War.

War never changes. As a wanderer of the Wasteland, I had experienced and seen war at point blank range. I had been involved; I had taken arms with both sides of the war. Dishonor. But what is war? Just ponies killing each other over control, or over a small disagreement, maybe a misunderstanding. Ponies killed other ponies for the thrill of using the weapons that they had -- knowing that they’ll never get another chance to do so considering war used to be so rare.

But war is part of history. War is what makes this world whole; it’s what makes the Wasteland as brutal as it is. They may not know it, but Raiders, Ghouls, Alicorns, Hellhounds… Every single pony and living creature in the Wasteland is fighting a war, even me and my companions. A war that cannot be won. A war which will carry out for decades, maybe even centuries. Maybe until the end of Ponykind. Whether the end means the rebirth of Equestria, or the very end of civilization, war will no doubt be the cause.

And what was I? A broken and completely torn apart pony. Mentally. Physically I was somewhat still in one piece other than the eye, but something told me I was getting closer and closer to the end; the end of my journey. Stable 30 was where I was hoping to return… to stop the Enclave from killing all of the innocent ponies inside of the Stable, to prove I have a chance at redemption.

War changes ponies. War can bring monsters out of their cages, and make enemies. Friends become enemies, and enemies can become friends. Mist saw me as his friend even though I hated him. Lockhart hated my guts, and I was starting to hate him. All of the ponies I killed, all of the ponies I had murdered just to get where I was now were all fighting their own wars. Whether it was for their own survival, or for the sake of a better tomorrow, I had killed them. No mercy. And now thinking back on what they were doing to get by, what they were doing to try and change this hellish Wasteland into a place worth living in… to end the violence. I had regretted every choice.

And I still have a chance at redemption, even if ponies believe I do not.

I was crying.

Crying from the visions that I had seen. How mentally broken Dodge was, how he pleaded for his life to end. And he was right. I wouldn’t kill him, I wouldn’t even think of it even if I wanted to. He was a friend… my friend. My closest friend. Crystal held me in a soft grip, allowing me to cry into her. She held me close, kissing my head and holding me there until it was all over.

“Whatever you saw wasn’t your fault,” Crystal said with a reassuring tone to her voice. “I know it wasn’t. You’re a good pony. You’re a pony who is capable of doing right, and you have done right. You’ve done what you thought was right, you chose your path, the path you wanted to take. You’re a strong pony, I know it, you just have to see it.”

“I’m not a good pony…” I moaned, nuzzling her chest and silently sobbing to myself. “I-I’ve killed ponies who didn’t deserve it…why did you stick by me? Ever since day one, you had stuck by me. And you had told me I was wrong all those weeks ago, you had yelled at me and told me I was wrong to do what I did.”

“I stuck by you because I saw a pony with potential,” Crystal gently pushed my head away from her to look into my eyes with a gentle smile. “We all make mistakes… You recovered well, Tornado. You’re the buck I fell in love with -- the buck who I promised my aid. And I am not looking to break that promise.”

She kissed me gently on the lips, and I kissed back, wrapping my hooves around her before breaking off from her and pressing my muzzle against hers gently, closing my eyes. I embraced her warmth, her softness, kissing her nose with a soft peck before reeling away. Crystal looked into my eyes with a loving smile, and I looked back into hers, holding her close to me.

The sound of the door opening was heard from behind me, and my attention quickly turned towards the open door. Two Steel Rangers stood in the doorway, their armor illuminated by the fluorescent lights fixed to the ceiling. The two Rangers stepped in one-after-another, and as they walked in, Elder Lockhart followed them inside. He shot looks at all of us, the mentally and physically damaged Cyclone Flash curling into a ball. My attention was focused on my sister.

His cold expression looked back to me, and I glanced away, trying not to make direct eye contact with Lockhart. I heard him move closer to me, his hoofsteps echoing as they tapped against the cold, metal floor.

“Get up…” I heard his cold, dry voice whisper lowly, as I soon looked back up to him. His eyes moved to my bound hooves, and he smirked, letting out a little snicker of a laugh and sighing to himself. “That’s right… You can’t. Oh well…” I soon felt his teeth latch onto my mane, as he lifted me from the ground slowly. I let out a yelp, and a few jolts of resistance, but nothing came of it.

“What do you want?” I asked with an equally cold expression on my face, looking at him straight in the eyes. “Why can’t you let them go? Just keep me -- I’m the pony you want.”

