Las Pegasus, the city of sin and the most beautiful city in the sky, was the latest causality in this war. After the Enclave got its collective ass kicked by that half pint unicorn, things went from bad to worse for us and eventually, a civil war broke out. Every cloud city, including Las Pegasus got pulled into the fighting. Neighvarro, the center for the Enclave supporters, attack us and force us into submission. Everyone here was drafted into service and the city hired a couple battalions of Talon mercs. We won, but a lot of the city was in ruins, including where I worked.

I watched as Moon Lily and Specter finished hanging up the sign, The Gates of Tartarus: come and indulge in your sins. Our old boss came up with the slogan. The guy had a knack for coming up with catchy slogans but wasn't that good at dodging energy beams.

A couple of the other girls and I pulled our money together and bought the casino/brothel. However, there was still a slight problem.

“Hey Ember, we’re all out of money.”

Of course we are. “Yes, I know Lily,” I respond. We had enough to buy the place and fix up the outside appearance a bit, but the inside was still a mess; the plumbing was shot to hell, the furniture was ruined, and the backrooms where the entertainers stayed during the day – you know, singers, magicians, comedians, strippers, prostitutes, etc – simply wasn’t there anymore. “Listen girls, I think I know how we can get some money.”

“Why don’t we just go with my idea?” asked Specter.

Damn it, not this again. “Specter, we are high class escorts. I will not go back to working street corners again, where anyone can try to pick us up.”

“Fine Ms. I’m too good to do that again, what’s your idea?”

“I overheard some of the Talons talking a while ago. Apparently mercenary work pays pretty well, depending on who you’re working for. And, more importantly, that the NCR is looking for mercs for some special job.”

“The NCR? No, you can’t do it,” said Moon Lilly. “Those surfacers are savages. I heard that they’re cannibals.”

“Yes, I heard that too. I heard it from the Enclave, the bastards that attacked us. I can’t believe that you still trust their bullshit," I said.

“Just because they’re our enemy, doesn’t mean that they’re wrong.”

“Whatever. Either way, I’m going.”

Her eyes teared up a bit as she pleaded with me, “But… but…” She rushed over to me hugged me for all she was worth. Well, it was either a hug, or she was attempting to crush my ribs. “What will we do if you die down there?” She always did overact to things.

“Lily, relax. Ember isn’t an idiot; she won’t do anything too risky.” She came over and put her hoof on my shoulder. “Right Ember?” she asked in a low whisper. Even though she didn't show her emotions like Moon Lily, it was obvious she didn't like this plan either. Great, now I got both of them making me feel guilty for doing this.

“Look girls, I’ll be fine. I swear that I’ll come back in one piece.” Moon Lily loosened her death grip on me, so I guess they believed it. “I’ll be back before you know it and with plenty of money.” Specter consoled Lily as I left.

Yeah, I was scared of the surface also. Who wouldn’t be? We've all been taught since we were young that the surface was just a land of death and that any citizen that tried to go down there, wouldn't be able to come back. But I really couldn’t think of a better way of getting the money we needed.

After grabbing some supplies, namely the kevlar barding and the laser rifle that city gave me before the battle, as well as a saddlebag, I set off. The first thing I noticed about the surface is that, damn it’s brown. Yes, yes, I know that that’s the color of dirt and all, but it seemed to be the only color for most of the world.

The next thing to catch my attention was how few settlements there were. I was pretty high up over Junction R-7, but I couldn’t see any other cities. Its capital must have been the only real city, and I use the term loosely, that the NCR had.

I landed in the middle of town, right in front of a statue of Littlepip. I couldn't believe just how small the statue was. I mean, she’s supposed to be this larger than life hero and yet the statue of her in one of the biggest cities of the wasteland was smaller than I am. I guess they wanted to make it life like or something. You know, I wonder if she had some sort of Neighpoleon complex. That might explain why she decided to become a hero.

A large zebra in a black cloak came up to the statue and bowed his head. “Blessed be Celestia’s prophet,” he whisper and then walked off.

Celestia’s prophet? Ok, that was a new one. Did the wastelanders worship her? It makes sense after all she did for them, but still, it seemed odd. Also, were all zebras built like tanks? Damn he was big.

