally's home. Adam rolled his eyes at his brother in the middle of the stairs. "Why do you get all loopy like that when you're around her?"

"I don't know," He replied following him upstairs, "I just can't control myself."

"Well, I just hope you don't have one of those dreams where you talk in your sleep like she’s with you."

"Hey! That was once when I was seventeen! And that mare was hot, okay..."

"Whatever you say, brother." Adam chuckled going into the spare room.

Together, they went into the room, where the mattress Ally had mentioned was. Along with the single pony bed that was there, they finally had two good bed that both of them could sleep on. Hopping into their beds, they lay down and relaxed. For once, they could sleep. Free from worry, or harm. All around them, the metal walls gave off a protective feeling of security and along with the dry warm air, it invited them to rest. Sleep this time wouldn't be violently interrupted by war, raiders or soldiers. And they were very happy that at last, they could finally sleep.

It was dark in Lucy's small room. The springs in her mattress creaked while she constantly twisted and turned in her sleep. Sweat ran down her brow and neck as she grunted loudly. Almost as if she was in pain she placed her fore hooves on her chest, tears going down her eyes. All the while, the few things that did come from her mouth were the low whispers of the name, "Wester."

Her eyes shot open as she sat up straight screaming, "Wester! Get up!"

Scanning the room quickly, she sat there in dusty sheets, panting and sweating. Placing a hoof to her chest, she inspected her breast to see if the pain was still there. Sighing with relief she wiped her brow. Moving to the side of her bed she buried her face in her hooves.

"Why is it I still have those dreams when I'm around him?" She muttered softly.

Moving off of the bed she went to her bags. Taking a canteen from her bag, she took several gulps of the cool water inside. Was this a good idea? She thought. And, putting down the canteen she moved over to the warped glass window of her room.

From the window she could a section of the scaffolding, blocking half of her view. The other half, however, gave her a clear view on the main street of the town. All of the lights were out and the whole town was silent. Only the dim moonlight that broke through the cloud cover above illuminated the street below. Across from the inn was Ally's home and there, on the porch, was Wester. Sitting contently on the porch in the dark, looking down at an old necklace. The necklace in question seemed to be a locket of some sort, from her current position, it was difficult to tell what kind of metal it was.

Staring down at the pony below, she thought hard about him. Wester, why did you have to leave those letters for me. Why? Why Wester, why? You know when I'm around, it's hard for me to sleep. Should I read them? Maybe it'll help me rest... No... But, then I'll just have the dreams again, of when we were together. If I took a look, just one look, would it hurt? Would remember?

The more she thought about the matter, the more she became conflicted. Until, sighing heavily, she went over to her duster. Throwing it on her body, she quickly took her fedora. Quietly she left her room. Taking the lightest possible steps she could as she went down the hallway and down the stairs of the inn. It was completely dark, with only the dim faded light from the windows providing a slight glimmer of illumination.

Carefully, she opened the door to the inn, stepping outside into the cool nighttime air and she began to make her way to Ally's home. Across the street, she trotted over to Ally’s front door. Next to it Wester just sat there looking down at the locket. He didn't seem to notice her, and even if he did, she couldn't tell. The helmet he wore hid any indications that he was aware of her presence.

Coming up to him, she at first found it hard to speak. "Wester... I..."

He looked up to her, the light from the broken clouds above reflecting off of his red visor. "Yes?" He replied.

"Do you... Remember anything about that locket?"

Quickly returning his gaze to the locket he shook his head. "No... Should I?"

Tears started to build up in her eyes, "No..."

"Lucky, you're crying. Did something happen?" He asked standing up urgently.

"No," She said wiping away the built up water in her eyes with her sleeve, "I'm... Just having a rough night, that’s all..."

"Is there anything you need then? Anything I can get for you?"

"I just need to go into Ally's house for a moment... I... I forgot something in there."

He looked at the door and returned to her. "Very well... Lucky, just call for me if you need anything, okay?"

She nodded, feeling tears build up in her eyes again. "Okay..." She whimpered, going to the door.

Wester watched her go inside and, without responding, he went back to looking at his locket. Lucy entered the building. It was dark inside the house, and taking light steps, she made her way to where Wester's gear was. In the corner of the room sat his saddlebag, along with his foldable sniper. Pulling a small flashlight out of the bag, she turned it on.

Holding the end in her mouth, she used the light to help her search through his bags. Inside was the basic supplies found on any survivor. Water, food, bullets and the tools to clear or repair weapons. Though, in a smaller leather bag, she found a small pile of letters, which along with some old worn photos were tied together with a thin piece of twine.

Taking the letters she went over to the table and sat down. Undoing the knot the twine made to hold the letters together, she lay them all flat on the table. At first, she hesitated to look at them, though finding the confidence to look she took the first letter and looked at it. Just as she unfolded the paper as faint whisper caught her off guard.

"Lucy? What the hay are you doing in here?" The voice asked.

She shot up, and spun around quickly to see who had spoke to her. Feeling her heart pound fiercely, she sat down seeing that is was Neo who spotted her. "Geez, Neo, you fucking scared the living shit out of me!" She whispered laying a hoof on her chest.

Neo came down the stairs and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Sorry, but I was thirsty so I came down for a drink. I didn't expect you to be here."

"Well, I’m here. So get over it. Just get your stupid drink and leave me be."

"Lucy," Neo whispered, "what is with all those letters?"

"It's none of your fuckin business, that’s what they are."

He frowned at her, "Fine, you don't have to be an ass about it."

Moving over to the sink he took a glass and filled it. Lucy felt wrong inside her heart and stopping Neo, she said in the most positive tone she could muster, "Look... I'm sorry. It's just, these letters are important to me..."

"Who are they from? If you don't mind me asking." Neo replied.

She sighed, "Sit down..."

With the glass of water in hoof, he took a seat at the table. Turning on his Pipbuck lamp helped them see in the dark room. She took the first first letter, only as she held it in her hooves she began to tear-up once more.

"Neo?" She whispered mournfully.

"Yes?"

"C-Could you read it to me? I... I can't do it."

He found her request odd, and taking the letter from her he read it quietly aloud.

"Dear Lucky,

It's been a few weeks into our trip to Ironstead. I know we've been through a lot since our first meeting, but it's hard to write these. Look at me, I'm no good with words... What I'm really trying to say is that, kiddo, I'm happy to have met you. You're such a great little kid. Before I met you, I was a junky, a wanderer, a hopeless wreck of a stallion. All I had to live for was to see if I could get a meal tomorrow. Now, I have something to keep on going for. I have you. You're the only true friend I've ever had.

If you're reading this though, I'm probably dead. If I'm not, then I'll probably look like an idiot when you do read this when I catch you reading this. It really sounds sad and stuff, but if I'm dead, then it will be. But if I'm not, please slap me. Because I really need to start thinking more positively about this. It's just, it bothers me every moment we're together, I feel like any other day I could be gone. And you will be left all alone in this cruel world.

I now know that I can't stop writing. Even if it's sappy, because I want you to know that I care for you. Even if I haven't shown a lot of love recently. Kiddo, just know I care.

-Wester"

Lucy gave Neo the next letter to read. Clipped to the letter was a photograph. The photo was of a pony with a scraggly mane and a long coat. He had a certain happy, hyper energy about him. Even if it was just a photograph.

"Dear Lucky,

It's the first time I used my magic in years... It hurt. I thought I would never use it again. But when that hellhound came for you, I had no choice. My sidearm couldn't do jack against that thing. But after it was gone you came to me and helped me get better. You're such a good kid. I'm so sorry for what this new 'legion' group has done to your family... You deserve better than this hellhole. I just hope I can keep you safe.

Kiddo, if I'm still not dead by the time you read this... Don’t tell me you read it. You know I’m not good with words, kiddo... It’s just that I want to say thank you, because when that hell hound charged at us, I was thinking, what would I have done if you weren’t around? What would I do if I killed it? Just being happy that I did it? When you read this, just know I'm trying to say thanks. For being there to help me move on.

-Wester."

Neo took another letter and read it aloud to Lucy.

"Dear Lucky,

I coughed up some blood today... Damn raiders. I had to use my magic again, but this time the mutation is killing me. The more I use this magic, the more my senses become blurred and uncoordinated. I'm not sure if it's going to get worse or not. Right now, my chest hurts... Hopefully it'll get better. We can't stop now, not when we're getting closer to Ironstead.

Just know that even if I am ill, I'll keep going. For you. You'll get to your uncle and you'll be safe. This I swear. Although, to prepare you for the wasteland, I plan to teach you some skills. Sneaking, tracking and combat. I pray you won't have to use the last one. The last thing you need is to kill at your age. I'm hoping you're never put into a situation where you'll need to kill. But it's still a skill you need. If you can't defend yourself, then, what is the point of all the other skills?

Tomorrow, when we stop for the night, I'll show you how to make a pie. That's an important skill, right? I found some stuff to make one. Not a very nice one, but a pie none the less. Oh, and when we learn to cook meat, we can make steaks later. I wish there was some way I could record my voice, that would make things easier.

-Wester"

Before Neo could pick up the next letter, Lucy stopped him. Tears gently rolled down her cheeks, and picking up two letters from the pile she gave them to Neo. "Read these two... Please."

Obeying her, he took the first of the two letters and read it to her.

"Dear Lucky,

We're so close now. Steelmane City is so close now. There, in it's center, is Ironstead. Maybe your uncle can help me. He is a scientist after all. I want to see you grow up. I know that in Ironstead you'll grow up to be a strong, confident mare. You be sure to invite me to your wedding when you find a stallion, okay? I also got to make sure he's not a derp. Not with the eyes, but in mind... You know? Like the... Oh, never mind. Just remember that, okay, kiddo?

Yesterday, you know, when I was behind that building and I said I ate some bad meat? Well... I lied. It was blood. Every moment I can feel that stupid mutation fester in my head. It's like a drill slowly screwing into my mind. I'm losing my memory in some places. I can't remember my mother or father. Or where I came from... I do not yet know what will happen to me. Hopefully, we’ll get to Ironstead soon. Before... I don't want to think about what might happen...

-Wester"

Neo took the last letter and read it.

"Dear Lucky,

I'm sorry. I... I don't know if I can make it. I can't sleep anymore. The pain hurts so badly. This last time I used my magic outside the city, in that store, it drained me. I know it's a scary world... I know how hard it is must be for a little filly to lose so much. Her brothers, family, friends, and now... Me. I'm so sorry, kiddo.

It warms my heart to see you sleeping next to me, so peacefully. You're so hopeful and spirited. Ol' Wester is just... No, I can't say that. I need to keep going. I need to. For her. I need to protect her. I'm slowly losing myself, and I'm not sure how long I have left. I just can't believe this would happen to me right when we're so close to the end of our journey. Please, if I can't go on, make it to the end. Finish the trip. Live your life... Please, for me.

If I die, don't cry, kiddo, please don't. Just know that I'll always love you. You are my greatest friend and I need to protect you with every ounce of life I possess until the end. Don't forget me, kiddo... Don't forget what we've done. I love you.

-Wester"

Neo put down the letter, a grim look spread across his face. Slowly he turned his gaze toward Lucy, who with her hat resting on the table, was sobbing softly. A hint of confusion befell Neo, while it was sad to see Lucy acting the way she was, it was also confusing. Just, who was Wester? And what did the two of them do together?

"Lucy," Neo said trying to comfort her, "who is Wester?"

She didn't answer, "Lucy, please." He persisted calmly.

At first, it looked like she was trying to speak, only after a few moments she decided to tell him. "When I lost my family during the first purge of the Legion... I was scared. I was alone. The only family I had left was my uncle and he lived in Ironstead, all the way on the other side of the province. And that was... It was just too far for a little filly like me..."

She coughed lightly a few times, then continued, "I was not even a day into my trip... It rained, and every creature was after me... I hid inside the old ruins of a building and cried... I was so frightened... They... They were everywhere. I thought I was going to die...

Then, I heard him. Humming and singing... It was Wester... He found me, at the time, he was normal... He was scraggly and dusty with his dim red color coat. His eyes though... They were the most comforting part about him... I told him my uncle was a scientist and that he helped ponies feel better. It wasn't till later into our trip that I found out he had a deadly mutation... When he used his magic, it was strong, but it killed him."

"We traveled, and traveled... We laughed, and he was always so silly..."

She chuckled slightly with tears rolling down both cheeks, "I remember a time when he would put sticks on his head and pretend to be a monster on nightmare night... He'd chase me and I would be the little hero that would save the ponies from him... In the end, we'd laugh... He'd tuck me in... I... I felt safe with him..."

Wiping away some of the tears she went on, "He taught me how to survive. What to use as medicine, how to fight, and even how to bake... His baking wasn't that good either, but we still had fun trying."

Lucy reached for a pocket inside her duster and from it she pulled out a small combat knife. It had an oak hilt, with dull silver lining along the grip. "This was the knife he gave me... It was the first weapon he gave me to use on my own..."

Though she was still crying she laughed slightly, "I remember when he taught me how to use a gun... He said to me, 'Now, kiddo, shoot that at the can... No! Not at me! And no, not at the nice old mare either. No, Lucky, she isn't a zombie! Though, to be fair she looks just like one!'"

She held the knife close to her, "Those days are gone though... And he'll never remember any of it..."

"Why, Lucy?" Neo asked, taken slightly aback by her story.

Putting the knife back inside her duster she moved to a window that looked outside. From there they both could see Wester sitting on the porch, looking down at a locket in the darkness of the night. "That armor he wears, it's my uncle's. When the mutation became too hard to bare it risked killing him... The armor keeps him alive, along with some other robotic functions. For the most part, he's the same... Not as... Lighthearted as he once was, but the same... His heart is still there."

Resting her head on the window she cried softly, "One side effect of his treatment was memory loss... He knows his name, and some of his skills, but everything we did... The moments we shared together... They're all gone."

Neo felt empty inside, after hearing her story he felt devastated. "That locket has a picture he took of me and him... Sometimes, I like to think that those memories are still there and that he can feel them... That's probably why he stares at it..."

"Lucy," Neo whispered resting a hoof on her back, "I'm... I'm sorry... I just thought he was..."

"What?" Lucy asked.

"Well," He found it hard to respond to her, "just some random pony in armor."

"He isn't... He is my friend... And even though he can take care of himself, I have to protect him now... I want to come with you not just because my wing is fucked up. I want to be with him... I care about him, and just... I don't want him to go..."

Neo smiled and, taking the sleeve of his duster, he wiped away some of her extra tears. "If he means that much to you..."

She looked at him, her eyes still watering. "Thanks, kid... Thanks..."

Nudging him lightly, she sniffled, "Just, don't go around telling anypony that I cried like a bitch, okay? If you do, I'll sock you."

Neo chuckled quietly, "Don't worry. My lips are sealed."

"Good... Let's get back to sleep... It's just the letters he wrote, they help me relax..."

"Yeah, get some sleep, Lucy." Neo agreed, patting her on the shoulder.

Going back to the table, she took the letters and bundled them together. Neo though, had started back up the stairs to Ally's spare room where his brother was. Opening the door to the room, he quietly got back onto his mattress and went back to sleep. Adam was rolled over on his side, with his back facing his brother. His eyes were wide awake. He shed a few tears laying there, as the whole conversation rolled around in his mind.

Tiny dust devils twisted across the dusty road that lead through the town. A few work ponies were outside in the cool, early morning removing some of the building scaffolding along one building. Wester was outside of Ally's home, his rifle and bags on his back and a tiny ticking watch on his foreleg.

Looking down at the watch, he glanced at the time with Lucy strolling up to him from the inn, yawning. By his side, she rubbed her eyes tired.

"Hey Wester, where is the rest of the crew?" She yawned.

He turned his gaze to Ally's two-story metal home. "They got up a few minutes ago. Ally said they would be out in a minute. Since that statement it has been nearly three minutes and forty seven seconds past the said time."

"Wester," Lucy said nudging him, "it's a figure of speech. It means they'll be out in a little while."

"Really?"

"Yeah, ponies don't have the fancy timers you do."

"Hmm," He purred in thought, "figure of speech... Noted and logged."

The door to Ally's home opened up and one by one, each pony came sluggishly shuffling out. While most of them seemed tired, it was Neo who looked the most tired. Keeping his tired head low he moved on outside.

Lucy gave them all a worried look. "You guys look like death. What the hell happened? Did you secretly get wasted or something when I left?"

Adam yawned, and stretched his forelegs. "No, it's just that I was really enjoying the rest, that’s all."

"Same here." Neo sighed shaking his head, trying to wake himself up.

Wrapping Adam around the shoulder with her foreleg, Lucy heartily said, "Well, you're all going to have to perk up! We've got a long day of walking, walking and more walking! So come on, cupcakes, let's move on out!"

"Wait," Neo said.

"What is it?" Ally asked.

"Yeah, what is it? We've got to head out, daylight's a-burnin!" Lucy exclaimed exuberantly.

Neo pointed to the old shotgun on his back. "I've got no ammo for my gun and that's something we'll need if the trip is going to be long."

Lucy let out a frustrated sigh, "Fine, head on over to Isaac's. He has some ammo, tell him I'll sock him one if he doesn't give it up, kay?"

"Sure, sure." Neo said giving the pegasus a dismissing wave of his hoof.

"I'll come with him," Ally added, "maybe I can convince Isaac to give him a discount."

As both Ally and Neo went off to the Isaac's shop, Lucy called back to them, "Don't take too long you two!"

She blushed faintly before galloping over to Neo's side. Lucy shook her head and chuckled, "I tease them... Hopefully we can get out of here in ten."

"We should still be within the range of departure time, I'm more concerned about the fatigue of the blue one over there." Wester said pointing to Adam, who was resting on the porch.

"Heh," Lucy laughed, "Adam doesn't really tire out so easily. Then again, he was more rested back then."

"Hmm," Wester hummed.

Deep down inside the moment with Adam resting there on the porch made her think back. Back, to a time when Wester and she used to share little moments like this in the early mornings of days long past.

Lucy chortled briefly, as if she was unsure of what to say next. "Wester? D-do you remember..."

Wester looked at her, "What? Do I remember what?"

She didn't speak for a moment, "It's... It's nothing."

A soothing slow blues, with a low bass, played softly in Isaac’s shop. An old wagon wheel chandelier calmly hung from the ceiling above. Gray light from the windows poured inside and filled the room. Isaac was at his counter, tending to a customer. In front of him was a yellow stallion, with a blazing red mane, and set of crosshairs as his cutie-mark.

Isaac was a simple pony who ran a simple shop. He enjoyed business when it was around. Just about everyday, he would wear the same clothes. A brown leather vest edged with tan stitching, and a pair of round spectacles perched on his orange muzzle.

Sliding a rifle across the counter to the stallion in front of him, he smiled, "There you go, sir. Your rifle is fixed up, good as new. I had to replace a few of the bolts along the stock and clean up the inner parts, but it should work just fine now. Just stop on by if the thing starts acting up, okay?"

Taking a few caps from his bag, the stallion placed the tiny metal bottle caps on the counter. "No, thank you. I got to protect myself when I'm out scavenging, and this stupid old thing won't do me any good if it's busted."

"Ha! Well, ain't that the truth. Have a wonderful morning, sir. And stay safe!" Isaac replied cheerfully.

Removing the caps from his counter, he placed them into an old cash register. Swiftly pulling the lever down a loud cha-ching filled the room. The wooden door of his shop opened, causing the small bell above it to chime sweetly as two ponies walked inside. Just before they did, he went in through a door behind his counter, taking some old supplies to the back room of his shop.

Neo held the door open for Ally as she came through first. Nodding at him she thanked him, causing Neo feel warm inside. Just as she went through, he noticed something. Stepping inside himself, he peered at the other pony in the room. The stallion whom he gazed at turned around. It was Red Glare from Arkcannon.

Both he and Neo blinked at each other, only to have massive grins on their faces appear shortly after. Coming up to him swiftly and without warning, Red Glare gave Neo a bone cracking hug. "Neo!" He greeted him.

"Red Glare!" Neo replied wheezing.

Letting him go, he stepped back, a nostalgic energy had started radiating off of the two them. "So you made it after all? You didn't run into any trouble at all, did you? Raiders have been real active since I got here." Red Glare said.

"We made it here okay. How have you been since Arkcannon?"

"Good. It's kind of hard getting used to the freedom. I don't have to worry as often about the Legion surrounding you every second of the day. I'm getting by doing work for the town guard and scavenging here and there. What about you two?"

"I just stopped by to get some more ammo for my gun. We were about to leave to Silvermane, hopefully, we can learn where our mother is from there."

"Good, good." He replied.

Turning his gaze to Ally a playful smirk befell him. "Hey Ally, what's up?"

"I'm with Neo. I came in to make sure Isaac doesn't give him a hard time."

"Whoa there," He chuckled, "you did good, son! Ally is a nice gal. Take care of her when you guys are out there."

Both ponies felt slightly embarrassed by his comment. Neither of them knew what to say in response, and giving him large smiles, they tried to think of an answer.

Before they could, he patted Neo on the back heartily, "I like your modesty."

"You two better keep safe. I've got to go out, the best hunting is on the morning. It's been nice talking to you again."

Neo smiled at him, "Likewise."

Trotting off humming a joyful tune, Red Glare left the store, making the small bell above once again chime. Both ponies went up to Isaac's counter. Pressing the small silver bell that rested on the counter's corner, they waited for the salespony.

"It’s good to know that Red made it back okay. He talked about coming here, I'm glad he did." Neo said warmly.

Ally nodded, "Let's just hope he stays safe."

"He's a real trooper. He's been through hell and back again, bringing back souvenirs as proof of his trip." Neo chuckled lightly.

Ally laughed with him, as the two stood there merrily enjoying the moment, Isaac came through the door. The very instant that his eyes caught a glimpse of Neo, they narrowed. In a low, vengeful tone, he muttered, "Neo..."

Storming up to the counter he glanced at the white stallion harshly. "So, you're back, hmm?"

"Yeah, it kind of looks that way..." Neo said softly, looking at him uncertainly.

"Well!" He said slamming his hooves on the countertop, "You can't barter your way into my mind! Oh, no no no no! You see, I've been preparing for this day, the day we would meet again. The day the two of us would meet face to face. In my shop. On a quiet day. Just like today. Where we will-"

As he went on Neo rolled his eyes. I feel kind of sorry, I mean, did I leave that much of an impact on him? He thought listening to his monologue.

"Look, Isaac," Neo said breaking his monologue, "I'm sorry I bartered with you and I'm sorry you've been angry about that moment since. But if it wouldn't be too hard, could you please help me out?"

"Hmphf!" He grunted folding his hooves and pointing his snout to the ceiling in a pompous manner.

"I don't think I want to help you. You interrupted my monologue. Do you know how long it took to come up with that? Hmm? Do you? Three days. It took me three days, and what do I get? Interruption!"

"I'm sorry Isaac, it's just-"

Ally put a hoof up, and stepped in. Winking at Neo she spoke up, "Isaac. He has come a very long way and he still has a very long trip ahead of him. I know he interrupted you, but he didn't mean to offend you."

Isaac looked down at her, "He still made me upset, and now look at me! I'm all flustered."

"That may be so," She added kindly, "but let's work this out. If he swears deep down in his heart that he's sorry, will you help him?"

"If he swears, but only if he does! He also has apologize for cheating me out of supplies during our last encounter."

"What!?" Neo shouted, "I bartered with you fair and square, you little-"

"Boys!" Ally interjected.

She sighed, "Listen. All you have to do is give him a sincere apology, Neo, and Isaac, you just need to give him the ammo for his gun. Can you two do that?"

It was hard, but both ponies nodded in agreement. "Good." Ally chirped.

As sincerely as he could Neo crossed his chest with a hoof, making a small X where his heart was. "I'm sorry I bartered with you Isaac, and I'm sorry for interrupting your monologue."

Isaac peered at him unsurely at first. Then, straightening himself, he nodded. "Apology accepted."

Taking a few caps from his saddlebag Neo placed them down on the counter. "Could I have twenty rounds, please?" Neo asked, trying to sound nice.

"Yes. Yes you may."

Pulling several shotgun shells from the bottom of the counter, he laid them on the counter for Neo. "Will that be all?"

Neo nodded not saying another word. Taking the shells, he loaded them into his gun. With the extra shells he had, he placed them inside his saddlebags. And, bidding Isaac farewell, the two ponies exited the store. Like with every customer, the bell above store's door jingled. As the two left the store, Ally poked Neo's shoulder.

"Was that so bad?" She asked.

"No, I'm happy you were there though. If you gave me the time, I would have bartered with him the old fashioned way."

"Well," Ally giggled, "let's just be happy I was. We wouldn't want to make a mess of his shop."

Kat and the rest of the group were outside waiting. Lucy saw the two ponies come towards them, smiling widely she asked, "Did you get what ya needed?"

Neo nodded, "Yeah, we're all set."

"Fantastic," She replied nodding to Wester, "let's head out! We've got a long road ahead of us!"

Starting off down the road, Wester, Lucy and Adam moved to the town's metal gate. Before Ally and Neo could go, Kat rushed up to Ally, hugging her tightly. With one free hoof she returned the gesture.

"Don't go and die on me. I don't want Newt to go through that."

"I won't die, Kat. You worry too much."

Kat hugged her tighter, "I don't worry enough."

Newt, with huge sad eyes shyly came to Ally and hugged her leg. "Bye bye." She cooed.

Ally bent down to the filly and hugged her, "Bye Newt, I'll miss you too."

From the town's gate Adam called for the two of them, "Ally! Brother!"

"Coming!" Neo called back.

Letting go of Newt, Ally waved to her two friends. "Bye you two! I'll see you soon!"

Kat had foggy, tearing up eyes. Together, Neo and Ally galloped quickly down the dusty road to the metal sliding gate at the front of the town. Newt was waving to them goodbye as both Kat and Newt saw them go through the gate that hissed and shrieked open.

Together, all five of the ponies marched on through the gate into the wasteland. They had only walked a few feet before Benny the gate operator closed it behind them. Once the massive metal gate closed itself, the group moved on.

Just as the group moved on, an idea sprouted in Neo's mind. "Guys..."

The group paused, and looked at him. "Can... Can we make a slight detour?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. Frustrated, but slightly curious she asked, "What kind of detour?"

"Just something minor... It will only take a few minutes."

Adam cocked his head to the side and thinking about his brother's words, he knew what he wanted to do. Lucy sighed, "Okay, lead the way, but let’s make it quick..."

Neo motioned with his metal foreleg for the group to follow him, and bolting up several hills and ruined houses of the old world, they reached a huge rocky hill. Most of the group wondered what Neo was leading them to, because the only things they could see that was worth looking at was old ruins and the rocky slopes of the hill.

It was just a little further that Neo went until he stopped. Panting, the group looked down at where Neo was looking. Adam was at his brother's side, and he too was gazing down at the hill. What the two brothers were looking at was a door. An old wooden door that was stained by the dust in the air, and battered by the elements. But this door was special to them, for this door lead them back home to their stable.

"It's... A door?" Lucy commented.

"Yeah..." Neo muttered, thinking back to days long ago.

Adam smiled at his brother, and wrapped a hoof around his shoulder. Neo returned the gesture, "So close to home..."

In a way, looking at the door hurt, it reminded them of the things they missed the most. Mainly, it reminded them of their mother and just in the presence of the door made them feel that longing to be a family once more.

Turning around, Neo waved his hoof for the rest of the group to move on. "I... I've seen enough..."

Lucy shrugged and the whole group marched off into the hills. Passing by them was the ruins of old, ancient landmarks which served as a reminder that the peaceful world had ended. As nothing but the empty shells of the past remain. Wester lead them mile after mile of ruined countryside. Desolate charred trees dotted the landscape and wild dying grass crumbled away under their hooves.

It was several miles of long walking over high and rugged terrain. Finally, looking down at his Pipbuck, Adam saw the marker Cool Blue had left for them get closer to their position. Feeling a merry energy fill his chest, he bounded over to his brother. Neo smiled, feeling the same feeling ignite inside him.

Marching up a steep, dusty hill they each came one by one to the top. Upon reaching the top of the hill, the group could see nearly two miles off into the distance. However, as the group stood there peering out into the distance, the brother's eyes grew wide in awe at what they saw before them.

With a smile on her face, Lucy bowed to the awestruck brothers. "Gentlecolts. Welcome to Silvermane Tower."

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: It Looks More Like a Puma To Me: Agility increased by +1 and barter increased by +2.

Footnote: Level Up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Somebody Want To Meet the Mrs?: Every turret you repair gives you additional XP.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Thefullmetalbrony

LyonAzakura

Wayofthepen

(AN: Personally, Wester is one of my favorite characters to write, and I plan on expanding a bit more on the relationship between him and Lucy. Anyway, I enjoyed making this chapter. It was real simple, but now we’ve got the group together. What will happen next? Find out in the next chapter of Brotherhood!)

Silvermane

CHAPTER 26: SILVERMANE

"What's up, wastelanders? Boy, have I got some news for you!"

Reaching high into the sky was a massive structure. In both size and design the building was awning. A huge concrete wall, which stood nearly a dozen ponies high, lined the perimeter around it. Cracks, bullet holes and a whole assortment of blast marks painted every inch of the old wall. It almost seemed as though the old concrete barrier had been there for all of time -- withstanding the old war and the wasteland itself.

Behind the wall stood two towers. Both were next to each other, with a crooked white sign hanging loosely from one of them. The tower to the left had been damaged extensively. For it only stood half as tall as the other tower which, minus the sign, was still in one piece. Windows across the many stories that rose high up were cracked and shattered. Yet, despite the devastated exterior, some of the floors had lights that shined distinctly from the other dark, lifeless windows.

A destroyed highway could be seen off in the horizon, with the road leading to the walled towers. Walking down the hill, the group approached the battle-worn wall. Like Arkcannon and Maneton, it too had a gate made of metal sheets. However, this gate was supported with thick black sheets, that were smooth and clean. Not a scratch could be found on the odd metal. And this puzzled Adam greatly.

If the whole wall was covered in battle damage, then what wasn't the metal? Adam dismissed the thought, and looked to the sign that hung from the larger tower. The large weathered words on the sign read, "Silvermane Towers. Premium Hotel and Casino."

As the group came to the large black metal gate, both brothers were shocked to find that not a single pony was on guard. Perhaps this was like all the other towns and settlements, where a gate pony would greet them from along the top of the wall. Once they had got closer to the wall, the brothers noticed Lucy approach what looked like an brass intercom.

Pressing the small dimly lit button, she gestured for Wester to speak. "Hello? Who is it? What do you want?" A deep voice asked from the intercom.

"Wester. Freelancer W-125."

There was a slight pause. "Wester? What the hay do you think you're doing coming back here? Shouldn't you be out kicking raider ass or something? Or did you clean the whole province of them, and decide to come crawling back to Silvermane to chill-ax with the rest of us?"

Lucy pushed Wester to the side gently and spoke up. "Hey listen, asshole, we want to get in. I know all you freelancers help one another out, so do us a solid and open the fucking gate."

"Sheesh, Wester, where did you find a bitch like that? Is she some whore you picked up in-"

"No, she's a friend." He interjected sternly.

"Alright, let's see... Is that all the companions you have with you? Or is there a few more I have to ask the boss upstairs to confirm for entrance?"

Wester looked back at Ally, and the two brothers who stood there watching them deal with the voice on the intercom. "We have three others. They’re non-lethal."

Neo stepped up, "If I may?"

"Go ahead, kid." Lucy replied, making way for Neo.

Clearing his throat, Neo spoke into the round speaker of the intercom. "Uh, hello?"

"Who the hell is this?" The voice on the intercom asked, slightly confused.

"Can you tell Cool Blue that it's Neo and his brother? We followed the map coordinates."

The stallion on the intercom chuckled, "Wow, kid, that's pretty funny. You know Cool Blue? That’s rich!"

In frustration, Neo slammed his metal hoof against the side of the mic, "I'm not joking! We've come a long way, and we've gone through a lot of shit to get this far! So shut up, and tell him!"

Everypony in the group stared at him, wide eyed with contempt. Panting lightly, Neo tried to calm himself. The pony on the intercom briefly remained silent, giving the agitated stallion a moment to cool off.

"Sheesh, kid, calm the fuck down. I'll ask, I'll ask."

"Thanks..." Neo replied, panting lowly.

It was a good minute that the pony had been gone. Ally scratched her brown mane curiously, "Maybe he's verifying something?"

Lucy shrugged. "Most of the freelancers who work here are lazy fucks. Ain't that right, Wester?"

He nodded, "They pride themselves on being the most unproductive ponies in the province. That's usually why I leave. They're also assholes, big assholes."

No other member of the group had a chance to speak, for, just as Wester had finished, the pony on the intercom returned. This time he spoke with a hint of guilty shame. As it was low, and slightly apologetic.

"I'm... I'm so sorry. I didn't know... Please, please come in. I'll open the gate for you now."

Sliding off to the side, the doors parted and the gate opened for them. Wester took lead of the group, and lead them through the main gate into the area beyond the wall.

Inside was a wondrous scene. All around, ponies clad in armor similar to Wester's stood with large burly rifles. A water fountain with small tiny stone pegasi that were posed upright, wings erect, with their wingtips barely touching. Water shot out from their puckered lips, while freelancer guardians leaned on the fountain's side, tossing coins into the shallow water.

Ahead of the group was a set of stairs which lead up into the main hotel. A hug drive-way was paved with lights for ponies to drive up in their carts to enter the casino. Above them, dozens of lightbulbs extravagantly filled every section of the ceiling above. Adam especially marveled at the lights. Just thinking of the hundreds of circuits set his mind ablaze with wonder.

Stepping up the small sets of regal, red carpet covered stairs, they went through a golden-lined glass revolving door leading into the main structure. The entryway was no less visually stunning. Everything was clean and lined with a golden edging. An enormous glass chandelier hung from the ceiling above. Marble tiles of black and white were placed together in such a way that they formed a checker-like pattern on the floor. At the end of the room, two massive staircases, which curved inward, led up to the next level of the hotel. Where it seemed the elevators were.

To the right was a large opened doorway that lead into a massive casino. Adam's eyes grew at the site of all the multi-colored slot machines light up in various colors. Freelancers with, or without, their helmets, sat on spinning chairs playing with dozens, upon dozens of gambling devices. To the left of them was another opened doorway, which lead into a restaurant area. Inside, ponies were grilling seasoned meats, which sent a savory aroma into the air around them.

Wester stopped in the middle of the entryway room. "We need to wait here, they should send somepony down to fetch us shortly. That is, if they can find some pony who isn't gambling."

Adam cautiously made his way over to the casino doorway on their right, and peered at all the machines he could see from afar. He hadn't noticed it before, but there were blackjack tables, and other gambling areas as well. In the far off corner of the casino he could even see Mechers battling against one another. Upon further inspection, it seemed that the casino itself wasn't nearly as full as he initially had thought. Only a few places actually had a pony doing something. Be it gambling, or watching others gamble.

Still, the thought of seeing how the inner workings of the machines made him excited. His brother came beside him, and nudged him playfully. "If we weren't looking for mom I wouldn't mind taking a look inside. I can tell you wouldn't mind that."

Adam shot him both an embarrassed and puzzled look. "What? You mean like gamble and stuff? Like, with chips and-"

"I'm only teasing." Neo chuckled poking Adam, "We wouldn't want to waste the only cash we've got. Although, it would be fun to try blackjack a few times..."

"Yeah," Adam added smiling, "a few times."

There was a faint ding that rang from the elevators up the stairs. Out of one of the shiny, reflective elevator doors came a stallion. A clean beige unicorn, whom, oddly enough, didn’t bare the power armor that the rest of the ponies at Silvermane wore. Instead, he only wore a brown duster that was buttoned up around his slender body.

He trotted down the stairs, with a tired, unnerving look. When he approached the group, he addressed them with a slight stammer in his voice. "Hello..."

"Hello, Tanner. It's good to see you again." Wester replied in a friendly tone.

Tanner directed his attention to Wester, whom he sized up, and frowned in disgust. "Yes... Wester, it's-" He sniffed the air, and gagged, "-good to see you too... Have you been well?"

"Affirmative. I've been well." Wester motioned his hoof to Adam and Neo. "These two want to see Cool Blue."

"Well, let me look at them." Tanner said, slicking back his clean brown mane.

Neo and Adam stepped up to Tanner, who proceeded to pace himself around them, with his eyes peering at them inquisitively. Once he had gone around them he leaned in closely to their faces, and sniffed the air. Instantly, he reeled back, quickly placing a hoof over his muzzle.

"Oh, goodness!" He exclaimed, a tear going down his cheek. "They couldn't of taken a bath first before arriving?"

Neo and Adam frowned at him. "Hey, you try and be clean out there!" Neo replied slightly disconcerted.

Taking the same hoof he waved it in front of his muzzle in hopes of driving away the smell. "Very well... All of you, follow me." He ordered the group to follow before coughing lightly, and sharply turning towards the regal staircases.

Up they went to the next floor, which had a wall lined with gorgeous, golden elevators so clean that one could see their own reflection clearly. Tanner pressed one of the buttons on the nearest elevator and waited. A tiny dial at the top, with a thin black indicator, moved quickly across the numbers that showed the many floors of the towers. Upon reaching the one on the dial, the elevator doors opened, promptly making a sweet ding sound inviting them in.

Tanner stood off to the side, and bowed. Using only one hoof, he extended it toward the door, gesturing for them to go inside. "Please, step inside." He chimed.

One by one, each member of the group went inside the small elevator. An almost blood-colored velvet carpet muffled their hoof step as they crammed their group into the confined space. Above, several small lights shone down onto them, and with the addition of the reflective golden walls, the entire space was filled with light. It was only the back wall, which was glass, that offered any sort contrast to the elevator cabin.

Carefully moving inside the elevator, Tanner did his best to make as little contact with the other ponies as he could. Standing stiffly next to the button panel that controlled the actions of the elevator, he coughed, smelling the thick musty smell that filled the cramped room. Removing a rather extravagant key from his inner coat, he placed it into a keyhole at the top of the control panel. "Going up." He muttered, clearing his throat.

Smoothly, the elevator ascended. Out of the glass wall, they could see the rest of the world reach off far into lands that were split from their view by the horizon. Adam, Neo, and Ally turned to the glass wall, and, looking out into the world as they rose higher into the air, they gasped. It was an exhilarating experience. The peaks of the mountains in the distance pierced the amber cloud cover above and the vast open world stretched far off into the unknown.

"You know," Ally said to Neo, "it's actually kind of pretty..."

Neo smiled, "It does look nice, doesn't it? Just like the time we left for Ironhoof, remember?"

"Yeah, when clouds were a pale orange and the world below looked so still. I can still remember it clearly."

"It was almost like yesterday." Neo sighed, enjoying the moment.

Overhead, a voice spoke from a speaker in the elevator. It was a mare's voice which addressed the ponies in the cabin with a proud, persuasive tone. Oddly, it sounded familiar. Adam thought hard about where he had heard the voice on the speaker before, and listening to the mare, he tried to remember who exactly it was. To him, it sounded oddly like the neatly dressed mare in the video at Stable 43. Was it her? Could it be? Who was the mare in the video? Was she the one speaking now?

"Citizens of our proud province. Our time is nearing, this rain of terror on our land has gone on long enough by the Equestrian government. For too long, we have sat idly as Luna forces our economy and our ponies to produce metals for her war. Well, I have seen enough! We have endured enough! I ask you now, citizens of our land, are we not entitled to freedom? To the sovereignty promised to us by these warmongering demons? Today, you could make a change, sign now for the-"

The mare's voice cut off as Tanner hit the side of the elevator forcefully. "I'm sorry about that, sometimes old recordings still play in these only things."

Hitting it once more, the elevator continued to rise silently. Coming to a smooth halt, the elevator doors parted, once again followed by a charming ding.

"We're here." Tanner chirped.

Stepping out of the elevator, the group made their way into a long, clean hallway. However, Tanner did not step out of the elevator cabin. Instead, he smiled at them, waving.

"This is as far as I go. Have a wonderful day." And, without saying another word, the elevator closed.

While the group was slightly confused, they continued down the hallway trotting lightly. Each hoofstep they made, calmly echoed off of the marble floor through the rest of the narrow hall. A few old pre-war, water color paintings decorated the golden edged crimson walls of the corridor. At the end of the hall were two oak doors with polished brass knobs, and a purple earth pony secretary sitting at a small desk, typing on an old stable-tech terminal.

With a small pair of copper spectacles perched on her petite snout, she typed away, paying no mind to the group approaching her. Lucy was the first to come to her desk. With one leg leaning against it, Lucy cleared her throat.

As though she was completely nonexistent, the smartly dressed mare continued with her work. Lucy cleared her throat once more, adding more vigor to emphasize her existence.

Keeping a rather straight face, the mare pushed her spectacles up on her nose and turned to the pegasus at her desk. The secretary's solid, blue eyes looked at Lucy. She tried smiling at the secretary, but the secretary’s firm, unimpressed stare withheld any effort she made to be friendly.

"Hey," Lucy said, still trying to smile, "what's up?"

Tilting to slightly to the side, the mare looked over Lucy to the brothers standing behind her. Wester stepped up, calmly motioning Lucy away from the desk. "Here," He cordially muttered, "I'll take care of it, Lucy."

Wester stood attentively before the mare, "I'm Wester. Freelancer 1-"

"I know who you are, Wester. I know the names of all the freelancers that come through the tower." The mare interjected.

"Very well,” He added, “I assume you have been informed of our arrival. Is that correct?"

Sitting up stiffly in her chair she straightened her posture. "Yes, Wester. I have."

"Then, ma'am, may we please see Cool Blue now?"

"I'm afraid not." She added earnestly.

"What?" The group asked in unison.

"Only the two brothers can enter. I'm afraid the rest of you will have to wait outside."

Wester leaned slightly toward her, sounding mildly bewildered by her statement. "With all due respect, ma'am, protocol 378 states that-"

"I am well aware of what protocol 378 states. However, these are orders directly from the boss."

Both brothers stepped up. Placing a hoof on Wester's shoulder, Neo gave him a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry. We won't be gone long. We just need to ask him some questions, that’s all."

Backing away from the desk, Wester sighed. With a humble bow of his head, he apologized to the secretary. She smiled slightly at his gesture, "Thank you, Wester, I appreciate the apology. Consider it accepted."

Wester nodded, and sat on the ground as he waited. The two brothers moved toward the two doors that lead to Cool Blue. Curiously, Adam pointed to it, "Is it unlocked?"

The secretary nodded, "Yes. Go on in."

Both of them felt somewhat anxious. This was the next big step for them, and, putting their hooves on the stained wooden surface of the door, they went inside. As the door closed behind them, the scene before them took them completely off guard.

The room was large and rectangular in shape. In the center was a massive drawn out map of the whole province. Around the map stood several ponies, dressed in pinstripe shirts and vests, placing pins or markers into various places on the map. Along the walls, ponies of every kind sat at large terminals with radios, and huge black headsets perched on top of their heads. Those ponies who did not manage the map or handle the dozens of radios, dashed back and forth madly pushing papers in carts. Every now and again, a pony would call out orders to some of the others working.

Near the top of the ceiling, fans spun around slowly, stirring the thin layer of smoke that gathered above. The entire room smelt of ink and cigarettes. At each corner of the room there was a door, and each one was labeled. The door to the far off right corner read "Studio" the other across from it "DJ Residence" the right door closest to them read "Filing Room", and lastly the door on the far left read "Music".

Shouting back and forth, the ponies called to one another, "We got raider movement in sector B2! Trade in Ironhoof has increased 3%! Franky, get those copies of the aftermath in Ironstead to the studio, pronto!"

Stopping one of the ponies that crossed them, Neo asked, "Hey, do you know where Cool Blue is? We'd like to speak to him."

Wiping his sweat coated brow, he pointed to the residence room. "They're over there. But you may not like what you see."

"Thanks." Adam said to the pony, who upon hearing his reply continued dashing around the large room.

Moving toward the residence room, they could faintly hear the muffled sound of two voices shouting at each other. Opening the door carefully, the two brothers curiously peeked inside the room. Inside, two ponies were arguing fiercely. One was Cool Blue, while the other was a violet unicorn, with a radio as her cutie mark. Her mane was tied back with a bandana wrapped around her head, acting as a headband. She was pacing herself back and forth quickly, a resonating anger hovering around her.

"I told you! I told not to, but do you listen? NO! You know, you can be dumb, I mean really dumb sometimes. When will you ever listen to me? Huh? When?!" She shouted.

Trying his best to appease her, Cool Blue removed his fishing hat affectionately. "Honey cakes, please hear me out-"

She stopped, and glared at him, fury filling her eyes. "What? WHAT?! Don't you honey cakes me! You could have died! Do you know what the legion would have done if they found out you were Cool Blue? They'd have royally screwed you!"

"I see my mistake, sugar cube, and I'm sorry-"

Once again she cut him off, "You are a real idiot... Just, please, LISTEN the fuck to me next time! And please, don't go out into to a war zone!"

"But I thought I should do some field work of my own, you had things covered here while I was away. I thought a good change of pace would be good."

"Yeah it is, when you tell your wife about it! And at the very least do some field work on kittens, not the goddamn Legion!"

"But the information I found was amazing! Even you thought so!"

"It doesn't matter, you could have been killed!"

"Well, I didn't and-"

They stopped, as the faint sound of a hoof knocking on their door halted their argument. Both of their heads were fixated on the door, and quickly straightening herself out the violet mare called out to the door in a calm, cheerful tone.

"Coming!" She replied in a sing-song tone of voice.

Before opening the door, she looked back to Cool Blue, and, using one of her hooves, she gestured him to smile. Returning to the door, she opened it, revealing the two brothers. When her eyes caught who it was she put a hoof to her mouth and gasped slightly. Opening it further for them, she smiled welcoming them inside.

As they came inside, with rather curious looks about them, she blushed. "Heh, did you two happen to hear any of that?"

Neo looked at Adam, who in return gave him the same look of certainty. "Yeah, just about the whole thing." Adam replied.

Her ears fattened, and she sighed. "Great..."

Trotting up to the two brothers, Cool Blue grinned widely. "Boys," He exclaimed, "you made it! I hope the secretary didn't give you a hard time."

Wrapping both forelegs around each brother, he hugged them tightly. "Was your trip hard? How have you been?" He asked, slightly more excited than the two suffocating ponies expected.

The violet mare stepped up to him, giving Cool Blue a shooing gesture with her hoof. "Let them go! Imagine what would happen if you killed her sons!"

Blinking at her, Cool Blue let go of them. "I'm sorry, cupcake, I got a little excited."

"I'll say you did," she added.

"Oh, you be quiet. I wasn't going to kill them."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Sure you weren't."

Neo cleared his throat, which silenced the two arguing ponies. "Uh, did we come at a bad time?"

The couple looked at them, and shook their heads in unison. "No no no! Of course, not! Here, please take a seat, boys." The violet mare replied, making her way to a brown leather coach in the center of the room.

Patting the top of the couch, both brothers found a place to sit down. Upon taking their seats, Neo and Adam were surprised to find that the couch was incredibly well balanced in comfort. It was neither too soft, nor too firm. The quality was superb, but then again, what wasn't in the Silvermane tower?

Taking a seat in a couch across from them, the couple made themselves comfortable. Cool Blue was the first to speak, and motioning a hoof to the mare at his side he introduced her. "Boys, this is my wife. L'amour."

Smiling, she waved at them. "Hello boys, I’m so glad to meet you."

"Heh, she's a treat." He chuckled.

Leaning over toward them slightly, he placed a hoof to the side of his mouth and whispered, "Though, she can be a real pain in the ass-"

Hitting him in the foreleg, she smirked at him. "You're no walk in the park too, sunshine!"

He flinched, feeling the soreness spread in the area of his foreleg that she hit. Rubbing his foreleg to dull the pain, he continued, "Anyway, how have you been? Was the trip here rough?"

"Heh," Adam chortled, "you could say that."

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Cool Blue said, "if it wasn't for you two I would have probably died in Arkcannon."

"And I wouldn't have been too happy about that." L'amour added, "If he was dead, who else would I have to beat up on?"

Before anyone else could speak a few knocks came from the door. Opening it slightly, a black stallion poked his head into the room. "I hope I'm not bothering you two, but we're back on the air in five."

Looking at the pony, L'amour nodded. "Thanks, Bigs."

Shutting the door softly, she sighed looking to Cool Blue. "It's your turn for the next hour. I'll stay here and talk to them."

"Alright. But don't you go anywhere without me, you hear?" Cool Blue stated as he trotted over to the door. Once he was gone, both brothers sat on the comfortable couch, slightly puzzled at what they were talking about.

"What was all of that about?" Adam asked.

"Oh," L'amour cooed, "you see, Cool Blue, the radio host, isn't run by just him. I'm Cool Blue too."

Scratching their dusty manes, they shot her a perplexed stare. "What?" The brothers asked together.

"You see, kids, the freelancers and a series of other sources give us the information, which is sent to the room outside. All over the province we know what goes on. And gathering it up, we deliver this news to the air waves."

"To take a break, my husband rotates with me between hosting the announcements. He'll do it for a hour sometimes, or we'll do it together, or I'll do it, and so on."

Neo leaned forward, slightly intrigued by the system they had. "How can you host the show? I mean your voice is... well... not that deep."

She laughed, and, pointing to her horn, she said, "You're right. But with my magic I can alter my voice to mimic my hubby’s voice."

"Whoa..." Adam awed.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool. Though, while he was away, I had to take over the whole program."

"It must be hard running this place, huh?" Neo asked.

"Not after a few decades, you get used to the routine. Pon-3 has a similar set up, and boy, does she do a good job in the Equestrian wasteland. When my hubby and I were young and stupid, we found that her radio didn't reach most the province. So we made our own radio. What you see is the product of that dream."

She sighed before chuckling lightly to herself. "Listen to me ramble on. You two probably have questions about your mother, right?"

They nodded at her. "Thought so... Anyway, what is it you want to know?"

Neo started, "Cool Blue told us that if there was any pony in the province that knew where our mother was, it was you."

She lay back on the couch across from them, and nodding in thought she said, "He was right. If there is some pony who would know about her whereabouts it would be me... Sadly, I don't know where she could be. Sorry."

Both brothers lowered their heads, mournfully. "Is... Isn't there anything you could do? Anything at all?" Adam asked desperately, feeling tears build in the corners of his eyes.

Putting a hoof to her chin she thought deeply. "Well," She purred, "did your mother keep her Pipbuck?"

The brothers had to think about it, never once had the thought of their mother's Pipbuck come to mind. "As far as we can tell, yes." Neo answered.

"Well!" She exclaimed, leaping out of her seat, "Let's go see where she is then. There might still be hope yet!"

Parading off toward the door, the brothers were incredibly confused. Though, she said that there was hope of finding her, so regardless of how little sense, or how vague she was they needed to trust her. Following her out the door they went back into the busy info room.

Passing by all of the constituently busy ponies she went into the room at the opposite side. The room was labeled as, "Filing" in black bold letters. Opening the door they came into a small room filled with desks, and terminals. In between each desk were large, tower-like computers, covered in flashing buttons of orange and red. Taking a seat at one of the larger terminals, she started typing swiftly.

"I need to borrow one of your Pipbucks for a second." She said.

Adam put his left foreleg on the table, and watched as she pulled an odd looking cord from the side of the terminal. Plugging the end of the cord into his Pipbuck, Adam became extremely curious about what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" Adam asked.

She went back to typing on the terminal, though as she did she answered him. "Stable-tech made it to where Pipbucks did two things. They all were made to be tracked by the stable, and they all were made to give off an emergency signal."

"So, you're searching for her signal then?"

"That's right," She replied, "and we've got a big ass antenna here so we should be able to find her."

Pressing the enter key on the terminal, she grinned. "There, just give it a sec and it'll find her."

A thought came to Adam's mind, one that caused him to face-hoof. "If that's the case, why didn't I think of that before! That would have saved us so much trouble!"

"Well..." L'amour hummed unsurely looking at the terminal screen, "it says her Pipbuck can't be detected. So it wouldn't have done you any good anyway. She probably manually disabled the tracking feature to remain hidden."

"Great..." Neo groaned in frustration.

"Though, I don't think she knows about the signal... Let's find out, shall we?"

Going back to typing quickly, Neo watched her work. "Aren't the signal and the tracking thing the same? Would it really make a difference?"

"Well, yes and no. Picture it like this; when you're on a ship, an emergency radio helps ponies find you by relaying your position. However, that wave works on a special frequency, and by searching for that frequency we can find where the source of it is. Even if the initial tracking system is offline."

Neo grinned, and nudged Adam playfully, "Wow, she knows even more about Pipbucks then you do."

"Whatever..." He mumbled to himself, his cheeks turning a light red.

A small beep came from the terminal with the words, "signal found" in a text box at the top of the screen. "Haha! Bingo!" L'amour cheered.

Both Neo and Adam's faces lit up with joy. "You found her?!" They both shouted anxiously.

"Yep," She said nodding.

"Where? Where?!" They exclaimed, overcome with joyful emotion.

"Well, let's see." She said, typing.

Pressing enter on the keyboard an image of the the whole province was displayed. On it, a small green blip flashing near a mountain range on the east side of the provincial border. L'amour zoomed in on the blip, which took her closer to the mountains. Although, around the mountains, there was nothing to be found. It was just the mountains. Nothing more. But the signal was strong, and her vitals indicated she was alive and well.

L’amour, scratching her dark purple mane, stared hard at the image in front of her. "This..." She said in slight bewilderment, "... this doesn't make any sense... Why is she there? I know she's a scientist, but why would she be in the mountains? Especially on the eastern side of the province?"

"There's... Nothing else?" Adam asked, sadly.

"Well, there is a road that goes through the mountains near a small lake in a valley... But, other than that, it says she's inside the mountain..."

Neo stared hard at the tiny blip flash on and off, which marked their mother's location. "It's the best lead we've got. Could you upload these coordinates onto our Pipbucks?"

"Sure, give me a sec." L'amour said, taking another cord and plugging it into Neo's Pipbuck.

L’amour plugged in a few commands into the terminal, and the map and coordinates started downloading onto their Pipbucks. "I'm not sure how accurate or where exactly the coordinates will take you both. Maybe you'll run into the side of the mountain, I'm just not sure."

Once the download was complete, both brothers removed the cords from their Pipbucks. Neo nodded at her. And, as earnestly as he could, he said, "I appreciate your concern, but nothing is going to stop us. It's the best chance we've got, and we'll find her no matter what."

Looking at both of them, L'amour smiled. "You both remind me of your parents... I met your mom once, y'know? She was a good gal, when I heard she had kids, I never thought they'd be as cool as you guys."

Both of the brothers gave her a curious stare. "You know our mother?"

"I knew her. But that was a long, long time ago." She answered.

"She's been outside of the stable before?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, she was. I thought you knew that."

Neo shook his head. "She always told us she stayed in the stable her whole life."

"Well, I don't know... You'll have to ask her about it when you find her."

Neo turned his gaze to the floor in thought. "Yeah," He muttered, "we'll have to..."

Standing up, L'amour went to the door. "Come on, let's go meet up with your group and tell them what we’ve found."

The thought of their mother boggled the two brother's minds. She, of all ponies, had been out in the wasteland before? How? Why? Could she be part of something more? Or was there something else? These questions bothered both of them. Even as they followed L'amour to the group, the very concept would not vacate their minds. But they had to move on, because maybe, just maybe, when all of this was over, things would clear up and their questions might finally be answered.

L'amour opened the large two doors that lead out of the info room and into the hallway where the rest of their group waited anxiously for their return. Lucy rushed over to them, curious of the answers they might of found.

"Kids!" She called.

L'amour smiled at her. "They're alive, don't worry."

Ally was just as anxious to find out if they had found anything; and hopping over to the two brothers she asked, "Did you find anything about your mother? Anything at all?"

"Affirmative," Wester agreed, "have you gained any additional knowledge about your objective?"

Raising a hoof, Neo gestured for them to calm themselves. "We did find out a little about where she is."

Lucy cocked her head to the side. "A little?"

"It's something, but the details are vague," Adam stated. "For starters, she's somewhere in the eastern mountains. By the way things looked, she also seems to be fine. Besides that, we're not sure why she's there. Or even how to get through the mountains to the small valley she seems to be in."

Tipping up her fedora, Lucy chuckled, "Well, shit. We're on the other side of the province. Do you even know how far away that mountain range is?"

"I still think we can do it. It might be a rough trip, but we can make it," Ally said.

"Affirmative," Wester commented, "it is possible to make it alive. The chance of survival until we reach the destination is favorable."

"We'll have to leave early tomorrow if we hope to get there soon." Neo nodded.

"We got the coordinates on our Pipbucks, and with some luck, we'll be sure to get there." Adam added.

Lucy smirked at the two brothers. "Sounds like a plan. Wester, you got any idea how long it will take to get there?"

Wester stood there for a second in thought, taking a moment to contemplate her question. "It should roughly be about three days if we move out in the early morning of each day."

"Fantastic." Lucy cooed with satisfaction.

"It's decided then, we'll move out tomorrow." Neo stated, with a hint of determination in his voice.

L'amour motioned her head at the group, smiling warmly, "If you've all decided on that, you'll need a place to stay. How about some rooms here in the tower? It'll be free of charge, my treat."

"Ma'am," Wester said approaching her, "if it's inconvenient for you, you don't have to help us-"

She shook her head at him. "No, not at all. You need someplace to rest well before a trip that long. Might as well be here."

He bowed his armored head slightly to her. "Thank you, ma'am."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Neo smiled at her. "Yeah, thanks. It'll be awhile before we can stay someplace this nice."

"No problem at all. Here, I'll walk you guys down to the main floor."

Taking the lead, she guided them down the long corridor to the elevator at the end. Once again, they were confined in the small space. Guns rubbed and pushed against the cramped ponies in the elevator. Even Wester's large rifle that was slung on his back came close to poking Adam in the eye.

With a quirky, "Going down," L'amour pushed the button taking them down to the base floor of the tower. When the door opened, several well armored ponies stood waiting. Each of the freelancer ponies, stepped to the side for L'amour and her group. As they went by them, she nodded to them courteously.

Adam noticed their legs, which, like his brother's, were mechanical. Catching up to L'amour, he asked, "Who lives here? Is it just the freelancers?"

She stopped when they came to the main entryway of the tower, near the staircases that lead up to the elevators. "Well, yes and no. We used to house traveling wanderers and freelancers alike. Ever since Big Lot has been moving troops around, we've had to tighten security. Sadly, the influx of troops means less wanderers coming through this side of the province. As far as I know, your group is the first group to come through in a few weeks."

"That explains the rude welcome," Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

L'amour sighed. "I know, it sucks. But we've got to protect every pony in here. The province depends on our broadcasts."

"Without you guys, we wouldn't have music, or news about what's going on." Ally stated sadly, thinking about a bleaker world without the radio station.

"Exactly." L'amour concurred sternly, "Now, if you excuse me, I need to get back upstairs. I'll be swapping out with Cool Blue soon."

L'amour started up the stairs, only to stop halfway. Turning back to the group she called down to them. "Oh, and one more thing. If you need anything, ask Tanner. And if he starts acting like a hygienic creep around you, don't feel ashamed to smack him, okay?"

"Thanks, L'amour," Adam replied.

Lucy chuckled. "I like that chick."

L'amour returned the kind smile, and continued up the steps to the elevators. Once she had left, Lucy looked to the casino next to them, listening to the melodious sound of slot machines chime. Smirking devilishly, she rubbed her chin in devious thought.

"You know, I haven't really seen a slot machine in a while... And I've got a few caps to spend..."

Wester shook his head. "Lucky, we're not here to gamble, we need to eat, and assess our situation."

She struck his back heartily. "Lighten up! Who says we can't have a little fun, huh?"

Wester seemed, in some ways, slightly shy about the idea. "Well... I... Uhm..." He stammered unsurely.

Taking him by one hoof, she pulled him off toward the casino. "It'll be fun! Trust me!"

"Help me." Wester murmured, as Lucy drug him off toward the casino.

Ally, Neo, and Adam watched Lucy take him away, and chuckled as he stumbled about the casino with Lucy. It was slightly heartwarming to see the two of them enjoying themselves. After the story that Neo had heard about the two of them, he could almost picture the way things once were for them. Even if he hadn't been there to witness a single moment of it. Yet, with the joyful emotion, there was still an unsettling feeling in the back of his mind, and even in Adam's eyes, he could see it.

Through the smile and laughter, he was thinking of the same thing. How was their mother out in the wasteland before? Why? Hopefully, time would tell, and watching Lucy show Wester how to gamble helped it stay in the back of his mind. He prayed it didn't bother him further, but he knew that regardless of his prayers that it would.

Steam rolled and churned in the cool nighttime air as a massive dark iron train slowed to a halt at a small platform. Dozens upon dozens of wooden cars trailed behind it, each rattling loudly as they jerked forward once the train had come to a complete stop. A few passenger cars were also present, and one passenger car in particular that was nearest to the train engine had Legion soldiers rushing to it.

The platform, which the train had stopped at, was worn by time, showing its age with cracks and dark coal stains. It was five officers, wearing their smart decorated uniforms, that stood at attention near the car's exit. And, from out of the steam that swirled with the gentle breeze, emerged Vladimir. A dark cape hung from his back, and his thick, green armor was stained with small blots of dried blood.

Stepping down from the cart, he sniffed the cool air that smelt of burning coal and rotting meat. "The Dark Mines... I haven't missed this place in the slightest." He sighed, whispering to himself.

One of the older officers, decorated in a larger assortment of metals than the others in his group, bowed respectfully and said, "Your majesty."

Vladimir nodded his head at him, coughing lightly. "Yes, thank you for receiving me, Captain..."

"Ventures, sir." The old green unicorn replied.

"Yes," Vladimir continued, "is the carriage here yet? I've been curious to see how Iron Hammer has been coming along."

"Well, your majesty," The stallion stuttered unsurely, "since it's been moved from Ironstead, the Warden has kept some of us outside of the mines here in the city."

Vladimir stepped further out of the platform, and stared at the massive structures which towered high into the sky. Damaged and beaten, many of the city's largest structures still remain intact. Upon the sides and tops of the buildings, soldiers had built platforms and bridges with dim green lanterns that illuminated the small area the gunners above stood at.

"Hmm," Vladimir hummed, thinking, "then, where is he? Should he not be the one receiving me then?"

Ventures seemed nervous as his speech became muddled. "He was informed sir, I-I can guarantee that he’ll show up. I have no clue why he, of all ponies, is not here to greet you."

"Yes," Vladimir added sternly, "it is odd. It is odd that you were informed hours before my arrival, and yet you come to me, welcoming me without my host and my carriage."

Using one hoof, Ventures loosened the collar of his uniform, feeling his sweat gently trickle down his neck. "My apologies, your grace. I-I was simply doing what I could to make it more-"

With a quick motion he turned to the officer, glaring at him. "Make it more what? Hmm? Make my welcome more comfortable? Or to appease me so that you can have another medal added to your already overloaded collection?"

"N-no, your majesty! I-I did not mean that, I-"

He raised a hoof, silencing him. "Save it. I've heard enough, this is your only warning. If this ever happens again, I'll have you skinned, and give your sorry hide to another of my more competent officers."

Ventures bowed slightly, causing his medals to jingle against one another. Raising his head, he looked up at the crimson unicorn in fear. "Thank you, your majesty. It... It won't happen again. I swear it!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Vladimir saw a stagecoach approach the platform. The massive oak wheels creaked as it bobbed up and down moving up to the platform. A Legion soldier was seated as the driver, leading two heavily armored ponies clad in thick-plated green armor, who pulled it along at a steady pace.

Stopping at the platform, Vladimir smiled. "Speaking of greetings, here's the one that was supposed to meet me."

The stagecoach had a victorian sort of style to it, with golden ivy painted along the corners of the black polished wood. Two wooden claws extended forward near the front, which held old bronze oil lamps. The orange light from the small lights made the dark polish of the wood reflect off onto the surrounding area.

Vladimir approached the coach. Once he had come close to the door, a pony came out from it, taking Vladimir slightly back. The pony who had come forth was a filthy stallion covered in tattered linen cloths that masked every inch of his body. Dark green armor plates covered his legs, and a golden medallion hung around his neck with a W branded onto it. A thick grey gas-mask covered his face, with a long tube trailing from the end of his mask down into his coal-stained tunic. However, for Vladimir, the most unnerving part of the pony's appearance was the glowing green eyes of his mask that stared right at him.

A smile sprouted on his face. "Warden." He purred, advancing toward him.

The Warden's voice was raspy and high, "Your majesty." He hissed, bowing.

"I trust that you are doing well, and hopefully, the same can be said of the mines."

"Yes," The Warden wheezed, raising his head, "everything is running on schedule... That is, if you have the stones and the predators."

Vladimir motioned his head for the masked pony to follow him. "Come, I'll show you."

The two ponies marched down to the next car on the platform, which had several ponies unloading huge wooden crates. He came to one of the crates, marked for Iron Hammer, and removed the pin which kept it sealed.

Stepping to the side, Vladimir patted the top of the crate. "Come and see for yourself."

The Warden walked towards the crate, and lifted the heavy wooden lid. He peered carefully at the contents inside, and laughed. "Very good... Very good, indeed... These will work nicely. Though, I still believe that our mine still yields the stones."

"I'm not sure about that,” Vladimir commented, “the mine hasn't had any since she's been around."

"Heh," the Warden chortled facing Vladimir, "that may be so. But I am still very optimistic about what my mine holds."

"I've brought plenty of them. Whole cars filled with them, straight from the Quantum Mines."

"Sadly, it seems this load does not have any pure stones. I would love so very much to see a real one again."

"Hopefully, you will, but until then you'll have to use these."

"Yes, yes, they will have to do."

With a lanky, slow turn, the Warden pointed to some of the additional crates being unloaded by soldiers. "I assume those are the predators, am I correct?"

Vladimir nodded. "Indeed you are. They're completely intact."

"Excellent... Excellent..." The Warden hummed with a slight wheeze in his voice.

Trotting uneasily to the coach, the Warden gestured his hoof for Vladimir to follow. "We've wasted enough time, there is much work to be done. Yes, yes, much work. Much to see, yes."

The two ponies went into the red cushioned interior of the coach, and sat down. Vladimir rolled up the silk curtains that draped over the windows, and looked out the window. Sitting across from one another, the Warden sighed, relaxing himself. Vladimir however, retained a firm posture as he addressed him.

Once they had been seated, the Warden knocked on the side of the door. The very instant he had done so, the coach started to move.

"Did you have a safe trip? Yes?" The Warden asked.

"I finished the trip without dying, if that's what you mean."

"Ah, very good... Very good. It is just that I have heard that the Steel ponies have been... Attacking Legion trains."

Vladimir looked out the window of the coach into the dark city that slowly passed by them. "We did encounter some minor... Complications, with the Coalition."

"It is good you came out in one piece. Do you have any slaves that I may have? Any prisoners, yes?"

Vladimir continued to stare out the window while speaking to the Warden. As he looked out into the dark, ruined city, he saw lines of slaves chained together, trudging through the mud along the side of the road. Ponies dressed in similar garb as the Warden oversaw the slaves with whips, and bludgeons.

In his mind, he thought only to himself, as he desperately tried to mask his thoughts from it. He did have prisoners, but did he want to subject them to this? To that life, even if he had told them he would.

"No, I don't have any slaves to trade."

"Oh," The Warden added sadly, "so sad to hear, so sad."

Their coach came to a large concrete bridge that spanned over a massive river that ran straight through the city. At the end of the bridge was a tunnel which lead into the side of a mountain. Small pipes and chimneys rose high out of the mountain's side, spewing out large stacks of black smoke into the air.

Slave ponies pulled huge carts of rocks and dumped them off the side of the bridge and into the roaring rapids of the river below. Vladimir watched while the skinny, dark-eyed slaves trembled from lifting the heavy loads. In no more than a few moments, the coach arrived at the stone platform.

The Warden was the first to exit, and with a single hoof, he held the door open for Vladimir. "Please, your majesty, follow me. We have made much progress, yes. Very much progress."

Reluctantly, Vladimir paused, scanning the tunnel around him. From out of the darkness, more shriveled slaves emerged, pulling heavy metal carts toward the river.

Gesturing his hoof quickly, the Warden called for him to follow. "Please, please your majesty. Let us go inside."

A sadness irked itself inside of Vladimir seeing the tired ponies work. It was an odd feeling for him. He had been to the mines a few times before Iron Hammer had moved, but he had thought nothing of the work being done. Now, seeing them, it hurt him. Though, regardless of his feelings, he could not hesitate any longer.

He followed the Warden down the tunnel into a massive circular cavern. It was near the heart of the mountain and the formation itself spiraled down hundreds of feet into the dark unknown. Barrels with fires lit inside provided little light in the mine, where hundreds of slaves of every race and sex hacked away at the rocks. Axles and wheels run by slaves pulled up large crates filled with rocks up to higher points of the mine.

"Come, come!" The Warden called, leading him further, and pulling him away from the scene.

As their walk went on, a small metallic sphere shaped robot floated by. On its speakers, he could hear his own voice call out to the slaves that worked all around him.

"Remember," his voice called out from the machine, "what you do, you do for the greater good. For not only this province, but for all of civilization. It is here, in the caves of these mines, that you will carve out the hope for a brighter future."

Was that... Me? He thought, following the Warden down the narrow rock hallways carved by the slaves.

"Yes," The voice hissed in his mind, "it is. Do you remember? Do you remember the days when we worked together? When I was your partner?"

He ignored the voice, and, after removing the flask from his cape pocket, he took a quick gulp of the red wine inside. Through twisted paths, and massive caverns the Warden took him deep into the farther reaches of the mine. Soon, they came to a large steel door branded with stable-tech's name.

The Warden opened it, exposing a clean metal room filled with terminals, and computers controlled by Legion officers. A long window showed out into a massive, dark cavern.

The Warden pointed to the window. "There it is... Iron Hammer, your grace."

Vladimir came close to the window, gazing out into the dark cavern before him. The Warden motioned his head to one of the Legion officers at the controls. "If you would, please turn the lights on, yes?"

The officer nodded, and, as instructed, he pressed upward on a large lever. With a click lights snapped on, illuminating the whole chamber. A circular exit hole sat above a large towering missile that was connected to hundreds of pumps and wires. Steam poured down from small exhausts near the top, and a control platform with a catwalk stretching out to the missile could be seen near its base.

Bowing to Vladimir, the Warden addressed him. "I must go, your majesty. I must tent to the new slaves... Find me if you need anything, yes."

Vladimir's eyes were wide in awed terror. Without diverting his gaze, he replied slowly and in an almost whisper-like tone, "Yes, yes thank you..."

"Beautiful, isn’t it?" The voice asked.

"I... I made that?"

"No, Little Red. We made it. It is our dream made real off the lives of those with weak souls."

Vladimir was appalled, but the voice went on, "And the best part, Little Red, is that it's almost done... It's so exciting!"

Vladimir felt faint, causing him to stumble slightly. He caught himself on the wall nearest to him with both hooves. His breathing had become heavy, and sweat started to run down his brow.

One of the control officers had noticed his distressed condition, and approached him cautiously. "Sir?" The officer asked, "Are you alright? You look pale."

Recovering his composure, Vladimir reached for his flask, and sipped some of the wine inside. He panted slightly, before straightening himself. Clearing his throat, he responded to the officer as calmly as he could.

"I'm... I'm fine, officer. As you were." He dismissed him with a wave of a hoof.

The officer hesitated at first, but he trusted his leader's word and went on with his work. Vladimir stood there, though, looking out of the window at the large machine before him. It disturbed him to think he had created something like Iron Hammer. And it bothered him that there was a time that, whatever it was in his mind had, once had enough influence on him to manifest such an evil weapon.

What would my father think? He thought. Vladimir wanted the kind words of his father to help him. To tell him what to do; to fix the mess he was in; to help him undo the evil he was creating. He couldn't stand it anymore. Staring at it only reminded him of what he had become, and he hated it.

Pools of tears built up in the corners of his emerald eyes. He couldn't stand to look at the missile. There was nothing more he could say or think. Letting the feeling of guilt take him, he listened to the voice whisper in his ear. It was muffled, and even though he tried to build a mental wall to keep it from speaking to him, it managed to get one sentence to him.

"I'll be over soon, I promise..." The voice fade shortly after that. Taking his flask, Vladimir took several large gulps of his wine.

A harmonious ding signaled the elevator's arrival. The doors parted, and out of the small cabin came the group lead by Tanner. Together, they followed him down a long hallway with round bright lights above them. As they walked, each stepped was muffled by the soft red carpet in the center of the marble floor. Along each wall of the corridor were dozens of doors. Each door was labeled with a number, which started at 300 and reached to 378.

A window at the far end of the hallway gave an outside view of the world. Tiny, almost transparent, beams of pale light trickled in from the outside. It was night time, and the group had spent a good portion of its time down on the bottom floor of the tower. There, they had eaten their fill of food, and drank their fair share of clean water. Between the time spent on strolling through the casino, and watching Lucy clear some freelancer officers of their caps, they had grown tired.

It wasn't difficult finding Tanner, and oddly enough, while their day had went on, he was always there, in the corner of their eye, watching them from afar. Was he observing them? And what was it about them that he found so fascinating? They weren't sure, but Lucy made it clear that if she caught him snooping around her again, there would be hell to pay.

Though as they continued walking halfway down the hall, Tanner stopped. With one hoof he pointed to the door on his left. "This will be Lucy and Adam's room."

Pointing to the room on his right. "This will be Ally and Neo's room."

Gaining a stiff, formal posture he added, "And Wester, if you can come with me, I'll show you to your-"

"No," Wester interjected calmly, "I stay where I can protect them."

Cocking his petite head, he chuckled lightly, "But Wester, sir, there really isn't any reason to. You're all quite safe here-"

"Please," Wester continued, "I... It is my duty."

"Hmph," Tanner grunted, "So be it. Just know there isn't any place for you to sleep if you stay."

"Then I won't be sleeping."

He waved his hoof dismissively. "Fine, fine, you may do as you wish. I certainly won't stop you."

Wester bowed slightly to him. "Thank you."

Raising an eyebrow at him, Tanner looked down at him poorly. "Yes... No problem at all..."

Neo thanked him as well, and briefly nodding to him, Tanner returned to his stiff posture. "Now that you have been directed to your rooms, I must bid you adieu."

Trotting off toward the elevator he left them on their own. Lucy stretched her back, causing her one good wing to erect. Flapping it a few times she yawned. "Well, fellas, I'm off to hit the hay. Come on, Adam, let's go."

Opening the door, she went inside her room. Adam put a hoof on the edge of the door, and smiled at his brother. "Good night, I'll see you guys bright and early tomorrow."

Neo chuckled at him, "Night, Adam."

Wester stood next to the door attentively, "You aren't going to come in, are you?" Adam asked Wester.

He shook his head. "Negative."

Adam sighed. "If you say so. I'll keep it unlocked for you if you change your mind."

"Thank you, Adam," replied Wester.

Wester stood vigilant as the door closed. Neo and Ally looked to each other and shrugged before they too went into their own room. Upon entering the room they had been given, Neo turned the lights on. A few shaded lamps illuminated the room. It was a cozy living space. There was a sink and mirror with a soft velvet carpet beneath their hooves. A few paintings hung on the walls, and an old radio-clock was positioned on a nightstand next to the only bed in the room.

Neo blushed, feeling slightly nervous at the sight of the bed. "Uh, there's only one bed... Where am I supposed to sleep?"

Ally chuckled at him. "We're going to have to share it."

The visible redness on his cheeks intensified into a darker shade. "Share?" He muttered.

"Yep," she added, moving over to the bed's side.

She patted it gently three times. "Come on. We've got to get some sleep, if the trip is as long as Wester says it is, we'll need the rest."

Taking in a deep breath through his nose, he tightened his stomach and joined her. She hopped onto the soft bed, that creaked quietly as she moved on it. Pulling the neatly tucked blanket over her she slid over for him. Neo took off his duster and climbed in with her.

His blush had faded slightly, and once he had started laying in the bed the intense feeling of nervousness started to vanish gradually. The entire feeling of being in the bed with a mare was new to him. Not even once had he come this close to a mare, and as a growing warmth filled him, the once petrifying feeling transformed into that of a more content emotion.

Yet, even with her there, and the ever growing happiness he felt, the thoughts of his mother continued to pester him. As hard as he tried to keep them away, the thoughts bounced around his mind like heavy cargo on a rocking ship. Ally turned onto her side and looked at him worryingly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Neo rolled onto his side, and faced her, a look of uncertainty spread across his face. "I've been trying to forget about it... It's... It's nothing."

"Don't say that, Neo. If it's bothering you that badly then it has to be important. "

Neo didn't answer her, but rather, he gave her a silent, unsure pause. She gently rested a hoof on his cheek, and stroked it softly. "Neo... Please, you can tell me."

Neo felt withdrawn, but her voice soothed him, and in a way melted the barrier that prevented his inner thoughts from escaping. "It's about my mother..." He said, tenderly.

She blinked at him. "Is it about her health? I thought you said she was fine."

"She is," he continued, "but... It's about her past."

"What about it?"

"She was out in the world before... For our whole lives, she told Adam and me that we all lived in the stable. No one had ventured out into the world, no one. But she did... Why?"

"Maybe," Ally cooed as she thought carefully about the words she chose, "it was to protect you. To keep you in the stable, where it was safe."

"I don't know, Ally. To think she kept that whole other part of her life a secret from us, it’s... It’s..."

He paused for a moment, then, shaking his head, he rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling. Placing his metal foreleg on top of his brow, he sighed. "I don't know what to think... Or even how I feel about the subject. I'm just so torn..."

She nudged herself closer to him, and wrapped her hooves around his torso, hugging him. "I'm sure she had a reason for doing it. Even though I've never met her, I know that her intentions were good. A good mother like her wouldn't had raised boys like you and your brother."

"We'll just have to see when we meet her." Using her hooves, she turned him around with a gentle motion. "Until then, we need to focus on the task at hoof."

Their eyes met, and both of them smiled at one another. "Thanks, Ally... You're right, if I even hope on getting these questions answered we need to find her first. And I won't get anywhere dwelling on these thoughts."

She leaned over to him, and kindly kissed him on the cheek, turning his face a bright red. "I love you, and everyone in the group is your friend. Don't keep thoughts like this to yourself, it'll only make you feel worse."

And inside his mind, he felt the great burden lift. Whether it had been the kiss, or their talk, something she had done lifted his spirit. Laying back down, she made herself comfortable. "We need to get to sleep Neo. We've got a long day ahead of us."

Her words were like warm milk stirred with sweet honey. It gave his mind peace, keeping his thoughts under control. Like her, he too made himself comfortable. The soft mattress against his back, and the thick smooth blankets around his body made his eyelids drop. Drowsiness followed, continued by a relaxed feeling, which would soon become sleep.

Across from their room, Wester sat next to Lucy and Adam's door, staring at a locket on his hoof. Inside the small, worn pendant was a picture of him. It was a picture of a unicorn with a long, scraggly mane. A long overcoat was around his body, with a dark dusty pinstripe vest underneath it. In the picture he was smiling, with a small pegasus filly next to him.

Who is this? He thought. Though, try as he might, nothing came to mind. The reflection of the locket glared off of his red visor. Could I have been... More than just a soldier... Whose only directive is to protect and kill? Inside his chest he felt something ache. A hallowed longing that caused him to feel empty. He tried to remember, but only blurred, still imagines came. Not even a face, not even a sound.

The door next to him creaked open as Lucy emerged from her room. She leaned against the doorway, looking down at him, smiling affectionately. "Hey." She murmured.

He turned his gaze to her, before quickly putting the locket inside one of his duster pockets. Standing up, he addressed her. "Lucky, is there something wrong?"

She shook her head briefly. "I was just a little restless. I've got some... Old thoughts, on my mind."

"Do you need anything? I can get you something to help-"

"No, Wester I'm fine." She interjected with a soft tone.

"Then what is it I can do?"

Lucy rubbed her foreleg unsurely. "Well, could you come sleep in the room? I think it would... Nah, it's stupid."

"No, it isn’t stupid," he said, placing a hoof under her chin, "if it will help you sleep, but... Aren't there only two beds?"

"Yes, but there's a coach in there, and I thought that if you were with us you'd..."

"I'd what, Lucky?" he asked.

She didn't feel certain about continuing. "Could you? You know, sleep in there with us? I know you don't sleep much, so if you don't want to sleep that's fin-"

"No, I'll do it. If it will help put your mind at ease."

She chortled slightly nudging his foreleg, "Thanks, Wester, I owe you."

She opened the door for him, and together they went inside to rest. As the two of them found their places to sleep, they dozed off. Just as Wester laid his body upon the soft cushions of the couch, a thought came to him. It wasn't an image, or a face, but a sound. One single sound, which formed into a name.

Closing his eyes he drifted off, muttering the name to himself just once. "Kiddo..."

The entry room of Silvermane tower was busy. Freelancer guardians and local residents alike went about their morning. Some made their way to the grill, where fresh meat could be heard sizzling as the salty juices evaporated in the air; giving the area around the entry room a heavenly aroma. It made Lucy's mouth water while she stared from afar at the tens of ponies that dined on the succulent, steaming food.

Wester had come back from the grill, carrying five small bread slices topped with freshly cooked meat covered in brown gravy. "Ah fuck..." Lucy moaned, her eyes completely locked on the food he brought.

The food was wrapped in a wax-like paper that kept the thick brown gravy from seeping through. Giving her one of the paper wrapped meals she took it. But for a moment, she simply took in the smell of the wondrous scent it gave off. She inhaled deeply, feeling the richness tickle her nose.

Her stomach grumbled, and smiling she licked her lips. "Thank you so much, Wester... I was starving!"

He unhooked the mouthpiece of his helmet and pulled it to the side exposing his red muzzle. Without the mouthpiece muffling his voice, the difference in it’s deepness and pitch was significantly different. His voice was more refined and smooth. Yet, it additionally yielded a hint of calm sincerity.

"Just don't eat it too quickly, Lucky. You'll upset your stomach," he stated, before eating his own portion.

Lucy's cheeks were bulging and her voice had become suppressed with the large amount of food inside her mouth. "You worry too much, I'll be fine." She said, taking another bite of her food.

One of the elevators above the staircase dinged cheerfully as the reflective doors parted. From the small cabin of the elevator came Neo, Adam, and Ally. Neo looked particularly tired, for a faint dark hue had developed below his eyes.

"I really didn't want to get up..." He muttered, stepping out groggily.

"I should say so, you slept harder than a rock last night." Ally added.

Adam nodded. "Yeah, she needed my help to get you out of the room."

"It's just that's the best nights sleep I've had in days, and of all the times I get a good nights sleep this has to be the day I get up early."

They all made their way down the staircase to Lucy and Wester, who watched them eat their meal. "Aaaaw, did Neo-weo need some more sleep? Here, you can climb on my back and I'll carry you to the eastern mountains." Lucy taunted him playfully.

Neo rolled his silver eyes at her. "Ha... Ha, Lucy, your jokes are getting better and better with each passing day..."

She smirked at him. "And if you hope to get as good as me, then you need to listen closely, because I've got plenty more than that!"

"Fantastic." He sighed, lowering his head.

As he sulked, a wonderful smell graced the air around him. Levitating around Wester were three, still steaming, wrapped meals. Neo’s spirits rose and a joyful smile spread itself out across his face. Food... He thought as he trotted over to the delightful meal that floated before him.

Wester finished his own meal, and, placing the mouthpiece of his helmet back over his muzzle, he handed out the other three meals that were left. Neo was the first to take his, and as it floated down into his hooves, he caressed it gently.

Smelling the delicious scent, he opened it and took several large bites of the gravy soaked bread. He trembled, feeling the warm, savory food melt in his mouth. Adam hadn't even taken a bite of his own food, for his eyes were fixated onto his brother, whom he believed enjoyed his food little too much.

Ally leaned over to Adam's ear and whispered, "You know, I think he likes food."

"Yeah," Adam chuckled, "really..."

Near the top of the staircase, Cool Blue and L'amour stepped lightly down the stairs standing next to one another. "Enjoying the food?" Cool Blue asked the group.

Everypony in the room had stopped eating their meal, giving the two ponies coming toward them their full attention. L'amour and Cool blue smiled warmly at them. "It's not the finest food you could have, but at least it's edible." L'amour commented, pointing to the wax paper wrapped food Adam and Ally held.

"It's actually pretty good..." Neo replied, his mouth full of the savory bread.

"Heh, you should see what they serve on tuesdays. I swear, you could see it crawl out of the pot and dance." L'amour chuckled.

Her comment made the group laugh, and as the last of the meals were being devoured, Cool Blue wrapped a hoof around his wife. "Silliness aside, I wish you all the best of luck finding your mother."

"Thanks, we'll need it." Adam responded finishing his meal.

Something had seemed off, for while the energy around them had been fairly positive, a more serious tone was about in L'amours voice. "Listen, I just want to tell you guys one thing before you head off. It's sort of important."

Wester had started collecting the wax paper from all of the other members of the group, it was Neo though who stepped up to respond to her. "What is it?"

"Last night we had some reports that Big Lot has been beefing up the patrols around the border. The Legion's getting more strict with who's coming in and who's leaving. You guys are traveling right along the border, so it might be best to travel a few miles away from it. Just to be safe."

Lucy turned her attention to Wester who was putting the papers he had collected inside his saddlebag. "Hey Wester, isn't Big Lot the pony you had to kill for some mercs?"

He looked at her and nodded. "Yes, that's correct. Though my directive is no longer to kill Big Lot. It is to help the group and the brothers reach their own goal."

"So, you'll keep away from the border, seein' as you don't have to kill him anymore." L'amour said to Wester.

"Negative. We'll still take the route along the border. It is the fastest route."

Adam came close to Wester, with an unsure tone in his voice, "Wester, maybe we should stay away from the border. It’s better safe than sorry, right?"

The armored stallion stood silent for a moment, processing what Adam had said. "It's possible that if we travel a few miles away, our chances of being spotted will decrease dramatically. Likewise, our time would only be affected by a few hours."

"It's probably for the best," Lucy added, "I've heard some nasty stuff about Big Lot."

Ally nodded. "In Maneton, some ponies talk about some of the slave trafficking that goes on there. Though, outside of a few frightening rumors, I don't know much about him."

"It'll be for the better," Cool Blue said, "now if you’ll excuse us, we need to catch breakfast while they're still serving it."

L'amour nudged him, smirking. "And you're paying for it, right?"

He looked back at her, slightly taken back. "Wha-What? Nononono, I believe you're paying, my little honey pot."

She gasped, and, waving a hoof in the air, she replied, "Don't you ‘honey pot’ me! You've got a whole lot of meals to buy! Or have you forgotten your little incident at Arkcannon?"

Cool Blue's ears lowered. "I thought we dropped that conversation..." He mumbled in agitation.

"We'll drop it when I say we drop it! Now, who's going to buy breakfast?"

He sighed heavily, and, keeping his head low, he moped, "I am, babe."

"That's right, you are. Now come on! Let's not bother the nice ponies anymore." She declared, grabbing Cool Blue by the foreleg and dragging him off to the grill.

As he went off he looked to the group in despair whispering, "Save me."

The group simply watched as the wife of the infamous Cool Blue drug him off. Even at the grill, he begged and pleaded for mercy, but for him, there was no hope. Smacking him lightly across the head, L’amour pointed to the grill. He paid for their meal and went about eating his food sadly.

Not long after that, the group gathered the last of their things and left. Through the glamorous doors they marched, passing by the freelancer guardians who protected the tower. And shortly, they found themselves once again beyond the concrete wall, and back into the barren, rolling hills of the wasteland.

Every so often, Adam and Neo would look back. In many ways, the tower amazed Adam. Alone, the tower was something to behold. From the lighting to the structure, it sent his mind ablaze with curiosity. Along their trip, they passed by the old farm homes of ponies long gone. Ancient, blasted wooden buildings blackened by fire, and worn by time. Soon, they came upon an old metal bridge, paved with gravel.

Rust covered the bolted iron supports, and, after arriving at the foot of the bridge, Wester halted the group. He took the folded rifle from his back, and readied it. Scanning the surrounding area carefully, he moved his head from side to side slowly.

"I have a bad feeling about this place..." He whispered, while he continued to inspect the bridge before them.

Everypony drew their own weapons and studied the surrounding area as well. "What do you think it is?" Neo asked.

"Raiders, probably," Lucy replied, scanning.

"No," Wester hummed, bringing his rifle closer to his breastplate, "it's something else..."

"Mutants?" Ally asked quietly.

Adam looked around, all the while paying extra attention to his compass. And nowhere on his EFS did he see any indications of hostile life forms. "I don't see anything on my compass... Maybe it's some kind of animal, or it could possibly be a-"

"Trust me," Wester said, "there's something here. And it's watching us."

They crossed the bridge, keeping tightly together. The group could hear each hoof step upon the gravel as it shifted and crackled softly. Every member of the group did their best to remain silent. It didn't take them long to cross the bridge, and, the very moment they had, their caution faded.

Lucy kept her sniper close, turned to Wester, and asked, "Do you still feel like something is watching us?"

No sooner had she spoke, Wester silently rose a hoof into the air, halting their advance. All of the ponies stopped, awaiting what he had to say. Everypony scanned the surrounding hills, but, just like before, there was nothing. Not a single sign of life in any direction.

"Do you hear something?" Adam whispered to Wester.

"Shh," Wester hissed, "there's laughing..."

"What?" Neo replied, slightly confused.

"Laughing..." Wester muttered putting the stock of his rifle to his shoulder.

All of the ponies listened carefully to the world around them. The dust twisted in the wind, and pebbles rolled along the dry powder-like dirt ground. Ally's ears, however, began to twitch as the faint sound of laughter was carried on the wind. The sound itself was not loud or clear. It was more of a snicker that was muffled by a hoof in an attempt to silence the noise.

With a quick motion, Wester pointed his rifle toward the hill to the left of the group. Aiming down its scope he called out to the hill, as though something was there. "I can hear your stupid laughter! Come out!"

There was a slight pause and a head poked itself out from the top of the hill. "Ha ha! Ya found me!" Laughed the pony behind the hill.

"Step out, and identify yourself or say goodbye to your head!"

With the whole group focusing on the mysterious stranger, the pony came fully out into plain view. He was a skinny earth pony covering in dark green armored plates along his legs, and torso. For a moment, it didn't even seem as though he was wearing armor, as its color appeared from afar to be part of his dark, dusty green coat. An eye patch with a yellow happy face protected his left eye, and a red diamond pattern neckerchief was tied around his scrawny neck.

The smiling, lanky pony scratched his shaggy orange mane. "Aw shoot, ya'll are too clever fer me! Ah really thought fer a secon' that ya really didn't know ah was there!"

"Identify yourself! Now!" Wester demanded keeping the gun locked onto him.

The stranger raised a hoof. "Ah ain't got no weapons on me! Honest!"

"I don't care. Identify yourself!"

The stallion smirked at the armored pony, and, wiping his nose, he replied, "Ponies call me Scooter. Ya'll are ponies right? Cus' if ya'll are, ya can call me Scooter too."

"So be it," Wester answered, "answer my next question. Why were you following us?"

Scooter chuckled, "Well ya see, I got this here employer, who'll get mighty frustrated if'n I don't do my job, y'see?"

"Answer my question if you want to keep your head," Wester responded sternly.

Stepping back, Scooter raised an empty hoof up to Wester once more. "Ya know, big guy, I ain't answerin' nothin’ so long as ya got that huge ass thing pointin' at me."

Wester stepped up to him, keeping his weapon raised. "Answer, now."

He grinned widely at Wester, before letting out a loud guffaw. "Yah see... The only head here that'll get blown to piece here, mah friend, is yours..."

Without diverting his eyes from Wester, he called out into the hills. "Ain't that right boys?"

Frantically, the group searched the area around them, only to find that ponies clad in the same heavy armor plates emerging from the hills. Most of them were heavy, muscled earth ponies, bolstering large gatling gun battle-saddles. There were nearly a dozen of them surrounding the group from every angle. Including the end of the bridge.

Each one of the massive ponies grinned wickedly at them, stepping closer gradually while Scooter stood in front of Wester, chuckling. Wester shoved the end of his gun onto Scooter’s forehead, which did little to stop his unnerving laughter.

"How's 'bout ya put that big thing down, eh?" Scooter cooed, placing his eyes on the group Wester protected.

Neo stood near his brother, shotgun raised, ready to fight off the group that slowly approached them. Through his visor he could see the statistics. The numbers that clogged his vision said it was impossible to win with every pony alive. Deep down inside the armor, he felt he could try, and succeed. Could he? Would he dare to try?

Lucy began to feel panic take her, as a few of the heavily armed ponies were nearly on them. "Who the hell’s your employer, and what the fuck do you want with us?"

"Teeheehee! That's a good question!" He exclaimed exuberantly, "Ah work for the lord of this here land. Goes by the name Big Lot. Ya heard of the pony?"

"Yeah, we've heard of him." Neo grunted while keeping his guard.

Wester stood there, slightly trembling, with his gun pressed firmly against the dirt stained fur of Scooter's forehead. "Good, good..."

Resting a hoof gently upon the top of Wester's rifle barrel, Scooter continued. "Now, ah'll make ya’ll a deal. If ol' lead britches puts down this here big gun o' his I'll talk with ya. How's that soun' t'ya'll?"

He smiled at them with his cracked yellow teeth. "Well?"

Wester fought with himself, fearing for his group’s safety. For his friends. Was there any other choice? If they were armed with weaker weapons the choice would be more clear, but it was there, and now that he needed to make a decision. Trembling slightly, he lowered the rifle from Scooter's head.

Bouncing around lightly, Scooter clapped his hooves together merrily. "Oh, thank ya kindly!"

"Now talk." Wester demanded directly.

Scooter seized his lively mood, and called out to the ponies that surrounded them. "Stop boys, ah got a few words t'say."

As he had ordered, the group halted their advance. Trotting around Wester’s group with a slight swagger in his step, Scooter peered carefully at them. Inspecting them, he hummed quietly to himself, and smirked at Wester.

"Heh," He chuckled, "rev em' up, boys!"

The loud noise of rapidly-spinning gatling gun barrels sent the whole group into a panic. Wester was about to raise his rifle once again to the head of the scraggly pony before him, only to be stopped by his hoof, which he waggled in the air, pouting at him.

"Nah ah ah, ya'll wouldn't do that now would ya? If'n you want to get out of this here predicament, then ya’ll best throw yer weapons aside."

Lucy growled at him. "You stupid fuck, we're not throwing our weapons!"

"Ya better, or may boys might shoot ya on accident. They got' a real weird twitchin' thing goin' on. Sometimes, seein’ new folks makes 'em real excited to the point they get all twitchy. It'd be a real shame to see ya'll ripped to pieces, ‘specially with them guns roarin’ an such. Wouldn't ya say so?"

Wester looked back to the group, then back to Scooter who smiled widely at him glaring mockingly. "What'll it be, son?"

Sighing heavily, Wester tossed his rifled to the side, along with his python revolvers. "Do as he says..." Wester bellowed.

"That's a good boy," Scooter cooed, mocking him.

The rest of the group looked at him in complete shock and bewilderment. "But, Wester..." Lucy murmured, her eyes filled with a confused sadness.

"Just do it!" He commanded.

Neo, Adam, Ally, and Lucy were completely taken back by his decision. Tossing her sniper to the side Lucy glared at Scooter, rage festering in her eyes. "You'll be sorry for this, you little punk."

Neo did the same, tossing his gun away from him along with every other weapon he had in his bags. The rest of the group did so as well, until several weapons lay scattered around the group. Soon, every pony had their weapons gone, leaving them completely venerable.

Rubbing his filthy hooves together, Scooter smiled with satisfaction. "Whoo-Whee! This must be hearths warmin' eve I tell ya what!"

Prancing around the group, he sung to himself. "Ah got me some keepers! Ah got me some keepers! Bwahahahaha!"

Turning his head to one of the closer gatling-stallions, he shouted, "Whopper! Collect all these here weapons! Pronto!"

The stallion nodded to him blankly, and went about performing his task. Trotting over to Adam he roughly seized Adam by the foreleg, and inspected his Pipbuck. "Hey! Let go of me!" Adam shouted, struggling to get free.

Neo grit his teeth and stomped closer to him, readying his mechanical foreleg. "You better let him go! Or so help me!"

"Oh hush, you." Scooter said, "Ah jus' wanna see his Pipbuck s’all..."

Dropping Adam's foreleg he marched off back to Wester, humming a happy tune. "Boy was ah right! Ah got a freelancer! Some feisty bitches, an' some ol' stablelings! Hell, it is mah birthday!"

The pony named Whopper had finished collecting the guns inside a rather large satchel that he carried on his side. Mundanely, the massive stallion looked down at Scooter. "Uh, Scooter. What we gonna do now?"

Scooter patted the large pony's cheek, and cooed, "Well mah friend, we're gonna take 'em back to the boss. Then we'll get rewarded, see?"

"Really?" Whopper mumbled cluelessly.

Scooter nodded, patting Whopper a few more times on his dirt stained cheek. "That's right, pal, really."

Motioning his head toward the group, he grinned. "Ya'll hear that! Ya'll are comin' with us!"

All of their eyes grew wide. Was this all really happening? Just when they had come so close to finally getting to their goal, the wasteland had halted their advance.

Gesturing his hoof to his group, Scooter signaled them to move. "Let's head out, boys! An' all you keep ya traps shut! One peep outta ya an' I'll cut yer tongue out!"

"If I had my knife I'd do a lot more than cut your tongue out..." Lucy murmured to herself.

Snapping his head quickly toward Lucy, Scooter stared at her menacingly. After a few moments, he dismissed her remark feeling that regardless of his big talk she was still much larger than him. And while the ponies marched off, a great sense of uncertainty spread itself throughout the group.

Lucy continued to give every other pony that looked at her a furious stare. Ally, kept to herself while not letting her guard down. She stood ever vigilant against any one of the armed ponies that even dare try to mess with the group. The two brothers stood next to another, and Neo did his best to keep Adam within his sight. Nothing, he thought, is going to hurt him. I swear.

And, despite the fear that had spread itself through him, Adam knew that, as long as the group was together, there was hope for them. Hope, that the whole ordeal would be resolved. For he had faith in his friends, and he had faith is his brother.

Wester shuffled roughly, anger pulsing through his veins. While no pony could see it, a plan brewed in his mind. His objective was no longer to kill Big Lot, it was to protect the group. But the plan that formed deep in the recesses of his mind would work both ways. Big Lot would pay for all the crimes he had committed, and his friends would go free. Cracking his neck, he rolled his shoulder around, popping the tense joints in his foreleg. Out of sight, though, was a large combat knife that had been concealed inside one of his sleeves. He had a plan, and he would see that his friends were safe.

Foot Note: Level up!

New Perk: Ponies Die If They Are Killed: More dead ponies means more loot, why not be the best kind? When you loot bodies you will have a greater chance of finding more caps and better quality items.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Ties are Cool: When wearing a neck item, you gain an addition 5% health boost.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Dannykat

Wayofthepen

(AN: I have to say, I liked writing this chapter. I wanted the towers to be very detailed. Coincidentally, I am trying to improve my environmental description skills, which, overall, this chapter gave me some good practice on. I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for the next chapter!)

Remember Me

CHAPTER 27: REMEMBER ME

"He's lost it..."

Black vultures circled the group of ponies from above. Nearly a dozen encompassed them, looking down eerily, eager to feast on any dead ponies that fell behind. There was no sun in the dark sea of clouds in the sky above, yet a humid heat beat down on all of the ponies. The gatling stallions trudged on tiredly, feeling their weapons begin to grow heavy as fatigue, and dehydration settled in.

All of the ponies felt this, except those that the group had captured and Scooter. Scooter went about walking, giving off an energy that could only be matched by a foal happily receiving a long awaited gift. A slight skip was in his step, with a grin reaching ear to ear that had plastered itself onto his ragged skinny face.

Neo kept close to his brother and watched Scooter carefully from afar while they marched on against the uneven terrain. Merrily, Scooter bounded toward Whopper, whose tongue was hanging dryly from his mouth as he panted. Sweat ran down the gatling stallion's purple fur profusely, with his head hung lowly to the ground.

"Eh, Whopper," Scooter nudged Whopper’s foreleg gently, "guess, what? Can ya? Can ya guess?"

"No, boss... Ah can't..." Whopper wheezed.

Scooter went in front of him, and trotted backwards still addressing him, "Aw, c'mon. Ah know ya can guess? Guess, c’mon guess."

Whopper rolled his eyes, "You're going to get rewarded... Right?"

"BINGO!" Scooter cheered going to the front of the group, "An' the best part is, we're almost there! Ooh, ah can hardly wait fer that promotion!"

Clapping his hooves together he closed his eyes, picturing his long awaited fantasy finally becoming a reality, "Ah can see it now... General Scooter... Oh, ah like that." He mumbled to himself.

Lucy groaned, lowering her ears, "Please shut up before I kill myself with a rock."

Scooter glared at her, "Shush, you, or ah'll get one of m'ah boys over here to help ya with that. Maybe, ah'll even cut your ears off. How's that sound?"

"Yes, do it! End the torture, you self centered obnoxious ass!"

Scooter’s merry grin faded, and stomping toward her furiously he shouted, "Shut up! Ah'm gonna get a promotion!"

"Sure you will pal." Lucy snickered at him sarcastically.

After climbing to the top of a hill, one of the stallions near the front of the group pointed out into the distance. "Boss, we're here! Look!"

Scooter's massive grin returned, and after dashing up the hill he shouted, "Whoo-whee! There she is! Home sweet home!"

Each stallion that guarded the group felt their spirits lift as they mustered the last ounce of strength they had to see their home. Some of the guards pushed Neo and the others forward urgently. A look of great relief spread across each of the gatling stallion's faces. Up the rough, rocky hill they went with the rest of the ponies and from up at the top they could see their captor's home.

From left to right, a massive twenty-five meter high concrete wall stretched off as far as the eye could see. Some minor sections of the wall were cracked along the top or chipped off by explosive weapons. Barbed wire was tied in loops all along the top of the wall, accompanied by empty watch towers that lined the top section the wall all the way down. From where everyone stood, it appeared as though the whole thing stretched into infinity.

However, there was something else that caught the group’s attention. A town was located near a gate along the wall. It was a small settlement comprised of two-story brick buildings, refurbished to house ponies, and metal shacks held together by sheets of metal bolted to an iron frame. Unlike every other settlement they had visited before, this one did not have a wall or a means to protect itself from outside attackers. The only thing keeping the small town from invasion was a shallow river -- no more than ten meters wide -- with only a single red wooden bridge to cross over it.

Lucy was slightly taken aback by the town. After all, she was in no way expecting the provincial border to be so rugged. "Well, it's a lot less magnificent than I had picture."

Scooter turned sharply to her, glaring just as viciously as he had before. "An' what did ya expect? A large cass-el in the middle a' nowhere?"

"Well," Lucy hummed, "yes. Yes I did."

Grunting in frustration, Scooter stomped onward without saying another word to her. "Let's move out!" He called to his group. "The sooner Ah get this here lot t' the boss, the sooner we get our rewards!"

The gatling stallions cheered, thinking not of the rewards they might receive, but of the food and drink they'd enjoy when they arrived. Pushing the group they captured along, everypony went down the hill toward the red bridge that crossed over the shallow river. Stepping closely to both Neo and Adam, Wester cautiously checked that the gatling ponies around him were properly distracted before turning his attention to the brothers.

"Listen," Wester whispered to them, "I have a plan to get us out of here, but it won't work unless all of us work together."

"What is it?" Adam asked.

"I'll relay it to you once we're under less surveillance," Wester said, keeping an inconspicuous posture.

Wester watched the the guards carefully while not turning his head towards the brothers as he spoke. "I'll go tell the others that I have a plan, once we have the right moment this should all be over."

A gatling pony near the three of them took a distracted glance at Wester’s general direction. Instantly, Wester straightened himself. "Remember. I have a plan. We'll get out of this. It’s my objective to see this promise through."

Both brothers did not reply, but nodded to confirm that they understood. Wester nodded back, and went after Lucy and Ally to inform them of his intentions. While the brothers saw Wester quietly and in the most secretive way he could, relay the idea he had formed in his mind; the whole gang of gatling ponies and their prisoners approached the old oak bridge that passed over the shallow running river.

Two large, green-armored stallions stood at their posts on both sides of the bridge. Their dark, bloodshot eyes following the group as they crossed. The loud, hollow sound of hooves clopping upon the warped wood of the bridged rattled as the mass of ponies crossed over.

The first posted stallion on the right smirked at the group, exposing his sharp blackened teeth. "Aye, Scooter, that's a fine catch you've got there!"

"Aye, very fine indeed," The second guard agreed. "You still lookin' for that promotion?"

Scooter smiled at them, blushing a faint red. "Hell ya, son. Well, ah do hope the boss likes this here lot ah caught. Ah've been workin' hard all month fer that sweet, sweet promotion."

"Don't get your hopes too high," Said the first guard, "you know how the boss feels about you, and your beggin' for promotions."

Nodding toward the guard, Scooter and his group walked off of the bridge, and into the main gravel coated street of the town. A giant orange road stop arrow, that once belonged to an old drive-in diner, read in dirt stained white letters, Jurkytown. Tall chain-link fences lined the outer perimeter of the settlement, with large roughly configured metal watchtowers made of old scrap metal welded together. Guards, bearing green Legion armor, stood attentively at their posts in the towers -- all of them keeping a watchful eye on the Wasteland through the lens of their sniper rifles.

Carts, trash cans and dumpsters were tossed over: Jurkytown was a true mess. Trash and litter scattered itself around the ground upon which the ponies walked. All around the group, burly ponies of nearly every race and gender looked disgusted at the mere sight of them. The tattered, and filthy ponies of Jurkytown occasionally threw a rock, or some other piece of garbage at the group Scooter captured. Usually, the harsh gesture was followed by a profane remark about how they looked, or a disgusting accusation involving the female members of their family.

As they continued onward; they passed a large concrete building, with barred windows and soldiers that patrolled along its concrete roof. Turning sharply towards the huge structure, Scooter trotted to the entrance that was guarded by two masked Legion soldiers standing on opposite sides of the blue battered entrance.

Halting his group right outside of the door, Scooter charmingly smiled at the stallions. "Gentlecolts!" He shouted to the guards. “May we see the boss? Ah have here in mah custody a couple of fine, strappin’ pickins' from the wastes."

"Heh," One of the guards chuckled through his mask. "Are you still hoping the boss is going to give you a promotion?"

Scooter stood silent for a moment, slightly puzzled by the guard's remark. "Well... Ya..."

Both guards looked at one another briefly, before bursting into hearty laughter. "What is this," The guard continued laughing, "the seventh time you've brought some ponies here? And you're still hoping the boss rewards you. That's rich!"

Frowning at them, he stomped his hoof on the dusty gravel ground furiously. "Ah will get t' promotion! An’ this time, ah can feel it!"

"Look here," Scooter said pointing a hoof at the group he capture, "jus' look at them. I's got mahself a freelancer, some stablers, an' a Coalition guardian. Along with a beaut-y-full mare, to boot! So you stop laughin' at me!"

The guards laughter faded. "Listen, Scooter, we like you. So we'll let you go in and see the boss." Said the first guard.

"But just know, you're not going to get that promotion with this lot." Said the second guard.

Glaring at the two guards with a contemptful stare, Scooter grunted and frowned. "Ya’ll jus' wait an' see! Come on, Whopper, get 'em inside so's the boss can see 'em."

Whopper pushed Ally and the others to move on. "Come on, let's go." He said, pushing them along.

"Boss, what about the rest of us?" Asked one of the gatling ponies.

Scooter paused, and looked at the stallion who addressed him. "Ya'll can jus' sit out here an' wait. Ah won't be long."

The two guards posted next to the old blue door to the concrete building opened the doors for Scooter, Whopper, and the ponies he had captured. A deep feeling of excitement bloomed inside Scooter as the group entered the building. Finally, the promotion he had wanted for so long might actually be within his grasp.

Lucy eyed Whopper angrily, gritting her teeth she hissed at him as he tried to push her along. "Don't you fuckin touch me!"

Despite his large size, Whopper backed off from the mare as she shot him the same, furious look. Behind them, the doors closed; leaving them in a narrow, dark hallway with only Scooter, and Whopper as the prisoner’s guards. On both sides of the group there were dozens of narrow hallways leading into old offices, and storage rooms. Along the walls, Adam could faintly see the faded letters of the building's name. Ironhoof Postal Storage.

Besides that single sign, there were no other clues that spoke of the building's past. This didn’t bother anyone too much, though. The only thing that mattered was what would become of them once they passed through the double doors at the end.

Wester found that this, of all times, might be the best moment to strike. To free them. But where would they go? Down the halls there were no exits, and the entrance would only greet them with nearly a dozen murderous gatling ponies. Patience, He thought. This was the key to escape. But, an odd feeling of nervous anticipation rolled in the further regions of his mind. The feeling was odd, as it was something he, of all ponies, hardly felt at all.

Pushing the two doors at the end of the hallway open, bright light filled the eyes of everypony. As they squinted and blinked, all of the ponies continued their march into the next room. Every image inside was slightly blurred and bright. But in mere moments, all of their vision returned, focusing into the crystal clear image of the room.

The room was a long storage room with a high ceiling. Pillars of old steel acted as support beams holding the roof overhead aloft. Large, black ceiling lamps hung from above, and a wide red carpet ran straight down the center of the room. Oddly, the room smelt of a sweet peaches, baked with cinnamon, and smothered in honey. The aroma alone sent Neo's senses ablaze, as the overly-sweet smell graced his nose.

Looking faintly pale, Lucy waved a hoof in front of her muzzle. "What is that awful smell?" She grunted nauseously.

No pony paid any mind to her comment as they continued on to the end of the room. Several grim-faced ponies stood behind the steel supports, staring at the group. A pony of every sex, race, and size was present in the hall; only the appearances of the pony’s hidden faces disturbed the group as they passed on by them. Each pony who stood at either side of the carpet had large, black shadows around the lower parts of their eyes. Red, pulsing veins showed brightly, like the red light of the new moon, in what would normally be the whites of their eyes.

All of these ponies were clothed in regal, puffed, blaring pink clothing. From head to hoof, the clothes covered their fur. For the males, their shirts, and leggings were tight. For females, their manes were styled fashionably. Some had their manes tied up in large curled buns, and some had their manes braided down their backs. Upon closer inspection, Adam found that each pony was wearing a tight metal collar that was attached to what looked like a small box-shaped device.

Images of hearts, teddy bears, and vibrant pink flowers were painted neatly across all of the walls. At the end of the hall was a few, short steps leading up to a small platform; where a huge black leather chair sat. At the chair's side, two large Legion armored ponies stood guard -- their faces straight with pure focused discipline. Another pony stood at the chair's side. This pony was a massive black stallion, with two powerful mechanical forelegs, dressed in a simple, clean tuxedo. The flag of the Legion -- the green flag with the crimson horseshoe and star -- hung at the back wall behind the dark, ominous chair that had its back turned to the group.

Scooter halted his advance, and bowed graciously to the chair. "Yer radiance." He purred sweetly.

Neo and the other's looked slightly confused at his statement. A small hoof protruded from the chair's side and gestured the dark, tuxedo dressed stallion to spin it around to face Scooter. Obeying the pony in the chair, the stallion slowly spun the chair to face Scooter. In the large, black chair sat a pony, whom the group had not expected. It was a small, pink filly, with eyes that sparkled like the waters of a clear sea. And a smile that not even the goddesses themselves could not match. Upon her large, curly golden-blond mane was a shimmering red ribbon tied neatly into a large bow.

She, like many Legion officers, wore the dark iron plated armor. However, the color was very different. Instead of the dark mundane, green that was standard for the Legion, her armor was a beautiful light shade of baby blue. A tiny red cape draped itself behind her back, and as she looked down upon Scooter her charming smile faded.

An awful look of disgust formed upon the filly's face as she addressed the ragged pony. A hint of disappointment could be heard in her tone. "Oh," She groaned, "it's you. I thought I smelled your awful odor when you came inside. Well, what is it? You must have brought me something if the guards let you in."

Scooter spoke to her subordinately, keeping his gaze away from her own fearing her wrath. "Ah'm sorry for the sudden arrival, yer radiance. But I was on patrol, ya see. An-"

She raised a hoof, silencing him. "Don't speak so much, I can't stand your voice. Skip to the point, and spare everypony's ears from having to hear your god awful voice."

Scooter chuckled nervously. "Ya see... Ah've brought these slaves for yer radiance. Ah found them in the wastes, an' ah thought they were a good catch."

Big Lot motioned her hoof for him to move to the side. "Let me see them." She commanded.

"Yes, certainly, yer radiance..." He nervously chucked, shuffling to the side.

The filly peered at the group for a moment. Putting a hoof to her chin she rubbed it gently as she hummed a lullaby to herself. She thought hard about the ponies Scooter had brought to her, and, with an energetic leap from her large chair, she trotted down to Wester.

Wester looked down at her as she stood in front of him. Was this Big lot? He thought. A filly? How could I... But, my objective is to kill- There was a stiffening realization that pulsed through his armor-plated body.

Her massive blue eyes sparkled tenderly up at him. "He's a big one..." She awed.

Big Lot tapped Wester's foreleg with her hoof, causing a faint metallic ting to echo softy. "Hmmm," she purred, "does the armor come off?"

Lucy was about to burst into a sudden deranged frenzy. At that moment, she felt as though not even the large guards at the end of the room could stop her from tearing them apart. But she tired to keep her temper low, regardless of how passionate her anger was.

"Ah... Ah," Scooter stammered unsurely. "Ah'm not sure, yer radiance..."

"I want it off. I want to see what he looks like!" The filly demanded sternly, stomping one of her hooves on the ground.

Deep and plainly, the neatly dressed stallion who stood stiffly by Big Lot's chair, spoke, "Ms. Lot, would you like me to remove it now?"

She tapped Wester's leg once more. "On second thought, I don't want to break the pony inside. Not yet, at least."

The stallion nodded to her, "Very well, Ms. Lot."

Big Lot elegantly trotted over to Lucy, who gave her a strong, heated glare of contempt. "Hmpf!" Big Lot grunted at Lucy.

"I don't like this one. She's too feisty, and mean!"

Scooter gulped, while beads of sweat ran profusely down his brow. "Ya.. Ya don't like her?"

Lucy snarled at the filly, "Don't you dare touch me, or any of them if you value your life."

Big Lot smiled devilishly at the furious pegasus. "You know, I might actually have some fun with you yet. I'll keep you too."

A radiant grin sprouted onto Scooter's face. "Ya like her?"

"Yes, yes, she'll do fine. A few days in the pit will fix that sassy attitude." Big Lot answered, moving uninterestingly past Ally. "That one I can find a use for."

She did the same to Adam, who sighed quietly to himself as he felt a wave of anxiety roll off of his shoulders. The horrid anxiety returned as the intimidating filly approached his older brother. The matter, unfortunately, was only made worse by the huge, intriguing stare she gave Neo.

As she scanned Neo, a massive, pleased grin spread itself across her face. Hopping in the air twice she clapped her tiny hooves together, giggling merrily. "This one! This one! I like this one!"

"Ya do?" Scooter asked, smiling hopefully.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Him!" Big Lot shouted as she bounced up and down pointing at Neo.

Neo felt horribly nervous. He had no clue what she wanted him for or what it was about him that she liked so much. What concerned him even more was that the pink dressed ponies in the room were crying. This made a greater, more firm feeling of dread burrow itself deep inside of his chest. Why hadn't Wester acted yet? Was he still waiting for the right moment?

Scooter stepped up to Big Lot, diverting his gaze, and rubbing the back of skinny neck restlessly. "So, yer radiance... Ah was hopin'..."

"You were hoping for what?" Big Lot asked turning to him, frowning slightly in disgust by his presence.

"Well, perhaps ah can get a promotion,” Scooter paused nervously, ”Ya know, seein' as this'n is a good find."

Big Lot burst into loud laughter, "You still want a promotion? Bwahahaha! This group wouldn't give you a promotion! What are you? Stupid?"

A great coldness came over Scooter as he stood there in front of Big Lot listening to her piercing laughter. All feelings of hopeful optimism were gone. And in its empty space filled sadness.

With a dumbfounded look, he stuttered, "Ah... Ah don't understand... Ah thought..."

"You thought what?" The little filly laughed. "That just because you brought a few nice looking slaves over to me I'd be swayed by your cheerful, stupid charm? Ha! That's rich, Scooter, even for you."

"But, ma'am, ah implore ya to reconsider-"

"No! I won't reconsider it, or must I remind you of how you managed to get your last promotion? Remember? I made you cut out that stupid eye of yours, and still even after that you want more!"

Scooter got low on his legs and pleaded desperately, "Please, yer radiance! Please! Ah work so hard for ya! Please, ah'll get some others, you'll see! Ah'll do it! Ah-"

"Shut up!" Big Lot interjected. "If you want to live and see the next day, leave. Now! I'm getting a migraine from having to listen to your awful voice."

Scooter's one eye was wide, and filled with heartbroken sadness. He stood silently for a moment and eventually nodded. A plain, shocked expressing plastered onto his face he replied to her. "All right, ma'am... Ah'll leave ma'am..." He muttered under his breath as he made his way to the door.

Big Lot snickered at the sad, grief-stricken stallion as he left. "As for the rest of these ponies..." Bit Lot announced, glancing at the group Scooter had brought to her.

"Dungeon! Two weeks! No trials! It will give me some time to think about what to do with them."

The guards next to the chair stepped down from their posts and pointed the end of their rifles at the group. "Get movin'!" One of the guards shouted.

Lucy growled, and sneered. "Go on! Hit me! See what happens, you large fucknuts!"

Beside Lucy, no other pony resisted the guards as they lead them out of Big Lot's hall. The filly merrily took her seat in the large chair and waved at her new prisoners.

"Make yourselves comfy! This is your new home now, and I can't wait to play!"

Lucy shouted a loud "Fuck you," in response. But the filly just snickered at her, and returned to sitting regally upon her large, leather chair. There was a great sense of uncertainty spread amongst the group. Wester had said he had a plan to escape, so why hadn’t he acted on it? There had been numerous times that he could have done something to free them, but he had remained inactive. While the group was being lead to the dungeon, one question rolled around in the everyone’s mind. How would Wester free them?

The loud clang of iron bars slamming shut echoed throughout a long, dark concrete dungeon. The iron bars made up a majority of the corridor walls, with prisoners sniveling, crying, or humming in the damp, behind them. Drops of water leaked from old rusted pipes along the top of the ceiling, dripping into small puddles of murky water that had gathered in the corners of the cells.

A guard dressed in a green, iron breastplate locked the cell Lucy, Wester, and Ally were in by using a red keycard. The same guard turned to a cell directly across from their own, and using a different keycard of a similar color he lock both brothers together inside. Lucy rammed into the strong iron bars fiercely. Slamming both of her hooves against them, she shouted madly at the guard while they trotted off down the hallway.

"Get back here! I'll tear your fucking faces off! Let us out! Now!"

There was little light in the damp, chilling cells. Only the dim, glimmering orange glow of a few old lamps upon the wall provided illumination. The flames danced and swayed as gentle drafts pushed them around. A stallion farther down the hallway loudly hissed back at Lucy.

"Oi, lady! Shut it! Some of us are trying to cope with our time here! And it isn't helping that you're shouting like a mad bitch!"

Lucy grunted, and went back further in her cell with a frown. She kicked a small pebble on the floor into one of the dirty water puddles. "This day has been fantastic. Real fan-fucking-tastic!"

Ally was sitting on an empty wooden crate against the wall, watching Lucy kick more tiny stones around. Wester was in a corner, looking down into one of the puddles of cell. His reflection looked back at him as he stared at it. Neo went up to the bars of his own cell, and leaned against them. Sticking his muzzle through the space between the bars.

Whispering to Wester, Neo said, "Hey, Wester? What's that plan of yours, again? It's just, I think now is a good time to go over it."

Adam sat next to his brother and nodded. "Yeah, what's the plan?"

Wester was quiet for a moment, and during his brief silence, he didn't move. He just sat idly, gazing into the water. "She's a filly..." Wester muttered.

"What?" Ally asked.

"She's a filly..." Wester repeated softly.

Lucy removed her fedora, and scratched her blond mane slightly puzzled by his answer, "A what?"

"I said she's a filly!" Wester repeated angrily.

"So?" Neo added. "I thought your plan was something large and awesome. Plus, you don't have to harm Big Lot, not as long as we get out of here okay."

Wester sighed, "My plan involved killing Big Lot... That was until I saw he was a she, and she was a filly..."

"We can still make it out of here, right? I've still got my foreleg blade, and we've got your strength." Neo added.

Wester paused a moment before responding, "I'm calculating the chance of our success..."

Neo sighed, and rested his haunches heavily onto the cold stone floor. "Take your time, I guess. It's your plan."

Ally hopped off of her box and looked at the leaking pipes above her. "Maybe we could do something with those pipes."

Adam looked at the pipes in his own cell, and, just like his friend's, they were the same, rust coated pipes leaking tiny glistening droplets onto the ground. "Yeah, maybe we could..."

"It won't work." A deeper stallion's voice called from a cell near the exit.

"And why's that?" Neo asked.

The tone of the stallion sounded tired and heavy. "Because it's been tried. The pipes, bribing, attacking the guards, it's all been done sometime or another."

"So you've already given up? Just like that?!" Neo shouted aggressively in response.

"Heh," The voice chortled, "I don't have to worry about an escape plan. I've got my place in line with M."

In each of the group's cells, everyone walked to the bars to clearly hear what the stallion had to say. "Who?" Lucy asked the stallion in the far off cell.

"M," The stallion said. "She's the one who get's ponies like us out of here. And I'm next in line."

A sudden strike of realization hit everypony. This M, whoever she may be, could be their chance to escape. Even if Wester's plan didn't work, this pony the stallion spoke of might help them.

"How do we get in line? Will she help us, too?" Lucy ask desperately.

"Next time she shows up, ask her. I'll give you fair warning, though, every bastard who's locked up in here wants to get out. So you might end up waiting a while."

Suddenly, a metallic click rang loudly from the end of the hall; sending every prisoner shuffling to their cell bars. Mares dressed in mud stained pink dresses, and stallions clad in pink suits stuck their muzzles through the spaces in their bars to see who was coming. A mix of despair and anxious excitement filled the air in the corridor, which created an energy of panic that everypony in the dungeon could feel.

"Who is it? Is it M? Please let it be M!" The ponies in the cells shouted as they tried desperately to see through the bars.

The pony at the end of the long hallway was an purple, older mare who was dressed in a long dusty robe with a sagging hood that covered her red and dimly glowing horn. A shadow, created by both her hood and the light behind her, covered her face. On her side, she levitated a brass lantern that had its handle encased in a red aura.

"It's M, everyone. It's M!" The ponies shouted in a frenzy.

M took a moldy broom that leaned against the thick iron exit, and walked over to the cell of the stallion who had objected to the group's plans of future escape. Unlike all the other ponies, the stallion did not make himself seen. He was resting in the corner of his cell and hidden by a blanket of shadows. M knelt down to the lock, activated it with her keycard, and pulled forth a small red glistening card from her cloak.

The stallion stood up, left the shadows, and shuffled tiredly into the light. "M!" The stallion cheered as he approached the bars dividing him from his rescuer.

Just as M had stared to move the keycard to the lock, she gasped and dropped the card, stepping back in shock. The pony she was trying to free was horribly mutilated. Fur was torn from his body, leaving bare, filthy skin exposed; cuts and bleeding lacerations covered most of his exposed flesh; and his yellow eyes were bloodied and darkened due to exhaustion.

The pink suit which he wore was torn, tattered, and caked with dried blood that also covered what was left of his white fur. Yet, despite his ghastly appearance, hope could be seen in his poor eyes.

M raised her hoof to her face as the stallion’s harsh stench assaulted her nose. "Wha-what happened to you?" she gasped, appalled.

"She put me in the pit, be-be-because," he stammered heavily as he remembered Big Lot’s absolute cruelty.

Tears developed in the corners of his yellow, blood-shot eyes. "Because I didn’t work hard enough for her..."

M reapproached the cell slowly, and placing a hoof on the bars of the cell, she looked at him with a warm tender glare. "Don't you worry. I'll get you out of here." She cooed to him in a hopeful, angelically soothing voice.

"Are we going now?" The stallion rasped as a few tiny tears trickled down his bloody cheeks.

"Yes," she cooed with a smile, "we are."

M picked up the card from the ground and slid it through the key slot on the lock. A faint ting sounded, followed by the opening of the cell door. From a saddlebag underneath her cloak, M pulled forth a dusty, ragged old linen cloak.

"Here," she said, "take this. It will hide your face and body from the guards as we head to the warden’s den. I saw one of the collar keys on the counter earlier. So if we move quickly, you can hide till later this evening."

The stallion took the cloak and smiled as he felt the warm, dry cloth touch his wet and exposed skin. "Thank you..." He whispered thankfully.

"There will be a time for thanks after you've left. Until then, we need to lay low and get that collar off of you. If you leave the compound..."

"Yes," The stallion said, feeling the tight iron collar around his neck. "I know."

"Can I be next?" whispered a voice a mare’s from one of the cells.

"Yes! Please, us next! We need to get out of here! Please, me next! Me next!" All of the voices begged M.

M walked away from the voices, and down the hallway, with the stallion at her side. Very quietly, and very sincerely she replied, "I know you all want to get out of here. But please, listen to me. You have to wait. Big Lot suspect that somepony in the area is freeing prisoners. I can't have her find out its me."

"But if we stay any longer we'll suffer! Please, take us with you! Please!" the ponies cried.

"Can you take us, too?" Neo called down to M clearly.

M paused for a moment, and looked curiously down the hallway to see where his voice had come from. The sobs of the desperate prisoners made it impossible for her to place Neo’s voice, so she quickly shouted, "Quiet, everyone, please!"

Sobs and cries of pure anguish could still be heard, but the pleading had stopped, as did the rest of the noise blocking the new voice from her ears. "Say that again?" M asked while leaning her head to find Neo.

Neo spoke out again, but with more uncertainty in his voice than he had before. "Uh... could you get us out of here, too?"

M located his cell and swiftly trotted down the hallway. When she arrived in front of Neo, M peered at him and spoke with a hint of confusion in her voice. "You're... new?"

Neo stuck his muzzle through the bars of his cell and nodded. "Me and my whole group just got here."

"Where is your group? How many of you are there?" M asked as she scanned Neo’s cell in search of his allies.

"The rest of us are over here." Lucy called out from the cell behind M.

M looked back at Lucy, but quickly returned her attention to Neo. Adam too now poked his small blue snout through the bars. "I'm his brother," Adam said, "and is there any way you could get us out? Preferably soon."

From where M stood in the hall what little light there was aided the shadow in protecting the upper part of her face. This made it hard to tell what she was thinking, or even if she was thinking at all. The only thing Neo, or Adam could use to detect any emotion from was her body movements, and yet even this was hard as the grimy cloak she wore masked a great deal of her physical movements.

"Everypony here wants to be free. Big Lot spends a lot of her time torturing and humiliating these ponies. I can't say when I can help, but I'll let you know if I can."

The hooded mare looked to the door of the dungeon for a moment, before saying, "I need to go before somepony notices I've left. Hold tight. Be strong. I'll return as soon as I can."

The mare did not give them even a moment to respond. Neo, and the rest of the group watched as she dashed off to meet the stallion she was rescuing. Opening the large iron door with gentle care, the stallion slipped through, followed shortly by herself. And just as softly, just as gently, M closed the door. There was a great sigh of sadness that sounded throughout the dungeon from the prisoners. With their rescuer gone, they returned to their torturous, silent existence.

Wester had been thinking while M was there. Perhaps there was a way he could save not only his group, but the whole of the dungeon too. That was, of course, a plan that would only work if the prisoners agreed to his idea.

Adam sat in his cell, pondering what Wester was thinking. Adam could see that, with the help of M and Wester, everyone in his group could escape. But then a troubling thought slithered into Adam’s mind. What about the other prisoners? From what he had seen of Big Lot’s cruelty, Adam knew that they couldn’t be left behind. But how could they escape? They had collars which prevented them from leaving the settlement. After considering his options, Adam realized that he needed to ask for more information regarding, well, anything.

"Uh, hello? Is anyone willing to talk for a bit?" Adam asked, his voice echoing faintly off of the rough concrete walls.

"What do you want?" a mare's voice replied from a cell further down the hall.

"I wanted to ask about M. That is, if you're willing to talk about her."

The mare sounded broken and sad. As though all hope from her had been whisked away by months of cruelty. "If you’re planning to get her to let you out, then you're a stupidly optimistic child. She wants to help all of us, but she only comes once a week. Most of the time, she doesn't even free any pony."

"That may be so, but at the very least I want to know more about her." Adam replied.

"Fine," the mare continued, "but it won't do you much good."

"Thank you." Adam courteously said to her. "I want to know is who she is. Why is her name M?"

"I don't know anything about her name, but what I do know is that she was a slaver that was turned into a slave. Not by Big Lot, but by some greasy slaver that betrayed her and used her for,” the mare paused briefly, “comfort."

"Is there anything else that you know about her? What's her role here?"

"I see her clean out rooms sometimes. She feeds the guards, too. Besides that, her life here is a mystery. To us, though, she's an angel. The only pony who even tries to help us."

Wester inserted himself into the conversation. "You said she comes by every week, correct?"

"Yes, but she usually just tries to find out who she's going to help next."

"How long would you say we have until she decides to do something with us?" Wester added.

"After seeing her take a special interest in you guys, she may have already decided. Why did she say something special to you, anyways?” Before anyone could answer that they didn’t know, the nameless mare asked another question that, this time, was laced with fear, “Did Big Lot single out anyone in your group?"

Neo answered, "She did to me. She started jumping around, said she liked me the most."

There was a pause as the mare sighed mournfully. "I'm... I'm so sorry for you."

Neo felt a cold fear that poured through his veins. "What does that mean? Am I going to die or something?"

"No," the voice said. "It means she's going to turn you into one of her toys. She’ll dress you up in those clothes she likes and play a game with you. While the games are always different, she's going to make you do horrible, horrible things. If you’re lucky, she might force you to beat another slave until his head is nothing but mush. But if she’s feeling bored, she might just shock, shoot, or cut you until she says otherwise. And if you think you can handle it, it doesn’t matter. When there are new favorites brought in, she'll kill you. We're all expendable here, just like toys..."

Falling down onto his haunches Neo stared at the ground, wide-eyed and shocked. "Wha-what? I-I..." He sputtered in disbelief.

"Then we need to get out of here soon. And we'll take all of you with us when we do." Adam said with determination in his voice.

"Is it possible to disable the locks? Or get the card to unlock each cell?" Wester asked.

They could hear the mare sigh. "Each of the locks has a special card that goes to each cell, and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get them. I'm actually surprised M helps us in the time she does. I heard Big Lot keeps the cards under her bed. Sometimes, the keys are left out in the warden’s den in the compound. But besides some of the maintenance ponies, and a select few she chooses, no pony goes into her room or the warden’s den."

"Perhaps we could speak to M about it. Or maybe we could have one of you get a key card." Wester said.

"You can try anything you'd like. It won't work."

Adam felt, despite her comments, a sincere sense of determination. "We'll get out of here! I know we will! All of us!"

His assured conviction faded as the sound of the large iron door at the end of the hall opened. Followed by the frightening sound of heavily armored hooves marching thunderously down the hallway. "They're here," the ponies whispered, "they're going to take some of us away..."

There were two unicorn Legion guards approaching Adam and Neo's cell with a keycard at the ready. "You, whitey! Get out!" One of the guards commanded sternly.

"See..." The mare down the hall muttered, "you're next..."

One of the guards turned sharply to the mare. "Shut it, you! Or I'll come over there and shut you up myself!"

The other guard opened the brother’s cell, only to be met by Adams hoof forcefully hitting his head.

"Don't you touch him!" Adam screamed.

The guard had staggered back, but quickly recovered. "Why, you little bastard..." The guard bellowed rubbing the side of his head.

The second guard came into the cell, his rifle was readied. As Adam stood in front of his brother, teeth gritting and with his posture low to the ground as he prepared to strike, he said, "Don't come near him! Or I'll get you too!"

"Oh shut it, you little blue fuck!" The second guard barked, quickly hitting the side of Adam's head with the stock of his gun.

Adam yelped, and fell to the ground. Neo felt furious, and lunging at the guard he shouted. "Don't you fucking hurt him!"

Like Adam, the guard took the stock of his rifle and hit Neo firmly against the head as he had tried to jump at him. "You shut it, too!" The guard commanded. Neo fell the ground and now moaned in pain.

Letting the rifle hang at his side, the second guard motioned his head for the first to help him with Neo. "Come on, Big Lot wants this one ASAP. Let's drag him. It'll save us the trouble of having to push his sorry ass to her room."

"Right," The first guard replied.

They slung both of Neo's forelegs over their shoulders and drag him across the damp concrete floor. Adam’s vision was obscured by the severe pain that pounded on the side of his head, and all of his other senses were dazed. Ally, Lucy, and Wester beat against the bars of their cell as the guards dragged Neo off to his fate.

"You sad fucks! Open the cell right now, you bastards! Open it and fight me for him!" Lucy screamed.

Ally shouted equally as loud at the guards who were now halfway down the hall. "Let him go! Take me instead! Please, don't do this!"

Wester ran to the back of his cell and charged at the iron bars. With every charge, he put more and more effort into breaking the bars. But the more he tried, the more he realized that the bars would not break. After what seemed an eternity for everyone in the group, the guards finally reached the iron door at the end of the hallway.

As they left, the door closed and a loud, metallic bang coursed through the dungeon. The ringing sound faded throughout the hall, but all of Neo’s friends could still hear it. It was a sound that signalled the danger that everyone was in, and it was now an anchor for their need to escape. However, above all the other ponies, it was Adam who heard the ring the most clearly. He now knew that he, and every pony that was imprisoned, would escape from this terrible place.

Cool Blue and L'amour were having a very busy day. Inside his sound booth, Cool Blue sat in front of a black microphone and on a cushioned, velvet seat. With a pair of dark headphones perched on top of his head, Cool Blue read the neatly written lines that on the script that rested in front of him. Flipping one of the many pages before him, he did his best to sound enthusiastic while delivering the news.

"In other news, the settlement of Maneton has been fixing itself up. That's right, kids. According to our sources, they've got themselves fixed up real nice. And the good news doesn’t end there! The citizens of Maneton have decided to give the all-clear for traders to start comin' on in. If you're a caravanner in need of some extra cash, look no further. Maneton is once again open for business!"

Now, here’s one of my all-time favorite songs, Wonderful Wonderful by Johnny Manethis."

A charming beep rang softly in Cool Blue’s headset as two ponies, a stallion and a mare, entered his congested sound booth. A red light above the booth's exit read, "Music On" as the faint voice of Johnny Manethis sang in Cool Blue's headset.

Removing his head set, Cool Blue turned to meet the two ponies. "Was that too fast? Sometimes I move too fast when I finish an announcement."

The stallion dressed in a pinstripe shirt and vest shook his head, "Nah, you did good. Though, that was the last paper of the script right?"

Cool Blue and the two ponies stepped out of the sound booth and walked into the busy info room. "Yeah," Cool Blue replied downheartedly, "that was the last page. How soon can you get the next one out?"

"Real soon," the mare added. "We'll just play some longer songs to give us time."

"Good. I'm going to get L'amour. It's her turn next, right?"

"Yes, sir." The stallion said, trying to maneuver through the constant flow of ponies dashing about the room.

Nearing his living quarters on the other side of the info room, Cool Blue asked, "Do you know if anything big happened in the new script? You know, Legion sieges. Coalition strikes. That sort of stuff."

"I heard that the Legion has been shipping more materials from the Quantum mines. But besides that, I'm not sure what's going to be mentioned in the new script." The pinstriped stallion answered.

Arriving at his door, Cool Blue put a hoof upon the door handle and sighed. "It's not really important, I guess. It's just, out of the few shorter scripts we go through, I usually don't get to hear the news L'amour reads."

"We know, sir." Said the stallion.

"It really is dispiriting, sir," the mare next to the pinstriped stallion chimed in.

Opening the door so that it was partially ajar, Cool Blue looked at the two ponies behind him. "Anyways, I should go get her. Remember to come get me if something pops up and she's on the air."

The stallion nodded. "Right, sir."

"We'll be sure to do so, sir." The mare finished.

Both ponies parted ways and went back to finishing their pre-ordained tasks in the info room. Cool Blue shut the door, muffling the sounds of his workplace. Cool Blue’s room was dark, with a lamp next to the large, turned back, and luxurious couch being the sole provider of illumination. A heavy cloud of smoke hovered above the room, and the light that was caught in it created a golden halo.

On the couch, Cool Blue could see his wife's head, while a stream of clicking and clacking emanated from her direction. Occasionally, the sounds would stop, only to be followed by a loud cha-ching. She was writing, and it had seemed as though she was unaware of his presence. Cool Blue seized the opportunity, and crept carefully over to the couch.

He tread lightly, making little to no noise as he advanced onto her position. A large, devilish smirk found its way across his face while he prowled behind the couch. He could already imagine the surprise on her face. ’Oh, it's just my luck! She won't know what's coming!’ He thought with foalish glee.

Now standing on his hind legs, Cool Blue slowly looked over the top of the couch. L’amour was indeed typing, and swiftly too. A pile of typed paper was stacked next to her old typewriter, and an ashtray filled to the brim with cigarette buds and smoldering ash was precariously close to the papers.

Cool Blue’s smile grew as his hooves moved closer to L’amour’s neck. With a single poke he would do it, he’d even throw an outrageous scream just to make sure he surprised her. Getting ready to strike, the anxiousness inside him grew.

’I gotcha'...’ He thought fiendishly.

"Hey, honey buns." L'amour said, continuing to type.

Instantly, Cool Blue’s excitement left him; he knew there was no point to a prank if, for whatever reason, his wife already knew he was there. His smile dropped and he rested his head on his hoof. "How did you know I was-"

L’amour cut him off. "The door."

"Hmpf." He grunted, moving around the couch and over to her side.

Heavily, Cool Blue slumped onto the soft leather of the couch. After relaxing for a few seconds, he looked down at his wife’s typewriter. "Is that some of the new script? Or is it something else you're working on?"

L'amour typed the last few characters onto her paper. Removing the paper from the machine, she placed it on top of the other papers. Using her magic to lift the stack up, she tapped them against the table's flat surface, straightening out the thick pile.

"Well," she hummed, resting the papers down on the table now neatly straightened, "that page I just finished was for this evening's announcements. We'll be going over the freelancer movements, recruitment ads, and some new caravan paths."

Cool Blue was shocked by her response. "Those few things make up that huge stack?"

She looked to the stack of papers, and shook her head. "No, no. We've got a whole lot more to talk about in those. Some of the stuff is just announcements from merc-groups, or towns."

"I see," Cool Blue cooed, a playful grin spread across his face, "well I got some news for you..."

L’amour’s eyes tracked her husband’s hoof as it crossed the soft leather cushions. He closed his eyes and moved his muzzle close to her lips for a kiss, but his advances were stopped as her hoof pressed against his chest.

She smiled at him, gently pushing him back to a decent distance. "Let me guess, it's my turn, huh?"

“How did you guess, my sugar dumpling?" He giggled.

Raising a single eyebrow at him, L’amour said, "Why else would you be here at this hour? Surely not to try and kiss me all day."

He playfully nudged her side with his hoof. "You're no fun. Besides, the next few songs won't be done for another ten minutes. We've got time."

"We wouldn't want to take that risk, would we?" she asked.

The mischievous stallion's smile returned. "I don't know. Would you?"

L’amour smiled as she saw a twinkle in her husband’s eyes. She leaned next to his ear, and said, "I guess we can spend a few minutes..."

Within moments, their lips were close to one another's. Before they could kiss, however, a hoof beat furiously upon their door. Both ponies flattened their ears in annoyance.

"Great. Right when things were getting good." Cool Blue sighed.

As the thunderous knocking persisted, a voice called out to them. While the pony's voice was muffled, and softer the words he spoke still held a fair amount of clarity. A desperate sense of urgency could be heard in his tone as he spoke, "L'amour! Cool Blue! Hurry! I have some information that I think you two would want to see!"

"Don't worry, hun. I'll get it." L'amour said as she hopped from the couch and trotted to the door.

Opening it, she caught the pony standing frozen looking back at her with his hoof raised in the air ready to knock once again upon their door. Like most of the other ponies that worked in the upper floor, he too was dressed in a clean pinstripe vest. As he fumbled to straighten out the emerald buttons on his vest, sweat profusely trickled down the stallion’s yellow coat.

"Ma'am..." he choked timidly.

"Yes?" L'amour asked, leaning against the wooden doorframe.

The poor stallion was completely overcome with stress and worry. "O-our freelancer outside of the northern outskirts of Silvermane City reported that o-one of our guardians found a pack of rabid hellhounds twenty miles away from Ironstead."

L'amour cocked her head to the side slightly and looked at him curiously. "So? We'll just include them in the announcements, and tell ponies to stay clear of that section of Silvermane City."

"I know, ma'am. But..." The stallion stuttered.

"But what?" she asked.

"You asked for some of us to keep an ear open for information regarding those ponies that came through the other day, and, well, aren't the outskirts near the northern border?"

"Yes, but I hardly see how that-" Like a flash of lightning, a sudden realization hit L’amour.

L'amour's eyes widened, and panic welled inside her chest. "The kids..."

"Y-yes. That's what I wanted to tell you, ma'am."

L’amour now addressed the pony with urgency in her voice. "How many were there?"

"Uh-uh..." The stallion struggled to remember the exact amount.

"Damn it, how many?!" She grabbed the him by his ears, causing the already nervous stallion to flinch fearfully.

"Thirty!" he screamed.

L'amour released the stallion and pulled herself back. Quickly, she calculated the odds of Neo and Adam's survival. No matter how she looked at it, their outcome was grim. Now groveling, the stallion flattened his ears and looked up at her apprehensively.

"M-ma'am, did I offend you?" he asked softly.

Cool Blue opened the door; rubbing his eyes as he stepped out of the dark room. "What’s going on, babe? What's with all the yelling?"

She ignored the pony in front of her and directed her attention to her husband. "We have to help them," she whispered distantly, still trying to fathom the news she had just received.

Cool Blue raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

She pointed at the pinstriped stallion, and shouted, "You!"

"M-me?" The stallion replied with a cringe.

"Yes! I want you to go to the script writers. Tell them to put this info in between every song that comes on for the next few days!"

Cool Blue scratched his brown, fluffy mane. "What the actual hell are you talking about?"

L'amour spun back to her husband, and leaned closely to him. Just to where he could feel her heavy, stressed breath blow gently against his fur. "It's the kids! Her kids! They might be in danger!"

Cool Blue pushed her back, and raised a hoof to her. In a calming tone, he tried to talk to her. "Whoa there! Slow down for a second. What's the problem?"

"It's her kids," she huffed, "they are in danger. There are hellhounds gathered outside of the northern outskirts of Silvermane City. If we don't do something, they might run straight into them!"

Cool Blue's eyes widened, panic filled his mind. "T-then we'll have to broadcast the message for days, they have to hear it if we keep playing it again and again, right?"

"Right." She nodded in agreement.

Both of the DJ ponies looked at the pinstriped stallion who had brought them the news. "Go!" L'amour told him urgently. "Tell them to put that in the script. If they don't, I'll add it myself!"

The stallion gave them a weak salute, and dashed off to the script writers. L'amour sighed, trying her best to relieve the horrible stress that infested every muscle in her body. With the use of her hoof, she messaged tiny circles around the side of her head. "I don't know if we should finish what we started, hun. With this suddenly popping up, life here just got a whole lot more-"

She stopped speaking as soon as Cool Blue gently placed one of his hooves over her lips. "It's okay. We've got time. Go get ready for the next announcements. The kids are depending on us."

She gave him a faint smile. "You're right. Just remember these pieces of information when you go on air. Thirty diamond dogs. North Silvermane outskirts. Stay away. Can you remember that until they get it in the script?"

"Babe," he chuckled, "there ain't no way, no how that I'll forget it."

She hugged him warmly as she felt a great burden lift from her shoulders. "Thank you, hun..."

Cool Blue put a hoof around L’amour, and spoke sweetly to her. "It ain't nothin, sugar cakes."

A unicorn mare, accompanied by a large stack of floating papers, came out of the recording room and shouted to gain L'amour’s attention.

"L'amour! You're on in ten!"

"Coming!" L’amour shouted back.

Turning her gaze back to her husband, L'amour kissed Cool Blue on the cheek, and batted her eyes at him. "Remember, honey. Thirty hellhounds. North Silverma-"

"Silvermane outskirts. I know, babe." Cool Blue finished the sentence with a smile.

L’amour left without a word. There was nothing more she needed to say. Not a word. Both she and her husband knew that for the next few days they would have to broadcast their message nonstop in the hope that Neo and Adam would hear it in time. Cool Blue and L'amour were, without a doubt, going to have a very busy week.

Distant, deep voices bellowed, that echoed unevenly in Neo’s ears. Who were they? Neo wondered. There was no feeling in him. Only these few, haunting noises teasing the only sense that seemed to work. He could not see a thing, nor smell or taste the air around him. Just the sound. As moments passed, the muffled sounds became voices. The voices were unclear at first, but they gradually gained tone and clarity. The more he listened the more the voice became deep and masculine. Based on their pitch Neo could safely assume that they belonged to the guards that had fetched him.

Then the questions started rolling in Neo’s mind. Where was he? Did his brother get hurt in the cells? Neo had many more questions, but he quickly realized that he didn’t have a single answer. Instead, all he could do was hear what the guard’s voices had to say.

"You hit him too hard." One of the guards argued.

"What did you expect me to do? Let him hit me with that metal limb he's got?" The other guard countered.

"Well, no. Not exactly. But you could have kept him conscious."

"Does it even matter? You said it would be easier this way. Besides, he'll get to Big Lot. One way or another."

"You sure about that? You sure Big Lot won't get mad about this? She said she liked this one."

"Nah, she'll be fine with it. Besides, we'll just drop him off in her room. She's still in the hall, so she shouldn't even be there when we get there."

"But what if she is there, though?"

"Shut up! I'm already on edge about knocking him out, so I don't need you breathing down my neck about it!"

"Fine. Have it your way. I'm just saying..."

Another sound, the sound of something being dragged, interrupted the voices. Then a faint horizontal glimmer appeared before Neo. Light? he thought. Was his vision finally returning? The little line of light, his only source of light in the whole world, grew. Neo was, fortunately, correct. His vision was returning.

With his sense returned, pain spread itself in his head and hind legs. And the dragging sound fit perfectly with the pain in his legs. Yes, he was being dragged. Like some dead animal that was being taken to the butcher. As hard as he tried, he could not move. And even though his vision was returning, it was still obscured by a thick blurry haze.

Neo peered as carefully as he could to see the surrounding area. He was outside. Chain-link fences were on both sides of him, and above his head was a chain-link ceiling. The ground upon which his legs were dragged was dirt. Dry, powdered dirt, infested with sharp and tiny rocks that dug into his skin.

Neo heard a stallion scream. The stallion, who sounded no older than him, was desperately crying for mercy. "Please, not the Pitt! I'll make sure the dolls are sitting up straight this time! All of them, I swear! Just please don't send me in there!"

From the corner of his eye Neo saw a blurred figure; clad in pink and surrounded by what looked like armored Legion soldiers. "Shut it!" a soldier shouted.

There was a large circular hole right behind the pink stallion. One of the blurred soldiers pointed a rifle or a spear, Neo could not tell, at the stallion. "Go in! Now!"

"Damn, that's the third one this month,” one of the soldier's carrying Neo whispered.

"I know. Sucks to be him." The other replied with a feigned tone of indifference.

Before the pink stallion went into the pit, Neo was dragged past a dark wall. However, he could still hear the stallion’s dreadful howl of fear as he went into the Pitt. Neo was dreadfully curious as to what evils could possibly be in the Pitt to make a pony so terrified of it. He wanted to think of more questions, he wanted to ponder the possible answers, but Neo was growing tired. His will to ponder questions like this, and to even see the world around him, began to diminish.

"Great," one of the guards sighed in relief.

"Tell me about it. This bastard is heavy."

The sound of hooves tapping against a solid surface let Neo know they had finally arrived at the entrance of a building. "There's her room,” one of the guards said hesitantly. “let's hope she's not there."

"You hope she's not there. I'm not taking the blame for something you did. I'm not ending up in the Pitt like pinky back there."

"And you call yourself a soldier."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for my own well being."

A heavy, metallic noise that was followed by the groaning of metal sounded in Neo’s ears. Could it be a door that was opening? Was it Big Lot's door? The damaged entrance of Stable 142 didn't sound nearly as loud. Just what did she need a door so large and heavy for?

The guard’s hoof-steps were muffled now as they stepped on a soft floor. Against his legs, Neo could feel a silky, smooth texture brush tenderly against him. The pain of the tiny stones biting into his skin no longer tormented him.

He was then placed onto something soft. A mattress or a pillow, perhaps. Whatever it was, it felt much better than being dragged by the guards.

One of the guards bid Neo farewell. "Enjoy your time with her!"

"Or not." The other guard chuckled. “Doesn’t matter to us.”

Their hoofsteps became distant as they left him to his fate. By the two goddesses in the heavens above, Neo prayed for his strength to return. When his strength failed, Neo then started praying for just a glimpse at his new surroundings. If he could see, maybe he could find a way to escape. Eventually, time would grant him both strength and sight. But it was time that bothered him. In his current state, time seemed to pass by so quickly, or did it move slowly? It was impossible to tell.

A few light hoof-steps approached him. The hoof-steps stopped next to him, and a familiar filly’s voice said, "Wake him up."

Ice cold water splashed onto Neo. Instantly, his senses burst back to life. Neo's eyelids shot open, allowing the room’s bright, blinding light to fill his gaze. As his eyes adjusted, he could see two figures come into focus. It was Big Lot, smirking down at him from atop a black, tuxedo clad stallion that held an empty bucket in his mouth.

Big Lot jumped off of the stallion’s back she sweetly gave him an order. "That will do, Minion. Be a dear and put the bucket away."

Bowing to the filly, the stallion, evidently named Minion, agreed with a low, rough, and loyal voice, "Yes, Ms. Lot."

The filly turned her large eyes to Neo, "Have a nice nap did we?"

Neo coughed and tried to stand. "You could hardly call it a nap..."

His legs quaked as he tried to ignore the biting cold water that now made his clothes stick to his coat.

"You're silly. I'm going to have lots of fun with you." Big Lot giggled.

Neo now noticed the room he was in for the first time. It was infested with pink. The pink was occasionally offset with different colors such as white stripes on the wall paper; or the crude, red drawings of ponies bowing to what looked like a princess that were drawn at the bottom of the walls. As for the furniture, there were massive, cloud shaped pillows stacked in huge piles across the room. The only real seats were were four chairs that were located at a small, circular blue table; two of the seats had large teddy bears sitting in them. The oddest, and by far the most unsettling thing, was the gigantic red, heart-shaped bed at the end of the room.

The whole room made Neo sick.

"Do you like it?" Big Lot asked as she watched Neo look around her room.

"It..." Neo murmured unsurely.

"Leave's you kinda speechless.” A smug grin formed on the filly’s face. “Don't it?"

She let Neo inspect her room for a few more moments, but it was not long before her patience ran thin. "Why don't we sit down. You must have questions, right?"

"Yeah..." Neo said, still staring at her room.

"Good, we'll discuss it over tea. Come! I will introduce you to my guests." Big Lot announced before running to the table with the teddy bears.

Neo found it difficult to walk. His legs were still in pain from being dragged across the unforgiving ground of the Wasteland. Staggering to the table, he noticed the entrance to Big Lot’s room. As he had guessed, the door was made of thick steel. It was bolted tightly to huge iron hinges, which made it impossible for him to escape in his condition.

Taking her set at the tiny table, Big Lot motioned for Neo to sit on one of the chairs. "Sit. Before the tea gets cold."

Neo blinked at the chair. Big Lot fit in her's perfectly, but a full grown stallion like him trying to sit in such a petite chair would be difficult. However, he tried anyway. His flank barely fit in the tiny seat, but after a few seconds of struggling, he finally adjusted.

"I'm sorry about not having any live guests right now. They looked so sad today in the hall, so I sent them to the dungeon. Hopefully no food for a few days will make them more happy next time they see me."

Neo looked at Big Lot with disgust. "Why would you treat them like that?"

"Like what?" She asked, giving Neo a massive grin that reached from ear to ear.

"Like animals. Why?"

The massive steel door opened, and the stallion that Big Lot called Minion entered. With one hoof, he effortlessly closed the massive door. "Oh," Big Lot cooed. "Minion is back. And he put that bucket away, too! He is such a good boy."

Neo hesitated to say anything to Big Lot. Clearly, there was something wrong with her, and even the smallest mistake could be his undoing.

"Ah!" Big Lot gasped, putting both of her fore hooves to her cheeks. "Where are my manners? The tea! I almost forgot about the tea!"

Big Lot pulled an empty, cracked, porcelain teapot from under the table and pretended to pour tea into a tiny cup that waited in front of Neo. After she finished pouring the non-existent tea into Neo’s cup, she began pretending to fill her own cup.

"Let’s start with names. My name is Big Lot. But you will call me Master from now on."

"Okay. My name is-"

Big Lot slammed a hoof onto the table. “Your name is Sir Bartleby Von Cuddle Pants now."

Forgetting who he was dealing with, Neo spoke out of turn. "But, my name is-"

"NO!" Big Lot screamed. "Your name is Sir Bartleby Von Cuddle Pants!"

Neo reeled back in shock at her sudden outburst of rage. But just as quickly as it had arrived, the rage in Big Lot had seemingly disappeared. "Now," she said calmly, "the next thing we'll need to do is get you some new clothes. And -- for safety, of course -- a slave collar. Just in case you ever think of some nasty-wasty ideas like quitting."

She looked over to the stallion standing at the door. "Minion! Do we have any more collars and suits for Sir Bartleby Von Cuddle Pants?"

"No, Ms. Lot," the stallion answered.

"Aww. Wait a minute!” An idea sprang into Big Lot’s mind. “Go find some of my older toys and break them! Take their collars and clothes for my new plaything."

"Very well, Ms. Lot." The stallion replied, standing stiffly.

Big Lot sipped her tea. "I love Minion. He's been so nice since I broke him. He was a mecher, you know? One of the best. I heard of another pony like him. I think that pony was called Iron Fist. If only I had a pony like him. Now that would be a real prize."

At the mention of a pony being a prize, Neo couldn't take any more of Big Lot’s blatant disregard for life. "Listen, ponies aren't prizes you can keep like toys is some game. They're real-"

She shushed him. Raising a hoof to her ear, Big Lot leaned in close. "Excuse me, Mr. Cuddle Pants, I couldn't hear you. It sounded like you told me to listen. You couldn’t have said that, though. I mean, can you imagine what would happen if you said that? What games I would want to play because of that?"

Neo fearfully noticed Big Lot’s left eye twitch. Before she could continue making Neo regret his decision to speak, a knock came from the door. Minion opened it and a Legion soldier ran in. Plates and teacups flew as Big Lot furiously slammed her hooves on the table. “What is it?! If you didn’t notice, I am trying to have tea!"

The soldier took a few steps back. "I'm-I'm sorry, ma'am. Did I come at a bad time?"

Big Lot was panting heavily. Fury burned in her eyes. "Speak! Now!"

The soldier cleared his throat and mustered all the courage he had to address her. "Ma'am, it's one of your personal ponies. He tried escaping. We caught him, of course, but we figured you would want to see him."

"Oh!" Big Lot exclaimed, the rage subsiding. "Why didn’t you say so? Is he with you?"

The soldier nodded. "He’s in the hallway, ma'am. We’re just waiting for you to tell us what to do with him."

"Okey-dokey, Loki." Big Lot answered cheerfully before leaving the table. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cuddle Pants. Master is gonna to break one of her bad, bad toys for a little bit. You wait right here."

Big Lot skipped to Minion. "Minion," she said, "watch Mr. Cuddle Pants while I’m gone."

Keeping a mundane expression, Minion answered, "Yes, Ms. Lot."

"Good," Big Lot said merrily, patting one of Minion’s metal forelegs gently.

As she went into the hallway, Neo was left alone with Minion. Going through the door is out of the question. Neo thought as he studied Minion. His eyes moved all over the room. From the bright pink walls, to the piles of fluffy cloud-shaped pillows that littered her room and all the way to her bed at the end of the room.

Appalling cries of pain and sadness erupted from the hallway. Followed shortly by the sound of flesh being beaten by something metallic. Neo could even hear Big Lot's screams clearly from her room as she punished the pony outside.

"You BAD, BAD PONY! You thought you could escape? Huh? YOU! You can’t escape! Not when you're nothing! NOTHING!"

Neo felt a wave of fear course down his spine. He now knew for certain that he couldn’t let his friends fall victim to Big Lot. He needed to get them out of this horrible place, by any means necessary. Neo scanned the room for anything useful to aid in his escape. Eventually, something odd caught his eye.

Minion was curiously peeking into the hall to witness what Big Lot would do next. As the punishment was being carried out further, the stallion's interest grew more and more. His brief glances had now become a stare at the chilling scene.

Big Lot’s screams were louder than thunder. "This behavior is unacceptable! UNACCEPTABLE!"

"Please, stop! Please!" The voice of the tortured soul pleaded desperately."I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Finally, Minion’s attention was completely focused on the pony outside. Now was the time to act. To try and escape, or, at the very least, find a way to make any escape attempt easier. Neo thought hard about what he needed to do. Looking around the room frantically, he searched the deepest parts of his memories for a clue, a hint, an idea that could help him. Then, like a powerful wave crashing against the sharp rocks of the ocean shore, it came to him. The mare in the dungeon had mentioned the bed.

Treading lightly to the bed, Neo tried his very best not to draw attention to himself. Once he the heart-shaped bed, he lowered himself, lifted the draped red sheets that hung over the space underneath the bed, and looked for something that might help. He saw a box. A nice, small cardboard box painted with silver glitter, covered with vibrant red hearts, and surrounded by a bundle of old stuffed bears.

Neo reached out to grab the box, but stopped himself when he almost touched one of the bears. For all he knew, the bear could have been enchanted to make a sound if it was touched. Yet, that box could be the key out of the mess he was in. Quickly glancing over the top of the bed, Neo checked to see if Minion was still distracted. Just like before, Minion's eyes were locked on the happenings outside of the room. Minion, despite his rough exterior, would occasionally flinch at some of the harder, more brutal hits Big Lot inflicted upon the stallion.

Neo returned to the box under the bed, and reached for it. He fully extended his hoof, but the box was too far. Sighing, he pulled back his foreleg and tried something else. Neo activated his levitation attachment and the box began to move. Neo bit his lower lip, feeling a nervous sweat build upon his brow as he tried to move the box as silently as he could. The box popped out from the pile of plush toys it was buried in.

The box hovered to Neo, and he gently rested it in front of him. Neo inspected the box for any traps, but it had no visible locks or alarms. He removed the top, and looked inside.

Most of what was in the box was junk. Old photographs, marbles, rusted toy cars, and other useless items. There were, however, three small items which stood out from the rest: three round pieces of metal. All identical, with notches all along the sides. He wasn't sure what they were, or if they were even worth taking. But his thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind as he heard the terrifying sound of a filly’s voice.

"You know," Big Lot panted heavily as she finished the beating, "I think you've had enough. Take him to the Pitt. After a few days there, he'll learn some manners."

Neo needed to decide now. Take them or leave them. Should he risk his safety by stealing from Big Lot, or should he take his chances with the mysterious objects. The weight of the situation made his heart race and the sweat run profusely down the sides of his face. Taking a deep breath, he decided. Picking up two of the small round objects, he closed the box and put it back under the bed.

The faint pitter patter of Big Lot's tiny hooves emanated throughout the room. Neo stepped lightly back to the table, before placing the objects inside his duster pocket. Sitting down at the table, he straightened himself out, and brought on the most calm expression he could.

Big Lot entered the room, her mane was wild. She puffed tiredly as she walked back to the table. Neo noticed that every step Big Lot took was exhausted and slow. "Thank you, Minion, for holding the door for me. And for watching Mr. Cuddle Pants."

"You're welcome, Ms. Lot." Minion replied, shutting the massive metal door.

Big Lot took her seat at the table and sighed with relief. Using one of her hooves, Big Lot brushed aside her chaotic mane. "I do apologize, Mr. Cuddle Pants. Sometimes, there are ponies that need to be punished. Take note of that while you stay here."

"I-I'll try." Neo said with a great deal of anxiety.

"Now, where were we?" Big Lot asked, still fixing her mane.

"Questions, I think."

"Oh, good. Make them quick, though. That little incident took the energy out of me and the only cure is a good nap."

"Ah," Neo murmured. He wasn't sure what to say now, so all he could do was stutter weakly. "Uh... Well... I..."

"Well?" Big Lot asked impatiently. "Ask something! I don't have all day."

Neo quickly thought of a question. A question he had been wondering about since he had first seen the powerful filly. "How is it that you became the leader- I mean princess, of all of this?"

She smiled at him mischievously, resting her hooves down on the table-top. "Somepony's a little curious about his new master. Very well, I'll let you know. Just because I find you so cute."

Neo felt disgusted at having Big Lot call him cute. "You see," Big Lot began, "I'm Vladimir's favorite little filly. My uncle, Cyrus, put in a good word for me when the old ruler of the border got killed by a... certain stuffed bear he cuddled too much."

She giggled as she remembered when her uncle had died. "That was a few years ago, but Vladimir said I was just like my uncle and that I was a good leader. So he made me the princess of this place for all of forever."

Neo wondered if Big Lot honestly didn’t care about her uncle’s death. Although, judging from her glee and explicit acts of sadism, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she actually felt happy when her uncle died. "Can I ask another question?"

Big Lot yawned, stretching out her forelegs, "No. I don't think you can. Minion! I'm tired. Take Mr. Cuddle Pants back to the dungeon. And remember to tell the guards to get him and his friends clothes and collars."

Minion approached Neo, and with every step he took, his massive, powerful forelegs hissed and clanked. "Oh," Big Lot added, "make Mr. Cuddle Pants take a nap, too. Just so it's easier to get him home."

Quickly turning to Big Lot, Neo asked, "What?!"

Minion’s monstrous hoof slammed onto Neo’s head. Neo’s limbs went numb and he fell to the floor, darkness slowly taking his vision away. Big Lot walked over and looked down at him.

Smiling, she waved a hoof. "Bye, bye, Mr. Cuddle Pants. Don't worry, we'll see each other soon enough. I promise."

The darkness took away all of Neo's senses and he finally slipped into unconsciousness.

The sound of droplets of water falling into the cold, murky puddles inside of the cells was the only sound the dungeon. It was cold and dark, with nothing to warm the shivering prisoners but the clothes on their backs. Lucy sat on a wooden crate inside her cell, watching the water drip from the pipes. Wester leaned against the freezing iron bars of their cell, deep in thought. Ally, thought, was the only one actively searching for a way to escape. She trotted everywhere, examining the tiniest of details in everything. She would poke the tiny cracks in the walls, or stand on a box and tap the pipes.

Adam was in his own confined cell. Alone. Pacing back and forth, Adam wondered what he would do to escape Big Lot's town.

Lucy turned to Ally, who was still inspecting looking for weaknesses in the cell. "You know that's not going to do anything, right?"

Ally took a pause from her search. "What won't work?"

"Trying to escape by poking at cracks and puddles. You're just wasting your time." Lucy answered.

Frowning, Ally returned to observing the cell. "You're just grouchy because you can't think of anything better."

"No," Lucy replied, "I'm just a little confused. Just think about it for a moment. If dozens of ponies have been in here and none of them have escaped without M's help, how are you going to do it? Especially if you’re just poking things."

Ally sighed. "You’ll never know the structural weaknesses of a building until you search for it. Who knows, this place is pretty old, and it sounds like the building isn't settling well."

"Fine, go on. I'm just saying it's not going to get you anywhere." Lucy replied, returning to the falling droplets.

Fear festered inside of Adam. The only thing he wanted at that moment was to tear down the cell door and storm Big Lot’s room to find his brother. But he knew he couldn’t. He knew he was powerless and it hurt. To make up for it, thought, Adam kept trying to think of a plan.

Stopping his rhythmic pacing for a moment, Adam turned his attention to Wester. At the edge of his cell, Adam stuck his muzzle between the iron bars and whispered, "Hey, Wester."

Wester turned his crimson visor towards Adam. "Yes?"

"I've been thinking about ways to escape, but they all involve M helping us. Do you have anything?"

"Negative," Wester responded, "I've been pondering various routes of escape. None have a very high chance of success. All of the more favorable options require the aid of M."

Adam sighed, discouraged. "Great. Then our only option is to wait, I guess..."

Lucy hopped down from her box, and joined the conversation. "You holding out okay, Adam?"

Adam looked at the ground in shame. "I'm just scared. I’m scared for my brother, I’m scared for you guys, and I'm scared about what that psycho filly might do to us."

"Hey, it's alright to be scared, Adam." Lucy reassured him. "It means you care."

The deafening sound of screeching metal sounded as the door to the dungeon opened. The stallion who stood in the doorway was large, and dressed in a neat, clean black suit. Upon his back, laying limp and still, was Neo. Minion, a keycard firmly held between his jaws, trotted over to Adam's cell. Adam felt a sense of uplifting joy build and swell inside him. But as Minion came closer, the sight of his unconscious brother created a harrowing dread that washed away his joy.

"Brother! Brother, are you okay? Answer me!" Adam shouted urgently.

The rest of the group gathered to see Neo. Ally gasped and placed a hoof over her mouth while Lucy and Wester slammed their hooves vigorously against the bars, spitting out vicious threats at Minion.

Lucy growled, "What the hell did you do to him!? Answer me! I'll fucking kill you if you did anything to him!"

Wester was even angrier than Lucy was. "Let me out of here if you value your life! I won't stop hunting you if he is dead and there is no place where you could hide from my wrath. Celestia spare your soul if he's harmed, because I won't when I'm out of here!"

"Quiet! All of you!" Minion shouted with the card in his teeth, approaching Adam's cell.

Swiping the keycard into the locking mechanism, the lock clicked open. Pulling the cell door open, Minion let Neo roll off his back. Catching him with one of his large, mechanical forelegs, Minion tossed Neo into the cell.

"Mr. Cuddle Pants is just unconscious. Though, I'm sure Ms. Lot has much planned for him." Minion said as he put the keycard in his pocket.

Slamming the cell door shut, Minion walked out of the dungeon. The dungeon door slammed shut and the everything became dark as the prisoners were left alone once more. The other prisoners shuffled to the backs of their cells and silence, that was broken by only the dripping water, returned.

Adam rushed to his brother’s side. A desperate urgency filled Adam's eyes as he shook Neo with his hooves. "Wake up, brother! Are you okay? What happened? Brother? Brother!" He cried out desperately.

