We were cramped into the cabin of a vertibuck, with Blackspot’s gang making sure Harp and I could not move. The pirates called the vertibuck a gull, and it looked just as anemic as the ragged birds that flew above the islands. It was far more striped down on the inside than any vertibuck I had seen before, was apparently capable of landing on water, and had a heavy machine gun attached on the side for a gunner to use. The stripped down nature of the inside did make me worry, as it felt more like a cage. Because of that barebones nature, I could see the hull mounted magical energy cannon from inside the craft.

“This has been a long time coming you know.” Blackspot yelled from the copilot seat. “You can't defy the goddesses. They always win in the end, you do know that.”

I held my tongue, Red made it clear that anything about the goddesses and the saint was touchy subject.

“Got nothing to say? How about you princess?” Blackspot turning his attention to Harp. She looked over at me, and I shook my head. Getting the message, Harp kept her mouth shug. “You too then. Fine, I get it. Not that I need you to talk.” He turned back around.

A mare giggled to herself; she was a light blue earth pony with zebra stripes that made her look a lot like a mirage pony. But… no, she had no horn or wings, and her Zebra aspects were a lot more pronounced then in mirage ponies, so she had to be a zony. The mare was covered in knives, counting at least ten of different sizes strapped around her, with one even being a butchers cleaver. I made a mental note, that if I had to start shooting, she should be among the first to shoot, due to my fairly poor record in close quarters combat.

Across from the zony, was rail-thin dull gray earth pony stallion. He held a strange looking four barreled shotgun, which looked clumsy in his hooves. I wanted to mark him as an easy kill, but something in the back of my head warned me not to underestimate any of these pirates. Graceful Gust, even after we’d hurt her badly, was practically taken down kicking and screaming.

The rest of the Corps Brigade pirates were armed with either their scrappy SMG’s, or patched up old battle rifles, and none of them were wanting for ammo. Each of them also had two glass bottles filled with a dirty looking liquid, and a rag attached to its top. They were likely molotov cocktails, but there was no telling what kind of fuel mixture they had inside.

One of the Corps Brigade pirates had their back hooves on the still damaged frame of Order, treating the drone like a hoof rest. The drone seemed to have been fixed up enough for it to work, but it was missing a few plates, exposing some of its wires and gears.

Black Spot tossed my gasmask onto my lap, and Harps onto hers. “Alright everypony, we’re making landfall. So stick to the plan, and we will all eat like kings.” He then looked at me with a hungry smirk. “And for any pony who can't follow orders, death will be the kindest thing I will do to them.”

The pirates cheered as I put on the mask, Harp struggled a little to put hers on, her hooves shaking. Our masks were in far better condition than theirs, which made me wonder why none of them had taken them for themselves. Though, markings and paint on the masks did clue me into some importance to their own.

The zony’s gasmask was painted to look like a skull, which was a common theme among the masks, but also an hourglass, and tallies. Taking a deep breath, I nugged the mare to get her attention. “What's up with the paint on the mask?”

She pressed her mask on mine, so that we were eye to eye. “The masks, it's to let ponies know death is coming. We weaken fools with gas, and board them, kill as many we can get to. The skull is for those who have done a raid, hourglass for those who lead a team, and we tallie the kills we do on such raids.”

I backed my head away, nodding. From what I could see on the zony, she had at least twenty three tallies. About all the ponies here had more than ten tallie marks on their masks, and those who had mostly clean masks, I had no doubt that they still had many kills under their belt. Black Spot’s mask had a green skull with Red streaks under the eye sockets, and disturbingly, tallies all along the side.

Everything lurched as the gull descended, and the air felt like it became humid and sickly. Within a minute, we touched down with a hard thud, shaking the rickety old craft. A second gull landed not far from us, with the similar thud, sending sand everywhere. Pushed out of the gull, I stumbled to the ground, finding it hard to get my balance on the loose sand at first.

“The tomb where the goddess dwells.” Black Spot announced. Looking passed him was a hill full of tombstones, and passed that large building with the words “Stable-Tec” boldly attached to it, in front of a large gear. It was the old stable-tec resort hotel, meaning we were on friendly island. I could only hope that it meant Orthrus was near, and would be sending ponies to investigate.

The other gull dropped off three sea dogs, and two unicorns, as well as some boxes. One of the unicorns had some electronics on their back, with a long antenna, where the other had a flamer with two large tanks on their back. As for the three sea dogs, two were hauling a crate over as the third held an LMG in its paws.

As the group gathered together, the two gulls took off, likely flying back to the Weeping pegusus. I trotted over to Harp, who was supplying Order with power, and the drone slowly coming to life.

“Looks like he's going to be alright.” I said, hoping to cheer her up.

She nodded. “Order can be fixed, the worst of the damage is to one of his eyes, and his speakers. Though, it’s not all bad that he can't talk right now.” Order made crackling beep sound.

Harp let go of the drone, and it floated up into the air. Stopping, it seemed no longer able to stay still in the air, bobbing slightly like an old sprite bot. With Order back up and running in at least some capacity, we joined up with the pirates, who had just opened the crate.

Inside was a hefty looking raidio, and a bunch of spark batteries, along with what looked like an automated turret with a small terminal connected to it by a cable. After Black Spot inspected the contents, her waved the sea dogs away, and proceeded to pick up the crate, and walk towards the hotel. Looking around, I saw two of the pirates quickly scouting the beach, stopping at a large rock half buried in the sand.

