I awoke to find myself face to face with an older stallion. I yelped and tried to backtrot, only to find that my hooves were held in place.

"Firey? Is that you?" His eyes focused on me. ... Firey. I have not heard that name since I was... young. Very young. A closer inspection revealed that this stallion looked like me... but he was a pegasus. An old one, with a messy mane in the exact same shade of blue as mine.

"Captain Nimbus!" The stallion and I both turned to look at Pumpkin Blitz, who had spoken. "You are Captain Nimbus, aren't you?"

Cerulean Mend awoke with a loud oath. "Sombra's left testicle! Red, you bastard. You're still alive? Of course you're still alive."

"Blue! Is that you? Well shit, it is you. Still pining after Sapphire? Of course you are." Somewhere in the back of my mind processed that "Sapphire" presumably referenced my mother, and that Cerulean had 'liked' my mother. Ew. Cerulean sputtered furiously as the pegasus - my dad? - turned to Pumpkin. "That would be 'King' Nimbus now, but yes, that's me. You must be Gusty and Sunbeam's kid. How are they doing?"

"They're doing fine, sir." I spent a long moment considering strange turn of events had lead to this meeting, glancing up towards the ceiling, only to realize that the floor is up. Oh crap. I immediately regretted it as my motion sickness made its presence felt, pulling my eyes back down to the 'floor'.

The red stallion suddenly dropped off the ceiling, wings flaring out as he flipped, landing on his hooves. "Aye Azure, get us out of here." The door opened and sounds of a half dozen ponies filing inside. A moment later found me with my hooves safely on what my stomach comfortably told me was solid ground and I looked around the room. Most of the ponies that had entered were guards. That I could tell easily enough, with their cropped manes and stern demeanor. A red streak ran through their mane. The last one... looked like my mother, but a stallion. What in...?

"You two, fall in. The rest of you, back to your positions." My father - it still felt weird talking about this strange stallion like that - gave orders and trotted out of the room, clearly expecting us to follow him.

I glanced to my team, who shrugged. Cerulean was still sputtering quietly. Pumpkin and Dashie glanced to me for orders, and I nodded towards the door. We'll follow, for now. The guards prodded us, and I confidently led the way outside, guards flanking us from the rear. They kept their distance, out of hoof range. These guys are good.

Outside, we entered a detention center. I'd seen detention centers before, and this was definitely a detention center. A bunch of small cells around a large, metal and concrete hallway, with a single door leading out at one end. A security station blocked the way out, but we were waved through with Crimson.

Crimson glanced back. "I'm afraid I have some business I should have been attending to instead of hanging", he chuckled, "out with you." No, dad. Cringe. "So in the mean time, Azure will show you around." Crimson took to wing and headed off through the narrow hallways out of sight and the unicorn - Azure, I guess? - took the lead, leading us through the halls confidently. The two guards followed us, keeping their distance.

"So Firefly, is Overmare Lily still in charge?"

I blinked at that seemingly random question. "I'm afraid that's classified." I paused, glancing to the unicorn. "Okay... I'm gonna need some answers." I stopped moving, Dashie and Pumpkin flanking me. "Who the hell are you?" The guards took a step back, keeping their weapons on us.

"Yeah I suppose that's true." He looked to me, head canted. "You don't remember me?"

"No." Should I? "You look like my mother, but if she were a stallion."

"Ouch..." Azure winced. "That's... actually pretty close. I'm her twin brother, so that makes me your uncle."

What. Dashie spoke up. "That would make you Lieutenant Azure Luminance, then." Azure Luminance was an older unicorn with a dark, pale blue coat and a short, cropped mane with pink and green streaks.

"That's me." He grinned to Dashie, then turned back to me. "So... how is Sapphire doing? Still Chief of Security?" He nodded and gestured for us to continue following him, which I did, after a glance to his guards.

"Hrrrm? Oh! No. After you and dad left, my mother - your sister - became a neglectful alcoholic. Hot Range is now Head of Security." Azure winced slightly at my not-so-subtle jab.

"Okay, okay... So you're kind of mad. We had our reasons. Crimson will explain lat- Wait. Did you say Hot Range is now the chief?" He swore. "So I lost the bet." What the...? He elaborated at my dark look. "After Crimson and I... left... we made a bet on who would take over his position. I bet that Hot Range would become Head of Field Ops. Obviously... I was wrong." He frowned. "So who took over Crimson's position?"

"Defiant Armet."

