“Where do we begin? The rubble or our sins?”

As it turns out, Predious doesn’t have the answer I was looking for, but wasn’t too sure himself on what ‘friendship’ could be exactly defined as. He was more surprised by the question than anything, only stating that I was the closest thing he’s had to a friend in several years. We both decided that for now, ‘friends’ was a good enough term to use, and proceeded on our merry way into the badlands. We walked for the better part of a few hours without incident, or much small talk, but it was only when Pai started to sing random songs that I really regretted her coming along.

“Welcome welcome welcome, a fine welcome to you!” She started to sing her song for the fourteenth time. “Welcome welcome welcome, I say how do you do?”

“Pai…” I groaned, hoping she would get the idea and stop. “Please, not again.”

“Welcome welcome welcome, I say hip-hip hooray!” She twirled across my vision. “Welcome welcome welcome to Ponyville today!”

“Pai!” I screamed out. “Stop, just please, stop singing. For the last twenty minutes, you've been singing that over and over and over when we aren’t anywhere near Ponyville, and there's not even anypony to welcome out here!”

“Well I have to stay entertained somehow! And this time I wasn’t singing for you.” She harumphed and crossed her forehooves. “I was singing it for those inconspicuous dots on the horizon.” Sure enough, there were a pair of pink blips on my E.F.S. lining up with two lumps on the horizon. “The map says they are where you are supposed to go for your contract!”

“Alright then.” I sighed, hoofing the clasp on the holster for my new revolver open. “Pred, I’m going to have to ask you to walk in front of me again.”

“And here I thought we said we were friends.” He feigned a frown before taking his place ahead of me. “Do you really think that they’d shoot the pony who completed their contract?”

“Just because they’re Steel Rangers doesn’t mean they want to actually pay me.” I couldn’t help but crack a smile. “That and they probably won’t be too happy that I want to buy the contract off of them. They obviously want some bit of information you have, so once you give it to them, I’ll pay them to take you off their hooves and we can make our way back to Dodge.”

“Aww, you do care about me.” He looked back with a smirk before rubbing at his chin. “I just wish I knew what they wanted from me. I have no idea what’s so important that they had to put out a bounty this large to get me in” his muzzle drooped with a sigh. “Not to mention, who’s to say they won’t just shoot us after they get what they want?”

“Well, there’s only two of them and two of us, so there’s a fair chance that maybe if I got the drop on them we could walk away from this with only having killed the one.” Though if either of those two were wearing power armor, that plan would just end in us dying horribly.

“Maybe Iron Will can help!” Pai bounced in my vision with a smile. Spinning around, I looked for any sign of the metal minotaur following us, dismayed that there was nothing. “You did remember to change his spark batteries, didn’t you?”

“What? Why would you ask that when you were literally right there with me!” I facehoofed hard when all she did was look at me like I was crazy. “You were blabbing on and on about Care? How do you not remember this!?”

She turned my vision red and stomped. “It’s not my fault that I’m inattentive.” She let out a sniffle and the display transitioned to blue. “I’m just programed that way is all… I’m sorry.”

“You said that you’re an A.I.! Can’t you just, I don’t know, change yourself?” We were about halfway there, and I didn’t want her talking. The Steel Rangers would kill me just for a toaster, so if she spoke up around them? I’d be a dead mare. “You know what, I don’t care. I’m sorry Pai, but I need you to be quiet until we’re done with them.” I grumbled and pulled out my pack of smokes. She whined and curled up in the corner, softly sobbing before fading away. I looked to Predious and shook my head in frustration, feeling little comfort that the green display came back.

Lighting up, the cigarette did help me relax a little, but it turned out to be all in vain. Even with as far off as the Rangers were, I could see that the emergency escape plan of just shooting them wasn’t going to work. The lump that had been on my left glinted softly in the light of day, giving away the highly polished metal of a suit of power armor. If that wasn’t enough, the right lump turned out to be the dark steel door of a bunker that blended in to the short hills scattered about the lands. The other green blip sat behind it, and would probably not hesitate to call for any reinforcements that could chase us to the ends of the wastelands.

“Let’s hope this goes well.” Predious mumbled to me when we were about a thousand feet away. “I for one didn’t plan on dying today.”

There was a horrifying metallic screech as the bunker door swung open slowly. The green blip behind it had revealed itself to be a crimson robed unicorn mare. She wore a warm, but nervous smile as she approached us, meeting us halfway.