Something seemed eerily familiar about the stone. “Let's go, my darling.” Black Spot’s words sent a shiver down my spine, so I shot him a glare. “Be that way for now, but soon you will see the way of things…”

Gunshots from the two scouting pirates stole our attention. The stone was now missing, and in its place was a sand-lurker, the four legged monster slashed out with its two massive claws from under a hard shell. It's face reminded me of the sparkle-lurkers, it's mouth made up of four mandibles, but what always had unnerved me the most about them was the six smaller claws on its chest, moving and snapping. One of the pirates were down, and the other firing their rifle right in the lurks face.

“Blast it all, every pony get your guns ready!” Black Spot shouted.

The sand-lurker was taken out by the scouting pirate, but two more came out of the water, and so the pirate ran for it, making his way to us. The second pirate slowly got up, but when he saw the two lurks, he ran so fast he got to the group in ten seconds flat. The pirates set up a firing line, and as the sand-lurker got close, they were taken out after two volley of lead.

“Fucking pests!” Black Spot shouted. “Alright, let's get to the building before more crab meat try to hinder us.”

The pirates quickly holstered their guns, and made their way up the path to the stable-tec building. Shamrock and Couteau took up a position behind us, with their SMG’s trained on our backs.

“I do hope you try something.” Couteau said with a smile. “Your princesses pretty face pissed me off.” I got the message, and got moving, while making sure Harp stayed close.

It was uncanny how much I recognized the graveyard, even when I had never been here before. Well, not physically at least. Quite a few of the grave stones were blank, while some had names, and others only had cutie marks engraved on them. Though the one big difference was the abundance of punga trees and plants, more than I had ever seen in one place. It gave me a tragic feeling to look at, with the moonlight reflecting on the crystal clear water, a beautiful scene framed by death.

As we trotted up to the doors into the building, my eyes fell onto one grave, marked with an horseshoe interlocked with a question mark. Above it, it simply had the word “Slowtrot” engraved on it. The dirt in front of it looked disturbed, as though some pony had recently dug it up, and filled it back in.

Turning back toward the building, something odd about it finally came into focus. The building had random patches of punga trees growing out of it. The ground was littered with the rotting fruit, and saplings choked the ground around the building.

“Clear!” One pirate yelled before the door exploded.

The zony sighed. “Great, we got a Graceful Gust wannabe.”

The pirate with the flamethrower stepped in first, and after a long few seconds, he let his fire rip with a roar, lighting up the inside. He slowly made room for the others to go inside as he continued to spray flames around. I stepped in before Harp, and saw roasted rad roaches all over, as well as a few giant mosquitoes. I was worried about the flamer pony bring down the building on us, but with the extra light of the burning bugs, I could see that this hotel was built like a stable.

The bugs kept coming at first, but as few strategic uses of molotov cocktails blocked the bugs, and finally scared them off.

“This is why I hate going to shore.” One of the pirates whined, “If it ain't gigantic rats, it gigantic bugs.”

The pirate with the four barrel shotgun chuckled. “Then never go to the mainland, heard they got this massive monster called a yogui. Got claws that can cleave a pony into two.”

“We got paradise dragons here.” I added. “Big ambush predators, claws, teeth, kills a shit ton of ponies every year.”

The whiny pony huffed. “I say this world needs another balefire cleansing.”

Black Spot pointed at the sea dog. “You three, go set up the beacon, and the turret. Contact me if you see anything suspicious.” He then turned to the rest of us. “Let's find the basement.”

As we trotted through the ruins of the hotel, I began to take note of two things. One, being how bare everything was here, though it was likely that stable-tec cleared this place out long before becoming Orthrus. And two, there was old hydroponic equipment in a lot of the rooms, with overgrown punga plants reaching over to, and out the window, with the roots covering the floors.

Continuing on, we trotted into what looked like a stable-tec showroom. The walls were covered in old faded posters of stables, and there was a table in the shape of a gear. The table was covered in small broken dolls, along with a single rusty hammer.

On the other side of the room was a stairway going down with a large sign above it, stating ‘The Stable Experience!’

Following the others down, what was dimly lit became pitch black darkness. Order was the first to turn on its lights, followed by a few of the pirate unicorns with light spells. The room we trotted down into looked utterly bear, looking as even things that were bolted down had been removed. At the end of the large room was a single terminal in front of a sealed stable door.

Order’s light scanned the room, falling onto a lone radroach. It scurred away from the light, running toward the terminal. Without anything shooting it, the roach simply disintegrated, sending a blue ripple out.

“The first obstacle!” Black Spot existed with a wide smile on his face. “Luna sent me a vision of this, and here it is.”

I cocked my eyebrow at him. “And how do you plan on getting in? Those energy barriers aren't going to let us in, but if you want to dive into it first, be my guest.”

“Darling, come here.” Black Spot called for me. I trotted over, after Couteau poked me with her gun. “Goddess Luna showed me many things, not just the things that get in our way, but also the keys to get passed them. Let me show you.”

Black Spot trotted up to the barrier, and I followed, not wanting another reminder. “We have similar magical berries on our ships, a grim surprise for any others foalish enough to take on the sea without paying tribute. Most of them are kinetically triggered, so any shelling will be blocked blocked, but a boarding party, they can get in. So it's all about finding the key passed them.”

“And you found such a key?” I asked.

He sent a magical ball of light along the barrier, sending little ripples across it. “Yes… You.”

I felt my body lift from the ground, and thrust forward. Landing, I slumped over and tripped on my hooves. After a few seconds, I got up, finding myself on the other side of the berrier, all the others staring back at me through a blue filter.

