While Grace and Cait gave me a crash course on the Steel Rangers, Grey had left the room saying he had to do something, I suspected he was going to vent some anger out as I listened to them explain that the Steel Rangers were a small, but rather advanced faction that primarily used and was recognized for using, T51-b power armor. The original ranger oath was that they were made to protect ponies for Applejack with their advanced technology, but some, well most, viewed the oath differently as the Rangers needing to grab and hold away all technology so that wastelanders didn't abuse what they found and caused history to repeat. Other than that, the rest of their knowledge was private, and Cait admitted that the general public viewed them just as Grey had described, warmongering tec hoarders.

Several elders, who were the primary leaders of each steel ranger branch agreed with hoarding tec so that 'primitives' and 'savages' couldn't get their hooves on valuable unreproducible technology like Water Talismans and Energy Weapons for the fear that they would break it in the long run. However Elder Cola, who was the Knight's chapters leader, was one of the ones who believed in the Applejack way, and along with the other knights, had gotten an approved split between the other branch of rangers who was lead by Elder Sarsaparilla up north lest they destroy each other through internal affairs.

Now the three of us, myself, Cait, and Scrapyard, were trotting towards the Knight's base of operations, which ironically had been located between the Castle and Bishop capitals just like a chess board with a sparse few building between the three. Outside, and true to their image, were two power armored stallions with some of the biggest weapons I've ever seen all mounted on their inbuilt battle-saddles. As somepony who had primarily been using smaller arms, and a single high powered sniper rifle, I practically wanted to pounce this armored pony for some of the absolutely drool worthy weaponry they were wearing. Adorning each inbuilt battle saddle were twin mini-guns, with a second rack of weapons above each one, on their left was a mounted rocket launcher but on their right, "Is that a... B.E.L.?!"

Cait looked to me then towards where I was looking at, and chuckled, "A Balefire Egg Launcher? Yep. Sort of an overkill considering how rare the ammo for those things are, let alone to mount the outside guards with them. Wonder what's up."

When we approached the door, and had gotten within five feet of the nearest Steel Ranger only one of their heads turned to look at us, "Halt and Idenfity your name, affiliation, rank of affiliation, and purpose for coming here."

Cait stepped forward ahead of me, "Ecait Gear, Steel Ranger, Sentinel, and to ask the Elder about getting some stuff from storage rather than letting them be wasted where they are. As for the others, This here is Aria Web, affiliation to none, Lovebug, and shes with me." Scrapyard barked making Cait add in, "And that's Scrapyard, dog, dog, and woof."

The Ranger sighed, "Welcome back Sentinel Storm Blade Sir..."

"Pardon?" Cait grinned.

"Welcome back Sentinel Storm Blade Sir?" The Ranger asked slightly offput.

"Couldn't hear you."

The other Ranger looked at the first while he repeated the line at near yelling volume this time, "WELCOME BACK SENTINEL STORM BLADE SIR!"

"At ease." Cait chuckled, and gestured for us to head inside, before we had even cleared the doorway, the question left my lips, "Sentinel Storm Blade?"

He looked at me, his eyes betraying a slight boredom with the name, "It's my designation when on duty. Usually only Elders are referred to by their normal names while on the job. Before he was an elder for example, Elder Cola was Star Paladin Rocket Jump. for his tendency to aim rockets at the ground and use the explosion as a boost. Usually tore up his armor in the process but... can't say anything he landed on survived." he chuckled, "There's a few elders who keep their designated names or refuses to accept the new title like Star Paladin Steelhooves, but I don't think we're ever likely to meet him, hes a eastern pony, and one of the rangers who follows Applejacks creed the closest."

"So we're meeting with this Elder Cola?" I asked, "I'm guessing his full name is Sparkle Cola?"

Cait chuckled, "Yep, just don't let him catch you calling him Sparkle, it annoys him to no end."

"So I'm guessing his cutie-mark is a picture of Sparkle cola?"

Cait rolled his eyes, "Of course not, it's Sunset Sarsaparilla."

"Then... is Elder Sarsaparilla's cutie mark Sparkle Cola?" I asked, trying to reason that out.

Cait looked mildly surprised, "How'd you guess?"

"Two plus two equals four?" I said, still a bit offput.

"Nah, through theoretical reasoning it makes a fish, but that's a problem for another time." Cait responded in a matter of fact tone, "I see what your saying though, they are brothers, and I think that bond is the only reason that the Rangers haven't gotten into a schism already. Even bonds of steel pales before a blood bond and all that."

