Everything hurt. as I dragged myself into consciousness, my head was going numb with pain. My legs were sore as if I had run through a firestorm for hours on end, and I could hear the rapid beating of my heart as it pounded against my chest, lungs wheezing as my broken ribs demanded healing. My horn was screaming in protest and I had only just woken up. In a haze I dragged myself to the alchemical station and searched, until I found a needle marked 'med-x' and injected myself with it.

I was not fond of drugs, but as it kicked in and soothed my tremendous pain I could think straighter, and focus less on suffering and more on my surroundings. Dark red and glowing green mush was all over the room, on either side of it, two arms lay dismantled into segments, as if torn apart by a pack of wolves that had no interest in eating it. I could spot half of a massive rib cage, decorating the mechanical side of the room but the rest of it was strewn apart in pieces no longer recognizable as the ghoul it had once been. It was like a raider nest had been made here, and the smell of decaying mutated ghoul almost caused me to retch. Luckily the dull burning in my ribs told my stomach no.

What had happened here? The last thing I could remember was accepting Roggars offer and then, nothing. Had I done this? Or did Trixie survive and came in to rescue me? No, Trixie was dead.... I was alive, that couldn't be it... My eyes watered, a different kind of hurt, but I began to search while I put the puzzle together.

Oye, wandering flesh bag that is me, get over here back of the room, third door on the right.

What...?

Yeah, I'm talking to me. Get over here, or did losing me make you as dumb as a potatoe?

Oh goddesses, not another voice in my head. Slowly I trotted my way to the door specified and entered a medical room, only to be set upon by a loud masculine voice, "Abou' damn time me."

Wat. The source of it was, a brain tank with a floating brain in it, was yelling at me in a western deep voice, one I'd compare to a bit below Greys own, yet more homely... Like a roaring fire, "Do you know how hard it is to make you hear me when i'm outside of our body? Now look what you went and did, accepting an offer from a mysterious voice in our head, and screwing up our own damn rescue operation to boot."

"Uh...." I said, not quite believing what I was seeing, and hearing, "Are you my brain?"

"Do you see any other brains around here? Wait don't answer that," the brain in the tank sat there idly for a second, "Don't really think we can count Bull Frown's brain, since its kinda all over the wall outside."

This was strange, "So you ARE my brain, right?" I asked.

"Short answer? Yes. Long answer, Yes you idiot." my brain snarked at me.

"Yeah, well at least I don't sound like a guy!" I poked back at it, "Why do you sound like one anyway?! We're- I mean I am a girl!"

"Well exxxxxxccuuusssssseeee me little lady," Brain snarked back, "But it was the only one installed on this damn pickle jar. Be glad we're talking as is rather than having you ponder to which brain is yours and what else we could stick in our body."

"Well... how do I know you're really my brain, and not, say, Doc Smiles?" I asked, pointed a paranoid hoof at him- I mean her, it.

"Simple." the brain said, "When you were five, you decided to try and sneak out to see what the grown ups did in the lounge at night, and you were unimpressed since they were just tossing around chips and cards."

"Yeah, well anyling would know that." I said, "Heck no less than five of us went there and we were caught and punished for a week of extra training. Tell me something only I would know."

"well lets see, you see Grey as you're father figure and you had a crush on-"

Hurriedly I moved to cover the voice box with my hooves, to muffle it, not that it mattered to the machine, it didn't have lips, "The medical doctor, until he gave you a shot."

Eeze... "Yep its you." I deadpanned.

"Good job on figuring it out, want a cookie?" my brain snarked back at me.

"I would love one, actually," I said, "But at the moment I'm more concerned on getting you back in our head."

"I was being sarcastic. Anyway our stuff is in the neighboring room, though I bet you want some questions answered."

I know, but I changed the subject of conversation, "How did Bull Frown get our stuff and you for that matter anyway?"

"There is a series of pipes between the two facilities, and when the think tank had me removed from your skull, they tossed your stuff to the side while they argued over what to do with you. It just so happened that the medical bot that performed the operation was connected to Bull Frowns servers and it decided to send me off along the tubes and to take your stuff to him as well. He could of as easily kidnapped the other organs if he had the space. Though he was far more amused by the concept of taking me for dramatic purposes and so that as a fail safe he could threaten my detonation. Seems like he didn't get the chance though."

"Speaking of which, how did he end up like that?"

My brain sounded annoyed, "I'm a disembodied brain with neural processors to speak, I can't exactly see inside this tank aside from you looking at me, which is a sense I lost around the same time you agreed to this Roggar fellows deal before our body passed out. The only thing I heard afterwards was screaming for a few minutes, someone getting castrated, and then silence until our body woke up again."

"Right, so how will we get you back into our skull?"