"Adam," Lucy called from her cell, "get him to one of the puddles. Throw some of the water on him. See if that wakes him up."

Keeping his eyes on his brother, Adam slowly nodded. "Okay, I'll try."

Slinging one of Neo's forelegs around his shoulders, Adam dragged his brother to the murky pool of water. When he reached it, Adam gently placed Neo on his side, and moved his brother's face closer to the water. With a single hoof, Adam splashed the frigid brown liquid onto Neo.

It only took a few splashes before Neo let out a few, heavy coughs. Adam smiled and held back tears of joy as he saw his brother blink. Moaning quietly, Neo asked, "Wha-what? Where am I? Did Big Lot send me back to the dungeon?"

Adam hugged his brother as tightly as he could. "Brother!"

"Hey, Adam! Don't leave us in the dark! How’s Neo doing?" Lucy shouted.

"He's fine!" Adam answered joyously. Adam turned and hugged Neo as tightly as he could. "You're okay. Thank Celestia you're okay..."

Neo coughed hoarsely. "Sorry about having to leave so suddenly."

Adam let go of his brother and grinned at him. "It's alright now. All that matters is that you're okay. Here, let me help you up."

"Thanks, Adam," Neo replied, trying to stand.

Wrapping Neo's metal foreleg around his shoulder, Adam helped his brother stand. Once Neo was sure he wouldn’t fall, Adam let go of him. Stumbling around the cell, Neo tried to get regain his balance. The aching pain radiating from his head made it hard to concentrate at first, but it did not take him long to finally walk without error.

Taking a few, careful steps, Neo came to the cell bars and leaned against them. "So then," Neo groggily asked, "did anything turn up while I was gone?"

"Nope. Nothing." Ally answered.

Adam sat down and sighed. "Me and Wester have been thinking of ways to escape, but without M's help it looks like we won't be getting out of here any time soon."

Neo chuckled. "That might just change..."

Everypony’s ears perked up and they looked at Neo hopefully. Neo levitated the two grooved orbs from his pocket.

"What are those things?" Adam asked.

"I'll be honest with you guys," Neo coughed. "Either they’re something really good, or they’re absolutely worthless."

The darkness made it hard for anypony to see the tiny objects clearly. "Let's see if one of the ponies here in the dungeon knows." Wester recommended after he failed to identify them.

"Alright, let's see what they know." Lucy replied.

Lucy called out to the cell next to hers, "Hey. Hey, neighbor. You there?"

Hooves clopped against the concrete floor, and a skinny face emerged from the darkness. Like all the other ponies, the mare who had come out of the dark corners of her cell was dressed in a filthy pink puffy dress.

"What is it? Some of us are trying to sleep, and it's bad enough you've just stood there and talked all day." She complained.

"You can go back to sleep in a moment. But I want you to tell me what my friend's doohickeys over there are." Lucy said.

The mare looked at Neo cynically. "What are you talking about? We're stripped of all of our possessions when-"

The mare was stunned when she saw the metal orbs. Her eyes went wide and pools of tears built up. An odd mix of happiness and terror could be seen in her face. Whatever the round items were, the emotion they inspired was overwhelming.

"Where did you get those?" She whispered, rubbing the collar around her neck.

Neo looked at the tiny round objects that floated next to him. "I took them from Big Lot's room. What are they?"

She laughed weakly, "Those, my friend, are Big Lot’s keys for the slave collars!"

Whispers and murmurs spread around the dungeon. Ponies curiously shuffled to the bars of their cells to see the fabled keys.

"Is it a collar key?"

"Is it? Is it true?"

"Did M do this? Has she brought us something?"

"No. M didn’t bring them," said the mare, a few happy tears rolling down her powdered cheeks. "It's the newcomer! He brought them from her room!"

A positive murmur fell over the ponies of the dungeon as they talked to one another. Wester spoke up, silencing the low whispers. "If he those are truly the collar keys, I know how we can get out of here. It will take some time, but M said she would be back. What I need to know now from you ponies is when she'll be back."

"Why are you asking us?" the mare next to their cell asked. "Sometimes she comes at night, sometimes in the mornings. But her visits are rare, unless there are new ponies who really interest her."

"Then she might come tonight, right?" Ally asked.

"Your chances are better, I'll tell you that. But I wouldn't keep your hopes up."

Neo put the keys back in his pocket, and sighed. "Then I guess we're going to have to wait then."

Lucy shook her head. "Damn, I swear, today was going so nicely until that stupid, skinny bastard showed up. At the very least, Neo, could you tell us what she might do with us? You met her after all."

Lowering his head, Neo shamefully admitted what happened, "She plans to use us as toys. Make us do horrible things to each other, just like them. The only reason she wanted me was to visit. She named me... Mr. Cuddle Pants."

"What?!" Lucy laughed, "She named you what?!"

Neo lowered his volume, "Mr. Cuddle Pants..."

"Damn, that's funny." After another quick chuckle, Lucy quickly apologized. "But sick. I’m sorry that had to happen to you."

"It's nothing, Lucy..." Neo replied agitatedly.

Adam got closer to his brother, and sat down. The group didn't speak, and as the quiet voices of the other imprisoned ponies dimmed as the loud echo of water dripping persisted. M was their only hope to get out. Wester knew that with her help they could leave, and from there he could get his revenge. Big Lot, no matter how many guards, could stop him from giving her what she deserved.

The sound of crickets chirping in the low, dry brush filled the dry air. It was nighttime in the border settlement of Jurkytown, and the only ponies outside were the ones that warmed themselves by the dancing flames that burned in ancient pre-war barrels. Them and an old mare that walked along one of the dusty road that slithered throughout Jurkytown. She was known as M, and she carried a mop and bucket at her side.

As she passed by an old two-story tavern, M avoided a group of soldiers from the Iron Legion who eyed her cautiously. She ignored them and briskly trot on. Her destination was the dungeon and the leers the soldiers gave her wouldn’t stop her. Nearing the concrete storage building, she turned sharply and made her way to a smaller structure connected by a pathway of chain-link fence.

M reached an old, green door that was mainly used for maintenances ponies and soldiers to get inside easily. Striding closely to the cracked, graffiti-coated walls, she entered the building. With the use of her horn, the green door was enveloped in her magical aura and M shut it as carefully as she could.

M had entered a long, dark hallway, with a three rooms beaming light into the darkness. M could hear that most of the rooms in the hall were currently occupied by guards, mostly talking to their friends about how their day went. Halfway down the corridor was the pathway leading to the dungeon. M grew nervous; in order to reach the pathway to the dungeon, she would need to pass all of the guards rooms.

Taking a deep breath, M calmed her beating heart. Trotting lightly, she paused near the doorway of a room as something the ponies inside were discussing caught her attention. Moving tightly along the wall, she put her ear close to the edge of the doorframe and listened.

Scooter grumbled as he paced back and forth frantically. Sitting at a small table was Whopper, who rested a hoof on his massive gatling battle saddle that sat upon the table. Whopper's eyes followed Scooter as he moved around the room.

"Ah swear, ah don't understand! Ah jus' don't!" Scooter pouted.

"Ya still mad about not gettin' that promotion?" Whopper asked.

Scooter glared at Whopper. "What do ya think ah am? Happy?"

"No... But ya really should let it go, boss. It's not healthy."

Shaking his head, Scooter continued his pacing. "Not healthy? Not healthy!? Ah'll tell ya what's not healthy, workin' fer that gosh dern slave driving Big Lot!”

Scooter continued his tirade. “Years, Whopper. Years! That's what ah've given this here settlement. Not jus' that, but my eye as well!"

Lifting his foreleg, Whopper planted his hoof onto his face. "Ah think yer just upset, boss. Ah think we should head down to the bar and cool off fer a bit. All t’ boys are down there."

Rage filled Scooter's bloodshot eye, as he stared down at the muscular stallion. "No! Caus’ this here needs addressin' now!"

"Oh, great..." Whopper groaned.

"What was that!?" Scooter snapped at Whopper.

Flinching at the angry pony Whopper put up both hooves to Scooter, responding to him in a reassuring tone. "Okay, okay, boss. Ah'll listen. Ah'll listen."

The fury started to evaporate from Scooter's mind, and taking a seat at the table he lowered his head, and sulked. "Ah don't know, Whopper. Here ah was, thinkin' these ponies ah brought in were somethin' special. Ya know, fer a while I thought that them ponies we found were actually the ones from Arkcannon. Those two, ya know? The blue an' white ones."

M's eyes widened as a bolt of realization struck her. The conversation that had initially interested her had now grabbed her complete, undivided attention.

Whopper patted his boss on the back lightly, trying as he could to comfort him. "There, there, boss. You'll get it one day. Ah know ya will."

Scooter burst into tears, while his friend comforted him as he sobbed. "Really? Ya actually think so?"

"Sure, boss. Anything is possible."

Scooter sniffed, rubbing away the tears that ran down his dirt stained cheek with his hoof. Looking up to Whopper, Scooter asked, "Even gettin' that promotion?"

"Eeyup. Even gettin' that promotion." Whopper replied with a smile.

Massaging Scooter's back in tiny circular motions, Whopper added, "Ya still don't wanna go to the bar? Ah'll get ya yer favorite drink."

"Ya will?" Scooter choked, still sobbing.

"Sure, boss."

Sniffing loudly, Scooter rubbed his soggy eyes. "Okay then. But then we get t' talk about it some more, kay?"

Whopper nodded and helped Scooter up from his chair. "Of course we can, boss. Ah'm sure the boys would love t' hear ya out."

M retracted herself swiftly from the doorway and hid herself in the shadows. Both ponies stepped out of the room, and into the dark corridor. Scooter was still weeping but he was now muttering words of vengeance to himself. Whopper, trying as hard as he could, attempted to comfort him. Trotting right by M, they exited the building.

M waited a few minutes to make sure that the duo had truly left. After she was sure Scooter and Whopper would not return, M decided to look inside their room. Poking her head around the doorway, she scanned the room for any other unwanted residents. Thankfully, there was only an oil lamp sitting on a wooden table. At the opposite end of the room, M saw a counter littered with trash. One item, however, stood out from the rest. It was a long linen sack that looked as though it was stuffed with long, solid items. Protruding from the top of the sack was the barrel of a gun. M could not see what kind of gun it was, but she could guess who it belonged to.

’Perhaps’ She thought. ’They might belong to the new prisoners. But... maybe they’re weapons that belong to the Legion, or maybe it’s just scrap that Whopper found in the Wasteland.’ M didn't know, and the more she contemplated it, the more possibilities spawned in her mind. Shaking her head, M cleared the thoughts from her mind and walked away.

Each step she took toward the chain-link pathway was careful. M moved like an alley cat prowling silently through the night. The walkway to the dungeon always puzzled her. The chain-link which made up the roof and walls was weak, rusted, or worn by the elements. Still, she moved on toward the dungeon.

M saw the Pitt when she got closer to the walkway. Through the wooden, diamond-like patterns of the lid that covered the pit, she heard the distant sounds of painful moans. There was little she could do for them at the moment, but she felt that it was her duty to help those in the dungeon, no matter the risk. Sadly, many of those who went into the Pitt never came out. The few who did were scarred, mutilated, and were, more often than not, mentally broken by the experience.

M felt a massive amount of grief as she remembered a truth she had learned a long time ago. Not every pony could be saved. While M knew this all too well, the feeling that she had not done enough for these victims persisted. Reaching the large bolted door to the dungeon, M checked her surroundings. From left to right, behind her and in front of her, no other ponies were there. Taking the opportunity, M gently pushed the door open.

Holding the door slightly ajar, M made sure that it was opened wide enough for her body to easily slip in and out of. Sliding through the opening, she closed the door behind her delicately. The few oil lamps which hung along the walls provided enough dim light for her to see. With the addition of nightfall, it was even darker than it had been during the day. The few small areas around the lamps where the light did not reach was completely consumed by darkness.

She crept through the long hallway, passing by cell after cell to where the newcomers were held. Quickly glancing at each cell as she advanced, M reached the cell where the newcomers were. Neo and Adam sat in their cell quietly. It was too cold to sleep, and the few crates in their cell were too weak to sit on, so they waited on the cold, damp ground.

Lucy paced herself back and forth in her cell, while Wester drew out a mental map of the compound in his mind. Only each time he seemed to have the map drawn correctly, he would find some mistake and start all over again. It was oddly enough the same numbers and statistics that ate at his thoughts. ’Objective: Kill Big Lot.’ The numbers would say. Was this harsh cruel mechanical curse making him think this way? To kill her? Once the numbers said a command, an almost primal urge developed inside compelling him follow them. ’My... Objective...’ Wester heard echo in his head.

Ally sat on the only stable crate in the dungeon. Letting her legs sway off of the edge she waited, staring down toward the ground.

M approached Neo and Adam's cell. Lowering her cleaning tools down onto the floor, M cleared her throat. Turning their attention to M, both brother's eyes grew wide with joy as they rushed to bars of their cell.

"M, it's you!" Adam exclaimed.

Putting a hoof to her lips, M shushed him to stay quiet. "Not so loud," she whispered, "somepony might hear you."

"Oh," Adam returned softly. "Sorry."

Lucy and the others put their hooves against the bars of their own cell. "Well, holy shit you weren't kidding. It is M, isn't it?" Lucy commented.

"Shush!" M added sternly.

"Right, sorry about that." Lucy said, lowering the volume of her tone.

"It's alright, you're excited I know. But I don't know how much time I have to get all of you out, and if I'm going to do it, I'll have to do it tonight." M stated lowly.

"By tomorrow," M continued, "she'll have issued you collars, and by then it will make freeing you harder. I'll have to wait until they do collar maintenance before I can get you out again."

"So, we're leaving tonight then... Right?If we are, what is it you need us to do?" Ally asked.

"Nothing at the moment. I just wanted to make sure all of you were fine."

“Well, none of us are dead if that’s what you mean.” Lucy commented.

"Indeed, we are all fine. But if you intend on helping us that would mean you have a plan then, correct?" Wester queried.

M looked to Wester, and nodded. "I do. Though, it may or may not work..."

A confused look spread itself across the faces of every pony in the group. "Why is that?" Lucy muttered.

Laying a hoof on the lock of Neo and Adam's cell she explained, "Sometimes, the guards leave their key cards out after they're done using them. When they do that, I sneak in and take them. I finally free the prisoner, and put it back before anypony can notice."

"So what? It's like a fifty, fifty chance of getting out of here." Lucy stated.

Wester shook his head. "No, it's more along the lines of a twelve, eighty-eight percent chance."

Lucy frowned, and lowered her ears. "Thanks Wester. That just lifted my spirits right up..."

"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?" Wester replied.

Shaking her head, Lucy responded in a sarcastic tone. "’Nope’. Not at all."

Despite the conversation between the two ponies, M continued. "Anywho... If they left the keycard there I can get you out. If not, well you'll have to wait. And hope Big Lot doesn't do anything."

Adam paused, and thought hard for a moment. "Where do they keep the other key cards?"

"In a black safe about," M raised her hoof off the ground and stopped it near the middle of her other foreleg, "this tall. It's got a standard lock on it, but I was never one to lock picking things. And to this day I don't know where the keys are."

"Based off of the predicted probability, if you free Adam, Neo, or Ally, they could pick the lock to the safe. It doesn't matter if you get one key, or the other. We can still send a pony to get us out." Wester said.

"Right," M purred thinking about Wester's plan, "what then? What will we do with all those keys? I can't free the other prisoners. If they take two steps outside this settlement it'll be boom, no more head."

"I think I've got that part covered." Neo smiled reaching into his duster pocket.

Raising his hoof to the bars, there resting neatly in his hoof was the two keys to the slave collars. "I have these. Aren't they the keys to the collars."

M's jaw dropped, as her eyes widened. She was completely taken back by what he was holding, rendering her nearly speechless. "I.. I... How? How!"

Neo put the keys back in his pocket, and grinned modestly rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, it’s an interesting story to say the least... But, will it work? The plan, that is."

"Hmm," M hummed rubbing her chin, "it could..."

Wester poked the tip of his armored muzzle through the bars. A deep sincerness filled every word of his voice, "We have a high probability of success. That is only if the keycard, or keycards are there. Once we're free, we need our weapons, and supplies. Then, I'm off to make Big Lot pay for this."

"Wester," Lucy whispered to him, a faint curious tone hovering in her words, "I know she's bad but.. She's a filly, man. You can't kill a filly."

Pausing Wester thought for a moment, while Neo glanced uncertainly at him. "I know she was an asshole to me, but don't you think that's a little far?"

"Negative," Wester declared firmly, "it is my objective to protect you. Big Lot has eliminated any mercy I will have on her. After we are free, no pony will suffer by her hooves again."

"But first we need to focus on actually getting out first." M commented in a firm tone of voice.

"Agreed," Ally said, "but Wester is right. We need our supplies and weapons. You don't by chance know where any of our stuff is, do you?"

M thought back to what she saw coming to the dungeon. "I do remember seeing the stock of a gun poking out of a bag Whopper had. I'm not sure if they're your guns, or just scrap though."

Lucy nodded, grinning with devilish satisfaction, "Oh, those are our guns alright."

"Unfortunately," M continued, "I don't know where your supplies are. I'm guess they might have taken them to the warden's den. That's where the keycards are."

"So that's our plan then, right?" Adam asked. "You'll get the keycard for one of our cells, and then we'll help you get the safe open."

Lucy continued after Adam. "When it's unlocked, we'll grab the keys, and unlock the collars."

"Right, and you'll grab our weapon's too." Neo added, a determined look in his eye.

M nodded, "If your bags are in the warden's den, I'll tell you."

"So, it's a plan?" Lucy asked.

M nodded at her. "It's a plan."

Putting up the hood of her tattered linen cloak, she faced the door. Just as she was about to depart, M paused, and looked toward the brothers. In her eye, a faint, almost saddening mournful emotion fluttered about. "Before I go. I need to ask you something. You two especially."

Adam blinked at M, "What is it?"

"I overheard Scooter and Whopper talking, and they said that you two might be the ponies that saved Arkcannon."

M diverted her eyes from their faces. "Is it true? Are you two the guardians who saved them?"

Neo nodded, a candid look in his eyes. "I would want to say yes. But I'll be honest, we didn't save anything. If anything, we tried and a few fortunate souls made it. If we truly had saved them, their town would still be around, and most of the townsfolk would still be alive."

M gave him a petite smile that was blanketed by the shadow of her hood. "Did you save a pony named Breeze Heart?"

Adam's ears perked upward, and he nodded earnestly. "Yes, Breeze and I were-"

"You don't need to say anything else." M interjected softly, in a warming tone.

"I'd understand if you didn't believe us." Neo said.

M turned her gaze to the two brothers, and retaining her small, almost joyful smile she remain silent. Returning to her cleaning tools she picked them up. And, dashing down to the end of the dungeon to the heavy steel bolted door she left. Many of the imprisoned ponies sat silently, sobbing. Tears of joy rolled down their cheeks as they pictured the liberating sensation of freedom and the joys it brought.

Adam and Neo sat there in their cell, smiling sanguinely. Even though M had not replied to them they could practically feel what she had thought. Perhaps. Just, maybe she did trust them. Perhaps. Only perhaps.

M stopped at the end of the chain-link outdoor pathway. She breathed in deeply, as the unnerving sensation of anxiety escalated in her chest. As she stuck her head out from around the corner, her heart began to beat more rapidly. ’Calm down, M, it'll be over soon. You can do this.’ She thought, reassuring herself.

No pony could be seen down both ends of the dark corridor, only the bright orange light beaming through the three doorways down the hallway. The furthest doorway from her, near the very end of the hall, was the warden's den. Gathering her courage, she strolled down the hallway. Keeping a calm, inconspicuous complexion in her face. The worst thing that could happen was if suddenly she turned pale or clumsy. Especially if a soldier was around her.

Coming to the end of the hall, she looked inside the warden's den carefully. With her cleaning tools levitating at her side, she checked the interior of the den. Against the left wall two tables, resting side by side sat with several large saddlebags laying on top of them. On the right wall was a Legion soldier. His head was lowered, and his eyes shut tightly. From what she could see the Legion officer was snoring softly, as he lay back leisurely in his small wooden chair.

At the end of the room was a counter, and behind it were three massive silver computer towers, all connected by an entanglement of various colored wires that ran along their tops. A larger-than-average gas lamp was perched on the countertop, providing light to the whole room. Next to the lamp, a small terminal, which appear to have a set of wires connecting to the towers, sat beeping an almost inaudible beep.

Focusing her magic on the bucket at her side, she moved on toward the counter. Stepping lightly, she moved like a gentle breeze. Not even her bucket moved, nor did it made so much as a sound. Gently resting her cleaning tools down she gazed upon the countertop. Like she had hoped, a red keycard marked in black with the words, Cell 43 was marked on it. Though it was unclear as to which cell it was. Was it the blue and white ponies cell? Or the other's cell?

At the current moment, only a slight relief came over her. For at least there was a keycard, and that was all she needed. Floating the card into a pocket on her cloak, she crept out of the room as the soldier continued to sleep soundly. Leaving back into the hallway she moved back silently toward the dungeon.

Through the outdoor pathway she went, and once more, opening the large dungeon door open only enough for her body to move through, she went inside. All of the other imprisoned ponies were pressing their hooves against the bars of their cells, watching M trot down the dungeon to where Neo, Adam, and the others waited for her.

Sticking the ends of their muzzles through the spaces in their cell bars every pony had a beaming, joyful smile. "Did you get it?" Adam asked M.

M nodded, and removed the card from her pocket. "Yeah, I did. Though, I'm not sure whose cell it unlocks."

"Just try both cells, see which one works." Lucy suggested.

M came to the lock of the brother’s cell door, and prepared to swipe the card. "You know," She said swiping the card through the lock, "I don't think I ever caught your names."

"Heh," Neo chuckled, "I don't think you did. I'm Neo, and this is my little brother, Adam."

Adam waved at M briefly before Neo continued on, "Over there is Lucy, she's the one with the fedora. And then next to her is Ally and Wester."

"Well," M muttered, "it's nice to meet all of you. But I've got some bad news. It looks like this keycard doesn't belong to this cell."

"Here," Ally said pointing to the lock on their cell, "try this one."

Turning toward the next lock, M swiped it through the thin slot. A tiny red light indicating the status of the lock changed to a dim green. And, no sooner than it had, a loud click came from the lock.

"Hell yeah!" Lucy exclaimed exuberantly.

Wester pushed open the cell door, and stepped into the walkway that divided both sides of the dungeon. Lucy, and Ally followed him out, and turned their attention to M. M smiled at them, and put the card back inside her cloak pocket.

"So, what now? Do you still want me and one of you to get the other keys?" M asked.

Lucy rubbed her chin. "Sure. You should take Ally though, I’m only okay at picking lock. And out of the whole group, she’s the best at it. While you and Ally do that, Wester and I will get the guns."

"Oh!" M exclaimed as she remembered the bags in Scooter’s room. "Speaking of which, I saw some saddlebags in the warden's den. I'm not sure how many there were, but I think there was five, or maybe six."

Lucy smirked, and whispered lowly under her breath, "Excellent..."

Pointing to the door, Ally whispered, "If those are our bags, my tools to pick locks should be there. If they are, I can unlock the safe before you know it."

"Good." Wester added affirmatively. "Then let's move out. The quicker we move the better the chance we have to get the others out of here undetected."

'Right," M agreed. "Let's hurry. When you've got your guns, meet us back here. If Ally and I can, we'll grab the saddlebags as well."

With a confirming nod from each of the ponies, the four dashed to the end of the dungeon to execute their plan. Neo and Adam watched their friends rush to the outside world. The brother’s then wondered that if M could sneak around with no difficulties, surely the could as well. Then again, she was used to sneaking around the compound. But it didn’t matter what they thought at that instant, all the brothers could do was wait.

Holding the door ajar with her magic, M motioned the three other ponies to move on. Wester, Lucy, and Ally trotted quickly across the walkway that lead into the main compound building. From there, M gently closed the dungeon door and walked to the group of ponies that waited for her. In the distance, the four ponies could hear guards laugh and chat about the previous day's work. It was fortunate that no soldiers had stumbled upon the escapees, and it was even luckier that the few guards who did stay in the central compound building were out drinking in the tavern.

M waved at Wester and Lucy and pointed her hoof at the room with the weapons. Responding with confirming nods, Wester and Lucy went to retrieve the group’s gear. Ally moved up the hall with M, and Wester and Lucy moving down the hall. Each pony did their best to remain quiet. The constant threat of a soldier stumbling upon their operation loomed over them like a malicious specter.

Lucy came to the first door that, as M had described, lead into the room that held their weapons. Poking her head around the doorway, Lucy looked inside. Wester kept his eyes locked on the exit as she looked inside, wary of any that might walk in.

Finishing her search, Lucy confidently whispered. "It's clear."

Both ponies went into the room. The dim light from the single gas lamp inside provided the only light to see in the whole room. Lucy approached the linen sack M had mentioned and as suspected, she picked it up. The weight of the sack was almost overbearing. Jingling, and clattering around the guns shifted in the bag. Removing the rope holding the sack shut, Lucy inspected the bag's contents.

A large, overjoyed smile that almost reached ear to ear grew on her face. "Hey, Wester? Guess what?"

Wester responded as he approached the massive gatling gun battle saddle resting on the table. "What is it, Lucky?"

"Guess whose guns are in the bag?" Lucy cooed, in a sing-song manner.

"Hmm," Wester hummed. "Is it my rifle and revolvers?"

"I don't know. Let's see!" Lucy exclaimed before grabbing the bag with her teeth.

"Ah," Lucy sighed merrily, removing one of Wester's large python revolvers from the bag. "Here's big ass gun number one."

Wester took the revolver and analyzed the weapon with a careful eye. "This one is still loaded." He said, placing the gun inside one of the holsters along his foreleg.

"And," Lucy continued pulling another identical revolver from the bag, "here's big ass gun number two."

Levitating the gun to his crimson visor, Wester inspected it attentively. "This one is also loaded." He commented before holstering the pistol.

Pulling a massive, folded anti-armor rifle from the sack, Lucy sung, "Aaaand, here's big ass gun number three!"

Taking the leather strap of the gun, Wester slung it around his body. "Are the other weapons in there?"

"Yep," Lucy said. "Even my baby girl."

Removing a sniper rifle from the bag, Lucy smiled as she pressed the cool metal barrel against her face. She coddled the rifle and spoke to it as a mother would to a foal. "Aw, don't worry, baby. Mama’s here and she's not gonna let those mean old ponies take you away again. No, she isn't. No, she isn't!"

Wester placed a hoof to his helmet's mouthpiece and coughed, disrupting Lucy’s tender reassurances to her weapon. Lucy grew silent and looked at Wester, the weapon was still pressed against her face. She blinked. Her cheeks were set aflame as a bright red blush spread. Putting the gun on her back, she cleared her throat nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Uh, sorry about that. I got a little... Oh, never mind..."

Shaking his head, Wester did not say anything. Instead, he turned his attention toward the gatling gun upon the table. Placing a hoof on the cold, dull steel, he traced his hoof across the long barrels of the gun. Focusing on the ammo bins attached to the saddle's side, he gazed at the amount of ammunition the gun held. To his surprise, the gun itself had been repurposed to hold not one single load of ammunition, but three. The catch was that this also meant the weight was significantly greater than it would be initially.

Lucy saw him eyeing the battle saddle. "You like it?" She smirked.

Wester nodded, admiring the rifle further. "What's saying you can't take it? If the pony who left it there had half a brain he would have took it with him.

The gun was consumed in a shimmering aura of magical energy that lifted it up into the air. Moving the folded rifle on his back, he rest the saddle on the top of his duster. Tightening the saddle, he could feel the heavyweight press firmly against his body.

Lucy circled around him a few times, nodding and humming to herself as she did. "Wow, that thing looks good on you."

"Yes. I like it." Wester stated proudly.

"Well, it's good you found something you like," Lucy said, slinging the sack with the remaining weapons on her back. "But we got to get back to the dungeon. Neo and Adam will be happy to know we’ve got the guns."

"Yes... The guns..." Wester murmured as he stared the gatling gun.

Lucy shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Stallions and their guns..."

The guard inside the warden's den snored uneasily while Ally and M tip-hoofed their way into the room, making no sounds as they moved. Ally tapped M on her shoulder and pointed at her own eyes. M nodded and pointed to a bag on the table at the left side of the room. Ally crawled to bag, but she stopped as the horrifying yell of the guard sent a chill down her entire body.

"STOP! I'LL GUT YOU!" The guard screamed.

However, something didn't seem right. M and Ally readied themselves for an attack, but the guard immediately returned to his nightmare after he had bombastically announced his gruesome threat. The two mares sighed with relief. Ally then carefully floated the bag in front of her. She opened the bag as quietly as she could, and searched for her bobby pins and screwdriver.

Pulling out both of the required tools, Ally whispered as low, and as softly, as she could. "Where is the safe?"

"Over here, follow me." M replied, motioning her hoof toward the counter.

Together, the two mares bent their legs and crouched low to the ground. From in front of the counter it was difficult, if not impossible, to know that there were two mares moving toward the safe. Ally was happy to see that it was exactly as M had said, for right under the counter was a small black safe.

"Just give me a sec," Ally whispered, readying her screwdriver and bobby pin. "I'll be done in no time."

M nodded, and peaked over the counter to keep an eye on the guard's activity. Placing the pin in the lock and the screwdriver positioned above it, she jiggled, and turned the two tools in search of the lock's sweet spot. While she worked the soft sounds of metal tinging, and clanging vibrated in the air. With each sound Ally made, the guard shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

All the while, the terminal on the counter beeped a rhythmic pattern that was almost maddening.

Beep... Beep... Beep, it echoed throughout the room. The sound agitated Ally. The stress of unlocking the safe quietly and the constant beeping of the terminal had now combined and made her ears throb with pain. Stopping her work for a moment, she sighed and nudged M gently.

"What is it?" M asked.

Ally pointed to the terminal above her on the counter. "Can you check why it's beeping? It's really starting to get on my nerves."

M briefly checked the guard's status. Like before, he shifted occasionally in his seat, licked his lips, and snored loudly. Standing up, M leaned over to reach the terminal. Two words were emblazoned on the terminal’s dark screen -- New File. In an attempt to dispel the repetitive noise, M clicked the escape key. The words were replaced with the image of a map and brief summary about the location it presented to her.

"Yes!" Ally whispered triumphantly to herself as the click of the lock opening sounded.

"Did you do it?" M asked, still leaning over Ally.

Ally nodded, "Yes. Now, let's get the key cards so we can get out of here."

M moved and Ally stood up, gazing at the large green-lined image on the screen. Squinting her eyes, she studied the map. It was a map of an underground tunnel system, a mine, possibly. Directing her eyes to the summary below, she read through it. M watched her anxiously as a horrible feeling churned in Ally’s stomach.

Suddenly, that feeling intensified as Ally's eyes grew wide and her mouth went agape. "What is it?" M asked urgently.

"This is the map of the dark mines... It's where they're holding project Iron Hammer!" Ally whispered loudly to M.

M had a look of bewilderment about her. "Project what?"

"It's something the Coalition has been looking for, for a long time. Now I can see its exact location in the mine!"

M raised a perplexed eyebrow at the mare. "Why would they send something that important to this terminal?"

Ally began to type on the terminal softly, "It says that they want some slaves from here to work there, and they sent a map of where the slaves would work in the mine."

"Does it say what the project is?" M asked.

"No... It doesn't." All replied.

"Here," Ally said, "watch the guard a little longer. I'll see if I can download this and put it on the holo-recorder in the terminal. The coalition is going to need this."

An uneasy sweat ran down M's brow, while every other second she checked the sleeping guard near them. "Could you please hurry up then. We need to get out of here and get the key cards and saddlebags to your friends."

"Right," Ally hummed lowly, "I'm... Almost... Done..."

Protruding from out of the terminal's side was a small square-like device. Ally levitated it, and the key cards from the safe into her bags. "Alright, that's it. Let's get the bags and get out of here."

"Right." M agreed, stepping out from behind the counter.

Together, the two mares moved toward the tables. Pointing at the bags with their horns, they focused their magical energy on the saddlebags. With the bags hovering peacefully beside them, they stepped lightly toward the exit. As they left through the doorway and back to the dungeon, the guard shifted in his chair, merrily fighting something in his troubled dreams.

With one of his armored forelegs extended, Wester held the dungeon door slightly ajar. Peaking through the crack, he waited for the mares to return. Like shadows in the nighttime air, Ally and M silently came rushing through the walkway, the group’s saddlebags floating at their sides. Whispering down the dungeon hallway, Wester called to the brothers who waited further in the dungeon. "They're coming.

Lucy stood at the door of her former cell, waiting for Ally and M. As the two mares entered the dungeon, a look of static exuberance illuminated Ally's face. The moment M passed the doorway, Wester gently closed the door behind her and followed the mares to Adam and Neo's cell.

Lucy smiled as she saw the bags levitating around the mares. "Hell yeah! You did it! But did you get the key cards, too?"

M nodded at her. "Yes. All of them."

"And that's not all." Ally added merrily.

Neo leaned against the bars of his cell and blinked curiously at her. "What is it?"

Ally and M levitated each saddlebag to their owners. As everypony received their gear, Ally explained what had happened. "There is a small terminal connected to large computer towers. Well, sometime earlier today, the Legion sent the map of where they're keeping Iron Hammer."

"Really?" Adam said, impressed. "Do you know what the Coalition would do with that information?"

"I do," Ally nodded. "That's why I downloaded it onto the holo-recorder in the terminal. And, when we find the next Coalition outpost, we'll give it to them."

"They'll go crazy," Lucy added. "They've been looking for this since, well, forever. When they couldn’t find it in Ironstead, the Coalition was pissed off majorly."

M cleared her throat, halting the conversation. Pointing to the last two remaining bags floating at her side, she said, "I know that is a big deal, but we still need to get all of these ponies out. Including those two still in there."

"Yeah," Neo grinned, feeling embarrassed. "It would be nice to get out of here."

Ally went through her bags quickly, trying to correct her mistake. "Ah, right sorry about that. Here, let's get you out of there."

Digging through her saddlebag, Ally pulled out a red keycard and floated it to the lock on the brother’s cell door. Sliding it through the lock, the little light indicating the status of the door switched green, followed by the wonderful sound of the lock clicking open.

Lucy opened the door for them. She smirked as she tipped her hat to the brothers. "Welcome to the the outside world, boys. Did you have fun in your cell?"

"It could have been better," Adam replied coming out of his cell for the first time in over a day.

Neo followed closely behind his brother and soaked in the sweet feeling of freedom. After stepping out of their cell, Lucy shut the door behind them. M floated their bags onto their backs.

"Hope I didn't mix them up. I was deciding who had which one based on their size," M said.

Neo felt the weight of his bag, as did Adam. Patting the sides of each bag, both brothers gave M thankful smiles. Though, it was Adam who answered her, "No, you gave us the right ones."

"You're also gonna need these," Lucy said, tossing the bag of guns before them.

Neo removed his shotgun from the linen bag. "Thanks, Lucy."

Adam took the bag himself, and searched it. Fishing at the bottom of the sack for the few items left Adam took his weapons as well. Each pony holster their guns. From letting them hang at their side, to holstering them along their legs every pony was now equipped and armed.

"Now what?" M asked.

Ally gave her a determined smile. "Now, we free these other ponies."

Each of the imprisoned ponies had wide hopeful eyes. Beaming smiles were on every single face as they sobbed tears of joy from behind the cold, confining bars of their cells. From her bag, Ally pulled out the key cards to each cell. Half of which she gave to M, and half of which she held on to.

Pointing to the farther end of the dungeon, Ally told M, "You take those cards and free those ponies. I'll take my cards and free the other half."

Focusing her magic on the half Ally gave her, M took the cards and dashed to the end of the dungeon. Ally took her cards, and moved to the other end, stopping at the steel-bolted door. Moving to each cell on both sides they checked each card, and swiped them through the locks. One by one the sound of mechanical locks snapping open echoed throughout the corridor. And, with each new cell opened a pony beaten and bruised came trembling out of the cell, smiling widely. Some of the imprisoned ponies found it hard at first to step outside of their cell. In their tattered pink outfits they cried embracing one another as, for what seemed like the first time, they were at last free to roam where they please, when they pleased.

Neo gave Adam one of the two collar keys, and like the mares had done, each of them went from one end to the other freeing ponies. Collars left, and right fell to the ground, clattering, and banging against the damp concrete floor. A clean, bright area around where the collar had once been was imprinted onto their fur. While dirt, grime, blood, and sweat gathered around the collar it never truly made it to the skin and fur underneath it. For the ponies who wore the collars however, the feeling of not having something around their neck was rejuvenating. Almost as if a great weight had been lifted from their very souls.

Removing the last, and final, collars from the former prisoners, Neo and Adam regrouped with the others near the dungeon's center. "You know what to do now, right, M?" Neo asked, putting the collar keys back into his pocket.

M nodded and started off toward the door. "I do. But I'll need some help doing it."

"That's what we're here for, cupcake." Lucy said to not just M, but everypony in the dungeon that was following her.

M stopped at the door leading out of the dungeon and faced the crowd behind her. At first she did not say a thing. Not a word, nor sound. She simply scanned the mass of ponies before her, and sighed. "I know you're all happy to be free, but despite what you think, you're not. At least, not yet. We still have one last trial to go through. One last obstacle to traverse before we leave this damn place."

M turned her attention to the brother's group, who stood near the crowd's center. "Out of you five, I need somepony to distract the guards. While the others with guns help me get the ponies out of the compound."

Wester stepped up. "I'll do it."

Neo and Adam looked at him unsurely. "Are you sure you can do it on your own? Do you want one of us to help you?" Neo asked.

"Negative. It was my weakness that got you in here. It will be my strength that corrects my error. In addition, I have this." Wester pointed to the massive gatling saddle on his back.

"Whoa." Adam’s jaw dropped as he awed at the wonderful weapon.

"If that's the case, you might as well know where we're going." M continued dismissing the previous conversation the three ponies had.

"There's an alleyway behind the tavern that all of you will sneak through. Now, right under, next to the fence, is a small ditch I've dug that is big enough for a pony to slide through. One by one you'll go under it. Once you've gone through you'll go across the shallow river to the nearest hill. Wait there until me and the others here show up."

M gulped, feeling a great nervousness swelled inside her. Yet, despite her anxiety, she retained a firm, confident look to avoid scaring the former prisoners in her care. "Now, I've never had to take this many ponies to the gate. So, please, whatever you do, remain as quiet you can. If you your part right, we'll all be out of here in no time."

A faint, positive murmur fell over the crowd. "Now," M said. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Agreeing heads from everypony nodded, and M opened to the door. While the door swayed slowly open, the prisoners cautiously stepped out in single file. The slaves crept down the outdoor walkway and into the main compound. M had initially expected their behavior to be lively and hard to control; this was, for many of them, the first time they had been free in years. But to M’s relief, they acted cooperatively and carefully. Everypony, including the brother's group, moved on through the compound building and past the green door that lead to the outside.

Across from the door was the alleyway, which lead, as M had mentioned, right to the chain-link fence that surrounded the compound. Holding the door open, M gestured one pony to move through the door and into the alleyway. As she did so, Ally and Lucy dashed across to the edge of the alleyway, keeping low to the ground. With their weapons readied, they helped each pony who crossed the open space inside the alleyway.

Wester and the brothers waited in the hallway, helping each slave move along in an orderly manner. Like the bullets of a loaded gun firing rounds, one by one the slaves sprinted across to the alley. M turned her head and faced Wester with the door pressed firmly against her back.

"Once we've got them all through, you know what to do, right?"

From where Wester stood, he glanced out of the doorway briefly before returning to M. "Affirmative."

"Good," M continued, "we'll need that distraction if the slaves have even a slight chance of making it."

Only a few of the slaves remained inside the compound and, as the number shrank to only hoof-full, M nodded at Wester. "Okay, Neo and Adam, come with me. We'll get the slaves out through the fence. Wester, you said you knew what to do."

"I do." Wester responded surely, unholstering the massive python revolvers from their holsters.

"Right," M said, motioning her hoof for Adam and Neo to follow her. "Let's finish this."

When M had let go of the door, she went to join the slaves in the alley. Wester and the brothers were now alone in the dark hallway. Now, just like at Arkcannon, the nerve wracking feeling of fear set in. As the brother's readied their weapons, they smiled the most confident smiles they could to combat their anxiousness.

"Well," Neo started, "try and be careful, Wester."

"I will." Wester responded, the barrels of his gatling saddle now began to rotate as he tested their condition.

Adam stepped closer to Wester and, peering into the single crimson visor, he spoke to the armored stallion with worry in his voice. "Listen, Wester. I know you want to punish Big Lot for what she did to us. But we really need to go. To move on. My mother used to say-"

"Negative." Wester interjected, the intimidating hum of his gatling saddle grew. "It is my programming, my objective, to protect. I must continue to protect until the threat is eliminated. Even if I die."

Neo's expression grew cold as he glared at Wester. "You don’t have to though, you’re a pony, just like the rest of us-”

“But it is my purpose!” Wester declared. “There is nothing else I can do... I... I must kill her....”

“Fine. Kill her.” Neo snorted disapprovingly. “But remember that she's just a filly. I know she's crazy, but killing her won't solve a damn thing."

Remaining silent, Neo walked through the door. Adam, though, stood still, looking up at Wester. Lowering his head, Adam sadly trotted after his brother, leaving Wester without saying a single word. Wester didn’t notice, a fire of wrath now kindled inside of him. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for to correct his mistake. Nothing in heaven nor hell could stop him. No pony, no matter how strong, could stop him from killing Big Lot. This was his goal: this was his promise.

Wester emerged from the green, rusted door on the side of the compound. In the alleyway across from him, he could see the slaves and the rest of his group go through a tiny space below the gate. With both pistols drawn, and the barrels of his gatling guns spinning rapidly, he marched forward. Viciously, the gatling saddle growled as he approached the tavern. From the inside of its thick wooden walls he could hear the various soldiers inside sing, laugh, and talk merrily.

Walking down the road near the tavern's entrance were two Legion unicorn guards with their rifles slung on their sides. Wester approached them and, at first glance, the guards didn't seem to pay him any mind. Once he had come in full view, a light in the distance shimmering off of the redness of his visor, they cocked their heads curiously.

Pointing their rifles at Wester, they approached him. "Hey!" One of the guards called, "You're not a guard. Who the hell are-"

Both guards went silent once they caught sight of Wester’s spinning gatling saddle. "Oh shit!" One of the guards screamed as he turned to run away.

Before the guards could retreat, Wester raised his revolvers and aimed for their heads. With deadly accuracy, two bullets pierced through the thin gas masks of each soldier. The shots rang loudly as both soldiers fell down to the ground, lifeless. A pool of blood gathered around the large grotesque holes that perforated the faces of the once living soldiers.

Stepping over their bodies, Wester kept moving. With each step another ounce of rage grew inside of him. Never had he been so angry. Never had he been so compelled to kill. Inside the helmet were statistics telling him the best, and most efficient ways to go about killing the ponies around him. For the moment, the only ponies he could see where a few soldiers laying on old blankets, completely intoxicated. Ignoring them, he paused outside of the tavern, Wester glanced at the structure, analyzing its finer details.

Like most taverns he had seen, this one had a swinging set of short wooden doors. Inside, he could hear the ponies romp and cheer festively. It was clear to him that the uproar of merriment inside managed to cloud the sound of the two shots he had fired before. But it didn’t matter if they had heard him or not, he was ready to purge the world of their presence. His gatling saddle ached to release its barrage of metallic death as he advanced into the tavern. However, the moment he stepped in front of the tavern’s entrance, a soldier poked his head out of the doors.

The soldier's face was pressed right against Wester's. From his blank, and drowsy expression it was completely clear to Wester that the pony before him was drunk beyond belief.

"Hey," the soldier moaned with a faint slur in his voice. "Did anypony that? It sounded like a gunsh-"

Without giving the pony a moment to speak further, Wester took one of his revolvers and brutally beat the side of the soldier’s head. The disoriented soldier collapsed to the ground. Stepping over the pony, Wester slammed the two wooden flapping doors open and barged into the tavern.

All activity, of any kind, stopped instantly. It was as if time itself had froze, and the sound of the doors swinging back and forth was the only thing that proved it had not. Ponies hoof-wrestling stood still, and scantily dressed mares on the second floor held their breath as they looked down at Wester. Even the bartender, who had thought himself jaded to all manner of events after his the years he had spent working in the tavern, was shocked by the sudden intrusion. Wester's gatling gun hummed loudly while the eyes of every pony stared, completely perplexed at the mysterious armored stallion standing near the entrance.

With each passing second the flaps of the door slowed.

Fwap... Fwap... Fwap...

As soon as the doors went still, a soldier arose from a round table at the farthest end of the tavern. Pointing to Wester, he angrily asked, "Who the hell are you?"

Wester answered by unleashing the powerful metal bullets that had been waiting so eagerly to be released. A furious typhoon of fire and metal swept across the tavern. Broken glass, and wooden debris scattered and flew across the tabletops. Soldiers howled in pain as the bullets tore through them and red mist flew from their bodies. Destruction and mayhem spread across every inch of the tavern's interior. Limbs were torn from their bodies as chunks of flesh grotesquely splattered against the walls.

After what seemed an eternity, the rain of glowing metal halted. The end of the gun glew a dim red while smoke calmly ascended from the slowly spinning barrels. Once again, the tavern was silent. Only the unnerving sound of a mixture of alcohol and blood dripping from the walls and tabletops could be heard. From the first floor to the splintered railings of the second floor, nothing was left. Not a single soul. Only the soldier Wester had assaulted at the entrance lived.

The drunken soldier struggled to stand. The pain in the side of his head throbbed, him into an out-of-balance, disoriented turmoil. Placing a hoof over the sore section of his head, the Legion soldier struggled to find his footing.

"Wha-what happened?" He muttered, raising his head.

Turning around his eyes locked at the horrifying scene before him. His eyes were wide as the shredded, mutilated corpses of his fallen comrades lay torn and lifeless all around the tavern.

"I-I..." He stammered in shock, his mouth widely agape.

Turning his gaze to the armored stallion, the soldier pointed at Wester shaking violently. "Did... did you do this?"

Wester faced the pony and slowly approached him. The soldier was too fearful to run away. Lowering himself, the soldier shielded his face with his foreleg as Wester stood over him, casting an intimidating shadow over his entire body.

"P-Please," the soldier begged, softly sobbing. "I don't want to die."

Staring down at the soldier, Wester asked fervently, "Where's Big Lot?"

"Sh-she's in the main storage building..."

There was a pause from Wester before he announced his satisfaction. "Good..."

Removing the straps that were wrapped around his lower body, Wester let the empty gatling saddle roll off of his side and land onto the hardwood floor. Leaving the soldier to his own fate, Wester walk out of the bar. From behind one of the flipped tables, two heads peaked over the edge, scanning the room for Wester.

It was Whopper and Scooter who peered at the destruction from behind the table. Together, the two completely shocked ponies were appalled at the gruesome scene before them. From where they stood, staring wide-eyed at the horror before them, nothing; not a even a whimper escaped their mouths. Stepping out carefully from the safety of their table, the two stallions stood silently in the center of the room.

Wester trotted down the main street of the Jurkytown, feeling more enraged than ever before. The whole settlement was quiet as the few civilians who lived within the confines of the scarce amount of normal buildings hid; only peaking outside through their windows to see if it was safe. Wester hadn't realized it, but the majority of the soldiers that guarded the town spent most of their off-time relaxing in the tavern. He could have cared less; for he was on a mission. Like an armored beast of war, he prowled through the street with his pistols at the ready.

Lucy and the others waited near the alley's entrance, scanning the area for their friend. They had managed to keep low and avoided the local population's attention. Ally trotted up to the group from further down the alleyway.

Whispering, Ally said, "M just left with the last few slaves. Whatever Wester did, it did the trick. We didn’t see a single guard."

"Good," Lucy said, continuing to scan the area for her friend. "Once I see Wester, we'll head out. Hopefully, we can talk him out of killing Big Lot, and just go."

Neo shook his head disappointedly. "I don't know. He seemed dead-set on finishing his objective."

"Brother's right," Adam added. "I'm not sure how easily it'll be, if it’s even possible, to convince him to stop."

"We can always hope," Ally countered.

Lucy's eyes moved around the visible area, until she caught a pony marching through the street in the corner of her eye. Quickly, she diverted her attention to the pony that was prowling like a mad dog to the main storage building. If there was any way to see Wester’s eyes, they would be narrowed, filled with anger, and pure stubborn determination.

"There he is!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing toward Wester as he walked on the street.

Neo put a hoof to the side of his mouth, and called out to Wester as softly as possible. "Wester! Over here! Come on!"

Wester paused, and looked at the group. Everypony motioned their hooves for him to come with them. To leave the settlement once and for all. Rather than move onward, or trot toward the group he loudly, but evenly, called out to them in a normal tone of voice.

"You can come out. I took care of most of the guards."

Instantly, their gestures stopped and they were left puzzled stares. Lucy was the first to stand up, leave her hiding spot, and walk to Wester. Her rifle was hanging loosely at her side as she approached her friend. Wester simply looked down at her, silently.

Ally, Neo, and Adam followed behind Lucy. The three ponies were completely astonished. Wester was right, there was not a single soldier in sight. Truly, whatever he had done worked incredibly well.

"So," Lucy began, "are you coming, or what?"

Wester shook his head at her. "No, Lucky. I'm completing my objective."

"You don't have to do this,” Lucy told Wester sorrowfully. “She's just a filly. You know that."

"I thought so... yesterday," Wester replied loudly. "This is now. And now, I will complete my objective. It is what I must do."

Lucy poked Wester in the chest, glaring at him. "It is not you, Wester. That stupid program that works in your suit is not you. Just forget about killing her and let's go-"

"NO!" Wester yelled. "I-I have to... I need..."

Lucy's expression turned sour. "Makes you feel what? Hmm? Like you have purpose? You're our friend.”

Pointing a hoof to the brothers she continued, “Your purpose is not to kill a young filly, it's to help those two over there get to their mother!"

A battle raged in Wester's head. One fought by his mind and soul. "My... My objective..."

Lucy pushed him away as tears escaped from her eyes. "You don't need objectives! If your stupid objective is worth more than a young life, then what's left of your soul?"

Stepping closer to Lucy, a voice, the likes of which no one in the group had heard before, came from Wester. It was low and sorry. Regretful in pitch and saddening in tone. "Lucky, I have a soul... I have objectives, and-"

Lucy pushed forcefully against Wester, causing him to stagger backward. "No! It's clear you don't know what to do! You don't know what to care about! You don't even remember about us! Why? Why don’t you remember?"

Frozen. Wester, was completely frozen. No words could express the mixture of grief, pain, and regret that Wester felt. As the emotions simmered, anger started to burn. One that quickly erupted into a sudden blast of pure rage.

Wester hid this rage, turned around, and marched onward to kill Big Lot. Lucy stood there, eyes wide, appalled by his response. Gritting her teeth tightly, she growled like an enraged lioness. "That's right! Run away! Don't say anything to me!"

Collapsing onto her haunches, she cried softly. "Yeah, run away. Leave me, and forget who you are..."

Neo rubbed the back of his neck unsurely. As he carefully approached Lucy, he used a kind, reassuring tone to address her. "Lucy... I don't know what to say..."

"He’s lost it..." Lucy muttered, her tears falling down onto the dry dirt.

Placing a gentle hoof upon her shoulder, Neo continued to try and reassure her. "Maybe there's still a chance. You know, to reach him. The real him..."

Adam tried to smile reassuringly in the hope that it might brighten her spirits. "Brother's right. There's still a chance."

Ally joined the them, feeling that the extra positive energy would help. "They're right. I think we've still got a shot. What do you think, Lucy?"

"What do I think?" Lucy choked quietly. "I think you're all silly for thinking we can change that... thing! He's gone! Gone... Gone...”

Lucy continued to cry mournful tears. Neo straightened himself and placed both hooves on the Lucy's shoulders. Forcing her to look at him, he moved his muzzle close to her. Close enough to where Lucy could feel Neo's warm breath brush against the small hairs of her nose.

Staring sincerely into her wet, pooling eyes, Neo declared, "You listen here! I know he might have given up on you, but we're still his friends. And that means we can’t give up on him!"

With his metal hoof, Neo nudged Lucy’s foreleg. "So, let's be there for him. Let’s help him make the right choice. He's not lost. No, he's just upset. And as his friends, we need to be there to see him through it."

Rubbing her running nose with the sleeve of her duster she nodded, sobbing. "I-I-I guess we could try. I'm just-"

Lucy placed a hoof on one of her forelegs, and looked down uncertainly. "What if he's forgotten everything? What if there's not even a Wester left in there? I..."

Ally stepped up, resting her own gentle hoof down onto her shoulder. Smiling a motherly sort of smile, she said, "We can still try. The only time you've truly given up is when you stop trying right?"

"Here," Neo said. "Let's go help him. Together."

Both Ally and Neo helped her get onto her hooves once more. As they lifted her up, she looked at Neo. "You know, I don't think I've seen you act that way since, well, since that time you first helped me in Maneton."

Neo smiled. "That's what friends are for."

The moment Lucy was on all fours, everypony chased after Wester. Who, by now, was already near the front entrance of the storage building Big Lot called home. If time was favorable, and their words chosen carefully enough, there was a chance Wester could be stopped. It was Lucy, though, that had the most determined resolve. And, as the group neared the enraged stallion’s position, Lucy pondered the things she could say to dissuade him. Because right now, it was them, and them alone, that stood between Big Lot and the bullets of Wester's guns.

Big Lot rested peacefully in her well protected room. A projector near the side of her bed filled her ceiling with a sea of white, glittering, animal-shaped lights. As she lay in her bed she snored sweetly. The only thing that could disrupt now was the knock of somepony at her door. Which, inevitably, happened.

Knock. Knock. Knock. The the door went.

Big Lot's ears perked upward. Yet, she tried her best to ignore the annoying knocks that rang in the deepest parts of her ears. Then the knocking started again. Only it was faster, and more urgent in sound than it had previously been.

Knock knock knock!

Opening her heavy, sore eyelids, Big Lot sat up and rubbed the tiredness from her eyes. "What is it?" She grumbled, fixing the tangled mess that was her mane.

The bolted door to her room opened slightly, as Minion poked his face through the door. A deep, sincere urgency was in his voice as he frantically looked back into the hallway outside to check his surroundings.

"Your radiance," Minion started whispering, "I'm deeply sorry to have awoken you. But we must go. Before he comes for you."

Cocking her head to the side, Big Lot stood up on the covers of her bed. "What? Who? What's happening?"

Minion opened the door, stepped inside, and shut it behind him carefully. "Your slaves have escaped, and those new ponies helped them breach the fence."

It took a moment for the message to process in Big Lot's mind, as the disorienting mixture of tiredness and confusion clouded her mind. The moment her mind she did process the full picture, a light switched on and clarity filled her mind.

"WHAT!?" She screamed.

Minion, in fear of his master's wrath, lowered his head and diverting his gaze. "Yes," He mumbled, "and there is a pony coming to kill you right now. He's been attacking the compound, and he's on his way as we speak..."

Giving Minion a smug smolder, she asked in a taunting tone, "And who is this pony coming after me? Hmm?"

"The... T-The... The armored one, your radiance."

"Ha!" Big Lot laughed, hopping down from her bed. "Get the guards! Kill him! What are we worried about! And where's that idiot, Scooter? Get him to bring me back my toys!"

Minion gulped, "I'm afraid most of our soldiers are..."

Big Lot stood before the massive stallion, pouting at him and tapping her hoof impatiently against the ground. "Aaand? Where are they?"

"They're..." Minion hesitated as he tried to find the courage to answer Big Lot, "...dead, your radiance..."

Bewildered, Big Lot raised an eyebrow at the cowardly stallion. "Are you telling me that most of my soldiers are dead and my compound is under attack?"

"Y-Yes..." He replied quietly.

Glaring at Minion with a stare so contemptful it could pierce the soul of anypony, she screamed. "Incompetent! Useless! Stupid ponies! All of you!"

Minion flinched, and readdressed her. "What is it you wish to do, your radiance?"

Big Lot planted her hoof firmly upon her face. "What do you think, you oversized numb-nut? We need to kill that stupid pony!"

"But, your radiance..." Minion insisted.

"NO! I want him dead!" She declared, stomping her hooves fiercely.

As her tantrum grew, Big Lot stomp and screamed wildly. "I want his head now! I want it! I want it! I want it! I want it!"

Minion gulped, and felt intense anxiety attack him as he bowed to Big Lot. "A-as you wish...”

Once the cooperative response graced Big Lot’s tiny ears, her intense fit ceased. In its stead, a wicked, cruel smile formed as she chuckled to herself. "He'll be dead! Yes! Dead! We'll go to the hall where the rest of my soldiers will be waiting. And when he comes in, BANG! Dead pony! Dead pony! Hahaha!"

Regret stirred in Minion. There was no doubt in is his mind, he was terrified. "Let's go!" Big Lot commanded, rushing out the door of her room.

"Summon the rest of my guards! Today, that pony dies!" Big Lot yelled, as she ran off to play the most dangerous game she would ever play in her life.

The double weathered doors leading into the old storage building were bucked vigorously inward by Wester. A deep, crimson, sparkling aura coated both python revolvers as they floated in front of him. The triggers of both weapons were ready to fire at anypony, anyone, or anything that would dare stand in front of him. Entering the first dark hallway of the building, Wester was spotted by three Legion soldiers.

Before they could draw their weapons, or even say a word to him, the heavy and loud bullets ripped through their flesh. Accurately, each shot Wester fired tore straight through the armor of the ponies sending the guards to the ground blood spitting profusely out of their wounds. Down the hallway Wester went, as he felt the coming encounter approach, a faint feeling of refined anxiety was stuck in his chest.

Feeling the beats of his heart increase in speed, he walked past the bodies and towards the next set of doors that lead into the room where he believed Big Lot was. Behind him, Wester could hear the echoes of his friends shout out his name.

"Stop, Wester!" They cried out. "We can still leave! Stop this!"

It was Lucy's voice that rang out the most distinctly above all the others. Unlike all the other voices that shouted his name, her's was the most heartfelt. The one that was filled with the most sincere dread, and the most earnest worry. He channeled out the voices, focusing only on the objective ahead.

"I must fulfill my objective..." He mumbled to himself, "I must... Fulfill my... Objective..."

With his hind legs, he positioned himself only feet away from the next set of doors. With a single decisive kick, he bashed the doors wide open. Throughout the hall, several soldiers were positioned behind steel supports columns. Rifles of every kind were pointed at Wester’s general direction.

"Wester, stop!"

As soon as he heard Lucy’s call, every gun in the room fired. Together, rifle’s blasts created a thunderous symphony accompanied by a show of hypnotizing muzzles flashing. Wester deftly rolled to the side and took cover behind the nearest steel column he could find. As a downpour of brass casings fell to the ground and bullets flew past Wester’s head, a young filly laughed.

Big Lot’s laugh was high and maniacal. Almost positive in tone and blissful in pitch. "Die!" she guffawed, "DIE!"

Breathing in deeply, Wester knew what needed to be done. He could either take a chance and try to shoot the soldiers, or he could wait to die. He listened carefully to the direction of the gunshots. When the barrage stopped as the soldier’s reloaded, Wester took a chance.

Wester dove from the cover of his pillar, and quickly aimed his pistols. Wester fired shot after deadly shot at the soldier’s heads. At the end of the grand hall, Big Lot poked her head over the top of her large, black leather throne. Her eyes were wide and twitching with excitement as she screamed for her soldiers to kill Wester.

But nothing, not even the soldiers before Wester, could stop his advance. The bullets grazed and dented his armor served only to drive him further. Desperate soldiers fell as Wester’s bullets tunneled through their bodies; some tried to cover their wounds from spilling more blood with their hooves; a few others tried to crawl away; and a desperate minority tried to heal their severed limbs by drinking a sip of a healing potion; but no matter what they did, they all died, and they had failed to even slow Wester down. It was as if everything around Wester moved in slow motion. From the loud blasts of the guns to the dying cries of pain from the soldiers, everything was slow and dragging.

Halfway through the hall, Wester darted off to the side, emptying the spent shells in his pistols as he moved. When he was in cover, Wester found that his pistols were nearly out of ammunition. Undeterred, Wester latched onto a dead soldier’s rifle, and leapt back into the fray. One by one, the last of the soldiers fell until Big Lot, Minion, and two soldiers were all that was left.

The once peppy and sadistic laughter of the filly was gone, for Big Lot had learned a valuable lesson -- losing a game wasn’t very fun.

"Quick!" She screamed, panic-stricken. "Shoot him! Shoot him!"

Minion charged at Wester like a massive, powerful ox. The two soldiers behind Minion abstained from shooting Wester in order to avoid friendly fire. Using the last bullet inside his left pistol, Wester carefully aimed at the furious stallion’s head.

Wester fired and Minion’s eyes went wide as a single bullet lodged itself between his now lifeless eyes.

Crashing to the ground, Minion slid off to the side. The final two soldiers now stared at the body of the only pony that could have stopped Wester. Now looking at Wester, the two threw down their guns and ran straight for the bashed-in doors.

"Fuck this!" One of the soldiers exclaimed. "I want to live!"

Wester let the two soldiers leave the room, he was too focused on Big Lot now. Tears pooled in the corners of Big Lot’s wide, fearful eyes. The filly's jaw was dropped as she looked looked at the destruction Wester had wrought.

Glancing to the bodies of her fallen guards, Big Lot whimpered. "Guards?"

Looking to her now fallen servant, Minion, tears gently started to roll down her tiny cheeks. "M-minion?" She sobbed, realizing just how dangerous of a situation she had fallen into.

Wester stood silent for a moment. Covered in a series of dents, bullet scratches and dots of fresh blood. Ominously, his single crimson visor stared at her, as she too looked back at him, terrified.

"Pl-please..." She mewled, stepping down from her chair, and backing away from Wester in fear.

Climbing the few, short stairs leading up to her throne, Wester closed in on her. Fearful for her own life, she backed away. Soon, her flank touched the wall as she had reached the end. The enraged armored monster was just a few feet away from her now. In his right revolver, Wester saw that he had one bullet left. One single bullet was all it would take. It was all he needed to end Big Lot’s reign of slavery and bloodshed.

Cocking the hammer of the pistol back he placed the end of the barrel firmly against her small forehead. Tears poured down the sides of her face as she quivered and shook, feeling the cold steel against her flesh.

"Wester!" Neo shouted from the other end of the hall.

Wester ignored the group and prepared to end Big Lot's life. The group dashed from the end of the hall, but they halted immediately when Wester sternly commanded them to, “Stop.”

The could only watch Wester in horror. Ally stepped forward and called out to Wester. "Please, let's go! There's nothing left for us here!"

"Listen to her, Wester!" Neo added. "Forget about your objective! She's just a filly!"

"I need to do this!" Wester exclaimed pressing the barrel harder against her trembling head.

"No, you don't, Wester." Lucy said, softly.

Wester froze. And turned his head slightly, to glance at the group from the corner of his visor. Lucy walked past the group, and more closely to Wester. "It's my objective! My purpose is to kill her and save you!" Wester cried.

Lucy kept an almost unnerving straightness to her face, as she stared a soul-piercing glare of determination at him. "Wester," She cooed warmly, "this isn't you. This isn't the Wester you were."

"It is my purpose! She will die!" he shouted furiously.

Lucy looked down to the ground, a mournful shadow cast over her eyes. "Then, before you kill her and destroy what you once were, could you do me one last favor?"

Wester was silent, and did not respond to her. "Could you remember me? Remember the times we spent together and who you were. Just try. That way, I know the old Wester is still, somewhere in there..."

There was nothing he could do. He couldn't move, or speak. Like a solid, frozen mountain, he could not move. Would he even bother to remember Lucy? Could he? What did she mean by that, anyways? Who was he before? Despite the hate that festered and boiled inside him, he tried to think back. Try as he might, his focus only got him so far. Not a single memory came to him.

Lucy was on the verge of tears, as she stood there in the hall mumbling to herself quietly. "Try... For me..."

There was a flash. A blanket of pure, blinding light that surrounded his body. An feeling of weightlessness followed and an he felt an incredible sensation that he had not felt in a while: a breezy wind calmly blowing against his fur. ’But, how could I... My whole body is encased in armor...’ Wester thought.

As the light slowly faded, Wester found that he was somewhere that wasn’t Big Lot’s throne room. In fact, he was outside, in the middle of a cool, breezy day. Like everyday in the wastes the dark, thick grey clouds blanketed the sky, and the chilling wind blew gently against him. The ground was loose and dusty. However, he noticed a blurry object in front of him.

Suddenly, the object before him came into focus. Taking shape and form, Wester could see a small, trembling, grey, and dirt covered pegasus filly sitting in front of him. The filly looked up at him as she firmly pressed her back against against a small rock. In place of his gun, Wester extended his foreleg to the cowering little filly. It was an unarmored, normal foreleg with crimson fur that was only covered by the sleeve of a brown coat.

She hid her face with her tiny hooves, protecting herself from him. Wester was confused at first, but he kneeled down and gave her a reassuring smile anyway. "Hey," he said tenderly, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The filly continued to shield herself from him, and refused to reply out of the fear of stranger.

"Are you alone?" Wester asked.

She did not reply. "Do you have a mom? A dad? A brother or sister, maybe?"

Upon realizing that asking these questions was futile, Wester tried a different tactic. Taking a seat next to her, and placing his back against the rock, Wester sat down on the cold, dry floor. He hummed a song as she remained shivering next to him. Wester noticed this and removed the long brown trench coat on his body.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

She moved her small hooves from her face, and looked up at him. Without saying a thing, she nodded briefly. Once again, he smiled at her affectionately as he wrapped the warm coat around her small body.

"There," he declared with accomplishment. "Much better. Don't you think?"

She held the warm coat and snuggled it, feeling the warmth come onto her. "See?" Wester chuckled, "Nice and warm."

For a moment she kept her eyes off of him as the two listened to the wind howl in the distance. "Soooo," Wester sung, "What's your name? My name is Wester. I'm a traveler."

"Aaaand..." He hummed leaning closely to her placing a hoof by the side of his mouth, "I'm a part-time pirate." He whispered to her.

She giggled at him. "You're not a pirate."

Wester gasped, and reeled himself back. Moving his hoof over his heart he replied in an exaggerated and stuffy voice, "Why, I say! See here, young miss! I'll have you know, I am the most feared pirate in the land! Captain Wester is what they call me!"

"But," He started whispering to her, "you need to keep it a secret. I can't have just any old pony know that I'm a famous captain."

The filly giggled at him, "You're silly..."

Wester grinned, "I try."

"My name is..." The filly tried speaking, only to find it difficult at first, "Lucy. Lucy Luck."

"Huh," Wester said with a sigh, "that's a Lucky kind of name."

"Hey!" Wester declared merrily, "How do you like that name, Lucy? Lucky. You know? I think it suits you better. Or would you rather have me call you Lucy?"

"No," Lucy muttered, "Lucky is fine."

"Then so it shall be!" Wester declared in a comedically dramatic way. "Lucky it is! So says I, Captain Wester!"

Wester laughed for a moment before returning to the filly at his side. "So then, Ms. Lucky, where's your folks? Surely a nice little one such as yourself has a mom and dad."

Lucy closed her eyes and buried her face in the coat warm coat around her body. "Was... Was it something I said?" Wester asked apologetically.

"No..." Lucy murmured sadly.

"Then, at the very least could you tell me what a little thing like you is doing out here?"

"I-I..." The little filly stuttered, trying to find her words. "I was trying to get to my uncle's."

"All by yourself?" Wester asked.

She looked at the ground mournfully, tightening the coat around her. "Where does your uncle live?"

"He lives in Silvermane City. It's so far away, though. And I'm all al-alone..."

She was at the verge of crying. Seeing this, Wester put a reassuring hoof over her shoulder. "Hey there, don't cry. It'll be okay."

"Listen, kiddo," Wester proposed, "I was heading on my way there anyway. How about you come with me? That way you don't have to be alone anymore."

"I don't know. I'm so scared. I just..."

"Don't worry," Wester said giving her a kindly smile. "We'll go together."

She looked up to him with hopeful eyes. "Do... Do you know where Silvermane City is?"

Wester nodded. "I sure do, kiddo. And I know the fast route. So we'll get there in no time!"

Lucy smiled, enjoying the thought of seeing her uncle in Silvermane City. Ruffling her shaggy blond mane, Wester smiled. "Don't worry, kiddo. We’ll get you to your uncle’s. I promise..."

Then the world submerged him in a bright, shining white light, again. A repetitive beeping sounded in his ear, followed by an electronic mare's voice that commanded him through his helmet.

"Objective: Kill Big Lot. Objective: Kill Big Lot. Objective... Objective... Objective..." The voice faded as Wester saw what he was doing.

It was as if he had never left, Big Lot stood petrified as Wester’s pistol was pressed against her head. Horrified, Wester immediately holstered his weapons. A new feeling came over him. It was a rejuvenating sensation of freedom. A feeling, at least, that he could not recall ever having. Turning away slowly from Big Lot, Wester stepped down the few, low steps leading up to the leather chair Big Lot had once sat upon.

Looking at the group silently, Wester approached Lucy, her eyes were red and moist. "W-Wester?" Lucy muttered.

Wester stood before Lucy. Looking down at her, he used one of his metal hooves to gently wipe away the tears on her cheek. He wrapped his hooves around her, hugging her. There was a respectful silence from the group as they watched the two embrace.

"I'm sorry, Lucky..." Wester said softly.

“I am sorry too, Wester. For shouting at you...”

His hug tightened slightly, “Can you forgive me? For what I’ve done here. For the way I acted...”

Sniffling, Lucy smiled. "It's okay, you big oaf. I still love you."

Letting go of Lucy, Wester turned his attention towards the group. In a low, sincere voice he spoke to them. "Come on, let's get out of here. There’s nothing else left to do..."

Kind, heartwarming smiles were spread around the group as they trotted off to the exit. As they departed, Big Lot felt a fury rise inside her. Gritting her teeth, she yelled at the group as they strode off.

"That's right! Run! I knew you couldn't do it! You're weak! Weak!"

A deep, blazing orange brightly coated the cloud covered sky above like a vibrant mural of watercolors. In the far distance, and nestled against the wall that spanned for miles was the dark and silent border settlement of Jurkytown. Not a single soul stirred in the streets, and everypony that was left hid in their houses. Silence. Complete, tranquil silence. Waiting in the rolling was the group of slaves that had escaped.

Tiredly, they shuffled about, kicking rocks and gazing at the blazing, twisting sky above. M stood impatiently amongst the group, tapping her hoof and biting her lower lip. One of the slaves, a stallion, approached M.

"Do you think they're okay?" The stallion asked.

"I'm not sure," M muttered nervously.

Gently patting M on the back, the stallion he reassured her. "They're a brave bunch. I'm sure they're on their way back as we speak."

"Yeah," M sighed, gazing off into the distant settlement. "As we speak..."

The stallion trotted off to rejoin the other slaves, leaving M alone to look out for the group. M saw five, tiny figures advancing from the hills below her. It was difficult to tell who or what the five figures were. Perhaps they could be soldiers Big Lot sent to recapture them. Or perhaps they were a pack of wild dogs.

Placing her hoof to her brow, she squinted tightly peering carefully at the quickly approaching figures. With each moment that passed the dark, formless characters took shape, and soon their bodies could be seen in full detail from her position. A grin of exuberant joy formed onto her formerly despaired face. As, to her surprise, it was the group she and the others had waited for. Bolting across the hills, a trail of dust picked up behind them.

"It's them!" M called to the group of slaves. "They're back!"

The everypony's ears perked up at the mere mention of such good news. Gathering alongside M, the slaves watched the small group of ponies approach them.

Putting a hoof against the side of her mouth, M called out to them. "We're over here!"

Watching the ponies come closer and closer intensified the feeling of hope M had. When the group arrived, they were greeted by the thankful hugs and overjoyed praise of the slaves. Beaming smiles and warming comments touched the hearts of each member of the group. Rubbing the back of his neck shyly, Neo blushed faintly.

"Hey, it's okay, guys. Honestly, it was nothing."

Adam shook other ponies hooves, greeting them. "Yeah, what brother said."

M stepped up to the group, tenderly smiling. "To them, what you did was more than just nothing. It was everything."

"Well, I'm glad to see they're enjoying their freedom." Lucy added.

M nodded, looking to the bright, joyful faces of the former slaves. "They are. Only, now that we're free, we don't know where to go. I don't know a place that wouldn't turn us back into the Legion."

"You could try Silvermane Tower." Ally suggested.

"Affirmative," Wester agreed, "they will take you in. The freelancers and owners of the establishment will treat you fairly, despite the guardian's crude laziness."

"I've heard of the place," M said with a slight twinge of uncertainty in her voice, "but how far is it? Which direction do we go?"

Wester pointed towards the direction of Silvermane Tower. "Go west for a few miles. It is a large structure. You can't miss it."

"I guess that's our best bet then." M said thankfully, as she stared into the west.

The gentle breeze of the morning wind brushed against the fur of everypony. In a way, it was calming. Feeling the coolness gave them a sense of freedom.

Returning her gaze to the group, she added, "But how can I repay you? Your group did so much for us. I mean, you told us about a place to live. Helped me free these ponies, and stopped Big Lot. I'm... I'm speechless..."

"Heh," Neo chuckled, "you don't have to do anything. You helped us get out of there. And that’s good enough for us."

Adam stood next to his brother, and looking up into Neo's hopeful eyes he nodded. "And we have to go on with ours. We still have somepony to find. Somewhere out there."

"Well," M replied, "I guess this is the goodbye then..."

"Yeah," Ally sighed heavily, "just make sure you stay safe on your trip, okay?"

M nodded, "We will. These folks have been cooped up in that settlement forever. I bet they're just itching to start walking."

Lucy chuckled. "Well I know we're not looking forward to it. We've still got a long way to go after all."

M turned from the group and whistled loudly to the liberated slaves. Waving her hoof in the air, M motioned for them to follow her. "Come on! We've got a lot of ground to cover!" She shouted.

As they pooled behind her, M started to lead them westward. Watching her and the other ponies march off to the west made the group smile. A tingling gratefulness filled the chests of each pony. They were free. Each and every one of the ponies they helped. And now they could live how they wanted, for all of time. Before M made it to the next hill, she looked back at the group.

Calling out to them, she said, "Take care!"

"You too!" Adam called back in response.

While they couldn't see the sun, its bright orange light seeped through the clouds behind them. Leaving the group alone on the top of the hill watching the slaves and M wander off into the vast distance and out of sight.

"Well, where are we heading?" Adam asked, looking to the east.

"Same place we were heading to before," Ally replied smiling.

Neo patted Wester on the back wholeheartedly. "Yep! And with Wester and Lucy all friends again, there's nothing that can stop us!"

Neo yawned loudly as soon as he finished his sentence. "However, a lack of sleep might stop us."

"Nah, we'll be fine. You're a tough pony, ain't ya, Neo?" Lucy smirked at him.

"Oh, and by the way," Lucy added, leaning closely to Neo, "don't bring up that I cried again. If you do, I'll sock you a new one."

Neo gulped, and smiled nervously. "Heh, sure thing, Lucy."

Wester, looking at the east, said, "I believe that if we wish to reach the eastern provincial mountains, we'll need to travel through the northwest outskirts of Silvermane City."

"How far is that from here?" Ally asked.

"About ten miles. It is devoid of raiders and has little to no Legion influence." Wester answered.

"Great, once we get there we can rest, right? I'm beat after last night." Neo moaned, feeling the lack of sleep slowly effect his body.

"Affirmative. We can all rest."

Lucy nudged Wester playfully in the foreleg. "I thought you didn't sleep much?"

Wester ignored the question and cleared his throat. "...Let's move. The sun is moving, and we’re wasting time by remaining stationary."

For the first time in years, Lucy something new in Wester. Something that showed he wasn't just a computerized soldier whose purpose was to mindlessly follow programs and orders. No, he was something more now. Though, she could not put hoof directly on it she felt what it was, she didn’t mind. For now, the feeling alone was good enough for her.

The group trudged off into east. It was the dawn of a new day, and regardless of their mishaps at the border, they felt happy. It was a joy that, for the longest time, none of them had truly felt. And for once, the new day looked brighter than it had ever been before.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Through Hell and... Somewhere: Because of your hardships traversing the wastes, you now receive a +20 XP bonus for every new location you discover. Additionally, you will receive a healing boost that lasts for ten minutes with each discovery.

Footnote: Level Up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: There Comes a Time...: If you wait for a day (from morning to the dawn of the next day) you will receive a health and healing bonus for 25 minutes. This perk becomes inactive if the player waits less than 2 hours in the day. Once the day/night cycle restarts, the perk will reactivate.

Proofread By:

Noakwolf.

LyonAzakura.

Dannykat.

Thefullmetalbrony.

(AN: Wow, long chapter, right? Despite its long length, I really liked writing this one. I especially enjoyed writing Big Lot and Scooter. I can guarantee the next chapter won’t be as long. Anyway, see you in the next chapter!)

A Trader Called Two Socks

CHAPTER 29: A TRADER CALLED TWO SOCKS

"I've traveled everywhere. You name it, I’ve been there! Well, almost everywhere. I don't like caves though -- caves are creepy."

Before Adam was a dark, endless oblivion. Where nothing existed inside its malevolent gloom. He was lighter than air, as he searched tirelessly for something in the deep vastness.

In the farther reaches of the empty void, a voice called out to him. Faint at first, but growing in volume the more it echoed through the blackness. It was soft and tender, like the calm coo of a dove.

Adam... Adam...

Adam's gaze spun around looking for the sound's source. Though in every new place he set his eyes upon the voice seemed to call out in the opposite direction.

Adam... Adam...

Adam called out into the darkness, "Where are you? What are you?!"

Adam! ADAM!

The sides of Adam's head throbbed intensely. Firmly pressing his hooves down against the soreness, he gritted his teeth down as the sound grew to an unbearable pitch.

AD-WAKE... WAKE-ADU...

Every inch of his cranium burned. "Stop it!" He shouted, "Stop it! Please!"

Shutting his eyes tightly, Adam tried to remove the sound from his head. Ringing out like tolling bells, the vexatious sounds intensified.

Is he awake?

The voice lowered.

Are you awake? It asked, from all directions.

The longer Adam heard the voice channel itself out through the void, the more clear it became. Until it reached the height of its clarity, the voice which now spoke to him kindly belonged to a mare. Though he could not see her, the certain atmosphere of her tender words were calming.

Adam's pain lingered, but the irritation stirred by the booming sounds vanished. Below his back he could feel hard wood. Cold and loose as it gently wobbled. Then the void became a pale light that flooded his vision. Blurred, and distorted, a shadow hovered over him as his senses slowly returned.

Adam was awake.

A mare, no older than thirty, looked down at him with worried, motherly eyes. Over her dark purple brow hung loosely a thin, stringy green mane. Once more the warm voice of the mare graced his ears. "Are you awake?"

For Adam, the voice was muffled by his dazed consciousness beginning to grasp reality. "Wha-What?"

"Oi!" A contemptuous voice of stallion cried out. "Is 'ey awake? Or not?"

The mare briefly looked behind her and nodded. "I think he'll be fine, master."

"Ey' bettah. Or ah'll make ya pay fer keepin' 'im locked up in t' cart fer so long!"

Adam's eyes scanned his surroundings. Above him, the sky was just as mundane and gray as usual, blanketing the majority of his sight. To his sides were the low wooden walls of an open cart. Rattling and bumping clamorously as it came to a stop.

"Well?" The voice spat, "Get 'em out 'ere! Ah want 'im walkin' wit t' rest of us."

The shaking stopped as several hooves protruded over the cart's side, picking up Adam's body. The sensation of being lifted wasn't very clear. All Adam could feel was the dull hooves on his back and the cool air brush the top of his blue coat.

The ground suddenly appeared before him. Racing much closer to him than he had anticipated, Adam landed squarely upon his face, adding a blunt soreness that spread around the front of his muzzle.

Groaning, Adam put both of his forehooves out in front of him, mustering what inner strength he could to push himself up. Feeling the joints in his legs wobble violently -- it felt as though he might fall.

Stomping a solid hoof against the muddy surface of the ground near the side of Adam's nose, the stallion chuckled, "Tough little buggah, ain'tcha?"

Raising his head up to the voice addressing him, Adam gazed at the pony before him. "What? I don't..."

Grinning widely, Spit Tooth leaned over him. "Ah, ya don' get it, do ya?"

Adam shook his head, feeling his mind clear as his sight, vision, and hearing returned. "What?"

"Hahaha! Yer a slave now, pup!" Spit Tooth boomed.

Trying to stand up, the slaver laid a forceful hoof on top of Adam's head. Pressing against him, Spit Tooth sent his face back into the dirt. The fresh moistness of the soil seeped into the buck's mouth and nose as the callous slaver put his crooked grin to Adam’s ear.

"An' don' ya think 'bout runnin' away neither..."

Spit Tooth's horn became aglow with a magical aura as a round metal collar floated out of a saddlebag on his back. Hovering toward Adam's head, it wrapped itself around his neck snugly. The chilled metal of the device sent a biting shiver down Adam’s spine as it locked tightly -- ringing out a faint beep the moment it did.

"Ya see, this 'ere collar will give ya nasty 'eadache if ya do."

Lifting the hoof from his head, Spit Tooth nodded to one of the slaves. "You, tie 'im up. Now!"

With a chain held firmly in her mouth, the mare from the wagon briskly dashed to Adam's side. There, she placed one of the links onto a hook that latched onto the collar.

"I'm sorry..." The mare whispered, stepping back from him.

For the first time, Adam had finally managed to find his footing, and pushing against the ground he stood up. Connected to the chain that loosely hung from the device on his neck was a dozen other ponies and a donkey. Scraggly and malnourished, the souls bore fresh lash marks across the tops their lanky backs. Standing around the cart next to the chained slaves were nine slavers.

Each was like the next. Wearing roughly stitched leather barding, accompanied by strips of black matted fur holding their trophies of teeth, skulls, and other parts of the pony body. Like the two slavers that had captured him, the seven others had assault rifles at their sides. Bulky in shape, and rugged in design.

Scanning the scene in front of him, Adam's mouth was agape with disbelief. Unlike the void, this reality would not disappear. Poking Adam in the chest with the barrel of his gun, Spit Tooth chortled, "An' don' think 'bout usin' yer gear. We took it all before ya woke up."

Adam's eyes went wide with sudden realization. Placing a shaking hoof on his back he patted his whole body in a desperate search for his gear. Nothing was on him. Not his coat, nor his bags. It was all gone, that was save his PipBuck. But it too bore the scratched markings of something that had forcefully tried to remove it.

"Ya best get accompanied wit yer new friends, mate," Siren guffawed from the cart's side. "It's a long walk t' the Darkmines!"

"Roight." Split Tooth nodded to her. "Let's get a move on then, we got a long way t' go! So get on goin', ya mangy gits!"

"Ya heard him!" One of the other slavers barked at the slaves. "Get a move on! That means you too, ya blue pup!"

Feeling the chain tug on his neck, Adam stumbled forward as the group shuffled onward. There was little he could say in his position. Without his things he could not even attempt an escape. Perhaps the slave collar key in his confiscated bags could help, or perhaps his brother was coming for him.

It was all uncertain. After what had transpired not long ago Adam hoped his brother would come for him, and he had to try all he could to make it easier to find him. By any means necessary.

A deep, sharp pain agitated Neo's brow, and for a time a mysterious darkness filled his vision. Opening his weary eyes an orange glow flooded his gaze, though at the moment it was dim and obscured by a blurry haze.

In a small room, he was laid down along a soft black padded mat, where the faint sounds of wood crackling filled the air. Amid the strange light was a mare. Light brown, with a long chocolate colored mane he felt her hoof gently stroke the side of his head. Even if he could not see her in full detail, the carefulness in her strokes was easing.

Neo groaned, feeling the pain swell on his brow. "Where, where are we? What happened?"

Ally smiled at him and turned her head slightly toward the light's source. "He's awake, everyone. He's finally awake."

When Neo’s eyelids fully opened, they let in the whole room as the obscured blur which glazed his view became clear. Returning to him, Ally smiled once more. "We're inside a building not too far outside of the city."

A thought came to Neo, that sent a sudden jolt of panic surging through his entire body, causing him to sit up quickly. "Adam! Where is he?!"

The pain in his brow tripled ten-fold at the hasty action. Briskly placing a hoof to his head, Neo bit down on his lower lip forcefully as Ally lay him back down easily. "Don't strain yourself, Neo. It'll only make it worse."

Neo sighed. "But where is he? What happened?"

Lucy, who was at the far end of the room, came forth, mournfully looking away from Neo as she came closer. "I don't know how to say this, Neo. I really don't."

Turning his head, Neo felt the soreness prick painfully as he moved his eyes up to her. "Please," Neo murmured, "I need to know..."

A voice, charged with positive energy, spoke, "If you want me to tell him, I can. Though I'm sure he won't be happy about it."

Lucy looked toward the low, warm fire that burned in the center of the room. Behind the flames which spun, and twirled in the cool drafts was a stallion. A tan, lanky unicorn strolled around the fire to his side. Cloaked by the glow of the flames Neo could see a the dark outline of a long, dark coat. And as the pony came closer to his side the tan stallion that stood before him had relaxed sort of posture, sported a shaggy brown beard, with a crooked smile.

Neo's eyes widened. "You..."

"Yep!" The stallion chimed, "It's me, Two Socks! Remember me pal?"

Frowning, Neo rolled his eyes. "I really couldn't forget you if I tried."

Hovering his thin, long face over Neo he continued to smile. "I can tell you're in a bad mood. That's okay though, because I know where your brother went!"

Neo felt the urge to sit up, to listen more closely to what the stallion had to say. Even the mere thought of moving hurt his head. "I know we don't know each other very well, but you have to tell me. I screwed up. I said something I shouldn't of, and now... And now he's..."

Two Socks' smile widened, as he gazed down amiably at Neo. "Heh, you're right there pal. I don't know you two that much, but I can tell ya care about that blue fellow."

Resting his haunches upon the cold, solid, dusty floor Two Socks said, "That slaver that took that friend of yours-"

"Brother." Neo interjected.

Gently smacking the side of his head Two Socks shrugged. "Silly me, I really should have remembered. Funny, memories, huh? Anywho, those slavers that took your frie- I mean brother. They're Split Tooth and Siren. Some of the meanest slavers this side of the northern province. Together they make a living snatching up ponies, and taking them to the Darkmines."

"The Darkmines? How far away is that from here?" Asked Neo.

Leaning next to a set of large, splintering wooden doors beaten down by the elements was Wester. Wester's rifle hung low at his side as he guarded the doors while the orange flames of the fire glistened off of his visor. "It's not far from our position. A few days walk perhaps, excluding sleep and challenges encountered along the way."

Two Socks nodded at the armored stallion. "Indeed. And about two days ago, they snatched up Bill! I went to go see if the TV inside a store was working, and when I get out I see them going off in the distance with him! Ever since then I've been trailing them. I think they get some kind of sick pleasure out of capturing folks, and leaving their friends or loved ones clueless."

Ally scratched her mane cocking her head slightly to one side. "Who's Bill?"

Resting a hoof on his stomach Neo answered, "He's a donkey that travels with him."

"He's my partner that's who he is!" Two Socks added sternly. "And if we don't find them soon, both of our chums are gonna end up slaves for -- I don't know how long! Let alone if we can break them out if they are slaves in that godforsaken place!"

Sighing, Two Socks recovered himself holding a straight expression. "I'm sorry, man. Got a little flustered there..."

"I know how it is." Neo muttered under his breath. "That's why we've got to find them as soon as possible, and make them pay for what they did."

Neo's heartbeat began to rise. The consistent thump of it beat harder, and faster in his chest as the fear of the pain spiking grew. It hurt the most when he stood up, but he needed to stand. He needed to walk. There was no other way he could save his brother laying down on the floor rivaling against the injury on his head.

Directing his gaze toward Lucy, Neo winced as the hurtful soreness peaked suddenly at the movement of his head. "Do we have any health potions left?"

"A few," Lucy remarked, "do you need one to dull the pain?"

"If you could give me one, I'd like to try and stand."

Lucy looked toward her bags briefly. "It takes a little while for these things to heal you up all the way. You sure you want to try and stand?"

A jarring, sharp pain shot through his head as he nodded at her, making his eyes flinch slightly. "I'm sure. We have to start looking for both of them, and laying here won't get us anywhere."

Trotting to Neo's side Lucy stopped, when a faint magical aura encased Ally's horn as a bottle floated soundly out of Lucy's bag through the air.

Smiling at Neo, Two Socks scoffed, "He's a tough little guy, huh? I was like that once, when I was younger. Only, I probably would still be laying down, and sleeping. Then again, Bill would be there..."

As the potion came closer to Neo's lips a tone of hardened determination saturated his words. "Don't worry, we'll get them back."

The life-giving velvet liquid smoothly ran down Neo's throat. The effects of the potion seemed to affect his body quickly, for the pain in his head and body nulled with each large gulp. Drinking the potion to it's last drop Neo took in a deep breath, trying as he could to calm his beating heart.

Rising up from the mat, the soreness from the gunshots was dulled, but still present. Yet, he continued to rise. Biting down on his lip forcefully he tasted the bitter flavor of blood. The pain in his lip was nothing, not a pony or thing could stop him.

Neo felt a strong conviction, like that of a tingling force, that fought the pain in his head and body.

No one else would come after his brother. Adam was all the family he had left in the savage world. It was endure, or give up. There was no middle ground.

Grunting, Neo stumbled around on his fore hooves as he tried to find his footing. Ally was at his side, a hoof hovering worryingly over his shoulder. "Are you okay? Do you need some help."

Standing on all fours Neo shook his head. "It hurts to stand... That's for sure... But if we're going to get anywhere, I might as well ignore it the best I can until the potion kicks in all the way."

"Does it feel any better?" Lucy asked, "You know, the pain and all?"

"A little." Neo answered, wearily smiling.

Two Socks grinned widely, chuckling, "That's the spirit!"

With a single hoof Two Socks heartily patted Neo against the back, sending him hobbling forward a few steps. Lucy smirked at the gruff trader, snickering, "You best leave the beating to me. It's my job after all."

"Heehee," Two Socks chortled raising both hooves in surrender. "I'm still new to how your group operates, and it seems I still need to learn a few more things."

"Heh, then you better learn quick, son." Lucy laughed, "I won't be so forgiving the next time."

"Don't worry about me, Ms. Luck. I learn fast." Two Socks replied, a playfully mocking smile spread across his face.

Ally stood by Neo, eyeing his legs wobble unsteadily. "Do you think you'll be able to walk?"

Looking into her worried eyes Neo nodded once sincerely. "I do."

Taking one, uneasy step forward Neo was determined to find his brother. And when he did they would finally see their mother again. Adam was all the family he had left -- no amount of pain, great or small could change that conviction.

Shuffling along the coarse rocky ground the slaves moved in an orderly single-file line. Adam had kept his eyes low for a majority of the walk, only to rise his gaze upward briefly to inspect his surroundings in search of his things. In his mind, the wagon was the most likely candidate as he gave it above all the other choices, the most glances. Inside it possibly yielded the only hope for escape -- the slave collar key from the border.

The sky above was darker than usual, sporting a mundane dark-grey in the thick rolling clouds overhead. Hills, low and high stripped bare of anything living encompassed the landscape for miles in every direction.

Adam felt the chilling wind howl, and bite at his exposed body. The slavers, with their thick leather barding seemed to pay no mind to the cold, nor its efforts to freeze the slaves.

If only I had my duster... Adam thought, shivering violently.

The slave ahead of him hung his head low, concealing his face behind all four of his groggily shuffling hooves. He was a donkey, and not much was to him in appearance. A simple, short brown coat of fur covered his body as long droopy ears lay at rest along the sides of his head. While Adam could not see it in his eyes, the slow sways of his movements hinted that a tired mourning lingered within him.

All of the slaves held a silent aura like this. But the donkey's was more fresh, and more evident than all of the other enslaved ponies. As Adam shuffled along to the beat of chain's rattle a thought came to mind. The image of a donkey traveling with a rugged looking unicorn trader sparked into view like a sudden flash.

Bill, was the name that came to mind.

Picking up his pace, Adam tapped the donkey gently on the back. Like a paranoid puppy, frightened by its own shadow the donkey jumped, letting a low whimpering yelp! that lightly escaped his lips. The brisk beating of his excited heart slowed when he looked behind him.

The donkey sighed, feeling himself calm. "What do you want from me? Do you know what will happen if they catch us talking?" He asked whispering.

Adam kept his own volume to a minimum. "I know, but I need to ask you something."

Diverting his gaze away from Adam, the donkey replied nervously, "O-Okay, but be quick please..."

Adam smiled. "Is your name by any chance, Bill?"

Looking directly at Adam his eyes went wide. "Y-You, know my name?"

Adam nodded. "You traveled with Two Socks, right?"

"Yeah, I did... How did you know that?"

"My brother and I met you along the road when it was raining. Remember? We took shelter under a collapse shed, and you guys helped us."

Bill was silent for a moment, barring a pondering stare in his baby blue eyes. "I... I think I do. Adam? Right?"

Adam's smile grew wider. "That's me."

For what seemed like the first time in days Bill smiled. "How did you end up a slave?"

Turning his head away from Bill, Adam felt a hollowed soreness in his heart. "It's a long story..."

"What happened to your brother? You know, the white one?"

Adam shrugged. "I don't know. I just hope he's not-"

Sighing heavily, Adam shook his head. "I just hope he’s okay..."

Bill returned to the lazy shuffle, feeling the sharp rocks of the ground poke, and rub against his hooves. "I don't know if it will, but it might get better. I think Two Socks is coming for me, and maybe he'll help you out too."

Adam was silent, as his eyes moved toward the creaking cart ahead of them.

"You'll see," Bill said, "you'll see..."

Over the next hill the caravan trudged, and down at the hill's bottom was a billboard. Deteriorating, the old advertisement was obscured by crude, profane graffiti. Like a mural of vile acts the old sign was still standing on weak iron supports. In the faint shadow it cast the sign towered before the travelers as they passed it by.

Adam stumbled forward, as the chain on his collar tugged suddenly. Near the front of the group Split Tooth held his hoof raised high facing the giant Billboard. "Ah think this 'ere is a good place to take a break. Any o' ya gotta piss?"

One of the slavers, a unicorn, rose his hoof unsurely. "Uh, I do boss..."

Leering at the slaver with one yellow eye Spit Tooth jerked his head toward the Billboard. "Fine, make it quick. If ya not done soon ah'll make sure you nevah piss again. Get going, now!"

Trotting over to the sign the slaver went behind the Billboard gingerly. Sharply drawing his eyes toward the slaves Split Tooth glared at the chained ponies, grinning wickedly.

"If any 'f ya gotta' piss do it now. An' don't ya think ya can go behind t' board neither. If ya wanna piss, or t' like, do it where ya is."

Slumping their flanks firmly onto the ground every slave rested. Some had breaths, shallow, and weak as they tried to fill their lungs with what air they could. The few who did not feel entirely exhausted messaged their aching hooves, enjoying the refreshing cool air of the mid afternoon breeze.

Adam locked his gaze on the cart. It was the only place his gear could be, and without it there was no chance for escape. Two slavers, one a mare and the other a stallion paced themselves around the cart like vultures circling a fresh meal.

Time, Adam thought. Time was all he needed, and ironically it was the one thing he was the most uncertain about.

Moving carefully toward Bill, Adam whispered, “Bill?”

Turning his head slightly to Adam, Bill replied, "What?"

"How far are we from the Darkmines? Like, in days."

Shrugging, Bill sighed heavily, "I wish I knew."

"Shoot!" Adam swore scanning the area around him.

The billboard with its immense size drew his attention. Peering at the graffiti inscribed on the old advertisement a thought came to Adam. Looking down at his chain, he noticed how loose it was, and returning to the billboard he kept low to the ground moving to the front of the board.

Many of the slavers had decided to rest, save for those next to the cart. As Adam crept onward to the billboard, he looked back toward the slavers making sure their gaze never fell onto him. Approaching the old vandalized board, Adam felt the fresh mud squish and shift under his hooves. Taking a hefty clump in one hoof Adam quickly drew over the dried paint that coated the surface.

Painting as well has he could with the mud he stood on Adam drew a large 1, followed by a 4, then a 7. Right below the number, he put an arrow, smaller than the numbers, pointing in the direction they were heading for. Beneath the arrow he wrote the word: Flipper.

The slaver behind the billboard had his back turned to Adam. And through the crimson rust of the creaking steel supports Adam held his breath. Already the squelching coming from the mud started Adam’s hooves shaking as a cold, sharp anxiety swept through him.

Once he was done, he stood back gazing briefly at his work.

147
<---
FLIPPER

After he did, Adam tread lightly back to his place in the line. Snapping his gaze briskly back to the slavers around the area.

Staring out into the vastness of the empty hills around them, Split Tooth waved a hoof to Siren. The mare jogged over to his side, nudging him in the foreleg. "What is it Splitsy?"

Split Tooth narrowed his eyes, keenly studying the hills before him. "Ah think we're bein' followed." He muttered.

Raising an eyebrow at him, she too turned her foggy yellow eyes to the hills in the distance. "We are?"

He nodded. "Ya bet ya sweet flanks we is."

Leaning her muzzle to his ear she placed a hoof at the side of her mouth, whispering, "Ya think it's one of ‘em ponies that knows t' slaves?"

Shaking his head, Split Tooth frowned feeling an unsettling nausea stir in his stomach. "Worse. Ah don' know what, but ah'm gettin' a bad feelin' t' longer we sit 'ere."

"W-What do ya suppose we do Splitsy?"

"There's a Legion outpost, not far from 'ere. We need t' get there. The sooner we does, the sooner ah can shake whatever it is.."

"Then we bettah move quick, eh?" Siren remarked making her way down to the wagon.

"Aye." Split Tooth nodded. "We need t' move out before this feelin' o' mine gets any worse..."

There was but a single gunshot that thunderously boomed throughout the wide streets of Silvermane City. Soldiers of the Ironhoof Legion patrolled the streets, rifles readied as tens of the bloodied hellhounds lay sprawled out down the street. Maimed, and mutilated by the onslaught, bulky, fur-covered limbs were scattered on the pavement. Along the curb dark, warm blood pooled before draining into the old storm drains of the city.

An Ironhoof Legion soldier stood over the the corpse of a dead hellhound. Staring down at a wide, gashing hole in the back of its head he raised a hoof, and called out into the street, "Clear! That's the last of them!"

Coming forward along the side of the road was Covert, whose legs hobbled unsteadily as he walked on the sidewalk. On his back, perched on a velvet cushioned seat held on by a strap wrapped around his belly was Big Lot.

She gleefully smiled at the the multitude of dead creatures that littered the road before them, counting with her tiny hoof how many they had killed the moment Covert passed a body.

As both Covert and Big Lot came to the last dead beast along the pavement she lightly tapped the top of Covert's hat. "Lieutenant? Could you be a dear and stop, please? I want to discuss with the captain our current status."

Covert felt urged to lash out at her, and strangle her tiny neck with his hooves. But turning a scornful eye away from her deceptively sweet stare, he furtively sighed kneeling down to the ground. "Yes... Big Lot."

She promptly smacked him on the head, wagging a tiny hoof at him. "Ah ah ah, Covert. How do you address me?"

Covert was hesitant. "Your radiance..." He uttered lowly.

She put a hoof to her ear, leaning closely to the side of his face. "Excuse me?"

"Your radiance..." He murmured once more.

Stepping down from the cushion on his back she stood before him, glaring directly into his eyes. "I don't think you've learned how to treat royalty respectfully. Shall I have to teach you again?"

Keeping his own gaze away from her cold, demeaning eyes Covert shook his head as she spoke to him. "Well, it's clear you don't know the proper educate on how to address royalty."

A heat burned in Covert's heart, making him want to lunge forth, and redeem himself. There was a wall, however, just like there had been with Cyrus that stopped him. An invisible wall of pure fear, and he could feel it as it nervously pounded away in his chest.

Battling like conflicting elements of fire, and water the two feelings stirred inside. Yet, he did not physically show the furious struggle taking place.

Big Lot put a gentle hoof to his cheek, calmly moving his face closely to her own. When their eyes met, she grinned. "Now, let's try this again."

Covert gulped as thick, anxious droplets of sweat trickled down the sides of his head. "How is it you address me?"

He choked, "Your radiance..."

Grinning wider, she pat his cheek softly. "That's a good pony, and don't you forget it."

A captain, clad in a thick dark-iron green breast plate stepped forth over a freshly killed hellhound corpse to meet Big Lot. Stiffly postured, he saluted her. "Your radiance."

She looked up at him, smiling in a chipper sort of fashion. "Ah, Captain. I take it they're all dead now?"

The Captain nodded. "Yes, your radiance. Every single one is dead."

"And what of our own loses?"

Moving his head toward one of the blasted heaps of flesh and fur, the Captain sighed, "About seven are dead, your radiance. Though, our loses aren't nearly as bad as they could have been. Those that did parish are being buried before we leave."

"Hmm," Big Lot purred, "make sure when we leave they're quick about it. I wouldn't want our search to be delayed because of it."

Further up the road a collapsed water tower lay torn and broken across the street with murky water still pooling around it. A few hellhounds were strewed about at the twisted, razor sharp frame.

"And what of that water tower?" Big Lot asked.

Placing his gaze on the water tower the Captain returned to the filly, as he tried to understand her question. "Excuse me, your radiance?"

"It looks fresh." Big Lot stated. "Do you know what happen there?"

The Captain shook his head once. "I'm not sure. But whatever did it made a soggy mess out of a few hounds."

Out of one of the many hollow shops nearby Scooter, and Whopper stepped out into the street. Both bolstered rifle-action battle saddles fastened tightly around their bodies. Desperately struggling to loosen the strap hugging him, Scooter gnawed at it biting and pulling it loose with his teeth.

"Boss?" Whopper queried, laying a hoof gently on his companion's harness. "Do ya want some help with that?"

Scooter's stomach irked as the vile taste of old leather filled his mouth. "Nah, ah got it. Jus' a sec..."

Whopper raised a doubtful eyebrow. "Ah really think ya could use th-"

"Nah! Ah said ah got it! An' when ah says ah got it, ah got it!"

Watching the two stallions, Big Lot firmly smacked a hoof against her brow. Sighing, she could feel a faint soreness develop along the sides of her head. Embracing the oncoming migraine, she trotted over to the two ponies beckoning for both Covert, and the Captain to follow her.

Stomping a solid hoof on the cracked cement she scowled in disgust at Scooter as he fiddled with his harness. "You two! What are you doing?"

Whopper instantly snapped to attention, keeping his eyes front, and his posture solid. Scooter quickly pulled his head back from the strap, and began quickly searching for Big Lot.

Taking a similar, attentive stance as his comrade Scooter saluted. "Yes, yer raidiance!"

Big Lot didn't respond. Rather, for the moment she simply stood there, letting the moment sink in. "Is there something wrong with your harness... Captain?"

Scooter could feel his breath shorten as the strap constrain his stomach. "No, yer radiance..."

Moving her eyes to the strap that was clearly fastened on too snuggly, she sarcastically remarked, “Right... Anyway, did you two find anything? Particularly about my runaway toys?"

Keeping his hoof pressed on his brow Scooter wheezed as the air rushed out of his constricted body. "We found a burned out fire, over yonder at that there wagon place."

Sighing, Big Lot twirled around to her captain sending her tiny cape swaying through the air. "Captain! Prepare the troops to move farther east. If there was a fire here than that must mean they’ve been here before..."

The strap was finally causing Scooter's breath to become shallow, while the feeling started to turn into a painful pricking along his stomach. "An' mah gut feels like it'll implode..."

The Captain bowed to Big Lot, only as he rose his head he commented, "If they are heading east, I would recommend we move our troops a little further to the north, and curve around. That way we can intercept the group as soon as possible."

Pointing her petite, pink nose to the sky she replied, “Good, good. Than see to it Captain. I’m putting my faith in you.”

Marching off, Big Lot motioned a hoof for Covert to lower himself. "That's right my poor little mule. Get down so your princess may be carried onward."

Laying his belly on the cold concrete, Covert shivered. Climbing on him, she placed her flank on the soft, warm cushion of the seat strapped on his back.

"Rise." Big Lot commanded.

Cramps from the strained load perched on Covert's back made his legs ache. Once he stood up, Big Lot scoffed to herself as she took notice of his struggling stance. "My my, you’re more weak than I had initially thought. It just show that this is where your place is. A mule. Nothing more.”

Covert grunted strenuously, as he began to walk. Not giving her so much as a word in response.

Shaking her head she snickered at him. "Maybe I have broken you. I suppose only time can tell my little pet."

Throughout every muscle in his legs an aching pain burned. Covert's mind was buzzing with disoriented fatigue, yet his thoughts were as clear as Big Lot's callous remarks. Perhaps, he thought, she too could fall victim to the same fate as her uncle.

Like a pickaxe brutally hacking away at the wall of suppressed emotion his thoughts started to motivate him.

She stripped me of my title...

More, the mental wall chipped away a little section at a time.

She took away my honor...

The wall began to split, and weaken.

My dignity...

Like a madman swinging the pickaxe down at the brittle bricks of the wall he tore through it.

I’ll end her miserable little reign. Mark my words Big Lot.

Try as he did, he could not hold back a brief smile. A bubbling happiness bursted from his chest, but he urged himself to conceal it. For there would come a time when this new found confidence, and determination would be needed. With the wall finally tore down once again Covert felt uplifted, almost as though he could accomplish anything. Include put an end to Big Lot's rule.

Loud and mighty the wind overhead roared in the coolness of the afternoon. Neo, Lucy, Wester, Ally, and Two Socks walked along the grinding rocky ground. For miles they had evaded the roads, as Two Socks was sure that the direction they were moving in was the correct one. But for miles, in nearly every direction there was nothing.

Just rolling, empty, hills.

Occasionally one member of the group spotted a tree, or old structure caved in on one side far out in the distance. Outside of this particular clique of items there was, nothing.

Neo had become slightly doubtful of Two Socks' sense of direction, as he started scanning around the area. The bleak consistency of the world around them made him feel disoriented.

Yet, trotting along with a spring in his step leading them was Two Socks. Humming a quaint little tune to himself it was as though he had not a single care in the world.

This gave Neo a disturbing chill along hairs under his neck’s nape. "Two Socks? Are you sure this is the way to the Deadmines?"

Neo glanced at his Pipbuck briefly. "My Pipbuck says we're heading there, but you said there was mountains around it, and I haven't seen anything as of recent. Literally, nothing."

Without breaking his stride, Two Socks turned his head toward Neo. "What? Oh, sorry I was busy."

"Busy?" Neo retorted raising a single eyebrow.

Like a beaming child he answered, "Oh, you know humming and that sort of thing."

"Do you even know where we're going?" Neo queried looking back at his Pipbuck. "Because it says we're heading east, but I'm not sure it’s in the correct direction we're supposed to be heading in."

"We'll get there," Two Socks chirped, "I can feel it!"

"Negative," Wester replied, "I've been in many regions around this sector, and I don't believe we are currently moving in the direction of the Darkmines."

Spinning around, Two Socks started trotting backwards facing Wester. "Do you know where Siren and Split Tooth are?"

"Negative." Wester answered. "I do not."

Cocking his head to one side, Two Socks replied, "Okay then, and do you know where we're heading?"

"East." Said Wester.

"Good." The Trader pony grinned. "And we know that the Darkmines are in the east, right?"

"Affirmative."

Two Socks nodded. "We also know that Siren and Split Tooth are going in that direction, correct?"

"Affirmative."

"Then we're going the right way."

Bounding like a giddy foal, he spun around facing forward once again. Lucy reeled her head back, and nudged Wester in the foreleg. "Wester, I think he just owned you."

"Affirmative. He did."

Giving him a playful smirk she added, "Are you at all little angry? Just a little?"

Lowering his tone Wester sheepishly answered, "Affirmative. I feel the urge to punch him."

Bursting out into loud, hysterical laughter Lucy hit the ground forcefully with her hoof.

Coming up the hillside, Ally saw the edge of a billboard protrude from the top of a hill ahead of them. "Hey, look guys! What's that over there?" Ally shouted, pointing to the unusual object.

The group stopped, and turned their attention to the sign concealed by most the hill. Squinting his eyes, Neo put a hoof over his bow as he focused on the board in the distance. "She's right. It's some kind of billboard."

"What do you think? Should we check it out?" Lucy asked, moving her eyes to the group.

Two Socks shrugged. "I don't see why not. It's something new! I like new things, they're always so interesting!"

With that, he started off to the new structure -- leaving the rest of the ponies at the top of the hill, a little taken back by his sudden rush to action. Galloping at a fair pace all of the ponies chased after Two Socks in an attempt to keep up with him.

Down the hillside the ponies went, keeping their eyes honed onto the billboard as they came closer to it. Two Socks, not even fatigued or weary stood at the base of the large sign gazing up at it with wide, awestruck eyes. A faint shadow was cast off by the board -- encasing the group once they had caught up to their rather spontaneous companion.

Panting, and huffing all eyes soon moved upward. Staring headlong at the profanely painted graffiti that hid whatever message was originally posted on the board.

Neo's chest felt light as took in deep breaths of the cool, dusty air. Everypony had their eyes on the board's center -- where there was a series of crude drawings depicting ponies of both sexes performing acts of a crude, sexual nature.

As Neo caught his breath, he focused his gaze to the lower left corner of the board. The other ponies in the group started to briefly glance at the rude paintings. Lucy's face turned sour at the sight of the vandalized billboard.

Leaning over to Ally, Lucy whispered, "What are we looking for exactly?"

Ally shrugged, her face also turning disgusted. "I'm not sure, to be truthful..."

Neo took a single step forward, once his eyes met the lower left corner of the board. There, written in black dried mud was a message:

147
<---
FLIPPER

A racing energy of joy sent his heart beating, as the words written sparked a newly elated sense of hope. Slowly approaching the board, Neo stood on his hind legs placing both forehooves on the grey, splitter coated wood. Turning his head to the rest of his friends behind him an urgent sensation made his pupils dilate.

"Everyone," Neo spoke, "I think Adam came through here."

Directing their attention toward the mysterious message left in mud, Lucy scratched her blond mane. "I don't know. What's a Flipper? And that number, it's from your stable right?"

Neo nodded, returning to the image. "I know it's Adam. Only he knows about this stuff."

"It might be a trap." Two Socks added, trotting closer to Neo.

Stepping down onto the soggy earth near the board's base, Neo responded bitterly, "Why do you figure that?"

"Think about it," Two Socks added, "they know some kind of group is looking for him. Not only that, but they might have beat him, or tortured the information out of him. Then, they leave this message here pointing us in the wrong direction."

Wester stared at the message. "He might have a point..."

Lowering his head, Neo gritted his teeth. "I swear, if they touched him..."

"But!" Two Socks exclaimed, gleefully prancing to the sign’s side.

"It isn't a trap,” he commented, thoughtfully peering at the sign and rubbing the rugged brown scruff of his chin, ”or at least I'm kinda sure it isn't."

Raising his head, Neo scratched the top of his black, dusty mane. Curiously, he watched Two Socks as he pointed to the sign.

"Why do you say that Two Socks?" Asked Neo.

Grinning, the Trader pony chuckled, "Number one, the arrow here -- it's pointing east. If they reeeeally wanted to throw us off track they would have pointed it elsewhere. Two, I doubt that they've traveled this far beating the tar out of him as they go. That doesn't seem like something slavers this elusive would do. And three, I don't know if the things I just said prior are absolutely certain."

"So, it can still be a trick?" Ally remarked.

Shrugging, Two Socks moved his pointing hoof east. "If they're heading east, and this points east, then we're on the right track. The positive evidence far outweighs the negative."

Trotting toward the east Two Socks, who was in an abnormally chipper mood, began humming to himself again. The further he went the more the gawking faces of everyone else silently followed him.

Ally’s eyes were locked on the Trader, as his actions left her speechless for a moment while she search for a proper response. "Then, what now?" She asked, "Do we just... follow him?"

Neo didn't know what to think, as his mind became bustling with conflicting thoughts on the matter of following Two Socks. "I guess, we do..."

Neo started to follow Two Socks, moving his eyes to the east. "Maybe he was on the right track this whole time..."

Behind Neo, Ally joined Two Socks -- who pacing themselves closely at their rears, was Lucy and Wester. Nudging Wester's solid, armored shoulder Lucy smirked. "Looks like he was right all along, huh Wester?"

"I can be wrong." Wester replied in a firm, metallic tone. "Sometimes."

The wind let out an awful howl as the slaves, and slavers marched forth over the hills that covered the land. At the head of the caravan, was the cart. Creaking loudly as its loose wheels wobbled unsettlingly on their axles.

Adam kept his head low while the chain on his collar rattled softly. Sometimes Adam would turn his gaze to the wagon ahead -- only to divert his eyes once one of the slavers caught him looking at it.

The wagon and its contents were his only hope of escape. If there were an opportune time to look inside, he would take it in a heartbeat. But until that time, Adam kept his wits about him. Remaining absolutely quiet.

In the distance they passed by an old barn with faded red paint. Standing silently, it cast a strange eerie aura that made Adam's hair stand on edge and his body turn cold.

Split Tooth glared frequently at the structure as they passed by. Though, often he would turn to Siren whispering softly into her ears about the unsettling barn. She too looked toward the building with bitter contempt.

Adam nudged Bill's leg, leaning his head closer to him gingerly. "Bill? Do you know what's up with that barn? They don't look happy that we're passing by it."

Bill didn't turn his head to Adam. "I think there might be raiders inside it. I've traveled up here with Two Socks before, and sometimes in them old barns raiders like to hide out."

Returning his eyes to the cart, Adam felt a chill run down his back. "For some reason that place creeps me out. It's either that, or I can't stop thinking about how it'll be when I try to get to the cart."

"Why would ya want to do something like that?" Bill remarked, feeling a sudden surge of panic pulse briskly through him.

"I think they took my stuff and put it in there." Adam answered, briefly pointing to the slave collar around his neck. "I have a key to unlock these things. If I can get to it, I can get us out of here. Then we can help the other ponies escape."

Bill felt a tight knot of anxiousness tie in his stomach as he looked down at the ground unsurely. "Well, I think I saw them load up some new gear in there when they brought you. Though, I can't remember much about it to be truthful."

"They had to have put my gear in there. It's the only other place it could be. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Bill asked.

"Unless." Adam paused as the icy shiver charged through him again, making his hoof tremble. "They got rid of it. In which case, there isn't any hope of freeing us by our own means..."

Bill grinned, motioning his head slightly to Adam. "It'll be okay. Two Socks ain't the sort of pony that quits."

Adam looked at Bill, as all the optimistic energy he had once had was sapped from his very being. Leaving only a cold feeling, and a nervous hoof shaking with uncertain terror. "I said some things to my brother. Before I got taken. Words, I'm not proud of."

Now smiling widely, Bill replied, "I'm sure if he's any good brother he'll forgive you. I bet he's out there, looking for you as we speak."

A warmness, like that of sweet honey, washed away the cold bringing a smile to Adam's face. "Thank you, Bill."

A loud, ear-splitting whistle sounded vexatiously from the front of the caravan, making Adam's ears perk upward. Moving his eyes to the mysterious sound, Siren stood at the top of a hill nearby with a large gin as she peered down at the slaves below.

Split Tooth stood next to her, smirking callously. Pointing into the distance ahead of group, Siren called out, "The outpost is jus' over them hills! Look alive maggots! We're gonna' present ya t' the Legion. See if any of 'em like what we caught!"

Looking up at the two mangy ponies on the hill Adam muttered, "An outpost?"

Bill leaned his head closer to Adam. "I think it's a Legion outpost. They control most of this part of the province after all."

Adam didn't reply, as his eyes once again returned to the cart. The cart, which bumped, and clanked as it moved along the uneven surface of the ground. It was not certain, but the hope that his gear was in the wagon was still very much alive.

High walls of welded steel plates created a large circular protected area for the perimeter of the outpost. The sky about was more fair than normal, sporting a lighter white tinged with cracks made from the sun forcing its rays through the dull cloud-layer above.

Green tents, lined in orderly rows within the wall housed Legion soldiers, who strolled about the camp leisurely. Long towering beams of metal were crossed and held together by steel cabling at their center, forming narrow watchtowers. Soldiers perched at the tops of the towers held rifles close to their sides as they scanned the nearby area keenly.

Banners bearing the Legion's crimson hoof and star were spread about the camp -- gently waving in the dry afternoon breeze. A wide canopy was nestled near the center of the outpost, where Siren and Split Tooth lay back idly in old rusted chairs. Their hooves folded behind their heads, listening to a radio that played on a coffee stand between them.

Not a care in the world, the two ponies enjoyed the music as its sweet melodies of a mare’s voice grace their relaxed ears that drooped low.

"Oh, after the years,
we've been together,
the joys and tears, and all kinds of weather.

Some-day, blue and downhearted,
you’ll long to be with me right back where you started,
and you'll want me only.

After I’m gone,
After I’ve gone away..."

The slaves all lay together away from the canopy, under the careful watch of several Legion soldiers. Adam was next to Bill, feeling his muscles loosen, and his breath return to a normal rate. His eyes were still focused on the cart, which was parked across from them on the other side of the canopy near Split Tooth.

Bill had let his head rest on the dirt, as he drifted off into a quiet sleep. Adam couldn't rest, his mind felt alert as the urge to reach the cart grew more and more, sending a buzzing need to move through him.

I feel like it's a million miles away. Adam thought. Yet, it's right there... taunting me...

A unicorn Legion captain with bright yellow fur, and a short experienced silver mane, stepped out of a tent across from the slaves. His barding covered whatever cutie mark he had while a dark-green cape gently fluttered behind him.

As the captain came forth from his tent, he had levitating at his side a platter holding three murky glasses encased in an orange magical aura. Each was filled to the top with a sparkling, brown drink with a thick white foam gathered at the top.

Hovering two of the drinks to the slavers, he set both of the glasses down gently on the coffee table between them. The captain's voice was firm, and teeming with coarse experience only achieved through age.

"You'll like this." The Captain said, "I got this off of a few traders that came by not long ago."

Siren and Split tooth leaned forward in their seats, focusing their horns on the glasses they levitated them toward their lips. Before Split Tooth sipped his refreshment, he tipped his glass to the Captain grinning.

"Only, fer t' best of ponies, eh mate?"

The Captain nodded. "Indeed. It dates back to the pre-war times. I'm lucky I got it for what I did, some ponies back in Ironhoof would kill for this stuff."

Siren took a sip of her drink, shuddering as the cool bubbling liquid tingled her senses. "Oh, Captn' Flitz. Ya always spoil us when we stop on by."

Taking his own glass, Flitz sipped the beige foam that gather along the glass' rim. "Someone has to, you preform a great service for our order."

"Aye." Split Tooth agreed taking a loud sip of his drink. "Slavin' ain't easy, mate. Not when we got ‘em spunky pups back 'ere."

Flitz turned his eyes to the group of slaves gathered not far away from them. "Yes, quite. And have any of these new ones given you trouble yet? Being spunky, and all."

Split Tooth began to chug his drink in huge gulps, enjoying the rush of carbonated fizz liting his taste buds ablaze with sweet flavor. Releasing the glass from his foam covered lips, he let out a satisfying sign.

Motioning his head to the slaves Split Tooth looked down into the now half empty glass. "That blue one, ‘eys new. ‘Ey's only a pup, an’ feisty one at that. He ain't goin' too easily ah reckon. Keeps lookin' at t' cart. Like it's some sort a babe or whatnot."

"Hmm, and has he done anything irrational?" Fritz asked, taking a seat of his own.

Split Tooth shook his head. "Nah, mate. Though, ah keep a keen watch on ‘im ah does. Ah've dealt with 'em clever folks before, an' he ain't no different if he thinks otherwise."

By the time they were done speaking, the song on the radio had ended. When the sweet tunes of the music left, another voice had replaced it. It was the deep, enthusiastic sound of Cool Blue.

"How's it going my provincial Brother and Sisters? This is Cool Blue, coming at you live with the news! First things, first kiddies. A pack of wild hellhounds was spotted in the outskirts of Silvermane city. Now, I know you folks like to keep away from there, so most of you don't have anything to worry about. But for those of you that have a planned vacation there, ya better think twice about it. Those doggies aren't exactly the friendly type. So keep your distance, and stay away.

In other news, Tiger company has been seen skulking about the eastern hills. I'm not sure what they're doing, but ever since those crazy guardians came in and beat down Vladimir's pet in the arena they've been out doing all sorts of good. Helpin' us strugglin' travelers on the dusty road. If you do have a chance to see one of their members, show them your thanks.

That's enough about that depressin’ stuff kiddies, let's get the music going smooth with one of my favorite hits from the old days by that lovely doll Sweetie Bell."

Another song, just as soft and mild in tune played; charging the air with a calming atmosphere.

Smirking at Flitz -- Split Tooth slumped back into his seat. "Why ya got t' listen t' this? Ah thought t' Legion don't like all that freedom talk."

"Hehe, I know what you mean,” Flitz chuckled, “and any other outpost near Ironhoof city would agree with you. However, I prefer this music over the constant blaring of triumphant marching tunes. Compared to this it's a lot more... Uplifting, as it were."

Resting the glass down on the floor, Captain Flitz smiled. "Where do you two intend on going? To the Darkmines again, I presume?"

Nodding, Split Tooth scoffed, "There ain't nowhere else, mate."

"If that's the case," Flitz started, “I would probably move a few miles north first."

Cocking his skinny head to one side, Split Tooth raised a questioning eyebrow. "Why do ya say that?"

"Recently the Coalition has been raiding trains on the northern tracks. For what reason, I don't know. Apparently it's enough to make them want a few of my troops to defend the trains that go through there."

Siren took several loud gulps of her drink. Removing the glass from her foam coated lips she sighed, feeling a tingling sensation roll up her body. Her vision had become slightly blurred, and her tongue felt numb.

Giggling to herself, Siren's glass levitated toward Flitz in an bobbing motion. "May ah 'ave some more, love?"

Pouring the mare another glass of the sparkling drink, Flitz continued speaking to Split Tooth. "Having said that, as you can imagine supplies don't come in that often since the Coalition decided to raid the trains. Ultimately making life out here -- less than desirable."

There was a slight sway in Siren's movements. Her limbs, and chest felt lighter than air, as the tingling bubbly sensation made her cheeks become warm, turning them a light red. "Wot's t' deal? Ah know ya, an' ya never treat ponies this nice. Even if we is common guests."

"She's roight, mate." Split Tooth remarked, stirring his drink in slow circular motions. "T' fancy drink? T' treatment. Wot's it ya want?"

Flitz picked up the glass and hovered it close to his lips, and smiled coyly. "I guess I couldn't keep a secret from you two, hm?"

Resting his drink on the table, Split Tooth said, "Moight as well spill t' beans, eh?"

Flitz sighed, "The problem I'm faced with, is that food isn't easy to come by. Meaning supplies might be more than what you're used to paying for."

"An' how much is it gonna' cost?" Split Tooth asked.

Thoughtfully putting a hoof to his lower lip, Flitz lay back in his chair. "How much do you have?"

"Two 'undred." Split Tooth answered.

Looking firmly at Split Tooth, Flitz muttered, "It isn't good enough."

Split Tooth nearly rose from his chair, glaring furiously at the captain. "Wot?! Wot ya mean it ain't good enough?!"

"Like I had said," Flitz added holding a solid, determined stare. "Because of the current happenings -- my outpost has been rather drained of funds. However, I'd be willing to accept another form of compensation if you are willing to talk."

Breathing heavily, a great heated fumed inside of Split Tooth turned his face a light red. "And wot might that be, eh?"

The Captain was quite at first. Sitting in his chair he looked up at the gently flapping canopy above. Returning to the slaver, Flitz had a smirk that made Split Tooth feel an unsettling knot irk him within his stomach.

"I lost something. Something that I hold quite dear to me.” Flitz proposed. “I would like one of your slaves to retrieve it."

The fire inside of Split Tooth was quelled, as a bewildering curiosity replaced it. "Wot?" He gawked, cocking his head to the side.

"I have a safe, mainly filled with items passed down in my family." Flitz began, rising from his chair and looking toward the slaves nearby. "I wore the key around my neck to it, and ever since my father gave it to me it has remained on my neck."

Split Tooth commented, "Aye, ah know t' ol' thing. So that's wot it was for?"

"Indeed." Flitz responded with an unshaken tone. "Now, there's a mineshaft the boys and I use next to the wall to store supplies, and occasionally search of mineral pockets. A few days ago when I was down there, checking the supplies we had stored down inside the upper levels, the mine caved in. Apparently the mine's tunnels were next to some sort of underground aquifer. Needless to say, water filled in the lower parts of the upper sections of the mine, and in the panic to evacuate I lost my key."

"An' ya want one of my pretties t' go down there for it?"

Flitz nodded sharply. "Yes, exactly."

Siren was swaying in a undulated motion, as a wide dumb smile was plastered onto her blushing face. "'Em slaves be valuable merch, mate. Some bettah, than others. Nonetheless, they are worth more than some stupid key."

Placing a hoof on Siren's foreleg, Split Tooth patted her gently cooing sweetly to the drunken mare. "Now, now. We need 'em supplies. We gots no food. No water. Nothin'."

Flitz's grin grew wider reaching from ear to ear. "I must say, it does appear as though your current status is rather grim."

Split Tooth sighed, weight a deep heavy weight now sat in his stomach. "Which slave, ya 'ave in mind?"

Shrugging Flitz, looked at the slaves, inspecting them from afar. "I'm not sure. They aren't mine. Though, if I were to chose one I would pick... The blue one.”

Rising briskly from his chair Split Tooth's eyes filled with stern, heated fury. "Out of t' question!"

The slaver's reaction made Flitz's curiosity rise. Retaining his pompous smirk, the Captain snickered, "Oh? So this buck is worth a pretty penny?"

Split Tooth did not comment while Flitz went on. "Because, of them all he looks the most fit for the task. Surely that is why you are so protective of him, am I wrong?"

Siren hiccuped, with groggy drooping eyes. "Aye, he's a healthy buggah if ah ever did saw one."

"Hmm, interesting... Very interesting..." Flitz purred to himself, stroking the dulled yellow fur of his chin.

Spinning himself around, Flitz pointed at Split Tooth. "I have a proposition for you. For both of you."

Both slavers answered in unison, "Aye?"

A weasel-like slyness saturated the Captain's words. "What say you, if you took that blue fellow over there, and made him go find the key. Now, let's say he comes back in one piece, no harm done. In return, I'll compensate you for the risk by not only giving you the supplies you need, but some addition ammunition for your weapons on the side. Plus, some minor repairs to that rickety old wagon of yours."

Looking into one another's eyes, Siren and Split Tooth sized up the risks. Blurred by a drunken haze, Siren could not make a positive decision. Her partner, however, contemplated the proposal thoroughly. Taking into account the potability of losing his best slave.

Messaging the bridge of his snout, Split Tooth's face turned sour. "Fine... But let me talk t' ‘im first."

"Please." Flitz replied rather reluctantly. "By all means."

Adam saw the whole conversation transpire. Strangely, his mood became worse as his hoof shook more feverishly. A sloshing nausea churning inside his stomach, making the blueness of his coat turn pale.

Bill rose his head from ground, licking his dry lips and batting his heavy eyes. "Adam? Is something wrong?"

"What?" Adam replied suddenly, as the uneasy sensation persisted. "H-How did you-"

Bill yawned loudly, "When you travel with another pony for some time you learn when there is something wrong. The air jus' doesn't feel right."

Adam gulped hard. "Well..."

"You! Pup! Get up! Now!" Split Tooth's voice barked from the canopy.

Moving his head to the slaver, Adam saw as his captor trotted toward him. An angered energy filled the air, for in Split Tooth’s narrowed eyes Adam saw a fiery hate burn inside of him.

Split Tooth stopped before Adam, leering down at the buck. "You, pup. 'Ow fit are ya?"

A nervous lump in Adam's throat prevented him from answering.

"Well?" Split Tooth demanded, his hoof tapping the ground impatiently.

"I'm able." Adam answered lowly. "If that's what you mean."

"Able, wot? You sayin' that if ah were t' ask ya to do somethin' physical ya could do it proper good?"

Adam nodded, keeping his eyes away from Split Tooth. "Yes, that's what I meant."

"Hmph," The slaver snorted. "Fine, get up. Ah've got a job for ya."

Looking back at Bill, Adam stood up. "May I ask what it is?"

"Jus' shut it." Split Tooth snarled, pulling a round silver key from a pocket on his barding.

Encased in a sparkling aura of sickly green energy Split Tooth placed it into a slot on the collar. Twisting it once, the key made the device around Adam's neck let out a faint, ping.

"There..." The slaver grunted, returning the key to the pocket. "Yer distance is increased. Ya can go far away from me, an' t' fellahs now. But don' think that ya can make a dash t’ freedom anytime soon. Ya ‘ead will still pop like a cherry if ya stray too far."

"But what am I going to be doing?" Adam asked.

Split Tooth began to seethe, as the agitated expression on his face became more vile. "Ah need ya t' fetch somethin’ for me. An’ ya are goin' to do it. Or ah'll make ya do it. Understand, pup?"

The heavy sinking in Adam's stomach became worse. Now it stirred around like a violent sea being churned by a storm of anxiety. "Can I make a request? Just a little one."

Glaring cautiously at him, Split Tooth nodded once. "Wot is it, pup?"

Motioning his head toward Bill, Adam said, "Can I take the him with me? For an extra hoof."

Split Tooth had his head turned slightly to Bill, pointing one squinting eye at the donkey. For a moment, he was silent. Keeping one yellow iris focused on him. Then, in gruff slur he answered, "Fine... But only 'im, got it?"

Adam gave the slaver a silent nod. Directing himself to Bill -- Split Tooth once more revealed the key that extended the collar's distance. And, like Adam, he inserted it into Bill's collar.

"There," Split Tooth grunted, "now get over 'ere. Both of ya. Ah'm gonna get them chains off ya, then ya goin' t' do that task ah mentioned..."

Outside near the steel-plated wall of the outpost was a hole. It was no larger than four feet in diameter, with a rickety old wooden ladder held together by rusted nails, and tattered rope -- leading down into a dark, chilling abyss.

Around the hole leading into the mine was Flitz, with both slavers at his side. Next to them rested a heavy-looking wooden lid that was meant to seal the top during storms, or raids.

Adam and Bill felt relieved for the moment. No longer were they wearing the heavy, constraining chains which tugged and pulled along the floor as they dragged along. It was liberating, in some ways. Though, for Adam, the wonderful sensation of his sweaty neck under the tight metal collar -- feeling the crisp air was very much desired. For now, this limited freedom would have to do.

Adam had his head leaning over the mine's entrance, peering into the hollow emptiness below. Gulping heavily, the unknown void sent a shiver run up his spine and through his tail.

Ginning, Flitz hovered a dull golden pocket watch below is chest. Glancing down at it, he nodded. "It'll turn six soon. Would any of you two like to take bets on how long it will take them?"

Split Tooth was glaring at him. "Ah'm not gonna take bets on 'em. They're my slaves, an' ah don't need t' take any bets on 'em."

Shrugging, Flitz placed his pocket watch into a cozy little empty ammunition pocket on his iron breastplate. "Fair enough, I was just curious is all."

Siren gave the Legion captain a wide, goofy smile nudging him gently in the foreleg. "Well, mate usually ah would take ya up on that bet. But, not with me an' Splity's slaves."

Flitz raised an eyebrow, unamused by her reply. "Right...”

Turning his attention to the two slaves before the mine’s entrance, Flitz said, “Well, I suppose these two should know what they're looking for."

Perking themselves up at the sound of Flitz's voice the two slaves had looked at him. Standing stiffly, Flitz pointed at the mine's entrance. "Down there is a key. A nice, shiny key. It's quite big, and very beautiful. I would like it if you two were to fetch it for me."

Before either of them could answer, Flitz went on. "Now, the mine flooded a bit. Not too much I think, and my key happened to drop into one of the more deeper pools near the entrance. I would go myself but it's possible the mineshaft is unstable, and being the leading officer here it simply wouldn't do anyone any good if I were to suddenly die. The same can be said about your masters. I hope you understand our predicament."

Adam returned to the hole looking into the darkness that seemed to engulf the ladder the farther it went down. "Please." Flitz continued. "Go in when you are ready. Mind you, we don't have all day and it can get rather boring up here."

Bill came next to Adam, resting a hoof on his shoulder. "If ya want, I can go first."

Like a severed power cable whipping around Adam's hoof was trembling uncontrollably. A coldness, far greater than that of the wind, froze his body. Nodding, he stepped aside for Bill.

Putting his hooves onto the ladder, Bill started to descend into the mine. Farther down the donkey went, slowly being encased in a thick layer of pure blackness. In mere moments -- Bill was out of sight.

Out of the nothingness came forth Bill's voice, calling up to Adam, "Comon' down! It's okay!"

Taking in a brisk, refreshing breath of air Adam forced the churning anxiety in his stomach down. Tightening his gut, and summoning his courage Adam took hold of the ladder, and made his way down into the unknown.

As each hoof rested on a new section of the ladder it creaked unsoundly. The nails along the ladder's side protruded nearly half-way bent, and crooked as though they were not completely hammered in. It was nerve-wracking, and the loud groans of the stressed wood did not help keep down a the chaotic sea of nervousness in his stomach.

Stretching forth his hind leg down to the next section of the ladder, Adam felt an odd surface. It was rocky, and damp with air was thickly laden with cool moisture that smelt of freshly fertilized earth, tilled up on a rainy day.

Feeling the ground more soundly, Adam searched for the rest of the mine's floor. Strangely, it all felt the same. The same rocks and dirt. It was all similar in feeling. Reaching for his Pipbuck, the orange lantern of his only personal possession illuminated the area around him.

Next to him was Bill, who stood near the end of the ladder, smiling at him. "It's a good thing ya got that. I was startin' to wonder how they expected us to see down here."

"Maybe they didn't." Adam commented, inspecting the mine around them.

Adam mouth was agape at the sight of the cave before the two of them. Bill too, was astonished staring in awe at the mine.

Quarts, both in tiny glistening specs, and in large sparkling junks lavishly coated the walls like a tapestry of stars on a clear night. Even along the low mine shaft ceiling the orange glow of the Pipbuck lantern set the whole tunnel ablaze with star-like glitter.

"It's..." Adam muttered, holding his Pipbuck above his head.

"Beautiful..." Bill concluded.

"Well, as nice as this is..." Adam said putting down his hoof. "We better get started. Something tells me we're going to have a hard time finding this thing..."

Bill nodded silently, as they trotted down the long, dark cavernous deep. Walking along droplets of icy water started to drip from the ceiling. The father along the two went, the more water started to fall from above. And, through the darkness was a noise. Distant, yet notable it echoed through the tunnel ahead.

Perking an ear upward, Bill focuses his hearing on the sound, tuning out the low shuffles of their hooves against the ground. The noise was that of rushing water, pouring down in a large continuous stream.

Stepping carefully, they reached a wide round room, with a thin wooden platform extending out just above the surface of a pool of water. A giant crack was split along the wall, that trailed up to part of the ceiling were water spewed forth from the gash in the stone. Below it was where would be a room. However, it was all flooded. Giving off the appearance that the cavern itself was a flooded pool.

The very sound of rushing water made Adam thirsty as his parched throat cried out with aching dryness. Leaning his head down, Adam sipped on the fresh waters of the aquifer. Each gulp was like a relieving breath of air that filled his body with rejuvenating energy.

Bill too came to the water and drank -- only he after a few gulps pulled himself away. "Ya can drink it, but not too much. The amount of minerals in this stuff is crazy."

Removing his lips from the water, Adam gazed down at his rippling reflection. "I see. It's just the water was so..."

"I know." Bill added smiling. "I haven't had some good water like that in a bit. But in this state it ain't tainted, and it ain't too good for ya either."

"So what now?" Adam pondered aloud.

"Well." Bill began taking a shallow breath. "We swim."

Adam's fur stood on-end at the mention of their option. "S-Swim? As in, get into the water?"

Nodding, Bill put his hoof in the frigid water only to quickly pull it out, shivering. "Eeyup, and boy is that stuff cold..."

There was a lump in Adam's throat, and the very image of jumping into the water was terrifying. Looking at him, Bill turned his head curiously to one side. "Adam? Are you okay?"

Beneath Adam's coat a ghostly paleness protruded. Shaking his head, the buck felt his legs lock-up. "It's just... I don't know how to swim..."

Raising an eyebrow Bill chuckled, "It ain't that hard to start learnin'. I can teach you how to hold your breath, and kick yourself up to the surface if you want."

Adam's heart began to race, while the pouring water began to ring thunderously in his ears. "Why can't you go? I'll just slow us down, or get lost under there. What if I can't see! I-"

"Hey." Bill commented sternly, stepping toward Adam and patting him calmly on the back. "We can do it. Plus, I need you down there. You're Pipbuck is the only light we've got right now, and without it we won't be able to find the key."

Trying to force the lump in his throat down, Adam's hoof started to tremble once again as he peered at his rippling reflection. "My brother went into water once... Back in Ironhoof city. I was so scared, and that water... All my life I've never even thought of going into something this deep before. And yet, I’ve fought monsters, and raiders, and the Legion too. But of all those things this terrifies me the most."

Placing a hoof on his chest Bill stood proudly lifting his nose high into the air. "Well, it's good for you that I'm a certified swimmer. Well, sorta. I traveled with Two Socks on the sea once. We had to learn to dive, and swim. That was also a few years ago..."

Shaking his head briefly, Bill continued, "Never mind that. Let's start with the basics of just opening your eyes underwater, okay?"

Adam gave him a weary nod.

"Alright," Bill stated stepping to the water's edge. "What you're gonna’ do is close your eyes, and hold your breath. Then, stick your head under the water. Okay?"

Coming to the where the water met the soggy mine floor, Adam had a feverish chill blow through him. With Bill at his side, Adam closed his eyes and held his breath. Submerging the front portion of his face he felt the icy bite of the water attack the muscles in his face.

Adam's ears were still very much dry, and as Bill was next to him he heard him kindly mutter the other directions while underwater. "Now, what you're going to do next is open your eyes. Slowly at first, then open them fully, got it?"

Nodding, Adam could feel the breath in his lungs slowly drain.

"Good," Bill added. "Now try."

Opening his eyelids slowly Adam could, at first, see a dark blur before him. The cold of the water made the muscles of his face ache while his eyelids gradually became fully drawn back. When they had just start to open an odd weighing sensation poked his eyes -- just as though something had been pressing down hard on his vision.

Reeling back, Adam gasped for air coughing. Patting his student on the back, Bill asked, "How did you do? Did you see anything?"

Huffing tiredly, Adam shook his head. "No..." He coughed." I saw something blurry for a second, and then it all started to feel weird. Not like pain, but more of a quick jolt of pressure... I don't know how to describe it."

"It's okay." Bill said, "That what happens usually when ya try for the first time. Let's try one more."

Like before, Adam took in a deep breath and plunged his head into the dark water. Just as it had done before -- the same strange pressure forced itself on to his eyes. Pulling himself out he shook his head. Again, Adam tried. This time, squinting his eyelids to keep less water from making direct contact with his vision. Oddly enough, though the scene before him was blurred, and distorted generally the environment was visible.

Many of the larger, more dark objects under the water were clear. And the few glistening fragments of quartz down at the bottom were plained visible as well. Outside of this restricted view he could navigate underwater. If only for a short time.

Withdrawing from the water -- Adam rubbed his sore, straining eyes muttering, "It's a little hard still, but I think I can see well enough..."

Bill smiled. "Well, then I guess we better move on to lesson two. Now, for this we'll have to get in."

Great. Adam thought. But, if brother could do it, I guess I can as well...

Jumping in the water, Bill sent up a monstrous splash sending water flying in all directions. Putting both hooves along the water’s edge, he waved at Adam, beckoning for him to join in.

"I have to warn ya, though." Bill announced whipping his drenched mane around. "It's freezing!"

The lump in Adam's turned to stone in that instant. But if there was ever a time to conquer his fears, now would be the time. Rousing his strength, he battled the anxiety and lowered himself into the chilling pool of cave water.

Instantly, the cold began to nip at his limps. It was irritating, as it didn't show any signs of the cold halting any time soon.

Adam's teeth were chattering loudly, while his body had started to shiver. "Alright," Adam sputtered. "W-what now?"

"Okay, first we're going to need to paddle. You know how to do that?" Bill asked.

Adam shook his head.

"Thought so." Bill replied.

Bill submerged his face under the water for a moment, before returning to Adam. "Here, I have an idea. Grab on to me, and I'll take us down. Then, we'll both look for the key. If you need air, tap on me and we'll both kick off the ground back up to the surface. Does that sound like a good lesson two?"

For a moment Adam was quiet. Despite the constant sting of the freezing water, his heart was warm, and beating briskly. "Sure... I'm not certain how long I can hold my breath down there though."

"Don't worry." Bill said nudging Adam gently in the foreleg. "We'll be fine."

"Right..." Adam sighed, making his way behind Bill. Wrapping his legs around Bill's neck, Adam held his breath as they both descended into the frigid deep.

As water filled his ears Adam heard nothing, but the faint running of the water above. There was a certain sort of tranquility to being underwater. Time was slow, and the tensions of the world seemed meager to nonexistent. Even with this sort of conviction there was still a task before them.

And so Adam, squinting his eyes, looked at the world from under the rippling surface.

Like before, everything was blurred -- this was except for larger objects, and the occasional shiny spec of quartz that reflected the light of his Pipbuck lamp back at them. The further Bill dove down the more an odd pressure seemed to form inside Adam’s ears.

At first it was tolerable, but the farther the two went down the more it proved to be a great annoyance. An annoyance, that would eventually turn into a hard forceful weight, piecing painfully into Adam’s eardrums. Biting his lower lip, he endured the pain hoping the frigid temperatures would numb the tension.

Along the rocky bottom the two searched. The orange glow of Adam's Pipbuck made the dark waters illuminate dimly. Those few items which were the darkest objects cast massive, scattering shadows doubling the number of things they could see.

Bill swam past minecart tipped onto its side, only to find that it was the shadow of one. Every second they were down in the deep, a weight on Adam's chest grew as he soon found that the air in his lungs was thinning.

Tapping on Bill's shoulder, Bill placed his legs on the ground at the bottom, and pushed off with one strong kick. Shooting up to the surface, they both opened their mouths -- letting in the fresh air of the mine into their lungs.

"Did you see anything?" Adam asked, huffing and puffing.

Bill shook his head. "No, I didn't. Let's try again. Maybe we can still find it."

Adam nodded, and together they both dived down into the water below.

Holding tightly to Bill, Adam peered careful through the cloudy haze to find the key. And, after searching through the flooded section of the mine their morale started to diminish. Feeling drained, and weary in his chest Adam felt the exasperating sensation of fatigue slowly consume him.

However, Bill seemed to be just as eager, and spry as before. Not even the weight of Adam’s body lagging his mobility appeared to affect his performance.

Then turning his head Adam saw something sparkle no more than ten feet from him. Unlike the quartz or metal tools this object was thin, small and more fine in appearance than anything else they had encountered in the mine. Nestled neatly under a wooden stool the key rested completely still. Nudging Bill, Adam tried to point his companion in the shining object's direction.

But the cold of the water had numbed his companion’s feeling. For all Bill could feel was the weak sensation of Adam’s grip.

Not even sparing Adam a glance, he had his sights set on another metal tool glimmering before him locked between a large rock, and a green toolbox. Convinced it was the key, the donkey tried to reach it.

Returning his view to the key, Adam felt sick. The urge to swim toward it -- to reach the key grew. Yet, a coldness, not part of the chilling water pierced his confidence.

What would brother do? Adam thought.

Please, please what would he do!? He’s more experienced with this stuff! Not me! What would he do!?

In that moment of panic, a thought sparked to life in Adam's mind. W-What... What would I do?

And, locking his eyes on the key he let go of Bill. Pushing out his forelegs he started off through the water. Kicking the water fiercely, Adam pushed the water back with all his might.

It wasn't the best time to learn how to paddle, but if there was ever a time to start he figured now would be better than any. With the key in hoof's reach he focused on it as the light of his lamp glowed brightly. In the water it moved toward him once his artificial levitation worked its magic.

Moving the key slowly to his mouth, Adam grabbed the chilled metal shank firmly between his teeth.

Realizing his comrade was no longer grasping hold of him, Bill quickly searched for Adam. Spotting the light of the Pipbuck, he started swimming behind Adam, desperately trying to reach him.

And though the key was in Adam’s mouth, the buck found there was something dreadfully wrong with his legs.

They had gone numb. In the heat of the moment the thought of his freezing body escaped him. The weight which pressed down onto his chest like a bolder compressing a foam mat signified the breath in his lungs depleting.

Soon his vision started to darken, as Adam slowly felt the whole of his body go limp -- his tongue could still taste the bitter metal. Before his eyes shut, Bill was rushing through the dark to his aid. That was, until the whole of Adam's sight was clouded by a lonely, icy darkness.

Being unconscious was becoming a common ordeal for Adam. Just as it had been the last time he had awoke from the uncertain limbo, a distant voice cried out to him in the dark. A voice, no softer than that of a whisper. Then his eyes opened slowly, when the warmth of life started to pulse through his body once more.

Letting out hoarse, hacking coughs water spewed forth from his mouth. Rolling onto his side, he groaned feeling the cold turn to soreness all over his body. Bill started to rub Adam's side gently speaking to him in a delicate tone.

"Adam? Are ya okay? Say somethin'!"

Adam coughed, slumping onto his back."D-Did we get... the key?"

Blinking, Bill nodded reaching to his side before revealing a small steel key between his teeth. Around the polished bow of the key was a grey rope, and along the long glossy shank was a series of small letters engraved into one side.

Sitting up slowly, Adam caught his breath. "I'm sorry I went off like that..."

Bill rested his haunches down on the muddy ground, and chuckled, "It ain't your fault. I should have noticed that was a mining pin in front of me."

Wanting to rub the back of his aching neck, Adam's hoof bumped the tightly fastened slave collar. Scoffing, Adam remarked, "I almost forgot this was there...”

“I know what ya mean.” Said Bill.

“I suppose we should take the key up there, huh?" Adam added.

"Eeyup. Hopefully those folks up there aren't too mad about the wait."

Pointing with one hoof at the key Adam asked Bill in a shallow voice, "I saw some writing on it. What does it say?"

Bill looked down at the key, and laughed. Standing uneasily, Adam hobbled next to his friend. "What does it say?"

Gigglingly like a young school filly, Bill replied, "It says: Jet Safe Key. Hahaha! Some family!"

Bursting out into a loud guffaw, Adam joined in on the laughter. There was a funny air to it, despite the hardships they had went through. And it warmed Adam's heart to hear their laughter fill the low roofed tunnels of the mine.

After the laughter had faded, both had recovered themselves. Trotting down through the caverns their damp hooves squelched against the soggy mine floor. Coming to the ladder, with a single shaft of pure light beaming down into the dark, Adam started up it placing his hooves on the old wooden ladder.

When Adam was halfway up the ladder, with the bright white light of the outside beaming onto them, Flitz's voice called out. "Is that you, boys? Climb up, we’re waiting for you!"

"We're almost there Bill!" Adam said, taking hold of another creaking wooden step.

As the surface’s glow became greater, it soon consumed his vision causing Adam to wince at the blinding light. The very moment he had emerged from the mine a pair of hooves shot out from the brightness, and took hold of him by the shoulders.

Dragging him out onto the rocky earth, Adam's face slammed directly into the ground making his muzzle throb sorely. The same pair of lanky, greasy hooves came forth pulling Bill out of the mine, and onto the ground.

Blinking, Adam applied pressure to his aching nose as he stood up unsteadily. Very gradually the light which had encased the world began to fade, while his vision came-to.

The first thing Adam was greeted with, was the long, skinny face of Split Tooth glaring at him nearly inches away from his own face. Looking down at him with his wide, yellow eyes the slaver’s putrid breath brushed against the hairs along Adam's snout -- making the young buck feel nauseated.

Crinkling his nose Adam looked up at the slaver, who silently stared at him. No sooner had his eyes met Split Tooth's, did a crooked grin sprout on the slaver’s face -- exposing the sickly tinted skewed teeth in his mouth.

Raising himself, the slaver patted Adam on the head gently. "Well, well. No 'arm done ah see? So, then where is t' key, pup?"

"I have it for ya." Bill answered standing up.

Directing his attention to the donkey, Split Tooth sneered, "Oh? So you're t' one that 'as it then?"

Still fairly tipsy, Siren started bouncing in one spot, grinning widely and clapping her hooves together. "He found it! He found it! The donkey's done an' found it!"

Flitz raised an eyebrow at the mare. "Yes... What she said. I would very much like to see my key now, if you would please."

Trotting behind Bill, Split Tooth promptly slapped the donkey on the back sending a quick jolt of panic surge through him.

Snickering, the slaver added, "Now go on, son. Give t' nice capt' 'is key..."

Taking hold of the key between his teeth, Bill trotted to Captain Flitz. The captain's horn became aglow with a translucent magical aura which enveloped the key in its entirety.

Removing itself from Bill's grasp the key floated toward Flitz were the grey string wrapped itself around his neck.

Once the energy had faded, Flitz smiled placing a hoof at the key's end where he looked down and admired it. "You've done me a good service gentlecolts."

Moving his eyes to Split Tooth, Flitz said with a simple, low bow, "As promised, you will get your supplies. Free of cost, of course. Along with that repair for your wagon. "

Siren leaped onto Flitz, wrapping her boney forelegs around him, ultimately taking the captain by surprise. Her cheeks were burning a vibrant red as she giggled, ogling him. "Yessir Mr. Capt'..."

Gently pushing her off of him, Flitz reeled back brushing off the sections of his body she had touched.

In a boisterous tone Split Tooth declared, "Now wit that gone an' done ah want them supplies before dark comes."

Letting out a quiet sigh, Captain Flitz made his way back to the outpost. "Fine, let us be on our way then. We have much to do in such a small window of time."

"Rioght," Split Tooth agreed.

Pointing at Adam, and Bill Split Tooth shouted, "An' ya two! Hope t' it! Let's get ya back with t' others. Once we get our grub we're headin' out!"

Jumping to attention Adam and Bill followed behind Split Tooth and Siren. As they walked along the tall steel wall of the outpost Adam smiled. It was the first time he had done something so brave on his own, without the help of his brother. A newfound courage beamed within him -- the sort of courage which makes leaders, or courageous heroes what they were.

Though it was simple, it felt like an achievement to him. Bill looked at Adam, raising a single eyebrow. "Why are you smiling?"

"I'm just a little proud of us, I suppose." Adam replied.

Another odd feature was, for the first time since his capture his hoof was completely still. Not a shake, nor a shudder.

Playfully nudging Adam in the shoudler, Bill added, "Really? There isn't anything else?"

"Well," Adam responded looking at Bill's collar. "They didn't lower the distance on our collars."

Big Lot was smiling, as she enjoyed the lovely stroll through the the wasteland. The cool breeze moving through her curly lox, and the sound of armored plates clinging against each other made her feel at peace. Of course, having a loyal pony carry her wherever she pleased was also very enjoyable.

Evening was fast approaching, as the clouds above bled bright vibrant oranges in a multitude of hues. Painting a mural of light in the sky while the day came slowly to an end.

Scattered about the empty wastes, soldiers -- some pulling carts full of supplies -- marched onward toward the east. In order to cut off the ponies Big Lot believe murdered her uncle they had took an alternative route north.

It was known by Big Lot that a Legion outpost nearby could house them, but she was determined to find her lost toys. If she knew anything about the ponies that her group hunted, it was that they would avoid the Legion.

Using a single hoof, she pushed back her hair inhaling the dusty air deeply. Letting out a pleasant sigh, she tapped Covert on the head. "You know, I do enjoy walks such as this. Even if we're on the hunt, there is something I do love about the outdoors. Don't you think so?"

Covert was silent. Keeping an agitated grimace away from her sight.

Frowning, Big Lot tapped him harder on the head. "Did you not hear me?"

Covert thought, Of course I did you little shit. Would you please shut it?

Narrowing her eyes the little filly pouted slamming her hoof down on the top of his head. The sudden pain inflicted on Covert sent him staggering briefly, as an aching pain throbbed all throughout his cranium. Stopping where he stood, he placed a hoof on his brow, shielding it from any further blows.

"Yes, y-your radiance?" He muttered starting to walk once more.

"Why didn't you listen to me?" Big Lot retorted.

Lowering his head to the ground Covert began to whimper, "I-I'm dreadfully sorry, your radiance. I was focusing on that task at hoof..."

"Well!" She declared in a sarcastic tone. "I better not distract you from walking! It's not like that's easy enough already!"

"I-I'm sorry, your radiance." He repeated. "It will not happen again..."

"It better not," She growled, "for your sake..."

She is worse than her uncle. Covert thought. Could I even try to get rid of her? How would I do it? When?

Inconspicuously, his eyes scanned the area around him as the pain pulsed atop his brow causing his thoughts to become distorted. Shaking his head, Covert continued to ponder the many ways of dealing with Big Lot.

Moving his attention to the carts pulled by the soldiers he examined the possibilities. Perhaps if I took a gun from the cart... No, no no that won't work.... What if!... No, too risky...

The additional thinking only made the pain throb more intensely than it had before. Nowhere, within miles seemed to yield any sort of option for a successful takeover.

And so he waited. Keeping a keen eye open for the right opportunity to strike. Fear, usually felt like an odd tingling, or sinking in the chest or stomach. To Covert, fear was everywhere -- like a large, solid wall of concrete. In that moment, however, he could feel nothing. Not a single brick nor barrier of the wall that prevented him from acting out his desires against his master.

The sensation was uplifting, and spry. Giving him a deepened sense of purpose that bubbled like sweet carbonated fizz in his chest. If there was no ponies around he would deal with her right where he stood. To think, the simple motion of taking a knife out from one of the other soldiers, and plunging it into her neck almost brought a smile to his miserable face.

As the soldiers marched forth through the wastes a small gorge came into view. It had dusty, low slopes that lead down into a narrow ditch at the bottom -- where several small boulders along a winding shallow ravine rested scattered about. Only the more distant section that twisted off into the distance peeked out from behind the hills.

Out of the corner of her eye Big Lot spotted a brown, strange object -- covered in fur, moving behind the hills. Standing atop her cushion she began pointing and jumping at it announcing to the world her find.

"Look! Look! Look! I saw something coming from the hills!"

Scooter pulled up along Covert, spotting the gorge. "What is it, yer radiance? Ah don' seem t' follow ya..."

Slapping him upside the head from her cushion, Big Lot barked, "Don't you see? It could be them! We've come so close that now they've resorted to hiding in the hills!"

Blinking, Scooter shrugged. "Ah don' see anythin'-"

Like water vigorously boiling insider her, Big Lot let out a fuming scream, "It's them! I know it is! I KNOW I KNOW I KNOOOW!"

Reeling his head back, Scooter flattened his ears submissively. "Ah know, but ya can't jus' chase after any livin' thing ya see out 'ere."

"W-What's saying she can't?" Covert replied with high degree of meekness in his tone.

Shaking his head, Scooter leaned his face closer to the miserable stallion with the raging filly on his back gawking. "Wah? Ah don'-"

Glaring at her captain, Big Lot answered, "Scooter, stop talking."

Like she had commanded -- Scooter stopped speaking, and listening to her words carefully he looked fearfully up at his master. "But yer radiance..."

Raising her nose into the air, she turned her head away from Scooter, before shoving a hoof in his face. "Ah ah ah! That's no way to talk to me. Now, you listen to me well, Scooter. You're going to get a few guards to come with me. We'll go over that hill and catch them off guard. You take the rest of the troops and circle around. When we've cornered them... Well, it won't be long before they aren't a problem any more."

Scooter's stomach sank, as uncertainty made his chest feel pricked with anxiety. Sighing, he bowed slightly, groaning, "Yes yer radiance. Ah'll get to it..."

As Scooter was ordered did, he trotted off to the other soldiers to fulfill his orders. The company of Big Lot's soldiers halted their movement. Unhitching themselves from the supply carts soldiers raced to prepare their weapons the more Scooter spread the word of their Princess’ commands.

Assembling just as she had commanded, two earth pony soldiers armed with bulky assault rifle battle-saddles came to Covert's side. Strapped to the heavy armor of their breastplates were long jagged edged combat knives, tucked neatly in thick brown leather sheaths.

Big Lot was grinning widely, peering gleefully at the strong soldiers that had came to her.

Intently she waved a hoof to Scooter who was arranging the troops to circle around. Leaning over the edge of her cushion she whispered to her two soldiers, "Now listen here. They're over on the other side of that hill. And-"

"Your radiance, which do you think it is?" One of the soldiers asked.

The little filly found it hard to reach the pony who had spoke out from her seat. Though, with a tap of Covert's head her personal carrier pony shuffled slightly toward the two soldiers. In doing so, she was in hoof’s reach of the soldier.

Raising her hoof, Big Lot briskly smacked the one who had spoke out behind the helmet. Stumbling forward the soldier recovered himself.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Big Lot asked.

The soldier shook his head. "Good," Big Lot snorted, "stay quiet. I won't have you mucking this up for me. Those ponies will pay for what they did to my border, and I will avenge my uncle."

Glancing over to Scooter, who was by now moving the troops farther ahead to circle around the hills, Big Lot said to her own group, "Let's move. Won't they be surprised when they see there's only a few of us... then, WHAM! They'll be dead! Dead! Dead!"

With confirming nods Big Lot's squad moved up the hill gingerly. Deep inside of him Covert felt the intensive beating of his heart as they came closer to the top. Readying their battle-saddles, they halted near the peak of the hill.

Rubbing her tiny hooves together, Big Lot had a wide malicious grin reaching to both ears. "I can't wait! Oh, I can't wait! Now! Let's go now! Show them no mercy!"

One of her soldiers nodded, and hopping from Covert's back she reached the top of the hill with her soldiers. Together, the four of them stormed down the hillside. A faint cloud of dust kicked up behind them as they descended down to the edge of the gorge.

When they had reached the bottom Big Lot stopped, as she spotted something rustle in a dried bush three feet from cliff’s edge.

The malevolent smile, and peppy spirit within her was gone. A stone cold feeling of confusion consumed her entire being. By the edge of the shallow gorge was nothing, but a few shaking bushes and hills as far as the eye can see.

Pointing to one of her soldiers, Big Lot jerked her head to the bush before her. "You. Shoot at it. Shoot at it until it stops moving."

"Yes, your radiance." The soldier said aiming the barrel of his saddle at the dead plant.

Firing two loud shots at the bush all of the commotion within it ceased. The shrub was deathly still, and from out of the it came a large rat that was larger than a brawny hunting hound. On the rat's side was two gushing bullet wounds with warm blood oozing out of them profusely down its matted fur.

Wheezing out blood droplets from its gaping mouth, the injured beast hobbled along five feet away from the bush before falling onto its side. Taking in three raspy, bubbling breaths it died.

Big Lot's eyes went wide, as an enraging heat started to boil within her. "A... rat?" She growled.

"It looks like it, your radiance." One of the soldiers remarked.

Screaming at the top of her lungs at the sky, Big Lot took the nearest stone in hoof and marched toward the dead beast. Lifting the grey, smooth stone high the little filly began to pummel the skull of the rat. Caving in the side of its head she viciously pounded faster, and faster at the animal until tiny, fleshy bits of bone went scattering about around her.

"YOU! STUPID! UGLY! NASTY! DISGUSTING THING!" She screamed as the rock had become caked in a thin layer of brain, blood, and flesh.

Gritting her teeth down hard, she stepped away from the rat, dropping the bloodied rock next to her. Panting, she lay her hunches down on the ground, recovering the strength she had lost. Big Lot's mane was in a tangled mess, and no pony around her dared to make a sound as she cooled herself.

Covert trotted between the two soldiers, who stood idly by watching their princess calm herself. Laying a hoof on one of the soldier's backs he scoffed nervously, "Well, it looks like it wasn't them all along, huh?"

"Looks like it." Said the soldier to his left.

Moving his eyes to the large combat knife on the left soldier's breast plate Covert chuckled, "I don't know about you guys, but-"

Like a flash of lightning striking, Covert went straight for the knife. Quickly removing it from its case, he held the blade firmly between his teeth. As he pulled away from the soldier -- the weapon's razor-like tip sliced cleanly across the soldier's neck. A huge gaping laceration sent blood spilling out of the pony's throat all over the ground.

Tumbling to the ground blood pooled around his neck as Covert lunged forth at the other soldier next to him. Before the soldier had a second to react the cold steel buried itself deep within the soldier's jugular veins. Trembling, blood trickled down the soldier’s purple coat.

Promptly removing the blade from the pony's neck, a brief amount of the red gore went flying through the air spraying messily across Covert's face like paint blasted onto a canvas.

Both soldiers lay on the ground at each of his sides. The salty, bitter red juice that blanketed the knife ran down the blade, and into his mouth. Energy, and strength pumped through Covert. The urge to fight, to kill, to take back what was his was exhilarating.

All of his sense were tingling with life. Everything was clear, and flowing. Never before had Covert felt so powerful. So in control.

Wide were his eyes as he looked at the filly, who had just managed to turn to see what he had done. Trying to stand quickly, Big Lot tripped on her cape -- falling flat on her face.

Taking long, determined strides to her he chuckled insanely to himself, "Your radiance?" he cooed, "Why do you run from me? Are you tired? Shall I carry you?"

Picking up the nearest rock, Big Lot hurled it at his head. Missing by mere inches he continued to prowl toward her. Stopping right before her, he towered over the little one. A dim shadow engulfed the filly, who had tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

"You were suppose to be loyal! Loyal to me! Your princess!"

"I am loyal to Vladimir!" He bellowed, "Not some little shit like you!"

Big Lot was quiet, as her large sapphire eyes gazed into his own menacing stare. "You humiliated me... Stripped me of my rank... Now... Oh now you'll pay you little brat..."

Cocking his head back he thrashed the knife's hilt directly at the front her brow. Raising her hooves up she could not stop the powerful strike against her forehead. Knocking the filly onto her side, she yelped before laying on the ground groaning in pain.

A darkness consumed her vision. Though she could not see, Big Lot felt like her entire body was spin around. Distorted, and muffled Covert's words barely sounded coherent.

As she lay upon the ground, completely immobilized, he picked her up and slumped her down onto his back. Dropping the bloody knife, Covert carried the little filly to the gorge. Carefully making his way down the dusty slope, he reached the bottom where he rested her body down gently among several small rocks.

Twisting, and turning -- murmuring in pain, Cover put a hushing hoof to his lips. "Shhhh, princess. Do not make a sound. Come nightfall, the terrors that haunt the night shall dine well. You’ll suffer as I did with your uncle. Slowly. And when they’re done there will be nothing left of you. It’ll all be... An accident. So do not fret little one. Soon it will be all over. Trust me."

Taking the largest, most flat stones around him, Covert erected a small wall around her, covering every inch of her body from view at the gorge's edge. Thick, salty sweat dripped off of his forehead.

With a single hoof he whipped his brow before trudging up the slope.

The scene where he had killed the two soldiers was untouched. The whole area was silent, as Covert went to retrieve his knife. A thin layer of dirt and blood coated the weapon's hilt. But he paid it no mind -- all the same he held it steadily in with his mouth.

Slicing tiny, minor cuts along his legs and body he hissed as the stinging pain of each cut burned profoundly against his flesh. Biting down harder on the hilt, Covert stopped making wounds around his body.

When Covert had stood up, a searing pain burned every cut along his body. Wincing at the dreadful wounds cry out in a painful, fiery manner he returned to one of the dead soldiers. Blood still oozed out from the lacerations he had made -- pooling up in warm muddy puddles at their necks.

Lodging the blade back into the soldier's wound, he put a hoof in the bloody mixture of dirt, and gore. With his hoof drenched in the blood he painted various parts of his body. Lathing himself with the look of intense combat. Once he had coated many areas around him with the blood of the soldier, Covert reached for the battle saddle.

Pulling with one hoof, Covert activated the trigger of the mouthpiece, which was positioned below the pony's limp jaw. Letting loose several loud shots, who's sound carried on through the hills, he screamed out, "HELP US! THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE HERE!"

Again, he chanted the same cry out into the hills, until there was no ammunition left in the battle-saddle. Hurrying the best he could away from the soldier he found a nice, open patch of dirt and fell down.

Closing his eyes, Covert tried as he could to hold back the smile which wanted to form on his filthy, bloodstained face.

Over the hills he could hear the other soldiers coming. In mere moments they would see the scene around him, and with Big Lot nowhere to be found it was a plan he was thoroughly proud of.

I can't believe she thought she could take them on by herself! Did she really think that stupid solo act with only two men would have worked? Perhaps stupidity runs in her family. I'm just glad it does... Covert thought.

Scooter was the first pony over the hillside, who came with Whopper at his side storming down to the horrific scene. "Ah'm comin' yer radiance!" He shouted, his heart racing and his mind buzzing with nervous agnst.

The moment Scooter, and the rest of the soldiers came to the scene he reeled back. Panic took over, as Scooter frantically dashed to the soldiers who had their necks sliced open. Shaking them by the shoulder Scooter cried, "Are ya alive?! Where is her radiance! Say somthin'!"

Whopper pulled up next to his comrade, who despite the soldier's condition kept shaking the dead pony. Resting a hoof on Scooter's shoulder, he froze.

"What... Happened 'ere..." Scooter growled as Whopper stood by his side.

"I'm not sure, boss." Whopper answered, "All I can say is she doesn't look like she's here anymore."

Soldiers spread out across the area calling out for Big Lot. Two Legion medics, with satchels dangling at their sides rushed to the soldier's aid. One of the soldiers behind them called out to the rest. "This one over here is alive!"

Springing up from the dead pony before him, Scooter dashed over to Covert. Over the former Legion captain was a medic with his satchel laid down next to him. Coughing horsley, Covert groaned sitting up slowly.

"Wha... Where are they?" He muttered.

"Was it them?" Scooter asked. "Ya know, them ponies we’re chasin’?"

Clearing his throat, Covert stood up wearily. His legs were trembling as the wounds around his body stung. "Yes, it was them. They came out of nowhere, and took our princess away from us..."

Grabbing Covert by the collar of his armor Scooter pressed his face against Covert's. "Where is she? Where did they go?!"

"I don't know," Covert grunted pushing Scooter away. "They just came at us. With guns roaring, and fury in their eyes. One of them stabbed that soldier over there, then the other... Out of nowhere they grabbed our poor princess, and dragged her away. Before I could stop them one with a knife came at me. Sliced up my legs, and knocked me out."

