The pounding of gunfire, and the screams of ponies dying echoed… but I couldn't tell if it was real or in my head. All I could do was push forward, draw Phobetor out, and kill her. That is all that really mattered now.

A beam of pink magical energy flew over head, lighting up the tunnel, waking me from my daze, and revealing a battle before me. Amazingly, it was the Orthrus ponies from the fake maintenance station. Somehow they had set up a two layer blockade, and were fending off a mob of Equalists armed with energy muskets. Despite their few numbers compared to the equalists, Orthrus had managed to keep them from advancing, forcing the equalist to hide behind their own makeshift barricades. Each side were just taking the occasional pot shot at each other, but overall far more calm then I thought it should be.

“Hey you! This is a restricted zone!” An Orthrus mare yelled at me, pointing the automatic airgun at my face. “Speak fast or get shot!”

I rolled my eyes. “Here to help. Now, shouldn’t you be pointing that gun in the other direction?”

She just shoved the rifle barrel into my face. “This is no place for a smart mouth merc, unless you actually want to get shot.”

“Hold your fire!” Another mare yelled, this one in commando armor and armed with a heavy automatic shotgun. “Were going to need that bullet when the republic charges our position. Now merc, we sent a bunch of civilians, and a few rookies down the tunnel. Didn’t they tell you not to come down this way?”

… “They’re all dead.” I told her.

The commando gritted her teeth. “Those mother killing cunts!” She kicked an ammo crate near her, it moving a few inches. “Fine, if you want to help, get in the defensive line, but don’t blame us when you die. Welcome the nopoines land, miss...?”

“Cold Iron. And don’t worry, I’m already long dead. I’m just here to drag another down with me.” I told the commando before I trotted over to the barricade.

Another beam of energy passed over my head as I got behind a metal table already warped from being shot at. Taking a peek, I got a better look at the Equalists I was dealing with, and saw a few soldiers peeking their heads out, the rest looked like an unruly mob ready to burst out. In the stretch between the barricades were the dead bodies of ponies with pink bandanas over their faces, likely the result of a first failed charge.

It was a gamble to guess their strategy, but I’d put all my bits on them waiting to do one massive push. If I were to double down on my guessing, I say that Phobetor knows about the listening post down here, and is aiming to capture it. That then means that they’re planning to send a wall of bodies at us, enough to overwhelm even a murder bot. It would be a cruel tactic, but one I could see Phobetor doing. It's a good thing I plan on destroying this tunnel, along with her.

A blast of automatic gunfire came from a Regular, forcing the mob of equalist to duck behind their cover. “How much longed will it take the reinforcements to get here!?” The regular shouted before ducking down to avoid three energy blasts.

“Not soon enough, so just focus on holding these fuckers back!” A commando shouted, then fired their heavy weapon back at the equalist.

A pony sat next to me, laughing softly. “She's right, and although Orthrus was ready for this, mobilizing still takes time.” looking over at the pony, I saw a translucent projection of Phobetor. “By the time they get here, my slaves will have already taken this position, and dragged you to me. So why do you even try and fight me, what are you even planning to do?”

I ignored her, knowing that she was not here. At least, not fully, and not yet. Peeking out again, I could confirm that the soldiers were ordering the mob around, likely connected to the C.C.N. along with a few in that mob. They were like the pressure level in an airgun, already at a lethal level, but still gaining more air pressure for an even bigger shot.

Looking at the Orthrus soldiers, they clearly looked worried, repeatedly checking their ammo and air pressure when under cover. They knew it was only going to get worse, maybe already too big for them to easily deal with, and are hoping reinforcements gets here before the inevitable charge of bodies.

Looking back, I saw that the commando from before was sorting through an ammo crate filled with random supplies. As she passed a magazine of ball bearings to a regular, a pipe bomb fell out of the box and rolled over to me. Picking it up, and got an idea.

“Say, how many sticks of these you have in that crate?” I shouted to the commando.

“Including the one you have, six. Why?” She shouted back.

There’s not much room in the tunnel to hide, so explosives where extremely dangerous to use, but if there were enough bodies between us and the explosion, then we should at least be safe. “If we can thin their numbers out, then that might buy us enough time for reinforcements to arrive.”

The commando cocked an eyebrow. “Tried that with flash bangs already. They may look unruly, but they’re organized enough to counter anything we throw at them.”

“A little reorganization of countermeasures can go a long way.” Phobetor mocked me.