"on your left is an autodoc that I can easily program into putting me and our other organs back where they belong, but that is if you really want all of them back. I can see some use in keeping some of the replacements where they are, but if you want them all back, I'm not blaming us."

"Lets just get this over with," I stated to myself, "and end this nightmare."

"Yes, and the think tank will find it much harder to use their pacification field on us, when the body and mind are reunited as one again."

Step by step my brain guided me into the autodoc, and started up the procedure, I breathed a sigh of relief as my consciousness drifted away to the pain medication that the autodoc supplied before the surgery. I awoke hours later, my injuries having been treated as well, as a new sore feeling, but there was a new relief too, a buzz as a certain pair of wings was once more attached to me. And all the artificial organs were lying in pools of my blood at the bottom of the autodoc device I had exited. I left them there, no desire for all the advanced technology that was once in me. Slowly I stretched, and began to walk to the next room, and collect my things. I was going to need some time to heal after such an extensive surgery, to let my muscles get reused to its missing organs after such a short time with artificial ones.

Discarding my makeshift battle-saddle for my proper one was like discarding a suit three sizes too tight for one that was just right, and I sighed in relief as Ambush was still intact alongside my supply of healing items, ammunition and the various knickknacks that I had picked up before coming to this Celestia damned facility. After chugging down an additional healing potion to speed along my recovery, I began my long and arduous walk back towards the center, only stopping to pick up the broken gatling laser and to remove its barrel before tossing the rest of it in one of my recently returned saddlebags.

Briefly, I gave my respects to the devastation that Trixie had caused, out of the entire giant spider, only a few portions of metal remained, and none that revealed what it used to be before her sacrifice. My pipbuck ticked idly as I walked around the cooling crater of melted stone and metal while I pondered what could of been with the machine, no, the pony she had been if it wasn't for the mechanical spider or its master Bull Frown. I kicked a rock into the crater, watching as the surrounding goop slowly consumed it before I turn and left, another heavy weight in my heart that I would need to address later on, once I was done...

Done with what?

"Ah, Roggar, I was wondering where you've been. Care explaining just what happened when I accepted your offer?"

Only if you tell me how long you're going to stall your mental breakdown. Its not healthy to keep it all bottled up like this.

To that I had no response, but eventually I came up with one, "When this is all over I will, Though I can't exactly just...." I fought the urge to break, "Let her down now, can I?"

Fair enough, as for your question, how much do you know about magic?

Mentally I showed him my knowledge which consisted of learning how to change my form, the few failures with combat magic I had, and the few spells I had memorized from my adventures thus far. Judging from his tone, he was unimpressed.

So you know even less than I first thought. Great, well best to start at the beginning I guess. the voice in my head sighed, Every material being in this world has magic in it, but the form this magic comes in varies widely depending on the shape it takes. Living creatures, like ponies for instance typically have two forms of magic, inherent magic, and active magic. Inherent magic deals with traits members of a race has, and influences what cutiemark ponies have for instance. Its why they have such marks in the first place as well as why you'll never see a pegasus with a magic cutiemark, or a unicorn with a cutiemark for flying fast.

I nodded to myself at his explanation, "Sounds reasonable enough, what about active magic?"

I was getting to that, active magic is what happens when a living being uses its magic to influence the world. In some circles this is known as conscious magic, while others call it natural magic. The most common example of it would be a unicorn using telekinesis, since its a learned spell rather than with you at birth.

"So why don't changelings have cutiemarks?" I asked, and gestured at my horn, "we can cast active magic well enough, all considered."

Changelings function at a base mental level, differently than other races. For one, you have a hive mind, even if its currently seperated from the rest of the hive, its been influencing you from birth. Consider if you have inherent magic, and active magic, if this system was a third section that split the two apart.

"Like a wedge then?"

Exactly, what I did, was shove this wedge out, and put it next to those two. There are consequences though, as your inherent magic has been overridden by the hives manipulation for most of your life. Luckily, you're younger than most of the other ponies so you'll have gotten used to it when you reach full maturity. Most changelings typically go through their entire lives with this influence controlling them and reducing them to ordinary drones if needed. Though you aren't like any changeling I've seen before.

"What're the consequences then?", I paused mid step, noting that my horn was still sore, too sore to try and use magic, but the pain was gradually lessening.

It would be best if I start at what you can still do. A changeling inherent magic, similar to a unicorn horn or earthpony durability, is their ability to drain the emotional climate of those around them for magic and change their shape. However, you were born, or well made with a special set of genetics that was otherwise hidden to you and others until now. Tell me, have you ever questioned why anything tougher than telekinesis was extremely difficult to learn?