Backing away a few steps from Covert -- Scooter openly stared out into the hills with panic-stricken eyes. "What are we gonna do? We've got to find her!"

"Yes, indeed." Cover coughed, standing up. "But first we'll need a new leader... Someone who can lead us through this bleak tragedy."

Raising an eyebrow Scooter stepped forward. "But who?"

Placing a hoof on his chin Covert hummed, "Vladimir put me in charge of the border, and I know that she stripped me of my rank, but I was chosen by him to lead..."

"So, what do ya propose?" Scooter asked.

"Well," Covert started contemplating the question. "Why don't I lead us. I think I might have an idea of what to do."

"Ya, wanna' lead... us?" Scooter gawked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, and I swear we'll not rest until we save her!" Gritting his dirt coated teeth together Covert boomed, "We have to save her! And know this: there will be no failure. I will hunt them down, and gut each one of those despicable souls. So help me Celestia!"

Scooter felt a deep sinking in the bottom part of his stomach. Weighing down, it was like a truck had crashed within him. Lowering his head, he sighed, "What do ya want us t' do?"

Suppressing the smile he so eagerly wanted to show, Covert pushed back the bubbly feeling of joy in his heart. Pointing to the end of the gorge he said, "You go with a few soldiers and head to the Darkmines. Search everywhere as you go. I'll head back to the border and gain some more troops. We'll need them if we're going to get our princess back."

Diverting his eyes from Covert's face, Scooter was on the verge of tears. Laying a reassuring hoof on his shoulder, Covert smiled. "Don't worry. We'll find her. When this whole ordeal is done we'll Celebrate, and who knows... You might just get promoted for your service."

Not even the sweet word of promotion seemed to sway the heavy mood Scooter felt. Inside it irritated him, like an itch he could not scratch. And, trying as he could Scooter went silently about the area gathering half of the search party to take with him.

Whopper trotted next to his sulking friend. "Don't worry boss. I think we can do it, I know we can."

But Scooter was still quiet. Even as his party went forth into the wastes in search of their lost princess. Watching the soldier's leave in the distance one medic came up to Covert. "Sir, your would you like to ride in the cart? You’re not fit to make the trip in your condition."

“I’ll be fine.” Covert uttered under his breath.

“I’d still advise against it. Since you’re able then, what are your orders, sir?”

Though he had tried so hard, a smile had finally broken through. "We need to head back to the border, and let's be quick about it. We have much to do, and so little time to do it..."

In the gorge, Big Lot tried to gain a grasp of her environment. Her whole world was spinning wildly out of control, as light tried to break through the darkness that covered her vision. She had never been knocked out before, and every little part of the experience was dreadful.

There was no feeling in her limbs, and any idea of where her hooves were in relation to the rest of her was a blur. Nothing, could have been worse. The longer she tried, the longer time seemed to race by her. Though, to a little filly who had never been knocked on the head before, any sense of time was hazy.

Perhaps she had been out days? Or maybe just moments. However long it may be changed nothing, as her conviction was set. The very moment she could walk and see again, was the moment she would kill Covert.

At a single moment, a tiny tingle came from her hoof. Then, another -- and another until her hoof felt sore. Not long after, Big Lot's entire body became encased with aches. Especially on her forehead where a swelling, throbbing pain seared uncomfortably.

Blinking, the light had finally bursted in wide cracks through the dark.

She was conscious again, and rage fumed inside her. A heat, like that of a stoked furnace burned hotly. This incredible urge to strangle Covert's skinny neck made her get up, slowly.

"Ow..." Big Lot groaned placing a hoof upon her brow. "I swear, when I find him I'll kill him..."

Getting up, she patted her self down sending small puffs of dust off of her body. Looking at her dust-coated cape, she frowned. "Not my cape..."

Raising her small head up, she shouted, "Hello?! Is any pony there? You're princess needs you! Heeeeellooooo?!"

Faintly echoing off of the slopes of the gorge she heard hoof steps approaching from the ledge above. As the sound's volume rose, her ears flittered merrily. "Scooter? Whopper? Is that you?" She called up to the noise's source.

From out over the ledge poked two heads, looking down at her. With large, greedy yellow eyes Split Tooth and Siren peered down at her ginning.

Split Tooth crowed, "Oi there little one? Ya lost? Do ya need some 'elp now?"

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Mask of the Beast: You gain +2 to stealth with every level. In addition to this, enemies have a harder time detecting you. Even if they are alert to your presence. (When crouched.)

Footnote: Level Up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: La Vie en Rose: Sing! Sing! Sing! When you sing, you gain a +5 health boost for 20 minutes.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Thefullmetalbrony

Dannykat

LyonAzakura

(AN: You might have noticed a difference in the quality of writing. I’ve been learning the careful art of showing vs. telling. Additionally, I’ve been trying to shorten my descriptions while at the same time making them more vivid. One thing I want to work on is breaking out of my bad habits, and get into more better ones. Please leave a comment if you liked this chapter, and tell me if the writing has got any better. Next, I’ll try working on my descriptions a bit more. I feel that’s where I’m weakest. Until next time, see you at the next chapter! - Noakwolf)

Brother, Where Art Thou?

Brother, Where Art Thou?

CHAPTER 30: BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

"My big brother, best friends forever. Like two peas in a pod we'd do everything together..."

Vladimir was becoming more used to navigating the twisted, rocky halls of the Darkmines. As he trotted down the winding corridors his head was suffering from a sharp, splitting headache. Continuing on his way the hammering pain throbbed intensely, heating his brow and blurring his vision.

Stumbling forward slightly, he caught himself. Sweat trickled slowly down the sides of his face -- collecting along his cheeks and dripping onto the steel-plated floor. Looking down at the floor the entire world seemed to spin around him.

"It's getting worse..." Vladimir thought aloud to himself.

Inhaling deeply, he rose his head up and drew his wine flask. Raising it to his lips he sipped its cool, sweet liquid. As it slid down his throat the relieving sensation of fresh clarity came to his mind. In time, his vision cleared and the entire world halted its gyrate movement.

Sulking, a heavy weight sat in his stomach. The creature loomed over him invisibly. For all the stallion knew it could be listening to his thoughts, or taunting him behind his back. It was always there. Watching. Only when the wine washed it away was there a brief moment of freedom. Only in that instant was there a time he could think to himself, and scream at it mentally with full frontal contempt.

Cantering onward he hurried through the halls, jumping at one of the creaking hot, steaming pipes lining the walls. His body was light, and trembling.

The worst part was that he wasn't even certain why the paranoia caused him to be so skittish at such small, meaningless things. Since the creature had offered him a chance at redemption the urge to fight back grew.

There was a time to fight the apparition.

But now was not that time. He had a meeting to attend.

Coming to a large set of steel sliding doors he opened them, revealing dozens of Darkminers and Legion officers standing cluttered inside of a large cavern. Like many of the rooms, this too was formed from the dug-out caverns that no longer yielded anything within the mine.

Stepping inside Vladimir stared wide eyed at the high ceiling with green lighting fixtures dangling easily from thin wires.

To the left of the room was a set of rising bleachers, and to the right was an identical set. Each had the seats facing the center of the cave -- where all of the ponies were gathered chatting amongst one another.

Strangely enough, most of the Darkminers stood aside. Keeping only to themselves and standing completely still near the end of the right bleachers. Their glowing green eyes penetrating through the shadows cast off by the rows of seats beside them.

Thatch emerged from the mass of bodies, gently pushing ponies aside as he walked to Vladimir. Smiling, he gave the Legion Emperor a graceful bow.

"Your majesty, I'm glad you could make it."

"Yes... Thank you for receiving me, Captain.” Said Vladimir.

Several other captains noticed Vladimir's presence and came forth swarming around him. Each seemed more ecstatic than the last, bowing to him. Taking him forcely by the leg some even shook his hoof, greeting him bombastically with beaming grins.

The whole ordeal made his crimson fur turn cold. Smiling sheepishly, he nodded to each one as they overcame him with good tidings. A collaboration of voices, chuckles, and greetings rang loudly in his ears sending his head ablaze with sharp pain.

Thatch raised his hoof, wagging it to the many officers that surrounded Vladimir, "Now, now everyone. Can't you see his majesty is a little overwhelmed? Since he's arrived I think we should all prepare for the event, shall we?"

Ventures, with a glass of wine in hoof nodded his pudgy head. "Here, here! Let's start the event!"

His declaration was followed by an uproar of voices cheering. Once more Thatch lifted his hoof into the air. "Alright, calm yourselves! Let's take our seats, chop chop now!"

Lowering his hoof, Thatch turned his head to the Darkminers gathered at the side of the bleacher. Giving them one confirming nod they bowed slightly and skulked off down to the end of the cave -- before vanishing behind a series of large crates gathered at the far end of the room.

Thatch lay a gentle hoof on Vladimir's back, sending a sudden jolt of chilled panic surging through him. Jumping at the gesture Vladimir looked at Thatch and blinked. Motioning his head toward the left bleachers the Legion Captain swooned, "Your majesty, please this way."

Vladimir was silent, feeling the throb of the headache returning to his brow. As Thatch guided him up the first set of seats, he winced at the pain. Stopping in the middle of a row, Vladimir placed a firm hoof to the side of his head.

Thatch lay a hoof on Vladimir's back, "Are you alright, your highness?"

"Yes," Vladimir replied resting his hoof in front of him, "I'll be fine, Captain..."

Giving Vladimir a doubtful gaze, he continued to guide him to his seat, high in the upper rows of the bleachers. Sitting him down at the top chair at the middle section Thatch bowed, "Call my name if you should need me, and let me know if you need something for your head."

Waving a dismissing hoof, Vladimir pulled the flask out of his cape pocket. Watching Thatch step over the low seats, he sipped his wine peering at the multitude of ponies dispersing themselves around, and taking seats of their own. That was all except the Darkminers who had all suddenly vanished from the room.

Letting his muscles relax and the wine undo the pain, Vladimir sighed before the chilling whisper of the creature purred sweetly into his ear.

"I'm excited." It said. "Aren't you?"

"For what?" Vladimir answered, no longer stirred by the creature’s presence.

It hovered next to him like a shadow -- only its eyes were a solid color of glowing white. Smiling, it pointed to the crates the Darkminers had disappeared to.

"About what they're doing, Little Red."

Briefly moving his gaze to the crates, Vladimir placed his eyes back at the center of the room. "I don't care much for it..."

Slinking around to his side it touched his shoulder, and placed its head next to his own. The icy bite of the specter’s being was like a gentle draft -- cold, but not entirely there.

"Not even a little?" It cooed.

Swooning esthetically over the mystery it added, "It could be anything. A new weapon, a demonstration of the miners’ might. Or-"

"Perhaps it's nothing." Vladimir interjected sternly.

Shrugging, the creature added, "Think what you wish, I find it delightfully thrilling."

Taking a quick sip of his wine Vladimir coughed, "What is it you want this time?"

"Tsk, tsk, Little Red. Don't you think I would just like to talk to you, like we did in the good ol' days?"

Vladimir was silent and still. Keeping his eyes focused at the wide space between the two sets of bleachers.

It smirked at him. "Not going to talk, eh?"

"Why haven't you done it yet?" Vladimir asked.

"Done what?" It answered.

"Taken me. Why haven't you done it yet?"

It looked at him, shooting him a rather perplexed look. "Why, I thought it was obvious."

Looking at the creature with a raised eyebrow, Vladimir hung his mouth agape. "I... I don't..."

Retaining its playful smirk it said, "If I were to take you now I would kill you. Remember what happened on the train?"

Moving his face to the ground, Vladimir listened as it continued to speak. "Or have you forgotten that you and I are one in the same? Simply put, I can't have you dead. It's... Not good for business."

"Is that why I was given these chances?" Vladimir remarked.

It nodded. "Indeed. I believe we can collaborate still. Be partners. Be Vladimir, Emperor and God of the Ironhoof Province."

Vladimir muttered under his breath, "And you still think I can change?"

Putting its icy, translucent lips to his ear, it whispered, "We'll see..."

Moving to see the apparition Vladimir found that it had vanished into thin air. Staring down at the polished steel of the flask that levitated close to his chest he gazed into his own reflection. His eyes were tired -- with dark rims blackening the under sections of his eyelids.

A loud, boisterous stallion’s voice called loudly out into the room. Off of the walls, sound of the stallion’s words carried throughout the area. Jumping slightly, Vladimir looked again to the space between the bleachers. Where in the center, alone with a silver microphone in hoof was Thatch.

"Fillies. Miners. Gentlecolts. May I have your attention please."

The room went silent for him.

"It's been a long time since we had a some good news. Since the tragic destruction of Arkcannon, we've had a setback, after setback. That was, until now."

Standing on his hind legs Thatch spun around, pointing to the crates at the far end of the room. "Because now, ponies of the Darkmines, I give you something great. Something more than just victory... I give you, the future of this project, and of our order's rule!"

A loud series of stomping hooves followed, trailed by the faint oos of the spectators. "I give you, proud soldiers and miners of the Ironhoof Province, the Predators!"

Vladimir's eyes went wide as a cold dreadful ache washed over him, sending all of the hairs on his body to stand on edge. Nearly rising from his seat he uttered quickly to himself, "T-They got them working so fast? I thought... H-How did they-"

From out behind the crates came two single-file rows of several Darkminers. Prowling between them was a monstrous cat-like killing machine. Clear tubes ran down its bumpy steel spine, as the armored plates of its shoulders bobbed up and down smoothly baring the crimson star of the Legion. Following closely behind it was its long, whip-like tail with a sharp triple tipped barb swaying at the end.

It flashed the spectators with its polished, razor-sharp teeth as it and the miners came to Thatch. Stopping five feet before him. Thatch smiled widely, nodding at the hulking mechanized beast.

Every member of the audience stomped, and cheered. All, except Vladimir. Who remained quiet, clasping his churning stomach.

"Feared in the Central Province for their defensive nature, and ruthless urge to kill we have finally tamed them." Thatch announced, stepping closely to it.

Sitting its armored haunches on the rocky stone floor it purred as he lay a hoof on its head, stroking it gently. "As you can see, it obeys only the Legion. Those of you who bare our mark will not be harmed. And, do not worry -- neither the slaves, nor the Miners have anything to fear."

"Though," Thatch stated, stepping away from the machine, "it was for the longest time wondered as to what the creatures use to fuel themselves."

Thatch's smile grew, and the very moment it did, the miners -- while staying in perfect lines -- moved to the side giving the beast room. "You see, they feed off of the living blood of their prey."

Shrugging, Thatch added, "Though you may not be convinced."

A wide, malicious smirk formed on Thatch's face. Raising the microphone to his lips he boomed, "Bring forth the prey!"

Behind the crate emerged two Darkminers. Leather harnesses with thick, bulking iron chains were strapped to each one, while they dragged along a mare, concealed by a dark hooded robe. All over her body chains fastened tightly to her neck and legs tugged at her as the miners pulled her to the beast.

Vladimir was in shock. His eyes were wide, and his whole body frozen stiff. Under the masking shadow of the hood a sack was draped over the pony's face. Concealing her frightened expression.

Stopping the slave merely feet away from the predator she struggled against the restraints. Twisting and turning, she battled those holding her until she became tired.

"Watch, as the Predator unleashes its full fury!" Thatch exclaimed, pointing at the slave.

The predator moved like a flowing stream of water. Each movement was light, quick, and silent -- despite its metallic exterior. Growling at the mare, it locked its eyes on her.

Please don't... Vladimir thought.

Lifting the barb at the end of its tail high into the air it whipped it swiftly, blasting a crisp crack! through the entire room.

Vladimir bit his lip forcefully. I can't watch...

Just as Thatch eyed the prey and the Predator, his grin grew. "Kill!"

And just as the barb lunged forth at the mare Vladimir shut his eyes tightly, and turned his head away. The very next thing he heard was a brief moment of complete silence -- followed by the thunderous sound of hooves stomping and applauding at what had just transpired.

In Vladimir's ears the appalling sound of exuberant shouts of joy rang viciously. For the moment the noise seemed to go on, and on into infinity. That was, before Thatch continued to announce the other cruel things the machine could do.

Channeling out the voice of the Legion Captain, Vladimir sat there, the sea of sickening nausea churning ever so relentlessly at the bottom of his stomach.

There was little Vladimir could say after the demonstration was done with. Trotting groggily through the exit the dreadful sounds of the Predator whipping its tail, and killing the mare they had brought forth still haunted him.

Hovering over him like a storm cloud, the awful twisting inside his stomach caused his forelegs to tremble. All around his chest was a hollow, frigidness. Though, as he leaned himself against the side of the rocky cavern wall he took in deep heavy breaths to suppress the feelings.

From out of the room came spilling forth ponies. Darkminer, and Legionnaires chatting gleefully about the stunning display of mechanical might. Thatch bumped through the crowd, navigating his way to the open regions along the side of the river of ponies. Finally breaching the herd of officers he caught his breath.

Just feet away from him was Vladimir, huffing by the doorway. Putting on a proud, boastful smile Thatch cantered up to his master. "Did his majesty enjoy the display?"

Raising his head to Thatch's eyes, Vladimir nodded unsteadily. "Y-yes. I did find it..."

He tried to find the right word to please his Captain. "Enjoyable..."

Taking a step toward him, Thatch cocked his head to one side noticing the shivering and trembling of Vladimir's legs. "Your highness, is everything alright? You look a bit shaken."

"No, Captain." Vladimir reassured him. "I'm all right. I just haven't been feeling well as of late..."

Gazing at Vladimir unsurely, he bowed his head once. "If that's the case, please allow me to find some pony to escort you back to-"

"No." Vladimir retorted. "I... I can do it on my own."

"Are you certain, your majesty?" Thatch asked.

"Yes, I'm certain."

Turning back to the ponies leaving the room, Thatch walked along side the group moving down the hall. When the last of the officers and miners had cleared the area Vladimir recovered himself.

Walking down the hallway he tried to keep his legs in line. Down one of the corridors a sound made his ears flitter, and twitch. At first the sounds were low, inaudible mumbles. Making a left down a hallway that carried the strange noises he followed it -- keeping his ears alert, and erect.

After navigating the twisting halls of the Darkmines the voices grew until he paused at the end of a narrow corridor. Like many of the others that weaved through the rock, and earth; this too was lined with groaning iron pipes hissing away as the pressure inside them let loose.

Shifting his head to one side, Vladimir saw ponies in iron rattling chains being drug off to another hall at the end of the corridor. Darkminers accompanied them, eyeing them closely with oak bludgeons attached to their leather masks. One of the ponies in particular caught Vladimir's eye.

Of all the prisoners they were escorting it was a Freelancer Guardian that intrigued him. He was a stallion, no older than thirty dressed in a roughly patched leather duster, with thick dark-plated armor tucked underneath it. His dull orange mane hung loosely along the sides of his head as his panic-stricken eyes searched frantically around him while he pulled tirelessly at the chains that bound him.

"I'm not supposed to be here!" He cried out. "I was making my rounds! Please, let me go!"

One of the miners smacked him forcefully on the side, sending his hooves staggering along the coarse rocky floor. "I-Is it information you want? I can give some to you! There was these other guardians, a blue one and a white one that went through Silvermane on there way here! Or how about the Coalition? I saw a-"

"Silence!" A Darkminer hissed raising his bludgeon. "Do not speak! Too loud! Or we make you still!"

Flinching at the oppressor's actions the Freelancer shut his mouth. Shuffling with the group of miners and captured slaves they went on their way until all of them were out of sight. Vladimir stood for a moment at the start of the corridor, staring up at the dimly glowing light fixtures strung upon the walls.

Could it be them? Could it be her sons at long last? He thought to himself.

Thinking, Vladimir felt a warmth coarse slowly through him. Perhaps... Those two are the key to my salvation... To rid myself of...

Not thinking another thought, Vladimir smiled. Ever since he had met them did the wonderful, lifting feeling of freedom return to him. While the thought had already occurred the creature had become lazy with its surveillance. Perhaps, just maybe the two brothers held the key to ending his torment.

Night was fast approaching. Split Tooth and Siren could see it in the clouds as the bleeding vibrancy of the colors in the sky started to fade into darkness. Big Lot was held firmly by the edge of the gorge by a slaver, who kept her under control by restraining her in a headlock.

Viciously resisting her captor, Big Lot wiggled and squirmed trying to break free. Most of her body was bare as each part of the Legion attire she once had was now stripped from her.

The Slaver’s horn was aglow with a sickly shade of light green as Big Lot's armor was neatly packed and levitated toward the cart -- where he set it down gently. When the sickly glow of his horn vanished, the slaver grinned at the little filly they had captured.

"Let me go! NOW!" Big Lot demanded, grunting and snarling like a ravenous beast.

The slaver holding her tightened his grip around her little neck as Split Tooth trotted to the two of them. "I can't 'old her for much longer..." The slaver tiredly muttered.

"Don't worry none, mate." Split Tooth said, motioning a hoof to Siren.

Siren was standing by the cart, giggling to herself. "Ya want a collar fer that feisty one?"

"Aye, bring t' smallest one we got." Split Tooth answered, leering at the filly with his bright yellow eyes.

Lowering his head down to her face, Big Lot felt the rancid breath of the slaver brush sourly against the hairs of her nose. "My, my. Ya sure are a healthily one. Ain't ya, pup?

Laying a hoof on her little head, he brushed back the soft silky locks of her mane. "Such fine 'air ya've got..."

Poking her chest lightly, Split Tooth retracted his hoof briskly as she snapped her pearly white teeth at him. Chuckling he bolstered a smile reaching to both ears, "Wot nice teeth, too! Ya gonna' sell for a whole lot down at t' mines missy!"

Encased in the ill-shaded aura of Siren's magical energy a collar, small enough for Big Lot's little neck floated at her side. Taking a place next to Split Tooth she chirped, "'Ere ya go Splitsy! T' smallest one we got."

Smiling crookedly, Split Tooth took the collar. Putting his devilish eyes onto the little one, Big Lot froze when she saw the collar hover closely to his head. Shaking her head vigorously she tried to get free from the slaver's forelegs.

"No! Please not that! Not that!" She protested, before attempting to gnaw on the leather armored leg of the slaver.

"Oh?" Split Tooth scoffed. "Ya know what this 'ere thing is?"

Despite the desperate measures she took to break free she looked up at the collar. Her breathing had become quick, and her heart began to race. "D-Don't you know who I am?" She stuttered.

Cocking her head to one side, Siren scratched her mane. "No? Should we?"

"I-It's I, Big Lot! P-Princess of the northern border!"

Siren and Split Tooth stood silently for a moment, staring down at the little filly before looking to one another. Then bursting out into a loud, spontaneous guffaw the two slavers crackled in unison, "That's rich kid!"

Big Lot's hooves started to tremble as he little heart continued to beat faster, and faster. "It's true! I-It's true..."

Calming himself, Split Tooth remarked, "Roight, kid. An' ah suppose ya gonna' say yer some stallion too? Or that ya got a mencin' stare? An’ ah suppose that fancy armor is yers too? Ah know stolen armor when ah sees it. Ya ain’t no Big Lot, yer jus’ some spunky pup who’s a liar an’ a thief!"

"B-But I am Big Lot!" Big Lot replied sputtering.

"Save it!" Split Tooth exclaimed raising a hoof to smack her.

Big Lot closed her eyes, and flinched. Split Tooth lowered his hoof slowly, giving her a grin that exposed his distorted yellow teeth. "Ya jus' a little brat is what ya are. Nothin' more."

Hovering the collar to her neck, the slaver holding her loosened his grip. When the icy metal of the device touched her it bit at Big Lot's warm skin. And, fastening the collar tightly around her Split Tooth locked it, as a faint ping sounded from it when the lock snapped shut.

Leaning closely toward her ear, Split Tooth whispered to her, "Ya're mine now, missy."

Letting go of her, Split Tooth backed away directing his attention to the slaver that restrained Big Lot. "Go get me t' chain."

Nodding once, the slaver went toward the slave line to retrieve the chain. Big Lot fell onto her haunches, before laying a shaking hoof on the chilled metal of the collar. Whimpering she uttered, "I'm a..."

"Yeah, girly. That ya are." Siren coed poking her shoulder.

The slaver had returned with the iron chain in his mouth, and the loose slack dragging along the ground rattling loudly. Levitating the links of chain held by the slaver Split Tooth attached the chain to a hook located just below Big Lot's jaw. Snapping the heavy iron links to her collar he patted her on the head.

"That's a good little, missy."

"Now," Split Tooth added raising his hoof in the air above his head, "get in line!"

Smacking her squarely on the back, it sent the little filly tumbling forth. Dirt and dust coated her muzzle as the ground made contact with her face. Forcing herself up Siren pushed her forward, causing the filly's hooves to stumble forward.

Big Lot was positioned two ponies behind Adam, who at the time she didn't notice. Something within her died. Usually there was a greater sense of purpose -- a greater meaning to be had in being her. An uplifting sensation of bubbling power, now reduced to nothing but an empty hollowness.

And, looking down at the rocky ground under her hooves the feeling linger heavily at the bottom of her chest.

With Siren at his side Split Tooth strolled on to the head of the group. "Listen you lot! Dark is comin' an' ah want t' find someplace to bunk for t' night. So let's pick up t' pace! Any lollygaggin' an' you'll 'ave 'ell t' pay!"

A sudden jerk of the chain sent the filly staggering. Picking herself up she started to shuffle along with the other slaves, in silence. As her eyes moved up, she noticed a blue buck further up the line. A newfound feeling sparked within her. One that made heat rush into her face, and her body to become saturated with burning hate.

Adam had heard everything that had gone on, and seeing Big Lot nearby made him keep quiet. There was a possibility she didn't recognize him without his duster, or brother. In which case he felt it best to keep his gaze away from her own -- lest he stir her fury.

Picking up a pebble on the ground, she threw it at Adam. The tiny stone flew through the air and landed directly on Adam's back. Feeling the brief sting of the rock strike him, he tried to resist turning his head around.

Big Lot pouted.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she picked up another stone and threw it at him again. This time, the pebble hit him in the back of the head, making Adam stumble over his hooves. Quickly placing a hoof over the stinging region the tiny rock had hit he looked back to see who had thrown it.

Big Lot's eyes met with his, and in her he could see the fury boiling from within. A heated rage charged the air around them. Pointing at him with her little hoof, Big Lot whispered aloud, "I'm going to kill you for what you did."

Adam didn't reply.

Lowering her hoof she smiled devilishly. "You think this collar, or ponies dividing us can stop me? I'll do it. I'll make sure the ground is stained with your-"

A unicorn slaver nearby hit her forcefully in the side with the stalk of his gun, letting a low yelp escape her lips. "Shut it, ya little brat!"

Rubbing the searing pain in her side with one hoof, she continued to glare at Adam from afar. When the moment was right, she would exact her revenge. Out of the entire situation the moment looked bright. The exhilarating energy of control came back as the pain lifted, and the hollowness gradually converted into a warm sense of determination that made her senses feel more keenly honed than before.

The wasteland breeze was becoming colder by the moment. Its temperature sent the hairs on Neo's neck up as he shivered at the nipping wind. Each pony in the group had taken a prone position near the top of a hill, where they intently gazed at an old barn from one hundred feet away.

One of the structure's sides had caved in, giving off the appearance that the grey shingled roof was warped. Much of the red paint encasing the barn had faded over time. The only dull coloring left was dried and chipping from the blackened derelict facade.

On each side of the building was three windows -- all blasted and cracked leaving just the sharp knife-like edges around the corners. A single orange light dimly flickered in one of the window frames. And as the ponies watched from afar Neo's hoof started to fidget.

Wester was next to Neo, with Lucy on his other side. Ally had taken a spot alongside Two Socks, who was smiling widely.

"What do you think it is?" Neo asked Wester, feeling the cold of the ground seep through his cloths.

Wester's metal ears flicked and swirled in the air as he listened carefully. "I'm not sure. I don't hear much."

Neo looked at the barn -- focusing his eyes on the little glowing light in the window. "What is it you do hear, though?"

"Some shuffling, and tapping." Wester answered.

"Do you think they're raiders?" Asked Lucy.

Wester shook his head. "I don't believe it is. Raiders make more noise than this."

"We could always say hello -- that's the proper thing to do anyway." Said Two Socks with beaming smile on his face.

Neo sighed, "Whatever we do I'd like to know soon. The more we wait here the farther Adam is from us."

"Calm yourself, Neo," Wester remarked in soothing tone, "let me listen a little longer. If I don't hear anything within a few min-"

Wester stopped speaking, hearing the sudden click of a gun being loaded from behind him.

Staying where he was, Wester lay motionless. "Curious... I didn't hear you coming..."

Ally turned around slowly to see where the sound had come from, only to find seven Zebras, armed with battle saddles drenched in a deep dark black paint. Around their eyes were blindfolds, torn and frayed along the edges bearing tiny white dots in the places their eyes would naturally be. On each one of their grey metal breastplates was a white jagged claw mark, dragging down across the entire torso region from one side to the next.

"What the!?" She screamed facing the silent hunters.

The other ponies laying beside her turned too, staring up at the barrels of the mysterious ponies before them. Like thin air they had manifested. And like the cool gentle breeze that brushed against their coats they said nothing. Only looking, with the little white dots gazing right at them.

Two Socks gulped throwing his hooves into the air, "Tiger Company!"

The Zebra who stood behind Wester jerked his head to the left before motioning his gun toward them. Letting out a low, stern grunt everyone the Zebras surrounded turned onto their back, and lifted their hooves above their heads.

Lucy gulped, feeling an anxious sweat gently roll down the sides of her face. "These guys ain't messin' around. I heard you guys were quiet, but you've blown my expectations out of the water..."

"Quiet!" One Zebra bellowed lowly.

Briskly slapping a hoof onto her mouth, Lucy nodded quickly. One of the Zebras next to Two Socks strolled over to Wester. Each step was light, and silent. Not even the ground under his hooves shifted. Giving the strange illusion that he was floating just a hair off of the earth.

Stopping right in front of Wester, the Zebra cocked his head to one side. Staring headlong into the Zebra’s dull, lifeless artificial eyes Wester asked, "We don't mean you any trouble."

"We know." The Zebra answered in a firm, whisper-like tone.

"Then what's with all of the guns pointed at us?" Neo asked, eyeing the Zebra attentively.

For a brief moment the Zebra said nothing, just a simple swivel of his ears twisting in the air followed before he answered. "To make sure you do not harm yourselves."

"Harm ourselves?" Neo asked. "How? With what?"

The Zebra pointed his nose to Wester's python revolvers. "Brash thinking."

"What is it you want?" Wester retorted.

"No." The Zebra replied instantly. "What is it you want?"

Neo's mind was racing. All around the situation didn't look well for them in the slightest. But sitting in one spot -- talking about nothing made his hoof jitter and his teeth grit. Turning onto his belly, he gingerly pushed himself up from the ground.

The very action made the Zebras take a cautious step backwards. Though, their faces seemed unaltered -- even while Neo spoke to them. Retaining a calm, controlled expression Neo's heart started to beat faster by the second. "We're looking for somepony."

"Who?" The Zebra before Wester replied.

A lump had managed to find its way into Neo's throat. Taking in a deep, relaxing breath he forced it down. "His name is Adam. I'm Neo, and I've spoke with your leader, Bloodstrider before in Ironhoof City."

The Zebra's mouths dropped slightly, "You are the warrior of the arena? The champion?" Said the Zebra over Wester furtively.

"Yes, that's correct." Neo answered.

The Zebra hovering at the end of Westers legs looked to his comrades. "He is the champion."

A soft murmur fell over the Zebras that surrounded them. To one another they whispered, low unclear things. Neo held firm, trying to lift the nervous weight that sat in his stomach.

Extending one hoof out to Neo the Zebra beckoned him to follow. "Come," he said, "we will bring you to Chief Bloodstrider."

And, letting in a full lung of air in Neo allowed the breathing to quell the anxiety within him. Hopefully he remembers me... Neo thought. Hopefully...

A fire burned low in the middle of the barn. Rocks, small and smooth surrounded the fire pit -- containing the glowing hot embers within. Twirling, the low flames danced with swift, mesmerizing motions as Bloodstrider sat on a woven mat of a fine white cloth. His blindfold looked down at the fire crackling in the still air of the room.

Behind Bloodstrider was the collapsed section of the barn's roof that had all but engulfed the entire back wall. Ten Zebras, content and still, sat around the fire. Little ones, with wide glassy eyes blinked at the mysterious source of warmth that came from the rooms center. As the tender heat irradiated onto Bloodstrider's fur he inhaled deeply through his nose.

A disturbance in the air sent his ears upright and swiveling from side to side. Straightening his posture, Bloodstrider uttered in a deep bellowing voice, "Let them in."

The door at the far end of the barn opened, revealing Neo, Ally, Lucy, Wester, and Two Socks. The rusted iron hinges let out an ear-splitting shriek, causing the ponies in the group to wince at the horrendous noise as it grinded at their eardrums.

Yet the Zebras within seemed unshaken by the sound. None had moved, flinched, or even gave them so much as a twitch. Bloodstrider watched them idly with his beady artificial eyes painted onto his blindfold.

"Come in." Bloodstrider said, beckoning them with a alluring hoof.

Neo took the first step into the barn, curiously scanning the barn's interior. With the other members of his group closely following in-tow he looked up at into the high rafters of the barn. There, gathered around the second floor above them was tens of Zebras, old and young silently gazing down at them in wonder.

A few of the Zebras on the opposing side of Bloodstrider got up, and moved to the old hay-laden alcoves along the barn walls. Leaving a space wide enough for the newcomers to sit around the fire the Zebra chief extend a hoof to the vacant ground before the flames.

Nodding once, Bloodstrider muttered, "Sit, please."

Stopping at the edge of the fire pit, without question each member of the group sat down side by side around the fawning, warm light.

Raising his head slightly, Bloodstrider spoke, "Why are you here?"

Before anyone had a moment to speak the spontaneous scream of the hinges cried out through the barn as two Zebras closed the door. Flinching at the sound, each pony of the group clasped their ears down tightly. That was all, except the Zebras present in the room.

Hearing a distinct ringing in his sore, throbbing ears Neo rubbed them gently. "We're looking for somepony."

"Who would that be, Neo?" Asked Bloodstrider.

With his mouth agape and shaking his head Neo added, "How did you-"

Bloodstrider chuckled in the same low baritone voice, "I never forget a voice."

Neo was silent. His eyes were wide, and his figure reeling back at the quick response.

Collecting himself, Neo sighed staring the chief directly in the face. "It's good to see you again."

Giving him a slight nod of the head, Bloodstrider smiled. "The feeling is mutual, friend."

"So," Bloodstrider started, "where is your brother? I didn't hear him come in."

Neo hung his head low, looking grimly into the flames as his voice was tinged with sadness, "That's just it. He's gone..."

"Gone?" Bloodstrider gaped. "How?"

Neo's eyes narrowed at the orange light that encased his vision. Feeling the same heavy sinking in his stomach slowly plummet farther into his being, he choked, "He was taken. Taken by a slavers called Split Tooth and Siren."

Rubbing the striped fur underneath his chin, Bloodstrider nodded thoughtfully. Not even uttering so much as a word in response.

Two Socks leaned forward from where he sat. His voice too, for the first time, seemed to be teeming with troubled longing. "And they took my partner too. If you've seen him I would very much like to know if he's close."

Again, Bloodstrider did not speak. Rather, he remained seated where he was, rubbing the short bristle-like fur under his chin.

Nodding, the Zebra chief hummed, "Your situation is dire. That much I can see. And from the tone of your words you have suffered much more than his lose since the last time we've met. Is this correct, my friend?"

Neo muttered under his breath, trying to forcefully lift the weight in his stomach, "Yes. That's correct."

Bloodstrider hummed to himself once more, directing his blindfolded eyes to the crackling embers of the fire. "We have seen ponies who might be the ones you seek. Taken by the slavers you know as Split Tooth and Siren."

Lifting his head, Neo leaned forward. "Where? When?"

"More importantly," Lucy commented, "how did you... Well, you know..."

"See them?" Bloodstrider answered.

"Yeah, that..." Lucy chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck.

Giving her a solid nod the Zebra chief remarked, "A valid point."

Moving his face toward the Zebras sitting aloft in on the second floor near the barn's rafters Bloodstrider let out a low grunt. Coming down from the high region above, a Zebra mare came forth climbing down a ladder that was position behind the chief. Taking a place next to Bloodstrider, the mare sat her haunches down on the matt.

Unlike all of the other members of Tiger company, there was but one feature that made her different. She wasn't wearing a blindfold, nor were her eyes cloudy or fogged. Instead, her eyes sported a beautiful shade of light brown as she looked at the ponies that stood before her chief.

Gesturing a hoof toward the mare at his side, Bloodstrider said, "This is one of our Seers. They choose to retain their sight if they are born with it."

"They are our eyes." Bloodstrider continued. "Without them, we could not operate as effectively at long distances."

Resting a hoof easily on the Seer's shoulder, Bloodstrider thanked her. As she had been before, the Seer ascended the ladder back up into the second story of the barn.

"She was the one that spotted those who we believe to be your kin." Bloodstrider said.

"But when? Where? In what direction?" Neo begged his eyes large with troubled worry.

"They were heading east, to the Darkmines earlier today." Bloodstrider answered before sighing. "But we could not free them."

Neo shook his head. "Why not? What stopped you?"

An ample amount of regret lingering in the Chief's words, "They were too close to the Legion outpost nearby. If we killed them, we would have stirred their wrath. And not only would we have been killed, but so to would the kin you search for."

Quickly raising a hoof high into the air, Two Socks exclaimed, "Was there a donkey with him?"

"Yes," Bloodstrider replied, "he was spotted behind the blue pony before they reached the outpost."

Two Socks grinned reeling in his hoof victoriously. "That'da go Bill!"

Bloodstrider smiled at the Trader pony. "I am sure they are holding firm, despite their position. Anypony that can take down Vladimir's manticore can endure any trial."

Perking her ears upward -- Lucy slapped a hoof briskly against the ground.

"Hey!" She announced. "Why don't you guys help us? With all that crazy ninja stuff you do we can get them both out of there easy!"

Wester looked at her, shaking his head. "Lucky, we can't just ask them to-"

"What is it Neo thinks?" Bloodstrider added abruptly.

Blinking at the Zebra, Lucy turned her attention to Neo.

Raising a single eyebrow at him, Lucy asked, "Fine, Neo, what do you think?"

Looking straight at the Zebra chief, Neo roused his confidence by forcefully lifting the weight inside him. "I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do."

Bloodstrider bowed his head, "We're free because of you and your brother. Before you came, we had signed a contract with Vladimir. He went out to hunt the manticore with us, and when we couldn't kill such a magnificent beast, he bonded us to his will by finding someone else to do it."

A small plume of grey smoke had started to rise from the fire's core. Bloodstrider sniffed the smoky air, and lifting his snout to the roof he muttered lowly, "Jib and Jab found us warriors, and thrived off of the beast's victories. Until the beast died, we would never be free of the Legion's grasp. And then two you came to us. Unlike all the others you killed it, and set us free for all of time."

"For this," Bloodstrider said, "we are indebted to you."

A series of conflicting emotions pervaded Neo's entire being. Pride, as soft and warm as it was in his chest -- came before the dreadful feeling of heavy inadequacy. From within him the two battled against one another making his hooves tremble slightly.

Killing Asmodeus was an accident. A plan gone sour at the last moment, only to wind up accomplishing what he set out to do in the first place. What if they were to die? There were children, and parents in his clan. What would become of them if they were to join his quest just to die later on?

Trying to conceal the shaking of his hoof, Neo placed it behind his head and rubbed his black mane gently. "I don't know, what about your company? These colts and fillies? What about them?"

Bloodstrider stood stiff, answering Neo with a sincere conviction, "If you accept my help, it will be me and three other of my warriors that will join you. The others shall carry on as we have since our separation from the Legion. If I were to die, then Dark Stripe, my brother, will take my place. I trust him, and I know he can lead just as well as I."

Neo was quiet for a moment. Diverting his eyes to the dazzling flames of the fire before him he pondered the situation. He wanted his brother back. He wanted to see Adam smile again, and be safe. But, shutting his eyes tightly the weight within began to expand into a sharp pain.

For above all things -- he wanted to say sorry to Adam.

Ally rested a reassuring hoof on Neo's back, smiling as she comforted him. "I know it's a hard choice. It's a dangerous world out there."

She too looked to the flames. "But if we can't catch up to them, they'll be in the Darkmines, and from what we've heard it'll be like breaking into hell itself."

"She's right, Neo." Two Socks added. "With their light footing, if push comes to shove, we'll need them."

Two Socks shrugged. "All the same, the choice is yours compadre."

The emotions within Neo were overcoming. The sharp, brittle pain of sinking had become so intense, that if his legs were to give out he wouldn't be surprise. Never before had someone so willing wanted to give their life for him or his brother. To just tread headlong into a perilous, uncertain venture would surely not be worth the risk. Yet Bloodstrider stood firm by what he meant, and that alone had to mean he was serious about the situation.

Neo sighed, collecting his thoughts together. And, nodding once to Bloodstrider he said, "I'll accept your help."

Bloodstrider smiled, giving Neo a gracious bow of his head. "Thank you."

Lifting his head, Bloodstrider motioned his hoof to the alcoves along the sides of the walls. "It is growing dark outside, if you should need a safe place to stay than you may do so here."

Once more, Neo nodded to him. "Thank you, chief Bloodstrider."

The serene sound of crickets chirping signaled the coming of dusk. Split Tooth headed the slave line, with his partner Siren tailing closely by his side. The hills cast off an ominous shadow as the encroaching night came. With the growing absence of light came a more numbing wind that bit the skin, and froze the bone.

As a gentle, freezing breeze brushed against Split Tooth's fur a violent shiver quickly jolted down his spine.

"D-Damn." Split Tooth grunted, his teeth chatting.

Rubbing the sides of her forelegs Siren too was shivering. "Oi, Splitsy? Ya reckon we can 'ead back t' that outpost? It's freezin' out 'ere! An' ah bet it's nice an' warm back there too."

Split Tooth shook his head. "Nah, we've come this far already no use turnin' back now..."

Adam was keeping his pace a little faster than usual. Every so often he would look back at Big Lot, who sported a malicious scowl each time he saw her.

Bill saw Adam hover close to his back, even more than before from out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slightly to the side, Bill whispered, "Adam? Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Adam uttered, perking his ears upward. "It's nothing... At least, I hope it's nothing."

"Does it have something to do with the new one? That filly?" Bill asked.

Adam unsurely glanced to the cart. "Yes."

Briefly directing his gaze to Big Lot farther down the line, Bill saw her sapphire eyes hold an unbroken link with Adam's position. "She doesn't look happy. Granted, her position ain't really the happy-happy sort."

"It's not that she's glaring at me that’s troubling," Adam replied, "it's that I know her, and likewise she knows me."

Bill raised a curious eyebrow. "Ya do?"

Adam gave him a firm nod. "She's Big Lot. The one who controls the northern border for the Legion."

"I heard her claim she was, but how can ya be sure? I heard Big Lot was a guy."

Sighing heavily, Adam looked over his shoulder at the menacing little one a few slaves behind him. "Well, believe what you want -- that's Big Lot. My brother and I were there not too long ago. My only question is, why she's out here?

A slaver mare, gravitating around the right side of the slave line was waving a hoof and shouting, "Boss! I see something!"

Every slave along the line directed their heads toward the slaver. Split Tooth rose a hoof high into the air, halting the movement of the caravan. Siren placed a hoof to the side of her mouth and returned, "Wot is it?!"

"An ol' train station 'er, somethin'!" The slaver called back.

Siren looked to Split Tooth, who held an unwavering stare on the slaver. "Wot ya think, Splitsy? Ya think we could bunker down there fer t' night?"

Like his partner had, Split Tooth too rose a hoof to the side of his jaw. "'Ow far away is it?"

"Jus' over t' hill, boss!" The slaver answered.

Thoughtfully giving her a few nods Split Tooth coughed, "It's as good a place as any, ah suppose."

Siren grinned, lifting her hoof in the air twirling it a gyrate motion. "Comon' you lot! We're bunkin' fer t' night!"

Slavers came to the the side of the slave line, pushing the chained captives to the dark, dusty hills. Adam felt more relieved to finally get out of the cold. His hooves had started to ache, and his body becoming more chilled as time went on.

Trudging up the side of the hill Adam looked back at Big Lot. A unicorn slaver was next to her with a splinter coated bludgeon levitating over her. Snapping and snarling at him Big Lot battled her captor the longer he stood near her. The more she retaliated, the more the heavy weapon seemed closer to beating her against the back.

Coming to the top of the hill, a deep boiling heated fury dwelled within the little filly. Inside her heart Big Lot felt the fiery resistance slowly rise through her throat and out of her mouth into a vile speech.

"Don't you DARE touch me you weak little goon! Or so help me I'll kill you!" She exclaimed viciously snarling at the slaver.

The slaver slammed the wooden bludgeon forcefully onto her back, sounding out a loud thwack the instant it made contact with her. "Shut it ya little shit!"

Dozens of irritating little splinters buried themselves deep within her back as she fell to the ground. It took a moment for the splitting pain of the act to register itself -- though when it did, she screamed a loud, gut-wrenching cry of agony that carried on through the hills.

"Get up!" The slaver barked at her, jabbing at her side with the end of the thrashing bludgeon.

Spreading like stinging fire the burning sensation behind her made muscles the in her legs weak. Trembling, Big Lot placed a weary hoof on her back, feeling a warmth gather along the irritating pieces of wood inside her back.

A strange substance was barely pooling on top of her, and placing the shaking hoof in front of her face she gasped. There, trickling gently down her hoof was her own blood. Still warm -- still fresh.

Her eyes went wide as she stood on her hooves again. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. For once she seemed broken. Completely silent, without a single ounce of resistance left within her. What was once a proud, power hungry ruler was reduced to a hollowed shell of raw uncertainty.

And looking back at her from his own place on the slave line, Adam felt a heavy sinking once more pervaded his stomach. As the dreadful feeling of sadness tinged his very being the more they walked onward -- the more he began to question the very nature of why he cared about her well-being. Perhaps, out of pity?

Why do I feel this way? Adam thought. I haven't felt this way since...

Horrible, aching memories of Bunker 37 came flashing back to him. Images of the dark chamber, and the monster Lu had been unwillingly transformed into.

Adam shook his head to clear his thoughts. Still, the heaviness continued to sink.

Further, and further.

The caravan had taken shelter in an old railway station. Much of the inside was dark, and dusty with a pungent smell of musty corroding metal lingering in the air. Thick dust motes floated in darkness as the last of the day's dying light beamed through the broken, shattered windows.

The station mainly consisted of a long room with row after row of old seats coated in a thin layer of crimson rust. Hundreds of cracked white tiles made up the floor -- where all around papers wrinkled, and smudged by the filth of the elements littered the ground.

Low ceiling lights dangled from the high ceiling as Split Tooth lead all of the slaves through chipped wooden doors of the entrance. Slavers entering the station cautiously holding their rifles aloft -- while those with battle-saddles had the jaw-activated triggers gripped firmly between their teeth.

Spreading themselves out, the slavers searched the building high, and low. Behind the reception desk -- to the large maintenance closets along the back walls of the waiting room.

Sporting a rather confident posture, Split Tooth grinned staring at the wide open room. "This'll do nicely ah think. What do ya think?"

Siren stood by him nudging him in the shoulder. "Noice an' quiet. Ah thinks this 'ere will do fine, Splitsy."

Closing the doors behind him, the two slavers trotted into the center of the room. "Is it clear?" Split Tooth called out to his band.

One slaver father down the room behind the reception desk waved at him. "It's clear!"

"Good." Split Tooth cooed with a growing smile. "Get 'em slaves all nice an' cozy -- an' get some light in 'ere!"

Slavers opened both doors and brought in the cart with them. From out of small boxes within the wagon they removed old dented gas-powered stoves and lanterns. The few slavers who didn't help took positions by the slave line.

Guiding chained ponies to one corner of the empty waiting area one of the unicorn slavers snorted at the slaves, "Ya best get comfy. Ah don't want to see any of ya get up without one of us tellin' ya to get up."

Gruffly chortling, the slaver added grinning, "If any of ya are in a ritzy mood," he pointed to Big Lot, who had found a nice spot near the corner of the wall alone, "ah'll beat ya like that one over there -- or worse, mah boss will 'ave ya shot."

The slaver's grin faded. "Now sit! An' not a peep!"

Spreading themselves out in the small space they had been given, the slaves found a spot of their own and laid down on their stomachs. The sound of hooves clopping against the hard tile floor echoed through the room's steel supported rafters above, as lanterns started to illuminate the area around the cart with a dim yellow light.

Adam had found a place next to Bill, who lay down next to the wall. The chains rattled softly as slaves shifted their positions, and while looking around the room Adam sighed laying by Bill.

"The first night..." Adam whispered.

"The first is always the worst for newbies. They like to pick on them while they're sleeping." Replied Bill.

Directing his gaze to the slavers gathered around the glowing lanterns and stoves Adam listened to the distant, crude banter tossed between their captors. "Do you think they'll mess with me?"

Looking at Big Lot curl up into a ball, with her body pressed up against the walls of the corner Adam added, "Or even Big Lot?"

Bill blinked at Adam cocking his head to the side. "Isn't she like the big tyrant of the north or something? Why are ya worried about a pony like her?"

"W-Well, she is, and I know but..." Adam muttered.

Adam shook his head and folded his hooves resting his head atop of them. "I don't know how to feel about it."

Laying his head on the fractured tile Bill rubbed one of his sore hooves. "Well, I suppose you shouldn't let it get you down. We'll need our strength, both our minds and bodies.”

Bill yawned, "Now, let's get some sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow."

Lowering his heavy eyelids Adam tried to rest. The tile underneath him shifted uncomfortably, pricking at his legs and stomach.

A sudden bellowing howl awoke him -- sending his head rising up and his eyes search the surrounding area frantically.

Like Adam had, the other slaves had roused themselves. Ears perked upwards, and eyes wide with attentive alertness. Strolling along to the slaves was Split Tooth. Next to him hovering closely by his side was a large linen sack bulging at the sides.

Siren, as usual, came around his flank levitating by her a titling stack of small steel bowls, and a large tin gallon jug of water sloshing around more loudly the closer they came.

"Vittles!" Split Tooth chimed.

"Rioght! Come an' get it ya maggots!" Siren added, chuckling.

By each slave Siren roughly slammed a bowl on the ground, which soon after came a stream of water lazily being poured inside. Afterwards, Split Tooth would toss a single half of a loaf of bread at them. When the slaver, with his sack in-tow, came grinning to Adam he gently lay a piece of the food by him.

"Ya bettah eat, pup." Split Tooth snickered. "T' last thing ah want is yeah face t' get all thin an' bony."

Staring up at his captor with his emerald green eyes Adam said nothing.

Moving along, Split Tooth visited the other slaves -- handing out their portion of the meal. Siren eventually pulled up to Adam crashing a single bowl before him and pouring water into it. Droplets of the cool liquid went flying about in all directions as she chuckled watching him get splashed.

Siren batted her eyes at him, simpering, "Wot's da mattah? Afraid of gettin' a little wet, pup?"

Trailing behind her companion Siren moved on to the other slaves. Mocking them all the same.

"Ya take the insults with a grain of salt." Bill said dipping the bread into the water. "Though, come to think of it this bread would do well with a bit of the stuff."

Carefully taking the bread in hoof, Adam inspected the provision given to him. Sticking out his tongue Adam licked the bread. Its surface was coarse, and jagged -- like the ponies surface of dried sandpaper. Taking a bite Adam quickly removed the bread from his mouth the instant his teeth came down.

An aching soreness painfully poked his jaw, as he rubbed the side of his face. The bread, he had found, was harder than the very ground he lay on.

"This is supposed to be eatable?" Adam groaned.

"I think edible would be a more fitting word." Bill commented, dipping the bread in the water bowl. "Try putting it in the water. Sure it's soggy, but it doesn't destroy your teeth quite so easily."

Lightly dipping the corner of the bread into the water Adam bit down on the bread. Like Bill had mentioned, the bread was indeed softer. It absorbed the water like a dried sponge, and while it was soggy the food could be consumed more safely.

Big Lot wasn't hungry. Nor was she thirsty. From her little corner she glazed over the backs of two ponies in front of her at Adam. This was his and Covert's fault. If it were not for him escaping she wouldn't of had to go looking for him. If Covert hadn't snapped, she would be relaxing on the soft cushion strapped onto his back.

A simmering heat rushed throughout her body. She could feel the moment of reckoning arrive. The moment when she would end one of her two problems. Though, the instant she was done ridding the world of Adam -- the slaver that beat her was next on the list of ponies that needed to die.

All she had to do was wait until Adam, and most of the slavers, had fallen asleep. Then, and only then, could she exact her revenge.

Under the quiet, still darkness Big Lot lay. From her tiny corner she peered with narrowed eyes at Adam from afar. Much of the lantern's illumination had fade as many the slavers retired for the night. Nestled contently by the last glowing light the sound of the slavers soft snoring on thin wool mats filled the building.

What little of the light reached Big Lot glistened in her eyes like a spark shimmering in a pool of reflective water. She retained an unwavering gaze on Adam, who along side with Bill in their own congested section of the waiting area.

Her little heart started to beat at a greater pace. The moment was coming to strike. Glancing briefly at the three guarding slavers gathered around the last glowing lantern, she listened to them chuckled and mutter to one another.

The empty water bowl she had been give lay next to her left hoof. Staring into the dull steel her reflection was distorted, and warped.

Carefully taking the bowl between her hooves the little filly turned the dish onto its side until the rim touched the tile. Finding one of the more larger gaps in the white tiles below her she dug the edge of the bowl into the gaps. Using it as a lever she pried up pieces of the floor. Every time she would pry another piece from the ground it would break, or shatter, causing her to search again for other cracks of a significant size.

Along the tiles placed against the wall, she found a large crack in the tile -- no more than an inch in diameter. Lodging the rim into the crack she pushed down on the opposing end of the bowl, propping up the jagged tile piece.

Unlike the others before, this piece was more firm, and solid. Bolstering an arrow shape with rough barb-like edges. She inspected the sharp point at the tip of the piece. It was lighter than some of the other fragments, as well as more dagger-like in appearance. It was no knife, nor was it anything close to a reliable weapon, but it would have to do.

A smile stretched across her face, reaching to nearly both of her ears. And, with a slowly turn of her head she cast her large, narrowed eyes onto Adam. With her makeshift dagger in-hoof she picked herself up, and onto her hooves.

She hissed as the splinters in her back cried out in burning agony. Wincing at each searing prick in her back she took a loose end of her chain in her mouth, and discreetly stepped over the ponies in front of her.

The iron of the chains tasted salty, and vile. Like the heavily saturated brine of the sea. Sporting a rather stiff figure, she hobbled around on one hoof painfully suffering from the tiny wooden needles embedded into her back.

Stepping over each slave between her and Adam she bit down on the cold chain links.

Reaching her hoof over the last slave there, only four feet from where she stood was Adam. No longer did anything else stand in her way, the path was open, and the prize within reach.

Dropping the chain from her mouth she quickly spit out the bitter taste of old metal from her mouth. Adam had his back facing her, with Bill laying just on the other side of him. Faster, and faster her little heart beat as the moment of satisfying revenge approached.

Placing the bottom end of the tile-dagger in her mouth she took small, light steps as she honed in on her target. Then, only a few feet from Adam she stumbled forward. Tripping, Big Lot dropped the dagger before briskly catching herself with her hooves. Flying through the air the dagger landed a few inches from her mouth.

"What the heck!?" She grunted under her breath, desperately searching around to see what had tripped her.

Standing up again, she stepped forward, only to find that the chain tugged on her neck. Looking down at the sturdy iron restraint she took one of the links in her mouth, and pulled on it.

The chain pulled tightly back -- and returning to her sleeping prey only feet from her she gritted her teeth. Grinding the molars in her jaw, Big Lot pulled again at the chain hoping to gain some slack.

Again, and again she pulled. Yielding no positive results.

A burning fury boiled insider her chest, sending fuming heat flooding into her face. Her cheeks and brow turned crimson with hate as little veins along the sides of her head bulged. Swiftly looking to the dagger, she took it in her mouth.

Grunting, snorting, and furiously pulling on the chain she tried to reach Adam. Each tug seemed to accelerated the anger's effects on her judgement. Her entire body was consumed with tempered rage ready to burst from her mouth.

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" She hissed forcefully trying to break free from the chain locked onto her collar.

Adam's ears twitched at the sound of the distressed movements of the filly. And raising his head slowly from the ground Adam groggily blinked, scanning the area for the frantic combination of rattling chains, and furious grunts.

When his eyes saw Big Lot -- Adam raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up, you!" Big Lot bellowed, pulling at her chains desperately.

Rubbing his eyes Adam added, "Really, what are you doing?"

"That's none of your business!" She retorted.

Adam turned his head to the slavers, who had their heads looking in their general direction, eyebrows raised and ears facing them. "You need to settle down, Big Lot. If you don't calm down they'll hear."

"No!" She snapped. "You and your friends murdered my uncle! You ruined me!"

Adam reeled himself back slightly at the harsh remarks. "I did what?"

"You and that Mr. Cuddlepants murdered him! You! You'll pay! I swear it!"

The slavers, with their hazy eyes, glared at the two slaves.

"Hey!" One of the slavers shouted, rising. "You two!"

Prowling over to the two ponies Adam turned to Big Lot. Urgency charged his words as he gestured her to leave with his hoof. "Big Lot, go back to your spot! I don't want them to hurt-"

Big Lot's eyes went wide, as her entire body became deathly still. Trailing behind the first slaver that had spotted them was the unicorn stallion that had beat her before.

"It's him..." She whimpered.

Adam looked over his shoulder at the two slavers who stumbled around stepping over slaves. "You need to go back, now!"

Big Lot took the little tile dagger in her mouth and shook her head crouching low to the ground. "No! He dies! Tonight!" She mumbled with the dagger between her teeth.

The first slaver came to Adam, cheeks red and eyes aglow with maddening rage. "You!" He exclaimed seizing Adam by the mane. "What's going on here?"

The second slave drew his splintering bludgeon from a loop on his leather barding. Towering over Big Lot the unicorn slaver snickered, "You again? Didn't ya learn the first time, missy?"

The skin of Adam's scalp painfully stung as the slaver pulled on him. Biting down on his lower lip, Adam grunted, "Leave her alone! She didn't do anything!"

The slaver yanked Adam's mane. "Shut it!"

Big Lot held her stance as the slaver waved his thrashing tool like a pendulum in the air. On the slaver's face a \ grin grew as he cooed sweetly to her, "Little one, do ya need another lesson now? Hmm? Do ya?"

She backed up, holding the dagger up at him. Raising his hoof, the slaver swiftly smacked her across the cheek causing her to fall onto her side, sending the tiny weapon crashing into the ground.

A simmering stinging encased her cheek. Trembling vigorously, Big Lot tried to stand.

"Now..." The slaver scoffed raising the bludgeon high above her head. "This time ah'll beat ya until ya can't see straight no more!"

The searing pain of his scalp made a small collective of tears pool in the corners of Adam's eyes. Staring at the slaver rise his weapon made something snap within him. A voice, soft but drained of spirit tenderly spoke to him.

Never again Adam. Don't let it happen to her too...

A flash cast itself before his eyes. The scene of Breeze Heart and him in the quaint little wine store in Arkcannon. Cyrus was above her, a knife ready to dig into her chest as he laughed thunderously. The heat of the fire was still great -- even the dark eerie shadows cast off of the broken windows were just as vivid as they once were.

But the urge to lock up, to sit idly by as someone was being harmed right before him didn't pervade his emotions. Rather, the urge to act -- to lunge forth and help her sparked deep within. Jerking his hind legs out at the slaver grabbing his mane, Adam bucked his oppressor right in the chest.

Knocking the air out of him, the slaver clasped his torso collapsing to the ground wheezing hoarsely. Gritting his teeth together and glaring at the second slaver -- Adam crouched himself low to the ground, before he leapt at the slaver ready to callously beat the little filly.

Making contact with the slaver's side, both he and Adam fell to the ground as the bludgeon too came tumbling down with them.

Stepping over the unicorn slaver Adam looked deeply into the slaver's eyes, pressing his muzzle against the slaver's cheek. The slaver could feel the heat of Adam's face irradiate onto his fur as the angry buck snorted in his face.

"I said: leave her alone!" Adam barked, making the unicorn slaver close his eyes, and shield his head with his forelegs.

A clamorous uproar came from the other slavers, as they stomped their way over to the now awakened slaves. Heading the group was Split Tooth -- with puffed cheeks and narrowed eyes he pounded the ground the most furiously.

"Wot happened 'ere?!" Split Tooth exclaimed stepping up to the scene.

Adam took a few steps back from the slaver he had attacked, saying nothing.

"Well?" Split Tooth demanded in gruff growl.

Both of the slavers Adam had engaged rose to their hooves. The one he had bucked in the chest rubbed his sore, throbbing breast.

"This one here..." The slaver groaned motioning his head to Adam. "He did this..."

Glaring at Adam, Split Tooth snarled, "An' why did ya do this t' mah boys now, pup? Answer me!"

Adam lowered his head, gazing at the floor. "It was my fault. I started talking to this filly here, when she got angry at something I said, when your men cam I tried to tell them to leave her alone."

"An' wot then?" Split Tooth replied.

"They didn't leave her alone." Adam murmured.

Trotting up to his face, Split Tooth slammed his hoof atop Adam's cranium. Lowered the buck's head the Split Tooth placed his lips at Adam's ears. "Now listen 'ere, pup. Ah run a tight business, an' all of ya are my property until iz sells ya. An' ah can't 'ave slaves bickerin' an' t' like."

Turning to the slaver with the bludgeon, Split Tooth barked, "An' ya should know bettah! This 'ere filly is one of my more valuable piece of merch', an' 'ere ya are gonna’ beatin' her like a rag doll! Wot sap is gonna' by a slave with a dozen bruises on her back, an' a broken leg?!"

Flattening his ears the slaver lowered his gaze. "Well... I..."

"There ain't nothin' t' say! Ya dumb fuck!" Split Tooth growled.

Facing the slaves, and his men, Split Tooth boomed, "Listen up! Tomorrow we get t' the Darkmines, an' ah don't want some groggy half-drained runts stumblin' 'bout!"

Pointing to Adam, Split Tooth said, "Take this one 'ere an' link him with that other pup."

"Boss? Link them? Where?" The slaver asked, still massaging his chest.

Split Tooth rolled his eyes. "Anywhere! A broom closet, an' office somewhere! Get creative! Jus' so long as them two ponies are linked away from t' others for t' night."

Big Lot reeled back, as a slaver went to the cart. "They're going to do what to us?!"

Adam raised his head, and sighed. "I'm not sure," he muttered under his breath, "I'm not sure..."

From out of the cart the slaver took a small length of chain in his mouth. Adam could feel his heart beat at an increasingly growing pace. While the road ahead seemed uncertain, a bubbling in his stomach made a warmth wash over him -- covering his body in a blanket of positive energy.

Linked, or not, or whatever it may be was irrelevant. He was going to get out, one way or another.

Yet, the uncertainty of it all persisted. Deep within him -- making his heart beat faster, and faster.

In the gentle stillness of the night Neo twisted and turned in his sleep. Around him moldy dirt laden hay covered the ground as his friends lay beside him contently resting in a alcove along the barn's wall. On their sides they slept, seemingly undisturbed by the constant winding of Neo's body.

What little of the blue glowing light from the moon above the clouds seeped down to the world, beaming into the barn through a series of cracks in the ceiling. All around the central space of the building the tiny lavishly illuminated pillars calmly graced the area, catching the smoke drifting up into the air from the dying embers of the smoldering fire.

Wester was the only one not present in the alcove. He stood next the barn doors -- peering out through a crack of a single opened held slightly ajar by his hoof. The tender light of the moon glistened against his visor as he held his head aloft, staring at the broken cloud layer above.

Neo opened his eyes, staring at the creaking wooden floor above where the Zebras of Tiger company rested. Not in the slightest did he feel tired, nor did his eyes feel the least bit heavy, or his body weak.

He sighed heavily, letting the cool air fill his lungs before sitting up slowly. Snorting, Neo rubbed the back of his neck looking down at the soft hay coating the floor underneath him.

Briefly scanning the area around him, Neo stood up on all fours and stepped lightly to Wester. Wester's armored ears flicked in the air as Neo drew near.

"Not sleeping well?" He whispered, his visor fixated on the sky above.

"Yeah," Neo replied, "I don't feel tired at all, to be truthful."

Neo sat his haunches down, and looked at his armored friend with a raised eyebrow. "Why are you up still? I mean, I know you don't sleep much, but you've got to sleep sometime."

Wester took in a deep breath. "I was tired tonight."

"Then why don't you sleep?" Asked Neo.

"Your safety comes first over my needs. And I don't trust Tiger company." Wester replied.

Neo gazed at the dim light slicing through the crack in the opened door. "Do you mind if I step outside for a moment? Maybe the fresh air will clear up my head."

Breaking his visor away from the sky Wester looked at Neo. "I'm not sure."

Neo smiled at him. "I'll stand by the doors, and I promise I won't be long."

Wester stood silent for a moment, contemplating Neo's request. With one hoof Wester pushed the door next to him slightly, opening it for him. Giving Wester a stern nod, Neo walked through the door and out into the night.

Crickets softly chirped in the hills around the barn. For once the air was unstirred by a breeze or draft. It was still -- almost deathly so. White eerie, bleeding veins of penetrating moonlight fractured the grey clouds overhead like the moon itself was forcing its way through them.

Standing a few feet away from the door Wester stood post at, Neo found a place to sit. Like his friend, he too turned his eyes to the sky. Never was the moon or sun visible. Only the light the other gave falling through the minor gaps in the cloud's dense mass.

Every ounce of Neo's body was teeming with jittering life. His hoof was trembling, and his heart was beating at an alarming rate as a hollowed weight plunked heavily at the bottom of his stomach.

The light glistened in his eyes as the thoughts of his brother poked his mind.

Adam... His mind thought. I failed to protect you...

Suddenly, Neo felt a unnatural warmth move toward his side. Quickly turning to its source Bloodstrider had appear next to him from out of nowhere.

Jumping slightly, Neo reeled back.

"Wha-?!" Neo gasped.

Staring at Neo with his blindfolded eyes, Bloodstrider cocked his head to one side. "Did I frighten you?"

Neo felt his heart race even greater than it had before -- and placing a hoof over it he scoffed as the terror subsided, "A little. You know, that's kinda' creepy."

"What?" Bloodstrider asked. "Me being here?"

Neo shook his head. "N-No, I didn't mean that -- I meant... Well, the whole..."

"Ah." The Zebra chief replied with a nod. "I'll make it a note to not do that in the future quite so often."

Raising an eyebrow Neo said, "Why are you here? How did you get past Wester?"

"There is a back entrance, and as for my reasons I am, the same as you, out here to clear my mind." Bloodstrider answered.

"Of what?" Neo added.

"Tomorrow I leave my kin behind. It is like saying farewell to everything. When I depart, I reflect on my current stance in time, it eases my mind."

"You don't have to come with us." Neo replied. "You can stay with them. Here. Or, wherever you travel."

With a quick shake of his head, Bloodstrider sighed, "I'm afraid I cannot. I, and all of my people, are indebted to you two. I must aid you in your quest to find your brother. Then, and only then, can I return to my family."

Blinking at the myst-like light stirring in the clouds Neo nodded as the weight persisted to sink in his stomach. "Are you going to ask why I'm out here?"

"You have your own reasons. That is, unless you wish to share."

"Well," Neo mumbled rubbing the back of his head, "It's my brother. I'm worried about him, and sleeping doesn't get me closer to rescuing him."

"Hmm," Bloodstrider hummed, "and how was it you lost him?"

Neo remained silent for a moment. The weight within him had began to ache as the memory of the argument the two of them had flashed before him. "We were trapped by a bunch of Hellhounds in a building. We were all tired. Upset. On the brink of snapping wildly at one another. But it was my brother and I that seemed to have the most tension between us. And, I said somethings I shouldn't of... Things I regret..."

A certain amount of reassurance resonated in the Chief's words as he spoke to him. "Regret can be a painful thing. Especially when it is still fresh. Much like a wound -- it burns, and stings the mind. But until you realize the pain is not there, and the wound is healed will it no longer hurt."

Neo's eyes scanned the sky before he shook his head. "I don't understand... Do you mean I have to let it go? To forget about him?"

"Not at all, my friend." The Zebra chuckled. "Rather, move on from what was in the past. Your mind would have you believe that the wound is still being made right as we speak, when in reality it is not. That is the cruel effect of lingering in the past."

"So I need to move on from the argument?"

Bloodstrider nodded once giving him a tender smile. "Yes."

"But if I look to the future... What if I fail him again? What if I-"

The Zebra rested a hoof atop of Neo's head. "Why think: No I can't. When you should believe: Yes I can. This is the first step to fully acknowledging the wound is healed. To ignore what might be, and focus on what should be."

Blinking at the hoof that lay peacefully on top his mane, Neo pulled back. "How do you know it works?"

The Zebra pointed to the blindfold. "I cannot see what is ahead, nor what is was once in the past. I only hear what is now, and feel what is now."

Placing a hoof onto his shoulder Neo diverted his eyes from Bloodstrider. "C-Can I try?"

The Zebra nodded briefly. "Of course. Start, by closing your eyes."

As instructed Neo held his head high before shutting his eyes tightly.

The entire world was dark, and void. It was not an unfamiliar sight in the slightest. Yet, with Bloodstrider beside him the hairs along the nape of his neck stood on-end.

"Vacate what emotion you have currently dwelling inside you, and breath -- slow and deep." Bloodstrider whispered.

Slowly Neo inhaled the air, filling his lungs to their full capacity before exhaling.

"Every Zebra in our clan is not born blind. We choose to be so. But only after we have seen ourselves first. Those that choose to see take up the gift of sight. It is a gift easily squandered."

Bloodstrider lay a gentle hoof on Neo's back. "To give your gift means to see the world anew. The world, it's troubles, the anger, the regret, all gone."

"Now, what is it you feel now?" Bloodstrider asked.

The sinking inside his stomach melted away, fabricating itself into a soft warmth deep within. "Warm... Sort of..."

"If I move, where am going to be?" Bloodstrider requested. "Tell me."

Neo heard his voice speak next to him. "You're going to move closer to me, right?"

"Why should it matter?" He added. "Where was I before? Where am I now?"

"I don't know where you were, but you're to my left right now." Neo remarked.

"Indeed. Now, what do you feel?"

The softness lifted itself out of his body, clinging to his breath it completely left his being altogether. "I feel... Content... If not a little concerned still."

"It is good to be concerned about the now. The now is what is important. If you are concerned about what was, then you lose sight of what will be. And what will be, Neo?" Bloodstrider queried.

Extending his chest out, Neo held a firm posture. "I'll find Adam," Neo stated, "and then together we'll find our mother."

"Then that is what shall be, but only if you move on from what was. With the wound gone, and healed you can hold a new conviction within you. Grow stronger, and worry less about the unknown." Bloodstrider said.

Neo opened his eyes, and looked to the Chief smiling. "Thank you again, Chief Bloodstrider."

And when his eyes saw the plot of land his friend had once been in Neo blinked. Rubbing both eyes, he frantically searched around the area. The Zebra that had sat beside him was gone. Like a gentle breeze in the night he was there, only to fade away just as easily as he had came.

Wester poked his head outside of the crack in the door. Searching around his ears shifted and moved rapidly in all directions.

Placing his visor on Neo, Wester stepped outside the door. “Neo, I heard talking, who was out here?”

Neo stood still, staring at Wester. “It was Bloodstrider.”

Scanning the area around them once more Wester shook his head. “I don’t see him, and I didn’t hear him move. Do you know where he went? How did he get out here?”

Smiling at Wester, Neo closed his eyes holding his nose high in the the air. He inhaled the still night air deeply, “I don’t think it matters too much, my friend. Where he was, or is. I don’t think it matters...”

Shaking his head three times, Wester turned back to the opened barn door. “As long as you’re okay. If you need me, I’ll be here.”

Neo didn’t reply. Holding his head pointing toward the night sky, and his eyes shut tightly, he took a breath of the air, feeling the tender warmth pervade the rest of his heart.

Adam and Big Lot sat at opposite sides of a small square office. The desk, cabinets, and terminals were all moved to the walls leaving a wide empty gap between the two ponies.

The beige wallpaper upon the walls were dirty and worn -- with each torn end curling up the farther the paper went up along the wall. Dust motes lazily floated in the air, hovering just above the fractured white tile floor.

A lantern set next to the office doorway sent a flickering yellow glow flooding into the room. All around the doorframe's rims the golden rays poured in, giving whatever stood in its path a great dark shadow.

A shorter chain connected to Big Lot's collar ran up the wall, and over the ceiling back down to the opposing wall where it was linked to Adam's. A few sturdy iron stakes were punched in through the feeble walls, holding the restraint firmly to the building.

Split Tooth stood in the center of the office, his massive shadow from the light beaming in through the doorway was casted against the wall. Smiling, he nodded at the series of iron pin-stakes he had placed to hold the two slaves. "Good, that should hold ya."

Facing Big Lot, Split Tooth grinned. "This 'ere is wot ah call linkin'. Neither of ya can move without t' other yankin' on yer necks. All ya can do is sit still, or lay down. T' more ya bicker, t' more miserable it gets."

Both Big Lot and Adam remained quiet as the Slaver went on wagging one of his lanky hooves in the air. "So no more fightin'. If ah even 'ear so much as a scuffle ah'll beat t' livin' life outta ya both."

Siren came trotting to Split Tooth's side bringing with her two bowls and a pitcher of water. Resting the tiny steel dishes in the center of the room she carelessly poured water into them, crackling, "An' as a means of gettin' over ya feelins' 'ere's some water! Don't tell me ‘ow ya are gonna get it! Figure it out!"

Laying a hoof upon Siren's shoulder Split Tooth spat. "Siren, let's leave 'em be! We gots a long walk tomorrow. T' last thing they need is us botherin' em any longer..."

"Whatever ya say, Splitsy. Ah was jus' havin' a little fun is all." She laughed making her way to the office door with the pitcher levitating close to her shoulder.

Big Lot rose her head, watching the two slavers vacate the room. Taking the knob of the door Split Tooth snickered, "Good night, mah young pups." Before briskly slamming the door causing the walls to shake and shudder.

Big Lot jumped at the violent action, letting out a faint yeep as the two were left alone. The entire area was pitch dark. Nothing could be seen. Not the motes, nor the furniture -- not even the steel water bowls in the center of the room.

Sitting in her little confined space, Big Lot search through the darkness hoping to see something. Curling up into a ball the little filly whimpered, "It's so dark..."

Adam looked down at his Pipbuck, and switched the device's lamp on. Instantly the room became filled with orange light. No longer did the space feel small, or constricting.

"Better?" Adam asked with a smile.

Big Lot nodded diverting her eyes from his.

Laying down on his stomach, Adam inspected his surroundings. Big Lot, however, had other intentions. "W-Why did you fight them? Why didn't you let them beat me?"

Facing the little one, Adam raised an eyebrow at her. "Excuse me?"

Locking her eyes onto Adam, she frowned. "I tried to kill you. And if it weren't for that stupid chain I would have done it too."

Adam was silent as she continued. "And you knew what I was doing. You knew I was going to kill you. So, why did you help me?"

Shaking his head Adam said, "I know what it's like to be scared. And I don't think any pony, not even you, should be subjected to something like this."

Her frown faded, replacing itself with a perplexing look of confusion. "So that's why you saved me?"

"Well, that and something else..." Adam added in a hollowed tone. "I made a promise to a friend of mine awhile ago. I promised her I would never let harm come to anyone. The last time I watched my friend get hurt I was too scared to act... But this time, I told myself I wouldn't make the same mistake twice."

Big Lot turned her gaze to the chain holding the two of them. Placing her hoof on the cold iron links she growled, "You know, I could take this chain and put my full weight on it. It'd probably choke you, or break your neck. Then I'd be rid of you."

Adam kept a firm concentrated look. "Why do you want to kill me so bad?"

Her eyes narrowed, and her cheeks became flushed with a hot red heat. "Because you killed my uncle! And you ruined everything! You and those other stupid ponies!"

Adam glanced at the floor's tiles reflect the light coming from his Pipbuck. Closing his eyes, Adam sighed, "I won't lie to you, I shot your uncle. Though I'm not even sure if he's dead."

"Well," Big Lot flashed her teeth at him, growling, "he's dead... No thanks to you!"

Hanging his head low, Adam muttered, "I'm sorry."

Forcing herself up, Big Lot's legs unsteadily wobbled. Just as she rose her head up a searing pain burned up and down her back. Hissing she fell down onto her haunches, whimpering at the constant sting of the splinters.

Adam rose himself, extending a hoof out to her. "Are you okay?"

Waving a hoof at him she bit down on her lip, drawing a tiny drop of blood. "I-I'm fine..."

From his spot across the room, Adam remarked, "It doesn't look that way. The splinters that slaver put in you need to be treated."

"I said I'm fine!" She exclaimed, returning to the splinters, spouting low vulgar murmurs to herself in an attempt to relieve the stress of the injuries.

Adam shook his head. "No, you're not. Listen, I can get them out. I have this short range levitation ability in my Pipbuck. If you'll let me, I can clean and treat them."

She looked to him silently as the horrid pain of the tiny pieces of wood bit at her flesh. Both of them stared into the other's eyes before Big Lot slumped onto her side, facing her back to Adam.

"Please hurry..." She mewled softly.

Focusing on the large wooden pieces in her back Adam went straight to work. Each piece, big or small came out slowly as he tried as he could to remove them in the least painful manner possible. Still, she flinched and winced at every movement Adam made to dispose of the splinters.

Shutting her eyes tightly Big Lot held her hooves tightly to her chest. "So, what was it you were doing near my border anyway? When Scooter found you." She grunted gruffly.

"My brother and I were looking for our mother." Adam said keeping an unwavering stare at her back.

Big Lot, outside of the pain, felt a frigid emptiness fill her. "I never knew my mother..."

Adam hadn't heard her low comments. "We were right on her trail before you picked us up. Right after we got out we kicked right back to where we left off. That was until all this happened."

Pulling out one of the largest, most jagged of pieces from her back Adam asked, "Was Cyrus your only family?"

"The only one I ever knew." Replied Big Lot.

A sharp prick stung her back. "Ow! Careful!"

Adam reeled back his head. "Sorry! Sorry! It won't happen again!"

There was a pause between the two ponies for a moment -- until Big Lot broke the silence. Her voice was tinged with sadness brought on by years of longing. "H-How was she, your mother? You know, as a parent?"

Adam gave her a warm smile. "I grew up in a stable, along side my brother. My father left my mother when I was born, only to end up vanishing. Some say he died in an accident but nobody really knows. So that just left my brother, and my mom to fend for ourselves."

Letting loose a heavy sigh Adam continued, "But she was the nicest pony you'd ever met. She had the most tender eyes, and softest voice. Even after Neo started living on his own she never stopped loving us. We were a family, who stood beside one another."

The painful removal of the splintered wood from her back made Big Lot's voice stutter. "W-Why did she leave?"

Adam shrugged. "I don't know. I was hoping to ask when we found her. Looks like I won't get to for awhile now."

Sheepishly twiddling her hooves Big Lot said, "A-And why are you helping me now? What have I done to deserve this affection?"

"Like I said, no one should have to endure this sort of pain." Adam answered.

Pulling out the last of the splinters from her back, Adam shifted his head to the right keenly inspecting the work he had done. "I think I got all of them."

Big Lot blinked, placing a hoof on her back. Despite the minor stings of the vacant wounds left by the splinters -- no longer was there a searing bite that gnawed at her flesh.

"But we're not done yet." Adam added hovering one of the bowls of water to her back. "I need to rinse off the wounds. At the very least that'll help them from getting infected."

Gently tilting the bowl the cool, soothing water trickled down her back. A newfound feeling blossomed inside of her. It began in her chest as a warm fluttering, and not soon after spreading throughout her entire being. The uplifting sensation made her smile.

"There," Adam declared resting the empty steel bowl back in the center of the room, "all better now."

Big Lot rolled over, and sat up slowly. The feeling was even greater sitting up. Not a single burn nor prick ached the skin of her back.

Trying to find the will to thank him, she kept her eyes low shyly rubbing her foreleg with one hoof. "Uh... T-Thank you... For helping me."

Adam chuckled, "It was nothing."

The little filly's mind was racing with conflicted emotion. The hate which had once burned so intensely insider her had vanished. Now, this odd feeling of affectionate warmth replaced it. How? Why? What had he done? More importantly, what was this emotion?

Feeling her head throb with a dull soreness, she laid herself down on the tiles, turning her injured back again to Adam. "I think I'm going to sleep... I feel... tired..."

"That sounds like a good idea." Adam responded with a firm nod. "Tonight's been long, and some rest might do us well."

Laying himself down on the chilling cracked tiles, he yawned, "Good night."

Facing the old peeling wallpaper of the office's walls Big Lot hastily added, "Wait."

Adam rose his head, and looked at her. "What is it?"

She was quiet for a moment. Gulping, she whispered quickly, "What's your name?"

Adam smiled. "It's Adam."

Shaking her head, she tightened up the curl of the little ball she put herself in. Keeping absolutely silent. Adam too was quiet resting his head on his folded legs.

Big Lot remain in her warm little spot in the room, staring at the wall. No pony, stallion, mare, nor filly had acted the way he had to her. Not even her uncle spared her a gesture that could come close to that sort of affection. It was jarring. And all she could do was sit there -- debating with herself about what had just transpired. Deep, into the long hours of the night.

Vladimir was frantically pacing himself in his room. "Where is she! I said five minutes, and it’s been ten!" He mumbled, biting his hoof.

A sudden series of knocks came from the door, causing the ends of his ears to stand on end. Briskly spinning in the direction of the door Vladimir rushed to answer it.

"Coming!" He exclaimed before pressing the button along the doorframe to open it.

The heavy metal doors parted sounding off a faint whoosh as they did. In the doorway stood a grey mare, blinking at Vladimir. Inspecting her briefly, Vladimir's eyes scanned her up and down.

Stepping to the side he gestured a hoof for her to come inside. "Please," he said, "come in, and do hurry along now."

She gave him a silent nod before trotting into the small cavernous room. As she came in Vladimir noticed the horrible features of her scrawny legs. Lash marks, still fresh and clear, glazed the areas around her hooves. Like all of the slaves that lived in the mines she had a slave collar tightly fastened around her neck.

What hair was left of her orange mane was tied up in a small matted bun behind her head -- held together by one dull copper pin. Sticking his head outside the doorway for a moment Vladimir searched the hallway outside. Then, stepping back into the room he shut the door, and turned to the mare.

"I'm glad you could make it." Vladimir said, making his way to nightstand by the cot.

She bowed her head to him. "I'm happy to assist you, m'lord."

Vladimir rose a hoof to her interjecting sternly. "Please, don't call me that. Call me Vlad, or Vladimir."

Again, she bowed. "As you wish, m'lord."

Vladimir shook his head. "Do you know what it is I need from you?" He asked, resting a hoof on the nightstand.

She shook her head diverting her eyes away from him. "No, m'lord."

"Please," Vladimir insisted, "call me anything but that."

Vladimir sighed, and opened the only drawer of the nightstand. From it he removed a small rectangular piece of dark iron, along with a red keycard. Hovering inches from his side he queried, "Do you know what these are?"

She shook her head.

Raising the piece of metal he added, "This is an official Legion seal. As long as you hold it no harm will come to you. More specifically, it is bares my seal as well, deeming whatever it is you are sent to do an order directly from me."

Moving his eyes to the keycard he continued, "And this here is my keycard. I have access to nearly every section of this place."

"What will you have me do?" The slave asked.

Lowering the two items Vladimir spoke in a strong tone, "There was a stallion -- a freelancer guardian from Cool Blue's tower. He was recently captured and locked away. I want you to get his armor, and take him with you here."

The slave stood still for a moment, taking in the orders given to her. "And what after?"

"If you do these this for me, I'll grant both you, and the Guardian your freedom. All I ask is you do this, no questions asked."

"And," Vladimir stated, "remember, if you get any questions or remarks about what you're doing show them the seal. It'll grant you protection directly from me."

Vladimir took a single step toward her. "Can you do this?"

The slave bowed her head, and replied, "I can."

Vladimir went back to the door, pressing the button to open it. "Please, make haste. The sooner you do this for me the sooner we can all be free." He said, seeing the mare walk through the door and out into the hallway.

Several doors down across the hallway a Darkminer, standing idly behind the door frame poked his large glowing eyes over the edge. His gaze had been set on Vladimir's chambers -- and with his more attuned sense of hearing the conversation was more than clear to him. The only thing left for him to do was report his findings to the Warden.

The night had been long, and the sleep restless in the small office of the train station. Big Lot had been silent from the moment their conversation ended to the current moment. Adam, on the other hand, twisted around in his sleep. Shifting from position to position several places along his sides felt pressured. Like some aching, overbearing weight was indenting itself on him.

The clamorous shake, and boom of the office door swinging open rattle the floor the two ponies slept on. Adam rose his head quickly, turning his eyes directly to the entrance. His heart beat briskly, as he panted heavily catching his breath.

Big Lot got up slowly, blinking her weary eyes at the door. "What happened?"

Light poured into the room, while a dark figure stood in the middle of the doorway. The pony's lanky frame cast a large shadow along the back wall of the office. His big yellow eyes stared down at the two ponies, as he gave them a sour grin.

"Wakey! Wakey! Eggs n' Bacy, mah pups! Time t' get up!" The dark pony boomed.

Adam squinted his eyes, before raising his hoof over his brow to dim the blinding light flooding in. "It's time, already?"

Taking a few steps forth the shadowy curtain that blanketed the pony's features faded. Split Tooth, with all of his distorted yellowed teeth exposed in a crooked smile came into view.

Lowing his head down to Adam he puckered his lower lip, beating his eyelids at the buck. "Oh, ah'm sorry. Did ah wake ya? Should I go?"

Raising himself up he lifted his hoof and smacked Adam behind the head. "Too bad! We're movin' out!"

Siren stepped in the room, along with two unicorn slavers. She was smiling at Big Lot chortling to herself, "Wakey! Wakey! Sleepy Cakey! Time t' rise an' enjoy t' day!"

The slavers that had followed her in started to unlatch the pins from the walls and ceiling as Split Tooth watched. "Today's t' big day, mah pups. T' day ah'm finally rid of you lot."

Big Lot stood up -- rubbing her eyes. "What?! No you can't!"

Moving to the little filly he stood over her, smiling. "Oh, ah thinks ah can, mah little pup!"

Big Lot stepped back, shaking her head. "What! Y-You can't do this to me!"

Her pupils went wide as Big Lot’s ears flattened against her head. "I-I don't want to! You can't make me!"

Narrowing his eyes at her Split Tooth scowled, "Wot? Ya want t' go home? See ya mum?"

The filly was silent. Her little body was shaking as the slaver slowly moved his face closer to her. "Ah bet ya do. But it ain't gonna' work that way. Your mine, an' soon, you'll be their's. There's nothin' ya can do 'bout it neither."

Siren slapped her hoof on the ground forcefully bursting out into a loud uncontrollable guffaw, "Splitsy, do ya see t' look on 'er face? Bwuahahahaha!"

Taking his dusty green hoof Split Tooth rested it along Big Lot's cheek. Moving her trembling little head he inspected her facial features, nodding and purring to himself. "An' might ah say, yer a nice specimen. So don't worry none, you'll sell nicely. So much as ya behave. Heehee..."

The slavers working on the chain that linked the two slaves together stepped back. "Move outta' t' way! The chain's comin' down!"

Split Tooth and Siren moved from the center of the room, as the one of the slavers pulled the last pin in the ceiling. Once removed, the chain came clattering down to the broken tile on the floor. Rattling thunderously throughout the room the iron links shattered even more of the tiles into fine sharp pieces.

Adam stood up, feeling the heavy chain pull at his collar. Pushing him along, Split Tooth smacked him squarely on the back. "Now get movin', t' both of ya! Ah want t' get there nice an' early!"

Out the office door the two slaves went, guided by Siren. Big Lot was shaking violently as she tailed Adam from close behind. Split Tooth eyed them keenly -- Adam saw out of the corner of his eye the threatening stare of the slaver, and with his firm gaze fixated onto them little could be done to help them escape.

But, Big Lot was shivering vigorously, looking down at the cold ground soluemly. Never had he seen someone quite as mighty as her act in such a manner. Adam smiled looking over his shoulder at her. "Listen, Big Lot."

She looked up at him with shimmering eyes. "What?" The filly murmured.

"We'll be okay. You'll be okay. I promise." Said Adam.

"Hey!" Split Tooth barked charging next to Adam. "Shut it, ya little git!"

Reeling back Adam put his eyes forward again, as the they moved to the rest of the slaves in the central room of the train station's main lobby. Linking the two ponies to the main chain line -- two slavers hooked themselves up to the cart.

Pacing himself quickly up and down the slave line Split Tooth peered at every slave as each one stood behind the next stiffly. Trotting back up to the front of the group, Split Tooth bellowed, "Let's get movin' you lot! Now!"

Trudging onward, the slaves went with slavers hovering along the sides of the line. Like before, Bill was placed in front of Adam.

Poking his nose over his shoulder Bill whispered, "Hey, Adam?"

Adam blinked at Bill. "What?"

"Are you okay? What happened to you last night?"

As the slaves went out through the double doors of the train station, the cool brisk air blew gently across their coats. Adam shivered, feeling the cold blow right through him. "Nothing, really. In the end I turned up okay, right?"

Bill sighed, "I'm glad for that, but today's the day, Adam."

Peaking further over his shoulder Bill looked at Big Lot, who shuffled groggily behind Adam. "Do you think they're coming for us? Will she be okay? Is she okay?"

"Don't worry about her," Adam replied shaking his head, "I'll watch her. If anything happens I'll be sure to be there for her."

The sky was blanketed with a bleak grayness, covered in white beaming cracks of light from the sun above the clouds.

Trying to break through the dense layer, the light never seemed to puncture the thick cloud cover. And with no sun, already the cold world would just become colder, and colder on their way to the Darkmines.

The morning was so very bleak. A cold wind blew low along the rocky earth as the sky overhead seemed to be tinged with a darker shade of gray than usual. Bloodstrider was at the end of the group with his three other companions. From the moment they had left Tiger Company's barn the Zebras had remained completely silent.

Neo trotted up at the head of the group leading them in the direction of the Darkmines. Occasionally he would peek over his shoulder at Bloodstrider, who simply kept behind them at a steady pace.

Placing his eyes forward, Neo shook his head. Since the conversation he had had with the Zebra Chief the night before there was not a single feeling of dread sinking within him -- nor was there any inclinations to worry about what might be. Just the task before him was clear:

To reach the Darkmines, and save the ones they lost.

Ally came trotting next to Neo, looking at him. "Neo? Are you okay?"

Neo blinked, and turned his eyes to her. "What? Oh, well I'm fine I suppose. Great, actually. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you keep looking back at the Tiger Company warriors. Did something happen last night?" She asked.

A brief moment of silence pervaded between the two of them for a moment. Neo sighed looked back over his shoulder to Bloodstrider. "We had a talk... Since then, I've been feeling... Content -- confident even."

Ally smiled at him. "Then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. With him at our side we'll find your brother. It can't be that hard, can it?"

Neo nodded taking in a deep breath. "You're right. I don't think it'll be quite that hard. We did escape the border, didn't we?"

Nudging Neo in the shoulder Ally laughed, "That's the spirit!"

Before the group lay a large hill. To the left of them, out some dozen or so miles in a massive flat clearing where the hills seemed to vanish -- they could see the tiny black tracks of the Legion railway mark the the horizon.

Two Socks pointed to them, bounding giddily, "The tracks! The tracks! We're getting close!"

Neo's heart began to beat at a great speed. His breath became light as a tingling lofty energy spread itself throughout his legs. Trotting faster, and faster Neo smiled as they climbed the hill before them.

Trudging up its steep, rocky slope a new scent carried on the chilling breeze. The heavy, bitter smell of burning coal fill his nose. Furrowing his brow, Neo grimaced at the horrid odor.

Placing the his hoof over his muzzle, and burying his face into his sleeve Neo coughed, "What is that smell?"

"The Darkmines..." Wester uttered.

Tears started to pool in the corners of Lucy's eyes as she let out three hacking coughs. "Damn, it smells like Ironhoof..."

Approaching the top Neo dropped his hoof to the ground, digging his hooves into the jagged ground. "We're almost there!" He called to the others.

And, at the top of the hill he froze. Neo's watering eyes went wide as his mouth hung open. In moments the others joined him at the top of the hill, stopping next to him and gazing headlong at the scene before them.

When the entire group gathered at the top -- all were silent.

Mountains, dark and bare of vegetation stretched as far as the eye could see both left, and right. The clouds overhead were charged with a deep, somber black. The bright, twisting cracks of white sunlight faded into darkness. The sun's efforts to burst through the layer had completely disappeared.

In the distance deserted skyscrapers towered high into the sky. Like a dense forest the steel, concrete, and brick each were tightly huddled around the other near the base of the mountain. In the absence of proper care, many of the tops of the structures had fallen off into the condensed streets below.

Within the smaller, more abundant derelict buildings of the city were tiny glimmering green lights dimly flickering below. Imbedded into the mountain's side where tall iron smokestacks with plumes of rising ashen smoke spewed into the clouds above.

Bloodstrider walked by Neo, sniffing the air. Letting out a quiet sneeze he said, "It's a dark place."

Ally gulped nodding her head. "They're in there?"

"Indeed," Bloodstrider answered calmly, "we must summon all of our courage to brave that place and live."

Looking to Neo Bloodstrider cocked his head to the side. "Are you ready to brave the task at hoof?"

Closing his eyes, Neo gulped. Breathing in the thick, putrid polluted air he nodded. This was the task at hand. What might happen mattered not. For as long as he was determined Neo could find his brother.

Opening his eyes, Neo held a firm posture keeping his back straight and his shoulders relaxed. "I'm ready."

Lucy came to Neo resting a hoof on his shoulder. Giving him a playful smirk she added, "We're all ready."

Foot Note: Level Up!

New Perk: You Trapped the Unicorn!: When interacting with Unicorns you gain a +5 in charisma.

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to Level Up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: THE MONKEY: You gain a +2 in Bartering per level gained. Additionally, when speaking to wandering traders you unlock some unique dialogue options.

Proofread By:

Noakwolf

Thefullmetalbrony

Dannykat

LyonAzakura

(AN: I have to say, each new chapter I write I feel like the characters are growing. It's an interesting feeling, and hopefully you too have felt the same way as the story has been progressing onward. In general, I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter. It was a little heartfelt, and a little mysterious. Overall, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter. Sorry for the delay, trips and life. That sort of stuff happens. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter! - Noakwolf)

Into The Mines

CHAPTER 31: THE CRIMSON RANGER

"Caverns strong. The dark strong. Miners dwelling within -- strong. Unbending to surface."

A gentle, frigid breeze blew on through the rolling hills of the northern province. The sky above retained a dull hue of grey -- bolstering a deeper more harrowing shade than usual brought on by the low light of the early morning sun. Scooter sat on top of a cold smooth bolder with decaying brown vines crawling across its sides.

A fire, low and dying lay smoldering before him. The embers deep within the ash glowed faintly as the wind tenderly touched its dim light. Shifting in his spot, the vines underneath his haunches crunched crisply. Rubbing his hooves along the sides of his forelegs Scooter warmed himself.

All around the fire pit, laying on thin cloth mats with tattered edges were Legion soldiers sleeping. Soft snoring filled the air around Scooter while he stared at the small plume of smoke rising from the fire. The top of the ascending ashen cloud twisted slowly in the wind before dissipating entirely.

Scooter sneezed -- taking up his sleeve and whipping his nose. Exhaling heavily, he continued to remain quiet.

Whopper was across from him on the other side of the fire pit. Opening his eyes, and blinking briefly Whopper arose slowly from his mat. Looking toward his boss he scratched his greasy mane whilst licking his dry, chapped lips.

"Boss?" Whopper muttered, "are you okay?"

Scooter shook his head. "Ah don't feel right."

Sitting up onto his flank Whopper raised his forelegs over his head, stretching his shoulders. "Ya don't feel right 'bout what?"

"That Covert fellah." Scooter replied lowly. "I was thinkin' all night 'bout him."

"What'd he do? Was it somethin' he said?" Asked Whopper.

"No, it's jus'... How did he live? When all of ‘em other guys died, an' how did he only get a few cuts when them soldiers got sliced up nice and good?"

Whopper shrugged. "Ah don't know, t' be truthful. Could be a number a reasons, ah reckon."

“Ah guess, but jus’ think ‘bout it fer a second,” Scooter said lowering his gaze, "when we was circlin’ them guardians, one gun fired off. Ah remember them ponies havin’ loads of guns."

Whopper's mouth dropped as he stared wide-eyed at Scooter. "Are ya sayin' that Covert killed 'em?"

Closing his eyes, Scooter sighed, "Ah don't know, maybe? Ah don't trust him either way."

"What should we do then? Keep on headin' t' the Darkmines? Or should we head back t' the border?"

Without breaking his eyes from the crackling embers of the dying fire Scooter said, "Ah have an inchin' feelin' that we should head t' the Darkmines."

"Ya think Big Lot's there?" Whopper asked.

"If she is," Scooter answered picking up a pebble from the ground, "ah'll be sure t' get our princess back home."

Looking down at the tiny stone rest in his hoof Scooter continued, narrowing his eyes, "An’ if ah can’t find her..."

Throwing the pebble into the fire the weak blackened sticks above the embers collapsed, toppling onto, and encasing the last glowing warmth of the fire. Ash spouted out from the top, sending dozens of small grey motes floating about in the breeze.

Scooter chuckled, "Well... We might ‘ave to ‘eah on back home... Talk to that Covert fellah... See what he knows, an’ ah’m sure that snake’s got plenty he’s hidin’..."

There was a darkness that engulfed everything. As the slaves walked along the cracked, derelict asphalt of what was once a main city street the hollow skyscrapers around them towered high into the rolling blackness of the sky. The smoke stacks that protruded from the mountain's base at the far end of the long road shot dense, rancid pollution into the clouds above.

The pavement was thickly coated in ash. So too was the dozens of rusted wagons pulled off to the side of the street. Taxi's, buses, and carpools, all smeared with the same black soot.

Above them, in the balconies of the upper stories of the old city towers were Legion soldiers. Each stood post next to a lantern that glowed a dim sickly green. Occasionally, the charged blackened clouds overhead cracked a booming uproar of thunder -- followed by a flash of bright green within its thick mass.

The road was narrow, and the air heavy with the smell of bitter sulfur. The collar was digging into the nape Adam's neck as the slaves moved on at a more quicker pace. Nearly trotting the slaves hustled down the road.

Split Tooth was grinning, as a worn wooden bludgeon hovered closely by his side. Cantering along the slave line he smacked the thrashing tool swiftly against the asphalt. "Get along, maggots! We're almost there! Ah can see it up ahead!"

Big Lot staggered, the chain yanking on her little neck neck back, and forth forcefully. Catching herself each time she held fast against the constant battle of ponies hastily moving to the Darkmines.

The farther the group went down the road -- the more the empty streets gave way to more open alcoves blasted through the facades of the many buildings that lined the sidewalks. Within each little area were places for Legion soldiers to rest. Thick brown hammocks were pinned into the brick walls -- alongside wooden storage crates stacked neatly into pyramids of three or more.

Dim yellow lanterns sat atop the creates, filling each alcove with light. As the slaves passed by Legion soldiers, masks or not, had their eyes locked onto them with unwavering stares.

Twisted and bent lampposts ten feet high stood at the sides of a wide street. When the slaves walked down its center Adam noticed a more narrow street diverge from the main one. The smaller road went on for hundreds of feet, where just barely he could see at its end a long, bulky dark iron train stationed idly by an open-walled depot, adorned with dull red shingles.

Blinking, Adam muttered to himself, "I-Is that the same train brother and I..."

Another loud thwack of Split Tooth's bludgeon against the road jolted through the air, sending Adam's eyes facing forward. Holding a firm posture, Adam looked over his shoulder to the cart. During their trip into the ruined city Siren had ordered the wagon to follow in behind the slaves.

Some six ponies down from where he was position the cart bumped along the uneven ground. Since his capture, the wagon had never been so close. The sounds vibrating from its loose metal bolts on the wheels were more clear, and crisp than ever before.

Adam briefly looked at Split Tooth canter at the sides of the slave line. Gradually, the slaver slowed his pace, as did the slave line. Coming to the end of the wide road a long, stone bridge stood over the grey running rapids of a shallow river. The roar of the steep whitewater currents crashing against the jagged sides of the mountain's base echoed throughout the area.

A few wooden wagons, no larger than the slaver's, were pulled off near the tunnel's entrance. Some carried linen sacks, bulging with loaves of stale, moldy bread. Others sported barrels of water, or alcoholic cider, branded with three black X's.

Dozens of slaves were everywhere. Each were chained to steel mine carts ten ponies large, filled to the top with sharp rock fragments. Groups of six were hitched up to pull the carts. Despite their numbers, the vigorous trembling of their thin bony legs struggled to move the tremendous load.

Adam's mouth dropped slightly. The slaves who pulled the carts looked hollow, and broken. Their eyes were wide open, and glazed with a white fog. Lash marks, some still bleeding covered the upper regions of their backs all the way down to the bottom to their stomachs.

Little was left of their matted coats. Only patches of fur or tuffs of dirt stained hair remained. Darkminers, two or more with their large glowing green eyes followed the slaves pulling the carts. Attached to their masks were whips -- tipped with metal barbs.

When the slaves came to the bridge's edge a Darkminer would pull a lever along the cart's side. Pistons at the bottom frame of the cart pushed upward on the container. Slowly, it would raise the container's rim over the bridge spilling out the contents into the river below. The thundering splashes rang out, vibrating off of the building walls and base of the mountain.

The bridge lead into a wide concrete tunnel carving into the mountain's base. Like the massive mouth of a starving beast the sounds of drills, and tunneling equipment sounded faintly from within. Out of the dark entrance more slaves emerged dragging behind them carts of hulking black rocks.

One cart pulling just twenty feet by Adam had a chained group of slaves that looked more alive than those broken by the mine. Their eyes still retained color, and a fair bulk muscle still encased their bones.

A stallion at the head of the chain group, with tiny tufts of orange mane scattered around the top of his scarred scalp collapsed. Barely catching himself he fell on his stomach, shaking.

A Darkminer escorting his line carried a spiked mace, which bobbed up and down as the miner quickly charged to the stallion's side.

"Slave," the Miner hissed, "why stop? Why? Speak!"

Every section of the slave's body was quivering. "I... I... I can't move... My legs..."

Slamming the mace right beside the stallion's ribs, the Miner shouted, "No excuse! Lies! Lazy! Stupid! Work! NOW!"

Tears began to pool in the corners of the stallion's eyes as he shook his head. "I... I can't..."

Again, the Miner thrashed the mace beside the pony cracking the ground next to him. "LIES! WORK! OR I MAKE YOU STILL!"

Choking, the stallion sputtered, "I can't... I can't!"

Reeling back, the Miner cocked his head to the side. "No?"

The slave closed his eyes tight, nodding his head as tears gently rolled down his cheeks.

The Miner stood silently for a moment, looking down at the collapsed slave. "No... No can't? No... Dead... Kill slave. No work. No need for slave. No need for you."

Raising the bludgeon the Miner let out a shrill shriek.

Tucking his head to the ground, the slave put his forelegs over his face. Down the mace came, striking the stallion squarely on the back and then behind his neck. The horrid, painful howls of the slave rang clearly out through the bridge. Each small sharp spike dug into the slave's flesh. Cracking bone, and tearing skin.

Lifting the the mace once more, the Miner struck right at the stallion's left temple. And in that moment the screaming faded.

Wheezing, the Miner looked down at the slave’s head fall to the ground. The stallion's eyes were wide open, as the side of his skull had caved in. Blood and tiny bits of flesh caked the side of the Miner's mace. The other slaves pulling the cart stepped away from the body, only to be held in place by the chains that restrained them.

"Dead, yes." The Miner nodded. "Dead."

Looking to Adam and the other slaves Split Tooth lead, the Miner scoffed, "Replace soon, yes..."

Adam grimaced, diverting his eyes away from the scene. The grim shadow of the tunnel engulfed him, and the other slaves. Once inside, the dark mouth of the mine's entrance faded -- revealing a wall of tightly welded corrugated steel sheets sealing the way in. Only a gate of opened steel doors, bolted by heavy rivets lead inside.

There was one other door at the far right side of the tunnel. A small concrete ramp lead up to a green rusted door, that was once the emergency entrance to the mine. With a flickering black lamp positioned above it, a sign posted in dried red blood said: The Mine Inside.

Adam stumbled abruptly, coming to a full stop. Quickly catching himself before he could spot at what had stopped him, he saw the slaves in front of him shuffle to his side as Siren came strolling down the slave line.

Holding a wide grin she cried, "Move over! Move over! Side by side, move it!"

Briefly glancing at the slaves behind him they too stepped to his side. Taking no more than a minute the entire single-file slave line was horizontal -- standing shoulder to shoulder.

The chain hung incredibly loosely along the ground. Some of the links had been bunched up in small loops at both of Adam's side.

Gazing down at the slack of the iron restraints that held him, Adam felt his heart beat as a chilling sting rolled down his back.

Peaking over his shoulder, Adam’s eyes returned to the cart. Sparing only a second to see what was behind him, his heart jumped as the sight of the wagon being parked only five feet from him. The very same frigid cold tingled the hairs of his nape, putting them on-end.

Siren cantered next to Split Tooth, her smile still wide while humming a soft tune herself. "Splitsy? They're all ready now... We gonna' notify t' Warden?"

Split Tooth stood before the slaves, his sickly yellow eyes traveling down and up the line. "Aye, that we are love."

Raisin a hoof to the corner of his mouth Split Tooth called to his band, "You lot! Stay 'ere an' watch t' merchandise. Siren an' ah gonna' go fetch t' Warden. While we're gone make sure them pups stay nice an' quiet."

Lowering his hoof, Split Tooth sported a grin that exposed his crooked teeth. "We wouldn't wanna' stir t' locals now..."

Jerking his head to the service door along the tunnel wall both Split Tooth and Siren trotted away. In unison, the slavers spread out around the slaves let out a heavy sigh. One slaver, a mare with a spiked pink mane and a spear as her cutie mark spoke out.

"Damn, it's 'bout time we stopped! Two more steps an' ah was sure ah was gonna' die!"

"'Ere, ere!" Agreed the other slavers.

The mare rose a hoof to her brow, narrowing her eyes and scanning the area around them. "Now, if ah reckon roight there should be a stand..."

Stopping her search, her eyes went wide as a smile grew on her face. Slapping a hoof forcefully upon the ground, she chortled pointing to a group of Legion soldiers gathered around an opened wagon carrying two large barrels laying on their side. Wooden faucets were screwed into each barrel, as the soldiers huddled around them held mugs in their hooves.

Bounding up and down she chanted, "There 'ere! There 'ere! Ah knew it!"

A sloven stallion in the slaver party stepped up with a crooked smile. Motioning a hoof to the wagon he grunted, "Ya think them boys won't mind sharin' a little of that gin with us hard workin' folk?"

The mare shrugged, retaining her massive smile. "Ah don't sees why not, mate. We did it last time, now shouldn't be any different."

Another slaver, this time a blue stallion with a thick flat forehead added, "Wot 'bout t' boss? Won't he get upset?"

Shaking her head, the mare whinnied, "Nah, he won't know nothin' so long as we're quick 'bout it."

Drawing a little circle along the ground the stallion furrowed his imposing brow staring down at the ground. "Ah think we should stay this time. Best not t’ get into trouble."

The mare pouted at him, "Whine! Whine! Whine! Listen, if you wanna' kiss the boss' ass, fine! We, on t' other hoof, are gonna' enjoy ourselves!"

Swiftly turning away from the slave line, the mare trotted off with her nose held high. Every slaver followed her to the wagon where freshly aged cider awaited them.

Only three slavers remained. Among them, the slaver with the blunt forehead. Puckering his chapped lips, and drooping his dull brown eyes he slammed his haunches down on the ground.

The other two slavers too, sat their flanks down upon the hard ground. Adam peeped very quickly over his shoulder, looking back at the cart behind him. The slavers who pulled it had unhitched themselves. Now the wagon was vacant, and free of any eyes. That was, save the three that decided to stay.

Adam nudged Bill firmly in the side before leaning toward him, whispering, "Bill, I'm going to do it."

Bill briskly shook his head, raising an eyebrow at Adam. "W-What?"

Concealing his hoof behind the foreleg supporting him, Adam motioned it to the wagon behind him. "I'm going to go inside, and grab my screw driver."

Directing his eyes to the three slavers sitting idly, Bill replied, "You think you can do it?"

Adam nodded.

"Alright," Bill added, "but where are ya going to stash it? If ya haven't noticed we're as bare as a newborn foal."

Raising the tip of his hoof to the collar around his neck Adam said, "It's not that big. I figure if I slip it diagonally under my collar my mane will cover the end."

Rubbing the side of his lower neck Bill hissed reeling his head back slightly. "Won't that hurt?"

Adam shrugged. "For awhile, yes. But I won't have to conceal it for long. Once we're in a decent spot I can take it out, and work on getting out from there."

Looking to the slavers, who now started to watch the slaves pulling carts of rocky earth, Adam took a deep breath in. "I'm going in. Wish me luck..."

Deep inside of Adam's chest his heart pounded rapidly. A thin layer of sweat developed on his upper brow as he gingerly made his way to the wagon. Keeping his head low to the ground, and his steps light he pulled on the chain gently.

Stepping up to the cart, he jumped up onto his hind legs, hanging onto the wagon's low wooden walls with his forelegs. Poking his head over the edge Adam peered into the opened wagon. Bags of food were pressed up against loose links of chains and rolled bed mats. A few barrels of water sat near the front, right next to a large bulging unmarked sack.

Briefly looking to the slavers, who hadn't moved since he had last saw them, Adam returned to the contents of the wagon. Focusing on the sack by the water barrels. The Pipbuck telekinesis worked its magic, untying the knot by itself. Directing his eyes to the opening of the bag it slowly opened revealing dozens of items.

Guns, ammo, cloths, hats, and medicine were all piled inside. Digging through the sack he found at the bottom his saddlebag. Smiling, he flipped the top open, and searched it. Shuffling around the various items he had collected over his travels his eyes went wide at the sight of his screwdriver.

"Bingo." Adam whispered aloud to himself.

"Hey!" A low voice called to him. "Ah see you! Stop right where ya are!"

Adam's heart skipped, as the hairs all along his back stood straight up. Hopping down from the cart he floated the screwdriver behind his head. The stallion with the flat brow came stomping toward him -- his cheeks red, and eyes squinting.

With one powerful stomp the stallion puffed out his chest looking down at Adam. Blinking at the slaver before him, Adam lowered himself.

"Wot do ya think you're doin'?" The slaver asked.

Adam diverted his eyes away from the slaver, choking up. "I'm sorry... It's just, I thought that the Master would like to know that everything is there in the wagon."

The slaver's chest deflated, and scratching his greasy orange mane the stallion grunted, "Wha?"

Raising his head, Adam took a step forward, "You didn't know about the slaves here, did you? What they do to unattended carts?"

The slaver shook his head, pouting. "No... No ah didn't. Wot exactly are ya talkin' 'bout, pup?"

"Why, their thieves, master!" Adam exclaimed. "The worst sort too. A life here can make them very greedy. So they learn how to take the items left unattended in carts, much like the one we have here."

Blinking at the cart the slaver said, "Really? Ah ‘eard of somethin' like that t' last time we was ‘ere. But ah don't believe it none."

Pointing at the cart Adam injected, "But it's all true! Just look around you! Why do you think there are so many guards following each mine cart? It's to make sure they don't steal from hard working slavers like yourself."

Carefully floating the screwdriver under his collar, he continued, "A-And to compensate for my bad behavior I decided to help the master out, honest!"

The slaver leaned intently toward Adam, squinting one hazy brown eye. "Is that so?"

Taking two steps back Adam rolled his eyes, "Well... That's not all."

"Wot do ya mean?" The slaver queried.

"I mean, what would the master say if he found out some things were missing from the cart?" Adam asked.

Cocking his head sideways the slaver stuttered, "W-Well..."

Shaking his head Adam continued, "Just imagine the fury! The fury! Oh, he'd have whoever was standing post's head if he found out something was gone while they were on duty!"

Rubbing the back of his neck, the slaver looked off to the side, away from Adam. "Uhm... Huh..."

Smiling, Adam commented, "But you don't have to worry. I just got done checking, and I can assure you nothing is out of place."

Fixing the screwdriver tucked underneath his collar Adam leaned forward. "If you want, this business can stay between you and I. Master doesn't need to know that you weren't at full attention, or that the cart was left unattended. In fact, this might get you a promotion, or better: a place by his side."

Closing his eyes the slaver grinned, nodding slowly. "Aye, that does sound nice..."

"What do you say?" Adam asked. "Deal?"

Placing a hoof under his lower lip, the slaver hummed softly to himself. "Ah guess if ya keep quiet 'bout all this it won’t hurt none... Good work, pup."

Striking a rather firm posture, with his chest pushing outwards, Adam chuckled. "Will do, master."

Jerking his head to the slave line, the slaver spat tapping him on the shoulder, "Fine. Since that's t' case, 'ead back t' the line. And be quick 'bout it!"

Trotting around the slaver, Adam returned to his place in the line. Soon after, Split Tooth and Siren came trotting out of the service door leading the Warden.

Siren saw the other slavers huddled around the gin wagon, laughing and clanking mugs together high into the air. Popping her eyes wide open, she nudged Split Tooth repeatedly in the shoulder, whispering, "Oi, Splitsy! Look!"

She started pointing to the slavers hissing quietly, "Look! Look!"

Split Tooth rolled his eyes, and directing his gaze to the gin wagon where most of his band had gathered. "Siren, ah really don't need this while t' Warden is-"

While keeping a steady pace to the slave line Split Tooth's sight remained locked on the wagon. Boiling hot blood flushed into his face turn it a deep red, as his left eyelid started to twitch slightly. "Why those lazy, insubordinate... Ah'll have they're 'eads!"

Slapping a hoof over his mouth, Siren grinned at him chuckling. "Now, now Splitsy..."

Motioning her eyes to the Warden behind them, she mumbled, "Ah was actin’ crazy before, but we wouldn't want t' make a complete scene in front of t’ customer..."

Snorting, Split Tooth faced forward. "Fine, but after we're done ah’m gonna' beat the daylights outta' that lot..."

Coming to the slave line, Split Tooth, Siren, and the Warden stood before all of the slaves. Smiling, Split extended a hoof to the chained ponies before the Warden.

"See anythin' ya like? O’ glorious warden of t’ mines?" Split Tooth coughed.

The Warden stepped up to the slave line, silently. Standing only inches away from the ponies Split Tooth had captured, the dim glow of his concealing goggles glistened in the slave's eyes. With his sight held firmly on each pony he prowled up and down the line.

Stopping at Bill, the Warden spat, "You. What do?"

Bill pointed at himself, "Me?"

"Yes." The Warden hissed. "What do? What do?"

Bill's legs shook in the presence of the Darkminer. Droplets of salty, warm sweat ran down the sides of his face as he gulped, "W-Well, I was a trader. I-I also salvaged scrap."

Patting Bill's cheek the Warden nodded. "Have use. Will take."

Siren hopped to the Warden's side, beating her large distorted eyelashes. "Does that mean you'll take 'im?"

"Yes." The Warden answered lowly, moving on to Adam.

"You." The Warden snapped. "What do?"

Adam looked directly into the Warden's lifeless, green circle eyes. "I'm a mechanic, and a novice computer technician."

The Warden leaned forward. "What fix? How big? Fix drills, yes?"

Adam nodded, "I can fix drills, sure."

Moving his eyes to Adam's Pipbuck the Warden dropped his head to the wrist computer. Hissing at it, the Warden reeled back, "What is that? Answer!"

Split Tooth jumped to the Warden's side hastily. "Oh, nothin' at all, mate! It's uh, a pip-thingy... It's broken, an' we couldn't remove it."

Glaring at Adam, Split Tooth grunted, "Isn't that right, pup?"

Adam flatten his ears, nodding briskly.

Staring at Split Tooth, the Warden said nothing. Moving down the line the leader of the Darkmines selected one other individual before coming to Big Lot.

Peering down at her, the Warden wheezed shifting his head side to side, "Child... Child... What do?"

Lowering her eyebrows, Big Lot snapped at him, "I'm a princess! Don't talk to me like that!"

The Warden lowered his head to her face, nearly pressing his mask against her nose. Again, he murmured, "What do?"

She narrowed her sapphire eyes at him, pushing her nose against his mask. "Why should I answer a big creep like you?"

The Warden rose his head -- shaking it. "Not know what she do. No work. No sale. Arrogant. Stubborn. Won't do well in mine."

Split Tooth interjected smiling, and bowing to the Warden. "Please, mate, reconsider! Sure she moight be snappy, but a little 'ard work in t' mine will do her well!"

"Yeah!" Siren agreed, sporting the same persuasive gestures. "Think of the possibilities! She can clean! Or go into them small tunnels!"

"No." The Warden answered sternly. "No sale. No buy."

Big Lot snarled at the Warden as he walked to the next slave. Adam stepped out of the line, looking to the Warden. "Stop! I need her!"

Pausing right where he stood, the Warden stood deathly still. Split Tooth sprinted toward Adam, grinding his teeth. "Pup! Back in line!"

"Please," Adam persisted, "I need her to help me fix equipment."

Swaying his head around, the Warden stared at Adam. "What?"

Diverting his eyes to the floor Adam answered, "I'm no unicorn, so I need some help reaching into small, complex spaces. Especially on the drills."

Taking a few, light steps toward Adam the Warden asked, "Can't work?"

Shaking his head, Adam went on, "She knows me, and she works well when watched. All I ask is that she comes with me, or I can’t work."

Split Tooth took several steps back, before a new smirk sprouted onto his face. Moving to the Warden's side, he swooned, "Ya know, ah've seen ‘em work. They'll be a good bargain. Lot's of work done."

"Buy both? Work well?" The Warden asked.

Siren's ears erected themselves, as she too had a smile which came into view. "Yeah, they work real well. Fantastically so, my dearest Warden."

"Mhmm," Split Tooth hummed wrapping a hoof over the Warden’s shoulder, "besides, ya wouldn't want a drill to bust, or 'splode would ya?"

Throwing a hoof into the air, he knocked back Split Tooth.

Snapping his goggles to Siren, the Warden barked, "Gah! Buy both!"

Drawing from a thin cloth pouch on his coal stained warps was a heavy bag of caps. Tossing it to Siren, she caught it ogling the sack intently.

"Many thanks, mate, many thanks." She chortled, cradling the bag in her forelegs.

Split Tooth cleared his throat, and bowed. "Aye, it's a pleasure doing business with ya, Warden."

Waving a hoof at the two slavers, the Warden dismissed them. "Get slaves, bring. No more talking."

"Oh! Roight, will do!" Split Tooth chirped hustling to the main chain binding the slaves.

Unlatching the five slaves the Warden had bought, Siren fetched a smaller length of chain to attach them to. Clipping each slave to the more shorter link, the Warden took the end leading them to the service door.

"You follow." The Warden hissed to the slaves. "No talk. No fight. You will die."

Yanking on the chain the Warden opened the door shoving the slaves into a long, narrow maintenance hallway leading into the mine. Chuckling heavily, the Warden sneered, "Welcome to mines slaves..."

Vladimir saw his glossy reflection in the polished metal of the Freelancer breastplate resting on his cot. Beside the radiant image of his tired self was the chipped paint of a white number seven. Sighing, he pulled his head away from the armor turning and walking to his dresser across the room.

Dragging his hooves across the floor, he opened the first drawer removing a revolver, holstered in a fine brown leather case. Just as he had started making his way back to the cot, the specter appeared, hovering right over him.

"That's strike one, you know. Turning away from the demonstration." It said, floating onto the cot.

Vladimir payed the apparition no mind, and instead continued to lay the revolver on the cot alongside the armor. Next to the freelancer's gear was the duster with the leg guards.

Worn and beaten, with tattered edges around the sleeves, it was folded neatly beside the armor. Sitting barely atop the duster, the creature folded his legs, frowning.

"Doesn't that bother you?" It coughed.

Shaking his head once, Vladimir turned to the dresser again, ignoring the creature. Rushing to his side the spirit placed a hoof upon Vladimir's shoulder.

Staring at him, the apparition spat, "Doesn't it hurt?"

Opening the bottom drawer Vladimir removed a dusty saddlebag, before returning to the cot. "Yes, it does hurt."

The creature jeered moving to the other side of the cot, "Really? You seem fairly reserved."

"I need to start tolerating it sometime. Why not start now?" Replied Vladimir as he placed the bag at the end of the cot.

Drawing the flask from his pocket, Vladimir sipped the sweet wine inside. Gulping the chilled liquid, he set down the flask on the nightstand. The specter came hovering inches from the ground to the end of the cot. There, he slumped his foreleg on the various pieces of armor.

"What is this all for? Usually, I can tell what you're doing but here... But, this is strange, my friend. Very strange."

Vladimir paused, and blinked at the creature. Exhaling from his nose, Vladimir smiled, "Well, if you really must know I plan to wear it. All of it."

The phantom floated backward with bulging eyes. "What? Why?"

Vladimir answered, "I realize that the Coalition won't come out with where their project is. To my knowledge, they should have sun gems. The ones we need to finish the project."

"And?" The creature hummed, leaning forward and rolling its hoof around in a gyrate motion.

"And," Vladimir continued, "I've heard tell that Her sons are close by. If I were to join them as an ally, I could get into the project."

Pouting the creature folded its legs again, "How do you know that will even work? What makes you so confident?"

"Simple," Vladimir purred, "they haven't seen me since our meeting at Iron Hoof. I've changed a lot since then. Also, I know a spell that will alter my eye color. I'll make it seem like I'm a freelancer, and if their mother is where I believe she is, then we'll be lead to the project. Which, will take us directly to where the sun gems are located."

Nodding, the creature flashed Vladimir its bright, sharp glowing teeth in a crooked grin. "That is something the Vladimir I know would do... Stealthy, witty, and effective... I assume you'll have the our forces track you?"

"Of course." Vladimir responded.

Outside of Vladimir's door, a Darkminer sat on his haunches. The side of his brown hood pressed firmly against the cold metal as he listened to the Legion emperor talk to himself.

Thatch was walking down the hallway, until about halfway through the corridor he stopped suddenly. Squinting his eyes he cocked his head sideways. By Vladimir's door the dim glow of the Miner's goggles gleamed in the faint light of the hall.

The Miner had his back turned to Thatch, completely unaware of his presence. Straightening his posture, Thatch approached the Miner, who jumped up and spun around to face him.

The two ponies stared at one another, quietly. That was, until Thatch broke the silence, "Excuse me, what are you doing outside his majesty’s chamber?"

The Miner shook his head, "Nothing! Nothing! Make sure room safe. Slaves escape -- very dangerous to surface Legion... Yes..."

Rolling his eyes, Thatch motioned his hoof to the end of the hallway, "Go on then, I'm fairly certain this place is safe."

Bowing the Miner back away wheezing, "Surface Legion need no worry. Yes, right surface Legion is. No danger."

Trotting away, Thatch watched the Miner stop at the end of the hall. Pausing for just a moment, the strange pony looked back at him. Just the round green hue from the Miner's goggles pierced the dark. Facing forward once more -- the Miner went on his way out of sight.

Thatch shook his head, as he came to Vladimir's door. "Damn Miners... Skulking about like rats..."

Lifting his hoof, Thatch knocked upon the nipping metal of Vladimir's door. It's metallic ring sounded on even long after he lowered his hoof back to the ground. Wait no more but a few moments, Vladimir answered the door.

The faint sound of the parting doors swooshing resonated through the hallway, as it revealed Vladimir, leaning against the doorway smiling.

Giving Vladimir a slight bow of his head, Thatch greeted him, "M'lord, you requested my presence?"

Beckoning Thatch to come inside with a hoof, Vladimir chirped, "Yes, yes! Come in, come in! I have much to tell you!'

Stepping through the doorway the sliding doors closed behind Thatch. At the end of the hallway, the Miner emerged from the dimness approaching Vladimir's door gingerly. Each step was light -- generating little to no sound the closer he came.

Once more, the Miner sat down, and pressed his head against the door, listening. "No danger... No danger to surface Legion..."

Two small radroaches scuttled along the cracked asphalt. Behind their oval bodies small tracks specked the thin layer of ash that coated the ground. Shooing them with his hoof, Neo poked his head over a rusting wagon pulled off to the side of the road in the middle of the city.

Above the sky let out a booming crack, blasting loudly as a sickly green light flashed in the charged rolling black clouds. Legion soldiers patrolled balconies on the right side of the street. Under them was the torn remains of shop awnings scorched by the war of the distant past.

The soldiers standing post on their own designated platform wielded huge, bulking rifles as they stood attentively at their positions, scanning the area before them slowly.

The group was gathered behind a rusted cart that had crashed into an orange fire hydrant. Everyone behind the safety of the vehicle kept their heads low, and their tones to a minimum as Neo continued to inspect the scene.

Diving his head back down behind cover Neo said, "There's four guards on this street. And down the road a little ways is a train depot. I saw some train cars pulled by it, it's hard to say if they're pulled by a working train, or even how long they’ve been there."

"There guards are stationed on the right side, right?" Lucy asked.

Neo nodded. "Yeah."

Raising her head over the top of the cart for a moment, Lucy added, "We can just move along the right side on the sidewalk undetected. What we do after that, I don't know."

Pulling up his Pipbuck, Neo switched the map of the Darkmines. Peering down at the map Neo remarked, "There's a train station down the road here. No, duh. Then, there's a road that goes to the right from there. That should take us straight to the entrance of the Darkmines."

"Perhaps," Bloodstrider interjected, "we must find someway to get in, without the use of weapons."

Two Socks looked to the soldiers in the balconies, rubbing the back of his neck gently, gulping down a nervous lump in his throat. "I second that thought. The last thing we want is to be ponies full of lead, metal, and every other sort of alloy you can think of."

"You think we might be able to find uniforms? Or someone who could get is in on that train?" Neo queried.

"Affirmative," Wester answered, "It's a possibility. One we might want to highly consider."

A tingling fluttered in the bottom of Neo's stomach as the plan came together. Tightening his diaphragm, and inhaling deeply, he nodded once firmly. "Alright, then if we all know what to do, let's go. We've got to save Adam, and Bill."

Wester was the first to remove himself from the safety of the damaged wagon. Quickly dashing under the protection of a metal awning on the facade under the nearest patrolling soldier, he turned his eyes briefly down the road before gesturing a hoof for the others to come.

Neo whispered to Bloodstrider, "It's clear to go."

Nodding silently, Bloodstrider sprinted to the awning to meet Wester. The other three Zebras followed behind their Chief in a single file line -- keeping the same brisk pace. Flattening his ears Neo watched the guards pace themselves on their balconies. The moment that the guard closest to them was turned one more of their party dashed across the street.

Minutes later, everyone was on the other side of the street -- standing under the metal awning. A small hole had been torn in the top of the metal, and through it the other two guards could be seen. The third, more obscured by the body of the second. Directly above them was the first guard, his heavy hoovesteps caused the rotting supports to creak uneasily.

Down the sidewalk was other awnings. Some made from red and white striped cloth burn and tattered. Others sported metal sheets of various polished alloys, welded together to look exuberantly artistic.

"We'll sneak all the way to the train depot at the end of street." Neo whispered, pointing a hoof to the train cars. "Once we're there, what then?"

"Get onto the train." Bloodstrider answered. "The Legion transports everything across the province on them. And if my memory serves me well, then that train should be the same that crosses the province. Inside its cars might be valuable supplies which might aid us in saving those you lost."

Ally looked up through the small hole in the awning, watching as the second guard turned his back to them. "Guys, his back is turned, if we're going to move now is the time."

Sparing no more time to idle chatter, the group moved up the street. There, below the torn striped awning underneath the second guard they saw the third. He, unlike the last two, didn't pace himself. Rather, he stood still, only his heading scanning the section of street before him.

Pressing themselves firmly against the wooden doors of the building's entrance the group looked up at the attentive soldier. If timed wrongly, he could see one of them move out of the corner of his eye. At that point he would alert all of the guards, and in moments they could be dead. Or, if the universe felt especially cruel, they would live only to continue their lives a slaves of the Legion.

Gritting his teeth, Neo leered at the guard. Damn, that guy's not going to move, is he?

Lucy too, was staring at the guard from the holes in the awning. Rubbing the soft grey fur under her chin she hummed to herself. Then, smirking she looked to Two Socks.

"Hey, Two Socks..." She crooned.

Taking a step back, the strange, titled smile she gave him sent the hairs on his neck standing. "Yeah?"

She took a step toward him, beating her short eyelashes. "You wouldn't happen to have something small and metal on you by any chance?"

His ears perked upward, and smiling he quickly started digging through his saddlebags. "Yeah, sure I've got just the thing!"

From out of his bag, sitting neatly in his hoof was a small metal ball with two eyes and a smiley face crudely carved into its side. Holding it in front of Lucy he chirped, "This is Wilson. I'm not entirely sure what he is, but he's been a wonderful companion in my bag. I would die if anything were to happen to-"

Before he could even finish, Lucy had seized Wilson from his hoof. Throwing it down the street, away from the train depot, it crashed into a dented garbage can on the other side of the road. Throughout the entire street the sound of Wilson fiercely smashing into the damaged receptacle rang clearly.

Neo swiftly turned his eyes to the holes in the awning. Like a hawk spotting its prey in a field, the third guard immediately looked to the source of the clamorous noise.

Two Socks held his empty hoof up -- his eyes wide as he stared at the vacant spot Wilson once was. Dropping his jaw, he gasped.

Two Socks puckered his lower lip, addressing Lucy, "W-Why would you d-do tha-"

Lucy shot her gaze to the third guard, who was now looking over the railing on his balcony with a hoof over his mask's dark visor. "No time!" She said slapping a hoof against Two Sock's back. "Let's move! Now!"

Adam was tossed into a dark, dusty room. His muzzle made direct contact with the floor, instantly sparking a sore pain that traveled up into the rest of his head. Around the sides of his body were tiny puffs of dry powder-like dirt twisting in the air.

Groaning, Adam pushed himself up rubbing his aching and throbbing nose. He heard Big Lot yelp as she too was thrown inside -- landing right next to him. Bill came next, followed by another slave before one more was tossed carelessly into the room.

There were no windows, and no lights. The only source of pure illumination came from the opened door leading in. Light from the outside hallway dimly glistening against the quartz that made up the cavernous walls of their cell.

The floor, as Adam had recently discovered, was merely a thin layer of dirt. Dry, and loose with solid rock not far below it. Turning around to the doorway a dark silhouette stood in its center. Nearly every one of the Warden's features were cloaked in a dark shadow that beamed against the back of the cell.

This left only the glow of his green eyes looking down at Adam. Giving the Warden the appearance of some nightmarish creature standing over him.

"New home. No." The Warden rasped.

Big Lot promptly rose to her feet. Turning around she stared at the Warden her hooves trembling. "Why did you bring us here?!"

The Warden stood silently before hissing, "Quiet! Too much noise! Leave in dark. Break you. Break you for work."

Raising a hoof, the Warden gently rest it upon the cold iron of the thick cell door. "No light. Seven days. No food, three days. No water, one day. Only solitude. Only darkness."

Closing the door slowly, the Warden chortled as the old hinges of the door screeched vexatiously throughout the room. When the door had come shut the sound of gears turning and locking the from the outside clattered about. Not long after, the faint clopping of hooves tapping against the floor echoed. With each step the Warden's hoofsteps faded, gradually into silence.

He had left the room completely dark. And for a moment, everyone within it was quiet. Not even the shallow breaths of the five slaves could be heard stirring the hushed atmosphere.

Until out of the pure veil of darkness came the whimper from Big Lot. "It's... It's so dark..."

Adam switched his Pipbuck lamp on, igniting the whole room with a florescent orange light. Holding his dented personal wrist computer over his brow, he turned to the source of the mewl. Big Lot had curled up into a small ball, shivering vigorously.

Her hooves covered her head, protecting herself from the unknown within the darkness. Coming to her, Adam extended a hoof next to her shoulder. "Here," he said lowering his head down to her smiling, "it'll be okay."

Slowly removing the hooves over her head, she rose her eyes up at him, blinking. "Y-You did it again..."

"I told you, " Adam stated his hoof still out to her, "we'll get out of this together."

For no more than a few seconds she looked up at him. The orange glow of the lamp tenderly shimmering in her sapphire eyes.

Her expression quickly turned sour, as she shook her head.

Without taking his hoof, she stood up patting herself down. "Well, if you hadn't helped me I could have been out of here by now."

Adam retracted his hoof, raising an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"They'll be looking for me." She replied, nodding. "Oh yes, I'm sure of it! Once they know I'm gone they'll-"

In the center of the room, a mare with matted purple fur, and a tangled red mane tucked away to the side of her face by a single bobby pin sighed. Drooping her head a few thin strands of dirt-stained hair suspended before her dull pink eyes.

"They always say that." She groaned. "I said it at one point. It's only natural you say it too."

Big Lot frowned, leering at the mare, "I'm different! I'm a princess! They'll come for me! You'll see!"

"Heh," the mare chuckled briefly, "if you're a princess I'm the queen of freakin' Hoofington!"

"Hey," Bill interjected, taking a step in-between them, "thats enough of that, from the lot of you."

"Silence, brown mule! I am right, they are coming!" Big Lot exclaimed, stomping a hoof against the hard ground.

"And what happens if they couldn't find you in time?" Adam countered swiftly.

Big Lot reeled her head back. "They would! I-I know they would!"

"But what if they didn't?" Adam added taking a single step to her. "I couldn't imagine the trial that would be. And with no friends to help you, how would you move on everyday?"

“Well, I...” Big Lot paused.

All movement gave way to a frozen glare at the floor. A deep, wrenching pain stabbed her stomach, and twisted around. And as clear brief images of everything she had done came snapping into her mind the filly choked.

What she had done to some many ponies: hurting them, mocking them, treating them like objects meant to be broken and used. It came rushing to her furiously, knotting the pain inside the more she contemplated her position.

Her breathing had become rapid, and her legs began trembling. "I have no friends!" She barked, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

Slumping onto her haunches tears rolled down her cheeks, specking the dry ground, "Yo-You're right... Covert betrayed me, and who would he send? He wanted to kill me...”

Shrugging, she sniffed, “And Scooter wouldn't find me... For all I know, he’s probably sucking up to that fraud of a captain..."

Adam approached her gingerly. Then sitting down next to her, he wrapped a hoof around her shoulder. "I'll be your friend, Big Lot. If you'll let me."

Sobbing, she whipped away the wet streaks across her face. "But I hurt you... Your brother and friends... I tried to kill you all..."

Adam smiled. "We all make mistakes."

Bill sat down, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is she going to be okay, Adam?"

Adam nodded. "Yeah, I think she is."

Big Lot gazing up at Adam her eyes still glimmering in the light. "If-If you want to get out, h-how are we going to do it?"

Bending his neck forward slightly, Adam revealed his screwdriver tucked titled diagonally under his collar. Pushing it out with his hoof, he let the tool fall before catching it and holding it low for Big Lot to see. The sharp end of the tool had dug into his skin. Pressing down the fur, and leaving a faint mark where it had been.

"This here -- this is how we'll escape." Said Adam.

The slave sitting in the center of the room gawked, "A screw driver?"

Looking down at the tiny tool resting in his hoof, Adam smiled, "It'll be all we need. And hopefully, the Darkminers won't have second thoughts about leaving us in here for week."

"Ya sure this plan of yours will work?" Asked Bill.

Adam shrugged. "I doubt any plan is one-hundred percent sound. But at least a plan is better than no plan at all."

"Alright then," Bill replied standing onto his hooves, "is there anything you need us to do?"

Laying the screwdriver on the floor, Adam rose the tip of his hoof to his chin, rubbing it as he scanned the room around him. Looking to the mare sitting in the center of the cell, he locking his eyes onto her before pointing at the bobby pin holding back the excess mane on her head.

"Before we start, I need that bobby pin of yours."

The mare turned around to Adam, resting a hoof over her chest. "Me?"

Nodding, Adam added, "Yes, and that body pin will come real handy here in a minute."

Covering the pin with her hoof she asked, "What will you need it for?"

Tapping the metal collar hugging his neck, Adam remarked, "First, I'm going to remove these collars."

"And then what?" Bill asked.

"And then," Adam replied glancing at the door, "we get out of here."

"What do you mean you're leaving?!" Thatch exclaimed, stepping back.

Encased in a crimson glowing magical aura the shinguards to the freelancer armor floated toward Vladimir. Raising a hoof into the air, one of the metal leg guards drifted onto his leg before snapping shut around it. Tightly fastened, the guard remained steady on his limb.

Vladimir was nearly covered in the thick armor. From the battle-worn breastplate, to the hind leg guards. This excluded the one bare foreleg, and the tattered duster.

"My decision is final, Captain." Vladimir declared. "I need to do this, for the Legion. For the project's future."

Thatch watched as Vladimir snapped the next leg guard onto his lower foreleg. Taking a single step toward Vladimir, Thatch pleaded, "Sir, please reconsider! We need you here, to lead us!"

Gently shaking the newly secured piece of armor protecting his leg, Vladimir walked to the side of his cot gazing downward at the neatly folded duster resting upon it. "It'll take us years to accumulate the diluted Sun Gem ore to gain the power of just one stone. Imagine what the Coalition could do in that time. This way, we'll be able to retake what was lost, and gain the stones we need to finish Iron Hammer."

Trotting briskly to his master's side, Thatch extended a hoof to the duster on the cot. "Sir, following her sons isn't the solution. This, is not a good decision in the slightest. What if you were to get captured, or hurt-"

Lifting the duster up, Vladimir shook it out as puffs of dry rolling dust drifted off of the worn leather. "If anything were to happen I trust you, and your men would come for me. Or do you doubt your own abilities, Captain?"

Thatch's eyes went wide as he stared at Vladimir, his jawing hanging barely open. Shaking his head three times he stomped a hoof on the ground. "I do not doubt our might! We are the finest army this province -- neigh, the world has ever seen! I simply fear for your well being despite our best efforts to aid you, m'lord."

Flinging the duster over his shoulder Vladimir stuck his forelegs through the sleeves. Fixing what areas of the coat that slacked, he tightened, loosened, and adjusted it to fit his body. And, holding his head high he trotted to the other side of the room. Where over his personal dresser was a mirror with a jagged crack running down the top righthand corner.

Studying himself in the mirror, he put a hoof to the side of his face shifting his posture from side to side. "I understand, Captain. But you must understand, that this is the only way it has to be done."

"No, it's not." Thatch countered taking a place next to Vladimir's side. "We could send an agent, a mercenary -- someone other than you, my emperor."

Vladimir held a firm posture as he continued to inspect the outfit on him. "Have you noticed that I've been acting, strange lately, Captain?"

Thatch blinked. "Why do you ask?

“Please, just answer the question, Captain.” Vladimir insisted.

Thatch responded in a stutter, “Well, if you must know yes I have, sir."

"Well, recently I've felt... Unfulfilled with my place in the world. And I feel that this way I can endure the harshness of the world I wish to tame. To, enjoy it before we civilize it."

Sighing, Thatch massaged the bridge of his nose, "I understand how stressful it must be to rule an empire such as our own. But you must listen to reason -- you must not-"

Swiftly snapping his narrowed eyes to Thatch, Vladimir moved his face closely to the Legion Captain. Nearly pressing his nose against Thatch's muzzle Vladimir hissed, "It's decided. Period."

Retreating to his cot once more, Vladimir left Thatch at the dresser. Standing idly in place for a moment Thatch coughed, before shaking his head. "There isn't a way of talking you out of this is there, m'lord?"

A pain had formed in the center of Vladimir's brow, and very quickly he could feel the aching spread throughout the upper region of his cranium. Gently massaging the sides of his head with the tip of his hoof in swift circular motions, he sighed as the soreness took over all other thoughts.

Shutting his eyes tightly, Vladimir grunted, "Indeed. Nothing."

Thatch noticed Vladimir lower his head. "M'lord, are you alright?" Thatch asked stepping toward him.

Gasping deeply, Vladimir rose himself. "I-I'm fine, Captain."

"Perhaps you shouldn't leave if your condition becomes worse." Thatch commented. "Maybe you should rest. Take a moment to recover yourself."

Warm, heated blood rushed into Vladimir's face as the pain within his brow throbbed intensely. Breathing faster and faster by the moment he swung his hoof around at Thatch, snapping at him, "No! I said, no!"

Reeling back, Thatch lowered his eyebrows, frowning at Vladimir. "Very well," he replied straightening his uniform, "is there anything I can fetch you then, m'lord?"

Panting heavily Vladimir leaned on his cot -- beads of fresh salty sweat running down the sides of his face. "Tell the others of my plans... And bring me a tracking device..."

A boiling simmered at the bottom of Thatch's stomach. A feeling, which kept the frown on his face, and his eyebrows narrowed. "Very well, m'lord."

And, with a slight bow if his head Thatch walked out of Vladimir's room. Shutting the door behind him, leaving Vladimir completely alone. Pounding at a violent pace, his heartbeat would not subside. His legs were trembling and his balance uneven.

Carefully turning around, holding himself up with both hooves on his cot he sat down on the floor. Inhaling the damp air Vladimir pointed his nose to the ceiling. Feeling the warm beads of sweat run down his cheeks and neck.

His head felt light, and spinning. Around him the entire world spun quickly -- occasionally wobbling to the left or right. The disorienting sensation made Vladimir’s stomach churn as his breath shallowed.

This has to work. Vladimir thought. Otherwise, I'll be dead before I can even have a chance at recovering...

Leaning over to the nightstand next to his cot, the pain erupted into a fiery burst of aching pain. Knotting around inside his head, the soreness intensified with each little movement. Slowly opening the only drawer of the stand, he drew a small polished flask. Bobbing up and down in the air, the aura gathered around the wine flask faded.

Then, the halo which encased the flask vanished, sending the it falling to the ground. Picking up the flask with both trembling hooves, Vladimir winced at the pain stabbing at his mind.

It was like a knife digging into his brain. Twisting and turning around carelessly. Undoing the lid of the flask, he raised it to his lips. Gulping down the wine he didn't stop injesting the liquid, even as the breath in his lungs started to thin.

Each cool drop that trickled down his throat was relieving. In moments after consuming the wine the pain diminished.

Letting the flask drop Vladimir gasped for air. As the dank air of the mines filled his lungs, he coughed hoarsely.

Breathing erratically, Vladimir puffed, "Those boys are my only hope... My only... hope... to end this..."

A blast of pure, heated steam shot out from valves near pistons of the train’s wheels. In the thick polluted air the white mist churned in the faint breeze before vanishing altogether. Crates, large and small were scattered about all around the opened depot stacked upon one another in pyramids five ponies high.

The crates provided cover as Lucy poked her head around the corner of a large wooden storage box. Down the tracks, dozens of train cars were lined up, some cargo cars opened with Legion soldiers loading empty boxes inside. The engine a little farther up hissed as the pressure deep within expanded and released.

A few passenger cars were right in front of Lucy, and as her eyes peered intently at the foggy glass windows she turned to the rest of the group behind her, "Okay, here's the deal. It looks like most of the soldiers are loading things onto the train further down. Right in front of us is some passenger cars, and if there's going to be anything we need it might be inside those."

Neo leaned to the side, glancing at the long black engine. "There might be, Adam and I have been on that train before. I know that they keep a lot of equipment in the back cars. But the ones closer to the engine elude me. We never really did get that close to those ones.”

Blinking at him once, Lucy added, "You’ll have to tell me the whole story later, for now -- did you remember if there’s anything useful the personnel mentioned might be in the front cars?"

Neo shook his head. "No, I don’t remember them saying anything about it. Like is said: Adam and I were in one of the passenger cars further down the tracks."

Lucy rolled her eyes, and snorted, "Great... Well, it's our best bet I suppose. Unless any of you have any other bright ideas."

Bloodstrider stepped forward, raising his head high and erecting his ears. "How many cars are there near the engine?"

"Five," Lucy answered, "they look empty, but you never really know for sure."

Looking to his three other men, Bloodstrider grunted to them nodding once. "My men will inspect the cars. If they encounter any problems, they shall deal with them swiftly."

“It’s you choice, chief.” Lucy noted.

Crouching low, the three Zebras dashed toward the next set of stacked crates across from them. Each hoof step was incredibly light. Not a patter nor echo came from their movement -- giving the odd illusion that they were hovering quietly inches from the floor.

Checking around the corner briefly, the Zebras softly grunted to one another before running up to the small narrow staircase leading up into the passenger car. Everyone within the group stared headlong at the car they had entered.

Aside from the sound of the soldiers loading cargo father down the tracks, and the steam engine's pipes groaning, the world was quiet.

In a few moments, a Zebra stepped down the stairs heading into the car. Poking his head slightly over the threshold of the entrance, he listened to the environment. Directing his ears toward the group behind the crates, he gestured an alluring hoof to them, beckoning them to move on.

Treading as swiftly as they could, each member of the party carefully ran to the passenger car. One by one they all loaded themselves on as the Tiger Company warrior moved to the side. Neo was the last onboard, as his heart pounded fiercely while boarding the train he and his brother had once escaped.

Silver. Silver was everywhere. The silver molding along the top corners of the ceiling glistened in the white light of the glass chandeliers above. Silver leaves with long twisting vines decorated the crimson, blood-like wallpaper. Velvet seats lined the walls, matched only by the soft carpet of the same color.

Neo strolled alongside Ally as they gawked at the fine interior of the car. At the center of the room, however, lay three Legion soldiers, and one Legion officer. Resting back to back, their limp heads tilted backward as the Zebras picked up the fallen weapons the soldiers had dropped.

Two Socks took a cautious step toward the bodies, poking the Officer's cheek gently. "Are they dead?"

Bloodstrider came to Two Sock's side, shaking his head. "No, they are unconscious. For the time being."

Neo, knelt down beside one of the soldiers glancing at his green armor. "You think we could use this to sneak inside? It'd probably be much easier than trying to fight our way in."

"Indeed," Bloodstrider hummed, "it will certainly be easier. My men can fight, but to challenge all of the Darkmines would end with the death of us all."

Lucy lifted the Officer's limp foreleg, before letting go of it, allowing it to plop against the floor forcefully. "There's only four uniforms. And there's nine of us. How is this going to work? Because I'm sure as hell not going to share an outfit with someone."

Neo stood up, looking down at the droopy soldiers. Cracking a wide smile, Neo spouted, "I've got an idea!"

Ally cocked her head to one side, "What is it?"

Neo turned to address the whole group inside the train car. "Back in Arkcannon, when I was trying to smuggle weapons out of a raider encampment for the townsfolk, I pretended I was a slaver to sneak inside."

"So?" Lucy remarked. "Wasn't the whole: Sneak in using the uniforms bit, already established?"

Neo rose a hoof to her, "I know, but please, hear me out."

Lucy trotted over to one of the seats along the wall, and slumped down into its soft cushion, folding her hooves. Dropping his hoof back down to the floor, Neo continued, "Those that couldn't pass off as slavers did the opposite. They were slaves. We tied rope around them to be more convincing, and despite how rough the act was, we pulled it off."

Wester glanced quickly at the soldiers, "Are you recommending that we become slaves to get in?"

"Yes, and no." Neo replied. "I want some of you to be slaves. Those of us that fit the armor will be your escorts into the mines."

"Then who shall wear the armor?" Asked Bloodstrider.

Laying a hoof upon the officer's head Neo said, "I'll wear the officer's uniform. Lucy, you'll take a uniform, as will Ally and Two Socks."

"And what about the chains?" Wester interjected. "Statistically, the odds are against us if we do not have some sort of restraint binding us."

The bodiless voice of a mare called out throughout the room, coming from the front end of the train car. It was muffled and faint, however Neo felt his heart skip as he jumped back at the suppressed chattered carried down the car.

"Hello?" The voice called. "Guards? What's taking you so long? I'm thirsty!"

Lucy's ears shot up, as she turned to the end of the car grinning. "Well holy shit, is that... No..."

Trotting to the front end of the car Lucy shook her head. "Is it really?"

As she cantered on by the rest of the group to the wooden door leading to the next car, the heads of each pony followed her. Ally had an eyebrow raised at her.

"Lucy?" Ally asked. "Who is it?"

When Lucy came to the door, she turned back to her friends for a moment -- a hoof pressed firmly to her lips. "If it is who I think it is, she'll freak out..."

Clasping a hoof over her mouth Lucy repress the building laughter within her. Shutting her eyes tightly a few muted giggles escaped from her lips. "This is going to be good..."

And, laying a hoof on the doorknob -- Lucy opened the door into the next car.

Adam had the front end of his screwdriver inserted into the key slot of Bill's collar. Twisting and turning it around tiny clicks vibrated through the air as he squinted his eyes, leaning in more closely while the tool operated on the keyhole of the device.

Sticking out his tongue through the side of his mouth, Adam pulled his head back as a loud click suddenly snapped. With the sound, came Bill's collar unhitching itself from his neck. And, falling to the dust coated ground, the collar lay sprawled out next to Bill.

Grinning widely, Bill rubbed a hoof along the region of his neck the collar once was. "Damn, that feels good." Said Bill.

All across the room, the opened collars of the slaves lay scattered about. Everyone was still rubbing their necks, and throats smiling at the fresh rejuvenating sensation of freedom.

In the place the collars were, a line of sweaty compressed fur went around their necks. Adam was the only one who hadn't removed his collar yet. And placing the screwdriver into the keyhole, he started to work on unlocking the device from his neck.

Big Lot was laying on her stomach near a protruding vein of foggy quartz along the wall watching Adam. Turning her eyes to the floor, she picked up her hoof, looking at it. Then, laying it gently upon the back of her neck she touched the line the collar had left in her fur.

Adam was sticking his tongue out again, as the screwdriver end bobbed up and down, side to side, twisting around. All the same clicking away while the lock gradually came to submitting itself to him.

Big Lot blinked at Adam. She felt a coarse lump in her throat stop any words she wanted to say. Like a brick wall, or one-way valve only the air she breathed came in. Nothing came out.

Something poked at her pounding heart. Something that wanted to say thank you, or thanks. Anything that would convey her gratitude. But she never truly thanked anybody before, or return the favor for whatever kindness had come to her.

Clasping a hoof over her chest, she winced as a sharp pain jabbed at her heart. Nobody noticed, though. They were too busy smiling, laughing, and enjoying the freedom they had been given. And so she sat there, pressing the hoof more firmly against her heart until the stabbing sensation was snuffed out by the pain of the pressure she applied.

Like all the other collars before his, Adam's clicked loudly before falling off of his neck and onto the floor. "Yes!" He exclaimed.

Bill scanned the room, checking if everyone had their collars removed. "That's everyone, I reckon."

Adam nodded, rolling his head around popping the stiffened vertebrae in his neck. Each movement made a cringing popping noise, that felt as though a million pounds rolled off of Adam's back.

Rubbing a hoof along the nape of his neck, Adam chuckled, "Yeah, it should be."

All of the ponies in the room, except for Big Lot, faced Adam leaning toward him.

Bill was first speak up, "So what now? Having our collars off is only the first part, right?"

"Right," Adam replied, "the next step is breaking out of the door. And that might be a little more difficult than you'd think."

"What do we need to do? What's the plan?" Asked Bill.

Adam shrugged. "To be honest, I'm making it up as I go..."

Everyone in the room reeled back, Bill rubbed his eyes quickly, before blinking rapidly at Adam. "What?! I thought ya had it all planned out!"

Shaking his head, Adam responded. "No, not really."

Bill stepped to the thick iron cell door. Jumping up onto his hind legs he placed both forehooves along the cold metal feeling around the upper region of the door. "If ya ain't got a plan, we might as well get to fixin' the door problem... Ya think the key-lockin' thingy is around here?"

Adam walked to the door, scanning it up and down. Resting down onto his haunches he hummed to himself, intently staring at the door in its entirety. Bill moved to the side, as he too gazed at the door's few notable features.

Adam's eyes moved downward, until something caught his eye at the very bottom of the door. It was a narrow sliding hatch, covered by a metal sheet blocking off the light from the outside. Just barely did the thin edge protrude from the door in the faint glow of his Pipbuck.

Adam rose to his hooves, with his head hanging low over the floor. However, his eyes never broke away from the tiny hatch as he came closer to it. Turning his head to one side, he poking at it once.

Looking to Bill, Adam lifted his head. "What is that?"

Bill glanced at the small hatch. "Looks like one of them food hatch things. Something they slide food and other provisions through."

Adam had started to hum again, scratching his brown mane. "I think I have an idea, but I'll need some space..."

Taking a few steps away from the door, Bill nodded once to him. "If ya need space, there ya go. Just be careful, would ya?"

Levitating the screwdriver a few inches from his face, Adam smiled closing in on the hatch's corner.

Placing a hoof onto the grip, Adam wedge the head of the tool firmly into the hatch's extending corner, before pulling back on it like a lever. The metal underneath the tool creaked, and moaned as Adam tugged.

Harder, and harder he pulled back on it, try to force the hatch open. Until finally Adam snapped it open, sliding it off to the side. Light flooded into the room through the small slit at the bottom of the door, surpassing the glow given off of Adam's Pipbuck.

That was the last thing Adam saw, as his vision became distorted with the intense light. Raising a hoof quickly over his eyes, the shield he had created allowed his sight to adjust. Given a few seconds the blurred blinding rays faded, giving way to clarity.

Everyone else in the room had turned away, shutting their eyes tightly. As Adam had, they too returned their sights to the opened slot below the door blinking.

Bill smiled as his eyesight came-to. "Wow... Didn't think it'd be that bright."

"We're not out of the woods yet." Adam interjected. "We still need to unlock the door -- the only problem is I don't know what kind of lock it is."

Bill felt a chill rolled down his back at the news. "Well, didn't ya see it before we got in here?"

Adam shook his head. "I didn't have time to inspect it. We did get thrown in here after all."

"Then how are ya supposed to open it?" Bill asked.

Sighing, Adam closed his eyes and lowered his head down to the floor. "I don't know, Bill... I could fit the tools down there, but I don't think I could look through it at the keyhole."

Standing up, the mare in the center of the room came darting toward Adam with wide eyes. "Why open it at all then? All you did was give us some light!"

Adam looked up at her, narrowing his eyes. "It was that or do nothing at all. And I would much rather try moving forward than do nothing."

The mare grimaced at Adam. "You told us we'd get out! And now what? Do we just sit on our asses and hope something comes?"

Each word she spat at Adam vibrated in his ears like loud irritating bells tolling right next to him. "Stop!" Adam barked. "I need to think! Please, just let me think!"

She snorted at him, turning away and returning to the center of the room where she once again sat in the same spot as before. Adam rubbed the back of his neck -- feeling his tight muscles ache at the stress of the situation.

Big Lot was looking right at Adam with the same horrible sharpness pricking at her heart. Strangely, the more she watched Adam the more extreme the sensation would become. But no matter how much the urge to turn, to look away was she couldn't.

Rousing her strength, she stood up walking over to Adam. "H-Hey... I have an idea."

Moving his eyes up to her, Adam cocked his head to the side. "Really?"

She nodded, looking off to the side and stirring the power-like dirt of the floor with her hoof. "Yeah... I-I do."

"Okay," Adam murmured getting out his hooves, "let's listen. Anything right now will sound good."

Big Lot gulped, as the pain pressed harder on her heart. "I think I can fit my head through most of the hatch, so maybe I can looked under it -- at the lock..."

She paused for a moment, as the others in the group started to gather around her. Another emotion entered, this time taking the form of a cold shivering. Forcing both of the odd sensations back she puffed out her little chest -- holding her head high.

"While you work on the lock, I-I could tell you if you've made it to it." Big Lot concluded, retaining her boastful posture.

Adam smiled, patting her on the head. "That's a good idea, Big Lot. And that's very kind of you to step up like that."

Deflating her chest, she pouted. "I-I just want to get out... The same as all of you. You were taking to long is all..."

Adam rose to his hooves, laying a hoof gently on Big Lot's back. "It's the best idea we have thus far. We might as well stick with it."

"Ya think ya can open the door with Big Lot's help?" Asked Bill.

Adam's smile grew -- reaching nearly to both ears. "Sure I can," he said pointing to the mare in the center of the room, "that is, unless she minds me using her body pin."

Big Lot diverted her face from Adam's beaming expression. Though in that very instant of time, the pressured stabbing that irritated her heart vanished completely. In its stead was a warmth. Tender, and soft it bubbled around in her chest like butterflies fluttering about. It was almost enough to make smile. But keeping her own inner emotion to herself, she remained quiet.

There was no other feeling like it. And she didn't understand where it came from, nor what it was. All she could do was enjoy it.

The door to the next train car opened with a faint, aching creak from the old iron hinges. Lucy stuck her head through the doorway as the door swung slowly open. Scratching her blond mane, she scanned the next car carefully, with her ears erect and listening for even the faintest of sounds.

The air in the next car was much more thick, and musty than the previous train car they had been in. Dim rays of green light from the outside ignited the dark interior. Rotting wooden molding lined the top of the groaning ceiling. While only a single gas-powered lantern on a small table crafted from warped blanks sat at the far end of the room -- offering the only contrast to the bleak scene.

Three tiny cells were along the left side of the cart -- each with thick iron bars containing whatever was inside. Around the floor, scattered about in thick clumps, was wet, soggy hay that gave off a pungent aroma of mold and dirt.

Stepping inside the car, the hay squelched under the pressure of Lucy’s hooves.

"Hello?" Lucy asked, searching the first cell. "Is anyone there?"

The low rattling of chains shuffling against the floor came from the second cell, followed by a mare's voice. "Hello, Guards? It's about freakin' time!"

Lucy trotted over to the cell, gazing at the prisoners within. "Holy Celestia bucking a bull on Tuesday..."

Neo came into the car next, with the rest of the party following closely behind him. "Who is it, Lucy?'

Emerging from the darkness of the damp cell came forth a pink mare, sporting a beige Coalition uniform with two bright yellow horizontal stripes sewn onto her left shoulder. Around her neck and legs were shackles connected to chains that were linked to three other Coalition soldiers.

As the darkness peeled back entirely -- the more fine features of the mare came into full light. Mud stains, mushy and fresh specked her coat and short matted yellow mane.

Dragging her hooves, the mare stopped right at the bars of her cell. "Lucky?"

Lucy nodded, smirking widely. "Yeah, sour butt, it's me. And before you go all lo-co, yes I'm really here."

Drawing her head backward, the mare asked, "And why in the name of hell are you here?"

Neo came beside Lucy, gazing at the mare inside the cell.

"Because of him." Lucy answered, slapping a hoof onto Neo's back.

The mare's eyes widened as she gaped, "Hey, you're the kid I let go on this train a while back ago... Well shit, you weren't lying were you?"

Shaking her head vigorously, Lucy looked to Neo. "You know her?"

Heat flushed into Neo's face, turning his cheeks a deep crimson as his ears flattened atop his head. "Hehe... It's a long story..."

The mare put her forehooves through the gaps in the cell bars, resting them on of the lower crossbar. "It is, and I'm afraid it didn't end well for us..."

"Let me guess, you want us to let you out, right?" Lucy said with a smile.

Pausing briefly, the mare remained silent before shaking her head once. "Actually, no."

Lucy's grin dissolved as her jaw dropped. "What?"

"Don't get me wrong," the mare added hastily, "I want to get out. But now you owe me for letting him get past my soldiers."

"Sure," Lucy answered, "what is it you want?"

The mare looked toward the table at the end of the car, and pointing to it she said, "There's a pack of cigarettes behind the lantern on the table. There's also some matches too -- light 'em with the lantern and give me one. I've been dying to have a smoke for days now."

Lucy made her way to the end of the car to retrieve the items the mare had listed -- while poking her nose through the bars, she shouted, "Oh, and the keys are somewhere around there too!"

As Lucy left Neo, he stood before the cell, looking about the car waiting for her. His eyes went around in every direction but the mare's, generating an awkward silence between the two of them.

Ally coughed, as Wester looked out the one of the windows. The sounds of Lucy's hooves trotting against the marshy hay ridden floor creaked under her weight. Glancing at the Neo's friends gathered at the door of the car the mare turned her attention to Neo.

"So kid, where's the other one?" She asked Neo.

Neo shook his head, before locking his sight onto the mare. "Excuse me?"

"The other one," she repeated, "where is he? The blue one."

Looking over his shoulder to his friends behind him, Neo answered lowly, "That's actually why we're here... We're here for him."

"What, was he captured or something?" She added.

"Yes," Neo nodded, "yes he was."

She exhaled heavily, "The Darkmines are a real fucked up place, kid. But any kid that can escape a Legion train in one piece must be a tough ass."

Neo dropped his eyes to the floor -- remaining completely silent.

Arching an eyebrow, the mare murmured, "Silent, huh? Well, maybe you could at least tell me why you would go into the train? Because wouldn't he be held in the mines?"

Ally stepped in briskly, "We snuck onto the train to get some Legion uniforms. Ultimately we thought that would be preferable to getting shot-up fighting our way in."

A crooked smirk found its way onto the mare’s face. "Let me guess, you took the guards out, right?"

Ally jerked her head to the door. "Out cold, and everything. Now we need some chains to convince them that some of us are slaves."

Rubbing the mud under her chin the mare hummed, "Not bad, kid not bad."

Gently tugging on the chain dangling from the shackle around her neck, the mare chuckled, "You're more than welcome to take these of our hooves. Things hurt like a bitch after a few hours..."

Lucy returned with the small white cigarette box, and a lit match held firmly between her teeth. A dim hot flame swayed as she came to the mare in the cell. Removing her hooves from the cell bars, the mare smiled.

Sticking her mussel through one of the gaps in the bars she opened her mouth, "It's about time! Please, give on to me! I'm dying!"

Lucy popped one cigarette into the mare's mouth, before drawing the lit match to the end.

Inhaling deeply, a quarter of the whole cigarette burning up.

Letting loose the breath within her, a cloud of pungent smoke expelled itself from her nostrils. A quiver ran up her back as the relaxing effects of the tobacco made her muscles feel loose. "That's the stuff..."

"Now," she mumbled moving the smoldering cigarette to the corner of her mouth, "let's get this door open, and these shackles off, yeah?"

Everyone stepped to the side, allowing Lucy the space needed to unlock the door. And, as the hinges of the cell door squealed open Lucy snickered, "Consider us, equal now. No more favors, and those times in the basic training during our first days in the Coalition don't count."

Holding a hoof up, the mare scoffed, "Well noted, ya ol' hard ass. I'll consider us equal."

Walking into the cell, Lucy proceeded to remove the shackles from each and every coalition prisoner in the cell. With the restraints unlatched, the soldiers collected the chains -- gathering them into one pile of iron links near the door to the luxurious passenger car.

Brushing herself down the mare stood before the heaping mass of metal chains, and irons. "That's all of them, Lucky."

"Good," Lucy chortled once taking a place by her friend's side, "we'll need them."

The mare took in one more deep breath, "And thanks for the smoke too." She coughed, a puff of thick grey smoke drifting up from her mouth.

Lucy looked to one of the small cracked windows of the car, "How do you plan to get out of the city? Any thoughts?"

The mare shrugged, holding a playful grin. "I'll do what I need to, I guess. Unless you got an idea, Lucky."

Bloodstrider walked slowly to the pile of iron cuffs, and chains. "I can send one of my men to take you and your soldiers out of the city."

With one hoof, Bloodstrider lifted a section of the heavy iron links. "I know what it is like to be a slave. Not in the way you were, but all the same a prisoner of the Legion's greed."

The mare blinked at him, the red glow of her cigarette irradiating onto the stripes of his fur. "That's a fine offer you've present there. But I'm a big girl, and I can take care of my own."

"Please," Bloodstrider persisted looking at her with the tiny dots of his blindfold, "it is the least I can do for those against the Legion."

"Hey," Lucy crowed nudging her hoof into the mare's side, "they're really good at what they do. You don't have worry about a thing! So long as you stay silent, and stay close to whoever's leading you out."

Wester was staring out a foggy window, looking up out at the Legion soldiers move crates outside. "I suggest we move quickly. The Legion continues to move, and we are susceptible to detection the longer we remain idle, and undisguised."

"I agree with him on that." Two Socks said. "I'll go get the uniforms off of the not-quite-dead guys."

Ally turned to face the door leading to the previous car with the unconscious soldiers. "I'll go with him. Just meet us in the next car when you’ve got everything else situated."

Neo moved to the pile of chains in the middle of the car, he picked up a piece of the chain with his mechanical hoof. "It's like Arkcannon all over again... Hopefully this goes a little more smoothly. I really don't want to use exploding weapons as an excuse this time..."

Big Lot felt the hot mine air brush against her left ear, as the ground sorely pressed against the back of her head. She was laying on her back, with half of her face protruding from the meal hatch at the bottom of the cell door. Only one sapphire eye made it through the narrow space while staring up at the lock from below.

Adam’s screwdriver was suspended in the air, hovering inches from the lock.

"A little more to the right." Big Lot muttered, keeping an eye on the tool's movement.

Adam was beside her, sitting on his haunches -- focusing on the door in front of him. Furrowing his brow, Adam grunted, "How close it is?"

The screwdriver's end pointed directly at the keyhole. "It's right over the lock, I think..."

Inserting itself into the keyhole, the screwdriver clicked once contact with the lock's pressure system engaged. The entire tool was consumed by the iron locking mechanism, leaving just the grip poking out from the end.

"It's in the keyhole, right?" Adam asked Big Lot.

She nodded on the ground. "It's in."

"Good," Adam added with a smile, "now for the last part of the plan."

Next to him the bobby pin from the mare levitated next to his head. The rough, wavy length of the pin was bent away from the more straightened section -- forming an L shape. Silently floating down to the opened hatch, it drifted past the door and out into the hallway.

Gravitating near the thick iron surface of the cell door, the bobby pin made its way to the lock. As before, Big Lot verbally guided Adam while he searched blindly for the keyhole.

The pin was soon in front of the lock. "Okay, it's right over it." Big Lot said.

Adam injected the wavy section of the pin into the bottom of the keyhole, it too generating the same faint click.

Adam sighed, as he broke his gaze with the door. "That should be it. And here I was thinking I’d break my brain doing it..."

Big Lot pushed herself away from the door, and rolled onto her stomach staring up at Adam. "Can you do it on your own from here?"

Adam rocked his head side to side, popping the tension in his neck. "I should, though I'll need some peace and quiet to listen for the changes in the lock's pistons."

Lifting his head, Adam closed his eyes taking in one deep breath. Holding it inside of him, the cooling air gradually relaxed his mind. The slaves backed themselves away from him, giving Adam more than five feet of space.