“Just pass them out, I got a plan.” I told the commando.

She glared back at me. “Now listen here merc, you may be helping us…”

Stopping her with my evil eyes, I tried not to push it too far, my emotions of fear and hate, then letting her go a moment later. “Just do it, and I'll do my part.”

The commando looked confused for a short moment, but a been of energy flying overhead snapped her out of it. “Fine, but you better make it quick, and this better fucking work.”

Turning around, I pulled out my revolvers, letting them float at my side.

Phobetor stretched back, her projection reaching through the barricade. “Lets see, you can't just come to us and win, so your planning to have them come to you, is that it. How foalish, they’re not cut off from me like before, I have my slaves under my hoof. Their bitter emotions are under my control. They will stay put until there's too many for you to fight.”

Glancing over, I finally acknowledged Phobetor’s presence with a smile, and she faded for but a moment.

“I thought so.” I whispered as I closed my eyes, knowing that if this was going to work, I needed Phobetor mentaly distracted. She had to be using a lot of her power to maintain her control, otherwise she could have already been able to send a flood of ponies down here. Once again a gamble, but then if I didn't take a risk, I was going to lose.

Jumping out from cover and over the barricades, a beam of energy just missed me, slamming into the barricades behind me. I took a step forward, and another shot passed me, making me laugh as I began to understand. A third shot passed me, now confirming my suspicion. All the ponies with guns were part of the C.C.N. and Phobetor didn't want her desired secret destroyed. Luckily for me, the sun city project can stay forgotten forever.

Putting one of my guns away, I pulled out the holotapes with the mind control spell in it. “A secret for a secret was it, Phobetor?”

All the equalist soldiers aimed at me, but their focus was more on the holotapes. I moved the tape in the air, their eyes tracing it, confirming I had their full attention. Trotting out from the shadow, the golden eyes of Phobetors projection was filled with suspicion, and want. “You cannot bribe me foal, but I am curious, what secret do you want?”

“Can you bring the dead back to life, or turn back time so that certain ponies had never died?” I spoke softly.

Phobetor cocked an eyebrow, then a puff of a laugh came from her mouth. She pulled a hoof up to hide her muzzle as she laughed loudly. “Now now, ain't that rich! Finally feeling the sting of regret, are you? But yes, I do know of a way. After all, it's not like your the first fool to want such things. So what is it you want to change? Stopping your sisters death, or maybe keeping me from becoming free. Or is it to not even to do this hole quest to begin with, and you wish to become just plain old Vibraphone Echo once more?” I could see a wide smile form from behind her hoof. “How about a classic wish another pony made long ago, to prevent this war from ever happening.”

I chuckled myself, looking Phobetor in the eyes. “Maybe I’d be interested in any of that… if you were talking to Vibraphone Echo. But what I want is something far more simple, because I’d love to see the look you will make on your face over and over.” I tossed the holotapes in the air, and with a quick and smooth motion, shot it with my lunar eclipse, shattering the holotape into pieces.

Phobetor’s eyes widened for a split second, then narrowed as she sneered at me, and faded into the shadows. A bolt of energy shot out, hitting me in the shoulder, and bouncing off into the ground.

“Kill them all!” A soldier yelled, her eyes glowing a hate filled gold.

Hopping back, I managed to dodge a shot, it burning the edge of my left ear. Two more bolts of energy came for me, but I was able to take cover behind the barricade, protecting me from the more determined kill shots.

“Wave incoming!” A commando yelled as loudly as she could. Peeking, the mob of equalists had come out of their cover, armed with pipes, tools, and other improvised weapons. Picking up the pipe bomb and wiggling it, the commando saw and nodded. “Throw the explosives!” She screamed.

Pulling a pin on the bomb, I tossed it as hard as I could, and it vanished under the now stampeding equalist. A second later, six explosions reverberated through the tunnel, engulfing the mob. When the smoke cleared, their were quite a few mutilated dead, even more mangled injured, and a shit ton more unhurt angry ponies past them.

A few equalist ponies were near our barricade, the only injures the seem to have were from the blood coming out of their ears, a pain I had grown far too familiar with. One of them slowly got up, a wrench in her mouth as she glared at me. So I aimed Solar Eclipse, and put a bullet in between her eyes.

More shots rang out as Orthrus eliminated the nearest Equalists before they could put up a fight. But a beam of pink energy shot through one over eager regular, vaporizing her, and forcing us to duck down again. It was the republic soldiers, who were using some of the dead equalist mobs as a rest for their muskets, taking careful aim.