Silence took over as I mulled over that, following Cait while he lead us through the narrow hallways full of ponies either wearing power armor or red robes, what I've noticed however was the lighter grey attachment that adorned the occasional dark grey rangers helmet, they were rare and in between but the piece of metal that held a vaguely familiar shape. Cait caught me looking, "Oh, you've probably only read about power armor before today huh?"

I nodded, "I haven't seen that type of helmet before, the rest matches the description of standard armor though."

Cait gestured to the helmets, "It's our way for compensating for a unicorns horn, before those designs, a unicorn with a horn larger than a nub would have to cut it off in order to fit their head in a helmet. Most Rangers see such an act as a measure of strong will and loyalty to the codex, but both the elder, and myself saw that as a massive waste of resources. A year ago it was either chop your horn off or not wear a helmet entirely. Neither one was without..." He scoffed at the next word, "Glory... For to neglect using a helmet when going into battle was considered an act of honor as the increased danger and fortitude raised troop morale. But It wasn't until a few dozen scribes protected a rather valuable piece of technology and wanted to resume their duties in the field that the upgrade was even considered, and years later before it was fully researched, approved, and deployed for our chapter."

"What about the others?"

Cait rolled his eyes, "Too set in the old ways and honor ironically to bother with the upgrade and see it as a violation of the Codex. Luckily while bonds of blood are strong, so are the bonds of steel that each ranger holds."

"Sounds... Barbaric, no offense." I wanted to flinch at whoever decided to cut their horn off, A changelings horn was incredibly sensitive, and cutting it off would be akin to losing a leg, while as painful as someone shoving a knife in regions no knife should ever be in without making the victims gender cringe in pity for the poor soul.

Shrugging off the remark Cait replied casually, "None taken, not too big a fan of the hypocrites anyway."

Eventually we reached the Elders office, I could tell from the four power armored ponies guarding the door and the sparkle cola sign hanging above the doorway. One nodded when Cait approached, "Sentinel."

"Random Paladin" Cait nodded back, causing the guards to emit a light hearted chuckle, "I'm here to see the elder with a guest, unless you guys are also in line."

The ranger nodded, "Go right on in, Elder Cola is expecting you."

Okay, that was unexpected thing to hear a pony say out of the blue. Did they have a communicator built into their helmets? We passed by the guards without further words into the dimly lit room beyond. The first thing I noticed was that the room had been shaped into an octagon that held a series of slowly raising levels of platforms that stopped with a similarly shaped desk in the center of the room. As with most desks, there was a chair. However this one was facing away from us and as Cait approached it, the seat span around, completing two full rotations before stopping, revealing an earth pony stallion of surprisingly pink coloration with a cobalt mane that complimented a dark blue robe that he wore. His eyes were momentarily hidden by the shadows cast upon him by a single blue bulb of light above him and as he spoke quietly his voice reverberated through the room, "Sentinel Storm Blade..." he began creepily, "Long time no see..."

I swallowed nervously and all too aware of the sudden shift in mood, Cait however seemed undisturbed, "How's it hanging C? Came by to ask for a favor."

"Going straight to the point?" Elder Cola was not amused, "Not a word of explanation to where you're going this time, or where you've been? Just you need a favor?" he chuckled, somehow making the laugh sound quite the opposite of what it was supposed to be, "You know the rules, a favor for a favor."

"Well I'd like my power armor back, and two sets of the arctic armor that you have back in storage." Cait elaborated, placing his front hooves on the table as the elder pressed his own two together in his lap the flint of green eyes momentarily catching my attention as he considered it.

"What in the world do you need such a equipment for?" The Elder pondered aloud, "Are you heading north?"

Cait nodded, "Yep, and with company too. So how about that favor?"

Elder Cola span in his chair to face away from us, "We've been having problems with a rogue experimental program and an uninvited guest, I would suggest talking to Head Scribe Jewel for more knowledge on the situation at hoof. Come back to me when it's completed and I'll see to it to fulfill the favor you're asking from us."

"Thank you Cola." Cait bowed his head respectfully towards the elder and I caught the gesture of a hoof as Elder Cola dismissed us.

Back outside of the room, and a few feet away from the doors guards Cait had the audacity to ask, "So, how did you like that meeting?"

