My hooves felt like they were weighed down by lead weights as I pushed myself to run faster, the soft clicking of mandibles is enough to get anypony running. A whole pack of hungry clicking mandibles was enough to make a pony sprint for his life and call on Celestia and Luna for mercy. For me I was reminded of my lack of proper barding.

I weaved left and heard the soft swish of a radscorpion's tail jabbing forward and impacting into the soft white frost coating the ground. Behind me a pack of the monsters gave chase, an unarmed and unarmored Pony was too good a target for them to pass up it seemed.

I felt my lungs burning as I ran, but there was no way I was going to give up now. The burning wreckage of my contingents transport was becoming visible. I saw an opportunity to get the better of my hungry pursuers, and scrambled on top of an old carriage abandoned by a dirt road. The rusted metal groaned beneath my hooves as I scrambled my way onto the hood. Looking down I could see the radscorpions were tenacious if nothing else. Their stingers curled up and stabbed the hood of the car, time and again, making small sharp puncture holes in the rusted metal.

"I... have had it...with you!" I was glad nopony was around to hear that frankly embarrassing line of dialogue. I reached out with my magic, taking one radscorpions stinger and stabbed it deep into one of the small puncture holes in the wagon’s chassis and managed to wedge it so that the stinger would be pulled out if the radscorpion scuttled backwards. I wasted no time and reached out my magic once more, grasping a nearby rock.

One of the radscorpions was making some headway and getting up onto the junked carriage. In response, I drove the rock into its face and continued to do so. Even after it stopped moving I kept smashing the rock against it; I didn't have a Pipbuck or a suit of Power armour to tell me when I had killed something.

Feeling a bit bolder, now I had managed to severely bludgeon a radscorpion to death. I hefted the rock with my magic and took a tally of the surrounding Scorpions. There were at least four others, three were trying to find a way up to me and the fourth had its stinger jammed inside the wagon chassis. I aimed my rock, reflecting now that learning to aim a gun and aim a rock were two entirely different things.

I sent the rock soaring at one of the radscorpions. It hissed in pain as the rock cracked it's leg open. Yellow blood and ichor dripped out of the wound as I levitated the rock once more. I brought the rock down again. The now jittery mutant moved gingerly on its injured limb and tried to charge the carriage. I allowed it to get close and focused my attention on another radscorpion.

The second beast kept its distance but was closing in, ever so slowly. It's claws were posed upwards in what I assumed was an aggressive stance. I brought the rock down on one of its claws and was dismayed when the beast managed to catch my rock. I watched the rock slowly split as the vice like claw cut cleanly through it. Now seemingly disarmed, the remaining three scorpions surged at me, trying to climb up the pierced and punctured wreck, one industrious scorpion even using its trapped partner to scurry up.

I let a wry smile spread on my face as I flared up my horn and reach out with my telekinesis. I gripped the carriage and tipped it onto the surprised and now trapped scorpions, leaping off in time to hear their bodies give a satisfying crunch as the full weight of the carriage landed on the mutated bugs.

"Buck yeah, in your faces!" I admit, I wasn't as experienced in wasteland survival, otherwise I might have thought twice about announcing my presence to even more predators. But that was the last thing on my mind. I was elated, I had managed my first kills, on my own, without any power armour.

With renewed confidence I trotted away, making more headway to the crash site. I couldn't wait to rub it in to those sissy scribes that I survived and killed five radscorpions on my own. Maybe I should tell them it was three? Five is kinda boastful and hard to believe. I shook off the niggling feeling of modesty as soon as it crept up on me and continued trotting along the frost covered road.

I followed the frostbitten road until it joined up with one of the main ones. I knew if I followed it, I could take a more direct route to Wintertrot. Old, rusted signs announced how far I had to go, set roughly two miles apart each. Each sign was a faded shade of pink, with the smiling face of Pinkie Pie and some motivational words beside her. The ministry mare stared out at the road, her eyes seeming to follow me as I passed. I had to fight the urge to shudder and look back, because the first time I did I found the back of the sign had another smiling image of Pinkie. The image looked at me, almost as if I'd been naughty, a few faded words next to her proclaimed in red 'Eyes forward, buster'.