It was just the door and him now. Nothing else was left but to seize the chance of taking their freedom.

Expelling the air from his lungs -- Adam took a few steps toward the door laying an ear to the lock of the door.

Contrast to the heated air the metal was cold.

The hairs atop Adam’s head from tail to neck stood up. Letting in another breath of air, he closed his eyes, focusing on the lock and pin on the other side.

Each click, clang, or tick the dozens of small parts made within told him something. A deeper click, as he would recall, usually meant that he was farther away from unlocking the door. So the position of the pin would need to be adjusted until a lighter tone could be heard.

After listening to the various sounds, a great loud click rumbled in Adam's eardrums sending him reeling back at the sudden erupting noise.

Quickly clasping a hoof over his ear, Adam hissed as the ringing persisted for a few more seconds. "I didn't think it'd click that loud..."

Bill came to Adam's side, looking to the door. "Is is opened?"

"I think so," Adam groaned, "there's only one way to find out."

Ambling toward the door, Adam removed his hoof from his now sore, throbbing ear. Standing inches from the door, Adam pushed against it. Very slowly it opened -- the old cast-iron hinges shrieking throughout the cell.

Drifting open, the door stopped, barely leaving a crack into the outside hallway. Letting in a sliver of the dim hallway light into the cell the quartz glistened more lavishly in the rays of the hallway's glow.

Bill felt an uplifting air fill him. Everything was light, with a tingling bubbling bursting from inside. Rushing to Adam's side, Bill wrapped his hooves around the blue buck’s body in a tight hug.

Increasing the intensity of his grip on Adam, Bill stood onto his hind legs lifting Adam up a few inches from the ground. "Ya did it! Ya did it!"

Big Lot pouted, and stomped forward. "I helped just as much as he did!"

Adam's bones were aching, as his the air thinned in his lungs, shifting the color of his face to a deeper shade of blue.

Releasing him from his grasp, Bill smiled at Big Lot, patting gently her upon the head. "Ya did good too, little 'n."

Adam threw back his head, gasping for air. "We're... Not done yet..."

Bill looked to Adam. "What do ya mean, Adam?"

Leaving a trail in the fine dust of the floor, Adam shuffled to the door breathing shallowly. Hovering out of the crack made by the open door came the screwdriver, floating toward Adam's side. Slumping his haunches down, he began panting.

"I need to help my brother find us." Adam said as the screwdriver drifted to his Pipbuck.

"How?" Bill asked.

Lifting up his Pipbuck to an even level, the screwdriver unscrewed a few small screws on the belly of the wrist computer. "On my way here, I visited a place called Silvermane Tower, heard of it?"

Bill nodded. "Yeah, but what's that got to do with helpin' your brother find us?"

"Well," Adam answered as the screws levitated easily to the ground, "I learned that Pipbucks have tracking devices on them. They also have a signal broadcasting out to those who can detect it."

"And who exactly would be detecting it?" Bill queried.

Adam scoffed with a weak smirk. "Unless the Legion has some sort of Stable-Tech grade Pipbuck terminal like Silvermane did, than Neo should see us on his own Pipbuck."

Removing the lid that sealed the bottom of his Pipbuck. Behind the thin metal plate was a series of small colored wires, stringing back and forth in a huge knotted mess. Somewhere under the chaotic jumble lay the green, golden lined circuit boards.

Gingerly inserting the screwdriver between the wires, Adam said, "I don't know how far away my brother is, and he might be too late if we wait for him. Having said that -- our best bet is to escape on our own, and wait until he picks up the signal."

Big Lot looked up at Adam, "Do you think we'll make it?"

Smiling, Adam ruffled her dust ridden, curly mane. "I said we'd get out of here. And I meant every word of it. I promise."

The tight dark iron officer’s breastplate constricted Neo’s breathing. Trying to inhale the air around him, his lungs ached as the armor constrain the movement of his chest.

Tugging at the collar of his uniform, Neo coughed feeling his lungs expel what little air was within them.

Lucy was hopping around the car, half of the main chest piece squeezed her shoulders as her hooves wiggled about through the leg holes of the armor. Her head was stuck inside the Legion uniform, muffling the vulgar swears the she spouted crashing into chairs and ponies alike.

Slapping herself against a passenger seat the breastplate thunked down across her entire torso. Underneath the solid metal of the armor her injured wing pounded with an intense throbbing pain.

Biting her lower lip, Lucy picked up the Legion helmet, accompanied by the thick leather gasmask. Slipping the headpiece on she spat, “Damn this armor! And damn that skinny ass soldier wearing it!”

The standard Legion soldier uniform fit Ally perfectly. It wasn't too tight, nor was it too loose. Not the helmet, breast piece, or assorted segments. Gently running a hoof along the dark green leg guards she smiled. "I can't believe how well this fits!"

Slumping her flank into the soft velvet cushion of a passenger seat, Lucy crossed her hooves, snickering, "Yeah? Well, screw you too honey."

Lucy sat slouching backwards in the chair, huffing deeply, "Well, I'm not putting this thing on again... Don't you even try and make me..."

The Legion soldiers they had commandeered the uniforms from lay on their backs, limbs sprawled out and tongues loosely dangling over the corner of their mouths.

Two Socks strolled over to Neo, the thick leather mask of the Legion helmet hiding his face. "Just got the helmet on, and I must say it's not easy to see in this thing."

Neo turned to face him, raising an eyebrow as he peered at Two Sock's armor. "Really?"

Nodding, Two Socks waved a hoof in front of his face. "It's like trying to look out of a tin cup with the bottom cut out. And blocking that very same hole is a foggy piece of glass..."

"It won't be for long," Neo said, "just until we get our friends out of the mines."

Lucy sat up in the seat, forcing her back against the back cushion. "Speaking of which, how do we plan on getting out of there?"

Lifting his Pipbuck just barely below his jaw, Neo glanced down at the screen. "According to the map we found at the border it says, there are two entrances, and likewise two exits out of the Darkmines. That one entrance is through the front, and as you probably guessed it's also one of the exits."

"And what about the other one?" Two Socks asked.

Neo sat on one of the nearby seats, "Well, that's where things get tricky... It says there's a back entrance. A sort of emergency exit that leads out to the city again. It's a little deeper in the mines, but it's definitely closer to where Adam might be by the slave quarters on the lower level."

Two Socks leaned over Neo, inspecting the map. "That's our plan then, isn't it?"

"Right." Neo replied lowering his Pipbuck.

Ally picked up her saddlebag, and slinger it over her back. "Then all we need left is Tiger Company and Wester with the chains."

"Yeah," Lucy commented sitting upright, "but where are our slaves? They've been in that prison car for a good five minutes now. I don't think I'd be that hard to actually put on the chains, right?"

The door to the prison car creaked barely open. From out of the crack Wester stuck his armored head through it, holding the door with a hoof. "We are ready to proceed." He muttered.

Lucy leapt up from her seat, gesturing him to come in with her hoof. "Come on in then, ya big lug!"

Wester looked to the ground. "Negative."

Shrugging Lucy prompted, "Why not? Let's see you!"

Slowly shaking his head, he murmured, "Negative... It's... demeaning..."

"A-Are you embarrassed, Wester?" Lucy snickered at him.

Wester said nothing for a moment -- keeping his gaze to the floorboards. Then, his silence was broken by a metallic sigh, "Affirmative..."

Underneath the mask, Lucy grinned. "Bloodstrider, please make him come out. He's being a weeny."

Suddenly Wester came lunging forth, stumbling a few steps into the car before catching himself. Along the floor dragging loosely behind him was a long length of rattling chain. Clamped firmly to his forelegs, and neck Wester kept his head low.

Bloodstrider and his two soldiers came shuffling into the car -- each chained to the same loop of iron clanging links. Lucy eyed Wester up, and down placing a hoof over the breather piece of the mask, trying as she could to repress the laughter building within her.

"You look wonderful," she giggled, "charming, even."

"Lucy," Neo interjected glaring at her, "they're fine. And they don't have to worry how they look chain up. So long as we carry their things, and they go with the plan."

Lucy shrugged, walking to the door. "Alright, Neo. Whatever you say."

Neo went to Wester, who still hung his nose to the ground. Patting him against the shoulder, he smiled, "You know, Wester what we're about to do won't be easy... Like I said, don't feel ashamed. It's only for a little while."

Wester let out another sigh, "These restrains make me feel... Powerless. Like I am some sort of animal."

"It's only for pretend." Neo reassured him. "Besides, you're the toughest badass I've seen. Beating ghouls up with your bare hooves by that scrap yard you found Adam and I in. What's a few chains dragging behind you for a little while?"

Lifting his head, Wester nodded looking at Neo with his crimson visor. "I... Suppose you are correct. It is rather meager..."

Patting Wester's shoulder once more, Neo's smile widened. "That's the spirit."

Two Socks quickly slung his bags over his back, before throwing a hoof into the air. "Whoo! Are we ready to move out?"

Neo looked over his shoulder at Two Socks, nodding. "And let's not waste any more time. The longer we wait, the longer we have to sit in this hellhole..."

Everyone gathered what supplies were their own -- apart from Wester and the zebras. Their gear was evenly distributed amongst those who were dressed in the Legion uniforms.

After checking the outside of the train through the clouded windows of the passenger car, the group moved out through the exit into the city. The breeze hit them with a blast of dense rancid vapors, overpower any other odors within the city. Coal, and ash thickly polluted the air.

Down from the charged rolling black clouds about dense motes of shoot drifted through the air.

Like snowflakes, tumbling clumsily through the gentle breeze the dark pieces of pollution started to coat the broken pavement. As the group trudged down the side road to the Darkmine's entrance, alcoves made by the blasted holes in the facades of the buildings took form.

Legionnaires leaning against dark wooden crates watched them pass by. Occasionally letting out a whoop, or a whistle to Lucy and Ally.

Neo guided them at the head of the group -- those chained following behind him in a single file line. Two Socks and Lucy took up positions at the line's side, as Ally trailed behind them at the rear.

Regardless of the vast amount of spectators staring at them, Neo held a firm posture. Likewise, he retained a solid expression, holding his eyes forward looking at the mouth of the Darkmine's entrance.

Tightening his diaphragm, Neo constricted what little breath he could inhale.

Whatever it took to remain calm. Whatever it took to stay convincing to those around them -- that was all that mattered. He had to keep a placid temper. If the slightest amount of nervous energy was released he might as well break out into a vigorous tremble. And that would surely draw the unwanted attention of the Legion.

For Adam. Neo thought. Do it for him, and your friends.

Making a left at the main road, before them was the entrance to the Darkmines across a concrete bridge. Slaves pulled in groups of six massive metal mine carts filled to the top with pale, rock shards.

Thick chains clamped onto the slave’s shivering legs, rattling softly along the ash powdering the ground.

The slaves were guided by Darkminers, bearing barbed whips and maces attached to their masks. Two or more miners accompanied the pullers along their sides. Those miners that held the whips thrashed any who slowed their pace -- even if it was for a moment.

"Pull! Worthless!" The miners would scream, letting out a thwack in the air above the slave's heads.

As Neo passed by the cart pullers, he saw out of the corner of his eye, the slaves pull up to the edge of the bridge. A miner would then come to the the side of the cart's side, before pulling a lever at the front.

Pistons slowly pushed upward on the load it held over the edge of the bridge, dumping the rubble into the river below.

Wheezing and coughing horsely the lanky bodies of the slaves were thickly laden with lacerations. Some freshly red, swelling on their skin.

They're like... animals... Neo thought to himself, watching a slave team no more than fifty feet from him get thrashed in the middle of the bridge.

The loud arch of green, tainted lightening branching out across the rolling black clouds above cracked throughout the city. Snapping his gaze to the sky, Neo saw the lip of the concrete tunnel engulf them as its shadow fell over the group.

Swallowing hard, Neo returned his sights to what was right before him.

Leaning his head slightly to his chained friends behind him, Neo whispered, "We're almost there, we just need to go through the entrance."

A wooden cart was parked near a green service door along the wall of the tunnel. A small cement staircase lead up to it, and standing by the first step was two ponies hissing at one another. From Neo's current distance, what was being said between them could only be made out in obscured whispers.

The two ponies were Split Tooth and Siren, huddled around an opened sack. A raging heat ignited within Neo, racing to his face the warmth shifted his white coloring to a faint shade of red. Burning his brow, he squinted his eyes at them.

Looking to Lucy, Neo jerked his head toward the two slavers. "Lucy, that's them."

"Who?" Lucy replied in a hushed tone.

"Split Tooth and Siren, the ones who took Adam!" Neo answered.

The group stopped in the middle of the tunnel's entrance, as Lucy came trotting up to Neo, "And what are we supposed to do?"

Turning her eyes to the slavers, Lucy shook her head. "Adam isn't with them. Why should it matter where they are?"

"They still might have his gear." Neo countered.

"What do you plan to do, huh?" Lucy spat. "You can't just walk up and take their things!"

Neo replied, "I have a plan. But I'm going to need you to back me up. Just know, whatever I say agree with. That's all you need to do. Can you to that for me?"

Lucy drew her head back slightly, "Wow, really? I didn’t think... Okay, I guess..."

"Good." Neo said looking to the rest of the group.

Snorting the fuming heated air within his Lungs, Neo muttered, "Wait here, we'll be right back. We've got some business to take care of."

Trotting off toward Split Tooth and Siren, Lucy chuckled looking at the group lightly rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah, he says he has a plan... Hopefully this doesn't go south..."

Swiftly spinning herself around Lucy dashed to Neo's flank, making up what distance Neo had made between the two of them in moments. Cantering to the slavers position by the service door, the whispers of the two were now perfectly clear.

"Ah says we split t' rest on bullets. We need t' ammo fer later!" Split Tooth spat.

Siren shook her head quickly. "No no no," she objected, "we need somethin' t' drink! Ale, cider, anythin' t' celebrate t' good sale!"

Split Tooth tightened his gut, pulling up a twitching grin. "Siren, mah sweet, we needs t' think 'bout this logically..."

"But Splitsy, ah want t' celebrate!"

His left eyelid started to flutter, as he held the grin. "Ah told ya, bullets will 'elp us more, love..."

A loud cough erupted from behind them, stopping the conversation entirely. Lifting their heads, the slaver's ears perked upwards as they slowly turned around to see where the source of the interrupting sound had come from. The gin had faded from Split Tooth's face, as he raise an eyebrow.

Behind them, Neo and Lucy stood standing stiffly waiting for the two slavers to face them. Split Tooth scanned the two of them, from hoof to head before speaking.

"Yah, an' wot's it ya want?" Split Tooth grumbled.

Neo lifted his nose up, retaining his attentive posture. "Have you been parked here long?" He asked in a deep voice.

Split Tooth nodded calmly, keeping both eyes on him. "Yeah, wot's it to ya?"

Walking to the side of the cart Neo lay a hoof along the splintering wood of the sideboards. "We've been having a problem with Coalition soldiers sneaking... weapons into the Darkmines..."

"Wot sorts of weapons are ya implying ah 'ave, officer? 'Cause ah sure as hell don't 'ave any, aside from mah own of course."

Neo smiled, as a light chortle escaped from his lips. "You're probably right."

Pointing at Split Tooth, Neo beamed, "Look at you two! Fine, strong slavers serving our cause. Why, there shouldn't be any reason I need to be here when you look like such trustworthy individuals!"

Growling, Split barked, "Spare me t' sarcasm ya git! Get on with wot ya want!"

The laughter died, as a somber expression came to Neo's face. "Very well, but you are aware of what weapons the Coalition has been sneaking into the mines, correct?"

Bulging one, yellow eye at him, Split Tooth leaned toward him. "No... No ah don’t. An' wot kinds of weapons would that be, mate?"

I can't believe I'm going to do this. Neo thought.

"Exploding guns."

Split Tooth's jaw dropped. "Wot..."

Siren was wide-eyed for a second -- only to burst into a loud, uncontrollable guffaw in the next moment. "Explodin' guns! Bwahahaha!"

Stomping a hoof, Neo exclaimed, "It's a serious matter!"

Shaking his head, Split Tooth quipped, "Oh, sure it is. Jus' like it's a serious mattah when ah got to scratch me bum!"

Thumping the ground with is hooves, Neo charged up to Split Tooth, pressing his face against the bridge of the slaver’s snout.

Snorting, Split Tooth felt the heat come off of Neo's face as he snarled at him, "My commanding officer was injured by them, you sack of unless flesh!"

Flattening his ears, Split Tooth lowered himself as Neo lurched over him. Pulling back, Neo shoved his mechanical foreleg into the slaver's face. "See what happened to me?! This is what happens when you think it's funny!"

"Sure," Neo nodded, dropping his foreleg, "I laughed -- I thought it was nonsense too."

"However, the danger is very real." Neo retorted. "If you want to end up a smoldering crater later on down the road, or even in a moment from now, you'll let my soldier and I search your cart!"

Split Tooth rose himself, gently brushing off his legs. "Fine! Fine! But I bettah get back whatevah ya take, got it?"

Neo straightened out his tightly fastened breast pate. "Certainly."

Motioning a hoof to Lucy, Neo pointed his nose to the cart. "Let's see what we can find, if anything..."

Lucy went to the cart's end, standing onto her hind legs and letting her fore hooves rest on the rim of the cart walls. Neo too, hopped onto the edge of the walls poking his head into the cart, inspecting the contents within.

Shifting his head to one side, Split Tooth watched them search the cart. The Legion officer in front of him gave off an odd aura that tingled the back of his head.

Slowly, his eyes moved to Neo's mechanical foreleg. "Say, mate... Who gave ya that fancy mech right there?"

Neo began shuffling through some of the sacks inside the cart as he answered him, "The Legion has good mechanics."

"Roight," Split Tooth hummed, "an where are ya from?"

"Why do you ask?" Neo replied, increasing the haste of his search.

"No reason at all, mate," Split Tooth whinnied, "it's jus' ah haven't seen ya 'ere before."

Neo froze. "I-I arrived on the train, sir. Not too long ago."

Split Tooth laughed slapping his forehead, "Roight! It all makes sense now!"

Pushing over a small sack of hardened stale bread, a huge bulging bag rested along the bottom of the wagon. Opening it, Neo shoved aside everything that wasn't Adam's.

Gradually, Split Tooth's laughter faded. "Though, mate, how was yer commandin' officer hit 'ere if ya jus' came in? How'd ya know 'bout it?"

Adam's gear was right below Neo's nose. Laying, completely untouched and folded at the bottom of the bag. Hearing the slaver’s words locked his movement.

Standing completely still, Lucy's heart started pounding faster by the second as a tense silence persisted in the air around them.

Hopping down from the cart, Lucy strolled over to Split Tooth. "Are you implying that my sergeant is lying?"

Split Tooth nodded, "Aye, bitch. That ah do."

Clicking the safety off on her battle-saddle, she aimed her sniper at him. "Listen here, punk. He ain't lying. You're just upset that we're looking through your stuff."

Lowering his eyebrows, Split Tooth scoffed, "No, not at all. But ah know ya lyin'!"

"Hmph, if you’re not scared of that, then what? Afraid he'll find your porn or something?" Lucy snickered.

A deep cherry red hue manifested in Split Tooth's cheeks and face, as he curled his chapped lips. "An’ jus' who do ya think ya are? Talkin' t' me like that!"

Lucy steadied her position, placing both fore hooves out before her bracing for recoil of her rifle. "I'm a soldier of the Ironhoof Legion. My sergeant and I have every right to inspect your gear. If you have a problem with it, take it up with any officer. It won't matter in the slightest. They'll all tell you the same thing, and if they find out you insulted an officer of the Legion, they'll hang you by the beams of skyscraper."

Taking in deep, shuddering breaths Split Tooth snorted, "Fine, fuckin' 'urry up then! Ah haven't got all day t' listen to ya jabber on!"

Neo returned to removing Adam's gear from Split Tooth's cart. First: his duster. Then: his bags and weapons. Once they were all retrieved from the sack, he slung every bit of it over his back.

Hopping down from the cart, Neo faced Split Tooth tipping his hat to him. "These items I've collected seem to be the most, suspicious. The rest of your gear however, appears to be fine."

Walking away from the two slavers, Neo made his way back to his friends in the chain-line. Lucy clicked the safety on -- following behind Neo.

As the two strolled further from the slavers, Split Tooth rose a hoof to the side of his mouth calling to them, "Next time, control that bitch o' yours, bastard!"

Siren lay a hoof gently upon her partner's back. "What we gonna do now, Splitsy? Wait fer them soldiers t' get back?"

Puffing, a burning warmth still irradiated off of Split Tooth’s face. "No, let's hitch up t' cart an' find t' others... I’m done with this place, it was jus' a bunch of scrap anyhow.”

"Really? But ah liked that stuff!" Siren pleaded.

"No," Split Tooth coughed, "ah don't wanna' be stopped by some more wackos. Let's jus' get out before they take somethin' else... Besides, that lazy posy of ours needs t' be rounded up."

Neo and Lucy, with Adam's equipment safely upon Neo's back, returned to their friends in the middle of the tunnel. Bloodstrider's ears swiveled to their direction, drawing his head toward them as they approached the rest of the chained ponies of in the group.

"I heard some shouting -- by the sound of the gear on your back, and lack of terror I assume the matter was resolved." Bloodstrider mentioned.

A few warm droplets of sweat ran down Neo's neck, as he sighed coming back to the chain line. "You can thank Lucy for that."

Lucy trotted beside Wester, shrugging. "He just needed to be taught how to respect us. Nothing a little assertive threats couldn't handle."

The wagon Split Tooth and Siren parked by the service door was now turning around to the main road -- leading away from the mine into the city. Watching the old wooden wheels rattle loudly against the pavement Neo felt a lightness lift his body the further the two slavers went from the Darkmine.

Solidly staring at the slavers disappear into the distance Neo smiled. "I thought I'd be angry with them... But while I was there I didn’t feel like I needed to punish them for what they did."

"You see what needs to be done." Bloodstrider stated. "Am I correct?"

Neo nodded, turning around to the entrance into the mine. "Y-Yeah, I think..."

"Than let us claim what you have sought out to achieve, Neo." Bloodstrider said with a smile.

Giving the Zebra chief a single firm nod -- Neo raised his mechanical hoof into the air, motioning it toward the Darkmines.

The entrance was covered with a large wall of welded corrugated steel sheets, lightly dabbed with the red hue of rust coating their dulled grey surfaces. From the top of the tunnel, down to the road leading inside the barrier protected the mine. Only a pair of opened large thickly bolted doors were position in the center of the wall.

Four unicorn Legion soldiers stood post at the doors, two at each side levitating bolt action rifles next to them. The wagons pulled by slaves came out of the entrance lead by a pair of Darkminers holding barbed weapons on their masks.

The group came along the left opened door, as a massive mine cart rolled past them -- its wheels screeching vexatiously against the coarse road.

One of the two guards noticed them approaching, and stepping out in front of them, the soldier called to them with a hoof extending out at Neo. "Stop where you are!"

Neo and the other's following him stopped, staring at the soldier before them. The soldier in question was a mare, though apart from her smaller frame, all of the other features which identified her were obscured by the armor she wore.

As the soldier lowered her hoof, every word she spoke was muffled by the gas mask hiding her face. "State your business, sergeant."

Jerking his head to his friends chained in a line behind him, Neo answered, "My patrol and I found this lot skulking around the outer city. By the way it looks, those Freelancers and Tiger company lot seem to be working together."

The soldier looked at Neo's mechanical foreleg, before moving her eyes to his exposed flank, baring the black compass rose as his cutie mark. "What's your patrol number, sergeant?"

Neo's posture stiffened. "My patrol number?"

"Yes, your patrol number, what is it?" She repeated lifting her rifle up at him.

Gulping, Neo saw the other soldier raise their weapon too the longer he stood before them. "Well, my patrol number is-"

A single drop of sweat developed on Neo's brow, followed by the pounding of his heart as he searched for a response.

"Well?" The soldier spat, taking a step toward them. "I'll ask you once more, sergeant: what is your patrol number?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Neo saw Lucy carefully turn the safety off on her sniper. Ally, on the other side of him, undid the holster of her pistol. "M-My patrol number... Is... Uh..."

"Two-two-four, if I'm not mistaken sergeant." A deep, commanding voice said piecing the tension charging the air.

The two Legion guards lowered their weapons, as a pony came trotting behind them from the mines. Turning to face the newcomer, the soldiers snapped to an attentive posture, briskly slapping a foreleg to their brows in salute.

"Captain Thatch, sir!" Both guards announced in unison.

Thatch tipped his hat to them, grinning. "At ease, soldiers. I summoned these fine soldiers into the mines after..."

Directing his sight to the Wester and the Zebras in the line his grin widened. "...Capturing the lot you see before you."

Dropping their hooves, the Legion mare bowed her head to him. "I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't aware that you had sent for them. Please, forgive me."

With a brief shake of his head, Thatch chuckled, "It's no problem at all, soldier. Just continue as you were."

The Legion guard saluted once more to him. "Thank you, sir. I will, sir." She replied sternly, taking her position by the door.

Turning his attention to Neo, Thatch said, "As for you, sergeant -- continue on your way. And please, don't forget your patrol number again."

Neo bowed his head slightly. "Thank you, sir! It won't happen again!"

Promptly raising his muzzle into the air, his smirk faded. "Excellent, please see that it does not."

Without giving Thatch another word, Neo lead the group through the doors into the Darkmines -- keeping his eyes directly forward. The rest of his friends too, followed his lead. Sparing not even a hint of emotion outside of pure, solid sincerity. Those who wore a mask, however, did their best to hold a controlled posture while entering the mines.

Thatch watched them keenly, as they passed by him with one eyebrow raised high. Humming to himself once they disappeared into the mine he sighed shaking his head.

The mare posted at the left door stepped up to him, a hoof reaching out to him. "Is everything alright, sir?”

Messaging the sides of his head with small, vertical strokes Thatch groaned, "Those ponies we just let it, do you know who they are?"

The soldier shook her head. "No, sir. Should I have known, sir?"

Facing her, he said, "Those were not our soldiers. They were dressed in our attire to confuse us. I recognized the white one according to what I've been told."

Reeling back, the mare rose her weapon turning to the entrance. "We need to stop them then-"

"No," Thatch interjected laying a hoof on her shoulder, "we're not. ="

Staring up at him with the scratched goggles of her mask she asked, "Why not? Are they not impostors that need to be killed?"

Thatch's eyelids drooped halfway, as he frowned at the soldier before him, "Vladimir has some big plan to secure the future of our order, and for it to work he needs them to get in without a scuffle. In fact, I ordered most of the soldiers on the lower levels to station themselves in the upper levels for the time being. All except one demonstration they’re preforming now in front of the lower level slaves."

The soldier leaned to the side, glancing over Thatch the guards stationed by the right door. "Shall I inform the others guarding at the entrance, sir?"

Exhaling all of the air in his lungs, Thatch shook his head twice slowly. "No, I’ll inform them, soldier. Let's just hope his Majesty's plan doesn't wind up causing more harm to our operations than good..."

Vladimir threw open the bottom drawer of his dresser, throwing about the folded capes and garments within aside. After clearing it out of clothing, he moved on to the next one -- performing the same chaotic action. Around him small mounds of cloths piled upward the more he tossed them out into the air.

"Where is it!" He muttered, a warm sweat running down his brow. "Where is it!?"

Reaching the top drawer he flung out the first layer of folded cloths, before the the specter poked its head from one of the piles of green capes and uniforms.

Smirking, it floated out of the cloths, laying back against the capes -- watching Vladimir frantically search his drawer. "You're looking for the box, right?"

Vladimir didn't reply.

Shrugging, the creature rest its head back, crossing both forelegs behind its head. "Suit yourself. I know where it is, just so you know."

Pausing, Vladimir rose his head, looking toward the apparition, an eyebrow raised. "And where might that be, hmm? If you know what's going on you'll know that I'm in a hurry at the moment."

The creature shook its head. "You, in a hurry? Really?"

Vladimir's eyebrows dropped, as a frown came onto his face. "Ha. Ha."

It giggled at him. "I must say, I found toying with you to be very amusing."

A heat was gathering inside of Vladimir's brow, growing in intensity the longer he stood staring at the specter. "Where is it!"

Folding its hooves, the creature pouted. "You're no fun... But, I suppose you are right. Do you remember putting it in the drawer?"

Vladimir directed his sights to the drawer. "W-Well, yes..."

Pointing to the nightstand by Vladimir's cot, it said, "It's in the nightstand. You wanted to record something earlier, when you had that dizzy spell of yours a little bit ago."

Gasping, Vladimir rested a hoof over his burning forehead. "D-Did I... I don't remember..."

"Little Red, losing your memories? That can't be a good sign." It snickered.

Glaring at the creature, Vladimir snapped. "Shut it, you demon! I've had it with your snarky remarks!"

Rising onto all four black, translucent hooves it nodded. "Very well, but they won't help you... Just so you know."

Coughing into his hoof, Vladimir stumbled toward the nightstand. Tripping over his hooves he fell forward, barely catching himself with his forelegs at the side of the cot. His hooves were trembling as he gradually lifted up his head.

Vladimir's eyes were locked onto his shaking hooves, before letting out another hoarse cough. Briskly slapping a hoof over his mouth, he looked down into it. Within it, specks of a dark, deep red liquid saturated the entire sole of his hoof.

Widening his eyes, Vladimir's body went cold. "It... It is getting worse..."

Moving his gaze to the nightstand he shuffled to it. Yanking on the wooden frame of the drawer, he looked inside -- where sitting upon hats and empty wine bottles was the black recording box.

Sighing, he picked it up, sitting it down on the cot. "I found you..."

Taking in a deep cool breath, he pressed a button at the bottom right-hand corner on the box's surface. Out of the front, protruding slightly from a tiny slit was a holo-tape.

Putting the tape into his hoof he smiled at it. "I can't have anyone finding you... You come with me."

Stuffing the tape inside his saddlebags, he straightened out his Freelancer duster -- facing the door.

"It’ll see," Vladimir whispered. "This will work... It-It has to..."

Protruding slightly from the lip of his saddlebag, the holo-tape teetered uneasy as he marched to the door. Passing the nightstand, the tap tumbled out of his bag, and onto the floor of his chamber.

And marching through the doorway the tape rested by the cot, as Vladimir shut the door behind him.

Twisting the last screw of the hatch on the bottom of his Pipbuck, Adam moved his face closer to it. Squinting at the screwdriver slowly fasten his Pipbuck Big Lot trotted next to him observing the personal wrist computer he worked on.

"What did you do to that thing?" Big Lot asked.

Levitating the screwdriver to the side of his head, Adam gently nestled the tool easily in the space between his head and ear. "I basically sent out an emergency alert to all other Pipbuck's in the area."

Big Lot raised an eyebrow at him. "Wouldn't that mean everyone knows where we are? How does that help us!?"

"There aren't many ponies out there, or even nearby for that matter who have Pipbucks. Only those born in a Stable can get one... Or at least that should be the case..." Said Adam.

Big Lot cocked her head to one side, standing up and taking a single step toward him. "What do you mean: that should be the case?"

Adam's eyes trailed off to the side as he shrugged. "I've seen quite a few things out here... I wouldn’t be surprised if someone not naturally from a stable had one."

"So?" Big Lot cooed.

"So, anything is possible. There might be some demon monster with a Pipbuck out here for all I know."

Adam looked down at Big Lot with a smile. "But despite the risk, I'm willing to bet my brother is nearby. Even if everyone else with a Pipbuck can find me."

Placing a hoof over her heart, Big Lot felt her heart suddenly turn up in a tightening knot. Standing beside Adam, she remained fixed in the straining position, feeling the strange pain twist in her chest.

Bill was at the cell door, sticking his nose through the small opened gap. Looking out into the dim hallway, Bill glanced back and forth before pushing the heavy steel door back with both hooves.

Grunting, he grit his -- squinting his eyes as the muscles inside his forelegs burned and strained. Getting the door slightly opened proved to be a simple task. Completely shoving it all the way open was an entirely different level of difficult.

The iron hinges along the metal door frame squealed as the door eventually opened. Laying his back against the cell door, Bill slid himself down onto his flank, wiping his sweat laden brow.

"Whew," he chuckled, "them miners are strong if they can open and close these doors with one hoof..."

Adam rose himself, trotting to the door. "Good job Bill," Adam chirped offering a hoof out to his friend, "but you know, we’re here too. If you needed help you could of asked."

Bill interlocked his hoof with Adam, spouting out raspy chuckles under his breath as he got up. "Figured I'd just get it done with. The sooner we get out the better."

Watching Bill stand on his hooves, Adam countered. "Okay, but if you’re having trouble don’t be afraid to ask us."

Shaking her head quickly, Big Lot's long curly locks went flaying about in all directions as her mind cleared. The other slaves walked past her on their way out of the cell as she stood in the cell by herself.

Still, the pain persisted. Knotting, and biting at Big Lot’s heart like a parasite feasting on her insides.

Regardless of the agonizing torment, Big Lot retained a placid expression as she too followed the other slaves out of the cell. Through the doorway each pony went, with Adam leading them into the outside hallway.

Steel doors, much like the one that once contained them, lined the hallway on each side. Between the narrow rocky cavern walls separating the dense cells entrances were square light fixtures. All connected by thin wires, pinned to the arching cave ceiling above.

Along the top of the ceiling thick pipes were bundled together -- creaking and groaning as the pressure built within. Further down the hallway, the sound of steam hissing echoed, carrying on through the entire corridor.

Pulling the Pipbuck to his face, Adam stared at the map of the Darkmines. "By the way things look, we're on one of the lower levels of the mines... And to get out of here we'll need to go up two more levels."

One of the slaves -- a red earth pony stallion -- stepped up. "What's two levels above us?"

Adam kept his eyes fixated on the screen of his Pipbuck. "Some kind of secondary exit into the other side of the city..."

"You think it's out best bet at getting out?" The stallion asked.

Dropping his leg back to the ground Adam faced the stallion, bolstering an expression tinged with hard sincerity in his eyes. "I'll be honest with you... All of you..."

Shaking his head, Adam exhaled the warm dusty air from his lungs collecting himself. "What we're about to do is dangerous... And even if the exit is two levels up, that doesn't make it easy. In order for all of us to get out of this alive we all need to work together."

Hovering a hoof an inch away from his lips Adam said, "And that means from this point on no talking. The only exception is if something is absolutely dire, or if I need to convey the next step of the plan to you. Otherwise, we'll need to wait until we're out of here."

Under the hushed tone of his voice, Adam asked, "Do you think you can do that?"

A soft murmur floated around the small group, before Bill solidly nodded at Adam. "Ya sure bet we can."

Adam smiled. "Alright, then keep close to my flank. I'll see if I can get us up to the next level."

Turning his flank to the group, Adam stared down the long hallway. At the sight of the vast, extensive corridor Adam felt his stomach plummet. Swallowing once, he trotted onward. The other captured ponies following closely behind.

At the end of the long corridor was a fork, splitting the hallway into two opposing paths. Both looked identical -- sporting the same cells, and hissing steam pipes above. After checking the map briefly, Adam faced the left pathway.

The air was heavily saturated with hot moisture, and the further they went down the hallway the more dense the humidity became. Coming to the the end of the hall, a large round spacious room with a high ceiling revealed itself. A small catwalk was carved from the stone out of the cave walls, encompassing the entire area, and overlooking the mining area below.

Barrels with low glowing flames were placed around the little area underneath the catwalk, as slaves chained to one long length hacked away at the cave wall with pickaxes. The warm yellow light from the rusty green canisters glowed against the faces of the lanky slaves. Dark rims shadowed the under regions of their sleep-deprived eyes, while large droplets of salty sweat ran across the tuffs of dirt ridden fur across their bodies.

Patrolling behind the slaves were seven Darkminers. Each holding barbed bludgeons, attentively watching them toil against the solid rock. Right before Adam and the group was a set of metal stairs leading up to another hallway. Looking down at the ponies toil away at the sides of the wall made an aching sensation clutch Adam's heart.

There would come a time to save them, but without weapons or other tools, getting anyone out of the mines was an impossible task. Taking in a deep breath of the damp air, the feeling faded slightly as Adam directed his sights to the staircase.

Stepping lightly, Adam guided the group behind him up the stairs. The next hallway contained no cells. No, herculean steel barriers to confine slave and prisoners alike. The thick bolted cell doors were now replaced with smooth sliding doors that were adorned with small orange bottoms along their metal door frames.

Adam continued on down the hall a short distance before they came to another room. It was much smaller in size, holding the appearance of a break lobby. Like all of the rooms, the walls were carved out of the wet grey rock that made up most of the mines. A single round light fixture hung in the center of the ceiling -- proving a dim amount of illumination to the area.

A table was placed along the wall next to a stack of wooden storage crates stack atop one another in the corner. Three opened lockers were located next to the doorway they entered from -- all holding empty bottles and pebbles of crude metal ores.

Positioned in the middle of the right wall, was a set of sliding doors, and directly in front of them another doorway with a flight of stairs leading up to the next level. Adam smiled walking across the room to the stairs.

Halfway across the room -- directly in front of the door along the right wall, a whooshing sound blasted beside them. The dual doors parted, revealing two Darkminers standing side by side casually walking into the lounge room. One had tied to its side a sharpened hatched, while the other was armed with a round-ball mace.

As their glowing round eyes locked onto the group of escaping slaves, they froze standing in the middle of the doorway. Adam and the other ponies following him paused staring back at the two Darkminers.

A still, unnerving silence persisted between them for a moment. Adam's heart beat started to race as the Miners stood idle, holding an unwavering focus on the entire group.

With wide eyes, and pounding hearts the escaping ponies started to tremble. Then, out of the silence came a scratchy, blood churning screech from both Miners. Stumbling backwards Adam and the others backed away from the miners the longer the scream continued.

The instant the screeching stopped, the Miners lunged forth at the group hissing and snarling. "Disobedient! Insolent! KILL!"

The Miner with the mace drew his weapon, and swung it at Bill face. Leaping back the end of the flailing weapon flew inches away Bill’s face. Adam tackled the Miner who attacked Bill, letting out a loud powerful cry as he did.

When Adam's body made contacted with the Miner, the two of them went crashing into the hard stone ground. Rolling and twisting along the wet floor Bill raised his hoof ready to pound Adam's attacker in the throat.

Launching his hoof at the Miner's gullet, the Mace attached to its mask went flying at Bill as Adam wrestled with slave driver. Coming into contact with his chest, Bill went staggering back into there table before collapsing to the ground moaning.

The Miner wielding the axe came charging at the mare -- flashing the polished steel of the sharp blade at her.

Crackling a gruff, wheezing laugh the Miner prowled toward her, gradually backing the mare into the corner of the room.

"Little slave... Fear... Scared, yes? Heh..."

The Mare felt her flank press against the corner of the wall. Lowering herself, she shook her head at him quivering her lower lip. "I.. I don't want to die! I-I'll got back! Pleas-"

Standing within a foot from her, the Miner rose his axe high into the air, towering above her letting loose the same spine-chilling screech. "DIE!"

Slamming the blade of the axe dug the Mare's shoulder, the Miner briskly removed the bloodstained blade as the mare howled in pain. Falling onto her stomach, she was trembling while her warm blood pooled at her side.

The stallion was watching next to the axe wielding Miner gritting his teeth. Spinning around, he dropped his crimson head to the floor bucking his hind legs at the Miner's head.

Knocking the Miner onto his side, the stallion raced to the Miner wrestling with Adam. Putting a hoof onto the side of Adam's head, the Miner rolled the buck onto his back.

Standing over Adam, the Miner chuckled, holding his head firmly against the ground.

The stallion charging head first came at the Miner -- from out out of the corner of his glowing eye, the Miner saw the challenger racing toward him. Swiftly jerking the end of his weapon around the heavy metal ball of the mace smashed into the stallion's temple.

The direct hit was followed by a dull cracking sound as droplets of fresh blood sprayed out of the side of the stallion's head. Falling to the floor, the stallion was on the ground convulsing wildly with wide twitching eyes.

On the floor, groaning in pain and curling into a ball was the Miner with the axe. Big Lot had stepped back from the action. She was watched the horror unfolded before her with flattened ears as the mess of slave blood staining the floor.

A ringing in her ears cancelled out all other sounds. All other thoughts to act. She felt powerless as the saw the mace weilding Miner return to Adam. Taking in hoof the short shaft of the mace -- the Miner placed it along Adam's neck.

Pressing his full weight onto the two ends of the weapon, the shaft sank into Adam's throat. Flinging his hooves at the Miner on top of him the pleas for help he tried to shout came out as muffled gurgles.

Chortling under his breath, the Miner lowered the breather of his mask down to Adam's ear. "Shhh, little slave. Sleep. Sleep long. Never awake."

Bill was knocked off to the side, and the other two slaves who had escaped with them dying, the only pony left capable of retaliation was her.

Big Lot was petrified. Her hooves shook, and heart pounding away. As her eyes trailed off to the moaning Miner with the axe, she squeaked, "Adam?"

Looking at Adam's movements slow, and the veins in his eyes turn red she felt the same great knot tie in her heart. "A-Adam?"

She had always been the one choking ponies. Punishing, torturing others for meager reasons. Sometimes for the mere sport of it. Seeing it done before her, to a pony who had done so much to help her ached inside.

Returning her sights to the axe, she took in a deep breath bounding toward the weapon. With both hooves tightly wrapped around the axes shaft, she ripped it off of the Miner's breather.

Gripping the shaft of the axe between her teeth she came to the groaning Miner's side. Pulling her head back, she swung the blade upward at the Miner's stomach. Lodging the glistening, sharpened blade deeply into the slave driver’s flesh the Miner hissed letting go of mace.

Stumbling backward, Big Lot forcefully removed the axe sending her falling back onto her haunches. The Miner stepped away from Adam, a forelegs firmly pressed against the bleeding laceration across its stomach.

A green, glowing liquid ran profusely down the sides of his hoof as he wheezed horsely. "My... M-My blood..."

Facing Big Lot, the Miner hissed, "Y-You..."

Big Lot stood up, the weight of the axe's blade shifted her little head to the side as she came to the Miner, staring up at him. Narrowing her eyebrows, she chopped at the Miner's only leg supporting the rest of it up.

Lifting its head to the ceiling the Miner howled falling onto its face. With her teeth digging into the dry bitter wood of the shaft, Big Lot exclaimed, "They're my friends! You don't kill them! Anyone who does dies!"

"Stupid." The Miner coughed. "So, stupid..."

Growling at the dying creature before her, Big Lot slammed the blade into the back of the Miner's neck repeatedly. With each powerful chop she spat, "I! Am! A princess! You'll die! Not me!!!"

Green glowing blood mixed with the dark red blood of the mare upon the blade. Across the floor, and all around Big Lot was the strange tainted lifeblood of the miner.

Dropping the axe from her mouth, the blade clattered against the ground. Slumping back onto her flank she huffed deeply her teeth and jaw sore from holding the heavy weapon.

Adam was coughing loudly, as air started to fill his lungs once again. Lifting himself up, his legs shook uneasily as he picked himself up. "Wh-What happened?"

Coughing into his hoof, Adam slowly turned to face Big Lot. In front of her was the body of the miner, its wounds still ejecting a stream of blood from its body.

"D-Did you do this, Big Lot?" Adam asked.

She held her narrowed eyebrows, looking at Adam. "Yes... I did it..."

Scanning the room around him, the scene of gore and death came into view. The stallion, with the side of his head bashed inside and the mare barely clinging to life in the corner sent an icy sting rolling down his spine.

Staring at the two of them with wide opened eyes, Adam bit his lip feeling his stomach churn.

Grunting, Adam stood onto all four hooves, lumbering over to the mare in the corner of the room. The side of her stomach rose slightly, as her breathing coarse -- brought on by blood filling her lungs.

Sitting down beside her, Adam looked to the floor feeling tears gather in the corners of his eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry..."

"For what?" The mare groaned.

A tear ran down the side of Adam's cheek. "I promised I would get you out... All of you...”

"W-We got this far, didn't we?" The mare interjected with a weak trembling smile. "You need to go though... Move on without us..."

Adam's shimmering emerald eyes looked at her. "I-I can't, maybe we can still save you... And..."

"W-We're done for," she coughed, "I doubted you before... and I was completely wrong about you..."

Walking over to Adam's side, Big Lot sat next to him watching the mare die.

"I can still help you! I can!" Adam cried.

Extending a hoof out to her Adam pleaded, "Please, just let me try!"

"No," she wheezed, "Please, no..."

Adam's teeth were chattering as his chest filled with hurting sorrow, carving jaggedly into his heart. "T-Then what can I do?"

"Remember me, and him." She said, smiling.

Big Lot didn't cry, nor did she hold an expression of dread. Only a hardened look of determination was visible in her narrowed eyes. "What are your names?" Big Lot queried.

"Ice Fire, m-my name is Ice Fire..." She choked. "The other one... H-His name was Arrow."

Over the tears, and pain festering in his chest Adam smiled. "T-Those are wonderful n-names..."

Bill groaned raising his head from off the floor. Blinking and rubbing the side of his pulsing head he looked around the room. "Adam?"

Pushing himself up, he limped over to Adam and Big Lot.

With his mouth hung agape, and his eyes fully opened, Bill examined the scene as he came to his surviving friends. Stepping over Arrow's dead body, Bill mumbled, "W-What happened to them?"

There was no reply as he came to Big Lot's side. Together, the three of them gathered around Ice Fire's body. In a brief moment, the movement from her stomach was gone and the wheezing faded along with the life inside of her as she grew still.

Adam moved his head slightly toward Bill. "D-Does this happen to you? Losing the ones you promised to protect while traveling?"

Bill closed his eyes, and lowered his head placing a hoof over his heart. Sighing, he replied, "Too often, Adam. Two Socks was the only one I never lost."

"She told me their names," Adam murmured, "she told me to remember them."

Raising his head, Bill looked at Adam. "Then we need to, especially when we're out of this place.

Wincing at the soreness inflicted upon him by the mace, Bill noted, “Right now, we need to go. Rememberin’ them won’t do us no good if we're dead."

Big Lot stood up, nodding. "He's right, we need to get out of here... Then you can..."

"Remember them." Bill finished for her.

Big Lot stared up at him, "Yeah... That..."

Forcing himself to stand, Adam's body quivered. When he had got up onto his hooves, he wiped away the tears that soaked the fur along his cheeks. "When we get out of here, if we get out of here, we need to remember them... We need to free the ponies of this place, and we need to bring this entire mine down."

Gritting his teeth Adam stared at Ice Fire's body. "We need to... For them..."

There was a wooden stage placed in the center of a large open chamber. Dozens of malnourished slaves huddled tightly around the base of the wooden structure.

Overhead long light fixtures dangled from thick power cables that ran along the top of the ceiling. What little spaces around the area were shrouded in dark cold shadows was warmed by the heated glow of green metal barrels filled with dead branches, burning a low yellow flame.

Neo trotted with the others along the edge of the herd gathered around the stage. A faint murmur lingered about in the crowd, as the platform was empty.

Ally came beside Neo, turning her goggles to the stage. "What are they all doing?"

Neo stopped, and looked toward the stage. "I don't know." He whispered.

Everyone came to a halt behind Neo which drew the attention of Lucy, as she came strolling to him hissing, "Why did we stop?"

Keeping an unwavering stare on the stage, Neo rose a hoof to his lips. "Shhh, quiet..."

The low chatter of the slaves diminished as a Legion unicorn officer, smartly dressed in a cap decorated with a golden star, came onto the stage. His left breast was adorned in polished, clattering gold medals.

His thick orange mane was greased back, adding a dim gloss to its hue. The officer stood stiffly by the edge of the platform while another soldier lead three slaves up onto the stage. With lowered heads, and rattling iron chains dragging behind their feet the slaves arranged themselves side by side in the center of the platform.

Bowing a head to the soldier, the officer turned around slowly patrolling the front of the slave line. As he paced back and forth on the stage he spoke, "Do you know what they call a pony, that breaks into another pony's home unwelcome?"

The audience was silent.

Pausing at the end of the slave line, the officer faced the crowd. "They're called: a thief."

Pointing a hoof at the slaves beside him, he added, "These ponies you see before you hate us. They hate what we are when all we’ve been to you is, generous."

"And what do you do despite our generosity?" The officer growled. "You betray us! With thievery, and disobedience! Fillies and gentlecolts these three stole food from the Legion kitchen on the sixth level!"

Directing his eyes to the audience, he smiled addressing the ponies gathered around in a soft tone, "My little ponies, understand that what you do, you do for the future of civilization. You are not beasts, but living beings who work to build a better future for us all. It is through the taxing labor that you take us into the next stage of reclaiming the world we lost."

Retaining his smile, the officer continued, "To reward you for your work we give you so much... Protection from the outside. Food. A place to sleep. Most of you are understanding, and thankful of our altruistic nature."

The once beaming smile faded into a cold glare. "But then there are some of you who would think us monsters -- cruel and unruly with our ways. Ponies, like the very ones you see before you on this stage!"

Walking to the center of the stage, in front of the middle slave he shouted to the crowd, "To them, our kindness it isn't enough! It is never enough!"

"Acts against the Legion, or the mine will not go unpunished!" Looking toward the slaves behind him the officer spat, "Perhaps two weeks, no food or light will make them appreciate the full extent of our generosity. Along with twelve lashings each."

Ally nudged Neo in the shoulder quickly, "Neo, we should go. Right now."

Neo didn't give her a reply. His legs were locked in place.

"To show you the full consequences of betraying our charity, they will be lashed here. Right before your very eyes." The Legion officer announced.

Lucy rushed to Neo's side, taking him by the shoulder and gently tugging on him toward her. "Yeah, Neo let's go. We don't need to see this."

T-They’re treated like beasts. Neo thought, his eyes wide and frozen on the scene. It's just like at Ironhoof...

Lucy rolled her eyes, raising her hoof. "I'd hoped it wouldn't have to come to this..."

Briskly slapping Neo across the cheek a searing pain sent him reeling -- bringing him back into reality. The spot Lucy had hit left a throbbing red spot as Neo shook his head snapping at her, "What the hell!?"

Gently placing a hoof over the injury he rubbed it groaning. "Why did you do that?"

Lucy bounced up and down slightly, wagging the hoof she had hit Neo with, while a tingling energy coursed through her body. "Damn, that felt good. I'm glad that worked as fast as it did you ol' lug."

The Legion officer moved to the soldier standing at the edge of the stage, taking in the grip of a blue magic aura a whip, with sharp metal bits at the end of the long leather lengths. Lucy briefly looked to the demonstration before returning to Neo.

Resting a hoof on Neo's shoulder, Lucy leaned her face close to him. "I know this place sucks, and what they're doing here is wrong. But let's not lose sight that we're here to save your Brother, and Two Sock's pal."

Neo was silent for a moment, before he gave her one slow nod. "Y-Yeah, you're right."

Picking up one hoof, Neo inhaled a deep breath of the hot dense air. Then, trotting to the end of the room the group followed him to a long hallway leading away from the stage.

Inside of Neo's chest a feeling of hollowed emptiness emerged. It was the very same sensation he had felt watching the ponies of Arkcannon suffer at the hands of the mad Legion officer, Captain Cyrus.

As they went about trotting through the corridor, the faint sounds of flesh being thrashed with loud crisp cracks in the air echoed far down the hallway. On the piercing sounds of the whip came the cries of a stallion.

Hearing the torture ring in his ears, Neo flinched at every crack, he quickened his pace -- putting more distance between himself and the cruel demonstration taking place.

At the end of the hall was a flight of stairs leading up to the next level, and on the next level was another hallway lined with large steel sliding doors. Looking at the map of the mines on his Pipbuck, Neo sighed shaking his head as the emptiness continued to spread throughout his body.

"This is a lot more elaborate than I thought." Neo said.

Two Socks asked, "How far away are we from the holding cells?"

Turning to face Two Socks, Neo shook his head. "It's on the other side of the mine..."

Returning to his Pipbuck, Neo squinted his eyes peering at the complex series of tunnels that made up the mines. "By the way it looks, our best bet is to go through this big cavern past a few barriers just ahead of us."

"Do you think it'd be safer that way?" Two Socks queried.

"I'm not sure," Neo answered, "but if we go the long way, which I'm guessing is the way slaves are normally brought inside -- then we'll most likely encounter more problems. Likewise, there's a small detention cell near the chamber, which will give us some leverage when explaining why we're bring you guys along."

Once the hollowed sensation reached Neo's stomach, his muscles felt loose and unsteady. Quickly clasping a hoof over his stomach, Neo grit his teeth as the feeling ate at him.

Ally hurried to Neo's side, hovering a hoof a inch away from his back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Neo replied as his eyes becoming more saturated with tears, "I'll be fine... Let's just find Adam, and get the hell out of here..."

Going to the end of the hallway, the group reached a round room with three large rectangular sliding metal doors. Standing in the center of the little space, Neo glanced at each available door.

From out of the door on their left, a mechanical whoosh sounded throughout the room, revealing three Darkminers standing in the doorway looking at them. Both parties stared at one another for no more than a moment, before the middle miner spoke up.

"Who are you?" It hissed stepping toward Neo.

Stiffening his posture, Neo cleared his throat. "I'm sorry?"

"Who are you?" It repeated. "Who are you?!"

The other two miners slinked at the middle's side, cocking their heads to one side. "Yes. Yes. Who are you? Not Legion." The two murmured in unison.

Narrowing his eyes at them, Neo kept his sights on the middle miner. "I assure you, we're just moving through the mine. We're taking these prisoners we found to the detention cell on the upper level."

The middle miner stopped an inch away from Neo's nose. Muffled behind the thick leather gas mask, the Miner's breathing was deep and coarse.

"You... Strange. Not sure. Unsure of surface pony... Not Legion..." It spoke.

Drawing his head back slightly from the imposing face of the Miner, Neo asked, "W-Why is that?"

"I know surface Legion," the Miner answered in a wheezing voice, "they walk proud. Speak stupid. Dirty."

Looking down at Neo's mechanical foreleg, the Miner marked, "Too clean. Too much metal..."

Stepping back from the miners, Neo bowed his head slightly to the creature. "I'm sorry if you have us confused for someone else. But I have my orders to take them to the cell. Now, if you don't mind I must bid you farewell."

Facing the sliding door at the end of the circular area the group went on looking for Adam. As they continued on through the door, and even down the next hallway the miners followed them at a distance -- skulking in the dim light of the corridor.

The further the group walked down the hall -- the more the various pipes along the ceiling grew in thickness. As well as an increase in their size, more started to bunch together like veins in a living pumping beast.

And the further they approached the next room at the end of the hallway the more the pipes there were. Until the entire ceiling was covered in pipes of numerous sizes, hissing and groaning altogether.

Opening the next great sliding steel door, a fierce searing heat blasted Neo's fur the second the doors parted. The air was burning with a red glow, obscuring his vision in its hot melting light.

Raising a hoof to protect his face, Neo blinked at the warmth irradiating onto his legs. Lucy, with her own hoof shielding her eyes from the intense light beaming from inside, coughed, "What the hell is that?"

Batting his eyes, Neo gazed within the contents of the room. A massive chamber lay before him with a multitude of long thick twisting pipes running along the ceiling down to a orb shaped furnace. All about the area near the boiler were shallow pools of bubbling water releasing into the air thin plumes of hot steam.

Smaller pipes ran down from the bottom of the boiler, into the pools below. Wooden bridges were extended over the waters as Darkminers with wrenches stood next to the dozens of valves wreathing the elaborate piping.

Other massive cylinders placed side by side at the end of the right wall had fires burning below them. Causing the metal above the flames to glow with a profound, searing aura.

Briefly looking over his shoulder, Neo saw the miners they had encountered earlier linger behind them in the shadows. Standing at a distance behind the cover of a metal door in the hallway, their solid green eyes pierced through the shadows.

"Guys," Neo whispered, "let's hurry this up... We've got company that doesn't want to leave us be..."

"Right," Ally replied with a firm nod, "then we'll just keep our cool. Let's not give them any reason to think wrongly of us."

Heading into the boiler room, and down the first wooden bridge spanning over one of the pools of boiling water, the group gingerly made their way across. Underneath the weight of their hooves the supports holding them up creaked, while bending slightly the closer they came to the middle.

Passing over one bridge, then another, and another they walked until everyone had made it around the furnace. Standing next to the aching steel boiler they felt the full heat blast against them in clear burning waves of fiery intensity. From their position, the door to the next hallway was within view at the other end of the room.

Continuing onward to the exit, the exasperating feeling of the sweltering fires came in with full effect. Droplets of fresh sweat ran down the sides of their necks.

Reaching the exit, the door swooshed open for them -- letting the cooler air of the next hallway blow onto their fur. Stepping through the threshold of churning airs in the doorway the glow of the great furnace died when the exit shut behind them.

Beep. A cheerful little tone pinged.

Beep.

Stopping, Neo searched the area around him quickly.

Beep. Beep.

Two Socks approached Neo, pointing at his Pipbuck. "Uh, Neo buddy... It's your Pip-dealio..."

"My Pipbuck?" Neo murmured looking down at the screen of his personal wrist computer.

Above a single tally of his compass, a lone marker faded on and off. With each time it reappeared the same loud notable beep chirped aloud.

"What is it?" Asked Ally.

Neo gave off a puzzled, crooked frown as he shrugged staring down at at the screen. "I'm not sure what it is."

Lucy hastily came forth to Neo, looking behind them. "Whatever it is," she whispered, "I hope you can keep it down. If you haven't forgotten already, we're being followed."

An uplifting sense of joy overcame Neo. A feeling of rushing energy charged through the deep painful sinking that had lingering inside him. "I think we should follow it -- see where it takes us."

Lucy snapped her gaze to him, jolting back. "What?! It just came out of nowhere! We should just stick to what we're doing, and forget that beeping ever started!"

"I can't explain it," Neo said the energy pumping, "but I think we should go toward it. Maybe it'll take us closer to Adam."

Lucy retorted, "Or it could get us killed."

"Do what you feel to be right, Neo." Bloodstrider spoke from the slave line.

Briefly smiling at Bloodstrider, Neo pointed a hoof to the end of the hallway. "Then we'll follow the marker."

"What!?" Lucy gasped.

Ally patted Lucy on the back, "Don't worry, I don't think we'll die doing it."

Drooping her head, Lucy's eyes narrowed. "You say that now... Bet you won’t be so chipper when Darkminers are swarming over our dead bodies."

Neo turned one of the knobs on his Pipbuck labeled: Volume. Then, picking up his pace he lead the group down the hall. Lucy grumbled to herself, skulking at the end of the party.

The door to the boiler room opened, and standing in the doorway was the three miners. Behind them the burning orange glow of the room ignited the hallway with a bright warm light.

Shadows blanketed the front of their thin figures -- all but their eyes lamenting in the darkness. Gathering behind them, more masked faces came into view as more of the boiler room miners slithered by their side.

"This place is like a maze..." Adam mumbled in the middle of a narrow hallway.

Looking down one end of the corridor, Adam's brow furrowed as numerous doors of identical quality lined each wall endlessly. Swiftly pulling up the map on his Pipbuck he sighed.

Upon the screen, dozens of inter-lapping tunnels twisted and turned blocking their location on the map. "We're on the correct level, but I'm not sure if going back will take us the right way, or if we made a wrong turn..."

"What's our destination look like?" Bill asked.

"It's a big round chamber," Adam replied scratching the top of his mane, "that doesn't tell me much on what it is though..."

A few, bodiless muffled voices carried on down the passageway. Both deep and gruff -- growing in volume the longer the three of them stood idly in the hall.

Peaking over her shoulder Big Lot, snapped, "We need to hide! NOW!"

Adam dropped his leg, frantically searching in all directions for a hiding spot. "But where?!"

Bill's hooves anxiously patted the ground as he looked to the many doors in along the walls. "M-Maybe one of them rooms would work?"

The words of the two oncoming ponies was now clear. Unlike the rasping hisses of the local miners, the voices approaching their position were normal in tone, and coherent in the structure of their speech.

"God damn Thatch," one of the deep voices echoed, "I swear the minute I get to rest in the upper levels he sends the order to pull out!"

"Shut up -- you're not getting payed to complain. Let’s just wait for it to blow over, and then you can have your break." The other voice countered.

Adam jumped at the nearest door, tapping the dim orange bottom on the steel doorframe. The dual metal doors retracted, and seizing the exact moment they did, the three escaped slaves leaped inside the next room while the door closed behind them.

Suppressed by the metal doors, the voices spoke to one another right outside in the hallway. Pressing themselves firmly to the damp rocky wall beside the door all three ponies held their breaths. The thumping sound of hooves outside in the hall, clopping against the cavernous ground faded as the soldiers went on by.

Exhaling altogether, Big Lot put a hoof over her chest -- feeling her little heart pound furiously.

"Dumb schmucks." Big Lot chuckled under her heavy breathing.

Falling back onto his flank, Adam closed his eyes laying his head against the sharp wet stone of the wall. "That was close..."

Sitting down as well, Bill whinnied, "Too close for my likin'..."

Adam stood up peering at the room before them. "W-What did we jump into anyway?"

A small square residential chamber lay in front of the three ponies. Not much was too the living space but the basic essentials: a cot, a wooden nightstand, a dangling light fixture. The most notable quality of the room was the dresser on the left wall. All around it, amassed in dense piles, were dark green capes and uniforms.

The drawers had been either torn out of their slots in the dresser, or were left flung opened hanging barely onto the piece of furniture by the end of its frame. Big Lot picked herself up and trotted over to one of the many grand masses of Legion attire.

Taking a cape at the top of the pile, she raised an eyebrow at it, pouting, "I always hated the green color of the Legion uniforms... Even when I was at my border."

Adam walked to the same pile Big Lot stood at, shifting his head to one side at the strange scene. "Who lived here? And why would they toss all their cloths out like this?"

Big Lot shrugged, "Whoever it was, was pretty well decorated."

Slowly stroking the soft, fine surface of the cape she remarked, "This material is way too nice for a sergeant, or a captain."

"Then who would it belong to?" Bill interjected.

"Someone like me," Big Lot boasted, "someone with great power and control. Probably one of Vladimir's personal favorite head of operations, I don't know. It's hard to say really since they don’t put names on these things."

Turning around, the cot took Adam's attention. The single drawer of the nightstand too, was opened. Only laying upon the ground next to it was a holotape. Stepping up to the recording device Adam picked it up in one hoof.

"A holotape?" Adam said under his breath.

Bill's ears perked up as he came to Adam. "What did ya find?"

"A holotape..." Adam answered, lowly.

Big Lot dropped the cape. "A what?"

Shaking the tape slightly, Adam repeated, "A holotape."

"So?" Big Lot hummed walking to the cot, "It's not really important."

"You never know what kind of stuff could be on it." Adam responded.

Resting the holotape down on the cot, Adam turned his sights to the nightstand. Peeking into it, he dug around through various small pieces of junk stuffed into the drawer.

"Whoa," Adam gaped sticking his nose into the drawer, "I can't believe it..."

"What?" Bill and Big Lot asked in unison.

Stepping back from the nightstand, a thin black cable levitated out of the drawer -- alongside a few multi-colored wires.

Big Lot folded her lips, with a vexed expression. "Wires?"

Adam smiled, "They're Pipbuck wires."

Bill shrugged, "I'm not too sure what that's suppose to mean compadre."

"With this black cable I can copy, and download the recordings on the holotape."

Hovering the cord to his Pipbuck, Adam continued, "My only question is: how, and why is there Pipbuck tech in a Legion officer's room?"

"I still don't think it matters." Big Lot commented.

"Well," Adam said plugging the black cord into a slot in the device, "it does to me."

An empty bar popped onto Adam's screen with the orange words: DOWNLOADING hovering above it. In a minute’s time, the download between the Pipbuck and the holotape was completed with a soft ping.

Unplugging the recorder from his Pipbuck, Adam turned and faced the door. "I'll have to listen to it later. But first, we need to get to that chamber."

Beep... Beep... Beep....

The soft sound of the mysterious pings floated in the air around Neo -- echoing faintly through the hallway they walked. Having turned the sound on his Pipbuck down to its lowest setting did little to mute the blaring audio.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

The sounds rang deeply in Lucy's ears, causing her eardrums to ache. Holding her nose just a few inches above the ground, not even the helmet could dull the irritating noise the Pipbuck gave off.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

"Can you keep that thing down? I'm surprised someone hasn't heard already." Lucy grunted.

Neo shrugged, "I tried already. It's on the lowest volume setting."

Glancing over his shoulder, Neo added, "Say, are our are the miners still there?"

Ally looked behind them down the opposite end of the hall. In the dim light of the mundane winding hallway not a body, figure, nor glow of the miner's eyes could be seen. Just emptiness as far down as she could see.

"No," Ally answered, "nothing..."

Returning her eyes forward Ally added, "Strange... Come to think of it we haven't seen many Legion soldiers down here... Mostly just miners..."

Briefly shifting his eyes from left to right, Neo saw the buttons upon the door frames were off. Further down the corridor the lights to open the doors were faded. Nothing but the fixtures on the walls seemed to be operating.

"Come to think of it, you’re right." Neo countered, "Not even in the boiler room."

"I know, it's just... Strange..." Ally murmured checking behind her once more.

Ahead of the group was a deep cavern with long metal plated bridge suspended by thick iron cables. Below the bridge was an area where small cranes were stationed next to mine carts. Against the indented walls of the lower floor of the room -- cone-shaped drills had their bits embedded into the side of the rock. Despite the abundance of tools not a single soul was around operating the machinery.

Stepping onto the bridge Neo looked over the railing at the work zone. "There's no workers..."

Two Socks hopped onto his hind legs, placing his fore hooves on the frigid rails. Glancing over the edge of the railing, he blinked, "Spooky, if you ask me."

Beep... Beep... Beep... The Pipbuck's sound beamed off of the quiet walls of the vast cavern.

A noise echoed forth from the other end of the bridge. It was not a voice, nor an alarm. Rather, it was the calm pitter-patter of hooves trotting against the solid ground of the mine.

Staring directly ahead, Neo and the others stood attentively at the end of bridge. From the distance, the next hallway at the end appeared blanketed in a dense layer of darkness. Anything that was approaching them would have to emerge from the shadow, and face them at the opposing side.

Clip-clop... Clip-clop... Clip-clop...

Neo lowered his breathing, taking in only silent shallow breaths. In the wake of the approaching stranger, his hind legs began to shake.

Why am I afraid? Neo thought. T-They'll just walk past us. Just like the others... Unless it's the min-

Three figures took form in the shadow at the opposing end of the bridge. Just at the border of where the weak light of the cavern met the dark hallway the bodies stopped. Standing upright, with their heads held high only the crude outline of the unknown entities could be seen.

The middle pony, standing in the shadows emerged from the concealing darkness. In the cavern's soft illumination the pony's details became clear. A short brown dusty mane with parted bangs came into view. Alongside emerald green eyes, and a dirt stained coat of blue.

On opposing sides of the blue pony was donkey, and a filly.

Neo's eyes went wide.

"A-Adam?" Neo whispered, his heart on the verge of stopping.

For a moment, Adam looked at Neo cocking his head to one side. Throwing his officer's cap from his head Neo dashed across the bridge tears pooling in the corners of his eyes.

"Adam!"

Two Socks stumbled forward, removing the Legion helmet from his head. Letting it clattering against the bridge’s metal plates the trader pony choked, "I-Is that really them?"

Adam's eyes grew open. "Brother?"

"Adam! It's me!" Neo shouted tears rolling down the sides of his face.

Stepping out onto the bridge further, Adam started to lightly trot toward his brother. "Brother!"

Galloping at full speed toward one another they engaged each other. Tightly wrapping their forelegs around the other's body.

Tears, large and warm came streaming down from Neo's eyes as he felt the tender embrace of his brother. "Adam, I found you... I finally found you...”

Sniffing, Neo said, “I’m so, so sorry for what I said. It’ll never happen again...”

Burying his face into the shoulder of Neo's uniform, Adam cried smiling, "It's okay... I-I forgive you."

Dashing past them Two Socks bounced up and down waving his hooves around in the air at Bill. "Hey! HEY! It's me Bill! I found ya! I found ya!"

Bill rolled his eyes, leaning over to Big Lot. "Here's the part where he hugs me..."

Big Lot stuck a hoof in her mouth, making a deep gagging sound, "Sickening... It's all sickening!"

When Bill turned to see Two Socks a blur of beige and green overtook him in a forceful tackle. Both tumbled to the floor, as Two Socks wrapped his hooves around Bill's neck.

"I found ya! I found ya!" Two Socks exclaimed.

Releasing his hold on Bill, Two Socks bounded back with a beaming grin. "I can't believe we found you!"

Standing back onto all four hooves, Bill patted himself down, sending small puffs of dust rolling off of his body. "It's good to see ya too, Two Socks. Next time, don't attack me could ya?"

Two Sock's smile disappeared. In its stead, his lips curled together at the sight of the little filly, Big Lot.

Kneeling down to her, Two Socks asked, "And what's your name, little one?"

Puffing out her little chest she boomed, "I'm Big Lot! Princess of the Northern Provincial Border!"

"Huh," Two Socks sighed, "I always thought Big Lot was a stallion."

Red hot blood flushed into Big Lot's cheeks as she wrinkled her little nose. "I am not a stallion! I am a princess! A PRINCESS!"

Her sudden burst of angry sent Two Socks stepping back. "Sheesh, sorry m’lady..."

Remove the tight grasp he had around his brother, Neo whipped away the tears streaking his face with the uniform's sleeve. "H-How did you get out?"

Adam gave his brother a smile -- pointing to the screwdriver neatly tucked behind his ear. "Determination, and a smidgen of patients."

"Heh," Neo laughed nudging Adam in the shoulder, "skills is more like it. Pure skills."

Bill and the others at the end of the bridge came walking back across to join the others. Among them was Big Lot, keeping behind Two Socks and out of Neo’s sight.

"Looks like you got Bill too," Neo chirped, "was there anyone else with you when you guys broke out?"

Adam's eyes grew dark, as he lowered his gaze slightly to the plates beneath them. "There were two others... Ice Fire, and Arrow... T-They didn't make it..."

Patting Adam on the back, Neo said, "I'm sorry to hear that. We'll have to give them a proper burial when we come back."

Staring Neo in the eyes, Adam's mouth hung open, "You’re coming back?"

Neo's eyes glistened with pure determination, "After we find mom, we're both coming back... To free them -- all of them."

Adam nodded, "Right."

"But," Neo stuttered, "I remember seeing three ponies at the end of the bridge. If there was Bill, and you then whose number three?"

Big Lot stood behind Two Socks, her heart pounding as her the skin under her fur turned cold and pale. The courage she had found in herself to spout out her title earlier dissipated into nothingness. The pony she hurt -- the pony she had threatened was merely feet from where she stood. If there was a Celestia, watching down at her from above, then the sense of humor the Goddess held was callous.

"You mean this one?" Two Socks replied stepping to the side, exposing Big Lot's shuddering little body.

Neo stood up stiffly, glaring at her. "Big Lot? What's she doing her?!"

Waving her hooves in the air she pleaded, "I can explain Mr. Cuddlepants!"

"No," Adam interjected stepping in front of his brother, "I can."

"Adam," Neo barked, "that little menace threaten to enslave us! She brought me down calling me that revolting name! And-"

"I think she's a good pony." Adam stated.

Neo held a perplexed expressing with his mouth agape, "W-What? Did I hear that right?"

"Yes, you did." Adam answered sternly.

Leaning over slightly to the side, Adam extend a hoof to Big Lot while retaining eye contact with his brother. "I spent time with her while I was away. Sure she can be a little snarky, and sure she still has problems... But she's not bad, I think it was the border that was making her crazy."

"Plus," Adam smiled widely, "she doesn't have anywhere to go. And I thought she could come with us. At least, until she figures out what to do."

Squinting both of his silver eyes at the filly, Neo muttered, "She better behave then... And no calling me Mr. Cuteyhead, or whatever it is."

Big Lot's ears perked up, as she smirked at Neo. "I'll try, Mr. Cuddlepants."

Neo sighed, "Right..."

A deathly wail cried out through the cavern. The intensity of its pitch rattled the wires of the bridge slightly. Behind them, the glow of three sets of sickly green eyes glistened in the hallway. Every member of the party snapped their gaze to the corridor, and appearing set by set were more pairs of illuminating goggles.

Four, eight, ten, and more surfaced from the shadows. Lurking underneath the dim lighting of the hall a miner came into sight. Down the corridor, standing in the glow of a light fixture the Warden hissed -- slinking toward them.

Like fireflies bobbing in the still black of the night, the eyes of the dozens of miners floated in the darkness.

"Kill..." They all whispered. "Cleave... Rip..."

Levitating the key to the shackles binding Wester, Neo backed up slowly. "Wester... Do you need your guns?"

Wester took the key, proceeding to unlock the cuffs clamped onto his legs, before focusing on the Zebras restraints. "Affirmative."

The shackles strapped to Wester and the Zebras clicked unlocked. Snapping open, the heavy frigid cuffs fell clamoured against the steel path of the bridge. Rattling softly through the air, the sound of the chains rebounded off of the ceiling.

Undoing Wester's gear from his, Neo tossed him the foldable anti-armor rifle -- along side his holstered python revolvers. Ally and Two Socks gave Bloodstrider his equipment as they all gradually drew themselves back to the other end of the bridge.

Without drawing their gaze away from the miners Neo whispered, "Adam, where were you going before we found you?"

Sweat profusely ran down Adam's neck, "To the secondary exit of the mines..."

Neo swallowed hard, "And where might that be?"

"A big round room... I couldn't find it on the map... Too many winding hallways overlapping..."

Pulling up the map on his Pipbuck, Neo glanced at their current position. "There's a big round room nearby... That one?"

"Yep." Adam squeaked.

Inhaling a deep breath through his nostrils Neo muttered aloud, "Everyone... I'm going to run very fast. Don't ask where, just run..."

Lucy had her own droplets of fresh running sweat amply gathering on her brow, "Frankly, I don't give two shits as long as it's away from them."

"Good," Neo cheeped with a shaking nod, "RUN!"

Jumping around to face the other side of the bridge Neo dashed to the next hallway. Following his lead was the rest of the group -- hooves pounding the steel under them.

Their imminent retreat from the miner's advance shook the bridge. The Warden let out another shrill shriek darting onward in quick pursuit. Thundering behind him the rumbling of the miner herd furiously galloping made the ground tremble.

Running past hallways twisting down, and veering tight corners doors against the walls flew by them. In a swarming herd of gleaming eyes, and tattered rags the miners followed in a mad sprint only a hundred feet behind.

Air raced by the brother's heads, as their hearts drummed briskly. In this state of pure adrenaline the entire world was restricted to the narrowed hallways of the mines. A rush of tingling energy exploded inside them, igniting greater speed and crisper more acute senses.

"Neo! Where are we even going?!" Lucy called.

Where was he going? They all tailed behind him, trusting whatever decision he made to be the right one. Watching the corridors fling by them in their attempt to escape the miners, Adam too started to wonder where they might end up following whatever path they were on.

A wide set of polished metal doors gleamed in the dim light of the hall. Quickly approaching them exclaimed, "There! That should be it!"

"KILL! CATCH! RIP! SPILL BLOOD -- MAKE STILL!" The Warden bellowed in a grinding wail.

The doors were barely parting as the miners closed on them, now jolting fifty feet from their tails. Leaping through the opening doors the group skid forth, a cloud of thin dirt developed around them.

A small bit of the grime came in through Neo's nose, driving him to let out a whooping cough as he searched for the exit. "Do you see it?"

A familiar, scorching heat penetrated the air -- accompanied by a bight red warm glow blasting the fur of his face. Instantly the heat irradiated onto Adam, and to his defense he rose a foreleg over his eyes.

"What is that?!" Adam gasped.

Batting his eyelids, Neo smiled, "It's the chamber! It's another boiler room!"

"Another one?" Adam queried.

Wester slung the rifle from the side of his back, using the inertia generated by the weight of the tip to unfold and lock it into working order. Lifting it up at the miners he fired one single booming shot. Clipping the side of the Warden's ear, the bullet impacted a miner galloping beside him.

In an explosion of tainted glowing blood the miner's head was completely severed from its neck. A few of the miners behind it tripped over the body of their fallen comrade -- setting off a chain of ponies tumbling atop one another. Even the Warden became encased with ponies avalanching onto his back.

Compactly clustered in the hallway, the miners in their chaotic rage started to pile on each other the more bodies fell atop the next.

Lowering his rifle, Wester said, "That will by us time."

"You could of done that sooner Wester! It would have saved us the heartache!" Lucy barked.

Slinging the rifle back into a rested position at his side, Wester shook his head, "No, Lucky. I needed a good shot. Additionally, these are my favorite bullets. I've used too many, and wasting them would be unsatisfactory."

Lucy's lowly shook her head, pressing a hoof to her face, "Oh, geez..."

The Warden rose with wobbling legs, pushing a groaning miner off of his back.

"Warning: you might want to hurry your search." Wester announced.

The boiler room before them was nearly identical to the previous one they had visited. The only exception was that the set of three cylinder boiling tanks were cold, leaving a darkened area in the far corner of the room. Adam briskly brought up his Pipbuck map, humming to himself as he scanning the mine's elaborate tunnel system.

A voice called out from behind the heap of groaning miners, "Quick, stop them!"

The voice's request was met with the addition of marching hooves, thunderously echoing down the hall.

Ally's hooves were feverishly tapping at the floor. "That's the Legion! Where are we suppose to go?!"

Taking in slow, deep rasping breathings the Warden dragged himself toward them. "Die... Rip... Make still..." He coughed.

Adam bit down on his lower lip, "I don't know! I'm looking! If we go the wrong way we'll-"

The boisterous voice of a stallion cried out to them from the six boiling tanks in the corner of the room, "Hey! You lot! Over here!"

Directing their gaze to the source of the cry, they saw standing at the side of one tank a crimson stallion -- dressed in the worn dented freelancer armor. Waving a hoof the pony bounced up and down in the air.

"This way! Hurry!" He called called.

"A freelancer?" Neo said under his breath.

The Warden was within five feet from Wester, his respirator let out a cringing wheeze with each breath, "Kill... Kill..." He hacked.

Lucy shoved Neo forward, "Go! Go! Comon' let's move!"

Trotting at first, the group picked up their pace making a full gallop over to the stranger. Ducking behind the cover of the tanks, the Guardian beckoned them to follow him with his hoof.

Walking behind the concealing safety of the boiling tanks, the group was out of sight. The Warden, lumbering toward the doorframe, tripped over his own footing. Catching himself on the cave wall, he gasped for air as the respirator of the mask seethed loudly.

The Warden's throat started to convulse, "Must find... Hunt... Kill..."

Everyone was compacted between the confined space between the boiler tanks. Neo was at the front of the group, looking back at the multitude of ponies in their group.

"Everyone's here, right?" He asked.

Lucy rose her head up, peering at the bodies pressed against her. "Yeah, I think we're all here..."

"Heh," Neo sighed wiping his hot pulsing brow, "I guess it turned out okay in the end..."

"Not yet I would say," a deep commanding voice objected, "we can be at ease once we've left this place."

Turning to face the voice, Neo saw standing over him a tall red unicorn stallion. He had a clean black mane streaked with silver hairs. Above his forehead, short parted bangs were eased to the side -- while a long woven ponytail was tied behind his head.

His eyes held a strange shade of purple, not quite too dark, but not too fair as well. Whatever cutie mark he had was obscured by the thick duster and armor he wore.

Staring up at the opposing height of the Guardian, a strange nicking poked the back of Neo's mind. With a raised eyebrow, Neo asked, "H-Have I seen you before?"

The stallion shook his head. "No, I shouldn't say so."

Neo drew himself back, gazing headlong into his deep purple eyes.

"You have a lot of questions, don't you?" The Guardian asked.

Adam lifted his hoof to speak, but the moment before he could the Guardian spun around jerking his head toward the back of tanks. "they’ll have to wait, we need to get out of here first."

Neo looked at Adam, and shrugging at his brother the group followed the Guardian to the back wall behind the tanks. A piece of corrugated sheet metal covered a hole on the ground, leading down into a dark tunnel.

A wooden ladder, held together by tightly knotted pieces of cloth and bent rusted nails lead down into the unknown. Hopping down onto the ladder, the Guardian descended into the deep underground.

"Follow me." He instructed.

One at a time, each member of the group climbed down the moaning wooden steps into the tunnel. Lucy was the last pony to get into the hole, and positing her body shoulder deep in the second exit of the mine, she drug the sheet of metal over her as they snuck away from the Darkmines.

Foot Note: Level Up!

New Perk: Circus of Values!: Now, you gain an additional +3 points to spend on talents, and specs. Don't forget to spend when get some more points!

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: They Said I Could Be Anything: As a mechanic, you were born to do great things. Especially when it comes to fixing things! +XP when repairing, or crafting items of any variety.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

ColonelLatmuffin

Thefullmetalbrony

(AN: Sorry about the long wait! But here it is! Chapter 31 in its entirety. I think it came out rather well. There are a few scenes I was really happy with. I mean those were scenes that needed to be awesome, and they did indeed, come out awesome. A special thanks goes out to my best friend, and younger brother for helping out with this chapter’s editing/proofreading. Without their support I wouldn’t have got the good quality I know you guys deserve. Though, now that they’ve met up with Vladimir what will happen next? You’ll have to find out in the next exciting chapter of Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood!)

Secrets

Secrets

CHAPTER 32: SECRETS

"What I do now will guarantee the continued survival of our province's future."

Thatch paced himself across the center of a small dark room. Overhead a single light-fixture hung from the rocky ceiling, casting a bright pillar of white light down upon a polished steel table. A single iron door at the end of the room was the only exit -- shrouded in the shadows.

Behind the table, sitting on low stools was the Warden, and a miner. Tied around the Miner's right foreleg, a green stained bandage concealed a deep laceration underneath. Gently glistening against the metal rims of their glowing goggles the two creatures watched Thatch stomp about the room, seething.

The warmest of Thatch’s blood flushed into his cheeks, as his heart beat at a great speed. Pausing in front of the table's center he turned to the two miners, putting one hoof on the cold gleaming tabletop.

"What in the hell were you doing!?"

Both miners held a stiff, upright posture whilst remaining completely silent.

Lifting his other hoof onto the table, Thatch leaned over to the miners. "Answer me! Now!"

The light above bounced off his sturdy figure, blanketing all but his eyes in shadow. "We're not leaving until one of you speaks up!"

The miner sitting beside the Warden looked up at Thatch. "I warn Warden. Intruders were in the mine."

"Yes, there were ponies from the outside in the mine," Thatch replied sweetly, "but do you know why?"

The miners didn't answer.

Thatch barked, "Because we wanted them to come in!"

"Intruder is intruder." The Warden commented. "No mercy for intruder. Only death."

Planting his hoof squarely upon his brow, Thatch sighed, "Naturally, yes. But it was our emperor's plan to let them in."

"Our?" The miner hissed, drawing his head back. "Our?!"

The Warden shook his head at Thatch. "We are not surface Legion. We are Miners. We are strong."

Glaring at the Warden, Thatch interjected, "No, you are not part of the Legion. But so long as Iron Hammer remains unfinished you work for us!"

Leaning intently toward the Warden, Thatch's body hovered over the entire table. "You. Work. For. Us. Period!"

Leaping down from the table, Thatch began pacing himself again. "If Emperor Vladimir has a plan, we must obey. If we obey him, so do you. There are no questions, or remarks that need to be made. At all."

Once more the miners said nothing.

Stopping in the center of the room, Thatch exhaled through his nostrils. "Now, back to my initial question: what were you doing chasing them? Had you not heard about the plan?"

"I see intruder. I follow intruder. I get Warden. I find -- rip, kill intruder." The Miner said.

"I bring more miners. Stop intruders." The Warden added.

Adjusting the breather on his mask, the Warden wheezed, "They almost break me. They dishonor the mine. Defile it with surface smell."

"Well now," Thatch chuckled, "wouldn't that be a crime!"

Thatch slumped his haunches down on the coarse, damp rock of the mine floor, across from his miner counterparts. "Had no one told you? Not a word?"

The miners did not answer.

"You know, many miners were injured or hurt during that little stunt of yours. All on account of your actions."

Gazing at the miner’s eyes Thatch saw nothing. Underneath the green eerie glow of their goggles no emotion, nor thought could be seen. They were complete enigmas, staring blankly at him.

"Well?" Thatch spat. "Anything? Anything at all?"

Not even a cough came from the two.

The door's heavy handle clicked, thunderously ringing throughout the room. Pushing the door open, Ventures poked his stout pudgy head through the crack he made.

"Am I interrupting the intervention? I have some news regarding Vladimir's position."

Glancing over his shoulder, Thatch shook his head. "No... No not at all."

Returning to the Warden and the miner, Thatch whispered, "This discussion isn't over. If I hear even so much as a scuffle from a miner today I'll punish the both of you! Do I make myself clear?"

In unison, the miners nodded.

"Good," Thatch growled, "now get out..."

The miners scooted their seats back letting out a cringing shriek as the legs rubbed against the floor. Rising together the miners strolled side by side out of the room. General Ventures watched them cross the doorway, and vanish into the dark hallway outside.

Shuffling to one of the stools, Thatch allowed his flank to rest upon the warmed seat. Laying the side of his head on the chilled steel tabletop he sighed feeling a slight ache develop within the top of his cranium.

"What am I going to do, Ventures?" Thatch groaned.

The multitude of medals adorning Venture's chest clamored about as he approached the table. "What do you mean?"

"Vladimir left me in charge of Iron Hammer’s operations... Me, of all ponies, has to deal with the miners."

"The stress of the job is finally getting to you, huh?" Ventures chuckled taking the stool next to Thatch.

Barely able to sit on the stool, Ventures wobbled about correcting his flank from falling off of one side.

Thatch scoffed, "Stressed doesn't even begin to describe it..."

"Suck it up soldier," Ventures scoffed sticking a hoof in one of his uniform pockets, "though there’s no shame in dulling it."

Removing his hoof from the pocket, Ventures held a circular drinking flask. "It's got some strong stuff in it. Takes a load right off of you. Though, I myself still prefer finely aged red wine."

Resting the flask on the table, Thatch picked it up -- removing the tiny silver lid. Placing it to his lips, the burning brown liquid within ran down his throat, numbing whatever it touched with its torrid qualities.

As the whiskey settled in his stomach, Thatch gasped for air. Tightening the lid, he slid it back to Ventures.

"I swear," Thatch remarked, "before the project came this close to being complete the miners never acted this way..."

"You think they're losing it? Finally snapping at the pressure of working under a superior order?"

"Perhaps," Thatch said raising his head, "I'll have to keep a keen eye on what the Warden and his rats do from now on."

Expelling the air from his lungs, Thatch looked to the ceiling, "Maybe this whole ordeal is a sign from Celestia, telling me I'm not fit for this position."

Slapping Thatch forcefully upon the back, Ventures countered, "You could always hand it over to me! I wouldn’t mind having to sit around in the warm mine tunnels for awhile!"

"It sounds nice, doesn’t it?” Thatch sighed. “You have no idea what it’s like to work with those tunnel rats. You just have to ensure the patrols don't die in the city, and how hard could that be?"

A wide grin plastered Venture's pudgy face, forming even more wrinkled rings under his bulging chin. "When you have soldiers like mine, you begin to wonder why we found four of our own knocked completely out cold in a passenger car outside the mine completely stripped of their armor!"

The comment gave Thatch a crooked smirk. "That explains how they got the uniforms..."

"Hmm, what was that?" Ventures stammered shaking his head.

"Oh, nothing... Nothing at all." Thatch answered under his breath.

Erecting his ears, Thatch leaned on the edge of the table. "Now, what was that you were about to mention on the location of our emperor?"

Frigid water collected along the low glossy ceiling of a narrow tunnel. Walking in a single-file line, Neo followed behind the Freelancer, and tailing him was his brother. Droplets of the chilled liquid fell down onto their drooping heads, hovering over the nauseating rancid odors lifting from the squelching mud of the ground.

The air was heavily saturated with cool damp air. A stark contrast from the incinerating inferno of the mine. Both brothers hooves sank into the cold musk squishing underneath them. Against the pools of water puddled in the irregular dips within the mud, the orange light of their Pipbuck lamps shimmered off onto the walls.

Smelling the dank vapors of the mud lift up to his nose, Neo grimaced. "Hey, do you know how long the way is until we're out of here?"

Neo's voice carried far down the tunnel, alongside the soft splats of their hooves pressing against mud. "We'll be there soon. It's just a little farther up." The Freelancer answered.

Looking up at the rough, tattered duster flap at the mysterious stallion's side, Neo snorted the musky fumes from the ground out his nostrils. "Is that all you're going to say?"

"Is there anything else I need to?" The Freelancer replied.

Neo paused for a moment. "Well you could start by giving me your name. You could also enlighten me a little bit on how you were free inside the mine."

The soft hairs upon Vladimir's nape went stiff. A name was needed to keep his identity hidden. Even with his eyes changed, and his appearance altered a hint of who he was lingered about him.

Gulping down a coarse lump inside his throat, Vladimir muttered, "I told you we'd discuss it once we got out."

Neo narrowed his gaze at the stranger, stopping right where he stood in tunnel. Halting his pace, Vladimir peaked over his shoulder at the agitated white stallion, blotched in with wet brown smudges across his legs.

Adam's snout bumped into Neo's flank, sending him stumbling backward -- continuing on the cycle of ponies nudging into one another all the way down the line.

Lucy looked over the multitude of Zebras, ponies, and bodies at Neo. "What's the hold up?"

"One second Lucy. I need to figure something out first." Neo responded, keeping his eyes set on the Freelancer.

Vladimir didn't turn to face Neo, nor did he feel compelled to in the narrow space they traveled in. "Who are you?" Neo inquired. "Who? And I’m not moving until I get some answers!"

Feeling a deep icy wind flush briskly throughout his body, Vladimir bit his lower lip gently. "My name?"

Bodiless, the specter chuckled in his ear, "Well? The boy asked you ask question. Don't leave him answerless."

"My name," Vladimir stammered, "is... Ranger."

Neo's ears perked up at the answer, "Ranger?"

Vladimir nodded once. "Yes. My name is Ranger. I'm new to the order... I joined just a little while before I was captured by Legion scouts outside of the city's border."

Taking a step toward Vladimir, Neo added, "And what were you doing outside of the city?"

"What will you say to that, I wonder... Be quick! It’ll look suspicious if you sit about gaping for too long." The creature whispered in Vladimir's ear.

"I was searching for something," Vladimir answered, "searching for the Coalition project... I have information for them that Cool Blue obtained on Iron Hammer."

"How did you know where to go?" Neo commented.

"She has information on everything, even the project. The map I was given was taken from me before I escaped."

Scanning the stallion's bulging saddlebags, and disheveled attire, Neo continued, "What do you need to take to them?"

The voice of the apparition lightened into a full consistent laugh, "Oh! I think he has you now!"

Vladimir barely turned his head around to see Neo. Out of the corner of his vision, Neo could be seen staring up at him with a sincere glare. Speaking in a firm tone Vladimir answered, "Plans on how to destroy Ironhammer. I'm sure a guardian like you would know about it, correct?"

Drawing himself back, Neo shook his head in disbelief. "You have what?!"

Adam leaned forward, his mouth agape. "R-Really? How? Why you?"

Holding a stern gaze on Neo, Vladimir retorted, "Because I was the only one to volunteer."

Luring his eyes back down to the marshy ground of cold mud encasing both hooves, Neo felt his stomach plummet. Vladimir returned his sights forward, lifting one hoof off of the floor. "I'm sorry I had to stay quiet about it. I know you may not trust me, but know that I want nothing more than to see the Coalition liberate this land. With Ironhammer gone, we can finally take the final steps to freeing this province."

"Now," Vladimir added hastily, "if you don't mind, I'd like to remove ourselves from this ghastly tunnel."

Once more Vladimir started to walk down the tunnel -- following behind Neo rose his own feet, stepping in Ranger's hoof prints ingrained within the sodden earth beneath them. If what he said was true, any ounce of it, then indeed he would make for a powerful ally. But something still stirred inside of him. The same sinking in his gut, and tingle running along the back of his neck.

A familiar tone pestered Neo about the newcomer. In Ranger's deep purple eyes that familiarity was lost. Who ever he was -- whatever he was eluded Neo. He would just have to piece the truth together, one step at a time.

In the middle of a desolate street, amidst dozens of skyscrapers towering high above into the black chemically saturated clouds, thunder boomed. In a narrow alleyway, the two brick walls on either side were adorned with posters, worn and faded by time, tearing limply at their dirt-stain corners. A manhole at the far end of the alley shook. Rattling about, Vladimir's head propped the side of heavy metal seal up. Sticking his nose out of the hole the weight of the metal piece forcefully pressed against the back of his head.

The longer the seal continued to lean on him, the greater the stress of its hefty lid made his head ache. With his horn dimly encased in a halo of crimson magical aura, the manhole cover levitated off of him, and over to the side. Climbing out of the hole, Vladimir helped those still inside, out.

One at a time every soul confined to the condensed space of the tunnel below emerged into the outside world. There was little difference in the quality of the air. Like the quality had been outside the mine it held a bitter, putrid smell that resembled sulfur, burning in a hot flame.

A cool breeze, sickening in its odor, brushed lightly against the coats of the group. Two Sock strolled to the end of the alley, where the sidewalk met the road.

As Two Socks approached the sidewalk he tossed aside the Legion helmet -- taking in a deep, stomach-turning breath the wind graced the beads of sweat specking his cheeks.

"I'm done with that helmet..." Two Socks panted plunking his haunches down upon the broken cement.

Lucy did the same, only rather, she threw her helmet violently against the nearby brick wall. Retaining a wide smirk she boomed, "Goodbye helmet!"

Pulling the chest piece over her shoulders, it too was flung at the wall with the same tremendously passionate force. Those still suited in the Legion attire undressed. The tight armor no longer constricting their bodies was a rejuvenating sensation.

For the first time since they had disguised themselves -- they could breath. Dropping the freshly removed breastplate of his uniform, Neo inhaled through his nose.

Allowing his chest to fully inflate, Neo held in the air, before releasing it all. Returning to their old clothing of choice, the group started to gather in the center of the alleyway, while Vladimir trotted to the sidewalk, poking his head out to the street.

Adam spun, as the loose flaps of his duster twirled about. Smiling at the wonderful warmth his coat brought, Adam looked to Neo. "I can't believe you managed to get all my things!"

Laying a hoof to a seam along his left sleeve, Adam chuckled, "You know, I wasn't sure if I'd see my stuff again."

"Common’," Neo laughed patting Adam squarely on the back, "I wouldn't even think about leaving your stuff behind."

With shimmering eyes, Adam hugged his brother. "Thank you, brother."

Wrapping one leg around his brother, Neo returned the gesture.

Bill took a single step toward Neo, a beaming smile irradiating of his face. "Did ya get my stuff too?"

Neo's joints locked, as a swift chill flushed through him. "Uh...."

Bill's smile faded. "Ya did grab my stuff... Right?"

Slowly turning to face Bill, Neo rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, well... No... Not exactly..."

Throwing his head back, Bill snapped, "What!?"

Waved a reassuring hoof at him, take a few cautionary steps backward. "I was under a lot of pressure!"

Briskly raising a hoof, Bill planted his face into it. "I had everything in there..."

Two Socks came to Bill's side, gently rubbing his back. "It's alright Bill, we'll get you new stuff -- shinier stuff."

Directing his eyes to Neo, Two Socks gazed at him smiling. "You know, I can't thank you enough for what you've done. For what all of you have done to help me save my friend."

The brothers, in unison, answered, "It was nothing."

"Not to me," Two Socks interjected, "I want to give you something. For all that you've done."

"Two Socks, you don't have to give us anything." Neo replied.

Shaking his head, Two Socks interjected sternly, "I'm sorry compadre, I can't do that. You see, that's not the way I do business. Saving my friend means the world to me, and having done that won’t feel right if you don't get something out of it."

"I got my brother back," Neo said, "and that's all I need."

"But," Lucy intervened stepping between them and forcing both to move aside, "I'll be more than willing to take what that reward. Need to fix up my wagon when I get back, and that won't be cheap."

Two Socks blinked at the mare, "I don't have any money... Well, not much anyway."

"What?" Lucy scoffed, her mouth agape.

Opening his saddle bag, Two Socks stuck a hoof inside digging through the plethora of junk filling the bags. From out of the bag, resting neatly in his hoof was a small grey lockbox. Upon the top of the box engraved in bold white letters was the words:

SECRET SHIT -- DO NOT TOUCH!

Resting the box down in front of him, Two Socks gracefully stroked the lid smiling. "I keep some of my most valued treasures in this box. Items from my travels across this blasted world of ours..."

Pushing the lid open, Two Socks took a round object, no bigger than a well-sized rock, from the lockbox. Wrapped entirely in a fine brown leather the item was light, weighing no more than a baseball.

"This," he said, "this is one of my most valued possessions. I want you to have it."

Lucy let her head droop, "But I needed the money..."

"Perhaps next time," Wester remarked carefully patting her back, "perhaps next time."

Adam came to Two Socks, levitating the trinket from his hoof to his face. Peering intently at the strange item Adam said, "We can't take this... Especially if it means that much to you."

"If you don't take it," Two Socks retorted, "I'll scream."

The very thought of Two Socks bellowing a grinding shriek for a long duration of time sent Adam reeling back. "No! No! N- I mean, sure, we’ll take it. Just please... please don’t scream."

With a slight bow of his head, Neo took the gift and placed it inside his bags.

"What are you going to do now that it's all over for you?" Asked Neo.

Shrugging, Two Socks answered, "Leave, I guess. Go find our caravan again. Travel the world some more."

Bill rose his head. "We'll also need to get me some new gear."

"Right," Two Socks agreed, "but first we need money."

Returning to Neo, Two Socks commented, "What about you lot? Are you gonna' still look for your mom?"

"We'll try." Neo sighed.

Bill said, "I guess this is goodbye then."

"Looks like it, huh?" Adam replied.

Two Socks, roughly rubbed his smudge coated cheeks with his sleeve. "I don't like goodbyes. They're too sad for my liking."

Bloodstrider cantered to Two Socks, who behind him not more than three feet away was the rest of his fellow striped soldiers. "We too shall be departing. Now that our debt has been paid."

Neo rested a hoof easily onto Bloodstrider’s shoulder, smiling affectionately at the blindfolded securely wrapped around the warrior’s eyes. “I can’t even begin to express my gratitude...”

Laying a hoof atop Neo's head, Bloodstrider smiled. "Warrior of the arena. Champion. This is not our final meeting."

Glancing at Bloodstrider's leg, Neo muttered, "It isn't?"

"No," the chief grunted, "though our payment has been served if you should need help, not as our champion, but as a friend of Tiger Company, to find us in the barn. There my people shall stay -- until we move to the border in three days time."

Neo nodded at the chief, a collection of tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. "Thank you."

Silently giving him a single nod, he directed the dots of his blindfold to Adam. "Adam. Keep watch over your brother. Trust in him as he has with you, and you shall never be parted again."

Adam smiled at Bloodstrider, "I will."

"The one they call: Two Socks." Bloodstrider proclaimed loudly over the group of ponies.

Snapping to attention, Two Sock's ears erected. "Yes?"

"You may travel with my brothers, if you should choose to, until we are out of the city."

"It would be an honor!" Two Socks erupted with a wide grin.

"Good," Bloodstrider snorted turning his head to the sky, "then let us make haste, before darkness settles over the land."

Trotting down the alleyway, Bloodstrider and the rest of his company strode off. Two socks followed them as Bill looked over his shoulder at the group waving. Adam waved his hoof in the air while Tiger Company eventually vacated the alley.

Vladimir saw them walk along the sidewalk, until they reached the next block. Vanishing behind the corner of an old banking building, he turned his sights to the rest of the group stationed in the center of the alley.

A soreness manifested in Vladimir's brow -- spreading quickly into the rest of his cranium. The scenery before him blurred as the pain gnawed away. Drawing the wine flask from his duster, he put the lid to his lips gulping the red sweet liquid down.

"So far so good." The creature hissed into his ear. "Let's see how far you'll make it..."

Retracting the cold metal flask from his mouth, his vision started to clear whilst the pain lifted itself from him.

It hasn't shown itself since I've been around them... Vladimir thought. Perhaps, my memories of her might just end the torment yet. I just hope it isn't listening. O' sweet lord Celestia I hope not.

Neo and the others approached Vladimir -- Neo holding a his eyes locked, and glaring at him as he came within two steps distance.

"So, what about you?" Neo asked Vladimir. "Are you going to continue your mission?"

"Indeed, I don't really see much else to do."

Raising an eyebrow at Neo, Vladimir queried, "What about you lot? Where might be your destination."

"The mountains." Neo returned sourly.

Rolling a hoof, Vladimir leaned toward Neo. "And, that’s your destination is it now?"

Puffing out his chest, Neo fumed, "That's all you need to hear."

Adam stuck a hoof out in front of Neo, chuckling lightly, "It's alright, brother. Let's not get frustrated over this."

Smirking at Neo, Vladimir held his head high. "It's very interesting that we should meet. For, you see, I too am heading up to the mountains."

"And where in the mountains might that be?" Neo grunted, overtly turning his eyes up at the grinning Freelancer.

"Just in the mountains, however that’s all I know, my map was taken from me." Lower his head down to Neo's eye level, Vladimir quipped, "Besides, if I knew more I couldn't say."

"And why is that?" Neo commanded.

Vladimir chortled once, "Because that would be all you needed to hear."

A heat, boiling deep within Neo flushed into his face as the Freelancer mocked him. A pushing urge to leap forward and launch his hoof in Ranger's face pecked at him. Adam's foreleg firmly placed in front of him prevented any confrontation he desired.

Diverting his attention to Adam, Vladimir asked with a more humble smile, "Would you mind if I came along? Fate did bring us together, and there is strength in numbers."

"Also," Vladimir added, "I know a shortcut into the mountains. I can assure you it is completely safe. In fact, I was on my way there just before the Legion took me into custody."

"No," Neo boomed, "we'll get along fine without your help. Right Adam?"

Adam was staring at the ash coated ground, silently.

Neo blinked at him. "Right... Adam?"

Drawing his Pipbuck up to his face, Adam sighed returning to his brother. "If we go on without him, we'll have to navigate to the peaks of the mountains before descending down them to the road we need to take."

"My way will cut right through the mountains. It'll save you a tremendous amount of grief." Vladimir noted.

Wester sauntered to Neo's side, "I'll be on full alert while we travel. If an ambush or other means of surprises await us, I'll know long before they attack us."

Taking in a full lung of air, Neo drown out the fire building within him. "Alright... But this doesn't mean that I trust you."

"I understand," Vladimir said, "and I don't blame you either. I know what it’s like to want to protect those you love."

"How far would you say this shortcut is, Ranger?" Lucy inquired.

Vladimir motioned his head toward the empty street. "Not far at all, actually... Ms.?"

"Lucky," Lucy stated, "but most folks call me Lucy."

"Right, Lucy," Vladimir continued, "it's just down the road from here, no more than a few blocks away."

"Good," Lucy scoffed lifting a hoof and loosely dangling it a few inches from the ground, "I'm tired of walking a dozen miles."

Vladimir laughed, "Excellent! Then let's not waste more time, shall we?"

Facing the street, Vladimir trotted out of the alleyway. Behind him Wester and Lucy followed with Neo hovering at the center his head hanging lowly to the broken asphalt. Big Lot gingerly ambled at the back, furtively moving along with the group.

Walking out into the middle of the road, Adam saw out of the corner of his vision the little sulking filly. Her ears had flattened themselves down, pressing the curly mane beneath. The glimmering sapphire eyes of the filly were looking to the road she traversed.

Adam veered back toward her, "Big Lot?"

The little one stared up at him, "What?"

Cocking his head to one side, Adam spoke tenderly to her, "Is there something wrong?"

Shaking her head vigorously she, replied, "No, nothing."

"Your ears are completely folded, and you’re lagging behind. By the way things are I'd say it doesn't look like nothing." Adam remarked.

Big Lot opened her mouth to speak, only to let out a low squeak. Promptly shutting her lips, she felt the an intense knotting fester within her chest.

"It's... I-It's your brother... And that armored one..." She whispered.

Adam shrugged. "What about them?"

Grimacing, the filly pointed her snout to her chest. "I feel strange... It kinda' hurts too... In my heart..."

"Maybe you should apologize to my brother, about what you did. Prove to him your not so bad. I think Wester’s forgiven you, but if you feel that way about how my brother acts around you it couldn’t hurt to say sorry."

Snapping her face up at Adam, Big Lot reeled back stumbling over her hooves. "What?! Say what to Mr. Cuddlepants?!"

Adam warmly responded. "I think it'll be good for you to make amends with him."

Puckering her lips, Big Lot sneered, "What does that even mean?"

"Does what mean?"

Big Lot rocked her head, drawing out the word. "Ah-mends."

Lightly placing a hoof atop her curly locks, Adam ruffled her mane. "It means to fix your problems with someone. To forgive one another for a wrong dividing the two of you."

Her face turned pale. "I don't know if I could... He hates me."

"My brother is a little stubborn, and he can be a little extreme at times..." Said Adam.

"But," he interjected swiftly, "his heart is in the right place. He just wants to make sure we're safe."

Moving his eyes to his brother, Adam smiled. "I could go with you -- if it makes you feel more comfortable."

Big Lot kept quiet -- cringing at the tiny knot twisting her heart tying it tighter each passing moment. A soft, reassuring pat gently tapped her back. Adam retained the same welcoming smile, gazing down at her.

"Just confront the issue when you feel ready." Adam cooed. "I'll be right there when you're ready, I promise."

Vladimir stood at the base of a long set of marble steps, thickly caked in ash, and dirt. Before him spanning hundreds of feet in both directions was colossal build -- bearing a facade adorned by shattered glass windows. Hulking white radiant columns smooth stone pillars, chipped by the elements supported the protruding rim of the stone pyramid roof.

A golden rimmed clock was perched right in the middle of the building's facade, scarred by a gashing white crack twisting across its face. Both the hour hand, and the minute hand of the dead machine stood frozen on the dusty number twelve. Below it sets of glass doors ripped from their frames lay idly inside, and outside the structure in a multitude of sharp pieces.

The dark empty windows held with them an unsettling gloom as the darkness within pervaded each one. This eerie aura stiffened the hairs along the back of Vladimir's neck while a shudder gusted itself through him. A torn banner of blue, white, and red horizontal stripes was strung by ropes attached to hooks upon the roof. Inscribed on the colorful sign in bold letters were the words:

PROVINCIAL PRIDE: THE NEW GRAND EXHIBIT
OPENING TOMORROW!

The entire group stared at the hollow structure, mutely gawking at its majesty.

"What was it?" Asked Neo.

"It’s a museum," Vladimir answered, "I've passed through it once long ago."

Facing Vladimir, Neo pondered aloud, "Can you remember why you came here?"

Vladimir's eyes trailed down to the fractured glass of the front entrance. "I came during a hunting trip when I was younger... Much, much younger..."

"Whoa..." Adam awed. "What sorts of exhibits do you think they had? Do you think they have any on pre-war tech?"

Shrugging, Vladimir started up the steps. "I can't say for sure, as I said, it’s been quite some times since my last visit. Why do you ask?"

Bounding up the steps, Adam responded with giddy haste, "The technology of the past is mysterious! Who knows what wonders were before then! Like, what were the previous generations of Pipbuck like? I've heard of them, but to see a real one would be awesome! Just imagine what kinds of circuitry lay underneath the-"

Adam paused mid-way through his sentence at the sight of Lucy, who was staring widely at him. "You done yet?"

Adam’s cheeks bloomed into a rosy hue, as he viciously rubbing the back of his neck grinning nervously, "H-Hehe... Couldn’t help myself."

Approaching the front doors leading into the museum, Vladimir promptly chirped, "We all have our interest."

The doors Vladimir came to had been blasted apart from their hinges. Spilled out across the empty steel frames of the doors laying upon the matted purple carpet were sheets of compressed pebbles of glass. Crunching under the weight of their hooves, the group wandered carefully over the shards, and into the building.

The foyer of the museum was drenched by pitch darkness. Piercing the shadow narrow shafts of dim light from the outside seeped through holes in the damaged windows above the entrance. Switching on their orange Pipbuck lamps, a halo of fluorescent illumination beamed off the walls, peeling the dark back and revealing the interior.

A round reception desk was placed at the back wall, and climbing up to the next floor wreathing around it were two staircases. Dull rusted railings accompanied a red moth bitten carpet laid over the black and white marble steps. Above the desk, in crooked bulging silver letters hanging thinly by jutted poles were the words:

"Through knowledge we can prepare for the unknown. Through knowledge we can overcome the unknown. Through knowledge we can tame it as our own."

- Governor Stormfury

Big Lot, ambling her way past the entrance, came to the front desk peering over the counter at the saying above. Vexed by its meaning she pouted at it as the others came inside, meandering about the open room.

"What does that even mean?" Big Lot demanded.

Lucy sauntered over to the desk, gazing upward at the message decorating the back wall. "Beats me," Lucy shrugged, "and quite frankly, I don't think it matters anymore."

In the center of the foyer, sewn into the dusty carpet was a large black compass rose. Strolling over its finely woven seems, Neo gaped at its features. Drawing a hoof the left flap of his duster, he raised it, exposing the cutie mark embleming his flank.

Neo's eyes widened, and darting his gaze back to the floor he found that the symbol that bore him was the same marking the ground. Letting loose the flap of his coat, he stepped back from the compass.

Adam glanced at the mark upon the floor. "That looks just like your cutie mark, brother."

Forcefully gulping, Neo feverishly nodded. "I noticed..."

Adam's pupils shot back and forth, before returning to his brother. "Why do you think it means?"

Shaking his head vigorously, Neo felt a brisk shudder roll down his spine. "I don't know, but I don't like it."

Gently tapping a hoof to the first step of the right staircase, Vladimir jerked his head toward the top of the stairs. "Don't worry about taking it all in. There's plenty more to see up here."

Wester had already taken a spot behind Vladimir, climbing the stairs close by. The others followed their lead, ascending the stairway into the next area of the museum. Each heavy clop against the weathered carpet lightly rebounded upon the beige peeling wallpaper of the derelict walls.

A set of cracking oak doors, embroidered in gold and stained in a lavish shade of cherry red, were already parted. Overhead, a bronze wide arching sign was labeled in white: EXHIBITS

Crossing the threshold into the new room, the group entered a large rotunda. The ambient reflection of the brothers’ Pipbucks glistened off of the polished silver of the dome over their heads. To the left, and to the right were identical doorways -- each sporting the same sort of copper arching signs, indicating what attraction was inside.

The left was marked as: BEFORE PONIES -- THE NATIVES BEFORE THE COLONIZATION OF OUR FAIR PROVINCE.

Whilst the other bore: TODAY'S HEROES OF OUR GREAT LAND

Both entrances leading into the exhibits had cherry-wood doors closed, and bolstered by a layer of thick rolling grille barriers. Posted outside the doorways were stout red foldable signs labeled: CLOSED

A third door was right before them. It, like the the other doors, had beautiful oak doors. Over its frame, a more articulate arch of cobalt lined the standard copper base, held the words of the attraction: OUR FUTURE!

Unlike the last two exhibits, the doors leading into this section of the museum had already been pushed in slightly. Vladimir approached the doors -- a hoof reaching out. Barely touching the dust ridden, splintering wooden surface he shoved one door completely open.

The brass hinges supporting the weight of the door creaked as it swung entirely open for him. Everyone had gathered in the center of the room. Gazing high into the glossy reflection of the dome.

Standing within the doorway, Vladimir slightly poke a purple eye over his shoulder at the group. "Do you mind if you wait here? I need to do something to make the journey through this place a little more... Pleasant."

Wester snapped his crimson visor at at him, hastily rushing to Vladimir's side. "No, I'm coming as well."

Taking his eyes off of his distorting reflection of the dome Neo set his sights on the Freelancer. "Keep a keen eye on him, Wester. Make sure he stays out of trouble."

Retaining an unwavering lock on Vladimir, Wester levitated one python revolver near his shoulder. "Affirmative."

Vladimir snickered, "It doesn't matter to me. I'm sure everyone will appreciate what I'm going to do."

Gently poking Vladimir's haunch with the barrel of his weapon, Wester motioned his head to the next room. "Let's not waste time, Ranger."

A placid expression came to Vladimir's face, "Right," he snorted, "fair enough... Come this way. It isn't far."

Trotting into the next, dark room those left within the confines of the vast open space of the rotunda stared at the somber doorway, irradiating a still unsettling silence. A few minutes flew by, feeling as though no more than a few seconds had nimbly come and left. Then, Ranger's voice cut through the quiet.

"Alright, come on in!" His voice echoed, reverberating on the dome above.

Big Lot's sapphire eyes, gleamed in the light of Adam's Pipbuck. Unable to remove them from the sight of the darkened doorway, she whimpered, flattening her ears and crouching herself to the floor.

"It's so dark in there..."

Adam gave her a smile, flashing the bright screen of his Pipbuck lamp at the door, exposing the doorway draped in the darkness. "It'll be okay. Brother and I will be right here with our lamps. You've come this far, right? What’s a small little room?"

His words sparked a lofty energy within her -- lifting her head, she took in a deep breath. Likewise, expelling the same air nodding once at him.

"Good job, just keep breathing, we’ll get through this," Adam commended her, "now let's go see what he found."

Drifting the end of the combat shotgun from the strap on his back, Neo warily tread to the door, letting each cautious step down lightly. "Be ready incase that guy pulls something on us."

Lucy flicked the safety off of her sniper, narrowing her eyes and firmly nodding once to Neo. "Right."

Ally drew her pistol, while Adam searched his bags for a gun, only to find a beat up revolver with three shots left in the barrel. Big Lot puffed out her chest, keeping a steadfast lock onto the various weapons the other ponies in the group held.

A great heat flushing into her pink cheeks, altering their complexion into a more blooming shade of color. "Why do you all get a gun?! Where’s my weapon!?" She hissed.

"Shhh!" Neo hushed her, a hoof placed to his lips as he came to the opened oak door.

Slowly pressing upon the second door, Neo, shotgun armed and hovering tightly at his side, narrow his eyes. Against the walls of his chest he felt each brisk heartbeat pound immensely as he grew closer to entering the dark alien exhibit area.

Crossing the doorway, Neo slipped his body through the door into a dark room. The next section of the museum had a high ceiling, with a wide open area decorated in black tile. A shaggy old red carpet pressed underneath their hooves, while the light radiating off of his lamp shed the blackness from the region.

Within the void gradually retreating from Neo, the rough outline of a figure standing thirty feet from him came into view. The strange creature held a golden glimmer as the silhouette of the pony emerged the closer Neo approached it.

Raising a hoof over his brow, Neo shifted his head to one side -- squinting his eyes at the pony-shaped object. Cautiously drifting by his side, Ally directed her attention to the new entity.

Lifting an eyebrow, Ally wondered aloud, "What is it?"

A swift cling thunderously erupted, exciting the air with a loud buzz that traveled throughout the entire room. Quickly taking aim at the golden figure, enveloped within the shadows the barrels of the four ponies were locked firmly onto its large gleaming head. Big Lot dived behind Adam, shielding her head with her hooves as the sound boomed another time.

A pillar of light, slicing through the dark snapped onto the golden figure. All around the room, small golden lights on hair-thin wires dangled from the ceiling illuminated the shadow. Some flickered on, whilst others brightly shined down onto the floor.

In the fresh light the golden figure was exposed. Upon a solid gold plinth, the stature of a unicorn mare standing proudly beside an Earth pony stallion glinted. Together, the two metal bodies held their heads aloft, puffing out their chest while standing on the rim of a mighty jagged boulder pointing outward.

Behind the statue was a sold beige wall adorned by red curtains tied to the edges by golden shimmering rope faded by time.

Round copper speakers were tucked away in the corners of the room amongst a fine white crown molding. From circular musical players, a powerful shriek blasted nearly deafening in pitch. In the wake of the blaring sound came a song of cheerful bouncing jazz music -- consisting of a trumpet and drums playing away at a quick tempo accompanied by the merry notes of a piano.

Slowly removing her hooves from atop her head, Big Lot blinked at the dusty tile floor reflect the bright lights above on their lustrous surfaces. "The... The lights?"

Turning his sights to the lights above him, Neo lowered his weapon. "Yeah... The lights..."

Adam's eyes grew wide looking upward at the fixtures lowly hum overhead, while a wide grin spread across his face. "There's power!"

Briskly trotting to his brother, Adam poked Neo in the shoulder. "There's actual power here!"

Smiling, Neo nodded at the lights above. "I can’t believe it... Of all the places..."

Neo's eyes trailed back to the statue. At its base the red carpet parted to the both sides. The two other opposing lengths of crimson rug curved behind two walk spaces at both ends of the wall to the back of the golden statue.

Now clearly visible in the new light were words, inscribed into the flat center of the plinth. The bold text said:

"There is no greater land, than the land of Iron."
- President Ironhoof, our Province's Founder

Out of the left walk space beside the statue came Vladimir, trotting easily to the glimmering work of art. Wester followed behind him, scanning the newly illuminated space.

Laying a hoof to the smooth cold surface of the statue's base, Vladimir chuckled brushing away the thick layer of dust powdering the gold. "It's a fine piece of art, no?"

Lucy scoffed at Vladimir, jerking her head to the two golden ponies, "How much you think it cost to build something like that?"

Vladimir sighed, gazing into his reflecting on the statue's surface. "Too much, m'lady. Too much..."

Shifting his somber purple eyes at the rest of the group he spun around to the left walkway, leading into the next room. "But there's plenty more to see. The builders of this magnificent place left behind a whole assortment of things."

Waving a beckoning hoof, Vladimir walked around the edge of the wall to the next area of the exhibit. Behind him the others followed, entering the next section of the full exhibit.

A long room span before them, rows of small golden-lined lights hung from the cracking ceiling. Square pillars decorated with carvings of stallions and mare holding up marble spheres of the world supported the roof overhead. The same red carpets, stained by grey smudges of dust drew whomever walked upon it to the luxurious chamber sitting beside the other parallel.

At the doorway leading into the area a ticket booth built into the wall sat dim. Behind the cracking fogged glass was a sign pinned to the center stating that it was closed. Guarding the opening into the next room four turnstiles -- two above each length of carpet -- blocked the way in.

Placing his hooves on the top of the center baffle gate, Vladimir leaped over it. The other members of the group following him performed the same action of bounding over the gates.

Along the left side of the room were three doors. The furthest one was colored in green chipping paint, labeled: MAINTENANCE

The middle door bolstered a red hue, specked by the orange tint of rust creeping over its vibrant color. This door was marked as: EMPLOYEES ONLY

The closest door was like the last in nearly every fashion. In both color, and title.

Located at the farthest end of the room was a vast open doorway. Inside were three tiny silver shell-shaped buggies sporting small lights dimly ignited on their fronts. More turnstiles blocked off the entrance to the carts -- leading into a hallway not visible from the ticket booth.

Adam gawked at the attention to the detail engraved on the pillars. Noting particularly the determined narrowed eyes of those supporting the marble globes with their forelegs. His eyes wandered up the stone pillar until a small lavishly decorated chandelier came to view.

Adam stared at the lights. “How did you get the power on?”

Vladimir paused in the middle of the room, facing Adam. “There’s an emergency generator in the maintenance room. Something truly remarkable -- I’m surprised it still works after all these years.”

Keeping his sights set on the lights, Adam nodded. “They must work with an internal magical coil. Unlike normal generators, they can still power up even if they’ve been inactive for long periods of time.”

Shaking his head, Vladimir rose an eyebrow at Adam. “H-How did you-“

Looking to Vladimir, Adam responded with a smile, “Our stable has generators that work in the same way.”

“Oh,” Vladimir murmured, “I see.”

Neo came to the first Employees only door. Focusing on the pearly polished knob it gradually turned, before the door drifted open with a faint creak.

Pushing the door aside a frigid breeze whisked by him, sending a shivering jolt down through his entire body. The interior within was dark as thick motes of grey dust floated about in the cold air. A single desk made up the furniture of the Employee workspace. Alongside a few knocked over filing cabinets, dented and with each drawer thrown open.

Papers and files littered the floor, as a green desk lamp knocked over on the desktop flickered sporadically. A sparking buzz accompanied the inconsistent flashing light. Sticking his head through the doorway, Neo stepped inside the office. Posters of a green mare holding a bat firmly in her hooves, smacked a blue alicorn upon the head. In the crimson background of the poster were the words:

”Smack some sense into Luna! Sign the ledger for Provincial Sovereignty today!”

The further Neo advanced into the room, the more thick the air became. A pungent sour odor lingered within the entire area. Lifting a hoof to his nose, Neo stumbled back, crinkling the bridge of his snout. Bumping his flanks into the wall next to the door, something firm poked him on the haunch.

Peering over his shoulder, Neo jumped back at the sight of a pony’s skeleton laying against the wall behind him. His heart racing, and breathing deep he locked eyes with the deceased individual. All of the flesh had rotted away from the bones, leaving merely a few thin strands of hair draping over the hollow pitted eye sockets of the skull.

In the bright beaming light pouring through the opened doorway, a brass name tag was pinned to the lapel of a decaying blue pin-striped suit sagging off of the pony’s bones. Torn at the seams, and powered in a thin layer of dust collecting on the suit’s surface, Neo leaned closer to the body.

Squinting his eyes at the label attached to the corpse the name was hidden under a thick coat of dust. Around the more polished, sharp edges of the tag glistened in the entering illumination -- causing the corners to sparkle as Neo drew closer.

Using the end of his sleeve, Neo wiped away the grime revealing the small black letters engraved beneath:

“Gov. Stormfury”, the tag read.

Out of the corner of his vision, Neo saw the corner of a black square object protrude from her side. Shifting his attention to the new item, he gently pushed Stormfury’s body aside. Tucked away neatly underneath the remains was a holotape. Carefully protected by the dead pony atop it, the recorder had little dust collecting on its top.

Nudging it out onto a more open space on the floor, Neo pressed the play button -- in hopes that power was still surging through it. The device remain quiet, for a moment, but after a few seconds a click rang from the machine as the recording played.

There was an instance, where the audio was merely the sound of faded clicks, and clangs. Then, a mare’s voice picked up, deep and rich with authority dripping from her tone.

“I told you to get a pegasus statue for the entrance of the ride! Yes, the gold one! What other statute would I… Yeah… Uh-huh… What!? One what for it?! But you gave me a discount on the other two! So what if it’s not included with the deal -- make it included!”

A loud slam boomed through the recorders speakers, followed by the dim ring of a telephone clashing forcefully against the wooden surface, possibly the desk’s.

“Damn contractors,” she continued, “apparently they don’t understand we’re opening this museum in two weeks. The whole of the province will be waiting! At least I caught most of that on… Ah, buck me...”

The recording ended, and another promptly starts in its place.

“I just got done filming for the exhibit today. Just about everything is in place. Some of the animatronics, if I’ve been told correctly, are still not functioning properly. This presents an issue, one I don’t need when I have hundreds of protesters in Ironhoof breathing down my neck about seceding from Equestria. Every other message I file in to the ministries gets eaten up by the million other requests or notices they receive. I suppose it just goes to show you how much they care about our province. Not like they even cared to begin with for that matter...”

As the last one had ended, a new recording played in its stead.

“A week now until opening,” Stormfury let out a contemptuous giggle, “those stupid mares running the ministries. I can smell a storm coming -- one that will test us all into doing things we never thought we’d do. The ministries would have us believe it’ll be okay, that it will merely ‘blow on by’ or ‘be tomorrow's news’. They’re afraid, I can see it in their eyes when addressing the nation. They’re afraid they can’t handle the unknown. But we can, and we will. And their worst mistake will be that they never took any of the messages I sent seriously.”

A new recording began no sooner than the last had finished.

“The work I’ve done to keep all this under their ministries noses. Sure, I’ve had give out some money under the table. Sure, I had to lie to get this far without exposing the project’s we’re developing. ‘Where did all that steel you ordered go?’ they ask and, ‘What happened to those scientists you hired to study the crops in the south? Where did they disappear to?’ I kept quiet, not alluring to the fact we’re preparing for the worst. For all they know, I’m building a new line of luxury cruise liners for the wealthy and privileged. O’ what little they know...”

A few beeps pinged through the speakers, before one more log followed. Stormfury’s voice was slow, and grimm -- slurred by a depression sigh tightly grasping to her tone.

“We did a demo-run of the ride with the local elementary school... Thirty foals, accompanied by their teachers, had the most cheerful expressions on their stout little faces. I don’t think I’ve ever seen children act with such mirth at getting on a ride... When they got off... well that was a different matter entirely. They’re joyous expressions were completely gone, like all the happiness bottled within was suddenly sapped from their little bodies. Even the teachers had an odd gloom hover about them. So, while I stood outside the exit I politely stopped a colt, and asked him, ‘What, if anything, did you learn?’ and he scratched his mane before sighing, ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I don’t know why we haven’t stopped those bad ponies yet.’ ‘What bad ponies,’ I asked. He said, ‘The Equestrians... Why haven’t we left them? What are we going to do to stop them from hurting all the good ponies?’ And I looked at him honestly, as his little yellow eyes staring at me... ‘Well,’ I answered, ‘I don’t know... I don’t know...’”

In the semi-last recording, indicated by a two faint beeps, a new sound punctured the standard relaxed mood of the previous logs. Clamorously muffled in the background was the sounds of hooves stomping heavily, whilst voices, tinged with panic shout and scream.

Amongst the chaotic symphony of pandemonium is Stormfury’s voice, somber in tone:

“My name is Governor Stormfury of the Ironhoof province. This... I suppose is the end... If you’re listening to this you are a member of the Great Plan -- at this time I’m sure you don’t know what it is, as it won’t be mentioned in Stable 142’s curriculum. Likewise, I’m sure you can surmise that I am dead. Just know that what we leave behind is the ashes of the old world. Cascaded in fire, and dark magical taint. Right now, Ironhoof city has just been hit by a balefire bomb. I know not of how many survived, or of what will be the next place the Zebra’s attack.

Goddesses be damn, we never wanted this! We fueled their war effort, we sent our own into the fury of war, just to end up being dragged down under the fires of apocalypse with them. I will be the last of our proud land to lead it from the old world -- but our province will live on. It will rise beyond the constraints of Equestria! Beyond those damn goddesses and their raging stupidity!”

Static interrupted the next few segments of the recording.

Out of the cluttered blare of static interruption, the sound of the door closing clattering through her office at the attraction. And, with a sigh Stormfury said, “I have little to regret in this world. All is prepared… Those who needed to are in their appropriate stables, and the bunkers are filled with civilians. The Zebras think they’ve destroyed us -- that they’ve destroyed Equestria. No, they just finished the job we needed to do so, so long ago…”

At the moment the recording cut, the last beep clicked, signalling the final recording. The crackling of audio broke up a gasping wheeze. The last message Stormfury left was the blood-chilling choking of her rasping, tormented voice bellowing the words:
“We weren’t ready... We weren’t ready... We weren’t ready...”

The message repeated in a constant loop.

The continuous shrill of scratching static came next as the audio abruptly died. Neo felt cold. His stomach plunked itself far below leaving a hollow space inside his gut.

Stormfury’s voice was not unknown to him. In flashes, words from Silvermane Tower of the speech delivered in the elevator, and the mare in stable 73 whispered to him. Whatever Equestria had done to her, the province, or the ponies living here caused them to feel a burning, vengeful contempt was still cloaked in mystery.

Standing still, Neo held his eyes on the bones of Stormfury. He coughed at the dusty air tickling his lungs -- before laying a hoof on the holotape’s power button.

Drawing a cord from his saddle bags, Neo downloaded everything on the recording holotape. Once completed, he rose his head.

A long, lanky shadow stretched across the floor, beaming onto the back wall of the office. Neo’s eyes trailed the dark figure -- only to find that Adam was standing in the doorway.

Knocking on the doorframe, Adam asked, “Hey, what did you find in here? I heard some mare talking.”

Neo jerked his head to the skeletal corpse of Governor Stormfury. “I found her audio diary.”

“An audio diary belonging to whom?” Adam wondered, stepping into the room.

Taking a place at his brother’s side Adam looked at the dead mare propped up against the wall. “Who was she?”

“It’s the same mare we saw in that video in stable 73,” Neo answered, “and she’s the same mare we’ve been hearing all over the province.”

Noting the glimmering name tag titling slightly on Stormfury’s lapel, Adam’s eyes grew wide. “She’s the Governor?”

Neo nodded silently.

“Well,” Adam stammered, “was…”

Adam glanced at Neo, “What was in her diary?”

Shrugging, Neo replied, “It’s about this place… She talked about the ministries, and projects relating to the exhibit.”

Adam whinnied lowly, rolling his eyes at his brother, “Well, the banner outside did say, provincial pride.”

“Seriously,” Neo laughed, “but, she mentioned something else… Something I haven’t heard about before.”

“Like what?” Adam responded, arching an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, Adam. She said something about a great plan.”

Adam blinked. “A great plan? Like what sort of plan?”

Neo sighed, “I can’t say.”

Ally’s voice boomed from the other room outside, reverberating off of the walls of the officer. “Guys! C'mon’ you need to see this!”

The two brothers quietly looked at one another, before exiting the Stormfury’s museum office. Outside of the doorway they saw Vladimir and the others standing by the silver buggies behind the turnstiles. Ally was waving at them, grinning while Lucy hopped in a buggy.

“We’re getting on the ride!” Ally cheered. “C’mon!”

Dashing toward the turnstiles, Neo and his brother leapt over the gateways where a red carpet ran alongside the neat line of polished sterling carts. Each buggy had four soft purple seats positioned in two rows, of two chairs.

Big Lot, Ally, and Lucy sat in the seats of the first buggy. Leisurely resting their backs against the luxurious, well-crafted cushions. Wester gingerly made his way onto the ride, holding out both hooves on the edge of the cart as he let himself in.

Perched in her seat, Big Lot stiffly leered at the dark mouth leading into the ride. She did not tremble, nor shudder at the cloaking darkness ahead. All she could do was sit perfectly still, and await the inevitable.

Vladimir stood at a control panel decorated in various flashing buttons, and lights at the end of the line of buggies. Pressing a few of the controlling switches he frowned, glaring at the ride’s controls.

Scratching his mane, Vladimir grunted, “Damn this contraption! I just need to remember how I did this the first time…”

Neo slowly approached the second buggy in the line -- poking its soft cushioned seat inside. Reeling himself back, he grimaced at the ride, swiftly turning his attention to his brother.

“Is it still working? More importantly, is is safe to ride in?”

Adam shrugged, “I don’t know, is it Ranger?”

Without removing his glaring focus off of the control panel, Vladimir waved a hoof at Adam nodding. “Of course, of course. I’ve been on it once before a long, long time ago.”

Neo pushed himself away from the cart, shaking his head vigorously. “I don’t trust this thing! How long has it been since it’s been used?”

The top of Big Lot’s forehead peered over the top of her seat’s headrest. Drooping her eyebrows she squinted both eyes at Neo. “Mr. Cuddlepants, are you scared of rides?”

Snapping his sights to her, Neo scoffed, “No. I’m not scared of some foal’s ride!”

She smirked at him. “You’re afraid of it -- aren’t you?”

“I’m not scared of it!” Neo retorted.

“What are you waiting for then, Mr. Cuddlepants? It’s not going to kill you.”

Stomping a hoof against the carpet, Neo spat, “And who you talking all bold like that? Aren’t you the one who was scared of the dark?”

Big Lot’s ears flattened, whilst her smirk faded entirely. “Just get on the ride you wimp... I’m having to face my fears...”

She fell back into her seat, whilst a shivering flutter locked her limbs. “I still have to sit through... the dark...”

Nudging his brother in the shoulder, Adam sauntered to the first row of the second buggy. “Come on brother, we should be fine!”

Neo’s blood went froze, as a knot twisted deeply in his stomach. “Ranger… Does this thing go on loops?”

Perplexed by Neo’s statement, Vladimir looked to him holding both eyebrows raised. “No... Not at all. If my memory serves me well, it’s quite relaxing.”

Neo gulped hard. “I’m going to regret this…”

Lightly patting the seat next to him, Adam faced his brother with a tender smile.

Expelling all of the air gathered within his lungs, Neo got into the buggy, tightening his diaphragm as hard as he could. Stiffly sitting upright in the soft cushion, Adam rubbed his brother’s back, chuckling, “You need to try and enjoy yourself some more.”

Out of the mouth of the tunnel a metallic clang vibrated the air, ringing out through the entire room. Rushing from the control panel to the second buggy Vladimir jumped into the back row, as the first cart calmly drifted forward into the shadows.

Like a dense blanket of pitch darkness, it consumed the first gleaming buggy. Big Lot screamed as the void engulfed them entirely. The filly’s shriek of terror stiffened Neo’s already constricting posture. Clutching what breath made its way into his lungs, he grit his teeth together shutting his eyes.

Vladimir poked his head between the two brother’s, grinning. “If she doesn’t like the dark, then this definitely isn’t the ride for her.”

Neo kept quiet, while Adam answered for the both of them, “She’ll be fine. I’m more fearful of what might become of my brother.”

Nodding at Neo, Vladimir remarked, “Indeed, I see what you mean. However, I believe once he decides to open his eyes he’ll notice this isn’t as bad as he thinks.”

Their buggy shook slightly, causing Neo to force a little air from his lungs out through his teeth as he toughened the firmness of his pose. Adam began rubbing his brother’s back again while the buggy drifted forward into the depths of the ride.

“Well,” Adam countered, “that’s if he decides to open them first.”

The heavy steady beating of Thatch’s hooves echoed through a long empty tunnel. Light bulbs suspended from thin wires dangled from the high ceiling, swaying as a heated draft whisked by his head. He winced at the breeze, however letting it not hinder the pace he walked at.

The groaning veins of the Darkmines elaborate piping system moaned overhead. Instilling the only sound to accompany his hoofsteps in the corridor. Thatch felt a wetness develop on the side of his face, just underneath his ear. At that instant, he assumed it was just the heat given off of the pipes. Though, the sweat collected more, building into thick droplets.

Trickling down his cheek a massive drop traveled, then over the clammy fur of his neck. While gliding across him, his heart rate rose to a brisk, and powerful rhythm.

Vladimir, he thought, why did I let him go… Our emperor, alone in that world… Why did he have to leave me of all ponies to watch over this Celestia-forsaken place?

Taking in a deep lung full of air, he instantly exhaled through his nose. Amongst the hot dense atmosphere of the mine a distant voice penetrated sharply. Thatch’s ear twitched slightly at the sound, causing him to pause.

The voice came at him from his back, while the thundering rumble of hooves pounding the rocky floor erupted, bouncing off of the cavernous walls. Turning toward the direction of the voice he saw sprinting to him two ponies. Both were stallions, one sporting the standard Legion barding, whilst the other was dressed far less formally.

As the two came closer, he heard the cry of the soldier echo out, “Sir! Wait! Please!”

Stiffening his back, Thatch held his head high awaiting the two approaching ponies. The pony accompanying the soldier was dressed in assorted leather pieces of armor sewn together by thick black thread.

A few of the dark green Legion armor pieces were present. Parts, such as the breast plate. It, unlike his fellow soldier’s uniform, bore more deep scratches, exposing the shaded coloring of iron beneath.

The strangest feature that Thatch noted was the stallion’s eyepatch. Colored entirely in bright yellow, a cheerful little black smile was painted onto it, along with two dainty eyes of the same color.

Hanging loosely over the vibrant eyepatch was his greasy sloven mane. Slowing their speed, the two stopped in front of Thatch, promptly saluting him in his presence.

“Captain Thatch, sir!” The soldier’s voice was muffled under his gas-mask.

Thatch placidly answered the soldier, “Yes, lieutenant?”

Dropping his hoof to the ground, the soldier enunciated every word he said, “Sir! We found this one and his men outside the city, sir! He wanted to see the pony in charge, sir!”

Blinking, twice Thatch remarked, “Right, and who is this?”

Scanning the lanky frame of the pony beside the soldier, Thatch held a contorted frown at the sight of the stallion, “Interesting character.”

Holding his salute, the stallion by the soldier announced, “Capt’n Scooter, sir!”

Thatch rose an eyebrow, “A Captain?”

“Yes sir.” Scooter replied.

Waving a hoof at him, Thatch added, “You don’t need to salute me.”

“Sorry sir,” Scooter said lowering his hoof, “force of habit.”

Thatch returned to his stiff posture, “Well? What is it you need to tell me that is so important?”

“Well, ah brought men from t’ border. Plenty of fine, guys.”

Thatch smiled widely, “Some good news at last! I assume you brought the slaves too?”

Shifting his head to one side, Scooter scratched his ragged mane, “Slaves, sir?”

“Yes, the slaves we requested for the mine.” Thatch included. “You brought them, right?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Scooter’s eyes trailed off to the side. “Uh… Well… Ah don’t know nothin’ ‘bout that, sir.”

Thatch’s eyes popped out, as he stared openly at Scooter. “What?”

“Should ah ‘ave known ‘bout that, sir?” Scooter asked.

The veins in Thatch’s brow bulged with searing blood, “Of course, we nee-“

Sighing, Thatch coughed recovering his figure. “Nevermind… I’ll file a report on the matter later.”

Scooter took a step toward Thatch, his words dripping with sincerity, “But sir, ah’m not ‘ere t’ help with t’ mines. Ah was lookin’ fer somepony... Could ya please tell me if ya seen some ponies come by her? A big freelancer fellah, an’ a white one with a fancy mech.”

Thatch’s mouth went agape, as his eyes darted back and forth at the statement, “What? Why?”

“Please, sir.” Scooter implored. “There were a few mares too. A brown one, and a guardian workin’ for t’ Coalition.”

Pausing his frantic behavior, Thatch added, “To answer your question, Captain -- I did see a few individuals that fit that description. However, I don’t remember if there was a Coalition guardian.”

Launching himself at Thatch, Scooter seized him by the collar of his uniform nearly pressing his snout to Thatch’s. “Where did they go?! Was a filly with them?!”

Shoving Scooter away from him, Thatch reeled himself back, holding a disgusted grimace. “No! I don’t know where they went, nor where they’re going! And there wasn’t a filly with them!”

Scooter’s expression went cold, as he stared blankly at Thatch gradually backing himself. Vigorously shaking his head, Scooter muttered, “H-He did it… Ah can’t believe it…”

Thatch popped an eyebrow up. “Who? What? Speak plainly soldier!”

“Big Lot!” Scooter exclaimed. “She’s gone! She’s been taken!”

A tension wound up in the muscles under Thatch’s nape released. Feeling a lofty bouncing in his gut he chuckled, “Is that all? Really?”

Scooter stood stiff, a look of hollowed appall on his thin face. “Yer not worried?”

Thatch continued his guffaw, “Of course not! She is of no use to us anymore -- not since our emperor replaced her with…”

Pausing, Thatch rubbed the hairs of his chin, “Covert, or something or other. One of those officers from the massacre of Arkcannon. Didn’t you know about that? Weren’t you from the border?”

“But,” Scooter uttered under his breath, “ah thought she was important to y’all…”

Whinnying, Thatch countered, “Big Lot was important. I remember the order Vladimir sent to the rest of the Legion. He stated that he wasn’t doing an adequate job, that he was too full of himself to rule over the border.”

A searing fury, boiling in Scooter’s heart rose up, flushing his face with a great burning intensity. Gnashing his teeth, he pawed the coarse mine floor glaring at the snide Legion captain before him.

“He’s a she! An’ she is mah chief, an’ a great an’ leader! She is a better ruler than any of ya wish ya could be! An’ ah’ll find her if it’s t’ last thing ah do! Ah swear it! Ah swear it!”

Every ounce of the airy laughter faded from Thatch. In its stead, a dark looming somber atmosphere charged hot air around him as he narrowed his eyes at the would-be captain.

“Oh, captain you’re not going anywhere, by any means.” Thatch quipped. “In fact, your men and you will be staying here for the time being.”

Scooter was seething, turning rest of his face to a deep rich crimson color, “What? No! Ah won’t!”

“Oh, but you will!” Thatch sneered. “You didn’t bring us the slaves we need, and ever since those ponies you mentioned came through here I’ve been up to my neck in shit! One problem comes after the other, and we need the additional troops!”

Marching up to Scooter, Thatch pressed the bridge of his nose against Scooter’s brow, forcing him to crouch.

Scooter was silent at the imposing authority of the Darkmine’s captain towering over him. Jerking himself from Thatch’s threatening stare, Scooter turned his back to him.

“Ah’m goin’,” Scooter remarked glancing over his shoulder, “and ya can’t stop me neither.”

Thatch tightened his glare, smirking. “Private, would you be so kind as to immobilize the captain?”

The soldier standing beside Scooter lunged out, wrapping his forelegs around Scooter’s boney neck. Whipping back and forth whilst lashing out his hind legs, Scooter bucked back in fierce retaliation.

With eyes held wide open, Scooter felt the grip of the soldier constrict his neck. As his attacker’s hold grew harder, the air he breathed became thinner. Gasping, Scooter’s movements diminished to a groggy pace. Each swing was slow, so too were his kicks as the force he exerted grew to a halt.

A tingling sensation spread throughout Scooter’s body, followed by his senses failing. The world around him became distorted by a dark shadow enclosing the tunnel walls. Spinning around he stumbled once he drew his last breath before tripping over his footing, and collapsing to the ground.

He saw the entire world become black. Those few voices, and words registering in his mind became faint. The feeling of his cheek, pressing on the damp rocky mine floor vanished. Everything was gone.

The soldier released Scooter, rising up and backing away from him. Standing over the unconscious pony before him, Thatch shook his head frowning. “Captain, you could have made things so much more easier for yourself…”

Gently patting Scooter’s loose greasy mane, Thatch snickered, “However, I can’t have you going around doing as you please. Not with Iron Hammer one gem short of being completed.”

The soldier, taking hold of Scooter’s limp foreleg, slung it over his shoulder. “What would you like me to do with him, sir?”

Thatch waved a dismissing hoof at the Legion soldier. “Throw him in the stocks. Hopefully a day or two in there will wipe away that whole Big Lot nonsense out of his head.”

Providing Thatch with a slight bow of his helmet, the soldier answered in a dignified fashion, “It shall be done.”

Before the soldier had turned to face the end of the hallway he had come from, Thatch interjected swiftly, “Wait… And do inform his men of their current arrangement here. As I mentioned before, we are in need of more soldiers for the mine.”

“Yes, sir.” The soldier nodded, lumbering off in the other direction, Scooter’s hooves dragging on the ground.

At the peak of his brow, Thatch felt the warmth of a sore headache coming on. Snorting the fuming air, heating inside his lungs he returned to his course, and ambled onward to the end of the tunnel.

Calmly rubbing the side of his head in small quick gyrate motions, he coughed, “That’s all I needed. Another problem to deal with…”

Coming to the end of the corridor, a metal sliding door stood in front of him. Pressing the dim orange button on the steel doorframe, he watched the doors part. Sounding their characteristic swoosh, he crossed the threshold sighing as the headache began to throb.

The next empty room he entered was small, sporting a low ceiling, and three other doors, one to each wall.

In the corner, two Darkminers stood whispering to each other whilst Thatch passed them by. The two miners hissed, and scoffed lowly before suddenly growing silent. Instantly placing both their sickly glowing green eyes onto him, they held a steady stare.

Amongst the soreness now coursing through his head -- a chilling sensation bit at his spine, traveling all the way to his tail. He faced the two Darkminers, shuddering at the nipping eerie aura the two projected onto him.

Narrowing his eyes, Thatch growled, “What is it you want? Have I offended you?”

The miners looked to one another, briefly -- not long before returning to answer him. The miner to the right shook his head, chuckling heavily, as a wheeze clung to the words he spoke. “No! No! Legion Captain! No wrong! Yes. No wrong. No wrong. Yes.”

“Yes! Yes!” The left echoed. “No wrong.”

Contracting his eyes at the two, Thatch muttered, “As you were then…”

And, leaving behind the two Darkminers he walked off, shaking his head while the throbbing increased. “Damn them… Damn all of them…”

There was a deafening ringing blasting through a long dark corridor -- the constant trill of the buggy wheels clicking on the tracks. Both buggies ascended at a slightly elevate degree while the dark rings of the tunnel’s supports loomed over them. The brother’s sat idly in the soft cushions, Neo had loosened himself, as his brother lay a comforting hoof on his back.

Reaching the peak of the rising tracks, the buggy leveled itself -- holding its steady pace forward. A click tinging the air, followed by dark silhouette of a small screen rising from the front of the car.

A blinding white light flashed onto the screen, with the bold stylized letters:

Please Stand By
Our Province Thanks You!

Another image clicked onto the screen, this time a close moving shot of a colorless flag, waving in the gusty wind of a clear day. A symbol, nearly identical to the Legion’s, bore the flapping cloth. In the background of the visual loop sounding out in a boisterous, proud fashion, was an accompaniment of military drums, flutes, strings, and trumpets hailing the flag’s majesty.

A set of white words appeared below the flag:

And Now a Message Straight From The Desk of Our Governor!

A mare came on the screen, sitting in a finely crafted leather recliner. In the filter of black and white what colors made up her were a mystery. Though, apart from this, the picture presented to them was clear.

The mare wore a smart pin-stripe suit, fitted with a simple white rose tucked into a pocket just outsider the left lapel. Wearing her dark mane in a bun fastened at the top of her head by two crossed pins she faced the two brothers, smiling.

“Hello,” the mare started, “my name is Governor Stormfury. I’m so very glad you’ve come to the city’s newest attraction! By now you’ve known that the world is a mess. With promises of doom, and continued war, the future doesn’t look bright. But, under the care of our brave province you need to fear the rest of the world.”

Hopping down from her chair, she ambled off to side as the camera trailed her. Coming to an oak table, a series of thick hard-back books were slightly elevated, showcasing the cover of each tome upon the tabletop.

Resting a hoof to the wooden surface of the table, she chirped, “You’ve read about the brave battles our ancestors faced when settling here. Especially in textbooks, not unlike the ones you see here. However, you may have not be certain about its heroes, or what the future holds for our province.”

“Well,” she chuckled, “fret not, my little ponies. For today we will dive into what the future has in store for our fair land!”

Adam leaned over to his brother, whispering, “I’m pretty excited. I wonder what’s going to happen!”

Neo kept his own volume to a minimum. “I’m just hoping there aren’t any drops.”

The screen cut to black, and the mechanized sound of motors reeling the screen back down into the face of the buggy clattered aloud. Gradually the buggy came to a slow speed. Snapping on the flickering lights above an alcove buzzed to life. The car with the other half of their group was now visible as it too drifted at the same sluggish rate until they reached the center of the display within the wall.

Inside the alcove a few, rusty mechanical ponies lifted their hooves, pawing the ground, and laughing. The bolted joints of the robots let out a grinding, rusted squeal -- repeating the same loop of artificial animation. A moment later, the rest of the scene came to life.

The fake ponies were hitched to station wagons, loaded to the top with supplies bundled together by rope. A sun and green landscape painted on the three inner walls made up the landscape, whilst plywood clouds hung by thin wires against the blue sky littered with cracks.

Stormfury’s voice could be heard on the hidden overhead speakers:

“It is known by all -- that our land was settled like any other by ponykind. However, not only did our founders find paradise beyond the great desert to the south, they found a place they could call home!”

Scooting a little further up the track, the buggies came to another display. This time: of ponies hammering away at the wooden frame of a house. More homes and buildings dotted the landscape behind the workers. One of the grinning automatons fizzed thunderously, erupting blue shimmering sparks out of its neck.

Again, the lights overhead flickered on the machine performers as Stormfury boomed:

“Through storm, and rain, and weary hoof! Our founders fought the elements, to patch the leaky roof! Through the trials of our ancestors battling the cruel weather away from the civilized country of central Equestria was our sense of determination born. And, once homes were built, and towns followed. Making life in our fair land shine brighter than ever before!”

In an instant the lights dimmed, signaling for the buggies to move on. Now an alcove in the left wall bathed brightly in the powerful columns of light above. A pivot below the car spun the spectators to the left, allowing them to face the exhibit directly.

A single greying blue earth pony stood behind a long marble counter. Shelves lined the walls, each one stocked with blank title-less books, and empty beakers. Staring down at a lump of grey rock speckled in black glinting ore, the mechanical stallion gawked through the lens of a eyeglass held by a metal frame over the mineral sample.

Stormfury once more narrated the scene in front of the group:

“My ancestor, Grimmrock, discovered dark iron -- a curious mineral found in an abundance throughout the land. It was lighter than conventional iron, and easier to smelt, as well as holding a greater firmness than its less-complex metal sibling. However, the mineral deposits were found only in the deeper mines, making the task of removing the abundant ore difficult and dangerous. Nonetheless, once the word traveled to Equestria, bits of the resource were shipped to dozens of manufacturers!”

The lights were killed, and the buggies pivoted the riders back to facing forward. Clicking along, the cars slowed their pace at as the ceiling above illuminated with dim glowing dots. Twinkling in foam carved to resemble the walls of a cave, the lights manifested the entire passageway.

Stormfury’s bodiless voice promptly proclaimed, “In the mines miners found, a new gem in the rocky ground! Hacking, and shoveling away, to unearth the new find, the score of the day! It was not long after that a new mysterious element had been found in our land. Sun Gems, a rare mineral holding strange otherworldly properties. For a time, caves such as the one you are in, were a must see sight for travelers of every walk of life!”

At the end of the glittering tunnel, the shimmering blips faded entirely. The overhead lights burst on revealing a series of colorful murals decorating the walls and ceiling. From the start of the new corridor, the warm sunny image of ponies living peacefully laughing with one another in the comfort of the sun’s rays adorned the walls.

The further the buggies progressed, a more grim transition occurred. On the loudspeakers, the sound of dozens of ponies faintly chanting in unison a cry of fury charged the speakers.

With every advancing inch it rose in volume.

The kind ponies gave way to a huddle mass of ponies in the middle of a city street. Looks of narrowed eyes, gritting teeth, and bloodshot veins of pure hot blood coursing through their gaze now came into view. A sea of white signs hovered above the heads of the angry rioters.

Above the tops of the mural’s skyscrapers a crimson sky, churning with plumes of towering black smoke arising from the tops of the buildings painted the scene. On the multitude of picket signs held aloft over them, were vile, grotesque pictures of luna being beaten by a club.

Stormfury’s voice surpassed the vexatious uproar of yells, and shouts. “But happiness, and prosperity aren’t eternal. Our province, indulged in our land’s wealth, fell into a great economical depression. Without money, ponies starved, jobs were lost, and those Griffons and Zebras who had come into our country to find work were left penniless. Needing our land’s resources, Equestria bought us. Forcing us to accept their customs, their culture, and their way of thinking.”

While the carts carrying the ponies came to the end of the horrific mural, Stormfury growled, “And, they had the audacity to force us into the war, and as Zebras destroyed Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, they ripped our sons, and our daughters from our hooves, and threw them onto the sword of their own conflict.”

“Supplying metal, and gems, our province was forced to accept the new ministries. We were forced to remove those Zebras who had tried a live in our province. Or worse…”

When the buggies had come to the end of the hall, they stopped, jerking those seated forward. Darkness enveloped the surrounding area -- while a chilling hush fell over the audio of Stormfury. Underneath the cushions, the brothers felt the pivot of the car twist, sending out a rusty coarse squeal as it turned them to the right.

Now facing the right side of a dark room, a spotlight flashed into a long alcove. Across the newly visible scene metal pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns dressed in the green camouflage attire of the old-equestrian military were armed with battle saddles. Tiny poles projecting from the unicorn’s upper chest, held their rifles giving the illusion that the guns levitated.

A snowy landscape painted the background, while three wooden loading train cars were shown open. Standing in a single file line, Zebras wearing nothing in the arctic condition were depicted with their young. The foals stared up at their elders, blue tears painted streaking their striped cheeks.

At the far end, a green earth pony stallion had one male Zebra pulled away from the line -- a baton strapped to the soldier’s foreleg, raised high over his head. The Zebra lay on his back, purple bruises embellishing his white coat, accompanied by red bleeding lacerations. The joint of the Equestrian officer slowly lifted up, and down on the victim -- repeating the same brutal action continuously.

Stormfury’s voice teemed with hollowed sadness: “They took them in droves, loaded them on train cars, beating, and scaring hundreds for life. Some were taken aside, and blinded by chemicals as they were accused of being spies, or saboteurs.”

“They were not alone.” Stormfury’s voice said.

The buggies spun the riders around to the opposing wall, where another display of equal size was. A faded grey light shown down on a bleak empty hilly landscape. A fog machine in the corner of the area ejected thick rolling mist creeping along the ground. On the walls, tombstones dotted the bare hills, as a few metal ponies -- dressed entirely in formal black attire -- stood over a single, freshly dug grave.

Words had not yet been etched into the gravestone, though the family of seven ponies stood around it, with closed eyes and lowered heads.

“Our families died for their war. For what we were doing to them. Power corrupts even the kindest of ponies.” Stormfury remarked. “And there was little our voices did, as it graced the ears of tyrants hundreds of miles away, who payed no mind to our desperate pleas.”

All of the lights turned off, and the buggies again fell back to their front-facing direction. Adam felt a hollow pit sink at the bottom of his stomach, and acting accordingly he put a hoof to the hurting spot of his gut.

Adam gagged slightly, as the emptiness started to stir inside. “I think I’m going to be sick…”

Neo wrapped a hoof around his brother’s shoulder, gently rubbing Adam’s upper foreleg. Looking over his shoulder at Vladimir in the back row of their buggy, Neo demanded, “Ranger, when is this over? I’ve had enough of this.”

Vladimir kept a solid posture, “Not too long now.”

Suddenly, the carts braked in the center of a dark room. Neo’s eyes darted through the darkness before returning to Vladimir. “Why did we stop? Is it busted?”

“Shhh,” Vladimir hushed him, “watch and listen my dear boy.”

A single light cast its rays onto both buggies, as the thundering voice of Stormfury tolled: “Out of our bleakest days of the Great War, one would imagine that the worst had past us. There could be nothing else that would surpass the horror of brutal bloodshed. But then… War… War changed…”

The column of light shut off, and the buggies turned directing their view to the right. A projector shinned the image of a vast grassy plain, unstirred by civilization. Then, a great black colossal mushroom of smoke manifested in the center of the field. Fans above the border of the moving image blasted a gust of air down onto the riders, while a trembling rumble, distant at first, roared.

Growing quickly in volume, a booming eruption burst forth from the loudspeakers. A glowing green aura haloed the thin waist of the cloud, as a wave of tainted fire scorched the land around it.

Stormfury’s voice grieved, “Our greatest fears were realized. The Balefire bomb. And it was not long after that the enemies Equestria fought gained weapons much like this.”

The projector’s image dimmed, and the fans ceased their gusting. The buggies twisted back to the forward direction of the tracks, scooting along to the final section of the ride.

“It is inevitable…” Stormfury whispered in the darkness. “Everything will burn on the account of their war…”

Her voice whisked off of the walls, bouncing and reverberating in small echoes in all directions. “I ask you, citizen, what will become of our future? Are we doomed to suffer this fate? Are we destined to bath in the flames of tainted fire?”

The attraction stopped. Both buggies ended their rhythmic clattering. In the void of a cold room, the brothers waited.

“My answer,” Stormfury’s voice muttered in the dark, “is no.”

The tone of her ghostly hushes grew louder in volume, imbued with stern commanding power. “For we have a plan, my friends. A great plan, that shall carry us into a brighter, more peaceful age.”

A single beacon of light from a stage light above the ceiling beamed onto a tall, mural painting made of sharp faceted shapes in the left-hand corner of the room. At the bottom silver domes stood atop grey hills, while above two gears side by side rained golden rays onto the world below.

Adam rose out of his seat, gaping at the numbers on the cogs. Neo did the same, as the artwork further exposed itself.

On the left gear, a yellow 142 was painted in the middle. While on the other, a 43 marked its grey center.

Stormfury’s voiced boomed, “Civilians, like yourself, shall seek comfort in the bunkers, forged with the dark iron of our homeland. There, you need not fear the war until the world has ended. This very attraction you are in, will survive the war, and it too will tell you the same tale.”

“And,” Stormfury added, “stable 142 shall provide us with teachers, and educated civilians who have supplies to comfort those in the bunkers. Using the sun gems in their underground bio-gardens there will be plenty of food for all. At least, for a time…”

Another bright pillar radiating from a stage light overhead ripped back the darkness on the right-hand corner of the room. A mural, like the one beside it, towered high up painted with the same geometrical shapes.

At the lowest region of the painting, ponies in lab coats were in a steel room surround by green test-tubes. Holding beakers filled with red liquid up to the ceiling, the top of the stable faded out as a golden orb hovered above. In the circle of bright yellow, the dark silhouette of an alicorn puffed out its chest.

“But the land will need a new leader, as it is assured that the goddesses will surely perish in the chaos. Where will we find such a leader?”

Stormfury chuckled, “Why through the research of our province’s best, we’ll craft a new one! Someone smart, kind, loyal, generous, cheerful, honest, and surely powerful in the art of magic. This special individual will become the province’s guide to the greater tomorrow in the bleak new world.”

A loud snap sounded through the room, as another light shined onto another mural in the right-hand corner on the other side. This work of art was identical in shape, and style to the others before it. On its canvas a faceted gemstone, golden in color, hovered above the vibrant forested land. A white line divided the bottom of the picture into two halves.

The left half -- a barren landscape, grey and littered with bones. The next -- hills covered in lush, vibrant greenery. “Through the use of the sun gems we can grow food under the thick layer of rock provided by the mountains. Soon, stable 142 will no longer need to support the province on its own.”

Stormfury quickly interjected, “But, the end does not mean that everyone is dead. No, there will be survivors. What was once civilized folk will be turned into raging monsters of death, and hate. How will be protect ourselves against them?”

A final beam cast onto a fourth mural. Located on the left wall, along side the previous picture, at the bottom left-hand corner.

The picture showed three Predators, sitting on their metal plated haunches raising their cat-like heads high. Streams of red, and yellow shown out behind them, presenting them in a glorious display.

“To solve this problem, we will leave our protection in the loyal claws of the predators. Garnering the collective might of the greatest technology our engineers have to offer, we’ve made the deadliest, fastest, and most fierce combat robot in our province’s history!”

Stormfury boasted, “Fueled off of the blood of their prey, any efforts made by outside forces will only charge our warriors with more power!”

Adam shook his head slowly, hanging a foreleg outside the buggy. He stared openly at the depiction of the predators, scoffing, “This is insane… They had it all planned out… Why didn’t it work?”

Jumping at the touch of Neo’s hoof tapping his shoulder, Adam faced his brother who was pointing upward at the area in front of them.

Adam saw his brother stand deathly still, gaping at whatever he was pointing to. “What is it, brother?”

Adam’s eyes traveled to the direction Neo stared in, as he too felt himself grow still. His entire body went cold. Beads of cool sweat dapped his forehead, while a shudder came to his hooves.

The last stage light blasted its blinding illumination on one final mural. Hanging above the tunnel exiting the exhibit.

“How,” Stormfury asked, “will the land of our fair province be cleansed of the taint? How will we recover what was taken from us? The answer is simple…”

The mural was of a hulking black missile. A blood-red background encasing the area around it.

Stormfury exclaimed at the top of her voice, “Through project Iron Hammer!”

“This newly developed ICBM missile, will launch dozens of smaller warheads into a massive expanse of land. With the biological healing properties of the sun gems coursing through each projectile -- anything and anyone even minorly subjected to the taint will perish. And, in the wave of fire it leaves the land will be cleansed.”

“Should our world end,” Stormfury called, “we will survive! And reclaim the great sovereignty of our land!”

The bumpy rattle of the buggy wheels clanked aloud as the riders moved forward into another room. Sitting themselves back down, the two brothers looked at one another, leaving nothing but a somber silence between them.

A dozen lights flashed on a massive wall to the left of them -- revealing the largest painted work they had seen yet. Dozens of ponies stood on the top of a rock, pointing out to a green land of fields and forests. At the head of the crowd was the same darkened figure of the alicorn, a sphere of yellow light around him.

On the loudspeakers, the triumphant ring of trumpets sounded off. Not long after the blare of horns, a softer accompaniment of strings followed suit. Over the delicate notes the strings played, the voices of a dozen foals sung in unison:

Rise Ironhoof, rise!
We lift you up into the skies!
Rise for us, rise!
Hear our song’s reprise!

Rise for honor good and bold!
Cheering our mighty anthem loud!
Forever may you reign,
In the land we claim!
Ironhoof!
Rise! Rise! Rise!

Neither brother paid the work no mind. They just kept their vision low to the velvet carpet of the buggy floor. A deep sinking pitted itself in their hearts as the stark realization came to them: Iron Hammer was the Legion’s.

Vladimir’s ears erected, as the dim flickering light above a green service door on the right side of the tracks came into view. Petting the tops of both brother’s heads Vladimir rose out of his seat, waving a hoof to the buggy in front of them.

“This is our stop!” He shouted. “Get out, and head for the door!”

Drooping his head between Neo and Adam, Vladimir chortled, “That includes you two as well.”

Hopping out of the buggy, Vladimir landed on the hard cement ground feeling the joints in his legs pop loudly as he freely moved. Reaching a foreleg over his head, he yawned loosening his tendons.

Adam sluggishly moved to his side of the buggy, and leapt out. Neo did the same -- both watched from opposite sides of the small tracks the silver buggy roll away from them.

The other members of the party bounded from their buggy, collectively gathering on the right side of the tracks.

Walking to the door, Vladimir took lead of the group with a steady trot. “Come all! Come all!” He chanted. “Ride’s over!”

Big Lot bolted as quickly as her tiny legs would allow to the door. Standing under the flashing lightbulb over the corroding steel doorframe, she panted leaning a hoof against the door’s frigid surface.

“I’m done with that! Done! Done! Done!”

Vladimir came to the door, patting the curls of her mane. “Don’t fret, it’s all good and done with, little one.”

Shooting him an unamused frown, she glared at him. “Ha. Ha. You’re one to talk you tall… guy… You’re heart isn’t pounding a bigillion miles an hour!”

“If you say so, little one.” Vladimir laughed, opening the door.

“And don’t call me that!” Big Lot proclaimed.

The door opened to a long, narrow corridor with no doors on the walls and faint red lights illuminating the hall. A single door was at the end, as Vladimir crossed the doorway he motioned his head toward it.

“That’s the exit.”

Trotting down the passageway the group tailed behind Vladimir in a single-file line. Neo and Adam stayed at the back of the group, the emptiness sinking their hearts further and further.

Lucy put the backend of her fetlock against her brow, whilst a keen frosty temperature feverishly flushed her blood. “I can’t believe it... That’s what Iron Hammer does... To think, those bastard have in locked someplace in the Darkmine.”

Wester clamped a hoof over her shoulder. “How do you think we should act?”

Her entire liveliness was sapped completely, “Wester, we don’t even know how close they are to getting it done. Let alone, letting the Coalition know.”

As the conversation between Wester and Lucy grew more distant, Adam hurried himself to reach out to his brother. “Brother, Lucy’s right. With a weapon like Iron Hammer in the Legion’s control, who knows what will happen.”

His brother slowly continued onward. Adam stopped, and implored sternly, “What are we going to do?”

Neo stood in the middle of the threshold crossing into the hallway. Facing his brother, Neo replied with a heavy sigh, “I don’t know, Adam. If the Legion has a weapon like that, who knows how close they are at unleashing it.”

“Maybe, just maybe,” Neo answered, “if we find mom first -- she can help us fix all of this.”

Adam silently folded his ears atop his head, turning his gaze to the floor.

Neo drew his Pipbuck, and firmly declared, “We can’t lose sight of our goals. We’ve got to move on. We’re going back to the Darkmines, and when we do, we’ll put an end to Iron Hammer.”

Vladimir rose a hoof to the side of his mouth, calling back to the brothers, “Are you two coming? You both have the maps!”

Turning around into the hallway, Neo returned in a thundering shout, “Coming! Coming!”

Before Neo started down the corridor, Adam looked to Neo smiling, “I hope she can help us.”

“I hope so too Adam... I hope so too...”

Together they cantered to Vladimir, the clamoring echoes of their hooves bouncing off of the confining walls. At the end, Neo and Adam maneuvered around the line of their friends standing before the exit. Vladimir stood at the door’s side, a hoof laying against its knob.

“We’re here.” Neo puffed.

Vladimir queried, “Are you ready to leave this place?”

Adam nodded. “More than you know.”

“Good,” Vladimir snickered, “because we won’t be coming back.”

It was about midday outside the green service door of the attraction. The exit had lead them to a small parking lot amidst the colossal peaks of the western mountains, whose tops reached high into the rolling grey clouds, tinged with cracks of bright white branching out across the sky.

The mists overhead briskly churned around the mountain peaks, engulfing them entirely within its dense cloudy mass.

Upon a firm breeze an icy wind blew, cascading down the mundane jagged slopes to the group below. As the chill whisked by Adam’s head, biting his nose, he winced at the gusting cold.

When the breeze died down, Adam shivered, rapidly blinking his freshly chilled eyes. The others wandered about the area, observing the few neatly parked convertible carts sitting between the faded yellow lines of the parking slots.

Neo came to the side of one such convertible, cocking his head to one side while seeing his reflection in the foggy glass of a perfectly intact window. Directing his gaze to the wheels, they too were untouched. Merely the purple metal body of the old vehicle was coated in patches of rough crimson rust.

Barely letting air through his teeth, he murmured, “These carts aren’t destroyed…”

Vladimir came to Neo’s side, his own reflection visible in the glass. “Strange, isn’t it?”

Blankly gaping at the undisturbed features of the cart, Neo shook his head slowly, “Every other cart I’ve seen -- be it in towns, off of roads, or outside of buildings, they’re all destroyed. But these…”

Turning his sight to the darkened cloud-cover, Vladimir scoffed, “Those few ponies must of been real lucky to have come up here during the war…”

Neo looked up at him, arching an eyebrow. “Why do you say that? What makes this place so special?”

Shrugging, Vladimir answered with a smirk, “I couldn’t tell you for sure, I -- like yourself -- was born after the world ended. So I can merely speculate on what happened.”

“Though,” he added swiftly, “I’d say that no bombs were really dropped in the mountains, and so anything beyond them was protected.”

Gently kicking the bottom of the convertible’s passenger door he laughed, “And that means these ol’ hunks of metal got to sit out here to rust for Celestia knows how long.”

Retaining the same wide grin, Vladimir faced the rest of the group scattered about the middle parking lot, “Then again, who really knows?”

A road ran along the top curb of the parking lot, trailing off to the left and right. Adam came to where the highway’s cracking coarse asphalt met the smooth concrete pavement of the parking lot.

Staring down the street, he looked to the left -- where a long stretch of winding black road slithering through the narrow valley indented in the mountains. In the opposing direction, a forest of bare oak trees with long gnarled branches creeped over the top of the highway.

