“Shit.” I hissed through gritted teeth as I went for my rifle. My heart was pounding in my chest. Could this be another turret or some other automatic defense? I’m screwed either way, I can’t see a damn thing.

“Wow! Easy there Mist, it’s me!” A panicked yet familiar voice called out.

“C-Cog? You’re alright?” I lowered my rifle and started rubbing my eyes. “I thought you were dead.”

“I thought so too. Then I heard you calling but I couldn’t see shit so I turned this thing on. Sorry I had no idea you were so close. Didn’t mean to blind you.” I stopped rubbing my eyes, my sight restored somewhat, and saw Cog sitting in front of me holding up his forehoof. The light was coming from his PipBuck.

He gave a whistle as he looked around the elevator. “Well we’re not going back up the same way that’s for sure.”

He wasn’t kidding. The walls of the elevator were warped and pushed inwards. Steel bars had punched through and I could help but feel relieved that we didn’t get skewered.

"You okay down there?" Shrapnel's voice rebounded off the walls, and echoed down to me.

“Was that Shrapnel? Mist stand over there.” What the… Cog grabbed me by the shoulders and moved me a few steps to the left.

“What are you doing?” I asked rubbing my head which had now started to throb.

“Hold still.” He said and started climbing on my back.

“Cog what are you doing?” I craned my neck to get a better look at what the green unicorn was up to.

Cog was standing on my back, on his rearhooves, while he tried to open a panel on the ceiling of the elevator.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

He smashed away at the panel. I was about to suggest he try something else when I heard a ‘POP!’ followed by a creak of metal. The hatch was open. Good thing too, my head was killing me.

“Oh fuck me!” Cog cursed. What? Something else had gone wrong?

“What’s wrong? What do you see?” I rubbed at my temples, but had to stop to maintain balance.

“A mess. We’re sure as hell not going back the same way.” Well the lift wasn’t, but couldn’t we just climb up?

“Hellooooo! Can anypony hear me down there!” Shrapnel was shouting again. Cog cleared his throat.

“We’re here! Alive!”

“Cog! You’re alright?! What about Mist?! Is he with you?!”

“Yes he’s fine!”

“What the hell happened!?” IronClaw had joined the discussion adding his shouts.

“Ughh.” My head was throbbing like crazy, and Cog’s hooves digging into my bruised back wasn’t helping.

“I got the lift working then it… sort of broke!” Cog explained. I was going to ask him if: “Sort of broke.” Was a technical term.

“Hey Cog!” Great now Saw was shouting too. “Two screw ups in one day! That must be a new record for you!”

“Hardy-fucking-har!” Cog snapped back.

“Will you hurry it up!” Damn! His hooves really started to hurt my back.

“Sorry.” He apologized and tried to reposition himself.

“You two stay put, we’ll find a way down to you!” IronClaw shouted, his clear serious tone ringing in my head. I really need to lay down for a while.

“Don’t think you can! There is no other way! They only have this elevator so they can seal of the tram station if something goes wrong!” Cog explained and IronClaw cursed.

“Why don’t we just climb up? Tell them to find rope or tie some sheets together.” I offered.

“Won’t do much good. The entire shaft is destroyed. I can’t even see through the debris.”

Well that’s just awesome. No really, this is ‘super awesome’! Trapped in a station infested with Luna knows what and no way to get to the relative safety of the upper levels. What kind of psycho designed this facility?

A long silence ensued. I was beginning to think they had left when IronClaw spoke.

“Try and find another way out! We’ll wait for two days and then we’ll head out!” No. He wouldn’t just leave us! Fear coiled itself around my heart. “We can regroup at Massif if you don’t make it out in time!” They really are leaving us!

Some part of me knew that IronClaw didn’t have any choice in the matter. He had a job to do. He still has to deliver the information on Prometheus we’ve gathered. But right now the rational part of my mind took a back seat to the pissed off part.

When I joined the Talon’s I knew that it wasn’t the healthiest of decisions, but getting abandoned never crossed my mind. What if there is no way out? My thoughts went to Nadala. She killed herself, would Cog and I have to do the same?

“A-Alright boss! If… If we don’t make it!” Cog stammered.

“You WILL make it!” IronClaw’s tone broke no argument. “Is that clear?! Or I’ll come back and let Shrapnel clear the way!”

“C-Crystal!”

“And Cog! Don’t get Mist killed! You hear!” Saw added.

“Good luck guys!” And with those final words from Shrapnel we were left in silence. Cog jumped off my back and sat down. His head hung low.

I stretched and felt my spine pop. While the immediate relief in my back was welcome, the pain in my head seemed to increase. Oh joy.

“We’re not going to make it are we?” Cog asked in a whisper I almost didn’t hear.

No, probably not. “We will make it. You heard IronClaw. He’ll send Shrapnel to dig us out if we don’t find a way out. Come on, let’s see if the zebras really were as foalish as to have only one entrance.” He nodded and seemed to brighten a little.

He put his hooves on the elevators doors and tried to push them apart. I looked around and found a flat piece of metal, grabbed it with my magic and called out to Cog.

“Move out of the way, let me try.” He stepped aside and I rammed the metal plate between the doors and pulled it to one side. Cog joined in, pushing on it with his hooves.

The doors creaked and groaned in defiance, but eventually they gave way and were finally parted. Darkness welcomed us. If it weren’t for Cog’s PipBuck light we wouldn’t be able to see anything.

“Hold on.” Cog put a hoof out to stop me from going further. “Now where was it?” He muttered as he looked at his PipBuck. “Here it is!” He levitated out a brooch out of his saddlebag and pinned it to my chest.

I looked down at the curious little piece of jewelry. It was a simple metal brooch with a milky white round-cut gem. Cog tapped the gem with a hoof and it started glowing. The clear white light that emanated from the gem was focused in a cone in front of me.

“Where did you get this?” Clearly a light spell was enchanted into the gem, but few unicorns can actually cast it.

“Picked it up at Vostoris. There’s this mare that’s good with enchanting. I figured it might be useful if for some reason my PipBuck light didn’t work.” Well I’m glad he had it with him. This will make it easier to explore.

I unslung my rifle and Cog readied his shotgun. Wait a minute, this is a different shotgun from his old sawed-off one. His new gun had one barrel and a drum.

“What happened to your old gun?” I looked at the impressive new weapon he was now hefting.

“Still got it here.” He gave his saddlebags a pat. ”I picked up this beauty in one of the rooms while you were unconscious.” He looked fondly at his new gun.

I kind of felt left out. Everyone had probably found new weapons except me and maybe Shrapnel. But it’s hard to compete with her machinegun and grenade launcher. Then I remembered the sniper Cog gave me and promptly remembered that I left it back in Nadala’s office. I mentally facehooved.

Well it’s not like I can make much use out of a sniper indoors, still a high caliber gun can always be useful to have around.

We started moving through the hallway. The walls were a bleak grey, unmarked and pristine, but unlike the upper levels there was an odor present here. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it but it was familiar.

We reached the end of the hall. It split into two directions, to the left and right. Cog and I exchanged looks.

“Left or right?” He asked.

I looked both ways and only saw darkness. The only difference was the smell which was coming from the right, so maybe we should head there? “Umm… Right?” I offered uncertainly.
Cog nodded and we went right.

We walked in silence, the only sound that could be heard was that of our hooves as they landed on the metal floors. I looked ahead as the light from my brooch and Cog’s PipBuck pushed back the darkness.

I felt a growing sense of unease as we continued deeper down the hall, and turned to my companion. Cog seemed unfazed, but then again he is from a stable. He had spent most of his life underground.

Maybe it’s the thought of having all that sand above us. All that pressure bearing down on what is essentially a tunnel we are walking through. Was the tunnel getting smaller? The illuminated walls seemed to stretch out and constrict around me. My heart started to beat a little faster. I shook my head in an attempt to shake the thought from my mind.

“So when did you and Saw get so chummy all of the sudden?”

Eh, what? I raised an eyebrow and looked at Cog.

“I mean back at the outpost and now this.”

“This?” What was he talking about? Maybe he bashed his head when the elevator crashed or maybe I did.

“Oh come on!” Cog said a little irritated. “Don’t get Mist killed.” He did a bad impression of Saw’s voice. ”She never showed any concern for anything other than a bottle. So what happened while I slept? What did I miss?”

“We talked.” I answered evenly.

“About what?” What’s gotten into him all of the sudden?

“About the past.” I answered.

He stopped and pointed a hoof accusingly at me. “Aha! I knew it! So what secrets is she keeping? She a fillyfooler? Blew up a hospital?” I groaned as my head started to pound again. IronClaw was right, being with them is like babysitting foals.

“No! Nothing like that. She… Stuff happened to her.” I hoped Cog would pick up on the hint that it’s personal to Saw and drop the issue.

“Oh yeah. Like what?” No way. Was he never going to stop asking?

“Ask her. Not for me to say.”

“Ugh. Fine then keep your secrets. I’m sure I’ll find out eventually.” He said matter of factly.

Fine by me. I rubbed the side of my head with a hoof. Something must have been shaken loose when the elevator collapsed. I’ve had migraines before, but never anything this bad. Would healing potions even work on something like this?

“What did IronClaw say? If we don’t make it out we’re to meet them, where?” I asked trying to take my mind off the pain in my head.

“Massif. It’s a village to the north-west of Sumaj.” Cog said, and I thought back to the map Joram had shown me.

I don’t remember seeing a village with that name. “Never heard of it. How far is it?”

“Closer then Sumaj. It’s a small village, friendly though. They’ve got nothing against ponies and they don’t care much for the Remnant or Separatists. You would like it there.” Why? Am I the only one who’s got a problem with the Remnant or do the others simply not care?