Azure burst out laughing. "Armet became Chief of Field Ops? That rhetoric-spewing moron? Wow, the Stable must have been desperate." No, really. A glance to Dashie revealed he was very carefully doing his best to not laugh at Azure's comment. "Anyways..." Azure glanced forward, opening the double doors at the end of the hallway. "Welcome to the main base of operations for the Crimson Raiders."

I had to admit... it was impressive. I had never seen a prewar military facility at the height of its life, but if I had, I was pretty sure this is a lot what it would look like. A couple hundred ponies moved around. A dozen lined up at a purpose-built target range, practicing with various weapons. Most of the ponies moved with a purpose. Beyond the courtyard surrounding the main building we'd emerged from lay walls. Tall, well built, heavily fortified walls. Guards patrolled the top. It was very early in the morning, so I judged we'd been out for maybe six or seven hours.

Dashie spoke up. "I can't help but notice there aren't any pony bits strung up around... which is usually what raiders do?"

"That's correct. They don't do that here anymore."

"Anymore?"

"That's what I said. Those that do get a visit from Crimson's finest."

"You slaughter other raiders?"

"No." His voice hardened. "We perform pest control on those who have forgotten what it means to be a pony." His voice returned to his usual relaxed tone. "To be completely honest, the name is more of an artifact than anything else." He started to continue, before breaking off with an amused smirk. "I'll let Crimson tell you, he likes doing that himself." Azure lead the way down along a set of stairs to the ground. The ground was almost flat, but the occasional rough patch meant I needed to watch my steps.

Azure lead us past a series of ramshackle houses. "Stainless Hex designed a lot of the buildings here before he died." Ponies stuck their heads out of windows, watching us, or turned to look at us as they sat in front of their houses. Some were more obvious than others. None of them looked like I'd imagined raiders to look like. They just looked like regular wasteland ponies. Foals and families. Most of the adults had had their hair cropped short and a red streak dyed in it from front to back.

We continued in through to a square where a couple dozen ponies did their things. Some of them bartered, some simply chatting. The disgusting smell of cooking flesh drifted our way, and I was reminded of the 'incident' at the Stadium yesterday. "Oooh, meat." Dashie moved towards the vendor with a grin, only to pause mid-step as a grossed out expression crossed his face. "...I'm not hungry anymore."

I grinned to Pumpkin. "If it keeps Dashie from eating meat, I like beam weapons now." The rest of my team gave me disgusted looks, which I ignored. My joke was funny, even if it was kind of grim.

Azure tossed the four of us an amused yet bemused look. "I'm not going to ask."

"Probably for the best."

"Heyo, ponies." Crimson landed amongst us, flanked a moment later by a mare that looked like... ... me, but with wings instead of a horn, dressed in the same dark barding as pretty much everypony else. Her pale, dark blue mane was cut short with a couple of red streaks added in, but the confidence she moved with showed she wasn't just another soldier. A worn-looking Pipbuck rested on her left fetlock.

"Who the hell are you?" The two of us spoke simultaneously.

"The fuck, bitch, I live here, you tell me!"

"Settle down, children." Crimson glanced to his companion. "This is..."

Pumpkin, who had been quiet up until now, interrupted Crimson. Apparently he didn't like that. I wonder where I got that from. "You're Serenity!"

The pegasus - Serenity? - stared at Pumpkin. "How did you know that?" Seriously, how?

"I, um... guessed." Her wings spread, covering her face partially. "Somepony in the Stadium mistook the Captain for somepony named 'Serenity', and I saw her when they... attacked us last night."

Crimson considered that, then nodded. "Not bad, not bad at all. You're a clever one. What would it take to get you working for me?"

I glanced to Pumpkin. She looked tempted. Hrm...

"I think I'll pass, sir." She glanced to me.

"I like that - can't say it's a bad thing. Pegasi and loyalty & all that. Y'know what? If you ever change your mind, come to the gate and tell the guards you want to talk to me. They'll get you to me."

"I... I will keep that in mind, sir..." Hrrmmm....

"Same goes for the rest of you ponies." Crimson glanced to the rest of my team. Damnit dad. "With that said..." He looked to me. "My daughter and I have some business to attend to. Azure and Serenity will show you three around."

Dashie stepped close to me. Crimson's escorts shifted their weapons to him, but Crimson waved them down. "I suppose the two of you can stay together." He gave Dashie a deep look before nodding to us and setting off back towards the base headquarters. Crimson's escorts followed behind us. I glanced to Team Two, who were being escorted off by Azure and two of his soldiers for an 'extended tour'.