Walking along the road left me feeling terribly exposed. I kept glancing around, expecting some abomination of the wasteland to burst out from one of the frozen cars and assault me. I stopped by one transport carriage that had been rusted shut, the Ministry of Technology logo caught my eye. There was potentially something of value right here in the middle of the road. I trotted round to the back and wrapped my magic around the rusted doors, but they resisted and barely shook as I attempted to yank them off. I tried applying more pressure and even tried to make the door collapse inward. Sadly my efforts proved fruitless and the door remained stalwart and defiant.

I took a break, examining the door once again. I could see hints of a hydraulic locking mechanism, running just beneath the doors and upon further inspection beneath the carriage. I brought a hoof to my face as I realised the obvious and trotted round to the front of the carriage and the drivers cabin. I examined the controls, they were old and rusted but they could probably be moved much more easily than the door. As I clenched my eyes shut and exerted myself trying to magically move the lever, I couldn't help but reflect that a suit of power armour or perhaps a set of power hooves would have allowed me to rip open the carriage like a can opener. It almost caught me by surprise when the lever finally gave some slack, then slammed all the way forwards.

The old doors cried out as they opened, jamming about halfway. I wasn't exactly in a complaining mood though, I was just happy to have a way in. I clambered into the dark confines of the carriage and found the interior was still in good condition. The daylight flooded the interior revealing several steel boxes, still sealed away since before the end of the war.

I managed to unseal one of the crates and looked inside, seeing only a layer of packing material. I pulled it out with my teeth, the taste of plastic packaging lingering on my tongue. Inside was a small steel case, I levitated it out and popped it open, unsure of what to expect. I wish I could say I found something like a gun that disintegrates everything, the schematics for creating water talismans or maybe even a Pipbuck.

Instead I found a drill bit.

I'd say I was wholeheartedly disappointed and considered leaving it behind. But the small, perfectly preserved scrap of paper changed my mind. The scrap was in fact a piece of a user manual that carefully explained the drill bit's purpose, it read as follows.

Hello, and congratulations on your purchase of the Mark III Mining Apparatus and Diamond Magi-Drill fitting. This exciting combo is designed to be used in mining operations but can also serve in combat almost as well as any Steel Ranger Power armour. This innovative drill can be hooked up to a set of power armour. (Ideally the Mark III Mining Apparatus that is paired with this drill, but other suits can also be used as substitutes)

I suddenly held the magi-drill in a new light, realising its potential as a hoof to hoof weapon. I could envision myself now, driving the whirring magi-drill through a radscorpions carapace or slicing through another Steel Ranger's power armour. Now knowing what I held, I eagerly popped the lid on the other steel crate and carefully levitated the plastic packaging inside. The motor sat there, perfectly preserved and ready for use. With glee I slotted the drill bit onto the motor, then spent the next twenty minutes figuring out what I was doing wrong.

I floundered around in the packing material, until I found the scrap of paper, rereading the scrap of paper, before finding a convenient set of assembly instructions on the other side. Giving the drill a satisfied look over, I noticed the engine had a brace that was designed to fit on a suit of power armour. I haphazardly strapped the drill to to my left foreleg, the added weight giving me some discomfort. There were a few more boxes, but they were sealed with locks that required pass-codes or a good hacker. Despite my experience with technology, I was a rather poor hacker, usually I only worked on technology that was already in active service.

I decided I had best try to rendezvous with the rest of the Rangers and exited the vehicles, sealing the back shut once more. Walking with care, the added weight of a drill did little to help me move quietly as I continued down the road to Wintertrot.

As I neared Wintertrot, I finally discovered the airship. Even if the side turrets had been repurposed for sniper posts in the compound near Two Towers, it was a beautiful machine of war.

Or it had been.

Now, the sides of the vessel were split open, and the steel carcass was pockmarked with holes and gaping wounds. The exposed interior was gloomy and burnt, lit with occasional arcs of electrical energy. Smoke still billowed out in small clouds as the other side of the transport burned.

I was hesitant about entering. Sure I wished some of the ponies inside were dead. But that didn't mean I wanted them all dead, and I was certain somepony must have made it out alive.

Not content with waiting to find out, I looked for a way inside. The airship had crashed and ploughed through a small building before it came to land on its side. The main doors were either blocked by the ground or too high to get into.