“Howdy there! I’m assuming yer here to collect the bounty on this here stallion?” She was way too upbeat and peppy for my tastes. Only a pony who hides away all snug and secure in a fortified bunker could ever sound like that. Well, with the exception of a few quirky ponies like Touchy Feely…

“Well I didn’t walk here from ponyville for nothing.” I made sure to speak slowly, judging her reactions for any hints of if this was all going to go south or not. If it did, I could use all the forewarning I could get. “Actually, I have a bit of a counter proposal for you. You see, as it turns out…”

“Woah there!” She waved her forehooves wildly and gave me an even bigger uneasy smile. “You see, I don’t quite have the authority to do that. I’m just an initiate, but I could take you to Elder Chili Pepper if you’d like to discuss it with him!”

“About that…” I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Yes. I’ll just wander into a bunker full of ponies who want nothing more than to take everything I own, then leave me for dead in the middle of the fucking desert. That sounds like a fairly good way to get myself killed.

“We’d love to.” Predious cut me off as he swept up the perky mare’s hoof with a charm I didn’t know he had. I had to resist facehoofing, finding it hard with as epicly bad as he had just made everything.

“Great!” The peppy unicorn clapped her hooves together and ushered him towards the bunker. “Just make sure to keep your hooves off your weapons and one hundred percent visible for the duration of your stay. Follow me and don’t wander from the path I lead you on, don’t touch anything without previous permission, and please avoid the use of curse words while we are inside.”

“Got it…” I grumbled and followed them back to the bunker door. The dark black eyes of the power armor stayed glued to me as I walked past, the pony inside tensing inside the powerful suit and standing tall. With my luck, there was no way going inside could end well for us. No fucking way at all. Once inside, we started to descend down flight after flight of stairs, and I found myself within whisper distance of Predious. “What the hell are you doing!”

“Your plan wasn’t going to work with the tin can stallion next to the door.” He replied calmly. “This way was our only option.”

“So leading us to the bottom of this den of evil was your first thought?” Goddesses we’re so fucking screwed. Maybe the Elder will be in one of those ‘Hey I’m going to let you go and not kill you’ kinda moods that I’ve never seen in the wasteland ever.

We followed the initiate mare from the stairwell and down a long corridor, passing by the surprised and astonished faces of the rangers who paused from their busy work. Some of them though didn’t seem interested at all in seeing us, just staring blankly through us like we weren’t even there. I can’t quite tell why, but it made me feel incredibly sad. The lead mare stopped at a doorframe and knocked.

“Yes, what is it?” The overly annoyed voice of an elderly stallion resonated from the room.

“I’m sorry to disturb you Elder Chili, but the bounty we put out has been delivered.” Her voice cracked as I could feel the nervous jitters she gave off. This is why I was my own boss. If there was somepony bigger and tougher than me, I could just shoot them if it came down to it. Working for somepony means I’d have to rely on the worst tactic in the wasteland… diplomacy.

Unfortunately for me, I’m stuck in a position that forces me to rely on it now anyway.

“You disturbed my work for this?” There was the shuffling of papers and a deeply aggravated sigh. “Just pay the pony and send them on their way! I want Predious prepped and in interrogation room two within the hour.”

“It’s just that the bounty hunter had a proposition, and I don’t really have the authority to negotiate.” She shifted her weight and rubbed at her foreleg, becoming even more uneasy. “So I have her here to speak to you.”

“You brought an outsider into the bunker!” He shouted so intensely that I was fairly sure I saw the slate gray walls tremble slightly. There was a squeal of wood sliding across concrete, and after a moment, the dulling red coat of an older stallion caught my eye, the old, piercing yellow eyes that studied me from behind a lightening green mane. His eyes held the look of somepony who was very strategy oriented, studying my body language with vigour. “Initiate, I don’t have time to deal with your insubordination right now. Send her in and leave us be.”

“Ye...yes sir.” The mare dropped her head and stepped out of the way. I looked to Predious and found that he looked fairly apprehensive now about his choice to come down here. I didn’t have much of a choice though, we were committed now. Standing up straight, I strode into the room. As I entered, he shut the door behind me and latched it shut. He walked back to his desk and shuffled some papers into a pile as I took a seat on a comfy looking pillow set in the center of the room.

He gave me a token smile. “I apologize for that, but without a stern response from me, the young ones will never learn the importance of following our guidelines.” With a sigh, he scooted the pile of papers to the corner of his desk and hoofed open a drawer, pulling out a sack that jingled like caps. “So what was this proposal you wished to discuss?”

“I know it may be unorthodox, but I’ve found that Predious has a… unique set of skills that compliments working with me.” I shifted and hoofed at my satchel, pulling out another cigarette. “I know you only want some sort of information from him, but I’d like to have him back after he tells you what you need.” Lighting my smoke, I took a deep breath. “I’m willing to pay if need be.”

The elder didn’t say anything as he sat and looked at me, only waving his hoof to waft away the smoke that I blew from my muzzle. I really didn’t want to pay the entire reward for his return, but if it came down to it, he might just be worth the investment in the long run. Either way, I required an answer from the old stallion, who seemed content to just sit there and stare at me.