“Maybe you are… But they’re your companions,” Lockhart said as he lifted me onto his back, chuckling as he watched me struggle helplessly. “They’re meant to stick by you, right? No matter what…”

“Let him go…” I heard Crystal growl beside me, my eyes looking to her as she shot Lockhart a look that froze him in place as they made direct eye contact. “Now. Or I’ll make you suffer…”

“Your magic is useless here, you bitch,” Lockhart spat at Crystal, stomping a hoof and keeping his eyes fixed on hers as he gritted his teeth. “There is an anti-magic chemical being pumped through the air-ducts, so no matter how hard you try, you can’t free him even if you wanted to… I’m sorry, but you’re going now-”

Before Lockhart could finish his sentence, a loud and echoing alarm was emitted throughout Stable 55, the loud cries of the alarm coming from each and every speaker stabbing deeply into my ear. I cringed, and squirmed as I attempted to cover my ears with my bound hooves, before falling off of Lockhart’s back and slamming onto the ground with a loud yelp of pain. The alarm continued to emit loudly. Elder Lockhart looked to his Steel Rangers in anger and glared at them.

“Turn off the alarm!” he roared out at them, both of the Steel Rangers looking at him in silence, before nodding and rushing out of the room, the door remaining wide open as the metal clanking of their hoofsteps drowned out by the loud alarm booming from each and every speaker.

Crystal’s horn began to spark, and spit magic, Lockhart looking at her with wide eyes as her horn grew brighter and brighter by each passing second. As he was about to swipe at her with his wrinkled and ancient hoof, Crystal’s horn regained the strength to cast magic and as he was about to hit her around the face, Crystal looked to a metal box that sat in a far corner outside of the room, before yanking it over to her and slamming it across the face of Lockhart. Blood splattered onto the wall next to me as he fell with a loud thump, unconscious… but breathing. His face was swollen, and blood leaked from his mouth.

“Nopony calls me a bitch!” Crystal roared out, staring down at Lockhart’s unconscious body as she released the magical grip she had on the small metal box that she had used to knock him out. She unlocked her bindings with her magic and then soon unlocking mine, Swift, Cyber’s and of course, my sister’s.

My eyes widened at her sudden action of violence. The two brothers lifted themselves onto their hooves, Cyclone the first of all ponies to leave the room. Swift and Cyber slowly stepped over Lockhart’s unconscious body, chuckling to themselves and staring at the buck that bled from his mouth, with a swelling lump consuming his face. Swift left the room, but Cyber stopped in his tracks as his eyes met with Crystal’s, the rage undoubtedly still there inside of her.

“Remind me never to call you… the ‘B’ word, alright?” Cyber chuckled, walking out of the room slowly to join my sister, and his brother. I blinked, looking at Crystal as the mare stared down at the bloody and seemingly lifeless body of Lockhart.

I walked passed her, my eyes tracing the static mare as she let out a few heavy breaths. Her eyes soon met with mine, and I quickly looked away as the lingering look of fury remained in her eyes. That was the first time I had seen her like that. It was different. Frightening, awesome, shocking? Yeah… it was like that.

We left the small prison-like room we were all contained inside of, the blaring alarm system that continued to ring out loudly echoing loudly throughout the almost empty halls of the Stable. The surrounding area was filled with different ‘Cell-Blocks’ and square pillars which held the low metal roof up, preventing it from collapsing if it ever grew weak. At either side of us all were two hallways, both hallways stretching for what looked like forever. Both hallways were filled with a very mundane blue light that illuminated the corridors to their entirety.

I took a couple of trots both ways, glancing down both hallways to see if there were any ponies coming down both sides. I repeated this process more times than I had hoped, but I had to make sure that we left… somewhat in one piece. I kept pacing back and forth, the sound of my clattering hoofsteps drowned out by the ear-piercing alarm that boomed out of the large, circular speakers fixed to the corners of the walls.

“What are you doing?” I heard Cyclone ask as she stepped in front of me as I came back to the right-hoof side. I halted in my tracks, staring into my sister’s eyes. “Either way, we’re going to fight. It doesn’t matter which direction we go, as long as we’re together…”

I blinked, looking to my other companions, all of them without any weapons or armor. I looked to the ground, the blackened floor below my hooves reflecting from the fluorescent lights fixed to the ceiling. I felt a hoof touch my shoulder, and as it did, I looked up to see my sister smiling into my eyes despite the torture she had been through. I smiled back… weakly.

