The bickering continued on for a good ten minutes before Pumpkin ran out of names. To the most part the insulting contest while immature, had brought a small smirk to Sombras face. Which made me wonder if he had secretly enjoyed the name calling, but as silence began to rear its ugly head I had to ask, "Just where are we going, anyway?"

"Unlike yourself." Sombra replied after a moments consideration, "I have had a massive link to the Crystal Heart in the past, as its former ruler I had a number of magical connections that allow me to retrace at least some of its pieces, however faint, to its current location."

"So what're we waiting for?" I asked.

"One does not however, simply stride up to a broken piece of the Crystal heart." Sombra continued on, "There is a number of precautionary measures needed, because in all likely hood they're going to be guarded by far more than I can scare away or the two of you can destroy, kill, and or maim. So to that end..." he pointed to one of the more distant buildings, one on a hill almost by itself, but walled up as if it had once been a military outpost of some sort, "We need a place of operations while we work on locating and securing the information regarding their locations. For as much as I hate your pegasus friend, I'm far more concerned about all three of our well beings in the long term of your stay than the short term method that leads to assured destruction." He paused to check something, it was a faint gesture, but he looked to the inside of his clothes with a fraction of a glance before continuing on, "That being said, it would be far better if we can get this all done in under a week. But for now, let us set up a little sanctuary from the cold of this particular kingdom of mine."

"What happens in a week?" I asked, "Someplace you need to be?"

"As politely as I can say, that is none of your business Ms. Web." Sombra declined to share.

I was going to say something but Pumpkin cut me off before even the first word left my mouth, "Oh by the stars above it isn't, you're talking about a time frame of days for some apparently magical device that we're assuming is only separated into large pieces. For all we know, it could be turned into thousands of tiny shards spread across town for all we know. So if you're going to leave us if we can't collect all of it, then we ought to know."

My line of thought was derailed, and as I comprehended that logic of hers, I had to nod along with her, "Yeah, she does have a big point, it may be preferable to you, but the wasteland is rarely that nice."

Sombra sighed, clearly not wanting to discuss this, but after a few moments of silence he let up, "One does not simply stop being dead, it takes a massive amount of energy to, well, be up here."

"But didn't you come up here in the past?" I asked.

Sombra groaned, though if it weren't for the tone, and the thin layered look of annoyance he would of been more deadpan than usual, "Don't remind me, that was my first attempt at coming back, a thousand years worth of collecting energy wasted in an instant by some uppity pawn of the ever popularized princess of the day. They never even questioned how the Crystal Empire came back, they just blasted me back into darkness like they owned the place."

"What do you mean?" I asked, "Are you saying you brought the Crystal Empire back altogether?"

"It took me a thousand years worth of magical discharge collected up into a series of crystals to form..." he paused for a second, "You call it a spell matrix, but back then it was called a ritual spell, back when it wasn't portable anyway. Either case it took a thousand years of magical discharge collected into a ritual spell before I could drag my kingdom back from the figurative grave of banishment."

The conversation seemed to stop there, neither I or Pumpkin wanted to add into it, but eventually as we walked the silence grew tough to bear, so I spoke up to keep it going if nothing else, "Figurative grave?"

"Banishment is not an easy thing for immortals to deal with." Sombra said quietly, and immediately I wished that I hadn't asked as his look turned momentarily sour before looking away, back towards the path ahead.

"So Figuratively speaking," Pumpkin perked up after a few seconds, "You're an actual zombie? Not like the ghouls going feral zombies, but rather a genuine undead?"

Sombra shot her a look, one like when Grey when he was asked by another changeling back in the stable on how to Calculate for bullet drop on the field. In other words, very annoyed. "The closest term for accuracy would be a ghost. I'm not actually a rotting corpse you know, Butterscotch."

"Pumpkin."

"Whatever, Banana, in either case," He gestured to a stucture ahead of us, a bit less than twenty meters away. It was underwhelming, to say the least, looking more akin to a gas station for powered wagons rather than a military bunker, albietly there was a destroyed verti-buck outside it alongside a few armored carriages that looked as if they had been torn down to just their base, heavily scarred chassis, "We're here." He finished.

"Thought you said this was a military base." Pumpkin looked at Sombra crossly, "This is a fuel station."

"Appearances are deceiving. Welcome to Apple Junction V-34. what used to be home to the Crystal Empires personal Stable Tec division back during the war, here they constructed the basic experiments that would be introduced into later Stables and science facilities out in the northern reaches of ex-Equestria."

"How did you know all that?" I asked, after all wasn't he dead during the duration of the wartime?

"Despite being dead, there are a number of ways to watch the outside world progress. But that is a discussion for another time." Sombra's voice dropped to a mutter, "in either case, lets progress inside..."