I fished out a piece of paper that I’d gotten off one of the Talons. After a few bats of my eyelashes and smile, he was more than happy to give me all the information I needed. I had to talk to a griffin named Reggie in the military affairs office, which was located near town square. How convenient.

Ok, maybe not so convenient. It took me like a half of an hour to find the damn place. I eventually just asked for directions, only to find out I had passed it a couple times. Whatever, I was in it now. There were a bunch of armed soldiers hanging around and a receptionist; who, by the way, didn't even look up to greet me.

“State you name and business,” she said in a halfhearted tone.

“I’m Ember and I need to see Reggie about the…” What was it again? Oh right. “About the scouting job.” And before anyone says it, just because I couldn’t find this place doesn’t mean that I’ll suck as a scout. The NCR just needs to make better signs.

“Tsk, another mercenary. Go down the hall and it’s the third door on your left. Oh and you’ll need to leave any weapons you have here.” I dropped off my laser rifle and followed her instructions. Soon, I was standing in front of a door with: Reggina, commander of special forces, written on it. There were a couple voices coming from inside the office; one male and the other female. I hesitantly reach up and knock a couple times.

“It’s open,” said the female voice. I opened the door to find that there were actually three people inside. The tank sized zebra from earlier, a griffin wearing combat armor and an alicorn that was green in both fur and mane color. I had heard rumors of how big alicorns were, but wow, she could easily look over the head of both the zebra and Reggie. Even weirder is that she didn't have a cutie mark. “So, you’re a mercenary also right? What’s your experience?” Reggie asked.

“Well, I fought the Enclave during the siege of Las Pegasus.”

She gave me a look over and smirked. “If you say so.”

That wasn’t cool. So maybe I had a body designed more for sex appeal than to send my enemies running in terror, maybe I was smaller than most mares and I’m not sure if I actually hit anything during the battle but… ok, she has a point.

“Well, get in here and sit down.”

I sat down in the open space between the alicorn and the zebra, never before have I felt smaller than I did at that moment. Did the NCR go out of its way to hire giants?

“The mission is simple. The other week some of our scouts found a stable that seems to still be operating. Our tech specialists are working on opening the door as we speak. Now, it’ll be your job the scout the inside and report what's there. Any questions?”

Yeah, here’s one, why are you sending mercs to do this when you have soldiers?

Because stables are death traps and we’re cheaper to replace.

That makes sense… wait what? That thought was not mine. On the surface for less than a day and I’m already starting to hear voices. So, what’s next, seeing a zombie card dealer? Sigh, I swear I’m not crazy. Well, I don’t think I’m crazy. Am I crazy?

Possibly, but that’s not why you’re hearing me.

Well then, voice in my head, why in Celestia’s name am I hearing you? Answer that one.

You don’t know much about alicorns do you?

Alicorns? Does being near one make you go crazy?

Some ponies do act irrational around us, but no. Green alicorns are simply adept at communicating through telepathy.

“Telepathy?” Both Reggie and the zebra gave me a funny look. Yeah, I’m an idiot for saying that part out loud.

Agreed.

Quiet you.

“Anyways… since you three will be working together, introduce yourselves," said Reggie.

“I’m Ember.”

“Charon.”

Alpha.

“Good, now follow me.”

Hold up, did they also here that?

Yes.

…alicorns are weird.

You don’t know the half of it.

Like good little mercenaries we followed Reggie back to the lobby, where I picked up my laser rifle. Alpha apparently came in with some sniper rifle and a pair of smgs. Because an alicorn that can read your mind isn’t intimidating enough, she just had to also have a plenty of firepower to go with whatever spells she knew and be bigger than everyone else. Charon on the other hoof picked up a couple metal claws that fit perfectly onto his front hooves.

Reggie told us that there would be a carriage just outside the city gates to take us to the stable. I decided to just fly out of the city and Alpha seemed to agree that was the better idea. Up in the air we flew by this really weird pegasus pulling a cart. By weird, I mean that she looked like a corpse and her eyes went in different directions. Everything about the surface was so damn weird.

Suddenly Alpha dropped down in front of me, it was all I could do to avoid flying into her. She was glaring at me so hard I thought I was going to burst into flames at any second.

Do not make fun of Ditzy.

Have you ever seen an angry alicorn up close? No? Then consider yourselves lucky. They are fucking scary.