My eyes were drawn to my magi-drill. It was designed to hook up and draw power from a suit of power armour. The armour is magical and is powered by magic. I wondered how I might jury rig a power supply, my thoughts turning again to the instruction manual. I hastily flipped through the wafer thin pages, before finding instructions on plugging in and powering the device. The manual plainly stated that I had to connect the motor to a source of magic. Examining the motor I noticed two small wires that would automatically hook themselves up to a suit of power armour, or failing that, would allow an Earth pony technician to physically connect it to a power supply.

I pulled out the wires with my teeth, then wrapped the tips of the wires in my magic and pulled them up to the tip of my horn. I felt the wires connect and then begin draining my magic as power began flowing into the drill. The motor's gauges lit up as it began powering up, purple light surrounded the drill head as it began to spin.

I hefted the tip of the drill and felt it biting into the metal. The metal became red hot as I forced the drill downward creating a jagged line down the hull of the ship. I fashioned a circle into the hull and stepped back as the thick hull gave way and collapsed inwards, leaving a rather jagged but accessible hole. I disconnected the magi-drill. I noticed with a sudden light headedness that the drain on my magic was beginning to make me dizzy.

I clambered into the hull and found the halls were full of faint wisps of smoke coming from the more severe fires on the other end of the ship. The dim red emergency lights that are supposed to inform the crew to evacuate were the only source of light. Wires hung loosely here and there, occasionally sparking as I walked along the wall. The ship was so far tilted over that the floor now acting as one of the walls. Navigating the vessel was a tricky business, complicated by certain corridors which were now steep drops. I scanned the walls as I moved through the vessel, clinging tightly to the walls, whilst looking for the relatively new signs that helped guide ponies that were new to the vessel.

I had to crawl along the walls slowly, like scaling down a mountain, except the rock face was made of metal and has protrusions like door handles, fire extinguishers and broken walls and equipment jutting out everywhere. My legs were scraped and cut as I traversed the ship as best I could.

I at long last reached the bottom of the corridor and found what I was looking for, the armoury door. The armoury door was sealed up tight, fortunately I had access. I scanned my tag and waited expectantly.

"Access d-d-KZZZ-denied." The crackling voice of the door's security programming spoke out. I silently cursed as I realized my predicament, I would have to go to the burning side of the ship and find a high ranking scribe or paladin. Which meant climbing back up the corridors and then along the others.

"Cocknoodles." I cursed and prepared to lift my hoof to my head. I almost fell as the drill weighed down my left hoof and nearly pulled me over. I whooped in excitement, realizing I didn't have to crawl through the flaming, smoke filled corridors. That would have been a really horrible dangerous experience.

I reconnected the drill, which began spinning as my magic flowed into it, a smile crept onto my face as I punched the drill into the door. Metal warped and melted under the magical weapons assault, loud screeches and inorganic screams emanating from the metal. My left hoof burned lightly as hot sparks leapt off the straining metal and danced across the floor. Small shards of metal and curly metal shavings fell like red hot snow before burning and smouldering on the floor as I carved a large entrance for myself.

An electronic gurgle emitted from the access terminal. “Bzzt-Access Gran-BZZKT-ted”

I allowed myself a satisfied smirk as I allowed the ruined doors metal to cool off. “That’s what they all say, in the end.” I said in contempt.

Standing outside the room, I glanced inside and would've been hopping for joy, if not for the sharp pieces of metal lining the walls that formerly held shelves full of equipment. I swept the metal shards aside with telekinesis and proceeded to hop through the mangled door.

The room was a technological treasure trove, several suits of power armour were still secured in their lockers along one wall. The wall opposite the power armour had been lined with a collection of weapons and ammunition, ranging from explosives like the typical grenade machine-guns and heavy assault rifles and magical laser weaponry. Many of the weapons had been knocked out of their racks by the crash and had ended up in a heap at the opposite end of the room, some weapons notably damaged. Like the well trained merchant I am, I began examining everything with care and consideration. The suits of power armour were the standardized suits of combat power armour used by Steel rangers, the helmet sported a gas mask like unit coupled with one of the suits many talismans, that would keep a pony alive in poisonous environments.