I turned my attention back to the floor before me. We continued in silence again our weapons raised and ready just in case.

Dear Luna! We should have gone left! The smell, it was the smell of rotting meat!

In front of us lay the body of a zebra. Well half of it. Its lower half was missing. The intestines were pulled out and trailing behind it, disappearing into the darkness of the hall. I took a few steps, following the gruesome trail. It ended near a hole in the wall. The light from my brooch penetrated only a meter or so into the darkness.

The hole itself was big enough for two ponies to enter easily side by side. The metal around the hole was torn and twisted in on itself like sheets of paper. As I stared into the blackness, like some gaping maw, I could only imagine the fear the zebra felt. One minute you’re running away, maybe even think you are safe and then something punches through the wall next to you, tears you in two and leaves you to drag what little remains of yourself away.

I shuddered from horn to tail and opened my mouth to tell Cog that we should continue, but that’s when I noticed that he wasn’t beside me. Franticly I jumped and started turned around, the light from my brooch going everywhere. Luckily I spotted his PipBuck light, he was still standing next to the corpse.

“Cog. Are you alright?” Stupid question of course he wasn’t alright. He was very still and seemed to be transfixed on the corpse.

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine let’s go.” He stammered and took a few shaky steps away from the body.

Yeah that sure looks like “fine”, because what we just saw was perfectly normal. Yup.

We gave the hole in the wall a wide berth as we passed it. Looking around I spotted doors on either side of the hall. Cog and I picked the locks on some of them, the ones that weren’t jammed. We found nothing of particular use. A few caps and some ammo.

Finally reaching the end of the hall, a door automatically opened up into a chamber. The smell that greeted us was… overwhelming. I covered my muzzle with a hoof, Cog gagged.

Corpses of zebras littered the floor. Half eaten, chewed up, limbs torn out. I backed up into a wall.

What could have done this? This was a massacre, like some wild animal had been loosened among them! And their faces, those that still had them, empty wide eyed stares, their mouths open in silent screams.

“Celestia save us.” This is bad. So very bad!

Cog was shivering, his eyes shut tightly and his tail between his legs. I tiphooved over to him, avoiding the bodies.

“Cog what’s wrong? Talk to me.” He just trembled. Please, please don’t lose it now Cog.

“I… I just can’t.”

I put a hoof on his shoulder and tried to calm him down. If he falls apart now, I probably will too.

For a moment I thought about going back, but to where? Back to wait at the ruin of the elevator? I looked around the chamber. Besides the bodies and the occasional hole in the wall, my attention was drawn to the three huge steel doors.

One was directly ahead of us, the other two were positioned to the far left and right of the chamber. They didn’t have any locks on them, they were just slabs of reinforced steel.

Straining my eyes, in the little amount of light that my brooch and Cog’s PipBuck gave, I spotted two normal doors on either side of the great steel one in the middle. One of them had something written on a plaque above it. Unfastening the brooch, and while it was still gloving, I carefully levitated it closer to the door.

The plaque had “Nexus 3 tram control station” written in zebra on it. The other door had “Supplies” above it. I levitated the brooch back and pinned it in place.

“I think I found something. One of those doors leads to a control station. We need to get there.” Anywhere is better than staying here.

“I told you I can’t do it. I can’t look at them. I can’t move.” I don’t blame him, I did my best to avoid meeting the empty stares of the corpses. But we have to keep moving.

“What if you grab my tail and I lead you there?” He didn’t answer immediately. Mulling over the idea in his head, and then just gave a weak nod.

He grabbed my tail and I started walking slowly, making sure to avoid the bodies. I whispered to Cog from time to time, encouraging and warning him whenever we were about to pass close to a corpse.

After some carful weaving around the bodies we reached the door. I levitated out a bobby pin and screwdriver to pick the lock.

“Shit!” The damn thing snapped. I pulled out another and went back to work.

Cog was still holding on to my tail, and while I knew we were safe I couldn’t shake the feeling of urgency.

“Fuck!” I hissed and Cog let out a whimper. Another one snapped! What’s wrong with me?! Okay, just calm down. I closed my eyes and took a few breaths, then reached into my pockets to fish out another pin.

Only two left. Better make this one count.

“KLICK!” Finally! Celestia and Luna be praised! Cog gave my tail a nervous tug. I pushed the door open and we went inside.

The room was large and whoever had been inside last, left in a hurry. Papers lay everywhere, drawers were pulled out of the cabinets and rested on the ground, a locker was opened and its contents of hammers and other tools spilled out before it.

A sickly greenish light was coming from a terminal. Many buttons and switches could be found on either side of it, a smooth black surface that covered most of the wall was behind it.

“A-Are we safe?” Cog asked nervously as he spat out my tail and opened his eyes.

“We’re away from the bodies.” He seemed to be doing much better now. “What happened to you? You just froze.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes, instead he just started looking around the room.

“Cog! I need to know what’s wrong! Otherwise I can’t help you.”

“I’m fine now, don’t worry.” Yeah, fine. He was shivering like a leaf. He’s definitely NOT fine.

Cog just pushed past me, ignoring my concerns and started to move to the terminal.

“You do realize that we can’t stay in this room. We’re going to have to go out there again.” That seemed to reach him. He stopped midstride and dropped his head. I expected him to open up, but he just continued walking towards the terminal.

Alright this was pissing me off. I grabbed his tail and yanked him into a sitting position. He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off.

“Tell me why those bodies scare you so much. What makes them different from other corpses?” They are gruesome, but he’s a mercenary. They don’t just balk at bodies.

Cog’s eyebrows furrowed. He shot me a look that made me back away a little.

“What makes them different? What makes them different is the fact that we’ve killed others and I know they are dead! Hell with Shrapnel there’s barely a body left. But those… those things were killed by Celestia knows what! They could… they could…” He trailed off into a whisper. His anger subsiding, Tears started forming in his eyes. He looked around the room and then spread his hooves wide.

“This place. This place reminds me of my Stable. Concrete and steel, underground. And the bodies. The bodies…” He brought his hooves back in front of him and stared at the ground.

“Your stable? I don’t understand.” Yes he told me he was from a Stable and I suppose this place reminds him of his former home. Had something similar happened there?

He smirked and gave me a resentful look, his words dripping venom. I’m already starting to regret asking.

“Of course you don’t. I was a repair pony at my stable. You know the buck who fiddles with the machines.” I nodded and stayed quiet. He looked like he wanted to shoot me. “Radiation started bleeding into the Stable one day. We tried to fix it but we didn’t have all the parts. Ponies were dying so what happened? The overmare asked for volunteers to brave the surface in search for parts. No pony stepped forward, so I did. But I came back too late.”

Tears started flowing down his cheeks. He continued in a much quieter voice. “When I came back they were all dead. Except they weren’t. Radiation had burned their flesh, twisted them into ghouls. But not like the friendly ones I met in the wasteland, oh no, these were like animals.” Crap. I can see where this is going. I mentally slapped myself for forcing him to relive those painful memories just to satisfy my curiosity.

“They didn’t attack me the moment I entered, they waited until I was deep inside looking for survivors. Then the dead started rising.” He shivered at the memory then looked at me darkly. “I lost my family Mist. I killed them. Twice. When I failed to come back in time, and when I had to save myself.” I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, trying to say something and failing miserably. Cog rose and pushed past me as he walked over to the terminal.

“Cog, I’m sorry.” What else could I say? I didn’t know, and now he was pissed at me.

While Cog worked on the terminal I kept myself busy by picking a lock on a first aid box I found on a wall. I was very careful while opening it. Only two more pins left, better not screw up. Cog probably had a few more, but right now I think it’s a good idea to just give him some space.

The box clicked and the lid was open. Let’s see: two healing potions, some magic bandages and three Med-X syringes. Med-X dulls the pain if I’m not mistaken, I’m sure they’ll be useful.

“Cog, I’m going to go check the supplies room.” I looked at the green buck sitting by the terminal. I wanted to add if he’ll be okay alone, but held my tongue. No response forthcoming I slowly left and closed the door behind me.

Way to go Mist. As if getting out of this place wasn’t hard enough. I was alone in the corpse filled chamber. If something attacked me would Cog even try and help me? First IronClaw and now Cog, now I truly felt abandoned.

Walking close to the heavy steel door on my left, and keeping my eyes on the metal tiles beneath my hooves I made my way to the supplies room.
Again ,taking care not to lose anymore pins, I sat in front of the door and went to work. My thoughts were a jumbled mess. I lost my family too. I know what it feels like. But Cog at least tried to help. Me. I didn’t do a damn thing.

I hate this. This emptiness and ache. How long was I picking this lock, five minutes, ten? Did it even matter? If something were to jump me now and kill me, it would be doing me a favor.

“Klick!”

The room was smaller than I expected. A lot of empty shelves. The light my brooch was casting made the shadows dance on the walls, fooling me into thinking there was movement. While still holding my rifle out I reached out with my magic to a switch near the door.

The lights flickered to life, and I tapped the brooch to turn it off.

Well this was a waste of time. Guess anything useful was taken when things went bad. I was about to turn around and leave when I spotted an ammo crate and four round objects on a bottom shelf beside it.

Hey I’ve seen these before. Cog gave them to IronClaw when we fought the Remnant. These were grenades. They didn’t seem to have any markings on them though. No colored stripes, so I guess they are just the regular explosive kind. I stashed them away in my saddle bags and moved on to the ammo crate.

Well this is fortunate. I levitated out a rather large box of bullets. It had “Armor-piercing” written on it with a little picture of a bullet going through a piece of metal. Perfect caliber for my rifle. I also found shotgun shells that read “Incendiary”. Flaming buckshot was painted on it as it exited from a shotgun. Cog will no doubt like these. Maybe I can use the shotgun shells and grenades as a peace offering?