“No.” He blurt out, not wasting any time to push the bag of caps toward me and point at the door. “I am sorry, but I can’t let him leave this facility with the knowledge he has.”

“Would you reconsider if I returned half of the reward?” This is why I tended to avoid bartering for things. I have no idea what this guy’s motivations were, and I find it hard to believe Predious knows anything significant enough that he’ll never leave here again.

“Not even if you offered the full reward.” He sighed and stood up, walking to the door as he spoke. “I’m sorry, but my decision is final. Our business is done.”

My vision shifted too pink, and before I could react, Pai was talking. “If you’re done with them, can I say hello now?” I facehoofed hard as the Elder froze mid step, blinking and staring at the pipbuck on my leg. Fantastic, this day couldn’t possibly get any worse. “Hi! I’m Pai, what’s your name mr. wrinkly face!?” Even with Pai talking, the Elder shrugged the whole thing off and just calmly opened the door back to the hallway.

“I trust you can find your way back outside without too much of a hassle.” He simply stated, walking back to his desk and paying me no mind. Grabbing the caps in my muzzle, I wanted to fight harder for my ‘friend’, but there really was little I could do. Stepping out the door, I couldn’t help but feel like I should at least do something else to convince him. If it weren’t for the fact that he obviously didn’t care for Pai, I’d offer for them to take a look at her and my pipbuck even.

Standing here felt off. The door to the stairwell was now closed, and everypony who had been looking at me before, seemed to be avoiding my gaze. There was a mechanical hiss that came from both sides of me, and two separate doors slid open to reveal a power armor pony in each of them. I realized all too late what was happening, and as I tried to get my rifle out, I was sent airborne by a power armored hoof kick.

The kick had forced all the air from my lungs, leaving me helpless on the floor as both armored ponies walked over and began to beat me. I did what I could to defend myself, but with each crushing blow, I was reminded with how useless it all was. A crack from a bone here, a pop from a joint there, and the horrible sensation of internal bleeding became my world as I curled myself up as tightly as I could. When it stopped, I could only whine through the pain, barely able to catch my breath before I was shackled and literally dragged down hallway after hallway, finally reaching from what I could tell was their armor and vehicle maintenance area.

“This one needs a pipbuck removal.” The stallion in the armor who had pulled me spoke up. There was a whirlwind of activity as I was stripped of every belonging I had before being set onto a metal table and strapped down. My vision was growing hazy, and the pain from the swelling of what felt like my whole body distracted me from the tool in one of the unicorn’s levitation. The only warning I had was the high pitched whine it gave off, and the glint of a silver disc before the circular saw plunged into my leg.

I have never screamed like that in my life. The sickening sound of my flesh being ripped apart made me want to throw up, but I couldn’t, only when the saw caught and jammed up on my bone did I finally do so. I torqued and pulled at my half severed leg as they yanked the tool, finally dislodging it with a meaty squelch.

“Wait! Please stop!” Pai screamed through the pipbuck, the vision of her blue self flickering in my watery eyes.

All I could do was cry and scream as the tool spun up again, the unforgiving blade plunging into the bone slowly and ripping it apart. There was a sickening crunch as it finally bit all the way through, and the saw finished it’s job. Blood coated the table as the tool was traded in the unicorns magic for my severed leg.

“No! She’ll die without help!” Pai screamed as she floated away.

“Oh, we don’t need her you little beauty!” The stallion replied, wiping her down as my vision started to fade. “Now that you are safe with us, we’ll have great fun figuring out how you work.”

“If you don’t save her, I’ll delete myself!” Pai shouted, making everypony in the place stop where they stood.

The unicorn sighed. “If that’s how it’s going to be, so be it.” He turned to somepony I couldn’t see, my eyelids feeling extremely heavy. “Go and find her a hydra. This research is too important to risk losing.” I shut my eyes and relaxed, finding it hard to focus on doing anything. “Then put her in the brig to rot.”

“Hey, wakey wakey.” The annoyed voice of a mare called from around me.

I shuddered awake and rolled over on the soft mattress I had been laying on. I went to get up, but whined as my left leg gave out from under me. Opening my eyes, I looked at the bare skin of my leg, my coat stopping abruptly where the circular saw liberated it from. Around me were the slate gray walls of a jail cell with some sort of hallway extending to either side of the cell, while inside here was just this bunkbed and a toilet.

Unlike the slave cage I was in last week, there was little hope that I could gain any advantage over my captors. No, I was only left here to be forgotten. The only pony I could consider a friend, I had betrayed. Having taken Pred’s trust in me and smashed it by not fighting for him harder. I think that’s actually the worst part about all this. Yeah, I never would have been able to walk out of here anyway, but at least I would have known that I did everything I could.