Black Spot clapped his hooves together. “Marvelous, just as the vision showed me, you truly are the key to freeing the goddess Luna. Now, turn off the barrier.”

I glared at him, but quickly consigned myself to following his orders. I was sure I could get away now, but not without Harp, and he knew it. Trotting over to the terminal, I blew off a large layer of dust, and flicked on the power switch. The screen lit up with green text, displaying one word in large text, “LOCKED” Looking over to the side of the terminal, I found a panel, and opening it up, a port to plug into. Pulling out a cable from my saddlebag, I plugged the terminal into my pipleg.

A spinning clock appeared in my hud display before a holographic screen popped up from the pipbuck display on my pip leg. It matched that of the terminal, but showed me a few options instead of the locked message.

-Inbox

-Door control

-Barrier control.

“Heritick, speed it up!” Shamrock shouted.

I ignored her, and selected the inbox. It had one message called abandonment, and another option saying ‘SOS’

‘By order of the overestallion, the stable-tec resort beach will be abandoned, and rendered off limits. For any pony who has come from the underground, turn back now. If you have come from the outside, then you must have passed the DNA tag, and are my descendant. If the latter is true, go no further. You may use this terminal to send an SOS, help should come soon. Signed, Stable-Tec security chief Underbrush.’

‘Not like there's anything left to recover, and no pony wants those damned plants in the stable. If any pony reads this in the future, fuck that rotten ghoul, Mister Wizard. If you ever meet him, do us all a favor, and put him out of our misery. Dooming us to live under a cloud of toxic pollen, and we let him do it. The techs still don't know how he did it, but to whomever reads this, I’m so sorry we ever trusted that mad ghoul.’

‘The radiation must do something to a ghoul’s brain, or worse, taints their soul. Hydrangea was heartbroken over hearing about his crime. She was his biggest fan, but I'm glad my husband did not live long enough hear her cry like that.’

‘Sorry for venting, this old mare forgets herself sometimes. Well, to the pony that reads this, do take care not to disturb the graves. Mine will like be among then, and I rather sleep quietly along side my dear Zaan.’

I saved the record on my pipleg, the names Underbrush, Zann, and Hydrangea were known to me. If only I had time to visit my ancestors graves. With a sigh, I flipped on the SOS, and went through the other two options, opening the door, and dropping the barrier. Yellow caution lights spun around as a claxon slowly pulsed.

Black Spot chuckled, his eyes looked like the cat that ate the canary. I really wanted to punch his jaw off. Slowly walking to me, his mouth moving, but the sound of metal grinding on metal thankfully drowned out his voice.

I waited for the door and horn to stop before I responded. “Say again?”

“I said, it's an excellent time for prayer, would you not think?” Black Spot asked.

I looked at him, and then over at the other pirates. Couteau having her SMG trained at Harps legs. “I guess it would be.”

“Now put your hooves together everypony.” Black Spot command, Harp and I simply mimicked the pirates. “Right, I’ll recant my favorite verses of Saint Roseland's scripture.”

He cleared his throat, and strained his back, taking a proud looking pose before speaking. “The fires of sin that scorched the land, and raised the dead to torment the living. It was our abandonment of our faith in the goddesses that brought this down on us, and exiled us from our homes in Equestria. The six ministries shepherded us to to our damnation, each one controlled by a false prophet that spouted their own virtue. The only true virtues needed in this life are Faith, and Submission. Have faith, always in your heart, never doubt the goddesses, never turn away from them. Submit yourself to the will of the goddesses, for only in your service to the mission can we save this world from evil. Hold these true virtues close, and you shall always be on the path of righteousness.”

“Ayman!” The rest of the pirates said in unison.

*Crack*

Pain ran threw my cheek as I fell to the ground. Looking up, Blackspot was wiping off his hoof with a white cloth. “I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but try something again, and I won't be so gentle.” Next to him was the smaller pony with the electronics on his back. The pony was busy looking through the terminal, the page with the SOS option opened up.

Getting up, I had to lift up my mask to spit out a tooth, leaving blood splatter around it. “I’ll remember…” Don't antagonize the psychopath. “I’ll remember that.”

“Good. Once you're officially mine, I'll have the time to properly train you.” He winked at me, making the disgust I felt towards him fade, being replaced with a deep sense of dread. “Also, now that we're passed the barrier, our relationship can move onto the next step.”

“What next…” I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. Several magical auras blurred my vision and held me in place.

“Stop it!” Harp shouted, only to be followed by the sound of a pony hitting the ground hard.

“This will only take a moment.” Black Spot spoke, holding a small thin tube… a syringe. “I'm not going to lie, this is going to hurt. But you will survive, just like the rest of us.”

Lifting up my mask, the syringe rushed at me, the vision in my left eye blurred, and my flesh felt like it burned. The pain, like pure uncontrolled fire, snaked into my skull and crept into my brain. It spread, traveling down my spine to quickly make my entire body feel like I was on fire. I screamed out as that fire consumed me whole, and thankfully, that’s when everything went dark.

“All of this could have been avoided. You do know that, right?” I found myself sitting at a dining table with Theremin across from me. We were back in Persephone station, in the fancy restaurant above the theater.

“By becoming a slave to the C.C.N.?” I threw my glass of wine across the room. “Sorry, but fuck you.”

“You say that.” The albino mare shrugged. “Yet, here you are.”

“You were trying to hoof me over to them before you died. And how are you even here?” I asked, feeling a mix of anger and confusion. “I saw your soul get dragged away.”