As he walked up to the door, he stepped through the remains of what once must of been a glass covered front door. The Majority of the station was buried in snow, but the front entrance had been sheltered on account of the overhead cover that would protect cars and gas station attendants from bad weather, or possibly overhead surveillance? In either case it was surprisingly intact in comparison to the other buildings, as it was in the mid point around the city, around an equal distance from where the bombs struck, no, where the castle used to stand, and an equal distance away from the edge of town. My mind took only a moment to note, that it was essentially the ideal location for the station, since it was far enough away to not be recognized as a military or important facility aside from a place to refuel. Then there was the distance between it and the edge of town, making it also protected against initial incursions if it was a war. So it was an underground outpost devised by Stable Tec with strategy in mind... If this was the headquarters for the empire business of Stable-Tec, did that mean there was a full fledged Stable full of ponies down here?

As if reading my mind, Sombra replied casually, "Remember, this was a research facility, not a Stable. It was made to create experiments on ponies who were going to live in the stables, not save ponies."

Of course, science had to ruin everything. Scientists and creating weapons of mass destruction, and then experimenting on society to produce terrifying and useless things that seemed doomed to failure rather than saving the wasteland. Who else would build a stable of crazy mad scientists who experiment on living beings they also make out of test-tubes in order to 'save equestrian citizens' in Stable-Tec... Or fuel the madness of that had been 'The Big Grin'? Scientists. My snort of disgust was pretty evident.

"Hmm, you have to admit at least Stable Tec did a few things right despite all the bad," Pumpkin replied with a slight tone of disgruntlement, "Several stables actually had occupants that survived their ordeals, and became some of the first non-irradiated or Ghoulized wastelanders aside from those lucky few that waited out the initial blast of the megaspell apocalypse, many people forget that their parents or grand parents could of come from stables or that those cities that sprout up from the ruins of the Equestrian nation weren't built upon nothing."

"Meanwhile Ghouls and the like remain an unhealthy majority of the population due to having been unprepared for such a nuclear fallout, or that the vaults that had survivors in significant numbers were twenty to one, which is still inexcusable from a business that was claiming to be there to 'save ponies'." Sombra spoke darkly. Making me wonder how much he knew about Stable Tec. But I had to agree with both of them to some degree, after all I was made from a Stable, and so was the rest of the hive.

As we stood inside the gas station sombra tilted what looked like an instruction manual off a shelf marked 'employees only' and the janitorial closet nearby, whos door was off its hinges popped open, walking over Sombra re-engaged conversation, "In either case Butter-"

"Pumpkin."

"Butterscotch, then." Sombra repeated a small smirk to his face, "We're here, so wrap up your anger Cinnamon Pie, and get at it."

Pumpkin for the most part looked furious, "Stop calling me random foods!"

"When you earn respect, then yes. Until then." Sombra

"Why you-" Pumpkin shouted, but then the shout turned to a grunt of surprise as Sombra neatly kicked her into the open hatch and shut it in her face.

"...Is that wise...?" I asked. Backing up from the door. I knew she carried explosives, and didn't want to be anywhere near the blast radius. On a side note I also started backing away from sombra.

"Twenty four ghouls are below, she'll have plenty of targets, and she knows better than to blow open an easily concealable entrance." Sombra replied calmly. The first explosion was heard, "Make that twenty two ghouls."

Distant bulletfire, "Nineteen..." Another explosion, "Twelve..." Sombra rattled off.

"Is she going to be alright? I asked, worriedly.

"Yes she is, and nine... Oh her grenade launcher jammed." Sombra looked passively downward at the ground, "Oh, that was the interesting use of a wrench, Eight."

"Are you sure?" Silence ensured for a few more minutes, before a distant muffled thud was heard, "Three. She crushed a few under a heavy cargo crate." Sombra explained.

"Um... what happens when she gets out?" I asked, "are you going to die?"

"Highly unlikely, I'm already dead techncially speaking." Sombra replied calmly, "Two... And also, shes blowing off a ton of steam down there, she is unlikely going to have much of it left afterwards."

A few more minutes and then a sewer hatch outside was blown off, complete with a glowing ghouls head which looked as if someone had stuffed a grenade down its throat and blown it, "One and Zero." Sombra replied calmly, trotting outside, "Alright, lets go say hello, shall we?"

Out of the sewer hatch, came an ichor covered pegasus. clearly a lot of it was Ghoul Blood, in her mouth was a bloody wrench, which looked like it had seen things a wrench should never have, as it was covered in both bits of brain matter, ichor, and some brown bits which I didn't want to even guess about. Pumpkin herself didn't seem hurt, just exhausted, and as she angrily, "How about now motherbucker?!"

"Alright Pumpkin." Sombra replied swiftly, and before he could speak Pumpkin went off.

"No, don't call me a damn- wait..." she paused.

"Alright, I won't call you Pumpkin." Sombra replied with a smirk. Pumpkin Screamed.

"Sombra... please stop." I asked quietly, half drown out by the defeated pegasus that was now looking as if someone had exploded a puppy on her... albiet the puppy would of had to be a ghoul considering her condition, but still as if a cute ghoul puppy had been exploded.

"It was a joke. Live a little." Sombra replied with a roll of his eyes, "Fine Pumpkin, have you calmed down now?" he asked...