“I wasn’t making fun of her. I’ve just never seen a ghoul up close before.” Mind you, the cloud cities weren’t completely ghoul free, but they were pretty damn rare.

Alpha turned and started flying forward again.

She is one of the few ponies that doesn’t treat my kind like we’re monsters. Many of us have become rather protective of her.

I guess that’s understandable, but did she really need to scare the hell out of me? Maybe Moon Lily is right, the surfacers really are just insane.

The flight to the NCR station went without a hitch but it was almost a disaster. As it turns out people that can’t fly sometimes get sick from going through the air. Charon sat in the corner the whole time. His cheeks turned a bit green and I think I saw him throw up in his mouth a bit. To Alpha’s and my relief he did keep from vomiting on the carriage floor.

We landed with a soft thud. One of the griffins that pulled us here stuck in his head and looked to be in a less than stellar mood.

“You three, get out here now. We have a situation.”

We weren’t at the station, but we could see it in the distance, as well as the smoke rising from it. “What happened?”

“We don’t know but the five of us going to go a find out.”

Five of us? Oh, that’s right, I’m a merc now. I was really hoping that I wouldn’t need to use my rifle ever again. Looks like fate had a different idea.

We snuck up to the camp site, staying low to the ground and doing our best to keep from being seen. The others did an ok job of it, but having a dark red mane and white fur isn’t really good for sneaking. Thankfully, no one shot at us.

Most of the station was just tents that were now ripped to pieces and a few of them were on fire. Not to mention the dead ponies laying around. There was also a small, two story building in the center with the NCR flag flying above it. Figuring that was as good of a place as any to start, we made our way over to it. The griffins were in front. Alpha, Charon and I were bringing up the rear.

The ground beneath us exploded, turning the griffin guards into a red mist. The door violently flung open and out rushed five ponies in power armor, each armed with a minigun strapped to their side. Alpha surrounded us in a pink barrier just in time to stop a hail of bullets from hitting us.

Ember, I have an idea, but I need you to stay calm.

Ok, I guess.

A small opening appeared at the top of her barrier. It was just large enough for a po… oh crap. Before I could say or think anything to her, I was picked up and tossed out of the hole.

Get on the roof and shoot down at them from there.

I was a bit pissed, to put it midly, but arguing while getting shot at was a bad idea. And of course, now that I wasn’t behind a forcefield, they all decided to aim for me. Several shots hit my barding, nearly knocking me out of the sky. I rushed to the rooftop, but just before I got onto a bullet struck me in my flank. Bastards. I have a nice flank and they better not of done too much damage to it.

Aim for their weapons.

I peeked over the edge and began shooting… and kept missing. In my defense, I was able to hit the ponies themselves some of the time, though all that did was leave a black mark along the top of their armor.

A shot sounded from Alpha and Charon’s location and one of the miniguns fell to the ground. A few more shots rang out, followed by two more of their miniguns hitting the ground. The five of them retreated back into the building.

You ok?

If you were able to do that, why did you need to throw me?

It’s easier to hit their battle saddle straps when they face away from me.

I… I was just a distraction wasn’t I?

Yes.

…fuck you Alpha.

Mercenaries aren’t supposed to whine.

If she thinks that is whining, she's seen nothing yet. Before I could reply, Charon spoke up. “So, are we going in or are you two just going to keep staring at each other?”

“You want to go in there with them?”

“They could have hostages. Checking it out is what Littlepip would do.”

Your claws are useless against them, I don’t have any armor piercing shots and Ember’s aim is so bad that she’s more likely to shoot us than them.

“Hey!”

We should retreat back to Junction R-7 and tell the NCR what happened.

“You know what, I agree with Charon. We should check this out more before retreating.”

Mind you, I didn’t have any moral issues with running away and Alpha is right; they could end up killing us if we go in. But the NCR might not pay us for just running away. Also, the bastards shot me in the ass. Yes, I was still a bit mad about that.

You’re both idiots. Fine, let’s see what they’re are doing here. Ember, is there a roof entrance up there?

“Yeah.”

You go in from there. Charon and I will go in through the front door. When they start shooting at us, you’ll know where to go.

“Got it.”

The door opened with a creek, and I went down into the building. The top floor was pretty much just a single room filled with cubicles. None of the lights were working and with only a couple windows were on this floor, making it pretty dark.