“You shouldn’t worry, Tornado,” Cyclone softly spoke, the alarm almost blocking out her voice. “You’ve come so far… So why not just go all in?”

She was right. I had--we had come so far. I pulled Cyclone into a hug. She hugged me back.
Upon pulling away, I smiled at her, before glancing to my other companions who waited patiently for some input on what was going to happen from this point on. Risky right, lucky left? I looked to Crystal, taking a couple of steps closer to her.

“Right…” I said, lifting a hoof from the ground, Cyber, Swift and Crystal and even Cyclone looking at me. I looked at them all, smiling softly. “Lucky left, risky right… What fun is there without taking risks? We’ll go right, and see where it takes us.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Swift said glumly, walking up to me and looking at me with an unsure look of worry. “I don’t want to be responsible for your death, Tornado. I don’t want to be holding you in my arms while you die… Not like he did…”

My smile was wiped from my face as I remembered. I knew who he was talking about. Dodge. It still hurt to remember that. I didn’t want to remember it. I shook my head to try and ignore the depressing thoughts that returned to my memory-banks, looking to all of my companions with determination as I tried to speak over the alarms that rang out loudly.

“Whatever happens now happens…” I spoke loudly, pacing around to look at them all as I did. “Whatever happens from this point on is in our control. Whether that is us meeting our fate, or achieving our goals, whatever happens today is in our control and only we can determine how our journey ends…” I said, taking a couple of trots towards the corridor I had chosen us to go down, glancing back to my companions as they gathered behind me. “I just want you all to realize that no matter what happens today, I will always value our friendship. We’ve been through the good times, the rough times… the unbearable times together. But we’ve all stuck by each other. We have all stayed put, even when things are a little too hard to stomach… And from this point, I’ll stick by you all to show you how much you all mean to me… Together. Until the end...”

With no weapons, and no armor, I feared this was where we would all be buried. But I had faith; I was determined to reach Stable 30. From this point on, it was all about getting there and how we would get there without losing a pony or two. I had made many enemies in my time in the Wasteland, and I feared that I was about to make more…

Trotting down the long corridor, I didn’t think to race ahead without them. The alarms kept ringing out, grinding against the inside of my ear as I continued down the claustrophobic corridor. As we continued down the long hallway which seemed as if it was endless, the sound of gunfire punctured through the sound of the alarms, and so did the sound of agony and slaughter. I stopped in my tracks, my companions halting behind me as I listened in closely…

The sound of ricocheting bullets, and laser weapons echoed loudly, and after the gunshots, screams of pain were heard before the sound of something heavy collapsing followed. I began to move once again, my companions keeping the same slow and steady pace as I did. I noticed the end of the hallway, the metal door ripped from where it used to be and thrown out into the large room at the end of the hallway, some of the lights fixed to the hallway’s ceiling flickering.

I noticed passed the small doorway bullets flying, blood splattering onto walls as heavily armored Steel Rangers collapsed with a thud, plasma beams flying and slamming into the ground once missing their target, or killing their targets. I took silent hoofsteps, hoofsteps that were not audible over the sound of the alarm and the gunfire that rang out loudly throughout the Stable, keeping my head down.

I waited for the battle to die down, knowing that we wouldn’t stand a chance without any weapons or armor. It didn’t take long for it to die down, either. The gunfire stopped, and the only sound audible at this point was the blaring alarm blasting from the speakers. Taking a couple of steps closer to the doorway, I kept my eyes fixed on the blood on the walls, and the many different guns and weapons lying around on the floor.

I walked out into the room, glancing in all directions to check if everything was clear. It was the Atrium, and the brutal battle that had happened moments ago had just ended. And nopony lingered to check for more. We were all surrounded by corpses of the Steel Rangers. Armor punctured with ease, bloody wounds beneath the metal plating of their Power Armor exposed, and blood pouring from any craters created in their armor.

“The Enclave did this…” Cyclone’s voice spoke with a grunt, as she walked up to one of the silent corpses lying on the charcoal black flooring in the Atrium. She removed the helmet from one of the dead soldiers, looking into the shattered visor and sighing. “There is no doubt.” Cyclone looked up at the balconies as did I, nopony whatsoever glancing down at us.