“You going to sit there without saying anything, or are you thick in the head or something?” There was that voice again, but now I could tell it was coming from the bunk above me. “Not like you should need time to adjust in here, I mean you’ve already seen all three walls of our spacious gilded cage.”

“What?” There wasn’t any way else I could think to respond to that.

“So she does speak. Fantastic.” A tangled mess of black mane drooped over the top bunk, followed by a heavily scarred up face. From what I could tell, this pony was a mare, but her right eye, parts of both of her ears, and half of the section of her neck I could see looked like they had metal plates fastened to them. Her left eye must have also been replaced, because it looked like a normal yellow eye up to the fact that it’s puple was a crosshair not unlike the one adorning my flank.

Where…” I started to ask, only to find myself cut off by the loud mare.

“In prison, about three hours, yes I’ve tried to get out, no I don’t know a way to get out, I’ve been here two years, and you’re a bitch.” She ended her spontaneous interruption with a smile. “That about cover everything you were going to ask?”

“Don’t call me a bitch.” I growled, trying to sit up again. I could see my muscles straining to hold just a fraction of my weight, and goddesses did it hurt.

“You don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. You’re the bitch who came in smelling like cigarettes.” She inhaled deeply, leaning towards me while simultaneously redefining my understanding of the word disgusting. “I haven't had one since I got in here, and let me tell you, it sucks.” She gave a soft laugh before pushing herself back onto her own bunk. “Hope you don’t mind going cold turkey!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way out.” I’d really like to spend as little time here as possible. So come on brain, think your way out of here. We’ve been in tighter spots before, and at least this time there’s no freezing fucking ghosts.

“Why, got a hot date you can’t miss?” She pressed back into her cot, straining the old springs above me. “Oh, that’s another great thing about being stuck in here. Goddesses I could use a good buck right now.” She let out a sigh, slowly rolling over so her hair dipped down again. “Hey… you wouldn’t happen to want to…”

“Fuck off.” Not that I couldn’t use it right now as well, seeing as it’s been ages since I’ve had a good rutting. I just needed to keep my mind off of distractions so I could work some way out of here. It’s not like I could be stuck in here the rest of my life, right?

“Don’t worry, hun. You aren’t my type anyway.” She chuckled and flopped back onto her bunk.

I pushed myself to get off of the bed, favoring my weak hoof as I wanted to get a look at the hallway. From what I could tell, the cell was in the center of quite a few, because off either side the hallway ran further than I could make out. The only thing that stood out, was a small, unused light sticking out from the wall just about ten feet away. With no real ideas, maybe the best thing was just to go back to bed.

“What did I tell you, hun. We’re as good as forgotten down here.” The annoying mare groaned and rolled over, dropping off of her bunk and onto her hooves. There was a loud clunk as her left forehoof hit the concrete, the cybernetics inside giving a soft whine as she straightened herself out. “What say you and I break out of this fucking place?” She commented through an overdetermined look.

“I thought you said…” I started to say, quickly finding a foul tasting hoof in my mouth.

“Forget what I said and let’s start over.” She quickly pulled her hoof from my muzzle and wiped it off on my chest. “The name’s Tasteless Smoke, and we’re going to get out of here.”

This mare is confusing.

“Whatever, good enough for me. The name is Storm, by the way.” I wasn’t going to complain about the sudden change of heart, but I’m pretty sure two years alone does little to help a pony’s sanity. “What makes you think we can get out of here now anyway?”

“Cause there are two of us now.” She rolled her neck as she spoke, getting a few loud pops out of it before moving on to her legs and her… wings?

“You’re a pegasus?” I should have thought before I spoke because I was coming off dumb again. Damnit, where’s Pred when I need his wit? Oh yeah! Most likely getting tortured upstairs.

“I’ve got metal plates and shit all over my body, and that’s what you notice? My wings?” She scoffed and rolled her eyes… er, eye. “Next you’ll be remarking how I’m green, or that I’ve only got this one fucking eye.”

“Has anypony told you that you are just such a joy to be stuck around?” I groaned and looked at the barred door. “Since you’re so quick on the smart ass remarks, how about finding one to get out of here.”

“You really are rearing to get to that date, aren’t you?” She walked up to the door next to me, her muzzle curled into the most irritating of smiles. She put her back against the bars and held a leg across her forehead. “Oh you know how much it hurts me to hear you say that I’m not good enough. Oh, woe is me!”

I sighed and gave her my best glare. “Look, I get it, you’re desperate for attention. The thing is, I’ve got a friend upstairs somewhere who needs my help. So if you are going to help me escape, fine, if not, stay the fuck out of my way.”

“Wow, got some claws on you, don’t ya?” She leaned in closer than I’d like. What I wouldn’t give for my rifle right now, or even my revolver. “Doesn't make me any less wrong though, seeing as you do have somepony upstairs waiting for you.”