The entanglement of weaving branches cast a blanket of shadow shrouding the road, whilst slim slivers of pale sunlight breaking through the gaps specked the shaded asphalt. A deathly howl sounded in the thick wood, rattling the boney lengths of the trees before blowing its nipping wind against Adam’s face.

Lucy walked to Adam’s side, raising a hoof over her brow peering at the dark collection of desolate foliage wreathing the side of the highway. “Is that the way we need to go?”

Adam nodded, his eyes fixated on the hollow tunnel the trees made.

Pouting, Lucy sighed, “Well shit…”

Neo removed himself from the convertible he had investigated -- strolling over the his brother with a smooth glide in his step. “This is it, huh?”

The empty highway gave off an numbing aura. Running a shuddering twinge down the nape of Adam’s neck. “Looks that way…”

Vladimir joined the group of ponies gathering at the curb where the parking lot met the road. “If that’s the case, might I inquire as to how long it will be until we reach our destination?”

Adam glanced at his Pipbuck map, then back to the forest. A cold sweat feverishly chilled by the draft, pricking the sides of his neck.

Gulping heavily, Adam slowly motioned his head to the woods. “It’s down the road… through that forest…”

Big Lot poked her head over the curb, pouting at the mouth of the dark wooded highway. “Why does it have to be so dark? Do you even know when it ends?”

“There should be wide lake when we get to the end.” Neo answered.

Stepping onto the highway road, Neo started toward the wood. “We’ll never know unless we start walking.”

The orange square marking, flashing on Neo’s EFS jutted out in darkness that dressed the road in a black, translucent twilight. Slices of light, cutting through the shadow shown down onto him as he traversed the haunting forest.

His brother followed behind him, entering the dark woods. Big Lot hurried to Adam’s side. Tightly huddling by him -- her gaze frantically darting about the lean series of thick trunks hiding their gaze to the outside world.

Gradually as the group went through the drab musky forest, plumes of white breath puffed out of their noses. The temperature dropped the farther they went, bringing their coats to a briskly shiver in the wake of the cold.

The wind had died entirely. In the woods, only a raw wintery stillness pervaded the air. A hollow dark void encased the region around the group. Specks of the outside light broke through the ceiling of entangled branches overhead, severing the blackness with fine slender strands of pure shining illumination.

Neo saw in the distance, a faint luminous halo. Not breaking his stride, he looked back to the others behind him. “I think we’re almost through.”

Big Lot was shivering immensely, her hooves clicking against the icy asphalt. “Are you sure?”

Neo shuddering at the brisk sensation of the fresh frosty atmosphere seeping through his duster reached the fur underneath. “I can’t say. Maybe it’s just a break in the branches.”

Drawing closer to the vibrant radiating light at the end, they passed through the threshold of where the dark met the light. Squinting his eyes nearly shut, the intensity of the outside flooded Neo’s vision. As the blinding aura peeled back, fading from the prodigious brightness a more clear view of the world unfolded.

Blinking quickly, Neo rubbed his eyes, gazing at the new environment. A bleak shack, alongside three others like it, rest at the shoreline of a vast lake. A dense fog rose from the still waters, gently rolling easily on the grey shore littered with stones.

There was a dreadful gloom that lingered over the mild water. A somber grey which colored the lake, matching the darkened clouds above. Amidst the melancholy the waves retained a fairness that resembled the lighter hue of the small stones littering the beach.

Jutting out over the water was two small wooden docks. Warped planks of black weathered wood, and rusted nails formed perfect downward arcs in their disfigurement -- while green glossy algae caked the boards closest to the waves.

The road ended at a parking lot of white gravel in front of the three abandoned shacks. Trotting down the end of the highway, their hooves crunched the loose shifting shale as they wandered about in front of the lonely buildings.

Lucy, with Wester at her side, looked at the pale boarded facade of the middle building. Two windows, covered in wooden boards, were at opposing sides of a red door. A sign in chipping yellow paint above read:

Sunny Side Mountain Lake
Boat Rentals & Snorkeling Equipment

“Heh,” Lucy chuckled nudging Wester’s shoulder, “what do you think about swimming?”

“I’m not sure, Lucky. I can’t swim.” Wester answered.

Sporting a dumbfounded expression she reeled her head back at him, opening her mouth to speak, “But I thought you…”

Her eyes lay on the bulky armor covering Wester’s entire body. “Right…”

Wester pointed to his chest. “You hold a strange expression. Is there something on me?”

Lucy shook her head, “Nah, nah, just forget about it.”

Neo came to the beach, staring out at the fog masking the other side of the lake. On his EFS, the marker flashed in the direction of the lake’s opposite end. Looking to the left, he saw the shore curve off into the clouded distance. To the right, the same scene.

Sighing, Neo felt a cold sallowness sink in his gut, as the calm waves rolled on the stones of the beach. “I didn’t plan this through enough…”

Stepping closer to the water, the waves reached inches from Neo’s hooves. Leaning his head over the water, he looked at his rippling reflection wobble and distort in the constant movement of the tides.

Dangling a hoof over the water, Neo shrugged, “Guess it wouldn’t hurt to see if this water is tainted or not…”

Easily letting his entire hoof be consumed by the water, the instant numbing sensation of the icy lake took hold of him. His fetlock fur soaked up the frigidness, soaking the feeling deeper into the core of his bone.

Briskly withdrawing himself, Neo shook his hoof about hissing as an array of prickling stabs nipped at him. The warm blood pumping through his body returned to remove the cold from his hoof. Stepping back from the shore, he rose his Pipbuck and found that the Geiger Counter was silent.

Not a tick, nor a peep.

Raising an eyebrow at his distorting reflection he gaped, “It isn’t irradiated…”

A loud series of hollow metallic bangs erupted behind him. Wincing at the sounds carry to him, the hairs along Neo’s nape sprung erect at the clamor.

Gritting his teeth together, Neo locked his gaze to the middle shack, where the sound had originated. There Wester and Lucy were behind the building, gawking at the rear side of the structure.

Adam and Ally together were trotting toward the abandoned shack from the parking lot. Lifting a hoof to the side of his mouth, Neo called, “What was that?”

Adam didn’t break his stride, returning back, “I don’t know!”

Neo dashed up to the middle shack, slowing his pace as he came to the side of the building. Walking closely along the structure’s wall he turned at the corner to regroup with Wester and Lucy.

Both Adam and Ally stood behind them, with drooped heads and tongues limply hanging from their mouths as they panted deeply.

Strolling to Lucy’s side, Neo looked to the back end of the shack. An opened garage door revealed a small dark work area. Two blackened skeletons of deceased ponies were hugging one another in the corner of the garage, while a long bass boat rested in the center of the space, held level by two wooden supports.

Big Lot came running through the crowd of ponies standing in front of the garage. Pushing, and shoving bodies aside urgently. Arriving at the front, she stopped, huffing wildly -- a beaming expression irradiating excitement from her face.

“What is it?” She exclaimed, scanning the sight before her. “I want to see!”

At the meager sight of the garage, the excitement faded from her, shifting into a sour pout. “What! A stinky garage!”

“Wrong, kiddo.” Lucy interjected ambling to the bow of the ship. “It’s this thing here that I’m liking.”

Big Lot sported a comical figure, frowning and shuffling toward the side of the boat. “What the heck is this thing anyway? It looks weird.”

A grin sprouted onto Neo’s face, as he too approached the vessel. “This is our ticket forward across the lake!”

Perplexed by his statement, Big Lot grumbled, “What? How? What is it!”

“It’s a boat,” Adam answered whilst catching his breath, “a fair sized one too.”

Big Lot retained her look of complete bafflement, as she rolled an inquiring hoof. “And it does?”

Laying a hoof to the chilled green painted metal of the boat’s side, Neo prompted, “It travels on water. We were told about them in school.”

“Yeah,” Adam coughed circling the vehicle slowly to the back, “maybe it can take us across the lake.”

“Do we need to traverse the lake?” Ranger asked.

Neo turned to Ranger, and nodded, “We’ll definitely need to cross the water. Good news about that is it isn’t tainted.”

Ranger peaked over his shoulder at the mountain peaks, encased in the mists above. “Do you believe the mountains have something to do with that?”

Gently tapping the belly of the boat, Neo shook his head as his eyes trailed to the concrete floor of the garage. “No… I don’t think so. The rain should still be tainted when it passes through here. So, one would surmise from that the lake would also have been tainted, even slightly. But it isn’t.”

“Why should it matter?” Lucy chuckled clambering up the side of the boat. “It means we won’t get screwed up if we fall out.”

Big Lot’s eyes widened. “WAITWAITWAIT! Hold it for one second! How are we supposed to get that thing in the water?!”

Ally came up behind the filly, and ruffling the curls of her blond mane she said, “We’ll levitated it of course!”

Breaking free of Ally’s ruffling, Big Lot stared up at her pointing a hoof at the boat. “You are going to lift that thing? On your own?!”

Puffing out her chest, Ally boasted, “Well, not on my own. But I have been known to work some awesome magic here and there.”

“Besides,” she added looking to Ranger and Wester, “I’ve got three other unicorns here to help me.”

Big Lot snickered, “Alright, Ms. Smarty chaps! Does it work? Can we even use it?”

Ally paused for a moment, scratching her mind in befuddlement. Lucy sat on one of the seats inside the boat, tipping her fedora to Big Lot. “That’s a fair point, I’d say. What do ya think Adam? Will she fly?”

Adam glanced up at Lucy from behind the small motor, blinking at her. “Fly?”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Fly, skim, ride, whatever! Will it work, though?”

“Well,” Adam hummed directing his attention to the motor, “it runs on some kind of fuel… And it hasn’t been refueled in forever. I think if someone were to route a constant supply of magical energy to it -- then it should run, though not at full power.”

Big Lot began to lightly stomp the ground with jittering hooves. A clammy coldness coated her fur, as she felt a distressing energy pulse through her. “So we’re going to use this thing to get across the lake?”

Adam called out from behind the boat to answer her. “Yep! Looks that way!”

Freezing where she stood, Big Lot frowned. “Great… Another ride…”

The mist parted near the shore. The low rattling hum of the engine buzzed the churning fog, carrying its sound far off into the distance. Out of the whiteness came forth the long dark figure of the boat’s bow -- scooting on the calm waters to the beach.

A speck of white drifted down from the lumpy cracking darkened clouds. Twirling and zipping in its descent to Adam’s wet, freezing nose. In his seat, he blinked at the flake melt away into a biting prick of wintry chill.

He shuddered at the sensation roll from his snout to tail. Briskly rubbing the sides of both forelegs whilst he uttered a lowly bur under his foggy breath.

Yet, another angelic mote fell from the sky. Followed by another. Until soon a multitude of snowflakes drifted from the sky above. Big Lot sat tightly hugging herself, with chattering teeth gnashing away at frigidness wrapping her body.

Noticing the snow fall from the clouds, she briefly stopped her feverish movement. Holding out a hoof to the newly falling flakes, she caught one. Bringing it to her face the warm puffing cloud of exhaled breath melted the icy crystal -- prompting her to frown and return to warming herself.

Though the arctic grip of the mountains numbed Adam’s hooves, an airy weightlessness fluttered inside his chest. Watching the snowfall dance with such mesmerizing movement was hypnotizing. Aside from all the dreadful side effects the cold brought, he smiled witnessing the magic of snow graciously flurry around the boat.

“It’s snow.” Adam whispered with twinkling eyes. “Real snow.”

Big Lot was next to Adam, still shivering vigorously. “It’s not that special. We get it at the border sometimes.”

“I’ve never seen it before,” Adam replied, “I didn’t think it’d be this cold though.”

Neo sat on a single cross section at the bow of the boat, folding his hooves. “I never thought we’d see snow either. How long do you think it will keep falling?”

Adam shrugged turning his head to the sky. “I don’t think it’ll let up anytime soon.”

Neo leaned to the side, looking at Ranger leisurely sit by himself at the end of the boat. “Ranger,” he asked, “you’ve been up here before, how long does snow usually fall around here?”

Ranger too, shrugged. “Sometimes days. Sometimes minutes. We are at the mercy of the clouds. They are the masters here. However long they decide to provide snow is how long it will.”

Big Lot scoffed, “Well didn’t that answer the question...”

Adam saw Big Lot shiver violently. “Big Lot? Are you okay? Do you need something to keep you warm?”

She tried to shake her head, only to have it look as though she were madly twitching her head around instead. “N-No... I-I don’t need anything. I-I’m a big girl...”

Adam blew a hot plume of steaming breath on her forehead as he scooted near. She winced at the fresh new warmth tenderly fight back the cold for the moment. The second it was removed, however, the air’s icy presence crept back over her.

“I can give you my coat,” Adam offered, “I’m warm enough as it is, and you look like your freezing.”

“I-I don’t n-need it.” She stammered. “It-It-”

Adam pulled his forelegs through the sleeves, and draped the duster over her back. Flipping the collar upward, Adam smiled as the long length of the coat bunched up around her.

“There,” Adam grinned, “a little better don’t you think?”

Her excessive jittering stopped at the warmth that clung to the leather of the duster. Big Lot took both opened ends of the coat, and pulled them around her body. The seal she had made shunned out the cold. Trapping the hot energy irradiating off her body inside.

She snuggled her petite nose in the fabric, purring softly at the comfort it brought. “Y-You did it again...”

Adam grinned, gently rubbing the back of his neck. “You needed it more than I did.”

The bow plowed into the coarse rocky shore, briefly compelling those inside to jerk forward. Lucy rose, clapping her hooves together, “Alright everyone disembark!”

Unlike the shore they had departed from, the land before them was sheeted in a blanket of glistening snow. A mild flurry of snow now whisked by on a numbing breeze. The wide indent of a dirt road was imprinted leading upward into the peak of a mountain.

Neither trees, nor greenery could be seen in either direction. Just the road twisting up and disappearing into a dense blizzardy mass of wind and snow lingering about the mountain's top.

One by one each pony removed themselves from the boat, sinking into the crunching powdery snow. It covered their entire hooves, reaching up past the ankle.

Neo’s lungs burned as he inhaled the dense frozen air. Even as he walked a few steps away from the shore, a soreness hammered his limbs, increasing both breathing and hate rate. He could feel the dreadful tired urge of fatigue gradually develop in every leg muscle.

Trudging up the road, through the blizzard a large freezing lump formed in his throat. Ranger waded toward Neo, digging shallow trenches in the show as he approached him.

Pointing at the blizzard spiral around the peak of the mountain ahead, he asked, “Please tell me that’s not where we’re going is it?”

Neo mustered what strength he could, and forced the lump building in his throat. “Yeah,” he muttered faintly over the gulp, “that’s where we need to go.”

The valve on a steam pipe running along the ceiling released a twirling plume of hot mist. Lightbulbs tacked to the narrow walls of the long winding tunnel flickered, whilst a low electronic hum charged the humid air.

Three Darkminers stood side by side against the slick rocky wall, saturated in a dripping layer of glossy dew. In the sporadic light cast onto the miners, their green empty goggles everlastingly remained aglow.

Down the corridor, the soft pitter-patter of cloth wrapped hooves rebounded off of the low ceiling. In unison, the three miners turned their heads to the source, silently gazing at the approaching individual. For a brief moment, the easy repeated noise grew quiet. As the hoofsteps grew softer in their volume, the hallway’s illumination dimmed.

Out in the hollow dark of the mine tunnel, a fourth pair of round goggles flashed. The lightbulbs illumination steadily intensified, re-lighting the once darkened halls with the warm rays of the bulbs strobe-like glint. When the light returned it ripped back the shielding black, revealing the Warden slinking toward them.

The Warden stopped three feet from the middle miner, huffing slowly with a shrill wheeze. “All here, yes?”

“Yes.” Answered the middle.

The Warden nodded once. “Good. Good.”

The Third miner took a step forward, his voice airily hissing, “Why meet? What say Warden?”

The Warden rose a hoof, briskly looking down bother directions of the tunnel before speaking. “Surface Legion weak… Surface Legion’s leader stressed. Not able to run mine.”

“And? We know! We know!” The one standing on the left rasped.

“Yes! Yes!” The Warden lifted his hoof over his head, buzzing, “Listen! Listen!”

The linen wrapped pointed ears upon the three miner’s heads folded flat, as they kneeled, flinching backward away from the Warden. Laying down his hoof, he continued, “I do you no harm. This not my mission. You spread word fast. Tell mine what I say here.”

Perking their ears up, the three rose their heads, intently leaning toward the Warden. Between them, a few seconds of silence persisted.

Hoarsely bellowing a few chuckles, the Warden spat, “Thatch has been lazy. Too stressed. Still, he has more to do. So busy. So busy, yes. No time to oversee the Predators. We maintain Predators. We control them. They belong to mine.”

“Why kill surface Legion?” The miner to the right whispered. “They have guns. Guns too strong. Miners have no guns.”

“Yes. Yes.” The Warden replied. “But… Miners have Predators. Give us way to depot. There, surface Legion has guns. We take guns. We take back the mine.”

“War? War? Why go to war?” The same miner remarked.

Pointing downward to the end of the passageway, the Warden raised his voice, increasing the coarse grating clinging to every word, “They abuse mine! Treat it like surface fortress! Our home! Our home! Not their’s! Not surface Legion’s! If we do not fight, mine will perish. We will be slaves! Slaves!”

Reeling backward the miner’s bumped their flanks against the tunnel wall, as a blaring gasp erupted from them -- swiftly followed by a low murmuring between themselves. “Slaves! No! No! Not slaves!”

“Yes! Yes! Slaves!” The Warden declared, hushing the three. “As long as surface Legion is here. We. Are. Slaves.”

“Must act!” Cried one.

“Yes! Yes!” Coughed another.

The third miner took a single step forward, cocking his head at the Warden. “What do? Tell!”

“I have plan,” The Warden rasped lowly, “tell mine of the Predators. And of how we strike.”

All three lifted their breathers, pawing the solid damp jagged floor. “Tell! Tell!”

A few sharp grinding laughs, muffled behind the Warden’s mask echoed through the tunnel. “Listen! Hehe… I speak… The plan -- simple. We will take back mine. We will take back home! We will kill surface Legion! Kill!”

A flurry surrounded Neo, masking his vision in a freezing blast of blinding white snow. Darting madly on the breath of the wind, the sharp stinging flakes bombarded his face. Below the road underneath him, leading up the slope of the mountain to its beak was buried by a thick powdered coat.

In every direction the ground was frosted over by a blanket of snow. Protruding slightly from the surface the thin pointed edges of black boulders could be seen in the dense blizzard haze.

Neo lead the group up, while the others followed at varying distances, leaving their long trenching tracks behind them.

On Neo’s EFS the orange marker flashed forward. Pointing the way they needed to go -- up to the top of the mountain’s peak. Holding a constant wince at the wintry barrage, he stared upward at top of the mountain.

A deep, concealing cloud from the blizzard’s fury hide away the peak, the sky, and anything within a fifty feet perimeter. In his ears the wind howled, polluting all other sounds around him. He stopped for a moment, raising a hoof over his brow, squinting at the storm dress the path ahead in obscuring winds, and snowfall.

With his duster, flapping wildly in the wind Neo looked over his shoulder at the group follow in snow trails he made. Adam, exposed directly to the elements, was shivering violently.

Neo called to him, yelling as loud as he could over the blaring wail of the wind, “Adam! I can’t see anything! Should we head back?”

Adam flinched at every other stronger gust, hurling toward him on the blizzard’s gale. Keeping his eyes shut, Adam returned, “No! We don’t know how long it’ll be until it blows over!”

“Do you think we can make it!?” Neo asked, his diagram aching at the increased stress.

“W-We have to try!” Adam hollered weakly. “W-We have to!”

Facing forward once more, Neo inhaled the burning frozen air. As the breath inside bit at his lungs, he picked up a hoof, forcing himself to advance. Each step grew harder, as the further they climbed the deeper the snow became. Reaching up to his entire leg, Neo’s entire body shuddered constantly.

Both hooves grew numb, while the snow’s cold sank deep into his flesh. Every other breath was shallow, driving him to taking longer breaths as the ascension continued. Snow gathered in the wrinkled grooves on his coat; flakes by the dozens held fastly onto his black mane.

His muscles tired with a dull soreness. Huffing quickly, all the air he took seemed to vanish the instant it came into his lungs. Neo’s body, cold and inflamed in a painful aching, took small steps dragging himself through the snow.

We have to make it. He thought to himself. We have to. We haven’t come this far to die like this…

On the wind, his ear twitched at the sound of Lucy speaking up from down the line. “Neo! Stop!”

Instantly halting here he stood, he turned around peering at the ponies behind him. They too were buried body deep in the thickening drifts -- only one pony was unaccounted for. In front of Lucy, the top of a small round bundle of leather poked out from the snow.

“It’s Big Lot!” She screamed waving a hoof at him. “She’s down!”

Swiftly looking to Adam, Neo shouted, “We need to go back! Now!”

Adam stood upright, his head airily swaying in the wind.

Neo’s eyes widened. His heart started to race. “Adam? Adam! Adam are you alright?!”

With Adam’s eyes shut, the buck merely stood still for a moment before he fell face first into the snow.

Neo’s heart thumped wildly as he waded toward Adam, battling the elements crying, “Adam!”

Ally at the back end of the group lumbered on to Adam’s aid. “Neo! Neo! Is he okay?!”

Skidding next to Adam, Neo clutched the back of his brother’s neck, lifting his head out of the snowbank. A multitude of glittering snowflakes powdered Adam’s blue fur as Neo sat in the snow, holding his brother.

Neo’s eye’s burned, already letting small tears trickle down his cheeks, only to freeze solid halfway in the storm’s icy breath. Tripping over her own hooves, Ally slid beside Adam looking to Neo with urgent eyes darting about Adam’s limp body.

Taking Adam’s shoulder, Neo’s hoof slipped on the ice forming atop his brother’s coat. Quickly catching him, Neo held Adam’s head close to his chest.

Ally’s breath had become weak, mutely speaking between long gasping breaths. “Is… Is he alright?”

A vigorous shiver overtook Neo’s entire being. Plaguing even his speech with erratic stutters. “I-I… I don’t know… I… I can’t feel my…”

His eyes went wide, feeling the fiery whirlwind strike him. “Ally,” he groaned, “a-are you…”

Collapsing face first into the snow next to Adam, Ally lay surrounded by the crunching powder packing underneath her. Near her ribs, a faint spark of life still flickered while the brisk rising and falling of each breath fluttered.

“Ally?” Neo muttered, gaping at her fatigued figure.

The brisk pace of his heart rose, as he leaned over Adam nudged the top of her head gently. “Ally! Ally get up!”

Big Lot’s legs dangled off Lucy’s sides as she stomped through the snow, approaching Neo. “W-What... W-What happened?”

Neo was hyperventilating, slumping back against the snow his head felt loose and weightless. “I.. I… Everyone… They’re…”

Lucy coughed at him, her legs trembling under the weight of Big Lot’s body. “Kid… What? I…”

Her eyelids nodded, falling down then up as the shaking in her joints brought her down, kneeling into the snow. “I-I feel tired kid…”

She let out three whooping coughs. “I feel…”

Plummeting in the glistening white surface, Lucy’s head was consumed in the blizzard’s blanket. Wester stood idly twenty feet away from him downhill -- staring directly ahead of him.

Neo rested Adam’s head in his lap, raising a hoof to the side of his mouth. “Wester? Wester!”

Wester didn’t move. Like a statue embedded on the plinth in which it stood, Wester’s entire armored body was frozen in place. Vladimir diverting his face from the gusts of arctic mountain wind blasting at him, trudging past Wester.

Standing alongside the idle guardian, Vladimir’s body rocked uneasily with each sinking step eaten by the arctic ground.

Vladimir gnashed his teeth, cursing the wind, “W-We need to move on! It won’t end here! It won’t! It can’t! Not for me!”

Neo couldn’t close his eyes -- he watched Vladimir’s pace slowed as he grew near him. No longer did the warm twirling plumes blow from his nostrils, and sluggishly pausing beside Ally’s body, Vladimir’s looked at Neo grimly. A dark somberness shadowed his brow whilst his mane wildly flailed about in the wind.

Bending both forelegs into the snow, Vladimir fell on his side, leaving an indent lining the outside of his body. Sitting stiffly alone, with the wind breezing against his back, Neo scoffed once as the blizzard’s blur gradually enveloped his vision.

We’re going to die out here…

We didn’t make it…

The sleet gathering on his nape crackled at each movement as he looked down at the peaceful resting face of his brother calmly laying in his lap.

All feeling was removed from him. Even the dreaded lingering of sadness was lost to the icy hold of the mountain’s icy fury. The harrowing sound of the wind’s shriek faded, where in its stead a hushed silence fell over the world. Only the slow beats of his heart pierced the silent veil.

With every second passing a beat would draw slower. Slower, and slower as a dark halo skirted the outside region of his sight. Neo’s eyelids felt heavy, dropping while his head nodded.

I can’t die… We can’t die…

I didn’t even get to say goodbye to them… Not even that… Not even…

Tenderly both lids met, sealing all visibility to the outside world. When both breath and heart rate declined -- he felt sleepy. An urge to let all worldly tethers go gently stroked his back. Enticing him to rest eternally. The whole world became a dark void. Empty -- without a single soul to comfort him.

Not a soul.

In the darkness, the gruff voice of a mare echoed faintly teeming with dire worry. “He’s vita-…”

Again the voice spoke, lilting in pitch and volume. “How did… We can’t…”

“He’s stable!” A stallion’s voice followed, sounding just as discordant and distant. “Give me… He needs…”

All of the other voice grew quiet, at the presence of a soft, compassionate mare’s coo. Her voice was not tinged with urgency, but with a sweet delicate whisper, whisking through the vast emptiness Neo was trapped in.

“You’re alive…” She said. “Alive…”

A warmth graced Neo’s face. It was the first sensation he had experienced since the cold took him. Over his nose a light tingling brushed by, sented in a damp honied fragrance carried on the breeze. His eyelids twitched as the smell turned minty, tickling his throat, he purring at the new soothing aroma.

A damp cushioned material lightly pricked his hooves, back, and head. He realized that feeling had returned to him, while a relieving weight lifted from his tired eyelids. Grunting at the dull stiffness locking his spine, Neo opened both lids, seeing the strange environment around him.

At first he only barely let his eyes open -- controlling what light came into view. Through the pure white sliver between both black eyelids, he heard a new sound, a low buzzing dashing about overhead. Along with the trill of the buzz a calming rustle came on the wind.

Eager to open his eyes, he pulled both eyelids back entirely. Blinding yellow light flooded everything, obscuring everything before him. The smothering illumination receded, revealing the lush green easily swaying leaves of a tree. Upon healthy gnarled brown branches the foliage rocked, as the golden rays of a great brightness cracked through the dense tree cover.

Turning his head, the same itchy pricking irritated his fur. As he looked to the side, short stalks of cool cut grass brushed against him.

He felt a weight in his chest anchor him to the ground, compressing both breathing and movement. “W-What?”

Sitting up slowly, Neo’s head pounded with a splitting pain. Laying the backend of his hoof against his brow he hissed, wincing at the throb pulse at the rate of his heart.

“What happened to me?” He moaned dropping his hoof and scanning the immediate area, squinting both eyes. “Am… Am I dead?”

A vast clear sky was above him, accompanied by thin puffy clouds dotting across the blue. Lazily floating on the currents of the wind, the lumpy white masses, lined with silver, traveled by.

Neo was under a clearing, sitting underneath the shade of a tree on the top of a hill. Below a grand forest of dozens of huddled trees stretched off into the distance, before ending at an opened field. At the wood’s border a pallet of assorted vibrant wild flowers marked the landscape in a natural multi-colored mural of blues, reds, and yellows.

Forcefully rubbing his eyes, Neo shook his head, rapidly blinking at the landscape. “Where is this place? Where the hell am?”

He paused in mid-sentence, as he gasped, “My bags!”

Peaking over his shoulder he noticed his saddlebags were missing. “No! No! No! They can’t be gone!”

Springing up from his rump, he wildly spun around in place searching his little space for the saddlebags. “Damnit! Where are they?!”

Halting for a second time, he froze. Mouth agape, and eyes bulging openly he uttered one name, “Adam…”

Frantically dashing about his clearing Neo rose a hoof calling out into the unknown. “Adam! Adam! Lucy! Wester! Ranger! Anyone!”

Pausing briefly, Neo’s eyes caught hold of a familiar body. Downhill, next to the trunk of an aspen tree at the forest’s border, was Adam. His limbs were sprawled out across the grass as he rested peacefully under the shade of the skirting outer perimeter of the tree-line.

Locking both worried silver eyes on Adam, Neo charged down the hillside to his brother. When he came to Adam’s side he slide across the ground, kicking up blades of grass into the wind.

Leaning over his brother, Neo felt both eyes become saturated with tears. Neo’s whole body trembled as he hovered over Adam. “A-Adam? C'mon, wake up!”

Seizing him by the shoulders, Neo shook him gently. “A-Adam, wake up! It’s me! Wake up!”

Adam gulped, and rolled onto his side groaning, “It’s too early… I’ll finish the project tomorrow…”

Shaking him again, Neo was beaming as he giddily laughed at him, “Adam! Wake up! Wake up!”

Groggily mumbling, Adam’s eyes opened, fluttering at the new light around him. Sitting up onto his haunches, he licked his lips and yawned stretching both forelegs over the top of his head. “Hey. D-Did we make it?”

Neo sat down next to him, smiling. “I don’t know where we are to be honest.’

A few curly strands of Adam’s mane jutted out from the atop his bangs. “Where’s everyone else? What happened to them?”

“Can’t say,” Neo replied, “we’ll have to look for them.”

“You think they’re somewhere close by?”

Neo shrugged. “It possible. I found you pretty close by, I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be the same.”

Turning his eyes to the clear blue sky, Adam let out a deep sigh, “They sky isn’t real…”

Neo reeled back at him. “What?”

Adam pointed to a cloud passing over them. “Look, you can barely see the lines dividing the screens.”

Directing his gaze upward, Neo gawked at the cloud. In the center of the fluff was a thin grey line running straight through it. “Huh…”

Adam smiled laying down on the grass. “Still… It’s nice though…”

A gold halo of pure fluorescent light ignited the world in the center of the sky. Casting its tender light on the world below.

“What about that?” Neo asked motioning his head to the orb of light.

Adam rose an eyebrow at it, before scratching his bedridden mane. “I don’t know what that is. If the sky is fake then it can’t be the sun.”

Neo peered at the shaded earth around the border of trees. In the distance, an earth pony stallion stood looking directly at them. Squinting both eyes, Neo cocked his head to one side at the new arrival. From where they were the delicate features of the unknown pony was lost.

The pony wore a white lab coat, with fur of the same color. He had a black sloven mane, and Pipbuck fastened to his right foreleg.

Nudging Adam, Neo pointed out the stranger. “Adam, look.”

Adam sat up once more, clearly seeing their spectator watch them from afar. “Who is that? And is that a Pipbuck?”

“Well,” Neo stated, rising on all fours, “maybe he knows where everyone else is. He doesn’t looked armed.”

Adam got up, and patted himself down. “What if he’s hostile? We don’t exactly have weapons, do we?”

“Nope,” Neo chirped, “but I think if he wanted us dead he would have killed us by now.”

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t want us dead.”

Trotting toward the stallion, they saw him kneel down next to a daisy, with the handle of a tin watering can grasped tightly between his straight white teeth, lightly drizzle the plant with water. At a closer range the silver color of his eyes were clear, among other details.

A few brown smudges of dirt stained the sleeves of his coat, while dark rims highlighted the under regions of his tired drooping eyes. He looked middle-aged, as streaks of glossy silver stripped his greasy mane.

Easily lowering the can at his side, he turned to Neo and Adam as they approached him. Huffing and puffing, both brothers looked to the ground with tongues limply dangling from their panting mouths.

The stallion faced them, a drained mundane expression plastered solidly onto his face. He spoke in a low, grumbling tone, bolstering a hint of grumpy sleep-deprivation on his words. “You’re awake? Already?”

Raising his head to meet the stallion, Neo’s stomach dropped. Holding all movement, both eyes remained fixated on the stranger.

Adam started to lift his head, glancing at his brother while he did. “Brother? What’s the matter? What…”

In the same fashion as his brother, Adam froze. Every joint and limb locked themselves while he stood in the presence of the stallion.

Deeper, and deeper Neo felt his stomach sink as a frigidness briskly cuffed his neck. Mustering what strength he could, Neo forced his diagram to contract, allowing one word to faintly escape his lips.

“D-Dad?”

Foot Note: Level Up!

New Perk: What a beautiful day! But not quite as beautiful as me!: Charisma when confronting those of the opposite gender is increased by +5. An additional +2 points are added during the day.

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: This… Is my BOOMSTICK!: Shotgun attacks now have a chance at doing 5x the amount of damage when used on a lower level enemy. Bring those primitives into the 21st century!

Author's Note

Here it is! Whew, that was difficult! I'm fairly sure I didn't get all the errors. But hey, I still managed to polish it good, right? Anywho, if you manage to find something I missed feel free to point it out. I truly did enjoy writing this chapter. I've been trying to diversify my wording, though I detect that this area of writing will still need to be covered a little more.

What a cliff hanger, huh? What will happen next? Where are the others? Find out in the next exciting chapter of, Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood!

P.S. For those of you in the future, you need not wait for the new one to come out. Just click the next chapter button.

Noakwolf

Mother

CHAPTER 33: MOTHER

"I love you both... So... So much..."

Gritting his teeth, Neo's eye pinched in furious glare. He seethed puffing short fuming breaths. Quickly he rose his hoof, and slammed it briskly into the side of his father's face. Jolting to the side at Neo's action, the brother’s father stumbled over putting a hoof to the intense throbbing spot of contact.

Neo prowled towards him, holding the same burning fury glimmering in both eyes. "You can't do that!"

Adam urgently glanced at his brother gasping, "Brother!"

Their father staggered further to the side, eventually slumping down onto the grass messaging the sore tissue of his jaw.

"Do you think that's funny?" Neo’s voice burned with resentment. "Do you get some kind of sick amusement out of this?"

As Neo drew closer to his father, Adam promptly injected himself into his brother's path. "Stop it! What's gotten into you?"

Leaning himself forward in retaliation to his Adam’s restraint, Neo's body quivered in a flushed heating pulsing through him.

Peeking over Adam's head, Neo jerked his snout to the lowly middle-aged stallion sitting in the grass. "He's the problem! After all these years we thought he was dead! All the pain he put us through! All of his responsibilities dumped on us because he didn’t want to tell us he was alive and well! And now he just decides to show up! Worse yet, he talks like not a damn thing wrong!"

Grunting under his breath, Adam forced the top of his head against Neo’s chest. Beneath the strong constant push from Neo, Adam’s spine taking the bulk of the stress ached, "I know you're angry, but hurting him won't do anything!"

Trying to clamber over Adam, Neo screamed at the peak of his voice, "He's a lying bastard and a coward!"

In a final attempt to quell the rage manifesting more greatly in his brother, Adam pushed with both hind legs, propelling the strength of a forceful push. Adam's quick action set Neo stepping back. Briefly collecting himself, Neo shook his head, and continued to march on their father.

Before Neo could come any closer to their parent, Adam shouted, "Listen to me!"

Neo paused, as the rage in his eyes was snuffed. Adam's face felt hot, pumping the adrenaline instilled blood through him with every pounding heartbeat. He was panting deeply, while his older brother stood perfectly still.

"I know you're upset," Adam huffed slowing his breath, "but trying to kill him for what happened won't fix the problem at hoof!"

Neo's glare tightened, as he remained silently fixed on his brother.

Adam extended a hoof to their father. "All I want is to find our friends, and understand where we are. Whatever you want to say, or chastise our dad for doing you can later. Can you do that? For them? For me?"

Snorting once out his nostrils, Neo turning away from the two of them. "Talk to him all you want -- I'm not going to say a single damn word to that sad excuse for a pony."

Adam smiled; progress had been made. Be it small, he could rest assure for the moment that his brother wouldn't attack their father. How long he could maintain this truce afterward was difficult to say.

Facing his father, who gently rubbed the wound Neo had inflicted, Adam approached him pointing his nose to the swelling purple lump manifesting on his father’s jaw.

"It looks bad. Do you need some help up?"

He looked up at Adam, the dark sagging rings underneath his eyes more clearly visible. "Yes, I would like that."

Reaching down to his father, the two interlocked hooves, as Adam helped him rise to all fours. Rocking his jaw side to side, their father muttered painful oos and ahs wincing at each movement. "I'm sorry for the confusion, boys."

Directing his gaze to Neo, their father shifted a crooked smile to the side of his face that wasn't sore. Scanning Adam up and down, he chuckled shaking his head. "You've grown up so much... The last time I saw you Adam you were only a babe."

Adam shrugged with a laugh, "They say ponies grow up fast."

"Too fast, I'd say." He remarked in a faint titter.

For a brief moment an awkward silence developed in the air between them. Adam trailed his eyes to the grass, rubbing the side of his foreleg. Their father took a step forward, then hesitated. Not a second after he gave Adam a hug, choking on the overbearing emotion he felt stab at his heart.

"I've always wanted to see you two grow up."

Adam lifted the hoof he had sheepishly used to return the gesture, adding a calm pat on his father's back.

Swiftly withdrawing himself from Adam, he clamped both hooves on Adam's shoulders gasping, "You must be have questions! Lot's of questions no doubt!"

Adam silently nodded, still holding his happy expression.

Letting go of Adam, he trotted toward the base of a hill near the forest's border. Waving at the two of them, his words and actions giddily bounded about as he called to them, "Come! Come! I'll take you to your friends!"

Neo had diverged from his stiff posture, and looked to his father sourly. Adam trotted to his brother's side, staring at him with wide worried eyes. "Please act nice around him. At least, for now."

He didn't reply to Adam. The grand flame that burned itself deeply inside of Neo sparked in a huddled confined space right below his heart. In its brazen heat Neo could feel nothing in the presence of his father, but the conflagration of contempt.

The hallways were sterling silver. A stable’s metal interior usually consisted of a mundane grey. Lacking in a fine polished surface. Unlike those cramped halls of their home, the corridors of wherever they were shinned. A waxy gloss glinted the floor, showing a warped reflection of the ponies’ figures.

A sense of space persisted as their father lead the two brothers down a straight hallway. On either side ten feet of empty room separated them from the walls. While cantering at a moderate pace, the brother's father spoke fondly of where they were -- though giving an occasional pause to rub the swollen sore mounding slightly on the side of his face.

Neo kept himself quiet, retaining a near perfect distance of eight feet between his father and him. Adam, however, was ecstatic. Like a foal, keenly basking in the masterful words of a wise storyteller he diligently listened to every bit of information his father said.

A series of long tinted windows gave an overhead view into the vast vibrant biome they had awaken in. Motioning his head toward the closest window, their father said, "You can see Biome one here. It's rather simple, though it is one of my favorites of the five."

"There's more than one dome?" Adam inquired.

He nodded at Adam slowing himself to message the wound on his jaw. "Yes, of course. Three for growing food, and two to cultivate specific breeds of trees and flowers."

Adam's eyes moved to the round puff-ball clouds drifting in the artificial sky. "Why use a screen, though? Wouldn't it be easier to just not do anything?"

Humming, his father answered, "Technically speaking, yes. But it helps the moral of farmers, and those enjoying the gardens."

"Huh," Adam breathed a little taken back by his response, "so this whole place was part of the province's initial plan reclaiming the land?"

"That's what we gathered when we found it." He said.

"How many ponies work here? Where are they all from?"

"Hehe," He scoffed lowly throwing Adam a sideways glance, "you grew up to be an awfully curious buck."

Adam smiled, "I want to say it's a little of you that I give that credit to."

"Goodness no," he whinnied with a weak wheeze, "I'm more of a stick-to-the-books kind of fellow. The curious one, now that would be your mother."

Adam's heart began to pound, as an energetic quivering forced his already lively energy to twitch his hooves. "Is she here? Do you know where she is? When can we see her?"

Despite Neo abstaining from all things related to his father, the mention of his mother enticed both ears to perk up. When the three traveled a little farther down the hall, they approached a white set of dual pushing doors.

Their father stopped before the pearly set of doors turning to his sons, and placing a hoof at the left door's center. "Why don't you ask her yourselves?"

Adam stood still, with Neo slowly ambling to his side in front the doors. The muscles in Adam's locked themselves, as the door opened. He couldn't remove his eyes from the door. Both brother's were silent when the new room was revealed.

The next room was significantly less bright and gleaming. Along the walls a red horizontal stripe marked the full length of the room. The ceiling was slightly higher than that of the hallway, yet it still retained the same square light fixtures imbued in the smooth polished ceiling. Line after line of short aluminum frame medical beds jutted out from the walls on both sides. Whilst monitors, dark and unused stood idly by each vacant baby blue sheeted bed.

The windows of the hall on the righthand side had given way to a solid wall. On the left three expansive porthole windows placed at the end, and front, sandwiched one single window in the middle. Neither brother saw their mother at first, though scattered about the room, sitting on their beds or stretching their limbs, was the rest of the group.

Calmly walking to the middle of the room where Lucy, Wester, and Ally sat on their beds they could hear the low chuckles and mumbles of playful banter casually being tossed between the three of them.

Big Lot was at the end of the room, playing in front of the exit with a tiny silver beetle-like robot. Trying as she could, the filly pounced upon the small machine, only to miss as it veered off briskly in her opposing direction.

Amongst the session of play with the bug bot, Big Lot's ears erected. Rising her head, she saw the two brothers approach them from the entrance. Her eyes grew wide, sparking a beaming expression stretching her laugh lines.

"Hey! Hey! Look!" She exclaimed, pointing at the two.

In unison the three ponies turned their sights toward the brothers. An expression, equal in magnitude to Big Lot's, burst forth as they leaped from their beds and rushed to meet with Neo and Adam. Ally was the first to greet them, jumping and latching herself to Neo in a tight hug.

Nuzzling her snout into his neck, she increased the constraining might of her hold. At first Neo was stunned at the sudden action. Though, as the gentle warmth of her chest graced him he wrapped a careful hoof over her back.

Lucy stopped smirking, "Well it's about time! The rest of us were beginning to think you two wouldn't wake up!"

"Well here we are," Adam laughed loosely kicking the ground, "bodies and all."

Ally let go of Neo, and took a step back staring into Neo's eyes. "You’re up! You’re up! It’s been so long since your father told us you two were in the biodome. You really should have seen Lucy when she woke up."

In a light giggle, Ally added, “Screaming and shouting like a mad pony. I’ve never seen a pony fuss so much.”

"Eh," Lucy shrugged, "I seem to remember everyone else was throwing a fuss about where we were. Except Wester, he's a rock."

Wester cocked his head to one side, "I'm a rock?"

Providing the clueless ranger a sideways unamused grimace she replied, "It's an expression."

Wester nodded, calculating the response. "Noted, and logged."

Big Lot jolsted both Ally and Lucy to reach Adam. "Move out of the way! I want to see them!"

Ejected out of the space between Ally and Lucy, Big Lot staggered toward Adam. Catching herself, she gazed upward at the buck. "You're awake... Why did you get to sleep outside?!"

Adam grinned patting the top of her head. "I missed you too."

Neo stood on the tips of his hooves, elevating his sight over the heads of the ponies gathered about him. He scanned the room, hoping to see his mother. Aside from the small robotic insect crawling toward the exit, and Ranger sleeping in a bed by the door, no other bodies were present.

The heavy sinking, and hallowed pit that carved out the emotion in his stomach plunked strongly like a anchor plummeting into the sea. A clammy chill flushed his brow as the stark realization came to him that now he would have to speak to his father.

Turning to his father, who stood a ways back, watching the group reconnect, Neo asked gruffly, "I'm happy you brought us here. Really, I am. But, where is mom?"

The tired stallion reeled himself back slightly, shaking his head at the remark. "What?"

"She's not here," Neo relayed to him, "I don't see her anywhere."

Ally stepped up, and added, "I saw her not too long ago, she left to get something for Ranger. He's been having trouble waking up."

Neo faced her. "Do you know where she went? Or maybe how long she'll be gone for?"

Ally shrugged glancing at the exit. "I can't say, she never mentioned anything other than she'll be back soon."

Neo's face turned placid, the chill intensifying its icy grip cuffing his brow and neck. "We've come so far to see her..."

The exit door was pushed open, as a mare stumbled through with a red vial held securely in the cup of her hoof. A faint crimson glow luminously shown off of the mysterious liquid while it sloshed about when she stepped through the doorway.

Move his eyes to the newcomer, the sinking vanished altogether. The cold evaporating from the surface of his fur, as a fresh warmth spread through limb and body.

He noted the mare's features, from her solid blue coat to the emerald green glistening eyes. A side of her long brown mane curled near the center of her neck. But her cloths stood out the most clearly. A dim blue stable-tech jumpsuit, with a immaculately tidy lab coat dressed over it.

Adam too, looked to the door. In the instant the two brothers saw the mare, all other sounds and senses fluttered off into quietness. Only the mare was visible, in pure crystal clarity, caught in the white light of the room.

Together, nearly in sync, both brothers muttered under their breaths, "Mom?"

The longer the mare stood looking at the two brother's, the more shimmering pearls filled the black pupils of her eyes. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes, while Neo stepped forward. She didn't say anything to him, but even from the middle of room Neo could see her shaking as the first tear rolled down her cheek.

Walking at first, Neo started to her. Adam followed suit stepping at the same pace as his brother. "Mom..." Adam whispered, his own set of tears collecting.

Neo's speed increased, converting his walk into a full on trot. With the clean cool indoor air whisking past his head, Neo's heart pounded. Faster and faster the beating rose as his mother grew closer. Then, bounding forward he intercepted her with a hug. Adam joined in next, providing the same tackling action.

The combined force of the two ponies weighing down on her made both forelegs give out. Falling onto her haunches, she tucked the potion into a pocket on her jumpsuit, and wrapped her hooves around both boys. Sniffling from the three filled the air -- the warmest airy sensation flowing about inside them.

"We found you." Adam sniffed under chocking of raw emotion. "We found you..."

Neo lay his cheek against his mother's shoulder, closing his eyes and feeling a great tense pulling lift from his body. He felt free, and alive. They had done it. After so long their journey had come to an end. Again they were a family, together.

"I'm so happy you're both awake." She cooed to them, stroking the tops of their heads.

Her words were like the sweetest warm honey, only strengthening the wonderful bubbling of the reunion.

As her hooves felt the broad muscles of both brother's shoulders she chuckled, "And look how strong you've grown up to be! So soon too!"

The boys gave a low laugh, as she rose on all fours breaking the tight huddled mass they had piled in. Dark curving streaks indented the fur on her cheeks, maneuvering around the edge of her smile.

Using the hem of her sleeve she wiped away what the tears still falling. "Look at me, a mess like this. I wasn't ready to meet you yet."

Neo hastily lay a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, "Don't say that, mom. You're fine as you are."

She found it hard to control the amount of tears streaming from her eyes. Wiping away what she could, she slowly made her way to Ranger's bed. "You probably have so many questions... The secrets, this... I wish it didn't have to be this way."

"We don't mind it so much now, mom." Adam replied. "We're just glad we made it -- that you're alright."

"No," she stated drawing the medical potion from her pocket, "you two deserve answers. I don't want any more secrets in the family."

Vladimir was asleep, with both hooves resting at his sides. A fluffed white pillow padded the back of his head. An I.V. and other grey wires stuck to the veins of his shoulder were connected to a heart monitor next to the bed.

Tucking her hoof behind Vladimir's head, she slightly elevated him, placing the rim of the vial to his lips. "Besides, I'm eager to hear about your trip here. Even more so on how you managed to find us."

While the unconscious Vladimir consumed the potion entirely, she set the empty bottle down on the top of a nightstand by the bed.

"What happened to him? Why isn't he awake?" Adam asked.

Their mother sighed, "His body is just having some trouble adjusting. The potion I gave him will aid the adjustment. He should be up fairly soon."

The last of the tears stayed in the corners of her eyes, not wanting to fall. Fogging her vision she chuckled, rubbing one eye at a time. "My silly eyes, acting up... After all that you've been through, you all must be hungry. They're about to serve dinner soon. Maybe we can catch up on what's happened."

A great rumbling gurgled and bellowed from the bottom of Neo's stomach. Clamping a hoof over his growling belly, Neo nodded, "Yeah, eating does sound nice right about now."

"Wonderful," she chirped facing the rest of the group, "if you're hungry follow me! I'm heading to the dining room!"

A series of agreeing whoops burst from the group as they cantered toward the exit. The brother's mother lead everyone through the doors -- while at the back of the group Neo and Adam's father trailed behind. Once everyone had left the room, leaving the low beeping of the heart monitor to echo as the soul sound in the medical bay, Vladimir’s eyes opened.

He stared at the ceiling, before signing heavily. Hovering in mid-air next to the bed leisurely laying back with its translucent hooves folded behind its head, the creature crackled, "We've struck gold here, Little Red! Gold! O' how eager I am to see you steal a Sun gem from here. The anticipation is murder!"

Vladimir said nothing, as he rolled over onto his side, pulling a majority of the light bedsheets with him. Blankly looking at the wall across from his bed for a few seconds, he slowly closed his eyes. A stabbing sensation twisted in his gut at the thought of the the callous deed the creature demanded of him. He wished for someone to kill him. To end it here before it could do something monstrous. Sadly no such miracle would arrive, and deliver him from the torment.

He could just sigh, and hope the creature would leave him alone.

General Ventures stood in the balcony of a ruined skyscraper. The land before him was marked in the dark scars of war fought long ago. Bleak and bare the world was void, as the derelict structures that still stood appeared hollow. He took a satisfying whiffed of the breeze carrying the dense polluted bitter smell of sulfur. Holding in the brief breath, he exhaled smiling at the odor.

Two Legion unicorn soldiers stood next to him, levitating combat rifles at their breast with the tinted green aura of their horns. The building moaned as the wind brushed against it, though not in the slightest upsetting Ventures' mood.

"Isn't this what it's about, men?” He extended a high-raised hoof over the railing, as though he were showcasing the landscape, “Look at this land. All of it belongs to the Legion. From the border, to the mountains. And soon this blasted wasteland will become a paradise. With me as one of the governors of the new land! Bwaha! Me! A governor! Would you have ever thought it?"

Mundanely, the soldier on the left answered, "No sir."

Ventures rose a hoof to the soldier, and briskly smacked his back chortling deeply, "Liven' up soldier! We're nearly there! Paradise is close at hoof! Be proud you'll be part of the future!"

In the room behind Ventures, a Darkminer skulked in the shadows -- silently approaching him. The room was tossed about, as torn up furniture, glass, and shredded velvet curtains littered the blue ash-smudged carpet. In the Miner's advance its hooves lightly landed on a fragment of glass. The grating crunch clearly sounded through the room, catching the attention of one soldier.

With his ears erected, and rifle raised, the soldier turned around locking his visor on the Darkminer. Pointing the end of the barrel at the pair of green glowing goggles in the shaded room he shouted, "Don't take another step! Identify yourself!"

The Darkminer crouched before the soldier, shielding his head with both hooves, pleading, "No kill! Here to speak! Talk to Surface Legion! Ventures, must speak with! Yes."

Ventures faced the lowly creature, quivering as it groveled for its life.

"What was that?" Ventures grunted staring down at the miner.

"Must speak!" It screamed still huddled in its defending position. "Must speak!"

Swiveling his pudgy snout to the soldier's rifle Ventures nodded once, coughing, "Lay down your rifle, son. Let's here what the fellow has to say."

Levitating the end of his gun to the floor, the soldier took a step back. The miner slowly slid one hoof off of a single goggle lens. Peeking at the withdrawn weapon, the creature's tremble gradually grew still. Rising onto its lanky linen-wrapped hooves, it kept a bowed head to Ventures while in his presence.

"Surface Legion is kind. Kind, kind, yes."

The returning crooked smirk Ventures provided layered his cheeks with several rolling wrinkles. "Yes, well, I'm glad you noticed."

Ventures paused peering at the creature, searching for a name. "Your name?"

"No name." The miner mewled retaining its furtive figure. "No name."

Scoffing, Ventures’ smirk returned. "Not even ponies anymore, are you? Can't even name one another outside of the Warden."

Shaking its hooded head it bleated, "No, not ponies."

"Well," Ventures commanded lifting his nub of a nose, "speak your peace."

For the first time the miner rose its head, allowing the pair of green enigmatic eyes to make contact with Ventures’. "Must come into mine. Predators in trouble!"

Ventures arched an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

The miner's footing became timid as he pawed the carpet speaking in a higher, more urgent tone, "Must come! Must come! Predators in danger!"

Taking a few steps toward the miner, Ventures held a stunned, perplexed expression. "What's wrong with the Predators? Have you told Thatch?"

"Thatch, weak, busy. You strong! Stronger than all Surface Legion!"

"What of the others? Have you attempted to tell those patrolling the mines?" Ventures asked.

The creature's energy increased tenfold, showing as cavorted in place crying, "Come! Come! Need help! Come!"

The miner started to back up toward the exit, reeling in a beckoning hoof as he bounced, pleading on repeat the same outcry for him to come. The soldier on the left looked to Ventures, "Should we follow it?"

Ventures paused for a moment, before a shingled grin graced his round puffy cheeks. "The creature seems to know what he's talking about... Maybe when his majesty returns I could get a higher promotion..."

"Do you want us to follow him, sir?" The soldier queried.

"Let's listen to the poor thing. See what happens. After all, it must not be that urgent. I would have been the first to hear! It’ll be easy promotional material!"

Boisterous laughter filled the air around the long steel dining table. On plastic green eating trays the munched remains of apple cores, sticky shreds of sweet lettuce drizzled in a tangy vinegar sauce, accompanied by the remnants of ripe juicy tomatoes still oozing their clear rich juices down the smooth red surfaces from monstrous jagged bite marks torn out of their flesh. Laying back in the comfortably padded metal seats a hoof could be seen resting on the rounded bellies of every pony.

Neo was finishing up the story of their adventure on the Legion railway, and the daring escape his brother and he had performed to evade death. "...And Adam swung the breaking switch around! Faster and faster! As the lumbering soldier with the rocket launcher came closer to catching us, I-"

Adam's laughed died, as he swayed his head to the his brother. "Hey, I don't remember there being a rocket launcher guy."

Over the furious guffaw taking control of all other speech for the moment, Neo inhaled a deep breath of air, quelling the laughter. "Sure there was Adam. Don't you remember?"

Adam arched an eyebrow, keeping his head tilted, "No, I'm pretty sure there wasn't."

Bellowing another great laugh, Neo slapped Adam on the back quickly reeling his brother's head close. Nearly stuffing the end of his snout into Adam's ear, Neo whispered, "C'mon, Adam, it makes the story better."

Briefly glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the party enveloped in the laughs, and mirth he returned quickly to Adam, "They're really enjoying it, and I've been truthful with everything else, so what if I add in a few more bad guys to spice'n up the action?"

Rolling his eyes, Adam blew a grouse whinny, "Fine, but try and make me sound cooler, alright? Last time I told a story I didn't include enough awesome action."

Neo winked once at him, "Can do."

Sitting upright again, reminded Neo of the food stuffed tightly in his guts. An ache, minor at first, swiftly turned groan worthy in moments. Clasping both forelegs over his stomach, he arched his back as all could hear the low grumbles of the upset balance bellow its painful cry.

Wincing Neo waved a hoof at the group, bending his back further in an unnatural angle at the pain rolling within his gut. "Hold on one sec," he grunted, "I think I too much too fast... Damn..."

"You're going to finish the story, right?" Lucy asked leaning inward and folding her hooves on the tabletop. "We all missed quite a bit and I'm anxious to see how you overcame that rocket trooper. Let alone lift that crate to slow him down."

Amidst the grumbling Neo moaned under his breath a pain-stricken scoff, "Hehe, yeah... The crate..."

Adam rushed to Neo's defense, "B-But there was! Brother forgot to mention we did it together."

A blanched hue lightened Neo's complexion. "What he said..."

Clapping her hooves, their mother rocked in her seat, more than enjoying her share of the laughter. "My, you two have been so busy! I can't believe I missed all of that."

Adam’s eyes shot up, as he excitedly pointed up to the ceiling. "We also climbed the mountain!"

"We tried." Lucy added in a concealing cough.

The stark realization came to Adam swiftly, ultimately returning his merry expression to that of contentment. Blinking rapidly a few times, he looked to his mother. "Mom, how did you get us out of there?"

She smiled at him, "They arrived not too long ago. They're gunships we found in a storage facility. We were fixing them not too long ago at Steelhoof keep. The few pegasi that could operate them flew over her after we made direct contact with the keep. They sent us troops, and workers. Personnel that could help move the project along."

Adam's mouth went agape at the news. "They got them working? When we arrived there they were still fixing them up."

An ear-grating screech trilled the air as Adam pushed out his seat, while he nearly jumped from where he sat in response, "Is Golden Cog here? Did she help fly them?"

"Yes," she nodded at him, "there is a pony named Golden Cog. She's the one who got the rest of the gunships operational. Why do you ask, Adam? Do you know her?"

Slumping back into the chair's cushion, Adam gently rubbed his upper foreleg. "We kinda' know her. She was one of the few ponies willing to talk to us at the keep."

"Well," she cooed sweetly, "if you want to talk to her I know where to find her."

Their father poked his head over Adam's left shoulder, patting his back while he added, "She spends most of her time in the hangar. Hardly ever leaves the blasted place!"

Adam's eyes enlarged, glistening the delicate light shining down on the table, giving off the starry appearance his pupils were filled with sparkles.

"You have a hanger?" He was almost drooling. "That's so cool..."

Another playful pat on the back came from his father. "I'll take you sometime soon, if you'd like."

"We had a patrol out scanning the mountain side." The brother's mother said. "One of the pilots spotted your group in the snow. As the storm grew though, many of the engines were damaged in the weather."

Her smile diminished as she gazed into the steely reflective gloss of the table. "I'm so sorry you boys had to go through all of that to get here... I should have told you everything... I should have been more honest."

For the moment, Neo tightened his diaphragm, wiping the pain away for just a moment. He craned over the table, as did Adam, and together they warmly comforted her.

"It's alright, mom. Really, it is. Don't blame yourself for what we did. We chose to leave the stable." Neo reassured her.

"If we hadn't we wouldn't have found out all about Iron Hammer, or met any of our friends." Adam included.

She rose her eyes to meet her son's. A thin smile beneath the regret formed, casting a warming spell on the two boys, melting their hearts. "I love you both -- so, so much."

Lucy coughed into her hoof, piercing the mood settled between the family. "Speaking of which, it's probably best we talk about that... You know, fate of the province and everything resting on Iron Hammer's purpose?"

Ally hiccupped, hitting her chest before she spoke. "Ranger had some information he wanted to share with you. Apparently something top secret about it."

The sliding doors at the far end of the room parted, as Vladimir came waddling in with a bandage wrapped around his head. Every step the stallion took wobbled uneasily the rest of his legs.

The further he approached the table the erratic swerves in his stride grew wider. Stumbling at the table's end, he caught himself on the edge, and hoarsely coughed.

The brother's mother turned out of her seat, extending a hoof to him as she spoke tenderly. "Sir, are you alright? I thought you would have recovered by now."

He rose a hoof to her, stopping the mare where she stood. His eyes pinched as he growled at a biting pain infesting each movement. "No, I-I'm fine... W-What did I miss?"

Their father went to a table across from their own, fetching an additional seat for Vladimir. Sliding it at the table's end, Vladimir gingerly sat himself down letting loose a deep sigh at the relief the chair brought. Laying back as far as he could, the limp strands of silver-lined black mane protruding from under the bandages hung behind him over the edge of the seat.

"Don't let my health concern you." He puffed, barely lifting up his eyes to look at the group. "Please... Go on..."

Those around the table were silent -- save for the heavy breathing of Vladimir. The brother's mother appeared stunned, as she squinted at the huffing stallion. Paying especial attention to his eyes. "Have I..."

Leaning more intently toward him she unfocused her stare, and recoiled herself back into the chair. "N-Nevermind."

"What, is it?" Vladimir asked over a cringing wheeze. "Is-Is something the matter with the bandage?"

Shaking her head, she smiled chuckling at him, "No no, it's nothing really."

Lucy too, kept fixed eye contact with him -- unsurely grimacing at the state of his health, and the legitimacy of his claim. "If you say so, pal... We were talking about the information we found out regarding Iron Hammer. If there was a time to tell us about that info you've got, now would be the time."

Vladimir gulped once, "P-Please forgive me then... The information is a little fuzzy."

"You'll all have a time to tell us everything," the brother's mother said, "I'll contact General Ironside at biome three. He'll need to hear everything you need to say to him."

Adam stretched the limits of a smile, not paying attention to the sore strain he put on his cheeks. "That's excellent news! When's the soonest we can see him?"

"Tomorrow, possibly. He’s been handling the troop movement of Coalition soldiers around the province.” She answered.

Nudging Neo, who had returned to his hunched groaning status, Adam continued his cheerful speech. "Brother, did you hear that? We can finally do something about the Darkmine! We can finally put an end to it all!"

Facing his mother, Adam was alight with a beaming aura of energetic happiness. "Now that we're staying here with Dad and you, we can plan it out."

If ever there was a fading light, stricken out by a bullet extinguishing its fair halo, now had been that time. For the delicate look of tender kindness expressed on their mother's face vanished -- becoming a darker, shadow of somber dread. Adam could see it as she obverted her gaze from his own, twiddling her hooves as though she had something to say.

Adam's smile shriveled to a thin, almost none existent smirk of nervousness. "Mom? Did I say something?"

The last thing he wanted was to see his mother get upset, and as she withheld all comments Adam's body turned cold. Neo rose his view to see his mother hide away her face behind a lengthy brown curl of her mane.

Bearing the pain for the moment, he too inquired the sudden shift in mood. "Adam's right, is something wrong?"

Adam glanced at his father, who like his mother held a downward gaze. "Dad?"

She lifted her head, moving aside the section of her mane drooping over the side of her face. Briefly looking to those gathered around the table, she said, "I'm so happy you all came. I can't begin to understand all the struggles you went through just to see me..."

Everyone sitting at the table leaned over the table, swiveling their ears in her direction. "The world is a cruel place, filled with horrors... And out here life is difficult... That's why I have to tell you, to go home."

Adam slammed both hooves on the table, and rose pushing back the seat behind him. "What!?"

"You can't be serious!" Neo sternly interjected holding his gut. "We did so much to get here!"

A negative murmur befell the entire group, as Neo and Adam fixedly peered at their mother. "We fought a war to get here! I watched ponies I care about die! The number of times we evaded death is-"

"I know!" She barked, a few tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "You don't think it hurts me to say this? Your father and I love you so, so much. But as long as you live out here, all of those things will only happen more. And who knows, one day you might not be so lucky. Can you imagine how hard that would be for us? To think that you could die out here?"

Lucy followed Adam, roughly jettisoning her seat and standing. "Listen, lady, I don't know what you consider the best choice for them -- but these two are certified badasses. They've gone through a whole hell of a lot to get here, and the last thing they need to hear from you is telling them to get lost!"

Ally whooped slamming the tabletop with one hoof. "Here! Here!"

"It's not negotiable!" She declared over the opposing voices. "They are our sons, and a life in the stable is a safe one. They won't be harmed there, and as long as this project is being done I can't stand seeing you two hurt yourselves!"

Her breathing had become heavy, as a hot sweat developed on her trembling brow. A faint beeping came from a watch tied around her ankle. Glancing at it, she concluded, "You can stay here for the next few days, while our technicians repair the gunships. After they're done, you'll be on the first ship to take you all back to your respective homes."

Straightening her coat, she stepped to the side and pushed her seat back into the table. She tightened her stomach, suppressing the tears desperately trying to escape. "If you excuse us, your father and I need to get back to work... I'll send someone down here to show all of you to your rooms for the time being."

Quickly facing the door, she hurried off, with their father gravitating toward her side.

All eyes were on the polished steel doorframe the two parents pass through. When the doors closed, the low swoosh they sounded echoed through the dining hall. Leaving those still seated at the table, alone and confused.

It was dim in the tunnels of the mines. Rolling plumes of dense team caught in the low light, hissing out of the valves on the internal pipping lining the ceiling. Ventures traversed a long corridor that sported a much higher ceiling than many of the more narrow twisting pathways branching out in the mine.

Five soldiers followed him, the three extra picked up from a small patrol walking this section of the mines. Ventures headed the group, his cape dragging on the floor behind him. The miner leading them gamboled onward -- sending an icy prick, nipping at the nape of his neck. Darkminers were never this happy, nor this expressive for that matter.

The longer the creature continued his gleeful nature, the more the chill stung him. It threw up one hoof, waving it high in the air bouncing in one spot as it waited for them. "Come come! Help!"

Ventures had been walking for some time now, feeling the aching strain of the hard uneven rocky floor finally take their toll on him. A fiery heat boiled below his brow, forming a dampening layer of sweat. The miner was a strange fellow, that perplexed Ventures. Not only had this creature taken him away from the calm balcony outside, but it obsessively wanted him to follow it. Almost as though it gained pleasure from leading him into the unknown.

"Damn beast," Ventures groused beneath his breath, "why can't it slow down?"

A shape emerged from out of the dimness at the end of the tunnel. A large dark iron door, heavily lined with thick bolts fastened to it. The door was opened slightly, leaving just enough room for one pony to slide through at a time. Wiggling its way into the crack, the miner popped his head through the sliver of space entering the room.

"Come! Come!" It harkened. "Come!"

As the group of Legionnaires came to the door, Ventures noted the thickness of the door. The entire entrance was like a vault, meant to safely conceal whatever was inside. He stuck both hooves into the opened crack, prying the door open.

Arching his back, tugging on the heavy door with every ounce of available strength, he felt the joints and muscles alike in both legs stretch. The sharp pain quickly brought sweat to develop under the huge rolls of his chin. Grunting, he let go stepping back from the door, having not managed to alter its place in the slightest.

His heart thumped at a brisk pace, as a burning infested the rest of the General's chest. Sitting himself down by the doorway, he tiredly rose one hoof to the door, gasping for breath. "Men, you open it. T-That’s an order..."

Hesitantly, the soldier looked to one another, muttering. Then, coming to the door they collectively stuck their hooves in the thin space, craning backwards as the hinges bellowed a shrill cry thunderously ringing throughout the whole tunnel.

It opened slow at first, as the soldiers painfully grunted together. Even with the combined efforts of all four ponies, the crack had merely expanded a mere two feet. Ventures rose, still breathing deep exasperated inhalations.

The soldiers let go, stumbling backward as Ventures stepped through the crack into the next room. A few low-hanging ceiling lights flickered above, providing the only means of illumination.

Crates stacked in the center of the room were piled sporadically, even against the walls, forming a maze-like assortments of stacks of two or more boxes. The side of one crate had been ripped off, where remains of the torn wooden planks were peppered in shreds of dry hay from inside the box. Amongst the heaps of internal packaging cushioning -- the limp body of a predator lay still.

Lurching over the lifeless body of the predator, the Warden and three other miners operated on the internal workings of the machine. The miner who had lead them stood behind the group of working creatures, as he alone stared vacantly at Ventures. One by one the other soldiers entered the room, watching the mine's locals whisper and hiss to each other in their own inaudible babble.

Venture's squinted, taking a single step toward the group of miners huddled around the machine. "You lot! What do you think you're doing!?"

Slowly, the Warden moved his head, giving the general a sideways glance. When one of his green eyes caught Ventures a low, coughing chortle came, "Hehe... General here... Yes?"

The miner who had lead them nodded, keeping an unwavering fix on Ventures. "Yes. Yes..."

Those soldiers who had came with Ventures took up their weapons, pointing the barrels of their guns at the miners. "Tell me what's going on here!" Ventures demanded, "What is the meaning of all of this!"

The Warden hadn't moved, and his laughter was still constant. "End of surface Legion... End general... Everything... Ends..."

A piston on the upper righthand corner of the door hissed, closing it behind them. Ventures turned back to see it close, and as the thundering boom of the lock sounded, his eyes grew wide. The cold gathered on his nape suffused throughout the rest of his body.

The racing of his heart, and the clammy moisture developing over his entire body grew more profuse. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a miner, slinking in the shadows near a bottom along the door's frame.

Quickly returning to the Warden, he boomed gritting his teeth, "Soldiers! Arrest them! Stop them from tampering with the predators!"

The Warden's laugh turned sing-song, "Too late! Too late! No catch! HAHAHA!"

The lights died. Leaving the dim pairs of green eyes the single means of light in the dark. Ventures heart pounded furiously -- rattling his ribcage wanting to break free. The eyes of the creatures all stared at him, while the miners brittle giggling filled the air.

In unison the goggles slithered back into the shadow, vanishing from sight as a faint click sounded. Another pair of circled eyes entered. A hellish set of red orbs rising up, whilst an electric buzz excited the air, turning its taste to that of bitter sulfur.

Venture's entire body shook, filling with an arctic chill. He recoiled himself, stepping away from the ghastly glowing crimson eyes. "S-Shoot at it! Now! Kill it!"

The eyes grew closer, smoothly hovering toward him. A lilting growl followed -- accompanied by a series of white, sharp teeth reflecting the dull red light.

"Shoot it! S-Shoot it!"

A clamor of gunfire sparked, igniting the room briefly in the muzzle flare. Bullets tinged, and whizzed by slicing the air. But the eye's advance was unhindered by the bullet's force. The myriad of malicious laughter lingered, surpassing even the sound of the gunfire with the bombing voices of the miners chanting:

"Death! Death! Predator rise! The mine will rise! To kill surface Legion!"

Neo's mind was a maze of fury, and complete bafflement. Thoughts whisked by, some hot and seething -- whilst others were blurred in chaos. He was walking down a hallway, no different than the rest of the shining halls, behind an earth pony mare suited in a smart black jumpsuit.

The pony's pink face was out of focus, shrouded in a haze encircling Neo's vision. The words his mother had said to him, to leave after all they had gone through, channeled out all other sounds and speech. Every light overhead that passed by gave the luminous effect of a bright flare, causing him to wince at each new lightbulb.

The security officer was saying something. To whom was not clear, perhaps Lucy, or maybe Ally. Possibly to the entire group. The only audio that his ears detected was an indistinguishable mutter that sounded a lot like a low wah wah wah than actual coherent speech.

A few reflective steel doors sat across from one another on opposing walls. They were much smaller than the standard pair of pushing doors one encountered. These merely had a single sliding door, accompanied with its own orange button on the side of the doorframe.

Stopping, the security pony pointed to the first room. A few wah wahs blabbed, before Ally, Wester, and Big Lot walked past him in the disorienting fog clouding the edges of his vision. Neo's friends didn't look thrilled either. Each held with them their own gloomy weight impressed into a saddened expression.

Pointing to the door across from the other's room, Adam pulled up beside Neo, head cocked to one side, as he arched an eyebrow at him. His words, unlike the guard's, weren't quite muffled in the clash of thoughts darting about in Neo's mind.

Adam's voice echoed faintly, "Brother?"

Neo blinked twice, shaking his head free of the thoughts. While the flaming emotions of anger and hate persisted -- boiling in the sinking pit of his stomach, he could at last hear clearly. "Uh, yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Adam asked, squinting keenly at his brother's complexion. "Ever since mom left you've been quiet."

Neo trailed his silvery eyes to the floor, withholding all thoughts in the presence of the guard. "If you're alright now," the security pony stated extending a hoof to the door, "you two will be sharing this room."

Adam turned to the guard, and nodded earnestly. "Thank you."

She smiled, tipping her hat at him. "It's my pleasure. It's nice to meet the sons of Dahlia and Ronan."

A simmering continuously bubbled against the bottom of Adam's heart. Despite this, the sweet mention of his parents names provide a warming brush traveling down his back.

The mention of their names stoked the growing flame inside Neo, flushing his brow with heated blood. Keeping both eyes to the ground, he entered the room without saying a word to the pony who lead them.

"Just remember," the guard said to Adam, "restrooms are down the hall to the left, and if you need any help or questions just find one of us. We won’t hesitate to help you with anything you might need."

Thanking her again, the guard trotted down the hallway. Adam tried as he could to snuff out the feelings stirring within -- primarily in the form of a tightened stomach or with deep sighs. None seemed to help.

Following his brother inside the room, Adam found the lights already on and their metal-framed beds made.

The room was small, with both beds bolted along each opposing side to the floor. A long iron nightstand riveted to the ground stood between them, holding on its top a reading lamp. Apart from these humble pieces of furniture was their saddlebags -- neatly folded, and laying on the bedspreads.

Adam came to the bedside on the left, looking down at his saddlebags. He masked the turbulent clatter of seething emotion under a weak chuckle, "At least we got our things back, right?"

Turning to face his brother, he saw Neo sulking toward his bed, before sitting beside his bags. "Brother?"

Neo's voice was weak, "I don't know what to think, Adam."

Taking a seat on his own bed, Adam let his hind legs dangle off the edge. "To be honest, I don't know what to think either."

Gnashing his teeth, Neo drooped his snout to the ground, draping the dark bangs of mane over his face. "After all we've done... Everything we've gone through, it was all for nothing..."

"I'm not happy too, you know. But I can't say it was all for nothing."

"How?" Neo asked wearily, raising his eyes to Adam. "How was it all not a waste of our time?"

Adam gave a thin smile, answering in a tender voice, "Because we found out mom was alive."

Neo's eyes grew wide for a moment, as the sinking dropped further into him -- carving a harsh hollowness in place of where his heart was. "I... I... Know, Adam..."

A soft tremulous lilting clung to Neo's speech, as he pondered Adam's response. "I feel so betrayed... I-I don't know what we're going to do after everything we've done."

Leaping from his bed, Adam came to his brother's side. Sitting his flanks down on the creaking mattress springs, recoiling under his weight. "We'll try talking to her about it tomorrow. Maybe she'll let us stay."

The grim aura of Neo's tone hadn't left, while he glanced at Adam, "What if she refuses? What if she sends us back home regardless of what we say or do?"

Adam drew both eyes to the floor. His expression faded, as a thinking silence befell him.

Then, shrugging Adam sighed, "I guess we'll just have to go home then..."

A metallic rapping came from the door, instantly perking the two brother's ears, and drawing their eyes to the source of the sound. Blinking twice at the door, another set of knocks thrummed the air. Adam slid off of the bedside casually walking to answer it.

Just before one other knock tolled, Adam opened the door, as a slight drift of the faint swoosh of the door sliding upward upsetted the sensitive hairs on his snout. Wrinkling his nose, he saw Ronan standing in the other side.

Adam was slightly taken back, reeling his head in the presence of his father. "Dad?"

Tucked somewhere under the dark shadows shirting his eyes, and the long cracking wrinkles of stress streaking his brow, a smooth gentle atmosphere was generated from him. Warmly smiling, he took an inquiring step toward Adam, "Do you mind if I come in? I wanted to talk to you about what happened."

Peeking briefly over Ronan's shoulder, Adam asked, "Where's mom? I thought both of you were busy."

"Checking the conditions of biome two didn't take long to glance at. Your mother though, she's working on a new way to conserve the energy given off of the sun gems in each biome."

The fire, bubbling and churning deep in Neo’s stomach blazed hot. He frowned, bounding from the edge of the bed. "Why did he show up? After what happened, I didn't think there'd be more to say."

Adam stepped to the side, allowing his father to speak to Neo from the doorway. "Neo, I know how you must feel, but I wanted to talk to you-"

Neo stomped his hoof, ringing a blaring cling that reverberated off of the walls. "You want to talk now? Do you think it's alright to just come back into our lives like nothing even happened?"

Ronan stood silent.

"Mom was torn apart after you left her, and since then she'd always act sad when you were mentioned!"

Quietly, Ronan said to Neo, "Son, I'm sorry for what I did... But I wanted to say sorr-"

"No!" Neo boomed. "You don't get to do that! Not after all these years!"

Adam rose a hoof, gesturing Neo to back down. "Brother, maybe we should just calm down. I'm not happy either, but we don't need to explode."

"I've had it with him, Adam!" Neo snarled exposing his teeth. "I've had it!"

Prowling with fuming anger hotly beaming off of him with each powerful stride, he pushed his father aside storming out of the room. Quickly, Ronan turned to face Neo as he vacated the area. "Neo, wait!"

But Neo didn't stop, he continued marching down the outside hallway ignoring his father's plea.

Drooping his nose to the floor, Ronan bellowed a deep sigh, "What am I going to do, Adam?"

Adam lay a light, reassuring hoof on his father's shoulder, "He just needs some time to simmer down is all. We've both had to deal with the news you two gave us, and he's having a difficult time coming to terms with it."

Lifting his head, Ronan inhaled through his nose, contracting his stomach and firming his figure with determination, "I should talk to him."

"No Dad," Adam countered, "I'll talk to him. He needs to cool down before you're ready to talk to him again."

Glancing at Adam over his shoulder, Ronan sighed once more, "Do you think he'll ever forgive me?"

Adam shrugged heavily. "I can't say, dad. I can't say."

Vladimir was wandering down the a corridor that to his right had a long window overlooking the furrowed rows of golden wheat in biome three. He stopped at the window's center, grousing under his breath while a splitting headache hammered the top of his cranium. Every movement felt heavy, like a bricks of lead were fastened to him.

Sitting down on the floor helped relieve that sensation. Though the radiant metal was hard and seeping the cold from its surface into him -- he calmly exhaled the air gathered in his lungs. Both eyelids draped partially over his sore eyes, as he gaze out into the vast array of farmland encased within the biome.

A vineyard sat alongside rows of orange trees, and beside that bushy dark leaved bushels of apple trees collectively crammed in tight lines. Some ponies in white lab coats could be seen working on short step ladders, reaching up and picking the fruit.

A loud grumble came from his stomach, enticing him to clamp a hoof over the rolling sharp hunger pains the groan brought. He diverted his focus from the freshly grown food to the bright glowing orb of light placed at the very top of the dome. Behind the thick glass window the rays were tinted, and the warmth distant. Yet the halo that surrounded it was still plainly visible.

The creature’s hissing, brittle voice manifested at his left, causing him to cringe at the pain the headache brought. "You know, after watching you struggle to merely walk from point A to point B I've started to wonder how you intend on stealing a Sun gem."

It slinked up to the side of Vladimir's head, shifting its head to one side. "Have you put any thought into it, Little Red? Any at all?"

Vladimir gulped, replying in a weak airy tone, "A little..."

Reeling itself back from him it turned its back to the window, smugly blurting, "Bah! Don't lie to me! I can read your mind you know!"

Folding its lanky translucent forehooves, it added, "Well, not all the time, but recently I've seen enough in your cripplingly dull mind to know you haven't been thinking of anything since you woke up."

"Then why ask me at all?" Vladimir asked, not bothering to look at the creature.

Spinning around to face him, a glowing white smirk befell its thin face. "I simply loooove to make you think you're in control. I think it's adorable when you act tough without me."

Leaving a path of receding dark mist behind its traveled path, it quickly jumped to his side, before swirling around him, and ending with the bottom of its mouth perched on his shoulder. "Seriously, I am curious how you aim to retrieve a gem. From what we've observed, they keep them in those huge bundles at the top of the domes."

Vladimir grimaced at it, "What do you expect me to do then? Fly up there?"

It shrugged, "Eh, I was thinking more along the lines of shooting something at it. A big rocket, perhaps. Then collect one of the bigger chunks that falls down."

Clapping its hooves, it bounded to the side cavorting in place. "Oh! Now that does sounds like wonderful fun!"

The pain in Vladimir's head carried throughout the rest of his head, throbbing and pulsing with a great stabbing pain festering inside him. Biting down his teeth, the force he exerted on his jaw made the tips of his molars crack, creating another nailing feeling to counteract the sensation slowly grating at his brain.

The creature took a long, deep whiff of the air -- then letting it all loose in one drawn out exhale through its nose. "I can feel your will weakening. While I'm sure it must be hell for you, I'm more than eager to take control if the need should arise."

Down the hallway, the echoing brisk pitter-patter of hooves trotting played. It was a struggle of its own to turn his head to see who was approaching. When his sight did gaze at the distant hall, he spotted Neo.

A terrible atmosphere lingered around the white stallion. A fuming temper that couldn’t be quenched by him, at least, not in Vladimir’s current condition.

All the same, Neo passed by, snorting whilst stomping heavily in his stride. He payed no mind to Vladimir, or to the pristine gardens outside the window. Yet, by the direction he strode it seemed as though he were heading to biome three.

Having watched Neo eventually wander out of sight, Vladimir's posture began to teeter, as his balance swayed about unevenly. The world was spinning and bobbing in all directions. Leaning himself against the glass, he slid down onto his side, keeping the side of his head pressed to the window.

The creature stood over him, shaking its head whilst muttering, "Tsk, tsk, still thinking being around those kids will help? Well, you've met Dahlia and still you're no closer to being rid of me. In fact..."

A wide malicious grin stretched across its face, pinching both bright eyes, "I'd say it's doing quite the opposite."

Pointing to its ankle, it chanted in a sing-song voice, "Tick-tock, Little Red! I'd find a way to secure a gem soon! Hee! Hee!"

When Vladimir looked up at the beast, it had vanished. He was breathing heavily now, the weight now anchored to his lungs. Each inhale was a battle of its own, leaving an exasperated heaving wheeze as he lay against the window. Time was running thin, both for his health, and for his mind.

But the first pair of words the creature taunted him with was the thing that resonated the most in his ears. Like a faded scoff, carried on the breeze the set of words pricked both eardrums.

Tick-tock... Tick-tock... Tick-tock...

Adam wandered the hallways aimlessly searching for his brother. Frequently he'd stop and ask a security guard or lab-coated pony passing him by. Though every time he would ask if they had seen Neo they'd all reply with the same, clueless, no.

Where the heck did he go? Adam wondered staring ahead. He couldn't have gotten far -- I mean, really, where could he go?

A few little chrome beetle robots scuttled along the side of the wall, humming a delicate fizzing sound as they went. In the path they left behind them, a stream of even more superbly polished floor gleamed.

One robot strayed from its course and gently bumped into Adam's hoof. Backing up, it quickly corrected itself and returned to cleaning the floor. Watching it whizz onward, Adam drooped his nose to the ground, sighing.

There were a few doors on either side of the hallway. Not nearly as many as the stable, nor where they positioned across from one another. The fact that neither of the rooms were mark or labeled only made finding help more difficult.

For all Adam knew, Neo could have picked some random corridor and just as easily chose a door to go in. Directing his attention to the sporadically placed doors on the left, his mind raced -- generating a dizzy light-headedness, inflating his brain.

"Brother, why couldn't you have just stayed in the room?"

A yellow mare, adorned in a bright white lab coat came merrily trotting down the hallway. Adam rose a hoof at her, causing the the mare to stop. "Excuse me, do you know what part of the complex I'm in? There aren't many labels or signs, it's really made navigating this place a real challenge."

She blinked twice and smiled dearly, "This is the residential quarter, dear. Head a little farther up and go down the stairs and you'll end up in biome three’s entrance."

Adam nodded to her. "Thanks."

Before she started off, Adam added, "Oh, and have you seen my brother? He's a little taller than me, black mane, silver eyes."

The mare's smile faded as she shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen a pony like that wandering around. Especially down in this quarter."

The news brought Adam to sigh once more. "Ah, well thanks for your help anyway."

Carrying on her way, the mare went on, leaving Adam alone in the hall. In mid-step, he froze. Where he stood, a high-pitched beeping plunked the air. Three short beeps, then a pause, before another set followed.

Gradually lowering his hoof, Adam looked to the center most door on the left. There, the sound pinged.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A wave of clammy sweat washed over his entire body. It was not a good feeling in the least, but it was a feeling. Perhaps the sounds were a clue to where his brother went. After all, a ping of a similar fashion guided Neo to him.

He walked to the door, pressed the button on the doorway, and pass the threshold leading in.

A darkness filled the new space, as the two vacant beds on both sides of the room were silhouetted in the white light pouring in through the doorway. The bedchamber resembled his in each fashion. From the nightstand in the center -- to the lamp atop it.

The only out of place item was a set of saddlebags resting on the righthand bed. Both bags had their tops slightly opened, with the upper flaps limply laying over the fastening buckles.

Adam lifted a hoof to the edge of his ear -- listening.

He waited for a few seconds. Only to hear nothing, but the buzz of the lights in the hallway.

I guess it was nothing, Adam thought. Yet another uneventful venture...

Turning back to the hallway, he was ready to continue his search when out of the corner of his eye he spotted a dim shining object glistening under the flap of one saddlebag.

Facing into the room again, he gingerly walked inside. Cocking his head to one side, Adam approached the bag -- both eyes vigilantly locked on the item.

Pushing the flap aside, the object was revealed. Tucked tightly in a pocket behind a plethora of various linens and traveling supplies the corner of a thin metal rectangle shown.

Lifting a hoof to the device, Adam hesitated. Was it right to look into another pony’s things? Should he continue to investigate?

Adam tenderly touch the corner of the metal item, and pulling it out of its snug confinement. Laying it beside the bags he glanced at the device in its entirety. A few red buttons in the middle made up the most of the machine's flat surface -- along with a flashing yellow light dimly flickering in the right corner.

Adam's eyes grew wide, as he took a few steps back. His heartbeat skipped while he recalled what the object was. In the stable, when he had worked with Pipbuck attachments, tracking devices were implemented into the Pipbucks of criminals in the stable. But how a stable-tech brand tracker managed to be secretly placed in the far reaches of the bag was unknown.

To whom the tracking device belong to as well was another mystery. A million horrible thoughts pervaded Adam's mind as his heart's pounding rose to a furious degree.

"Who does it belong to?" Adam pondered aloud. "Does it belong to a Coalition soldier?"

Adam took note of the sturdy leather straps. Ones more associated with those wearing armor, like Wester. The only other pony who matched that criteria was Ranger. Since he was the only one who hadn’t followed the others to their rooms, the assumption could be solid.

Laying the device on the bed, Adam shook his head, removing himself of the thoughts.

He would have to worry about it later, he still needed to find Neo. Pushing the flap back over the bag, Adam walked out of the room and shut the door. His search would have to continue, but a new task of finding the owner took second place over his brother.

A rotunda had been carved in the rock above Thatch. A wide round room encircled the area, with a bulky iron table at its center. Upon the dull tabletop Legion ponies sat hunched over papers strewn about reading the numbers and grey charts printed on them.

Along the curved walls computer towers stood side by side, flashing their multi-colored processing buttons as tapes spun at their tops. Legion ponies, dressed in fine uniforms and headsets cupped over their ears paced about the room, frequently checking the information spewing from slits in the computers in long lengths.

Thatch was at the massive table, and like his fellow ponies he too arched himself over an extensive piece of paper. Numbers listing Iron Hammer's consumption of fragmented Sun gem ore was marked by a series of numbers lined horizontally.

As his eyes fell on the numbers he muttered them aloud, "0.006% -- 0.007% -- 0.008%..."

Shaking his head, he grunted snorting from his nose, "Is this the best we can do?"

One unicorn stallion glancing at his own information looked at him, pushing off one speaker of the headset off an ear. "What sir?"

Lightly slapping the paper with the backend of his hoof, Thatch repeated, "This. Is this the best we can do?"

"Well," the stallion slurred averting his gaze to the side, "we could increase the pressure of the ore purification. Though, I'm not sure the pumps could take on the extra stress for too long."

"Fine. Divert what you can to the pumps, and keep them shooting the missile up with the ore until we reach critical levels."

Nodding firmly once, the stallion saluted him and trotted off to the other end of the room to a computer tower.

Sighing, Thatch returned to his paper. "We can't afford any setbacks... Even if they're as minor as this..."

A faint shaking overtook the room, briefly stirring those inside. A curtain of light dust fell from the ceiling coating the table in a brown plume of cavern dust.

Aside from this, the tremor came and went quicker than the blink of an eye. For the moment -- everyone paused turning their eyes upward. Thatch shrugged, and went back to his paper.

"Damn earthquakes." He scoffed.

The ground shook once more, jerking the entire room. Thatch stumbled forward, his gut jabbed by the edge of the table. Knocking the wind out of him, he wheezed gasping while holding himself up with both trembling hooves on the tabletop.

"What the hell was that?!" He snarled hoarsely, recollecting the air in his lungs.

"An earthquake?" One pony across the room murmured.

In the moment after the pony spoke the lights snapped off, and a dim red glow from from the emergency lighting hummed to life. At the end of the room, from the thickly bolted iron exit door, a brisk metallic rapping thrummed the air.

The drumming echoes bounced off of the rotunda above, while a mare that had been monitoring a nearby computer tower went to the door, and answered it. Pushing it open for the visitor at the door a Legion soldier stumbled through the doorway, panting heavily.

Dark smudges of dirt stained what part of the soldier's yellow matted coat were exposed beneath the weighted armor she wore. A battle saddle was fastened to her green plated barding -- though the belt hugging her gut was torn slightly at the buckle.

"Sir!" The soldier gasped, her voice tinged with urgency. "Sir!"

Thatch approached the soldier slowly, as the pain from in his stomach still throbbed. "What is it soldier? What the hell is going on?"

The soldier's exasperated inhalations were muffled under the leather gas mask. Trembling to lift her neck up, the soldier put her visor just below Thatch's eye level. "The miners, sir! They've gone insane!"

Reeling back, Thatch stuttered, "W-what? Are you serious?"

Bringing himself to nod once, the soldier continued, "They've already breached the upper levels, and they've sealed off the main exit from the surface!"

A mumble of hushed, worried whispers fell on the ponies of the control room. Thatch felt the adrenaline filled heartbeats pound against the walls of his chest. A hot sweat gathered on his brow, matting the mane under his hat.

He gulped a coarse lump down his throat, and asked, "Have they taken the armory yet?"

"T-They're on their way there now, sir." The soldier sighed, dropping her weary head.

Loosening his collar, Thatch leaned his snout close to the soldier's ear, "How many of us are there? Answer quietly soldier."

Glancing at the widened eyes of the computer operating staff, and the quick panic-laden whispers shot back at one another, she replied, "Enough to hold our own, for a time... I don't know how much longer we can hold out without aid from the surface."

Thatch nodded, keeping his volume to a minimum, "We'll need to get to the armory, and if we're too late, we need to get to the mine's central control room. From there we can contact the outside."

Peeking over Thatch's shoulder at the staff, the soldier jerked her head at them, as they slowly gathered near the table at the news, "What about them, sir? Should we evacuate them to a safer location further in the mine?"

Thatch shook his head, "Negative, soldier. Moving a group like this through the mine would be a slaughter. Besides, we can't afford the loss of these ponies."

"Very well, sir." The soldier said.

Facing the entire group of ponies who operated the multitude of computers and devices, he craned his nose upward addressing the whole of those before him. Stiffening his spine he spoke in a deep authoritative tone.

"As you have heard, we have a situation on our hooves. A riot is underway in the mines, and it has already taken the lives of some of our staff."

A torrid budging lump developed in his throat, lilting his voice as he attempted to maintain a steady pitch. "Please, don't panic. I, along with the private, will assess and handle the issue as swiftly as possible."

"All I ask, is that you remain here. Bar the door, and wait until further instruction."

The plethora of frightened hisses and susurrations spread over the room like a bad rumor infesting the populous. Doubly so after another short quake rattle the ground. Thatch collected himself, and returned, "Please, we have our hooves on the progression of this project."

"Be strong. Be brave. Remember what we're doing for the world. For our province. And above all else, do not open that door for anyone."

Turning to the soldier, Thatch pointing the tip of his nose to the door. "Let's be off soldier. I need to arm myself before this gets out of hoof."

Looking up at him, the soldier's words were faint, "It may already be too late, sir."

Arching an eyebrow, Thatch replied, "Why do you say that?"

"Because they have the Predators."

Adam hastily trotted down a corridor. The search of his brother had gone fruitless for far too long. Where had he gone, and how no other eyes had seen him were questions that pecked at Adam's mind.

He veered right at a the end of the hall, and came to a long hallway, not unlike the others that branched throughout the mountain. Moving by other corridors on his left, Adam glanced down the long halls before switching to the next one. This took his focus away from looking straight before him -- completely shutting out any who might be on a collision course for him.

Vladimir was at the other end of the hall, sluggishly dragging his hooves and groaning lowly at the pain lancing through each slightly movement. Too busy gazing at the empty corridors to notice Vladimir, Adam's head collided with Vladimir's.

The pain inflicted on Vladimir was minuscule when compared to the constant sharpness that infused every part of him. Adam, however, felt the full bluntness of the collide as he stumbled back placing the backend of his hoof to his now sore brow.

Adam hissed recoiling at the action, before shaking his head and looking at the pony he had run into. Dropping the hoof to the ground, he blinked at Vladimir, "Ranger? I-I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

The Legion Emperor messaged the lower part of his temple, staring at Adam with eyes skirted in shadowed sleepless gloom. "And what is it your doing that requires you to not look forward?"

Lifting his Pipbuck, Adam looked at the constant flashing of the clock mark eight P.M., "I'm looking for my brother. He had a confrontation with our dad, and since then he went off -- to where I can't say."

Vladimir's upper eyelids sagged over the top portion of his eyes, as his ears too lazily fell. In response to Adam, he returned in a gruff gurgling voice, "That's unfortunate."

He sounded the least bit interested in the topic, but Vladimir was the first pony he'd seen since inspecting the room. "I understand you must be still recovering, and I know the last thing you want is to be involved with our family troubles, but I need to ask you something."

Summoning additional strength, Vladimir forced up an eyebrow.

"Have you seen my brother?" Adam asked. "I've been looking everywhere for him but I can't seem to find him."

A clear objective, the only objective, Vladimir had was getting to his room. The sooner he could continue the better. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen him."

The cruel chilling whisper of the creature spoke to him in his ear, "That isn't true, Little Red. Why are you lying to the boy? Why not be truthful? Has the lovey-dovey side of you finally hardened?"

Vladimir's left eye twitched, whilst the pain immediately rose to a thrashing sensation beating his entire body down. The feeling wobbled his weakened leg joints, and numbed his sense of hearing. Every other sound that he heard was muffled under a layer of pain.

Adam took a step forward, peering at Vladimir's shaking legs. "Are you okay? You don't look well."

A single husky chuckled blurted from him, "I-I feel fine. Just fine."

"More lying?" The creature remarked. "I thought you were supposed to be the good guy, Little Red. Heroes don't lie."

Adam pulled a neutral expression. "I don't want to keep you from getting where you need to go, but I have just one more question."

Vladimir kept silent.

Taking his silence as an answer to continue, Adam inquired, "During my trip around here, looking for my brother, I came upon a room. I don't remember seeing where you were staying."

Vladimir let Adam continue.

"I heard a beeping coming from the room," Vladimir's heart leapt as Adam spoke to him, "and it looked like your bags were in the their."

The creature’s bodiless giggle wiggled and itched the inside of his ear, “Are you going to lie again? What are you going to say? Oh! Say something silly, throw him off!”

“Yes,” Vladimir uttered in a gunt, “that’s my room.”

The specter’s voice sounded disappointed. “Oh, you’re no fun at all, are you?”

Raising a hoof, Adam added, "I'm sorry if I entered without your permission... It's just, anywhere could be a potential place for my brother to be."

Vladimir's eyes widened, while a new level of tormenting pain came to him. The sensation of a hot knife, simmering red and glowing, fully alight to the end of the grip -- plunged itself into his throat. Not a whimper nor pain-laden groan escaped. He could only be silent.

"I found a tracking device in there, Stable-Tech brand technology too. And I was wondering what purpose it held."

At this time, all sounds were drowned out of his mind. Little claws, digging into his eardrums tightened their hold in the wake of Adam's voice. He couldn't speak. He couldn't hear anything but the constant chime of a faint ring drilling deeper and deeper.

Adam felt Vladimir’s face flush with heat. Feeling the hot energy beam off of him. “Ranger?”

Slapping the hemlock of his hoof to the center of his brow, Vladimir bared his teeth. Adam urgently remarked, “Everyone knows you aren’t doing well. Maybe you should go back to the medical bay, get some sleep and take a health potion.”

Releasing the heavy clamp of his gritting teeth, he muttered, “I just want to get to my room.”

Pitying the poor stallion, Adam shook his head. “You really should let someone help you. It’s not good for you to allow yourself to feel this way.”

Walking around Vladimir, Adam started down the hall to leave him to his own path. Adam hadn’t taken more than a few steps from him before he spun around -- fighting the pain in a murmuring grouse.

With a hoof extended out to Adam, Vladimir coughed, “Wait...”

Adam stopped. Turned around, and looked at Vladimir.

“Your brother...” Vladimir started weakly. “Try checking biome three... it’s down the hall.”

“Why do you say that?” Adam asked.

Dropping his hoof, Vladimir winced at a shrug he provided. “It’s a gut feeling.”

Beyond the worry of Vladimir, and the pain he underwent, the news was aglow in sweet balmy sincerity. Perhaps it was a gut feeling, but it was more than he had managed to uncover on his own.

There was no exchange of thank yous, nor a reply of words of any fashion. Adam simply gave him a smile, and walked down the hall. Vladimir felt it better that way. To bring himself to smile or return a grinding thanks would be too much already.

Facing the opposing end of the hall, Vladimir shuffled onward. Suffering through the pain, as quietly as possible.

Neo sat on a hill, upon the short cool grass, brushed with droplets of chilly dew nipping his haunches. He pressed his back against the rough bark of an oak tree, enjoying the heavy curtain of shade it provided. In the twisting gnarled branches the golden light above pieced through the cracks in the forested canopy.

Staring at the ground, Neo listened to the soothing ambience of the biome. A creek somewhere out of sight rustling softly, while the gentle sough of the rustling leaves overhead trembled in the wake of the artificially generated breeze.

Though the wind, sky, sun, clouds, all of it was fake -- it felt real. Between a few trees in front of him he could see the tiny white thumb-tack sized pedals of a lone marigold grow in low light of the underbrush. How alone it must be, to sit amongst giants without the proper sunlight to grow. The longer he peered at the single flower, the deeper his stomach sank.

Taking a sniff of the wind, the hefty aroma of wet dirt lingered in the air, brought from the freshly tilled soil of the farmland in the distance. To imagine that at one instant in time the world was just as it was in the biome. Calm, and devoid of ponies that would disturb the peace with guns or threats of war.

To think that the world was at ease.

The faint sound of grass shifting, and dead leaves crunching from behind him straightened his back. It was an out of place sort of disturbance, enticing both ears to swivel in its direction. Quickly, Neo looked over his shoulder at the source of the strange oncoming noise. Where the rustling had been, there his mother stood, halfway to the trunk of the tree he sat at.

As his eyes lay on her, she paused where she stood -- a hoof still hovering in mid-step. Neo turned his entire body to face her, "Mom? What are you doing here?"

She lowered her hoof, and smiled, "I was looking for you."

Neo's ears drooped, as he returned to laying back against the tree. "Well, I want to be alone for a bit."

Dahlia ambled around the trunk to see her son. "I know you're upset about what I said... I would be too if I were in your place."

Looking up at her, Neo asserted firmly, "Then let us stay here. I want to help you more than anything. But I can't do any of that if I'm cooped up back home."

Taking a seat next to him on the tree she sighed, "I remember when I was your age. All I wanted to do was help ponies. It was my soul dream -- my only prerogative in life."

"What stopped you then?" Neo asked.

"I knew that life was far from becoming safe in the world. At the time, we hadn't found this fancy place yet, and we were still operating in an old motel outside of Ironhoof."

Craning her nose to the rustling branches, she closed her eyes, and smiled. "Above helping ponies, the one thing I wanted more than anything else was to have children."

"And at the time, in that world, I couldn't guarantee a safe life for them. Not until our work was done." She added in the same relaxed, airy voice. "I would be this age by the time my work was done, and even older while the province was undergoing reconstruction."

Directing her emerald eyes to Neo, they shimmering in the delicate light of the afternoon, melting Neo's heart into a warm mushy puddle. "There was only one safe place I could turn to... And the thought of losing you or Adam was stronger than any force I had studied or seen."

Rubbing the metal surface of his mechanical hoof, Neo trailed his eyes to the side, silently feeling the impact of her words expand his softening heart. Lightly touching his shoulder, she affectionately smiled, cooing to him in only the way a mother could. "The information you're bringing to us tomorrow will help those ponies. Though you may have not have carried out the deed yourself, what you've learned will. And we'll finally be able to help the province as a whole."

"And when it's all over," she continued, "we'll be together, out here, in this world. A safe world."

Neo muttered under his breath, "I'm not the same pony you left in the stable. Adam isn't either."

Patting his shoulder, she added sweetly, "That may be true, but you're still my children. And as long as I'm able, I will protect you."

Neo leaned toward her, resting the side of his head on her shoulder. Closing his eyes he took in deep breaths of the humid air. A wave of warmed blood lanced through his cheeks.

The sensation removed the rest of the warmth in Neo's body, causing him to tremble. Behind his eyes new tears forcefully pressed on both eyelids, trying desperately to escape. "Why did you leave us then? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I left to finish this. So that you wouldn't have to spend your entire life in there. So that your children didn't. If I had told you both, you'd go looking for me." She answered, brushing aside some of Neo's mane.

A chuckled raced up her through and out between her teeth, "Though, you seemed to do that anyway."

Neo could hear the faint breathing of his mother through her shoulder. He wanted to speak out, the urge rattled his body, but lips remained sealed.

She tenderly kissed Neo's forehead, "I love you both... so... so much... What your father and I have decided is to keep you safe."

Her son's silence was a cue that something stirred him, aside from the decision the two of them had made for their children. "Why were you alone out here? I thought you'd be in your room with your friends, or Adam."

He had to force himself to speak through a tightened diaphragm, even then his speech was hushed and weak with overbearing emotion, "Dad... After all you said, for whatever reason he or you have to justify him leaving, I can't forgive him for what it did to you... or to us, as a family."

"You should talk to him, Neo." She said. "Nothing good can come of just hating him."

Neo remained silent as she persisted. "He loves you. More than you allow him to seem."

Opening his eyes, the flood of dammed tears flowed across both cheeks. "What if I can't? I-I feel so angry around him. Like I just want to make him pay for all the neglect... For all the pain he put you through."

Her radiant smile returned, as she pulled Neo close to her breast. "Shhh," she whispered wrapping a hoof around him, gently stroking the top of his head, "I know my son, I know how it is."

"But you need to talk to him," she repeated, "your hate for him will only get worse until you do."

A muffled clamor of hooves, clopping against the grass racing from behind them sounded through a series of twig cracks and dried crackling leaves. Still cradling Neo in her hooves, Dahlia turned a sideways glance to see Adam approaching.

Panting, Adam stopped a few feet from the tree's base, "Mom? What are you doing here?"

A faint throaty laugh blurted from her, as she held Neo. "I was just wanting to check the forest before they shut down for the night. Though fate would have it I found your brother instead."

"What about you, Adam? Why are you here?" She asked.

Adam's heavy, exasperated breaths grew less and less deep. "I was looking for him. Ranger said I should check here, and I've been asking ponies left and right if they've seen him. One pony in a meadow not far back said he was here."

She smiled again, "It sounds like you've had quite the adventure."

"It was more like a nightmare," Adam laughed claiming his own spot of sitting space by the tree, "I spent forever trying to catch up."

Neo was sobbing softly, as Dahlia comforted him the best she could. "I had a talk with your brother. About the decision your father and I made, and even about your father."

"I was wanting to talk to him about just that." Adam mentioned. "Before I went on a manhunt for him, he yelled at dad, and strode off."

Nestling her lower jaw on the top of Neo's head, she hugged Neo tight, "Well, he's fine now. Hopefully he'll consider talking to your father."

Adam leisurely slouched on the base of the trunk, moving his sight to the massive ball of glowing gems collectively gathered in the center of the artificial sky. A loud snap rang throughout the dome, followed by the slow dimming of the humongous orb as it was pulled up into a compartment inside the ceiling.

"Mom," Adam felt a buzz of tingling anxiety sink in his lower gut, "I... I have a question..."

Lifting her head, she looked at Adam, "What is it?"

Twiddling his hooves, Adam looked dubious.

Gulping a dry lump, Adam faced the feeling head-on. "Do you think we'll ever be a normal family again? Without projects or secrets? Can such a thing even be achievable now?"

Her eyes were fixed on Adam, for a moment. Unblinking, unmoving. Then, she extended a hoof out to him -- inviting Adam to join in the huddle. Scooting close, she wrapped her entire foreleg around Adam's back, clamping his shoulder.

Reeling Adam to the hug, Dahlia sighed, gazing at the darkening sky, "We're a family now. Secrets, projects, and conflicts -- all of it comes with being family. But none of that will change the fact that we love each other. And none of those things can take away that love, my son."

Vladimir entered his room gasping. A fresh stream of rich velvet blood stained the fur bellow each nostril -- winding over the corners of his mouth before dripping to the floor. He leaned on the doorway, feeling a torrid sharpness scrape the inside of his brain.

His entire body felt the effects. Trembling legs, and a vigorous shiver convulsed every ounce of Vladimir's figure. The world spun in sudden jerking motions veering one way then another. Collecting what focus he could, he staggered into the room as the door closed behind him.

As the joints in his legs grew numb, he tore through the room to his bed. Collapsing just at the bedside. Quickly he picked himself back up, putting a hoof on the bed, upturning his posture to all fours.

Placing another hoof on the bed, he rose up grunting under his tightly gnashed teeth. Lifting himself high enough, he hopped once laying his stomach on the sheets. Droplets of fresh warm blood specked the blankets as Vladimir wiggled his entire body on the bed.

Rolling over both saddlebags, Vladimir positioned himself on his side, staring openly at the other bed on the opposing side of the room. The shiver overtook every muscle reflex. If his hoof moved, the shaking came with it.

Depleted of wine the stallion could only lay there, with only himself to manage the pain grinding his mind. Blinking once, the creature appeared on the other bed -- leisurely laying back with both hooves behind its head.

"I've noticed something, Little Red." The creature smoothly purred. "Something that I believe deserves addressing."

It removed one hoof from behind its head, and inspected the finer details of its transparent hemlock. "Despite this interesting plan you've concocted, I've noticed a sincere lack of initiative toward the actual goal."

Vladimir couldn't speak. He could lay on his bed like a slug, and watch the creature. "You know, I would even go as far as saying that this lack of incentive could be considered strike two on our little deal."

Turning over to face him, it supported its head on one bent leg, "You do remember our deal, right?"

Vladimir's breath was tinged in shallow, shuddering breaths. Yet, no words escaped his lips to speak out. No grunts of disgust or disdain, nor a whimper of mercy. Merely the sound of his weakened breath wheezed, giving the creature nothing to work with.

The specter sighed, closing both empty white eyes, "Yes, I believe I will count this as strike two."

Opening one eye at Vladimir, a crooked smirk took form. A malicious crescent of sharp white teeth brightly illuminated in the low light of the room. "I would imagine taking this away would strengthen your conviction. Perhaps even entice you to do something while you're here."

"If I were you, Little Red, which if you keep up at this rate I will be -- I'd find a way to get a Sun gem and get out of here."

Giggling, the apparition faded away, leaving behind the echoing laughter filling Vladimir's ears, "Just some food for thought, Little Red. Just some food for thought! Hee! Hee!"

Taking the corner of the sheets, Vladimir brought the collected blankets to his chest. Quivering under the pain, his body turned cold as he shut both eyes to sleep. Time would tell how it all played out for him, and he quaked under the stressed soreness pounding throughout the temples of his head.

Scooter sat in a dark cell with only one candle to light up the room. Its flickering orange light ignited the dull cavernous walls, teeming in glittering stardust-like quartz. With a piece of rock, he wrote on a smoother, more flat section of the wall. There the former Legion captain drew a crude depiction of Covert.

Once completed, he strode to the other end of the cell, found several sharper stones, and threw them at the picture. Each toss held with it a bit of his hate, as the force of the rocks against the wall exploded into cloud of fine powder accompanied by dozens of chalky fragments flying about in all directions.

With every impact came a white powdered smudge. A quick dash to wall art and a single strong blow would remove the mark entirely.

He continued this until no other stones were left. Whopper sat in the far corner of the cell, watching his friend relentlessly batter stones upon the wall. "Ya' really hate the fellow, huh boss?"

Scooter's eyes pinched together, as he leered at the picture. "Hate ain't even t' half of it."

"What do ya' suppose we do? Can't do much locked up tight in this cell, can we?"

Drooping his nose to the floor, like a bloodhound sniffing the ground, Scooter searched for more stones along the edges of the wall. "Ah don't know what we're gonna' do."

Locking his eyes on a pebble, no bigger than a penny, he picked it up -- holding it in the cup of his hoof. "But one day ah'm gonna' get outta' 'ere. An' when that day comes, ah'm gonna' find her, an' make that Covert fellah' pay."

Gritting his teeth, Scooter propelled the pebble at the picture, loudly echoing its forceful collision throughout the cell. "ARGH!" Scooter bellowed slumping his haunches on the ground. "Ah' need t' get outta' here!"

Letting his ears flatten atop the straight greasy hairs of his mane, Scooter sighed looking to Whopper, "Who am ah kiddin'? Ah'm not gonna' get outta' here..."

"Maybe ya' should to ask Celestia for help?"

Scooter rolled his eyes at him. "Really? Ya' think she's even there? Or even alive n' such?"

Shrugging, Whopper replied, "Worth a shot, I'd reckon. Not like you’re losin' anything over it."

Scooter grumbled a little, sourly pouting for a moment. Then, pointing his nose to the ceiling he groused, "Celestia. If'n you’re really there, or if ya' can even hear me, please get Whopper and ah outta' here. That'd sure be lovely."

The ground shook abruptly, jerking the two ponies in their spots. Tumbling over the shaking, the rumble subsided. Instantly, Whopper turned his eyes to the ceiling and muttered, "Celestia?"

Another time the earth quaked, sending the two stumbling to keep their footing. "Ah don't think that was Celestia!" Scooter shouted.

A thick bolted iron door was the only way in or out of the cell. At its top was a small barred speakeasy. From the outside hallway a series of screams erupted, as the shaking persisted.

"Run! It's coming! It's coming!" One bodiless voice of a stallion cried. "Run! Run! Run!"

A disembodied mare's voice, tinged with a tremulous stammer screamed, "Hurry to the armory! To the armory!"

Scooter gingerly approached the door, shifting his head to one side, "What t' hell?"

Leaping against the door, he leaned on it with both hooves as he gazed out the small window to the outside corridor. An orange glow, like the burning of a hot low flame painted the wall across his cell. The stretched shadows of Legion soldiers running, bobbed up and down as they grew near.

The brisk clamorous clopping reverberated down the passageway, and dashing by Scooter's door, he called out to the sprinting soldiers, "Hey! What's goin' on out there?!"

"It's coming!" One soldier repeated at at the height of his voice. "It's coming!"

Before Scooter had a chance to speak another word, a powerful gust of air shot through the window, knocking him back on his rump. The blast was followed by a fiery explosion, erupting a booming shockwave, and shooting motes of cavern dust and firefly-like sparks through speakeasy window.

Whopper rose, and hurried to Scooter's side, "Boss! Ya' alright?"

Scooter groaned, feeling the air cool the sweat on his brow. "Yeah... Ah think so..."

He put a hoof to base of his temple, and rose shaking his head. "What in t' name of Vladimir was that?"

Whopper looked to the the hellish light pouring in through the bars of the cell door. "Ah don't know, boss."

Hobbling to the door, Scooter got onto his hind legs, peeking through the tiny window once more. A dense cloud of dust obscured the outside, leaving just the fire's glow from the explosion left to pierce the veil of heavy soot.

Through the cloud, a figure took form. A dark feline creature, silhouetted in the fire's burning radiance. A long tail swayed behind the beast, as its powerful herculean shoulder plates clattered together in its prowl. In the shadow, breaking the shading that hid away the monster's features a pair of beady red eyes dimly shown.

Scooter stared wide-eyed at the machine stride past his cell, growling a deep revving metallic snarl.

Frozen in place, without sparing so much as a blink, Scooter observed the beast in shock. Whopper nudged him, whispering, "Boss? What is it?"

Scooter gulped hard, and answered in a fear stricken whimper, "It's a Predator..."

Neo lay completely still in his bed, staring deeply into the ceiling like a navigator inspecting the horizon of a vast endless sea. Neo's brother was less indulged in the moment; Adam sat on the edge of his bed, swaying both hind legs while fixedly reading the statistics flashing on his Pipbuck screen.

Inhaling once deeply, Neo closed his eyes. His mind went adrift on the rough oceanic tides of thought. Two knocks at the door didn't remove him from the voyage, as Adam lowered his foreleg, leaping from his bed to answer the door.

Coming to the button on the doorframe, Adam opened the door revealing Ally behind it. "Hi Ally. What's up?"

Ally leaned forward through the doorway, looking toward Neo. "The gals and I are planning to go to sleep in a few minutes. I just wanted to come by and say goodnight."

"And," she added drawing a shielding hoof to the side of her mouth, "there's something else."

Arching an eyebrow, Adam whispered, "What is it?"

Ally kept her volume to a minimum. "It's about Neo. I wanted to make sure he's, you know, alright. When you guys came back to your room he didn't look well."

"Well, we've both had a really hard day. For him, it's been emotionally straining."

"Should I talk to him about it? Is he going to be okay?"

Adam glanced over his shoulder to see his brother, who was not disturbed by the conversation, before returning to Ally. "Right now I think he's dealing with some personal conflicts... Maybe it's best we let him figure it out on his own. Let him find answers."

"Well," Ally said, "if he needs anyone to talk to I'm right across the hallway."

Adam smiled, "Thanks Ally, I'll let him know."

Waving a hoof, she turned her back toward her room. "Goodnight Adam."

With a slight nod of his head, Adam replied a hushed goodnight to Ally. Then, gently tapping the button, the door swiftly shut closed.

Coming back to his bed, Adam threw himself onto the mattress contracting the squeaking springs inside. He didn't pause to enjoy in the after bounce that followed, rather, Adam slithering across the now wrinkled sheets to his pillow.

Ounce at undisturbed pillow at the end of his bed, Adam plunked the back of his head into the fluff. There mane and head alike sank into the sweet supportive comfort it provided.

Adam subconsciously purred at the rolling warmth that tickled his spine and back. "This is nice, brother. I really wish we had beds like this when we were traveling, wouldn't that have been cool?"

Neo remained in his mute, trance-like state. Adam quietly shrugged, before wiggling his body into the mattress, in hopes of allowing it to further mold to the shape of his back. Just when he brought the movement to a halt, Neo spoke.

Neo's tone was deep, and somber -- almost as though he was speaking to himself, "I need to ask you something."

Adam had finally fixed the bed to work with his body, so moving was not an option. "Yes? What is it?"

"S-Should..." For the moment, Neo's speech faltered. "Sh-Should I talk to dad, tomorrow?"

"You want to talk with him? Face to face?"

"Yeah... yeah, I guess so..."

Adam replied mildly, "Dad doesn't hate you, you know."

A hint of melancholy clung Neo's words, "It's not that, it's just... what am I going to tell him? I'm not sure if I could bring myself to speak calmly."

"Just keep a level, and open mind. Maybe it won't be as bad as you want it to be. Maybe it'll be quick; who knows?"

Neo sighed heavily, slumping one foreleg over his brow, "It doesn't help that we have to give them all the information on Iron Hammer."

"I thought you wanted to tell them all about it?"

"W-Well," Neo stammered, "I do, but what if we forget? What if we go blank in the middle of it all?"

A throaty chuckled bubbled up from Adam's chest, "You're worrying too much! Not everyone is going to forget, and besides Ranger is going to present his findings too."

A spark ignited in Adam. A jolt of energy that widened his eyes, and sent him shooting upright, "That's right! I almost forgot!"

"What is it?" Neo asked.

Looking to his brother, Adam answered, "Initially I thought that trusting Ranger was a fine idea... well, at least to a certain degree. But recently, I've been suspicious about who he really is."

"What do you mean?"

"In Ranger's room, I found a stable-tech grade tracking device. I haven't seen one in weeks, and yet there was one there receiving a single of some sort."

"You think it might belong to the Coalition?" Neo added.

"Maybe," Adam replied in a low hum, "I can't say for sure -- I didn't do much investigating afterwards. Being his room and all."

"Then who could he be?" Neo wondered aloud. "If he isn't with the Coalition, who else? The Legion wouldn't send someone like him. They'd probably just have a team of soldiers do it."

"Maybe it's an independent organization apart from them?" Adam offered. "Or maybe it's neither of the three."

"Whatever he is," Neo started, "or to whoever he's loyal to is something we need to find out later. Right now we've just got to keep a close eye on him, and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."

Again, Neo closed his eyes -- taking in a deep breath. Filling his lungs to their full capacity, he said in a yawning exhale, "Either way, I'm going to need the night to think, and hopefully sleep sometime in between..."

It was in the late hours of the night that all were fast asleep. All but the tiny cleaning beetles, scurrying about along the corners of the wall polishing the floors as they went. Even at this nightly hour, the hallway lights were still on -- easily reflecting the glossy finish the machines left in their travels.

Wester sat outside the mare's room, standing guard. He didn't feel the weakening fatigue of sleep hinder his mind or strength. Rather, the quiet nights were a time to wonder. To further contemplate the state of the situation; review what his goals were and access the perimeter for hostiles.

Since the time the other ponies in his group had went to sleep, no signs of danger could be seen. For hours nothing approached in either direction of the hall. No matter how many times he glanced one way or the next, nothing but the faint electric hum of the overhead lights could be heard.

Standing guard for hours now took its toll on his hydration. Underneath the breather and helmet his lips felt bear, thin, and chipping from a lack of fluid.

A torrid dry spell had befallen his entire mouth, effecting both tongue cheeks alike. The restrooms had sinks, and with sinks came running water. Oh how the soft cool sensation of crisp liquid refreshing the arid condition of his mouth.

Wester's left leg anxiously thumbed the ground as he turned his gaze to the restrooms down the hall. Merely fifty feet of clear hallway sat between him and a refreshing drink from the sinks. Wester coughed hoarsely, and walked to the restroom. A minute, at the most, would certainly not expose the entrance for too long.

Quickening his pace, he went into the stallion's restroom. The room was nearly as pearly and sterling as the halls outside. The walls, the ceiling, it all had a faint glimmer of newness that not many centers outside had. Despite the alluring nature of the interior, his focus befell the three porcelain sinks across from the stalls.

Tearing across the room, he approached the nearest one, and spun the cold faucet head. Out of the steely nozzle came pouring a marvelous stream of clear, running water. A small lever engrafted at the back end of faucet sealed the drain, allowing for the water to pool and deepen in the sink.

Once the water had filled the sink halfway, Wester’s crimson aura encased his horn, likewise surround the faucet head and turning it off. Undoing the breather on his mask, he lowered himself to the surface of the water, and sloppily lapped up the liquid inside.

A tiny cough, no louder than a whimper, blasted through the quiet restroom. Wester's ears perked up, as he spun himself around flipping the top flap of his holsters up. As his visor came to the sound's source, he saw it was Big Lot, with one of the bedsheets slung over her shoulder.

She stared up at him, her head cocked to one side, with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you didn't eat or drink anything."

Wester recoiled his defense, and put his breather back on. "I... I didn't hear you come in..."

"That's because I'm a sneaky little bugger." Big Lot answered.

"What are you doing in here? This is the stallion's room."

Big Lot blinked at him, and looked around the room for a moment, "I don't care about signs. They can't tell me what to do."

"That still doesn't answer my inquiry." Wester firmly added. "What are you doing here?"

Veering her sight from his own, a nervous chuckle blurted from her lips, "I... I... Uh, believe it or not, I'm here to talk to you."

Wester stepped back, shaking his head. "Me?"

"Yeah, I know it's a little weird."

Quickly pulling a sour frown she pinched her eyes, glaring, "And don't tell anyone I came here either! The last thing I need is to be ridiculed for looking like a pansy! And I'm no pansy!"

Kneeling down to her eye level, Wester asked as earnestly as he could, "Affirmative, I won't tell a soul. Now, what is it you wanted to say, little one?"

The bitter expression vanished, for the moment Big Lot was completely quiet -- though lifting her gaze to meet Wester's she said, "It's about what you did... back at my home."

"The border?"

She nodded, "I want to know why you didn't kill me. What stopped you?"

Wester rubbed the space behind his metal ear, "Why are you asking, little one?"

Big Lot's little cheeks bloomed in a hue of cherry-red. "Adam says I need to make ah-mends with his brother. When he told me what it means, it makes me think of what you did for me. So I wanna' know, why did you feel that way? How do I make ah-mends?"

A pause lasted between them for a second, though Wester answered as affectionately as he could, "What I did, I did because I don't kill foals. My directive firmly dictates to protect, and serve my comrades. I needed to diverge from my directive because I'm not its tool."

"So," the filly hummed rolling her eyes to the side, "I need to diverge from being a computer?"

"Negative."

"So," she started again, "what I need to do, is find out who I am, despite how I feel make ah-mends with him?"

Wester nodded once solidly. "Affirmative."

"But what do I say? What if he brushes me off, or beats me up?"

"I wouldn't say Neo is one who attacks little ones."

"Still," she groaned, "what would I do? What should I do?"

"Say your sorry." Wester remarked. "Diverge from your directive -- do not fear him as an enemy."

Sporting a neutral expression she grumbled, "That still doesn't help that much."

"Forgive me, little one. I'm not efficient in handling issues regarding socialization."

Big Lot sighed, looking up at him. "It's something, I guess."

Standing, Wester commented, "Affirmative."

Together the two stood in the bathroom, both had their eyes upon the other. An awkward silence charged the air, as neither said a word. Big Lot moved her gaze from Wester, and turned it to the floor.

"Soooo," Big Lot mumbled, rocking easily on her hooves, "what now?"

"I'm not sure." Wester replied.

"I'm not going to hug you or anything, I hope you know that."

"Affirmative, I suspected you wouldn't."

"Good, cus' that's too much mushy gunk for one night."

A low red flashing light, burning through the susurrus of steam bursting from the pipes, overtook all other illumination in the halls of the Darkmines. The alarm, a deafening blare of a horn, blasted while Legion soldiers in pairs of three sprinted down the hallways. Thatch was among a group of his own, panting as warm thick beady droplets ran down his neck.

A semi-automatic battle saddle was harnessed to his officer's barding, the bullet feeding belt jingling faintly in his stride. The ground trembled again, causing those who were running to stumble. The quake jerked them sideways, and in a brisk reaction Thatch caught himself on the wall with both hooves.

He called over to one of the soldiers behind him, "What was that?! That's the biggest one we've felt yet!"

"A shaft in the mid-section of the mine must've collapsed, sir!" The soldier replied over the alarm's cry.

A pair of Legion soldiers, a mare and a stallion, came cantering toward them. Thatch dove in front of the two, frantically waving a hoof, "Stop! Stop!"

Bringing themselves to a halt, the soldier's stiffly saluted in unison, "Sir!"

Thatch pinched his eyes, inspecting the rank of the mare, "Lieutenant... what is the state of the armory?"

A sturdy tone latched to her response, "I can't say, sir. Last I heard, a squad was down there fighting off two predators. Recently, I haven't heard of anything from the armory, sir."

Grunting, Thatch uttered under gnashed teeth, "Damn it all!"

Bringing both eyes to the side, he repeatedly tapped his chin in thought.

Quickly returning to the mare, he relayed his thoughts, "We'll have to go with plan b. I need to get to the transmission room on the fifth level. Where were you two heading before I stopped you?"

"We were heading to the lower levels, hopefully to help fend off the predators that are moving down there."

"Change of orders, you two are coming with me." Thatch stated pointing at her. "The sooner I can get someone outside to break down the entrance, the sooner we can push them out with the troops we have outside."

The stallion took a step forward, pointing his snout to the path behind Thatch, "What about the armory, sir? What about Iron Hammer?"

"If the personal are smart, they've sealed themselves in. As for the armory, it's best to assume it's lost."

Another seism seized the ground, and shook it -- fiercely tossing the Legionnaires about. Thatch lurched in the shake, planting his feet where he could to establish a more stable position. In the wake of the last shudder, a darkening cloud of dust shot up behind them. The wave of dense dirt in the air tickled, and clung to Thatch's lungs, forcing up several dry coughs that stung his chest.

Nearly a hundred feet back, at the source of the dust cloud was a set of blood-red eyes, glaring in the brown blanketing mist. Thatch looked over his shoulder, spotting the bodiless eyes smoothly sway as they grew closer. His heart pounded on the walls of his chest, as he jostled the two ponies in front of him apart.

Shouting at the height of his voice, Thatch sprinted down the hall, "Run!"

The brother's eyes were wreathed in a darkened, sleepless gloom. Together they shuffled onward to the war-room, noses drooping like a sagging pair of mule ears. Ahead of them, the same officer who had shown them to their rooms the day before was guiding the two to the meeting.

Neo had been awake a fair portion of the previous night in thought, sparing mere moments in-between thoughts to sleep. He yawned as they came to the round doorway leading into the war-room. The security guard stepped to the side, and extended a hoof to the center of the room.

They both mutely nodded at her while entering the war-room. Once past the security officer, she straightened her back and walked back down the way they came.

A large round space made up the war-room. At the room's center an octagon table, welded to the floor, had several chairs seated around it. Covering a majority of the tabletop was a massive geographical map of the entire province, adorned in a multitude of green and blue flags marking positions held by each faction.

Lucy, Wester, and Ally were already at the table, leisurely chatting to one another in hushed voices. Lucy's ears perked upward, as she glanced over her shoulder to see the brothers approaching. A smirk grew, followed by a scoff, "Morning, ladies. Sleep well?"

Her teasing didn't seem to phase the mood of either brother, "I've seen better nights." Neo answered, scooting out a chair.

Taking their place at the table, Adam yawned, and rubbed the sleep out of both eyes, "Are we early?"

Leaning back in her chair, Lucy crossed both forelegs behind her head, "Seems so."

Big Lot was playing amongst the beetles. She made it a game to catch at least one, though as she pounced and jumped at the robots zipping along the floor the near-instant reflexes of the machines would counter her advance. This proved to be a challenge in catching one, but Big Lot persisted regardless.

Adam watched her attempt to capture a cleaning bot, "Do you think she'll catch one?"

Lucy blew between her teeth, shrugging, "Eventually. Maybe."

Vladimir came stumbling through the door like a drunk. No matter which direction his feet took him, his body swayed the opposing direction. Below the stressed sags furrowed underneath his eyelids, a shadow skirted the upper region of the Legion emperor's cheeks.

Within the somber, lifeless gaze he held -- rich velvet blood suffused the veins, branching out across the whites of his eyes. Ally was the first to notice his arrival, as she rose in her seat staring at him with an urgent widened fix.

"Ranger, are you okay?"

Ally's words spurred the others to look at Vladimir. Like her, they too abandoned all other moods in exchange for worry.

Vladimir tore across the room, pushing anything in his path aside. Kicking the beetles that bumped into his hooves, eventually coming to a seat at the table. Supporting himself on the rim of the backrest, he lifted a shaking hoof -- mustering a weak contorted smile.

"No, please, don't worry. I-I'm fine..."

With Lucy’s stunned expression, a sarcastic chuckle ran up from the bottom of her chest, barely escaping from her lips. "The hell you are!"

"I'm fine," Vladimir said clambering onto his seat, "please, just don't worry about me."

Fumbling over hoof and leg to get on the seat seemed like an endeavor of its own. Ally leaned over from her section of the table toward him, speaking tenderly to the gangly stallion, "If you're not feeling well in the slightest, you don't have to be here right now."

The creature's voice whispered in his ear, "I'm certain this is one meeting we must stay for, wouldn't you agree?"

Vladimir let out several dry whooping coughs. In the blare of his hacking all of those in the room were quiet. After the coughing had ended, he rose his eyes and sniffed, "I'm well enough to attend... truly I am..."

The in-sync sound of thunderous marching echoed from the hallway, like drums accompanying the entrance of some royal military figure. Four ponies came through into the room. The first was an Earth pony stallion suited in a camouflage shirt, over which a leather duster covered. The two behind him were unicorns, who wore similar uniforms of beige with green berets slouched to the right upon their manes.

At the back of the group, a security officer followed. Further behind them, Dahlia and Ronan, who were at least speaking distance from the main assortment of decorated Coalition officers.

The stallion heading the other officers had a deep, sapphire blue coat, with firm solid eyes that imposed strength and authority to whomever they were cast on to. This, as the brothers had saw, was Ironside.

The stallion ran a hoof back over his smooth black, combed back mane as he entered the war-room. The unicorns following him were both mares, and both brown in coat. Each had an entrancing shade of purple as the hue of their eyes, leading one to assume that they were twins.

When the newcomers all arrived, they took their own respective seats around the table. Neo and Adam had the unfortunate disposition of sitting across of General Ironside, who stared directly at them.

"Good morning everyone," Ironside's voice was heavy and virile like the embodiment of power itself, "I hope you’re all doing well."

He nodded once to one of the twin officers seated to his right. From out of a pocket on her breast, the mare hovered a folded a piece of paper on the table. Unfurling the tiny white square, she levitated the tip of a pencil at the left corner, in the faint magenta aura of her magic.

Ironside turned his attention to the brothers, with a smile, "It's good to see you two again. Last I heard, you weren't part of the Coalition anymore."

The cold stiffness of embarrassment locked the brother’s backs, as rolling chill coursing briskly through them sent their hairs on-end. Ultimately leaving them speechless.

He leaned intently over the table, converting his smile to a smirk, "And I see you two kept the dusters. That's Coalition property y'know."

"But we're not here to discuss such matters," Dahlia interjected, "we're here to discuss Iron Hammer."

Recoiling himself back, Ironside cleared his throat, "Of course."

"Now, Neo and Adam, it is imperative you provide anything you may know." Ironside began. "If anyone else at this table has any more information they are willing to share, please do so."

Ironside rose his voice for all to hear, "All I can say is this: what we know so far, is that Iron Hammer is in the Darkmines. What Iron Hammer is, and what it does eludes us. More importantly, how long until it's completed remains a mystery."

Adam was the first to speak up, "We found a map of the Darkmines at the border. It details the entire elaborate system of tunnels. Though, no one specific place is marked, I'm sure you'll be able to make something out of it."

"We know what it's suppose to do," Neo added, "it's an ICBM. Meant to kill everything even slightly affected by the taint."

Neo's eyes scanned those around the table, "My guess is that all of us have at one point been exposed to it. That must mean just about everyone else in the province will be affected by the weapon."

"Are you aware of how an ICBM is able to accomplish such a feat?" Ironside asked. "In our efforts to find out how it works, and what it is all we've found is rocks."

"Sun gems power the weapon." Adam responded.

Ironside’s throat revved, while he lay back in his chair, "And how close are they to completing it?"

Both brothers looked at each other for a moment. Then, returning to the General they shrugged shaking their heads.

"Ah," Ironside nodded tapping a hoof to his chin, "what of the numbers at the mines? How many Legion soldiers are stationed there?"

Ally spoke up, "We're not sure, General. Hundreds? Thousands, maybe? That doesn't even include the Darkminers, and I couldn't say what their numbers are."

"It's clear we'll need to stage an assault on the Darkmines." Ironside remarked. "The sooner we can muster our forces together and seize Iron Hammer the better."

"Sieze?" Neo muttered under his breath, squinting at Ironside. "Seize it?"

Blinking at Neo, Ironside’s words slurred as though his statement hadn’t properly been conveyed, "Yes, of course. We need to take it for the Coalition."

"We need to destroy it." Neo asserted. "As soon as possible."

A fire creeped up Neo's chest, burning away the sleep deprivation. "If it exists it can still be used to kill! It doesn't matter if we have it, or the Legion does!"

One of the officer mares swiftly rose out of her seat, ejecting the chair behind her. "Watch your tongue, boy! That is a General you are speaking to!"

Lucy too forcefully pushed her chair back, rising in retaliation up against the mare, "He's right! I've worked for the Coalition for years and never once was it our intention to take the weapon as our own!"

A hectic battle broke out between the officers and Lucy. Neo threw in his own snarling thoughts on the matter, effectively expressing his disdain against keeping the weapon. The argument was like missiles, violently being tossed to and fro, with no clear end in sight.

Dahlia and Ronan tried to speak over the shouting. Though their voices were easily lost in the battle. Vladimir watched the entire ordeal unravel before him. Inside his mind, he could not hear what side fought for what. The sounds of the world came in as soft thrums -- like the gentle tapping of a grand percussion drum.

His legs went numb, as the trembling shimmied to his fore hooves. He looked down at one hoof, the tremor so profound he felt the blood slosh around inside. In his ear the creature cooed its sickeningly sour serpent-like voice, that irritated the inside as though a snake's tongue squirmed within.

"Does it not sound... beautiful, Little Red?"

Vladimir couldn't speak.

"Oh, how little they know of the Legion. Our Legion. And when the Coalition arrives, only to be greeted by our forces will they truly be destroyed. Can you sense it? The end? How it grows ever closer. Like the tide ready to snare those ignorant of its advance."

The disembodied voice quavered with blissful glee, "Oh, how I can feel it... So soon now. So soon..."

Vladimir looked up, to return to the raging conflagration blasting forth amongst the ponies at the table. Out of the corner of his blood-shot eye he spotted the transparent beast sitting in mid-air, crackling at the fighting. The longer he stared at the bickering ponies, the less chaotic it became.

Eventually, the fires of debate were quelled, and the exchange of hateful remarks subsided. Everyone was panting, as the constant arguing had taken much from their strength.

Dahlia gestured a hoof to her empty seat behind her, speaking calmly over the deep breaths she took, "Now... everyone, please sit. Let us handle the task at hoof, please."

Once everyone was seated, and silent, Dahlia asked, "Is there any more information that needs to be shared? Any at all?"

The creature threw its head back in a laugh, "HA! There is nothing more! You think you have what you need? Fools! All of you! We need a single gem left! ONLY ONE! You've lost!"

"Now that we're back on the topic," Ally said motioning her nose to Vladimir, "Ranger has some important information."

All eyes fell onto Vladimir. Some prying, some worried. All strongly honed on him, and him alone.

The creature found this incredibly amusing, "They think they'll get something out of us?"

It scoffed, before developing a low chortle, "Really? What could we have?"

The specter's ears sprung erect, as it slinked over to Vladimir's side, clamping a lanky transparent hoof over his shoulder. "Tell them anything... You know, make it up. It doesn't matter what you say! Hell, you can tell them that the Legion needs the moon to make the weapon work! They'll believe you!"

A warm bubbling collected in the bottom of Vladimir’s gut. Building greater, and greater in intensity -- slowly crawling up into his breast. Steadily it rose, gathering pressure like a bomb ready to burst.

Releasing its gathered might Vladimir exclaimed as loud as his lungs would permit, "They only need one Sun gem left before they finish Iron Hammer!"

The boisterous laughter of the creature was brought to an immediate halt. There it hovered, head thrown back in mid-crackle, yet no sound came from it. The eyes of those around the table widened, nearly bulging out of their sockets.

Vladimir was huffing now, feeling a straining weight that anchored his body down lift. Quickly, the apparition rushed in front of him, pressing his snout against Vladimir's face. "What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

Seizing Vladimir by the head, it pushed its frigid nose harder against him. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

Lucy removed her fedora, and placed it over her heart. "Ranger... I... I didn't imagine they were that close..."

"That's not all!" Vladimir declared.

Once more all attention was placed onto him. "Well? Speak up!" Ironside requested sternly.

The creature flew backwards, clutching its head and flailing its body about spastically. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

A smile came to Vladimir's face, "T-The last thing I have to say..."

Stopping the frantic convulsing, the specter spun forward, locking its reddened, inflamed eyes on Vladimir. "NO! NO! NO! You won't ruin this for me!"

Vladimir's pupil's contracted, as he hurried, "My-My name is..."

Swooping down toward him, the creature hover over him. Then, phasing its icy hooves through the sides of his head, Vladimir froze.

His entire body hardened. Every muscle, every nerve, solid. The feeling of hot coals plunked at the bottom of his lungs seared. His brain went numb, whilst a new profuse stream of blood ran down from his nose.

With its hooves, deeply embedded in Vladimir's cranium, it sighed before an airy giggle rolled out of its mouth. "Ah... You almost blew our cover, Little Red."

"However, I after those little blips I can’t allow you to be in control any longer."

Vladimir’s mouth was agape in mid-sentence. The only noise the Legion emperor could utter was a throaty wheeze. The creature placed its lips by Vladimir’s ear, whispering sweetly, "Oh my, Little Red. Don't be frightened... When I let go, you shall fall. All of the world will become dark, and when you should awake I will be in control. It will be just like old times, my friend. Just like old times..."

Releasing Vladimir, the creature vanished into the air. Vladimir’s entire body went numb, as he swayed one way, then the next -- until altogether he drifted to a single side. The world moved slowly... falling, and falling.

The ground gradually came to his side, though he did not feel the impact. A ring of darkness surround his vision. But there was no fight to be had with his body. In the shrinking field of view Vladimir watched those whom he spoke to rush around him. Their cries of panic lost in the silence, leaving merely the wordless movement of his companion's lips.

When his vision was consumed by the darkness, he felt a pleasant temperate heat drape itself over his shoulders. It was comforting, like a blanket warmed by a low burning fire. It was all over now, and there was little he could do to stop the darkness from winning.

Foot Note: Level Up!

New Perk: Get Psyched!: Killing enemies in a row (five or more) stacks 15% more damage per kill. This perk allows one to stack the damage after each kill up to 20 times. So what are you waiting for? GET PSYCHED!

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes<

No

New Perk: I'm Giving Them Back Their Bomb: When you throw grenades back at an enemy, you do 2x the damage and have a chance to earn 3x the XP if multiple kills are made with a returned throw.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Thefullmetalbrony

ColonelLatmuffin

Author's Note

Whoa, been awhile since the last chapter, huh? Well, it's okay I guess -- because this is the first chapter of the new year! Yay! I hope you enjoyed this one. I've been toying with the flow of my wording, and the overall description of the environment, feelings of characters, and their actions.

The next chapter won't be nearly as long. Primarily because this was supposed to be joined with the next chapter as one huge super-chapter. Yeah, that isn't happening. Instead, you'll get this chapter and the next one which is a little shorter than usual (should be about 15k words) but overall a pretty good chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm starting work on the next one right after this one is released!

Noakwolf

The Pony Who Would be God

CHAPTER 34: THE PONY WHO WOULD BE GOD

"Our ancestors failed the province. But where they did, we shall not. History only repeats itself when one does not consider to look back. I have witnessed their mistakes, and I do not intend to fail."

A dreary cascading curtain of rain poured down onto a grey ground. Bad-tempered billows of black stormclouds whisked in the intense breeze stirring in the atmosphere. On the surface, no such wind blew. Simply the bleakness of the wasteland's summer rain -- remained still and unmoved by anything.

Alone a buck, no older than eleven, lay belly down on the icy dampened powder of the wasteland's floor. Where overhead the rain maliciously rapped at bent corroding steel making up the roof of the bus-stop. From his crude shelter he watched the murky water pool in the corners of the broken asphalt of a quiet highway running right in front of him.

His jaw rested on folded hooves, as he waited. In every direction the grayness was spread. Miles and miles of the grim purgatory, which in the distance eventually vanishing in a misty haze of rain.

The low cackle of static lilted in the air, the source of the sound from his Pipbuck. Every now and again the shrill noise dimmed to a faint whisper of a station. Be it music, or a pony calling out for help -- the buck would lift his head for a moment, glance at the green screen, with a line of blurred pixels creeping up the left corner.

On the device a line of stations was found. All of which gave of the same, drilling static. Sighing, the buck returned to laying upon folded hooves, waiting.

The cold nipped his nape, forcing a shiver.

Eyeing the black wet dirt smudge his crimson coat, he grimaced. Washing the filth away in the rain didn't help, nor did rubbing it out. Any efforts to remove the grime made the grit's presence more profound. Sticking to his fur with a more permanent, be it thinner, sloven mark.

The buck drew a lung of the crisp air, saturated in the frigidness of the downpour. "Mom... dad... where are you?"

Pitter patter, the fat droplets tapped diligently, pitter patter.

A grumble arose from within his stomach, bellowing the need for food aloud, over the roar of rain. A brief sharpness lanced itself through his gut, causing him to quickly rise, and clasp a hoof over his belly.

The buck looked out into the vacant horizon. Seeing, just as he had for the entire day, nothing. Behind him squatting in the mud was a convenience store, meant for those traveling by bus. The square shack of a structure held a hollowness to it. The facade leering at him like a hungry wild beast.

On the dark boarded windows were posters of governor Stormfury pointing at whoever gazed at the image. The mare glared furiously as though she was disappointed with the onlooker. The bold yellow text beneath her was faded, and the corners of the paper were peeling off of the glue clinging it to the warping wood.

Even the wooden door leading in was desperately hanging to the top hinge, dangling open inviting anyone from the outside in. Turning himself to the building, the persistent grouse of his stomach pricked him, forcing a sour wince to form.

In the doorway of the empty building, he saw a lanky creature, poking its eye behind the edge of the doorframe. The beast was no bigger than him, and a small horn protruded from its little black head. The moment the buck's eyes caught sight of the stranger, it retreated into the shadowy interior of the store.

Extending a hoof out to the store, he called, "Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!"

With his hoof still jutting out toward the building, he waited a few seconds. When no replies came, he tightened his diaphragm, and stepped out into the rain. Each raindrop that pelted his fur felt like an air rifle pellet, speedily striking him and leaving a frosty kiss where it had hit.

Constantly the rain battered him, as he dashed over puddle and slushy mud alike. When he arrived at the front entrance of the store he paused. Huffing quick, deep breaths, the buck could feel the cold collective sting of the rain sink deeper past the fur and into his skin.

Shaking himself like a dog, thrashing the water of a new bath off of him, droplet flew away like his own storm coming directly off of his coat. Once the most of the water had been removed from his fur, he took a deep breath surveying his surroundings.

To the right, a dim counter, and to the left three rows of shelves. The light pouring in through the doorway silhouetting the empty shelving units in a fine silver lining. What the outside illuminating did not touch, was shrouded in pure darkness. The buck's eyes scanned the area from side to side, slowly. Hoping to find someone.

When his sight befell the end of the first row of shelves, a slight movement in the shadows caught his attention. Snapping a fix onto the spot, he gingerly walked to the end of the isle. In his stride rusty cans scattered across the floor, melding in with the blackness were jostled aside. Poking his head around the corner of the self he saw a pile of three cans of food neatly amassed into a pyramid.

Arching an eyebrow, the scene shifted his head to one side, "What the?" He muttered.

A voice spoke to him, soft and flowing, tinged with a low honeyed hiss. "Do you like the presents I found here?"

The hair's upon the buck's nape shot up, as his eyes darted about madly searching for the disembodied voice. "What?! Who's there! Show yourself! I'm not afraid of you!"

The buck's heart was pounding, as the voice tittered, "You're a funny one, aren't you? I like that. But please, do not lie to me. I can feel your heart beating away like a drum."

Seizing his frantic behavior, the buck looked to the small cans of food. "How can you tell that?"

"Because I'm part of you." The voice answered in a delicate sweetness. "And usually when you're part of someone, you tend to know if they're scared. Wouldn't you agree?"

The buck craned his nose upward, squinting at the creaking metal support beams supporting the ceiling. "If you're part of me, then how come I saw you by the door?"

"Would you prefer it if I were to show myself?" The voice asked.

The buck nodded, "It would be a little more of a formal meeting if I saw you."

It's voice faded into the surrounding air, "If you so wish it..."

As the buck's eyes wandered the room, passing by the shelves, and cans spread about the floor. In the traveling path of his gaze he caught, out of the corner of his eye, a body.

On the top of the nearest shelf, sat a young Alicorn. The creature had neither the build of a filly, or of a colt. The slender, lanky torso of the stranger was mysteriously transparent, like the murky puddle of a midnight bog. In every aspect beast was like a shadow of a pony, with round ghastly white eyes piercing the veil with an unnerving glow.

A brisk spike of surprise struck his neck, sending the buck backward in the specter's presence, stumbling back onto his haunches.

The creature floated down off of the shelf like an autumn leaf drifting to the ground. Landing on all four hooves, it bowed graciously to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The buck was still on his rump, eyes wide, and staring at the apparition. "W-What are you?"

It blinked at him. "Why, I'm your friend. Well, more like a guardian angel, of sorts."

"B-But," the buck stammered eyeing the Alicorn's ghostly appearance, "you're like are spirit, a ghost, or something!"

"That may be so, but I mean you no harm.” It daintily crossed a hoof over its left breast, “This I swear."

Looking down at the meager mound of canned goods, the buck felt a dreadful sinking, like an anchor tossed and slowly deepening the already empty space in his chest. Out of the void within him a soreness throbbed right below his heart. The feeling of loneliness growing brighter and more intense.

"Did you put this here? For me?"

"Well," it scuffed the ground with one hoof, giggling sheepishly, "I may have not assembled them. But it was I who found you alone, cold, and rather hungry. Being your friend, I couldn't stand seeing you suffer in such a manner."

He trailed his eyes up, meeting the harsh penetrating spheres of the creature, "You say you're my friend, but I don't even know your name."

Rocking its head side to side, it hesitated, opening its mouth only for nothing to be said.

Once more it placed it's blank saucer-like eyes on him, "I'm sorry, but I don't have a name. I hope that doesn't trouble you."

Laying a hoof over his heart, the buck smiled feeling the soreness lift, "No, I... I don't mind at all. We can give you a name. A proper one at that."

"Do you want to know my name?" The buck asked.

Ambling to the buck's side, the creature wrapped a hoof around his shoulder, pulling him tightly to its side. "I can guess! Let me see... Is it, by chance, Little Red?"

A cold sweat covered every inch of Vladimir's body. Over the chilling moisture a constant feverish shudder took hold of him. With each shallow breath the stallion took caused the shaking to grow more vigorous.

The medical bed sheets were tightly tucked into his sides, as the wires of a heart monitor had been inserted into the bulging purple veins of Vladimir's shoulder. The green heart rate line bounced in paused intervals, pinging to the movement of his heart.

Everyone from the meeting was gathered around his bed. Looking down at the newly formed beads of sweat develop on his brow, and race past the temples of his head, taking with them any other smaller fresh droplets sitting stationary.

"I don't understand," Dahlia muttered laying the backend of her hoof on his forehead, "I was sure the healing potion would have corrected any damage done by the storm."

Ironside sighed, pouting disapprovingly, "This whole event has really set us back on everything. Who knows what other information he had."

Feeling Vladimir's sweat dampen her fur, Dahlia retracted herself, and looked to Ironside. "Our main concern for the moment is getting him well. Whatever caused this has certainly been with him for a long time now. Whether he's told anyone about his condition remains to be unseen."

Lucy shook her head, keeping both eyes on Vladimir. "We thought he didn't look right, but what could we do? You can see pretty clear now the freakin' potion didn't work."

"There's not much to do." Dahlia countered. "We've got him stable for the time being, and that's good enough for now."

The doors at the end of the medical bay was pulled open, where in the doorway stood a Coalition soldier, dressed appropriately in the standard beige armor of their army. Ironside's eyes spotted the guard, and returning to those gathered around Vladimir he gave a low bow of his head.

"I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer, but I need to work with what we have." He faced himself to the door. "All that we've acquired is all that we'll need for now. Hopefully when he wakes up there will be more he has to share."

Ironside gave a slight nod to the group, "Until then, maybe you can do some investigating into it. Don't hesitate to report anything you find out about him."

Ironside's gaze shifted to the brothers, holding a firm commanding stare, "Especially you two. Even if you don't work for us anymore, I hope you'll aid the cause however you can."

Neo’s eyes pinched in an intimidating glare, locking his eyes with Ironside's. Adam did not give such an impression -- rather he nodded once, "All of us will do what we can, sir."

Ironside smirked, "Excellent. I expect nothing less."

The general's walk had a slight swagger in each step. A victorious sway that made Neo bar his teeth while he went out the door. "Who the hell does he think he is? Does he still think we're dogs in his army or something?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Dahlia replied. "But he's the highest ranked Coalition officer here, and even if you're not part of the order, it's probably wise for all of us to do a little investigating."

Adam looked up at his older brother, smiling in hopes to remove the bitterness resonating off of Neo. "I have some recordings from an officer who worked around the cells in the Darkmines. That has to be a start, right?"

Neo loosened the force of his teeth, as the seething tempered expression vanished. "I guess it's something."

Adam kept a chipper tone, "That's the spirit!"

"What about us?" Ally interjected. "You can't expect us to be left out, right?"

Adam shook his head quickly. "No no no! Not at all!"

An idea took form. A glowing cerebral spark that sent Adam’s face alight with beaming inspiration. "Wait! I have an idea, too!"

Ally stepped forward, blinking at the newfound thought Adam had. "What do you have in mind?"

"There's a tracking device," Adam began, "inside Ranger's room. Stable-grade tech too. Maybe you guys can take a look at it. It was giving off a signal yesterday, so possibly you can trace where the source came from. It might shine some light on who he was actually working for."

Lucy donned her go-to grin, tipping the front end of her fedora upwards. "Sounds fine to me. I find it mildly entertaining to rumble through pony's things."

Everyone turned their sights to her, eyes widened with perplexing surprise. Lucy ears flattened in a nervous display. "Uh, not that I've done that with any of you..."

Adam continued, despite her remark on the matter, "Right... anyway, we'll have to work fairly quickly. With any luck, we can piece this whole thing together. And maybe, just maybe, we can figure out the secrets Ranger has."

Thatch ran with every ounce of strength he could divert to his legs. He had been running for minutes in a full-on sprint. Every muscled burned, crying out for him to stop. But as the searing crawled up his legs, and digging into his chest he did not slow. He couldn't slow.

Behind him, by twenty feet was the predator. In its smooth run the beast could keep a steady momentum -- not burdened by the crippling weakness of fatigue. Steam rolled through the halls of the Darkmine, hiding turns and other hallways in the mists. Thatch was dashing blindly. Whatever came at him could only be seen once it came within a few feet.

Catching a glimpse of the corner of a hallway, he leaned himself to the right, veering hard down another corridor. The hunter machine found this to be no challenge -- pouncing agiley at the wall leading to the next hallway, it bounded off it to the ground, returning to the same powerful pace.

By now, those who had followed Thatch had grown tired. Feeling the horrendous fire of tiredness melt away their energy. He needed to keep moving, as long as he made it to the level's control room there was hope. Be it small, it was a more than enough.

The speed of a soldier following Thatch began to lag. Moment after moment, the soldier grew closer to the creature. The soldier's breath wheezed, gasping when he could for extra oxygen. No such air could be received under the muffling mask upon his face.

When the predator came within a few steps distance, it leaped in the air, seeming to glide in the hot churning plumes from the pipes. Like a flash of bright lightning, its tail circled through the air, the sharp polished barbs at the end flashing in the red emergency lights. Then, the sharp shockwave of a booming crack blasted through the corridor.

Briefly glancing back at the three ponies still running for dear life, he saw a small cloud of velvet mist spritz out of the back of the soldier's neck. A clear slice ran across the rest of the poor pony's neck, so finely cut that no distortions were made along his neck, now severed from the soldier's head.

Both soldier and head tumbled under the predator, which merely ran over the corpse, retaining a honed fix on the three ponies it hunted. One soldier, a unicorn mare, undid the flap of a pistol holster on her leg -- swiftly popping a few blind shots at the predator. The bullets whizzed and sparked against the sturdy plates armoring the monster. Not leaving so much as a dent in the plating.

Thatch could see an oval-shaped shadow take form at the end of the hall. Between the surly curls of the mine’s steam the body of a heavy dark iron door took form. It was the control room, and the door was slightly ajar.

Through the beads of sweat trickling down his face, and the aching sensation of furious fire roasting his legs, a smile appeared. The predator gained speed, the pistons on its legs metallically bellowing, and hissing as its bursts of speed became stronger.

The mare unloaded three more shots at the predator, hitting one of its eyes. For the first time, the creature flinched, drawing its gaining speed to a stop. The distance between them and the mechanical monster expanded. Ten feet... fifteen feet... twenty feet...

Thatch called at the top of his voice, "Hurry! Now’s our chance!"

The three ponies approached the door. Instantly, the three took hold of the crack in the doorway, and opened it fully for their bodies to squeeze through. The hinges supporting the gargantuan bulk of an entrance shrieked throughout the hallway -- carrying its grinding tune to the predator.

The two pointy metal ears of the predator swiveled in the sound's direction. Shaking its head, the machine once more returned its focus on the three ponies, now one at a time squeezing through the door.

Thatch stood outside, allowing the first soldier to go inside. The predator was within twenty feet of them. After the first went in, the second wiggled her way in. The predator was within fifteen feet of them.

Thatch's heart thumped maliciously against his ribcage, ready to lunge out of him at any second. When the second soldier had made it through, Thatch stuffed himself through the crack in the door.

His head and front legs had made it through easily, but his battle-saddle, as bulky as it was, got caught on the outside. Rushing to his aid the unicorn mare raced to the strap running along Thatch's stomach. Pointing her horn at it, she closed her eyes, directing the flow of magic to her the tip.

The predator was within ten feet. The sparking energy of her magic building into a tiny ball.

The predator was within five feet.

Releasing the collective might of the magic manifested in her horn, the buckle of the strap exploded in a violet sparks as the first soldier pulled Thatch through the door. Pouncing at the center of the control entrance, the predator's opened claws sank into the metal -- shrilly crying the cringe inducing sound that only metal scraping upon metal could make.

Both the mare, and the other soldier leapt up onto their hind legs, pressing their fore hooves on the door. With the hinges’ shriek blaring their ear bleeding creak, the door shut. Sounding off the heavy bolted lock clicking, at last sealing the beast outside.

Thatch lay in on his stomach, legs sprawled out in all directions. Rolling over onto his back he stared up at the ceiling, listening to the predator frantically pound and scratch at the door.

The control room was small, and narrow. A sea of multi-colored buttons filling the entire panel that span the length of the left wall. Above the dim flashing nobs a few black and white square television screens, no larger than a ponies head, were spread over the controls. All filled with the same bleak words: Please Stand By.

In two of the five seats sitting at the controls, two pale legion soldiers lay back, noses craning to the ceiling whilst fresh blood oozed from deep lacerations carved inside their lower necks. Their eyes were still opened, holding the same look of horror they had just before the were killed.

Another operator rested against the back corner of the room. A pistol at his side, with the bodies of two Darkminers littered with bullet holes in their heads and chests. The miners were toting freshly sharpened daggers, fastened to their forelegs.

The smell of blood lingered in the air -- the miner's blood especially pungent, like rotting meat infused with spoiled soggy cabbage. Getting up onto his hooves, Thatch took a brief scan of the room. The moment the odor reached his nose the immediate reflex to shield his snout kicked in.

His eyes had tears pooling in their corners, as he gagged firmly. The soldiers who had followed him had no such problem with the smell. Their masks filtered whatever scent would naturally provoke such a reaction.

Walking to the control panel, the bodies didn't seem to bother the soldiers. "Sir, we need to get to work." The mare said, "You know the security codes, and the longer we wait more lives are lost."

Thatch dropped his hoof, scrunching the bridge of snout as the rancid sourness crept up both nostrils.

Nodding at the soldier, he blinked, releasing the pooling tears down his cheeks. "Right... let's get to work..."

The mare pushed one of the deceased control operators out of his seat, as did the other soldier. Thatch took a chair not occupied by a dead body, and snorting out the fume's stench he started to tap away at the console buttons in the center of the panel.

The clicking and clacking of Thatch's brisk typing echoed over the thrumming beats of the predator's efforts to get inside. "There aren't many radios in the mines, but this way I can send an S.O.S. out to those on the surface."

"Can you alert them of what's happened down here?" The mare asked.

Thatch's head rocked unsurely while he continued plugging in commands. "Briefly, though not much can go through, it'll come out mostly as morse code. Our best chance of contacting them effectively in this way is to tell them to help, and to bring enough firepower down here to kill those damn machines."

The other soldier sitting by the mare let out a whoop, "Hoo-rah, sir!"

Pressing a green blinking button near the top of the panel, Thatch lay back in his seat, letting out a deep relaxing sigh, "Hopefully that went through to those commanding the surface troops. They've got men monitoring incoming messages, but its been a good while since morse code has been used."

The mare rest a hoof gently on the control panel, looking at the still image plastered on all of the screens. "At least they'll know, sir."

"Let's hope so." Thatch remarked. "Let's hope so..."

With a single clack all of the screens went dark. Thatch stiffened his back, rising upright. Leaning over the flashing buttons he stared at the nearest screen to him. The mare rapidly glanced at each monitor, as her words became saturated in heavy frightened ventilation.

"What’s happening?! Did the power go out?"

Thatch's tone was low, twinged with hushed curiosity, "No... no it didn’t."

An electric bark excited the atmosphere in a buzzing blaze of ecstatic energy. The screens hummed to life, all filling with the frozen picture of the Warden's face, captured in a dark green filter.

Three bars of horizontal static slowly rose over the image, as the crackling audio of the Warden's voice played on the speakers. "Clever, pony. Clever. Message harder to find by mine when sent this way. Much harder... much harder, yes."

Thatch's blood went cold, as the entrance of the Wardened caused his pupils to dilate.

The Warden chuckled, eventually raising his laughter to full insane crackle, "Surface Legion try hard to live! Too hard, too hard! Little to do, no time. Predators will rise -- the mine will rise!!"

Thatch maintained a stark posture, gradually rising out of his seat. Without diverting his gaze from the screen, he spoke softly, "Why would you do this to us? After all we've done together. Do you even have the decency to at least give me an answer?"

The Warden was silent, for a moment. Dubious to respond too quickly to the Legion officer. "...The mine is strong. The surface Legion abuse us. Use us. Like slaves. We are not slaves. Surface is weak, the weak are slaves. The mine strong. Those dwelling within, are masters. Not slaves!"

Gritting his teeth, Thatch growled under his revving voice, "You made a grave mistake doing this."

The Warden's tone seemed playful, and uncaring for the threat Thatch made. "Mmmm, no... no... No mistake. Victory."

In fury of the predator's swipes, and tackles ringing throughout the room, provided a mortifying ensemble to the chief miner's speech. "You will not leave alive. Hear predator. It feeds... wait for it to feed. Hear its hunger."

A blissful purr rolled off of the Warden's words, "Oh ho ho ho! No time for you... no time... hehehe!"

At the end of the Warden's laugh, the screens snapped off -- returning to their standard black and white image. Thatch loosed the the bite he had, and fell back into his chair. At his side, and dangling off of the seat all of the Legion captain's limbs swayed limply.

He sat stunned at what the Warden said. The mare sitting at the panel had nothing to say on the matter, as was the same for the other soldier. For all they knew, the Warden caught their message, foreseeing someone might signal for help. Now nothing could be done.

The predator's strikes on the metal door were more clearly tolling through the room. Hammering the malicious clatter into the ears of those trapped inside.

Staring blankly at the flashing buttons of the control panel, Thatch's focus on the lights became blurred. The fierce freezing that chilled his blood suffused further though every vein -- creeping into the inner fibers of his being. The unknown tortured him as hope for aid to arrive was snatch away by the Warden.

Adam and Neo walked into their room, Adam stepping with a slight giddy hop. "I've been a little eager to see what the recordings I found are. I just hope they're not the dramatic retellings of the officer and his a bad patrol that morning."

Neo added contentedly, "I remember Flipper doing that often in the archives. Heh, the way he'd put on his serious voice when he did it too made him sound like a melodramatic radio star, sobbing into the terminal's speaker."

Coming to the center of the room, Adam sat his haunches down, and drew the screen of the Pipbuck to his face. "Maybe that won't be the case with this. And by all that is good in the world, let's pray it's not."

Neo blurted out in a half suppressed snicker, "It probably is."

Adam pulled a disturbed grimace. "If it is, I might puke."

"We'll have to listen to it all, though. He could mention something actually important."

Sighing, Adam shook his head. "Oh Celestia..."

The electronic sound of knobs along the bottom of the Adam's Pipbuck screen clicked away. Cycling through the various different categories of applications presented on the device, he found the radio and recordings section. On the left a whole vertical list of audio samples were lined up, stacking on one another during their travels.

At the bottom of the extensive collection, was a single recording, holding within it several smaller array of sound samples. Selecting it, Adam hesitated to press the play button.

Adam gulped, "Alright, here it goes..."

With a gentle tap of the play button, the first of the bunch played:

A colt was speaking, his register low and muffled in a sheepish mumble, "Is... is it working? Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me? Mom? Dad? It's me... I... I made it out. Or, I think I did... The books that dad showed me, the lessons I was taught, it all made the world seem so sunny. But it's only dark out here..."

He continued, "I'm waiting by an this weird thing... It's like a building, I think... Aren't buildings supposed to be pretty? This one looks old, and it's dark inside. While I'm sitting out here I think I can see something inside, watching me. I don't know if there is, and I'm not sure if I should check... Mom, dad... where are you?"

A delightful airy click ended the audio file. Neo scratched the top of his mane, gazing at the screen of Adam's Pipbuck. "I thought you said this belonged to an officer?"

Adam's head tilted, while he too rubbed his mane pondering what they had heard. "I thought so too. When I found it the audio files were stored in a Stable-Tech recorder. Usually someone would store Pipbuck data on it, and I did find Pipbuck equipment in the room..."

"You think it might be information carried over from someone who had their Pipbuck information stored on it? Maybe there's more ponies, each who had Pipbucks. Who knows, maybe there's a dozen Pipbucks on there."

"Let's hope that isn't the case," Adam said, "otherwise we'll be here for awhile."

Adam selected the next audio log, and played it. Like before, the colt from the last recording spoke. "I've been here for a little while now... I'm not sure how long really. I should probably check my calendar on the Pipbuck. But I haven't bothered doing anything else on it. There's no one out here... and I can't see anything in the distance. Mom, dad, when I escaped I ran and ran, without looking back. I'm not sure if that was a mistake, or the right choice... I wish you were here to tell me... You both said you'd be out here, trying to find me. Where are you? Where is everyone?"

Choosing the next log, Adam played it. "I found some food in this place. I'm not sure what kind of building it was, pretty or not. I made a friend though, while I'm waiting. I don't know his name, and he won't give me one... at least, I think he's a he... I don't know, but he's pretty funny. He told me not to worry -- that everything will be alright if I listen to him. I feel... happy around him. Everything out here has been so scary, but not him. I can't wait for you to meet him mom! You'll like him. Dad might think he's too silly... I'm still here, though... waiting for you..."

Faintly in the background, the distinct grading noise of shifting earth rustled. The colt went quiet for a second. "Mom? Dad?"

The audio file cut off.

No sooner had the last ended, Adam began the next. The speaker sounded distant, like he was handling the Pipbuck from a few feet away. Whilst the muffled clatter of scratching and scraping over the microphone persisted.

The childish voice of the colt was replaced with the crude gruff register of an older, more vulgar stallion.

"Damn thing... ain't nothin' useful on this piece of crap!"

A mare spoke out in the background, shrieking in a high, deafening pitch, "Are ya' done messin' with that damn thing yet? I haven't eaten in days, and that kid is nice an' plump -- ready fer t’ ol’ spit!"

"Shut it, bitch! I'm workin' here! We get some good tech off this, we can give it t' one of those gangs outside of Ironstead. They'll pay a pretty cap for this, but only if YOU LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!"

"But I'm starving! Can I jus' have a leg? The kid will still be alive... ripe, tender, and juicy. So you can have some fresh too!"

"We ain't eatin' no one until I'm done! You touch him, and I'll beat your fuckin' head in, ya hear me ya’ ghastly wrench!?"

Grousing under her breath, the mare's voice grew softer, like she was walking away from the Pipbuck. "Fine, ya' bastard. But if I die of hunger it'll be your doin'!"

"Dumb whore," the raider muttered, "let's see... ah fuck, there's a password on this thing..."

A callous chuckle bubbled from the speaker, "Well, it's a good thing we didn't kill the kid yet. I guess he's still worth somethin' after all."

With a crackle and a click, the next one played automatically. The male raider growled, as the feeble whimpers of the colt fluttered in the background. "I'm gonna' ask ya' once, an' only once ya' little shit: what's the code to this thing?"

"W-what are you going to do with me?"

The mare crackled like a mad hyena, reveling in the pain of its prey. "We're gonna' eat ya! That’s what!"

"Shut it, ya' bitch!"

The mare's laughter was still constant as the male raider continued, "If ya' don't talk, we'll eat ya'. One piece at a time. An' the best part? Ya' get to watch us enjoy every little piece of you, so long as ya’ keep that password locked up in your head."

"Pl-Please don’t eat me! Help! Help! Somepony, please!”

“Shut the fuck up! Talk or I hack off your leg!”

“T-The password is Vladimir... named after one of the authors of my favorite books..."

"I don't give two shits who the fuck you idolize! We're still gonna have our way with you!"

The mare's laughter gradually diminished. A group of far away voices shouted out to the raiders. The raider mare's speech quickly became embezzled in a panic-stricken shudder, as she pleaded to her partner, "We need t' get out of here! It's the Ironhoof Legion!"

"Shit! Quick, grab the kid, get-"

Silence.

The log lasted for a few more seconds, the low clacking of static lasting until it finished.

Adam appeared wide-eyed, and frozen at the mentioned password. In a whisper, he breathed it between his lips, "Vladimir?"

"It was the Ironhoof Legion that arrived -- do you think Vladimir was in power at the time?" Neo wondered.

"Let's... Let's just see what else happens before we draw any conclusions."

Cycling through the next few files yielded no such information. File after file was corrupted. Playing each one they selected, whatever thoughts of the colt, or what happened to him were lost in an obscuring blur of stagnant noise.

What seemed like a fruitless venture through the files Adam had downloads, one after the seventh failed log held something of interest. Standardly pressing the play button, just as Adam did with the others, the entire hud read-out of his Pipbuck vanished. Onscreen, the image of a stallion, no older than Adam sat in an army tent.

The entrance flaps were swaying calmly behind him, while he stared headlong at the two viewers watching him. The hues of his short coat, eyes, and long straight mane draping over one side of his face, was trapped beneath the orange colored filter of Adam's Pipbuck.

"It's been a while since I've made a log. I'm excited to say a lot's happened since the last one." He tried to hide his smile behind the lengthy mane. "The captain is promoting me. I'll soon be working as his master sergeant. We've done a lot for this province..."

Like the dying light of the evening, the beaming joy was slowly sapped from him. "Wouldn't mom and dad have been proud... Since I joined, our little mercenary group has turned into a full-fledged organization, spread out across the entire region. I'm doing just as you taught me pop. I'm fixing things, and hopefully I'll leave a big enough impact to make the world a better place."

Upon the conclusion of the video file, Neo's eyes went large, as he gaped at the now dark Pipbuck screen. "This belonged to Vladimir..."

Neo didn't even need to look at Adam to know he had the same expression. "I can't believe it... I mean, I knew it belonged to someone of a higher rank, but to the Legion's leader?"

As the radio hud for Adam's Pipbuck returned Neo reluctantly pointed at the next file. "What about the next one? Maybe there's something here about Iron Hammer."

Adam glanced at his brother, and nodded, "Right."