“How do you know?” I looked to my sister, raising a brow and sighing. I walked up to her and looked down slightly. “It could have been anypony.”

“Who hates the Steel Rangers more than they do, huh?” Cyclone countered, lifting a hoof and tossing the helmet to the floor. “Nopony. They’re sworn enemies. Whenever they catch sight of each other, no matter if it’s a family member or even a friend… they’ll strike each other down.”

I blinked, looking to Cyber and Swift who had already dug into the weapons they had found. Both of them took a large rifle each. Two black rifles… no attachments or anything. Just plain rifles. They both scavenged for ammo, and as I looked back to Cyclone, she tossed me a battle-saddle and two heavy rifles to fit into the slots, all of the items she threw to me landing on the floor with a loud thud.

“You’d better gear up,” Cyclone said, turning back and searching some of the corpses for ammo and weapons as she spoke to me. “If it is the Enclave, then you’d need the best weapons and armor you can get. The Power Armor would be useless in its current state, so I wouldn’t use it if I was you.”

Crystal levitated a magnum to her side, emptying the chamber and then placing a new round of bullets into the circular container, before closing it once more. Levitating a small and battered saddlebag to her side, she fixed it to her, and placed the small gun she found into one of the satchels on her saddlebag.

“Let’s hope we make it,” Cyber said from behind. I glanced back, looking to the blue buck that floated in midair, his mechanical wings keeping him afloat. “It’d be a shame to see us get this far, only to fall even further.”

We could only hope. Hope was what kept me going; hope was what prevented me from just dropping dead. Ever since I took my first steps out into the Wasteland, I had always looked at myself being the whipping buck of the Wasteland. For the most part, that was true… But hope kept me going until the end, and I had no intentions to just give up on what I wanted to achieve.

“And we will make it…” I said, lifting a hoof while looking at him. “Believe me. If we’ve gotten this far, we can go much further.” I hopped off of the ground, hovering up to the upper levels as my wings aided me to do so midflight. Landing on the balcony, I took a couple of steps forward, before glancing down to my companions.

“Come on!” I said, lifting a hoof. “This should lead us to the Overmare’s office… There might be a secret tunnel leading to the exit. There was in Stable 30… at least from what I remember.”

I looked forward once more, seeing the steel grey walls coated in blood and chunks of gore. Armored corpses of Steel Rangers leaned against the walls, and some were on their backs, their armor like before broken and shattered. I took a couple of steps forward yet again, glancing at the bodies as I heard Swift and Cyber land behind me and finally my sister who was carrying Crystal. One of the windows on the left side of the hallway was painted over with black paint to make it impossible to see through. The hallway was wide, and had many doors leading to different rooms.

I looked up at a sign that read: Overmare’s office - an arrow pointing upwards besides the thick black lettering on the glowing green sign that flickered violently.

I continued further blindly, looking left and right to check if there were any Enclave troops waiting to ambush. Even if it was me, even if they knew it was me, no doubt they’d still try and kill me considering I would be standing in their way. I felt something brush my hoof, before a silent ‘click’ rang out. I looked down, my heart sinking once I saw a trip wire… a wire I had triggered…

Soon, I felt a spray of bullets hit me in the side of my body, before stumbling into the opposing wall. I yelped out, bleeding from the several wounds created in my body before falling down onto my front and holding my bloody wounds with my hoof. And as I fell to the ground, Enclave troops soon swarmed out of the many doors and began to engage on my companions. I tried to lift myself up, coughing and wheezing as I did.

“Dammit, Tornado, again?!” I heard Cyclone yell, hearing her hoofsteps run to me. She stood over me, firing a couple of shots from the magnum fixed to her armor. She kept shooting, before grabbing a tight hold of me, and flying back to the edge of the balcony as fast as she could. A couple of shots grazed her wings, causing her to stumble mid-flight slightly. She settled me down behind a wall, looking into my eyes and pressing a hoof onto my wound. I groaned out, hissing loudly.” Keep pressure on your wound, alright? Don’t hesitate to do so!”

Cyclone soon placed one of my hooves on the wound as she removed her now-bloodsoaked-hoof from my wound, looking into my eyes and pressing my hoof down onto my wound. Like before, I let out a loud hiss and twitched in pain. I looked into her eyes, my vision going misty from all of the pain I was enduring. A blast of energy just missed the head of my sister, before she ducked her head down and glanced passed the wall, keeping her hoof on mine.