I found a locker with nopony’s name on it and proceeded to try and open the locker, made all the more awkward by the angle of the room. The power armour fell out, clanging heavily on the weapon racks across from it. I propped up the power armour until it stood unsteadily on a relatively clear patch of wall and opened it. I specifically chose a suit that didn’t have somepony’s name on it, call me silly, but the Ranger it belongs too might still be running around the ship and looking for a way out. And I didn't want them seeing me in their suit of armour. The whole reason I was looking for the airship plagued me with guilt. I slipped on the power armour, determined to see if I could find somepony still alive.

I disconnected the drill and let it fall to the floor as I adjusted to the power armour. I sealed myself into the armour and used my horn to levitate the drill onto my left hoof. The Drill connected with a few adjustments, it's weight was slightly off-setting when wearing the suit, but nothing I probably couldn’t adjust to. I levitated a helmet over to myself and examined it, taking note of the depressing lack of a hole or space for my horn.

As I lifted up my magi-drill, I made a mental note to get a piece of metal to cover my horn. The device was now fully powered by my suit and glowed with its familiar purple glow coming from the gauges and now the vents on the side as it powered up. With the precision of an inexperienced and ill-prepared pony, I mangled and completely ruined the helmet. I groaned in irritation, knowing the Elder was going to give me hell for doing that, assuming he was alive.

I discarded the warped and twisted remains of the wreck and lifted another. I wrapped both my hoof/drill and the helmet in my telekinetic grip as I brought the tip of the magi-drill down to the helmet much more slowly. I drilled a small hole into the helmet and lifted it up to examine it. The edges of the hole were a little uneven and warped, creating an oblong shaped hole, but it was an otherwise smooth entry. I slipped on the helmet the padding inside the helmet created a soft but firm outline of my skull. This would help keep the helmet on and keep it comfortable. The Helmet clicked and pressurized, syncing up with the suit of power armour; there was some static as the helmet alerted me to the damage to my helmet.

"Ignore helmet damage." I instructed the suit verbally. There was a pause as the helmet adjusted its programming. A scrawl of text temporarily flooding the screen before showing my condition as fine, with a cautionary icon showing my helmet badly needed to be repaired. I scanned the room, looking for one last item. A containment unit for anything I picked up. Examining my surroundings, my screen outlined and identified various objects, showing weight a rough estimate on protective values, and surprisingly enough their averaged barter prices. I was left to marvel for a moment at how useful this feature was. I scowled when I realized if they had just been given me a suit of power armour years ago I could have been a lot more efficient in my dealings with the tribals & gang ponies.

I finally spotted a containment unit, out of the reach of any regular pony. A unicorn must've stuck it up above the lockers before the crash. I was surprised it had been held in place through the rough landing. I grabbed the containment unit and propped it open, shocked by what I found inside.

It was a Vultur Gryphus Armored Saddlebag. An Air-Tite 286 model, no less. It was made for heavy infantry during the war, to protect the wearer’s non-essentials and ammo. This particular set was built to be customizable between fliers and ground infantry. It had a multi purpose rail slot for mounting heavy weapons on the top of the saddlebags, and feeder slots for ammunition on the back ends of the casing.

It was armored, heavy as all hell, nearly completely made of metal, obviously beaten beyond its warranty, repaired many times, and best of all, it was all mine. I’m sure that under my helmet, my eyes were gleaming, caps scrolling across them whilst the little greedy pony inside me was rolling around in a pile of caps.

Dropping the heavy saddlebag on with glee, I let the armor’s hydraulics take the weight. Levitating a machine grenade launcher and a missile pod over, I began the arduous task of attaching them to the rails.

I was in heaven.

I walked with a spring in my step as I left the medical supply closet. My suit’s sorting spell was already finding its way to packing the objects in as tightly as possible, making room for more supplies and future loot.

After accessing a shipwide data terminal I wasn't under any delusions of anypony surviving, not any more. The damage reports displayed on the terminal showed severe fires and extreme loss of function in the middle of the ship. Anypony who had still been on board during the crash would certainly be dead by now. Moving onward from there, I noticed I had lost the spring in my step.

I was simply here for one last grim task.

I mentioned before about the tags the Rangers wear. Funny to think that forgetting to bring mine actually saved my life, whilst the rest of my comrades had been strapped into chairs dying and burning horribly. I traversed the ship into the fiery bowels of the ship, the flames licked my armour harmlessly as it resisted the flames. Warning icons began to light up on my HUD, warning me my suit was at risk of overheating.