The following log started just as the last had begun. The screen dimmed, and a video played. Vladimir's appearance had changed, the long parted mane was thicker, and more slick. Upon his torso a thick metal breastplate made up the barding he wore.

His tone had hardened from years of rigorous life in the wastes. The child who first felt alone and scared was gone. Not a shadow, nor aura of that colt remained.

He stared at the screen, with eyes unblinking, "It's hard to imagine, that our province’s capital, after so many years, is finally being reconstructed. Our original intent was to wipe out the lower city, and claim the entire area as our own. Sadly, that plan was abandoned some time ago. After thorough investigating we've found that there are simply too many ghouls, and a devastating amount of taint infesting the ground level."

"However," he continued sternly, "the tops of the hundreds of skyscrapers are unaffected -- as are most of the upper floors of some of the larger structures. As such, we've redirected our efforts to carve our new capital on the tops of the edifice of buildings that was once our province's greatest city."

"We've learned so much, and our new nation will be the only glorious beacon of hope throughout Equestria. Mother, father. We found ancient plans for repurposing the soil. All of it, with these Sun gems. If you’re still alive, and are indeed listening to my voice, know this: Our ancestors failed the province. But where they did, we shall not. History only repeats itself when one does not consider to look back. I have witnessed their mistakes, and I do not intend to fail."

Sighing, Vladimir shook his head and gazed off to the side, "Despite what I’ve said, not all has been well. I've had some trouble, as of recent... the more my partner aids me in rebuilding the old world the more I have headaches. At the moment they are minor, a little irritating, at the worst. I've tried a great deal of things to quell the pain. Potions, herbs, and even raw magic. None seem to help. That was until I took a sip of wine I had found in an old mall outside of the city. With even the tiniest sup from the sweet liquid the pain lifted. However, my consultant... I don't see him when... n-nevermind..."

"I found two scientists, from stable 142, who are helping us make the soil pure again. And, with time, I believe they can convert this hellish land into a paradise."

A mare's bodiless delightfully called to him off screen, "Vladimir! You should see the result we found! It's astounding!"

The log concluded.

Another played, a video, the same as the last few. Vladimir was slouching in a chair with closed eyes, gently massaging the temples of his head. Revving his throat in a seething snarl, he snorted, "Damn them! Damn all of them!"

Opening his eyes, he shouted at the screen, "The workers who are helping us rebuild the city. They're complaining about the temporary living conditions we have them in. They're also saying that the guards bully them, and steal behind their backs. Many have already died building the bridges across the buildings. What did they expect? A vacation? And now when they want to leave, we tell them no. They committed themselves to this project -- they were inspired to live in paradise! Worse of all, the pegasi are the most rambunctious lot."

He put on a squeaky unintelligent voice while impersonation of the workers, "We're tired, we're sad, we're hungry, the guards are violent!"

"Don't they understand that what they're doing they're doing for the future? For all of equine kind? To save our species? If this goes on much longer, I'd much rather execute the lot of them, and find someone more cooperative, than never have this dream come true simply because they think it isn't fair... My advisor tells me I should just purge the outer towns, where ex-enclave ponies live. Maybe that'll motivate them..."

"But, I couldn't do that, could I?"

Vladimir stared at the two brothers from behind the screen, like he was listening to a silent force. "You've never been wrong, for sure. But to murder all of those pegasi..."

Vladimir snapped, "I know what I said!"

His ears flattened in a shocked recoil, "No... no... I..."

"Slaves? A purge?"

A long vertical strip of static manifested in the center of the image. Gradually it widened, consuming the whole screen in the bustling particles. Adam tapped the edge of his Pipbuck, frowning at the disturbance suddenly interrupt the video.

"Ah, c'mon!" Adam shouted now smacking the Pipbuck. "Dang it, most of theses files are corrupted..."

"Who do you think that mare was?" Neo thought aloud. "She sounded a lot like..."

Adam nimbly interjected, "No, it couldn't be her. She'd never work for Vladimir."

Neo looked at him, motioning his head to the Pipbuck, "What other ponies have come out of the stable? We already know mom was out here in the world before. And dad was out her long after she came back."

"It just doesn't make sense to me," Adam replied, deeply looking into the blizzard of orange and white pixels wash over the video, "he's a nutcase, and she wouldn't go along with anything a he’d have to say or stand for...

Facing his brother, Adam mewled, “W-Would she?"

"We'll have to ask her later," Neo pushed down Adam's Pipbuck turning his face to the door, "for now we'll need to keep investigating. Maybe Lucy, and the others found something. And hey, we can even stop by the hangar on the way up there."

As Adam's hoof met the floor, the hazy fog of static peeled back, revealing the list of download files. Below the one they had listened to, a single file was left. When the Pipbuck had been removed from Adam's sight the image on-screen switched to the health chart marking the condition of his body.

Adam hesitated, trailing his eyes to the floor in thought. After a moment, he returned to his brother, "Okay... brother. Hopefully it was more than what I had here."

Vladimir sat in the comfort of a wheelchair, looking out at the airship hangar from a porthole window in the medical ward. His translucent reflection in the glass stared back at him, as he silently watched the ponies in the wide space hurry back and forth between the flying craft.

Bright icey blue sparks luminously ejected out in all directions, while welders on top of the an aerial troop carrier forged a piece of sheet steel to a space behind the cockpit window. How busy they all were, each had something to do, somewhere to go.

Pushing carts with hoses attached to fuel tanks, or unicorns levitating engine parts to the lower rotary flaps of the vehicle. From the moment he started watching them, to the current instant they scurried on. Always in a hurry -- always working.

A beige unicorn mare, wearing a clean white nurse's uniform pushed open the door at the far end of the medical ward. In the delicate light of her green aura, a clipboard lowly hovered. The mare's eyes were fixed on the information it had written on it, even as she walked down the middle of the room to the other side.

When she had come close to where Vladimir was sitting, she took her eyes off of the clipboard, noticing Vladimir out of the corner of her vision. Like a sudden static shock, her heart jolted as she gasped at him. Rushing to his side, she lightly held a hoof over his shoulder, not touching him in fear of his current state.

"Are you alright, sir? I... I didn't think you would be up so soon!"

Vladimir had dark, tired sags shingling underneath his eyes. In spite of the gloom, he contained a certain degree of content clinging to his words. "No, it's quite alright, m'dame."

He smiled weakly, not removing his gaze from the window. "I thought I'd just shuffle on over here, find a chair, and watch the ponies down there."

The mare placed a hoof over her pounding heart, sighing with great relief, "You gave me quite a shock! I'm glad to hear you woke up with no problems."

"No at all, m'dame."

Floating the clipboard to her chest, she looked down at the papers, flipping the top one up, "Now that you're awake, I'm going to have to go get some medications, to help lessen any side effects from the potions we gave your earlier. Could you stay here while I fetch them? I'll only be a moment."

Vladimir shook his head twice, redirecting his focus to a smaller airship in the hangar. "No, please, take your time. I'm rather enjoying myself here, and I don't believe I'll be moving anytime soon."

The nurse gave him a peppy little nod, and hurried back the way she came. Vladimir smiled at the the smaller airship, driving his focus deeper into it.

It was colored in a glossy midnight shade, coating it across the long tail boom, and melding with the silver stripes at the box-like center. As most ships had, turbine engines jutted out from stabilizer wings fastened at the top were positioned horizontally. A small, but sleek ship -- sporting one single machine gun perched on rotary arms below the pointed nose of the cockpit.

A whisper slithered its way into his ear, shimmying around like a contorting snake making itself at home. Vladimir’s reflection in the window blinked at him, speaking as though he were on the other side of the glass.

The reflection stammered, "I... I don't understand..."

Vladimir ran his hooves on the smooth varnish of the wheelchair’s oak armrests. Bringing both shoulders to his ears. He melted in the chair, smiling, and purring -- reveling in the bliss. In the enjoyment, the sudden movement in the chair’s foam cushion creaked, as fur rubbed on vinyl.

“This is so wonderful!” Vladimir chuckled, feeling a warm tingle shimmy up his back. “Oh, my! I could get used to this!”

Vladimir’s reflection scowled, as he pounded a hoof on the window, trapped. “That’s my body!”

The Legion emperor didn’t seemed stirred by what the reflection had to say. Sitting upright, he chortled uncontrollably. Then, tracing the tip of his hoof over the vibrations of his neck, Vladimir sighed still in mid-laugh, "Wonderful feeling it is, you know? To feel one's own laughter? You can laugh too, Little Red, but you'll find they the same sensation doesn't seem quite so... authentic."

"...What do you plan to do, now that you're in control? Do you think I'm going to allow you to-"

"And what exactly do you plan to do?" Vladimir spat in retaliation. "I'm in control of your body, not the other way around. Unfortunately for you, I won't suffer the same side effects you had with me."

Vladimir's face put on a stretched grin, peering at the airship again. "As for what I plan to do... well, I plan to actually achieve something in my spare time, Little Red. Not like you had any other ambitions anyway."

Another pony came stepping through the door at the end of the room. This time, a mare stained in plate-sized grease smudges blotched over her light orange coat. Like an electric wire had just discharged a hundred volts through her, every length of the mare's white mane was poofed into an afro of stiff static fluff.

She blinked her emerald eyes, as she stepped through the doorway nearly coughing out her lungs. On the mare's flank was a single golden cog, bearing a tiny twinkle at the corner of one of the topmost teeth jutting out to the right.

In the wake of her horrid swerving, brought on by the coughs leaping eagerly out of her throat, the plethora of holstered tools she bore jingled about.

Lunging at the nearest bed to her, she caught herself on the frame, whipping out the last of the remaining coughs drying out the walls of her throat. Just as the mare had fallen, she stood up. Cleared her throat, and rocked her jaw sore from the constant coughing.

Placing both eyes to a level degree, she spotted Vladimir by the window, keenly eyeing the work being done in the hangar. Trotting down the middle of the room, she approached him -- also gazing at the open hangar and the ponies frantically working below.

"Neat, huh?"

Vladimir's laugh line slowly faded, as he looked up at the mare absently smiling at the workers inside. "Excuse me? Who are you?"

The mare looked at him with opened eyes -- still retaining the uncomfortably pleasant expression. "What, me?"

"Well," the mare revved stiffening her posture, "I'm Golden Cog! Chief engineer on the troop carrier gunship!"

Vladimir's smirk returned, as he leaned forward, "Oh, really now?"

She seemed unaware of his imposing advance, "Yep! Got to fly here and everything."

"If you're the chief engineer, you can answer a few questions for me, correct?"

She nodded, "I sure could. I just happened to notice you looking down there when I was coming in to get looked at by the nurse."

Placing a hoof to the side of her mouth, she tilted toward him whispering, "Getting shocked and all isn't too good for your health, y' know?"

Recoiling herself back, she looked out the window again, speaking contently, "It's a fine job, I'd say. None other like it in the world."

"Yes, well," Vladimir interrupted quietly, "I do find those machines rather fascinating. In fact, one of the smaller ones interests me the most... might you be so kind as to offer a poor ignorant mind some insight into the fine nature of your craft?"

Using a hoof to shield her brow, she pressed her snout on the cold glass -- eyes darting across the hangar in search of the specific ship. "Mind pointing it out? There's a quite a few in there that match that description."

Vladimir lifted a weary hoof, and pointed to the smaller ship he had been eyeing earlier. "That one... the one off to the side."

Golden Cog pulled herself away, and scoffed, "Well, that's a curious favorite... what's drawing you to that one?"

"No reason in particular." Vladimir added with a shake of his head. "It simply resonates with me, and I would love to know more about it."

Facing Vladimir, Golden Cog motioned her nose to his horn, "It's strange that you should like that one. It's one of those magically operated ones."

Turning her sights to the ship, she continued, "The ship traditionally runs on pegasi power. But during the war more pilots were needed, and there were plenty of unicorns, so proto-type ships like that were commissioned."

An airy chuckle escaped through her lips, "The only downside is, they never worked out a proper magic converter. So, to even get the thing off of the ground you'd need to be A: a prodigy in magic, or B: have a team of twelve unicorns. Which, I don't even think could fit in that thing to be honest."

"Interesting," Vladimir muttered trailing his eyes back to the hangar, "very interesting..."

Glancing at the door, Golden Cog lightly stomped the ground with one hoof, whinnying, "Where is that nurse? I might be dying internally or something!"

"You could go fetch her," Vladimir suggested jerking his horn to the door, "she went out over there, if you're curious."

"I'll do just that, thanks pal."

Golden Cog trotted to the furthest set of doors, leaving Vladimir to his own porthole view of the airships. The reflection’s voice whimpered, "You're not going to..."

"I am, Little Red." Vladimir lay back in his chair. "Oh, you can be sure I am."

The hangar had a balmy heat lingering about in the dense air, like the inside of a smelting furnace. In the high steel rafters, supporting the concrete ceiling, a railway system of cranes moved about, loading with their massive lifting chains engines, wings, or cockpits to aerial gunships below. With its enclosed space, and dark stone walls a meek dim light kept the area aglow.

The feeble magenta, purple, and blue flaming sparkles from arc-welders flashed, offering the only means of true light. From the welders perched upon the tops of the vehicles, tiny rising plumes of hot smoke ascended, giving the atmosphere a bitter, buzzing taste.

Between the bulky airships scattered around the hangar, a single cleared pathway had been made for ponies to cross from one side of the room to the next. Being the only free path, regularly ponies saddled to carts filled to the top with scrap trotted about, cluttering the way like a busy highway.

Neo and Adam navigated through the hustling ponies. Often scrunching the bridge of their snouts when the burning odor of fresh melted metal drifted more pungently in the air. Jostling aside workers, bumping and tripping over one another the brothers tore onwards to the other side of the hangar.

Coming to the center of the room, after skillfully steering through the bodies, Adam pulled off to a clear space at the side of the busy path. His hooves felt little claws dig deeply into him, as a dull soreness from the constant collisions faintly throbbed over his ribs. He panted a few times -- drooping his head with a limp tongue dangling.

Neo took a few more moments to catch up to him, feeling the same sharp pains sink their teeth into his fetlocks. "It's a little more busy than we thought, huh?"

Nodding, Adam produced a wheezed chuckle escaping amongst the heavy breathing, "Just a little."

Neo rose his head to the nearest gunship, "Well, here's one you could look at... at least, without being pulled in by the tide."

The muscles constricting Adam's spine tightened, as he faced the ship. His eyes grew wide, and his jaw dropped in gaping awe. "Whoa..."

The vehicle rested ten feet from them, with no mechanics operating or frantically repairing it. Adam's eyes smoothly followed the round corners of it's box-like body, tailing to the stout wings jutting from the top, supporting both rotary jet engines. Over the bleak steely grey hue of the machine, a crimson paint marked in thin films of swirling strokes coated most of the space around the cockpit.

It was like a titan -- hulking and mighty in build. Adam took two slow steps toward it, three tiny tinkles forming in his eyes as lost himself in the machine's presence. Seeing his brother enjoy himself ample warmth flowing up his spine, bringing a smile to his face.

"How fast do you think it goes?" Adam asked.

Neo walked to Adam's side, laying his focus on the broadside of the gunship. "I wish I could say. I'm not exactly an expert."

Adam laughed, "Neither am I. Though, I wouldn't mind getting in the business."

Suppressing his laughter to the bottom of his chest, Adam included, "Still, I'd like to see how fast this thing would go."

"I think you'd be thoroughly disappointed." A gravely mare's voices spoke from behind them.

Quickly spinning around, they saw Golden Cog standing idly -- brushing full lengths of her top mane with a brush strapped to her right hoof. She held a mild smirk, motioning the tip of her snout to the gunship. "This here is a base-line personnel carrier. Found it outside an airfield near Silvermane."

"The beast flies at the lowest speed of any ship we have here," she added hobbling with one hoof next to Adam, "it's so slow, you'd do better racing a turtle with a helicopter propeller."

Neo uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck, "I wouldn't have guessed, especially with engines as large as that."

"It's a common misconception." Golden Cog answered with a bouncing nod.

Adam smiled dearly, feeling the tugging urge to hug her pull his body forward. "It's nice to see you again."

Her expression widened, pinching her eyes closed and exposing her teeth in a beaming grin. "I can same the same! We'll have to catch up sometime. Unless you plan to stay and talk now."

Neo shook his head, "I'd like to stay and catch up, but we're currently holding an investigation."

Golden Cog's brightness subsided, converting to a placid, puzzled stare. "An investigation? What happened?"

"A stallion who was traveling with us had some information," Neo answered, "we're trying to find out what it was until he gets well."

She glanced sideways at the luminous white glow, filtering through the thick porthole windows near the ceiling at the back hangar wall, "There's a red guy up there in the medical ward, is that your buck?"

Adam gave an airy response, "Yeah, how did you know?"

Throwing her head back to the medical ward windows, she tittered, "Just got back from the ward myself. I had a nasty sock working on the ship you’re looking at now. I didn’t see an opened fuse while I painting. Not the brightest move, I’d say. Luckily, turns out I'm fine, just a frizzed mane."

Neo placed his eyes on the windows, asking while he looked, "How is he doing?"

She shrugged, one shoulder after the other, "He looks fine, but then again he might be one of those ponies who can take the pain."

Adam's voice quavered, like he had heard someone had just died, "He’s awake? So early?"

"Yeah, awake and kicking." Golden Cog paused, directing her gaze to the floor, pondering what she had just said.

She wagged a hoof, reiterating her response, "No, I take that back. He might not be kicking, but he's awake for sure."

Urgency stuck Adam's words, "Brother, we need to tell Lucy and Ally. If he's awake we he might be ready to tell us everything."

"Right," Neo responded in a confirming nod.

"I'm sorry, but we'll need to catch up later." Neo said to Golden Cog.

Golden Cog stepped to the side, giving the brothers a way into the current of hurried mechanics. "You guys take off, I'm not going anywhere."

Neo smiled at her, lifting a hoof in preparation to run, "Don't worry we'll try to get back later."

"It was nice seeing you again!" Adam chimed standing beside his brother.

Leaping into a small gap between the ponies, the two brothers vanished in the river of congested bodies. Golden Cog craned her nose up to the windows, scratching the top of her oily mane. "I hope those boys find what they're looking for."

She turned to the gunship they were observing before, noting the unfinished strokes of paint, jaggedly marking the borders of the crimson coat where the bland dark steel met with the red. "The last thing I want is to do is shock myself again... maybe, maybe not. I really should finish the paint job. Someone's got to do it, right?"

Rolling up the sleeves of her brown jumpsuit, she tighten her stare on the gunship, "Might as well get back to work!"

The lights had gone out in the control room, leaving the screens' ghostly aura as a soul means of illumination. The stallion soldier lay back in one chair, head tilted back as his chest slowly rose and fell. Across the room, sitting on the back wall the mare watched her comrade sleep, listening to his neighing snores.

The screens’ dimness caught the myriad of suspended dust motes, adjusting to the most meager of disturbances.

Thatch sat against the steel door leading out, staring blankly in front of him to the opposing wall. The mine’s shaking subsided, now drawn to a minor tremor slightly nudging the earth. In the distance, far in the deeper regions of the mines sound passed through the walls.

Explosions, gunshots. All vastly distant like the clap of a far off storm. Any efforts the predator had made to get in where halted. No clawing or vicious snarling could be heard. Even the surly hiss of steam pumping through the pipes outside whirred more aloud than the beast.

Thatch took in a breath of the hot humid air, feeling beads of sweat gather on his boiling brow. He gulped once, a tingling droplet from his temple running down his neck. The mare at the back wall looked at him, removing her mask and revealing the beautiful hue of violet shading her eyes.

Her short orange mane was matted down in a bowl shape, under the constrictions of the helmet. "Sir?" She piped up.

The vertebrae in Thatch's stiffened neck popped as he diverted his attention to her. "Yes soldier?"

"How'd you get to be a Captain? If you don't mind me asking."

Thatch took shallow breaths, speaking in between each inhalation, "Where'd this come from?"

She shrugged, "It breaks the silence."

Thatch scoffed, crookedly smiling at her response, "I suppose it does."

Scooting himself upright, Thatch repositioned his damp, sweat-laden uniform sticking to his back’s fur. "I started like you did, I guess. There's not much to say beyond that. I did my duty, same as anyone in our order. Following orders, killing those against us. Showing loyalty."

Thatch turned his attention to the ground, "Being a higher up isn't all it's cut out to be, though. More ponies expect greater things from you. They're always watching, like they're waiting for you to perform for them. Like fillies and colts at a puppet show they want to see you dance, and they know the routine. One slip up, and they’re tossing tomatoes right at you.”

“As a grunt, you're responsibility doesn't weigh quite so hard.” Thatch wiped his brow. “If the grunts misfire, or fail, it ripples on to me. We take the whip, unless we’re the higher-ups watching you.”

His eyebrows lowered, fixing his eyes into a hardened stare, "I've been a soldier fifteen years of my life. Every year growing a little closer to those higher in the food chain."

He looked down at his hooves, silently cursing them like they had committed a crime, "It's all I know how to do now. And you'd do well to understand that getting cozy up at the top isn't heaven. If you want paradise, it'd be easier to put a bullet in your head and go there for yourself."

"I joined a year and a half ago." The mare spoke lowly. "I thought it'd be a more stable life than scavenging in Silvermane."

Despite the dark atmosphere, she let a breathy chuckle laying at the bottom of her stomach out, "Looks like things weren't too stable after all, huh?"

“No,” Thatch brayed, “no it’s not.”

As the hushed thundering of war clashed faintly through the walls, three knocks came at the door. Feeling a sharp icy sting lance through his heart, he dove forward stumbling away from it.

The mare's ears erected, as she stood up cautiously. "Is someone at the door?"

Rapping again, the metallic vibrations stung the air, as Thatch stared headlong at the dark bolted exit, "I don't know what it is."

The next gongs tolled throughout the room, waking the sleeping stallion.

Bong! Bong! Bong!

Shaking his head, the stallion leapt out of the chair staggering forward before recovering his footing. Frantically darting his visor around the area he paused listening to a single knock thunk upon the door.

Haltingly turning his head to the door, he gulped a rough lump stuck in his throat, "What was that?"

"I don't know..." The mare answered quietly, without removing her sight from the door.

"S-Should we check it out?" The stallion stammered.

Thatch felt like his heart was going to leap out of his throat, "There's only one way to find out who it is..."

He gingerly stepped to the thick door handle camouflaged with the shadow and iron. Then, gently laying a hoof on it, he uttered under his breath, "There's only one way to find out..."

Lucy trotted down the hallway, Wester stepping close by, while Ally and Big Lot kept to the back. They came to a room at the end of the hall, with an opened doorway leading in. Inside the small room were cabinets pinned to the walls, topped by leaning stacks of cardboard boxes stuffed with sharp gleaming machine parts.

A sturdy metal desk was positioned at the back wall, surrounded in mounds of assorted junk strewn about the edges and corners. Behind it, a lanky yellow unicorn stallion in a lab coat, scratching the bristles of the stubble wreathing his jaw.

Levitating in the dim green of his horn's magic, he gazed at a circuit board through the lens of a magnifying glass. In the tool's warping glass the stallion's blue eye filled the entire glass to the rim.

Lucy stopped in front of the desk, propping up her leg so she could set it on the desktop. Then, leaning against the it, she tipped her fedora at him. "Howdy."

Her greeting didn't draw him away from the circuit board. She cleared her throat, reiterating the hello more sternly, "Howdy."

Big Lot pouted, stepping up to the desk. Her stature didn't allow her to see over the front edge, and likewise, not directly at the pony working behind it. Regardless, she hopped onto her hind legs pressing both fore hooves on the solid steel.

"Hey!" She announced with a fire in her voice. "Buggy-eyed guy! Listen to her! Or I'll break your nose!"

The stallion blinked, lowering the magnifying glass. Looking to the four gathered in front of the desk a suave growl rolled off of his tongue, "Oh, hello there fillies. What is there something I can do for you sweet dumplings?"

Lucy scowled, "Yeah, you can."

Taking the tracking device from a pocket inside her duster, she put it on the desk. "We're running an investigation. Top stuff. I ran into a security guard on the way to the inspection zone-"

"Inspection zone?" Ally commented with a raised eyebrow.

Lucy glanced at her sideways, shrugging one shoulder, "We’ll talk about what to call the Inspection zone later. That's just what it's called, right?"

Ally shook her head. "I don't think it is, actually."

"Well that's what I'm calling it," Lucy returned to the clerk at the desk, "and I'm standing by it."

Batting his eyes, the stallion had a dopey inane smile adrift in ogling admiration, "You can call it anything you want, babe. I don’t mind? Now, lovely dumpling, what is it can do for you?"

Lucy gagged petting the device, "This thing. I was told you can look at what makes this thing tick, and who's sending signals to it."

Pulling the device toward him from underneath Lucy's hoof, he peered at it, "For you, anything."

"So?" Lucy asked with delay.

He shifted his eyes up to her face, "So what?"

"So," Lucy added, "how long will it take?"

The clerk briefly went back to the device before him, pushed it around and picked it up, thoroughly investing its features. Setting it down, he said, "I can get back to you in... a few hours at the most. I'm fairly skilled at handling Stable-Tech brand equipment."

"Do we come back then, or," Lucy unsurely paused.

“But,” he cooed under heavy breathing, “you can stay for awhile. I don’t mind.”

Lucy’s face went hot, flushing her now rosey cheeks. “What...”

He winked at her, flashing a charming grin, “You know what I mean.”

Ally stepped in, shoving Lucy aside, "It's important we get that information as soon as possible. When, do you think we could come back?”

The stallion stomped his hoof with a snorting hmph, tossing his gaze away from her, “Well, aren’t you the buzzkill... I can have it done within the hour. Two at the most.”

Lucy grumbled behind Ally, “It’s good to know I won’t have to deal with you afterwards.”

The stallion snapped his gaze to her, "Excuse me, what did you say dear? Was it a comment this floozy had to hide away from me?"

Lucy didn't turn to look at him as she replied, "It wasn't anything. Just let us know as soon as the freakin' thing is done."

Wester, pat the back of lucy rough leather duster, “Let’s get out of here. We don’t need to make a scene.”

Lucy growled under her breath, kicking one of the cleaning robots scurrying through the hallway to the side. "That sleazy bastard better not screw this up, I swear!"

Ally lifted an eyebrow at her, "You're still that upset after how that guy acted?"

Shaking her head vigorously, she snapped at Ally, a furnace set ablaze in her words and eyes, "Well, yeah I am! Did you hear what he said to you? He called you a-"

Ally brought a hoof to her mouth, and abruptly interjected with a cough,"Yes, well, I think we can let that slip by."

"Still," Lucy jabbed at the subject, "we're really letting that thing into his hooves? I'd rather trust a ravenous brain-dead zombie with the device than that slick pile of crap!"

Big Lot agilely bounded to Lucy's side, picking up her pace to a trot once she caught up to her. "Can someone tell me what a floozy is?"

Lucy's head reeled back at the Big Lot's remark, "You were a dictator, how do you not know what that is? Haven't you been out here your entire life?"

Big Lot pouted petulantly, "I'm still a kid. I'm not a dictionary, or an esyclope... pedi...ensycloo..."

She let a squeaky grunt out her nostrils trying to find the word resting at the tip of her tongue, "That book thing with stuff in it!"

Lucy brought her face down to her level, drooping her eyelids halfway in a disappointedly crooked frown, "You mean an encyclopedia?"

Big Lot tightened her squint, puffing her rosy little cheeks to double their size, "You think you're soooo smart, huh lady? I swear, if I had a pit I'd push you in it!"

"Ha!" Lucy laughed, "I'm a pegasus, I could just hover right above you!"

Pulling a devilishly long grin, Big Lot muttered, "That's why I'd clip your wings first."

Lucy recoiled her head, gulping at a needly chill prick the nape of her neck. Ally galloped between them, chuckling nervously as a light sweat dabbed her brow, "Please! Please! Stop! Let's not let the whole conversation we had back there ruin our moods!"

Lucy bellowed fuming breath out of her nose. Big Lot's grin shrank to a victorious smirk. Glaring, Lucy stuck her tongue out at the filly.

Gasping, Big Lot returned the gesture. Ally stopped in the middle of the hallway, and slammed a hoof against the steely floor, "Would you two stop it! Both of you are like foals, bickering about absolutely nothing!"

Ally's attention darted between the two of them as she brought her tone to a calming degree, "Listen, let's all just calm down for a moment. Can we do that?"

Lucy diverted her attention to the ground, keeping the maddened expression solid. "Yeah, fine.."

Ally smiled tenderly, "Good... good. How about we clear our minds for a bit? Neo and Adam should be done in a little while, what do you say if I take Big Lot to the mess hall, and find something to eat? You and Wester can look around, get the whole thing off your minds. Does that sound nice to you?"

Lucy sighed, releasing pressure from the anger-filled boiling inside her breast. She advanced a few steps further down the hall, shaking her head clear, "Yeah, I guess your right... I'll head back to our room, chill there for a little while..."

Jerking her head to Wester, she spoke in a low furtive voice, "C'mon Wester."

Flattening her ears, Lucy trotted onward. Wester following in her stride. They went down a flight of stairs, through a long corridor, before veering right at the end of a shorter hall. Wester slowed his pace, catching Lucy's attention.

She looked back at Wester, watching him between the few feet that divided them. The monochromatic white light of the hallway's lighting buzzed overhead. It was like they were staring at complete strangers, casting their view at one another from islands separated by miles of sea.

"Why'd you stop?" Lucy asked.

"Should I go back?" Wester answered. "Make him understand how you feel?"

Wester's words ignited a fizzy tremble running up and down her back. The sensation forced a humorous giggle, "That's real sweet, West. But I think we're all good on settling the score."

"And I'm a big girl now, if I feel like I need to settle the score with him I'll let you know."

An earth pony stallion, donned in the traditional lab coat, glowing cleanly in the bright lights above pushed a cart down the hallway behind Lucy. The load he forced down the hall contained a pile of scrap, amassed high enough, that he couldn't see over the mountain of junk.

The tiny jar-sized wheels buckled and squealed at the overload weighing them down. Lucy faced the oncoming worker, and stepped to the side for him. The stallion grit his teeth, biting as hard as the muscles in his jaw would permit.

He groaned beneath short exasperated puffs, moving forward at the rate of a lumbering pony taking their time climbing a steep hill. Lucy blinked at the worker, pointing at the massive load he bore, "Uh, you need a little help there pal?"

The stallion shook his head, disturbing the sweat thinly collecting on his forehead. "No... I'm good..."

Lucy scratched the mane underneath her fedora, "Where are you even taking that stuff?"

"To our electronics repairman. Some of this stuff needs to be looked over."

"Some?" Lucy cocked her head at the curiously prodigious load.

Wester stepped aside as he came closer to him.

"I-I've got a some stuff that works in here... s-still, it just needs to get inspected."

He stopped right in front of Wester, and collapsed onto his haunches. With a single wipe of the backend of his hoof across the sweat-laden fur of his brow, he coughed, "This would've been really simple if I was unicorn. I'd just levitate all of it."

Lucy stepped to the side of the cart, a tiny grey hoof-held device with a leather strap protruded from the assortment of cluttered electronics. It had a tiny black screen, and a few green lights horizontally lined up along the top.

Dangling the end of her hoof right above it, Lucy looked at the worker, "What's this thing?"

The worker, sprung to his feet at the mention of the device as though it brought new life to him. Venturing around the cart, he picked up the electronic in his hoof. The straps meant to be fastened to the user's foreleg hung loosely undone as he spoke.

A faint wheeze still clutched to his words, "This is an interesting device, one t-that's due for inspection. Though, for the most part I-I think it still works properly."

Wester huddled between the two, looking down at the wrist device the worker held, "What is its primary function? Explain."

"It's a Sun gem detector," the stallion replied, "miners used it way-back-when to find the energy the gems give off. Now we're using it to tell how healthy our own gems are."

The worker flipped a switch on the side, bringing the device to life in a hum of electrical currents flowing through it. "Right now, we've got a 567 health gems here in the facility."

As he had mentioned an aquamarine number of the gems flashed at the top of the screen. "It can even track gems if we need to. It wouldn't of helped the miners much if they couldn't do that, huh?"

He glanced at the number of the screen once more, locking his sights on the rightmost digit. Tightening his fix on the gem counter, he brought the device closer to his face, "Huh..."

Lucy took a step back, "What is it?"

The worker, hummed investigating the screen shoved in front of his face, "There's one more gem here... The last few times we checked the number of gems we had there was 567... now there's 568."

"Looks like you miscounted, pal." Lucy snarked.

"No, we couldn't of," he sat down on the floor again, flicking the small switches and knobs on the side, "we thoroughly checked the number..."

"Here," he purred in deep focus whilst twisting one of the device's knobs, "let's see where it is..."

A charming beep rang clearly from the device. In correspondence to the happy ping, the worker spun himself around, eyes transfixed on the screen. He even started pacing himself down the hallway, leaving Wester and Lucy behind.

Lucy reached a hoof out to him, throwing the side of her muzzle to the cart he was leaving, "Hey! What about this crap!"

Slumping her shoulders, and dropping her hoof, Lucy blew air between her lips, "Fine, leave it all behind..."

Wester approached Lucy's left flank, "What are we going to do Lucky?"

Tossing her eyes to the right, she whinnied, "C'mon, Let's make sure that dolt doesn't hurt himself."

The worker skillfully navigated the pearly halls without so much as sparing a peek at what was ahead of him. Hobbling onward on one leg the pony maneuvered past oncoming project staff, and even stepping over the cleaning robots scooting smoothly over the floor.

Lucy followed the isolated beeps chirping in the halls. She was honed on the sounds, with both ears perfectly erect, receiving each ping the device echoed. Coming to the end of the hall, Lucy turned left going along a familiar hallway.

The doors to the brother's room, and her room came into view. The worker, standing attentively before Adam and Neo’s door, watched the blinking lights at the device’s top.

The beeps diminished with every new note. Vanishing into the memory and echo. Lucy and Wester galloped to the stallion who gawked at the front door unsure of what to do next. Lucy, paused for a moment, leaning her hot rage-fueled face suffused with seething blood to side of the worker's neck.

"Hey, buddy!" She gnashed her teeth, "you just left your cart way back there!"

Wester patted her shoulder, eventually bringing the gesture to a calming message circling her tense muscles. "Lucky, calm yourself."

The stallion blinked three times at the door, "Why here? What's here?"

Lucy pulled herself back, and moved her sights to the brother's door. "Neo and Adam's room?"

The stallion looked at her. "You know this place?"

Lucy lay a hoof to the chilled steel doorframe, "Yeah, some friends of mine are staying in here."

An exuberant burst of gamboling joy caused a smile stretching from ear to ear on the workers face. "Do you mind if I enter?"

Her mouth went agape at the request, as a low overwhelmed hum came out. "Uh... it's not really-"

Reluctantly, the worker pressed the orange button on the doorframe, and leapt through the door. Lucy stuck out a hoof to stop him, only to get jostled out of the way in the wake of the pony's charge in.

"Fine," Lucy snarled recovering herself, "just let yourself in why don't ya'..."

Stepping into the room, she saw the worker scurry over to the left bed, paying especial attention to Adam's saddlebags sitting on the ruffled sheets. Tromping over to him, Lucy scolded, "Hey! Don't go through his things! You creep!"

He had a hoof raised and ready to open the bags when he answered her, "I-I'm sorry, it's just the signal is coming from over here."

The urge to sock the pony in the jaw tugged at Lucy's hoof. "You better back up, before I make you regret coming in here."

"What's going on in here?!" Adam's voice called from the door.

Lucy and Wester both turned their heads in unison to the doorway, "Adam? What are you doing here?"

Neo stepped into the room, "What is he doing here -- what are you doing?!"

Hooking a leg over the worker's shoulder, Lucy reeled the stallion into a headlock, "I was stopping this creep from rummaging through your stuff! That's what we're doing here!"

Neo pointed at the pony Lucy had ensnared, "Why? What is it this guy wants?"

The pony in Lucy's hold whipped himself around, pushing with both hooves on the mare’s ribs in a desperate attempt to get free. "Please," he gasped under her relentless constricting grip on him, "c-can I... c-can I?"

His face turned blue, "Can I-I explain myself?"

Lucy looked at the brothers, unmoved by the pony's pleas. "It's your room fellas."

Adam stepped up, nodding at her. "You can let him go. Let’s hear what he has to say."

Releasing the pony, he fell on his stomach supping air like a fish out of water. When oxygen replenished his lungs he swaying side to side as he stood, hacking out each new word. "T-Thanks..."

Her rubbed the side of his neck, feeling the skin and fur regain their natural shape in the free tingling air. "I'm... I'm sorry for barging in... but I have a good reason."

"I'd like to hear it," Adam commented, "if you'd be willing to share with my brother and I."

Bringing the backend of his hoof to his lips he cleared his throat, and returned, "I have this device, you see."

He lifted his leg presenting the electronic strapped to it. "It detects Sun gems, and I was showing your friends what it does when I picked up a new signal."

Glancing over his shoulder at Adam's saddlebags, he continued, "It lead me here, and according to this device, there's a gem somewhere in those bags."

"That's insane!" Neo remarked jabbing a hoof at him. "We haven't touched a gem, let alone have one!"

The stallion recoiled back, flinching at Neo's advance, "It's what the device says!"

Adam put a hoof to Neo's shoulder, turning his gaze to the bags. "Let's just see what's causing that thing he's wearing to think there's one inside. Then, if there's nothing there, he can apologize and leave."

Peeking through the sliver of one cautiously opened eye, the worker slowly lifted his chin with flattened ears as he talked to Adam. "Does that mean I can look?"

Adam nodded. "You can, but if there's nothing there I want you to leave."

Gulping a coarse lump in his throat, the stallion's speech was weak, "Fair enough."

Coming back to the bags, the worker flipped over the saddle-bag’s flap, and moved the various contents around as he dug through it. Halting the search, a monstrous roar of a ping erupted from the device. Carefully withdrawing himself out of the bag, in the cup of his hoof sat a tiny bundle of leather, no larger than a golf ball.

Neo's spoke his thoughts aloud, "Two Sock's gift?"

Sitting on the floor, the worker unraveled the leather. Then, a bright light, like a blazing star caught freshly from the clear nighttime sky filled the room. A halo surrounded it, charging the entire space with a delicate sweet warmth that lightly brushed Adam’s fur.

Adam ambled toward the gem the worker held, gaping at the gift Two Socks had given them. "It is a Sun gem..."

Neo's hind legs gave out, plummeting his flanks to the floor, in the glow of the stone. "I can't believe it..."

Lucy took off her fedora, pressing it against her slow pumping heart. "I.. I... I... I can’t believe it."

She craned her eyes up at Wester, who in the reflection of his crimson visor, stared endlessly at the awing rays of the Sun gem. "We need to get Ally and Big Lot... They'll want to see this..."

In a laboratory on the upper levels of the project floors, the gem sat on a pedestal behind a tinted glass shield. Neo and Adam stood in front of the shield, their noses close enough to the glass that a light fog developed around any exhaled breath. Lucy stood further back from the them, talking to Ironside. The conversation between them reached the brothers in hushed whispers, and airy hisses.

Big Lot slouched in a chair bolted to the wall across the room. Her little legs were folded, and the filly’s cheeks inflated while she mumbled to herself, “Stupid legs, too short to see the gem...”

Dahlia and Ronan were at the other end of the glass, Ronan tapping a hoof to his chin. Ally touched the shield, feeling the warming aura seep through the barrier. "I would have never thought Two Socks would’ve had something like this. Do you think he knew what it was?"

Neo saw the circle of fog fade manifesting over his snout after drawing a breath, "I couldn't tell you."

"It's rare to find a Sun gem these days." Dahlia felt compelled to keep her eyes on the stone. "This is the first Sun gem we've found in years."

Ally dropped her hoof, facing Dahlia, "That might explain why the Legion's been having a hard time finishing Iron Hammer... even if they need one gem left, there probably aren't many left."

"When we started work on this project," Dahlia began, "these gems were a dime a dozen. Abandon mines everywhere were practically littered with these things. Especially the deeper mines."

Her look became solid, and unblinking, like the gem spoke to her in way only she could understand. "Back in the stable, the artificial garden has a few of their own Sun gems. When we ran testing on them we never imagined what sort of power they had."

Neo took a brief gander over his shoulder at Lucy and Ironside's meeting, "Do you think they'll use this stone for the same purpose? Abuse the power the gem holds for the sake of conquest?"

Ally gently stroked Neo’s back, soothing him the best she could, "They wouldn't use this to finish the Legion's weapon."

She looked at Dahlia, worry resonating off of her widened eyes. "Would they?"

Dahlia's tone hadn't faltered, "I'm not part of their military, or their war anymore. I'd rather this gem stay here, and be used to help one of the gardens."

"If they do pull the gem however," Ronan added, "there's scarcely anything we could do to stop them."

Neo's ears flattened, melding into his mane as his father spoke. Not even the lavishing rays of the gem could make him forget the troubled feelings he had, scratch irritably at the back of his mind.

Beepbeep... beepbeep... The watch around the Ronan's foreleg tolled. His ears perked up in surprise, as he shook his lab coat sleeve back to check it. Dahlia sauntered to him as the ring died, taking one of his hooves in her own, "You have to go check the river flow again?"

The skirting shadow of his eyes didn't remove the softness of the smile he gave her, "Yeah..."

He brought her hoof to his lips -- pecking it, before walking away from his wife, and out of the room. Neo didn't bother to see him leave, keeping all thoughts, all focus on the gem on the pedestal.

Everyone was silent around the gem, like a group gathered in quiet mourning of the dead. Dahlia shuffled to Neo's side, sighing at him, "He’s always busy."

"Seems so." Neo answered plainly.

Neo shifted his gaze to his mother, fighting back an explosive heat wanting to exhume from within him. He choked on it, at first, clamping down his teeth in hopes to bar it in.

But standing beside her weakened his hold, and loosening the firm grit of his molars, Neo spoke, "During the investigation, Adam and I uncovered something."

Adam's face sprung to life, like all energy had been suddenly turned on. Glancing at his brother, he asked, "Do want me to tell her?"

Neo shook his head continuing as he was, "No, I'll do it."

Keeping mute, Adam allowed Neo to advance further into the topic. "Adam found something -- back at the mines. They were logs from Vladimir, and in one..."

A scolding bulge lodged itself in his throat. Dahlia's face seemed so innocent, and mild. To say anything would ruin her contentment. Ultimately, he beat the blockage down, sucking in a minor lung of air.

"You were in, or at least I think you were, in one of the logs. Working with the Legion."

Neo's voice quavered as he hastily included, "I-Is that true?"

Her expression melted, somberly replaced with a shake of her head, "I won't lie to you -- to either of you. I did work for him, your father too. When we were younger, the Legion was very different, and so were we. At the time, we were two young, brilliant minds from the stable wanting to make a difference. And they offered us that chance to do so..."

"Then what happened?" Neo's head was cocked to one side. "What changed?"

"Their motives, and values." Dahlia answered. "After the purging, when they cleansed a few outer settlements filled with ex-enclave, we left."

Her eye contact with her son was severed, as it swayed off to the ground, "I try and forget it happened... it's in the past, and as a scientist my goal is to look to the future."

Lucy's head bobbed at Ironside, and he too returned the earnest nod. Without hearing what they said, the two parted ways, as Neo saw out of the corner of his eyes Lucy walk toward them.

"Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting something, am I?"

"No," Dahlia patted Lucy's shoulder, "we were just wrapping it up."

Lucy nodded, "Good, I just got done talking to Wilco back there. He's going to let the higher-ups know about the gem."

"I'll be waiting for their response as soon as it comes in." Dahlia upturned her look to the exit, nudging the air in its direction. "Though, I'd like you to do a favor for me."

Lucy's shoulders slumped as she put her weight on her left hoof, "What is it you want?"

"Can you take Neo to the Biome 3?" She requested. "There's something he might need to take care of."

Neo's heart went colder than the brisk air-conditioned floor they stood on. His ears retreated back to his mane, hiding away as he guided his eyes out of the two mare's vision.

"Sure," Lucy answered with a chuckle, "I can do that."

She prodded at Neo's side, smirking, "What is it you got to do? Something top secret?"

"It's a little private matter, yes." Dahlia stated.

Lucy’s hoof stopped a few inches from Neo, ready to poke him again. "Oh, I get it. Say no more."

Tipping her hat to Dahlia, Lucy started for the exit, Neo following at her rear.

As the two vacated the room, Dahlia fell back to gem standing next to Adam. Letting her eyelids calmly fall shut, she exhaled drooping her nose to the floor. Adam came to his mother, feeling a silky force pull him to her.

He draped a leg around her shoulder, comforting his mother with a gentle stroke on her back, "It'll be good for him."

Inhaling deeply, she arched her neck back steering the end of her nose to the ceiling. When her lungs were filled with the clean laboratory air, Dahlia slowly leveled her gaze, laying the side of her head atop Adam's mane. "I have hope for him. Perhaps there's still time to salvage their relationship... one can only hope."

Wester came to one of the seats beside Big Lot, and sat down. He swerved his visor to the exit, staring at recently used doors swing, “Aren’t you going to leave?”

The remark made her back stiff, pulling her upright in the chair, “What? Why would I want to leave?”

“To talk with Neo.”

Big Lot folded her hooves, “Well he’s busy. He probably doesn’t want to talk to me anyway.”

“You should still attempt it.” Wester insisted. “It’ll improve your mental status.”

Jabbing a hoof into his solid metal ribcage, she puckered her lower lip at him, “And you are you to tell me how my mental status is? I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean!”

“Forgive me, it means to feel better about yourself.”

She flipped a few of her more lengthy curls of mane over the side of her face, hiding away any expression with a kitten-like grunt. Wester slouched his shoulder back rotating his head to the Sun gem container.

“I won’t force you to do anything. But you and you alone have to deal with it.”

The word alone harkened a bitter sourness that bounded up into her mouth. “D-Do you think I can? What if if all goes wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Wester looked down at his revolver holster, “I tend to shoot things when it all goes wrong.”

Big Lot frowned, “You’re telling me…”

Wester sighed, hanging his breather low, “I’m not effective at social communication.”

“You’re telling me…”

She patted Wester’s armored hoof, “Listen, big metal guy, I’ll try. But it won’t be easy.”

Wester didn’t move.

“You understand, right?” She asked again.

Wester nodded. “Affirmative.”

“Though.” Big Lot scoffed. “You really need to sound more alive. It’d help with these sorts of conversations. Just so you know.”

Nighttime was soft, and quiet. Like a thin blanket coating the world in a shadowed veil. Peacefully serene. Somewhere out in the vast expanse of opened rough desert crickets played their merry chirps. The bodiless sound they produce lost in the night's dark curtain.

A few ponies were gathered around a low burning fire -- all armored to hoof in green plated barding. Some wore gas masks, fastened to repurposed army helmets. Others, Steel Ranger power armor toting on their backs gatling gun battle saddles.

There was no more than ten of them, the more heavily protected of the group had their hooves folded underneath them as they laid leisurely against the grey ashen stumps of trees encircling the area.

A mare sitting on a rock, with thin strands of grey mane jutting from a bun bundled atop her head tossed a few sticks, stockpiled beside her into the oranges flames that cavorted against the nightly breeze.

Little Red sat close to the fire, a brown blanket smudged in with specks of mud draped over his shoulders. He buried his nose in the the blanket, as if he were hiding an offensive expression. But he never removed his eyes from the flames, losing himself in the rhythm they moved to.

A cyan pegasus stallion removed his helmet, tucking it underneath a wing. Flipping is wild long mane hued in the same color of freshly fallen snow, he laughed boisterously. "Ha ha! It's finally good to get out of the old thing, am I right?"

The stallion's voice was pure, deep, and courageous -- like it belong to a noble character in a storybook, who lived in a different time. Heartily slapping a comrade on the back on his way to the fire pit he chortled, "I say, is anyone thrilled over today's victory?"

He scanned his fellow soldiers with a grin, flashing the pearly whites of his immaculately cared for teeth. None payed him a glance, or a stare. None even cared to reply to his question.

The mare sitting on the rock scoffed, feeding the starving flames a few twigs. "Vigilance, it was hardly a victory at all. The only thing we should be celebrating is the fact you got that fat head of yours out of your helmet."

Chest pushed out, the stallion sauntered to the mare's side, clamping a hoof around her shoulder. He moved his lips close to her ear, chuckling a tone that teetered between cocky, and pompous. "But didn't you see how swiftly we dealt with that scum! The skill! The action!"

Letting the mare go, he turned his attention to the stars, extending a hoof and sweeping it across the purple night sky in wonder. "The marvel of our victory."

"Heh," the mare picked up a long lanky whip-like stick in her mouth, "heresh a marvel fer ya'!"

Flying through the air, she whipped the end, twirling it about in the air for a second before flinging the wire-thin tip at his exposed flank. CRACK! Vigilance felt the sharp vicious bite of the stick-whip lance through his hide.

"Yeep!" He howled like a kitten, jumping and scurrying off across to the other side of the fire. The stallion puckered his lower lip whimpering, while attentively rubbing the swelling red spot marked where contact had been made.

Vigilance circled with the tip of his hoof over the bruise's border, before returning to the mare -- nose scrunched, and eyes projecting a tight, focused, stare-down glare alight in fury. "You may condemn me, Ms. Captain of the regiment! But you know I'm right!"

"All I know," The mare leaned forward, smirking as wide as the muscles in her cheeks could give, "is that you’re going to feel that in the morning!"

Those in the regiment rallied behind her, taking part in a loud whoops and laughs applauding their Captain's response. Vigilance’s eyes darted around the camp, jumping from pony to pony as his jaw slacked agape in stunned awe.

He groaned in the most plumy way possible, "Surely you don't agree with her?"

The Captain's laughter died down, diminish to a mere throaty crackle. "I think our opinion is unanimous."

Vigilance closed his mouth, pulling up a scowl. The stallion strolled to a rock further away from the fire's warmth, and craned his nose to the stars, plunking his haunches on a flat-topped rock. "I'm talking of glory, and you seem to be more interested in that brat we recovered."

Tittering contemptuously, he added, "He's probably a runt who escaped from the orphanage in Ironstead. I’d wager he's a thief, a coward, or a slave!"

"Hey!" The Captain barked, rising out of her seat. "I don't give a fuck on how amazing you think your job is, but when it comes to talking shit about the kid, you can keep your snarky remarks to your goddamn self!"

He snorted a hmph, and turned a cheek to her, keeping his nose raised to the sky. The Captain kept standing up for a moment, retaining her hawk-honed eyes on him.

She sat down on the rock again, throwing a stick into the fire like a child tossing a stone across a pond. A few dazzling sparks rose with a plume of ash motes into the hot warming air hovering just above it.

Little Red hadn't moved from his spot, nor had his eyes faltered. The Captain averted her attention to the colt, eventually bringing herself to nudge his shoulder. "Hey kid, you alright?"

At the touch of her hoof, an icy shock ran up Little Red's spine, forcing a startled twitch that took his nose out of the blanket. He looked up at her silently, breathing picking up to short huffs.

She spoke calmly, adding a nurturing rub to his back, "Don't listen to him, the bastard's full of himself."

Little Red didn't say a word. After a few moments of quietness pervading the atmosphere between them, he shrugged off her hoof, and returned his sight to the fire. "I'm fine... I guess."

"Where are you from?" She asked.

The colt snuggled the front end of his face into the blanket, pulling the slack tighter around the rest of his body. "Are from around here?" The mare inquired again.

He nodded, not changing his visual direction.

"Huh," the mare sighed curiously, "there aren't any settlements nearby. The closest one is Arkcannon, and it's quite a few miles from where we are."

"I told you," Vigilance quipped, "he's a scoundrel from Ironstead!"

She snapped her teeth like a ravenous dog, "Shut it!"

"I-I'm not from a town." Little Red mewled.

His reply brought her ears to attention, "Then where?"

Little Red's ears drooped, vanishing entirely into his mane, "A stable..."

"Really?" She didn't sound surprised. "That explains the Pipbuck we found on them... but there's only two stables around, right?"

He didn't answer her. He merely let himself become entranced by the flames, keenly inspecting their movements -- shifting one way and back listening to the breaking of newly added wood, crack under the inferno's glow. The fire's susurrations slithered into his mind, as a shadow skirted borders of his vision.

The world was consumed by the shadow -- but the fire's color stood everlasting in the fading world. It became so small, so feeble, a singularity of illumination haloed in gold. At one time the shine dimmed. Dimming, dimming, out of existence.

Then, Vladimir opened his eyes, revealing the blinding white rays of the humming ceiling light of the medical ward. The nurse was standing at the end of the bed, conversing with another nurse. At first their words were slurred in an obscuring ring that buzzed loudly in his ears. As the noise lifted while consciousness returned to him, he could hear at last.

The nurse noticed him awake, and smiled, "Oh, you're up!"

She gave the other nurse a polite nod, and walked along the side of the bed to the heart monitor. "Are you feeling tired? Nauseous? Light-headed?"

"No." Vladimir answered in a long exhalation.

The nurse tapped a button below the black screen of the monitor, bringing up a series of numbers on the screen, "Good, good. The medications I gave you seem to be doing their job."

Vladimir lifted a hoof to her, speaking in a rasping cough, "What were you talking about?"

She hadn't removed her focus from the machine. "What, dear?"

"The other nurse and you," his words came out more clearly, "what were you talking about?"

Walking to the end of the bed, she took off a clipboard suspended on a hook. Levitating the paper up to her face, she floated a pen from a pocket on her uniform, and began scribbling down the information from the machine.

"It's really quite fascinating." She started. "Apparently one of Dahlia's boys had a Sun gem on them!"

Vladimir's eyes widened, as his entire body went flushed with an excitingly bubbly heat. "Oh?"

"Strange, I know," the nurse giggled finishing up her task, "I thought they were just about gone from the province. Looks like that'll teach us to think something's completely vanished."

"D-Do you know where they're keeping it?" Vladimir spat in a hacking cough. "Just out of c-curiosity, of course."

Holstering the pen in the comfort of her pocket, she hung the clipboard again. "Well, Scarlet Cross told me that it they were keeping it in the lab upstairs. She mentioned they're going to run tests on it, and everything. Too bad we're stuck down here, I'd love to take a gander at it while it's still outside the gardens."

"How interesting." Vladimir purred, a grin forming. "How interesting..."

Ironside sat at a steel desk, pushed against the end wall of a long room. In one hoof he held a phone, connected by a coiled black wire to a radio. Above a fan spun uneasily -- wobbling back and forth like a ship on the choppy waves of a rough ocean. The handset's speaker pressed into his ear, as a stallion spoke to him from the other line.

His other free hoof lay on the desktop, tapping to the rhythm of the fan's rocking. "Yes, that's what I'm asking for."

The pony on the end had a young voice, belonging to someone no older than Neo, "Are you sure you want nearly everyone? You are aware that that would leave the Keep incredibly vulnerable to the Legion patrols."

Ironside's reply tinged with sturdy confidence, unbending to even the most minor of worries. "I'm fully aware General, and trust me, we'll need every soldier we can muster if we want to get to Iron Hammer."

"It'll be a bloodbath," the General remarked, "what if we lose everything we've worked so hard to achieve?"

"I'd rather try, then bend over and take annihilation!" A sharp higher pitch marked the rising urgency. "Might I remind you they're one gem away from completion? One gem away from taking away everything in the province, and a good portion of Equestria as well!"

"The last time our scouts thoroughly inspected the Legion's stance on the mines we counted some nine-hundred troops." The General included, "And to increase the severity of this situation, reports of another five-hundred have been reported getting on the trains heading over there in the past four days."

The General's speech deepened, somberly adding to the report, "Compare that to our seven-hundred we can send from the keep, and we can't even compete."

A light of boisterous vigor saturated his response, "But we have air superiority! Something the Legion can't even touch us with! And, may I say, that we also have one of the first Sun gems found in years."

"That may be so," The General said, "but I don't like the odds."

"It's that, sir, or all of us are already dead."

A pause came from the General, spurring a minute of nervous anticipation nipping at the back of Ironside’s neck like a swarm of hungry mosquitoes. Amidst the quiet, the General sighed, "I'll provide you with full command over our troops from Steelhoof."

Ironside smirked, "Thank you, sir."

"But," the General interpreted, "on one condition."

The recent statement piqued an eyebrow to arch. "And what might that be, sir?"

"I want you to destroy Iron Hammer."

A heaviness, like a cannonball thrown into a pool of tar, chillingly sank in his stomach. "You can't be serious, sir?!"

"Indubitably so, Ironside."

Without sparing Ironside a chance to retort, The General continued, "If you object I'll stand by sending my troops, but I'll find someone else to command the assault."

Ironside nearly jumped out of his seat, "B-But sir, please reconsider!"

"There is no negotiating the matter. The deal is as it is. Accept it, or not. The choice is yours, Ironside. My troops will be waiting for aerial pick-up."

Hanging up, the Genera left. Ironside slowly lowered the handset of the radio, before finally putting it on the top with a click. One of the twins ambled from behind him, a clipboard telekinetically orbiting at her side. "Sir? What did the General say?"

The pitt in his gut sank deeper, and deeper, carving out a more hollow hole inside him. The sensation slacked the muscles in his jaws. "He doesn't want us to take control of Iron Hammer..."

"Are you serious?" The mare asked, irises contracting. "Wouldn't that-"

"I know. I know." Ironside interjected. "It's clear that the Dahlia's boys aren't the only ones who want it destroyed."

"What are you going to do, sir?"

He turned a sideways glance at her, "Exactly what I'll need to do, Lieutenant."

The grass was soothing to the touch. Brushing Neo's hooves as he walked through a grove of trees sealing away the artificial sunlight in a thick canopy. The bleeding cracks through the gnarled branches appeared heavenly, and golden. From larger gaps a pillar of the angelic illumination filtered through. Casting a revealing light on a straight pathway of flattened grass.

Not far away, the sough of a hustling creek, chirping and bubbling amongst the trees trickled faintly. It called to him, from further down the path. Guiding him past trunk after trunk. Neo looked over his shoulder, not disturbing the stride he kept.

He'd traveled a fair distance, as the entrance to the biome merged with the distant columns of trees, vanishing entirely into the woods. Lucy had left him completely alone. She alone carried on to check on the tracking device at the electronics technician.

Returning his attention to the trail, he gulped. His entire face seared, while the steady beating of Neo's heart rose, faster and faster. Twitching around inside him, wanting to escape, and hop down the road in the opposite direction.

Each hoof step brought him closer to him. Each hoof step cranking the fuming pressure in his gut.

At the end of the path, where the compressed blades of grass met the stony shore of a mild stream, his father was kneeling by the running water. A strange tube-like device attached to an apparatus partially submerged in the clear liquid.

His father hadn’t noticed him, nor had he heard his steps. Neo stared Ronan's back like a child, diligently observing the door they believe contained a foul monstrous beast. In this situation, that terrifying monster, that stunning apparition was his father.

He took a step forward. No sound, no attention drawn to him. Neo took another, this time bringing his whole self with it. Standing a mere five steps apart from him, he glanced over his shoulder one last time. Whatever part of the entrance there was couldn't be seen. Now was the time of deliverance.

Seize or panic. Confront, or cower.

Neo inhaled, feeling a tremble itch in his forehooves. Taking the available courage he had, Neo reinforced his gut. With stomach hardened, and the fear freshly pumping its shiver-inducing chemicals, Neo braced the oncoming emotion.

"D-Dad?"

Ronan rose his posture, calmly turning around to face his son. "Neo? What are you doing here?"

Neo's cheeks were a blistering shade of red, like the scolding surface of liquified iron. "I'm here-"

A lump shot up his throat in mid-sentence. A hard shallow later, and the matter was corrected. "I'm here to talk."

Ronan placed the long end of the device in a coat pocket sitting above his heart. "I can talk for the moment. What is it you want to say?"

Neo's voice hardened, "I know there's a lot more at work here... and I understand that I may not fully comprehend all that you've done for us."

"But," Neo went on, "that doesn't get rid of the years I spent hating what you did."

Ronan did not speak to his son -- the last move he could make was to do so. Much like a dedicated student listened to a lecture, he soaked in every word Neo had to say.

"Every other day, since you left, I'd hear mom cry in her room. Hurting from what you did to us."

A concealing shadow masked Neo's eyes, as he pointed them to the ground. "I thought that that alone was reason enough to hate you."

His tone deepened, holding years of blazing bottled-up fury, "I don't even care about why you were gone... I moved aside that thought as quickly as I could... What bothered me was the effect it had on her and Adam."

"Be both had to grow up without a father," his words fluttered in the shuddering wake of a fiery sting grasping his heart, "I wanted nothing more than to never remember you. But no matter how hard I wanted to, mom would always remind me. Like I needed to rekindle that contempt I had."

In a single exhale, all of the scorching enmity swelling in his chest released. Flooding out entirely, as he looked his father in the eyes. "I don't care anymore... about what you did."

An arctic grotto, void and vast, was carved out where the expelled flames of volcanic hatred persisted. It numbed his blood, eventually, bringing his hooves to a motionless state. "I don't care. But I'm not forgiving you. I... I... don't think I can bring myself to, even if I tried."

"What I will do," Neo said, "is try the best I can to move on."

A faint, but earnest smile came onto Ronan's face. "That's a very brave thing you did. Confronting your emotions like that."

"And regardless of what you think," Ronan took a few steps toward Neo, "I am proud of you."

He lifted one hoof of the ground, extending it out to his son, "All I ask in return, if you're willing, is that you give your old man a hug."

Neo hesitated, suspending his hoof in the air, as though her were going to move onward. But, with a shake of his head and a step to his father, he wrapped a hoof around Ronan.

Delicately hugging his son, Ronan patted Neo on the back, a chuckle rushing out.

Neo, removed himself from the hug, stepping back enough to where he could see his father entirely. "What are you laughing about?"

Ronan whipped his nose, giggling a little more, "Your mother asked you to talk to me, didn't she?"

Neo felt the heat flush back into his cheeks -- out of pure embarrassment, he rubbed the back hairs of his sweaty black mane, "Well..."

"It's alright," He replied, playfully nudging Neo in the shoulder, "I'm still proud of you."

Ronan included a little wink, whispering, "You don't have to tell your friends about it either."

For the first time, his father's words brought a smile to his face. A crooked, disportionate grin, but nonetheless, a smile all the same. "Thanks."

"Come on," he said with a jerk of his head and a pat on Neo's back, "let's go see your mother. Show her everything turned out alright."

Neo moved with him, facing the wooded path once more. "You think mom will be proud?"

"Proud?" Ronan's laughter escaped through his teeth, "She'll be thrilled!"

At the base of its claws, the dirt sifted. Furrowing the hard mine floor with needly grooves. The Predator prowled a few steps forward down a darkened hall, wandering in a dazed, swaying advance. At the third step, it paused, as if suddenly stricken by a stiffening chill.

Then, it staggered into its knees, crouching bottom up. In a hissing wheeze it toppled over to one side. The final sighing pressure releasing from a pipe in its jaw.

An oily pool of black muck amassed at its upper neck. Pooling, and swirling the dry dirt caught in the substance's tiny current. The creatures eyes, once ablaze in a terrifying hellish crimson, dimmed.

Fading, fading... until becoming a solid, lifeless black. A hoof stepped over the ribcage of the best. Armored in the green leg guards of the Legion army. Thatch stood above the Predator. A dead, Predator.

He pulled a grimace at the luster of its flesh shearing teeth. "It's dead?"

He wrinkled his nose as the sour odor of the oil tainted both nostrils. "It certainly smells dead."

An earth pony soldier, encased in a full suit of green power armor, approached the slain monstrosity -- prodding it with the end of a gauss rifle fastened to a battle saddle. "It looks that way, sir."

Thatch glanced over his shoulder back at the control room he and the other two soldiers had been locked in. "I can't believe what I'm seeing..."

"It's understandable, sir." The ironclad soldier replied gruffly. "We'll need to move on, though. I killed one, but there are still one or two runnin' around the mine."

Thatch did a little hop over the mechanical beast's body, lightly patting the soldier on the shoulder, "You did good." He added a feverish nod, accompanied by a sickened murmur, "You did good..."

"The surface doors are opened, sir. We received your message."

Hobbling over to the wall, Thatch braced himself with one hoof. Staring at the floor, he could feel the arduous strain of the moment catch up with him. Slick saliva lubricated his throat, as the contents of his stomach bubbled and festered.

"How many troops came down?" He gagged, slapping a hoof over his mouth, "What of the Warden?"

The soldier ambled to his side, "Two hundred and fifty, sir. Two of our guys have the guns to kill these things. So far, we've taken out a good many of the damn metal cats."

Thatch's stomach convulse, shooting the chunky bits of his stomach up into his mouth. Cheeks puffed, and lips curled inward blocking the way for the vomit to leave. He swallowed the whole bitter lot of his previous meal. Gasping for air as stomach acid numbed his esophagus.

"What about the Warden?" His eyes were wreathed in pink shade of blood-filed veins. "What do you know about his position?"

"We suspect he's in another control room. Somewhere more secure than the one you were in."

Motioning his helmet to the end of the hall, the soldier implored, "I’m sorry to repeat myself, but we need to get you to the surface, sir. It's not safe."

Pulling himself back from the wall, Thatch coughed up a few bits of the food that had stayed, "Can you at least put my mind at ease?"

"What is it, sir?"

"Is Iron Hammer still intact?"

The soldier nodded. "We haven't found any technician bodies yet, and the miners didn't manage to bust down the control station for the weapon."

Thatch managed a laugh over another convulsion punching his stomach, "Good news," throwing his head back he sighed, "it's finally some good news..."

Lucy walked through the electronic technician's door. A particular lovely flutter coming from her heart, as she came inside. This would be the last time she'd have to see the coy flirtatious stallion sway the greasy curls of his mane at her.

Just go in, get the info, and leave. The thought looped more quickly the closer she came to the desk. Just go in, get the info, and leave.

The stallion was hunched over a Stable-Tech brand laptop, dully grey and bulky enough to withstand a missile at point-blank range. Adamantly clicking away at the keys, while occasionally throwing a glance at the tracking device beside the computer. A few twisting wires were connected to the device, tangling around one another like the confusing braid of whip.

He didn't notice Lucy come in, and he certainly didn't see her lean against the front of the desk. "Hey, it's been a little bit since I saw you, do you think it's done yet?"

The stallion chortled suavely from deep within his throat. A matching grin of eye-rolling proportions followed it, "I can't say I have, darling. Though, I'm quite near entering the system."

In mid-type, he paused, tilting his head in a seductive leer, "For you, I can stop -- it can wait while we talk awhile."

Lucy planted a hoof against her forehead, muttering under a sickened groan, "Listen, sleazenugget, just finish up would ya'?"

His hooves began swiftly clacking at the keys, "If it'd make you happy."

"Yes," the spot her hoof had hit left a red pulsing oval, "just... do it."

The soft, romantic-fueled eyes of the clerk faded the longer he looked at the screen. His typing grew sluggish, diminishing in speed with each little click of a button. He eventually stopped, mouth agape, as he scratched the inner curls of his mane.

"Huh," he uttered leaning forward into the screen, "that's odd..."

Lucy put both hooves on the desk, and keeled over to take a look at the screen. "What is it?"

"Is, this Ranger fellow," the stallion's words faltered, "is... is he... W-What faction did he say he belonged to?"

Lucy recoiled from the desk, "He said he's a freelancer, from Silvermane."

"Ah," the technician bellowed, "that's interesting."

"Why?"

He spun the computer screen around for he to see, tugging the cords and the device with it. Visually presented as green lines on a black background, a map of the northern mountain region was shown. At the far left, a spot in the Darkmines blinked -- while to the right, a little flashing orb nestled itself between a mountain somewhere in the elevated wilderness.

"Because, as you can see, darling," he stretched a hoof over the screen and pressed a button on the side of the keyboard, "this is what interests me."

Another beacon signaled in the form of a flashing blip over the Darkmines, where sitting directly below it a text box read: Sending Signal To.

Lucy shook her head, dashing her pupils around the floor in front of her, "This doesn't make sense... If he isn't working for them then..."

Realization struck her, like a bludgeon to the back of the head. Shocking, hard, and completely unexpected. Lucy's eyes widened, and her ears melted into her brim of her hat,

"Oh shit..."

"What is it?" The technician asked, a hoof resting on the top of the monitor.

An energy, vigorous and electrifying briskly travel through leg and hoof alike. She frantically pranced in place, words concealed in a stutter, "I have to go tell them! I need to get Wester and the others!"

The stallion frowned, closing the laptop, "Darling, would you kindly explain to me what it is you're so flustered about?"

She slammed one hoof on the ground, echoing an ear-numbing metallic clank throughout the room. It stopped the air, causing everything go silent and still. In response, her vocal cords strained, buckling sorely as she exclaimed, "It's Vladimir! Ranger is Vladimir!"

"It's okay, it's okay, Big Lot, you're the boss." The little filly's back was firmly pressed to a wall next to the hallway. "It's okay, it's okay..."

She clopped her hooves together, breathing in deeply and exhaling. "You're the boss, you can kick this in the pants... easy, right?"

Peaking around the corner beside her, she saw the hallway leading into biome three. It was empty, all the way down as far as she could see. Pulling herself back to the safety of the wall, she put a hoof to her lower lip, feeling the a pit plunk in her chest.

"What if he hates me more?" She nibbled on the tip of her hoof. "What if he punches me? Oh Celestia it'll be like the slave line all over again..."

Quickly, she slapped herself, bringing her back to the go-to attitude. "Snap out of it! Just do what your gut tells you, Big Lot. If he attacks, a hoof to the face should solve it!"

Nodding, the filly satisfyingly rubbed her hooves together, "Yeah, that's good... let's make sure it doesn't come to that... Real good plan Big Lot you wicked genius."

The steady rhythm of hoof steps carried from down the hall. Big Lot's heart lunged up into her neck, as she clasped her chest. "Oh no," she squeaked, "he's coming..."

The monotonous drumming of oncoming clops lamented. Clip, clop, clip clop. Beneath the the hoof, her heart bounced about more than a rubber ball, fiercely thrown at the ground. Big Lot’s lips bared -- she felt like the minute a peep was uttered it would hop out in front of her.

She sucked up a lung full of air, lightening the rock pitted in her stomach. Clearing her throat, hardening her expression and stepped out into the middle of the hall -- she bloated her breast. Ready.

Down the hall, some fifty steps away, Neo walked alongside his father. Big Lot glared at the two -- unblinking. Any other expression, and she might lose the confidence she had managed to gain.

Neo planted his eyes on her once he was well within a few feet from the filly. Big Lot appeared narrowed-eyed, and scowling. "Hey!" She barked. "I want to talk to you!"

Pausing, Neo looked down at her, "What's the matter? You look upset."

She rose a hoof, jaw dropped for speech to come racing out, only to be filled with absolute silence. The filly kept this posture for a minute. Then inflating her tiny rosey cheeks, she stomped a hoof adding a little hmph.

Neo blinked. "Is there something you wanted to say?"

The little one's balloon cheeks shaded a deeper hue of red the longer she held her breath, and the further they stretched. Unleashing the building air altogether, Big Lot shook her head muttering, "Why is this so hard?!"

"Is it what you have to say?" Neo asked.

She sighed, flattening her ears, "Yeah..."

Putting a hoof to her shoulder, Neo laughed, "I've been through a little bit of my own adventure into the wide-world of confrontations today."

"I think it's best," Neo said, "if you just speak your mind."

Big Lot trailed her head to the side -- quiet as she saw her warped reflection in the floor. "I'm..."

She bit her hoof absently, feeling the rock in her body dive deeply into her, "I'm... sorry."

"What?" Neo titled his head to the side, flopping one ear down. "I don't understand."

"I'm sorry." Big Lot grumbled underneath her breath. "For everything..."

Neo dropped his head to her, cupping a hoof to his ear, "What? I didn’t hear you."

"I'm sorry," she murmured sourly, "I'm sorry for what I did..."

Neo stood upright, smiling at her, "Really?"

The filly puckered out her lower lip bitterly, feeling a dizzy nauseousness stir in her over what she had said. "Yeah... I-I do..."

Neo ruffled her golden locks of mane, forcing a few surprised peeps from her, "There's still a little bit of me that's angry, but there's not much I can do about that. I guess I'll always hold a small grudge in some shape or another..."

Patting her delicately twice on the head, he continued, "But I'm happy you came out to see me, and thank you for the apology. It means more than you think."

Her eyes bulged, and she traveled her sight up at Neo, "You... you mean it?"

"Yeah," Neo nodded, "yeah I do."

Big Lot litfed an eyebrow, "So, does that mean I made ah-mends?"

Neo shrugged, one shoulder after the other, "More or less. You did okay for your first time."

Leaping up onto her hind-legs, she threw her hooves up in air, whooping, "YEAH! I'M THE BOSS! I KICKED IT IN THE PANTS!"

Ronan crookedly grimaced, "What does that..."

Neo hastily poked his father in the chest, "Just, let her have this for the moment."

An air-raid horn tore through the hallways like the shockwave of a bomb. It hit the three ponies suddenly, stabbing their eardrums with its deafening shriek. Big Lot was in mid-jump when the sound blasted her, and as a near-instant reflex, she slammed both hooves over her ears.

Collapsing to the floor, Big Lot protected her head under both forelegs, painfully contracting their pressure attempting to block out the vexatious noise. Like little teeth, grinding on her the walls of her ears, she yelled, "What the heck is that?!"

Ronan looked up at ceiling, pressingly searching for something invisible to everyone else. "It's the alarm."

The horn drowned out all other sounds, leaving whatever was said at a normal volume to come out as a miniscule whisper. Neo cramped one ear under a hoof, as he turned to his father, "What? What does that mean?"

"Nothing good," Ronan's words tinged with urgency, "we need to get to the upper levels."

Neo scanned the edges of the hallway for the origin of the alarm. "Why? What could go wrong here?"

Ronan started down the hall in the trot, "I’m not sure. But whatever it is was more than enough to trigger the alarms."

The alarm so profoundly tolled throughout the hallways, that every new iteration of the stretched out cry, bit just as callously into the ears of those that heard it. Neo, Ronan, and Big Lot canter down a hallway, leading to the laboratory where the Sun gem was kept. At the end, they turned to the right where another hall guided them to a duel-set of white doors.

Ronan bulldozed aside the doors apart, slamming them against the walls. A red emergency light flashed over the normal sterile white room. Two lab assistance were slumped against the back wall, a hole drilled into their throats.

A pool of fresh blood collected in front of them, forcing a hoof over Ronan's now trembling lips. He stumbled in, unable to remove his eyes from the grotesque murdered souls, "Wh-What happened?"

Neo's eyes went to work, observing the scene for evidence. At the end of the room, in the container where the Sun gem once was, a chair lay on its side amongst a pile of various shards of green bordered glass representing what used to be the protective shield.

Directly above the shattered glass, dagger-like pieces, still clinging to the frame were left, but the pedestal holding the gem presented an empty, bare slate.

"It's gone," Neo whispered, "it's all gone..."

Ronan staggered forward. "Who would do this?"

Gasping, a chilling realization struck Ronan's back, "Oh Celestia, where is Dahlia?"

His eyes paced the room, marking each potential place in the laboratory for her location. He cavorted worryingly, raising his voice over the alarm, "Dahlia! Dahlia!"

Neo seized his father by the shoulders, keeping him in place while staring directly into his eyes. "Dad! Dad! Calm down!"

He reassured his father, "Dad, look at me. Listen, I'm sure mom is fine. We just need to figure out what's going on."

Big Lot pointed out into the hallway, "Guys, it's Lucy!"

Lucy bolted through the doorway, her tail wind whooshing by Big Lot. She came to a grinding stop, gritting her molars. At an idle state, the mare confronted Neo, "Where's Dahlia?"

Neo shook his head, a million thoughts pulsing over all rational thought, spilling over into his reply, "I don't know, we just got here. Do you know where she is? Where's the Sun gem? What's happening?"

"It's Ranger," Lucy answered in a growl, "he's not a freakin' freelancer."

"Then what is he?"

"He's Vladimir." Lucy snarled. "That fucking bastard lied to us to get in here."

She spared a sideways peek at the where the gem had been kept, "No doubt coming here to get a Sun gem for Iron Hammer."

"Where is he now?" A fire rising through his words, "Where is that son that son of bitch!"

Lucy coughed, "I don't know. For all we know, he's known about a way out for here all along, and he's been planning this the moment we stepped hoof in here."

A loudspeaker projected a stallion's sincere voice spoke, "Alert: all security personnel are to report to the hangar. An armed intruder has a hostage, and must be dealt with swiftly. Repeat, all security personnel are to move to the hangar. This is not a drill."

Lucy's eyes almost popped out of her skull, "Shit! We've got to get to the hangar! And fast!"

Security guards dressed in black jumpsuits hurried through the halls. Neo had been running from the lab, bounding down staircases, and twisting the elaborate system of passageways running through the project. The alarm had lost its effect on him. His mind buzzed, a myriad of emotions fueling the ferocious beating of his heart.

They came to the end of the hall, where a wide opened doorway heading in the hangar was crammed with bodies. Ponies, laying in the prone position or crouched behind a few crates they had assembled into a rough barricade. Inside the room an whirling wheeze of turbine engines gathering life blew.

The air suffused with a high-pitched hiss, the guards chatted back and forth to one another, their conversation on the next imminent course of action adrift in the engine's hum. Neo stuffed his nose between two security officers sitting behind a metal crate, "What's going on here? What's happened?"

One put their previous conversation on hold to answer him, "It's that Ranger fellow!" The guard's voice came out distant in the engine's deafening wir, "He has one of the prototype gunships!"

Neo had to scream over the sound, "Who's the hostage?"

The two guards looked at one another mournfully silent. A hollowed expression followed, furtively masked by a hushed gasp. "It's... Dahlia." One answered.

Neo's heart froze, and sunk to the bottom of his gut. When it hit, a cold washed over him like the tide of a northern sea sweeping away the warmth from the sun-glazed sand. A lurk jolted from his torso, pushing him forward from within. He shoved the two guards apart, and leapt over the crate.

"Mom!" He cried out extending a hoof out into the hangar.

A soldier nearby spotted him, and tackled him. Ultimately pinning Neo to the top of the box. "Sir, stop! It isn't safe!"

The guard wrapped his hooves around him like a snake. Not loosening himself for even the most heart-wrenching of pleas Neo spouted, "Let me go! Let me go!"

Neo shimmied about in the stallion's grip, managing to wiggle his mechanical foreleg out. Unable to place a direct hit on his captor, Neo reached out to the ship, barely visible from between two other larger gunships. “I don't want to lose her again!"

Adam, Wester, and Ally came dashing to the barricade. Adam saw the struggle between the guard and his brother, and agilely spoke to the nearest security pony. "What's going on here?"

He pointed at his squirming brother kept in place by the guard, "What did he do?"

Neo smacked the crate, gnashing his teeth. "He took her Adam! Vladimir took her!"

Ally faced Adam she stuttered, "Adam... I'm so-"

Adam took several steps back shaking his head. His face felt cold, freezing in a compiling assortment of confusing emotions sucking the angry from him.

"W-What?" Adam's voice was deathly weak, "She... She can’t..."

Another guard gingerly shuffled to Adam, cautiously extending a hoof out to him. "We're trying what we can to help her, but there isn't much we can do."

Adam's fury erupted all at once, "Why can't you!"

"There's massive caliber guns on that ships, and he's already forced the hangar door open. With Dahlia in there, we can't shoot it down!"

At the peak of the engines power, on both sides of the gunship the jets roared. A torrid typhoon blasted through the hall, tainted by the lung-searing smell of ignited gasoline. In the wake of the gust, the ship rose in the air, hovering in place for a moment.

The jet fuel burned Neo's eyes, drawing pools of tears being blow across his face by the engine's mighty breath.

"You bastard!" Neo's body trembled. "Bring her back! Bring her back!"

He bit his lower lip, suffering through the pain, allowing his upper teeth to draw blood. "Please," he lay the side of his head against the warmed metal of the crate losing the pleas to a soft sob, "please... not again... not again..."

Foot Note: Level Up!

New Perk: Do Not Fear Death, Bruddeh. Shoot.: When confronting raiders, bandits, or mercenaries -- you now have the ability to shoot and reload while sprinting.

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: It All Tastes Like Chicken: All food you consume provides +15 HP.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Thefullmetalbrony

Author's Note

Hey everyone! It's been a little over a month since the last chapter, but that's okay. I had an incredible time writing this chapter. Even if a good way through the editing phase I became stricken with a horrible illness. I'm fine now, of course.

Sadly, I didn't have many deckhands to help edit or proofread. However, my younger brother graciously took time out of his busy schedule to help me out. Which, considering the size of this, is immensely altruistic. Though that does mean that a few, be it minor, errors should still be tucked somewhere in the wording. If you happen to spot something, firstly I apologize, and two thank you so much for pointing it out.

Off and on, I'll skim through it some more and find errors to remove. (If there are, I'm not entirely sure.)

I hope you liked this chapter -- there are a few scenes I thought came out remarkably well. While others were okay. Still, I feel overall the chapter as a whole was good. What will happen next? Find out next time on Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood!

P.S. I think I figured out why the A.N. section makes two entries. Hopefully that won't happen now with this chapter.

The Coming Storm

CHAPTER 35: THE COMING STORM

"Everything's smothered in ash... L-Like the whole word was set on fire... Where is everyone? Where are all the colorful ponies? Are they dead?"

The frigid air clung to Dahlia's fur like water soaked deeply into her. It bit and stung the flesh among her hemlocks. Numbing them with the sensation of tiny claws sinking their teeth in, removing natural feeling wherever it was.

A fine wire of jet-black coiled around her hooves and chest, constricted the movement of her breath. Squeezing and hugging, the binds felt tighter the more she tried to pull them apart. She wiggled in place, hoping to loosen the knot tied at her back. Yet, after a minute of wrestling the wire, nothing.

Dahlia let out a short-breathed sigh, expelling what nipping air had managed to collect inside her lungs. Drooping her head, she stared at the floor, huffing as strands of hazel mane dangled over her face.

Each inhale was sore, and grating. Like a saw plowing through her chest.

Vladimir sat in one of two chairs at the cockpit. The seats ran along the belly of the pilot, where above vents rested over the wings of the pegasi who would control it. Buttons of every size were flashing and blinking on boards surrounding the him. An emerald orb, huddled amongst several dials at the center console sheeted itself in a sickly yellow aura.

The Legion emperor's horn glowed crimson. "You haven't spoken in awhile."

Dahlia rose her head, adding a tired grunt to the action. "Talking, as I’ve found, tends to be difficult considering the position you've managed to put me in."

Vladimir shrugged, flipping a switch on the control panel. "Touché, m'lady. Though, I'm afraid apprehending you in a more comfortable manner wouldn't have been quite so effective, wouldn't you say?"

In the absence of attention drawn to her, Dahlia's eyes moved to the dark space separating the cockpit from the closed loading ramp at the back. She sat against the gunship's leftmost wall, surveying a line of stout square storage lockers lined up against the opposing wall. A group of identical lockers were position directly overhead. To keep all attention, in any form, away from her while attempting to escape was the initial goal.

A chipper laugh, stirred with a contemptuous undertone rode on his words, "Don't worry, though. I'll be certain to find you a more comfortable environment once we've arrived at the Darkmines."

Dahlia froze -- whilst a horrendous stiffness locked up all further joint moment. "Yes," he laughed, "I have to say I'm quite excited to go home. Traveling one foot is such a hassle?"

A lump large enough to stick to the walls of her throat lay idle. Breaths were short, and wheezed. A fierce gulp later removed the lodged mass, likewise releasing the firmness in her limbs.

Leaning upright, Dahlia scooted her rear forward. Gradually she performed this shuffled, advancing a few inches at a time toward the lockers. The stark raving chuckle of Vladimir halted the next movement, "Are you trying to escape? Really?"

Vladimir hadn't even turned his head, "I have an impeccable sense of where you are."

Throwing her a sideways smirk, bending and twisting crookedly up to his temples -- he pulled a mirror hidden behind the side of a few buttons into view. Half of his callous expression was caught in the reflection, alongside the image of Dahlia sitting on the floor, halfway to the lockers.

"That, and this little friend of mine helps a whole lot with keeping an eye on you."

"What was it you hoped to accomplish?" He asked jerking the end of his snout to the lockers. "Did you hope to find something in there that would ultimately lead you to a swift and decisive escape?"

Dahlia sneered, scorning him wordlessly.

"Cute." Vladimir scoffed. "And you expected to take on me, God of the Ironhoof province, when you are nothing more than a meek earth pony trying to outplay a lord."

Shaking his head, he wagged a hoof spinning the seat around to face her. "Tsk, tsk, Dahlia. That's so unfathomably unmare-like of you."

"Why are you doing this?" Dahlia held up her bindings for Vladimir to see, "why do this to us?"

"Well," he playfully brought both shoulders to his ears as though he were caught red-handed, "I wouldn't of got very far if I didn't have a hostage on-board."

Dahlia shook her head, heat rushing into her cheeks, "Why you? Of all the ponies there are, why you?"

His shoulders slumped, "What do you mean?"

"It could have been anyone in the Legion who came with my boys. Anyone else, but you of all ponies decided to travel with them... Why?"

Vladimir smiled something wicked, churning the contents of her stomach as his teeth flashed. "Well, that wasn't the brain-teaser I was expecting. But nonetheless, a simple question to answer.

"Then why?" Dahlia persisted.

"Why," he sniggered, "it's because I could. If you want to know the truth."

He took in a deep lung of the steel-scented air, sighing. Vladimir's eyelids drooped, as he stared at her ogling the mare’s features. "We were so close at one time... Best of friends... Some would even argue that you and I were inseparable."

The heat rose to a burning degree, shading the middle of her cheeks a profound rosy hue. Dahlia swiftly adverted both eyes to the floor, turning a cheek to him, whipping back the lengthy curl of mane running beside her neck.

"In fact, one would say you even had feelings for the sorry lad." He added.

Retreating behind the small curtain of mane draped over her face, she remain silent in response.

A second passed. Complete silence.

Then, Vladimir's eyes popped. Bulging out like grapes ready to burst. Quickly he slapped the floor, crackling, "You did! You did! I had my suspicions he did, but I guess there's still some secrets he's kept from me yet!"

Dahlia's ears perked, upturning her gaze at him as a word lightly escaped her chilled lips, "He?"

Vladimir stopped, and narrowed his eyes at her. "It's nothing that concerns you, m'lady."

Spinning back to the controls, he included, "It doesn't matter anyway. It's not an issue. Now, please, sit still and keep quiet. I'm going to radio the mine that we're on our way. And trust me, they'll be more than pleased to hear about you."

"It's all my fault..." Groaned Golden Cog burying her face into both hooves. "How stupid could I have been to not see it was him?"

The War Room was a place of quiet mourning, tinged in the current atmosphere with melding rage pulsing through the air. Ironside was one of the few ponies who moved, pacing back and forth in front of the exit.

"You don't have to beat yourself down," he said, looking headlong at was before him in his stride, "I'm sure he would have escaped regardless of your interaction."

"Still," Ironside paused in the middle of the doorway, "Dahlia was taken, and that complicates things."

A few of the group were seated at the roundtable -- Ronan anxiously tapped a hoof in a pecking rhythm. Lucy sat on the opposite side, directly gazing at him, "And what do you suppose we do? We don't necessarily have an army, so staging some kind of rescue mission is out of the question."

"Worse yet," Lucy's face simmered with fire red, "they have the last gem they need!"

Neo lay a hoof to Golden Cog's shoulder, including a gentle nurturing rub. "We traveled with him for days, and to figure out it was him of all ponies -- well, I don’t see much more we could do other than try getting her and the gem back."

Ironside faced the ponies gathered in the room, "Luckily for Lucy's question, we already have troops on their way. I signaled the all-clear for our transports to head to Steelhoof earlier."

Adam was sitting beside Big Lot, both of which watched the conversation unfold between Ironside and the others. Meanwhile, Lucy continued to pick apart the situation, "But who knows how long it'll take for them to get that gem in the missile! For all we know, ol' Vlad could be gettin' real comfy with the big red launch button right as we speak."

Ronan's tapping stopped, as his words were hardened with devout sincerity, "I wouldn't imagine he has it ready any time soon."

Lucy rose out of her seat, putting both hooves on the table -- leaning forward, "And why do say that? What's stopping him?"

"Three things," he remarked factually, "one being: He left a few hours ago, and Two being: he knows we'll come for him. And that we have air support."

"So?" Lucy blew hot air out her nostrils, "it's not like that's going to stop the launch."

"It could," Ronan interjected leaning on the table's edge, "and that humble little could might be more than enough reason for him to delay the launch. He'll want to deal with us first, then safely use Iron Hammer."

Pointing at him, Lucy stated, "What about the third thing?"

"Well," Ronan shrugged bringing his eyes to the floor, "I don't know how Iron Hammer operates. But if it harnesses the unhindered power of Sun gems, he'll need to distill its power first. Which may, or may not take a few days. That’s how we harness the raw energy here."

Neo brought his attention to Ironside, stepping away from Golden Cog and approaching the Coalition commander. "Then what do we plan to do? What's our plan of attack? Do we even stand a chance?"

Ironside wandered to an empty chair at the meeting table, "Based off of our numbers, we alone won't be able to overcome the mines, unless we act tactfully about it. Though, the current plan includes us using our air support to suppress any troops they might have on the ground near the entrance."

"As for our chances," Ironside drew a breath, and sighed, "that's up to fate to decide."

"Nevertheless, we'll be taking part in the battle. The more effective the strike is, the better chance we have to rescue Dahlia, and stop them before they pull something."

Ally spoke up, "Like what?"

Ironside hung his head low, allowing the slicked back mane to fall, "They could kill Dahlia, or worse..."

Adam got out of the seat, pupils retracted while a stammer rattled his words, "Like what? What could they do to her that's worse than killing her?"

"Vladimir will get creative, if it comes to it." Ironside answered, somberly. "Let's hope it doesn't get to that point."

"Than what do you expect us to do until the attack?" Lucy patted the backrest of her chair, "Sitting here on our asses until then won't keep him from getting creative."

Ironside nodded, looking to Lucy, "You're right," he began, "that's why I'm going to make you captain of your group. Then, you're going to get Dahlia back."

Quiet. It fell over the room like the aftershock of a gunshot. Unmoving, perfectly soundless. Lucy managed to break the barrier with the weak mutter of a word, "Sir?"

Raising a hoof to Lucy, he reassured her, "Just hear me out, Ms. Luck. Allow me to explain everything."

An armored wagon concealed in sheets of welded steels kicked up a storm of dust as it bumped onward. It supported a vacant machine-gun nest at the top, whilst the two fully geared power-armor soldiers hitched to it tromped on adding to the swirling cloud amassing behind.

Thatch sat on a crate in one of the many alcoves formed down the central highway leading to the Darkmines, each casting a pale orange light from lanterns hanging from their ceilings. Blood ran in the streets. Pools of the velvet liquid, catching lumps of dried dirt that seeped into the cracks rooted out all over the broken asphalt. A few slaves crouched down next to the puddles, wet rags in hoof with a rusted bucket close by tended to the mess.

The glow of Miner's blood accompanied the mix. Setting the red aglow with a nightmarish luminosity. Thatch watched this scrubbing go on for minutes now, without removing his eyes from the scene.

A couple of radios were nestled on scratched up wooden tables in the corner of the alcove. A soldier sat at the device, listening and nodding -- holding the earpiece of a phone to the shredded tip of his white ear.

He put the phone to his chest, glancing at Thatch over his shoulder, "Sir! I've radioed the border, and the major outposts along the main railroad!"

"They've given me their ETA." The soldier added. "They want to know if Vladimir is returning. I recently received a message that he’s on his way. Should I check the tracking device to be more sure?"

Thatch didn't move when he answered, "Yes, check it. Hopefully he won't have to see the bloody mess that's been done here."

The soldier returned to the phone-radio, leaving Thatch to think to himself. "To think, we've done so much here... for the mines, for the province -- it’s typical of those beasts, to lash out like this, I just didn’t imagine they’d do it so early."

A disheveled yellow slave in the street, an earth pony mare in her early twenties, pressed the squelching blood-stained rag into a close-by pool. She let the blood suck up, wring a fair portion of the puddled life-juice in the bucket, and repeated.

"I thought that we could prevent all of this. Even if I felt they would rise up, I didn’t imagine this much blood would be spilt.”

"Sir," the radio operator's voice ripped him out of his watchful mood, "I checked his location on the tracker. He's speeding through on his way back."

The undisturbed vertebrae in Thatch's neck popped as he turned his head for the first time in minutes to the operator, "How far out is he? What is our reinforcements’ ETA?"

"Vladimir will be here within a few hours. Maybe less." The operator said. "As for the oncoming troops, they'll be here within the hour."

"Captain Covert himself mentioned he'll be looking forward to rejoining the Emperor for this special occasion."

"Ah," Thatch grunted, "radio them back... tell them we look forward to their arrival."

The soldier saluted, "Yes sir!"

Thatch once more placed his eyes on the slave's work. Since last he'd seen her drain the bloody pool in one part of the road, no progress had been made. Again and again the slave dipped the rag in, soaked the blood in it, and wrung it out in the bucket. The blood never drained, and no matter how much she kept pulling out of the cracks.

“I’ve told what we plan to do.” Ironside said, “There will be an assault, and we will stage a rescue mission for Dahlia.”

New questions flooded into being, springing dozens of other inquires up in Neo’s head. “But how? When?”

“The details aren’t exact yet, but a little later I’ll have a chat with the Keep, and then I’ll tell you.”

Lucy scooted out her chair at the War Room table with a grinding screech. Unshaken by the sound, she walked to Ironside as she spoke, “I still don’t get why you picked me.”

Ironside looked at her as she came within a few feet's distance from himself, “You’ve done a lot for the Coalition. Shouldn’t that be reason enough? I trust you and your judgement.”

Whatever bait he dangled in front of her didn’t distract Lucy from the truth he concealed behind words, and a content tone. “If that were the case you would have promoted me years ago. I just find it strange I get put in this position out of random. Why not Neo? Why not Adam? They’ve dealt with the Legion fair enough to lead a defense against them at Arkcannon.”

His counter was swift, and powerful, “I also know you personally, and they abandoned our order to venture for their own interests. So, please excuse me while I put my faith in the one mare who has been loyal to our order this entire time.”

The whole room went quiet. Like all life had mysteriously sucked out of existence. Ironside’s eyes, however, panned the area from one wall to the next. The commander, having counted thoroughly those who were present, cleared his throat and looked at Lucy.

“Having said all I know at the moment, I’d like to speak with Ms. Luck.”

He rose his volume so the entire room could hear, “Alone.”

“Listen,” Lucy retorted, “whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of them.”

“That wasn’t a request.” His response growled, paired with an alpha set eyes interlocking with her’s.

Ally was the first to make her way to the door. “We won’t get between you guys,” she jerked her head to the exit, “c’mon, let’s leave them to it.”

There wasn’t a fuss, or a single comment to be made. Everyone conveyed their thoughts by confused and suspicious stares all placed squarely on Ironside.

One at a time, everyone left the room. Until, after a minute later, the room was vacated entirely. Alone at last, Ironside wandered to the table -- sitting at the nearest chair to him.

“You know, doing this wasn’t easy. Fighting this war for as long as we have. It, after a while, starts to weigh on you a bit.”

Lucy prowled like a mad mother lion, yanking a chair out. “Cut the crap. What is it you wanted to talk about that required all the secrets?”

“Well,” he pressed his back up against the backrest of the chair, “it’s about those boys... and Iron Hammer.”

“And what about it?” Lucy sat down, “I know we don’t quite see eye-to-eye on the whole issue. So, what? Did you finally come to some grand conclusion with the higher ups?”

Ironside could feel the nervousness build up in his gut. A tickling pressure that traveled through his shoulder making his hoof twitch. To suppress it, he tightened his gut, and folded both forehooves. “No, which leads me to assume the choice is up to me.”

“You can’t be serious, right?”

“Unfortunately for you, I can be, Ms. Luck.”

The unbelievably inane nature of his statement brought a scoff, “I can’t believe this...”

“I never said anything was official. And trust me when I say this is a subject I wanted to discuss with you, and you alone.”

Lucy inferred, “And what is it you’ve decided on exactly?”

“I think we both know the answer to that question already.” He continued, “That is where I stand. As I know where you stand on the matter. I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to talk to the Keep soon. When I’m finished, we’ll find out a little more. Maybe even the fate of Iron Hammer itself.”

“So, I want you to prepare the boys and the rest of your friends for the news should it come into being.”

Jerking down the end of his sleeve for a second, he glanced at the face of a watch wrapped around his ankle. “Speaking of which, I have to make that call now.”

Stepping off of the chair calmly, he gave Lucy a bow. “Time is of the essence. Take care.”

Lucy was at a loss of words, “I-I... you...”

He made his way to the door, and just before he exited the doorway Lucy extended a hoof out to him shouting, “Wait! Y-You can’t just expect me to go off just like that... can you?”

Her call out to him hadn’t hindered his pace. “Give me an hour, and you’ll have more. Trust me.”

With a baseball-sized rock firmly sandwiched between his hooves, Scooter pounded away at the iron hinges of the cell door. Outside all was quiet. The chaos from the riot had subsided entirely. Now a far-off susurrus of steam billowing out from pipes further down the hall whispered to the prisoners.

Whopper had a stockpile of rocks stacked into a pyramid beside him. He watched his comrade hack at the lower hinge, twanging a sharp tone that made his eyes flinch, and jaws bar.

Scooter grit his teeth, hewing the metal. Twing! Twing! Twing!

The sound carried off into the hallway, while the jagged edges of the rock dug in his hoofs. Intensifying the force of his molars’ bite, Scooter beat the hinge again. Twing!

Panting, he fell back onto his haunches, dropping the rock in front of him. A massive winding crack ran through the rock's middle, crumbling in a dozen piece when it landed on the ground.

His purple tongue, swollen and torrid, hung from Scooter's gaping mouth while a sweat forming atop the heat pumping through his forehead. The fat droplets fell to the floor, as he stared at the bulky hinge fastening the door to the frame. Apart from a few thin scratches carved out of the metal, not a dent nor mark of significant damage could be seen.

Whopper took another rock of a similar size, and held it out to his friend. "Here's another one, boss."

The deep huffing didn't stop, neither did the eye-contact Scooter held on the hinge. Pulling the rock back to him Whopper set it down nudging his snout to the door, "I could take your place, boss. If ya' want. Maybe I can get it open."

Scooter breathed his last great inhale, letting it out in a sigh that accompanied a limp hanging head. His greasy mane, stained in the glossy sweat of the hard work, dangled before his face. "We're not gettin' out of 'ere..."

Whopper reached a hoof out at his captain, "Ya' can't give up, boss. We'll get outta' here. I'm sure of it."

"No," Scooter's eyes were just as broken as the rock before him, "no we're not..."

The hoof Whopper held out finally touched Scooter's shoulder. "We need to keep tryin', even if it takes us forever."

Scooter's voice quavered with emotion, choking up his works as he shook his head. "Ah... Ah, don't know if we'll make it out..."

Whopper smiled, gently patting Scooter's shoulder, which felt more tense and solid than a freshly prepared drum, "Ya' gotta' keep fightin'... For Big Lot. Don't ya' remember about her? Don't ya' care?"

Raising his head, Scooter peaked at Whopper. Hazy tears glazed his twinkling eyes, catching the soft orange light pouring in through the slender bars of the cell door's speakeasy. "This cell was never made t' be broken, Whopper..."

He leaned a hoof on the door, feeling the warmed metal ease the tender bruises that ached in his hoof. "This isn't gonna' work... this door, t' hinges... none of it matters a single bit, pal... Nothin's gonna' get us outta' 'ere."

Applying a faint amount of pressure to the door, a grating squeal of crude metal rubbing on metal rung out through the cell. Quickly, Scooter retracted his hoof from the door, as it moved forward slightly.

Cocking his head one way, then another, he got onto all fours and gingerly approached the door. "W-What the?"

Whopper blinked, pointing at the door. "Is it?"

"Ah don't know," Scooter finished for him wedging the tip of his hoof between the door and the frame, "maybe it's..."

Pulling the door toward him, the hinges shrieked. Scooter's ears flattened at the blaring wail, while he pulled harder. Then, like the entire thing was greased in oil, it smoothly opened for him.

Scooter's eyes popped. "What..."

A sliver of light from the outside sliced into their dark cell from the barely opened door. Scooter's breath was on hold, as he frowned at the exit.

Whopper chuckled heartily prodding at the door, "Well look at that!"

Using both hooves, Whopper pulled it completely open, exposing the dents and twisted contours of debris that had been shot across the door. The lock included, bore three pea-sized metal fragments of a pipe lodged into it.

"Huh," Whopper muttered inspecting the broken lock, "how long do ya' suppose it's been like that, boss?"

Slamming a hoof into his forehead, Scooter groaned, "Ah ain't gonna' answer that... Ah jus’ ain't gonna' do it..."

"It'll be about one day, Ironside." A stallion's voice said on the radio-phone. "It would have helped if we had all of the gunships present, but considering the current situation..."

Ironside sat at a desk with a phone pressed up to his ear. The other free hoof rested on top of the radio as he spoke to the General over the line. "I understand... Still, do you think that even just a day would be cutting this a little close? Vladimir has the gem, and every minute is a loss for us."

"It's the best we can do." The General sighed, "This entire event is going to set us back, and even with just a day I'm pushing what our resources can do."

"I suppose we'll just have to hurry then."

The General hesitated to respond, "I guess so."

"Regardless," The General continued, "I expect you to organize this assault. Whatever plan you have will decide the outcome of this conflict."

A heaviness weighed on Ironside's words, "Yes sir."

"I expect the best from you. It all ends here. Contact me when you have all of our troops assembled."

Ironside sucked in a breath through his nose, turning his spine stiff and upright. "The moment they arrive I'll let you know, sir."

"Very good, Ironside. Until then."

The call ended with a buzzing, and then a boop. Hanging up the phone on the radio, Ironside turned around to the room at his back. A panoply of Coalition operatives of various decorations murmured and chatted to one another -- all wearing headsets connected to computer towers flashing their processor information on thin needle dials. Some glanced at papers on long tables against the wall, whilst others tore to the opposite side carrying a lengthy rolls of paper flapping in the quickness of their step.

A faint detection of clicking, and electric chirping overtook the atmosphere. A collection of a dozen different tasks, all focused on preparation for the coming battle. From further down the room, a purple unicorn, smartly dressed in the proper beige Coalition attire, approached him with a clipboard hovering beside her.

"Sir, I'm going over our equipment stock, and need to know how much fuel the ships will need."

Ironside started walking down the middle of the room, the mare following diligently at his flanks. "You'll have to consult the the head-engineer in the hangar. She'll know how much we'll need to effectively execute the operation."

The mare nodded, and veered off to a group chatting ponies gathered at the face of a computer tower. As Ironside came to the end of the room, a voice, clear and booming shouted his name over the abundance of hustled activity.

"Wilco!" It was a mare's voice, strong, bold, retaining hints of a gravelly undertone.

He looked to his right, to see Lucy racing up to him. "We need to talk!"

"Ms. Luck," Ironside smiled as she stepped up to him, "I didn't expect to see you here yet."

Lucy had fire burning in her glaring eyes, seeping its rage into her tone, "Cut the crap. I need some answers, now."

His smiled faded, while he eyed her boiling complexion up and down. "Why so angry? I haven't done anything have I?"

"No, no you haven't." She replied gargling on the immense rage yearning to explode.

"Then what's with the temper? Are you upset I promoted you for the operation?"

Lucy huffed, "No, it's not that either."

"Then what?" He asked, "Please, it'd be remarkably useful if you'd enlighten me on the issue."

"Iron Hammer." Lucy stated.

Ironside slightly reeled back, "What about it?"

Stomping a hoof a few inches from his own, she stared him in the eyes, "I need to know you aren't going through with taking the weapon as the Coalition's."

"Ms. Luck," Ironside spoke sweetly including a dashing smile that would melt any more feeble-kneed mare’s heart, "what we plan on doing with the weapon afterward is up for debate. But I assure you, destroying it won't bring peace."

"Listen," she leaned into him, pinching her eyes and jabbing a hoof in his chest, "I don't care if you make me the Queen of fucking Canterlot, no matter what Iron Hammer is a deadly killing machine, and no one deserves to use it."

"Well," Ironside smirked, "its fate is always up for further discussion. So let's not be too hasty in prescribing the weapon's stance until afterward, sound reasonable?"

Lucy tightened her eyes, merely leering at him with slits and sturdy lifted hoof, ready to swing. "I swear, if we find out you're up to something, I'll knock your lights out!"

"Lucy, please." Ironside’s boasted, "Let's face that bend when we come to it. The last thing we want is to rush our decisions. Though, if you’d like -- I have some more information you might want to hear."

There was a brief flash of the purest blinding white illuminating in an otherwise dark metal staircase. Red paint, dulled by time and weather by the balmy atmosphere caused it to chip. Where segments of the thin railing already revealed the blackened iron underneath.

Thatch stepped through the door, his figure darkened by the shadow while the light poured in. The bottom of stairs vanished in a void of blackness as he lay a hoof of the rough dry railing..

Thatch looking unsurely over his shoulder at a guard standing post by the door.

"I'll only be a little while... and I wouldn't like to be bothered."

The guard nodded at him, silently.

"However, I am expecting the word on his Highness' touchdown time to be at any moment. If the message should come by all means let me know. Otherwise... well, I don't think I need to repeat myself."

The guard replied in a sturdy grunt, "Noted, sir."

His hoof glided on the rail, taking with it chips of different shapes and sizes. Like the feeble, light little things they were they'd fall to the ground. The spitting representation of what a leaf might do having fallen from a sizable tree. Each step down into the deep darkness echoed.

Solitarily, the heavy vibrations lingered about, exciting the cooler air in the dark. After the tenth step, Thatch felt the rugged hard floor touch his hoof. Following shortly by a few lights overhead spring to life at a disembodied click from up the stairs.

There were only four larger lightbulbs in the room dangling from hair-thin wires. Remarkably dim, they peeled away a fair portion of the shadow, exposing the entirety of the area. There was a long clearing beside the stairs, sitting in front of a large set of bars spanning from one side of the room to the next.

Behind the bars was a measurable space nearly equal in size to the clearing, though in the barred area a sheet-less bed and chamber pot were present. Squatting in one corner of the room, back faced out, was the Warden.

The creature’s head hung like a wet rag. Face, nose, and ears drapped motionlessly.

A dozen bandages covered his legs, and neck. Blotches of his green blood spotted across them. As Thatch walked to the bars, he saw the stains glow. Faintly, however, like a faded sheen to old metal.

He rapped a hoof against one bar, "It's all over now."

The sound of rustling chains stirred in the background, while the Warden lifted his head and turned around to see Thatch. Fastened to his forelegs were a long link of bulky irons securing him to the wall.

The Warden's voice was tinged with a longing sigh, "No more sound... No more sound..."

A great length of coiled chain slacked off all around the Warden, and with every slightly movement the chains jingled. "So promising. So promising. The mine is dead now. Killed. Killed. Forever."

Thatch held his ground, "We were going to let you keep this mine. But you just couldn't wait to kick us out, huh?"

The Warden's head bobbed up and down, "True, and yes. But we are not stupid. We see. We hear. We know. The mine -- it would never be ours. No... No... Thatch say, surface Legion say yes but we know."

Thatch pointed to the ceiling, "Right now we're just getting to pick up the carnage you left in that riot you pulled off."

"Heh," A distinct amount of mocking guile was in his words as Thatch continued, "You even managed to damage so many of the lower-level cells we've had to resort to putting you in the old quarantine room."

Standing on all four hooves, the Warden shuffled to the bars with the chains dragging in-tow, "Why come here? Tell."

Shrugging, Thatch answered in half-suppressed laugh paired with an appropriately insulting smirk, "I thought you'd like a little update on what's been happening topside."

"Eh? What? Tell." The Warden hissed slowly sticking the end of his breather between the bars, "Tell, pony. Tell the Warden!"

Thatch took a few steps back, feeling the Warden's words ooze down his spine, leaving a icy prick in their wake. "Vladimir is returning, and he plans to issue your trial."

The Warden's head titled, "Trial?"

The slimy words of the miner put Thatch's hackles on the back of his neck standing, "You did kill a good portion of our troops stationed in the mine. It took a sizeable amount of our surface troops to reclaim it from your beasts. Which, like you, are now in custody."

The Warden stared at him with the soul-sapped glowing spheres of his mask. “Captured?”

"Your plan wouldn't have gotten very far either," Thatch let out a chuckle that briskly ran out through his teeth, "trainloads of soldiers just arrived at the station. More than enough to have claimed the mine back."

The miner's head shifted the other way, as he spoke unmoved by Thatch's quip, "You confused... So confused..."

Thatch paused, and shook his head, "W-What?"

"You have noticed it, yes?"

"Noticed what?"

The Warden brought his voice to a whisper, "He is not what he seems... Feel it... You feel... Yes?"

Slinking back to his corner in the cell, he chortled to himself as he strode along. "Heheh... Doubt his power, yes. He is not there..."

"Sir!" A voice called from up the staircase, "There's been word on his Majesty's position!"

Thatch threw his attention to the stairs, "Right, I'll be up in a moment!"

The miner’s head rocked side to side, giggles distant and echoed fluttering about. The creature’s face, sagging to the ground in the same way Thatch had found him. And, while it was subtle, Thatch could detect a song murmured in the same energy of child being whispered.

Looking once more to the Warden, the creature of a pony was where he had been before. All around him mounds of chains.

Adam's legs swayed forward and back impatiently over the side of Ally's bed. Everyone of their group was in the room. Spread out in the small space clearly not made to house six ponies. Big Lot paced through the middle of the room with bloated cheeks suffused in the burning coloring of a surly temperament.

She had to weave past Wester, who took a considerable amount of the central space. This set her off like a firecracker, "Why are we all crowded in here! Can somepony tell me what we're supposed to be doing?"

Neo had been watching her for the past few minutes next to Adam, "Lucy wanted to talk to us."

The little one sharply turned to Neo, lower lip blisteringly red and puffy, "I know that!" She barked, "But is it for anything important enough to keep us cramped in here like cows!"

"You mean sardines?" Adam added.

She shook her head, grunting, "Whatever! They're basically the same thing!"

Ally bounced her head off one shoulder, intervening with a voice soaked in sincerity, "Whatever the reason, Lucy sounded serious when she asked us to meet her here."

"What do you think it is?" Adam asked, "You think it's about the assault on the mine?"

Wester tossed his thoughts in, "There's a high possibility, provided the verbal indications."

"Whatever it is," Ally began, "it won't be flower picking or sunny walks, that's for sure."

The door swooshed open, as Lucy stepped though. Big Lot threw her hooves in the air victoriously, like she'd just won the lottery. "At last! She's come to release the sardines!"

While the door closed behind her, Lucy's head reeled back at her interestingly bizarre remark, "What?"

Adam justified the statement, "She's happy you came, because we're crammed in here, and she hasn't been too happy about it."

"Oh," Lucy gave a nod to the response, "well, I've got good news then, you'll be outta' here in no time."

"Okay, what is it?" Ally asked.

All eyes fell onto her. All sound evaporating into attentive silence.

Lucy rubbed the back of her neck, brushing the prickly hairs nervously standing, "I just got done talking to Ironside. A few things came up while I spoke to him."

Neo leaned forward, swiveling his ears in her direction in hopes to gain a better listen, "Like what? Did he bring up Iron Hammer at all?"

"He did," Lucy dropped her hoof, "but I'm sure he won't try something, not if we have anything to say on the matter."

"But that's not what I wanted to talk about." Her speech hardened, "No, what I'm going to talk about is our place in this battle."

"As Ironside told us back in the War room, there is a plan. Basically, they’ll airdrop a good portion of our men in at the entrance. Pick off most of the heavier troops with our smaller more agile gunships, which should give us a window to get into the mine."

"That front gate is the only entrance in," She paused, a dire length of quiet forcing those in the room to move in curiously, "and we're gonna' fly right into it."

"Why?" Adam inquired, "What are we suppose to do?"

Lucy looked at Adam solitarily, gazing at him distantly like a wayfarer joyously returning home, "We're going to rescue your mom, Adam."

Neo's eyes were like expanding disks, ready to pop out at any given moment, "Ironside would give us that task? He's letting us get in while the others stay outside and fight? Isn't he the one who wanted to make sure we didn't tamper with Iron Hammer?"

"All fair questions," Lucy agreed, "and to be honest I was pretty shocked myself we were given the task."

"Still," she stated pungently, "even if we didn't agree to the latter option, plan B would have been worse. He said he'd lock us up for disobedience. At that point there might not even be a crew to rescue Dahlia. And I couldn't have that, and I know you two didn't want that."

Neo folded his forehooves, "How do they plan to get a gunship through the gate? From what I remember about the gate size, not even a small one like what Vladimir took could wiggle through there -- let alone with bullets and rockets flying at us."

"Yeah, that would be a problem, huh?" Lucy smirked, "That's why we're taking a wagon. One that'll fit in one of the larger gunships."

"They'll cut us loose somewhere outside battle zone, and start the assault first. Then, we'll come in and swoop through the gate."

Ally tapped a hoof to her chin, "I don't know, it sounds risky. Won't they have some kind of major defense there?"

"Yeah," Lucy replied, "they will. From what he gathered, Ironside said that they might have some sort of anti-air units by the gate. Most likely with the bulk of their forces."

"His job, though, will be to take them out or remove their focus from the sky."

Neo rose a hoof, sternly interjecting, "I'm sorry -- I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact he gave us this part of the assault."

Adam looked to his brother. "Well, we are the only ones who've been in the mine and lived, brother."

Returning his gaze to Lucy he continued, "And not to sound too boastful or anything, but I don't think there's too many other ponies qualified to do this other than us."

"That's right, Adam." Lucy tipped the brim of her hat up, "besides, we'll be armored up, and I've been told I get to fly a snazzy metal wagon. Souped up just for this."

Ally pointed to the bandages caressing Lucy's wings, "First you'll have to get those up and working. Otherwise we'll end up driving this whole thing down into the ground -- in more than one way."

Lucy's brows dropped paired with the most sour, unamused frown she could pull, "Ha. Ha. Ms. Sunshine. We're all great comedians now, aren't we?"

Hundreds of soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the road. A flurry of conversations taking place at the same time mumbled about in the air. The clouds were darker than before, as nighttime settled somewhere above the cloud layer. Setting a poor quality of grey tinted twilight over the crowd.

A number of crates had been assembled in front of the mass of Legion soldiers. It stood two boxes high, large enough for someone who stood atop them to gaze over the entirety of the masses. Thatch lay a hoof to one of the cates’ rough wooden planks.

This makeshift stage unerringly creaked in hushed groaning. The kind only someone keenly listening could detect. Like many of the other major officers or officials, Thatch stood among a dozen differently decorated ponies by the stage's side -- away from the central crowd.

As his hoof ran down the wood, a shiver lanced through him, bringing him to bur underneath his breath. Something touched his back, urging his head to turn. The hoof laying on him belonged to a tall standing, larger-than-life Covert. A pony, who embodied pride in a straight posture, marked with a smirk that pooled the stomach juices of any normal officer who had the unfortunate pleasure of being in his presence.

A magnificent cape of solid green embellished in gold embroidering was draped over his shoulders, dragging at his hind-legs. By Thatch’s expression it seemed he didn't mind the shock.

"Something the matter, Thatch?"

Covert had an eyebrow raised, and when coupled by the smug grin, Thatch’s vomit already began to fester. "It's the stage, Covert."

The smirk faded from Covert, "What of it?"

"It's not," the words got lost in his throat, "stable... enough. Couldn't we have done it on the ground? Especially when the trial will be on top of it?"

"We'll all be standing on it." Covert moved his attention to the makeshift stage. "We won't be on it long, it wasn't meant to support us for hours on end. Just enough for our lord to carry out what needs to be done."

Thatch turned his eyes to the ground, feeling the full efforts of the sickness sapping the life out of him. "Yes... right."

Covert strolled to Thatch's side, "I heard Ventures died in the riots."

Without removing his hold on the ground before him, Thatch answered, "He did. He was one of the riot's first victims."

"A real shame. He was a good pony, and a damn fine soldier too."

Removing his gaze on the floor, he looked at Covert surveying the multitude of medals and honorary decorations he hadn't noticed earlier. "Who decorated you all of a sudden? When you got off the train I didn't see-"

"Do you like them?" His eyes were wide and beaming with twinkling excitement, "I brought them from the border. They used to be Big Lot's... That stupid brat was holding out on us. She must have been collecting these from ponies she killed. Some were Steel Rangers. Suitably honored too."

He took a smaller golden medal at the end of the many that lined his uniform, and singled it out in his hoof, "This one looks like it belonged to a captain during the Great War. I figured wearing these might sway his majesty into sending me up higher into the ranks."

Thatch snorted and shook his head whispering barely between his lips, "Oh, please."

Covert was quick to catch him, "What did you say?"

Recovering as tactfully as he could, Thatch’s ears flattened while he waved a hoof adding a slight shake of the head. "Nothing! Nothing, I was just thinking about the coming minutes aloud."

"Hm," Covert grunted keeping his eyebrow noticeably aloft, "if you say so."

For a time, the conversation lagged. Thatch stayed to himself, eyes wandering the tiny zone in front of his forehooves. Covert took a step toward him, jabbing at the quiet, "Thatch, are you faring well? You seem a little... off."

The sickness went hollow in his lower gut. Thatch could feel the emptiness spread to his chest -- pressing the words he wanted to say out through his mouth, "D-Did you notice anything wrong with his majesty the last time you saw him?"

Covert pulled himself back, "Like what exactly?"

"His behavior," Thatch replied, "the way he spoke or sounded. Did he seem like the Vladimir the Legion knew before?"

"He did manage to steal Dahlia, and make it out with the location of her project."

"Still," he upturned his sight to the rolling storm clouds overhead keening with distant thunder charged within, "I didn't want to believe it but I think something might be-"

A booming voice overtook the conversation, and ripped the two of them out of it entirely. "Announcing, his lordship Emperor Vladimir! All hail Vladimir!"

In glorious unison every soldier cheered out in a deafening chant, echoing their leader's name: "Hail Vladimir! Hail Vladimir! Hail!"

Thatch trotted to the front of the stage, keeping close to the boxes. He poked his head around the corner, witnessing the soldiers standing on the far right part. Vladimir prowled through the dividing masses with a swagger in his advance, and a delighted smile on his face. Ponies whooped and cheered, some leaping up twirling their helmets around in the air fanatically.

Covert amble past Thatch, a joyous hop in his step, "Showtime, Thatch."

The other officers herded onward to meet their leader, who in no time at all had made it through the sea of green helmets. It was chaos as officials met Vladimir. They all in one way were too keen to kiss hooves. Nodding, and smiling -- shaking his hoof like starving scavengers fighting over the a meal.

Vladimir was swarmed by the officers, whilst Thatch stood a few steps distance from the mayhem, watching the scene unfold safely. Above the heads of the ponies huddled about, Thatch saw Dahlia being shoved this way and that by overly eager Legionnaires.

Wire was tied to her ankles, while Vladimir jostled her forward before raising a hoof to quell the squabbling masses, "Gentlecolts! Fillies! Please! This is indeed a time to celebrate! But let us not overdue the celebration just yet!"

Directing his gaze to the stage, he announced, "Why not hear the good news my children? Do you wish to hear it?"

A rumble of applauding hooves shook the ground. Vladimir turned to the stage and waved a hoof beckoning the officers to follow him as he moved. "Let's start this already! Come! Come! Let it begin!"

There was a set of wooden steps leading up to the stage. Vladimir tromped up the stairs dragging Dahlia by her wire. Thatch and the others ascended the steps one at a time, bending the weak boards not meant to support the number of ponies marching on it.

Every officer spread out on the stage, the boxes shifting slightly against their movements. Vladimir took the center stage, handing Dahlia to an officer farther off to the left.

A crimson aura consumed Vladimir's horn, later engulfing his neck in magical energies. His voice was enhanced, calling out loud for all to hear like the cracking arch of thunder. "We're no strangers to trial, my children. After all it was us who were left with the world our ancestors devastated."

"We did not chose this world to live in," Vladimir began to pace the length of the stage slowly, "yet, here we are. Survivors. Leaders. Soldiers. All collectively assembled in a living, thriving unit. A glimpse of order in an otherwise chaotic world."

"In the past, we fought for a great deal of things: Land, honor, resources. Petty things now. All of these dwarf in comparison to what we fight for now. A future for our species. To know a time of peace never known to this generation."

Stopping at the far left, he faced the crowd, and pounded his chest to the words he spoke, "We will die. Peace was never achievable."

"But now," he lifted a hoof, "now we can ensure a new time of peace. As of now, I currently have the location of the Coalition's little operation. A sad attempt to recreate what we started!"

"And I tell you this," Vladimir pointed to the east, "we will go there, and we will take back what's ours!"

The troops chanted in unified stomps and cheering hollars.

"Why," he laughed looking to Dahlia, "we even caught the traitor who started the damn thing!"

"However, with all of this goods news I have heard of some rather negative happenings to have occurred in my absence."

"A riot," he chirped with a smile reaching to both ends of his face, "a riot... here of all places!"

"And you know what? When I radioed the mine they told me who instigated the act! The grand Poobah of the operation! The great advocator of chaos!"

"Now," Vladimir walked to the middle of the stage, "I was told that justice would need to be dealt to the traitor. And if you know me, I simply enjoy implementing justice to the wicked!"

A sough of delighted laughter convulsed through crowd.

"With that said, let's not waste anymore time, shall we?" An officer nodded at Vladimir and waved to a group of soldiers standing by the main gate.

A soldier yanked on a lengthy rope wrapped snuggly around the Warden's and a few other miners’ necks, dragging them all out from the gate. The Warden shuffled on, then as his hoof went too far in a step, he stumbled over knotted bindings cuffed to his legs.

The minor tumble took the others with him, staggering forward. But they recovered quickly -- keeping the chain-gang march moving.

They brought the Darkminers to the stage, moving them next to the officers behind Vladimir. Thatch stood a few steps away from the Warden. Listening to his ghastly wheezing breaths as the rope constrained the inhalations he took.

Vladimir started to speak again, this time listing the crimes the Warden had committed. As he declared the crimes of the miner, Thatch's ear twitched at an itching sound that came from the miner.

It was a low whistling the other officer didn't seemed moved by. All blurred and dimmed, when the noise jabbed at his eardrum. The air grew still, as Thatch turned to see the quiet distraction come from the Warden.

The Warden was already looking at him, waiting for Thatch to notice. "He's changed," the Warden hissed softly, "not the same..."

The Soldier who had brought the Warden to the stage, rose a hoof and struck him in against the back of the head -- letting a faint yeep escape out of the miner. The Warden, rubbing his head now, saw Legion soldier hovered over him, scowling, "Shut it!"

Thatch returned his attention to Vladimir, the same emptiness pervading him the longer he stood idle. The god-king of the Legion threw a hoof to the Warden exclaiming at the height of what his magically altered voice would allow, "Warden of the Darkmines! For crimes against the Legion, for the murder of multiple officers, the assault on our troops, and betrayal of our trust -- I sentence you to death!"

The Legion soldiers roared with murderous glee. Crying out the same chilling words: "Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! KILL HIM!"

Vladimir flashed his teeth in a slanted grin, nodding once to the soldier at the Warden's back. Confirming the order with a returning nod -- he drew his sword, and swiped at Warden's shoulder. It sounded a dull thwack as the blade broke bone and tore flesh. It lodged itself deep -- a perfect strike.

Like an axe, imbued into the stump of a tree, the sword's hilt was buried in the miner's body, leaving the hilt to jut out at an angle from his back. Green glowing blood of a sickening color gushed out in short spurts across the stage from the gaping crevasse of a wound. Slumping down onto his stomach, the essence of the Warden's body drained through the cracks of the boxes.

He was still alive for a moment, gurgling and coughing under his breather. After failure upon failure of trying to pull the sword from Warden's shoulder, the Legion soldier let go and backed away from the dying creature.

Vladimir’s brow furrowed, as the miner continued to hack his lungs out uncontrollably. “He’s... still alive?”

Walking to the dying miner, Vladimir looked down at the creature. A lowly monster -- an animal wild and vicious. Thatch could see it in his leader’s eyes, the fury of a murderer.

With his horn wrapped in crimson magical power, the hilt exploded in the hellish light. Like a knife in soft butter he drew it out of the Warden’s body. The tip, raised over the miner’s spine, came down hard.

Stabbing the miner again, and again -- the next injection faster than the last. Until, after thirteen clean blows across the Warden’s back, he stopped. Telekinetically dropping the sword carelessly to the side, he satisfyingly grinned.

Tossing up a triumphant hoof in the air, Vladimir declared, "It is done!"

The crowd went hysterical. Gamboling around like ponies bounding to the moving beats of exciting music. An uproar of mirth -- a panoply of their laughs and cheers carried and reverberated off of the hollow city buildings.

Thatch felt his stomach contort, irking the contents within. Vladimir faced the crowd again, blasting his voice over the merriment, "Now that justice has been exacted -- peace will now rise on a new horizon!"

A wave of murmurs spread like an infectious rumor, gradually silencing the soldiers. "For as long as I care to remember we have needed one Sun gem. Only one! Just a measly little singular gem to achieve peace."

"And," he began stuffing a hoof into one of his coat pockets, "the time to obtain peace is now!"

Holding aloft the gem brightly shining like a beacon in both hooves for everyone to see, the soldiers shook the earth in a stomp of hooves. Thatch eyed the stone, feeling the warm delicate light kiss his face. Where he should of been rejoicing, and happy -- he felt a rock in his chest sink.

The Warden's last words to him stuck. Lingering in the form of a terrible frigidness, inviting the rock to plummet further and further into his stomach.

The cool nighttime breeze swept across the road outside the Darkmine's gates. The gust swirled the dry ash and dust alike in a tornado, later to dissipate altogether into the wind. Soldiers hurried back and forth, more busy than they usually were on the surface.

Troops were loading and unloading the brooding hulking machines that were heavy machine guns off the newly rolled in trains, taking nearly two novice unicorns at a time to move. Lines of hefty sandbags stacked up to a ponies chest provided cover for where the guns would be set outside the gate. Other positions down the road had metal crates assembled into low standing walls.

Scooter crouched behind the safety of a few crates by the Darkmine’s gate with Whopper at his side. The two skulked onward before stopping to peek over the top of their cover.

"Do you see anything?" Whopper's eyes peered at every angle. "Weapons, I mean... and a pair of uniforms too."

Scooter's had just finished scanning the immediate zone, "Nah, not a thing, pal. Ya' think they'll jus' be leaving 'em out in t' open?"

Whopper shrugged, "Who knows?"

The tip of Scooter's ear twitched, as the sound of crunching pebbles approached. Out of pure instinct, Scooter dove, taking his comrade with him. Two Legion stallions came walking to their crates, toting monstrous assault rifle battle-saddles bolstering mirthfully jingling ammunition belts.

"Who was suppose to move these down the road?" One asked to the other.

The second soldier rapped the top of a crate he passed by, "Hell if I know, that's the unicorn's job. We're just supposed to patrol."

"Do you think the battle's going to be huge? Do you think we'll make it out?"

"Heh," the second chuckled, "you see those?"

He motioned his head to the trains, where a team of unicorns in unison floated the largest machine gun he’d ever seen to the ground, "Those things can shoot down anything. Armored wagons, pegasi -- hell even ponies decked in power armor. Covert had them especially brought in from the border. Big Lot was holding out on us this whole time!"

Scooter's ears shot up faster than an alerted dog's. His eyes, more than opened, bursted forth almost unnaturally. "Did he just say..." he uttered under his breath.

The first soldier rose a hoof, and sharply turned to crates, "Hey, did you hear something?"

"Hear what?" The second replied, now looking to the crates, "You don't think something is-"

"You never know." The first interjected.

Slapping both hooves over his mouth, Scooter pressed himself hard to the crates. Whopper followed his lead to a point. The curious soldier gingerly trod to the crate, unhitching the safety on his saddle with a click.

Scooter's heart was aflutter, rising and rising at the gravely sound of pounding hooves on asphalt. Each step applied energy to his heart rate.

Three steps away... two... one... The soldier was so close to the crates Scooter could heard the subtle tense breaths muffled under the Legionnaire's mask.

"Damn it, you know it was nothing!" The second soldier objected, "Hell it's probably just a roach. You know how those disgusting little shits like to linger around here."

The first soldier, standing idly with eyes transfixed on the crates glanced over his shoulder at his patrol partner, "You think so?"

"Hell, I know so!" The second said, "Besides, I want to finish our rounds. The sooner we can get back to the barracks the better."

Pressing the safety back on, the soldier faced his comrade. "Alright, fine. Let's get back on track, damn roaches aren't even worth a bullet anyhow."

Together the two trotted away from the crates, back on the patrol as they were before. Whopper released his mouth, letting the stressful load of the moment slump off his relaxed shoulders.

Scooter breathed out a sigh saturated in sweet relief, "That was too close pal."

Whopper nodded, "Ya' said it."

Wiping the sweat that specked his brow, Scooter nudged his friend in the foreleg, "Did ya' 'ear what that fellah said?"

"Somethin' about Covert bein' around. I don't think he said much aside from that boss."

"Ah’m not completely sure, but if he's 'round 'ere somewhere, we'll ‘ave to take ‘im down."

Looking down at his bare chest, Whopper noted, "We ain't gettin' anywhere without some kind of guns or armor."

Scooter pointed his head to one of the alcoves carved out of the old stores, and shops along the main road, "We can try searchin' ‘em for some gear. There has t' be somethin' useful, ‘ah reckon. Seein' as the army's unloadin' all this gear."

Adam searched the black ceiling of his room. It was the closest thing he had to a nighttime sky. But it was vacant of any stars, or lights the books back at the stable so fondly spoke of. There was just the void. Pure and formless.

His eyes were wide, like they were looking for something impossible to see. While in his stomach a pit formed, swirling and aching. He had both hooves crossed atop the raging storm brewing inside. Unable to do much Adam watched the would-be heaven of the room’s ceiling.

“Brother?” Adam whispered, “Are you awake?”

Even after hours of sleepless thought his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the pitch dark. Neo, in the blackness, answered tenderly to not wake the others across the hall, “No, I haven’t be able to sleep all night. You having any luck?”

Adam tucked his tongue in one cheek and made a bored popping noise, “Nope.”

“Sucks.”

“It does.” Adam agreed.

Together, and completely by coincidence, they sighed. Neo picked the conversation off the ground, beginning in the same tone he had previously used. “Are you nervous? About tomorrow?”

Adam’s gut felt wrenched, like someone had gone and wrung out every ounce of courage. He pressed his hooves hard on it, the added pressure alleviating some of the anxiety. “Yeah, it could be worse. But it’s still keeping me up.”

“Same here.” Neo replied. “I just hope everything goes smoothly.”

“That’s the problem. It never really does, brother.”

Neo rolled onto his side, using the pillow as a support to see out into the black where he imagined Adam’s bed being. “Is that what’s bothering you the most?”

Releasing the strain on his belly, Adam hooves chased each other in circles as he hesitating to answer. The feeling, while clearly a symptom of the coming conflict, festered he couldn’t say why. His mind went blank.

“I... I don’t know.”

Neo had no trouble pinpointing his nervousness. “For me it’s whether or not we can pull it off. With all of us walking out okay.”

“I mean, sure we’ve done well in the past,” Neo withheld a breath, “but... this is different... Everything is at stake here. Our family, friends, the whole province. Everything. I can’t really help but feeling this way after all of that is stuck on our shoulders.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re nervous about, Adam.” Neo suggested. “It’d seem fitting.”

“Yeah,” Adam uttered in an unsure whisper, “I guess.”

“Whatever we feel tonight though, we’ll have to set aside during the battle. Everything we do needs to be done right. I just don’t care to think what might happen if it goes awry.”

“I think that we need to just see what happens. Do our best, right?”

Adam couldn’t see it, but he was sure Neo was smiling. “Right.”

Patting his stomach once, he felt the sickness tickle his chest. “I just wish being nervous didn’t make you feel like this.”

“Yeah,” Neo laughed, “being nervous sucks.”

“Being nervous sucks.” Adam echoed.

Vladimir's face was inches from the glass of a long observation window. Close enough that the heat of his breath fogged the reflection of his face. Beyond the protection of the barrier was two Legion soldiers, donned in white contamination suits fashionably accompanied by large shaded goggles each lens bigger than a saucer plate.

One technician had the Sun gem held by a pair of tongs, easing it to the mouth of a black machine laced in pipes of every size. A few of the tangled piping tubes towered up, and into little holes drilled through the rocky back wall.

At Vladimir's side levitating was a glass of wine -- slowly being stirred by a calm, circular rock. "It's finally happening."

His reflection glared, unblinking and silently seething.

"Come now," Vladimir smirked, "this is a time for joy! After they load the gem all it'll take is a little more time."

"We just need to stall the Coalition," he picked up his hoof and tapped the air as though he were slapping a button, "and BOOM! We smack that big red button and it's all done! Simple as that!"

The reflection didn't answer, and in the absence of a proper response Vladimir pouted bringing on his abnormally sparkly puppy-dog eyes, "You’re no fun, Little Red! Cheer up why don’tcha!"

The reflection's voice was low, and weighted in devout conviction, "I'm not going to let you do this. I'll stop you, if it's the last thing I'll do."

Vladimir's brows rose. "Oh really now?"

Rubbing the underside of his chin, Vladimir looked off to the side, gazing off in thought, "You see the last time I check you were there, and I'm out here... with your body... as you."

Leaning forward, the reflection put his hooves on the glass, "I swear, I don't care what it takes, I'll take the nearest sharp object and I'll gut you with it!"

Vladimir threw his head back in a single guffaw, "There's the fire I wanted! Now, if only you'd have shown that sort of attitude a tad bit sooner. Maybe we wouldn't be having this little heart to heart right now."

Bringing both shoulders to his ears, Vladimir mumbled, "Though, knowing you, Little Red I'm certain you won't."

"Because you see," he grinned, "you're too soft. You've always been too soft. While you were unhardened by the wasteland, I was learning. And boy, do I learn fast!"

"Where you would want to let a prisoner go," Vladimir continued, "I would have killed them. Where you would want to lessen the task of slaves, I would increase it."

A deep chortle revved in his throat, as he lay the last bits of salt in the wound, "It's just who you are, Little Red. A stable dweller. Simple, innocent, and naive and a bunch of other lovey-dovey things."

"That, and to kill me you would need to kill this meat-suit of yours. And that's just not good for either of us, wouldn't you say?"

Vladimir loudly supped some of the wine, licking his lips after he'd swallowed. "You know," he investigated the glass of wine floating in the translucent light of his unicorn magic, "I used to loathe this stuff... wine, and all that, but now that I have a body I've found it rather enjoyable to consume."

"I now see why you liked it," Vladimir drunkenly giggled, "it makes for a wonderful drink."

"Dahlia won't comply with anything you make her say or do." The reflection retorted. "And if you even think of hurting her-"

Vladimir did an eye-rolling dramatic gasp, laying a dainty hoof distressfully over his breast, "Little Red, that's hurtful! Dahlia is our most honored visitor here at the mines! Of course, she'll need to be alive and well if we plan to use her."

His reflection narrowed its brows, pinching the stare tighter, "Don't you lay a hoof on her, you bastard!”

He growled like an animal, "So help me."

"Hmph," Vladimir snorted, "you don't have to worry about that, Red old boy. I have an abundance of ideas on how to make her cooperate."

Gently knocking on the window, his grin stretched, "Especially with Iron Hammer nearly operational."

The air was colder than a wintery field at midnight. Wind let in from the opened doors of the hangar -- permitting the bone-numbing mountain breeze on in. It was, however, more temperate at the back of the space. Mild, despite the occasional snowflakes to drift inside.

Gunships were lined evenly with their tail flaps facing the back wall. Coalition soldiers crowded the backend of the hangar, scattering wooden crates freshly unloaded from Steelhoof Keep.

The ambience was ablaze in the busy natter of ponies speaking orders, or of what the contents within the crates were to one another. Lucy stood behind one of the larger transport gunships. Waxing the side of a hefty four-wheeled steel wagon, giving it a fine sheen to its sleek, armored frame.

Each wipe with her damp rag made a cleanly squeak, announcing to Lucy the fineness of the careful polishing. She ran wax over the rim of one of four enormous wheels. Afterward, Lucy collected herself, and stepped back admiring her work from afar.

She smiled satisfyingly, nodding with great contentment at the glittering glow in the pale outside light filtering in, "Damn Lucy, you're a beast at waxing metal."

Ally trotted alongside Neo, Adam, and Wester, coming to see the job she had done.

"Morning Lucy." Ally's tone was more merry, considering the uncomfortably cool atmosphere.

Lucy's gaze shined -- sparkling even -- as the outside illumination stuck in the watering pools gathering in the corners of her eyes, "It's so beautiful..."

Adam looked at the wagon, noting the size, "It sure is... big."

An overbearing amount of bubbling emotion trapped certain words, "It's freakin' glorious is what it is."

"I guess so," Adam pointed to the crates stacked next to the wagon, "and all that stuff is armor and weapons, right?"

"I think so." Ally answered for Lucy, too entranced by the magnificence of the wagon.

Wester took place beside Lucy, waving a disruptive hoof in front of her face, "Lucky, you're acting abnormal. Please, cease this before it becomes critical."

Nudging Adam in the shoulder, Neo whispered to his brother, "I think it was critical to begin with."

"I heard that." Wester attempted again to wave a hoof in front of her, "Lucky, please stop before they make more bizarre banter."

Calmly jostling his hoof away, she shook her head, "I'm still alive Wester."

Patting herself down, Lucy included, "See, all mentally there... For the most part."

Ally approached the wagon with light steps, "So this is our transport?"

Lucy wiped her nose -- a smug grin shifted to one side, "Yep," she pet one of the herculean wheels, "though she'll be loaded on the gunship over here. I'll be driving her off it a few miles out of the mines."

Noticing the front, where the pegasus piloting was hitched, Neo scanned it and returned to Lucy, "I don't mean to sound like a pessimist, but do you think you can fly this? Are your wings even well enough for the mission?"

"Hey," Lucy chirped, "don't worry about me. I've got plans to take of that later."

Cupping a hoof to the corner of her mouth, Lucy called into the gunship, "Hey Golden Cog! Get your butt out here!"

Golden Cog emerged from the shadow inside the ship, stomping against the refined metal of the gunship on her way out. "What is it you sour donut? Can't you see I'm checking the ship's specs from the last flight?!"

"You can stop for a sec," she countered, "it's not like your job can't be finish later!"

She grumbled pulling up to the group, "What is it?"

"Tell these worry-wusses that I can pull this monster of a wagon."

Rolling her eyes, Golden Cog groaned, "You're not going to let me leave until I do, huh?"

Tipping the brim of her hat, Lucy jeered, "Ya' bet your sweet dumplings sister. Now lay it like it is. All factual and the like."

Golden Cog's shoulders slumped as she sighed out the long and unconvincing answer, "Given the proper treatment to her wings she can fly the wagon..."

"Will that be everything?" Golden Cog asked pitifully.

Lucy rolled her hoof, letting the whimpering words go on before clasping her lips together to suppress the building laughter. Planting a hoof squarely into her face, Golden Cog recited the end, "Because the wagon is magically enhanced to help a pair, or should the occasion need it, a single pilot to fly it."

"There," she grunted -- eyelids disapprovingly wilted, "happy?"

All of Lucy's teeth were victoriously showing in the strained smile, "Delighted. You're free to go."

Golden Cog, broadcasted her distaste for the whole event through a bloated smolder inflated out from her lower lip. Nonetheless, she trotted back up the loading ramp of the gunship, disappearing into the interior's shade. Lucy came back to her comrades, holding in the highest fashion, her head -- triumphant expression and all.

Ally did her best to loosen the coy aura profoundly beaming from Lucy, "We'll be pretty hard targets to miss."

Lucy was swift to shoot down each, and any of Ally's concerns, "I'll weave. Weaving with this baby should be a synch."

"What about backup power for that flight enhancement on it?"

"Checked and charged."

"Room for us all?"

"Plenty."

"Room for us all and all of our gear."

"Covered, and assured complete comfort on the hell flight."

Ally brushed her chin, humming thoughtfully. In a sudden spark, she added, "Well," she paused, "what about our armor?"

Lucy's defense had been broken, "Armor?"

"Yeah," Ally patrolled the side of the wagon to the end rising onto her hind legs to point in the wagon's empty space, "we'll all be in here, but we'll surely have more than a few rifles sniping at us. Any larger stray bullets would kill us, did we get any armor to lessen the dying factor?"

She brought a halting hoof up, and intervened, "Actually, you're going to be surprised by that."

Neo's attention peaked, as both ears sprung erect, "What kind of armor?"

Adam's imagination took flight, imagining a whole scheme of designs with advanced mechanical attachments. The feeling came in the form of energy, pulsing in an anxious hop, "How advance did they say it was?"

Lucy shrugged making her way to one of the piled crates by the wagon, "I don't know, old-tussled britches up in the ship said that we were given armor in the crate. I'm guessing it's some pretty nice stuff by the way she talked about it."

Wedging a hoof beneath the lid, she glanced over her shoulder at the group gathering around the crate, "Or, it could just be some junk she made out to sound a lot better than it actually is."

"Only one way to find out." Neo said.

The lid had already been unbolted, and the top was loose. Lucy threw it open effortlessly, sending the lid flipping backward -- landing hard on the hanger floor with a hollow thunk. Packed in the curly shavings of dusty paper clippings, several breast pieces of steel armor protruded from the package cushioning surface.

A few slender rigid tubes ran from the shielded neck piece to a small plated compression pump in the back. Numbers, newly painted in a pristine coat of white ranging from 44-49 were written on rounded shoulder pads.

Adam's eyes grew three times their average size, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Power armor..." Neo awed.

"The real deal too." Ally commented.

Lucy pulled a smile larger than life, testing the limits any normal cheek could handle right up to her ears. Slowly, she looked to the others in the group, "Who wants to try it on?"

A cell -- a cramped hovel of a place is where Dahlia sat. Walls caked in the saturation of the heated air, as sturdy bars made the front of her cage. Regardless of the poor condition the Legion had done whatever it was in their power to make her feel comfortable.

A clean cot was placed at one corner, decorated in a fresh white pillow, and lavished with a silky green blanket. Like any homely living space, a bronze chamber pot sat beside it. Including one lamp, without the shade filtering out the light, leaving the blazing sun of a light bulb to shine pure blinding rays throughout the entire cell.

There had been a quilt, frayed at its edges, and smudged in black dirt, in the center of the room. It, as Dahlia had found, did well draped over the shadeless lamp. Now, a calm gentle luminosity shown, brilliantly captured in the reflection of water sprinkled on the cavernous walls.

In her own pensive expression of focused eyes staring at the ground, and brows lowered -- she paced back and forth. Every other turn back, Dahlia paused to inspect her prison. A single pipe ran along the back wall's corner, bellowing out the aching groans of its old age.

At the intervals where other segments of the pipes connected, droplets of hot water dripped at the rhythm of the creaking. Dahlia walked closer to the middle section batting her eyelids at it. Maybe I could tear one of the pipes down. It could give me a tool to maybe prop...

Shaking her head vigorously, she sharply turned her back to the pipe, and went about her route to and fro across the room. No! Then you'd get burned by the steam! And then what? Escape with third-degree burns all over myself, that's a sure-fire way of getting killed, and not by the soldiers either.

"You're fairly determined, aren't you?" Vladimir's voice projected a chipper chuckle, "But you'll find escaping here isn't the smartest thing to do."

He sauntered to her bars, simpering with a puffed chest, "Judging by the look on your face, I assume you've already come to that conclusion. Though, it is fascinating to see one who knows there is no way out, to ultimately continue to search for a means of escape."

Clapping his hooves slowly, he tittered, "Inspiring! Truly inspiring!"

She kept her distance from the bars, planting her haunches down on the warm damp cell floor. "I assume you plan to use me as leverage? Which means your intimidated by the Coalition's retaliation."

Recoiling himself back, he perched a dainty hoof above his breast, giving a dramatically forced gasp, "Why Dahlia! Wouldn't you think that I took you to also have conversation with another intelligent mind?"

Dahlia sat quietly, closing her glare until there was nothing but slits left.

A deep chortle raced through his throat, "You're too smart for that, and I'll admit I'm lucky I know you. Otherwise I would have left a dozen different items you could have used to easily break out of this cell."

Dahlia's tone purred like the fiery engine of a war machine, "What did you do with him?"

Vladimir propped an eyebrow up, "What? Who?"

"Vladimir." Dahlia stated firmly. "What did you do with him?"

This brought on a few chuckles sitting in his chest, "Are you mad woman? I am Vladimir! The one and only Emperor to the-"

"You're not him," she interrupted, "I know Vladimir, and even as the tyrant I knew when I left the stable, he was more controlled and simple than you."

He froze, and muttered, "What do you mean?"

"Whenever he declares who he is, it's done formally. You like to let the world know. You also referenced him on the ship and not yourself."

"So," she prowled over to the bars locking eyes with the Legion emperor, "either you're just insane, or you're not Vladimir. Because the Vladimir who traveled with my boys was collected and calm. Not the boastful fat-head you are."

Keeping his brow raised, he said keeling toward the bars nearly stuffing his nose between them, "That's a curious little theory you've assembled. And just how sure are you that I am some thing impersonating him? Besides a few little mistakes in my wording, and a different kind of attitude, what else is there, hmm?"

Dahlia crossed her hooves, silently.

"I thought so." He recoiled himself, "You should consider getting comfortable."

Clearing his throat, Vladimir craned his nose high coming to a booming finale, "After all! Believe it or not, but I have a special place for you soon! And I do believe your boys will find it remarkably fascinating!"

Neo sported a strong figure. Power armor came with a compelling sense of invisibility. The kind that stiffens the back, and nobly expands the chest out. He stood in front of a long viewing mirror, his posture matching the impeccable feeling of strength.

The armor covered him, from neck to hoof, all a dull grey. Plates overlapped plates clanging softly when he moved. The right half-domed shoulder blade, jutted just a few noticeable inches up. Shoving it back into place he rotated his shoulder before returning to an idle stance.

His eyes traveled from the floor up to his breast-plate, posing for the role upright and alert. A shiver lancing through him brought his shoulders to slouch which, afterward released a deep long-held breath.

He looked at himself in the eyes, gazing like he himself had committed some awful tragedy, "What are you doing Neo?"

Glancing over his shoulder, he searched the empty locker room he was in. Speaking to himself, Neo's voice was heavy, "It's not like going to battle is something to happy about."

"Is this what it was like before the battle at Arkcannon?" Ally asked moving around the corner of a locker, "That sickening tickle that bubbles in your stomach?"

Her arrival didn’t startle him. "It may get worse, depending on how sturdy your will is."

She herself was clad in matching bulky armor. "It's something, isn't it?"

Knocking the center of her chest, a hypnotic tone of vibrating metal rippled. "Makes you feel like you're worth a million bits."

A fleeting chuckle came shortly after, "I can see why Wester finds it so appealing. Though, I'm not sure I could wear it all the time."

"I bet after awhile the stuff starts to chafe like grater." Neo added with a hearty laugh. “In more than one places.”

Ally winced, the mere imagining of it provoking a pain-stricken groan. "I'd hate to find out."

Facing his mirror, Neo saw the whole of himself again. "Ally," he said, "how dangerous do you think this will be?"

Coming to his side, together they stood in the slender view of the mirror. "I wouldn't think that battle of any kind, a scuffle or an assault, would be safe at all."

"But," she went on, "I won't lie. I don't think we'll come out unscathed."

Neo's eyes fell over to the floor, "Sure, but what if... you know, we don't make it?"

Ally put on a smile, the likes of which melted his heart, "That's always a possibility."

Laying a hoof on his foreleg, she easily guided him to face her. Their eyes met -- fixed and unmoving. "But that is what it is: a possibility. And I believe that's the last thing you want to be thinking about before going out there."

One shoulder bounced unsurely, "Then what if we all make it out? What's going to happen once this is all over?"

A giggle rolled in her throat, "Well, you could take me on a actual date. Without the Legion, or raiders, or death and destruction."

Her honeyed words brought him to smile, "That'd definitely be a start."

Neo, despite the positive energy about them, dragged his tone to a low -- serious register, "Just... be careful."

Playfully nuzzling him in the neck, she remarked, "Don’t worry so much! Besides, let’s remember that I’ve been out in the wastes longer than you have."

Lucy’s voice boomed throughout the room, “Hey! You two done in there?”

Neo rose a hoof to the side of his mouth calling back, “Don’t get worked up, we’re coming!”

“Good!” She exclaimed, “Because I’ve got something all of you will be wanting to see!”

Ally sniggered, like she had something to hide. Neo, looking at her with an impish arching eyebrow, joined in, “What are you laughing about now?”

“It just stinks, you know?”

“What does?”

“Being alone just isn’t an option for us, isn't it?”

Neo’s eyes rolled, nodding as the truth of her words bit. “No... no it’s not.”

An old purple porcelain lamp on the nightstand beside Vladimir flickered occasionally. There was an uncomfortably crooked oval mirror on the wall, painted in a dainty, though chipping, shade of pink. Up at the right side a twisted crack in the glass caught a separate glimpse of his reflection.

Regardless of faulty lighting, or a damaged mirror, he put loud boisterous splendor into a lively whistle. Adjusting his green plated armor, and clipping his silky crimson cape to his collar he tweeted the tune aloud.

His reflection did not represent the same mood. With narrowed brows, and eyes slanted in a fiery glare the still picture of himself in the glass cursed him. Snapping the last of his cape to his chest-piece collar, Vladimir guffawed, "Why so glum Little Red! Aren't you excited?"

The reflection kept as motionless as a photograph, yet it's sent the hairs on Vladimir's neck up.

He recoiled in mid-chuckled, "With a look like that I'd say you're not quite as enthusiastic as I am about the up in coming battle."

"Let her go." It's voice rumbled like distant thunder, "Or else."

Vladimir retaliated with a coy sneer, "Oh? Well aren't we the sour-sport. Tell me, what -- in this wide world -- could you do to me?"

The reflection closed it's eyes, and pointed the tip of its crimson horn at him. The strange action propelled an eyebrow to raise, "What are you doing?"

The reflection didn't answer. In a few moments a splitting headache, like someone had just lodged an axe in his skull, knocked him back onto his haunches. Vladimir gasped, pressing both hooves hard over his temples.

He bared behind his teeth a pain-induced yelp wanting to escape, but Vladimir bit more. Even then pain grew, bringing him to gnaw on his lower lip until he drew blood. Every second felt like an hour with the chopping constantly wiggling, and jerking about in his head. At last, the words broke free, "Stop! Stop! STOP!"

The reflection sat down, and opened its eyes. "I'll do it again. Hurts like hell, doesn’t it?"

Vladimir's legs trembled excessively -- each limp feeling more akin to feebly cracking seeder buckling under his own weight. As he collected himself, standing once more, he replied over hissing and groaning, "This changes nothing..."

He grimaced, messaging the top region of his cranium, "You think I'm go to just submit to you because you can give me a headache? How weak-willed do you think I am?"

"You'll give in." It murmured, "And even if you don’t, my body will."

Three metallic knocks came from the door, staggering to collect himself -- Vladimir fixed his posture, "O-One moment!"

Thatch's muffled voice from behind the door asked, "Sir? Are you alright in there?"

"I'm fine!" Vladimir stumbled to the door like a drunk, "Just... fine..."

The door opened, and Thatch saluted him. "Sir."

Vladimir was rubbing the side of his head now, the lingering soreness ever present, "Yes, what is it? Make it quick."

Thatch peeked above Vladimir's shoulder, seeing into his room. "Is everything alright in there, sir? It sounded like you were in pain."

Placing the formerly messaging hoof to the ground he retorted, "It doesn't matter now. I'm fine. What is it you wanted to say?"

Thatch looked up at his leader with a pensive stare, "It's the guns, sir. The anti-air ones."

His eyes caught the veins bulging from underneath Vladimir’s ears. "They're in place... even the back-ups. Nothing should get through the center road."

"Well," Vladimir's tone lightened, "that is some good news I suppose. Is everything in place for Iron Hammer?"

Thatch's observations hadn't lessened. He noted the slow rising and lowering of Vladimir's chest. The mark of high stressed breathing, from what continued to elude him. "Are you sure, you're fine m'lord?"

Vladimir put the backend of his hoof to his head, releasing pent up emotion through a sigh. "Thatch, if you ask me one more time how I'm feeling, I'll toss you to the captured miners and allow them to snack on your limbs. So, having clearly stated where I stand on my health, you no longer need to poke at the subject. Please, and I do mean please, tell me how clear are we on this whole matter?"

The Legion captain gulped, and briskly saluted, "Transparently clear, sir."

"Now," Vladimir said, "Get out of here before I get angry."

Closing the door on Thatch, Vladimir wandered to the mirror. He peered in his reflection -- punching a hoof on the wall beside the mirror's frame. Then, slowly he moved his snout close to the glass. Near enough to smell the pungent wine sticking to his breath.

Curling his lips in a snarl, he finished, "You think you can do it in what little time you have, Little Red? Well, guess again, you weak sack of flesh -- because whether you like it or not it is over. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Period."

Adam leaned on their assault wagon by the gunship's loading ramp, one leg crossed over the other. Wester lugged a sack, two times larger than himself on his back. At the edge of the wagon he tossed it in with a long arching throw, in a muttered poof.

"You think Lucy's doing okay?" Adam asked Wester.

Briefly patting himself down from leg to chest, he grunted, "I'm certain Lucky is being taken care of."

"I suppose so," Adam's voice was saturated with the slurred tone of uncertainty, "I just think that her wings must have been pretty badly beat up."

Wester pointed his visor at him, "What is it you believe is the problem?"

Adam shrugged, "She's had a potion or two since we've seen her. Shouldn't her wings be healed?"

"From what I understand they were terribly injured. Potions may heal, but they are not a cure-all. Perhaps parts of her wings have healed, but have not received the proper care needed to make a full and lasting recovery."

"I'm just a little worried is all." Adam's eyes circled to the loading ramp.

"Brother and Ally are in there with Golden Cog, and I haven't seen Big Lot around lately. You think she's okay?"

Wester motioned his head to one of the main hallways leading out of the hanger with an unnatural smoothness for someone as armored and constricted as him. "Last I saw she was looking at the guns that came with armor."

Adam's eyes perked, as he removed himself from the wagon's side standing attentively on all fours, ready to move. "Do you think we should leave her alone with all those weapons? I know from personal experience that she's a little crazy when given a weapon."

"She'll find it difficult." Wester knocked the chilled metal of the wagon, "As I just about collected all of them up in that bag."

"Just about?" Adam echoed his words.

"The saddles, and pistols Neo and Ally have on are not included in the sack."

Exhuming a sigh, Adam remarked, "That's more than good to hear."

"You will have to let her arm herself during the battle. You know this."

Adam scuffed the ground, withholding his reply for a moment, "I-I know, it's just despite her experience out here I feel like she's still just a filly at heart."

Wester commented in his standard, contently deep voice, "She tried to kill us. And tormented numerous individuals for an extended length of time."

"Still, I feel like she'd have a hard time firing something, and at the army she used to work for too."

"We'll have to see what happens when the time comes."

Adam looked up at his hulking friend, seeing just his emerald eyes catch in Wester's visor. He said nothing, as replies jolted one after the other against the walls of his cranium.

Wester's reply was sparse of raw emotion, "It's the only way we can see if that's true."

“What are you two standing around for?” Lucy came to the gunship with a swagger. Like a possy of her own, Ronan tagged alongside.

Big Lot fell back, face glowing in sweltering heat. “I can’t believe they’re all gone! Every last one!”

Wester whispered to himself, “I said so.”

Of the ponies present, it was Adam who rose up to answer Lucy, “We were just waiting for you to show up. Neo and Ally are up in the ship. They’ll be down soon.”

“Great,” Lucy had the biggest grin, “cause look what I got fixed up!”

From behind the mare arose both pairs of feathered wings, stretching out like that of an angle. She presented their wellness in a few forceful flaps -- kicking up a faded gust of the powdered snow dusted on the hangar floor.

“They’re are back!” Lucy pranced in a circle, giving everyone a full view.

“Baby?” Adam finished.

Lucy stopped, the mirth stricken from her. “What?”

She looked at him with a grimace, “What?” She repeated.

Adam shrugged, beckoning to his fellow peers for kosher with both eyes darting around. “Uh... I-Isn’t that how it ends?”

There was a pause, which to him felt like an hour, where everyone stared open-eyed at him. In a weak attempt to unshackle himself from the awkward tension Adam whimpered, “Guys?”

His father, sensing the developing silence persist, came to his rescue. “Well, it doesn’t really matter now, right? Just look at you all!”

He went to meet his son, keenly pinpointing the armor Adam wore with his irises. “Armored up...”

Lightly jabbing a few air-punches at Adam, his tone flattened, “Tough, and ready to go out there...”

Neo stepped off the ramp, Ally coming close by. “I heard Lucy out here, did she get her wings looked at?”

Lucy diverted her attention to the two of them. “Yeah, though, they’re not quite the strongest set. Having not flown in a while really takes it’s toll on the muscles.”

“But,” Ronan inferred, “we did what we could to compensate any lost muscle mass.”

“Will that affect the mission at all?” Ally pondered aloud.

Brushing the thought off, Lucy held a hoof, teetering it like a balancing scale. “I’d say there’s a chance.”

“Be it a minor one.” Ronan hastily added.

Lucy chuckled, “Yeah, what he said.”

Adam, drawing back to the previous encounter he had had with his father, asked, “Dad, you sounded a little sad earlier. What’s the matter? What happened?”

It was clear, not physically, but in his dim silver eyes a deep worried emotion froze him on the inside. “My boys... my sons... both of you are going off into this conflict. I’d be lying if I said it was nothing.”

“We’ll be good out there.” Adam assured him, “We’re both scared too. But then again, you always get scared when about to face something like this. No matter how much you’ve encountered it before.”

Lucy beat her breastplate like a war maiden, “Don’t worry, they’re couldn’t be in more capable hooves.”

Ronan sucked a full lung of air through his nose -- exhaling it all after a few seconds. “I won’t doubt what you say, Ms. Luck.”

Then, holding the same fatherly spirit in his words, faced his oldest son, before moving back to Adam. “Both of you, I want you stay safe out there. No matter how hairy it becomes.”

Neo nodded, “We will.”

“We will dad.” Adam smiled, “No matter how hard the battle gets.”

He gently slapped Adam’s right shoulder, “Just remember when you pick up your mother that your old man is here, waiting for you three to get back safe and sound.”

Adam returned the happy gestured, “We’ll be back. All three of us. I promise.”

There was an energy like fire in the entrance of the Darkmines. It stirred with the cooler breeze blasting in through the gates. Soldiers ran the best they could to their stations -- dozens, it seemed, flowed toward the outside trotting or marching apace.

Vladimir was among the vast movement of bodies. Stepping high, and wide with regal grandeur. They parted before him, like a rock splitting the approaching waters. His crimson silky cape rippled at the rocky floor, bouncing a rolling gentle waves on the fabric as he stepped.

Thatch strode not far from him at his left flank, having to jostle or weave through the wake of ponies stepping aside for their emperor. In the chaos he ejected himself out of the crowd and took safety in the clear space behind Vladimir.

He tripped having evaded the crowd, but recovering just as quickly. "Do you really want to head to the front? Especially in your condition?"

The question did little to break his momentum, "Condition? Thatch, I believed we discussed what my condition was earlier."

“I-I know, sir... but-”

Vladimir didn’t give the Captain a chance to finished, "Everything is in place now. The anti-air guns, the artillery guns, and even the back-ups. My condition has never been better!”

A suppressed, almost mocking giggle fell on Vladimir's response, "With those readily set -- tell me, how long is it until Iron Hammer launches?"

Thatch had lost a considerable amount of faith in his leader, feeling the loyalty being drained as they came closer to the surface. "Three hours."

"Ah, then tell me, how capable do you believe our defenses to be?"

Vladimir's question spurred a twinge of poking curiosity to slow him. “Why do you ask?”

The Emperor's words were like venom, soaking into Thatch's already divided mind, "It's just that if we have little time to wait, and we are more than capable in defending this mountain -- I see no reason why I shouldn't enter the fray a little. Does that make sense to you? Does it, Thatch?"

"I... I understand, sir."

"It'll be good fun," Vladimir piped, "so stop your pouting -- the party is about to begin!"

The quiet hum of the gunship's engines was all that passed through the thick steel walls dividing those inside from hundreds of feet below to the ground. Beige seating lined one wall, and the other -- twenty on either side. They sucked in those who sat in them, nearly engulfing Adam's flank whole. When he repositioned himself, or shifted in even the slightest manner, the terrible squeaking of old rusted springs within shrieked.

An invisible little spider ran up his spine each time they creaked. Forcing a wince every now and again, he gave up trying to to get comfortable -- ultimately succumbing to the cushion devouring him.

The coming fight did not help his stomach either. It felt like a warm ocean amidst a raging typhoon was bottled up inside him. Frequently the nauseous liquids shot up half-way into his throat before retreating back. Adam did what he could to gulp it back down. The last thing anyone wanted on the gunship was one pony losing it.

Coalitions soldiers filled every seat the members of the rescue team did not. Suited in the beige helmets and plates atop white jumpsuits, many had their noses craned to the ceiling, snoring with their mouths wide open. Those weaker of heart hung their heads, fore-hooves fidgeting like the cold was slowly claiming them.

Adam couldn't see their eyes under the rim of the helmets. Though, by the unsettling silence in the space, he could only imagine them being sapped of life in wide and hollow stares.

Their cart for the mission was in between the two rows of seats. In the confining quarters of the ship the wagon appeared three times larger with the lack of vacant flooring. How long would the trip be? Not long maybe. Adam would think, We are moving significantly faster, and without the hassle of overcoming obstacles on the ground.

Reaching under his seat, Adam pulled out his conjoined saddlebags out in front of him, arranging them so that they rested back to back against themselves. He opened the right bag, fishing through the various prizes and supplies he'd collected on his trip. At the bottom he removed Little Red’s wooden music box and sat it on his lap.

He ran a hoof on the lid. Its paint was smooth to the touch, without any major scratches or fading smudges on the varnish. Adam wouldn't unlatch the front, and peek inside. That was for Vladimir to do alone.

Poking at the box's side once, Neo spoke to Adam in whispers, "You brought it with you?"

"Yeah," Adam cradled the valuable piece, "I want to give it to Vladimir."

This sent Neo reeling, and to regain focus on the remark he shook his head, "What? You know we are fighting him, right? When do you think we'll be able to sit down and politely give him it?"

Adam hadn't the slightest clue, but in full honesty he shrugged both shoulders, "We can leave it in his room, maybe. I know where it is."

Neo's lips curled inward, as his eyebrows slanted in a befuddled pondering expression. "I... don’t know what to tell you Adam."

"Brother," Adam hugged the box tighter, his voice seeming to firm with it, "we promised his dad."

"I know we did, but..."

"We promised him."

Wrapping a leg around Adam's shoulder, Neo clamped a hoof to his foreleg, "Listen, I know we promised him, and if you want to leave it somewhere, that's okay. But if it puts off the entire mission we'll have to forget about it."

His grasp on the music box had an unbreakable hold as Neo added delicately, "We'll have to see. Just have it ready in case."

The sourceless blare of a horn came honking. Drilling three times, then paused. Accompanying the sounds were a flashing red light perched at the back of the ship, directly above the closed loading ramp. Soon, Ironside's voice took charge of the speakers, "We're about twenty miles out of city. We'll be letting the rescue team off here."

Lucy bounded from her chair hind legs first like a foal springing at long last. "Alright! That's us! Load up!"

By the time she had got to the front of the wagon, she'd already tucked her hat into one saddlebag. It was Wester first, who picked Big Lot up and carefully placed the filly inside. Adam put the box away, and threw on his saddlebags before hopping in next, followed afterward by his brother, and Ally.

Those soldiers whose eyes befell the ground were now turned to them. Not quite as grey, or grim as Adam had imagined. But cold and empty nonetheless.

Wester did a brief scan of the area, and nodded at Lucy with a raised hoof overhead. "We're confirmed for launch!"

Lucy was hitched between two steel poles, fastened securely to them by equal as sturdy leather bindings. A green orb situated on the face of the wagon swelled with a halo of emerald aura -- not long after Lucy's wings were encased in the very same misty light. She glanced over both shoulders, and flapped each wing in perfect powerful sync.

"Remember," Ironside's voice on the speakers boomed, "lag behind for about an hour. Let the assault force get ahead. We'll take care of any ground troops that'll try to remove you from the sky."

A thundering clank clapped at the end of the gunship. An angelic sliver of the outside highlighted the barely opened ramp howling as the warm pressure seep out into the world. The frigid high-altitude air rushing in was numbing, burying its stingers at their noses. The ramp opened slowly -- the old pistons squealing like a dying wraith.

Wind bolted in like built up floodwaters, smacking the faces of every soul within. Noise was lost in the mighty gust -- ruthlessly caught adrift on the winds. Lucy had to strain her vocal cords to even bellow a peep above the thrashing air.

"Wester get in! Everyone else, are you set to drop?" Wester leapt in the wagon, and nodded all clear.

Adam hastily positioned his goggles over his eyes, and tugged the side straps tight. "Good,” Lucy called, “‘cause there's no turning back! Buckle up kids! It's a straight shot right into hell!"

Foot Note: Level Up!

New Perk: It's Called Lying, Because That's How You Become President: Speech is increased by +2, as are there new and more inconspicuously shifty speech options which may turn the tides of an otherwise failing trading deal.

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Hey! Assbutt!: When you toss grenades you now have a 45% chance of setting other enemies within the explosive area on fire.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

ColonelLatMuffin

Author's Note

Whew! This was a little hard to get through! I must say, while I didn't expect this chapter to be as long as it was, I still believe it came out fairly well considering what's happened as of recent. (Leaving for a trip, preparing for finals this month, among a few things.) However, through sickness, blood, sweat, and other bodily thingamadoos I've finished it! In all it's glorious splendor.

I had to cut, add, and alter a gratuitous amount of the original draft. Breaking entire scenes and having to re-write portions. To top it off, I had to struggle to find someone to help edit. Luckily, my best friend came through to pitch in with ironing out all the grammatical wrinkles he could. So a big thank you to him! (My brother comes in every now and again, but he caught what I had not too long ago, which has been pretty awful for him.)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! This is, after all, is the semi-last chapter of the story. There is just one more left! The final edition to the story. What will happen next? Who will live? Who will die? What will happen? Find out next time in the next exciting chapter of Brotherhood!

Liked this chapter? How about leaving a like? Have something to say? Perhaps you could leave a hint of criticism or your thoughts on what happened? Don't be afraid to drop a comment, I'd love to here what you have to say! If you're eager to read the last chapter as soon as possible favorite the story to get the first news on when it comes out.