“Would you please…!” This time I cut myself off, catching the quick flickering that the light in the hall now gave off. It was odd, because lights that flashed like those used to be alarm signals, and would only come on in an emergency.

She caught my look and forced me aside, looking just as puzzled as I did. “Huh, well that’s new.” There was a resounding clang from both sides of our cell, the heavy steel door began retracting as both Tasteless and I didn’t move a muscle. She finally broke the awkward silence. “Oh, you’re good.” She laughed and trot into the hallway. “I don’t know how, but you are a damn gift from the goddesses!”

Seeing as she wasn’t ripped apart by gunfire in a much needed act of irony, I followed her out of the cell. The hallway wasn’t much longer than I thought it was, but did end down to my right with a heavy looking steel door. A small terminal sat next to it, and I figured that even though I’m not good with the things, it was the best place to start.

The screen flashed pink a few times as I got closer, and I gave a small sigh of relief. I gave the keyboard a tap to bring up the screen, and I found that Pai rendered herself onto the index screen… in a maid’s outfit. She lept between each of the options with a duster, quickly erasing it before moving on to the next.

“Pai… what are you doing?” It looks silly, but if there is a purpose behind it, I can forgive it.

“I'm cleaning out their data drives! You wouldn't believe some of the things on here! Total snoozefest!” Her voice came down from a the ceiling mounted P.A. speakers. She flashed me a smile and watched as Tasteless walked up. “Oh! You made a new friend! Hi there, I’m Pai!”

“Is this shit for real?” She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, slowly turning back to the screen. “You the one who opened our cell?” She waited until Pai nodded. “Can you open this door?” There was a loud buzz before the door opened towards us, revealing the wide open stairwell that lead out of here. “Thanks, I guess.” She gave a quick laugh and looked to me. “Well, nice knowing you.”

Even before I could answer, she was gone, her heavy hoofsteps carrying her up the stairwell with a furious clammer from her metal hoof. Half of me was glad she was gone, but the other half was now reminded of how alone I was. I really need to find Predious.

“Pai, can you find Pred for me?” Here’s hoping she didn’t already clear that info from the terminal.

She shifted colors to purple and got out her cap and bubble pipe. “He’s uh… no, that’s not right.” She bobbed her head side to side and crossed her forehooves for nearly a minute. “No… AH-HA! He’s on level 5.” She smiled and flashed back to pink.

“That’s it? You can’t perhaps tell me where he is on level 5, or how to get to him?” I facehoofed hard. “Pai, there will be rangers all over the place looking for me. I can't just wander the halls looking for him.”

She gasped and flailed her hooves in the air. “You're right. You could use a cardboard box as a disguise!” She constructed a digital box around herself and wandered across the screen under it.

I jumped as a heavy stomping came into earshot, and I quickly moved to hide myself behind the open door. Maybe if I was lucky, it would just be the one pony in power armor coming to check, and I could slip by as soon as he was past the door. Shit, but what if he does check the door!? The heavy clanking of Tasteless’s cyber hoof came into view as she turned and looked down at me.

“And ponies call me the weird one.” She shook her head and waved her hoof. “It's dead on the next few floors, they're all gone up until you hit level two.”

“Well, duh!” Pai giggled through the speakers. “That's because I submitted a bunch of reports that said that there were a bunch of cyberponies from Caledonia riding in from the south. They pretty much all left to hunt them down!”

“Then why didn't you just say that?!” I shouted, pulling myself out from behind the door.

“Because the box idea is fun?” She shrugged as I got back within view of her. “Besides, most of the ponies on level two are working on me. There’s only Three armored ponies there anyway.” Her image fuzzed for a second, and I had to cover my ears as a large burst of feedback came through the speakers. “You might want to hurry though, they are trying to access my base code for something. They’re bad at coding, but still good enough that they’ll eventually get me opened up.”

“Three paladins? That’s still enough to fuck us up.” I put my hoof to my chin as a thought came into my head. “Pai, do you know where they stored my stuff?”

It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was one. Pai said that the armory and storage for the Rangers was on level 6, so off we went to reclaim my gear. Climbing up four sets of stairs isn’t the easiest on three good hooves, but the thought of shooting these assholes overwrote any want to stop. Tasteless wasn’t lying when she said this place was basically empty. We hadn’t seen more than a scant few ponies working around here, and they did their best to hide until we got past. Thankfully for us, Pai had unlocked all the doors, so all we had to do was stroll in and find our things.

The great thing about the rangers was that they seemed to be neat-freaks. Everything had been labeled and filed away in a box before being stored on a shelf that had a number. The bad thing was that they had gathered a ton of stuff, and I had no idea where to start. This room had three sections, each with ten sets of shelves. Good thing for Tasteless, as she had a good way to go about it.