I sprinted forward, the pistons and hydraulics of my suit audible over the din of the burning decks, below and above me. I finally found my way into the crew deck, and suddenly I was thankful for the rebreather built into my suit for a whole other reason. The sight before me was gruesome, exposed teeth and expressions of pain were preserved on the burnt and warped features of my fellow rangers. Many had skin that was dark red like leather, whilst others had burnt black flesh, that looked like overcooked meat.

I could feel myself throwing up, I couldn't help myself. The exposed teeth, charred flesh, and in some cases the burnt skeletons all stood out. My helmet filled with my stomach's contents, only to my great relief, be drained by some form of cleaning talisman. The interior of my helmet was clean once more, bringing me some small measure of relief.

I took a shuddering breath to steady myself. And began reaching out with my magic, wrapping the tags of my fellow Rangers in my aura. The tags were deposited neatly into my storage unit, and bundled together as they began to pile up. Each Tag that passed by me was a Pony I knew at some time or another. I fixed his power hoof once, and I bought the inlays she wanted for her magical laser. Ninety seven tags in total were gathered. That left three. My own and two other crew members, not counting the pilots.

I examined the corpses one last time. Their dead eyes now empty and uncaring stared back at me. I did my best to ignore my unease, pushing it away as I searched the corpses for signs of the missing tags. Finding no trace of the tags, I turned to leave and noticed a red bar on my E.F.S (Eyes Forward Sparkle) display. After further examination, the red marker described details like threat level and distance from me. I began to wonder how the spells built into the armour knew so damn much.

I left the crew deck, making my way to the red threat. Better to get this over with right now, than wait until later.

One hundred metres

The red blip on my helmet’s heads up display was getting closer. Whatever it was, it was making slow and steady progress. If it knew I was here it didn't care, or if it did care, it was being remarkably cocky going up against a pony in power armour.

Eighty Metres

The red blip was rounding a corner, getting ever closer. It was only one more turn and then straight towards me. I readied myself, positioning myself so I could swing around the corner and blast whoever, or whatever was inside the airship.

Forty Meters

I could hear steps, the distinct sound of a two legged biped. I could think of only two creatures that might be lurking around the corner. One of those hulking canine horrors, known as Hellhounds or one of the exceedingly rare Minotaurs

Fifteen Meters

I leapt out, ready to face the threat. My side mounted grenade machine gun clicked into active. I was momentarily flummoxed at what I was seeing. Before me was a black and white striped equine that could only be a zebra, old Equestria's infamous foes. The zebra was walking on two hooves, in what I assumed was an uncomfortable position. A large rifle was held in the zebra's front hooves.

The zebra, surprised at my sudden appearance, rolled into one of the rooms on the floor. I began approaching with a nervous trepidation.

"You can come out now?" I called out uncertainly, against the recommended ‘kill first, ask questions later’ approach my suit seemed to encourage, pointing out the low armour value of my opponent. In response to my friendly efforts to reach out, the barrel of the rifle snapped up. I hid behind the corner just in time as three rounds fired out. I saw the bullets leave smoking holes in the wall whilst the circuitry hidden beneath it began to burn.

I leapt around the corner, firing off two grenades wildly. Another burst from the zebra's rifle took out the built in light on my helmet, as well as one of my rebreather tubes. With two resounding thumps, the blip on my E.F.S turned highlighting him as a yellow neutral.

I grit my teeth as I stomped over. The zebra was unconscious, lying below me, entirely vulnerable. I levitated the zebra's rifle up to me and stored it with the rest of my acquired weaponry.

Looking down, I felt the moment was ripe. I could simply jump on it, my weight combined with the suit would kill my opponent and not waste any ammo.

And then my conscience caught up with me. What if the zebra had a family? They could be a mother or father. I decided I'd simply leave the unconscious zebra, they could make it out alive, everything would work out for him/her I was sure. Maybe I should leave a healing potion...? It was bleeding out the ears after all.

The vessel shook as a tremor went right through it.

"Cocknoodles." I cursed as I prepared to run. A groan from behind me caused me to pause. I glanced back down at the zebra again. As my mind began wrestling with various scenarios, none of which included me walking off happily into the sunset.

A great plume of fire shot up into the sky. A fantastic mushroom cloud illuminating the twilight and burning everything within a 200 meter radius into a charred husk.