I took one more look around the room, and having found nothing I decided to head back.

“Hey Mist. Come check this out.” My ears immediately perked up and I hurriedly closed the door behind me, and went to the green unicorn. Cog was speaking to me again! Umm… I am way more excited than I should be. With my luck it’s probably bad news.

“Turning on the generator brought power to this level of the station, but it still needs to be manually reconnected. Some sort of automated failsafe to lock this part of the station away. Looking at the schematics I would say that the energy distribution center is left from the elevator.” The way we didn’t take. I wonder what awaits us there?

“Mist.” He said turning his head to face me. “You’ll have to go alone. I need to be here when the power returns.” Yep, that’s my luck. All bad. I nodded, and started pulling out the grenades and shotgun shells.

“I found these in the supply room.” I levitated out the ammo and grenades.

“Wow. Incendiary shells. Lucky find.” He wrapped the ammo in his own magic, but hesitated with the grenades. “Don’t you want to keep a few for yourself?” He pointed with a hoof at one of the floating grenade.

“Not really.” Truth be told, having something that can blow me to bits clanking around in my saddlebags really puts me on edge. ”You have more experience with explosives than me.” He shrugged and took the grenades.

“So I go back the way we came and take the left passage?” He nodded. “Do you have any idea what I’m supposed to do once I get there? I’m not exactly good with machines.”

“I doubt it’s anything complicated. Think big switches, glowing buttons.”

“Uh huh.” Glowing buttons and big switches. Luna I hope I don’t blow us up. “Alright I’ll be off then.” I started walking to the door.

“Mist.” I stopped and looked back. “Be careful, and hurry back.” He said with a smile, and I knew that things were once again good between us.

I gave the brooch a little tap as I stepped out of the room. It’s pale light once again showing me the twisted remains of what were once zebras.

“Don’t look at them.” I muttered to myself as I closed the door behind me and weaved around the corpses, back to the door from where we came in.

Going back somehow felt different. It was like something played on the edges of my vision, it disappeared the moment I turned to confront it.

I approached the hole in the wall and stopped. The intestines led away from it and to the body that was only a few steps ahead. The hole seemed darker, if that’s possible, more menacing. I was alone now and I was scared. Staring down into the abyss I could almost hear a faint hissing that was rhythmically interrupted by my heartbeat.

No, I must be imagining things. But what if I’m not? Somehow I tore my gaze away from the hole, fighting every instinct that told me danger was there and that I shouldn’t turn my back on it. I passed the corpse and continued back to the elevator.

The left hall lead to a small staircase at the end of which there was a door. Surprisingly it was unlocked. I didn’t like it. Locked doors meant that they were stopping others from going in. Unlocked door meant that someone could already be inside. I readied my rifle.

I flicked the light switch the moment I went in. My rifle raised, I was ready to confront… machinery?

The room was packed full of buttons, leavers and switches.“Umm… This could be a problem.” What do I do? I don’t know which button to press.

Moving closer I started examining the panels more closely. Maybe this one… “KLICK!” Nothing. I moved to one of the larger leavers, wrapping it in my magic I gave it a pull. It was harder than I thought, but as I pulled a metal bar started moving into an opening. It locked into place and gave of a few sparks. A screen came to life and it showed.

<Power at 50%>

I looked around and spotted another leaver like the first one and started pulling it. When the connection was made the display flashed and showed.

<Power at 100%>
<Station power restored>

Alright now to get back to Cog.

I started walking at a brisk pace. The halls look different bathed in light I could see tiny cracks and imperfections. I stopped when I reached the hole. It was now a single point of utter blackness in a brightly illuminated hall.

Something’s not right. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it but something seemed off, missing.

“Oh no.” The body! The intestine was still there but the rest was missing! “Luna shove the Moon up my ass.” I turned and galloped at full speed back to Cog.

The door opened before me and I rushed into the chamber. Something caught between my hooves and I fell. My magic lost its grip on the rifle and it skidded ahead of me.

A face, mere inches from my own, stared at me with dead eyes. Cog’s story was the first thing I thought of as I scrambled to get back on my hooves. The bodies however remained still.

The stark white light made the scene more gruesome. Every detail, every torn bit of flesh, muscle was now clearly visible. Old crusted blood flaked off me as I moved to fetch my rifle. I leapt over a few of the bodies while rushing to reach Cog.

“Cog!” I slammed the door open panting, my heart in my ears.

“The Hell kind of an entranOH DEAR CELESTIA! What the fuck happened to you?!” Cog yelled, eyes wide as saucers. I looked down at myself, bits of old flesh and crusty blood were smeared over my armor.

“I tripped and fell, but that doesn’t matter have you found anything!? A way out?!”

“Easy Mist, take it easy. Look at this.” He motioned with a hoof for me to come nearer. The smooth black surface behind the terminal was actually a screen. It showed a white half circle that had <Nexus station 3> in it. Three lines lead from it to adjacent circles. The far left one was black and so was the line leading to it. A warning note flashed beside it.

<Black-Light facility inaccessible>
<Tram line in need of repair>

A green line to the far right lead to a same colored circle. A message beside it said.

<Lose contaminants in Helix facility>
<Toxicity levels exceed recommended parameters>
<Airborne virulent present in tram line>

In-between Black-Light and Helix facility there was another black line that led to a red circle. A message beside the circle said.

<Prometheus facility under lockdown>
<Tram line sealed>

“It looks like there are no other ways out except the elevator we used.” Then we might as well shoot ourselves. My eyes lingered on Prometheus. Hmmm… Under lockdown. Sealed.

“Can you open the tram line to Prometheus?” It might be our only chance, terrible as it is.

“I don’t think you were following what happened there. All of them are dead. They closed it off to save themselves. Why would we want go there?” Cog moved his forehooves as if he were explaining to a mentally challenged foal. I might as well be with what I was suggesting. “Besides we have power now, we should try and dig our way out through the elevator shaft.”

“Look the body is gone.” Cog’s eyes narrowed.

“What body?”

“The one near the hole in the wall. In the hall that lead here.” His eyes grew as he realized what I meant.

“Gone. You don’t mean…”

“That it crawled away by itself? Maybe.” I shrugged. “Or what if the things that killed everyone here came back?”

“We. We have to do something!” He turned back to the terminal and started typing. “Black-Light is out of the question. There is no tunnel to it. It’s completely collapsed. Helix is toxic. I might be able to open the one to Prometheus. Help me translate the words.” I leaned my head over his shoulder and translated the words from zebra as he pointed them out. The black line that lead to the red circle started flashing white and a new message now read.

<Prometheus facility under lockdown>
<Tram line opened>

We heard a loud groan from the heavy reinforced steel doors as they opened.

I turned to Cog. “What about Prometheus? It’s still in lockdown!”

“Nothing I can do from here. It can only be accessed from a terminal at Prometheus itsel-“

Cog was interrupted as a faint hiss came from outside the room we were in. I hate it when I’m right. Cog looked at me nervously, a bead of sweat sliding down his head.

“We should leave. Now!” I couldn’t agree more. I grabbed my rifle and Cog readied his shotgun.

Cog’s legs buckled under him when we left the control room.

“Listen just look at the walls. Ignore the bodies, they aren’t coming back.” He gave me a weak nod and shakily got back to his hooves.

The door that lead to the tram was the one in the middle of the chamber, between the control room and the room with the supplies. We kept close to the walls as we slipped through the archway.

Wow. That’s a big door. I looked up as we passed under it. If it should close now it wouldn’t cut us in half. It would utterly crush us.

All the while we were moving, hissing and clicking sounds could be heard from the walls around us. And they were growing louder. Beyond the door we went down a wide staircase. The ceiling wasn’t square anymore, instead it was curved. There were holes in these walls as well. The smell of rotting meat was present but not as strong as in the chamber we just left. We passed by old blood smears, assorted organs and the occasional hoof.

The hissing was growing louder so we quickened our pace.

The vehicle that was before us reminded me of the tanks the remnant use, except this one was long and sleek, had windows and didn’t have any mounted guns on its roof. Around it I found brass casings and bloody bits of armor.

“Looks like they tried to fight here. And died.” Cog paused for a moment, his face grim. “Lets get this thing working.” He jumped aboard the vehicle, I followed close behind.

Some of the windows were smashed, and even inside there were signs of battle. Blood smears, cartridges, the occasional pistol. Cog was already at the far point of the tram, in front of a terminal.

Cog pushed a few buttons and flipped some switches. Lights inside the tram flickered to life. Metal screeched as the whiles turned on the tracks and we slowly started moving.

I passed by a number of seats and noticed that it was getting darker. The first part of the tram station had light, but the tunnel itself was dark.

“Got it! We are out of here!” Cog exclaimed happily. Not a moment too soon.

The hissing had grown in volume and now I could hear skittering behind us. Moving back I watched as we pulled away from the station. Leaving behind all the bodies and gore.

So why wasn’t I calming down? Hissing and clicking could still be heard even as we were moving. Where is it coming from? No pony could keep up at the speed we were going. I looked out through the back window. We were already far enough away that I could barely see the light from the station. So what was making that noise?

The window exploded in my face and I stumbled backwards.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

My face stung from the cuts I got from the broken glass, but I was fortunate enough to raise my hooves and shield my eyes. I felt something heavy hit the floor in front of me.

Was the tunnel collapsing? I moved my hooves away from my face to see. “Sweet Celestia…” A collapsing tunnel and getting crushed would be a thousand times better! Wha-What is that thing?!

Two scythe-like appendages, as big as a pony, had crashed inside and were tearing up a wider hole in the window. The creature’s mouth, big enough to tear off my head in one bite, opened sideways and screamed at me.