Theremin’s form shifted, like clay being shaped, turning into the form of the stallion that I first met at the club. “Who needs a soul when you’re beyond superstition.” He laughed, banging his hoof on the table. “Like fuck I know how this came to be. Maybe I just got stuck in your head before I died.”

Our eyes locked, his form melting back into the albino mare. Her eyes fell out, pushed out by a mess of wires. It had clicked in my head at that. I still had some of the republic cybernetics in my brain. I was not crazy, not completely. But now I definitely wish I was.

“Talking to yourself is not healthy.” The voice of Phobetor interrupted my thoughts. The nightmare herself trotted through the scenery as though she didn’t even see it. “But do continue, as it is so interesting hear a one sided conversation.” She said with a sarcastic tone. “It can reveal a lot about the pony having it.”

Something seemed strange. Now that she was here, it was like I was looking in two different directions at the same time. Closing my left eye, Phobetor disappeared. Opening that eye, and closing my right eye, Theremin and the restaurant disappeared. Shaking my head, and taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down before looking at Phobetor straight in her golden eyes.

“You know that you can just go and fuck off Phobetor, right?” I snapped at her.

She trotted up to me, a sly smile on her face. “Keep that tough mare act up, it will only make it all the sweater when you crumple at my hooves.”

I spat at her face, but it only flew threw her and plopped onto Theremin. Phobetor took a step back, snering at me. “Prepare to be surprised, and prepare to be thrown in the depths of despair.” Her form became like a shadow, only two golden eyes looking at me. Closing her eyes, she disappeared.

“You are going crazy.” Theremin said, leaning back. “You know, if you return to the C.C.N., your broken mind can be easily fixed.”

I shot Theremin a dirty look, and she stuck her tongue at me. As we stared at each other, the burning pain slowly returned to my body, and the world around me faded. One thought came to the front of my mind.

I needed to kill Black Spot slowly, and painfully.

“Alright, say that again you scurvy ridden sea dog.” Black Spot shouted.

Opening my eyes, my left eye stung badly, and it felt a bit swollen. Harp was cradling my head on her lap, her gasmask had a large scuff on its side. A scuff that looked to be just about as wide as Black Spot’s hoof.

“Sea dogs not have scurvy!” Ollie corrected Black Spot. “And we sea dogs see mirelurks on the beach, lots of mirelurks.”

Black Spot groned. “And why Is that a problem?”

“Because there are mirelurks riding mirelurks, and they’re coming into the building.” Ollie announced.

I sat up, startling Harp. “You’ve gotta be shitting me!”

Black Spot looked over at me, eyebrow raised “Do you know what this is?”

I pushed myself back up on all four, finding that my head felt like it was going to split into two. “If I were to guess, they’re Berenices’ hunters.”

“Who’s ‘Berenices’?” Black Spot questioned.

“Another asshole, like you.” Everything hurt too much to hold back my tongue, and felt hungry for some damn reason. “She's the leader of a faction of lurkers who hate ponies. All their weapons and armor are primitive, but more than effective enough to slaughter a station. Also, she probably wants me dead after our last meeting.”

Black Spot cocked an eyebrow, and looked over at Couteau. Couteau scratched her chin for a moment before speaking up. “I think she's talking about the freak Graceful Gust killed, the pony like monster.”

“So there's more of them. No matter, let's just get moving, they can't get to us once we close the door.” Black Spot motion for everypony to move. As we trotted through the doorway, the smaller pony stepped up to the terminal.

*Crack!*

The smaller pirate tumbled over to us, the face of his gasmask shattered. Looking back over to the terminal, a sparkle-lurker stood, holding a long pole with a mirelurk claw on its end. The lurker had the same strapped together chitin armor as back in Fishery Station, giving the lurker a more monstrous look.

“By Luna, how did it sneak up on us?” Shamrock shouted.

I pulled out my rifle. “It's what they do, now kill it!”

Before the lurker could respond, a volley of lead slammed into it. Admittedly, most of the shots were easily deflected by its armor, but a few bullets ripped into its face, killing the lurker.

I felt a barrel of a gun poke the back of my head. “Next time you order me around, I’ll make you regret it.” Shamrock growled at me.

“We don't have time for this.” The Zony pirate spoke up. “Let's just close the door from inside.”

Everypony retreated further inside, Couteau jumping over the railing to another terminal. Outside, two more armored sparkle-lurkers came into view, but ducked our of sight when one of the pirates shot at them.

“Fucking Heriticks, the terminal's locked!” Couteau shouted.

I jumped over the railing to her, pulling out the cables I used on the other terminal. Pushing the bitch out of the way, I opened the panel on the side, and jacked in.

“The fuck is that!” A pirate shouted. Looking over the terminal, I saw a spear wielding sparkle-lurker riding an armored sand-lurker, the monster even had scrap metal blades attached to its claws.

I quickly accessed the door controls, selecting to close it. The horn pulsed, and the warning lights flashed. But before the stable door could closed, the mounted lurker charged in. Lancing a pirate, bullets sprayed everywhere as the pirate panicked fired as the lurker lifted him into the air.

*Splat*

The lurker slammed the pirate into the ground, blood spurting from the pirate’s body. The sand-lurker finished the job by grabbing the pirate in it’s massive bladed claws, and ripping him into two pieces, spreading the pirate’s guts all over the floor.

It only lasted for a second, but it felt like time stopped with the realization that we were trapped inside with this monster.

“Fire!” Black Spot shouted, and a defending roar of gunfire filled the enclosed room. Harp ran over to me, cowering behind me as she covered her ears. I got my rifle, but decided to wait and see how this would play out. Mostly, I was hoping that Blackspot would get impaled by the lurkers.