Crimson gestured for us to first. As we went through, he stepped among us, wrapping his wings around Dashie and I's shoulders. "So, Dash was it? You plannin' to marry my daughter?"

I stepped in to save him when it was clear he wasn't going to be forming a coherent thought anytime soon. "I don't think that's going to happen." I mentally added 'dad', but didn't say it, because it felt awkward.

"What a shame. You keep her safe anyways, Dash. Or you'll regret it..." Crimson lead us into the building, showing us around. "This is the noncombatant's section of the base. Quarters and classrooms for all of the kids" Kids? "and the breeders." He lead us to a large room. A couple dozen assorted ponies across all three races and both sexes lounged about on comfortable cushions, scantily clad, if not entirely nude. "This is the brothel. Fertile ponies are kept here for breeding and recreational purposes." Dashie opened his mouth to say something, but Crimson cut him off. "They're treated very well and all of my troops are expected to respect them or lose their right to visit. Or worse." He chuckled. "Before you ask - no, they're not slaves. Not in name and not in actuality. We make sure slavers don't operate in our areas."

Dashie glanced to me and I shrugged as Crimson continued. "We raise the kids properly, to respect pony life and how to read and all that glorious stuff the Stable taught me. There've been a few expeditions to retrieve learning materials from schools, books from libraries, all sorts of stuff. C'mon." He nodded back up the hallway. "We might be 'just' raiders and warriors, but we probably have more knowledge than pretty much anywhere else in Baltimare. 'Cept for the Stable, of course, but that's a prewar society." He lead us into a door at the end of the hallway, which turned out to be his personal quarters, the two guards taking up positions by the door. "So, daughter... what brings you to my humble little city?" He trotted over to the bathroom and filled up a mug with water, sipping it. His Pipbuck was noticeably silent.

"Well, your troops for a start." I looked to his mug. "Is that clean water?"

"Absolutely. There's a water talisman powering the base, so.. yes, we have running water. You two look like you could use a shower.." He snickered at that. "Fair enough. So I'm guessing Sunset Lily has been replaced as Overmare?"

"I'm afraid that's classified."

"Oh come on, Firey." He started in a convincing tone, before breaking off. "Okay, look. We left the Stable. You're pissed about that. We had our reasons."

"Oh? And what might those reasons be, if you'd be so kind as to share?"

"Y'know what? Let's do an intel swap. I'll answer your questions if you'll answer mine."

I considered. Most of the information he seemed to be looking for was not particularly vital, and if he'd been planning to take the Stable, he probably could do it just with brute force. "Deal. Tell me why you left the Stable."

"I exited the Stable because that's what I had been ordered to do." I could almost feel an obnoxious... ...Dashie like... smirk behind his neutrally bland expression.

"Sorry, I phrased that badly-"

"Ah ah ah, I answered your question. My turn." I scowled. "Who took over my position after we left?"

I blinked. Well, if he could be tight lipped like that, so could I. "Defiant Armet."

"That's not what I expected. I was expecting Hot Range to take over."

"No. Hot Range took over mother's position after you left, because she became a neglectful alcoholic. Why did you abandon the Stable?"

"I didn't 'abandon' the Stable." I opened my mouth. "Let me speak." He glared at me. "I'm still on assignment."

"You abandoned the Stable!" Somewhere in the back of my mind suggested that yelling at the leader of an army that outnumbered my unarmed ponies 50:1 was not in my best interests. I ignored it.

"I abandoned the Stable. Do you feel better now?" He was pissing me off by playing with me. He was doing it intentionally, and the worst part was that it was working.

"Yes." I paused, considering that. No, I did not really feel better. "No. Why didn't you return?"

"I left the Stable to save the Stable. I abandoned the Stable to help the wasteland."

"And I see you found some pretty nice quarters for yourself..." I glanced around at his quarters. They were the size of our family quarters back at the Stable, but... Stable quarters were simplistic. These were plush. We were in the combined living room and kitchen, a L-shaped room. Off to the sides were other rooms, I had to guess one of them was a bedroom, another a bathroom. While I was looking around, Dashie slipped into one of the doors.

"One of the perks of settling in a Ministry storehouse."

"... Pardon?" I glanced around. Ministry storehouse?