"A... bit." Pumpkin replied after a minute or so of (Presumable) glaring at Sombra, "Cleared out the place easy enough, damn gun is jammed though." she gestured to her grenade launcher, where a shell was stuck in mid reloading, "I'll have to fix it during some down time, but it looks like that sort of time is just what we have," She looked to me, "Why does Aria look like someone kicked a kitten?"

"She was worrying about you." Sombra said complete deadpan, causing my cheeks to glow a bright green, "See?" Sombra completed his statement with a gesture to me.

"I thought you might get in trouble or get hurt..." I muttered the excuse halfheartedly, in all honesty it felt weird as heck not to be fighting side by side with someone that was allied with me, as a friend or otherwise. I really didn't want another friend to die because I couldn't do anything to stop it...

"You do realize that I've been traveling for years on the road by myself, including scavenging places considerably more dangerous than this bunker before right?" She said with a semi-curious if somewhat insulted tone to her voice.

"I also recall you be caught in several of those traps whenever we encountered each other..." I countered, causing a sheepish laugh from Pumpkin, as she looked away, to a source of her own discomfort.

"Right, lets never speak of that again." Pumpkin smoothly escaped, and turned fully back to study herself, "Ugh, its going to take ages to get all this gunk out of my wings." as she splayed them, "Lets get back inside, saw a few pumps, and the old crystal reactors still seem intact, could possibly get the showers working... Would certainly be a pleasant change from the arctic blanket out here."

"That would be nice." I added in, at least Pumpkin wasn't mad at me, that was a good sign.

Sombra, to my surprise, continued the sentiment, "A rare pleasure, even. Though I think you might take this opportunity to view more of my memories once we settle down for the night. We will talk further plans in the morning for recovering the Crystal Heart."

Right, but first thing was securing the shelter. As we walked in through the first entrance again, we found that the bunker itself was rather tight. An old elevator was a primary method of going downwards, but it seemed the stairs downward or the shaft next to it would of been the better option of descent, seeing as the place was unpowered. Pumpkin made her excuses to lock the other entrance, specifically the one in the sewers before heading off to both do that and fix the generator that could power that place. Sombra in the meantime began to make a straight path down the shaft, only pausing when he reached the third to last floor. The last floor itself had a large metal grate, not to dissimilar to a Stable door, if Stable doors were for some reason put on their side, where any numbers of debris could forever seal it off from the world, this one however was built into the shaft, and had a lit keypad, signifying something else was powering it than the complex's own power supply.

The concept was oddly hilarious to me, however. It was literally a base inside a base, hidden inside a gas station that was operating as both a military information and Scientific study base in the first place. The place itself was filled with skeletons, hardly a new sight, but still creepy in its own way. Though most of the ponies were dressed in long since worn out beyond use military outfits, there was still a good supply of lab coats attached to skeletons to indicate the progressive studies that went down in here for advancing the destruction of all nations involved in the war. But as we progressed from the third to the bottom floor; also labeled floor B5, there was a definite increase of metal badges and the like on fallen military personal as we entered a large central room, where several broken tv screens lay nearly sideways and hanging from wires. The room itself was huge, easily two dozen ponies tall and wide, and nearly as long as the arena back in Stable 103.

Near the screen was a large circular table that had a circular light fixture ring around the edge of it, unlit where several chairs lay toppled alongside their former occupants corpses. Sombra briefly stopped to drag the skeletons out of the room with magic, locking them up in a smaller room marked 'janitorial closet', only pausing their lock up to remove the various military badges and a few key-cards that they had been wearing. Snorting to himself, he stacked it all up in the center of the table, "For future use." he said, "Power might come back on and who knows what these could access." he said with conviction, though more towards the ceiling then at me.

With the mention of the power, a distant whir started up, barely discernible from my range of hearing, an even fainter yell of, 'Success!' following suit, and with that, the lights began to flicker on, and the unlit walls began to light up in broken terminals, and a few intact ones. The big screens however mercifully remained off. The few terminals that were still working, and a few more hidden lights shining once more to reveal a set of flags decorating the walls... they were purple, albeit faded, with white dirty snowflakes decorating their centers and once might of been fine embroidery circling the snowflake in a faded majestic pattern.

Sombra sighed to it, "I see they used her flag... Well that is to be expected. After all Equestria saw me as the monster, not her." He looked to me, "Find a seat and get to it. I'll do some cleaning up and check to see if there are some mattresses for you and Pumpkin laying about."

Xp Footnote: 80% Until level up

Next chapter we're going to be having almost an entire perspective shift. As we have some fun delving into the backstory of Sombra and the Crystal Empire, as well as maybe a bit of Shining Armor/Cadence. Just keep in mind, I'm not going with the comics in regard to Sombras backstory, so sadly there are no Umbral ponies (which are quite terrifying in their own way), or Hope, or Sombra wanting to attend the 'Crystal Faire', I will be painting a new reason for Sombra being a tyrant in the next few chapters. Until then, have fun~