My meteor iron hooves hit hard ground, echoing loudly, announcing my return to Marewaii.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in the lobby of Labs D. The bodies of the long dead ponies were still scattered around here, but the rest of the lab was simply gone. Just outside the doorway was a void, but not like the ones before. This was more natural, no odd-magic involved, as though Labs D just picked up and moved elsewhere. I tossed a small piece of the broken flooring over the edge and listened. It hit the bottom a few seconds later with a reverberating echo, then... nothing. All I could guess was that when the megaspell finally imploded, it took the labs D with it, wherever that might be.

Turning around, I trotted over to the elevator, and with no other option, I stepped inside and hit the up button. A loud ding announced the closing of the large elevator doors, and soon after, it started to ascend. I felt that I should be a bit worried about being in this old wartime deathtrap, but maybe because it was Stable-Tec I was sure it was going to last long enough for me to get up and out of here. The upbeat and repetitive elevator music started up, only to short circuit out.

Small blessings I guess, but it was replaced by the sound of rusted cables straining, and old gears grinding together. Something told me from the fact those sounds were getting louder and more frequent, that even if it was Stable-Tec, it wasn’t planning on more than getting me to the top. Almost to punctuate that, a thick snap came as one of the cables finally gave, making the remaining few let out a chorus of groans as we slowed and arrived at the final floor.

When the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, I jumped out, turning just in time to see the elevator give up the ghost, and fall. The sound of the metal grinding together was like that of a monsters death waile before ending in a crash. The heavy box sent up a plume of dusty stale air through the old shaft, pushing a small cloud of the stuff out around me. I coughed and wafted it away before deciding that it was best to get moving before any more of this place decided it was time to come down once and for all.

Labs C looked… bad. Not dark magic floor bad, but abandoned for two hundred years bad. Rust was everywhere, less than half the lights were working, and the air was even more stale than anywhere else I’d been so far. The floor was now a normal metal floor, highly corroded, but not magical at all. With no reason for me to stick around, I made my way to the stairwell, retracing my steps.

Ascending to the next lab, Labs B was more of the same, though the spike pit separating the two stairwells was still there, and a lot of the mad rambling, the magic was gone. I didn’t need my goggles to be able to move about now, though I was in more of a need for light, as the much darker hallways made it hard to walk through.

Peering in one of the rooms with a working light inside, I found the same creepy terminal setup that most of the other rooms had held, but the screen was only static now. The room itself was an old stable-tec diner. The red and white checkered floors reminded me of some of the other restaurants in the metros, and it made my stomach grumble to just look at. Feeling that I might as just well take a look, I trotted in, and jumped behind the counter.

Much of what might have been food had long turned to dust, which should have been expected really. All that was left was a small fridge with its own spark battery, and by opening it, caused it’s slim trickle of power to finally fail. Inside I found more Stable-Tec MRE’s and some of the green soda. Digging in, I greedily devoured all I could. It tasted like I was eating fresh grass, with a hint of fruit, which was oh so welcoming after the day I’ve had.

When I was done, there was only two of each MRE pack left, of which, both went into my saddle bag next to Minerva.

I didn’t waste more of my time in Labs B, and quickly trotted to the other stairwell. The lack of Lurkers made me paranoid. Knowing of their natural magic, they could easily sneak up on me if I wasn’t careful. But with only one way to go, I just had to be vigilant, and deal with them when or if it happened.

Trotting into Labs A, it was more of the same, except the junk wall separating us from the other stairwell had been torn down, giving me easy access to the next floor up.

Further up, I entered the stables large atrium, still junk everywhere, graffiti decorating the walls, but missing from it was the two black eyes. In their place was two scorch marks, the wall having shown minor signs of melting. How this happened, who knows. It was clearly magic, though proper answering would need to be made by the eggheads who like this kind of stuff, not that I’d care enough to ever ask once I was out of this shithole.

Entering the warehouse was a whole different affair. Though the structure was still the same, the bodies of stable ponies littered the floor. All in advanced stages of decay, and ripped to pieces. Berenice had been thorough in dismantling the twitchers, though it didn’t explain why they were now rotting so fast.

A hoof step caught my attention as a twitcher stepped out, it looking ragged like some of the other ghouls I’ve seen before. It still had it’s awkward walk, its head twitching, and opening and closing its mouth. But its eyes were no longer a dark void, simply instead a blank milky white.

I raised my revolver, and fired.

The shot hit it between the eyes, blowing out the back of its head and setting its face alight in blue flames. The ghoul fell to the ground with a pained whinney and ceased moving. It was clearly dead, but my shot had echoed through the warehouse and called other twitchers to my position. There were six more of them coming in that I could see. Only one of them still looked in good condition, well, as good as a two century old ghoul could look. Pulling my second revolver out, I took careful shots on each one of them, the ghouls going down far easier than before.

With the twitchers no longer being a major threat, I moved on. Seeing the auto-wagon in the middle of the warehouse reminded me of Harp and of my bad call. I should have had her stay in the hiding spot, wait until everything blew over. Maybe I could have teleported out of here, and contacted Orthrus about her location. I could have turned down Charon so long ago, and waited the extra days to recover. At least then we might have never been in this situation in the first place, but then I could have lost Sweet and Merit. After meeting the queen, I could have convinced Harp that simply leaving the stable was the better idea, let the pirates have it, not like we could have stopped them.

I shook off the thoughts, I had too, and continued forward. Killing four more twitchers along the way, I made my way to the oversized stable door. I was met by a humming robot sweeping the floor. It was a ponytron, painted blue with yellow accents with the stable-tec logo branded on its flanks. It stopped when it noticed me, and we stared at each other for a few seconds.

“Oh tarnation, my sensors must be busted, It told me that no living pony was still in the stable, but here you are, intruder.” The robot had a feminine farmer accent, just like the one I had heard before getting to the stable.

I sighed. “You must be A.P.P.L.E.?”

“Darn tootin’ right I am!” the robot aggressively ancered. “And you better leave before you get in even more trouble, missy. Stable-Tec is not going to be pleased that you broke in here, it’s private property, ya know. Honestly, y’all should be glad I don’t go and shoot you for this offence. I mean look at this mess! What did you do, stop and use the door as target practice?”

I was not going to argue with the Apple, leaving was what I wanted to do in the first place. “I’ll be going, sorry for the mess.”

“You’d better be!” the robot huffed, watching me as I trotted to the now fully opened door. The walkway was now fully extended, giving me easy asses out of the stable, and into the dark tunnel.

I noticed the faint smell of pollen in the air, leftovers from when everyone and the lurkers charged down here. Not wanting to test how undead I was, I placed my gas mask on. Funny, the whole matter of putting it on was made easier by the fact that I could remove my head. My new horns were in the way at first, but I’d figure it out. The whole business of what I was now was going to be something I needed to get used too after all. After a minute of my body fiddling with the straps, the mask was on securely enough for my liking.