A little click of metal against the floor was the only warning I got as one of the armored raiders – they are raiders right? – came out of hiding and charged me. On instinct I tried to fly away, but I wasn’t fast enough. He turned and bucked me in my side. I cried out in pain as I went through a row of cubicle walls.

I lay there, curled up in a ball as I heard him charge again. Somehow I managed to keep my grip on my gun and I turned it towards him and kept pulling the trigger as quickly as possible. The first few shots missed, but as he got closer, I was able to hit his front, left knee. Blood and ash fell from the hole as he or she fell down. Not one to let this chance pass by, I got in closer and kept firing; this time at the raider’s head. I didn’t stop until my clip ran out and the raider stopped moving. The gun dropped from my mouth as I sat there heavily panting. Pain shot through my ribs with every breath. Part of me expected the raided to get back up, but he wasn’t moving at all anymore.

I couldn't believe it. I actually just killed someone. I might have gotten a lucky kill shot in during the battle for Las Pegasus, but I didn’t see if I harmed anyone or not. I’ve never had to fight someone up close with weapons before. I... I couldn’t believe how easy it was to pull the trigger, knowing I was going to kill them.

The sound of guns going off on the first floor broke me out of my stupor. My weapon was the best one we had against their armor, so I rushed down the steps to help..

It was just like the previous floor in appearance. Alpha and Charon were behind the pink forcefield and a couple dead raiders lay by them. The surviving ones were shooting all they had at Alpha’s shield. I quietly snuck into one of the cubicles behind the raiders and readied myself to take the shot.

Come on Ember; just do what they told you to do during training. Line up the shot, take a breath, hold it, calmly pull the trigger and… miss. Fuck. Now they all knew where I was.

The two raiders fell back into a different set of cubicles, one shooting towards Alpha and one shooting at me. Their cover was keeping me from getting a good shot, not that it really mattered. From this distance, there was no way I could hit any thin spots in their power armor.

Alpha’s shield was finally starting to give way. Cracks started to form and then it shattered.

Even from a distance I could see the strain on Alpha's face as her horn lit up again. She lifted Charon into the air and threw him towards the raiders. Flipping around, he dug his claws into the ceiling, propelling himself forwards and then down onto one of the raiders, slamming into him hard enough to knock him off his hooves, and then Charon jumped onto the other one, holding on for dear life as the raider tried to buck him off.

The fallen raider was getting back up, but he was now away from his cover. I couldn’t miss again, I had to land this shot. Breath in, hold it, and fire. The laser beam connected with one of the barrels on his minigun, just as they started to spin. A second later the barrel exploded, damaging the power armor along his side. I aimed for the new weak spot and kept firing at the dazed pony until he dropped.

Charon didn’t seem to be having the same luck with his target. The raider had him pinned to floor, pressing his hoof down onto the zebra’s throat. I wasn’t even going to try shooting him with Charon that close. A green blur raced across the room, crashing shoulder first into the raider. It didn’t knock him down, but it was enough to get him off Charon. I took the shot and the beam landed right between his back legs causing the raider dropped down, clutching his injured privates. If it was a stallion in there, he wasn’t one anymore.

Charon jumped up and ran over to the raider, yanked his helmet off, brought his claw down and ended the battle with disgusting sounding thud.

With the fighting over, my body made damn sure to teach me to never do this again. My ribs were killing me and flank hurt every time I tried to take a step. Not far from me Alpha lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath. I guess she’ll be without magic for a little while.

Charon walked over to a door on the far end of the room and opened it. “Hey guys, there’s a basement.”

“Damn it, Charon, give us a minute!” I clutched my ribs and regretted yelling right away. Fucking raiders.

They aren’t raiders. They’re the Steel Rangers.

What’s the difference?

Knights in the Steel Rangers only care about securing technology, not about raping and killing.

This is securing technology?

To them, securing and stealing are pretty much the same thing. They think they alone should have access to the advance prewar technology that's still around. Come on, or Charon my go ahead by himself.

She got up onto her hooves slowly with a grunt and walked over to Charon. i followed behind her, praying to Celestia for my ribs to stop hurting.