I nodded again, observing my surroundings as we talked, "Yeah, I was never fast learner, and it was only until after I left the stable that I was able to learn anything, why?"

That's because in the center of the hive, your natural inherent magic was continually clashing against the hive minds attempts to control your progression. You were trying to learn spells that weren't meant for one of your type. When the hive stopped influencing you, your magic began to build up behind the barrier, and was still growing when you met me. He paused, just for a moment before continuing on, In other words, that surge of magic that was released from you as you passed out was the magical equivalent of a unicorn foal having their first magical surge.

"So this magic of mine, What is it?"

Long story short, you're one of the few individuals in history who has access to a powerful form of magic known simple as 'Mancer Magic' or elemental magic for short. You, in specific, have access to the element of darkness, also known as 'Umbramancy' Something only three others have had access to in the past, though all three of them are technically dead.

"So... are there like books on it?" I asked, "Or are you going to tell me some half baked plot to raise some guy somewhere from the dead or something?"

You're misunderstanding what I meant by darkness, Black magic may have some umbramancy in certain rituals, but mostly they are unrelated. Yes there were books on the subject, but the likelihood of finding one of them intact is slim to none. My associate and I, however, are familiar with the concept, but learning this magic is going to take you time and effort, as well as a good portion of your life discovering its uses and refining its control by yourself. However, beware, going too far into mancy magic can and will begin to change your body in unusual ways related to your element and its weakness can become staggering for the most advanced users of these arts. A pyromancer as some would call it, cant use his magic when wet for instance, and one in particular became so aquaphobic he refused to drink anything that wasn't the consistency of jello or harder.

Great. So, long story short, "Avoid light, and relearn magic on my own. Expect bodily changes, and hope that I can figure out how to use a form of magic that has gone extinct."

Not entirely extinct, other mancers are still out there, though they are rare and few in number.

Long monologues aside, "So, what now?"

I got the mental image of something shrugging, Deal with your business in the think tank, and rest up. I'll contact you in a few days, all the work I've done recently for you isn't exactly easy you know.

"Thanks again for saving my life," I added in, but got no response, I assumed he heard me though.Turning my attention back to my surroundings, I entered the facility of the Think Tank, determined to end it one way or another.

Ambush, was loaded and ready for firing, my shotgun, strapped to my other side was as well. It wasn't going to be easy, if things turned into a firefight, which it most likely was, but as I entered the chamber, I noticed something was off. For one, everything was pink in color, or pink tinted due to the emergency lights being on for some reason. Drama? An emergency? I didn't know. What I did know was that this was going to end, one way or another.

I burst in to the central chamber, an argument was unfolding between the spider like brain bots, their arm like appendages flailing about as Dr.Magic bickered with Dr.Kind and Dr.Generosity. The other think tank members watching from the side lines, not yet noticing my appearance in their midst. Quickly I was getting caught up into what was happening, however.

"Once more, Shade, I decline to allow this to happen. In fact, I positively refuse. Aria has done her utmost to help us already, and a flat out betrayal in order to continue these monstrous experiments of yours is downright wrong."

"This is mutiny Dr.Kind, and my name isn't Shade, its Dr.Magic! And shes a lobotomite, I will brook no argument on this matter. You will continue your experiments or we will be forced to take actions most regrettable against you."

"I have to agree with Director Cyan, Dr.Shade." Dr.Generosity added into the conversation, "The organic has more than shown her worth, the detected explosions and magic surge, followed by her exit from the facility relatively intact has more then proved her worth."

"You two are being unreasonable to the point of mutiny!" the largest brain bot, Dr.Magic, shouted at the top of his vocal processors, "What makes her so special that hundreds of years of research is suddenly forgotten? What happened to your passion for science?!"

"Science has gone too far, Shade. We all have gone way to far, abandoning our ethics to help save equestria and instead contributing to its destruction. Look around you, the outside world is now a hell I would not wish upon anyone, Pony or Zebra." Dr.Kind, or Director Cyan, intoned, "As your former boss, I am ordering you to stand down Shade and think over your actions."

"And as your current boss, I order you to surrender this useless notion of morality, that was a concept we agreed to forget about when we started this operation." Dr.Magics dome tank bumped against Dr.Kinds, butting heads so to speak, both their facial screens angry.

The red one hissed madly from the sidelines, starting forward towards the group. Drawing a response from Dr.Magic, "Shut up, Dr.Honest, it wasn't a mistake, we did as we had to."

"His name, is Dr.Cherwood!" Kindness backed off a foot, before ramming Dr.Magic again, throwing the larger bot off balance.

Wait, Dr.Cherwood? I thought he was dead. This red brain bot was Trixies creator? The leader of the brain bots retreated, the remaining two taking up positions on either side of him, as he screamed, "Dr.Kind, You're FIRED! Laughter, Loyalty, help me deal with these traitorous scum!"