Opting to let my head hover to test my strange new magic, I found that my body had no difficulty with traveling in the dark. In little time, we… I had reached the entrance to the show stable, one little light illuminating the area in front of the door. I took the opportunity to look at myself in the dim lighting.

Like with the fight with Phobetor, my body was roughed up. My dress had little tears all over it, and the white apron was pretty much gone. Grime and dust coated my tail, and probably my mane as well. But my new legs shined, the black iron both intimidating, and elegant. The fog had gone away, but I had a theory on where it had come from.

“Alright, let's test this out.” I said to myself. Concentrating, I pulled at the death magic from somewhere deep down, the cold flame burning up into me. The small blue flame at my neck was set ablaze, and sparks of blue flame danced around me. Slowly, the fog rose up from my new legs, returning to the consistency I’d seen earlier. My body looked like a monster from an old horror comic book, or art from nightmare nights.

Putting my head back on, I trotted inside, ready for the lurkers eventual ambush.

*Bing Bong Ding!* The speakers chimed to life, followed by Apple’s overly cheery voice. “Stable-Tec security will be available to greet you in the hotel lobby, please don't keep them waiting.”

“Shit!” I burst into a gallop. Apple was likely referring to Orthrus security, and if Berenice was still is in the area, they were going to get slaughtered.

I rounded the generators, and through the lit up hall. The arrows telling me to go the opposite direction were a big help finding my way out, that and Apple yelling at me on the speakers about not running gave me some self satisfaction.

Entering the display stable’s atrium, I skidded to a stop, my hooves scratching along the metal plated floor. Surrounding me on my level, and a floor up, were the lurkers. Sitting at the top of the stairs was Berenice herself, resting on a large moldy pillow, a towel covering her face. Two heavily armored lurkers flanked Berenice, both with a large chitin shields, and chitin spears. I drew my revolvers, and Berenice guards raised their shield to block me from shooting her.

“Monster!” Berenice yelled.

“Pot, meet kettle!” I yelled back.

The two guards moved their shields out of the way, Berenice now sitting up straight on her cushion. “If I must become one, so be it. It all will be worth it, protecting our future from the destruction that your kind can only bring upon us!”

The crowd of lurkers burst into cheers and chants. “Death to pony kind!” And “ All hail the pony slayer Berenice.” Were repeated loudly.

Berenice motioned her hooves for the other lurkers to settle down, they following her direction almost immediately. “I know not how you are here, that matters not to me anymore. I want you to undo what you did, and do it now!” She shouted the last word, making all the lurkets flinch.

I laughed, I couldn't help it. “After what you have done, you think you have the right to make demands. But if you want something, I can give you some lead.”

The other lurkers jeered at me, but quieted down at Berenices directions. She lifted her mouth claws, and used them to remove the towel from her face. On either side of her head was a crack in her chitin, a glowing bright blue that even affected her ear like fins. Opening her eyes, I could see that they were like a bright red sphere in the middle of glowing blue water. I could feel it, an echo of death magic now lingering inside of her.

I watched as her eyes darted around, looking at something the other lurkers could not. “This curse you have placed upon me, I now see those who no longer live.” Taking a deep breath, she refocused her gaze onto me. It felt like she was looking through me, and at what I truly was now. “The drowned ponies, they follow me. Stare at me, and I cannot make them go away. Remove it, I cannot be distracted by the likes of the dead.”

I scowled at her. “Berenice…” A wide smile formed on my face. “I don't care. I didn’t do this to you, and to be honest, I’d rather let that curse dive you mad. I kind of want you to suffer. But if you’re really that adimate that I remove it, well, putting you out of everypony's misery just feels like the best choice, and logicly, it is.”

I scanned the room, my eyes whipping around, but I still could see everything clearly. Most of the Lurkers on my level were of the non-glowing kind, lightly armed and armored. They were clearly not seen as important as the others. However, some sparkle-lurkers down here were better off, equipped with heavier armor, and clubs. My guess was that they were there to keep the other lower lurkers in line. Above me, the arms and armor that the lurkers had became more impressive, and was more decorated the closer they were to Berenice. Other than the two guards, many of the lurkers close to Berenice had armored sand-lurks with them, a few sitting on the sand-lurks. It was clear that Berenice had formed a class based order, one that utterly outnumbered me.

“Disgusting pony, all you ever can do is spit bile.” Berenice raised her hoof, and all eyes fell onto her. “With so much, I wonder, how does your food taste? I can not imagine soaking it in your digestive fluids before consuming it makes it taste great. But it would go far to explain why all you food is nothing but tasteless preservatives.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “What are you getting at Berenice?”

Her mouth claws moved, forming what looked like a smile. “Just having a thought. Maybe if I made you eat your words, then you would understand. But if everything tastes like bile to you, then it's a meaningless gesture.” She slapped the ground with her middle fin leg, and a lurker came to her with a seashell decorated chitin helmet, and a chitin mace made from a sand-lurk claw. “I want to test this theory. Now, my subjects, disarm that monster!”

The horde descended upon me, holding me down, and taking my guns. A few decided to kick me, one spat on me. But as soon as it started, it was over as they away from me again.

Getting up, I watched as Berenice slowly descended the stairs, holding the mace in her face claws. “Now It's been some time last that I got to practice interrogation on a pony, so bear with me. The few we've had managed to capture were a bit too fragile, but at least their meat went to good use. So let us see exactly how long you will last...”

She raised her mace, and brought it down at me. I managed to lift a leg up to stop it, and braced myself for the pain. Instead all I felt was a push on my shoulder, and a loud “ping” sound from the impact. Berenice took a step back, and glared at me.

“It's meteoric iron bitch, forged for a god.” I lunged forward, and kicked at her.

Berenice took the hit, it making a loud thud on her chitin armor, and in retaliation, went for a kick of her own, hitting me in the side. I had to stumble back, as the force of the blow nearly knocked me over, but being use to getting the wind knocked out of me, I managed to endure it.

“You will still fall pony, god legs or not.” She readyed her mace for another swing.

I jumped back, dodging the mace as it smashed into the ground. Berenice clenched her claws and lunged forward with an upward swing, though again I managed to block it. The force was enough that I was still pushed back, albeit less than the last hit. Though she was technically smaller than me, she was able to push me around like a doll. All I could do was match her for now, but that wouldn’t work forever. I had to think of a counter plan, and fast.

She launched another charge with her mace, and I jumped back right into a group of lurkers. They yelled and spit, but didn't interfere with me. Luckily, one of their guards was distracted enough for me to grab a chitin club. Taking it, I decided to go on the offensive and charged at Berenice.