“Fuck the Rangers!” She yelled and bucked out at one of the shelves, causing it to shudder. All of the old metal shelves sheared from their supports and dumped each box on it onto the floor, their contents scattering every which way as I keep my eyes open for anything familiar. “Ahem.” She cleared her throat to get my attention. “I hope you aren’t just a pair of pretty legs, and that you know how to give a good buck.” She smiled with a sultry look that made me want to scrub it from my brain.

I balanced on my good foreleg as I gave the shelves behind me a good kick, causing them to fall as well. Something inside of me just felt like showing a little earth pony grit was a point of pride when competing with a pegasus, and even though it made little sense, I enjoyed that feeling. She didn’t however, letting out a loud gasp before barreling past me.

“They kept you!” She squealed in delight as she wrapped her hoof around a basic looking combat shotgun. Pulling it close, she nuzzled it with a smile and a sigh. “Never again will they molest you, my sweet gun.”

Moving on, I hobbled down the first line of shelves, bucking them down as I lined them up. In looking over the epic scale pile of gear, I quickly found a familiar sight sticking out of place. The walnut stock of my lever action was a sight for sore eyes, sticking out from the other various weapons that ranged from small twenty twos, to large belt fed machine guns. All of which were useless without the ammo, but I had a feeling that it had to be around here somewhere.

I picked up my gun and got it slung over myself, glancing around for my revolver. It took me a while as digging though as many guns as there are takes some doing, but I finally found it. Getting it strapped around myself as well, I could finally relax a bit. Looking around, I cringed as Tasteless bucked and took out another set of shelves. This time it was various armors and clothes that spilled onto the floor. Immediately, I saw my shirt and jacket.

Hobbling to them, I groaned at the realization that I had to take my guns off. Even with favoring it, my traumatized leg ebbed from overtaxation. I winced and growled my way through putting my shirt back on, and about halfway through putting on my jacket, I began to worry about just how long the Rangers would be gone.

“Hell yeah!” Tasteless yelled from out of nowhere, my hoofs reflexively scrambling for my gun. “Woah there, didn’t mean to give a heart attack.” She laughed as I turned with a glare. “I was just stoked that my old outfit still hugs my curves.” Doing a little twirl, she showed her Tanned leather jacket and brown turtleneck sweater off, ending with a sultry wag of her rear. Maybe at one time I would have considered her my type, but the sight of the steel casing that replaced her tail just killed it for me.

Though, staring at her flank had done some good, seeing as just under her I spotted a few different sets of saddlebags. Walking up, I took one and opened it up, finding that it still had some assorted junk in it. Dumping it all out, I made my way back to the pile of guns on the floor, and started to choose some of the better looking ones out, stuffing them into the bags for selling later. Pred’s contract might be a total loss, but there isn’t any reason I can’t still have made some caps off coming down here.

“I love the way you think!” Tasteless spoke up as she slung her shotgun around herself, picking up a pair of bags in her wings. “There’s got to be a box full of ammo around here somewhere as well.” As she walked by, I stopped her with my hoof. I maneuvered my hoof through the strap to my satchel under her wing and tugged it free. “Hey, what gives!?”

“This one is mine.” I simply responded, hooking it over my head.

“Fine, whatever. Let’s just snatch their ammo and blow this joint.” Tasteless replied simply and got to kicking more of the shelves over. Between the piles of toasters, radio’s and other basic junk, I wasn’t sure if she had found any shelf that had it. The last shelf she did kick though, made the most incredible sound in the world. Like heavenly little chimes, dozens of shells spilled out of their neatly packed away boxes, rolling across the floor as both Tasteless I knew we had struck gold.

After quickly scooping up as much .44 ammo as I could find, I started to shove random boxes anywhere they would fit. Soon, my new saddlebags, my satchel, even my jacket pockets were stuffed full of hundreds of various ammo types. Now we needed to find Predious and Pai before we could get the hell out of here.

Doing my best to keep up the pace as we moved through the dull metal halls in search of a stairwell up, I kept falling behind due to my leg. Tasteless looked annoyed every time she had to slow down for me, but nopony was asking her to foal sit me. I don’t even really know why she came back to warn me. Not that I don’t appreciate it, but I hate it when ponies do nice things for me. They always want something in return.

“Hah! Found the stairs.” Tasteless sang from the corner ahead. There was a terminal by the doorway with the waving form of Pai on it. I simply sighed and hoped for some good news for once.

“Sis, I need to talk to you!” Her voice screeched over the entire level intercom system. I walked over as the ringing her voice left me with cleared from my ears “I found where they’re holding Predious. He’s here.” The screen switched to an overlay of level five, a dotted line running from the stairwell to almost the entire other side of the level. “I’m sorry, but they did a number on him while you were napping.”