The two ‘lurks seemed to shrug off the bullets, as it swung it's claw tied spear around. The flamer pirate managed to dogged a slam of the spear, but was less lucky when it did a horizontal swing, tearing the pirates flesh as he was thrown into the air. The zony charged in, jumping onto the armored sand-lurker. Her knives proved ineffective, and she was quickly knocked off when the sparkle-lurker swiped it's tail at her. Despite receiving a deep gash from the lurkers tail, the zony pirate managed to jump back out of the way before the sand-lurker could spin and grab her with it’s mean looking claws. With a wide swing of its spear, the lurker forced the pirates to take cover, leaving the short pirate behind. An opportunity which the lurker wasted no time in exploiting by bringing it spear down, crushing the pirate’s head.

The pirate with the four barrel shotgun jumped in close, and with what look like an explosion, fired on the sparkle-lurker. The concussive blasts sent it flying off its mount and to the floor. But before the shotty pirate could reload, the armored sand-lurker charged and crushed the pirate between its armor and a wall. The pirate spat up a spray of blood and died as he was pulled off the wall, now nothing more than wet meat stuck to the sand-lurkers armor.

Aiming my lathanos at the sand-lurker, I set it to full blast. The pressure slowly built up, reaching the red portion of the gauge as I fed it more and more power. Pulling the trigger, pain shot through my shoulder, and the blast of air the gun emit was more like a cannon. The bolt slammed into the sand-lurker, puncturing through its armor, and sinking deep into the monster. It made an audible screech as it wobbled before falling lifelessly to the ground.

Our attention turned to the armored sparkle-lurker rider as it got back up. The rider abandoned its spear, and took up an aggressive posture. One pirate charged, likely confident now that the mount was dead, but he collapsed after the lurker gave off an ear piercing snap of it’s claw. The lurker jumped at the downed pirate, landing all four hooves on his chest, making a sickening wet crackling sound upon landing.

The other pirate's didn't risk getting in close, taking shots at the lurker from cover. The flamer pirate, still bloodied from his hit earlier, stepped up, and set the lurker on fire with a long stream of ignited flamer fuel. The lurker seemed to last for a few seconds before crumpling to the ground, becoming just another charred corpse.

Taking count, that lurker killed four pirates, injuring two. A beep from my pipleg caught my attention, it was a message from the terminal I was still attached to.

It read. “Where is my sister mine? My sister mine. My sister mine. My sister mine…” it went on for six lines, sending a clear message. Berenices was on the other side of the door, and she had access to the terminal.

Disconnecting from the terminal I tapped Harp on the shoulder to get her attention. “We need to go, Berenices is going to open the door.”

“What?” Harp shouted.

“We need to go, now.” I shouted. “They’re going to get in!”

“I can't hear you!” Harp scrunched her nose. “Everything is ringing.”

“She will need healing potion for her ears, but even without it, the ringing will pass.” The Zony told me, her injury already looking like it had already healed. “So just grab her and run. If what you said is true, we're not going to stick around.”

I nodded, and motioned for Harp to follow me. She nodded as the rest of the pirates scavenged their fallen, and likewise made their way into the fake stable.

The dark hallway became blinding as the lights above turned on. As my eyes adjusted, my attention turned to a window, and in it were a large group of dusty mannequins stood in front of a mural of a stable door. The speakers somewhere within the walls started up with a fuzzy screech before the voice of a mare spoke. Her odd twangy accent sounded a lot like the plantation ponies from pineapple island.

“Welcome to stable-tec everypony, my name is Applebloom, and I’ll be your guide through this simulation stable.” The lights dimmed in the hallway, but brighten in the room.

“Move it!” Black Spot yelled.

Everypony moved on, reaching a closed door. “Our goal is the ensured survival of both pony kind, and others in case the worst happens.” Applebloom voice echoed from the distance, getting drowned out by the sound of the stable door opening. The flashing lights and blaring alarm horn only adding to our desperation. The door in front of us refused to open, so I pushed to the front of the group, aiming my charged up rifle at the doors access panel.

Shooting the panel, the blast of air harshly pushed the rifle back on my shoulder, the bolt decimated the panel. Reaching in I pulled on some wires, and with a sharp hiss the door open a little as the hydraulics inside released their presher.

“Pull it open, and move!” I shouted.

I felt a sharp smack to the back of the head, but this time I bucked back. My back legs made contact with something fleshy, and I looked back to find Shamrock holding her jaw, blood leaking from her nose onto the ground. Serves her fucking right.

“No time for grudges.” The Zony spoke as she opened the door, and jumped through. The other pirates laughed as they entered the next room.

Couteau glared at me. “Be lucky you were useful here.”

Harp and I entered the next room, and two of the pirates took up firing position behind us. The crack of their battle rifles made us hold our ears. But looking back, it did well enough to hold back the sparkle-lurkers. In the back of my head, I knew that Berenices would soon send another armored lurker to break this defensive line.

Counting heads, there were ten of us in the room, two firing their battle rifles down the hall, the shots having a bit of an Echo to it in this room. We might be able to down another sand-lurker and it’s rider, but we’ll run out of ammo before Berenices runs out of reinforcements.

The lights turned on, not as blinding as before, but they revealed a large meeting hall with two long tables in the center. Applebloom’s voice engulfed the room again.

“Here at stable-tec, we do our best to give you the space you need. Living underground doesn’t need to mean cramped spaces and zero privacy. As a pony who knows what it means to have a large family, I understand that sometimes you just need to get away for some alone time. Our stables will have a plenty of places that you can get away and find yourself a little peace and quiet.”