To the cursed lurkers credit, she was ready for the attack, simply deflecting it away from herself. I kept running forward, avoiding her swift counter swing before skidding to a stop in front of more lurkers. Feeling rightfully annoyed, I spun and threw the club at her. She easilly knocked it out of the way, sending it skidding across the floor past the crowd of lurkers surrounding us.

“All you got pony? You need me to give you another weapon?” She mocked as she readied for another attack.

She was slow, but powerful, like a trap baiting me to get in close before getting crushed. I chose to keep to her side, countering each of her swings with a jab from my hooves.

The lurkers continued to cheer Berenice on, and jeere at me as we circled each other. She was too slow to catch me off guard, but I didn't have the power to do enough damage to matter. This stalemate needed to end, so I needed her to slip up.

“This is what happens when you only fight those who can't fight back.” I mocked her. “Anypony can swing a club like a brute. Face it Berenice, you’re just a thug, drunk on your own power.”

“Oh, the monster pony has a point to make.” She said with a laugh. “Deaf ears it lands on, we all know the strong rule. For the strong do as they must, the weak suffer what they must, just like your companions.” Berenice laughed louder. “That pony we blined, mother was going to let go. Mother is too weak to follow laws, laws I convinced the others to alter. The same laws I have reminded mother to follow.”

My blood boiled like never before, but I could see no opening to attack. All I could do was grind my teeth. I needed something more than simple insults in order to get under her stupidly thick carapace.

“She's a fool you know,” Berenice continued. “my mother, she even trusted a ghoul once. It convinced her to have us repair a ship we found under the water. When it could float, the wizard executed our kind and left. Another betrayal of ponies that could have been avoided!” She smashed her mace on the ground with enough force to make my ears ring. “You ponies lie, cheat, kill and destroy. But we see through you. We kill before you kill.”

“And that's why you tormented your sister!?” I spat back at her. “No, you just enjoy inflicting pain, while everything else is an excuse. Admit it, you love to hurt not just ponies, but even your own kind!”

Berenice stopped moving, the handle in her mouth claw cracked. “My sister is mine, what I do is out of love. To help her not make the same mistakes as mother. But you, you, you, you corrupt her. Lie to her. And given time, you will betray her.”

“I would do no such…” She threw her mace at me, forcing me to block it, and cut off what I was going to say.

“Silence, monster!” Berenice yelled. “I will not suffer one more lie! Not one more mockery! I will rip you apart bit by bit!” She lunged at me, her mouth claws extended at me.

I managed to defend myself, her claws clamping down on my iron legs. “You’re nothing more than a delusional and genocidal crab, leading your kind into extinction!” I shouted at her.

A shriek from Berenice made my vision blur, and ears go deaf. I could feel her push me back into a wall, before placing a hoof on my chest. “Die in agony, pony.”

As my vision return to normal, the preset on my chest increased, as though I was being crushed by a bolder. I looked down at her, gritting my teeth, and we locked eyes. Unlike all the other times, the evil eye felt natural, fueled by my death magic. The power flooded into my eyes, and I burned my glare at Berenice. But she did not stop pushing into me, suffocating me. As the look of fear grew on her face, the more she pushed, the more she hated me.

“Enough!” A voice so loud that every creature stopped to hold their ears fins, even forcing Berenice to stop.

A Sparkle-Lurker in a dress made from a starfish decorated fishnet and a crown of coral stepped down the stairs. Each step felt made with purpose, each glance she passed across the room sent the others into a bow. The only lurker this could be was Andromeda, and looking closer, she was definitely walking on platform shoes.

“What… what are you doing here, mother?” All the fear and hatred for me drained from Berenice, replaced by a new, deeper fear.

Andromeda stood as tall as she possibly could, looking down at us. “You didn't think I would not know what you were up too. Waging war on ponies, seeking out Mayall. All after I told you not to!”

Berenice clenched her claw mouth. “Why? Why not attack ponies, kill ponies, make them hide from us. Why must you make us hide when we can stand above them!” She stomped on the ground and pointed at her mother. “Show her your strength, my subjects!”

For the lurker queens credit, she didn’t flinch at all as six non glowing lurkers jumped at her, nor flinch when a hail of bullets rained down on them, turning them and those around them into minced meat. The lurker guards from their nest were now above us, armed with crude looking gatling guns, all aimed down at us.

“Cowards!” Berenice growled. “I may not be strong enough for you yet, mother, but I will at least have this!” She pressed down on me, forcing the air out of my lungs. “Die monster!”

*Bang!*

Berenice fell over, clenching the hoof she was trying to crush me with. Shimmering into my vision, a suit of blue power armor appeared, as though from thin air, magical aura slowly dissipating from it. It didn’t look like that of the pirates, or the Orphic kingdom. It was much newer looking, its yellow painted hydraulics were exposed, and had padded armor under its plastic like plating. On its chest and flanks was the symbol of Orthrus displayed in bold yellow.

“Thank Celestia you’re alright, Vibraphone.” A robotic voice came from the armor pony as she took a hoof to her helmet, and lifted it up. Temboril, my sister's partner, looked at me with conceded eye. “Where's Harp?”

My chest tightened as everything seemed to slow down. I didn't want to say it, not now, not when I wanted to hold onto my hate. But the tears well up despite my attempts to hold them back. “I…” I grabbed onto Temboril, pulling myself close to her, trying to hide my tears. “I lost her. We were so close, so fucking close to getting away. Just a few more seconds, that was all we needed.”

A laugh came from Berenice. “Then down she fell, should have dropped yo…”

Temboril shut her up with a kick. “I’m not in the mood, glow crab!” She turned back to me, her eyes filled with rage “Fuck! The boss is not going to take this well at all.” She backed up, and trotted over to Andromeda, her revolver still out. “Lurker Queen, just what the fuck are you doing here.”

“Our quarrel is not with you, pony.” Andromeda starred down the specter, not showing any signs of being intimidated. “I am recovering my fool of a daughter, and her merry band of idiots.”

I slowly got back on all four, only for an even glowier lurker came from the balcony above to jump down and press me into a tight hug. “You had me worried, why pony always must leave friends?” Mayall yelled as she held me tight.

“Stop Mayall, your squeezing too tight.” I weized.

“No, friends don't let friends get captured… again.”

I felt something grab my head. “Don't touch this monster, sister mine!” My head was lifted up right off of my shoulders by Berenice. Mayall, looking up at me, fainted while still holding my body.

“Vibraphone, no!” Temboril whipped around, pulling out a bigger gun, the lurker guards revving there gatling gun motors, and the other lurkers hugged the wall. “You bastards! I will give you the count of three!” Temboril snarled as her gun crackled with electricity, and a shell of magical armor wrapped around her power armor. “Then all of you die.”

I looked down at Mayall, and sighed. “Calm down Temboril, I’m fine.” The last thing I needed was for the enraged specter to spark up the situation she’d just defused.