Aming Lunar Eclipse, I unloaded at the soldiers, forcing them back behind the mob. The mob itself had not stopped advancing, but had slowed down due to the piles of bodies, but were now pushing their own barricades forward. The barricades loudly ground against the old metal rails with each push. If they managed to close the distance, it would be their win, but the mob were also leaving gaps in the barricaded with each push.

Taking aim, their barricade pushed forward, and a gap opened. I fired off a shot, and their push stopped as one of the ponies fell over. But a second later, the barricade was moving again, and I fired another shot through a gap, stopping it for another second. In the corner of my eye, I saw the glow of pink, and I ducked down just as four beams of pink energy slammed into my cover, and one beam streaked over it. This was followed by the sound of thundering hooves quickly becoming louder.

The equalist mob were stampeding at us again, but Orthrus countered by unleashing a stream of fire for their automatic weapons. The wave of ponies fell, only to be trampled by those behind them, all the while their barricade got closer. Another barrage of energy bolts shot out, this time at the defending Orthrus ponies. All but one of the defenders managed to duck down in time, a commando ate a beam to the face as she unloaded her automatic shotgun into the mob. Fortunately, only her helmet disintegrated, allowing her to keep up her fire, that managed to halt the wave, but at the cost of all her ammo, forcing her to tossed the weapon soon after it had stopped firing. Another commando took the automatic air rifle from the regular that had died earlier, and tossed it to the other commando.

The screeching of the barricade continued again, now pushing forward the corpses of their fallen comrades. Once again I took shots at the gaps in their barricade. This time, it didn’t slow down, and just kept coming closer and closer. Worst of all, the equalist were firing their guns at a more frequent rate, meaning that there were now more guns firing at us now than before.

Another wave of ponies charged over their barricade. It wasn’t as many as before, but their soldiers were now providing better covering fire. A mare with a plank of wood covered in nails jumped over the barricade at me. Placing two shots into her, she landed next to me, dead. The other defenders were having similar problems, unable to properly hold them back, the mob was jumping the barricade. I managed to help shoot a few of of the jumpers, but it was clear our position was becoming overrun.

“Fall back!” shouted one of the commandos.

Every pony backed up together, still firing their guns. Fortunately for us, our first barricade slowed the mob enough to make them easy targets once we were not hugging it. Unfortunately as we jumped over to our second line of defence, three of us got vaporized, two regulars, and a commando. Once behind our second defensive line, I saw that two more regulars had failed to get over the second barricade, having gotten swarmed and killed by the mob. But now we had an easier kill zone, for now. So as the Equalists jumped the first line, I shot them down.

*Click*

Ejecting the shells from my lunar eclipse, I found that I was down to two bullets. Loading the revolver, I made my way back towards to a nearby ammo crate, firing off solar eclipse.

*Click*

I switched to lunar, taking out another Equalist before running out of bullets again. But the Equalist I’d taken down was swiftly followed by another pony armed with a pickaxe. They glared and charged right at me.

The attacking pony growled at me as I dropped my revolvers. Before she could make contact, I threw one of my knives into her eye socket. That sent her tumbling end over end, screaming.

I was not the only one who had fallen back as even our second line was being over run. There were just not enough of us to hold them back, and Phobetor had not even shown herself physically yet.

“Just hold them back and buy us time!” One of the regulars shouted from further back, it was one of the actually maintenance ponies, with two other maintenance ponies. They were standing around a box, their hooves on it. Even I could feel them pouring magic into it, meaning they had a plan.

We formed a wall in front of the three maintenance ponies, which showed that our numbers had further reduced. Their were now three commandos, six regulars, and the three maintenance ponies. A beam of energy slammed into a Regular, disintegrating her…

Five regulars.

We unleashed a torrent of gunfire. I took aim for the Republic soldiers, but as soon as I had one in sight, they ducked down. I spotted a soldier taking aim, their magical energy rifle ready to fire. My eyes darted back and forth, tracking were it was going to fire, and reaching out with my hoof, I managed to block it from taking out one of the commandos. My interference caused the beam to then bouncing back, disintegrating one of the equalists. The commandos gave me a quick nod before continuing fire.

The sound of a loud crack, and a flash of light nearly blinding me, causing the Equalists to stumble and stop. With a booming mechanical voice, the oversized security machine announced its presence.