“Look… Just keep yourself out of sight, alright?” Cyclone said, kissing my forehead and pulling away. She leaped onto her hooves, rushing passed the wall, her gunshots which blended with the other gunshots loudly echoing. I coughed violently, trying to press my hoof onto my wound with as much pressure as I could… but I would only release that pressure moments later.

It hurt so much… fuck… it hurt more than the shotgun blast itself. Wherever that came from. I peeked around the corner, seeing Crystal ducking behind a large box that hugged a wall, peeking up and firing a couple of shots from her magnum, before ducking down again. Swift and Cyber were flying around in the limited space they had, firing down on the Enclave troops. Some of their shots that did hit the Enclave resulted in injury but not death. One of the Enclave troops fell in a bloody mess after his left foreleg was shot, shattering all of the bone inside of it completely.

Swift was the one who added the killing blow… Some of them shot up at them, but could not hit considering the speed they were going. I needed to get involved. Cyclone was standing in the open, walking towards them slowly, firing two shots before reloading each time. She killed a couple, only for more to burst they way in from down the corridor, the alarms no longer covering their shots.

I entered S.A.T.S. and targeted the nearest Enclave soldier. I didn’t care about hiding away, I wanted to help. I couldn’t just leave them to fight on their own. I targeted the torso of the nearest troop twice, before firing the two heavy rifles in my battle saddle to deliver devastating blows.

BANG! BANG!

Once the bullets made an impact, the soldier stumbled, two craters being created in his armor as he bled out from them both. He looked towards me, holding one of his wounds as he began to bleed out, and pointing at me with the other. I gritted my teeth, trying to endure the pain as I started to climb onto my hooves, hissing out as the blood from my shotgun wound leaked onto the floor.

I trotted over, hissing and gritting my teeth to bite back the pain and for the most part, it actually worked. I felt my legs giving way, but I tried to keep my balance. I joined Crystal behind the box she was ducking behind, looking to her as I panted heavily.

“I-I can fight…” I said weakly, leaning up, and entering S.A.T.S. once more, targeting another Enclave troop who aimed directly at me after catching sight of me. I targeted the head once, and then his right foreleg just in case I missed.

I fired the two shots, the first shot traveling straight through his head; blood and brain matter splattering onto the wall behind him before I shot his foreleg to blow it clean off. He fell in a red mist, dead and not-moving. I ducked down once more, Cyber and Swift flying over as more of the Enclave troops shot at them. They landed beside me, Cyber still shooting his rifle at the enemies, while Swift looked down at me.

“You can’t…” Swift said with a tone of concern. “You’re injured, Tornado, let us handle this.”

“N-no… I said we’d do this together, and together we will,” I coughed in pain, lifting myself up once more and firing two shots without S.A.T.S. at the closest Enclave soldier I could, crippling their ability to walk. The soldier crashed to the ground in a world of pain, before I peeked over, and fired a killing blow to the face of them, blowing their brains out across the floor.

Swift pushed me to the ground, holding me down with a hoof and glaring at me. “Tornado… rest… you don’t want to make your injury worse, do you? You’re hurt pretty bad, if it gets worse, we might not be able to treat it.”

“Brother, I need help!” Cyber called, ducking down and pulling on the trigger with his wing, only wounding a soldier. The Enclave’s laser shots were being thrown at us all non-stop, Cyber ducked down, but he wasn’t quick enough… Cyber took a shot to one of his wings, the metal fingers of the wings bending and some of them were even blown off completely. “GAH! Son of a bitch!”

Swift caught his brother as he fell to the ground, Cyber holding his injured wing and wincing from the burning sensation in his body. I looked at Cyber, feeling like this was partially my fault… he tried to sit up against Swift, but couldn’t. Every time he moved, he let out a cry of pain as if he himself was burning. The wing that had been shot was now completely blackened from the shot he took to his wing; the fingers on the wing that remained were all crooked and bent.

Cyclone rushed over, firing two blind shots at the enemy, before ducking down and sitting near Cyber. She examined his wing, moving it slightly with her hooves, only to have Cyber slap her hooves and push her away, looking at her with anger.

“D-don’t touch them!” Cyber growled, tears filling his eyes. “It hurts… oh Goddess it hurts.” He cringed in pain, arching his back a bit. Cyclone scowled, shaking her head as Swift tried to hold him still.