They nodded, drawing their articulated arms out into what looked like a blow torch on one, and a plasma gun on the other, but before they could fire, I made my presence known, or rather, Ambush did. With a familiar bang and kick from my side, an armor piercing bullet shattered the glass dome that contained the brain of Dr.Shade, within less than a second, the bullet had continued through the gel itself and into the brain,causing it to ripple unnaturally as the force of the bullet blew it apart and exited out the other side, stopping only after breaching the other side of the shattering dome and colliding with one of the concrete walls that held the face up. The glass shattered a brief shower of sparkling light as the goop slowly flooded out of it like slime.The brain wasn't so lucky, having been turned into red paste from the first of my S.A.T.S. guided shots, the others canceling after it noticed that Dr.Shade was now dead.

The shock of the surprise attack left enough room for me to fire a second shot at one of the two remaining hostile brain bots, before the sudden battle was joined by Director Cyan, Dr.Cherwood, and Dr.Generosity. It didn't hit the brain case, as they lurched into motion, but it did pierce one of their lower bodies and into something internal as they discovered where I was standing. The battle was short. Director Cyan, and Cherwood managing to grapple with the two real traitors while Generosity and I took them apart with bullets and saws.

When the battle was over, Cyan had looked to me, adverting his gaze from his fallen coworkers, a look of sorrow on his face-screen, "I take it you were indeed successful in saving us with the matter of Bull Frown, and I also owe you our thanks for the surprise attack, Aria."

I looked to him, in a new light. I had only talked to him twice before, but his actions had put a new outlook on me for the scientist, "So what do you plan to do now?" I asked, curious to his intentions after he had disposed of his boss.

The brain bot slowly looked back towards the backwall, the various screens that showed the outside of the Big Grin, some familiar, like outside the facility where I had found Trixie, others not so much, "I do not know..." He said, "but I know that I will repent for what we have done, and put things to rights. With Bull Frown dead, the brutes will be disorganized, and we can regain control over the Big Grin's defenses and robots. We can put an end to the corrupt manufacturing of weapons made for war, and begin again, only this time in the intent to help others rather than kill them."

He turned to me, "With your permission, I would like to appoint you our new director. I know that it is a poor reward after everything we've done, but our path was one carved with good intentions that simply went wrong, so horribly wrong."

Dr.Generosity spoke up, "I am willing to work for her as well, you said her name was Aria, right?" Dr.Generosity looked to Cyan.

"Yes, Ash, it was." Cyan intoned quietly, nodding to me again.

Dr.Cherwood hissed again, but it wasn't mad or ominous, but more of a chirp.

"He agrees, though we really should get his voice modulator fixed up... only if there was a spare somewhere." Ash muttered the last part, and I chirped in.

"Uh, Bull Frown had my brain in a tank with one over at the dome, if it helps."

The red one looked cheerful at this prospect, and Ash translated his thanks.

"So, how about it? Will you lead us, Aria Web, experiment number 1993-13?" Cyan asked again and I thought about it.

"I won't be able to be around that much," I said, "I have stuff I need to do outside in the wastelands, and outside of Equestria."

"We have a solution for that." Dr.Ash said, and then she showed me how.

Xp Footnote: 90% left until level up.

Perks lost: Brainless, Heartless, Spineless, Color Corrected, Wingless

New Perks gained(for good this time!)

Big Brained: Your brain has been put back into your skull!: Your head once again can be crippled but gains a resistance to chem addiction by +50% and adds a +5% bonus to your Damage Threshold, minimum +1.

Heart Strong As Horses!: Your heart has been put back into your body, but some advanced technology remains: You are less resistant to poison (50%) and robots are only somewhat confused by you (25% less likely to score a critical hit) now. But on the bright side, healing items are even more effective!

Reinforced Spine: Your spine is back in your body, but some advance technologies remain: Your torso can now be crippled again, but your Strength and Damage Threshold bonuses have doubled! (+2)

All Natural Vision: Your eyes have reverted back to their normal hues, and you're feeling much more perceptive thanks to your experience with cybereyes! As a result you gain (+1) Perception when using your eyes to perceive your surroundings.

Brave Winged: Your wings have been put where they belong!, you are able to fly once again and all perks related to flying have been reactivated. As a result, however you traded the endurance gained from being wingless instead for the joy of additional flight speed! (+20%)

And thus the DLC has effectively come to an end. Half tempted to do the ending slides like the fallout new vegas DLC but I'm debating between saving it for until the story itself is done or writing it as a mini-chapter for people to read through if they want to see the result of Aria's actions in the Big Grin. Either way see you readers next time on the next chapter of our main story.