Thanks for reading!

Noakwolf

An End, to End All Things

CHAPTER 36: AN END TO END ALL THINGS

"It all has to end. We all die, one way or another. Just make that final boom count a little before you go."

The front lines were silent. The wind howling like a distant beast high in the creaking steel buildings. Hundreds of Legion soldiers stood at their barricades and sandbags. Dozens of green helmets clustered together behind the barriers. Down the road as far as a soldier standing at the very gates of the Mines could see, was at least a team of ten huddled somewhere.

The gates had their own set of walls amassed to what towered three ponies high. All constructed by piles of wooden crates, and the leftovers of empty steel boxes the heavy machine guns had come in.

Vladimir's cape rippled like creamy silk in the breeze, the other officers crouched at his left and right watching the road. Diligently, keenly, with their weapons ready to draw. But Vladimir's sights were upturned at a surly sky abustle in dark churning clouds silhouetted in a hellish green.

He studied the clouds through a pair of binoculars, held aloft to his eyes by the aura of his horn. An officer, squat down between a tight space on the wall, whispered, "Sir, nobody's show'd up yet. What are your orders?"

Laying a hoof atop the officer's head, Vladimir pushed him back into place, without breaking his skyward observation. "Sit down, and shut up."

Thatch sat on the ground along the base of the fortification. "He's right, what should we do? Shouldn't they have showed up by now to stop us?"

"Perhaps." Vladimir removed the binoculars from his eyes, "We'll wait here for days if we need to. There's no way in hell they'll take us off guard."

Flopping back against the rough wooden planks at his back, he grumbled, "Wonderful."

Posting the rims of the binoculars back to his eyes, Vladimir's ears perk. He leaned forward, a grin slowly manifesting, "Isn't that lovely. They decided to come after all."

"Thatch," Vladimir sweetly chimed, "be a useful lad, and go bring Dahlia to vault. Make sure to fetch a radio inside while you're at it, I need you on standby when the time is right."

Thatch's mind buzzed. He imagined staying out by the wall was his post. His orders assigned to him. "Sir?"

A hint of irritation spiced Vladimir's reply, "You heard me."

"I... I did," he recovered, "b-but I thought you needed me here."

Vladimir swiveled his head around to see Thatch -- eyes wide and burning. "Are we having a miscommunication here, Thatch?"

The Emperor's eyes struck Thatch's soul like an arrow plunging deep through his breast. Quickly, he shook his head, raising a hoof halfway to salute him, "No, sir."

"Good," Vladimir pointed to the Darkmine gates, "now go."

Thatch, in mid-salute waited for his gaze to be pulled of him. Then, lowering his hoof he turned to the gates -- walking away without saying a word.

Scooter felt warm from hoof to ear walking through the center of an empty mine pit. Mine carts, filled to the rim with sharp rock shards, sat untouched. Light fixtures hanging by wire-thin cables flickered dim above. Pickaxes were strewn all over the floor, as vacant shackles lay lined along the pit's walls.

It was like those dozens of slaves, tirelessly digging at the deep ruts carved in the cave walls, had seized all work. Dropping whatever task they'd been assigned at a moment’s notice.

Scooter's eyes soaked in the scene, the deserted mine quietly eerie. A pipe somewhere in a hallway at the end of the pit, billowed a brief hissing cloud of steam. The gentle sough -- a chilling whisper in the mine.

He burred, feeling the uncomfortably calm atmosphere frigidly lance through him. "This ain't natural."

Whopper’s head swayed to one side of the room, then the next, a low note of appall caught in his tone, "There really ain't nobody at all... The soldiers, the slaves. No one. Where'd you suppose they put them all?"

"Might be outside at t' gates. Seems like t' smart thing t' guess, ah reckon."

The two moved on to the sturdy steel beams framing the doorway that lead to a long hallway. Their freshly acquired Legion leg guards clanged softly amongst the rustle of steam. Whopper peaked one more time over his shoulder at the ever distancing pit at the two's backs.

"This ain't the only pit to be empty. I thought the ones at the front should be cleared. Not the ones all the way back here."

"Maybe there isn't no one here at all." Whopper added to his wonderment, "We haven't seen a single soul since we came in."

"There has t' be somethin' in 'ere. They wouldn't jus' leave t' whole place undefended an' naked."

Looking down at his blank, solid green chest plate, Whopper uttered beneath a weak breath, "Let's just pray these get us by, if'n anyone's down here."

The two of them walked the hallway's length, before finding a set of stairs leading to the next level. The pattern of empty pits continued. Everything had been abandoned. Slave master posts, the slave quarters on the following level, all of it. That was until the pair came to the end of a seemingly average corridor.

Unlike the previous passageways the two traversed, the door at the end of this hall was iron. Dense and framed in thick darker metal, rivets the size of milk-caps were fastened to the door's border -- a hatch-like entrance to either a control room or someplace of significance.

Scooter took the lead, hearing signs of life. The voices of three to five ponies carried out of the door and through the hall. The occasional lilting static veiled reply of someone returning messages to them resonating in the ambience. He was ginger in his stride, the unknown seizing him by the heart, forcing it to beat harder.

He controlled his breathing, letting in and holding breaths for seconds at a time. The door was wide open for them, or any should they manage to come across the room. Inside were five ponies -- three unicorns, with the rest being earth ponies. Each adorned in a set of headsets cuffed atop their ears.

The walls were cluttered in colorless screens and radios compacted in what appeared to be a small surveillance headquarters. Images on the monitors came in real-time, of various pits, cells, and rooms in the mine. Without sparing the bars of obscuring static frequently creeping up their corners.

Instantly, Scooter’s attention caught on one far-off screen in the corner. It broadcasted a live-feed in the corner of a wide chamber -- where standing in a squad was Covert. This sudden revelation to the whereabouts of the pony he hunted kindled his curiosity.

One speaker sat between a screen and a multi-knobbed radio. Not like the other radios, messages coming in through it projected out loud. Filling the entire room with the grating noise of someone blaring a choppy, hardly distinguishable sentence. In no time at all, a soldier sitting close by would answer it by means of a microphone they'd have to pull out hidden behind a screen.

Together, the two stood idle in the doorway, unclear of the next move. Whopper, however, leaned to his comrade, "What do we do?"

Scooter shrugged answering in a hushed voice, "See that screen? Ah figure we ask ‘em nicely where they reckon Covert is?"

"Think they know?"

"Better than, nothin'."

Knocking three times on the door's frame, a charming metallic ring reverberated in the air. "Uh... Howdy?"

A unicorn levitated the headset to rest around his neck, then directing himself to face them, he arched a bewildered brow at the two. "What are you doing here?"

Scooter's heart skipped a beat. "W-What?"

"Aren't you two supposed to be with the Vault regiment?"

Whopper very nearly shoved his entire nose into Scooter's ear hissing, "T-The what now?"

"Uh..." Scooter followed up blankly, "t' Vault... regiment?"

"Uh, yeah, why else would you two be down here at this level? Captain Covert did request you, correct?"

A light, snapped in Scooter's mind. At last, a path was set for them. "Uh, yeah... He did!"

He nudged Whopper sharply in the side, "Ain't that t' what we're doin'?"

Whopper paused a moment, the light not clicking quite as quickly. "...Oh! Covert's gang! Eeyep, we're set to be there."

The operator drew a hoof halfway to his face, ready to plant it. "Don't tell me you two got left behind... please don't."

Scooter nodded scuffing the ground with one hoof, "Yep, we sure did! Ah do sure feel mighty embarrassed over it, but that there inspirin' sight out at t' gates was jus' too good t' turn up."

"Well," the operator reached under his radio fishing through a cardboard box, "he's stationed up at the vault leading into Iron Hammer. So he's not too far away."

As he pulled himself away, perched in his hoof was a small personal radio. "I noticed you didn't have a radio on you," he extended it to them, "you could really use one, it might help you out when your minds go adrift."

Scooter took it, feeling the weight of the small device in his hoof. Whopper grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head like he had an inch he couldn't scratch, "Gee, that helps a lot... thanks."

The operator's voice was stern, "Don't lose it."

Hooking the radio to his battle-saddle, Scooter shuffled out of the room, Whopper swiftly following behind him. The moment they were more than ten steps distance from the surveillance room, the two -- in unison -- released a relieved whew.

Scooter's head hung low like he was sniffing the floor. Huffing out air through his gaping mouth, "Whopper, ah'm jus' happy we ain't gonna' do somethin' like that again!"

Whopper slapped a hoof over his friend's mouth shushing him. "We ain't that far away yet. Let's keep it low for now."

While his eyes were placed toward the ground, Scooter's head shifted to the right. A pebble on the floor wobbled. The earth itself shook from a moment. In spurts of vibrations tremors came shaking the mine. Removing Whopper's hoof from his lips, Scooter searched the ceiling as though he was looking for something.

"Hey," Scooter said, "do ya' think it's startin'?"

The ground rumbled, spilling a sheet of dust collected on the ceiling before them. Whopper, legs widely spread to brace the trembling earth, muttered, "There ain't no other thing I can think it could be, boss."

Ironside was among his men in the gunship. Shoulder to shoulder, a herd of beige helmets facing the sealed loading ramp at the ship's back. He stood at the back, sitting on bottom of three steps leading to the cockpit. The engines purred outsides, their vibrating energy passing by the walls.

The hum persisted since take off, numbing his hearing to its singular entrancing tone. Ironside hadn't notice it, but placing both eyes to the floor his right fore-hoof jittered vigorously.

An explosion outside the vessel jostled those within. Soldiers stumbled, and recovered -- a gasp of surprise waving from one end of the crowd to the other. Eyes moved to the walls, concealing what action transpired beyond. Ironside reeled in the the hoof to his chest. Pressing it hard against himself to subside its restless movement.

His own attention drifted to the walls, as another explosion rocked the ship. He slowed the inhalations sucked in through his nose. The shaking in near-sync with his own fluttering heartbeat.

The spiking roar of the horn erupted above his head. Ironside's heart leapt -- the pounding shortly lingering below his throat. A light like hellfire flashed overhead. Soon, very soon, the rap would lower.

He could, in fleeting mental images, picture the coming minutes. Troops would spill out of the ramp like mad cattle, scrambling to escape their cage. Depending on where they landed, oncoming fire could kill those in the front first, giving the next set of bodies a chance to get ahead.

That was a generous consideration -- the Legion had armed soldiers lining the path to the Mines. The likely case rested with heavier fire. The first half possibly dead the instance the ramp was halfway opened.

The moment to discover their fate approached. A solid hollow thud echoed touchdown. The exploding shockwaves of skyward bombs detonating phased past the ship’s walls, coming as tickles to Ironside's skin and ears. He let go of his hoof, standing.

Collecting himself, Ironside constricted anything he could. Stomach, limbs, muscles -- anything that wouldn't offset the uneasy balance of panic and anticipation amongst his fellow soldiers.

"Alright!" He stomped the ground twice, a battle hardening metallic thunder rolling in the floor.

A lump in his throat forced a few words to quaver under the fear he tried to mask, "Whatever you do, find cover. Nothing else matters until you do. Once you're safe -- wait for everyone else to reach our line."

The pistons forcing the ramp down exhumed a piercing hiss. The rap opened. Ironside's breath becoming shorter.

"Ready!" One soldier in the front called to the others.

Ironside stared forward. Unbuttoning his pistol holster.

"Three!"

The ramp was halfway opened, no bullets, no inflamed cries of war.

"Two!"

He gripped the handle of his pistol, burying the back molars on the oak -- cracking the wood under his jaw's bite.

"One!"

A vexing boom signaled the coming event. It was a rare sound, the powerful rap of a steel ramp brushing up on the coarse asphalt. Chaos followed suit. There was running onward out to the street.

Ponies pushed ponies. Shoving one way, staggering the opposing way. Ironside was on autopilot. Legs moving, but mind lost in a lexicon of thought. Ships dashed like dragonflies between the ruined skyscrapers above, while the rest of his senses were overwhelmed by dozens of conflicting sensations.

Sulfur perforated the air, burning his nostrils. Bullets from distant rifles of soldiers garrisoned behind protective walls whirred by. Twanging, and clinging with firefly sparks snapping at the ship's metal. Some struck soldiers beside him, a cloud of red mist spurting out of the point of contact. The wounded would lose their footing and collapse when other stray bullets bombarded them.

Droplets of their lifeblood mottled Ironside's face, as soldiers from the ship sought sanctuary behind the heavenly cover of a few rusting taxi-wagons parked at the curb. A soaring rocket struck a gunship, ringing a bell rung in his ears, an ice-pick to both eardrums that made the world silent.

He didn't think twice -- keeping his head down, he raced to the nearest taxi, crouching next to its rotting silver fender. Once there, Ironside leaned on it, heart pumping thrice the normal beat of a calmer pony. Four soldiers were with him, hooves on the top of their helmets as the bullets pelted the wagon.

Ironside's hearing, returned with time. The wince-inducing twings of bullets being the first of the new sounds. In a matter of moments, as he was allowed to soak in the battle scene, he heard the bloody sheiks of injured soldiers bleeding out on the open street.

He holstered his pistol, before tapping the back of a unicorn mare closest to the corner of the fender, "How far did we land?"

Like a careful mouse, peeking slightly out from safety, the soldier momentarily saw where they were, and returned to him shouting above the war-sound, "Half a mile, sir! It looks like that's as far as the pilot could get us!"

"How long do you imagine we'll be here? Are any of the others making an effort to push up?"

"I can't say, sir! Afraid I'll get shot taking another look."

"Did you at least spot the gates?"

She shrugged, his question lost in the clamor, "What?"

Ironside reiterated, "The gates, did you see them!"

"Yes," she nodded, "why? Is it important?"

"Did you see the anti-air guns there?"

"If you mean the huge ones by the gates, yes! I did see them!"

Ironside swayed his attention to the ground. Eyes darting to and fro in calculating their stance. Thinking to himself, he mumble each idea aloud, "We're too far, and too weak to get there alive to deactivate them..."

"That only means we have out dish out the heavy missiles on our attack ships..."

His eyes froze, growing twice their size while both pupils dilated in shock. "We… We can’t risk it! Must I remind you we have a limited supply of those!”

The soldier had overheard the entire plan, "Would it give us time to push up? And the rescue team to fly in?"

Ironside, drew his eyes to the ground as though he were considering the proposal, "It would be the only way from this point."

The soldier responded, "Is there any other way?"

"Nothing certain."

The soldier replied whole-heartedly, "Then I'd do it! Tear those guns a new one, sir!"

Ironside pulled a short-ranged pocket radio from uniform. Holding it in his hoof, he pressed a red button on the left corner. Raising it to his mouth, a blur a static emitting from a speaker at the bottom. With one order, the missiles would fly. Whether they hit their target accurately was another matter entirely. Nothing could be certain at the time, but either way the missiles traveled something would be hit, and the Legion would feel it regardless at full stunning force.

There is some kind of magic in flying. The wind, cold like the waters of strong stream, winding and bending to the shape of Neo's body. Unicorns could alter their surroundings, perform fantastic feats with a thought. But to be a pegasi, far up in the heavens, the air catching in their wings soaring with the breeze. There could be nothing more magical than that.

The blanket of ashen clouds smothering the sky above was close at their height. Neo, smiling at the gusts run through his black mane, felt like he could reach up overhead, and scrape the cloud-cover.

Lucy's wings threw down powerful strokes, as she flew a wide circle above the mountains. The flyer's aid swelled brightly in a green aura, giving her newfound energy. During their fourth major run through the patient circling, the city appeared to be nothing but a collection of black shapes, tall and short, hidden underneath a vile smoggy haze.

The city, from their distance, appeared miniature in comparison to the mountain's base at which it sat. The faint clatter and momentary flashes of bombs bursting in the building's roots clapped. Even in the serenity of the sky, the wailing fury of war was still present.

Wester dug through the clanking contents of their weapon's bag. A few leftover pistols, and extra saddle equipment remained. What wasn't there, was given to an owner. Everyone had a gun of some nature -- excluding Big Lot.

Pulling a pistol, bundled neatly in its holster, he looked at Big Lot bouncing it in his hold. "We'll be flying in soon," he said, "I'm willing to provide you with this. Ammunition included."

Big Lot was on her best behavior. Sitting upright with a controlled posture, smiling dearly. Wester didn't care for the details, but he could have sworn the filly's eyes sparkled. "Can you handle this as your weapon?"

She nodded, without saying a word, afraid to upset him with a unnecessary quip. Adam's face tensed up into a grimace. A part of him tugged in one way, the logical way where all of them needed to be armed for the coming task. The other fought for her innocence, which arguably had been lost too long ago.

Wester handed her the gun, "Good. Don't shoot your eye out."

He pushed the bag back to one corner, "Or, for that matter, don't shoot one of our eyes out."

She cradled the gift like an infant in her hooves. "I won't pop one in my eye, I promise."

"That'd really suck if you did." Ally remarked, chuckling.

The harsh imagery of a bullet lodged in one of her eyes melted the laughter away. She rubbed on eye gently, feeling a bizarre tickle upset it the more she thought, "Or if you... shot... ours..."

Big Lot frowned at Ally, prepping her tongue to stick out, "I'm not going to shoot anyone's eyes out!"

Wester added, "Statistically speaking-"

"Nope!" She interjected punching him in the shin, "Don't statistically correct me!"

Wester was unmoved by the gesture.

Neo gazed off at the city, squinting at a few slender shapes arch in the sky. High they soared over the heads of the skyscrapers, like a series of volleying arrows let loose. "Hey," he garnered their attention pointing out at the objects, "what are those things?"

Everyone in the wagon shuffled to his side, unevenly titling the entire space to one end. Lucy grunted, "Hey! Easy on the footing!"

The cruising arrow-like missiles dove back to the city, allowing gravity to take them away -- vanishing entirely into the smog.

Adam blinked, "What were those things?"

Wester didn't hesitate to answer Adam, "Missiles."

An explosion, more immense than the ones previously seen, lifted in a fiery plume at the mountain's base. Neo's jaw dropped, witnessing the jarring strength of the Coalition strike, "W-What happened?"

"Perhaps they pushed them back." Wester inferred, "An explosion of that degree would certainly decimate a portion of the Legion's force."

A few minutes later passed, and for a time, the battle in the city was quiet. Then, a squabbling voice masked in a flurry of static, announced from the weapon bag:

"Attention -- this is the Coalition assault force, contacting the rescue team. The missile strike was a success -- I repeat -- the missile strike was a success. Temporarily most Legion anti-air defense have been disabled. You have orders to move in now, over."

Instinct clicked, sending the members of the group scattering themselves around the wagon, reinstilling an even balance. It was here, the time to descend to the fighting.

Ally was first to move to the front of the wagon, cupping a hoof to the corner of her mouth, "Lucy! We got our orders in! It's time!"

Lucy looked over her shoulder, giving Ally a single nod and a salute. Veering off the encircling path they had looped multiple times before, Lucy dived toward the city picking up tremendous speed as wind thrashed their faces.

The Earth shook something fierce. Loosened cave dust cascading like rain. The roaring battle on the surface had taken a turn for the worst, tossing Scooter and Whopper around the hallway.

Reaction dictated that Scooter have a hoof running along the wall at all times. Bracing himself for when the aftershocks of the conflict phased deeper into the mine.

Another rocking blow violently churned the ground they stood on. It brought Scooter to lay flat on his stomach, shutting teeth and eyes alike as the planet convulsed. Whopper was on the floor, a foreleg dusted in the cave dirt shielding the top of his head.

The diminishing shock rippled out of existence. The world returning to the way it once was: still. Lights, strung on the walls flickered back to life, regaining lost power.

Scooter got up quickly, looking to his comrade for answers, "What was that!?"

"Nothin' good." Whopper answered softly, "I reckon from this point on the battle ain't goin’ t' get much smoother."

"Then we ain't got much time!" Scooter started in a sprint hurrying with dear life, "We've got t' get t' Covert!"

Whopper didn't have the luxury of time to add a comment. His friend had briskly taken lead of the charge in their crusade. Scooter dashed past identical sliding doors, breezing past in flashes. The hot mine air whisking through the matted lengths of greasy mane slapping the his single eye.

Scooter's heart burned immensely, twice that of the fire he had stared into those nights long after Big Lot vanished. It fueled every step -- pumped each aching muscle. His eye pinched, sweat beading in perfuse droplets over brow and neck. Covert. He would kill him if it was the last act allowed to him in this world.

Whopper wheezed, feeling the full marathon Scooter took singe his lungs. He staggered, huffing out like an according, saving himself from total collapse by leaning on the wall. "C-Could ya'... settle down a sec'?"

Rubbing the sweat running in his eyes, Whopper blinked focusing on his friend. Scooter had stopped -- frozen. Standing at the the end of the hall at a door similar to that of the surveillance room. It, like the last, was completely ajar.

The room was square, and half the size of the last. The first two distinguishable features were instant the minute his eyes saw beyond the frame: One wall had all eight of the monitors lined atop the other set over a long colorful palleted control panel. Second, three seats ideally were present for the operators, who at the moment seemed to be gone.

An empty room, just as the rest of the mine had been emptied. Whopper shuffled to the door, too tired to lift his hooves entirely, "Is this place part of your plan, boss?"

Scooter lacked the heaving signs of fatigue his partner expressed, "Ya' bet ya' sweet nibblets is it."

Whopper made way for one of the chairs, combing the room as he went, "Ya' might wanna' explain some, cap. What makes this place so special?"

In the center of the control panel rowed in groups of ten was a series of little green buttons. Scooter gravitated to the controls, smiling brightly like a foal at Hearth's Warming Eve. "This 'ere..."

The joy rattled his words, "...this 'ere is t' controls t' 'em electric cells."

"What?"

Placing a hoof at both ends of the control section, Scooter arched his body over the dimly glowing lights. In the bower of his shadow, the buttons were like fireflies in the twilight. "Each one 'ere is a cell... 'Ah saw on them screens back yonder were Covert an' his crew are. If'n they're t' only folks down 'ere, means if somethin' goes wrong, they gotta' handle it."

Whopper's eyes widened, befalling on the panoply of cell release buttons, "Ya' mean..."

"Jus' a few." Scooter snickered, "Jus' 'nough t' make a few of Covert's gang split fer a sec'."

Scooter craned his nose to the screens, feeling the tingling static emit from the glass itch his sensitive nose hairs. "Jus' a few prisoners out, an' a radio call on this 'ere radio, an' we're fixin' t' take 'im out. Fer good."

Whopper's attention passed between Scooter and the buttons. "Who'da' think these cells are holdin'?"

Scooter shrugged, "Ain't non' of mah' concern. Can't be too harsh n' nasty, right pal?"

He spared no more hesitation. Scooter, reluctantly, pressed the first random three buttons that came to him. Neither of them had noticed, that on the farther right screen fading images, obscured by horizontal bars of static, was a camera focused on a cell door. The passing seconds gave fleeting glimpses at the prisoners. Single instances of a group of Darkminers, slinking out of their capture.

From a dark abyss they emerged. Goggles flashing like moonlight lions at the camera, roaming free in the Mines once again. Before, seconds later, the screen's chopping footage cut to static.

Vladimir lay upon his side on the asphalt. He gasped for clean air, inhaling only the rotten air that scorched his lungs. The Emperor's sight was obscured in a misty glaze. Black smoke rose in plumes, towering high from the twisted remains of three anti-air guns.

The wall at the gates configured to stop the Coalition had been torn asunder. The splintering scraps of those crates scattered throughout a dozen bloodied ponies spread out limbless across the bridge. Vladimir's legs felt broken, weakly shaking like the wobbling knees of a foal. He onto his gut, hacking out specks of dirt.

He stood, bones stable. Searching the conflagration the missiles had left. Troops down the road continued the fighting, holding off the pressing Coalition forces. A stream of balmy liquid ran in drops over his forehead. Putting a hoof to the spot, Vladimir investigated the substance.

Blood. His blood, glinting off the waving orange glow of the fires. Vladimir growled, teeth firmly gnashed. The flames climbed the bent barrels with little fingers -- consuming them wholly.

A few fortunate souls wandered the site, limping, and hobbling to groaning soldiers trapped under segments of the blown barricade. Vladimir selected one specific individual of the lot. A soldier with a square object budging from his side pocket.

Vladimir bit the tip of his tongue, drawing the taste of blood as he moved to the soldier. "You!" He called grunting, "Report!"

The pony he chose scrambled to get himself together. His breathing remain deep, as he saluted, "Sir!"

"Where's your captain?" Vladimir inquired hoarsely, "How many of us at the gates are still alive? Answer me!”

Several exposed scrapes, and scars bled under the soldier's saluting foreleg. "I-I can't say for certain, sir."

“What do you mean, soldier? Haven’t you been wandering this desolate fortification for survivors?”

"I-I don't know." Uncertainty quavered his reply, "A few of us, maybe thirty? As for my captain..."

His voice went solum, trailing off with him as he looked to a smoldering pile of wooden planks and charred steel plates. "H-He's underneath there..."

"Well," Vladimir said nudging one plank, "I'm not going to let this go on any longer."

The same hoof extended out to the soldier, ready to receive. "Soldier, give me your radio. I've got a card I'm ready to play."

Lucy flapped her wings, harder than she had in days. The strain of the excess stress put on the newly healed muscles hit decisively, and sore. But the mare was used to navigating the tall, imposing buildings. They were, at least to her, no different to those found at Ironhoof city.

She kept to the twelfth levels of most buildings. High enough to be outside for most shots on the ground to stray, but nearby to spot enemy soldiers aiming for them. Lucy veered at the next coming skyscraper -- jerking the wagon with her.

Everyone inside braced against the wagon's inner walls, heads safety tucked below zipping bullets sparking on their vehicle's hull. Lucy let the air pass under her wings in a smooth glide, weaving right and left missing most fired shots.

At the corner of a fifteen-story hotel, she turned. Darting past several heavy machine guns unloading on the Coalition footmen in the street. None of the passengers had spared a moment to get a full look at the conflict. But the sounds gave a distinct picture of what it was.

Harrowing screams that chilled blood. Overtaking the constant blasts of gunfire, the occasional grenade would explode. The light or where it landed a mystery. All the same, a wail of pain of some unfortunate grunt pierced the clamor.

Lucy pushed harder, hooves extended straight in front of her -- hind legs appropriately out behind. The toxic mixture of soot and sulfur saturating the air, brought fat tears to the corners of her eyes. She couldn't stop moving forward. Not for a moment, with the urgent thought looping:

The sooner we do this. The sooner this ends. An end to end all of this. Forever.

Approaching the end of the street, the title road leading to Darkmines was in sight. Snorting, Lucy pounded her wings, beating the air like it itself had done something unspeakable to her. Lungs and heart together ached.

The vicious, almost callous nature of her heartbeat drumming on the inside of Lucy's ribcage lost feeling. Flying three-hundred feet over the bulk of the battle, she saw the gates of the Mines.

It was the final push. The last stretch.

Lucy broke into a full, energetic sprint in mid-air. The extra potent adrenaline, vital to gaining the speed she needed, suffusing throughout her veins.

Towering bonfires were in place where the anti-air guns would have been. She bolted like lightning down the main road. Forcing the wind to roar around them.

Lucy's heart fluttered, tongue tiredly hanging out of one corner of her mouth. Four-hundred feet, another few well-timed wing strokes, and in they were.

Three-hundred feet. Come on wings! Push!

Two-hundred feet. C'mon!

She pinched her eyes tight, clamping her jaws shut -- every muscle ablaze in burning fatigue.

One-hundred feet. She could feel it at last, the gates were opened for her. Lucy reveled in the familiar sensation of hot mine air nuzzling her fur, bringing a triumphant smirk about. I got us here... we're almost in-

A whistle, a vexatious note of a whirring rocket howled. It lasted for a second, before discharging at the wagon's side. The shockwave thrummed, seizing all movement. The scorching rocket-fire blasted next, lashing out at her wings and legs.

For a moment, they were free-falling. Hurling uncontrollably through the gates. Lucy's wings twitched, the black scorch marks whipped across the grey feathers of her coverts.

All of them, rushing like an iron comet into the vast central mine pit within, came crashing inside. Impacting at the center of the cavern, the side of the wagon skidding on the solid dirt. The vehicle had left a sizable rut from one part of the pit to the other.

The wagon slammed stop at the back wall -- upturned, with one wheel loosely spinning. Neo crawled out of crashed vehicle first, coughing and drunk-footed. Stumbling away from the site, he turned around, seeing his friends roll or crawl their way out. Bruises throbbed and bleeding cuts were marked in different places of exposed skin.

Their armor had essentially absorbed a portion of the damage. It too displayed dents and midnight scrapes that would have otherwise rendered them dead, or mortally wounded. Neo policed his comrades for vital injuries -- helping those struggling to emerge.

Lucy's body was suspended between the two rods, held in place by the harness. Neo hobble to her side, unfastening the myriad of buckles and straps holding her to the wagon. Wester came to help Neo, a unicorn's touch more effective at undoing the multitude of safety restraints.

All in once, the buckles became immersed in his horn's aura. Then, just as agilely, they undid themselves allowing Lucy's body to land on the ground. Wester lay a hoof tenderly on her shoulder, trailing his visor to her stomach. Though faint, the subtle sign of breathing rose and fell at her gut. Of everyone present, she had suffered the bulk of the injury.

A deep laceration cut three inches up the back of her neck, followed by a swelling bruise mounded at the side of her head. Minor abrasions coated areas of the mare's lower jaw, accompanied by the marks left by the rocket.

Wester scooped her up, and eased her onto his back. "She needs medical attention."

Ally's voice was parched, and hoarse, "We all need medical attention of some kind. But we're not going to get it here. Not now, anyway."

Adam had his eyes pointed at the gates, plainly visible from where they stood. "She's right. Whoever shot us down will have friends, and they know we're in here now. Dead or alive, it won't matter. They'll come down here to inspect the crash."

"Then we better make ourselves sparse." Neo said shaking away a headache in his brow, "Adam, take Lucy and Wester -- go into the mine and find mom. I'll go with Ally and Big Lot to Iron Hammer. Do you know where that is on your Pipbuck map?"

Adam pulled his Pipbuck up to his chest, glancing down at it. In a confident nod he answered, "I do... Where do we meet up after we get her?"

"We should have the Vault by then, by the way things sounded out there it seems like they've got the whole army out on the field."

Wrapping his hooves around Neo in a gripping hug, Adam whispered ruefully, "Be careful, brother. And please don't get shot."

Neo scoffed a little, "You be safe too."

Loosening their embrace, they looked each other in the eyes, smiled, and parted in two opposing directions. Leaving long before a team of Legion soldiers could find anyone at the wagon's crash site.

Dahlia paced back and forth in her cell. Waiting for a guard, a servant -- anyone to help gain even the slightest advantage in escaping. The last time she heard the echoed thuds of soldiers galloping throughout the hallways outside was an hour ago.

Now no one stood on guard. No one that she could hear, if they were present.

The battle outside made her pace bounce with angst. Every millisecond a ticking time-bomb to Iron Hammer's inevitable launch. In Dahlia's moment of strife, the door outside of the cell clicked as a body stepped through.

Ears respectively drawn to the sound, reverberate off the walls, she stopped in place facing the new visitor. Thatch, with a personal radio suitably held to his ear, stepped to her bars. He nodded coming to Dahlia's cell, uttering a sighing: Understood.

Snuggling the radio back into its proper place in his uniform pocket, he instead drew a set of jingling keys on a ring. Dahlia gingerly came to the cell door, pointing at the keys the Captain held, "What are you doing?"

Dahlia noted Thatch had sour, dark rims underneath his eyes. Seeming to couple with them, his voice sounded haggard, "You're going to come with me."

He sat down, clumsily fumbling through the loose pair of keys in his hooves. He selected, after a minute, the right cell key on the ring.

"It's Vladimir," Dahlia said, "isn't it?"

"It doesn't matter," Thatch's tone suggested a low level of patients, "if you come clean, we won't have to get violent."

Before slotting the key into the cell’s lock, he pulled a short coiled length of chain hidden beneath his uniform. Setting it beside him, he unlocked the door, pushing it open.

Thatch took the chain in his mouth, ambling to Dahlia's side.

"Where is my escort?" Dahlia asked.

He lassoed it around her neck, his full mouth muffling new words, "Ah am your eshcort."

Tying the restraint off, he fasted the other other end to his belt. "Then you shouldn't have a problem telling me where we're going. You can give me that, can you?"

Thatch sighed, drooping his head, "Vladimir requested I take you to Iron Hammer."

Dahlia recoiled slightly, tugging the chain with her. "What? Why? What am I suppose to do?"

"He ordered it." Thatch retorted.

Aggressively yanking on the chain, Dahlia staggered forward. "Now come!"

When Dahlia's eye level was adjacent to his own, she spotted a feeling. An empty, contemplative feeling. As a mother, she had witnesses such emotions in her sons in times of inner conflict. Those lying battles raging inside themselves were over minor disputes. Thatch's sported vibrant bloodshot veins wreathing his whites.

"What's going on with him?" She asked, ignoring the previous gesture.

"Excuse me?"

"H-Have you noticed it too?" Dahlia inquired further, "That he's different? Changed? Possessed, even?"

Thatch looked miserably soft, his firm stature melting away. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

She came at him bluntly, "I know you do. I'm sure of it now."

Thatch turned to face the door, actively remaining silent in response. "Because it's true. He's not the Vladimir you, or even I knew... Not anymore."

The Captain stared ahead absently. Lost in his own lexicon of clashing ideas. In a few seconds time, he shook himself free of the thoughts. Regaining a foothold on reality. "Ju-Just shut it! We're done speaking! Another remark about him and I'll personally make sure you suffer each step of the way there! I swear it!"

At Covert's back stood, looming in the dim mine light the vault door leading to Iron Hammer. From the bottom of the floor reaching ten ponies high to the entrance lip of its top at the ceiling. It was magnificently awe-inspiring. Launching more than a few rockets alone wouldn't put as much as a dent in it, lest someone attempted to break inside.

Scooter poked his nose around a corner, providing him a view to the open space at the Vault's base. Where twenty guards had been now counted ten. Including the studded Captain Covert, standing in the far back, inspecting a pocket watch.

"It looks like we took a good sized bit outta' 'is gang." Scooter whispered to Whopper, "Ah don't reckon t' rest will be marchin' back anytime soon, pal."

"How many guns do they got?" Whopper asked.

Scooter's face grimaced, as both eyes squinted and the cogs in his brain calculated, "Includin' 'em pistols... nineteen... Some got a few knives too... Covert's got a sword..."

"You figure we stand a chance?"

Whopper's comment triggered a chuckled out of him, "We didn't 'ave much of a shot anyhow... better than what was ‘ere before, ah say."

"What's the plan then?"

"Well," Scooter began, "do ya' got some kinda' explosive on ya'?"

Patting himself down, starting at the buttoned pockets on his sleeves -- moving to the ammunition pouches on the uniform's belt, Whopper searched. Feeling a bulge, lodged in one pocket on his green undershirt, he removed a grenade.

"I've got this." Whopper presented the explosive to his comrade, "Guess it must've come with all that gear we took."

Scooter's eye became alight with inspiration, as he slowly, and carefully took the grenade. "A-Ah," he nodded uttering the best he could as ideas came manifesting in, "ah can make this work."

"What's the plan then, boss?"

Covert studied the time well. Thirty minutes. He thought. Thirty bloody minutes. Stuffing the bronze pocket watch back in one empty ammunition pouch, the Legion Captain snorted fuming air.

Hastily, he singled out one nearby soldier and barked, "You! Tell me, how long do you think it takes to handle a few runaways?"

The soldier wasn't prepared to answer, and when he turned to meet his captain, nothing but a putter of sounds came tumbling out. Covert lost his patients too easily, the temperature in his brow skyrocketing to volcanic degrees.

The selected pony could detect the blistering crimson of infuriated blood flush beyond the hue of Covert's fur. "I-I'm sure they'll be back any time now... they are holding the Darkminers in t-these cells after all."

Covert, in one releasing sigh, exhumed a majority of the steam. "Regardless." He stated punctually, "I'm a Captain now, under the strict orders of Vladimir himself. I don't want a single soul here to ruin the stable credibility I've built for myself! Especially while handling a few loose Darkminers!”

He touched his forehead with the backend of his fetlock, feeling the residual simmer linger. "This is what Thatch must have felt running this godforsaken place. I can see why the poor soldier is acting the way he is."

The same pony Covert spoke to previously elevated an inquiring hoof, "Sir... I-If I may, do you mind if I radio them? Gain a progress report on their position."

Covert turned his back to him, waving dismissively, "Please, if you don't mind. I thought they'd be old enough to not need a check-up call. But, if we mu-"

A muted sound shocked the air, locking Covert where he stood.

Click. The frail tone of a pin being pulled.

A lightening sense of nature jolted Covert's hind legs, flinging him forward ten paces. Upon landing on the ground with a dull thud, he shielded the top of his head tucking his chin chest-ward. The unknowing members of his squad, contained in their helmets and masks, did not have the sensitive hearing Covert did.

“Hit the deck!” He called.

Like a rock, tossed across the surface of a still lake, came skipping by a spherical grey object. It rolled, and bounded off the uneven floor, eventually coming to a stop in the middle of the group. The first soldier saw the grenade halt by his feet.

The soldier's heart stopped. A wave of light flashed blinding the onlookers, followed by an intense explosion of scorching fire. Covert's ears were ringing, the high-pitched whine of the detonation numbing the additional sounds around him.

Three were left, the unfortunate few within the explosive's radius rendered to nothing more than bloodied bits of scrunched armor and charred flesh. A dirty haze hovered about the scene.

Where the grenade had been was nothing but a smoldering crater, and wide smears of blood.

Covert's depth teetered. The world tilting one way, then the next. He stood and shuffled to the vault door, leaning on it huffing to recover his strength. Gradually his hearing grew sensitive to additional stimuli. More acute, and more clear with the receding pitch of the vexatious ring.

Bang!The first new sound came. Bang! Bang! Bang!

The skin below his fur went blanched. Gunshots. Covert thought, spinning to see the fired shots' source.

Two dark figures stood in the palette of dusty clouds, drifting away like brume slithering away in a breeze. Their muzzle flashes igniting in the obscuring haze.

Covert unholstered his pistol, riveting his teeth into the handle. He closed on eye, taking aim at the larger of the two attackers. Lining the sights up with the head of the considerably massive assailant, his tongue wrapped the trigger, pulling it until the clip went dry.

A few metallic pings, zips, and three fleshy splats later pierced the dust. The body of the big marauder stumbled back onto his hind legs, head craned to the ceiling. Then, losing control of his footing, Whopper flipped backward landing back first.

A cringing snap followed, like a thick branch broke in two. The shootout halted as the haze cleared. Scooter grinned, scanning the plane for standing rivals. The extra soldiers had been dealt with. Now Covert was exposed -- pinned against the Vault, an emptied pistol in his mouth.

"We gotcha' now!" Scooter hollered throwing a hoof over his head, "Jus' wait 'till ah-"

Scooter looked to his side. To where Whopper fought during the ambush. Scooter's friend, comrade, and partner rolled onto his side gasping like a fish choking on air. Lunging to Whopper's aid, he slid to a stop.

Bullets from Covert's gun left grazed slashes along Whopper's shoulders and legs. Two had punctured straight through his windpipe. Exasperated bubbles gurgled and popped at the wounds. What air Whopper breathed in mostly escaped.

Scooter flopped him to his back, taking hold of his breastplate to reel Whopper close. He examined the wounds sustained during the fighting starting at his stomach, and scanning up to the gaping holes in his necks.

"Whopper? Pal?" Scooter's heart disintegrated, staring at his friend's limp, motionless body. "Pal? C'mon, don't die! Don't ya' die on me! We 'ave 'im! We 'ave 'im now!"

Tears pooled in the corner of his eye, not yet ample enough to fall. He nudged Whopper tenderly, in some hopes that a miracle would come and deliver him from death. "Don't die! Don’t… don’t leave me… please..."

The first tear was the worst. Curving downward, at the mercy of gravity -- before landing on Whopper's uniform lapel. Scooter nuzzled his face in the fading warmth of his comrade's breast. Hearing nothing but a void, soundless cavity where a heartbeat should be.

Covert's jaw slacked, unbinding the weapon from his mouth. It clattered on the ground, its sound challenged only by Scooters soft, choking sobs.

Panning the scene, the captain found that all of his soldiers were dead. Laying mangled, or shot here and there. It was just the two of them, in the end. Not a living soul in between the fifty steps separating the two.

Covert pointed a jittering hoof at Scooter, "H-Hey! I know you!"

He tromped a step forward, shifting the tip of his hoof to Whopper. "I know him too!"

Covert jabbed at the air distancing them, "I-I know you both!"

"But," Covert's eyes darted the region for invisible answers, "I-I don't understand... Why are trying to kill me? I-I'm your master! Your Captain!"

"Shut up!" Scooter whipped his head around, eye swelled in tears, "An' ah ain't tryin' t' kill ya'. Ah am gonna' kill ya'!"

The Legion captain smirked, mockingly slapping the side of his head, "You idiot! Is this about Big Lot? I thought I told you she was taken by those Guardians!"

Scooter's throat revved, as he got up on all fours at a steadily calm speed, "Ah never bought it. Whopper never thought much of it too."

"Then what," Covert jeered, "may I wonder, is it you believe happened in your own lovely words?"

"Ya' killed her." He snarled like a wolf, "Ya' killed her dead jus' t' get ahead."

The flaring murder in Scooter's eyes did little to alter Covert's mood, "And what proof, might I ask, is it you have to support these claims?"

Scooter barked instantly -- sparing not a moment's thought, "Shut it, ya' bastard! Ah'll kill ya' dead!"

Taking control of his battle saddle's trigger, he aligned the barrel directly with Covert's body. Scooter kept it steady, not bullet he fired would miss -- whatever rounds rested in his weapon's clip were going to be lodged thoroughly in the Captain's chest. He smiled, squeezing the trigger has firm as his tongue permitted.

Covert crookedly grinned, awaiting the plethora of bullets to end his life.

Click.

Scooter pulled the trigger again. Click. Click.

"Having trouble?" Covert quipped, "Because I know what the matter is."

Click. Click. Click. Scooter spit the trigger out, "What did ya' do t' it?!"

Cover shrugged, "I didn't do anything." He pointed to the empty belt feeding ammunition to the gun, "Looks like the well's gone dry Clarence!"

Scooter hurried to unbuckle the saddle off of him, flinging loose undone straps aside. Unstrapped from his body, it slid sideways, crashing on the floor to his left.

Covert unsheathed his sword, sitting his haunches and tightening the leather leg strap. He purposely reflected the gleaming, dim cavernous light at the lanky stallion, chortling, "You know, since you don't have a gun, or any other weapons on you for that matter -- but I have this magnificent beauty with me means that those goals of yours... to kill me, that is, are not looked too promising, wouldn't you say?"

Scooter's stronghold confidence did not falter. Covert's words had yet to pierce his armor. Silently he zipped his attention to the abundance of weapons left by the Legionnaire's fallen soldiers. "So," Covert wrapped the conversation up, "let's just leave it at this, okay? I kill you... just like I did Big Lot. Then, you can bend over for her anytime she wishes! Forever, and ever!"

The first electrifying thought that came to Scooter, burning in his legs, caused him to leap to the nearest caracas. Ignoring the battle saddle, Scooter tussled the leather holster of the soldier's pistol. Covert glared, charging with full speed.

Polished, and refined, the glittering tip of the sword steered headlong to Scooter's neck. Unfastening the holster, Scooter looked up for a split instant, bounding to the right to avoid the lancing attacker. With the holstered gun in its sheath, Scooter lost his grip, sending the weapon twirling out of reach.

Covert regained his composure, flailing the sword in Scooter's direction again. The Legion officer screamed at the height of his voice, a murderous cry -- advancing apace leg reeled and primed to strike.

Scooter dove for the gun, tearing off the button sealing the pistol inside. Spitting it out and drawing the weapon considerably faster for a pony under pressure -- he took aim, sighting Covert up between the leaf-style sights. But he was too close, coming in too agilely.

The blade wasn't as guided with the same accuracy as before. The razor's edge slid effortlessly over Scooter's shoulder, slicing it finely. The two collided together like ravenous beasts. Primitive, and ruthless in their anger.

The fight had flaming energy in the air. Grunts of confusion and pain vibrated off the walls, as Scooter snuck in slamming hits on Covert's face. He felt the contort of bones -- the breaking chips of teeth ejecting from their mouths.

Scooter, during the wrestling, seized the moment. He hugged Covert, giving him complete control on where he moved the captain. Turning the tables, Scooter pinned the Legion officer to the ground, rising high above him.

He crushed Covert's forelegs under his weight, panting blood oozing down his blackened, swollen lip. Covert winced, the courage sapped from his spirit. "Please! Please, no! I-I give up! Please!"

Covert shut his eyes tight, laying the side of his head against the cold mine floor. "I... I... don't want to die," he pleaded like a foal, "please!"

Slightly pushing additional weight on the captain's leg, the biting pain and ache of cracked bone was heard in the quieted area. Covert howled, "AH! Please! No more!"

Hyperventilating, Covert pulled every card he had, just to make the torment stop, "I-I didn't kill her!"

Scooter lighten the forced load, "What?"

Sappy, pitiful drops came pouring down his face like a child. "I-I didn't kill her!" Covert confessed, "If-If anything, I knocked her out... left her in the wastes alive... Please! Please stop!"

"Lies!" Covert felt the purifying stench of Scooter’s breath assault his face, "Ya' killed her! Ya' murdered her! Don't ya' lie to me!"

"It's the truth!"

Scooter's adrenaline-saturated huffs quelled. "Then where is she?"

"I-I-I," Covert's mind drowned in agony, "I... don't know..."

He whimpered, "Just please, let me go..."

Scooter's hold on Covert was at its weakest. The weight no longer binding him to the floor, and subtly he could wiggle if provided the opportunity. Shoving his opponent off of him, the Legion captain sprung to action.

Lurching backward, Scooter's hind legs tripped on the body of a soldier. Thrusting him square upon his back.

Covert, spry and able, prowled to his prey -- sword hoisted like the barb of a scorpion. He simpered, adding a maddening cackle, "I-I did it again! Just as I did with that brat Big Lot! Just as I'll do to you!"

The sword came down wholly through his gut. A pain, unlike any other that he'd felt, filled his stomach. His insides were swimming in excruciating fire. Not now, Scooter encouraged himself, Not now!

His wrangling right fore hoof felt salvation -- a knife, attached to the body of the fallen soldier at his legs. Mustering what he could, Scooter seized the knife. Tearing it from its owner, slashing once at Covert's throat in a single decisive arch.

The knife did its part, cutting a deep laceration across Covert's neck. The blood hosed out in streams, warm and thick painting Scooter's face crimson.

Covert clasped his neck, careening to the left. The captain's coloration was already paling. When he collapsed, he -- like those whom had been under his command -- joined the dead.

Scooter licked his lips, tiny claws ripping and slashing his organs. He fought the pain -- resisted it to the best of his abilities.

His lungs had yet to undergo the strain of dying. Which meant there was time. Precious time, so long as he refused to unsheathe the blade buried inside him.

The front had grown quiet. Bodies of the two armies were scattered across the road. Ironside made his temporary residence in a deep water draining rut up the road. Several soldiers joined him -- coughing and waiting wordlessly with their backs against the dirt.

In many regions of the city, the fighting went on. The isolated continual bang of gunshot bursts fired somewhere echoed faintly. The sound by now had gained a certain level of normality on the battlefield. Shots once aimed at them were at first terrifying, however after a time the sparking ricochet of bullets at the rim of their cover resonated hollow -- nearly meaningless.

Conditions in the ditch were grim. Trickles of blood from fallen soldiers drained in through tiny streams. The dry wind sweeping down on them, assaulting the sense with sulfur and lung-burning soot. Ironside himself, like many of his men, was smudged with splats of blood during the initial push.

Ironside turned over, and poked his head for a second above the ditch. He viewed the gate estimating it at reasonable four-hundred paces away. Behind the ruins of the few hit anti-air guns Legion soldiers stood posted.

He surveyed one side of the street, then the next. Noting in particular the number of Legion soldiers that lived.

"A hundred, I think..." He muttered to himself, using his eyes to tally the visible green helmets.

Looking at his own squad sitting in the ditch, he counted twenty. The battle, should he choose to risk it, would be devastating. It would be a one on five fight. A slaughter. Especially on the charge up the road.

A Coalition soldier by Ironside's legs had a radio strapped to his back, staring vacantly forward at the opposing side of the ditch. "You," Ironside asked, "what's the current number of soldiers we have on the road?"

The soldier shook his head clear before returning, "Our numbers, sir?"

"Yes," Ironside repeated, "what's the current number of soldiers we have on the road?"

"Well," the soldier began, "last I heard we have eighty. Pockets here and there. The rest are fighting somewhere else in the city."

Standing, the soldier added, "If you ask me, sir -- I'd say we're spread a little thin. Considering our gunships had to pull out to the outskirts to refuel."

"And how long would it be until they're ready?"

Glancing at a watch wrapped around his leg, the soldier relayed, "They said thirty minutes. That was ten minutes ago."

"And what would you say our chances are against a hundred Legion soldiers with eighty, well-placed men, and refueled gunships?"

The radio pony paused, humming in thought, "Pretty high, I would say. That's if our guys can keep the Legion in the rest of the city occupied."

"Radio the gunships then," Ironside pointed downwind, "alert the other squads here. We're going to push up in twenty minutes."

"Thatch? Thatch! Answer me damn it! Where's Dahlia!" Vladimir screamed into the mouthpiece of the radio.

His shortening patients heightened the potency of his words, "We already shot down their rescue team. Which means that Dahlia is completely under our control."

"So I call out to you now, Captain… Thatch? Thatch! We need her now! Answer me!" Vladimir threw the radio on the ground, shattering into several pieces.

A soldier scooped up the radio, trotting urgently to Vladimir's side. "Your grace, this is an important tool!"

The Emperor seethed through his teeth, "Dahlia is an important asset to this battle. Yet, Thatch has refused to answer his radio!"

"Perhaps," the soldier purposed hesitantly, "something could of happened to him... perhaps-"

"Perhaps what?" Vladimir asked.

"Perhaps..." The soldier struggled to find words that would ignite the least possible fury, "perhaps... something got to him."

"Like what?" Vladimir cocked his head to the side, venom in his speech, "No one is inside the Mines, and Dahlia is just one mare."

Vladimir's voice grew as he spoke, an angered crescendo of emotion let loose by the failing levy of his patients, "Then tell me, what is it you think happened? Because there's very little that could have gotten to him!"

The soldier's reply faltered, "I... well..."

Exhuming a good deal of the stress in a thorough exhale, he swayed his head toward the gates. "Covert hasn't made contact either..."

There was long lag in the conversation. Neither Vladimir, nor the soldier said anything while the Emperor pondered the situation to himself. He turned to the pony by his side, speaking with newly inspired words, "Give me four of the soldiers here. I'm going in myself to see how alive that rescue team truly is."

Time was running thinner by the moment for Adam. He stared at the screen of his Pipbuck, eyes transfixed as he hobbled with one good leg onward. Wester found it effortless keeping pace, regardless of the injured mare on laying on his back.

Lucy groaned, speaking for the first time since the less-than-subtle landing. Words uttered drifted out lightly -- a grim reminder to her condition. "D-Did we land okay? Was it amazing?"

"Shhh." Wester hushed her, "Rest, Lucky. You're not strong enough."

Cell doors raced past them in fleeting shadows. The focus was ahead, at a doorway to the lower level cells. Adam dropped his hoof braking into a full-on canter.

"It's just up ahead." Adam announced.

"What is?" Wester sliced into the unknown variables, "What do we hope to find up there?"

"It's the control room to these lower cells." Adam hastily included, "And, hopefully it'll tell us where my mom is."

Wester's mind computed the possibilities, "What if it doesn't?"

"There's a few more control centers like it, they should each be on their respectable levels."

The doorway came into view sooner than Adam expected, and together the three halted once inside. Wester took the vital moment of solace from the hurried mission. Moving with a speed and delicateness not often seen for someone of his size, he attentively lowered Lucy to the back wall, laying her back-first.

Her limp head swerved wherever gravity moved, coming to an eventual stop as Wester situated her a controlled, normalized posture. She bellowed again, "I must've taken a real hit back there..."

Lucy's eyes remain shut, as Wester brushed a portion of her disheveled main behind an ear. "It will be fine, Lucky."

Wester rifled through his saddlebag, levitating one of the few healing potions he had, "If we are to succeed, you'll need to be operating at full capacity."

The pressure built within the bottle rushed out in a cheery pop, as the cork came off. "Here," he said placing the cold rim to her lips, "drink."

Adam already traveled to the central controls. Dark security screens loomed above a vast array of green glowing buttons. "Okay Adam," he whispered to himself, overwhelmingly taking in the abundance of lights, "there's just like... a million of these things... which, could let the wrong thing out if you goof up..."

He sighed, popping the stressfully stiffened vertebrae. "No pressure."

Wester had finished emptying the bottle's contents to Lucy, a portion of which streamed in droplets out the corner of her mouth. "Perhaps we should consider speaking to Big Lot."

Adam spun around aghast, one eyebrow profoundly lifted, "What? Why?"

Retrieving another full medical potion, he discarded the emptied one to the side. "Because, at a time not long ago, Big Lot was a slaver. By this logic, she knows about slave cells."

"But, the cells we were trapped in back at the border weren't like the ones here." Adam remarked, "I should know, I've been in both."

"Perhaps." Wester coldly replied, "Though, it is likely to aid us considering her knowledge on slaving quarters trumps any we possess."

Willing the small short-range radio he had been given at the start of their mission, he brought it to his ear. “I’m still not sure about this…”

“It is…” Wester paused, “worth-a-shot.”

“Okay then…” Adam pressed a button at the radio’s top, "Uh... hello? Is anyone there?"

Silence persisted for a minute. Then, Neo's voice arose from the speaker, "Hey, what is it? Are you in trouble?"

"No, no, brother. We're fine. It's just," Adam glanced at the enormous sea of toggles, levers, and buttons, "I'm not sure what cell holds what... or how to even tell which has what in it."

"Aren't you some hacker supreme? Can't you just dig into its code and figure it out?"

"I'm a mechanic, and a part-time hacker." He corrected Neo, "And what if I shut down the system? It'll just eat more time up."

"Well, I'm not sure what to tell you then. If you recall, I'm not exactly the techy type myself."

"I wanted to talk to Big Lot."

Neo's reaction spiked the microphone. Adam flinched, in reaction pulling the radio away, "Huh?! What for?"

"She knows about this stuff," Adam grumbled his ear still ringing, "or, at least, more than I do."

"I guess I could let you speak to her, could you give me a sec'?"

A periodical second of mumbling babbled on in the background. The voices, unclear and fogged by the static signals passing through the mine walls. In mere minutes, Big Lot's squeaky little voice pulsed out of the earpiece, "Hellooo?"

Adam faced the control panel, "Big Lot, I need your help."

The filly's register bathed in confusion, "You need my help? Why?"

"I'm at the lower level control panel for the cells on this level. The ones farther up use keys, but these are operated here. Do you know how to determine who is in what, and where it is?"

The information was an abundance to process, "Uuuh... Let me think..."

She performed a melody of humming tunes, as the cogs of her mind turned. "Well, I can tell you one thing for certain. Your mom won't be down there."

Adam’s eyebrows rose, "Why?"

"Because my uncle told me that if major Legion fortifications were besieged, they’d put slaves or servants to the lowest levels to keeps safe, and under control. So, my best guess would be that a good chunk of those slaves that work here were put down where you are. Maybe more on the upper levels..."

"Are you sure?" Adam insisted, "We can't miss her if they moved her down here."

"You wanted my help remember!" Big Lot burst, "I'm certain she's not there! If you doubt my thinking just type in the cell number at the console! It'll tell you who's in the cell!"

Blinking Adam spotted his gaze to a number pad located at the far right-hand region of the panel. "You mean the number pad?"

"Bingo, smart stuff."

"What about where my mother is? Could I just plug her name into the system and search for her?"

Big Lot was punctually brief, "Sure can."

"Using the keypad," Adam asked, "right?"

"Ding. Though, you might need to get through a passcode for her. The Legion isn't known for keeping somepony like her out in the open. Well, I never did anyway."

"Don't worry about the passcode, that much I can handle." Adam smiled, "And, Big lot... Thank you, it really helps."

While the two were separated by a labyrinth of rock and tunnel, Adam could tell was smiling from the other end, "You saved me Adam, and I've got to pay you back someway."

Big Lot giggled, "I'll see you soon."

"Likewise." Adam laughed.

The second bottle, vacated of all healing liquid inside was tossed aside like its sibling. Lucy's wounds began to heal. The burns, first of the injuries to vanish almost by magic. "Lucky will recover, however, I estimate that it will be an hour before she can walk or fly on her own."

Cramming the radio back inside his bags, Adam witnessed the always inspiring work of medical alchemy heal Lucy. "How long until she wakes up?"

"Any time now." Wester stood and looked at Adam, "Until that moment arrives, she will remain on my back."

Wester included, "I did overheard the conversation. Are you planning on freeing the slaves?"

"First, we find out who is a slave down here. Then, over the intercom we can get them to go someplace safe to evacuate."

"What about your mother?" Wester mentioned, "I assume the search will be continued consecutively."

Adam grinned, rapping a hoof across a clearing on the control panel's surface, "With this, we'll not only figure where she is being held. But get the slaves out too. I did swear I'd come back, and now that we're here I'm not going to back out of my promise."

Click.

Neo gravitated to the wall, his focus set on the battle saddle's mouth grip. While coming to the end of a hallway, moving defensively to the wall as they pushed on, the last remaining vessels of life spoke through the susurration of undisturbed steam hovering in the air.

It was eerily void of active life. From the crash site to where they were now, not a single soul had been present. The presence of lively activity sapped, or diverted to the conflict outside.

With the exit gradually coming into view, Neo paused, the Earth quivering. He looked up, seeming to search the ceiling for the invisible, but evident source, "It's getting worse out there..."

Ally was right behind him, floating in her magenta aura a pistol aside, "Then let's get to the Vault. The sooner we take it out, the sooner it'll be over for good."

She jerked her head to the end of the corridor, "It's right ahead."

"It ish?" Big Lot mumbled with a mouthful of pistol, "do ya' shink there will be anyone guarhdin' it?"

Ally answered in a hushed tone, "It's likely, though we haven't seen anypony so far. Though, I wouldn’t doubt that Vladimir probably stationed someone in the key places for protection."

"Well just have to see." Neo said, continuing to amble onward.

The trio allowed their steps to produce little sound. A weak pitter-patter, stirred under the more loud revving aches of the mine's pipes. Neo hid behind the slender doorway frame leading to the Vault's entrance chamber, the rest of the following party formed themselves against the wall. All of them awaiting the next course of action.

Neo sucked in a calming breath of air, peering over the side of the frame. Ally saw his eyes go wide as he stepped out into the open, slowly. There was, lingering overhead a cloud of uncertainty, while Neo moved in the chamber.

Ally and Big Lot played it safe, sticking to the safety of the wall. "Neo? What is it?" Ally hissed, shocked at his advance.

He was halfway through the doorway when they heard him utter a wan-breathed reply, "What happened here?"

The curiosity propelled the hidden two’s hooves forward, gingerly. The scene before the Vault was ghastly. A sight of a dozen bodies, shredded, torn, and sliced -- laying scattered in the open. A butcher would have difficulty distinguishing what part belonged to who.

Ally strolled with Big Lot following close by along the backside of the chamber. Neo had meandered over the few corpses near the back wall.

"It looks like some kind of battle." Ally said a detection of surprise in her voice, "There's no survivors... and they're all Legion."

"Was it mutiny?" Big Lot thought aloud, holstering her weapon.

Neo stopped at one fallen soldier close by. A pool of blood gathered around the lifeless vessel of a Legionnaire, as he lay on his back looking infinitely with lifeless eyes at the cavern's ceiling.

"Hey," Neo whispered loud enough for those in the quiet room to hear, "I know him."

Big Lot and Ally maneuvered through the maze of carnage, going to the soldier Neo watched. "Who is it?" Ally asked, stepping over a puddle of blood.

"I can't remember his name." Neo cocked his head to one side, hoping to gain a more clear picture from a different angle, "But... I know him."

Big Lot was well within five feet from the nameless soldier when she froze. Her little body seized -- joint-movement on stand-by. Then, leaning and enforcing herself to move she staggered forward. The filly felt her heart sink to the deepest fathoms of her chest as the pony came into view.

She gasped, approaching the body, "Whopper?"

The filly rose a hoof, readily hovering it above Whopper's motionless chest. "W-Whopper?"

Before she could touch him, a wheeze lanced through the quiet. Saying an all-too familiar phrase, "Y-You're radiance?"

Big Lot snapped her attention to the left, where a slender bloodstained hoof stretched out of the battlefield's dead. Her eyes were glazed in swelling tears, "Scooter?"

Neo looked in the survivor's direction, stunned, "Someone's alive?"

Big Lot scuttled away from Whopper, before breaking to a full sprint. She paid the multitude of bodies no mind. Tripping and falling over each one, without losing sight of Scooter.

Determination filled each recovery, springing her back to all-fours with lightening haste.

Slowing her approach, Big Lot came to his side. Scooter was in a petrifying state. The hue of his green coat had faded -- his eyes dimming with the passing minutes.

"Scooter..."

She sat down, cradling his head in her hooves. He blinked a few times in disbelief at her sapphire eyes, "Y-Yer alright?"

Big Lot choked on her words, "Yes Scooter... I am alive."

His jaw quivered as the warmth faded from his body, "Ah-Ah... Ah searched so long for ya'. Whopper... he..."

The next few parts of the sentence were lost in his sore chest, "Ah never thought ah'd find ya'."

Big Lot said ruefully, pushing aside a section of Scooter's mane away from his eye, "I'm right here, silly... Y-You did good finding me."

Scooter smiled, coughing haggardly, "D-Did ah earn that next promotion?"

The first tear dropped from Big Lot to Scooter's chest, "Yes, yes you did... any position you want. It's yours."

"A-Anythin'?"

"Sure." Another tear fell.

"Ah'm happy bein' right here... seein' ya'."

He coughed a few droplets of blood, "Ah'm... Ah'm sorry if'n ah didn't do well findin' ya..."

"No, no Scooter," she shook her head, "you did great. You did more than anyone could."

"A-Ah'm not so useless, huh?"

"No," she smiled again, "you're the best captain a princess could have."

He closed his eyes, smiling. Scooter relaxed his head, finally at peace. "Thank ya’... y-you're radiance."

Life vanished from his chest, as the cold finally consumed him. The tears, pooling in the corners of the filly's eyes broke free. Falling in contorting streams down her cheeks. Big Lot’s defenses disintegrated, burying her snout in his chest, sobbing.

Ally and Neo kept their distance. Paying silent respects to the departed. Time may have been thin, but offering a sliver of that time to her was something they were willing to give.

Thatch guided Dahlia to the Vault. The outside battle shaking the ground. In each earth-rattling jostle, the wall-hung lights flickered. Flashing the hallway in light and shadow.

The radio Thatch had picked on his way to get Dahlia squawked with the orders of both Vladimir and other officers. The Legion captain disregarded the pleas, continue just as he had if the radio was silent.

Inquisitively, she poked a hoof at his radio, "Are you going to answer it?"

Thatch shook his head, answering her like he hadn't been listening to anything at all. "W-What? Oh, the radio? I... I'll leave it be. It's just the same message again and again."

"One of the ponies sounds like Vladimir." Dahlia pointed out, "Aren't you all supposed to do as he says?"

He refused to look her in the eyes. Staring ahead like his neck couldn't move in any other direction. "I might..."

She hoisted an eyebrow at him, giving a pause in the conversation before engaging the subject again. "I can't understand what it is he's saying, but judging by the fervor in his tone, it's something of great importance."

"Listen," Thatch snapped like the carnivorous jaws of a piranha, "I don't have to answer it if I don't want to. Didn't I say what would happen if you spoke out of line?"

"I don't think you'll hurt me," Dahlia replied with confidence, "at least, not without Vladimir's orders to."

He didn't answer her.

"You're the only Legionnaire I've met who believes Vladimir isn't wholly there. Surely, this concerns you, does it not?"

Thatch's jaw slacked, his mouth open for words to be said -- though nothing came out. He breathed for a moment, the rejuvenating air nestling a faint trace of newfound energy in his chest.

"I've just recently been having my doubts." The sincerity in his words was profound, "When he arrived at the Mines I noticed his health. Since the Legion was run by him, he's always had a headache or two, coughing now and again, nothing to worry about. His attitude... the fire in his eyes... it-it was always the same. Since he's been here, seeing him as often as I have, that spark of who or what he was vanished. Poof. And I don't even know why."

"Are you scared of the new him?" Dahlia asked.

Any ear listening to him could catch a nervous vibe on his reply, "He's our leader. One of the most powerful unicorns I've ever seen. Yes, many of us do fear him."

"But are you scared of him? Are you frightened by whatever it is playing Vladimir?"

Thatch paused in the middle of a room with a door at every wall. It acted as a junction did -- four pathways to go.

"I... suppose so, yes."

"Then help me," Dahlia insisted earnestly, "we can take Vladimir and get him the help he needs."

She stomped a declarative hoof, "We can stop this! All of this! And it all boils down to the choice you make here! What happens next is in your hooves, and I ask that you make the right decision."

He glanced over his shoulder at her, flabbergasted. Coming full circle to face the mare, Thatch scoffed, "A-Are you trying to convince me to set you free?"

"No," Dahlia said, "I'm trying to set you free."

He pouted sourly, "What if this all goes backwards? How can I trust you when the Legion has been my family for years?"

"You can't. But you need to have faith that there's some light to be made out of this. Some light you could help make to ensure our world's future."

Thatch's mind was a brutal, never-ending match of tug-of-war. One side furiously fighting for what seemed right. The opposing angle, tugging in the name of loyalty to the Legion. None appeared right to him. They all in some way were distorted by harsh possibilities and noble outcomes. In the end, the two conflicting states of thought swirled his brain in blurred confusion.

Dahlia lay a friendly hoof on his shoulder, "What is it you choose, Thatch? For yourself? What do you want the future to be?"

He overted both eyes to the floor, skimming the ground in maddening haste, "I... I..."

The Legion captain's answers failed, as the lights snapped dark. It had happened in less than a second -- all was dim, but visible -- now the entire world disappeared in a pitch-black void.

Dahlia's eyes wandered the darkness, the only certain direction being the ground she felt beneath her hooves. The four doors, which way lead to where, even the very path to the Vault seemed to be everywhere, and nowhere.

Thatch spun around aimlessly, the sudden change in lighting having a more punishing effect on his already taut mind.

His breathing fluttered, "W-What happened?"

Dahlia shook her head, and shrugged. Thatch couldn't see her, "Is this the Coalition's doing? I-It can't be... I'm certain! We're too far down for the battle to effect the generators."

"Something did it." Dahlia's tone kept an amount of smooth restraint, "Maybe a generator blew a fuse."

A sound resonated in the dark, coming from their left. It was the shuffling of hooves moving apace -- echoing through the small room. It sounded like the brisk movements of twelve ponies. Light, and nimble -- surrounding the two stranded in the center of the black.

"Who's there!" Thatch cried out into the darkness, "Reveal yourself!"

Thatch, in his panicking investigation of those encircling them, paused. He was like a statue. Cold, and stiff -- eyes fastened at a fixed point forward. A pair of monstrous lime spheres suspended in the blackness stared him in the face. They manifested close enough, that the glowing lit the entirety of his facial features.

He gasped, "N-No... T-That's not possible!"

Out of the corner of his eye, another set of eyes exposed themselves. Then another pair, and another. Dahlia's head circled the zone around them. Everywhere, like a cage trapping them inside, were the haunting blank glares of the Darkminers.

In unison the shadowed creatures laughed. The one standing in front of Thatch tittering softly at first like it was building up to the cackle of a hyena, "You did this..."

The miners echoed the leader, "You did this... You did this..."

"We are the mine..."

"We are the mine... We are the mine..."

"Rip," the first hissed, "Rip, tear, cut surface Legion..."

"Rip, cut, tear..."

Thatch instinctively backed himself from them, his heart convulsing immensely inside his chest. "I... I..."

A nervous sweat, developing in clammy pea-sized droplets, dropped like bombs to the mine floor. "You... You have no power here!"

His backside tapped Dahlia who remained still, and weary of the enemy. "Thatch, don't move. Whatever you do, stay calm."

He muttered in an alarmingly hissing tone, "They want me, Dahlia! I..."

The circle tightened, the miners enclosed on them as they savagely chanted, "Rip, cut, tear..."

They came within reaching distance of Dahlia. Thatch had pressed the side of his body to her, shaking vigorously. When the miners were a mere step away from the two, their lights clicked off. For what was an fraction of a second, the room went quiet. Not a breath, or scuff of movement to them.

Dahlia heard a blood-freezing scream. The fear drenched shriek of Thatch shot throughout the room. She couldn't see the miners, but she did feel three bodies -- rushing past her. They shoved the mare, knocking her to the floor.

Her temple smashed on the solid ground. A morbid melody of screams and giggling enraptured the junction. Charging it in a chilling, goose-bump inducing symphony. The miners, hidden by the dark, continued to chant: "Rip, cut, tear! Rip, cut, tear! RIP! CUT! TEAR!"

To Dahlia, the sounds grew fainter by the second. Like the creatures of the mine dragged him away to someplace unknown. The sound of wrestling, flesh beating flesh, and fabric being torn in pieces carried farther.

Within a few minutes the screaming subsided. Lost in the dark. Not long after, the lights flickered to life. The generators once more providing the dim yellow-tinted illumination to the tunneled environment.

The fall had stunned Dahlia, baring her molars as the pain in her head sorely throbbed. She lifted herself up, gently soothing the wound by kneading the injured temple.

Dahlia seethed the pain out of her clamped teeth, stumbling her front hooves around as the world spun. "Thatch?" She blinked, halting in the middle of the spinning scene.

"Thatch?" She viewed the room both of them had once been in together. Aside from a few blood-soaked fragments of torn Legion uniform, Thatch was gone. Taken by the miners to be dealt with.

Dahlia's next iteration was tinged in urgency, "Thatch? Thatch!"

She looked down at the slacked segment of chain links dragging on the floor. Dahlia was, despite what had happened, free.

Laying the chain loose in her hooves, she gasped, "He's..."

Dahlia held her breath, sealing what she wanted to say. "I... I can't stay here."

Slinging the extra length of chain over her shoulder, Dahlia sighed collecting herself. "Okay... I-I need to move on... but where?"

Each of the four door options held promise, but the Darkminers could have easily chosen any of them. She sucked in as much breath as her chest would expand, and letting it all out in a determined snort Dahlia muttered to herself, "I guess... there's just one place I can go..."

Adam stood, eyes larger than plates at the scene before him. It was Dahlia's cell, with no one inside. His mind swam in miry mess of confusion, "I... I don't understand."

Wester walked past the cell bars, scanning like a machine the living space for evidence of life. He had just reached the right wall, turning to face Adam, "It's possible she was here, however recently they may have moved her after our crash."

Lucy, legs and head dangling off of the sides Wester's back groaned, "Where are we? H-How good was that landing?"

She attempted to raise her head, shaking like an autumn leaf. But the pain seared the muscles in her neck, and again the pegasus returned to a flaccid -- immobile state. "Damn... Still out of commission, I guess."

Wester put a hoof to his breather, "Shhh, Lucky. Remain stationary. You are not yet fully recovered."

"Heh," Lucy laughed haggardly, "I'm getting there big fellah. Don't you worry."

Adam came to the cell door, prodding at it. The hinges croaked, and he felt the loose hinges tap the door-frame. "Until Lucy's better, we're going to have to try looking for her again."

He looked over his shoulder at Wester, "Let's say, for a moment, that they did move her. Taking into account they'd need someplace safe to hold her, where do you think the Legion puts relocated prisoners in the mine? Especially ones as important as my mom?"

Wester shrugged, cluelessly shaking his armored head, "I'm not too familiar with the Darkmines. So I couldn't accurately provide a statement on the topic."

"But," Adam turned fully to speak with him, "hypothetically, where do you think they'd go?"

Lucy's husky, pain laden voice spoke faster than Wester could answer, "How about the Vault?"

Adam's eyebrows rose, "The Vault? As in, the vault for Iron Hammer?"

"Yeah," Lucy paused to let a few built-up coughs, "what other place would have protection? She needs to be protected, right?"

"Lucky is correct." Wester agreed, "Over the course of our mission there has been little evidence of major activity. It is likely that she's being held in the safest, and most heavily fortified, section of the mine."

"I could call my brother," Adam recommended, "maybe he's seen or heard of her being moved there."

"It's possible." Wester said.

Adam said to Lucy, "How long do you think it'll be before you're able to walk? We're going to need all the help we can get heading to the vault."

Lucy picked up her head, straining and shuddering just as before. Then, collapsing back with a tired hmph! she replied, "Can't say... Moving my head's getting easier, and I'm awake for the most part. So... soon? Maybe?"

"We'll just have to keep an eye on your recovery." Adam started to the door, "For now, let's see how sound this theory of ours really is."

The chains Dahlia wore at last began taking their toll on her spirit. In the beginning, they weighed no more than a few pounds. But as she dragged on through hallway, after hallway -- veering in the labyrinth of similar tunnel ways, did the atmosphere weigh.

Like the chains she dragged, her mind grew dull. Glazed doubt that lapped over the mare's will. Doubt she'd get out, or at the luckiest instance, find the Vault.

She went off memory, calculating based on the initial pathway Thatch had been leading her. On her journey alone, she had passed numerous doors, opened and not. Those opened were devoid of life. Dahlia was the number one prisoner in the mine, and not a soul patrolled the hallways.

Despite restricting the distance she could step, the chains had an almost cheery jingle to them. The rattling would, like her ever numbing optimism, be lost in the heavy hoof-steps hauntingly traveling throughout the corridors.

Ahead of her was a normal doorway, leading to some massive chamber. Like all of the others, she passed it, entering a new room. Compared to many of the mining pits, this place too sported a high-risen ceiling. Only, in the mild lighting could she make out the shape of a massive vault door.

The draining energy ceased, while a newfound warmth flooded chest and movement alike. The sensation brought a smile to her face, as in the farther right corner of the structure was a group of ponies, huddled in front the Vault's control panel.

"Neo... my son..."

She’d taken to a full gallop, performing an acrobatic display of hurdles over the dozen fallen soldiers. The chains pulled back on her advance, stumbling the landings she made.

The combination of rustling chains, and hoofs in rapid step drew their attention. Upon seeing his mother, he let go of the controls, stepping back from the panel. "M-Mom?"

Dahlia made excellent speed regardless of the chain's opposing force. She didn't come to a stop, or brake her pace. Rather, the mother came at full-speed embracing Neo in a gripping hug.

Neo was the cushion to absorb her speed, sending him back a few steps. The power armor sucked in the constricting wrap, giving him the space to breath.

She buried her nose into his neck, "Oh my boy, my sweet child, you're alive!"

Kissing him on the cheek, Neo returned the gesture, save for the tightness. "You're looking well too, mom."

Ally noted the chains strapped to her forelegs and neck, "How did you escape?"

Still hugging her son, Dahlia pulled her head away to respond, "Well..."

Her eyes grew grey, and mournful. "Thatch, he was leading me here when a pack of Darkminers showed up."

She added urgently, "I'm not sure how the long they'll be gone, so I hurried here as fast as I could."

Big Lot pointed to the Vault's control panel, "It's a good thing you came then, because we're getting no where trying to get this thing opened."

Dahlia blinked, "What? Couldn't Adam get it open."

The question itself enforced her to begin scanning the room for him. "W-Where is Adam, or the others for that matter?"

Neo looked her directly in the eyes, asserting an assuring tone as he answered, "Don't worry. He's with his own group looking for you."

"He'll probably turn around and head up here once he finds out she's not where Legion kept her locked up." Ally stated, "We could always radio him. Let him know to start heading up here to us."

"We're going to need the extra help." Big Lot said, "I bet there's a whole load of bad guys in the Vault. Even if they're not soldiers, they'll be armed and ready to shoot anyone trying to come in."

"But first we'll need to get it open," Neo submitted, "and that alone isn't something we can do."

Dahlia smirked, "Well, you know, I could always hack into it."

Neo shook his head, the very comment lancing a bizarre chill down his spine, "W-What? Since when do you hack things?"

She chuckled, coupling it with a quirky arching eyebrow, "You don't think Adam just learned all of what he knows on his own, do you? I was young and cool at one time too, son."

Adam could murmur a phrase, barely passable for even a breath, "It's open..."

Wester was deadly silent, standing beside Adam witnessing the Vault door to Iron Hammer opened. "It seems so."

"They didn't say anything about having it opened." Adam recalled retrieving his radio, "They said they were having trouble getting it to open, and I know brother isn't the best handling the finer side of computer coding."

There had been a steep decline in the solid nature of Wester's firm register, "Vladimir? Or perhaps a squad of Legion soldiers?"

"I guess having seen the empty crash site would lead some to assume someone was it here."

Not sparing a hesitant thought, Wester had both python revolvers unholstered and floating at his side. "Do we make a move?"

Lucy flopped a foreleg meekly providing input on the situation, "Y'know, I'm really feeling up to standing now. I could help you guys in case someone's in there."

Letting the hoof she moved freely sway, Lucy nodded, "Ooooor not. It's just some food for thought."

Adam didn't earn a degree in physical medicine, but a less than careful examination of Lucy did little to aid the nerves. A tickle, more akin to a prick the longer it lasted, pecked at the back of his rational-thinking mind. "You're still pretty weak. We should take it slow, just for a little while longer."

Lucy pouted, "Fine... I'll have to go rebel then."

"Wester," she commanded sharply, "help me stand up."

"Lucky," his response stifled, "I... I'm not-"

"Do it boy!"

He went to action post-haste, obeying without question. Adam intervened, feeling a nervous sinking in his gut as Wester rolled her off his back, "Lucy, we really should-"

"Too late now," she landed on all four hooves, legs bent and shaking, "I'm already up."

The pegasus elevated herself, straightening her legs. Wester, like the guardian he was, swooped to Lucy's aid snatching one of the mare's forelegs to wrap over his neck.

Lucy put the full amount of her weight on him, feeling like she had bones made of brittle glass. "Y'know, I... I think this'll do for the time being."

"At least until I get my land-legs back." She laughed under a low grunt.

The irritable pecking riveted Adam's mind, "We'll take it slow then. Just don't make any unnecessary movements, okay?"

Lucy nodded, unholstering a pistol from her leg. "Right," Adam said clicking his safety off, "let's head in."

On Adam's Eyes Forward Compass, no life signs were detected. The beginning stretch inside the Vault was a long hallway carved to the shape of the vault door. The trio kept light on their footing, like cats, skulking at an easy stride.

Two doors were at the end of the hallway. One: a service door, a red beaming light perched directly above it. The second: a revolving door. A complicated looking terminal, with a screen and keyboard, placed next to it.

Adam frequently viewed his compass, ready to pause the instant a red marker appeared. But, the closer the three of them came to the service door, not a single blip revealed itself.

As they came within a few step's distance of the service entrance, Adam took the lead. He inched himself to the door, Wester following in from behind. Inspecting the compass for the third time, no lights highlighted an enemy presence on the other side.

The compass hadn't been wrong yet, and there was no reason to deny it now. With his focus drawn to the door handle, it telekinetically turned and gently pushed open.

The service door opened to Iron Hammer's maintenance controls. A smell suffused the room, a homely odor of clean polished steel. A cold, refrigerated breeze gushed out of a vent overhead. Adding a stark contrast to the humid mine.

It was a long white steel room. The left wall cluttered in computer towers of various heights and widths. The opposite side of the operation's center had the control panel. Nearly a dozen seats sat at the panel spread from the far end of the room to the other.

Above was a window, matching the control panel in length, and overlooking the missile chamber inside. The electronic chirps, and buzz of busy machines computing at advanced levels excited the atmosphere.

Blood painted the floor in bright red splashes. Like an artists had taken buckets of their favorite color and tossed it at a blank clean canvass. The bodily fluids belonged to five bodies -- Legion officers with pistols flung out in seemingly random places.

"What happened here?" Adam awed.

Wester motioned his head to the revolving door outside, "Let's go in the chamber, whatever killed them shouldn't be far away."

Adam didn't have much to say on the slaughtered soldiers, as he went after Wester outside and out to the revolving door. On the rotating door's control panel a green light glowed like a beacon. Where below it presented on the terminal screen was the standard Stable-Tech glaucous colored font. Commands surprisingly had been imputed into it. For now, the selection box highlighted the word: Open.

Wester towed Lucy to the rotating door, stopping right in front of it. "Should we go inside?"

Adam glanced at his compass, no markers. "It should be safe."

"What if it's a trap?" Wester presented, "It does seem wise to assume that the Legion would kill its own to convince us."

"It could be anything." Adam countered, "It could have been my brother, or Vladimir. Which ever one it is, we'll never know unless we step through that door."

Wester cocked back the hammers of both python revolvers, "I'm ready for anything."

"I've got SATs ready just in case," Adam added, "so I'm set for whatever's in there. Let's just hope it's my brother, of all things."

Steam rolled like the tides of a churning ocean across the ground. Pipes lining the ceiling and walls, twisting as vines do creeping on the walls of a derelict hallway, spilling out the mist in profuse waterfall quantities.

The wretched stench of petrichor plagued the atmosphere. Rich and dense in the earthy flavors of a newly watered garden. Lamps dangling from the ceiling cast spotlight pillars of light -- isolated in the mists -- spanning to the hallway's end.

Wester and Adam moved onward, the compass yielding no indications of an enemy nearby. Instead, another kind of marker came into being. Four little orange blips, increasing in brightness the closer they approached the end.

Adam whispered to Wester, "Friendlies up ahead."

Wester leaned over to Adam, hooves dragging on the floor as he slowed, "Are you certain?"

"My Pipbuck hasn't been wrong yet." The end was a wide archway made of a thick curved steel beam. "Though, Stable-Tech has been known to have some kind of bugs in their systems. In one way or another."

"Let us assume the worst." Wester lifted the revolvers to eye-level.

They passed through the mouth of Iron Hammer's chamber. A gargantuan rotunda carved meticulously out of the underground rock.

A slender bridge was suspended above a myriad of pipes unfurled like a mess of black thread chaotically intertwined beneath it -- leading to the pedestal Iron Hammer resided on.

The bridge reached to a wide rectangular control space over the pipes. Even then, the control point was three hundred feet from whoever operated the missile there. In the distance, traversing the creaking supports feebly elevating the walkway up, the mysterious source of the blips could be seen.

Four ponies, matching up to the four markers on Adam's compass -- standing at the largest series of buttons and levers Adam had ever seen on a lone control pad. It alone had a wide-spread width of twenty ponies. Closely accompanied by screens and dials with twitching needles wreathing the upper portion of the panel.

The enigmatic ponies had their backs turned to the two of them, concealing their facial features. But Adam noticed the armor -- he could spot the long midnight mane and white dusted coat anywhere. Neo was at the panel, among his team tasked in stopping the weapon.

Adam broke into a mild trot. A hefty sum of evaporating stress slumped his shoulders, "Brother!"

His words echoed clearly through the domed ceiling. Neo turned around to face his brother, a smile awaiting him, "Adam, you made it."

Wester, having to act as Lucy's crutch, waddled with her behind Adam. Upon seeing the rest of his friends, Wester holstered the two beastly pistols.

Dahlia, who had been flipping a number of different colored controls, stopped it all just to hug her son. The two embraced together like powerful magnets -- unable to be pulled apart.

Adam's smile widened, feeling the safe tender warmth of his mother. He nuzzled her neck, "I missed you."

She cooed, "I missed you too, Adam."

Wester and Lucy had just made it to the reunion, "I'm glad I didn't miss the happy occasion."

Neo smirked at the mare, "And I'm glad you're recovering so soon."

"I told you," Lucy grinned, "I'm a tough pony to kill."

Both Adam and Dahlia let go of each other, as Adam circled around to see his brother. "How did you guys get in here? Where's all the guards?"

Ally was the one to answer him, "There were a few here. Nothing we couldn't handle ourselves."

She pointed at a small square shed squat in the corner of the platform area, "That supply shed over there is where we loaded the bodies up."

Adam dove deeper into what happened, "How did you know their numbers?"

Neo poked his brother's shoulder, "You're not the only one with a Pipbuck."

Big Lot rushed herself in the conversation, flailing her hooves around madly. "NO NO NO! You don't know what it was like! Neo had this thing where he went all still, and then the next second every shot he fires hit all the guards SMACK DAB IN THE HEADS!"

The filly sat down and put both hooves to the sides of her head. Then she simulated the booming headshots with her hooves, adding a charismatic boosh! sound spreading them out away from her.

"Like that!"

"Yeah," Neo patted her on the head, "it never really gets old using it."

"So that's how you took them out." Adam said, "Does anyone know about mom, or the Vault?"

"Not that we know of." Ally claimed.

"We need to keep it that way." Dahlia asserted, "We don't have too much time."

She jerked the side of her head to a counter at the center of the panel, "That there is how long we have to disarm this thing."

The counter ticked away, chopping down milliseconds and seconds faster by the instant. The deadline for the automative launch was set to activate in one hour.

Adam whistled, wiping his brow, "It's good thing we have an hour then. We can get this thing offline before then."

The first four's beaming expressions faded. Adam felt alone, as he retained a relieved laugh, "We can do it before then... right?"

"I might be able to do it." Dahlia responded, "But already I've been having difficulty bypassing the walls they've established to keep everyone out."

She returned to the controls, hopping up onto her hind legs to begin hacking once more. "It's one of the most advanced systems I've seen, Adam."

Dahlia almost sounded impressed, "Whoever designed this was a genius."

Adam took a few tromping steps to his brother, "I... I didn't think..."

Neo rested a hoof on his brother's shoulder, "What is it?"

"It's just, while I couldn't find mom, I did free a lot of the slaves."

"So?" Neo nudged him playfully, "Isn't that a good thing?"

Adam shook his head correcting himself, "No, it is... it's just I'm not sure if I could get them out in time."

Neo poked around for more information, "Where are they?"

"Do you remember where we escaped?"

"Yeah," Neo said, "I do. That old shaft that leads to the outskirts, right?"

"I told them to meet there, and start clearing it out. I was thinking I could help them out, maybe check on them too." Adam's gaze turned to the diminishing minutes ticking away on the counter, "But with the time limit... I'm not sure if we can, or even if they have enough time to escape."

Neo roused spirits through a hearty voice, "Hey, who's saying we can't?" He reeled his brother in close, compressing Adam to his side, "We could do that in half the time!"

Neo asked, "Do you think we could pull it off? We wouldn't be gone long."

Dahlia stared at the panel pensively, as though she was considering it. "Can you assure me you'll be back as soon as possible?"

The word: assure crossed a boundary of promise Neo couldn't answer easily. They were in the belly of the beast, anything could be possible. "I..."

He sighed, "I promise, mom. We'll be back quicker than a bullet."

She twisted a few knobs on the controls, smiling dearly, "I guess I'm not going to stop you now. Go on, boys, save them."

Another clump of mirky earth flew through the air, and smushed into a drying mound of mud. The pile of shoveled earth had grown to the size of five ponies, massing by one boiler. In an efficient conveyer-belt line, slaves inside the shaft handed dirt from one body to the next. Constantly the muddy slush moved adding to the mound's impressively increasing size.

Years in the mine had done one fine thing to the slaves: it taught them how to move earth in gratuitous quantities.

Adam stood directly above the shaft, helping those excavating the sludge from below by joining the line. Neo, in the grand picture, did his part working at the end. Ensuring that carried dirt was deposited equally to prevent a collapse of the mound.

Of all the slaves that Adam had called out to, only a fraction arrived. Two hundred souls still hungering for a life outside of the one they lived. Adam saw it in their eyes, levitating a ball of the muck to the next pony. There was a fire burning in them, fueling every motion, propelling each action to clear the tunnel.

They're original coats were caked in mud, their disheveled tuffs of mane stuck together in sloven lumps. But they smiled nonetheless, because it was time to break free. To leave once and for all.

A wad of mud came up to Adam, and respectively he passed it to the pony beside him. He looked down, expecting to see one more piece of the clogged mineshaft handed up to him.

But nothing came.

The slave below him poked her head out of the hole, peering up, "That's it."

Adam shook his head, like what the mare had said was unreal, "What? It is?"

"The rest of the way is clear," the mare said, "that's what the others further in the mineshaft are saying."

Word of the cleared path traveled by whisper down the line of freed slaves. Adam quickly watched the news reach the end, the sound of their murmurs becoming parallel to the hissing steam boiler room pipes.

He returned to the slave awaiting a response, "What are you waiting for?" Adam asked.

"Well," the slave spoke in soft quavering words, "you're orders..."

Adam ruefully shook his head, "No one is your master now. You're all free ponies. Don't wait for me to give you the orders to go. Seize the opportunity yourselves."

The slave averted her eyes to the side, anywhere but where Adam's where, "Ah..."

"Listen," Adam kneeled to her level, "if you want to do something, pass down this: Go. Escape, and be free."

The mare climbed down the ladder into the shaft, as Neo cantered up from behind Adam, "Is that it? Is it clear for them?"

"Yeah," Adam sighed a little, "it is."

Neo checked the clock on his Pipbuck, "Huh, it's only been thirty-four minutes."

"They were at this way before we arrived, brother." Adam remarked.

Slaves began going, one by one down the ladder descending into the mineshaft. The brothers stood aside, letting them evacuate.

As the evacuation continued, Neo kneaded the ground, developing his action to a gentle stomp. He stopped after a minute -- canning his nose to the ceiling.

Adam blinked at his brother, "What is it?"

"I didn't notice it until just now, but have you noticed the shaking stopped?"

For the first time the living veins of the Darkmines went quiet. No longer did they ooze steam or groan like the old things they were. It was like someone had stabbed the beating heart of the mine, and the silence put the two brother's hackle's on-end.

They trotted down the corridor to Iron Hammer. Their hooves clicking on the solid rigid floor. Both of them slowed to a walk, eyes wandering the wide tunnel for a sign to the mine's death.

Neo, out of the corner of his eye, saw his brother stop abruptly. He turned to see him, "Adam, what is it?"

Following the direction his brother looked in, Neo watched Adam stare blinkless at a corpse laying against the wall. The creature was a Darkminer, cloth wrappings torn and tattered as huge whip-like lacerations striped its torso. It's sickly lime-hued blood glowing in a pool around it.

Out of the scars profusely streaming the blood still flowed. Neo approached the miner, dipping the tip of his hoof into the growing pool at the creature's flanks. Warm, and fresh. The miner's heart was coping with having been killed so suddenly, tiredly pumping on though the spirit had left.

"What's he doing here?" Neo rose, wagging his hoof in the air, sending droplets of the creature's blood flying.

"More importantly," Adam began looking about the tunnel, "who did it, and where did they go?"

"I don't know who did it," Neo's sights snapped to the end of the tunnel, "but I've got a pretty good idea of where they're heading."

Adam had been brave thus far, but the thought of a pack of Darkminers assaulting the group sank in his gut, "Do you think everyone's okay? Mom, Wester, Lucy... what if-"

Neo intervened, "Don't think about it. Listen, we there's a good chance they could be in danger, and running in won't help them."

Inhaling a few, brisk breaths, Adam added an ample amount of vigor to a nod, "O-Okay... You're right, we've got to stay calm about this."

Switching the safety on his battle saddle, Neo started walking forward, "Keep your eyes peeled, Adam. We don't know how many of whatever it is that killed that miner is still around here."

"Right." Adam agreed arming his weapons.

The first miner body was not the last either brother encountered. The whole trip to Iron Hammer's launch pad bodies of miners lay eviscerated or mangled like butchered pigs.

The alluring illumination of a few corpses blood appeared splattered across the face of the wall, like the largest shotgun imaginable unloaded at point-blank range aimed straight for the creatures' chests. The more baffling subject, however, was the addition of Legion bodies as well. On the walk to Iron Hammer, the brothers had seen four Legion soldiers -- bruised and bludgeoned with the sharp sides of rocks caked in blood laying around.

"Well, we know what killed them... and what killed the miners." Neo commented, passing by the scene.

The hollow sinking in Adam's gut rose at the news, "Do you think the two parties met in here by accident? Maybe they killed each other off before reaching Iron Hammer."

Neo skimmed the battlefield in his walk, "I don't see the bodies of anyone we know..."

They came to the bridge leading to the control platform, noticing streaked droplets of glowing miner blood on the metal. The marks continued, some shaped in the curved arch of a hoof-print.

Both brothers drew their eyes forward, unmoving. Whoever killed, or fought the two parties lived. Limping to Iron Hammer's control on the platform.

The boys' hearts produced an unnatural rhythm. Pounding faster than the milliseconds ticked by. The adrenaline pumping through their blood urged them forward, making for a mad canter across the bridge.

The old metal supports creaked, and shuddered in their hustle. When they came to the platform, the beating in the brothers' chests stopped cold.

They looked ahead, locking up stiff -- there were scarcely any hairs not raised along the border of their napes. Wester laid his back against the thin railing, head drooped and unmoved. Below him, cradled in his fore-legs like a babe was Big Lot.

The armored stallion was marked in dents, and grey jagged scars carved out in the plates covering his body. Big Lot had a bruise, purple and bloated like a balloon on her forehead.

Ally was across from them, along with Lucy. Together the two sat beside the old storage shed by the controls. Teeth gnashed, as cuts and fine slashes trailed up the mares' necks. Lucy, however, lay limp like a puppet next to Ally.

Ally shouted, her voice echoing throughout the entire chamber, "Neo! Adam! Run!"

The brothers eyes befell the controls, where sitting on his haunches was Vladimir. He supported his weight on folded hooves that rested atop the pommel of a Legion sword -- the tip digging into the platform's floor.

At first, the Emperor's face was hidden behind his cascading silver-streaked mane draped in uneven tousled segments. Vladimir lifted his head up, slowly, a smile with the following words, "Oh, hello boys. I'm happy you could make it."

Dahlia was pinned next to him, a collar of green aura surrounding her neck. He looked down at the immobilized mare, "I'm sure you're mother would say something along the lines of, 'hello' too, but she's unable to come to the phone right now."

The chill in Neo's heart burned away as it slowly became fire. Rage, smothering all other emotion. He, much like Adam, was preparing the trigger to be pulled on his saddle. But, Vladimir rose a hoof, disapprovingly waving it in the air, "Ah, ah, boys. I wouldn't pop off those guns of yours. I could break this little thing's neck in a thought. Quick, and effective."

Neo lowered his barrel, but Adam stepped forward to speak, "Let her go!"

Vladimir cocked his head to the side, "Why should I, exactly? What is it you could offer me: God of the Ironhoof province?"

The brothers didn't answer.

"Huh," He breathed in a fair chuckle, "you know, a lot of things didn't go the way I had planned them to."

He got up, and began to casually pace the area in front of the control panel with a limp in each step. "First, I wanted to take care of Dahlia. That didn't happen, as you can probably tell by the heaps of dead officers. Then, I wanted to gun down the Coalition's ships. But they had to go and volley me with those Celestia-forsaken missiles right off the bat!"

A growl saturated the rest of his speech, "Again... we anticipated there would be a rescue team, and we shot them down. Only to have them survive."

He scoffed, sounding dumbfounded, "And you know what? I never imagined it would be your crew, of all ponies."

Pointing the tip of the blade at their suits of power armor, he said, "Lucky you had that armor on. Without it, all of you might as well be sacks of powdered marrow and bloodied flesh."

"But then," he exclaimed quickening his speed, "I came to inspect what caused all of these damn problems here inside the mine. Only to run into a pack of deranged miners let free from their cages!"

Vladimir stood on his hind legs upright, spreading his arms out like a warrior standing before a crowd, "Not one thing has gone correctly! NOT ONE! Do the Goddesses punish me? Do they even care?!"

Planting his fore hooves down, the sword's end levitated at Wester before panning across the platform to everyone present, "And here we stand... all of us... together. Mere minutes ticking away until it all becomes worth something."

"I've been driven to the precipice of failure." He said, swaying the sword smoothly to Dahlia's throat, "In fact, this little kitten planned on taking that away from me as well."

"Heh," Vladimir scoffed glaring at her, "she help started this interest in sun gem technology, it would -- for the sake of irony -- be only reasonable that she be the one to end it."

"Unfortunately, that will never be the case."

The Emperor sauntered in the most bombastic way possible -- considering the injured hind leg -- to the brothers. Coming well within distance that the two could smell the rancid odor of putrefying blood staining his uniform, "And originally, I planned on letting you live. All of you, actually. I am, after all, a just god."

"I'd let you see the missile launch, allowing the scene to marinate in your minds." He directed the sword to the missile, "Then, and only then, would I kill you."

There was a blissful pur rolling in his throat, "O' the savory emotions you would have been feeling! Of course, had we all met under different circumstances."

He spoke to them in a sarcastic, parenting matter-of-fact tone, "But you know what? I made up my mind on what I was going to do on the way here! Do you know what it is I decided?"

Neither brother needed to shake their heads to answer him, "I decided that I hate you."

Spinning around back to Dahlia, he continued his peppy march to her, "O', how I loathe all of you. So. Very. Much."

Neo leaned over to Adam, whispering, "Adam, listen to me. I have a plan."

Adam snapped wide, worried eyes at him, "What about mom?!"

"If we don't do something mom, and everyone else will die! It's either we act now, or never!"

Adam didn't have the time to think it over, so his reply came spilling out, "What do you have in mind?"

"I'll see if Wester can hear me, his hearing is good. Then, I'll circle Vladimir, drawing his attention away."

"What about me?"

"You'll take out his concentration on mom. Then we'll take him out."

"So enough of this inane natter." Vladimir turned to face Neo, "Who should go first, hmm?"

Neo took a few steps toward him, not overstepping Vladimir's critical boundaries. "Listen, we can all get out of here alive, just let my friends and my mother go."

Neo's offer made him laugh, "Ha! I thought we discussed this, boy. You have no leverage -- nothing to work off of. What? You think you're some great word-weaver? That through your modest choice of words can you sway me to release everyone?"

The older brother subtly creeped to the right -- Vladimir honed in on his position. The two now circling each other like two stray dogs, ready to snap at the other.

"No," Neo said, "but it couldn't hurt to try."

His lips barely moved, as Neo spoke under his breath, "Wester, if you're awake, I need you to use that magic you've got. Do something, anything. So long as it can take him out, even for a moment."

Vladimir took a fighting stance, raising his sword to fight, "It's been fun. But I'd rather finish this venture carefree, without a living crowd gathered around. I hope you don't mind."

Vladimir's back was turned to Adam, and Wester had hardly moved since Neo sent his message to him.

Neo didn't give Adam a sign, as the plan came swinging in like a hammer. Springing off of his hind legs, Adam pounced on Vladimir's back. Neo not long after charged ahead full in a powerful tackle. The armor provided an extra push to his sprint, giving him the feeling of a steam engine unstoppably plowing to his goal.

Vladimir grunted, the heavy armored pony wrapping his hooves around his neck. Neo unsheathed his hoof-blade, reeling it in for a forward thrust. The Legion Emperor saw it, darting to the side.

Thrusting his blade out at nothing, Neo staggered, swiping at Vladimir. The tip of the blade grazed Vladimir’s foreleg.

Droplets of Vladimir's blood dotted the floor. He seethed through his teeth, bucking and wrangling furiously to removed Adam. The glowing neck-collar fastened around Dahlia faded. She tumbled forward, no longer pinned to the panel.

Neo saw his mother gasping like a fish out of water. A part of him wanted to reach out, and help her. Panning his sights to the tussle between Vladimir and Adam, he returned to the fray.

Lashing out at Vladimir, Neo jostled the levitating blade away, sending it flying toward the controls. Delivering a tackle that would make a linebacker envious, Neo knocked the Emperor to his side. Adam quickly rolled off -- springing to his hooves.

Neo, standing over him, took long power-driven sweeps slamming his hooves into Vladimir's face. Flesh rippled, and bone crunched.

Neo’s face had turned entirely red, hot and suffused like heated iron. He punched Vladimir repeatedly, sending his head this way and that. "Never hurt my family again! Do you hear me?!"

Vladimir's horn became alight with magic once more. His voice resonated like cracking thunder, "Enough!"

Freeing his hoof, Vladimir took a clean blow to Neo's cheek. Adam, steps away, could hear the cringing crack of his brother's cheekbone. The hit threw him off, eventually causing Neo to trip over his footing.

Neo, tumbling to the floor, landed flat on his back. He bared his teeth, as Vladimir stepped over him. Individual halos of magic seized him by the collar, bringing the older brother close to Vladimir’s fuming breath.

Adam dashed to help his brother, before an invisible force picked the charging buck up, and launched him hurtling through the air to the controls. The back of his head smacked the metal, reactively making him bite down.

A stream of fresh blood trickled out of the corner of Vladimir's mouth, as his face was covered in black bruises. "Neo..." He revved, the magic's grip squelching the leather of the Neo's duster over the armor, "You do realise that that little stunt you pulled, is a whole new level of stupid..."

Slamming Neo back down onto his back, Vladimir reenacted the same long, fierce swiping punches he had given him. Adam blinked, shaking his head clear. The first thing he saw was the scene of his brother being beaten to death by Vladimir.

Adam extended a hoof, crying out, "Brother!"

Vladimir had his next punch lifted, and primed to come down, "Don't worry Adam, he'll live."

He threw the punch at Neo's face, the crack! of the impact clear, "But first, you'll hear the snap of your brother's bones!"

He prepped the next punch, "And when he's nothing more than a mangled mess of bone and flesh -- I'll move on to you, and together you'll die."

Each word he said was added to another punch, "Broken... Sad... and defeated."

Neo's face was scrunched, and purple. Fat drops of blood contrasting to what white part of his face remained.

Neo spit off to the side a glob of saliva, blood, and a few teeth. "A-Adam..."

"So be a good boy now," Vladimir boomed, "and stay back!"

Options ran low for Adam. His mind was hazy with thoughts all at once presenting themselves to him. He, for a brief instant, noticed his Pipbuck. Like flash, Adam drew his sidearm, pulling into the SATS menu.

The image of Vladimir bashing his brother's face in slowed to an almost still degree. Instantly boxes listing the hit-percentages appeared above various sections of the attacker's body. He aimed at the head, the most effective place to strike listing a sad fifteen percent chance of hitting.

The statistics hovering over Vladimir's exposed sides and flank yielded better numbers. Numbers ranging up to seventy percent. They were his best shot at temporarily stunning him, and Adam took it.

Three shots. That was all his SATS would allow for the moment. One at the flank -- two at the ribs. Hopefully the standard ammunition of his 4mm would puncture the armor enough to do any kind of damage.

The gunshots deeply echoed in a trio of clanks. The first bullet soared, rippling the air around it. It zoomed past Vladimir's head, while the second and third hit his ribs.

Vladimir's back arched unnaturally, as he bellowed aloud at the bullets' bite. The Emperor, shot his gaze at him, eyebrows lowered in a pinching glare. Adam's gun, telekinetically suspended in the air in front of him, became alight in the unicorn's energy, and was briskly ejected far away over the platform's railing.

Neo's attacker returned to him, flinching at the wounds inflicted on his side. As Vladimir hissed, Adam collected himself. Standing on all fours, nimbly light, running at the Emperor.

With his armor, Adam felt like a tank. A good amount of power forced into a shoulder thrust would push Vladimir away, and save his brother. But the odds were against the would-be armored pony, for Vladimir heard the tromping patter of Adam's hooves, rerouting his focus to the sword. The blade pointed at Adam, and flew like an arrow at him.

In the building momentum, Adam crossed a hoof to dodge the flying blade. The armor, plated so closely together, restricted such a change at the speed he moved at. Traveling for the soft unprotected space between his shoulder pad and right foreleg plate, the sword lodged itself deep once again tossing Adam backwards against the controls.

Adam shouted, a searing pain lancing through him. Neo, shaking and coughing heard the sound, drawing his dazed attention to him. "A... Adam..."

Dahlia crawled to her son, using both hooves on the pommel to remove the blade. Adam cried out in pain again, sending a nipping shiver down her spine.

The sword dropped to the floor, blood painting the top blade. Adam's blood.

She bit her sleeve, and yanked hard. Ripping a line of fabric off of her coat, Dahlia used the roughly configured rag -- applying pressure to Adam's wound.

Turning to Vladimir she called out to him, tears pooling in her distressing eyes, "Vladimir, stop this! It's not you, you have to fight it, please!"

Vladimir seized Neo by the collar again, picking up the stallion's limp-hanging head gasping for air. "I'm afraid your son asked for it, Dahlia. And he'll get much worse here in a moment!"

"Mom..." Adam's voice wilted as the pain continued to persist, "l-look..."

While looking at her son, she noted the blade. A crimson aura of unicorn magic encased the weapon. Shooting a glance at Wester, Dahlia saw the guardian's horn aglow.

The blade floated, spinning to Vladimir's direction. With half the velocity of Vladimir's throw, the blade flew, until: Thawk!

It buried a quarter of the blade in Vladimir's leg. Forgoing the armor, passing it entirely. The Emperor howled, stumbling backwards holding his stabbed leg. Adam's limbs felt like warped seeder logs as he rose. Dahlia, with a hoof on his back, plead, "Adam, what are you doing? You can't fight-"

"I have to save my brother," Adam murmured, "he... he... needs me."

Vladimir roared like a beast -- lips peeled back in a deranged snarl. He overlooked Neo, his previous victim, in substitute for Adam.

Vladimir threw his hoof at Adam, like he was tossing an invisible rock at him. A wave, comparable to a gust of hurricane wind, swept the resistor up flinging him back.

Adam's back hit the panel harder than it had before, hammering the wind out of his lungs.

He landed on his stomach, coughing out dry wheezing remnants of the oxygen in his chest. A few items, jostled in the chaos fell out of Adam's opened saddlebags behind him.

Vladimir switched back to Neo, his mind made. A fire glinted in the Legionnaire's eyes. Wicked and murderous as he prowled like a carnivore to his defeated prey. The sword, enveloped in his magic, flung to Vladimir's side -- the bloodstained tip hovering inches above Neo's neck.

"Now," he sighed slicking his mane back, "let's get this over with... I wanted it to be much more fun than this, but you've been nothing but a pain in my ass since the second you've arrived."

Adam shifted in place, groaning as he rolled over onto his side, "B-Brother..."

"Vladimir, please!" Dahlia screamed holding Adam, "I'll do anything, please!"

"Time's up!" Vladimir chirped, "You could've stopped this a long time ago."

Ally begged, "Neo! You have to fight him! Please get up!"

Adam's aching came out muttered, "L-Little Red... please."

The sword was raised, a guillotine armed to sever Neo's head from the rest of his body. "Good bye, boy. It'll be good to have one thing taken care of for once!"

Neo closed his single good eye, upturning his least-damaged cheek at Vladimir -- Bracing for the weapon.

Vladimir's mind, set on driving the blade wholly through the stallion's neck, paused. The fire snuffed out completely at the sound of a music box, distant but clear, chiming a easing-moving waltz.

His eyes went wide, as he turned to the source. The music box lay somewhere behind Adam, currently out of sight.

Vladimir blinked twice, "Mom? Dad?"

He shuffled to the sound, drawn to it like a sailor lured in by a siren's song. Halfway to Adam, he stopped. Shaking his head, Vladimir spun around grousing, "Damn.. I... can't believe I..."

Again he froze, seeing the very sword he owned floating toward him in his aura. "No," he shook his head vigorously backing away, "No, no! You can't! That’s impossible! I won't let you!"

Vladimir's flank bumped into the panel, there was nowhere to turn to now. He crouched himself, the haunted blade gradually honing in on him. "Y-You... You have no power here! I have control, me!"

"P-Please," Vladimir's ears melted into his mane, "I've done so much for us, I-I can make it up to you!"

He flailed himself backward, slapping his back against the cold steel of the control panel. "I MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE!"

The blade tip poked his gut, "NO! STOP! I BEG YOU!"

A fleshy, squishing noise came as the blade slowly ran through him. Vladimir reached out in all directions erratically, his words fading the further the weapon sank inward, "PLEASE! Please! No! I... I... Please..."

When the full length of the blade had stabbed him, Vladimir went completely limp. His eyes plastered with stunned appall made in the dying seconds.

Adam hobbled to his brother, whilst Dahlia came to inspect Vladimir's body. "Brother..."

Dahlia wiped a few of the tears from her cheeks, gingerly stepping to Vladimir, "Is... Is.. he?"

Vladimir's eyes bulged, life rapidly expanding in his chest. He sucked in air like a drowning victim, nearly coughing it all out the second after. The shock caused him to fall over onto his side, hacking out wildly.

Dahlia reeled back, "He's... He's alive?"

Hugging the wound at his stomach tight, Vladimir, feeling the scorching pain pound through him laughed, "It's... It's over...."

The unicorn, overcome with emotion, began to cry while chuckling, "It's over... It's finally over..."

The war, and the battles he had fought against the creature were over. Though the crimson stain of his blood spread the more he lived, Vladimir smiled.

Dahlia stood above the dying unicorn, kneading a hoof into his shoulder, "Vladimir... Are you-"

His eyes moved up to her, silently conveying an answer.

"I was right," Dahlia stroked the back of his mane, "wasn't I?"

He nodded, sobbing.

Ally rose on her hooves, and made her way to Neo. Adam had his brother's leg slung around his neck. Picking him off of the floor, "Ally, my brother's hurt real bad..."

She grunted, applying pressure to an injury on her left leg, "You're not too swell yourself."

Adam motioned his head to Vladimir, "What are we supposed to do now? About him, and the missile?"

Ally smiled, starting to Wester and Big Lot, "Let's get our friends some help first."

Ally peered back at the timer. "We have about fifteen minutes left. We can take five to help them out."

Half of the potion was all it took to correct a few fractured bones in Neo's face. A majority of the scarring had been removed as well, though one eye remain swollen and inflamed.

Big Lot sat, messaging her head in large circular motions, "Gah, this brings back memories."

Lucy while walking by, pat her once on the head, shooting out crude gripe from the filly.

Vladimir was sitting upright, while Dahlia finished wrapping a bandaged around his stomach, "I'm surprised you haven't bled out yet. You're body seems to be more durable than anyone I've ever seen."

"It's because of where I'm from," Vladimir answered a gargling husk to his tone, "I hope."

"Whatever the reason," Dahlia concluded, "you're not going to live much longer if we keep you here."

Neo and Adam walked to Vladimir, listening in on the two's conversation.

He gulped, sounding sincere, "I'm not leaving."

"What do you mean?" Dahlia said, tying off the wrappings.

"I'm not leaving." He repeated, "I can't leave."

"Why not?" Dahlia asked, "You can make it out alive!"

Vladimir folded his hooves, staring the mare in the eyes, "Where, I ask, is there a place for me in the new world? In a world I tried to destroy? A place I tried to tame by force?"

She sat quiet, listening to him finish. "How could I walk in towns I've controlled, or strolled through cities I've had under my hoof for decades -- only to have cause them nothing but horror and suffering? How could I do that without feeling that crippling sense of regret?"

Dahlia countered, "None of it was your fault, not one bit of it."

"It was all my fault." Vladimir said, "I may have not thought up all of those cruel ideas, but I let them happen. I was convinced it was the correct way."

"So yes," he stated, "it is all my fault. And no matter how much I'll try, I'll always be running. From my past, from that thing that had me."

"What life is that to live, Dahlia?"

Neo's jaw, still sore from the beating, ached as he nudged it to Iron Hammer, "W-What about the missile?"

Vladimir sighed, "I'll destroy it."

"How?" Adam wondered, eyeing the weapon up and down.

"I'll detonate it in here... inside the mine. The mountain should hold the blast, but the city outside and the mine itself will be gone."

Neo added, "You sound like you know this will work. How can you be so sure? Especially with a missile that big?"

"Trust me," Vladimir forced a brief smile, "I've been thinking of ways to destroy that monstrosity for days now."

"Can you do it, though?" Adam straightened a hoof to the medical work done to protect his stomach, "Considering your position physically?"

"I can." Vladimir confirmed, "I'll set the missile to go off at the end of the countdown, by then you all should be out of here."

Neo took a gander at Iron Hammer's ticking clock, "We only have nine minutes left, it took Adam and I a good ten minutes just to get to one of the boiler rooms."

Waving a tired hoof at the supply shed, Vladimir said, "In there... hopefully they didn't remove the spare supply cart we used for transporting sun gem ore."

Adam looked over his shoulder at the shed. "Do you think we'll all fit?"

"Ask your pilot." Vladimir replied.

Dahlia spoke tenderly, "Boys, how about you get Lucy and the others to make sure the cart will work for us. I... I want to say a few last things to Vladimir before I go."

Adam blinked, completely silent in disbelief. Once the thought process, he shook his head, "O-Oh, okay. Brother?"

Neo nodded, and together the brothers made their way to the shed. Dahlia watched long enough to catch them calling the others to gather with them.

"Dahlia..." Vladimir's words came out smooth and endearing, "I know what this is about-"

"No," she turned to look at him, "why don't you come with us? I understand why you think it's wrong, but you don't need to die like this."

He smiled, warmly melting her defenses, "Dahlia."

Brushing a dangling piece of her mane to the side, he cooed, "Let me have this... just... for once in my life. Let me correct the mistake I've made... please."

Dahlia's lower lip puckered, he could feel the tears collecting in the corners of her eyes. "Vladimir..."

He elevated her chin so their eyes could remain locked, "Live well with your sons... From the moment I saw them in Ironhoof I knew they were special. So please, let me secure a future for them... for their children in this terrible world."

"Can you do that for me?" He asked.

Her eyes darted in sporadic directions, searching for another reason to take him, "I... I..."

"Please?"

She sighed, the last tear slithering down her chin, "I... I can."

Having wheeled the cart to middle section of the platform, Lucy finished circling it for the seventh time. Her head bobbed comically as the mare combed it for damage and wear.

She stopped at the front, "It looks stable enough."

Adam hopped up on the rough wooden rim of the cart, investigating the interior they'd be using, "Do you think we could all fit in it? Let alone, could you fly with us all inside?"

Lucy poked Adam's breastplate, "Not with this on, no."

"Besides that though," Lucy retrieved her fedora stowed away her bags, "we should be swell."

She whipped it out, shocking out the wrinkles and folds, before lightly dusting it off. "I'll be set to fly any moment now."

Vladimir bit his lip, turning for a second to look at the counter, "You'll need to leave soon." He bellowed, returning to his idle stance against the panel.

"All right then, folks." Lucy placed her hat upon her head, swiping the front brim, "Dis-robe yourselves. It's going to be a long way out."

Outstretching her wings, she flapped them twice, "Especially with the ol' girls still feeling sore."

Neo unlatched his steel bracers, with his brother following. Ally unbuckled her shoulder pads, and Big Lot shimmied out of her leggings. No more than half of the group's power armor had been removed before a profound, stunning noise blared.

Chah-click.

Everyone went into a freeze-frame moment. Armor halfway removed, and some pieces still held in their hooves to be tossed off. Neo turned around to the bridge, seeing Ironside stand at its end.

The barrel of an assault-rifle combat saddle pointed at them, "What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

Neo rose a surrendering hoof, "Ironside..."

His eyes saw the counter, a few minutes remaining, "Were you going to leave it here?"

Seeing Vladimir sit so closely to the controls jolted his stomach, "What's he doing here!? What’s going on here?!"

"Ironside," Neo took a cautious step to him, "listen to me, we need to do this."

Dahlia gestured a hoof to Vladimir, "I know what I'm about to say might sound insane, but he's going to fire off the weapon here. Stopping it from ever being used by anyone, forever."

"You're right, that does sound insane, Dahlia. Coming from you of all ponies!"

"We can't have the weapon in anyone's hooves! Not now, not ever!" Dahlia exclaimed.

He leaned himself inward, cocking his head to one side leering at her, "You do realize what you're saying to me is treason?"

"I know it seems wrong to you," Dahlia urged, "but believe me -- if you have any trust in me, you'll believe what I'm telling you to be the truth."

"I'm sorry, Dahlia," he stiffened his legs, bracing himself to unload the gun's ammunition, "but I won't let you destroy all we've fought for."

Behind his head, coming at full speed was the hilt of Vladimir's sword. Like a bat, swinging a home-run, it smacked him thwack! Ironside coughed out the breath he held while aiming, expelling a short ooph.

Falling on weak, buckling knees, his eyes rolled back as consciousness escaped him. Then, planting his cheek into the floor, he tipped on his side.

Big Lot stood behind him, the blade's end sandwiched in her hooves. "We don't have time for this crap!" She yelled, dropping the sword.

Neo's words were jumbled together, "I... I... Uh, okay then?"

The filly huffed ripping off her chest plate, and slamming it on the ground, "Now let's get out of here before the whole place explodes!"

Lucy snapped the last buckle of the cart around her, "Is everyone set?"

Bits of armor plates littered the platform. Oxygen tanks and ribbed pressure tubes were among detached battle-saddles.

Wester had Ironside slung over his shoulder like a hunted animal. He handed him off to those in the cart, sardined together in the compact space. "Beside myself, it seems everyone is ready, Lucky."

As Wester hopped inside, Lucy began flapping her wings in quick bursts, "Alright-y then, looks like we're all set for take off!"

Dahlia was on the cart's side facing the panel. She waved goodbye to Vladimir, air pushed down gusting unseen dust on the floor away in flurries. Vladimir shielded his face, squinting his eyes watching the cart take off.

All of his muscles felt pummeled, and weak. Even movements as simple as a twitch provoking a sharp stab. Biting through the pain, his teeth came down on his lower lip, allowing himself to giving her a wave in return while the cart hovered further from the platform.

Vladimir sat by himself. The tedious ticking of seconds going by on the counter.

Alone, he stood up, turning to the controls and working the systems.

An end to end all things -- there, and now. By his hooves.

He plugged in the passcode to bypass the firewall -- typing in the final commands to seal both his and the weapon's fates. His hoof shook, laying atop the red glowing crown of the confirm button. A nerve, instinctively, wanted him to survive.

But surviving and living are two different things. Vladimir had had more than his own fill of surviving.

Applying pressure to the button, it clicked. The order sent in. Permanently.

A hot steam enriched the chamber. Vents located at the bottom of Iron Hammer's central exhaust engines spewed storms of the vapor.

He burned, all over, slowly cooking from the outside in. Not a place on his body did Vladimir feel untouched by the fabric of the uniform, drenched in sweat, cling to his fur.

His breaths were short, as the sensation of flaming coals sank in his gut. He reached for the music box Adam had left behind, moisture collecting like morning dew on its surface.

The box felt as though it had been liberally splashed by water. He lay the box on his lap, looking down at the glossy varnish illuminate in the dim light.

Years. It was years since he had run a hoof across its familiar surface. A barking mare's voice exploded from a speaker on the control panel:

"Warning: The correct systems for launch are not in place. Please, activate launching codes to ensure a safe takeoff."

A red light flashed like the sun over the panel. Overtaking the other sources of interior illumination. Vladimir attentively wiped the water off of the box's lid, "There… There..."

The memories stabbed at his heart drawing a few tears. "...All... All better..."

"Alert!" The control systems warned, "Launch imminent, please enter launch codes to begin take off initiatives. Failure to do so will result in destruction of Iron Hammer."

With an unsteady hoof, he unlatched the lid -- lifting it slightly. Holding the music box ajar by merely a sliver, he put a hoof to his mouth. Sealing festering sobs inside.

"Alert! Launch will automatically start in: One minute. Please activate all launch systems before takeoff."

Vladimir swallowed the oncoming break-down, pushing it back into his chest. Slowly, he opened the music box, unveiling two ivory carvings of a mare in an extravagant ballroom gown, and stallion dressed in a blue suit. The exuberant paints, were chipping or faded. Yet, in a graceful display, the two came together. Twirling in a waltz to the tune of ambivalent joy and melancholy.

He watch the two lovers embrace -- investing his attention entirely in the dance.

"Warning: Launch imminent. Engine will ignite in: Thirty seconds."

After a moment, a strange object taped to the top of the inner lid caught his eye. It was a piece of browned parchment, with the a note written in a cursive calligraphy:

"Dear, Little Red. It's been so long since I've seen you... unfortunately, I may not be able to give you this in person. Why, does not matter. What does, is that I tell you how much I miss you. I know that by the time you read this note I’ll finally be with your mother, and together we'll wait for you. I just hope you live a long and happy life, and that we'll always be watching over you. I love you with all my heart.

We miss you,

Dad."

As the notes faded softly to silence, he closed the lid and put a trembling hoof to his lips. A few choking sobs burst through his defenses. Cooling tears, two at a time, trickled gently down his cheeks to the floor.

"Warning: Collision with launch shaft imminent. Starting in: Ten seconds."

Hugging the box, like it was his own parents, he closed his eyes.

"Ten... nine... eight... seven... six..."

"Mom... Dad..."

"Five... four…"

"I..."

"Three.. two…"

"I love you too."

"One."

Little teeth dug in Lucy's wing muscles. Frantically she flapped, veering down corridor upon corridor -- flying a foot off of the ground. At long last, a steel-sported doorway lay at the hallway’s end, leading to the mine’s foyer winning pit.

Lucy's teeth gnashed, as quick pumping veins budged. A shake rattled the mine, unfelt by those in the cart. All around them, however, the quake shattered solid rock walls, engraving long cracks rooting up to the ceiling.

In the chamber, Lucy bolted at twice the speed. Flapping and subconsciously cantering in mid-air.

Snorting, Lucy mumbled, "C'mon... don't get to us yet... j-just a little more."

The gate came well within view. Crossing the threshold between the inner mine, and the outside -- starkly cooler air rushed by their heads. The entire ground, amidst the detention broke, tearing the streets below apart. Coalition soldiers, having felt the rumble, raced to the gunships landing on firm regions of land unaffected by the quake.

They ran for dear life, some dashing with a swiftness parallel to three ponies pushing out all they had. Adrenaline does that to a pony in danger, and Lucy could feel the energizing chemical drive the next wing stroke in her quest to vacate the city.

Geysers of white surly steam towering ten ponies high erupted from the ever-widening crevasses in the asphalt. Ships, already loaded with soldiers, soared beside her -- more joining the further she flew.

The skeletons of old charred buildings succumbed to the trembling earth. Beams snapping, and metal grinding on metal in a chill-inducing wail. Gracefully the skyscrapers swayed, at the mercy of their failing supports.

Until, at their bases, everything fell. Like lofty trees sliced at their bottom, the buildings slashed the ashen smog, dropping to the lower city. Adam looked back at the mountain, watching the city crumble one massive structure at a time.

Lucy's strong rhythm of flapping faulted. The cart shook like a whip, as she gradually descended to open land, with nothing but rolling hills in all directions. A few gunships had touched-down in the same vicinity, a few curious soldiers emerging from loading ramps.

Coming to a landing, Lucy flapped her wings three times, bringing the cart to slow. A twister of dust and dirt kicked up in her gusts while she landed between two smaller gunships. A few Coalition soldiers, spotting them out, rushed to the group's aid.

The moment Lucy's hooves touched stable earth, the rest of her legs caved-in to burning fatigue. The mare's tongue inflated, as she huffed dry torrid breaths grating her throat like sandpaper.

She lay her head flat on the ground, rump harnessed to the cart still propped up in the air. "Are... are we safe?"

One Coalition unicorn, unhitching her from the wagon, nodded, "Yes, we're at a safe distance from the mine."

"Good." Lucy shut her eyes, "I'm not going to fucking fly any more..."

Another soldier helped those inside hop out of the wagon one at a time. The mountain in the distanced gurgled and thundered like some frightening storm out of sight. Adam leapt to the ground hard, helping his brother afterward.

Neo, having exited the cart, broke out into a hearty guffaw, "We did it! Hahaha! We really did it!"

Adam bounded onto him, wrapping his brother in a grizzly hug. "We did it! We did it!"

The unicorn who helped Lucy, levitated Ironside's unconscious body in a quirky pink sparkling aura, "W-Wha... What happened to the Captain?"

Ally rubbed the curls behind her head, "Well... Ironside found us, and on the way out he got hit with a pretty bad rock."

"A rock?" The unicorn recalled.

"Yeah," she confirmed, "a falling one from the ceiling. A pretty good sized one too."

"A rock." Big Lot snickered walking by.

The brothers, feeling the planet quake another time, walked to the top of the nearest hill, and looked out at the far-away mountain. Plumes of billowing steam ascending out of fractured rock in its face. Dahlia ambled between them, partaking in viewing the expansive vista.

"It's finally over, boys... it's finally over."

"Mom?" Adam asked, "What do you think is going to happen to the mountain?"

She clamped a hoof on his shoulder -- pulling him in to her, "Let's find out."

The snow-capped peak of the mountain imploded -- sinking into itself. Like an active volcano, a rush of rock and fire enriched the grey sky in a bleeding crimson hue. The dragon's breath bellowing out of the mountain's lid, sent a shockwave coursing through the region.

The trio felt a breeze whisk by them a few seconds after, followed by the clouds dissipating and retreating from the blast. In Iron Hammer's conflagration scorching the city squat at the mountain's base beamed an exuberant golden light. Pillars, blinding like floodlights phased through the parting cloud cover.

The three squinted, eventually raising a hoof to shield their eyes from the rays. Ally trudged up the hill with the others in-tow, to meet them. Protecting their own vision.

As Neo's sight cleared -- adjusting to the excessive shine, he blinked seeing a flawless pallet of baby-blue where the grim cloud blanket had once been.

Adam's jaw hung open, the sky wiped clear, "Mom..."

He rubbed one eye after the other in disbelief, "Is... Is... that?"

Looking at his mother, her lower lip quivering. "Mom? Are you-"

The sunshine twinkled in her tearing eyes like glistening sapphires, "Yes... Yes," she said sweeping the tears away, "I'm fine..."

Neo's could hardly breath, "I-Is that really it? Is it-"

Dahlia nodded, "It is, Neo. It's the sun... It's the sun."

Someone had rigged the most elaborate speaker-system for a record player to-date in Steelhoof Keep. Out of stereos towering to shoulder-height, blasted a flurry of popping swing tunes -- charging the atmosphere with rhythm and mirth.

The tables in the cafeteria were cleared aside, leaving a wide dance floor for dozens to move. Pairs of ponies in celebration took one another twirling underarm moves. Others sat around the chairs laid outside the border of the dance space watching, clapping and smiling.

A few soldiers, too injured to partake in the dance, tapped their hooves to the beating drums, and nodded their heads to the songs. Neo walked outside the celebration into the outside hallway, dozens of bloodied linens wrapped over his wounds sustained in the fight.

He traveled a way down the hall, Adam charging behind him calling out as he went, "Brother! Where are you going?"

Neo paused, and turned to meet his brother, "Adam?"

Adam slowed himself, huffing, "Brother," he said motioning his head back to the celebration, "aren't you going to stay for the party?"

Even from outside in the hall did the ecstatic music resonate transparently clear, "I will, it's just... I want to see it again. Just one more time, you know, before it sets."

"Oh," Adam looked behind him like he’d left someone at the dancefloor.

He was quiet, for a second, pondering, "D-Do you mind if I come with you? I wouldn't mind getting the view before nighttime."

The two brothers walked a few more steps until they came to two doors. A gentle nudge, and they parted, exposing a pleasant little cobblestone balcony overlooking a wide expanse of wasteland territory.

Half the sun rested behind the waving hills in the distance -- the sky tinged in a bleeding magenta brushing the lean transparent clouds left by the blast in a deep crimson. It was their first sunset, and both gawked at its majesty.

"Whoa..." The sight stretched the limits of Neo's cheeks muscles, "It's... well, it's one thing to read about."

"Yeah," Adam nodded, "It's sure something."

"You know, it's a little hard to believe it's over." Neo said.

"I wonder what'll happen now brother... with most of the Legion's forces caught in the city, and their leaders dead -- do you think they'll get together again? Try to retaliate the best they can?"

"Nah," Lucy's voice neighed from the doors, "at best they'll be bickering too much on who should run the dying army... what's left it, anyway."

Neo faced her, "Lucy? What you are doing out here?"

"What's it look like?" She smirked, "Looking for you two bozos."

"Why didn't you stay for the party?" Lucy inquired.

Her question spurred a hearty chuckle inside Neo's chest, "For the once in lifetime view, of course."

"Of course." Lucy scoffed, making her way to the balcony railing.

Lucy stared out into the sunset, "Your mom's coming up, and so is your dad. Thought I'd give you fair warning. It won't be long before more follow."

"Heh," Adam laughed, "I guess we'll have the whole keep out here, huh?"

"Seems like it." Lucy hopped down from the railing, trotting to the doors, "Ironside's gonna' wake up soon. He's probably going to need someone to let him know it's over."

"Is he going to be okay?" Adam wondered, as Lucy stopped at the doors to answer him.

She shook her head, braying, "He'll be fine, royally pissed, but fine."

The pegasus poked her snout out of the door for a moment, "Whoa! Okay, looks like it's my time to split."

Pushing the door ajar, she looked over her shoulder at the two, "Don't stay too long out here. You really shouldn't miss out on too much of the fun."

The instant Lucy vacated the balcony, Dahlia and Ronan together came through. Dahlia paused in the doorway, a hoof touching her breast as she gasped at the colors woven in the sky, "My goodness, boys! What a view!"

"It's something, isn't it?" Neo replied.

Ronan strolled to the rail whistling impressively, "I haven't seen a sunset like that since... well, since Neo was just a babe."

"Though," Dahlia included, "everyone's going to wonder where you two went off to soon."

Ronan nodded, "That little one, Big Lot, she's already wanting to know where Adam went off to."

A warmth flushed Adam's heart, "She's sweet."

Adam blinked, a thought coming to him, "Hey, what's going to happen to her? With the Legion exiling her, what's next?"

"Well," Dahlia began factually, "I heard she's going to be put back on the border as the new Captain there."

Ronan interjected, "Of course, Ms. Luck and that armored fellow are going to stay a week or two with them... just to be sure."

All four of them swayed their gaze to the bronze beaming disk sinking into the horizon. Neo, for a second, saw his entire family -- happy and together. "We're all here."

The statement perked Adam's ears, "What?"

"We're all here." Neo repeated, "Our family."

Dahlia jumped up on her hind legs, spreading her arms out wide to swoop all three stallions in a massive group embrace, "And nothing -- not wastelands, nor wars can keep us apart."

Adam giggled, putting a hoof around her, "We love you too mom."

The family, together directed their attention to the sun. All but the star's top, protruded from the distant hills. The world was shaded in a deep hue of purple, the period transitioning to nightfall. While the curtain of dark fell they watched the burning orb vanish completely. Nighttime soon approaching.

Foot Note: Max Level Reached

New Perk: Older Brother: You've reached the maximum level, all of the stats for your next game are increased by +5. You also have access to a variety of new and diverse perks. Don’t wait too long, the next adventure awaits!

Foot Note: Level Up!

Would you like to level Adam to the maximum level?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Little Brother: You've reached the maximum level, all of the stats for your next game are increased by +5. You also have access to a variety of new and diverse perks. Don’t wait too long, the next adventure awaits!

Author's Note

This was it -- the last chapter of Brotherhood. While I believe the ending here worked as the closing to the chapter, it is by no means, the end. Having said this, the true ending can be found in the epilogue, coupled with my final thoughts on the story.

As for how I thought this chapter turned out, I can say confidently that it came out well. There are scenes here which did their job remarkably well. However, writing this I struggled immensely finding a narrator's voice. I truly think this is what made drafting the chapter a challenge. In the end, having been the soul editor for it, I've found that I did do well. (All things considered.)

As I mentioned before, I won't say too much here, because everything I really want to tell you is in the epilogue.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you liked it, why not click the like button? Really enjoyed it? How about favoriting it? Have a compliment, thought, or criticism about the chapter -- then please, don't be shy to leave a comment!

Noakwolf

Brotherhood Epilogue

Brotherhood Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Cold refrigerated air blew gently from a vent above Neo and Adam. Their rumps sank in the cushions of an old, worn couch -- used to its limit decades ago. The glow from a working Stable-Tech terminal, sitting on a table, resonated its haunting green glow on Neo's face as he typed away on the keyboard.

Big Lot impatiently paced in front of them, frowning in the way fillies do, "It's been over an hour now! Are you close to finishing it yet?"

Neo's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth, as he leaned toward the screen, the speed of the clacking keys increasing, "I'm almost there... this is pretty important, I don't want to have to come back to it later to clean it up."

She stopped at the table's end, "Well, I can't leave until you finish."

Adam peeled his eyes away from the terminal to answer her, "Nobody's telling you to stay. You're just keeping Lucy and Wester waiting at the gunship."

The filly's little cheeks inflated into reddened balloons, "Yeah well-" her voice trailed off along with her gaze.

She opened her mouth to say something, but reconsidered at the last instance, scuffing the ground like she’d been caught, "I... I... don't want them to take off without either of you there to say goodbye."

Adam smiled dearly, "Well, you don't have to worry then, my brother's almost done."

Ally wandered in through a door at the end of the room poking her head inside, "Hey, are you guys close to finishing?"

Neo stopped typing for a moment to shoot her a look, "I’m... I’m close..."

He returned to typing at a frantic rate, inaudibly grumbling to himself, "If some ponies would just stop asking that..."

Ally sauntered to a vacant cushion next to him, scooting in close, "Well, I need to make sure... communication and all of that stuff."

She rested her head on Neo's shoulder, watching him do his work. "Can you blame me?"

The hurried pace of his click-clacking stopped with a firm press of the enter key. He glanced at her, watching the mare flutter both lashes at him.

Her delicate nature softened his mood, "Heh," he laid against the marshmallow soft back cushions, "No, I guess not."

He rested his own head atop her own, gazing at the screen together. Big Lot eagerly gamboled around to Adam's side of the couch, "Is it done?! Is it done?!"

Neo laughed, watching the filly hop beside his brother, "It's done."

He sighed nodding, "It's done."

Big Lot sank in the soft material that made up the couch's seats -- eating her hind hooves like enveloping quicksand. She kept herself aloft, grasping ahold of Adam's right shoulder, "Do you think it came out okay? How did you make me sound?"

"I told it as truthfully as possible." Neo stroked Ally's upper foreleg, "That's all."

"Well," he laughed, "except for Adam. He got a personal rocket-laser-turret early on. I promised him that much."

"What!" Big Lot's mouth slacked like a codfish, "aw c'mon! You said you told it truthfully!"

Adam ruffled the blond curls of her mane, "As truthfully as possible."

"I just hope things will get better now," Ally remarked nuzzling her nose into Neo's neck, "now that you've told the story."

Neo kissed her head before answering, "I'm not a writer. Archive records are archive records. If anything, they sound more like boring re-accounts in technical-terms."

"After watching my brother plug it in," Adam tossed both hooves over his head, "they're the best dang technical-term recounts I've ever read!"

Big Lot wrangled herself out of the couch. She hopped to the floor -- brushing off her freed legs, "Well, now that it’s over. I've gotta’ catch a flight to the Border, and you've got to come to the goodbye party!"

Neo jerked his head to the door, "Don't count us out just yet, I've got to close things up here real quick. I'll only be a few minutes more."

He included, "You might as well see if you've got everything you need for your flight."

"Fine," the filly snorted, "but don't be too late! I don't know how long the pilot can sit there."

The filly trotted along to the door, the three home-body couch sitters observing her. Ally spoke up, her voice alone echoing through the quiet room, "Do you two think she'll be fine out there? I mean, Wester and Lucy are with her, but you never know."

Adam's legs swayed off of the high-risen couch, "I trust her... I think she'll do a good job up there."

Ally exhaled a long, tensed breath out, "I'm finally happy to rest a little."

"I think we're all ready for some rest." Neo added.

Adam leapt to the ground, taking a moment to yawn and outstretch his muscles. "I agree, but first we've got a party to attend."

Neo shook his head laughing, "Big Lot's not going to forgive us if we miss it."

Ally sat up, chuckling, "I don't think she'll let the pilot take off unless we attend."

"Alright, then," Neo returned to the terminal, "I think it's finally time to close this. Once and for all."

Author's Note

That's it. The last installment of Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the story. This is my first chronologically narrative-driven work completed to-date. As of today, it took me more than three-and-a-half years to complete. It's been a long journey, and one that has certainly not been easy.

I've learned so much in those years writing the story. I've grown stronger as a person, and as a writer in every way. Sadly, I lacked the constructive criticism and mentoring during the story's early conception. Had I the knowledge then that I possess now, I guarantee it would be a much different work.

Nevertheless, though as rough as the final product is at times -- I'm proud of it. I'm proud of myself for having completed it from beginning to end. Despite the nagging sensation to stop, or the constant remarks from some of my friends to drop it and move on.

There's so much I want to say that the Author's Notes section couldn't contain it all. I'll be recording my final thoughts on the story and more in a few days. Additionally, I'll be posting it on main page for you. Thank you once again so much for all the support through liking, commenting, and favoriting this story. Each click compelled me to finally come to this conclusion.

Thank you so incredibly much, directly from my heart,

Noakwolf

Brotherhood Prologue

FALLOUT EQUESTRIA: BROTHERHOOD PROLOGUE

Adam bucked open the rusted boarded up door to the old rest stop along the road. It was dark and musty, and it smelled of rotting flesh. Adam levitated his laser pistol in front of him as he looked at the inside of the old building.

"You find anything Adam?" Neo said from behind him.

"No, but it looks like this place might have some stuff in it." Adam said putting the rag over his face tighter to hold back the smell.

Neo noticed his brother putting the rag on. "That’s probably a good idea, Celestia knows what kind of stuffs in there." He said getting his own rag out of his saddle bag and placed it over his mouth and nose.

Neo levitated his combat shotgun off his back and put it to his side. "Is anypony in home?" He called into the dark room.

Adam took a step inside. "I think its safe." He stated before moving into the building.

Neo followed him into the old prewar building. The building had small blackened shelves that covered the inside of the only room. Small papers and rusted cans littered the floor, only the sound of the wind outside could be heard from the inside of the dark building.

The two brothers looked around the room for a moment to see if there might be anything they could loot. In the room there were only two things that looked interesting, one was a semi-operational Sparkle Cola machine, and a safe that looked untouched on a wall behind a counter.

Neo turned to his little brother. "Look around for food, I'd like to see if there's anything to eat, I'm starving." He said keeping his voice low.

Adam nodded back to him. "Yeah I could really go for an apple right about now." He mumbled rubbing his empty stomach.

Neo made his way to the counter, and Adam started to look down each row of the old shelves, but there were only cans and dust.

"Ah shoot." He swore as he turned back to his brother. "There's no food over here, or anything for that matter." He called to him.

Neo looked back at Adam before going over the counter. "Right, lets check the safe over here and see if there's anything worth taking."

Adam nodded at him and started to make his way to the counter. Neo hopped over the top of the counter only to step right onto a decomposing corpse.

"Ah!" He yelped as he jumped back at the sight of the dead pony.

It was an earth pony, she had a yellow mane and a tattered blood soaked coat. She looked like she had been dead for two days at least. She had a large laceration across her neck, the old pool of blood that surrounded her had mostly dried up.

Neo stepped over the body and knelt down to it. "Oh no..." He sighed sadly as he closed her eyes with his right metal hoof.

Adam came up to the counter to see what his brother was doing. "Brother, did you find-" He stopped talking when he saw his brother hovering over the dead body.

"She looks a little older than me." Neo said mournfully. "Poor thing, she didn't need to die this way." He continued.

"How did she die?" Adam asked sounding just as sad as his brother was.

He pointed to the large gashing scar on her neck. "She got her neck sliced. I'm guessing she used to run this place. Then somepony thought it was a good idea to kill this poor thing."

he body once again. "How do you know that?"

He looked up at Adam. "I don't. I'm just assuming what happened." Neo said before getting up and patting himself down.

Little puffs of dust came off him as he cleaned off his duster with his hoof. "You can put your gun away." He said putting his own on his back.

"Yeah, its probably best if we put our guns away." Adam chuckled.

Neo turned around to the safe behind him on the wall with a bobby pin ready. "Hey Adam, do you your screwdriver with you?"

"Yeah, I didn’t want to leave it behind." He said cheerfully as he gave Neo his blue screwdriver.

"Thanks Adam." He said as he took the screwdriver and started to work on the lock.

He jiggled the screwdriver around in the lock a bit, the first bobby pin broke. "Damn it!" He swore before getting a new one and trying again.

Adam had decided that he should check out the old Sparkle Cola machine and see if it still had something in it. On his way to the machine he heard a loud snap, followed by a "Damn it" from his brother. He chuckled a bit as his brother continued to struggle with the safe. Once he had made it to the Sparkle Cola machine he started to inspect the the large machine. Its lights that advertised the beverage flicked on and off frantically.

"At least it still works." Adam said as he pulled up his Pipbuck to look through his inventory.

Luckily for him he still had four bits from the last place they looted which was the old factory with the predators. So, he took all four bits and slid them into the coin slot. Then, he pressed the button for the Cola and just like that within seconds he heard two loud thunks come from the bottom of the machine.

There, at the bottom lay two Sparkle Cola's neatly inside the dispenser box at the bottom of the machine. "Brother! I got Sparkle Cola's!" Adam called back to his brother.

Neo didn’t hear his statement and continued working on the safe. "Yes!" He cheered as he opened the safe with his two hooves. His eyes were glistening at the thought of what treasures the black safe might hold. His good expression was killed when he opened it only to find a few notes and three bottle caps.

"Really Celestia? Really?" He said pointing his head to the ceiling.

Adam creeped up behind him with the Sparkle Cola's. "What's the matter?" He asked standing at the counter.

Neo turned sharply forgetting about the safes contents. "I give up! You win Celestia, are you happy now?" He yelled looking up at the ceiling.

Ignoring his big brothers behavior Adam smiled at his brother and shook the bottles around. "Look, I got two bottles out of the machine."

Neo looked at his brother with a bland facial expression which wasn't noticeable under his face mask. "How is that supposed to fix our food problem?"

Adam shrugged. "It won't, but at least we can drink something."

Neo hopped over the counter. "I'll have to admit, it at least fixes out thirst problem." He said trying to look on the positive side.

Together both brothers went outside and sat down at a old wooden bench outside the front of the rest stop. The brothers both took off their masks as they stared into a small pair of depressing rocky hills. Neo was slouching back on the bench lousily as he sipped the carroty sparkling cola. His hooves felt relieved as they pain had slowly died away from the endless amount of walking they had done.

"You know Adam, just behind those hills in front of us is the town of Arkcannon. Our destination."

He took another sip of the Sparkle Cola before continuing. "Just think about it for a second. Its been two days since we've seen real civilization, and two days since we've had a proper meal that isn't crap... I miss those beans Lavender made..."

Adam smiled at the thought of a nice meal. "I miss them too, and if you don't stop talking about food you're going to make me more hungry than I already am!" He said nudging his older brother playfully.

He returned the chuckle. "Yeah, I'm gonna make myself more hungry than I already am too."

"Yeah..." He said calming down.

Neo blinked at him. "Something on your mind?"

He shook his head as he looked at the almost empty Sparkle Cola in deep thought. "It's just..."

"Just what?"

"What if mom isn't there... and what that Zebra said... it bothers me a bit."

Neo shrugged at him. "Meh, don't listen to him. He was just speaking crap, he doesn't know anything about us."

Adam was about to respond till he caught a whiff of burning smoke in the air. The smell was followed by faint sound of loud gunshots in the distance. "Do you smell that?" He asked getting off the old bench.

"Smell what?" Neo said getting up from the bench.

Neo smelled the wind for a second, the smell of burning timber and gunpowder faintly crossed his nose. "Yeah I smell it too."

"Do you think it's-"

Neo finished his sentence with a worried tone, "Arkcannon."

"Yeah."

"It could be. I hope it isn't though."

Neo pulled up his Pipbuck to look at a map of the area. "I have the town marked, and yes its just a few miles beyond those hills."

"Should we check it out?"

"It wouldn't be the worst thing to do, plus, from up on top of those hills, we should be able to see the town."

Adam nodded sternly at him before they both galloped up the nearby hillside. After maneuvering their way through the rough twisted hillside. They slowly approached the top, but once they got to the top they were completely taken by the horrific sight before them. In front of them was a large flat plain, and at its center was small town made up of tiny metal shacks.

The small town was surrounded by a tiny metal wall, the towns gate was busted down and its walls were filled with large gashing holes. The large stacks of smoke coming from the settlement added to the dark gruesome scene. But the one thing that bothered the two the most, was the large green flag with a black horse shoe in the middle waving in the center of the town.

Both of them were completely shocked. When they told them there was a war between the Ironhoof Legion and the Steelhoof Coalition but they never thought they would actually get caught up in it.

"They said this was a Coalition controlled settlement! They said the war was in the north!" Adam yelled as he was looked down at the burning town.

Neo was still shocked, his face was baffled by the scene. "Adam, somethings happening. This place wasn't supposed to be touched, it was supposed to be safe."

Adam looked up to his older brother for answers. "What are we going to do?"

"Hope Adam. Hope they haven't killed everypony yet. Because right now, thats all we can do."

Adam frowned and looked down at the town with panic in his eyes, "What if mom is there? What if they're doing something to her!"

Neo didn't turn to him and looked at the town with a glare of determination as he gazed at the burning down. "Like I said, let's hope that isn't the case. It's probably best we get down there and see just what the hell is happening. Hopefully, we're not too late..."

Noakwolf presents...

Fallout: Equestria...

Brotherhood.

I should probably start for the beginning, my name's Neo. This is my little brother Adam, and this is our story, our hardships, our quest for the one thing we hold dear. Our family, and how we find peace in this hell of a world.

(They are both earth ponies. Their ability to levitate items comes up in chapter 8. Please I've made it to where all will be answered. That is something you should note in this story, everything will be answered at some point.)

Author's Note

Please note that there are still some mistakes here and there. I am going to fix as many of them as I can, in the meantime please read chapter 1 and find out how it all began, and follow the epic adventure I have created. Credit goes to Kkat for creating such a rich and beautiful world which has inspired me to write my story. Once again thank you for reading.

Noakwolf

The Tear of a Foal

CHAPTER 14: THE TEAR OF A FOAL

The air was cool in the dark room Adam was in. He opened his eyes and rolled over in his bed as he slowly started to wake up. He felt a small hoof poke him gently on the leg as he lay there. Lu stood there with her big sapphire eyes with her teddy bear on her head poking him curiously.

She whispered to him while continuing to poke him awake. "Big brother... big brother, are you awake?"

He sat up stiffly and rubbed his eyes tiredly before stretching out his forelegs and returning to the small one next to him. "Lu, what time is it?"

Curious about his question she looked at her hooves and counted quietly to herself. "Um... it's, um... this time." She showed him her hooves indicating what time it was, though it didn't answer Adam's question at all.

Patting her on the head Adam smiled at her, "It's okay, I needed to get up anyway."

Adam roughly got out of bed letting some of the covers fall to the cold metal ground as he stumbled tiredly to the door. "Come on Lu, let's see if the others are up yet."

With small bounces she followed him, "They are awake big brother. They wanted me to get you up to eat, because you won't grow up if you don't eat!"

Adam was still a little groggy from the night before, and that night hadn't been the best of nights for him. Last night he had dreamed of his mother again, but every time he did it hurt him a bit inside. Like a pain that would come back every now and again leaving only a sad terrible feeling in your gut.

Though by now the feeling he had during his rough night had seemed to pass, and the tired weak feeling finally settled in. It made him happy to see Lu in such a lively manner, and today him and Neo would find the thing that was killing the caravans. Every time he thought about it warmth would build in his chest as he could hear everypony congratulating them on beating the monster. But deep down inside he felt a hint of fear mix in with the warmth of being a hero, because out here anything is possible. And he did well to remember that now more than ever.

The fresh smell of beans, cooking could be smelled inside the kitchen as he and Lu walked in. Lu bounded over to the table and sat down. Neo and Allie were looking over his combat shotgun, or what was a combat shotgun. Pieces, tubes, and small parts were everywhere on the table.

Neo stopped with his work and looked at Adam with a playful expression. "You finally woke up. For a while I didn't think you'd wake up."

He rubbed his eyes one more time before answering. "I had a rough night's sleep last night..."

Adam sat down at the table and looked at what his brother and Allie were doing. "What's with the torn apart gun?"

"I'm trying to learn how to clean the darn thing." Neo said with frustration as he tried to get the barrel back onto the stock.

Allie watched him for a second before stepping in to help him. "See," she said while showing him how to put it together.

He looked it over seeing if it really was attached to the stock. "How did you, what, how? Oh come on..."

He sighed handing his head slightly. "I might need to find a less complicated weapon..."

Everypony chuckled at Neo, even Lavender stopped cooking for a second to watch him. "You'll get the hang of it, you just need to keep trying is all." Allie added.

Adam smiled at him, "Just let me take care of the weapons. I'm sure I can fix them up if needed."

"Alright Adam, just don't blow yourself up with them, they're not Pipbucks or computers."

Lavender stepped in with a steaming pot levitating next to her. "I hope I'm not interrupting but breakfast is ready."

Neo perked up and sat up ready for his meal. "Yes please, I'm starving."

Lu giggled, "you're always hungry big brother."

Lavender came around the table giving each pony their own portion of the meal. Adam looked at the beans oddly, he eyed it unsure. "It could be worse I guess." He muttered to himself.

Neo started inhaling the food in front of him, "Mmmm food." He squeed to himself.

Lavender sat down and started to eat with the rest of the group, they all watch Neo consume the food viciously like a wild animal. "Big brother you shouldn't eat fast, or you might get a bad tummy ache." Lu added.

He paused for a moment and realized he was moving a bit fast. Neo swallowed what food was in his mouth before answer the filly. "Yeah, I get a little crazy when I'm hungry, heh." He said with a nervous smile.

"Just a little." Adam added.

Lavender looked back to Neo with a more serious look about her. "Are you two really going to try and find this thing today."

He nodded at her sternly, "Yes, and tonight we'll find it and end the torment this thing has been bringing to this place."

Lu's face lit up at the sound of their upcoming adventure. "Oh, oh! I want to come!" She announced bouncing in her chair with her hoof raised.

Adam patted her on the head with a worried look in his eyes. "Not this time Lu, we don't want you to get hurt."

She pouted at him, "Why? I want to go with you big brothers."

Neo got down from his chair and went to her, "Lu, you need to stay here."

"But why? I am a big pony too..."

Neo looked away for a moment before looking at her again. He was eye level with her as he rested his metal hoof on her shoulder. "Let me tell you a story Lu. Back where I come from there was a little colt, about your age. He loved to go on small adventures around the Stable, and even though he saw a lot and did brave things he didn't question the danger. One day he was careless and got trapped under some metal crates. His leg was stuck and it hurt him, his family was scared and they spend a whole day looking for him. Finally after hours of searching they found him, and he promised never to do something that would put him in any danger."

"Who was that pony?" Lu asked.

"That pony was me Lu, and even though we do dangerous and brave things now I still think about the danger. I don't want you to get hurt and have your father or sister get scared about you."

She looked down thinking about what he had said. "So, I'll be brave if I stay here?"

He smiled warmly at her. "Yes Lu, and knowing you're here will give us peace of mind."

She smiled back at him. "Will you play cosmic muffin with me when you get back?"

"Sure Lu." He said giving her a hug.

She hugged him back. "Promise?"

"I promise."

Adam was in his room at a desk, his goggles on his eyes as he worked on his levitation saddle. Lu was behind him in the middle of the room drawing on a piece of paper humming quietly to herself. Small sparks would fly from the saddle every now and again as he worked on it. The predator made a huge hole in the thing, and what made matters worse was that he just barely had the tools and supplies to fix it.

Sweat built up on his brow as he attached the last and final wire to its proper place. With a heavy sigh and a wipe of his brow he looked the machine over. The flat saddle like device was for the most part repaired. Though he was unsure of how well it would perform he had to wait till he had the ability to get the proper parts to make it work one hundred percent.

"Well, that's as good as I'm going to get it."

Lu heard what he had said and got up to investigate. "Big brother, is it done?"

Adam lay back in the chair he sat in and held the levitation saddle in his hooves. "Not completely, but it'll work when I get better parts then it'll be full working."

The door swooshed open letting Neo step through the doorway. Lu and Adam turned to see him at the leaning on the side of the doorway, "Knock knock." Neo said tapping his hoof on the metal wall.

"Hey brother, what is it?"

"Me and Allie have our stuff ready, we're just waiting for you to finish up your saddle."

"Well good news, I've got it mostly done."

"Mostly?" Neo asked.

"Yeah well, it's functioning but it won't stay together for very long. Seeing as I don't have the right stuff to finish it at the moment."

"Well, at least it works."

Adam chuckled a bit. "Yeah, let's just hope it doesn't break while we're out there."

Adam moved the goggles off his eyes and onto his forehead as he tried to put the saddle on his back. He struggled for a moment, as he tried putting it on his back the thought of how easy life must be for unicorns stirred around in his mind.

"Here," Neo added coming over to help him. "I can still help y'know."

"Thanks." He said standing still as he placed it on his back and turned it on. In an instance Adam felt the a short sharp pain fly through his back.

He rubbed his sides as the pain died down. "I forgot how much that hurt."

"It's not that bad, besides, having Lucy hit you is much worse." He added giving him a sheepish grin.

Lu gave him a puzzled stare. "Who's Lucy?"

"A real pain in the-" Adam nudged him before he could finish his sentence."What? I was going to say flank."

"Neo, Adam! Come on before the sun fully sets!" Lavender cried from down the hall.

Neo turned to the door, "Well, that's our cue." He said before stepping out of the room.

The went down the cold steel hallway till they came to the center room where the ladder up to the surface was. There Allie had theirs and her own stuff ready to go for the night ahead of them. Among the items were Neo and Adam's dusters, which were in better condition than they were when they left the factory. Lavender had mended most of the tears and holes on their dusters and with some dirty extra water she had managed to get most of the blood out of the coats.

Allie looked at them with her items on her back and read. "You guys good to go?"

"Yeah, Adam got his saddle fixed up and ready."

"Good." Allie added positively.

Both Neo and Adam got their dusters on, then they got their weapons and put them on their backs with their bags. Lavender, who was standing next to a small linen sack, stepped up to the group. "Here," she said opening the bag. "Take these." She pulled out three small little bottles with a glowing green liquid inside.

Neo hesitated before taking them. "What is it?"

"These are the strength potions my dad makes. He said it should help with your hunt for the monster."

Neo took all three of them and put them inside his bags along with the other items he had on him. "Tell him I said thanks, oh and speaking of which, you know where we need to go right?"

Lavender nodded and pulled a small chip out of her bag. She then took it and plugged it into his Pipbuck. "He said that there should be a caravan coming tonight up the road. He thinks you should follow them for a bit before they get to far and make sure they stay safe."

"Right, and if the monster shows up, we kill it, right?" He added.

She nodded again at him. "Yes, we can't have it harm anymore ponies ever again. Even if we capture it I'm afraid you are still going to have to kill it..."

Neo gave her a reassuring look. "Don't worry, we'll find it and I don't care if we capture, bag, or blow it to pieces as long as it's around, ponies will die and I won't let you suffer because of it."

"Thanks."

Lu came up to Neo and Adam with her teddy bear in her hooves. "Take Mr. Tim, he'll help for me."

Neo smiled and picked up the bear and put him in his bag. "Thanks Lu, and I'll be sure to tell that monster that Lu, The Monster Slayer, is around."

Lavender went over to the heavy door. "Remember," she pressed the button on the control pad to unlock the door, "Be careful."

The door made a large clanking sound as it unlocked itself and slowly swung open. A cool draft fill the room from the outside world. "Be safe big brothers." Lu said sadly waving her little hoof goodbye.

Allie stepped outside the door first Adam and Neo turned back to her and waved their hooves to her goodbye. "We'll be back soon Lu. Don't you worry." Neo said softly.

"And we'll get to play when you get back right?" In a quiet sad tone.

He looked at her with a warmly. "Right, I promised, remember?" Neo turned around and stepped through the door to the outside.

"Bye Lavender, bye Lu." Adam said before going outside himself.

"Lavender watched as the door closed slowly before clamping shut and hissing briefly. "Goodbye."

The professor came up from behind the two fillies who now stared at the closed metal door. He came up and sat down between the two of them placing his hooves around their shoulders to comfort them. Lavender Looked up at him sorrow deep in her eyes.

"I hope they make it back alright..."

He looked down back at her giving her a somber glare. "I'm sure they will be fine dear... I'm sure of it."

The cool wind brushed the brown dead bushes along the low hills that covered the land. The sky was a pale blue and the clouds dark and gloomy as they always were. The three trudged the hills following the directions Lavender had given Neo. They hoped that the caravan was there, and with some luck they would have enough ponies there to help protect them. Or better yet they hoped the ponies would help find and kill this monster if it showed up tonight.

They traveled for about an hour north west from the bunker just like it said on the map. In front of them was small gorge which span no more than fifty feet across. Neo halted in front of a large burnt oak tree at the edge of the cliff. The others stood next to him and marveled at the gorge, and even though the world around seemed bleak and dull the small gorge itself held a certain beauty to it.

Even the low dead grass that they stood on added to the odd but yet wonderful view. "Is this the place, brother?"

Neo stood there for a moment looking solemnly at the scene in front of them. "What? Oh, one sec." He said snapping back to reality.

He pulled up his EFS which showed that they were in the right spot. "It says we're here."

Allie leaned herself against the dead tree and looked up towards the sky. "I guess all we have to do is wait then, and hope the caravan comes around."

Adam found a rock and sat down on it and sighed heavily. "Let's hope it doesn't take too long."

"Agreed." Neo and Allie said in unison.

Neo sat down on the grass and looked up to the sky and watched as the clouds rolled and moved endlessly through the sky. And for hours they sat there watching the clouds move and the wind blow small tumbleweeds across the barren land. They would all look out into the distance and count the hundreds of dead tree stumps in the distance which had been blown away with the dropping of the bombs.

Soon the color of the sky changed. First it was the same pale blue, then a sickly green, and finally turning a dark orange before the light slowly faded away. It would be dark soon, and there was still no sign of the caravan.

Neo got up and looked down the gorge to see if maybe they were coming, but like before there was no one coming. He turned and looked at the other two. "Adam, Allie, looks like they're not-"

They all turned their heads to the side as they heard two loud gunshots go off down the gorge. "Did you hear that?" Neo asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't sound far off." Allie added.

"Maybe it's the caravan."

"Maybe Adam." Neo said pulling out his combat shotgun.

Adam got out his laser pistol and Allie got out a 44. magnum that Lavender gave her while Neo was getting Adam. They each quickly made sure each weapon was loaded and turned and made their way towards the gunshots. As they made their way there more and more gunshots could be heard along with the sounds of ponies screaming and yelling at something.

It was almost dark and they did their best to sprint to the caravans location. After galloping over a hill they saw a small pile of stuff gathered up in a circle around the group of ten ponies. The way they had formed their gear and supplies acted as a small wall so they could defend themselves from all sides.

From the ledge Neo All and Adam watched as a mysterious dark figure teleported in small flashes of orange energy while dodging the many bullets being shot at it.

From on top of the ledge they all waved their hooves at the group in the gorge, but they didn't notice. Then Allie had an idea, a stupid one but she figured it was the only way to get their attention.

With a deep breath she yelled, "We're up here! We're coming down, don't shoot!"

Neo looked at her with surprise. "What are you doing? Now that thing knows we're up here too!"

"It's the only way they'll know we're up here."

A voice called to them from down in the gorge. "Come on down, hurry we can't hold out much longer!"

"See Neo." She added mockingly.

He pouted. "Point taken."

The strange pony shaped shadow stopped for a moment and turned it's red eyes to the three on the ledge. "Brother, Allie, hurry before it get's up here!"

Neo looked around the ledge for a way down, "There's no way to get-"

Without letting him finish, Adam stepped back, held his breath rolled up and jumped down the inclined ledge. He bounced and tumbled as he went down the side, and just before hitting the bottom he stumbled back up to his hooves and dashed off for the traders in the center of the gorge.

"Adam, what the hell!" Neo called down to him.

He watched as Adam jumped over the small wall and into the defensive area with the other traders. "Come one down, trust me!"

Neo eyes widened at the thought of jumping. Terror and anxiety filled his mind as he watched the mysterious creature close in on him and Allie.

"But why do I need to jump?!" He yelled back.

"Grab Allie and just do it!"

He gulped and grabbed onto Allie. "You ready?"

She nodded at him, and with another gulp he and Allie bolted off towards the ledge. As they fell they held on to each other as they tumbled and rolled down the cliffside. To his surprise minus the few rocks they rolled on the ground was extremely soft. And once they had reached the bottom they both let go of each other and stumbled for a moment as the dizziness died down.

Once they had a second to straighten out the world after their fall they sprinted off towards the small defensive area. "Quick! It's right behind you guys!" Called a mare behind Adam.

Both Allie and Neo's hearts pounded as they raced for the makeshift fort the traders had made. They both leaped over the small wall and watched as two unicorns shot at the creature which popped away to dodge the incoming fire.

Neo and Allie panted heavily resting themselves against the gear that surrounded them. Ponies fired out randomly trying to keep the monster away.

The mare who had called out to them motioned them to come to the center of the group. She sat there with a hunting rifle and leather barding baring several different badges on it. "Who are you!?" She shouted among the loud gunfire.

She turned her gaze to Allie, and Neo motioned his hoof to his brother. "I'm Neo, and this is my younger brother Adam! We're guardians and we're here to help you!"

"Well, you're doing a lousy ass job of it!" She replied. She glared at Allie angrily again. "And who's she!"

"She's with us, don't worry!" Neo added getting his shotgun ready. "Now, what do we know about this thing!"

"It needs to die or we die! That's all I know!" She yelled.

"Do you have anything big we can use to stun it?" Allied added while looking around. "What about those!" Allie said pointing to a bunch of green looking apples.

She turned her head to the thing Allie mentioned. "What those? They're just incendiary grenades, they won't-" Her eyes got big at the thought of them.

"What did you have in mind?"

Allie moved over to the grenades and drew out her plan in the dirt. The mare and Adam leaned close to her to listen more carefully on Allies plan. "We'll launch these off on the sides of the defensive barrier. Since this thing can't get close without being shot it's waiting for us to stop shooting. If we can use these to make it move into one spot we can shoot it and kill it before we run out of ammo."

The mare looked at her astonished. "Wow, well damn girl that might just work. Seeing as we don't have any other ideas at this point I'll say it's out best shot."

She got up and called the other trader ponies to prepare to set off the grenades, and as he did that Adam prepared the ponies with the large weapons in the position where the monster would come. "When I say three everypony with the grenades pull the pin and throw them! You four at the front wait till you see it before you mow it down!" A pony in the center
gathered all the grenades and gave each pony on the side their own grenade. They all nodded at her including Neo who sat on the side with a grenade in his hoof.

"Ready?!" She yelled watching as the ponies fired at the monster who zipped and flashed left and right dodging the hundreds of bullets flying at it.

"One!" Sweat ran down each of the trader ponies as anticipation built up amongst the group as they waited for her order. "Two!" Neo and Adam looked at the hellish monster with grenades ready. "Three!" All the ponies on the side pulled the pins with their mouths and tossed them into the air. Once they landed a several loud pops could be heard along with a bright flash before a large burst of flames consumed the area around them.

The monster could be heard shrieking as the bombs went off. It flashed into the only spot that wasn't covered in flames. Once in the open, the mare shouted them to fire.

Four loud shotguns fired at the shadowy figure. It stumbled left and right as the rain of pellets hit it all over its body. Then finally it fell to the ground, lifeless.

The flames from the ground still burned brightly around the area. Causing each of the ponies to give of long shadows. They all stopped firing, each one of them lowered their weapons as they looked at the now dead monster. "Is... Is it dead?" Asked one of the trader stallions.

The mare stared at the body suspiciously. "There's only one way to find out..." She muttered.

She took her hunting rifle and four other ponies with her to investigate the body. Neo watched as they stepped over their small wall and made their way cautiously to the dead monster.

Neo pulled out a bottle of the strength potion Lavender had given him. Before he could drink it Adam looked at him oddly. "Why are you drinking that?"

Neo looked at him before drinking it. "I don't know why not? We beat it."

"Whatever, just don't drink all of them okay." Adam stated before returning to watch them handle the dead monster.

The investigation group poked the pony monster with their rifles. There were no burn marks, no bullet holes. It was just laying there.

The group mumbled to each other as Adam watched carefully at them from the defensive position. At first he saw a shadow move, but in his mind it just looked like one of the ponies shadows from the flames. But then he looked more carefully and saw a white glowing knife behind on of the ponies.

"Look out! Adam warned the ponies looking over the dead body.

The stallion who was in front of the shadow only got a quick glimpse before the white blade sliced quickly through his neck. The other ponies watched in terror as the group was slaughtered in an almost instant. The monster had managed to kill all five ponies in the blink of an eye.

"B-but... how?!" Allie said in awe, because there was the dead monster body right next to it.

In a flash of orange and a loud pop the monster appeared in the middle of the defensive ring. With quick reflexes and moves it sliced and hacked at two other ponies before they could pull their guns up to fire. The monster for a moment stood there, licking the blood of of its knife. It purred as it tasted the warm blood on the knife.

"You fucking bastard!" Neo yelled pulling up his shotgun and firing at the beast. It teleported out of the way, but not before getting clipped on the leg by Neo's gun.

It's red blood glittered and glowed faintly as it landed on one of the dead ponies. Soon it reappeared next two the other three ponies. In terror they screamed and shot wildly at it, and with each shot it would duck and dodge with lightning fast reflexes.

It killed the first pony slitting his throat then tearing a large hole at his belly. It jumped up in the air and went for the second one. He shoved Adam in front of him to the monster. "Take him!" He yelled before running away.

Adam blocked himself and braced himself as the monster came up to him, but instead it went around him and threw it's knife at the pony running. The unicorn who ran felt the knife hit him straight in the knee which made him flip over. As if out of nowhere the dark shadow monster appeared on top of him.

"No please!" But before be could say another word the creature took the knife from his leg and rammed the knife into his eye.

It removed it slowly from the once living pony and made his way back to the group. The last trader pony dropped her gun and ran for the the only place without flames surrounding them. Tears ran down her eyes as she ran right into the monster. It had appeared right in front of her, and with a quick swipe from its arm the mare fell to the ground lifeless.

It cocked its head to Neo, and Neo knew deep inside it was after him. His eyes widened with terror as the thing dashed at him. "Quick shoot at it!" Adam called readying his pistol.

Allie followed in and together they shot rapidly at the thing hoping it would slow down. Red hot beams of magical energy and bullets from Allies 44. magnum hit it as it's blood shot out from its legs. But no matter how much they shot it didn't slow it down.

Neo was petrified, he could look around but he couldn't move. "Brother, the potion!" He heard Adam cry. "The potion, use it!"