Black Spot shook his head in frustration. “Shut up, I need to get to the generator room!” He yelled.

“The generator room is a floor down, past the pipbuck showroom. Both designated tour paths will take you there.” Applebloom's voice helpfully informed him.

“Uhh… thanks” Black Spot responded with a perplexed snort.

“Here to help.” The voice of Applebloom responded.

Black Spot looked back at the rest of us. “Shamrock, Couteau, and Ummese, with me. That includes our two guests. The rest of you will stay here and hold back these freaks.” The other fore pirates took position at the hallway, firing at the lurkers trying to get in.

Harp and I followed Black Spot, the Zony joining us. Looking over at the Zony, I couldn't help but be a bit curious. “So your name is Ummese then?” I asked.

“Kancane Ummese” The zony said. “My father gave me that name. It means little knife.”

“Sounds edgy.” I joked. “Your father must have thought highly of you.”

“Elikhulu Ummese was an accomplished warrior among the fleet, while my mother was a pathetic slave.” She shot me a pained gazed. “The name is a joke. Say more and I’ll slit your throat.”

I let it go, as Kancane looked more than ready to do it. But, I had a feeling she would get along well with Cornett, with the knife fetishes and all.

Actually, I pulled out my bayonet I got from Cornett, passing it to here. “You use them a lot, what do you think?”

Kancane Ummese stopped and handled the knife. “Not the time… but it is balanced, sharp, and light.” She stuck the knife into my shoulder, and Harp gasped. Pain ran through me, and I tried to punch her with my power hoof leg, but she deflected it. “You will be fine. But I'm surprised, it went through bones quite well. Whom made this blade?”

She pulled out the bayonet, and I winced from the pain. “Fuck… her name is Cornett. She makes guns, and knives. She… she was going to be family.” The blood trickled from the wound, but not as much as I thought it should however.

Ummese passed me one of her knives, and I took it. “I’d like to meet her. The wrench mares are no blade forgers, and she could teach them much if this is her normal quality.”

I gave her a knowing look. “If you help me, you can meet her.”

She shifted her eyes. “I don’t trust you, tunnel treader.”

I shrugged. “Up to you, up to you.” I pushed Harp forward, catching up to Black Spot before he got suspicious.

The show stable continued, one part about domestic jobs, another part more engineering jobs, and the last part on the Science jobs. Applebloom’s voice seemed to follow us and respond to us more than just some basic program could. Each room was as empty as the next, just like the hotel was. Albeit, less fancy and with bits of trash left scattered here and there.

The generator room was the first place that still had what was likely meant to be in here, which was two massive arcano tech generators. Sparks of electricity jumped between the two generators, hitting the floor and ceiling.

“Stable-Tec’s research into alternative energy has bore many different fruit,” Applebloom voice boomed over the speakers, just loud enough to be heard over the crackling generators. “but our most successful, and safest is this dual megaspell generators. Capable of lasting up to a thousand years, the stables can be a safe haven for ponies long after the war is over.” The generators suddenly sparked wildly. “Safe as in they don’t explode, please don’t get too close to the generators” The voice added sheepishly.

I felt a strange pull towards the genorators, like it was trying to suck me in.

“You feel that!” Black Spot spoke up. “Feels like siren magic, as expected from a creation of heretics.”

We all walked around the generators, staying in the safe area. Reaching a door that had a sign next to it that stated ‘Employees Only’. Couteau began working on the door’s panel, breaking open the cover. It was an odd thing to see another pony use the same tactic as me for opening old tech doors, and annoying that it was this bitch.

The crackling of electricity caught our attention. One of the pirates we’d left behind ran through the middle of one of the reactor’s electrical arks and got fried. Past the newly char broiled pirate was the flamer pirate, holding back the lurkers with periodic gouts of fire. Shamrock quickly ran over to the flamer pirate, and threw a molotov cocktail, giving the flamer pirate the time to rejoin us.

The back door opened, and we piled through, just in time to see a lurker jump between the generators, and get fried. Strangely, this pony like lurker did not look like a sparkle-lurker, with dull brown shell, and a dull green fins. More of these non-glowing lurkers closed in, with little armor on, and short, crude weapons held at the ready. Before they could get to us, Couteau closed the door, and flipped a switch that said ‘Lock’ on it.

Checking my E.F.S. I found that those lurkers papered on it, like a mass of red. “That’s new.” I said, a bit confused by this new kind of lurker.

“Shut up and move, heretics.” Shamrock sneered at us.

As we trotted further into the false stable, I watched as the flamer pony set up a trap with three molotov cocktails at the door before joining us. The empty room flashed with yellow lights, and scraps of paper littered the floor.

“Please go back, this room is restricted to stable-tec employees only.” Applebloom's recording warned. “Security has already been notified, so turn back now before y’all get in real trouble.”

Everypony of course, ignored the warning given by the over two century old recording.

Passing through one more door, we found ourselves inside a larger than normal tunnel. The air inside it, though dusty, was free from pollen enough for us to safely remove our gasmasks. The tunnel itself stretched off into a inky black darkness, somehow darker than any tunnel I had seen before, making me feel uncomfortable.

Harp pushed herself closer to me. “It feels... wrong here.”

“I know.” I agreed with her. “So stay close, and I’ll get us out of this.”

Following the surviving five pirates, we quickly made our way down the tunnel. Our hooves rapidly tapped on the concrete floor, sending eerie echoes off the walls. Where train tracks would have been, now sat broken ground, showing the level of scrapping that Orthrus had done the last time they were here.