The blazing rounds from the Enclave were still coming over us, grazing the top of my head as I tried my hardest to stay low. The wound still hurt… I placed a hoof on it, and applied pressure, wheezing and groaning out in pain, Cyclone looking to Cyber and shaking her head slowly. She soon looked to me, and crawled over to me, looking at the wound.

“Crystal, can you heal this?” Cyclone asked, slowly and gently removing my hoof from the wound that continued to bleed, the sound of gunfire echoing loudly as it impacted against the box and traveled straight through. The shot just skimmed my ear, and I yelped loudly.

“I don’t have my supplies, I’m afraid I can’t!” Crystal said with worry, peeking over and firing her magnum twice at a nearby Enclave soldier. “He’s going to bleed out if we keep going…”

“Then we have to hurry, we can’t stay here!” Cyclone exclaimed, looking to Crystal with worry. “My brother is not going to die.”

“And he won’t!” a voice from within the gunfire yelled out. A familiar voice… I used the remaining strength I had to peek over to see the source of the voice. And there he stood, slowly walking down the corridor as the gunfire stopped, the Enclave glancing to their leader and saluting him. Mist. “Well… he won’t if you come with me…”

“M-Mist…” I glanced over to him weakly, coughing and holding the shrapnel filled crater in the side of my body, the blood soaking my hoof entirely. “W-why should I come with you? W-why now?”

“You want to return to your home, don’t you?” Mist said, walking closer with his eyes fixed on me. He soon stopped again, showing a sinister grin at me. “Well, we’re about to leave for Stable 30… I will take you there, but I must call upon you for another favor.”

“Another favor?” Cyclone asked, looking at me. “Don’t tell me you were responsible for the Rainbow Oracle’s detonation.” Cyclone soon looked back at Mist, glaring at him in the eyes.

“Oh he was… It was all his fault,” Mist spoke with a grin, looking at my sister and letting out a dark snigger. “Don’t you listen to the radio at all, Cyclone? As I recall, you’re not so innocent yourself either.”

“What are you talking about?” Cyclone scowled, holding me close to her. I winced as she pulled me close to her, my wound oozing some more.

“You turned your back on us!” Mist hissed at her, stomping his hoof on the ground and giving her an enraged look. “You betrayed us all; you walked out like the coward you are… All because you didn’t have the guts to fight by my side - to kill off the Steel Ranger threat for good!” Mist’s expression soon calmed as he remembered my deed… the favor I did for him. “Although, it doesn’t matter… this war is over… The Steel Rangers are dead and all because one blue pony helped us accomplish our goal.”

Cyclone remained silent, looking down at me. I felt a few tears fall onto me, and she shook her head in what looked like disappointment, disgust. Now that she knew what I did, I felt… disheartened. I was crushed inside; Mist had told her something I never wanted her to know. He looked to Cyber, sarcastically pouting upon seeing his wing.

“Oh… you poor thing, did my troops play rough?” he said, walking over to him and glancing down at him. Cyber’s expression quickly turned sour.

“Go to hell…” Cyber soon spat into the face of Mist, Mist wiping the saliva from his face and letting out a huff to contain his anger for the disrespect he had endured.

“Oh well -- it surely is a shame that it’s had to come down to this, but you’ve left me no choice,” Mist took a custom designed Magnum from his saddlebag, and soon aimed it at Cyber, his eyes going wide. “I’m so sorry.” Mist fired the shot in-between Cyber’s eyes, his blood and brain goo splattering onto Swift as he held his now-dead brother.

“N-no!” Swift cried out, his eyes watering up with tears that streamed down his face as he held his brother in his forelegs. He looked into his lifeless eyes, pulling Cyber close to him and soon burying his face in Cyber’s chest, crying ever so softly into his brother’s corpse.

Mist looked to me, and shot a look at me as pointed the gun at me with his wing and scowled. “Now - if you want your friends to live, you come with me this instant!!” Mist shouted at me, the sound of Swift’s crying

“O-okay… We’ll follow… Just don’t kill anymore ponies…” I gulped, struggling to lift myself onto my hooves, groaning and hissing from the shrapnel in my body. I felt Cyclone tug on me to try and stop me, but I refused to stop. “Please… don’t kill anymore than you have.”

I limped over to Mist to join him, his gun pointing to Crystal, Cyclone and Swift. “Get up… now!” Mist demanded, his wing steadying as if he was preparing to kill another pony. My heart sank as his gun fixed onto Crystal and my sister. They steadily climbed onto their hooves, all three of them, Swift leaving his brother’s body behind as the blood-soaked stallion trudged behind Cyclone and Crystal.