Neo turned his frighten gaze to the potion he didn't get to drink on the ground. Instantly one thought came to mind. "Throw it."

He didn't know why he wanted to throw it, but whatever it was in his mind it was the only option. As he went over to the potion he levitated it and charged at the pony yelling madly at it. "I'm out of my mind!" He thought as he raced to the monster.

Once he was five feet from it everything froze for a moment. The monster had its knife ready, and he had the potion ready. There he was, floating with everything standing still. Then within an instant time flew naturally. The knife missed Neo by barely just barely cutting him as the bottle impacted on its face.

The creature screamed in pain putting its dark hooves to its face as if acid had been thrown at it. It stumbled around blinded with its hooves to its face. And as mysteriously as it was a flash of orange light bursted where it was and then... it was gone.

Neo looked around from the ground at the battlefield his eyes wide and confused. Everywhere he looked he wondered where it could have gone, but it had vanished completely.

Adam trotted up to Neo with Allie behind him. “Brother, it’s gone...”

Neo didn’t answer instead he looked around in terror at the scene before him. The bodies of the dead traders now lay scattered and lifeless. Now they were either burning, or laying there waiting for the flames to consume them.

Neo felt horrible inside, as if a piece of himself died as he watched. “It happened so quickly... no one was prepared for this, but we tried anyway.” Adam muttered while he felt his tear build up inside.

Adam put his hoof around his shocked brother. “We were stupid for leaving... now we’re in a world filled with this...” Neo muttered quietly to himself.

“May Celestia guide these souls.” Allie added while bowing her head.

Adam said the same and offered a hoof to his brother. Neo looked up at him mournful looking eyes and pushed it gently to the side. He struggled to get up, feeling the pain in his arm sting as he tried to stand up. But once he was up he lifted his head up, took a deep breath and turned away from the scene.

“I’m tired...” And with that he slowly made his way away from the burning battlefield around them with his head hanging low in a mournful sorrow.

Adam looked at Allie with the same sad, mournful eyes as Neo. “I agreed, I’m tired...” He cooed.

Allie sighed, and hung her head low, “What about the bodies? We can’t just leave them here.”

Neo and Adam paused and looked at the many bodies of the fallen ponies. Neo thought about it for a moment, had he really decided to walk away from these ponies? They were just trying to get by and here he and his brother were walking off like it had never happened.

“She’s right.”

Adam blinked at him and thought hard about it. “Wouldn’t you want someone to bury you when you passed? Don’t they deserve a proper sending off?” Allie asked him.

Adam nodded shamefully. “I would want someone to bury me if I die-” He didn’t want to finish, the thought of him dying was unbearable.

“Allies right, I might not like it but these ponies deserve more than this.” Neo said sternly before making his way to Allie.

“But how are we going to bury them?”

Neo looked at the larger fires that the grenades had made that burned on the dead shrubs and grass. Allie stepped in looking at the fire with him, “we’ll give them a regal burial then they can be at peace.”

Adam nodded at them and went over to help prepare for their burial so the finally rest peacefully.

It was dark in the world, the dark clouds in the sky blended in with the darkness making them almost invisible in the sky. Crickets and small insects could be heard as the three ponies marched back to the bunker. Cool night air blew gently across the ground causing Neo and Adams dusters to flap gently in the breeze.

In view was the round metal half dome in the distance, though this time coming back it didn't hold its same welcoming feeling as it did before.

Neo sighed as he tried to shake of the battle they were in. Adam tried to do the same only the image festered in his mind like a bad dream after you wake up. It was hard to not think of, and even after everything they saw that was the most memorable so far.

“I’ve never seen that much before.” Neo thought.

The feeling of seeing what had happened there hurt his heart, and having to bury the ponies you were sent to save weighed down heavy on his chest. Adam felt no different, no other time in his life had he seen so much death, even when they fought the raiders it was like killing angry beasts. But to watch normal ponies, and that many die in one place... it scared him.

The bunker was about fifty feet from them now. I didn’t help them either when they had to tell Lavender and Lu that they had failed. The look on Lu’s face when they would say that... it just didn’t settle right with them.

Adam was at the intercom at the door, and for a moment he looked worried.

Neo walked up to him and watched him try to call for Lavender or Lu to open the door. "Hello? Anypony there? This is Adam, we're back. Lu? Come on this isn't funny, we walked a long way so could you please open up?"

He shook his head. "No pony's home."

Neo turned his gaze to the intercom itself before looking to his younger brother. "Adam you think you can bypass it?"

Adam eyed the small device carefully before answering. "I don't know, maybe. This is a different model than other intercoms I've seen. But maybe I can get into the locking system from it..."

He nodded confidently at his older brother. "Yeah, give me a sec, but the locks will come off and only the locks. You'll have to open it manually once it's unlocked."

"Right." Neo agreed.

Adam dug through his things and found a screw driver. Then he pulled up his PipBuck and pulled out a small fuse. Within moments the intercom was separated into several pieces with wires and circuits hung out loosely from it. He moved the screwdriver around until a small spark flew from the center of the machine. A loud clank followed by a hiss came from the metal door of the bunker.

"There." Adam said putting his things away, "that wasn't as easy as you'd think, but once the main circuits are passed it was pretty easy."

"Alright, brother, Allie, all you need to do now is open it."

They both nodded at him and stepped up to the door. Neo took out the blade that was in his mechanical hoof and Allie focused her magic on the door itself. Neo wedged his blade in the door and pulled back hard as a magical aura encased the door. Both of them struggled and grunted as they pulled hard on it, and with a bit more effort the door hissed open.

They all looked inside the entrance area of the bunker, and what they saw took them back by surprise. The room which was normally lit was dark and cold. Blood stains that had been stretched on the ground trailed off down the ladder to the lower level of the bunker.

The site instantly sent a panic down their spines. "Lu! Lavender!" Neo cried racing into the bunker.

He slid down the ladder calling their names as he looked around the now dark bunker. The blood trailed off to the professors office down the right hallway. The very thought of what could have happened scared Neo. Adam came down with Allie calling out for the young ones names as well. Neo raced for the first room trying to look for the fillies and the professor before checking his office. Room after room he found the same thing, nothing. Just cold empty rooms filled with nothing. Finally he came to the kitchen and out of the corner of his eye he saw a small Lavender leg sticking out from behind the counter.

He dashed over to the counter to see Lavender laying there covered in blood, at first Neo shook and reeled back thinking she was dead. But then he realised that she had no wounds, no scars or scratches. In fact she was still breathing faintly. He went down to her and check her heart rate and her breathing.

"Adam! Allie! I found Lavender!" He cried out to the others while holding her head in his hooves.

Allie and Adam raced inside the kitchen as saw him holding the blood covered filly in his hooves. "I found her." He muttered sadly.

"What happened here Neo?" Allie asked picking her up from out of his hooves and putting her on her back.

His hooves were shaking. "I-I don't know..."

"Here," she insisted, "I'll look after her you and Adam go find Lu, see if you can find her."

Neo stared for a moment at his hooves, he felt a fear he hadn't felt before. A fear not like survival, but a more of a deeper feeling. He got up trying to recover himself, "Right." He said with a heavy heart.

"Come on Adam, let's go."

With a serious nod, Adam agreed and followed Neo out of the kitchen and to the professors office. The blood trail went straight under the door, a small light above the door flicked on and off as he looked over the control pad on the side of the door. Neo pressed a button on the door and like opening a refrigerator a small cold blast hit them as the door opened into a dark room.

Neo gulped and tried turning his PipBuck lamp on, but his shaking hooves made it hard to achieve. With a deep breath they went into the dark room and followed it, the room after a few steps slowly moved inward creating a hallway. Their hoof steps echoed faintly down the hall as they moved to the end. At the end of the hallway was a dim green light that came from around the corner at the end of the hallway. The sound of scuffling and bubbles could be heard as the continued onward.

They both peaked around the corner before entering the room ahead. Inside was five large green tubes with dark looking things inside each one. Connected to these things were large cables that were hooked up to machines and pumps. The room itself was circular and at the end was a large terminal screen and the professor handling some sort of machine.

The machine itself was small with a half down like container connecting to the main machine. The machine sparked and buzzed as the professor laughed quietly to himself.

Neo stepped in and looked at him seriously in the center of the room. He paused and cocked his head back a bit, he had bruises and cut on his legs which were roughly bandaged up. "Welcome boys... you're just in time..."

Adam and Neo glared at him angrily. "Cut the crap! Tell us where Lu is!"

He chuckled a bit with his back still turned to them the green glow of the terminal screen giving him a dark shadowy look. "Aw well aren't we no fun... skipping to the asking questions bit." He said in a mad chortle.

He stumbled around to face them, his eyes wide and his mouth in an unnatural smile. "You boys did a number on me back in the gorge... and you even managed to clip my leg."

Both brothers took a step back from him as they came to the realization. "You're... t-the-"

"Monster?" He grinned cocking his head to one side. "Right you are Adam, right you are..."

"B-but, b-but-" Neo stuttered in terror.

"Why?" He finished for him.

He chuckled once and started pacing to the side. "What a very cliche question Neo, so let me tell you boys a story. Long ago there was a raider couple called the Night hunters. They tortured, murdered and killed for the pleasure of seeing others in dying pain..." He said as if it were good. "Ah the good days... soon they had a kid, and... he's me!" He squeaked.

"Growing up I didn't like to just murder, I loooved it. But I was much smarter than my parents. I learned science, bio-engineering, and math, and all on my own too. So I decided to make my own living in the world, but not before I took the hearts of my parents with me.. because home is where the heart is after all."

The very thought made the two sick to their stomachs. "T-that doesn't explain why-"

He narrowed his gaze at him. "Why I had kids? Why I am doing this? I'm very glad you asked."

His grin returned and he continued to explain his story in a boastful manner. "One day, while on my travels I discovered a Stable... not any ordinary Stable. It was a stable to find the answers to this world's problems."

Neo felt the hate bubbled in his chest as he explained. "That‘s when I realized that I won't live forever. After all, I am a mere mortal on this earth, the same as you two," He paused and faced them, "So, I found a nice pegasus mare in the town of Arkcannon and we married... and then I had six ugly looking children. Disgusting things really, so noisy and loud. You know the younger the victim the more fun to kill."

Neo couldn't take it anymore he felt the rage explode in him. "Get to the point you sick bastard!"

The professor pouted and rolled his eyes. "Here I thought I could get rid of you in the factory. Though how you got away from the predators is beyond me. Oh, and that trader mare you helped fix up... she was, a tasty one she was. I didn’t dare share a mare that tender and juicy."

Neo Growled at him, not wanting him to go on. "But I digress," He moved to the half dome at the end of the room, "This is my true pride and joy."

He went over to a lever on the side of the machine and pulled it. In a haze of steam the dome rose in the air. Once the haze had cleared on a small round table was a horrible malformed creature. It was a sickly green color with large bulges sticking out of his legs and sides. A crooked green horn was buried under its thin purple stringy hair. On its back was a little pair of deformed wings that were bent and stretched unnaturally.

He leaned closer to the thing, "Say hello Lu, your big brothers are here."

Neo yelled and and charged at him tackling him and pinning him to the ground. "What did you do to her!?"

Adam cautiously approached the creature, "Lu?"

"Big brother..." It said in a raspy dying voice.

Both of their eyes widened at its voice. Neo pounced at him and pulled on his collar, "What did you do to her!? Tell me!"

He started chuckling a bit. "I created an Alicorn. Not a fake one like the ones in the wastes, a real one. One that has the real powers, the real thoughts, and being of the goddesses themselves."

Rage flew through him as he picked up his metal hoof and punched him. "Why! She was just a little girl! And you killed her!" Tears ran down his eyes as he yelled at his stupid bruised grinning face.

"I did it for the future, so I could be a god and my fun would never end. Not only that but it took me five tries to get this far." Neo punched him again causing his face to make a faint crunching sound as he hit him.

"You murder innocent ponies, and your own family just for yourself!"

He shrugged with a guilty grin on his face. "Guilty as charged."

He pulled him close again with his rage festering inside him. "Change her back! Change her back right now!"

He chortled wiping some of the blood off his face with his hoof. "I would tell you, but you wouldn't like it..."

He punched him again and again taking huge swipes at his head as he sat there taking each massive blow, and it bothered Neo that he laughed as his hoof punched him. "Change! Her! Back! Now!"

Tears ran down his face as his hits got harder and harder. "Do it! Kill me Neo!" The professor screamed at him.

Neo held his hoof high in the air with his blade unsheathed. "You don't deserve to live!"

"Yes, do it! Embrace the inner murderer you really are, and kill me!"

"I’m going to kill you!"

"Do it!"

"Die!"

“Do it!”

Neo screamed and prepared to strike at him, "Brother no!" Adam cried as the blade came down on Neo's helpless victim.

"No big brother," Lu said calmly.

Just as the blade came close to the professors eye he paused. His hoof with the blade shook, as he looked at the morphed creature beside him. "Lu... I-I-I...." He sheathed his blade and stepped back from the professor.

He reeled back realizing what he was doing. "I-I am a monster."

The professor struggled to get up as he spit out the few blood covered teeth he had lost. "I knew you didn't have it in you... you weakling."

He tried to get his grip on the terminal so he could hold himself up and face the two brothers. "Shame... you would have made an excellent killer."

"No." Adam interrupted, "He wouldn't. He's my big brother and I know he's no murderer. He's nice, and kind and caring, but most of all... he's all I have left."

The insane unicorn just stood there chuckling to himself. "A nice speech, but that's all premature. It's a shame, you two could have been just like me... you're just like my wife, weak, emotional, and stupid." From under his desk he pulled out the bright white knife and charged at the two with it. “Now, it's your turn to die!"

Neo reeled back as he charged at the two. Adam felt horrified as the mad pony came at them, he had to do something because if he didn’t nopony else would. Reaching over to his brothers back he pulled out his combat shotgun. Out of pure terror and fear he fired blindly at the professor.

It surprised and caused him to stagger to the side to dodge. But he wasn’t fast enough and the shot Adam had fired hit him in the side taking a large chunk out of his body due to the close range of the shot.

A cloud of red mist hung from a moment in the air where the professor had gotten shot. They both watched as his body landed on the ground with a dull thud. His body twitched and jolted for a moment before it stopped moving entirely and there on the ground lay the professors body, it was wide-eyed and still.

Adam dropped the gun and stumbled back onto his haunches. “What have I done...” He whimpered while watching a pool of fresh blood from around the professors once living body.

They both heard a sharp gasp come from behind them, and when they turned around to see who it was they saw Lavender and Allie standing there in total shock at what they were seeing.

“Dad...” Lavender coughed choking on the confusion and sadness the befell her. “W-what happened? W-what did you do to him!” She yelled at the two brothers before dashing off to his still body.

Tears ran down her eyes as she cradled her father's head in her hooves. “I-I just reacted... he came at us and... I...”

Lu interrupted with a deathly moan. Lavender looked up to her on the pedestal and gasped fell back. “W-what is that!” She yelled.

“Big sis... is daddy okay?” It moaned to her.

Her eyes got wide as she heard it speak those words. “Lu... i-is that you?”

Adam looked at her mournfully. “I-I’m afraid that is Lu...” He stuttered looking at her with his tearing eyes.

“What happened to you...” She said looking closer at her.

Neo came up from behind her and placed his shaking hoof on her shoulder. “You father was the monster this whole time, h-he came at us and, we had no choice.”

“B-but... why would he do something like this... I thought, he loved us...”

Lavender shrugged his hoof off and went to Lu again. “But why Lu... why not me...”

“I-I don’t know what to do... I woke up today thinking it would be fine but now...” She burst out into a heavy sob. “I can’t believe he would do this to his own family!”

Lu moaned again grunting a bit while her dark yellow eyes looked up at them. “I hurt...”

Neo looked at Lu with wide sad eyes. She had gone through so much, and to think it was all for his own personal gain. She didn’t deserve this, and Neo knew it. No filly should have to live like that. What made matters worse was she was in pain, terrible pain and he could see it in her eyes.

“Brother, what are we going to do? Lu’s in pain...”

Lu started to moan a bit on her pedestal she sat on. Neo looked over to her, "Big brothers... when will we play? You... promised..."

Neo looked to her the words she had said ate at his heart and made him feel terrible. Adam was softly crying now wondering how this would all turn out in the end. He noticed Neo as he got up, and he thought about what he was going to do.“She can’t live like this... Nopony should... why professor why would you do this...” Neo thought, as he wondered about Lu and the pain she was in. “What if I... no I couldn’t, I wouldn’t hurt her... but she can’t live in pain like this... I’m sorry Lu.”

"What are you doing, brother?"

Neo ignored him and went to Lu with a warm smile. He went down to her and pushed back her ragged stringy mane. "Lu..."

Adam started to worry, he wasn't sure what he was doing. "Brother what are you doing."

Lu looked at Neo in the eyes. "Big brother... I... hurt, can... you help me?"

He nodded at her trying to hold back the tears and terrible feelings inside him. "Yes Lu, I'm going to help."

Adam realized what he was doing and stretched his hoof out to him. "No brother please don't, we can find a way! We can-"

Lavender interjected sternly, "Adam, can't you see she's in pain? He's doing the right thing I don’t want her to suffer... why dad...”

"No, b-but..." Adam whimpered.

Neo turned his head to his brother. "I have to do this, this has to end and I won't have her suffer anymore for what he did to her."

He looked at Lu calmly and hugged her swollen deformed body. Neo felt some of the tears he tried so hard to keep back slip as he hugged her. "Big brother... will we play later?"

He choked on the sadness doing his best to hold back the tears. "Yes Lu... later, and one day we'll be together again."

She hummed softly to herself. "Big brother?"

Neo picked up his metal hoof and unsheathed it. He took the blade and placed it against her chest pressing the very tip of the blade gently on where her heart was. "Yes..." He choked.

"I love you." She cooed to him.

"I love you too Lu." He said pushing the blade into her chest.

Before he let go he could feel a tear roll down her cheek. A tear of a foal, it was that small tear that allowed him to pull away allowing the blade leaving her chest and sheath itself. Allie cried as she watched Neo break down crying. "Sleep well Lu... my little sister..."

Foot Note: Level Up

New Perk: Family ties: If you're surrounded by your friends and family you gain +50 HP.

Foot Note: Level Up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Heart of gold: While wearing a guardian duster you gain +10 in DR especially in your torso region.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

wayofthepen

GaryGibbon

AracistZebra

LyonAzaruka

(AN: I have to say this chapter was pretty emotional for me to say the least. I did have an extremely fun and difficult amout of time writing this though, minus the crying and all. This chapter is believe it or not very important, so keep in mind it’s important you remember what happened here because it’ll come back later. Anyway, did you like this chapter? Leave a comment and tell me what you thought! )

Darkness of the Soul

CHAPTER 28: DARKNESS OF THE SOUL

"When I first saw my son's potential in politics, I had to teach him the special Stable-Tech curriculum. His mind, body and magical abilities suggest that he's ready. But there are dark things, terrible things, that these tests have done to the subjects, and hopefully, my son hasn't been infected with this thing my co-workers are calling the dark soul."

In the cool stillness of the early morning, the five ponies marched with Wester leading at the front. Not a single gust nor breeze blew that day. The whole of the world was silent. Only the muffled hoof steps of the ponies stepping upon the earth below their hooves could be heard. Not far before them, some two miles away, were the tops of dozens of smaller buildings -- cracked and shattered by the war that was fought long ago. This left every building in the distance like an empty shell. Windows disintegrated into nothingness added to the lonely scene. Even on the outer walls, dark blast marks coated every other wall.

Near the group along the dry, dusty highway, were heaps of decaying foliage left over from several of the withered husks of trees that were dotted along the road's side. Stepping off of the rocky path and onto the relieving smoothness of the road's pavement, the five ponies went on toward the outskirts of Silvermane City.

Everypony was tired from the night before, including Wester. In each step the ponies of the group took, a faint, groggy shuffle could be detected. While the exhaustion did not disrupt their march entirely, it was an annoyance which they would be happy to get rid of.

Down the road, past rusted highway signs, now tipped over onto their sides by the weakened steel supports that once held them up, was the city. Buildings appeared along the side of the road as they advanced. From old single-story shops to devastated grocery stores, the city was -- by every means -- completely deserted.

Neo and Adam looked around the various buildings that now surrounded them. Watching them in awe, Neo said, "Wow, there really isn't anything here, is there?"

"Nope," Lucy replied. "Not a thing, by the looks of it."

"Is it usually this empty?" Adam asked, turning his head slightly toward Wester.

Nodding earnestly, Wester said, "I've been in this part of the city a few times when I worked for the freelancers. The Legion doesn't come here often and the raiders tend to keep away from this place."

"Why do you suppose that is?" Adam queried.

Wester shrugged. "I'm not sure. It could be many reasons. From the lack of supplies to the open streets. Sometimes slavers come on through. Your guess is as good as mine."

The news were oddly unnerving. Something was dreadfully wrong, though try as they could, no pony could lay a hoof on just what that problem might be.

Glancing at the shattered roofs, Lucy shrugged. "It could be because nopony wants to travel through this maze. I mean, if it were me, I'd just hop along the tops of the buildings, using my wings to glide across the streets and stuff."

Raising a questioning eyebrow at the mare, Ally replied briskly, "What about us? You know, the ponies that can't fly."

"Eh." Lucy smirked playfully. "I'd just help you find the quickest way out, of course. I'm not that much of a jerk, am I?"

Nopony replied to her as they walked along the broken, littered sidewalks. Passing by the old stores and shops next to the sidewalk, they came to a four way intersection. Carts, charred and melted, lay toppled over onto their sides all along the intersection.

Looking down the wide, abandoned streets of the intersection -- Lucy put a hoof to her brow, and scanned each street with an intensive amount of care. "Well," She sighed, turning her attention to both of the brothers, "which way is it?"

Both brothers looked down at their Eyes Forward Compass. On it, a tiny rectangular blip pointed in the direction of the street to their left. Adam pointed down the street. "That way. Or, at least that's what the compass says."

Ally blinked at Adam, shooting him a puzzled stare. "Can you see it? You know, without looking at your Pipbuck."

Neo and Adam looked down at their personal Stable-Tech wrist computers briefly, before answering her. "Yeah," Neo responded. "I hardly even notice it sometimes."

"Huh." She sighed, soaking in the new knowledge.

Down the wide street the travelers went, kicking old rusted litter to the side of the curb as they trudged onward. Posters plastered crookedly against the old brick walls of each building depicted an unicorn mare, dressed in a black suit pointing toward whoever viewed the poster. In large, red letters the sign read:

Ponies of our Province!
Only you can free us from the tyrannical grasp of Equestria!
Help us return our sovereignty!

Across the province, posters, much like this one, covered various buildings. What had Equestria done? More importantly, who was the mare on the poster? Oddly enough, the mare who was pointing held a firm, sincere gaze with eyes that looked both wise and strict. In many ways, she looked identical to the mare that had been in the film at Stable 47. Could she be Twilight Sparkle? No, certainly not. The pony on the poster was a different color that was much more close to a lighter beige than anything else.

In the end, the signs did not matter and it was best to ignore them. There was a task before them that they needed to focus on. And sight-seeing would only slow them down.

As the group went further down the road they came upon a large, round cul-de-sac with tall brick buildings lining its rim. A road, near the cul-de-sac's entrance road was another wide street, that continued on to the left. Down this desolate boulevard were several old locally-owned business shops, with porches and patios torn asunder and worn down by the decades of corroding elements. At the far end of the street was an old steel water tower, barely supported by the crossing steel bars that held it aloft. Over the edge of the building it rested up, it leaked. Droplets of dim, murky water which fell down to the ground in a dreary sort of manner.

The ponies had only gone down halfway of the new street before something stopped the two brothers. Standing completely still, they were frozen. An alarming look spawned itself unnervingly across their once content faces, while the rest of the group glanced at them curiously.

Raising an eyebrow, Lucy poked Neo in the shoulder. "Hey? What is it?"

Neo responded to her with a nervous whisper, "There's something here..."

Wester raised his head, letting the metal plated ears atop his head swivel around he listened to the surrounding area. Quickly drawing his revolvers -- he held them close to the midriff of his body.

A sudden urgency was in Wester's words. "They're right." He agreed, keeping his own volume to a minimum.

Lucy and Ally drew their own weapons too, and carefully scanned the street around them. "What do you think it is?" Lucy asked.

"It's organic," Wester muttered, "and there're lots of them..."

"I can't hear anything, though," Ally commented, levitating her pistol up.

"My hearing is more keen than an average pony," Wester added. "And they're getting closer."

Keeping completely still, Neo gulped. "Yep, the whole compass is covered in red dots..."

"Well, shit,” Lucy swore, "what do we do? Turn back?"

"No, Lucky," Wester replied. "It's possible they are on the other side of the buildings in the next street. If that is the case, we can keep going. If we move silently, we should be able to avoid whatever that mass is."

"Right, so keep low -- keep slow then?" Ally whispered.

"Affirmative," Wester answered.

Lucy shuddered. "Let's get moving then. Just thinking about what that huge ass group is gives me the willies."

Moving along the far end of the left side of the street, the group kept low to the ground. Treading lightly, they came farther up the road until another street was visible along the right side. A shocking, terrifying sight stood in a massive pack in the center of the new road on the right.

"Oh, shit!" Lucy cursed, dodging with the others behind the safety of a charred cart turned over onto its side.

The mass that had appeared on the brother's Pipbuck compasses were dozens of large, grey -- muscular hellhounds. Creatures, with matted fur, stained by blotches of dried blood. Fangs, yellow and sharp like the daggers of tenths of lightly rusted blades protruding from the lower jaw of each hound. And, from head to toe, each one of the many beasts were coated in long -- intimidating, pink fleshy scares. The pack stood idly near the streets edge, as they gnawed on sticks and the bones of some dead creature.

"What are those things?!" Adam whispered, panicking.

Lucy growled. "Feral hellhounds. I hate feral hellhounds..."

Ally blinked at the creatures, awing at their frightening appearance. "Wow, I heard they were mean looking, but that's just..."

"Too much?" Lucy said, finishing Ally’s sentence.

"Yeah..." Ally murmured.

Staring at the large group of dreadful beasts from the edges of the cart, the whole party looked around for an alternative route. Neo, however, was the first to speak. "You think we can still go on? Or should we go back and find another way?"

"I'm not sure," Wester replied, inspecting the street.

Examining the surrounding area, Wester mentally listed their options. To the left of them, further down the street, was a two-story storehouse for carts. To the right, was the wide open street they had come from.

"We could wait in the storehouse until they pass," Wester proposed.

Pointing toward the mentioned building, Adam replied in a whisper, "That one? Do you think we can make it?"

Lucy shook her head, interjecting with a disapproving tone. "I don’t know. You think we could make it? Besides this cart, and a few more in the street, we'll be out in the open."

Ally replied hopefully, "If we keep low we might be able to make it."

"In addition to her point," Wester started, pointing toward the two massive steel doors of the storage building, "those doors will help protect us from the beasts. If I recall correctly, those things could withstand a mega-spell blast. And the walls are strong and fairly deep as well, making it difficult for the hellhounds to tunnel through."

"Are you sure we can't turn back?" Neo asked with a faint nervousness in his voice.

Wester looked at Neo. "If we go around the city's outskirts it will take an additional two days to go around. That doesn’t include hours for rest, and possible obstacles we might encounter."

Neo nodded, tightening his diaphragm. "Okay. But is everyone okay with this?"

"If it saves time..." Lucy moaned.

Adam swallowed hard, building the courage he would need to get to the building. "Yeah, I am."

Wester nodded silently in response. "Very well," Wester spoke. "Then let's move. Follow my lead, and keep low."

Everypony focused their attention on Wester as he started off down the road to the storage building. Retaining a low, silent sprint, each member of the group followed behind him individually. Nearly halfway down the street, one of the hellhounds perked its large, tattered ears, and started listening to the surrounding area. Like an owl looking for prey its ears swiveled, until it caught a faint sound in its search. Wester heard the hellhound growl as it directed its gaze to the sound of the moving ponies.

Lucy saw the single hellhound look toward them. Instant panic flushed through her body. Should they stop? Perhaps there was a possibility that they saw only movement -- and if they were to remain still there was chance, be it small, that the terrifying beasts would not spot them. However, despite the optimistic theory, the hellhound's tiny, black beady eyes locked onto them.

Like a spark igniting a puddle of gasoline, the creatures became enraged. Drawing the attention of the other hounds, soon all of the vicious creatures were sprinting at them. Barking thunderously, the group abandoned their low stances, and dashed desperately to the storage building.

"RUN!" Lucy shouted, "Fucking run!"

Galloping to the building's entrance, everypony in the group went between the two thick metal doors into the wide space of the inner building. Instantly, Lucy and Wester took hold of one of the metal doors. Ally and the two brothers took the other door, and together they pushed furiously against them. Letting out a deafening metallic screech, the doors closed slowly. Looking at the door's hinges, Lucy noticed that rust had thickly coated it, ultimately slowing the closing process.

There was little they could do. Pushing harder against the doors, all of the ponies forced them to close. "Come on..." Lucy muttered tiredly, gritting her teeth. “Close, you stupid doors...”

The mass of monstrous beasts quickly approached as the group closed the doors. The loud howls of the hellhounds echoed throughout the empty street. Followed by the coarse sound of their many meaty paws dragging along the ground as they dashed at full speed to them.

No sooner had the doors become closed the group started frantically searching for items to barricade the doors. Various smaller items were scattered throughout the room. From old rusted toolboxes to damaged crates. Nothing truly was dense or large in size. Yet, the group moved and stacked anything they could against the building's entrance. Scratching, clawing, and pounding noisily against the door, the hellhounds tried to reach the ponies inside.

But to no avail. Regardless of the creatures constant pounding, the door only shook, and rattled. That was until, their forceful approach turned into a more vocal one. Rather than claw at the door, the hounds barked. Loudly.

Everypony in the room panted tiredly as the sweet sensation of relief came to them. It was Lucy who spoke first. Whipping her sweat laden brow she chuckled. "Heh, that was a close one, right?"

Adam chuckled unsurely. "I'm not sure if I should be happy or completely terrified, still..."

"Agreed," Neo replied, wearily leaning against one of the crates they had piled against the doors.

Ally sat down on the dusty stone floor. "What now? Do we just wait them out?"

"Affirmative," Wester answered. "They don't have a long attention span. In a few hours, they'll be gone."

"I hope so," Ally replied, a little discouraged by the news. "We don't have enough supplies to last more than a few days in here."

Wester turned his attention to the central room they were all standing in. Everywhere around them, empty containers of every sort lay broken or scattered across the floor. At the far end of the room there was a concrete staircase along the wall that lead up to another story above.

Pointing at the flight of stairs, Wester motioned the group to follow him. "There's another floor. Perhaps we can take refuge there until the pack moves on."

Adam trotted over to his brother, and nudged him in the shoulder. "Well, we can get that rest we wanted."

"Yeah," Neo sighed as the constant barking of the hounds rang in his ears. "Hopefully, those things will stop barking. It's starting to get on my nerves."

The low, unnerving pitch of steam faintly hissed in the small, cavernous room that Vladimir slept in. Tossing and turning in the light blue sheets of his creaking bed. Thin metal pipes above him ached as pressure built up, and releasing an eerie moan not long after. The floor, while made of iron plates, was contrasted by the sharp rocky walls of the room that had been carved out. He was alone, and a single dim lamp sat next to his bed providing external illumination to the otherwise dark environment.

A profuse sweat ran down the sides of Vladimir’s head as he bellowed in pain. Keeping his eyes shut tightly -- he placed his hooves to the sides of his head. As he rose up from his covers his eyelids shot open. Screaming out into the gloomy, rocky chamber -- he sat in his cot, panting heavily. The sudden jolt had knocked over some of the items he had placed near his bed. Items, such as his cape and armor.

Staring down at his wrinkled sheets, Vladimir put a hoof to his head -- feeling the head-splitting pain throb. "Nightmares?" A voice hissed at him.

Surprised, the crimson emperor frantically searched the room for the sound’s source. Then, as his mind became clear, he frowned and remained seated in his cot. "What do you want this time?" He muttered distastefully.

From behind him, the creature appeared. Floating to his side, the alicorn apparition moved. Almost like a draft, it came to him, cooing unnervingly into his ears. "I saw what you were dreaming, you know."

Vladimir remained silent.

"I'm not sure what to do with you, little red." The creature paused. "I really don't..."

There was a brief stammer in Vladimir's voice as he spoke. "What... What do you mean?"

"You're getting soft," It retorted frankly.

Trying as hard as he could, Vladimir kept his eyes away from the menacing gaze of the apparition. "I-I don't understand..."

It glared at him, it's white glowing eyes piercing into his very soul. "I don't think you heard me clearly," it answered with a mocking whisper. "I said: You're. Getting. Soft."

The aching pain in Vladimir's head increased, sending a sharp unpleasant sensation down his spine. Flinching, Vladimir tried to reply to the creature as the painful surges continued. "Please! Give me another chance!" He begged, feeling a warmth develop in his throat.

"Heh," the creature chortled, "what was that?"

"Please..." Vladimir coughed, as droplets of warm blood spat out from his mouth across his sheets.

Raising a hoof to It's ear, the strange specter added gleefully, "Eh? It almost sounded like you were begging. But surely, the great and mighty emperor of the Ironhoof Legion wouldn’t beg, would he?"

The pain subsided in Vladimir’s head, sending a great relief throughout his body. "There,” The creature sighed tenderly, “better? Perhaps you can speak a little more clearly now that the pain is gone."

Lifting his emerald eyes, Vladimir looked at the monstrous creature before him. "W-Why? Why do you torment me?"

The creature burst out into a loud, nearly uncontrollable guffaw. "Me? Torment you? That is cute!"

Nothing but pure confusion was in Vladimir's sore mind. "W-What?" He mumbled.

Hovering its large head toward him, the creature's bright eyes filled Vladimir's gaze. "Do you know the torture of living in your mind? To feel repressed by that damn red gunk you drink to keep me at bay? Do you have even the slightest idea how frustrating that truly is? Hmm? Do you? Do you?!"

Sitting quietly, there was nothing the crimson stallion could say to the intimidating creature before him. All he could do was stare into it's pale, empty eyes. Reeling itself back, the shadow perched itself at the end of his cot. With its nose pointing up in air, It folded its hooves, and spoke to Vladimir grandiloquently.

"I'm not sure what did this to you. And I don't like it one bit. Ever since you met her children in Ironhoof, you've been," there was a brief pause in the creatures speech, "different. Like you were before I was born. That makes me wonder..."

Shaking his aching head, Vladimir begged for forgiveness as he ignored the acute pain that started to develop in his mind. "Please!" He cried, "End this pain! End this torment!"

"You say you can change? Fine. I'll play along. If only, for awhile." Pointing a ghastly hoof toward him, the creature spat, "You have three chances to prove yourself to me. Three. No more, no less. Once your three strikes are up, I'll be taking direct control."

It grimaced wickedly at him. "Permanently."

A shiver found its way into every one of Vladimir's limbs. Giggling, the creature lurched forward and poked the stallion in the chest. "I think it will be fun. You're getting weaker every day. Soon, there will be nothing that can stop me. Not you, nor your disgusting red filth."

A knock came from Vladimir's door. Briskly turning his gaze toward the solid metal door, he momentarily returned to the apparition, only to find that it had completely vanished, and along with it the pain in his head. Three loud knocks boomed yet again from the door.

"Coming!" Vladimir answered, fetching his long green his cape nervously from the side of his bed.

Draping it over his back, he quickly rushed to the door. Pressing a dimly glowing button on the door's side, it parted smoothly for him. Behind the door stood a Legion soldier that was dressed in a standard Legion breastplate, helmet and mask.

Bowing respectfully he addressed Vladimir with dignity he deserved, "M'lord."

Looking back briefly into his room, Vladimir quickly returned to the soldier before him with a puzzled look. "Did you happen to hear anything in my room?"

The soldier shook his head. "No, m'lord. Should I have heard something?"

Vladimir shook his head, dismissing the thoughts. "No. It's nothing..."

Nodding attentively to him, the soldier replied, "Very well, sir."

Rubbing his tired eyes, Vladimir sighed. "What is it you want?"

"Several of the officers, and even the Warden, sent me to fetch you, sir. They are having a meeting and they wish for you to attend."

Vladimir did not feel right. His entire body ached. For he had not slept in hours and the faint, dreary amounts of rest he did receive were plagued by long cruel nightmares. Waving his hoof dismissively, he replied to the soldier with a yawn. "Lead the way. Please forgive me if I drag behind at all..."

"Not at all, sir. Please, follow me," The soldier responded.

They trotted down the long cavernous hallways of the mines. Some sections of the Deadmines had been refurbished into quaint living quarters that a team of four, or more ponies could call home. On the floors, metal plates acted as loose flooring, while pipes that ran along the walls hissed at an unsettling pitch. There were few lights in the stone hallways. Many of which were simple light fixtures roughly attached at the tops of the cavern's low ceiling. Even with the faint lighting, it was all the illumination needed to see decently. Dark miners did not need external lighting. They dwelled in the cool, darkness of the underground. Over time, their hearing had become acute and their vision dulled. The massive green glowing goggles they wore on their masks aided them in seeing in the light the Legion personnel needed.

Through several more corridors the two ponies trotted along. The walk only made Vladimir feel sick, as the exhaustion settled in densely. After minutes of navigating the narrow catacombs of the mine, they arrived at a thick, wide metal door. Standing at the front of the door, it parted revealing a round room with a high ceiling.

Like much of the mine’s interior -- the walls, ceiling, and floor consisted of the natural, moisture coated rocks.

In the center of the room, several ponies sat at a round steel table. Above them, a circular light fixture shown down on the glinting steel of the tabletop. Four of the ponies seated were Legion officers -- decorated in dozens of jingling medals. The few other ponies who were at the table were dark miners. Creatures whose bodies were cloaked with rags from hoof to ear, wearing thick gas masks with large glowing green eyes. Amidst the ponies at the table was the Warden. As Vladimir entered, the officers rose up out of their seats, standing stiffly in respect.

"Sir, we're glad you could make it," An unicorn officer named Quickstrike greeted Vladimir.

Vladimir did not reply. Trying to mask the dull tiredness, he smiled at them and gestured with his hoof for them to retake their seats. There was one empty chair in-between the four officers, which Vladimir strolled groggily towards before taking a seat at the meeting. Each step Vladimir took -- the Warden peered ever so closely at him, and even with his eyes concealed behind the glowing greenness had an aching feeling of suspicion irradiated off of him. A feeling, which nopony else in the room could feel but Vladimir.

A small stack of papers was amassed in front of Quickstrike. As the members of meeting sat quietly, he levitated the papers, straightening them against the table's surface, and spoke.

"I believe that since we are all here now we may begin the meeting," Quickstrike started in a declarative tone.

Motioning a hoof to Vladimir, Quickstrike lowered his head slightly. "I am truly sorry if this sudden meeting interrupted your daily schedule, m'lord. But this is an import meeting we need you to be present for."

Vladimir nodded at him, motioning for the officer to continue. "Thank you, m'lord. Without further delay, let us get started."

"Firstly," Quickstrike stated, "I want to discuss the progress of the gem mining. As some of you know, this is an important matter. If Iron Hammer is to succeed, we need to have enough of the gems to power it efficiently."

"Yes," Captain Ventures -- who was at the far end of the table -- interjected, "but those of us that’ve been kept out of the mines would like to know what it is exactly. After all, we are leading the troops that are protecting it, we have just as much a right to know what it is."

"Fair enough," Quickstrike replied, "Iron Hammer-"

Vladimir raised a hoof, stopping Quickstrike where he was. Despite his exasperated condition and hidden hatred for the machine, he explained tiredly. In this moment he could have a chance to prove himself to the creature, and by time to find a way to rid himself of it.

Rising from his chair, Vladimir said lowly, "Iron Hammer is a weapon we- No, I found some years ago. It was left behind by the old provincial government as part of some other project that I am not aware of. Yet, despite this, its purpose is clear and its fuel source is crucial to the weapon's success. It is a weapon powered by-"

"Sun gems..." The Warden hissed from across the table.

Turning his attention to the Warden, Vladimir nodded mournfully. "Yes. Those..."

"If I may, sir." Quickstrike asked.

Vladimir took his seat, and nodded to the officer. "Yes, you may go continue on with the rest."

Bowing his head toward Vladimir, Quickstrike continued where Vladimir had ended. "Thank you, your majesty. Yes, sun gems. A material only found in our province. Until recently, the gems were found throughout the province. But over time, this mine has become the only one with pure gems in it. And even this mine seems to have run dry."

"That is why were are here? Yes?" One of the dark miners wheezed.

Slightly unsettled by the miner's voice, Quickstrike replied hesitantly. "Yes, that is why you are all here."

Ventures glared agitatedly at the Quickstrike, who was by the second becoming more and more annoyed him. "You still didn't answer me. What does it do?"

"We'll save that for another meeting, Captain.” Quickstrike declared resolving the issue temporarily. “For now, we need to address the issue at hoof. I'll explain your role in all of this shortly."

Grumbling to himself, the pudgy officer folder his meaty forelegs while Quickstrike continued. "The issue, gentlecolts -- is that there are no more gems. And the project is almost done. All that is needed is one single refined pure gemstone. Now, traces of the sun gems can be found in small quantities all around this mine and in the Quantum mine. Especially in common rocks. Unfortunately, to create the raw energy of a single gemstones requires thousands of lesser stones with faint traces of the actual gem."

"You see, Captain Ventures," Quickstrike went on, "our brave emperor was only just recently attacked by the Coalition. In order to get those numbers of lesser stones we need more soldiers to protect the trains. And, as captain of the mine's perimeter, you will need to allow more soldiers to be part of the train's guard."

Tapping his hoof on the table, Captain Ventures retorted, "If you haven’t forgotten, our numbers are very limited here. With the Coalition on our backs ever since that mess in Arkcannon -- I need to keep as many troops as we can here!"

"Now now, Captain," Another stallion, this time an earth pony, spoke at the table, "there is no need to get flustered over this. Let's examine our options, shall we? That is, if Colonel Quickstrike will allow me to present some solutions to our predicament."

"Very well, Thatch, proceed." Quickstrike nodded taking a seat.

"Thank you." Thatch hummed arrogantly, standing. "Gentlecolts, in terms of finding more men to protect the rails: I propose we transfer some troops from the border, or perhaps, from Ironhoof, to the eastern railway."

Rubbing the bristling scruff of his lower chin, Quickstrike nodded while he pondered the proposal. "Yes, we could transfer troops over. But, how many? I'm not sure how much we can spare at this time."

"Believe me when I say this, Colonel," Thatch added, "I know for a fact that we have nearly three hundred troops across the province that are not doing a single thing. Imagine how much more smoothly the operation would go if three hundred were added to the troops already stationed here or on the rails."

Turning to Vladimir, Thatch continued, "With his highness' permission, I could make this solution a reality."

Unsurely, Vladimir sat in his chair contemplating the proposition. The weapon was a horrible creation, and the last thing he wanted was for it to be operational. He had to stall its operation -- before a word could even leave his lips the voice hissed at him faintly in the back of his mind.

"You want your first strike to be wasted so quickly? Tsk, tsk. I thought you were more cooperative than that. Remember our deal, Little Red. Remember it..."

A sudden nervousness caused his crimson fur to become flushed and pale. Trying as he could to conceal the abrupt change in his complexion, Vladimir gave Thatch his blessing with one silent nod.

Smiling, Thatch bowed thankfully. "You are truly generous, your grace."

Captain Ventures was still frowning with his thick brow furrowed. "I understand that we have one problem solved, but how long will it take to complete the refining process? If it takes thousands upon thousands of those blasted lesser stones to make just one pure, isn't there some other way?"

An officer at the far end of the table spoke up, raising his voice at Ventures. "Good heavens, have you not been listening?! They're pretty much gone! And it'll take months -- no, years, to get the minerals needed to make one stone!"

Thatch smiled, chuckling lightly under his breath. Ventures glared at him. "Who are you laughing at, Thatch!"

"I'm not laughing at anyone, Captain," Thatch continued to speak. "Have any of you heard of the Coalition's own project? I know it's an old story, so I don't blame you if you don't remember it."

Many of the ponies at the table shook their heads. While many of them had been in the Legion for many years, few had been in the order more than fifteen years. The memories of the project they possessed was still vivid in Vladimir’s mind. It instilled a painful nostalgia that he hated. By all means he wanted to forget about the horrible project, for the heartbreaking images from days long since past were too unbearable. Yet, something from the furthest regions of his mind told him to speak of it. Was it the creature? Or his own conscious? Whatever it may be, it compelled him to confess his thoughts.

"If none of you know, then I can tell you," Vladimir muttered lowly, painfully feeling the thoughts come to him.

Thatch blinked at him. "If you would, your grace. I'm sure it will be an honor enlightening the members of this meeting about it."

Taking in a deep breath, Vladimir summoned the greatest strength he possessed. Letting out the breath inside of him, all of the negative energies within him drifted off. And so, he told them the story of the fabled Coalition project.

The bleak grayness of the midday weather was a depressing scene. Gray was everywhere. The walls of the storage building were gray, as was the sky, road, and even the other buildings across the street. This was apart from the occasional red brick structure -- which, to some degree, was also as dull as gray. Together, all of ponies had took refuge in the second story of the old building. There was just a single wide room with three broken windows on both sides. Old moldy boxes coated in a thin layer of dust were stacked unevenly against the walls. And at the very end of the room, right above the entrance of the building, was a large hole blasted through the wall that overlooked the street outside.

It was high enough so that the hellhounds -- no matter how much they tried, could not reach them. This gave them an advantage over the creatures as occasionally they could inspect the pack's numbers at the building's doors. Pick a few off and retreat back to wait the monstrous beasts out. Near the room's center, Ally and Adam sat with Lucy trying to start a fire with the old cardboard. Neo, on the other hoof, tried to sleep on the cold concrete floor while the hounds barked endlessly outside.

A steaming frustration boiled in Lucy's mind as she tried to light the strips of moldy cardboard with a lighter. Each light she made only caused the weathered material to singe into a dark scorch mark. Adam felt tired as Lucy tried her hardest to start a warming fire for them. But he knew sleep wasn't possible -- not with the hellhounds deafening uproar outside.

Ally scratched her head before letting out a drawn-out yawn. "Lucy, you know I can start the fire with my horn? I appreciate that you volunteered, but I really think it would be best if I-"

"No! I can do it! Just watch!" Lucy barked, trying to light the cardboard once more.

After a few more futile attempts, Lucy put the lighter in her bag, stepped away from the heap of rotting cardboard, and threw her head in the air. "I'm done!" She exclaimed, "I'm done! I can't do it! Not with that damn barking outside!"

Lucy went to the farthest corner of the room, and slumped her flank down onto the ground. With her head pressed firmly against the wall's corner, she muttered to herself vulgar comments as the veins in her head throbbed.

Wester came up the stairs, and peered at the miserable group. Turning to Lucy, he glanced at her with worry. "Lucky, are you okay? I heard you shouting."

Keeping her brow soundly pressed onto the corner, she pointed to the hole at the other end of the room. "Those damn mutts won't shut up! And I can't think straight when they're yapping like that!"

"Speak for yourself," Neo moaned from across the room.

Rolling onto his stomach, Neo sighed as all of his limbs and joints suffered with sore pains. His eyes were heavy and his mood sour. "I can't even rest up with those things out there..."

Adam yawned, feeling more tired than he had in days. "How much longer do you think it will be until the hounds leave?"

Wester trotted toward the hole blasted in the wall. Right below him, the hounds clawed and barked wildly as their demented, bloodshot eyes locked onto him. Turning his visor to the sky, he listened carefully to the sound of the wind -- doing what he could to channel out the bellowing of the hounds.

"It's going to rain..." Wester said, his muzzle raised high.

Ally got up and took a place by Wester’s side. "I can't hear any-"

She looked up at his metallic ears and chuckled sheepishly. "Oh, I almost forgot about your hearing."

Looking up at the dark, foreboding, cloud cover above churn unnaturally, Ally asked, "Will it be a light rain? Or a heavy one? For that matter, will it scare away these hounds?"

"Maybe," Wester answered in an unsure tone, "it sounds enormous."

Ally turned her head back toward Adam, who was now sitting next to his brother. Occasionally, Neo's head would slouch over onto him as he gradually dozed off. With each nod, Neo's weight would press more firmly against Adam making him uncomfortable.

"Brother," He grunted, feeling his brother's tired weight push down on him, "you're crushing me."

Snapping awake, Neo recovered himself. "Wh-What? I'm sorry about that..."

With a sigh, Ally muttered to herself, "I hope that storm clears these hounds away. Otherwise, we'll be too drowsy to even move when they do."

Humming faintly above, the ceiling lights shined down onto the bloodstained floor of Big Lot's hall. Upon her throne, Big Lot leaned her head on her hoof bordley against the arm of the soft leather chair. Although she was frowning, a smoldering hateful fury still twisted around inside her mind. All across the hall, ponies were moving bodies and cleaning blood from the floor with old linen cloths.

Blood dripped amply from the rags as the ponies scrubbed hard to remove the flesh that stuck to the ground like hardened glue. Collateral damage was everywhere. Both bullet shells, and holes were scattered across the room. Even the doors at the far end of the hall remained bashed in and dented. This allowed a cooling draft from the outside blow gently inside, scattering dust and dirt scatter in all directions.

Through the broken doors of the hall came three ponies. Two of which looked nervous, as they fidgeted coming closer to Big Lot. One of the ponies was a guard -- one of the few who had survived the night before by simply not going out to drink. Being one of the last guards meant that his responsibilities increased while staffing was low. That included fetching ponies for Big Lot when she wanted, or spread the news about a certain announcement to the other townsfolk.

The other two ponies were Scooter, and his companion Whopper. Scooter’s scrawny legs shook the closer he came to his master, while Whopper trailed behind him, with a content expression plastered onto his thick, dull face. The two slaver ponies followed the soldier to Big Lot at the end of the room where she waited to speak to them.

Stopping at the steps before her throne, the soldier bowed before her graciously. "Your radiance," He purred.

The filly perked up, and peered at the two ponies he had brought to her. In a darling, quaint little voice that fluttered like the wings of a small bird she replied, "Good job, soldier. You've been a very good boy."

The soldier nodded once to her. "Thank you, your radiance."

Big Lot outstretched her little hoof and tapped the soldier gently on his head. "You can run along now. I'll summon you if there's anything else I need."

Standing stiffly, the soldier saluted, and started off to the door. Scooter and Whopper watched the soldier stroll toward the exit, leaving them in the hands of fate. Turning their gazes slowly up to the intimidating little lord, both gulped heavily.

Giving the filly a wide, terrified grin, Scooter sputtered, "Yer radiance. Ya wanted t' see us?"

When Scooter looked at her, the amiable little filly that had spoken to the soldier was gone. Big Lot, with her clear sapphire eyes, placidly leered at them. "Yes, Scooter. That I did..."

Her voice had changed to a wickedly sour sort of tone that irked the stomachs of both stallions. "Do you know why you're here?"

"Uh," Scooter hummed nervously, "no?"

Flailing her arms around in a maddening rage, Big Lot screamed thunderously at the two ponies, "YOU LIVED! YOU IDIOTS LIVED!"

Scooter blinked at her with a perplexing look. "W-What?"

Big Lot's fit of bombastic rage subsided, leaving her puffing and panting tiredly. "Out of all the ponies that had to die, you two were the only ones who made it out!"

"Is," Scooter mumbled unsurely, "is that a bad thing?"

Leaning more closely toward him, she shot him a sarcastic stare. "I don't know. You tell me!"

Standing cluelessly Scooter, and his companion were speechless. "It's... Not good?"

Slowly, Big Lot clapped her tiny hooves. "It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out..."

"But, why are ya mad that me an' Whopper here are still around an' kickin?"

Sitting back in the soft leather cushions of her seat, Big Lot sighed. Massaging the migraine that had formed in her forehead, she said, "Firstly, I don't like you. I don't like your smell, your look, or that stupid little eyepatch you wear."

Lowering his head, Scooter took in the hurtful comments. "Ah see, yer radiance..."

Big Lot sighed. "But..."

Scooter's ears rose, and looking up at his master she continued in a regretful tone, "I'm giving you..."

"Wh-what?" he asked, raising a hoof to one ear.

The filly pouted and folded her hooves. "A promotion..." she whispered under her breath.

Scooter was completely befuddled. “Wh-What?”

Big Lot was still pouting. “You heard me, you idiot,” The filly grumbled.

Somewhere deep within the slaver’s mind, the message connected. Turning to Whopper with ecstatic energy, Scooter boomed exuberantly, "Did ya hear that Whopper?! Ah'm a Capt'n!"

Whopper clapped his large hooves, giving his friend the best supportive smile he could muster. "I sure did, boss. Ya finally got that promotion ya wanted so badly."

Stomping his hoof on the ground, Scooter went on announcing his joy. "Ah sure did! Sweet baby Celestia, ah did!"

"Yes," Big Lot mumbled annoyed, "you did..."

Opening his single eye, Scooter returned his glance to Big Lot -- who stared down at him with irritated contempt. Tapping one hoof against the soft leather of her chair she went on. "Don't think I did it because I like you. As your princess, Captains are needed. Since you're one of the few ponies who survived that horrible ordeal last night, I needed to promote somepony. I already promoted that guard that brought you here, but I need somepony I know personally as a Captain."

Scooter bowed thankfully to her, grinning widely. "Oh, thank ya kindly, yer radiance! Ya won't regret it! Ah promise!"

She rolled her eyes and groaned, "Sadly for you, I'm already regretting it."

At the end of the hall, the soldier she had previously sent off came dashing past the old battered doors of the hall. In his voice an urgency could be felt as he stood only feet from Big Lot's throne attentively.

"Your radiance." The soldier huffed, briskly saluting.

Big Lot's large blue eyes scanned the panting pony before her. "What is it, Captain? What is the problem?"

"Soldiers," he started, "coming from the south, ma'am. I'm not sure how many, but it is of a fair size, your radiance."

"Are they ours or the Coalition's?"

"Ours, your radiance."

Big Lot nodded slowly, contemplating the situation. "Watch them with caution, Captain. Let us welcome them. But be sure to put what men you have on full alert until commanded to do otherwise by me."

Bowing to her, the Captain bid her farewell and trotted off to the doors once more. Scooter turned himself around, putting one leg out in front of him as though he too were about to leave. Whopper knew Big Lot hadn't dismissed them -- which left him confused by his friend's actions.

"Uh, boss?" Whopper commented.

Scooter didn't put his leg down. "What is it?"

Using the tip of his hoof, Whopper pointed to Big Lot, who, like before, was glaring at him with the same disappointed stare she had had before. "Where do you think you're going?"

Scooter gulped, realizing his situation. "Uh," He stammered unsurely, "followin' t' capt'n?"

"No," The filly cooed, "you're staying here at my side until we're done receiving our guests."

Scooter was beaming with joy. The grin he had prior grew nearly double in size reaching from ear to ear. Prancing up the short steps that lead to her throne, he perched himself directly next to Big Lot. Whopper took a seat on the other side of the throne, sitting himself down on the steps.

Bursting with excitement, Scooter fidgeted constantly as he stood at his boss' side. Leaning over the arm of her chair, Big Lot took one of her petite hoofs and laid it neatly on the top of Scooter's greasy mane. Then, pushing him ever so slightly, she moved Scooter farther away from her chair. Rubbing her hoof on the leather, she stiffened her posture.

Guests were coming. Perhaps they were generals, or maybe Vladimir himself. She didn't know. The one thing that was clear was that she needed to be the most delightful leader she could be. Yes, Big Lot, remember. Smile on. Back stiff. Voice sweet. That's how good girls behave. In her mind she would recite the saying again and again, constantly reminding herself that in the company of high officers, impressions -- particularly good ones -- were essential to forming strong bonds.

Doing just as she told herself, the filly put on her most darling smile. Accompanied by an endearing sparkle in her eye that would make any pony's heart, enraged or not, fluttered at her adorable charm. Several Legion soldiers entered through the bashed doors. Some were coated in thick armored plating while others were dressed more casually in the standard Legion barding. There was one pony in particular who emerged from the head of the group. He was a stallion, whose chest and legs were armored. Yet a proud officer's cap rested atop his short mane.

Stopping before Big Lot's throne, the mass of ponies fanned out around the room. Making sure to keep behind the officer pony that lead them.

"Big Lot," The officer addressed her solidly -- in a confident pompous tone.

In the beginning, the little filly, with her charismatic eyes, humbly looked down at the pony before her. It had taken a moment for the scene to process itself in her mind, and, when it had, the pony’s name came to her naturally.

"Lieutenant Covert. What a wonderful surprise! What are you and your men doing here on this wonderful afternoon?" she chirped.

Covert seemed unmoved by her charm. "I'm here, Big Lot, under the orders of his majesty Emperor Vladimir. Ruler of the Ironhoof Legion, and lord of all of the Ironhoof Province."

Despite her perky behavior, there was a snarky sarcasm which protruded unnaturally through her tone. "Oh! Interesting! Really, that is! Please, do tell why."

As direct as he could, Covert declared, "My men and I have traveled across the province to get here. And under his majesty's orders I am here to replace you."

Big Lot’s facade of a cute little filly died. The grin and sparkling charm. All gone. "What?" She muttered, speechless.

There was a nervousness developing inside of Covert that he did not want Big Lot to see. To hide it. He continued addressing her. "Indeed, that is correct. I am here to replace you."

Big Lot stared at him curiously. "You? But you're just a lowly lieutenant, when I'm princess of the whole border!"

"It's captain, now," He corrected her.

The little filly became enraged. "If you're captain of this whole group, what happened to my uncle? I demand to speak with him at once about this! NOW!"

Still concealing his fear, Covert went on. "I'm... I'm sorry, m'lady. But..."

Leaning forward, she cocked her head, glaring conspicuously at him. "But what, Captain?"

He gulped, keeping his posture stiff. "He's dead, m'lady..."

A sorrow-filled gloom darkened itself over her. A grim mood of shallow mourning creeped through every inch of her body. "How?" She asked sadly under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Covert asked, raising a hoof to his ear.

"HOW!" She boomed, standing up in her throne.

Her tiny voice carried all the way to the end of the hall. Alarmed at her ferocious rage, Covert answered her as quickly as he could. "We found a magical burn that penetrated deeply into his flesh, m'lady. It is likely an attack emitted from a unicorn's horn, though it is not uncommon to think that an energy weapon did it."

Gritting her pearly white teeth she snarled, "Who killed him?"

"I don't know." Covert replied.

"It was those guardians, wasn't it! Those damn fools who saved them! It has to be them! It has to be! I know it! I know it!"

There was a sense of troubled urgency in Covert's voice. "M'lady, I advise that you calm yourself! We don't know who the killer, or killers, are!"

"I know who they are!" Big Lot ranted madly, "I know! It was the guardians! Where are they? Where?!"

Covert was confused -- as was the rest of the Legion soldiers present in the hall. Her actions were unsettling, and the overall mood of the insane little filly made the whole room uncomfortable. Oddly, through the loud madness Scooter cleared his throat, halting the filly's crazed chatter.

Looking down at him tiredly, Big Lot fumed, "What is it you-"

"Ah might know where them ponies are... Ya know, t' ones that don' killed yer uncle'." Scooter commented fearfully.

This intrigued Big Lot, as Scooter now had her full undivided attention. "Is this the first time you've said something actually useful?"

Scooter ignored her comment, and continued to speak. Clearing his skinny throat he said, "Ah heard over t' radio that them guardians were a big white one. An' a smaller blue one. Jus' like them ones ah brought t' ya the other day."

Big Lot shook her head in disbelief at him. "Are you saying that those ponies we had..."

"Yeah," Scooter gulped nodding, "they were, yer radiance."

Falling down onto her haunches she massaged the bridge of her snout. Sighing, she thought hard about the news she had just received, while standing before her impatiently was Captain Covert. The courage inside him to speak out against Big Lot grew -- until it swelled up deep inside him, and expanded like a bomb of confidence bursting from within.

Tightening his stomach Covert shouted forcefully. "Big Lot!"

She looked down at him with lowered lids, and tired frustrated eyes as Covert sputtered tensely. "I-I am the commanding officer here! Me! Vladimir put me here! And I demand you to step down, or I'll!... I'll!"

"You'll do what, Captain?" Big Lot sneered at him.

Struggling to find his words Covert tried to counter her. "I'll... I'll-I'll kill you!"

The searing frustration that built-up inside her was completely ignored. Bursting into a loud, contemptuous laugh she snarked at him. "You'll kill me? Just like that? You? Don't make me laugh! Oh, wait. You already did!"

"Stop that! I'll do it!" Covert spat, drawing his pistol.

"You don't have the balls... Now my uncle, he would do it. He would kill me if he was in your position. He'd laugh doing it too. That's real power. The will to do whatever you want not because of some stupid title, but because he can. Can you do it? All you rely on is that stupid little rank to get you somewhere in life, when in reality, it's ponies like my uncle that will rise to the top. That's how Vladimir did it, and that's how I did it."

Big Lot stood in her chair, and leered at him. Standing on her hind legs the little filly spread her forelegs wide open, exposing her small body. "You think have what it takes to be lord of the border? Then do it, you pansy!"

Shuddering uncontrollably, the Captain stood in place holding the gun up at her. He was terrified of her. For it was like staring back into the deranged eyes of Cyrus himself. "I-I can't... I..."

"Do it, you weakling! Take the border!" She exclaimed vigorously.

Sweat trickled down Covert's dust ridden fur. His pupils were dilated, as he stared headlong into the blue enraged eyes of Big Lot. She was a monster. A terrifying monster who, no matter what, was not afraid of him. She had some evil power of bending his will that he could not begin to understand. It made him forget his stance in the Legion and what it meant. An invisible aura of hate, and control hovered around her that made him obey.

Dropping his pistol, the metal of the barrel tinged faintly against the solid floor. Lowering his head, he diverted his gaze from her own. Taking a few small steps away from his pistol a darkening shadow loomed over this very self being. Big Lot hopped down from her chair -- approaching him.

Using just one of her hooves, she smacked him across the face viciously. The very sound of his flesh being hit by her hoof sent the other soldiers in the room reeling back. Covert flinched, before placing a hoof upon his red stinging cheek, all the while he kept his eyes low to the floor. No soul made a sound.

All was silent.

"Don't you ever speak to me like that again. Do you hear me?" She growled at him.

Nodding weakly at her, Big Lot addressed the rest of the soldiers in the room. "You all work for me now. Every last one of you. From this point on, you will call me master or your radiance! Is that clear?"

The soldiers in the room all gave her an agreeing murmur over the peremptory declaration. Returning to Covert, she smirked at him. "That includes you, Lieutenant."

Covert wanted to speak out against his demotion. But a furtive sensation that irked him in the farther corners of his mind stopped him. There was nothing he could do in the midst of her controlling presence.

Pointing to Scooter, Big Lot announced. "I have more need of you, Scooter. Together, we'll find where those ponies went. And make them pay for what they did to my uncle."

Scooter smiled humbly, and taking a single step toward her, he replied, "Ya mean it?"

She grinned wickedly at him, with determination twinkling in her eyes. "Yes, I do. We'll go around town and see if anypony who was alive knows where they went. When we find where they're going, we can trap them. And I'll spend a good amount of time making up for all the playtime they stole from me."

"Are you telling me we have no idea where the project even is?!" Captain Ventures bellowed at the meeting table.

Thatch, with his forelegs crossed, nodded sincerely at Ventures. "Yes, Captain. And all of those gems we need are possibly inside it too."

A furious anxiety churred inside of the flustered Captain. "And we haven't made any attempts to find it? How do we hope to even get this weapon operational if the very thing we need is lost! And we're not even trying to find it!"

"Actually," Thatch commented earnestly, "if I'm not mistaken, our Lord has already thought of this. Am I correct?"

Without verbally replying, Vladimir nodded once tiredly.

"Excellent." Purred Thatch.

Ventures sat idly watching Thatch talk calmly. The very aura that Thatch gave off made the Legion captain suspicious. While it wasn't clear why, the mood was still fully present. Perhaps it was the vagueness of the conversation, or even the subject matter that bothered him.

Ventures growled lowly, "Will somepony please share with us what the hell is going on?!"

Thatch smirked at him. "You really need to calm yourself, Captain. You mustn't get so upset about something so minor. It really isn't befitting of a captain of your status."

"I wouldn't have to act this way if I knew what the hell any of you were saying!"

Retaining a fixed, solid posture Thatch turned his gaze to Vladimir. With his cold piercing stare he smiled at the Legion Emperor. "Our wise Emperor hired a pony some time ago: Skyward -- or something like that if I recall it correctly. He's the one who brought us the predators. It was an act that we did not pay him to do, yet he did so anyway."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Ventures grumbled under his breath.

"Fine," Thatch retorted. "You see, our Emperor hired him to follow her sons in hopes that they would lead us to the project. It was clear that they’re looking for their mother, so why let us do all the hard work?"

Raising an eyebrow at Thatch, Ventures snidely asked, "And where is this mercenary?"

Leering bitterly at the Captain, Thatch said, "We're not sure. All we know is that he gave us the predators and left. Before he skipped town, as it were, we learned that her sons were located near Bunker 37. However, it's been rumored that they were seen around Arkcannon. This is unlikely, of course, as we would have seen them by the perimeter outside of the settlement."

"So, you let them get away..." Captain Ventures snarled.

Giving Ventures a flustered, menacing stare, Thatch added, "But you'd do well holding that fat tongue of yours, Captain. I would not speak so rudely to a higher ranking officer. Especially in the presence of his majesty."

Fuming, the Captain sat angrily in his seat, muttering rude remarks to himself.

"As I was saying," Thatch continued, "we have scouts looking out for them as we speak. We'll follow them, and hopefully, they’ll lead us to the Coalition's project."

"However, before we conclude this meeting,” -- Thatch paused, directing his attention to the dark miners across the table -- “I have some information that the Warden would like to hear."

Nodding his cloaked head once toward Thatch, he went on keeping his gaze away from the hollow green eyes of the miner. "It's about the predators and their fuel source."

"Oh?" The Warden hissed pleasantly. "I am interested. Very interested, yes."

"Well, you see, Warden. It would require something from your mine."

"Yes? Yes?"

Thatch said, "They require the blood of a living creature to operate."

The Warden was very pleased by this. "Oh? Good. Intimidating. Strong. Good, yes."

"Indeed." Thatch paused briefly. "Good..."

Clearing his throat, he went on. "That would mean that some of your slaves would have to go. A simple fee for some of the greatest killing machines this province has ever seen."

Rubbing the under section of his dark metal breather, the Warden purred, "We can find weaker slaves. Older ones. Slaves which do not yield much for the mine. We get new slaves soon. Younger, stronger, and better slaves. They replace them in mine. Mine grow stronger because of it."

Clapping his hooves together nervously Thatch exclaimed. "Excellent! Then, I'm sure fueling them won't be an issue then."

"No." The Warden answered frankly.

"Good," Thatch murmured in relief. "Then, without further adieu, let's conclude this meeting. I hope we can meet again soon and discuss any future updates on the progress of our project."

Rising out of their low-seated chairs the members of the meeting disbanded. Some of the officers stayed momentarily to discuss other topics with one another. Ventures, who was still upset over the whole matter, was the first to vacate the room. As the officers chatted idly, Vladimir shuffled quietly toward the door. Thatch spotted Vladimir and called out to him.

"Sir?" He queried, as Vladimir -- who was already close to the door -- looked back at him. "Are you going to retire to your chambers?"

Almost sighing, Vladimir nodded. "Yes. I don't think I shall join you in your conversation, as I am very tired, and the trip through the elevated caverns is rough. I hope you do not mind, Captain."

Shaking his head at Vladimir, Thatch smiled. "No, not at all, m'lord. You should get your rest. The coming days will be laden with stressful work."

Returning the gesture as kindly as he could, Vladimir went back to the door and left the meeting room. Once the emperor had vanished from sight, many of the other officers trotted off toward the exit, discussing further matters about the project to themselves. In the quiet room, near the round table, stood the two Dark Miners. Creeping gingerly toward the door, the Warden waited until the sounds of the officer's voices faded into the long cavernous deep.

The Miner approached the Warden keenly. "Did you notice the oddity?"

The Warden glanced at the Miner. "How could you not? No? Much is wrong with the Emperor. An oddity. Confusion, yes."

"He is not the same," The other Miner added. "He has changed."

Nodding, the Warden agreed. "Too kind. Too soft. Not stern. He is not Vladimir."

"A copy?" The Miner asked.

"No," The Warden replied, thinking, "he is... Nice. Different change of mind, but no copy."

"Nice? Yes?"

"Nice and confused. Yes," The Warden agreed.

"Is it weakness?"

"All surface ponies are weak. Fragile and tender. We are bred in the dark. We are strong. The mine is strong. Until now, he was strong, and now, he is confused. Soft he has become."

"So, weakness?"

"Yes, yes. Weakness."

The Miner returned his gaze to the door briefly. "What do we do?"

Hissing, the Warden answered, "The surface ponies are blind and stupid. They do not see. We are wise. We see what they cannot. Their leader is weak. If he dies, we can take the weapon. Yes."

The Miner gasped, "You say treason?"

"No," The Warden interjected sternly, "we are not slaves. We are not part of surface Legion. We are Dark Miners. We belong to the mine. With the Predators, we can kill them. Drive them from the mine. Take weapon, and control surface."

The Miner scratched the linen wrapping upon his head. "The mine will be ours? Because they are weak, yes?"

"Yes," The Warden cooed.

"What do we do?"

In a smothered laugh, the Warden said, "We wait. We wait until his weakness becomes our strength. Yes, yes. Then we will take control. Full control of the mine. In time, in time..."

Like a pure, undisturbed coat of pale gray paint, the skies were blanketed with clouds. With thunderous fury, rain poured down onto the earth below. The downpour was muffled in the farther regions of the building -- save for the only blast hole at the far end of the room leading out into the open. Like an amplifier, the rain's uproar was intensified throughout the entire room from this certain point. The only positive thing that any member of the group could see out of this sudden change in the weather was that the hellhounds had finally stopped their vexatious barking.

Neo and Adam had tiredly leaned against one another near the center of the room. Their tired, weary eyes sagged low while a sluggish darkness gathered along their lower eyelids. Lucy sat in the center of the hole in the wall, frustrated.

I hate the rain, She thought.

Her back was slouched over, and her head hung low. Every region of her eyes ached. It had been all day that they had to endure the constant sound pulverizing their heads, ears, and minds. It was, in many ways, driving them to their breaking point. Except for Wester, who did what he could to remain quiet. Lest he say or do something wrong, the whole group would erupt into a frenzied blast of maddening, tired fury.

This also meant staying in the lower level of the building, watching the door from the cold concrete steps of the staircase. With his rifle at the ready, and a firm concentrating stare he sat vigilantly, guarding the rest of the group from down stairs. Ally was by no means excluded. She too stumbled around the room, feeling drowsy, as she gathered dried cardboard to fuel a fire she had started near the other side of the room.

The gloom of the bleak, heavy rain did little to help the slowness of the day. Ever since the rain had come, a cold draft would whisk through the room, sending an icy chill along everypony’s spine. The hellhounds had moved on to the hallowed skeleton of one of the pre-war shops across from the storage building. From the damaged foyers of the shops, some of the hellhounds stood silently, glaring at their building on the other side of the street. Other hounds curled themselves into round, matted pile and snored peacefully sleeping.

Neo snapped awake suddenly, as his head began to sink further to the floor. Taking a moment to let out a drawn-out yawn, he shuffled over to the hole next to Lucy. Licking the dryness of his chapped lips, he tiredly stuck his left foreleg out into the rain.

Raising a questioning eyebrow at the stallion next to her, Lucy asked gruffly, "Neo, what are you doing?"

Letting a few of the ice-cold droplets hit the dusty metal of his Pipbuck, Neo replied, "I'm checking the rain..."

There was a brief, contemplative moment of silence from Lucy. "What?"

"The rain," Neo repeated, "I'm checking it."

"For what?"

Pulling his Pipbuck back, Neo glanced at it quickly, before lowering his foreleg. "Everywhere we go the rain is different."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked. "Rain is rain. There isn't anything special about it."

"That's what I thought too," Neo stated while pondering the strangeness of the situation, "but then I found an odd feature in the rain, time and time again."

Lucy rolled her hoof, gesturing for him to go on. "So? What's this odd feature you found?"

Neo shrugged and gazed out into the thick downpour outside. "In some locations the rain is radiated. In others it isn't. I don't know about you, but that's pretty strange if you ask me."

Giving him a befuddled turn of her head, Neo's theory had made no sense to Lucy. "So what?"

Blinking at her, Neo was a little taken back by the pegasus' response. "Isn't that odd? How is it rain in the south is different from here in the north?"

There was an unsettling amount of tired lethargy in her tone. "I'm not sure, kid. For all you know it could be those SPP towers set up outside of the province."

Neo raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "SPP, what?"

Feeling the energy continue to drain from her body, Lucy sighed heavily. "It's nothing, kid. Go and get some rest. Talking is only making my headache worse..."

Letting the conversation rolled away, Neo left Lucy's side and went over to the low fire Ally had started. On his way, he passed by Adam, who, on the floor, was curled up in a ball shivering as a chilling draft blew through the room. Stopping, Neo felt it only right to help him. It was hard watching his brother shake so miserably. Picking him up by his foreleg Neo slung Adam over his back. Breathing softly, the blue buck slept. Nothing his brother had done had disturbed him in the slightest. While Adam rested Neo gingerly stepped toward the fire -- taking extra care to not wake his brother.

Gently setting him down next to the warm crackling flames, Adam smiled. Perhaps the act had eased the horrible conditions. For now, his little brother could sleep in peace.

Ally was nestled next to the fire with a large stack of shredded cardboard strips gathered at her side. Once Neo backed away from his brother, she whispered to him, "Is he comfortable?"

Neo nodded and walked to her. "Yeah, I think so."

Taking a spot directly next to her, Ally continued to feed the ever dancing flames of the burning fire. With each new strip of fuel, tiny glowing cinders would fly up into the air and calmly weave around in the constantly churning draft.

Both ponies could feel each others warmth, and smiled tiredly as they sat silently for a moment; simply watching the fire before them.

"Neo, do you think we'll get to the mountains?" Ally asked.

"What?" Neo asked sharply. "Of course I think we will. Though, as right now, it's looking kind of bleak..." Adam shifted himself slightly -- adjusting to the new warmth that caressed his shivering body.

Ally giggled affectionately. "Despite the sleeping arrangements, he really looks like he's at peace."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two. Yet, inside of Neo's tired eyes, Ally saw something peculiar. A feeling of nostalgia beckoned to her from behind the thick layer of sleep deprivation in his eyes.

Looking up to Neo with worried curiosity, Ally asked him softly, "Is something on your mind? Is it about your mother again?"

Suddenly shaking, Neo recovered and replied to the mare at his side. "What? Oh, no it's not about her. I was just remembering something."

This ignited Ally's interest further. "Really? What about?"

Smirking playfully at her, he commented, "A little keen on the past, are we?"

"A little," She cooed with a smile. "Care to share the information?"

Taking a few, brisk moments, Neo turned his attention to Lucy, who, as he had left her, was gazing out into the rain at the other side of the room. Returning to the inquisitive mare, he answered, "I haven't told many ponies about this..."

Rubbing the back of his neck nervously Neo added lowly, "It's about when I first met Adam. You know, when we were kids."

"What brought those memories up? If you don't mind me asking."

A reluctant aura lingered around him, as he pondered just how he would word out his reply. When he did speak, a powerful compassionate intensity flourished in his words, filled with earnest sincerity. "When my mother and father brought Adam home, he was covered in a little blue blanket. At first I didn't know what to make of him. I hadn't really seen a baby before, and this one was supposed to be my little brother."

Neo smiled at Adam, who continued to rest contently by the fire. "I didn't know how to feel," He continued, "I'm not sure if it was joy or jealousy. But what I do know was that I was stuck with him for the rest of my life. And, as the weeks went by, I grew to dislike him more and more. I desperately wanted my mother to notice me, but she wouldn't because she needed to care for him. It bothered me that she'd keep telling me to watch over him and treat him well. He'd taken my life from me. That special time I had with my mother, all gone."

Trying to keep the tired drowsiness from overtaking him, he shook his head. "The next part is a little fuzzy. The one thing I do remember clearly was the time Adam walked for the first time. Something in me, I'm not sure what, made me want to take care of him. And for the next few years up to when he could talk, I looked over him. All that hate and jealousy I had. It just wasn’t there anymore."

Ally turned her own tranquil gaze at Adam. "You know that time Adam got shot outside of Maneton? When you sang that one song to him in the infirmary, I had never thought ponies like you or him existed in the wasteland. Most siblings leave to find a life someplace else. Others just don't care about one another. But you two, you two had something special."

Sighing, Neo added, "I just hope we can make it."

Ally nodded to him with a warming smile. "We all do, Neo."

Neo yawned, feeling the sleep deprivation slowly creep over his eyelids. "Adam's making me jealous again, I wish I could get to sleep with all that dang rain."

Like a contagion, the yawn spread to Ally. "We can try, can't we? If Adam can do it, so can we."

She had a charming, motherly conviction that hovered tenderly in her voice. This made Neo's heart flutter, urging him to at least try one more time to gain some rest. Which, strangely enough, made an idea sprout in his mind.

"Hey," Neo announced delicately, removing his duster, "I have an idea that should make it easier to sleep."

Blinking at him, Ally watched as he placed the old guardian attire on both of their backs. Across her back, Ally could feel the fresh warmth of the fabric touch her coat. The duster acted as a blanket for the both of them -- further adding to their protection against the nipping drafts of the outside.

As the duster entrapped the two pony's body heat, they lay their heads down upon the mid-sections of their forelegs. Closing their eyes, they tried to fall asleep. Lucy was yawning, nestled at the far end of the room near the center of the blasted hole, looking out at the hellhounds across the street with great contempt.

“I hate those things. I hate the rain. Damn, I hate a lot of things,” She muttered in agitation to herself.

There was a moment during her stare-down with the hellhounds that provoked the muscles in her neck to turn around. And, in a groggy sort of fashion, she did. When she did, she saw all of the group rest contently around the golden flames of the low fire. All except for Wester who was completely alone in the first floor of the building. Sadness sank deeply inside her chest. There, it twisted itself around like a snake constricting its prey. The emotion was not pleasant in the slightest.

Perhaps it was the thought of Wester being alone in downstairs that did it. Only perhaps. And, with some more careful consideration she stood up for the first time in an hour. The joints of her legs were sore as she limped over to the end of the room passing by the sleeping ponies by the fire. Not far down the stairs was Wester, sitting in the cold sullen room below. Faintly the light from the fire glimmered dimly against his dull armor plates as he sat idly with his rifle resting in his lap.

Once she had started down the cracked concrete steps, he noticed her. Motioning his crimson visor up at her Wester asked, "Lucky, are you still up?"

Lucy chuckled sluggishly as she came down the steps. "It's a little hard to sleep with the rain out there pounding the ground. Oh, and the fact that we're trapped in here doesn't help either, you know?"

For a moment Wester did not answer. "I suppose so. I'm not tired. Only alert," He muttered.

From the staircase the downpour outside seemed more softer than it had been on the second floor. Lucy took note of this as she came to Wester's side. Plotting her sore rump upon the cold, firm concrete steps, she sat one step above her armored friend.

While hers was a higher position -- Wester sat nearly as high as she did once he straightened his back. Sighing heavily, Lucy enjoyed the lowered volume of the rain. "It's sort of peaceful in here, huh? All that darkness with the muffled rain outside. It kind of makes me feel nice."

Wester nodded. "Indeed. In an odd sort of way."

Stretching her uninjured wing, the gray mare let out a loud yawn. Licking her dry lips, she leaned toward Wester. Taking him completely by surprise, the mare's head soon rested lightly on his shoulder. When Wester had turned to her, he found that she had fallen fast asleep. She snored gently, resting her eyes at last.

There was nothing Wester could say. The tender warmth that blossomed in his heart prevented even the tiniest whisper from escaping his lips. So he did nothing to disturb his friend’s sleep. All the while, he sat, ready for anything as the rain continued to soak the earth below.

Vmoosh! The metal door of Vladimir's room swung open as he painfully stumbled inside. A hoof was pressed firmly against the side of his aching brow. As the door closed, it repeated the same whooshing sound behind him as it shut. Ramming straight into his cot, he clumsily tripped and fell to the ground.

This did not help with the pain in the slightest.

His head was alight with the sharp pains pricking at his nerves. In Vladimir’s struggle to get up, he turned his eyes toward a stool by the side of the cot that held a tin pitcher across from him. Placing his hooves soundly on the floor, he pushed himself up onto all four of his legs. Leaning on a dresser at the other side of the room was the creature, mischievously giggling to itself as Vladimir tried to reach the jug.

"You really intend on ending the pain by drinking that filth again, aren't you?" It chuckled.

With firm, determined steps a dedicated energy charged the air around Vladimir. Grunting, he focused on the pitcher before him and levitated it toward his mouth. "If it means keeping you quiet for a little while longer..."

Shaking its lean, mist-like head at him, it shot him a disapproving glare. Oddly enough, a boisterous sort of playfulness saturated its words. "You're looking to get rid of your first chance already, Little Red? Tsk, tsk, tsk. That breaks my heart. Truly it does!"

"Be quiet you!" Vladimir demanded, gulping the wine in the jug.

Taking in a deep breath he felt the relieving liquid dull the pain. However, when he returned to where the creature was -- it had not vanished.

It was still there, shooting a glowing smirk at him. "Sad, isn't it? When the pain leaves but I still roam free."

With his mouth agape, Vladimir was shocked at the sight before him. "B-but, how? How! You're, supposed to-"

"To what?" It snapped in a snide sort of manner. "Vanish like a bad dream, or perhaps should I just poof away because you drank that silly red muck?"

Floating next to him, the pitcher and its contents slushed around as he took a seat on his bed. Vladimir never once took an eye off of the specter. "I don't understand..."

"The pain is only a side effect of my existence. Not too long ago, the pain and I were melded as one. So, when you consumed that horrid drink you call wine, I was whisked away like a bad thought. Be it only for a little while. Now, though, I am strong and I continue to grow with each passing day. That irritating pain might leave when you drink, but I will stay longer."

In a desperate attempt to drown out the creature Vladimir started drinking the wine in the pitcher. Gulp by gulp the wine slid smoothly down his throat. Shaking its head once more at him the creature cooed as it started to fade out into nothingness. "Just remember, Little Red. You have three tiny chances to gain my favor... Only, three."

Removing the pitcher from his lips, he coughed hoarsely inhaling deeply the air around him. What could he do with that thing looming over him? It was like a bad dream. A dream he couldn't wake up from no matter how hard he tried.

Placing the pitcher of wine back down onto the stool it once rested on, Vladimir laid down on his cot reviewing the situation. He wasn't certain if the creature was too weak to hear his thoughts, or if that was even something it could do. But he knew for certain that it would probably laugh at him silently about the uplifting idea of freedom. What would mother do? Vladimir thought. What would father do?

As he sat there, straining his imagination to manifest an idea, a thought occurred to him. One that might very well help him, or at the very least relieve some of the strain that had been bottled up inside him. Sitting up, Vladimir removed himself from his bed and trotted to the other side of the room. There he turned his attention to the old metal dresser where the creature had previously been.

From one of the top drawers Vladimir picked up a large, black rectangular metal box. On its top was a series of various buttons -- along with microphones and jacks for headphones, speakers, and other such attachments.

Setting the machine down on the dresser's top, he gazed at it, and simpered. "I haven't looked at this thing in a while. Maybe, just maybe, I can use this to help me with this problem. Maybe..."

Pressing a red button near the top right corner of the device, a loud click sounded. Lights illuminated and the machine started to softly hum as power pulsated through it. Vladimir’s heart beat wildly in his chest. For all he knew the creature that haunted his mind could very well be seeing it. But he had to use it, and he had to try to find a way to beat cope with this harsh and confusing existence. Rousing what courage he could, Vladimir pressed one of the many buttons on the machine.

Dark stillness blanketed Neo's vision. The clamor of the outside world had, at least to him, faded into silence. Had he finally fallen asleep? Or had he passed out due to a lack of it? To him, it mattered not. He was at long last resting. That was, of course, until a forceful nudge woke him.

His eyes shot open as light from the outside world flooded his vision. As he adjusted, he felt damp, cool condensation had collected on the top layer of his fur, sending a chill throughout his upper body. All across the many joints in his legs Neo felt pain. An aching soreness that moved up along his spine, and neck.

Raising his head up from his resting position, Neo blinked at the pony who had nudged him. It was Lucy with an urgent glare that was widely alert. Behind her Wester stood with his pistols levitating closely by while he stared off toward the blasted hole at the other side of the room.

Lowering her muzzle to Neo, Lucy whispered, "Neo? Get Ally up."

"Why?" He asked in a hushed, groggy manner.

Lucy did not waste a moment with an explanation, "Just get them up and tell them to be quiet. When everyone’s up, meet me and Wester down stairs."

Lucy and Wester dashed toward the staircase where they stepped down the stairs as lightly as a pony could. Neo was dazed and confused. Not only had his rest been cut short, but now he had to get up? His body started to develop a dull soreness -- actively protesting against him moving even an inch. It made him upset and miserable. But whatever it was that Lucy was worried about, sounded too urgent to ignore.

Ally rested contently, her forelegs crossed as Neo nudged her shoulder gently. Blinking briefly, she raised her head and yawned. "What is it, Neo?" She moaned tiredly.

Putting a hoof to his lips, Neo replied lowly, "Lucy wants us up. I don't know why."

Ally scratched her head. "Are you going to wake Adam up?"

"That's what I'm going to do next," Neo answered. "Just head down stairs. Lucy wants us to meet her down there."

Ally nodded, and together both ponies got up. What they didn't expect was the horrible pain that would follow once they did. The potent aching sores now became pounding annoyances that hurt even more than before. It was worse than being hungover, and that was the last feeling either pony wanted to feel.

Putting his duster on, and recovering their things, Ally trotted down to the first floor of the building while Neo went to wake up Adam. By the smoldering, charred cardboard, the little blue buck snored softly. A sour taste had manifested in Neo's mouth as he shook Adam gently awake. Immediately Adam roused himself, and turned his blurred faintly bloodshot eyes at his brother. Standing over him, Neo bore a distasteful expression.

"Adam," Neo muttered. "Get up. Lucy wants us to meet her downstairs."

Adam laid his head back down and moaned. "Five more minutes, brother. I had a really bad night..."

Furrowing his brow, Neo glared at his brother. "You need to get up," he retorted quietly.

Without moving his calm position on the floor Adam begged him, "Please, brother."

An odd -- almost unexplainable frustration festered inside of Neo. Swelling unnaturally Neo began to grow weary of his brother's behavior. "Listen, you need to get up. Something is happening, and we need all of the group down there now."

Grunting, Adam unstably stood up on all four of his legs. Like his sibling, the upsetting misery was very much present throughout his entire body. To him at that very instant nothing but a long rest on a soft cushioned bed could quell the atrocious feeling of fatigue and lassitude.

Narrowing his weary eyes up at his brother, Adam frowned. "That doesn't mean you have to be so rude about it."

"I don't care!" Neo countered softly. "You just need to get up! Now!"

Adam grumbled angrily to himself as he stood up. A tense negativity charged the air around the two brothers while Adam recovered his things. Both had started to look rudely at one another as even the slightest movement or word seemed to trigger a vicious frenzy between them.

Heading down the stairs the brothers bickered about who would go down first. After a minute of this, they came to the agreement of both going down together. This lead an argument about one going too fast, or how one of them didn't give the other enough room on the stairs. The very instant they came down to the first floor of the old building Ally glanced at them oddly. Never before had she seen them snap so harshly at one another.

"Why didn't you give me more room on the steps? I could have fallen off!" Neo remarked.

Adam retaliated bitterly, "Maybe if you didn't eat so much you wouldn't take as much space."

Placing a hoof to the side of his ear, Neo taunted, "What was that? I'm sorry but you're too small for me to hear you."

His brother’s perplexing statement confused him. "I'm not that much smaller than you, and that doesn't make any sense either!"

Neo growled. "You never make sense, you geek!"

Lucy and Wester stood near the large metal doors of the building, watching the two ponies shoot boorish remarks about one another. Within seconds of hearing their compulsive squabbling to send Lucy’s nerves ablaze with irritation. Gritting her teeth tightly, she quickly turned to them and snapped.

In a hushed tone, Lucy bellowed. "Will you two shut it?!"

The bickering brothers silenced themselves, glaring distantly away from the other. Ally looked at them with a fearful worry was in her eyes. "Of all the time I've been with you two you’ve never fought like this. What's making you guys act so mean?"

Neo replied first in a hostile grunt. "Maybe if he wasn't so picky we'd get along better today."

Adam shook his head in disbelief. "Me? Picky? This is coming from the pony who needed his milk warmed a certain way when mom was still around!"

"Shut up!” Neo yelled. “You just can't get over the fact you're so small, and no one likes you!"

Adam glared at his brother with furious contempt. "Jerk!"

Neo returned the unnerving stare, leaning in closer to his brother. "Geek!"

Ally interjected sternly, "Be quiet! The both of you!"

"Hmph!" Both brothers grunted in unison, turning away from each other.

Wester removed most of the clutter they had used to barricade the door while Lucy returned to the brothers. "Listen," She said, "we need to be quiet. The hellhounds are sleeping across the street. If we move out carefully we might be able to make it without waking them. All I need from you two is just to shut the fuck up until we get out safely. Can you do that?"

They did not respond, but rather they retained the same silent resentment for one another. Lucy sighed, feeling nervous over their current mood. "Let's just hope you two stay quiet until we pass those damn things..."

Wester unlatched the doors and pushed them carefully open with his hooves. Leaving them only slightly ajar, the doors could only allow one pony to squeeze through at a time.

"Who will be first?" Wester asked, holding the door open with his forelegs.

Ally was the first to step up. "I'll go."

Before Ally made her way to the door, Lucy approached her -- placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "Just wait out there for the rest of us. Keep quiet, and keep low. Just hope those things don’t wake up easy."

Ally sighed. "I know. It's just..."

She turned her gaze to the two brothers. "I hope this sudden tension between them doesn't get too heated."

Lucy nodded. "Let's hope not."

Inhaling a deep, calming breath, Ally stepped through the narrow crack into the outside world. Lucy exited next, then Neo who in turn was followed Adam. The last to leave the building was Wester, who, upon watching the others gather outside, let go of the doors to join them.

The air was laden with a thick, cool humidity. A breeze blew so softly in the air that it did not disturb so much as a hair on the napes of anypony’s necks. Though, it could be heard high above howling, and moving in the vast regions of the atmosphere. Puddles of muddy water were scattered across the ground. Above the blanket of grey clouds overhead were cracks with bright silver linings branching outward in all directions like the roots of a mighty tree.

Lucy lead the group, for -- just as she had said -- the pack of hellhounds was gathered across the street in the hollowed structure of an old shop. Through the blasted walls, and shattered rubble the beasts could be seen. Their rough matted fur brushed up against the old red bricks of the walls. Each hound snored with a bombing volume, as Lucy motioned them to move on and step lightly. Lest they wake the pack sending them all to a painful, brutal death.

In a single-file line, Lucy lead the group along the broken sidewalk on the other side of the street. To keep safe, Lucy had made sure that each member of the group was close together. As they advanced onward however, this proved to be a regretful decision. For the brothers had, once again, began to argue.

In low, hushed tones the brothers hissed at one another as the group advanced. "Ow! Stop bumping into me!" Neo declared under his breath.

"It's not my fault," Adam replied in a quiet voice. "You're just so big is all."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"Well, now that you mention it-"

Ally put a hoof to her lips and glared at them. Ending their excessive bickering. The brief time they had spoken made the hellhounds stir in their sleep. The hounds shifted and were on the verge of awakening. Noticing this, Lucy gestured her hoof to the rest of the group. Indicating that everyone should hurry up their pace.

The ears of one hound near the pack’s front lifted its large head, as it groggily searched the street for the source of the sound.

Freezing, everypony remained completely still. Like a radar scanning the world around it, the hellhound spotted them. While at first it appeared to ignore their presence, the hellhound’s sight began to return.

Holding their breaths, each pony felt their heart rate increase. The nauseating combination of drowsiness and terror made them want to run. Lucy thought hard to herself, and peering around at her environment, she spotted the water tower lean over the top of a building’s roof. An idea formed, bringing a new light into their grim situation.

Whispering as low as she could, Lucy said, “Everyone, listen. Those things are gonna flip in about five seconds. When I say shoot, Wester take that big ass gun of yours and shoot the weakest support of that water tower.”

Briefly, Wester looked toward the tower. Under the lip that hung off of the side was a rusted support no bigger than a foreleg. If he was careful, a well-placed shot could hit it, sending the whole thing crashing down onto the street below.

The hellhound began to growl, locking onto the group. Then, with one powerful bark the pack started to wake up.

Lucy shouted at the top of her lungs, “RUN! Head for the water tower! Now! Go!”

Desperately dashing with all the energy their poor, tired legs could give they moved to the middle of the street. Taking care to dodge the blasted carts that were scattered around. Weaving through the old vehicles, Lucy turned her head to see the creatures shake themselves awake, and sprint madly to them.

Their meaty paws pounded forcefully against the cracked pavement of the road, as they ran around the old wagons, and carts. The water tower was in view, and the pack was homing onto them at an alarming rate.

“Wester!” Lucy called, “Shoot it now! Shoot it now!”

Levitating his large, folder rifle from his back Wester aimed, while running at full speed, at the weakened support of the massive water container. Holding the rifle as steady as he could, Wester unloaded one bombing shot at the water tower. The bullet hit the building’s side, sending fragments of brick, and metal scattering about in the air.

Once more, he fired a shot. This time, hitting the support right in the middle. Creaking, and twisting all of the supports gave out. One at a time, the steel gave way as gravity took control of the water container’s fate.

The hellhounds seemed to completely ignore the tower as is came crashing down. And, charging headlong into its collision path, nearly the entire frenzied pack of hellhounds became encased in a monstrous wave of water, and shredded metal.

“Do we keep running?” Ally asked, feeling the fatigue slowly consume her body.

“No,” Lucy said puffing tiredly. “We keep running. We keep running until we can’t see those things anymore!”

And they ran on until the group could no longer see the pack of demented beasts. Slipping, and falling over themselves they sudden collision with the water tower left them dazed.

Soon, the hounds vanished until all of the creatures were entirely out of sight. The very instant the group had cleared the vicious monsters Wester took the lead, and with the help of the brother's coordinates on their Pipbucks they navigated the empty ruins of the old outer city. Along the way sleep deprivation took its agitating toll on both brother's mental status. Even Ally felt the effects of the rough sleep start to weaken her.

Everything was a potential argument. From the way one pony walked to the tone of a pony’s voice. Yet, Lucy retained the most focused attitude. Certainly, the complaining annoyed her, as did the senseless arguing that would follow. But, holding firmly to the belief it would pass, she endured the frustrating chatter.

Wester kept her uplifted, and in return she tried to reflect some of that stern control onto the group. Then, hopefully they could rest. Perhaps a safe place where they wouldn’t need to worry about the hellhounds -- a place far, far away from they had once been trapped by the vicious beasts.

Further down the narrow streets of the cities outskirts, the group started to notice the buildings recede into smaller structures. Three story buildings quickly became two stories, before not soon after one story buildings had started to become the most common building.

Fewer carts were seen crashed along the broken sidewalks. More puddles, murky and deep gathered in the potholes that now dotted the widening streets. Not far ahead of them was the main highway leading Eastward, and out of the city. This was clearly indicated by a rusted green road sign, which like many of the signs they had seen before was bent, dented, and weathered by the elements. It read:

Darkmane City
Highway 23

The Iron Mountains
Highway 23

Shuffling uneasily, Ally dragged her hooves across the coarse pavement of the road. Behind her, the brothers followed the same sluggish steps as their hooves ground against the road like wood to sandpaper. Occasionally, all three of the ponies would stumble or trip over themselves as hazed dizziness obscured their senses. Lucy and Wester tried as they could to help up any who fell over -- but little could be done, for no sooner had they helped them stabilize, their legs would they just stumble over their footing once again.

A darkness developed under their eyes, as the upper eyelids of the three ponies began to sag tiredly. Neo started to sway off toward his brother, where he bumped forcefully straight into his side. Instantly, both ponies snapped to attention as their fury ignited.

"Hey!" Adam barked at his brother. "Watch where you're going!"

A heated rage started to charge the surrounding air. "Me? Watch where I'm going? Get real, you're the one bumping into me!"

"I am not! You're purposely doing it to me!"

A snarky tone floated along Neo's voice, "Ah, so it is, huh? Then prove it. You've got a big head, tell me why I did it and not you."

"Because you're a jerk! That's why!" Adam countered sternly.

Lucy turned to them sharply, snarling. "Boys! Stop it! Or I'll come knock both of you out!"

But her words did nothing this time, for in that moment both brothers stopped and faced each other. Boiling anger could be seen blossoming inside their sleep-deprived eyes. The two ponies leaned in close to one another, placing their snouts merely inches apart from the other's.

"I won't stop! I've had it with him!" Neo exclaimed.

Adam gritted his teeth together tightly. "Nuisance! You're the fat complainer! If there's anypony here who is a nuisance, it's you!"

Sarcastically, Neo remarked, "Oh, you're so smart! You've went back to calling me fat!"

Pointing to his rather slender belly under his duster, Neo added, "I'm probably more skinny than you. After all, I do most of the work here."

Adam was appalled by the statement. "You? Do all the work? Please, if it wasn't for me you won't be alive right now!"

"I would too! I'm tough! You're the weakling who always needs help!"

The other members of the group couldn't stand to watch anymore. Even Ally, as dazed and light-headed as she was, understood that what was happening was wrong. "Boys!" Ally cried out to them desperately. "Stop! You're tired and fighting won't help!"

"Listen to her, guys! Just stop before I make you!" Lucy shouted.

Neo turned briefly to Lucy. In his eyes a fire burned which intimidated even her. "This ends now! I'm tired of it!"

Wester stepped up powerfully. Booming loudly, he interjected. "This is unacceptable behavior! Stop at once!"

But the brothers continued to ignore them. With every harsh comment or cruel comeback the rest of the group tried to stop the brash behavior.

"Maybe, if you weren't so stupid we would have been there by now!" Adam bellowed at his older brother.

“Stop it! Now!” Ally cried.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so slow we would have caught up to her years ago!" Neo returned aggressively to his younger sibling.

"Well, maybe if you weren't so fat you'd learn more about where she is!"

“Boys! I mean it!” Lucy barked. “If you don’t stop it this instant I’ll end it myself!”

With this final statement Adam had made, it hit Neo in the heart, sending all of the bottled rage exploding out at full force. In his tired, weary mind, a comeback formed. One that he believed would shut his brother up for good. "Well, maybe if you weren't born, mom wouldn't have ran away in the first place!"

Adam's eyes grew wide as he reeled himself back. With his mouth slightly agape tears pooled in the corners of his eyes. It took a moments for the scene to process in Neo's dazed mind. When it did, a heavy clarity hit him, making his enraged heart sink.

The words that were once filled to the rim with hate, now yielded regretful forgiveness. "A-Adam, I... I didn't mean it, I-"

Huge tears profusely rolled down the sides of Adam’s cold, flushed cheeks. "You're a jerk! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

Dashing toward one of the many narrow streets of the city Adam cried softly to himself as he ran away from the group. Neo felt horrible inside. A hallowed, heavy sensation washed over him. Almost as though a lead weight had been placed on his heart, squeezing any other emotion out of his very being -- leaving only pure saddens in its wake.

"Adam!" Neo cried out to his brother as he ran off.

Every member of the group glared furiously at him, Ally especially. Turning to them, Neo looked confused. "Wha-What should I-"

"Go after him," Ally authoritatively stated in a low, powerful tone. "Now."

"But I..." Neo stammered.

"Now!" She barked at him.

Sighing, Neo took after his little brother. Calling out his name throughout the deserted streets as he went. "Adam! I'm sorry Adam! I didn't mean it! Please come back, I'm sorry!"

In the brief amount of time Adam had had to run away the little buck had managed to cover quite a fair amount of ground. Taking refuge in an old wagon repair garage Adam found a solitary place among the metal boxes, and tools that laided scattered about, to sit on. There, in the empty structure, he cried, feeling the horrid heartbreak throb in his chest. Far off in the distance was the faint cry of his brother searching for him.

Sniffing, Adam folded his forelegs and buried his face in them. "I don't need him..." Adam mumbled coughing lightly.

Wiping his running, cold nose gently against the sleeve of his duster, Adam muttered, "He... He was holding me back. I can find her..."

Adam didn't think he could bring himself to say much more. The sorrow inside felt so great, and the cold, icy chill of the fresh moist air did not help in the slightest with the already miserable feeling. Adam's heart raced as he continued to wallow in painful sadness.

An acrid stallion’s voice, that could make even the strongest ponies cringe, whispered sweetly to him from behind. "Aye, this pup looks so sad. So broken. Ah wonder what ever could be wrong with ‘em, don't you?"

Another voice, this time of a mare, replied in the same kind of crookedly sweet tone. "Indeed, ah wonder, Split Tooth. Dat pup's got a real nasty case of the blues, ain't he?"

Adam spun around to see who was addressing him. Behind him were two tall, lanky unicorns who peered devilishly at him with their purple foggy eyes. Their orange manes were tattered and coated in a fresh mix of dried blood and dirt. Teeth, claws, and tiny bones hung from the black fur belts that were wrapped around their legs and torsos. At their sides levitated bulging assault rifles. A foul, sickly colored yellow aura encased their weapons as they leaned strangely over him.

Smiling at the surprised little buck with their yellow chipped crooked teeth, the stallion named Split Tooth spoke, "Wot's a nice little pup like you doin' way out here? Hmm?"

Slightly jolted by their presence Adam tried to stand up, only to fall onto his back, "Whoops!" Chirped the mare. "A clumsy one ain't he, Splitsy?"

"Aye." -- He nodded -- "That he is."

Adam's heart rate intensified as terror filled his entire body. He couldn’t draw his weapon. Not against rifles so large and so close to him. "Wha-What do you want from me?"

The two ghastly looking pony's smiles grew wider. "Wot's we want he says!" Split Tooth guffawed. "He asks wot we won’t wit ‘em, Siren."

The two ponies lowered their heads, keeping both of their menacing eyes fixed on Adam. "Where's ya mates, little pup? Huh? Ya got anyone 'round?"

Creeping in slowly toward him the two ponies approached, stepping lightly as they did. "Yeah, ya got someone lookin' for ya? Huh, pup?"

Still in the distance, Neo could be heard desperately calling out to his brother. And, with the horrifying ponies nearly on him, Adam cried out to his brother.

"Brother! I'm over here! Help! Brother!" He shouted as loudly as his lungs would permit.

Reeling back briskly, the two slender ponies expressions turned sour. "Quick! Shut ‘im up!" Siren hissed urgently.

With the stalk of his rifle, Split Tooth jammed it straight into the side of Adam's head. Painfully, Adam came crashing down to the floor, softly murmuring to his brother. "Brother, please. Help..."

"Adam!" Neo cry echoed out from the streets. "Adam, hold on I'm coming! Quick, guys! Adam's in trouble!"

Split Tooth turned his boney head to the source of the distant voice. "Ah, fuck," He swore. "Ya think this one ‘ere will make a profit down at t’ Darkmine?"

With her hoof, Siren motioned him to hurry along. "Yeah, yeah! He's got one of 'em Pip-things or whatever. An' look! He's so healthy! It would be foolish not t' take 'im!"

"Roight," Split Tooth pondered, "then we'll take ‘im. Help me put’m on m' back."

Nodding affirmatively at him, she helped encase Adam in the horrid yellow magical energy, lifting him up languidly onto Split Tooth’s dusty back. Once Adam was secured soundly to the stallion's back, the cries of the group rang out louder in the distance.

"Ah shit." Siren moaned looking in the directing of the voices. "Quick, let's meet up with the others on t' other side of this place. We need t' hurry. There's no tellin' how many of them ponies came wit’ this one here."

"Roight," Split Tooth agreed.

Just before they had started off, Neo dashed around the corner of an alleyway across the street. Scanning the area quickly, he saw nearly a hundred feet away from him the two hideous looking scoundrels standing in the entrance of an old repair garage with Adam on the stallion's back.

Neo had gained a head start, and as such was the first to reach Adam. Sparing not even a moment to think he pulled forth his combat shotgun and charged at the two unknown kidnappers. Fearful of shooting his brother, he waited until they were close enough to injure without hurting Adam.

"Quick!" Siren shouted, pulling her rifle to the ready. "Shoot ‘im! Shoot ‘im!"

Like clamorous lightening booming high in the atmosphere, the guns of Adam's captors roared. Hot, glowing metal whizzed by Neo's head as he came closer to them. Though his senses were disoriented, and his thoughts obscured by the lack of sleep, this one moment was clear to him.

Nothing could stop him.

Nothing.

"Kill ‘im! Kill ‘im!" Split Tooth screeched madly unloading every bullet his gun contained.

Bullets clipped and dug into Neo’s skin, sending droplets of blood gushing out of the fresh new wounds. Despite the injuries and the pain -- Neo felt compelled to save his younger brother, no matter how difficult it may be. Neo almost had them in his range, even with the warm blood dripping from his wounds, he was set on ending their lives.

Second by second, the enraged brother came at them, and to Siren's side she noticed something. Out of the corner of her eye, near the sidewalk's curb, were several pieces of large concrete fragments. And in her mind a devious idea formed while the rock remained in the father section of her vision. Not only this, but Neo’s path toward them was distorted. Once or twice he had stumbled, meaning that the whole situation could be turned in their favor.

When Neo was nearly ten feet away, he raised his shotgun up to them, preparing for the moment of their demise. His efforts, however, proved fatal. Siren focused her magical energy on one of the many concrete stones and launched it at Neo's head. Like a sudden bolt of quick lightening, it struck him squarely on the brow ultimately sending him crashing down to the ground.

Skidding across the rough pavement of the road, Neo groaned as he felt his forehead swell with pain. Split Tooth ceased his fire and grinned widely at his partner.

"Well, ain'tcha a clever girl. Should I shoot ‘im, an' end it?"

Siren chuckled. "He ain't worth t’ bullet. We'll be out of ‘ere in no time, an' he'll bleed out before he even has time t' wake up! Bwahahaha!"

Lowering his rifle, Split Tooth shrugged. "If ya say so. Ah still think we ought t' shoot ‘im some more..."

Motioning her head to him, Siren turned back to the garage. "Ah ain't wastin' another shot on dat damn bastard. Them ponies already heard us enough. Now, let's head on out of 'ere before t' other ponies get 'ere an’ find us."

A shadow slowly encroached on Neo's vision as the ponies made there way with his brother. All of his limbs failed to respond. The only thing he could do was watch his brother go, and even that horrible scene was fading away as he gradually lost consciousness. Blackness became silence, and silence became pure nothingness.

Still, empty nothingness. This was the dark oblivion which he stared endlessly into.

By the time the other ponies showed up, they saw Neo laying there near the curb of the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Tiny pools of warm blood stirred with the chilled fresh water of yesterday's rain. Coming quickly to his aid, Ally rushed to his side and searched her bags for medicines to help him. While she tended to Neo -- both Lucy and Wester called out to Adam. Wherever he might be.

Lucy raised a hoof to her mouth, and called out worryingly to the lost buck. "Adam! Adam!"

"Adam!" Wester shouted out into the streets. "Adam!"

Returning her gaze to Ally, Lucy asked wearily. "Is Neo going to be okay? Did he see what happened to Adam? Or who fired off those shots?"

Ally held Neo in her hooves as she lifted a health potion up to his lips. "I think he'll be okay. But he's out cold."

Grabbing her fedora, Lucy threw it against the ground. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Wester approached Lucy, who was about to break down in anxious panic. Frantically, the gray mare moved her gaze all over the street from where she stood.

Wester sighed regretfully coming to her side. "It's my fault. I am the group's protector. I should have gone with him."

Lucy shook her head, and continued to search the street from her stationary position. "Don't beat yourself up, Wester."

Ally picked Neo up, and placed him uneasily on her back. "Guys, we need to get Neo someplace safe. Maybe he knows more about what happened to Adam."

Lucy nodded. "Right. Then we'll start looking for Adam and-"

A loud, sudden sound penetrated the air halting Lucy's speech. It was the unexpected sound of a pony clearing his throat that caught the group off guard. And it came from right across the street in a little shop, which appeared to have at one time sold flowers.

Stepping gingerly upon the broken glass which coated most of the sidewalk across the street a single pony emerged from the shadow of the hallowed structure. A mysterious shadow cast by the building cloaked the pony before them.

Every member of the group except Ally drew their weapons and fixed it directly at the newcomer.

"Show yourself!" Lucy demanded, pointing her sniper at the stranger.

Wester stood next to her, levitating both python revolvers at the stallion's head. In a deep, commanding tone Wester barked, "If you draw so much as a pin your head is gone!"

With one surrendering hoof raised, the shadow hiding the face of the pony receded as the stranger came forward. Once in the dim, gray light of the day the newly revealed unicorn -- with his scruffy looking eyes, smiled awkwardly at them.

"Oh, terribly sorry about that. I didn't mean to frighten you. Really, I didn't. My name is Two Socks. I heard some gunshots this way, and I decided to investigate. If that isn’t a problem with you folks..."

Footnote: Level up!

New Perk: In the Town Where I was Born: If you rest in a town, you gain +XP from any side quest you do in said town. However, if you leave outside of a mile (unless the quest requires you to do so) this bonus will no longer function until you've rested in the town again.

Footnote: Level up!

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: You Know Nothing, Jon Snow: On your own, you earn +XP and +1 charisma with every level you achieve without a partner/companion around.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

DannyKat

LyonAzakura

Thefullmetalbrony

(AN: I’m sorry for the long wait. It took us awhile to go through this to make sure nearly all of the errors were removed. In the end though I think it came out well. I’ve been busy, so it’s been hard getting writing in. However, I think I did well with the chapter. Additionally, I learned a lot about writing this month, and I’m hoping to apply this knowledge to the next chapter. Tune in for the next chapter!)

Forget Me Not (A Brotherhood side story special)

Forget Me Not

Written by Noakwolf.

Rocking calmly back and forth, a gray pegasus mare dressed in a thick leather duster sat in a rocking chair. She was laid back and relaxed, a fedora was covering the top of her long blond dusty mane as she enjoyed the quiet day. The air was cool and the town life around her at peace. It was a fine day. Dark clouds were above and a cool breeze was in the air. Yes, it was a good day.

Buildings around her seemed inactive. It was a slow day in this town, and she liked it that way. Though, across from her, two small foals came running toward her. One a was an orange coated earth pony filly with a yellow mane. The other, a smaller buck with a blue coat and a short white mane on his little head.

Neither of them seemed to have their cutie marks, and by the look of things, they seemed to be interested in her. Deep down inside, the gray mare prayed they didn't come to her, but one could only hope for so much.

"Lucy!" Both foals exclaimed cheerfully as they approached her.

The sound of their voices broke her peaceful time outside. "Yeah?" She replied, sitting up straight in her rocking chair.

The little buck spoke first, "Glitter Chip told me you know an amazing story... Like, the bestest one ever!"

"Yeah," The filly called Glitter Chip added, "and Conway says I'm lying!"

"Duh, my dad tells the best stories. I bet Lucy ain't got a tale worth telling at all."

"Nuh-uh, she does too know the bestest story!" Glitter Chip interjected.

"No, she doesn't!"

"Yes, she does!"

At this point, Lucy was becoming frustrated by the continuous pace of the children's argument. So, sighing she raised a hoof to silence them. "Listen kids... I'm not too fond of telling the story, and frankly I was enjoying my peace and quiet."

"But Lucy!" Glitter Chip begged.

"I'm sorry, kids, I just don't-" Out of nowhere, she stopped speaking in mid-sentence.

Something had caught her attention. It was a stallion, clad in a suit of thick dark power armor. An army helmet and a red visor along with a breather piece covered the stallion's face, only his red horn stuck out from the helmet's top. A thick duster, not unlike her own, covered the rest of his body. What was odd about him though, was the fact that no part, minus his horn, was showing. It was all covered by thick metal plating, or by the duster.

Galloping at an easy pace the stallion came up to Lucy and the foals. Lucy seemed surprised to see him, as a look of both surprise and confusion could be seen in her eyes. "W-what are you doing here, I thought you were gone on patrol?"

The voice of this odd stranger was low, and dull. Yet stern and calculated. "I had completed a patrol, and I have acquired spare time."

"That fast?" She added.

He did not respond, rather he just gave her a simple nod. The armor-clad stallion looked down at the foals in front of her who looked like they had been groveling before her. "Why are the young groveling to you?"

"They want me to tell them a story, and I said no."

The huge metal clad pony sat down on the ground, "I have acquired time."

"Yeah," Said Glitter Chip, "even he wants to hear the story!"

Lucy looked back at the metal pony with a mournful, yet nostalgic look. "Well... Have you heard the story from when I was younger?"

"Negative." The stallion replied.

She rubbed the back of her neck with a sad look about her, "I didn't think you would've..."

Glitter Chip hugged Lucy's leg, and stared up at her with wide adorable eyes. "Please..." She whimpered.

Lucy felt down deep inside that she didn't want to tell a story. Especially the one they wanted to hear. The only other reason she had told anyone the story beforehand was because a whole group of ponies wanted to hear it. But now, in the presence of him... This changed her outlook on the whole situation.

"Please..." The small filly begged once more.

Lucy sighed, and made herself comfortable in her seat. "Okay, but just this once."

Bouncing with joy, Glitter Chip sat down with her friend, and eagerly awaited to hear the story once more. A sadness churned around in her stomach as she spoke. And while it did take some determination, she forced herself to tell the story.

"Well... Where should I start?"

The trunk of a black old wagon flipped open. Dust scattered itself in the air as light dimly touched the dusty objects within. A red unicorn stallion, with a long scraggly brown mane, coughed and waved a hoof around his face to clear the dust. His light brown eyes scanned the contents of the trunk, only to find that nothing of value was inside.

Patting down his brown trench coat, he shook his head. "Well, still nothing."

A little grey pegasus filly with a yellow mane stood there looking at him sadly, "No food? Not even a little?"

"Not even a mouse sized little." Added the red stallion.

Both of the ponies stood there and looked up the long, desolate road. Old banged deteriorating carts lined the sides of the cracked and blasted highway.

"We've searched all of the good carts already, and still not a thing." The filly said in a discouraged tone.

"Hey, kiddo, cheer up," The stallion said with a smile, "we'll find something. We've just got to try a little harder, that’s all."

In the distance, the ruins of what seemed like a large city could be seen. Tall ruined buildings stood still, as the dark clouds hovered above, with the wind whistling. "It’s just that I'm hungry..."

"Well, that simply won't do! It just won't. Come on, let's keep moving. Maybe we'll find us something tasty." The stallion chirped enthusiastically.

Trotting lightly, they both continued down the road at an easy pace. "Like, what do you think we could find to eat in the city, Wester?" The filly asked.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Maybe cake, or better. Cupcakes!" The pony called Wester replied.

The filly's mouth watered as the thought of warm cupcakes filled her mind, "With that pink swirly frosting?!"

"You bet, kiddo." Wester chuckled.

Moving farther up the road, they saw a roadside market. Markets such as this were common shopping centers outside of large cities, and more importantly, food might just be inside. Ripe for the taking.

Pausing along the side of the road, Wester stared at the store cautiously. "We could try there."

The filly scanned the area around the store and said uneasily, "It doesn't look like there's anypony there... Do you think it's safe?"

"If we move quickly, we should be fine. But you're right, there's usually something hanging around these stores. Hopefully, nopony’s home, so might just get lucky with this one."

Coming up to the the store, both ponies moved carefully around the side of the building. The filly followed closely behind Wester, who had a gun on his leg ready to fire. And, opening his holster, he peaked behind the corner of the store. He had intended on entering from the back of the building. That way, even if there were traps or someone inside, they would be less likely to get their attention.

Like he had thought, there was a backdoor with nothing around it. Gesturing the filly to move on, they both trotted over to the door. As they approached it, a sense of hopefulness built itself inside them. Only just as Wester tried opening the door, he had found that it was locked tightly.

The once hopeful feeling they felt faded away instantly. "Great..." Wester grumbled.

"What are we going to do, Wester?"

At his side was an old metal pipe that had fallen off of the building. And, picking up in his mouth he mumbled, "Shtand back, Lucky."

Like he had instructed, she took a few steps back, and with several powerful swings at the doorknob, it snapped off. Causing the locked door to easily move back.

Spitting out the old pipe Wester continued to spit out the nasty taste that was left in his mouth. "Lucky. Remind me that pipes don't make good food."

Lucky giggled, "You're so silly, Wester."

Wester smiled at her and pushed the door open. It was almost completely dark inside the store. And minus the sounds of metallic echoes he had made from his pipe, it was quiet.

"It seems to be empty." Wester said, poking his head through the door.

"Does that mean that there might be food in there?" Lucky gasped happily with wide eyes.

"Yep, it sure does, kiddo. But just remember, vandalism is wrong."

Lucky rolled her eyes at his silliness and followed him inside the old pre-war structure. Wester pulled out a flashlight from his saddlebag and, with Lucky's help, he tied it to his shoulder. The building creaked, and moaned while they walked on. Their hoof steps echoed off of the walls, almost giving the illusion that someone else might be there.

Broken and smashed, the dozens of aisles that once held food seemed to be bare. Only rusted, crushed up cans remain. Lucky picked up one of the cans dishearteningly.

"Aww... So much for food."

Wester walked over to the right of the very last aisle, for next to it was a pushable door labeled, "Storage." Smiling, he waved his hoof for her to come.

"There might be something in the storage. You never know what we might find."

She galloped over to him, and together, they pushed open the door to the storage room. Sadly, not much could be found in the storage either. All that was left were old metal boxes on shelves that were either tipped over, or smashed.

Wester pointed to one section of the small storage room. "Go check those boxes over there. They don't seem as smashed as the others. I’ll check these shelves over here."

Lucky stepped over to the boxes Wester had mentioned, feeling down about their misfortune. With each step she took, she kicked one of the empty rusted cans aside, until she almost tripped on something. Stumbling slightly forward, she looked down at what kind of heavier object could have cause her to trip. Oddly enough, there rolling slowly away from he,r was a can of beans. And a fairly large one at that.

Picking it up, her eyes lit up with joy. "Wester! Wester! Look what I found!" She chimed bouncing over to him.

He blinked a few times at her, and shined his light down on the object she was carrying. Once his own eyes saw what she was so happy about, he too lit up with a cheerful mood. "W-Why... Lucky, that's my girl! This should be plenty for both of us."

Lucky glanced at the worn labeling on the can. "It should be enough for both of us, but they're a little old... And a little stale."

"I'm glad me and the beans have something in common." Wester chuckled.

"Stop it," She laughed playfully nudging him in the foreleg, "you're not old."

Their happy moment did not last long. A sudden loud bang instantly sent frightening chills down their spines. The bang was followed by the sounds of doors being slammed opened. What came next, was the last thing they wanted to hear. The voices of other ponies. And not just the voices of scavengers, but sound raiders.

Wester put a hoof to his mouth and motioned Lucky to follow him. Both ponies stepped lightly as they came to the door that lead back out to the store, before placing their heads right against it. Together, they listened to the unexpected company to confirm whether or not they were friendly.

From what they could hear, it had sounded like there were three ponies. Each stallions, with rough scratchy voices. Wester turned off his flashlight quickly, and listened to them speak.

"Hacksaw, check over there. The boss will have our heads if we come back empty hoofed. Dozer, you check those aisles, and keep that gun of yours ready. There's a whole pack of ghouls around here, and the last thing we need is to stumble onto the fuckers."

Pushing the door slightly open, Wester stuck his head out to get a look of who was where. Luckily, the cover of darkness hid him well from their sight. As he scanned the market around him he tried to see what weapons the ponies were armed with. It was already clear that one had a gun, and it was likely that the others did to.

In the darkness, he could faintly make out the shapes of the ponies. From what he could see, it looked as if they had roughly configured armor made from various pieces of scrap. Along with what looked like outrageously styled manes, he was absolutely sure they were raiders.

Moving his head down to the little filly at his side he whispered, "Lucky, stay close to me, and step lightly. If we're careful enough, the darkness should keep up out of sight. Now, we're just going back the way we came, so it should be simple, right?"

She nodded at him, "Right. Easy peezy."

He smiled at her, and pushed the door open slightly more for both of them to move through. Just as Lucky left the storage room, Wester eased the door shut and lead her back the way they came. They kept themselves low using the aisles as cover. All the while they did their best to avoid the dozens of cans that littered the floor.

The raider's hoofsteps echoed loudly off of the walls as the scavenged. "You find anything?" One raider called out.

"Nope, not a fuckin’ thing. It would help if there was some fucking light in here!"

"Here, let me see if the lights to work. Sometimes these old place got generators." The voice replied.

The two ponies continued to move easily to the back exit, and just as they did, a loud click echoed through the store. A loud hum followed, and a few lights overhead flickered on. The once shadow covered store was now flooded by light exposing the two ponies.

One raider had just left an aisle, and saw them. "What the hell? Hijack, I found somepony!"

Several insane laughs followed from the pony named Hijack who could be heard dashing over to his comrade’s position. "Don't just stand there, kill them! Fresh meat! Oh, won’t the boss be happy about this!"

Terror filled the two ponies, but Wester knew she needed to be protected. Pushing her forward, he shouted at her as he charged the pony who had spotted them. "Run, Lucky! I'll hold them off!"

Lucky did as she was told, and ran off toward the back exit. Wester pulled out a knife from a sheath on his coat. Sprinting toward raider he tackled the pony fiercely. Like he had guessed the raider was armored with various pieces of scrap. What was even more relieving was the fact that the pony only had a spiked bat as a weapon.

Both of them wrestled on the ground, tugging, and beating each other ferociously. With the knife gripped firmly in his mouth, Wester took huge clean swipes at the raider. Large bloody gashes were across the raider’s body with blood profusely leaking from his wounds. The raider named Hijack, a purple unicorn stallion with a large mohawk mane saw his comrade fight with Wester.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Lucky running off toward the exit. "Quick, Hacksaw, get the girl! I'll take care of this fucker!"

Levitating at Hijack's side was a double barreled shotgun ready to fire. From his current position, both Dozer, and Wester were in view. It was difficult to take a shot, so he galloped toward the two in hopes that he could blow Wester’s head apart right next to him.

Wester finally managed to pin the raider to the ground and slam the end of the knife into his neck. Blood shot out from the wound, as with each of the pony's fading heart beats more blood would squirt out like a fountain.

Laughing madly, Hijack with his weapon ready came right next to Wester, and putting the gun's barrel against the back of his head, he smirked. "Nighty nighty, asshole."

Before he could fire, Wester ducked, and when the first shot of the raider's gun went off, Wester got low. Using his hind legs, he bucked the raider in the face causing him to stagger back and drop his weapon. Hijack swore before he recovered himself. By then, Wester already had the gun in his mouth, and with the last shot, Wester shot him in the head from point-blank range.

Falling to the ground, Hijack's body twitched unnaturally. Wester dropped the gun from his mouth tasting the blackened raider saliva. Although, his eyes widened as a terrible sound froze him.

"Wester, help!" Lucky cried toward the end of the store.

Along with her cries for help, he heard the devilish chuckles of the raider named Hacksaw. "Stop squirming! I'm jus’ going to have a little fun with ya is all!"

Fury burned wildly inside him and sprinting as fast as he could, he made his way to the source of the cries. There, near the exit they had came through, was the raider, his hooves wrapped round her with a huge grin spread across his face.

"Wester!" She cried once more, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Rage filled his mind, and a magical aura surrounded his horn. His eyes glowed brightly as the magical energy consumed his body. And, with a powerful blast of magical power, the raider let go of Lucky, and rose up into the air. Bucking and fighting the raider panicked as he was lifted higher, and higher into the air.

"What the hell! Put me down! Fucking put me down right now!" He wailed in panic.

But soon, the raider started to be consumed by the magical energies around him, and screaming horrifically in pain, he disintegrated into a fine dust. No sooner had the raider turned into dust that the power around Wester faded. And with all of the magical energy gone, he fell to the ground coughing hoarsely.

Lucky was shaking and, as the soft specs of dust fell on her, she saw her friend kneeling on the ground coughing. "Wester!" She exclaimed rushing to his side.

Each hacking cough Wester made had caused large amounts of blood to come spilling out of his mouth. His legs were trembling, and his voice had become low and raspy.

She had one hoof on his back patting him gently, and in an urgent tone she asked, "Wester, are you okay? You did it again. You used your magic again."

Taking deep breaths Wester stood up wiping the blood from his mouth, "I'm... Fine, Lucky. It's just... He had you and..."

"No!" She interjected. "I know I was in danger, but you know what happens when you use magic! You know what it does!"

She hugged his leg tightly, sobbing softly into the sleeve of his brown coat. He looked down at her tremble on his leg with her eyes on the verge of tears. And hugging his leg tighter, she muttered worryingly, "Please... Promise me you won't use your magic again... I don't want to see you hurt yourself...”

He coughed lightly a few more times before responding, "Lucky... Sometimes I..."

"No, promise me..." She said tearing up while hugging him.

Placing his other foreleg around he whispered back to her, "I promise... I promise I won't use my magic again."

She looked up at him sniffling, "You promise?"

"I do." He answered softly with a warming smile.

And patting her on the back, he said in a reassuring tone, "Come one kiddo. Let's get out of here... It’s getting late.”

The night was still, smoothly, the wind howled stirring the dry powder-like dirt of the wasteland ground. After the incident with the raiders, they moved on into the ruins of the old city where they found temporary shelter. They had took shelter inside an old apartment complex near the outskirts of the city. The complex itself was simple, cozy, and protected.

Holes were blasted through some sides of the walls. Old support beams above were split in two, while those beams that still stood seemed to be holding firmly the ceiling above them. They were on the second story of one of the apartments. There was a nice dry carpet and a few pieces of devastated furniture helping tie the place together. A small balcony was at the end of the room. Giving the two an outside view of the area around them.

Wester had lit a fire with low flames, that produced little to no smoke. On top of the fire was a steel pot with the beans they had found earlier bubbling softly. Wester was stirring the beans slowly, carefully making sure that all of the pot's contents were receiving the same amount of heat.

Sitting near the fire, Lucky gazed at the low flames sadly. She firmly held a dirty old blanket around her body, as a cool draft went through the building.

Wester stopped stirring the food for a moment and turned to her. "Lucky? Are you okay?" He asked.

She looked up at him and shook her head. "I just feel sad..."

Stirring the beans in the pot a few times he asked, "What are you sad about?"

Taking the blanket, she wrapped it around her more snuggly. "I just don't want you to go."

"Heh," He chuckled, "I'm not going anywhere any time soon, kiddo."

Lucky didn't reply, leaving a brief gap of silence between them. And, tapping the end of the spoon on the edge of the pot, he said, "Dinner's ready. Do you want some?"

She nodded, retaining her sad expression. Pulling a bowl out of his bag, he poured some of the piping-hot food into it. He slid it over to her and smiled at her warmly.

"Eat up, kiddo. You'll need the energy."

Taking the bowl with her hooves, she sat and began eating. Giving her a playful look, he said, "I know how to cheer you up. Will that make you feel better?"

Cocking her head to the side, she gave him a puzzling look. "Well! I guess you'll need just that, after all, nothing fixes the blues like some good ol’ cheering up!"

Lucky scooted over to the side of the fire to see what Wester was talking about. Quickly, he made his way over to an old television set that was against the wall. Fortunately for him, the giant piece of old-world technology had wheels. While not very good ones, it made it easier to move. A huge hole was blasted straight through it as he rolled it over to her.

Taking the empty can of beans he tossed it over to her. She caught it and peered at it oddly. Wester got behind the television set to where she could see him through the hole.

Pointing the the empty can she held he said, "That's the remote. Use it to change the stations."

Holding the remote with both hooves she pressed down on the can making a clicking sound with her mouth. Wester then proceeded to make a whooshing noise to make it appear as if the television were changing channels.

Standing up on the other side of the television he started to speak in a dull tone. "Today's weather will be sunny... Maybe. With a slight chance of sunshine... Maybe... And then we'll have rain. Lot's of rain. So pack your umbrellas kids it's going to be-"

Lucky smiled, and pressed the can again while making the same clicking sound once more. Wester changed moods instantly, as though another show was on. And in a serious voice he acted as if he were in space.

"Space... The final frontier... This is the voyage of the starship Galaxia. It's mission... To find new-"

"Click." She said giggling.

Quickly Wester changed the way he acted, and ducked low to the ground to the point to where Lucky couldn't see him behind the television. "Filmed before a live studio audience." He said without showing himself.

Within moments he had started to sing, "Sunday, Monday, happy days! Tuesdays, Wednesday, happy days! Thursday, Friday, happy days! The weekend comes, my cycle hums. Ready to race to-"

Pressing the can she giggled once more, "Fast forward."

Wester began to act as if he were moving fast, and pressing the can she laughed. "Play." She chuckled.

Wester quickly started to pretend he was in the show. "Well, how are you doing today?"

"Terrible," He replied to himself, "Becky just took my wagon!"

He gasped, "Whoa there, partner! You? And Becky? There’s a shocking thought!"

Putting his hoof to the side of his mouth he made a low laughing sound as though the audience was laughing. Lucky started laughing at the stallion's antics. Only after a few seconds of laughing she began to cough roughly.

Wester stopped what he was doing instantly and came to her worryingly. Resting a hoof on her forehead he asked, "Are you okay? Do you have a fever, or are you choking on something? Or-"

She playfully nudged him back and giggled, "I'm fine. Some of the bean juice just made me cough."

He whipped his brow in relief and sat next to her. "Well, I'm glad you're okay. Did you like that, or was it too much?"

She snuggled next to him with the blanket wrapped around her. "Yeah. I liked the one about the pony and Becky."

"I liked that too." He cooed putting a hoof on her head and ruffling her mane.

After he ruffled her mane, she rested her head against his foreleg. "Wester?"

He looked down at her. "Yeah, kiddo?"

"You've told me that you can't use magic because it hurts you... Why does it hurt you?"

He took his free hoof and rubbed the back of neck unsurely. "Well... I'm not sure you want to hear that story."

She nuzzled his foreleg closing her eyes before giving him a sweet yawn. "I want to hear it though."

"Well," He hummed in thought, "I guess you deserve to know."

She started to gently breath and listen to his story. "When I was a younger buck, me and a few friends of mine went traveling. Until one day, we stumbled upon a group of raiders outside of this old factory. We fought them pretty well, my buddies had the other raiders but I was fighting with this one raider that strayed off from the main group.

He was pretty tough, and he gave me some serious knocks to the head. It turns out that the factory we were fighting in was filled with barrels full of tainted gung. He thought it was a good idea to stick my head in it... I tried to fight back against him, but he managed to get most of my horn in it... Ever since then, my magic's been strong... But it costs me."

"Will you ever get better?" She muttered tiredly.

He smiled contently at her brushing a little of her yellow mane to the side, "I hope so. Maybe your uncle at Ironstead can fix me."

"I hope he does... Then you won't get hurt anymore."

"I hope he does too, Lucky, I hope he does too."

"Wester?" She asked once more.

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Can you sing that song for me? That song you were singing when you found me."

"Sure..."

For some reason, he found it hard to sing the song she had mentioned at first. Sighing heavily, he built up the nerve to start singing gently to her.

"Here I stroll down this lonely road,
searching for a home,
then I found you all alone,
soaked to the bone.

We ran on through the world together,
seeing a world I never saw,
oh we made up new numbers,
and we gazed upon the water,
in everlasting awe.

Here I stroll down the road,
I’m not lonely or sad or mean,
now we walk on through the days,
like a an everlasting dream."

Small, soft snores came from her as she drifted off to sleep with her head resting on his leg. He looked down at her and smiled, feeling a wonderful warmness fill his chest.

"Goodnight Lucky. Get your rest, we've got a long day ahead of us." He whispered letting her sleep soundly.

The sound of soft clinging metal caused Lucky's ear to twitch. At first, the sound didn't bother her, but as a chilling breeze brushed against her grey coat, she shivered. She tried to pull the blanket she had wrapped around her tighter to prevent the breeze from hitting her. Sadly, a combination of both the draft and the rattling metal had finally woken her up.

She sat up rubbing her eyes sleepily. Smacking her mouth she could tell her mouth was slightly dry. "Wester?" She cooed tiredly.

Scanning the room around her, Wester was next to the balcony packing their things inside their bags. By the way things had looked, Wester seemed to be almost done packing their things. The last few items that he was packing were the pot, and bowls along with a group of papers with pens. As he packed the pot it clanked loudly, at the very least this explained where the rattling was coming from.

The once warm comforting fire was now reduced to nothing more than a chard, smoldering collection of blackened wood. Tiny bits of smoke rose up from the smoldering pit, as a few embers kept what was left of the fire burning.

Wester noticed that Lucky was up, and quickly put the last bowl inside his bag. "Did I wake you up, kiddo? If you want to sleep a little longer I can give you little more time to-"

"No," She a yawned stretching out her forelegs, "I'm up..."

He smiled at her putting his saddlebag on his back, "I didn't sleep too well last night, so I got up earlier and started packing us up."

Taking the blanket she used to sleep with she handed it over to Wester, "Did you sleep well?" Wester asked.

Lucky took her hoof and rubbed the side of her head, which felt slightly sore. "I slept okay, my head kinda hurts though."

He kneeled down to her, "You probably slept on it wrong. But that's okay it'll go away in a little bit."

She blinked at him, in his eyes she could tell he had something interesting to share. "Hey, you wanna see something cool?"

The thought of what this cool thing was intrigued her. "Sure, what is it?"

Motioning for her to follow him he lead her to the balcony of the old abandoned apartments. Unlike the night before, the whole area around them was now visible, as gray light from the twisted cloud cover above illuminated the world around them. For miles, land that was once consumed by darkness was now visible.

The ruins of an old city surrounded them. Taller three, to four story brick buildings lined the edges of cracked streets filled with rusted wagons from days long since passed. In the distance was a large yellow antenna. One that looked as if it broadcasted some kind of signal out into the wasteland.

Wester pointed to the distant yellow landmark, "You see that?"

Lucky nodded at him seeing the antenna in the distance. "That's our destination. Ironstead. If what I've heard about that town is true, it should be protected enough from raiders. Which means that your uncle should be there safe and sound."

"How far away is it, Wester?"

"Hopefully, not far. It's near the center of the city, and by the way the land around here looks, we'll have to do some exploring to get around some of the more blocked areas."

A sense of excitement filled the filly's heart. The very thought of her uncle warmed her, because after their long trip, this was the end. The final stretch of their journey. And nothing would get in their way of reaching Ironstead.

Patting her lightly on the back, Wester playfully chuckled, "Come on, kiddo, let's go. If we move quickly, we should make it there in no time! And who knows, those swirly pink cupcakes just might be there waiting for us!"

Together, they strolled out of the old apartment complexes into the ruined streets of the old city. Like Wester had mentioned, several buildings seemed to have collapsed entirely, causing some of the more direct paths to be blocked by the rubbled. This didn't bother them much, for whenever they came at an impasse such as this, they tried finding another way around.

Most of the time, they did find alternate routes, though it just made their job of reaching the town that much more of a challenge. It didn't take them too long to reach the main street of the city. Following the road straight down would take them right to the city's center.

Trotting along the sidewalk, echoing metal bounced off of the pre-war structures. Eerie was the whole city, and the bleak lack of sound fueled this strange feeling. Wester kept in mind that even though all was quiet at, any sudden moment that silence could be easily broken by the sounds of gunfire. Every now and again, he would scan the area around him carefully while they moved. To him, it was very reassuring to have some understanding of the environment around them. Just because this was their final stretch didn't exempt them from being attacked at any moment.

To their right was an old corner store. Like most of the other buildings in the city, it too was a damaged deteriorating building of the wastes. Near the store's entrance was an beaten up Sparkle Cola machine. Smaller dents covered the sides, along with cherry red chipped paint peeling off it’s front. The light over the machine which advertised the product flickered sporadically.

Wester stopped and glanced at the machine. "Hey Lucky? Are you thirsty?"

She paused too, turning her attention to the machine he was looking at. Her mouth was dry, and looking at the machine near the store's entrance did seem inviting.

"Do you think that machine still works?" She asked.

Wester shrugged, "It won't hurt to find out would it?"

He nudged her gently, "Let's go take a peek. Maybe there's still some cola inside."

They both came over to the machine. Dirt stained broken glass crunched underneath their hooves as the machine made a low, almost daunting humming sound. Wester rubbed confidently his hooves together peering down to the filly at his side.

"Watch a pro in action kiddo..." Wester boastfully said taking the knife from his side.

Holding the blade firmly in his mouth, he stuck the end in a groove along the side of the machine. All the while, he muttered to himself as he attempted to pry the machine open. Pulling hard the machine ached, and moaned metallically. He grunted applying more direct force to the machine's opening groove.

Lucky observed him uneasily, and stepping up to him she asked, "Do you... Need any help?"

He raised a hoof up to her and shook his head, keeping the knife dug firmly into the machine. "Nah, I'm good. Jusht... Give me a second..." He tiredly uttered.

With a few more good pulls, a loud snap made both of the jump slightly. The loud noise they had heard however, was followed by the machine’s door creaking with the now opened cola machine ready to be looted.

With one hoof, he pushed the cola machine's door to the side exposing the inner-workings of the contraption. Both ponies stared disappointingly into it. Rusted gears and valves filled the machine, and what little soda was left, wasn't even soda. It was just bottles. Dusty old bottles that were empty and dry.

Rubbing top of Lucky's head he flattened his ears mournfully, "Sorry, kiddo. Looks like we won't get a chance to drink anything till we get there."

No sooner had he said that, that her eyes got wide with excitement. For near the end of the mess of bottles looked like a brown bottle filled with some kind of liquid. She reached inside, and in her hooves she held a full bottle of Sparkle Cola.

Wester stood there baffled by the site. He grinned an embarrassing grin while scratching his thick brown mane on his head. "Well, shoot. I am getting old if I didn’t see that. They say the first signs of old age is blindness after all."

Twisting the cap off of the bottle's top, a crisp satisfying hiss graced their ears. Bubbles formed near the top of the inside the bottle, not before quickly returning to the normal brown fizzy liquid it once was.

"Drink it up, you found it. You deserve it." Wester admirably added.

She glance down at the bubbling drink, and shook her head raising it up to him. "I won't have any unless you have some too."

Wester was slightly taken back by her response, "I'm fine, kiddo, you found it. It’s yours."

"No," She insisted, "you opened the machine, so you get some too."

"Well, shucks kid," He smiled thankfully picking up the drink with one hoof, "you know you still could of had the whole thing."

She shook her head at him giving him wide sparkle filled eyes. "I know, but you deserve some to. You’re my friend, and my friends get to share what we have."

"You’re a sweet kid, you know that?" He replied taking a few sips of the carrot-flavored beverage.

He sighed blissfully before taking his last few sips. "Here," he said giving the rest of the bottle to her, "you have the rest."

She smiled, taking the soda with her small hooves. "See. We share what we've got." She said taking a few large gulps of the soda herself.

Before they knew it, the bottle was empty. She sighed contently feeling the carbonated drink tickle her belly. Dropping the now empty bottle on the ground, they moved on.

As they trotted off down the street Wester kicked the bottle to the side. "Next time ,we'll have to make them last longer than that... Lest we get infected with the hiccups."

They both chuckled softly to themselves as they continued onward down the main street of the city. Overhead, the clouds twisted. The sound of thunder echoed in the far off distance, breaking the eerie silence of the ruined city.

A rusty bent can rattled and shook as it leaped forward. Lucky was kicking the can forward with one of her hooves, smiling while she did so. It entertained her, and seeing the look of content happiness on her face warmed Wester's heart. The two had come close to the end of the main street, for across from them was a massive bridge.

The cables and supports that once held the bridge together now creaked loudly as the old weathered steel of the structure ached. A dry riverbed lay underneath it; old sewer pipes that once leaked old sewage into the river now sat dry like the river that was once before them.

Demolished carts lined the sides of the bridge. Some hung off the edges, holding onto the edge tediously by the old twisted railings of the bridge. Lucky had started to get a little ahead of Wester, and this made him worry slightly. He wasn't sure what was inside the city, for even while they had not seen much thus far, the possibility of danger lurked around every inch of the ruins.

"Kiddo, don't stray off too far." Wester called to her.

She kicked the can a few more times before responding to him, "Okay Wester. I just want to kick it a few more times."

He kept his gaze on her for a few moments before quickly scanning the area around them. From where they were it would only be an hour or so to the settlement of Ironstead. Wester knew that if they continued on the path, they were going at they would surely reach their destination by then.

Suddenly, a terrifying shiver raced down his back. His ear twitched as the far off sound of voices reached his ears. Terror filled him, and getting low to the ground he moved as fast as he could to Lucky, who had not yet heard the voices.

She gleefully prepared to kick the can once more, only before she could Wester came to her side with a panic-struck look. Urgently, he whispered to her. "Lucky! Get down!"

At first, she was puzzled by his behavior, but when Wester had that terrified look on his face, she knew that something was wrong. Complying with his orders she immediately got low while he rushed up to her. Staying low, they moved behind an old concrete divider near a charred wagon by an alleyway. By now, the voices he had heard were more clear.

The voices in question were rugged, scratchy, and rough. Much like the voices of the raiders they had encountered the day before. Wester raised his head carefully over the top of the divider, trying his best to not expose himself.

"What is it?" Lucky asked with worry in her voice.

Wester continued to peer over the top of the divider for a few more seconds. "They're raiders... Quite a few of them. They're probably the gang those raiders we found at the store belong to."

From what he could see the raiders seemed to be scanning the area. They were not on a patrol, the way they investigated everything they passed suggested otherwise. They were looking for something; or rather, someone.

Each raider was heavily armed, equip with some sort of rifle and armored in thick leather barding. A mare spoke first, who sounded like the leader of the group. "You find anything yet, Split Tooth?"

"Nah, nothin’. Not a fuckin sign of anything." The stallion named Split Tooth answered.

Her voice became agitated, "Then keep looking! I want to find the ponies who murdered our guys! When you do find them bring me their fucking heads!"

There was a low tired murmur that came from the rest of the group. "And quit your complaining! If we don't find them soon, that ghoul herd that's been roaming these parts will, and I'll be damned to see them get torn to pieces by some mutated freaks first!"

The two ponies were horribly scared. The fear of the raiders finding their location caused the terror inside them to intensify. Lucky looked up at Wester with a frightened expression in her eyes.

"What are we going to do?" She asked Wester, keeping her voice to a minimum.

Wester surveyed the area around them. In the alleyway something caught his attention. An old sewer entrance. The raider's voices grew louder, as with every passing moment they grew closer to them.

He pointed to the sewer entrance's brown lid that lead down into the sewers below. "There, we'll go down there."

Lucky gazed up at him curiously, "Where will it take us?"

Wester glanced over the divider for a split second to check the position of the advancing raiders. "Hopefully past them. Once we're away from them, we'll finally make it to Ironstead."

Before Lucky could respond, a stallion in the raider group shouted. "I think I heard something! It sounded like it came from over there, behind that cart!"

Urgently, Wester took hold of one of Lucky's hooves. "Come on! We need to move!"

Together they dashed down the alleyway to the sewer entrance. He did his best to lift the heavy cast iron cover quietly. Once it was removed from the sewer entrance, a ladder was exposed leading down into the dark underground.

Wester motioned his head toward the ladder leading down into the sewer, "Go down, Lucky, hurry! And don’t worry, I'll be right behind you."

She climbed down into the hole unsurely, making her way down slowly. Once she was far enough down, he jumped quickly inside taking the heavy metal cover and placing it back on top of the sewer's entrance.

It was pitch black. The sound of water rushing down the tunnels echoed off of the walls loudly, and a musty moist smell filled the air. Wester made his way down to the bottom of the ladder, upon which he removed his flashlight from his bags and turned it on. Instantly, the small area around the two ponies was illuminated.

Lucky felt slightly nervous by all the darkness around them, so moving herself close to him she hugged his leg trembling slightly. He just looked down at her for a brief second, and kneeled down to her.

"Lucky... Sugar. Don’t be scared.” He whispered in comforting voice.

He took the knife from his leg and presented it to her. “I think you should take this. It’ll protect you from any nasty monsters. "

She sat on her haunches taking the knife with both hooves. "I... I... Don't know if I can take this..."

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Sure you can."

"What if I hurt somepony or-"

"I know it might seem scary at first, but we've all got to defend ourselves." He said resting a hoof on top of the knife's hilt.

"This isn't a toy kiddo. It doesn't have any fancy lights or action phrases. It's a tool."

Wester took one hoof and pointed directly at the space between his eyes. "If anything, or anyone tries hurting you. Take the end of that knife and plunge it right between their eyes. And if you can't get them there, try their neck or chest."

With the hilt she put the knife close to her chest, "I... I think I understand."

"Just remember, kiddo, use it only as a last resort. Just because you own the knife, it doesn't mean it can't harm you too."

She took the knife in its sheath, and tied it around her leg. Chuckling, Wester ruffled her mane playfully. "I swear, at this rate, you'll become a little warrior in no time."

Lucky managed to return a small smile, and gesturing his hoof for her to follow him he said, "Come on, kiddo, let's see where this thing ends."

In the darkness they moved, only the light from Wester's flashlight gave them sight in the dark underground. As the two ponies moved on, they came to a large room filled with pipes and pressure tanks. The rushing water seemed to part off from their path. A sign painted in chipped white letters read, "Exit" with a small white arrow painted below it was on the side of the doorway leading in. All along the top, and sides of the walls were old pipes. Rattling, hissing and leaking out built up pressure.

Treading lightly, they entered cautiously. Beside the large iron pressure tanks were several larger than average crates. Each crate was stacked neatly on top of the other, while the two ponies didn't pay the wooden boxes any mind, they still took into account that they could be used as a form of cover in case they ran into something... Less than desirable.

The room didn't seem to end, and flashing his light towards the end of the room there in white painted letters was the words ‘Exit’ above a door. As they came to the door at the pressure room's end a horrible, ghastly hiss echoed throughout the room. Both ponies froze where they were. Staring directly at the exit nearly fifty ponies away, the two could make out the dark figure of someone. Or rather, something.

Wester nudged Lucky worryingly and turned off his light. He put a hoof to his mouth, signaling that they needed to be quiet. She nodded back to him, and back the two went to the wooden crates. Unlike the rest of the sewers, the room they were in gave off a greenish aura off of the walls. It wasn't dark enough to be blind, but not illuminated enough to be seen easily.

Heavy hoof-steps could be heard, as their sounds echoed off of the walls clearly an anxious sweat started to build on their brows. The sound of ghastly panting shortly followed. Wester looked over the top of the crates to make out the dark silhouette in the room with them. Lucky poked her head up as well, trying her best, she found it hard to make out the odd creature.

It seemed to limp, and shuffle slowly around the room. "It's a ghoul..." Wester whispered.

"A what?" Lucky responded quietly.

"A ghoul. They're ponies who took in a little too much taint for their bodies to handle."

"So they're like zombies?"

"Yeah, like zombies."

He glanced once more over the crate and checked the room quickly. "It looks like there's only one... But I’m not sure, maybe two? I don’t know... If just get close enough though I can kill it quietly."

Lucky felted worried for her friend's safety. "Be careful..." She muttered.

"I'll be back kiddo, this shouldn't be too difficult." Wester said before moving around the crate, and up to the ghoul.

He stepped as lightly as he could, trying his best not to make a sound. As he came up to the creature however, he stepped on some gravel that he had not seen. In the quiet room the sound was loud, and clear.

Like a watchdog snapping to attention the ghoul perked itself up and scanned the area around it. At this point, Wester knew that killing it quietly may not be an option. So, to be safe he pulled out his pistol.

With it gripped tightly in his mouth he continued his advance. The horrifying creature sniffed the air and moved itself in his general direction. He became shocked. Wester stood absolutely still in terror as the monster came closer, and closer to him. Finally, it was within an arm's length from him. If there was any time to take on the creature, now was the time.

Pulling the trigger back, he fired the gun, only instead of a gunshot the gun made a disappointing clicking sound. He panicked. The gun had jammed on him, and putting its full focus on him the ghoul shrieked and tackled him.

"Shit!" He swore as it pinned him to the ground.

The gun had fallen out of his mouth and into the darkness. Above him, the monster bit and snarled at him like a mad dog trying to kill its prey. With both of his fore hooves on it’s chest, he kept the creature off of him. But it had its full weight on him, and he knew he wouldn't last forever.

"Lucky, hurry! Get the gun!" Wester cried out struggling to keep the ghoul off of him.

Lucky's heart pounded as she raced to Wester's aid. Desperately, she searched for the gun near him. Only, without some sort of light, it seemed almost impossible as the dark worn metal of the weapon camouflaged itself well with the dark floor. She did what she felt was right next. She pulled out the knife from her side with the intent of killing the ghoul.

However, out of the darkness, another ghoul leaped out onto her. With the knife still in her mouth she struggled desperately to get out of the second creature's grasp. By pure force and determination, she wiggled free and confronted the monster. Her heart pounded fiercely as fear spread itself through her body. But she had to be brave. For Wester, and for their survival.

Taking a massive swipe at the ghoul with the knife she managed to lodged the whole knife into the creature's side. It cried out monstrously in pain, staggering back from her for a moment. Sadly, the creature's pain did not keep it from coming back to her. This time, it was filled with a monstrous rage. And, in a mad frenzy-like state, it attacked her.

She screamed as it hit her, and pinned her to the ground. "Wester! Help me!" She cried.

Her cries rang loudly in his head. Out of pure emotion, a magical aura formed around his horn. In one powerful blast of magical energy the ghoul on top of him blasted into dust. He stood up, eyes glowing a bright velvet color, with his horn glowing equally as bright.

"Leave her alone!" He screamed madly blasting the demented ghoul above her.

With half of its head vaporized, the ghoul fell to the ground dead. Lucky had her forelegs blocking her face. She was shivering, with her eyes closed.

Wester coughed hoarsely as his legs became weak. He found it hard to keep himself balanced for all of his sense were disoriented. The room around him spun, and a loud ringing filled his ears. Wester could feel the blood flow down from his nose while he stumbled and coughed.

He crashed into a wooden crate trying his best to keep himself together. But no amount of will or determination could prevent his body from coughing up blood.

Lucky slowly got up from her position. Desperately came over to him as she listened to him wheeze, and cough loudly. Moving to his side she took one of his hooves.

In a worrying tone she asked, "Wester? Are you okay? Did it hurt you?"

"Wha... What?" He mumbled shaking his head and blinking.

"Wester? Are you okay?" She repeated once more.

Slowly his sense started to return. His head pounded, and his chest felt sore. "I'm... I'm fine... Did... Did it hurt you? Are you hurt?" He answered weakly.

She put a hoof to his forehead. "No, I’m fine... You feel warm and you sound weak."

He coughed a few more times, trying to cope with the pain. "I'm fine... It just got a few good punches at me, that’s all..."

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Wester... Please don't..."

He stood up messaging the side of his head with one hoof. For a moment, he coughed softly a few times, clearing out the last of the blood from his coughs. "I'm sorry, kiddo... It won't happen again... I didn’t know there was two of them."

She took one of his hooves, and shook her head. "I just don't want to lose you..."

"Don't worry, kiddo. You won't... I don't plan on leaving you any time soon... I thought I had told you that already." He answered as calmly as he could, while still repressing the urge to cough.

With the sleeve of his coat he wiped away the blood from his nose. "Come on... Let's get out of this place. We're almost there."

Lucky didn't reply as he walked toward the exit. She just looked at him with worry. Truly, she felt scared for him, even if they were so close to their destination, an awful feeling rolled around inside her. And as she trotted up to his side it bothered her. Maybe it was the fear inside her. The fear of losing him. She wasn't sure, and only time could tell whether they made it or not. Going down those dark sewer tunnels though, she felt that this part of the trip had been the longest thus far, and the most challenging.

The heavy cast iron lid of the sewer in the middle of the road lifted up and to the side. Out from the hole emerged Wester, who stuck his head out to scan the area. The cool dry breeze blew against his long brown mane. For the moment, everything had seemed safe. Only the same sort of blasted wagons, and ruined buildings of the old city surrounded them.

"It looks safe." Wester called down to Lucky.

One by one, they came out of the old sewer hole. However, Wester still felt the pain fester inside his head, yet he ignored it. Though as time went on it seemed the more he tried to ignore it, the more worse it became. But to keep Lucky calm, especially when they were so close, he gave no sign to indicate that the pain bothered him.

Finally out of the sewers, the two inspected their surroundings. Behind them was the bridge the raiders were at. And almost half a mile away was the massive steel gate of Ironstead. The gate itself was at the very end of the road. Taller skyscrapers stood tall along each side of them, and Iron wagons beaten, knocked over, or demolished littered the long path ahead of them.

Wester's legs felt weak, he could tell that it was becoming difficult to move. Raising a hoof to his eyes he tried to view the gate of the town from where he stood. "There it is Lucky... We're... We're almost there..." He huffed tiredly with a heated sweat started to build on his brow.

Lucky glanced up at him unsurely, and putting her hoof to his head she felt the hot temperature of his brow. "Wester, you're burning up, maybe you should sit down-"

He shook his head and started to walk in the direction of the gate. "No," He insisted, "we're almost there... We can make it."

She didn't feel right seeing him in such a bad state, but they needed to keep moving. Their destination was right before them. All they needed to do now was reach it.

As they continued on, more and more, they realize that skeletons littered the streets. While corpses of this nature were a common site in the wastes, these particular specimens were different. Each was armed, and clad in bloody roughly configured armor made of scrap. Possibly ponies who had in the past encountered the ghouls that surrounded the area.

One even lay with a armed and loaded rocket launcher. Could these ponies also be raiders? Or were they something else? The armor suggested that they were raiders, for even the armor was covered in crude and perverted symbols. Wester didn’t seem to notice, for even his walking had become sluggishly. Each step he took seemed to be more of a shuffle than an actual step.

They just kept moving straight, and taking a step over the armored skeleton with the rocket launcher, Wester tripped. He fell flat on his face, though his trip had managed to trigger something. The weapon beeped loudly, and with a loud click it fired the rocket. Wester got up, recovering himself.

Whilst rubbing his sore face the rocket flew toward the bridge. Lucky and Wester saw as it soared through the air before coming into contact with an old flight wagon that had been stuck on one of the main support beams of the bridge. Both of them flinched as the explosion echoed clearly through the silent landscape. In addition to a loud explosion, the wagon fell down from the top of the support. It came down crashing destructively against the ground.

Both ponies looked back at the bridge nervously. Wester blinked and said, "Maybe nothing heard that-"

Wester was rudely interjected by the sound of a powerful gunshot. One of the old glass windows of a wagon next to them exploded into pieces following the fired shot.

Not too far off from their position could they hear the sound of ponies crying out in rage. And over the bridge they saw the raiders they had so desperately tried to avoid. They were in full gallop, weapons armed and ready to kill.

The two pony's eyes widened in terror. "Run, Lucky! Run!" Wester cried.

Together, they gave all they could to run away from the oncoming raiders who charged to them. Wester's feeling of weakness slowed him, almost to the point of a light jog. Lucky didn't want to leave him, or in anyway abandon her friend. She nudged him urgently with desperation in her eyes.

"Come on, Wester! We're almost there! You can do it!"

Wester was huffing, and panting heavily. "I'm... I'm trying, kiddo..."

Bullets soon started to fly by them. At the pace they went at, the raiders were already halfway caught up to them. The bullets hit the rusted metal of the wagons around them sending out sparks, and chipped metal flying.

Lucky looked back one more time to see how much ground the raiders had covered. Only to her surprise, the once intimidating sound of bloodthirsty uproars were replaced with the sound of agonizing pain and mayhem. A sense of great fear overcame her at that instant. For it was not just the raiders that had heard the rocket go off, but a large ghoul herd as well. The very same that the raiders had remained cautious of.

"Wester! We have to run! Come on!" She urged him.

He was wheezing unnaturally, giving off small coughs as the sweat on his brow became worse. The gunshots of the raiders could be heard as they desperately tried to fight off the herd. Though, second by second the gunfire slowly faded.

Lucky could see several ghouls detach themselves from the main herd madly dashing their way toward them. The ghoul's speed was quick. They ran nearly twice the speed the raiders had, and within moments, they would be upon them. Wester quickly glanced back at the horrifying monsters quickly come closer to them. Looking back to the gate he saw how much farther they needed to go. They still needed to cover another five hundred feet of ground before even coming close to the gate.

Even before the could get two hundred feet the ghouls would have caught up with them. Seeing the condition he was in he stopped. Sweat dripped down his face as he stood there, a contemplative look spread across his face. Lucky halted, and in panic took his foreleg and pulled on him.

"Come on, Wester! Come on! They're coming!"

He was breathing heavily, coughing small but hoarse coughs as he spoke. "No... Kiddo, you have to go on."

She looked up to him in shock. "W-What?! No, I can't leave you! You need to come on, we're almost there!"

"They're coming too fast, and I won't make it... Not like this."

Tears began to roll down her small grey cheeks. "No! No! You can't stay, we can still make it!"

Wester looked toward the ghouls who were almost at them. He gritted his teeth as tears built up in his eyes. By now, even if he tried to slow them down, one or two of them would get to her, and he wouldn't let a single one of those monsters touch her. In a low, unsteady voice he whispered.

"Lucky... I'm... I'm sorry..."

She looked up to him. Eyes wide, and tears flowing down from her eyes. Forcefully picking her up, he took her to one of the wagons next to him. One that had an enclosed cabin with dirt windows and doors. There she could be protected from what he was about to do.

She kicked and fought him viciously. "Wester, put me down! Don't do it! Please don't! Please don't!"

Opening the door to the wagon he pushed her inside and slammed the door shut. Taking an old metal barrel next to the wagon he pushed it in front of the door. Looking back to her one more time he said.

"I'm sorry."

She got up, and from the inside of the wagon she pounded on the window crying. "Wester... You promised me..." She whimpered.

Wester had tears run down his cheeks as he stood there ready to embrace the oncoming herd that charged toward him. He took in a deep breath, and sighed. "You've got to keep it together, Wester... You have to do this, for her..."

Closing his eyes he could hear the heavy pounding hoof steps of the nightmarish creatures. Softly, he sung to himself as the aura around his horn grew brighter. His eyes soon started to glow, and as he felt the magical energies flow inside him he faced the ghouls.

With large tears rolling down the sides of his face he cried blasting them with powerful beams of pure magical energy he sung, "Here I stroll down this lonely road... searching, for a home... then I found you all alone, soaked to the bone."

Each ghoul that was hit with his magical energy turned slowly vaporized into piles of pure white ash. "We ran on through the world together... seeing a world I never saw... oh we made up new numbers... and we gazed upon the water, in everlasting awe... now we walk on through the days, like a an everlasting..."

And as the last of the few ghouls dissipated into dust his energy began to subside and the once brightly glowing aura in his eyes and horn faded.

“Dream...” He muttered feeling the energy slowly disappear, and feeling his body become consumed with pain, he fell to the ground.

Lucky was determined to get to him, and taking the knife he had given her she used the hilt to break the glass. With the blade she cleared away any extra parts of the window. Jumping out of the wagon she rushed to his side. Holding his head with her hooves she looked down at him with the smoldering piles of the ghouls, now turned to ash surrounding them.

Wester was coughing large amounts of blood from out of his mouth. Her tears fell down onto his brown coat as she spoke to him. "Wester... I thought you said that you wouldn't leave me..."

His hoof was trembling terribly, and brushing her yellow mane to the side, he said as warmly as he could, "D-Don't cry, kiddo... I... I promised myself I'd always protect you..."

She buried her face into his chest and cried. "I don't want you to go... You're my only friend..."

"Shhh," He replied softly resting his hoof on her back, "You can still make it... I'm sorry I couldn't make it with you... I'm... I'm sorry... Please... Make...I-It..." His voice became weak, until his coughing, and breathing stopped altogether.

She rose up slowly from his chest and looked at him sobbing. "W... Wester?" She muttered.

She shook him slightly. "Wester?" She asked once more.

"Wester!" She shouted shaking him.

"Wester, please get up! Please!"

She looked around at the empty ruins around her, and shouted as loudly as she could holding her friend in her hooves. "Help! Please help! Somepony please help!" She cried into the silence.

"Please," She cooed crying, "please... Help me... Please..."

From afar, on the top of the massive steel wall of Ironstead, a pony looked out the poor pony cry through the lenses of a pair of binoculars. He was an orange unicorn with a red mane, and dressed in a set of blue dusty cloths. A rifle hung at his side by a strap as he continued to look out at the sad pony.

Another pony, this time a muscular green earth pony stallion, came up to his side. "What’s going on out there?" He asked the orange look-out pony.

The pony removed the binoculars from his eyes to address the stallion. "That pack of ghouls, sir... One pony out there took them all out..."

The stallion raised an eyebrow at him, "What? That whole herd?"

"Yes, sir. The whole thing."

Turning his attention to the small grey pegasus in the distance he pointed toward Lucky. "And who is that out there?"

"Her? Well, she was with the stallion out there, sir. It doesn't look like he survived the herd, sir."

Both of them could hear Lucky cry out for help once more. "Sir... It's just her... What are we going to do? Protocol states that we're not supposed to waste resources on wanderers when ghouls could be around."

The earth pony stood there for a moment, listening to the hopeless pleas of the filly. "Send some of our boys down there to get her."

The look-out stallion looked puzzled by his order, "Sir?"

"That's an order, and if you don’t, I’ll have you tell command how you disobeyed me when I gave you a direct order." He added sternly.

"Y-yes sir... I'll go get some pony right now on it." He answered before making his way down the wall.

Staring out at the small filly, the stallion sighed to himself. Not letting so much as another word leave his lips. How could he speak? Hearing the cries caused him to remain silent, and as the filly’s voice rattled around in his mind, he watched her. Hoping for the best.

A green line on black metal monitor spiked up and down at an easy pace. Each time it spiked up, it made a slight beeping noise, indicating the heart rate of the patient connected to it. Attached to the machine by thin white wires was Wester. He laid on a white examination bed, motionless. His eyes shut tight and his breathing shallow.

A small chair was pulled up to the examination bed's side, which Lucky sat on. With her hooves folded on the bed, she buried her face sobbing softly. The room around them was gray and plain. Counters were covered with a variety of medical instruments. Be it syringes or tubes containing various medical potions, the counters were littered with the equipment.

In a box near the corner of the room was a set of old power armor. Her uncle used to be a medic, and the power armor was a memory of the days he had traveling the wastes.

An old ceiling fan with four lights connected to it spun above them slowly. A door at the end of the room opened and stepping through it was an older pony. The pony in question was Lucky's uncle, who wore a long white lab coat. He was an unicorn whose mane was silver, and his coat a dark gray. Perched neatly on his nose was a pair of old glasses which he pushed up onto his nose slightly every other moment.

Lucky raised her head to see who had come through the door. Taking her hooves she wiped away some of the tears from her face. "Uncle... Will... Will he be okay?"

He bore a saddening look as he came to her side. Sighing, he answered her in a mournful tone. "Lucky... Whatever his mutation is, it did a number on his body..."

"How bad is it?" She asked quietly.

Rubbing the back of his neck unsurely, he replied, "Several major blood vessels throughout his body have ruptured. His brain is suffering from severe tension... I'm afraid he's beyond any help I can give him here..."

"But there has to be a way!" She insisted.

"Like I had said before, I don't have the resources or help to help a pony in his condition. Not only this, but he is beyond the help of medical potions."

"But..." She cooed taking one of Wester's hooves, "He's my friend... I... I don't want him to go."

"I'm sorry, Lucky," He said wrapping a hoof around her, and in a comforting tone he added, "but I've done all I can to help him ease into the next life. I'm afraid your friend won't last past the next two days."

She began to cry once more, "Are... Are you sure there isn't something we can do?"

He sighed sounding unsure, "Only if there was some way I could give him a machine which healed the stressed ruptures around his body, and repair the hurt parts of the brain, I could theoretically keep him alive."

Lucky looked toward the power armor in the corner of the room. "What about that?" She asked pointing at it.

He turned his gaze to the box of armor. "My armor?"

"Doesn't it have magic healing stuff? Can't it do all the things you said?"

"It can... But, I'm not sure what the outcome might be..."

Lucky thought for a moment, contemplating about the option which circled around in her mind. "Will he be okay if you put it on him?"

Scratching his head he thought about her idea. "It would save him... But to make sure the brain becomes repaired, I'm going to have to let the system replace parts too stressed to function."

"Will he be the same? That is... If you do it?"

He shook his head at her, "The section of his brain that holds memories will be the part most affected. Some parts of his personality will stay, but I can't guarantee that he'll remember you, or anything you've done together."

Lucky found it hard to speak, for the sadness inside her made her choke up. "Will he be able to live normally?"

"He won't be himself completely, but yes. He'll still have to eat, drink, sleep and rest like any other pony."

"Will he be able to live... Happily?"

"It is possible. I can’t say for sure."

She smiled, looking at her friend rest peacefully. "As long as he's able to live a happy life..."

"Are you sure you want me to do this? Even if he doesn't remember you?"

"I don't care if he forgets me," She added giving off a warm smile, "I just want him to be happy. Because I've got to protect him now... He's my friend and I won't leave him behind."

"If this is what you truly want for your friend, Lucky," Her uncle said hugging her, "I'll do it. I'll try and save him."

The gray pegasus stopped her story, smiling. Rocking back and forth in her chair she had a few tears roll calmly down her cheeks. "Well kids... That's the story." She muttered..

Both kids folded their fore-legs and pouted. "Last time you left it at the same place! I want to know how it ends! Were they happy? Did he make it out okay? What happened!" Glitter Chip exclaimed.

"Yeah," Conway agreed, "I want to know how it ends? Where they happy in the end?"

"Listen kids, you asked for the story, and I've told you the story. If you don't like it make an ending up."

"But Lucy!" Both of the young ponies begged in unison.

A few more tears rolled down her eyes, "Listen kids I said-"

"Were they happy in the end?" The armored stallion asked.

Looking at the stallion, she sat there speechless. "Were they?" The stallion asked once more.

Smiling at the stallion, she gave him a loving smile. At first she didn’t say anything, though looking at him in her uncle’s armor. Building up the will to speak, she answered him.

"Yes, Wester... Yes they were..."

The End

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

LyonAzakura

Thefullmetalbrony

(AN: Once again thanks for 100 favorites! I hope you enjoyed this. I wrote this in between writing chapter 24 and 25. I thought that you guys needed something a little extra while I work on chapter 26. Having reached 100 favorites and all. Anyway, thanks for reading Brotherhood! It means a lot! - Noakwolf)