"What, you didn't think I built this place, did you? I found it. This is why we settled here." He turned, trotting over to a large window. "When I left the Stable, I had goal and I had a plan. I didn't have a big gun," he paused to grumble, too quietly for me to hear, "and I didn't know if this plan would work, but I had a plan. So what I did is... I asked to talk to the leader of the raider clan. Challenged him in single combat for control of the clan. Put us and our gear up for collateral."

"You walked into a raider camp and challenged their leader to single combat." I repeated flatly. "For control of the clan. Using your ponies and their equipment for collateral." I'm sure that violates several regulations...

"Yep! Shockingly, I won. A few raiders complained, but not for very long." He paused, looking out the window overlooking the main courtyard of the base. "Ten millimeter bullets are surprisingly effective at silencing complaints. So I convinced 'em that taking the Stable was an ineffective plan. Packed 'em up, lead 'em here. Originally I'd been planning to goad them into killing each other, then finishing the survivors off. Done in a month, tops, I'd said."

I trotted over to the window, surveying the base. Several ponies practiced their marksponyship at the target range with a variety of small weapons. "So apparently it didn't go that way."

"Correct. I found this place and told everyone to dig in. The high security areas opened for me, containing hundreds, perhaps thousands of boxes of ammunition. More weapons than you could imagine. Armor. Other equipment needed to arm a military... and my plan was born. So, this is where we settled."

"And somehow you were Kinged."

"Basically, yes."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"No, you haven't earned that story yet, dear daughter." I glared at him. "So, as I was saying... I left the Stable because I could not help the Wasteland from there. The Overmare was a cowardly idiot, and the majority of the Stable ponies were no better. The vote to open the doors barely passed. The Overmare would have never granted me access to leave the Stable otherwise."

"Are you saying you convinced the raiders to attack the Stable?" I spoke softly but clearly.

"What?" His expression suggested I'd genuinely stumped him. Score one for Firefly. "Why the hell would I do that?" He paused. "OH!" He burst out laughing. "I see where you're coming from. Ha ha. Ah. No. I did bad things," his expression hardened, eyes narrowing, "to your mother and to other good ponies that didn't deserve it, but that's too far even for me." He fell silent, glancing out in the distance, and I wondered what he was thinking about. "What are you doing out here?"

I frowned and glanced to my Pipbuck. I wondered if he'd grabbed data off our Pipbucks. Probably. It's what I would have done in his position. "Intelligence. We're trying to figure out what's out here, beyond Haven."

"Sounds like Sunset has been replaced, then. Tell me she died a horrible fate, like tripped and fell over the railing and landed on someone's horn."

Uhm... "No. She died of natural causes."

"That was my second guess. Damn." He sighed. "What a shame."

"Was she really that bad?"

"Yes, she was horrible and I hated her." He paused, his annoyed expression changing to a smirk. "No, she really wasn't all that bad. She wasn't unintelligent, but she should have been doing something she was better suited to. A pencil pushing egghead, perhaps, or an assistant inventorying clerk. Not running the Stable. So, tell me..."

While he talked, I listened, and I thought. Maybe if I... hrm... No. Or perhaps I could... ... If I did this, then... that might just work. Yeah. A vague voice in the back of my head informed me that the actions I was planning were most illogical. I ignored it.

"So Azure... how have you been?"

Azure threw me an amused look. "Are you genuinely concerned about how I've been, Cerulean?" I sighed, grinding my teeth together.

Grinding teeth is a sign of being overly stressed. "Yes. I guess I am." I have no idea what that could be. "You were a decent enough pony before you left and you don't seem to have changed much."

"Oh no, I have changed. Just not visibly. So... I've been alright." He smiled at me. "How has Saph been?"

With great difficulty, I unclenched my jaw. "Like Firefly said, she spend most of her time drinking. After you and Crimson didn't return, Hot Range was kicked upstairs to Saph's job. Her first assignment was to formalize Saph's dishonorable discharge." At least Azure had the decency to wince. "Why didn't you at least check in?"

"Captain Crimson wanted us to remain unknown. He was worried that if Overmare Lily knew we were still alive, she'd send out teams to look for us and get them killed."

"Whatabout Soul?"

"Soul..." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

"Surely you remember Soulful Impact..."

"Yes." He nodded. "She made it clear she didn't like our, ah, 'company' and left after an argument with the Captain. She agreed not to tell the Stable about us, though."

"I don't know why she simply didn't return to the Stable and report y'all as killed."

"She didn't?" Azure looked surprised at that. "What did she do?"

"Hell if I know. Never came back."