“I-I’ll end you for this…” Swift muttered under his breath to Mist. “Y-you won’t get away with killing my brother, you Enclave bastard.”

“I’d love to see you try,” Mist grinned, turning around and slowly walking back the way he came from, the Enclave troops keeping their eyes on us. “Follow - and if you think you can aim your weapons at me, or carry them openly at all, think again. Any sign of threat against me results in death.”

I gulped, following him down the hallway, my companions following me closely. As we all followed him, so did the Enclave soldiers. The sound of heavy metal hooves that dauntingly followed us made me more cautious about my actions from here on out. I wasn’t concerned about my own safety; I was concerned about my companions’ safety more than my own. Cyber was dead… He was actually dead, and I couldn’t believe it. Was it my fault?

All the deaths of my companions had happened because I didn’t throw myself into the fire. And I really should have done…

Upon reaching the Overmare’s office, my companions and I waited as Mist walked to the console and inserted a code into the terminal, the Enclave troops standing behind us all dauntingly with heavy weaponry and armor as they watched over us. The large office was filled with different mainframe computers, and generators, and in the middle of the mundane grey office was an oval desk with a solitary terminal on it.

Once Mist had finished inserting the code, loud machinery from below the metal floor rung out loudly as the desk soon began to rise, and a small hatch beneath the desk opened up to reveal a stone staircase. Mist got his gun out again, aiming at me with the gun in his wing, cocking his head to signal me over.

“Come on, blue boy, you first!” Mist ordered. I gulped, limping over and still hissing out from the pain that surged its way through my body. “Hurry up, I haven’t got all day! I’ve got a Stable to raid!”

Upon reaching the staircase, I limped slowly down each step, only to feel Mist shove me down the stone set of stairs, sending me tumbling down them all and landing with a thud and then a crack. I yelped out, landing on the side that was filled with shrapnel, and staining the stone floor with a blood red color. I glared up at him, as he looked down at me and aimed his gun back to my companions.

“You next, Unicorn!” I heard Mist roar at my companions. I lifted myself onto my hooves slowly, trying to fight through the pain, and as I managed to balance myself on all four of my hooves, I looked up at the staircase to see Crystal trotting down them slowly, and hanging her head low. She took her place beside me, and I pulled her close to me, nuzzling her gently.

“Everything will be alright,” I whispered softly, kissing her gently on the lips. She kissed back and I continued to nuzzle her along the cheek. “I’ll find a way to stop him before he does any real damage.”

“I hope so, Tornado,” she whispered back to me. “If anypony can do it out of all of us, it’s you. Stable 30 was where you came from after all, it is your home.”

“You next, Pegasus!” Mist’s voice echoed loudly from above, my attention turning to that. I felt my heart sink, still seeing Mist aiming the gun at my sister and Swift. I heard Swift’s slow, and heavy trotting echo from above, before seeing the red Pegasus who hung his head low slowly make his way down the stone staircase.

Upon reaching the bottom, he stood by me, and glanced up at Mist. “I’ll end that bastard… I swear, he won’t get away with any of this. Once we get to Stable 30, I’m ending that arsehole… One way or another he will suffer for what he did.”

I looked at Swift. “Don’t worry, Swift. I promise you he’ll regret ever killing your brother, but you have to wait until the time is right. Don’t do anything stupid, if you do, you’ll not only get yourself killed, but you’ll get all of us killed.”

“Right… It’ll still be worth it though,” Swift answered darkly, looking to me hastily. “My brother died today, I had no control over it either. It kills me!”

“And finally, you… The traitor, the whore!” I heard Mist’s voice boom at my sister, my attention going back to Mist.

“Whatever floats your boat,” Cyclone responded as her armored hoofsteps echoed the room above, Mist keeping his bemused look on Cyclone.

“Hurry up!” Mist boomed, Cyclone slowly walking down the stairs, with Mist keeping his aim on her at all times as she slowly trudged down them. He looked back up, and lowered the gun in his wing. “Make sure you close the hatch behind you, if any of the Rangers survived, we don’t want them following us.”