I stared at him for a moment, still speechless. After a few moments he stopped to look at me and I barely managed to force out a single, "Intimidating..." before my lips tried to fuse themselves together again, letting out a breath I hadn't known that I was holding since entering Cola's office.

A resounding chuckle emitted from Cait, "He is a bit of a drama queen at times,"

I rose my eyebrow at that, "How so?"

"He threw a funeral for his pet rock when it 'died' and mourned it's passing for three months as a colt."

I was still giggling as we reached a lower floor built under the main street of the Hole, a large room with several scribes going over different pieces of power armor and high tec weaponry while a rather well well decorated unicorn mare was directing the scribes with a clipboard, as we approached her Cait greeted his fellow ranger, "Hey Jewel."

The mare looked up from her clipboard in momentary surprise, and turned to face us, "Cait? Oh my, did you come here to check on your power armor? You know it won't be back to your specifications for another week right?"

Cait nodded, "I know that Jewel, I'd assist in that myself, but I hear that you have a virus and guest problem and me and my friend here wish to assist in order to make Sparkle exchange favors like usual."

Jewel, true to her name, swished a mane full of what looked like scraped energy weapon focusing jewels tied into her purple hair behind an ear as she looked me up and down, "Who's the unicorn mare?"

It was always gladdening to hear that my usual disguise had tricked somepony, the mark of a good changeling was that one would never had known to have been somewhere in the first place. Sadly however I hadn't chosen a cutie-mark for my favored disguise, though luckily the scout armor covered that particular spot pretty well. Cait smirked, "If you've been paying attention to the radio, Jewel, Aria." he moved one hoof towards her then me, "Aria Web, meet Ms. Jewel Shores."

"Just Jewel." Jewel rose a hoof and I rose mine to meet hers in a shake.

Alright brain, time to step up. First impressions are important after all. My body however thought otherwise however, and instead of a strong confident voice I squeaked, "P-pleasure to meet you..."

"If Cait is giving you any trouble at all, just let me know Aria. I know he can be a bit of a hoof full at times."

Caits ears flicked downward at that and he practically begged, "Please don't sic her on me."

I chuckled lightly, still uneasy in front of strangers, "We'll see Cait..."

Jewel smiled at us and noted something on her clipboard with a pen before resuming, "As for what I need done, I'm surprised the elder has stuck you two on it, especially when five paladins didn't make it back because of the unexpected menace."

"Which is what exactly?"

She barked an order at another pony who was slacking off to get him moving before resuming, "Well you see, four days ago an experimental artificial intelligence we had been developing for our improved sentry robots went rogue and developed a mind of its own. After it somehow hacked the security it proceeded to kill and drive out several of the rangers after a failed attempt at hacking a T-51b suit of power armor in an attempt to go mobile. The security concerns only got worse as the day later a strange monster pony in what looked like C-32 Power armor and several strange weapons killed several more rangers before being injured by a direct rocket shot and retreated into the facility. There's a few rangers stationed a way outside it that will give you the changes over the last few days however for the up to date version."

"Any idea what drove it rampant in the first place?" I asked, surely there was a reason, but then again. This was another scientist, even if she was helping ponies. I think that was the only reason I even wanted to tolerate these scribes, well that and for Cait. He and Scrap had been my first and only friends outside of the Stable, Grey notwithstanding because he and I had met within the same one as teacher and student. However I did keep my senses extended to the occupants just for safety, and well to replenish my magic reserves.

Her eyes shifted away from us, and I felt a trickle of guilt work into her rather studious and serious nature, "No...The last thing I knew was that one second we are programming it and adjusting its targeting parameters and next thing we know the turret security is nailing down scribes and murdering paladins left and right."

My suspicions were now raised, please let this artificial intelligence not be another Maul. While strange psycho death machines incarnates are fun and all on my side, I did not want to have to do a moral dilemma of trapping a sentient being back into experimentation or piss off Cait's rather well armed group when I used to be an experiment myself, albiet, to a lot more evil brand of scientist.

Cait nodded, "Just give us directions and I'm sure we can handle it. After all, I met Aria here after she weakened a brute so I could finish it off and then helped me fight a metric fuck-ton of raiders."

"You forgot I lost consciousness after becoming a rag doll for the brute..." I grumbled, my body experiencing a phantom pain as I recalled being smashed into a lot of stuff harder than I was back... When was it? Two to three weeks ago?

"Details." Cait dismissed casually with a wave of his hoof, "Anyway where is it Jewel?"