As I watched the airship explode from afar, I theorized what exactly caused the explosion. An engine explosion was clearly involved, perhaps coupled with a bomb? That wouldn't explain the initial tremor that surged through the ship beforehoof, though.

"You rescued me?" I turned to see the Zebra stallion standing now on all four hooves and fixing me with a rather severe look. His face illuminated by the flames behind me.

"Well the ship was kind of exploding around us." My attempt at a joke was met with obvious confusion. The Zebra gave me a quizzical look. I shrugged whilst sighing.

"You're welcome by the way." The zebra didn't respond as I began to walk off, the barely audible hooves of a certain zebra could be heard soon after. I trotted ten paces expecting my Zebra 'friend' to be gone. Looking back I could see he had managed to keep the exact distance that lay between us when he first started talking.

"What's the deal? Don't you have friends or family to go back to right now?" The zebra gave me a deadpan expression and looked around as if expecting somepony to show up.

"You are responsible for me now. I am not fit to look after myself." The Zebra's words didn't sit well with me. Was he giving himself as a slave to me?

"Look, I don't want a slave. Neigh, I refuse to own one." The Zebra whinnied and snorted, an amused expression on his snout.

"You speak as if you have a say in such matters." The Zebra shook his head sadly. "You saved my life, therefore I am your responsibility. My actions are your actions." The Zebra finished his explanation looking me right in the eyes. His orange eyes felt piercing and made my skin crawl. I looked away quickly.

"Alright fine, you can come with me." I tapped a hoof to my helmeted face thoughtfully. "Now I think on it, I guess I should make you my first knight."

Now it was the Zebra's turn to look confused.

"What, you think I'm going to let just any pony or zebra follow me?" I stamped my hoof as I continued. "You're second in command of the Wintertrot Rangers. I'm your CO and possibly Elder too." I can safely say I was on top of the world right then.

"We're but two stallions alone out here. What do you hope to accomplish?" It was a valid point, but my years of sales pitches to tribal's kicked in as I did a theatrical twist and smiled.

"Come now, come now, no need for the gloom and doom." I raised a hoof and pointed in the direction of Wintertrot. "Wintertrot lays that-a-way. I'm sure I can win over some more ponies to my cause."

"You did not win me over. You simply beat me and let me live. I follow you beca-" I didn't wait for him to finish.

"Details, details. Look I have to go to Wintertrot, not just for my contingent's mission." A look of understanding crossed the zebra's face. We both knew what I wanted.

"Revenge is a poor cause...Elder?" I nodded at the zebra as he gave me an uncertain look. "Justice would be better I think."

"Justice & recovering tech. Doesn't sound too hard? Am I right Knight..." I realized then that neither of us had introduced each other, I sighed and held out a hoof to the Zebra.

"Inkwell." The zebra gave me a perplexed look.

"I am most sorry, but I did not bring an inkwell with me." I facehoofed hard, the metal helmet rattling softly against my horn.

"My name is inkwell." I clarified. "And your name is..." The Zebra caught on now and bumped his bare hoof against my own armoured one.

"My name, though not important. Is something I should share. I am Crosshair." At the mention of his name, I couldn't help but feel my gaze drawn to his flank. There staring out at the world, was a series of lines in the shape of a detailed crosshair. I was left to wonder if the world was driven by some force that enjoyed giving us names that matched our Cutie-marks.

"I'll call you Cross for short. Unless you don't want me to?" The Zebra shrugged his ascent and coupled the movement with a casual flick of the hoof.

"Alright then Knight Cross. Let's find a place to hole up for the night. We'll make for Wintertrot in the morning." I was a little giddy. My hoofs had a noticeable spring in them as I walked. Ok maybe I was really happy and giddy, something was going right for once. Plus it helped me keep my mind off the two missing Rangers. We trotted off to Wintertrot, not sure of what to expect, hopefully answers to some of my questions, and maybe some pre-war tech to make the mission worthwhile.

Footnote: Level 1: 50% to Level 2

Author's Notes:

We did it, we got it done and it wouldn't have been possible without the most gryph-hypster Editor. Lesolan. Hope you all like the changes and minor improvements.

(Editor Lesolan: WOOOOOOH, AAAAW YEAH~! 2 down, 6 to go! /facedesk)