“Is he… alright?” What if I wasn’t fast enough? What if the entire time I spent greedily stuffing my bags with the ranger’s goods, he’s been there dying on the floor? What kind of friend does that make me?

She reappeared on the map as her blue self. “He’s suffering from some sort of physical ailment. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She spoke softly.

“Come on then.” I shouted back to Tasteless as I bolted for the stairs. I don’t know if it was fear, anger, or shame that pushed me to get to him, but the halls around me became a blur. I ran on instinct, blasting through a few Rangers who were unfortunate enough to get in my way. I had never felt so empowered before, so driven to act that the very thought of letting him down was just a fantasy. He had to be alright, and I had to get him out of here.

I really did consider him a friend, because it’s the only explanation for why I felt this way.

Finding myself in front of the door Predious was supposedly behind, I didn’t even stop to think about my action. Planting both forehooves on the floor, I bucked back hard, kicking the door hard enough that it bent inward, unlatching it and letting it swing open. There, laying in a puddle of black ichor, was a very surprised looking unicorn ghoul. I stood there in disbelief, wondering what turn I had taken wrong, or if this was only one of the interrogation rooms out of a few.

“Storm… you came for me.” The ghoul spoke up softly, his grey eyes staring at me with just the faintest of tears. The way he looked at me, the emotion in his eyes was the only thing that told me that this nearly all black ghoul, was Predious. Just me entering the room, I could see it in him. This was the unbiased response I had needed to know just how he thought of me. Celebrations for friendship could come later though, after we got the fuck out of this place.

“What did they do to you?” I forced myself to speak, quickly walking over to him. There were various open wounds on him, his red mane with black streaks had become mostly black, with a few strands of red. I don’t know much about what ghouls are, or how they did this to him, but I prayed that he would last long enough that we could get him to somepony who does. Maybe what’s her name… Cocoa back in Chasm would know!

He struggled to get to his hooves, only managing to do it when he used me to lean on. Yeah, it hurt to support him with my bum leg, but we were going to make it out, no matter what. Leaning my head down, he seemed to get the hint and put his hoof around my neck. Together, we slowly made our way out to the hallway.

“Woah, this is the guy you’re hot for?” Tasteless, in a not-so-stunning turn of humor, only made my head thump worse with that. “Far be it for me to judge another mare’s tastes, but damn that’s kinky.”

“Made... another friend... I see.” Predious choked out around a couple of ichor filled coughs.

“Both of you, shut up and help find a way out of this hell hole.” I growled, making my way back down the hall I thought lead to the stairs. Turns out, they didn’t lead that way, but they did advertise us to a pair of paladins who had made their way to this level. “Shit.”

“Yoo Hoo, Mr. Rangers!” Pai called out from the intercoms. “I’ve got a friend I’d like you to meet.” There was a slam that shook the ground we stood on, the wall behind the paladins cracked out into the hall. They both turned their gazes around towards the wall, taking a few uneasy steps back. “You see, he’s fairly angry, and unless you surrender, he’ll only do one thing to you. And that is break, shatter, splinter, crush, bust, or with any other synonym…” Pai stopped speaking just long enough for Iron Will to break through the concrete wall, bending the rebar reinforcements along his body as he forced his way through. The rangers opened fire with the miniguns strapped to their sides, which was the wrong answer. “Iron Will, Smash.”

With that, his bright blue eyes shifted to red, and the two paladins were in a full fledged retreat. Iron Will stomped down the halls after them as bits of rubble trailed behind, a loud bellowing bovine roar came from him as he disappeared from sight. Through the wall he came in, I could see the stairs leading up. It may have taken him a few hours to catch up, but he was damn worth bringing along!

“Sis, all the technicians have left, and I will be transferring myself back to your pipbuck here shortly.” She said with a slow tone, making me dread what came after she paused. “Also, you might want to hurry. Seems like somepony got a message out, and all of the paladins are on their way back.”

“Come on then, let’s get moving sweetcheeks!” Tasteless shouted as she galloped past me. “I ain’t spending another two years down there, even with you!”

I couldn’t argue with that, pulling Predious tightly to myself and pushing us forward. The climb was exhausting, but necessary, each step of the way reinforcing the need to survive. I didn’t go through all this shit just to die now.

The crashes and shudders that came from the levels below us made me smile, the fact that Iron will was getting some well needed payback nestled into my mind right between getting a good night’s sleep, and having the last raider in a band fall to a well aimed shot. Pulling Pred and myself up the final few steps to level two was grueling, but when we had done it, I panted with a smile. He returned it to the best of his abilities and nudged himself off of me.

“Thanks for saving my flank down there, but I think I can walk on my own now.” He winced as he put all of his weight back onto his own legs, remaining fairly stable. “Now, let’s go find Pai, shall we?”