My blood froze, I could only watch. A distant part of my mind yelled at me to move, but I couldn’t. The creature was covered in smooth dark-brown chitinous plates. Its many eyes glowed a menacingly yellow, and seemed to root me in place.

“Mist! FUCKING SHIT!” Cog’s shout snapped me back to reality. I levitated my rifle, aimed at the mouth and opened fire. It’s screaming was replaced by the sounds of gunfire and the bell-like ringing of brass casings as they hit the metal floor of the tram.

The rifle clicked empty, I’ve spent the whole magazine and the creature just opened its mouth and screamed at me again. The plates on its head and body showed only scratches. “Shit.” What do I do?!

It wrenched one of its scythes free, leaving a hole in the floor, and then brought it down again closer to me. It was pulling itself inside! I could feel the tram picking up speed, going faster. The creature was having difficulty pulling itself aboard.

BLAM!!!

An explosion from above my head sent flaming bits of metal towards the creature. These too mostly bounced off, but some found purchase in between the plates, and that seemed to hurt the creature.

Looking up I saw Cog’s shotgun wrapped in greenish magic. He was using the incendiary slugs I found. I will slap myself later for not thinking of this sooner, if we lived that is.

I levitated out the magazine I had filled with the armor-piercing rounds, readied the rifle, aimed and fired. This time the bullets did bite through its plates. It screamed again, but not the same scream, this was one of pain.

Dark-bluish blood leaked from the holes I punched through. Cog also continued his assault, peppering it with flaming buck shots. It wailed and started moving left and right as if wanting to shake the bullets off. I aimed for its scythes and fired, but they must be made from full chitin to the core because not even the armor-piercing rounds could damage them.

Cog kept firing at its face and I tried to find a weak spot. Ultimately I tried to shoot at the joint that connected to the scythe. It was nearly impossible to get a shot in with Cog blasting above my head, the creature’s screaming and the movement of the tram.

I tried the breathing technique Zaeryl taught me to steady my aim. I fired and missed. Cog had stopped firing to reload. We have to keep the pressure on the creature! I turned back to it and fired another volley to its face.

“Mist we need to kill this thing!” No, ya think?

“I’m working on it! Keep it busy!” I yelled back. He managed to reload his gun and was firing at it again, so I turned my attention back to the joint of its scythe.

“Come on. Come on. Celestia, Luna please…” I breathed out and fired three bullets. One missed, but the other two hit true. The creature creamed in agony. Its blood gushing from the ruined joint as it moved and tried to pull the scythe out.

I haphazardly kept firing and made a few more lucky shots. More blue blood poured and the joint ripped and separated leaving the scythe imbedded in the floor. Losing its grip the creature gave one more scream of fury and slipped back out the window. Its departure was followed by a grenade, courtesy of Cog. I rose to my hooves and went to the window.

The creature’s body was long, had many legs and a tail that ended with a stinger. I do not doubt that the stinger was poisonous, and was grateful that it didn’t get the chance to use it against us.

BOOOOM!!!

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and relaxed. The little breeze I felt was nice. Wait. Breeze?

“Cog, are we going faster?” It took a moment for him to process what I asked then his eyes went wide and he rushed back to the terminal.

I approached the severed scythe that was still impaled deep into the floor. Blue blood slid down its deadly edge. My thoughts went to the zebra that lost half of his body. It was easy to imagine this thing slicing through tissue and bone effortlessly. A deadly weapon to be sure.

Something struck the ground behind me and a great weight pressed down on my right shoulder, pushing me to the ground. I turned my head to see what had fallen on me. A horribly bleeding and battered head of the creature we had just dispatched, was chewing on my shoulder.

“This can’t be real, I must be hallucinating. We killed you.” I told the creature. My brain stopped and I just kept looking at it. As if in response to my statement it lifted me up, jerked its head and sent me flying through a window.

Celestia or Luna, or maybe both, were still looking out for me. Because as I flew through, what was possibly the last unbroken window, I stretched out my left forehoof, and wrapped it around the metal edge of the window.

I grunted and gritted my teeth as my hoof felt like it was being ripped from the shoulder. Wind was flowing through my mane while I was hanging outside the tram. But I WAS hanging on.

Straining my already battered body, I managed to pull myself inside and plop onto a seat just under the window. My rifle was on the floor underneath the creature.

The thing was in bad shape, bleeding from several gunshot wounds. The grenade blew off some of its many legs from its torso. It was stubborn. It just wouldn’t die!

Levitating the rifle closer to me I jumped off of the seat and onto its back. What the hell am I doing? “Getting yourself killed.” A snarky part of my mind answered. Yeah well then at least you’re coming with me.

Keeping balance on the creatures back was hard as the already smooth plates were now slick with blood. Somehow I clambered to the back of the creatures head and managed to see Cog’s shocked expression as he turned from the terminal.

He levitated his shotgun and pointed it at the creature. I started firing armor-piercing rounds point blank into its back. As it opened its mouth to scream and Cog took the opportunity and shoved his shotgun into its gullet and fired.

Cog had managed three shots before the creature reared back, fire and blood streaming from its maw. My horn grazed the trams roof as I lost balance and fell from its back.

When I got back to my hooves the creature was on the floor twitching feebly.

“Is it dead NOW?!” Cog asked breathlessly.

I looked at the body that had completely stopped moving by now. “I really hope it is, because I don’t think we’ll be able to kill it for the third time.”

Lifting his shotgun, Cog approached the creature and fired two more shots at close range into its ruin of a head, just to be sure it stayed dead.

The tram slowed as we approached the station at Prometheus facility. The entire place was bathed in red warning lights. Not a good sign. We reloaded our weapons while still on the tram and took account of injuries and supplies.

Cog was more or less unharmed, me on the other hoof… The creature had managed to tear off the protective steel plate on my right shoulder. I had a few shallow cuts on my muzzle from the broken glass and a collection of bruises on my body, but my left hoof hurt so bad that I had to limp.

Cog gave me a Med-X and I shuddered with pleasure as the warm sensation spread through my body taking away my hurts and aches, numbing the pain in my hoof. We decided to keep the potions for when we really need them. I had three and Cog had two left, we both agreed that, even though we have a medic in the group, everypony should carry at least five potions for just such situations as this one.

I could brew some basic healing potions and ointments, but out in the desert there weren’t all that many plants. And of those that did grow here I wasn’t sure what properties they had. My knowledge of herbs didn’t extend much outside jungle plants.

Cog took the lead as we stepped off the tram and headed for the massive steel door. He was right, there was a terminal beside the door.

“Alright let’s get the door open so we can get killed by whatever is inside.” Love that optimism you have there Cog.

I looked around while he worked. It looked the same as the station on the other side, minus the holes in the walls. Could it be that those creatures haven’t breached the facility? But then what caused it to fail?

“Ah Mist. We might have a problem here!” So what else is new? I went to Cog to see what this problem might be.

“The door is locked, but it’s not regular automated lock. Someone is keeping it locked. I can’t even get access to it. Whoever it is, he or she is still in the system.”

Uhh… who is in the what now? “I don’t follow?”

“They are logged in. Already using this terminal remotely.” Cog explained.

“Can you contact them?” Might be survivors and If so how will they react to ponies?

“I’ll give it a shot.” Cog typed furiously and I turned around to look at the darkness of the tunnel, rifle at the ready.

My ears started twitching, I heard something faint coming from deep within the tunnel. It sounded like… hissing?

“Oh no.” I turned around. “Cog you have to hurry it up!”

“I’m trying but they’re not responding.” His head kept moving from his PipBuck to the terminal and back to the PipBuck again. “Damn it! Now it’s asking for some kind of verification code!” The hissing was growing louder and this time there was definitely more than one of those things behind us.

Cog stopped his typing, he’s ears erect. “Is that…?”

“The sound of more of those things coming this way? Yes, yes it is.” I answered him as I went over to look at the terminal.

I saw lines that Cog had entered. Pleas for help written in a mangled zebra, but understandable. The hissing was growing louder every moment and I heard Cog ready his shotgun. There was no way we could fight them. We barely managed to kill one of those things let alone a group or more. Why were they ignoring us?

“Mist, maybe if we go back into the tram we could use it to get back to the station. Maybe seal the door there?” It wouldn’t matter, they could enter the station whenever they wanted through the holes in the walls. I raised my hooves and started typing on the terminal.

“Mist! What are you doing?!” Trying to get this door to open I thought. Maybe this will work.

I typed mostly the same messages as Cog, but I didn’t write in zebra, I wrote in equestrian and added that we were ponies. Cog looked at the monitor then back at me like I had lost my mind. Maybe I had. We didn’t speak as we waited, the only sounds that could be heard were the hissing and the skittering of many legs as the creatures drew closer. Cog raised his gun as did I.

Strange I should be more frightened. The adrenaline had worn off after we killed that thing back in the tram, but the Med-X is still coursing through my veins the warmth comforting. The drug dulls pain, maybe Cog should take one too. If we are going to die there is no reason for us to suffer. I opened my mouth to ask him when a new, different sound ripped through the air.

Metal groaned and screeched as the giant door started to rise. Cog stared at it wide eyed and confused, I gave him a shove to snap him from his stupor and we ran inside.

As soon as we entered the door started to slide down again. The flashing red lights from the tram station illuminated the oncoming mass of creatures and for a moment I thought that it wouldn’t close in time. A few of them started jumping and screeching at us, but the door closed before they could reach us and everything went quiet.

“How did you know that would get them to open the door?” Cog asked a few minutes after our initial shock of still being among the living wore off.

“I didn’t. I took a gamble.” Not the healthiest choice with somepony of my luck.

One of Cogs eyebrows went up. “You took a gamble. Why would they let ponies in and not their own?”