Tamboril blinked and stared at me for a moment. Understandably, she looked confused while her guns dropped onto the floor. Berenice was froze In shock, and some of her lurkers fainted like just like Mayall did.

My body managed to slip out from Mayals tight hug, and punched Berenice straight in the gut, freeing my head from her grasp. I decided to kick her in the gut again to drive home my hatred for her.

Turning to the shocked and confused Temboril, I looked her in the eyes. “Can we talk in some place bett…”

“You… you…” I was cut off by a bigger hug from Andromeda. “You're just like the headless space pirates from the black nebula! Oh this is wonderful!”

Right, time for me to be confused...

____________________________________________

We trotted out of the show stable, I was lead by the lurker queen to a junk decorated conference hall. Scrap metal stars, and small rocket ships were displayed all over the place, similar to that of the Captain Andromeda's theme park ride. There was enough room for everyone, along with six more lurker guards armed with very heavy looking guns. Berenice had been wrapped in chains, and dragged in, while the rest of her gang were corralled to one side of the room. The six new guards the queen had brought with her had their guns sharply trained on them.

Floating around in the hall was the mister hooves robot, Forman, sorting through a few crates of junk. The robot spotted us, and its three eyes widened. “Ah, my lady Andromeda, good to see you. Though I do feel ashamed for you to see us so behind schedule, but young lady Berenice was insistent that we rid ourselves of the intruders.”

“Forman.” Andromeda said his name without emotion as she trotted up to the robot. “I thought you told me you could handle her. You said you would keep Berenice from trying to stir trouble with the ponies. But the first chance she gets, you let her run off after them.” The robot cowered back as it looked the other way. Andromeda turned around, and the lurkers who were part of Berenices group also cowered back. “And you all, did I not say to stay away from ponies, that acts of violence will only summon more into our nests? This is why we have rules, rules that if broken, must be punished. Severely!”

Andromeda scratched her head in frustration, and Mayall put her hoof on her mother's shoulder. “It’s going to be alright, mother dear.”

The lurker queen swatted Mayall’s hoof off of her. “And you. You're the one who started this whole mess. You could never leave things well enough alone, always trying to chase some dream, just like your father. And just like with him, it’s going to get you killed.” She eyed us and sighed. “Because of you and Berenice, there are more ponies snooping about our territory, and they’re hunting.”

Mayall, looked down at her hooves. “I... I didn’t…”

“Didn’t think!” Andromeda cut her off.

“Excuse me.” I spoke up, “But the Themapark is too dangerous for ponies to go into. I mean, we only went there because it was the closest landmark connected to the tunnels. No way the ponies of Charon stop would risk ever going out that far.”

“You are correct, the filthy ponies of that undercity rarely trot so far as our nest.” Andromeda nodded. “But ponies with ships that swim over both water and land have been transpassing on our territory. Unlike the scavengers, they are hunters, and have been targeting my kin. I’ve already lost a half dozen, for which I have made those ponies pay dearly.”

“Sounds like the republic.” Temboril’s voice was amplified by her armor. “From the intel Vibraphone had obtained, the republic has built a small armada of hover ships. But why hunt the lurkers?”

I sighed. “Simple, if they can brainwash a lurker, and plug them into the CCN, they have a soldier that can't be easily targeted by arcano tech sensors. I saw it happen back in the republic territory, the turrets and robots responding too slowly to Berenice's assault. By the time a defence was established, the station was already overrun.”

“That would be a game changer,” Temboril nodded. “Places like Orthrus which are protected by arcano-tech turrets could be easily taken out. Not to mention the lurker’s amphibious nature would give the republic an advantage in both sea and land engagements.” She sighed from within her armor and looked over at Andromeda. “Lurker Queen, It seems that we have a common enemy, which means we have similar goals.”

Andromeda didn't immediately respond, seemingly chewing on her words. She looked at Berenice, then myself, and back at Temboril. “You ponies think the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the old saying goes.” Mayall gave a excitable gasp, and Andromeda rolled her eyes. “Yes, I have read those books you found, even if they’re not of my taste.” She returned her focus on us. “But no, I do not believe that having shared enemies makes us friends. Nor do we share the same goals. It is clear that these Islands have become too dangerous for my subjects. Let the ponies fight among each other, we will have no part.”

“Then why bring us here, why not just tell us to buzz off!” Temboril firmly raised her voice, causing the two guards protecting Andromeda to raise their guns.

“Maintaining order.” Andromeda looked over at the bound Berenice, the death magic touched lurker growled back at her mother. “My daughter has not once, but twice now interfered with ponies. Her punishment must be decided, otherwise more rebellions will follow.” She then looked passed Berenice, and at the lurkers who followed her. “Forgiveness can be granted, but…”

Andromeda stomped her hoof loudly on the floor, and the doors behind her burst open with lightly armored sparkle-lurkers rushing in. They quickly descended upon the non-glowing lurkers, subduing them, binding them with rope, and dragging them off by their tails. Kicking and screeching, we watched as each one of the non-glowing lurkers vanished from sight, and eventually out of earshot.

“I will not suffer having an inferior species mingle among my subjects.” Andromeda hissed as she eyed the other sparkle-lurkers, ending her gaze at a now very still Berenice. Mayall had also covered her eyes, clearly not wanting to witness the brutality. After a moment, every creature seemed to have calmed down, and Andromeda continued. “Now with that ugliness dealt with, I shall now proceed with the judgment upon my two daughters.”

“Ye… yes mother.” Mayall nervously answered.

Andromeda looked over at us, narrowing her vision. “You two shall give us your judgment after my own, as the representatives of ponykind.”

“Any judgment that is worth giving will be from my superiors.” Temboril responded.

I sighed. “My judgment will be far from unbiased, anything short of death for Berenice will just not do.”

“Firstly, Mayall.” Andromeda didn't acknowledge what we said, making it clear that our attendance must be more for show than anything. “Running away, contacting ponies, making deals with ponies, and… what you have become, what ponies have done to you.”

Mayall took a step back, and looked down at her hoof, the joint glowing brighter than the rest of the lurkers. “Mother…”

Andromeda cut Mayall off. “No, don't even try and make excuses. You knew this day was coming the moment you left. But then, to return like that? I raised you to be smarter than this.”

Looking about, all the lurkers were paying close attention, both Berenice’s group, and lurkers spying in from outside. It reminded me of the first time I had met them. The talk, the rules, and ultimately the punishment Sweet suffered. It was all there, it had to be, all so Andromeda could remain in control. An act like Harps family put on, all pretending to be a big happy family while ready to stab each other in the back just for a chance to get to the top. An act, like how the Republic pretends to be benevolent, a trap so to steal the free will of ponies. An act like every word that comes out of Red Steel’s mouth when not getting rutted.