Thinking about it, nothing here seemed that bad down here, other than the punga forest that the hotel had become. But down here, there's enough space for a small community to live, and the punga tree would provide a semi consistent food source.

The group slowed down, and my eyes fell on a massive stable door, far too massive to be real, yet there it was. It was about twice as high and wide as the stable 50 door, and at the center was “R&D” imprinted and painted yellow on it.

“What is that?” Harp asked, her mouth agape.

“I…. don't know.” I answered back. “I know Orthrus was originally a Stable-Tec’s R&D staff, but it always thought R&D was one of the stable-tec stations Orthrus still owns.” Looking back at the oversized door, it felt odd that an R&D stable was never mentioned before, and to be honest, it worried me as to just why it was abandoned.

Another barrier blocked our way with a terminal beyond it. Black Spot looked at me, and motioned to the door. After being hit by him a few times already, I got the message.

Jacking in to the terminal, the same options appeared as before. Though oddly enough, a different message was left behind than the last one. A message that sent a shiver down my spine.

‘To those it may concern, turn back and forget this place. Do not open this door under any circumstances.’

‘After many years of maintenance, this stable is now nothing more than a tomb. Anything of value we have left is not worth the consequences of releasing what lies inside. If you are in need of a water talisman, or some medical advice, seek out our descendants, as we are sure to have spare you can trade for.’

‘So I repeat, turn back, and do not open this door. -sincerely, Specter Agent Hidgranga. ‘

With a sigh, I deactivated the berrier, and pressed the button to open the door. The berrier dropped, but the door didn't move, and only the lights flashed. From my pipleg the message “Insufficient power” popped up. Looking around, I saw a thick cable that connected to the door, it only stretching a short distance before the rest of it was missing, only leaving frayed wires.

“They must have been serious about keeping this door closed.” I turned to see an annoyed looking Black Spot. “The door quite literally has had its power cut off, it's not going to open.”

Black Spot walked uncomfortably close to me, getting eye to eye. “Then give it power, it's what your kind dose, right?”

I glared back at him. “I'm not some kind of superconductor, or mega battery.”

The sound of loud tapping back from where we came drew our attention.

“Then get that fucking barrier back up.” Black Spot huffed.

Turning my attention to my pipleg, I reactivated the barrier, the blue translucent wall separating all of us from the rest of the tunnel. The sound of a small pop filled me with dread as the barrier deactivated. checking my pipleg, it stated that it was low on power. Using my knife to pried open the panel below the jack port, and quickly found the talisman responsible for the barrier. The damn thing had a crack in it, and was bleeding magical power, I could feel it. Focusing, I fed the damaged talisman power, practically forcing energy into it. Looking back, the barrier was back up, but it also meant that this barrier would not last long after I left it.

“I'm currently feeding the barrier, but we will only have a few minutes at best once I stop feeding it power.” I told the others.

Black Spot turned, and pointed at Harp. “Pipsqueak, you go and feed that door power.”

Harp looked at me, and I gave her a nod. She ran over to the cables, placing her hooves on it. She began to shimmer, and the warning lights of the stable door slowly began to flash.

*Bamp*

The power fluctuated, forcing me to pour more magic into it. Looking over at the barrier to see an ash pile on the other side. A group of non glowing lurkers slid to a stop, piling into each other, the one in front sinding the tip of its claw mouth on the barrier. More lurkers showed up, this time armored Sparkle-lurkers, some riding on sand-lurkers. The mix of mirelurks quickly surrounded us, easily being far more than we could handle is a fight.

With them just standing there, I could see that their weapons had changed a bit from last time. It looked as they were using far less scrap metal from before, favoring the sand-lurker chitin. Short spears and picks looked to be the most common weapons. Also most of them also sported chitin spiked boots, and chitin bladed tails, likely backup weapons. Less common were the long polearms the sand-lurker riders had, it looking like an axe spear hybrid made out of lurker claws and legs.

Two armored lurkers ran in, and blew on a shell as big as their own heads, making a loud horn sound that was defending. All the mirelurks parted to either side of the tunnel, their weapons pointed up and their heads looked down.

Slowly, but steadily, a sand-lurker clad in polished chitin armor, with wet red cloth draped from under the armor, walked into view. On its back was a sparkle-lurker clad In chitin armor, but it had what looked like red warpaint, along with the same kind of red cloth poking out from under the armor. On the lurker chitin helmet was what looked like a crown, also made from chitin, but with gold along the edges. The lurker stopped in clear view, and looked down at us, holding what looked like a mace made from a mirelurk claw, and reinforced with polished steel.

“Hello Berenice.” I spoke up.

Berenices struck the barrier with her mace, the mettle bouncing off it, making it spark, and ripple. “You… pony.”

I rolled my eyes. “Vibraphone Echo. Now, how did you get passed the stable door?”

“Where is mine sister?” Berenices hissed firmly.

“Oy, ya frigid cunt!” Black Spot stepped forward, “Do you know who you’re fucking with?”

Berenices red glowing eyes shifted to Black Spot. “Other pony, puff up your chest as much as you like, but you you are only worth one week, where we are more than a year. Once this… sparkle-shell is down, you will be reduced to but one, the rest will be grounded under claw, made food for the bottom feeders.”

The two stared at each other, Black Spot’s eyes bleeding. Berenices slowly tilted her head. “You… you will be incinerated, tainted meat is no good.”

Black Spot took a step back. “The fuck, our stare has no effect.”