Why indeed? “Well we didn’t have the code right? The one to let us through” Cog nodded. “So maybe they thought we were Remnant? All I know is that the Separatists have a more lax attitude towards ponies.” After all some of them willingly work for the Separatists.

Cog seemed to accept this or it didn’t matter to him so long as we are away from those things.

Prometheus still had power. The lights were working and to our relief we didn’t come across any holes in the walls. I wonder why they aren’t digging through here as they did back at Nexus?

Cog and I approached a regular steel door when he raised his hoof to stop me.

“Mist. My EFS. Three hostiles on the other side.” I nodded and readied my rifle, he raised his shotgun.

“Could it be more of those things?” I asked. Three of them? Is nothing ever easy?

“Dunno, could be. So do we go in?” We sure as hell aren’t going back.

I sighed, the Med-X had started wearing off and my left hoof began hurting again. What are our chances against three of those things?

“We don’t have much choice. Be ready.”

Cog grimaced. “Well we sure are trying hard to get ourselves killed. Maybe this time we’ll succeed?”

We headed for the door, Cog pressed a button with his hoof and it opened with a mechanical hiss. Peeking out from the edges of the door I saw three zebras, but they seemed somehow wrong.

One was wearing metal armor the other two had torn white coats. They were wandering aimlessly around the chamber. I looked back at Cog who was standing as still as stone, gaze fixed on one of the zebras.

“Cog.” I whispered. What’s wrong? Following his gaze I realized what had shocked him. These zebras were dead!

Cog’s was looking at a zebra mare and she was staring right back at him. Her eyes were foggy, iris and pupil barely visible. Part of her cheek had melted off revealing teeth and giving her a twisted half grin.

This is wrong! They are dead and yet they are still walking around. Something inside me instinctively reeled at the sight. Something so clearly dead should not be out and about.

“Cog. Cog snap out of it.” I whispered to him, but he didn’t seem to hear me. His mouth worked soundlessly. The zebra started moving slowly towards him.

Damn it! I raised my rifle and aimed for the mare’s head when I heard hoofbeats. My ears turned to the direction of the sound and as much as I hated taking my eyes off the approaching mare I had to find out what was happening.

The buck in armor was almost on top of me when I fired a few rounds into his head. All the bullets hit. I still had the armor-piercing rounds loaded and they went through the rotted head with ease, mincing skull and flesh.

The buck collapsed into a heap in front of me. My mind was racing as I looked at it. This was a ghoul, an undead! Do they know what happened to them? Is some part of them still alive? This… This is so wrong! The mere thought of rotting like that while you were still aware of it made me want throw up. I hope for their sakes that they are dead and that this is just some base instinct at work.

Loud blasts and the smell of burning flesh brought me back t reality. I looked at Cog and the burning corpse of the zebra mare in front of him. He was still using his incendiary rounds.

“No! Damn it no! Not this shit again!” Cog screamed at the corpse as he approached it, tears running down his cheeks. He aimed at the corpse and fired again and again.

“Cog! That’s enough it’s dead. Stop shooting.” He wasn’t listening.

A black and white blur ran straight for Cog and then leapt into the air. Cog turned in time, I don’t know how he could have reacted as fast as he did, but I was glad he did. He raised his shotgun and fired at the ghoul as it fell upon him.

“Oh no.” I watched in horror as the now flaming corpse crashed into Cog. Shit!

I ran at full speed to him readying my magic to lift the corpse off of Cog.

Cog started screaming the sound tinged with pain, fear and anger. Celestia please don’t let him die!

I skidded to a stop and lifted the flaming body off. Cog was curled up and sobbing, thankfully his Stable utility barding protected his body, but his face and hooves had severe burns on them.

“Cog, listen to me. They’re gone. They can’t hurt you, you killed them. Here drink this.” I levitated a potion to his lips and he drank slowly. My heart was beating like crazy but the worst was over. Cog should be alright, but I was more concerned about his mental state. The potion had healed his burns, but he was going to have to wait for his coat to grow back on the new skin.

After a few more sobs Cog seemed to still, his sides steadily rising and falling. I stood watch as he slept. The air was foul with the pungent smell of burned flesh, but at least there didn’t seem to be anymore enemies.

Looking around I noticed two doors. One was open, but clogged up with lockers, desks and anything else that could be crammed in the opening. We might need to use explosives to open the way. The other still seemed to be working normally and that’s why I had my rifle pointed at it. To the right a terminal rested on a table. I was curious, but not enough to leave Cog, even if it was just across the room. So now I was waiting. Watching over Cog while he sleept, my rifle ready in case more ghouls show up.

“Mmmhhh…” Shit. My eyelids feel like lead weights. I have to stand up or I’m going to doze off too.

The last time I had a good night’s sleep was… before Zaeryl died. My dreams have only been getting worse since then. I was grateful for those few dreamless nights I occasionally got, but I was feeling the effects of sleep deprivation now. My head started to hurt again and I was considering Med-X. “No I have to leave it for when we really need it.” I told myself. Cog stirred and I went over to him levitating out a canteen.

“Would it be too much to hope that it was all just a bad dream, and that we’re actually safely back with the others?” He asked wrapping the canteen in his own magic and taking a long swallow. He didn’t wait for me to answer. “Naw that would be too easy. Why would I ever have it easy?”

He was tired. I was tired. We need to try and get out of here while we still have some willpower left.

“How long was I out?”

“A few hours.” Couldn’t be more than two.

“Maybe you should get some sleep? You don’t look so good.” The ponies dancing around the room would disagree with you Cog. Or am I hallucinating now?

“No we have to keep going.” Sleep won’t help me, I have to keep moving while I still can. Cog nodded then looked around.

“Seems clear.” He said giving me the canteen back and rising to his hooves.

Cog went to the door and pressed the switch to open it. Nothing happened. He tried again and still nothing happened.

“It’s locked. Alright let me try the terminal.” I joined him in case he needed anything translated.

The terminal came to life as Cog pressed the buttons. Alright let’s see what the password could be.

As he was trying to find a password the terminal started flashing. Please don’t blow up. I pleaded while taking a step back from malfunctioning terminal.

The screen flashed a few times before going dark. Cog opened his mouth to say something when it suddenly came back to life. The image however was not that of the subsystem we needed. Instead a zebra was looking at us.

“Uh oh.”

“What the fuck!” Cog exclaimed. The zebra blinked at us, his expression unchanged.

“You are still alive. Interesting. One moment.” The switch by the door beeped. “There. You will now find the door to be unlocked.” Cog and I exchanged a look before turning back to the zebra on the terminal.

This was a strange zebra buck. I noticed that the pupil of his left eye had a bright blue glow. Around his pupil, on the iris, were four more lights arraigned clock-wise. Above the blue glowing pupil glowed a smaller same colored light. At two o'clock a green light, at four it was purple and at six o’clock a small red light glowed. There is no way that’s a normal eye. Is it mutation?

“Who are you?” Cog asked his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“I am a scientist.” He answered in a monotone voice.

“Were you the one who opened the door for us back at the tram?” I asked.

“Yes.” Umm… okay. Am I going to have to pull words out of him?

“Why?”

“I was intrigued as to who it was claiming to be ponies. And it seems that you are ponies. Two unicorns to be precise.” So he was just interested in finding out if we were telling the truth.

“And why did you unlock this door?” I asked pointing at the door. He’s just letting us in? I mean he said he’s a scientist most likely working for the Separatists.

“I assume you wish to continue?”

“Are there more of those messed up creatures inside?” Cog asked.

“Messed up creatures?” This seemed to confuse the zebra for a moment. “Ah. You must mean the Mallar. No there are none within Prometheus, the walls are reinforced. However you are correct they are… “messed up”. It is not natural for them to venture this far from the deep desert. Something has drawn them here. The recent activity of Prometheus most likely.” The zebra nodded when he finished his monologue, apparently forgetting about us.

He turned his head to the left of the screen and this gave me a chance to get a look at the left side of his face. Silver lines appeared to be flowing from the back of his neck, under his ear and connecting into his left eye. It certainly wasn’t a tattoo, that’s for sure.

Cog saw the way I was looking and said in a whisper. ”He’s a cyberzebra. A zebra enhanced with arcano-tech. He’s the first zebra I ever saw with those kind of enhancements though.” I looked back at the screen, the zebra was staring back at us. For a moment I feared he might have overheard us but he gave no indication, just continued looking at us.

Cog rubbed the back of his head with a hoof and looked at me not knowing what to do. Alright maybe he can help us get out of here.

“Is there a way out of Prometheus?” The zebra tilted his head at this.

“You mean other than the way you entered?” I nodded. Luna please let there be another way out.

“Yes. Prometheus is one of the few facilities that has its own independent surface access.” Finally some good news.

“Can you tell us how to get out?” Cog asked eagerly. The zebra seemed to consider this question.

“You are at the tram station level. First you must get to the upper levels, then pass the control hub and to the garage.”

“Garage?” Never heard of this before. I wonder what it does? The zebra picked up on this.

“Due to the nature of the experiments that occurred here at Prometheus, a vehicle is required to carry the research projects deeper into the desert for field testing.” The zebra finished, Cog cleared his throat and told me that a garage was like a house used to keep vehicles safe from the elements while not in use.

A house. For vehicles? Actually that would make more sense than just leaving them outside.

Cog turned his attention back to the zebra. “Exactly what kind of experiments were you running here?” Yeah what he said.

“Weapon research for the most part. The most recent was a salvaged megaspell that the Separat-“ Cog stuttered interrupting the zebra.

“You have a fucking megaspell! Here?!” The zebra nodded. That’s the weapon the Separatists have?!