I looked over at Temboril, and the emblem of Orthrus on her chest. An act, Orthrus does it too. One where they pretend to be the saviors of the metro, but not once trying to free us from our underground prison. Like the watchdogs of Tartarus, they do a dance to fool everyone that they are anything but simple guard dogs.

“EXILED!” Andromeda yelled, snapping my attention back to the queen lurker. “It is clear you cannot follow the rules, and your insistence on making friends with ponies is deplorable. It is clear that no matter where we go, you will bring ponies to us, and inevitably, be the cause for us being exterminated by them. For that, you shall never again be around your own kind. You are to be left out of our affairs, and if you should return, you will be treated as a trespasser and hunted down without mercy.”

Mayall took a nervous step back, but then stood tall, getting eye to eye with her mother, who stood on hoof extensions. “You’re wrong, Mother mine. Ponies can be our friends, they will not exterminate us. But if you keep thinking this way, when we need help the most, there will be no creature in this world that will care. That's when we will be exterminated.”

Andromeda grabbed Mayall by her ear spine... fin... thing, with her snout claw. “The words of an exile are meaningless. That is, unless you seek an even worse punishment.” She pushed Mayall off stage, and at us. “Do as you wish, consort with ponies, it is no longer a concern of mine. But do not dare to do so around me or my subjects, do you understand, exile?”

Mayall glared at her mother for a moment, then turned around and trotted to me and Temboril. She did her best to look strong, but the tears forming in her eyes betrayed her sorrow.

The lurker queen looked down at us. “Are ponies satisfied with this punishment?”

Temboril and I looked at each other, and I sighed before looking back at the queen. “What happens to Mayall is of non of our concern.” Temboril nodded in conformation. “She is welcome because she has done nothing to earn our scorn.”

“Then so shall it be!” Andromeda stomped on the ground, followed by the rest of the lurkers doing the same. “Next will be the judgment of Berenice. Bring her here to me.”

Two lurker guards trotted to, and lifted up Berenice, tossing her onto the stage like a sack of potatoes.

Andromeda looked down at her daughter. “Your crimes, how do I even begin? Where Mayall was going to destroy us through idealism, your actions alone are enough to unite ponies against us. Nothing ponies like more than a monster to slay.”

“And what you were doing is any better.” Berenice hissed. “Waiting for them to come for us. Relying on their old discarded tech, living in their old discarded structures. You’re nothing but a scavenger, prey for ponies to hunt for sport.”

Berenice received a swift kick to the gut from her mother. “And so you wanted to start a war when you are vastly outnumbered. It matters not how well trained your soldiers are, how sharp your spears are, or how tough the armor you make is. Meany ponies with bigger bullets will always win out in the end. And even if you find new weapon to fight ponies with, it's inevitable that they will make a weapon to counter yours, such is their nature.”

Andromeda trotted around her daughter. “So impatient, wanting to fight now, when you should have waited. Grow the nest, establish colonies, build better weapons. All before ponies know that we are a threat. But all that is ruined because of you, and now we have poneis hunting us. What do you say for yourself?”

“We should be hunting them!” Berenice laughed. “You do know that killing all the ponies here would be easy, right!? Flood them, starve them, make them kill each other. Then we would have all the room we need to grow, no more hiding. But you just don't want to see it. No, you’re too afraid of taking risks, and because of that, the nest stagnates.”

“If that's your finale statement, then I will commence with my judgment.” Andromeda took a deep breath, but before she could make her judgment, Berenice let out the loudest screech that had ever hit my ears, causing me to flinch and her mother to stumble back. Andromeda’s guards stepped in and trained their guns on her, one of them with a minigun in full spin.

The lurker princess continued to laugh, struggling against her bindings. “Mother, you're not one to make judgments. That’s for the strong, and you can only feign strength.” There was a thump, I could feel in through the ground.

“Berenice” Andromeda growled as she stabilized herself. “Stop whatever you're planning now, and just accept what comes.” another thump, closer.

Berenice wiggled herself to sit up straight, staring her mother in the eyes. “No. I am next in line for your throne. I’m the one who formed this band of warriors, and it’s I who turned the sand-lurks into weapons and armor. Face it mother, where you have cowered away, I will punish the ponies for what they did. I will find the wizard who wronged us first amongst ponies, and I will skin him alive. And that alone is why I am worthy of the title of queen.” One of the Lurkers from Berenice’s group stood up and began stopping its hoof on the ground, followed by the others, including some of those from outside. The roar of stomping putt the guards on alert, but they were clearly confused to what to do next.

“Silence!” Mayall yelled, her voice reverberating through my body, and stopping every creature. She looked about the room, rage in her eyes. “I may be an exile now, but if you wish to defy my Mother, your queen, then step forward. Show me your resolve, and I will show you how wrong you are!” She stood up tall, eyeing all the other lurkers.

The lurkers who were cheering for Berenice began to chuckle, which turns into a roar of laughter. One lurker stepped forward, covered in scratches, and a few holes in its fin. “Crying exile thinks she can fight? Fine, let’s fight.”

I stood up, but was blocked by Temboril, who shook her head. “This is not for ponies to get involved.” I sat back down, and felt another thump, closer now.

Mayall glared at the challenger, and the two extended their claws. The challenger lunged forward, but Mayall didn’t move, and locked her face claws with the other lurker. A struggle happened for a few seconds before the challenger seemed to be trying to pull away. But to no avail, she was trying to escape from Mayall’s grip but failing with each rough tug.

“You do know about the soft points in our joints.” Mayall spoke calmly. “Where our chitin is thinner, more flexible right?”

The challenger huffed as she tried to pull away, drops of blue blood now dripping from her claws.

“Berenice would always practice on hitting this points, squeezing them, finding where it hurts the most.” Mayall’s claws snapped shut, cutting the challengers claws off into two pieces each, sending blue blood splattering onto the floor. The challenger screeched as it stumbled onto the floor, cowering away from Mayall. She stepped forward towards Berenice’s group. “Who’s next!? Want me to show you how easily a leg can be ripped off? Or how fragile your eyes are. You want me to show you every kind of punishment my sister knows how to dish out?”

One by one the lurkers sat down, avoiding eye contact with Mayall, and she turned around and rejoined us, the blue blood spattered on her face.

“Now that you’re done playing games,” Andromeda spoke up. “I will make my judgm...”

An explosion ripped through the room as something crashed through the wall, sending dust and scrap metal everywhere. Tamboril maneuvered her armor to block much of the debris from hitting Mayall and I, and a shell of magical armor absorbed what did hit her. Even through the dust cloud I could see it. A massive claw, bigger than even a pony reached out to the stage, casting an even larger shadow.