Mist walked down the stairs, aiming his gun at all of us once again, his Enclave soldiers following him down the stairs as he cocked the wing his gun was in to urge us to keep moving. Shooting him a look, I soon began to trot down the long hallway, as the hatch behind us soon closed and the Enclave ponies followed Mist slowly. My companions and Mist followed me closely as I limped towards the metal door at the end of the short stone hallway.

I coughed, stopping suddenly as I felt the pain increase in my wound, feeling my body growing weaker. I heard a gunshot, and a loud ping on the metal door in front of me echo inside of the darkened hallway. Mist fired a warning shot, and as he did, I glanced back at him and scowled.

“Open the door,” Mist instructed, aiming the gun at me and huffing. “Don’t think I won’t hesitate to kill you… or them…” he soon aimed at my companions, and grinned as if he was getting a kick out of torturing me emotionally. “Open it…”

I looked back at the door, and yanked down on the long and black metal handle, pushing the door open to reveal a long metal corridor which led to another door. The only light inside of the corridor ahead of us was a bright red light in the center of it, revealing the many different boxes tucked away against the walls, and the grated metal flooring. I limped through the doorway as fast as I could, hearing the others follow me closely.

I coughed, limping quickly as my wound continued to bleed through my Stable jumpsuit. I was growing weaker with each sudden jerk of my body, but I pushed on, knowing that if I stopped, my companions would be killed off just like Cyber was. I let out heavy huffs, dragging myself and forcing myself to reach the door at the end of the darkened room. However, I soon collapsed onto my front from the lack of strength I had, groaning and spitting out blood onto the cold metal surface below me.

“Get up!” Mist roared from behind me. I heard him getting closer, his hoofsteps slamming against the metal. He stood beside me, and leaned down biting my mane and yanking me up onto my hooves once again, the wound letting out a surge of pain across my body. “Now go!” Mist instructed once again.

I let out a huff, limping to the metal door and yanking down on it weakly to open it. Mist walked back beside me, and pushed it open to reveal a brightly lit up control room with no door in the doorway. On the other side was the exit to Stable 55. I felt a push in the back of my head, a push that shoved me through the doorway into the control room.

“Hurry up!” Mist ordered after pushing me in. I yet again looked back at him with a scowl, and proceeded to the exit.

I guided myself through the doorway that led out of the control room, and as I did, the large circular door on the left side of the room came into view. A small metal staircase led down to the large door, and the grey mundane walls of the Stable were reflecting the lights that were fixed to the floor. A large mechanical arm was suspended in front of the exit’s door, and a control panel that activated the mechanism was beside the staircase.

I limped over to the control panel slowly, hearing the other ponies following me slowly. I gripped onto the rusty railing beside the staircase, taking a few breaths as I stared down at the console in front of me, coughing up blood and spitting onto the ground below me. I coughed violently, slumping onto the ground and taking a few deep breaths as I did, Crystal rushing to my side in a hurry.

“Get back here, I didn’t tell you to rush on ahead!” Mist spat, my eyes looking towards him to see the gun in his wing aiming at Crystal, Cyclone stood beside him with a saddened look in her eyes and her ears flopping down. Swift stood beside Cyclone, glaring at Mist as he looked at her. “Get back here, I say!”

“He’s hurt!” Crystal contradicted, looking at him with anger as she screamed at him. “He’ll die if he doesn’t get medical attention now!” Crystal looked back at me, holding me in her forelegs as I began to bleed out. I held her close, panting and huffing as the pain began to increase and my body strength faded ever so slowly.

“Well, you’d better make sure he doesn’t die, got it?!” Mist shouted back at her, walking over, keeping his pistol aimed at her as he made his way to the console. “Keep him alive, and you’ll stay alive - the lot of you.” He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, the alarm ringing out to signal the mechanical arm going into motion.

The arm pressed itself against the door, and once it got a firm grip, it slowly pulled the large circular door back with a loud, ear piercing screech before rolling it off to one side to reveal the pitch black cave beyond the Stable 55 door. He walked to the top of the staircase, looking to me and reaching into his saddlebag. Throwing a Healing Potion and Magical Bandages to me, he grinned and looked back to my companions before looking back to me.

“It’s time to suit up,” Mist said before proceeding down the staircase, and then towards the exit of Stable 55.

Footnote: Maximum Level! - Level 20.

This is the penultimate of the fanfic! Well... other than the epilogue. I just wanted to say my thanks to all of you for the support, and I want to thank you all for being patient and reading on. You are all awesome!