“However time has taken its toll and it is no longer as potent as it once was. It is at… one third of its original yield.” A bead of sweat trinkled down Cog’s head, I was too stunned to say anything. A megaspell. Like the ones they used to bomb Equestria. Rage welled up inside me. Those bombs did this! They turned the world into the Hell it is now, and they want to use them again?!

Cog poked me. “Mist this must be the weapon we were sent to find. We can’t leave it here.” He’s right. Blowing up the world once is quite enough. But how do we move it? How big are they anyway?

The zebra coughed to get our attention. “The vehicle in the garage is designed for transporting such ordinance. You might consider using it.”

“Why are you helping us? Aren’t you with the Separatists?” I asked leveling him with a look. His face was unreadable. He would be a an unstoppable card player.

“I am a scientist. The quarrel between the Remnant and the Separatists does not concern me.” The zebra answered flatly, motioning with his hoof as if brushing aside the Remnant and Separatists.

“Yeah, but didn’t you work on the megaspell or something?” Cog asked scratching a patch of bare skin on his face. His fur must be growing back.

“I examined it and offered insight. It was a rare opportunity to learn. However my research is now complete. If you wish to take it you are free to do so. I’m sure you will put it to better use than the Separatists or Remnant ever could.” Well not using it would be putting it to better use.

“Will you help us?” I asked.

“Isn’t helping you exactly what I’m doing now?” He asked tilting his head. Well yeah, but we could always use more help.

“I mean with moving the megaspell, and helping us get out of here.”

“No.” Great. “Once we are done here I will take my leave. There are other projects that demand my attention.”

“Well thanks for letting us in. We should be safe in here anyway.” Cog levitated his shot gun and started walking to the door.

“Safe? Oh no, you are still very much in danger.” The zebra said. Well it’s good to know some things never change. “The Mallar can’t reach you, but you will still have to contend with the security system and any reanimated former staff members.” Cog froze at that last part. They couldn’t have all been turned into ghouls, right?

“What about the living? Beside you or us is there anyone still alive?” I asked. Maybe we could convince one of the scientists to help us.

The zebra didn’t answer right away, he seemed to be lost in thought.

“It is possible. The last “living” zebra I interacted with had been Triss… before she attacked and tried to kill me.” I could almost hear a hint of annoyance at that last part. “Her mental health is questionable. I suspect the incident had a far greater impact on her psyche. If you come across her I advise caution.” More corpses, automated defenses and a mad zebra. Nothing is ever easy.

“What was the incident?” Cog asked from behind the table.

“The incident at Black-Light.” My mane tingled at the mention of the station. Too many bad things seemed to occur there. This Triss was most likely the survivor mentioned in the journal and terminal back at the outpost.

“What exactly happened at Black-Light?” Cog continued. The zebra shrugged.

“The exact details are uncertain, but it would seem that an artifact was uncovered that had strange magical properties. It caused a number of accidents which in turn claimed many lives. Triss is the only one that managed to survive. According to her all the members involved with the artifact suffered mental breakdowns at some point and started killing each other. I am unsure if this is the truth, however her recent behavior would support her claims. Perhaps in her case ‘the madness’ took longer to manifest.” Cog and I exchanged worried glances. “In any event the tram line to Black-Light has collapsed. The facility completely sealed off along with the artifact.”

A tremor ran through the station causing the lights to flicker and the terminal to lose the picture for a moment. It was like the dull throbbing back at Nexus, only this time it was much stronger.

“The fuck was that?” Cog asked when the light returned to normal.

All that sand, pressing down on us. I shook my head and mentally smacked myself. Don’t think about it! Don’t think about it!

“I am unsure. Seismic activity has been increasing steadily over the recent weeks.” The zebra said in his neutral tone.

“Alright let’s just get moving.” The sooner we do this the better. The zebra nodded and the screen went dark.

“Right I’m sick of this place too.” Cog went over to the door and opened it.

I aimed down the sights of my rifle and fired. The third and final ghoul fell to the floor. I changed the bullets back to the regular ones, no sense in wasting the armor-piercing rounds on ghouls.

“Mist! Everything OK?” Cog asked from inside a room he was looting while I stood guard outside.

“Three more ghouls. They’re dead now.” Well deader. No matter how much they freaked me out, I found it a lot easier shooting ghouls than regular zebras. They are so animalistic. No they are even less than that. No intelligence at all.

Cog and I were steadily making our way up through Prometheus. We found more ammo on the way and a few caps. The Sparkle-Cola and preserved food we found helped lift our spirits and Cog seemed to be dealing with the ghouls a lot better. They still disturbed him, but not to the point that he couldn’t function. If anything good comes out of this little expedition, it will be Cog facing his fears.

“Well nothing useful in here, let’s keep going.” Cog said as he finished looking over the room he was in.

The next door led us to another staircase. At the top we found ourselves in a large room with a terminal, several lockers and a small square metal door in a wall. Cog whistled and trotted over to it right away.

“A safe! I wonder what’s inside?” He said gleefully and sat in front of it, levitating out his screwdriver and bobby pin. I headed over to the terminal.

What could the password be? I tried entering one and it wasn’t correct.

“Damn it.” Cog cursed and I saw him levitating out another bobby pin.

After two more attempts I managed to unlock the terminal. The password was “Knowledge”. Several options popped up, one of them was “Unlock safe”. A grin spread across my face.

“Hey Cog.”

“Hmm. What?” He looked at me, one bobby pin held in his mouth the other just a few inches from the safe. I just grinned and selected the option to open the safe. The metal door clicked and Cog turned to look at the safe. Glaring at it like it betrayed him or something.

“Well sure if you want to take all the fun out of it.” He grumbled and pulled the door open.

“Anything good?” I asked trying to peek over his shoulder.

“Just some papers and some-Oooh shiny!” He looked at me and smiled while he levitated out a black revolver. It was a perfect replacement for Cog’s old one. He offered it to me, but I declined. I already have my pistol and rifle, IronClaw would probably hold on to my sniper until we return.

“Also there is this.” He levitated out three bullets that had electric-blue lines imprinted along their length. “They look like sniper rounds.” He levitated them over to me.

He’s right they are sniper rounds, but a much higher caliber than for the one I have. This was a .50 caliber round, my sniper used .308. But these bullets were very strange indeed. They didn’t come in a box and had no markings on them beside the lines that spiraled down their length.

I levitated them back to Cog when he raised a hoof.

“Keep them. Who knows maybe you’ll find a better sniper later. I can tell you those are high quality rounds.” I thanked him and dumped the bullets into my saddlebags.

“Come take a look at the terminal, I think I found something.” There were journal entries of a zebra scientist I wanted to show him. I started from the oldest one available.

--- > Personal journal entry 36.
At last it seems we are going to get some help an expert. Well I hope he is as good as they claim, we could definitely use the help. I’ve also taken the liberty to notify the maintenance crew of the drop in power we’re experiencing, so far it hasn’t affected our experiments, but better to have it sorted out.

--- > Personal journal entry 37.
An expert indeed! They sent us Zaxis, only the greatest scientific mind of this age! Naturally this caused some trouble with the weapon wielding idiots. Yes I’ve read the reports he killed a few Separatist soldiers, so what? They endangered his research! You damn better believe I would have done the same in his hooves. I just wished I could have been there when the head of Prometheus told the guards that Zaxis was here under direct orders from the Caesar. The looks on their faces would have been priceless!
On a different note we’ve been experiencing tremors of late. Earthquakes? Here in the desert? Darmas would have us believe that we’ve woken up a Nubian. Him and his legends, honestly he is more fit to be a historian than a scientist.

--- > Personal journal entry 38.
I talked with him! Sure it was just a few words, but by the spirits! His grasp of mechanics and magical matrices is unparalleled! I dare say will have a way to replicate megaspells in a few months. Also ran into Triss… no way near as pleasant. She has been of great assistance here of course, but her radical theories of magic have raised many questions and frighteningly most of them were proven true. Something is definitely wrong with her. Perhaps the stress is getting to her, with what she’s been through I’m surprised she’s capable of working at all. The other day I caught her muttering to herself. Something about not letting others know and keeping “it” safe. When I approached her and suggested she visit the doctor she just scoffed and said that she’s fine. I’m going to have to mention this to head of research.

--- > Personal journal entry 39.
We’ve been losing connection with Nexus so naturally it’s somehow our fault. Drawing a lot of power? Of course we are! By the spirits we’re not baking toast here! We’re unraveling the secrets of weapons of mass destruction! Idiots!

--- > Personal journal entry 40.
Mallar in the tunnels! We are sealing Prometheus and sending a warning to Nexus, hopefully they will receive it. Systems have been failing allover Prometheus. I don’t envy the maintenance crew.

--- > Personal journal entry 41.
We’re cut off from Nexus! Mallar in the tunnels and now the communications are out too. Four of the maintenance tem have turned up dead and Triss has been attacked! Sabotage! Someone doesn’t want us to succeed. Could the Remnant have planted a mole amongst us?

--- > Personal journal entry 42.
This will be my final entry until the situation is resolved. Now we seem to have magical radiation leaks in the megaspell chamber, several have already died from exposure and a few of them have come back from the dead. I’m sure Zaxis will be able to take care of the radiation problem, in the meantime every member will be confined to their rooms until the infiltrator is identified. Well here’s to a quick resolution to this problem.

“You don’t suppose that the zebra we’ve been talking to was this Zaxis?” Cog asked me while he prodded the terminal for more information.

“Definitely. He fits the description from what we found here and at the outpost.”

“Well I found and downloaded the schematics for this place. We won’t be going around blind anymore.” He looked up to me. “We done here?” I nodded and we continued out of the room.

The next area split in to three short hallways. To the left it said “Research”. The door ahead of us had “Control hub” written above it and to the right it said “Living area”. Which way do we go?

“Research.” Cog said looking to his PipBuck. ”That’s where they’re keeping the megaspell.”