"She went to Haven, I think..." Wings said. The two of us looked to her.

"Where'd you hear that?" Azure was genuinely curious. That's a good thing, I think.

"While you were patching up the raider yesterday, Lieutenant Dash mentioned her." While Wings was speaking, Azure suddenly stiffened, eyes focusing on a point in the distance. I recognized that look. The look when some stupid Security pony is receiving orders over their ear blooms. Uh oh.

"Let's keep moving, shall we?" He smiled at us. "We've got places to see, after all." That smile suddenly made me very uncomfortable, and I was reminded that this is not the Azure I knew. He may look, talk and move like him, but he's changed. I shared a glance with Wings, and she shrugged and trotted after Azure, our "escorts" trailing along behind us.

"Yeah, alright..." He lead us along, and very shortly we found ourselves back in a cell. Not officially a cell - it was a conference room - but I could tell it was a prison nevertheless. Glorious.

"Crimson would like to speak with you. He'll be here shortly." Azure settled down in a chair on the far end of the table. Serenity settled down beside him.

"Of course he will..." I paced around the edge of the room. Wings settled down on one of the chairs facing Azure, fiddling with her Pipbuck.

Several minutes later, Red entered the room. "Alright, folks. Here's what happened." His mane was messier than usual, he had a nasty looking bruise swelling on his cheek and some blood was dried to his nose. His feathers were disarrayed, primaries sticking out of place.

"Somethin' ruffle your feathers, Red? Isn't that a shame." Heh, heh. Playing with fire. Heh.

Red glared and fluffed his wings. "Cute, Blue. But no. Funnily enough, my daughter - your leader - almost killed me, actually." Uh... "Instead, she only killed two of my troopers." Uh oh. "By all rights, rules of the Wasteland, laws of the Crimson Raiders, ectera ectera, I should have the two of you publicly executed for conspiring to attack me, as an example for my troops."

Oh, shit. I shared a look with Wings, and she tensed. Good mare.

Red smirked. "But that doesn't suit my purposes."

... of course not. "What do you want, Red."

"Killing the two of you would be a waste." He stepped over towards me and prodded me in the chest with a hoof. Don't touch me, you treasonous dickface. "Cerulean, despite your horrific bedside manner, you were an excellent doctor and I'm sure your skills have only improved with age, unlike your body." You're a year older than me, you ass. He turned and looked to Wings. "Pumpkin, you appear to be an excellent trooper who is both loyal and intelligent."

I groaned. "What do you want, Red." Shut up, you pompous windbag, and get to the damn point already.

"What do I want? It's quite simple. I want my daughter on my side. Killing two of her troops would be counterproductive." He paused, turning to us and pointing with one hoof. "You will deliver a message to her, from me, in exchange for your lives, your equipment and all of the intel we can provide." He put his hoof down. "Do you agree to my terms?"

I shared another look with Wings. I kind of wanted to tell Red to go fuck himself, just because it would annoy him, but then again, I'm awfully attached to being alive...

We stopped galloping about two or three blocks outside the Crimson Raiders' base, ducking into a building. Firefly settled down on the ground, breathing hard. I paced back and forth and neither of us spoke. Firefly looked over to me.

"What the fuck was that, Firefly?" I looked at her.

Her ears folded back as she looked down at the floor. "I don't know..."

I sighed. What the fuck, Firefly. I stepped over towards a window, peeking out. "They're not following us. I think that's something we should be worried about..."

Firefly rose to her hooves as she caught her breath and limped over towards me, looking out of the window. "We don't have the equipment or ability to do anything about it right now. Let's just get to the rally point. Team Two may have gotten free, and if they did, they'll be heading there too..." She glanced down to her Pipbuck, trailing off, before she swore. "Right. Pipbuck's dead. Wonderful. Just fuckin' wonderful. Take point, Dashie."

"Yes ma'am." A glance in Firefly's direction said she got the hint that I'm not happy with her.

The fuck just happened, Firefly?

Author's Notes:

<Notes>
Not much to say. We've met Crimson Nimbus. Is he a just a one-chapter wonder or is he going to become a recurring villain, or something else? Tune in next week to find out. Not, of course, that you'll find out about Crimson next week, but... there's always more about the Adventures of the Stable 30 Security Team!

<Credits>
Shenanigans and TK "Giant Dickasaurus Rex" Knorr for editing, feedback, misc.
Mark Morgan - Fallout 2 soundtrack, particularly All-Clear Signal