A loud crack filled the tunnel as the oversized door slowly pulled itself back. I was surprised that Harp was actually doing it, once again proving her above average magicalness.

I turned my attention back to Berenices. “Mayall is not here, now tell me how you got past the door.”

The Lurker eyed me, tilting her head back straight. “If you must know, pony, my mother, the queen, has… honored me with her advisor in the search of my sister.” she placed a hoof at her mouth, and whistled.

A strange whirring sound slowly became louder, until a Mr. Helper came onto the light. The three eyed floating spear was painted red, with the label “Sparkle-Cola” boldly on its side. The robot looked heavenly modified, one of its claws now a crab claw, and another has a firebug gun rigged to it. It's third claw was a buzzsaw, like I've seen other Mr. Helper, but had cables along its arm, and a spark of electricity would now and then flick off from the blade.

“Miss Berenices, madam Andromeda was adamant that I not go near this riff raff.” The robot chastised the lurker princess.

“Forman,” Berenices spoke loudly. “tell the pony skum how we were able to get in.”

One of the robots eyes focused in Berenices, another on the seven of us. “This action is unwise miss. But if they want to know, I simply asked nicely.”

“What?” I said, felling a bit confused.

“I asked miss APPLE to open the door, and she was so polite to do so.” Forman responded.

“Who the fuck is APPLE!” Shamrock yelled.

Feedback filled the tunnel as the charming farm mare's voice from the show stable spoke up. “Articulate, Pony, Parody-Imprint, Educator. I am programed to guide and educate guests who have come to stable-tec. A VIP of Sparkle-Cola could not be locked out, as it's bad for business. so I had the doors opened for them.”

I could see what looked like a smile form on Berenices’s face, stiff as it was. “there, you can't keep us out. Your disgusting pony tech has turned on you. But… if you surrender now, I’ll make your deaths quick.”

A loud clack sound the stable door finally being pulled back far enough on its track that it could begin to open. A wave of cold stale air rushed in through the thin gap that Harp worked hard to widen. The air held a slight mix of rot and mold hit me, making me feel uneasy.

Swallowing my worry down, and putting on a confident face, I stared down Berenices. “Because Mayall is my friend, and you’re her sister, I’ll give you this one warning. Turn back, and never come here again. If you hate and fear pony kind so much, then this should be forbidden ground to you. Beyond here is something dark, someone my kind abandoned. Now leave.”

A soft chuckle came from Berenices, and slowly grew into a cackling laughter. Then she stopped. “Hate… Fear… you think I still cling onto such frail emotions. After watching your kind drown under the water, fighting for the smallest air pockets, giving into their hethinistic passion as their air ran out, I realized something. You ponies are not worth the worry. Yes, you got away, but the hundreds you left to die were easy to finish. Or was it thousands? I doubt it matters to you, it didn't to me. But, seeing how easily all of the ponies died, after all of mother’s stories about the dangers of ponies, it was just so… disappointing.”

Berenices raised up her hoof like legs, the red cloth pulling back to show golden bracelets around her legs. “I could no longer hold onto hate, or be pushed into submission by fear. No, I saw the truth… ponies are to be seen with disgust for what they did to this world. They are not worth the mercy of pity, and for the sake of the future, you all must be exterminated.” The crowd of lurkers began to cheer, beating their armor, and pounding their hooves on the ground. Berenices eyes were wide with a zealous passion, not unlike the same I had seen on some of the pirates.

“Vibraphone!” Harp called out to me. Turning to look, the massive stable door was open enough for a pony to get through, the pirate's already squeezing into the stable. “Let's go.” Her voice quivered.

I looked back at Berenices, glaring at her. “I was looking forward to seeing Mayall crack your shell, but if this is how things will be, come get me.” I laughed at her. It was a laugh full of hopeless amusement, as even I knew that there was no way out of this. Harp and I were going to die, death was inevitable. But… I can try and take as many of them with us as possible. The pirates, the lurkers… how many can I take out before I'm dead myself?

Unjacking from the terminal, I ran to the stable door, the last one in. Squeezing through, my metal legs scraped on the door as I made my may into the darkness inside. Phobetor was ahead of me, Berenices behind me, and Black Spot to my side. A dark thought crept into my mind, that maybe, just maybe, if they had a megaspell here, I could set it off on all three, killing three birds with one stone.

Theremin appeared in front of me, her cybernetics legs rooting out like a plant, her jaw missing and tongue sticking out.

‘all this could have been avoided.’ Her words echoed through my mind.

‘Shut it! You’re just leftover data!’ I thought at Theremin.

Oil leaked off her tongue. ‘The C.C.N. could have easily mobilized against this threat. Quelled it all.’

‘At what cost?’ Thinking back.

‘Equality.’ Theremin said, as she turned into sand. ‘Everypony becoming the same, no pony getting left behind. A wonderful thought, is it not? Where you’re mine, forever and always. Where not even death can take you away from me, no matter how many times I delight in killing you.’

She faded away, as I fell, hitting the cold floor hard.

-Footnote:

-New Perk: Evil Eye. - Some joke about how a stare can have powers, you don't. Your left eye is now an evil eye, you now get unique dialogue options, and the ability to cast terrify, but when not covered up, you get a -1 to charisma and -5 to barter and speech.

-New Perk: Corrupt Regeneration - Whenever heavily wounded, your body will began regenerating. The energy from regeneration is taken from your hunger, and you will suffers doubles the effect of starvation. If starvation hit's critical, a frenzied state will be reached until your hunger is reduced.

Addiction status: Chill Addiction (withdrawal)