As we entered the new hallway Cog raised a hoof to stop me, his PipBuck making a clicking sound. He levitated two tiny black and yellow orbs to me.

“Umm… what are these?” I asked as I took them with my magic. They were strangely heavier than I expected them to be.

“Rad-X. Make you a bit resistant to radiation, but it won’t last long so we better hurry up.” He swallowed his and went ahead. I gave the Rad-X pills a glance and then swallowed them too and followed Cog.

It was unnaturally warm in here, or was that because of the radiation? The clicking from Cogs PipBuck was growing louder and faster the deeper we went. The air had a distinct taste of metal. That can’t be good.

“Shit!”

“What’s wrong Cog?” His head was darting all over the place.

“Enemies. Ghouls.” He hissed out that last word.

I raised my rifle and started hearing hoofbeats on the metal floor. I turned to Cog and whispered. ”How many?”

“Ten. Maybe more. Only a few of them are moving though.” Shit this is bad. We have to keep moving or the radiation will kill us.

“Let’s keep going. Slowly, maybe we can avoid them?” He nodded and started moving.

My throat started itching. I really wanted to cough, but had to keep quiet so as to not attract attention.

“Shit. We have to turn back. The radiation is only getting stronger.” I nodded feebly, starting to feel a little nauseous. Was I coming down with something?

A zebra walked out from behind a corner and turned to face us. It was giving off a sickly green glow from the cracks in its skin. Cog and I didn’t move. Maybe it will just walk on?

It opened its mouth to give out a gargling sound and galloped right for us.

BLAM!

Cog shot it with his shotgun and it collapsed. So much for staying undetected.

All around us I could hear hoofbeats. We’ve just rang the dinner bell. And if that wasn’t enough the zebra ghoul Cog had just shot had started rising again, its wounds warping shut.

“Son of a bitch!”

BLAM!

Cog shot it again then turned to me. “Radiation heals them” You don’t say. “Run!”

We started running back only to stop when we came up against three more of them. Cog set a grenade rolling their way and we double timed it back.

The explosion sounded muffled in the corridors as we kept running. The same zebra that Cog had shot twice was once again in front of us. I raised my rifle and fired at its head and it crashed to the floor for the third time.

Cog and I leapt over it, not stopping. My throat was itching like crazy and I had a hard time running. I felt out of breath and ready to keel over any minute. We stopped when we came in front of a window from which a multitude of lights emanated. Beyond the window was an egg.

The egg was pony-sized and was mostly pink, but it also had swirling green and red thrown into the mix. It had a crack on it. Small wisps of pink gas escaped from it and danced like tiny flames on its surface.

“That-cough-That’s it.” Cog pointed, I was in awe. Despite being what it was, it still had a certain beauty. Arching my head down, and heaving out my meal reminded me that we were essentially dying by standing here like idiots.

“Cog we-cough-got to go!” I wiped my mouth, the hoof came away bloody. Shit.

We continued moving away from the egg megaspell as fast as we could. I was too sick to be sure, but I think we went in a circle, and were headed back to the door from where we came in.

“More of you rotting fuc-cough-fuckers.” Cog cursed as blood dribbled down his chin. The exit was behind them only a few meters.

“Just blast them.-cough- We have to get out of here.” Not the best strategy, but we need to get out of here. I raised my rifle and started firing, Cog followed suit.

The zebra ghouls were trampling over their fallen to get to us, but all they got for their trouble was a mouth full of lead. My magazine was out so with what strength I still had left I levitated a corpse as it was coming back to life and chucked it at the nearest ghoul that we didn’t shoot.

We scrambled out of the research area and collapsed on the floor.

Gurgling noises came from the hallway, the ghouls were coming right for us. Turning over on my back I aimed and fired. Nothing. My gun was empty.

Cog was panting beside me, blood dripping from his mouth, his eyes closed. I levitated his shot gun and aimed at the switch beside the door and fired. A ghoul was almost through when the door snapped shut and a rotting hoof flew out and came to a stop at my hooves.

I looked at it and bucked it away, then spread out on the floor and closed my eyes. To hell with this. My skin and insides were burning, my throat felt like I had swallowed razor blades. I need… I need some sleep.

Feeling slowly returned to my body. I was laying on my back on a hard surface, but something was in my mouth and it tasted sour… like oranges. I moved my tongue and felt a tube in my mouth. The Hell? I tried to rise and pull out the offending tube when a pair of hooves pushed me back down.

I reached for my rifle. It’s gone! My pistol? Gone too! Where is my gear?! I thrashed around helplessly trying to get up, nearly choking on the tube in my mouth.

“Wow easy Mist. And keep that in your mouth, it’s RadAway. It will neutralize the radiation.” That was Cog’s voice. I calmed down and started examining my surroundings.

The room was clean, unusually so. Stark white walls, metal lockers and cupboards had an almost mirror shine to them. I felt around with my hooves.

I appeared to be laying on a metal bed, the tube in my mouth connected to a bag filled with an orange liquid. The bag was hanging from a coat hanger. I looked at Cog. He seemed to be doing much better.

Was that a zebra? I spotted a black and white form behind him, slumped against a wall. Cog followed my gaze.

“Oh her? She was here when I found this place. Guess she didn’t manage to get to a potion in time.” He levitated out a little book. “She had this in her saddlebags, but I sure as hell can’t read it.” He lowered the book beside me.

The zebra mare had several circular burn marks on her. The flesh looked warped and it seems that whatever she was attacked with had managed to burn a few actual holes through her. How could she have managed to drag herself here with injuries like that?

“You should rest. We’re in a medical ward, should be safe here.” Cog said and I pointed to the tube.

“Oh yeah.” He pulled it out with his magic and I nearly gagged. “But you still have to drink it. We got doused with a shitload of radiation. Good thing they kept this place well stocked, otherwise…” He shuddered. Otherwise we wouldn’t need night lights to read in the dark.

Sitting up, Levitating the RadAway bag off its hook, and removed the long tube. I drank from the smaller tube that was connected to the bag itself. Cog went back to rummaging through some cabinets looking for anything useful. I decided to check out the little book he had left me while I enjoyed my refreshing orange tasting drink.

The book was torn at places and smeared with blood. I had trouble finding a page that could be read, but from what I gathered it was some kind of a journal. I cracked it open, bits of blood flaking off it as I did. Oh the joys of reading blood soaked diaries. There is something fundamentally wrong with that.

This is incredible! The discovery of a lifetime! And to think I am to study it. Ooh I can’t wait to begin. Bout time Black-Light got a project worthy of it, up until now it was only guess work. I read the reports and if it can really do what they claim… well let’s just say the dawn of a new age is upon us!

This is the journal from a zebra that worked in Black-Light! Finally some answers. I was getting tired of that cryptic nonsense about “incidents” and “artifacts”.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. The way the light falls on it is amazing. The artifact looks like a sliver of glass. A blue so dark it’s almost black. And oh yes it can definitely do what the reports claim. Soon we will be able to use magic as the unicorns can, but first the artifact needs to be carefully examined. It is radiating its own magical field and the one in contact with it seems to be able to perform simple levitation, but only for as long as the contact is maintained. By the spirits I’m so excited!


Hmm… this is unexpected. Everyone that came in contact with the artifact (five of my colleagues) have made claims to experiencing vivid and disturbing dreams. Could it be possible that the artifact has an effect on the psyche? I will have to try it for myself. Purely for scientific reasons. Oh very well I really want to touch it!


Vivid dreams indeed! But I wouldn’t call them disturbing. The artifact simply wishes to teach us. It holds so many secrets. I wonder if we bring it together with others will its power increase? Regardless I can hardly wait to hold it again!

Suddenly Zaxis’s claims, or whatever that cyberzebras name is, didn’t sound so far fetched. The next few pages are torn up and too badly damaged to be legible, so I flipped on to the next page that could actually be read.

I have been placed in charge of the artifact since the others now fear to come near it. Foals. Well I’m not complaining. I am beginning to think that there is much more to this than previously suspected.

As I read the pages got blacker and the paper started crumbling. Had someone tried to burn this journal? Carefully I flipped to the next legible part.

Dangerous! Of course it’s dangerous! Just think from where it came and who used it last when it was whole! And why is every damn zebra suddenly interested in my health? I never felt better in my life! And what’s this nonsense about limiting my exposure to the artifact?!


I’ve been such a foal! They want to destroy it! Is the Caesar aware of this? Of course not! This is Direls work. Him and his cabal of frightened whelps. So they are afraid of the artifact and they are going to secretly destroy it? I don’t think so. I’ll play along for now, but there is no way I am going to let them get away with this!


I had to kill a few of the scientists who were sticking their muzzles where they don’t belong. They sent security to investigate, but they will never be able to prove it was me. As for the artifact it needs to be moved to a safer place, but where and how?

Yep! Definitely crazy alright.

Ha! This is incredible! The very stars themselves are providing for me! One of the mares in security has been in contact with the artifact, perhaps another piece? I can see it in her eyes. She is perfect! She can take the artifact away while I deal with these foals. Then later we ca-

We what? I squinted and tried to figure out the next few words, but a blood smear covered the rest of the writing. Scratching at it only ruined the paper more.

Excellent she has agreed as I knew she would. Tomorrow they will bring a number of magically irradiated components for us to study. Perfect! They should make a nice big BANG!


It’s done. The tunnel is collapsed. And the foals at Nexus believe that it was due to the artifact that also now rests somewhere in the ruins. It was too easy. They all believed that it drove everyone insane based on a few strange dreams Direl reported. Ha! And thanks to your cowardice you will rot in that place forever. I must admit I’m starting to miss having it near, but it is safe now. Maybe I should go and find the mare and we could… No! That will draw suspicion. Perhaps I could join Prometheus? That way I can still keep an eye out in case anything surfaces and the artifact is placed in danger again.