I nodded as we made our way forward, cautiously scoping out each room for more paladins as we went. They were all absent from here as well, which went against what Pai had told us. It made me feel all kinds of uncomfortable for the fact that the ones left behind had all seemingly gotten up and left, well, that or vanished without a trace into thin air.

We walked into a room full of computer banks and other archanotech gizmo’s. Tasteless went around sticking her nose into each and every one for some reason, and Predious simply strode beside me as I walked along the rows of flickering lights and electric humming. I stopped when I found the dusty, beaten up pipbuck that had been given to me as a gift, the display on it powering on all by itself before flicking to pink.

I slipped my leg under it as Predious’s magic lifted it up, clipping the tube closed around my hairless leg with a snap. Lines of green code flooded my vision as each of the display’s elements came up. When they had all appeared, the small pink filly popped up and shifted it all to match her, giving a small sigh as she spawned a small couch under her.

“It’s good to be home.” She smiled and put her hooves behind her head.

“Thanks for breaking me out.” Without her help, I would have broken down. Everything is all fine and dandy now, but I came close to spending the rest of my life locked away. Even now I’m getting ahead of myself, heading right back there if we didn’t get out quick. The heavy mechanical stomps of Iron Will told us that he was done with his business downstairs. “Can you have Iron Will work his magic up ahead? He’s the only hulking bullet resistant mountain of awesome who can take on the rangers, and I’d rather not lose this leg again today.”

“Done… and done.” Pai chimed up. “But I recommend staying close. Once we get outside, you’ll probably have to stay in front of him to avoid getting shot in the flank.” Even from where we were, I heard the telltale hiss of Iron Will’s pistons as he charged ahead. The whole room shook as what sounded like an explosion rocked us almost off our hooves.

“Fucking rangers and their big guns.” Tasteless snarled as she hoofed her mane from her face.

“Don’t worry, Iron Will’s tougher than that.” Predious rolled his eyes as we all started out of the room. “I mean, he was built as tough as a tank. Hell, he basically took a virtabuck to the horns and he was fine.”

“Something’s wrong. I can’t see him… where’d he go?” Pai spoke slowly. “He’s not pinging my software, Storm.” The screen turned blue and she curled up. “I… I’m worried about him. We’ve never been apart this long.”

“Then let’s go check on him.” I sighed. I couldn’t avoid the feeling in my gut, but he was one tough ass robot. I’d be hard pressed to believe that even the rangers could take him out that easily.

Rounding the corner, I stopped dead in my tracks as the door ahead of us sat twisted on it’s hinges, still glowing from whatever the hell had hit it. Smoke poured out of the room as all three of us slowly crept up. Tasteless used her metal hoof to push what was left of the door out of our way, revealing a room with no less than a dozen or so brightly burning flames. It was hard to see with all the thick smoke, but the thing that made me nervous the most was the perfect silence in the room. Stepping forward ahead of the others, I stopped when I stubbed my new hoof against something, looking down with a louder than necessary curse. I had kicked my hoof into the half twisted lump of metal that was once Iron Will’s head. The tip of the one remaining horn still glowed red hot as his dark mechanical eye lay blasted open, smoking from that and the several other holes in his head case.

“No…” Pai cried softly, pushing herself into the corner of my vision. “You can’t be gone. We were going to see the world, you and I...”

“Hostiles, put down your weapons and surrender yourselves immediately!” The booming, staticy voice of a Ranger in power armor called out from ahead.

“You fucking killed him!” Pai screamed out in pain. That was just it, it was pain in her voice. It wasn’t a computer imitating pain, or somepony acting like it. No, I knew what a scream of emotional pain sounded like, and I had never wanted to hear it in my life again after they put me to sleep.

It started as a small churning in my chest, almost like heartburn, but it quickly grew. The more Pai cried, the more I thought about how the rangers had hurt everypony here today. They needed to pay for these acts, and so help me, I was going to bring justice down upon them like they have never seen the likes of before. My muscles tensed, my pulse raced, and my vision blurred, focusing only on those E.F.S. blips that sat on my vision in front of me.

“You fucking monsters!” I screamed, feeling the air around me heat up. “Go burn in hell!”

Flames encompassed the room around me as my vision went white, the sounds of frantic screams amplified by power armor filling my ears as in this one moment, I knew that they were suffering for the evils they had done. It only had lasted for a second, but when my vision returned, I gazed upon a cleansed room. There was no more smoke, and a set of five power armored bodies lay sizzling before me, their helmetless bodies charred black and cracked with just a lick of blue flame coming from the boiling wounds.

Then reality hit me, and the toll of whatever had just transpired hit me like a charging brahmin. My legs gave out, my lungs seized up, and my head exploded in pain all at once. The last thing I saw before I passed out, was the face of Daddy smiling at me before fading away. Then, all was darkness.