The lurker guards began firing their guns, but were knocked back by a swing of the massive claw, of which blew away the dust. Before me, standing in front of the knocked down wall, was a massive blue and red crab, the likes I have never seen before. The gigantic mirelurk looked like a hermit crab without its shell, its chitin was like thick rock, unfazed by the gunshots the lurker guards fired at it.

“Tambanokano!” Mayall grasped. Temboril and I looked at her, and she sheepishly scratched her head. “It's my pet coconut crab, but I thought Berenice had killed him.”

An explosion shook the room, Tambanokano shaking off the hit as one of the lurker guards reloaded its crude looking RPG. The massive crab responded swiftly, thrusting its claw at the guard, and with one snap, split the lurker in two, including the RPG.

From under the gigantic crab, four armored lurkers rushed in ridinging sand-lurks, and attacked the guards. No longer under watch by the guards, some of the captive lurkers rushed the stage, quickly clawing at Berenices bindings, or blocking Andromeda. The queen’s two guards were dog piled by more of Berenices followers, preventing the heavy armored lurkers from being able to aim their heavy guns. Bursting through the doors like before were Andromeda's soldiers, who quickly overwhelmed the other lurkers on stage.

My attention on Berenice was broken when Temboril shoved me back as Mayall’s former pet readyed to attack us with its claw. The two of us backed up, drawing our guns, though I was unsure what damage my revolvers could do. The claw came down, sending splinters of wood, an chunks of concrete flying.

When the dust had cleared again, Mayall stood in front of the massive crab, unarmed, and unarmored. “Tambanokano, you remember me? Its me, your mama.” The idiot called out to the monster as it pulled back its claw for another attack.

I fired a few shots at it, but the bullets just bounced off its thick chitin. “Mayall, get over here before it kills you.!”

“Don't worry, I can get through to him!” She assured me.

If the situation hadn’t been so dangerous, I’d have face hoofed at the big dumb crab trying to tame an even bigger, dumber crab. But as it was, I was going to need to act fast.

“Minerva, S.A.T.S!” Nothing happened. I looked down and reminded myself that my pipleg was still broken, and still inside my bag… fuck!

*Crash*

The gigantic crab claw came down again, right where Mayall was standing.

“You damned idiot!” A cry came from Andromeda, and as the dust cleared, Mayall was on the floor, just mildly scuffed up. On top of her was Andromeda, missing a foreleg. “Get your head out of the clouds, and think about your future. If your going to lead your own nest, then start acting like a leader, and not some mary-sue wannabe!”

Again the massive crab got ready for another attack, and with little time to spare, I charged in. An explosive sounding zap came up from behind me, and one of the legs of the massive crab exploded, causing it to swing its claw wild, and slamming harmlessly away from the royal lurkers.

One of Berenice’s sand lurker riders charged at me, blocking me from the gigantic crab. I didn't have the luxury to go on the defensive, and dashed straight into the bastard. I got inside the reach of the lurkers pole weapon, and stuck my revolvers down the sand-lurkers throat, unloading what I had left. The mirelurk stumbled back, and fell over, throwing its rider off. The lurker scrambled to get back onto its hooves, but I jumped on it, as I reloaded. A shorter axe like weapon hit my leg, but bounced off with a shower of sparks. Glancing down, the lurker did no damage to the meteoric iron, and I smirked as I pointed my guns down at it’s face. With a pair of roaring shots, I turned the lurkers face into blue pulp before moving on.

The gigantic crab was now focusing on me as it struggled to keep stable. A clumsily thrown thrust came at me, the attack was too telegraphed for me to not be able to dodge it. Another explosive zapp blasted from behind me, but this time the attack only carved a deep gash into another of the crabs legs. Looking back, Temboril held a rail gun in her grasp, but was now being harassed by lurkers.

Another claw strike came at me, faster than before, giving me little time to dodge it. Feeling something pull at me, I saw that the crab had pinched one of my back legs. Quickly holding onto my head, I was hoisted up into the air.

My leg gave a stressed metallic groan, but held up under the crabs attempt at breaking it. Looking at the crab, I saw that this gave me an opening, I had a clear shot without the chaos below getting in the way. Taking aim, I fired at the one spot that never fails to hurt, its eyes.

It gave a screeching roar as it dropped me, and began to backed out of the room. I was not going to let it get away, and after landing on all fours, I charged again. The injured crab was off balance now, and only trying to swat me away. With a swift jump, I landed on its claw as the monster tried to grab me with its other one. But I just climbed closer to its face, and under its reach.

Protecting its eyes, the gigantic crab was frantically trying to stop me, so I changed targets. Aiming at its antenna, I fired at the connecting joint until the thing outright was severed off. This sent the crab into a fit of panic, and it began swinging its claws wildly as it charged forward into the inside wall.

It managed to knock me off, and I only just managed to avoid getting stomped. Tearing through the wall like it was paper, the massive crab sent up more dust into the already chaotic room. As the dust cleared and I picked myself up off the floor, I gazed into the hole it’d made to find it turning to look at me. Lifting both claws up, I knew the monster now personally wanted me dead. Another explosive zap came from Temboril, blasting off another legg from the same side as the first. The monster screeched again as it was sent falling over onto the floor.

Backing up, I got out of the range of the crabs claws, along with all the other lurkers. Though it could still use its other legs to move, its speed and overall mobility was all but gone. A lurker guard armed with a minigun stepped up next to me, and fired a long stream of led at the massive crab. Another guard with a rusty rocket launcher joined in.

Within a short time, the gigantic crab’s carapace was shattered by the assault. With a wailing cry, the monster gave it’s last as it finally died, and the chaos of the battle began to die down. Blue blood was everywhere, along with torn and discarded limbs of the lurkers. The room had been divided into two sides, both in a staredown. On one side, a newly freed Berenice with her one remaining sand-lurk rider, and a hoof full of loyalists. And on the other, a badly injured Andromeda, two guards with empty guns, and more than a dozen soldiers. The rest of the lurkers were either too injured to fight, or were non combatants at this point.

“You are not worth killing, but you will regret this betrayal, mother.” Berenice shouted from her end.

“No, I do not, nor will I ever.” Andromeda shook her head. “Hear my words, my daughter, as an old saying goes, those who live by the sword, die by the sword.”

Berenice just stuck her nose up, and got onto the back of the sand-lurker. I drew my gun, but Temboril stopped me. No, this was our chance!

“You can't be serious, she's the one who killed…” I shook my head. “She’s not going to stop. Letting her live will only let her keep killing and raiding around the metros.”

“It’s not your call, not anymore.” Temboril said coldly.

I growled at the specter. “Let me guess, it's an order from Orthrus.”

She nodded. “The lurkers are still an unknown, so the council wants to further observe them before making a move.”

“Pony!” Berenice shouted at me from on top of a sandlurk. “Mark my words, your kind will always be a far greater danger to the future of this world then I and my kind. And so we will save this world from the scourge of your kind.” Smacking the sandlurk, Berenice road out of view, followed by here loyalists, and even by quite a few of the non combatants.