"I see you have a pipbuck," Jewel nodded at the device strapped to my leg, "I could mark it on your map if you'd like. It'd be easier that way."

I nodded and held it out to her and she nosed through the icons, "An 2500 series? Never thought I'd see one of those again, not after Cait found and broke his beyond repair anyway." I wanted to ask her what she meant but she continued talking before I could open my mouth to ask, "Ah here it is, now just to press the correct buttons, and a bit to the right... Here."

She let go of my leg and I turned the screen back towards me noticing that she did infact add a marker on my map for where to go. Cait moved next to me, and read the map as well over my shoulder, "Hmm, not that far out actually. Probably an hour, maybe an hour and a half trot from the entrance to there. Anything distinctive about it?"

Jewel nodded, "There's a old sign on the top of it saying, 'Ministry of Magic Research Facility #41' and its a short building between the ruins of two taller ones. It's mostly underground though so don't let its size fool you."

I let out a groan, not another one of those. My fears were being reconfirmed that these rangers had been messing with evil scientist pony stuff. Guess I'll have to watch out for yet more monster ponies. Jewel gave me a questioning glance and I realized I had groaned very loudly, and I blushed, tilting my hat around so that they couldn't see my face. Cait chuckled, "Sorry we went to #43 not very long ago, kinda had a monster pony, a mad army of handymen, rabid scientist ghouls, and then a Nightmare Nighter squad of robots showed up."

"And it exploded." I added, that was a very important bit.

"Exploded?" Jewel looked quite startled.

"I blame Cait." I said quietly and he grinned sheepishly.

Jewel narrowed her eyes at her friend, "Why did it explode Cait?"

"I uh..." Cait looked away, trying to look not guilty but totally failing it, he needed Grey to teach him a lesson in being stoic, "Pressed some buttons and a miniature balefire bomb went off, blowing it up."

Jewel stood there slack jaw, and I felt a mixture of emotions ranging from disbelief to rage flooded through her for a few moments, giving me more than I could handle and I retreated my senses momentarily as she began to calm down with a hoof gesture and a quiet count to ten. When she had calmed she gave me a stare and I shrank backwards, "If he ever does it again, please let me know. It was nice meeting you Aria, would you and Scrap please go to where ever it is you all are staying? I'll let the rangers know you're going to be there tomorrow by radio."

Cait was trying to slink away but Jewel turned her attentions to him, "Sentinel Storm Blade Ecait Windchime Gear." He froze in place, "I'm not done with you yet, you can join your friend after we have a little discussion."

He made a pleading face to me but I wasn't going to redirect that anger towards myself. Nor was Scrapyard as he also wisely stayed silent and actually tried pushing me towards the door. Together we left Cait to his doom and wandered back out and towards our temporary home, maybe I could learn another spell from my medical textbook before Cait got back, judging from the loud thud I heard as I left the Knights, he was going to need it!

Xp Footnote: 75% until level up.

Spell learnt: Medical Spells for Beginners: Deeper Medicine: Your medical abilities have grown to be able to knit back deeper wounds and rearrange broken bones back into position, while using this over medical costs twice the mana consumed, you can now treat crippled limbs while out of combat for other party members as well as your own.

Footnote: The Knight's: This division of the Steel Rangers has retaken Applejacks oath to protect ponies over technology by using it to better and help ponies. Their role over the hole is officially research for the rangers through experimentation which also allows them leeway on the average rangers take on the oath by the grace of Elder Cola and Elder Sarsaparilla. The Knights are recognized by their use of a modified set of T-51b armor that allows unicorns to keep their horns rather then shave them off as the traditional ranger was an earth pony. Seeing as Pegasus ponies and Earth ponies had their own variants of power armor, a certain Sentinel was able to use his influence to start and finish development of unicorn power armored helmet and deploy them for all new initiates becoming rangers who happened to be Unicorns. This practice is widely however held in disdain by the other chapters who say that it was a unicorns proof of honor and dedication to the Rangers when they cut off their own horns to wear the armor. Cait has one thing to say with that, "Whats more terrifying than a Ranger? A Ranger with magic."

Oh hey, Just to remind you, Aria has a Tumblr that can be found Here! She and the rest of the group are willing to answer any questions you have for the group with the latest installation of this story! Feel free to ask away, and we mean it. Seriously. Don't not ask because you think we get too many questions, we literally get one or two questions every few days.