I looked at the body of the zebra mare. This is Triss, the only survivor. She collapsed the tram tunnel on purpose to protect the artifact. She really was insane. And she worked at Prometheus for years after that? I turned back to the journal and sipped more RadAway.

Working here is so dull compared to Black-Light, but at least I know it’s safe. I’m still having those beautiful dreams and it’s comforting.


Hmm an undetonated megaspell? Not my area, but at least it will be more interesting then what they had us do for the past few years. Has it been so long?


The next entries seem to be of her thoughts of the megaspell. It was way over my head, so I skipped to the last two pages where something happened.

So they are sending an expert to help us? Whatever.


I’ve met the zebra. He’s called Zaxis and he is… interesting. I wonder what caused him to lose an eye and three of his hooves? He’s more machine than zebra, acts like it too.


What gives him the right to pry his muzzle into my past!? I don’t give a damn if he’s the Caesar’s favorite or whatever. This stops now!


He is considering reopening the investigation in to Black-Light?! Does he have the authority to do that? Doesn’t guess I’ll have to take care of him. Oh well and to think we were getting along so well.


Damn it! Got careless. And those foals from maintenance dare attack me! Well were cut off from Nexus. The Mallar have gotten into the tunnels. Another perfect opportunity. And how does it go: “History is written by those who survive it.” yes I like the sound of that.

The last page is badly smeared with blood and is hastily written. These must be her final moments before she died.

I underestimated him. He’s tough. Those damned enhancements. Well at least the Mallar will keep him from getting out. Going to rest now and finish him off later.


“Cog! I think you should hear this.” I said as I tossed aside the empty bag of RadAway.

“What’s wrong, where’s the fire?” I told him what I found out and reread the journal out loud. He looked at the mare and shuddered.

“Well I’m glad the crazy bitch is dead. I wouldn’t want to face her that’s for sure.” Cog wasn’t kidding. Even dead her eyes didn’t have the look of fear or despair or even peace, they were full of hate. “Wait. Doesn’t this mean that there is some freaky artifact out there somewhere?” Crap.

“I really don’t want to think about it right now.” I said while rubbing my head with a hoof.

“You feeling better?” I nodded and hopped off the bed. My things were in a pile next to a table.

Strapping the saddle bags on and readying my rifle I made sure the magazine was full. “So where do we go now?”

Cog looked at his PipBuck. “To the control hub. In hindsight we should have gone there in the first place.” Live and learn right.

Magical energy crackled above our heads, the air smelled of ozone. The door to the control hub was just ahead, but we were pinned down by the turrets firing magical energy at us.

I switched out the regular ammo for the armor-piercing rounds while Cog was blasting at them from his new black revolver. The thing was certainly loud, but at least it managed to do some damage to the turrets. It would be easier if he had some armor-piercing rounds for it.

I peeked out and fired three bullets at it. All of them connected and pierced the metal, but the turret was still functioning.

“Aim for the light. That’s the targeting matrix.” Cog yelled from his cover. You mean the tiny red light? Yeah that shouldn’t be a problem, especially while they are still shooting at me.

Thankfully Cog realized my predicament and went out of hiding to draw their fire away. I used the opportunity and ducked out of cover, breathed out and fired. I blew away the red light, but now the thing went crazy and started shooting at random.

The other turret locked onto me and hit me right in the chest.

Sweet Celestia it hurts! I felt like I’ve been bucked, with a branding iron! “Aaahh!” Shit! I tried hugging my chest and was rewarded with burning my hooves.

I tried to call out to Cog. Why was I on the ground? I don’t remember falling.

Beams of magical energy where flying everywhere. I raised my head to get a better look. Yeah stupid I know. The turret I shot was still firing at… Luna knows what, but the other one was a melted pile of slag.

A grenade flew towards the crazy turret.

BOOOM!!!

Pieces of scrap metal clattered as they hit the ground.

Cog rushed over to me. “You couldn’t have done that in the first place?” I hissed through gritted teeth.

“Just one more left.” Cog said apologetically, dangling said grenade in the air. “Do you need a potion?” He started levitating one out of his saddlebags.

I winced as I wiggled in my armor, praying that the beam hadn’t melted it to my hide. It didn’t, thankfully. The beam struck me in the chest just under the brooch, and left a circular slightly warped scorch mark there.

I’m glad I had the steel plate sewn on, if it was just the Kevlar… Best not to think about it.

I took the potion and drank it quickly. The healing magic soothed the pain and I could breathe easier again. “Let’s just get out of here. Please.”

The room the turrets were guarding, the control hub, was full of computers.

“Wow…” Cog exclaimed going to a terminal next to a window. I followed and looked out through it.

The window showed a huge closed area that seemed to slope upwards to the ceiling. Impressive.

“That’s the garage, look down there.” Cog pointed with a hoof. ”There’s our ride.”

I leaned out, my face almost touching the glass. Now this looks more like the tank the Remnant uses. It didn’t have any guns mounted on its roof and instead of normal wheels, it had two belts wrapped around them.

The vehicle had two sets of these “tracks” you could call them. In the middle, between the tracks, it looked like the vehicle was made to be able to bend slightly to the left and right. No doubt that makes turning easier.

I won’t lie. I was really excited to try the thing out!

“Umm Mist. You’re probably gonna be pissed, but it seems the megaspell can automatically be raised from the chamber and loaded into the vehicle.” Cog smiled sheepishly from the terminal.

“You mean we almost died from radiation and could have been eaten alive, for nothing?” He nodded.

“Well it looks like we both suck when it comes to choosing a direction.” I said rubbing my temples with my hooves. I’m chalking up our survival thus far to pure dumb luck.

“Well to be fair your choices actually got us this far.” He added as he typed on the terminal. “Hey! I think we can reach Nexus from here!”

That snapped me back to attention. “What?”

“Yeah I think we can reach Nexus station. Maybe we can see how Saw, IronClaw and Shrapnel are doing, if they haven’t left yet.” Talk to them?

“Yes do it.” I nodded vigorously, he smiled and started typing faster.

The screen flashed a few times then a picture appeared. A large room with a pony covered head to hoof in armor was standing at the door, her rump turned to us. Now I wonder which hyperactive armored mare that could be?

“Shrapnel!” Cog and I yelled at the same time.

“Can she hear us?” I asked already starting to panic.

“I don’t see why not we could hear that zebra Zaxis.” Cog answered and started flipping a few switches, but the mare did hear us. She turned her head.

“Cog? Mist?” Then she noticed the screen and rushed at it. She scrambled up, her head covering the entire screen. “You guys are alive!!!”

I couldn’t see her face because of her helmet, but I was sure she was smiling. It felt good to hear her voice again. I never realized how much I missed it. From now on I will listen to any story she wants tells me!

“Shrapnel keep it down! Who are you talking to?” That was IronClaw! I was practically bouncing in place, my tail swishing left and right. Shrapnel moved away from the screen and the stoic griffin came into view.

My excitement dropped a little when I saw him. His feathers were ruffled and dried blood was smeared over his left eye and around his beak.

“Boss! What happened?!” Cog asked leaning into the screen. IronClaw’s golden eyes widened when he saw us.

“Cog, Mist how… What…?”

“Well fuck me with a tree. Mist and pukeface.” Saw came to stand beside IronClaw. She too was injured and had a few bandages tied around her neck and one of her hoof.

“Well hello you decrepit old ba-“

“Enough! Can’t you at least wait until you are in the same room?” IronClaw interrupted the greeting. “Where are you?”

“At Prometheus and we found the weapon.” I answered.

“You’ll like this. The weapon is a megaspell.” Cog added. Saw whistled and said some profanity about Celestia’s sun and her crotch. IronClaw was deep in thought, so Cog went ahead and explained how we plan to load it into the vehicle and use it to get out of here.

IronClaw nodded while he rubbed his chin. “Good work you two. Don’t you dare let yourselves get killed now. Be careful.”

“What happened to you?” I insisted. They weren’t injured when we got separated.

The griffin sighed. “We got attacked by the things that killed off the zebras here. They showed up a few hours after our last talk in the elevator shaft. Never seen creatures like these before.”

Cog and I told IronClaw what we learned about the Mallar and gave him a short version of our adventures.

“See I told you joining us would be fun.” Shrapnel chirped happily. Radiation, ghouls, turrets… giant bugs. Did I forget anything? Oh yeah! Megaspells and mad zebras. Loads of fun.

“Right. Well you know what to do. Get the megaspell loaded and then get your flanks back here.” IronClaw might not show it, but I could see it in his eyes. He was happy that we were still alive. The whole time we talked his voice had a softness to it even while scolding Saw and Cog.

“Get your rumps in gear. I’m sick of this place.” Saw said smiling, IronClaw nodded and Shrapnel waved. The two of us smiled back at them and then Cog cut the link.

“Well looks like we got some work to do.” He said leaning into the chair by the terminal, very pleased with himself.

I looked out through the window at the vehicle waiting for us and a smile tugged at my lips. “Let’s do this.”

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: How We Do It Down on the Farm – In combat, your critical hits are more devastating. Your damage from critical hits, including Sneak Attack Criticals, is increased by 50%. This does not affect the chance to cause a critical hit.

(Thank you Kkat for making such an awesome story and world in which other ponies like myself can play and let loose our imagination. Somber deserves thanks as well. For proving that side-stories can be just as amazing and unforgettable as the original. Special thanks to Damhoof, Mentidabrony and Isphone for helping me edit and sort out the convoluted mess I've made out of Mist's story. Thanks also go to DamnfoolBrony for working his magic and helping me set up the perks. Oh and very special thanks to Lauren Faust!)