Irritated, I trotted over to Andromeda. Already, there were a few lurkers with ministry of peace outfits on tending to her injuries. The lurker queen herself had lost her stoic persona, and winced in pain at every action of her nurses.

“Oh stop acting like a foal, you probably can regrow that back.” I said in as mocking tone as I could.

Mayall raised a hoof, but then quickly put it down, and took a step back.

Andromeda laughed for a moment before a long splinter of wood was pulled out of her oozing stump. “Unlike you ponies, in time, some things lost can be regrown. But I bet you ponies could not care any less about me, or my injuries. However, before you ask your questions, I have one for you. Are you satisfied with this result?”

The sound of radio static came from Temboril, followed by the voice of Council Representative Naqara. “It was crude, but not without results. We at the Council will take this event into consideration. But on a personal note, yes, I am quite contented.”

I couldn't help but feel annoyed at this. “Seriously, Berenice is too dangerous to just let free.”

“Stand down, miss Echo. Like miss Tablature and you said, this judgment is beyond your bias opinion.” Naqara chastised me through Temboril. “Not just that, but the lurker Berenice is right. As of right now, we ponies are our own worst enemy, or have you forgotten your little trip through the republic? Besides that point, the lurkers are now a far lesser threat to us with this schism. With most of the anti-pony lurkers now seperated into Berenice’s faction, the resources that will be needed to keep an eye on them will be minimal.”

“And what about the crimes she has committed?” I asked. “You’re just going to let her get away with massacring an entire station?”

“No Orthrus employees, or that of any pony under our protection were harmed in that attack, so as far as the Council sees it, it’s none of our concern.” Naqara answered. “So if you are done chasing a white whale, I have a more important matters to discuss. Isn’t that right, Queen Andromeda?”

Andromeda nodded. “Don't presume to think I will move on with the negotiations, as you must still uphold your end of this deal first.”

“What's going on, mother!?” Mayall stepped in, looking confused. “You exile me, yet you have been making deals with ponies when you say you hate them?”

“As a leader, I must keep in mind what's best for all lurkers.” The queen sighed. “After you ran off, and Berenice rampaged, I knew that things could no longer stay as they were. So I contacted them first.”

This even confused me. “Wait, how? Aren't you all isolated from the rest of the metro?”

One of the guards stepped forward, and suddenly engulfed in silver fire. Before me was a changeling, similar looking to that of Sorrow. “We discovered them years ago, when we were trying to spy on mister wizard. Our queen felt it would be best to keep in contact with them, in case they ever become more important to the stable.”

Great, so not only does Orthrus have their hooves I this mess, but the changelings too. If I didn't know better, I'd expect the republic, or Red to show up next. And knowing my luck, I’d get both.

I sighed and turned to Temboril. “So what’s next, Council Representative?”

“You will wait for transportation to arrive. Once I have finished our negotiations with the queen, you are to return to Orthrus. This strange condition you seem to have contracted has us worried, but I myself am very curious as to what you have become.” The radio turned off with a crackle, and Temboril trotted over to Andromeda.

“Mother, then was this all an act?” Mayall spoke up, sounding both disturbed and exited. “This violence, the exiling me?”

“Yes, this act was all a show, but it is also now the truth to our kind.” Andromeda turned away from Mayall, supported by the changeling. “It saddens me, but you my daughter, are still exiled to protect the natural order of our kingdom. With the events of today made known, those who wish to follow you will, those who wish to follow Berenice will, and those who are still loyal to me, will stay loyal to me. If only your sister had just accepted my judgment, then this wouldn’t have needed to happen. The divide between us did not need to be dug so deep.”

We watched as the they trotted off out of the room, a trail of blue blooded hoofprints left behind them. Many of the other lurkers nursered their injuries, or tended to those injured, the rest seem to be keeping a discreet eye on us.

I didn’t like it. After the fight, the struggle through everything, nothing had truly been resolved. And worst of all, I can't just go to Orthrus as I am. No, that would be a bad idea. I touched the two horns on my head, and felt the death magic within me. If I went as ordered, nothing but many years of observation and experimentation would be my future.

All the while, Phobetor gathers strength. Worse, they would learn of the mission I was given in Tartarus, and through who knows how many techs, it would get to Phobetor. Then this opportunity we had to finally bring her down will forever slip from me.

First, I needed a plan to get out of here. Thankfully, I remembered something useful here that Blackspot left behind. Now I just had to get to it.

A long sigh came from Mayall as she turned to the massive hole in the wall, and took a step towards it.

“Where are you going?” I spoke up at her.

“I’m exiled.” She sighed again, and spoke with a dejected voice. “No place here, or among my kind.” She looked around the room, and all the other lurkers avoided eye contact. “It was a mistake to return to mother, so, I’m going to find Harp.”

Great, now I had to deal with a depressed and confused lurker. “You heard what I said to Temboril, I lost her. She's gone, your sister killed her!” I growled the last word without thinking.

“No!” Mayall shouted, and cupped her ear fins. “She's lost, not killed, not dead.” she placed a hoof onto her stomach. “I can feel it in my gut that she is alive. All we need to do is look for her.”

“Oh, fucking fantastic, I’m too Celestia damned stressed for this.” I shook my head in frustration. “Even if she is alive, how would you even find her?”

Mayall turned around, and pointed at her pipbuck. “You have a tracking signal, give it to me!”

This pissed me off even more, but got me thinking. At the very least, this could be the distraction I needed. “Alright, but before I do that, tell me; there should be three seadogs in this building, do you know where they are? Or at least, where the equipment they had with them is?”

Mayall paused for a moment, clearly thinking, “I do not know of any fish dogs… but I heard that there are three big puppys a few floors up. I think some of mothers soldiers tried to capture them, but non can seem to get close to the doggies without getting shot at. Strange.”

Finally, some good news. “Mayall, if you take me to them, I will install the program into your pipbuck. Alright?”

She nodded. “Don’t know why you want to see the doggies, but alright. It’s not like any lurker will stop us. At least, not unless mother commands them too.”

I gave a sigh of relief, this was going to be a detour, but I couldn't trust Orthrus to help me just yet. I was going to need leverage, but first I needed to call a ride.

____________________________________________________________________

Mayall was right, the Lurkers did nothing to stop us. Instead, they acted more like we had some communicable disease, and outright avoided us. So, when we got to the floor where the seadogs were held up on, the lurkers on guard just slammed the door behind us.

As we trotted through the empty, dust covered, and punga tree infested building, I felt a tug on my horn. In fact, it was so sharp of a tug that then removed my head, leaving me to look at Mayall upside down.

“Can you not?” I told her.

“Sorry.” Mayall apologised, putting my head back on backwards. I glared at her until she turned my head back to looking forward. “How'd it happen?”