The basement was in much better condition than the other floors. It was small with a few desks along the right wall. One of them even had a working terminal and an earth pony mare in a red robe was done here. I was about to say something to her but Charon ran forwards and pinned the frightened mare to the ground.

“Why did you attack a NCR base?”

“Let go of me, zebra scum!” she shouted back.

“Tell me or my alicorn friend will pull it from your mind.”

That made her freeze and look over at me and Alpha. “No, don’t let that monster anywhere near me. I’ll tell you ok. Just please keep her away.” Alpha sighed and shook her head at the display. Can’t say I can blamed her. “We heard that they found out the password to the nearby stable and we came to take it. It’s on the computer over there.”

Alpha walked over and began typing away at the computer.

Found it. The password is: Many within one. And the stable about a quarter mile to the west.

Charon let the ranger get back up to her hooves. “Get out of here, now.” She took a long look at Alpha before running off. “So do we head for the stable or report back to the NCR?”

We should rest here for the night. Ember and I aren’t in any condition to do anything.

“Alpha’s right, we’ll get killed if we have to fight again right away.”

“Fine. I’m going to see if there’s anything good to loot from the tents.”

Charon left and Alpha curled up in the back corner. I wasn’t really sleepy; I simply needed some time to relax. With nothing better to do, I decided to poke around in the desk for a bit. There were mostly just two century old office supplies. I was about ready to give up on finding anything interesting, until I spotted a holotape labeled M.O.A.

M.O.A…. M.O.A…. I know I’ve heard that somewhere before… wait, that's the Ministry of Awesome; Rainbow Dash’s ministry.

I made sure never to talk about it in Las Pegasus, but I always kinda admired Dash. Even if it was stupid to go rushing back down to the surface right after the megaspells went off, at least she gave a damn about the ponies stuck down there. The rest of my people just pretended to forget that the surface existed. Well, that is until we attacked the surface and Littlepip destroyed most of the Enclave’s fleet. I put the disk in the computer and hit play.

“Ministry Mare Dash, ma’am.”

“Hey Storm Chaser. What’s the status of the missions?”

“We’ve managed to secure some taint from Maripony and a few stasis pods from a Ministry of Peace hub.”

“What about Twilight and Fluttershy?”

“Ministry Mare Twilight is throwing a fit. She knew right away that some of her chemicals were missing but she doesn’t know it’s us that took them. Fluttershy seems to have no knowledge of her ministry being robbed.”

“Figures the egghead would know her stuff was gone. What about the other two missions?”

“Soarin’s and Spitfire’s bodies have been exhumed without anyone knowing. They’re in SPP tower number 7 and their dna samples will be delivered to the lab by tomorrow. Though I’m afraid our agents in the Ministry of Morale haven’t been able to copy the designs for their mind manipulation machines yet. They’re being extra careful around Ministry Mare Pinkie and her top agents. She seems to grow more paranoid and more protective of her ministry by the day.”

“…right. Tell me when they finish the job.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Come morning, the three of us talked over the situation a bit more and decided to go to the stable. Mapping it was job, so we might as well get started. During Charon’s looting spree last night he found a few plasma grenades and gave them to me. As well as extra ammo for me and Alpha to use.

The stable door was hidden in a cave at the base of a mountain. Huddled together right in front of the stable door was three skeletons; two adults and one child. I’m no medical expert, but they looked pretty old. Probably refugees from when the balefire bombs dropped onto nearby Baltimare.

Alpha walked up to the terminal and entered the password. A loud, high-pitched screeching noise echoed throughout the cave as the giant door slid open, revealing… what the fuck? No, I’m seriously asking, what the fuck is that thing?

Most of it looked like a standard robotic pony, except for its head. On the top of the head was a glass dome with, and dear Celestia I hope I’m wrong, a brain under it.

The… thing, whatever the fuck it was, spoke to us. “Judging by my calculations you are over two hundred years late. Please collect you stable uniforms from the storeroom and head to your designated sub-stable. Oh, and Stable-Tec welcomes you to Stable 113. Remember, nothing matters more to us than your safety.”

Sub-stables? Just how big is this place?

Level 2 reached.

Energy weapon skill raised to 30

Perk taken - Black Widow: You do extra damage to male opponents and have extra dialogue options with males.

Next Chapter: Stable 113: Section A Estimated time remaining: 19 Minutes