“I fell down an elevator shaft.” Was my response, Mayall trotting ahead of me looking confused. “It's complicated Mayall, I wouldn't even know where to start.”

“Maybe at the part where you swam in a megaspell.” This time I looked at her confused, and she rolled her eyes. “I could feel it when I touched you, like when I used that bug thing and it made myself tall and extra glowy. So what was it?”

That surprised me a little. “Why are you bringing this up now and not before?”

“Because no creature asked, and I was distracted.” She answered.

“Fine. Yes there was a megaspell.” I sighed. “One made to affect time and space, and it did lots of weird shit. There were other things too, spirits of death, some black abyssal orb. Not to mention the ancient nightmare, some eye injection that turned me into whatever the corps brigade are, and I ended up taking a walk through Tartarus in order to recieve a history lesson, as well as these sweet legs.” All that stopped Mayall in her tracks. “Like I said, it’s kinda complicated.”

She reached out and taped one of my horns. “I get it, thou gone has through Tartarus and back, and know not wanting to give long explanation. Still, your new horns look pretty. It's like they’re made of gold. But too bad about your mane and tail.”

This time I stopped “What?”

She looked away for a moment, gulping once. “You... don't know?” I cocked an eyebrow at her. “They've gone pure white, like all the color has drained from them.”

I checked my tail, and what I could see of my mane. She was right, and all the color was just… gone. It wasn't a big deal, but I did like my mane color, it had always been part of who I was. With a huff, I stepped forward, I could only hope it was a temporary loss. If not, I was never going to hear the end of it from Sweet...

Reuniting with the seadogs went about as well as I expected as they almost shoot me on sight. They had fortified themselves in the last room in this hallway, and placed broken glass all over the floor. I needed to talk to them, but without a radio pack that one pirate had, or any of the other pirates , I was going to have to do things the hard way… Or, because I probably didn't have that much time to convince them not to shoot me, try something crazy.

“Mayall, hold my head.” There was a nervous mumble before my head was lifted off my shoulders. Concentrating on the death magic within me, the small blue flame gew, bathing us in its cold light. “Alright body, go sick ‘em!”

My body reared up before rushing into the room. What followed was three loud screams, and lots of gunfire. One errant shot passed through the wall and nearly hit Mayall. But after a few long seconds, there was only the sound of the clicking of empty guns.

“Take me inside.” I told Mayall.

As expected, the room was utterly shot up. The three seadogs were huddled in the corner, holding each other as my headless body was pacing back and forth in front of them. The radio was all set up, with a long antenna sticking out of the window, and several spark batteries connected to it. Sadly I was no radio technician, and likely would get ignored by the pirate on the other side.

“Hay dogs,” I called out to them, making them wimper slightly before one of them braved a look across the room at my head. “I want one of you to call the Weeping Pegasus for me.”

The dogs looked at each other in confusion, but one then slowly broke away from the other two, looking at my body, and then at my head. “Pony!? What is this heresy?”

Ya, not going to explain shit right now. “The kind of heresy that's going to get your captain to beat the shit out of a zealot monster dog if you don't do as I say right now.”

“Seadogs name, Ollie.” The seadog grumbled as it walked to the radio. “What pony want Ollie to say?”

After Mayall put my head back onto my body, I took a deep breath. “Tell them that I have Red Steels prize, and If she wants it, she’d better send a ride to the top of this hotel, and soon.”

Ollie quickly made contact, and relayed the message. The large seadog then turned around to me with a blinking metal box in his paws. “Pony will need beacon.”

I put it in my bag, swaping it for my pipleg. Looking at my busted up leg, I removed the memory device that Red Steel had put in, and passed the broken leg to Mayall. “Here, the program is inside.” I didn't know how much of it could be salvaged and restored, but it was unlikely to be enough to be useful.

The lurker sighed and took minerva. “Thanks Vibraphone.” with that I turned to leave the room. “Alright doggys, pack up and let's go! We’ve got a ride to catch!” I paused, turn around to see Mayall cheerfully directing the seadogs.

“Mayall, what are you doing?” I asked bluntly.

“I’ve decided that I’m going with you, and so are the doggies.” She smiled, well... moved her claws to look kind of like a smile. “I’m already exiled, so I might as well go with you for now. Relax, I’ll just have my sub pick me up later.”

I don't know what she was trying to do, but I didn't have the energy to argue, or the patience to debate it. “Fuck it, do whatever you like.”

The seadogs packed up relatively quickly and followed us out and up the stairs. I avoided the elevator, not because I was afraid of this one falling, but the statistical chance that this one can get stuck, then fall. Two hundred years outside is different from two hundred years underground, and even those had seemed to be at their limits.

Reaching the top of the dilapidated building and trotting out into the open air, I was surprised as Mayall ran over to the edge, and gasped. “Its beautiful, like up on new Canterlot!”

She wasn't wrong. Over the crumbling edge of the roof, was a vast beautiful ocean of crystal clear blue water. But I couldn't really feel any joy in looking at it. It might’ve had something to do with being undead, or with my fear of drowning. But I had the idea that even if I was my old self, I would still be too mentally drained to feel much of anything anyway.

In the distance, we could see it. From here it was only a small thing on the water, but it was the rusting hulk of the Weeping Pegasus. Above it, and getting closer, was an approaching vertibuck gull. We watched it as it passed overhead before circling down for a landing. It’s gear touched down onto the roof with a thud, and we all approached the open passenger cabin.

The gulls pilot pulled her gun when she looked back and noticed Mayall, but Ollie thumped the aircraft’s frame, and the pilot put the gun back. We all hurriedly took a seat inside, Mayall almost hitting me with her tail do to the cramped room. With all of us onboard, Ollie gave another thump next to the pilot, and the gull’s engines spooled up, lifting us into the air.

*Bam!*

The door to the stairwell inside the hotel flew off its hinges, bouncing across the roof before it fell over the edge of the building. Stepping out into the daylight was what I guessed was a very angry Tamboril, not that I cared how she felt at this point really. Killing Berenice may have to wait, but I was not going to let my opportunity to go after Carving Doll slip. And if any pony was going to give me real leverage on Orthrus, despite how much I felt that I was going to regret trusting her, it was going to be Red Steel.

As the gull pulled away, I couldn't help but think that the time for calm, and rational decision making was over. I’d been through too much, been betrayed and targeted by too many now. No, now was not the time to sit down, shut up, and follow orders. Phobetor can beat that way of thinking in an instant if I let her.

So now, maybe being frantic and chaotic was the answer. If not, well, at least I’d get to decide a few things for myself for a change. And oh yes, things were going to start changing the moment I got back to the Weeping Pegasus.

__________________________________

Footnote:

Faction Quest Start: Mutiny Aboard the Weeping Pegasus.