“Intruder alert! Initiating counter zebra protocol! For the glory of Equestria!” The robot pulled up its two magical gatling lasers and aimed them at the charging Equalists. The tunnel lit up with streams of pink energy bolts, disintegrating most of the mob of Equalists in ten seconds flat, and turning the tunnel into an oven.

The enemies advancement had halted, with only a few energy bolts slammed into the robot, having no effect on it. This gave us the opportunity to retake our second defensive line as the robot advanced on the Equalists.

“The only good stripe, is a dead stripe.” The robot shouted as it fired back at the equalists, and actually managing to straight up melt through part of their barricade, cutting it in half with a barrage of energy bolts. The robot rolled through our own barricade, knocking over the midsection of it as it continues to advance. The bodies behind it made a wet crunch when the robot rolled over them.

“Remember Little Horn. Justice for Little Horn.” The robot boomed as it barreled through our first barricade, and into the enemies barricade, firing its gatling energy cannons wildly.

On the robot two spinning red lights activated, along with a siren. “Warning, enemy ordnance detected, take cov…” A massive beam of energy slammed into the robot, melting off it's left cannon. The robot continued to fire back with it's other gatling cannon, but was met with a barrage of energy bolts that didn't stop, turning the robot red hot as it overheated. It then slumped down as its back then opened up, revealing two white hot magical energy reactors. Then, as though on cue, another massive energy bolt slammed into the robot chest, and it exploded, sending robot pieces everywhere. The head landed next to me, it's angry looking red eyes still with light. “To die for equestria is the greatest honoorrrr…” the light of our trump card then dimmed and went out.

“Chime Catbell!” Screamed the familiarly angry voice of Blaster Beam.

She was riding on top of a rail cart, surrounded by ponies who were providing her with magical energy. In the place of Blaster’s missing leg was what looked like an oversized energy musket in the crude form of a pony leg, covered in a tangled mess of wires that plunged all over her coat. She also had tubes stuck into her body, connected to two boxes down near her hooves. She lifted the monstrous cyberleg, pointing it at us as the magical power of her subordinates shimmering into the leg, bringing the barrel to a bright pink glow.

“It's been fun bitch, but I've been ordered to kill you.” A wide smile formed on her face, revealing a damaged cybernetic jaw inside. “And I’m not one to ignore such wonderful orders.”

I could taste ozone thick in the air as everything was lit up by the pink glow of Blasters oversized hoof cannon. A sudden shove knocked me over as the remaining members of Orthrus scattered, causing my head to detach and roll across the tunnel. The beam flew over me, surely killing some of the Orthrus ponies, and following the attack, the mad mob of equalists charging in.

One of the pitiable fools grabbed my head, looking confused at me before showing my head to Blaster. “Looks like her head avoided disintegration, comrad!”

I got a better look at Blaster Beam, who's hoof cannon was glowing red with heat, and most of her coat near it had become charged black. Not just the cannon, but all the spots where cables connected to skin were smoldering as though she was on fire inside. The two boxes near her hooves blasted out jets of steam as the pumped white liquid into her.

Blaster looked at me, her red cyber eyes then turning gold. “No sign of the body?”

“No mam, just ash and the head of this capitalist.” The equalist replied. I didn't know where it had run off to, but I could still feel my body, so I knew it was just fine. That meant that the megaspell bomb was still intact, and I could still salvage this.

“Well then…” Phobetor stepped off the cart, causing the tubes in Blaster’s body to be pulled out, spilling the white fluid out onto the ground. When she touched down onto the ground, her hoof cannon stepped into a puddle of blood, immediately boiling it. “looks like I won. Though, that I had to use so many sacrifices so soon is annoying, but what's done is done. Now what name were you going by again, not Vibraphone Echo, or Chime Catbell? Maybe I can just call you the Dragon Slayer, though you've never slayed a real dragon, I do like mockery.”

“Get to the point, nightmare!” I spoke with an irritated snaral.

The equalist holding me almost dropped me as she gasped. “She's alive!? How many cybernetics does she have to allow that!?”

Phobetor raised Blasters non cannon foreleg to motion for the subordinate to stay quiet. “The point you ask, well the point is that you, the Dullahan Cold Iron, are now at my mercy. So tell me, what were you planning to do? What trick were you going to use to kill me?”

“You think I have a trick?” I rolled my eye. “No, actually I was going to blast you with rainbow powers and turn you into a good pony so that we can be friends. Also, the rainbows would cause the equalists to see the error of their ways, and stop being brainwashed slaves. You know, a win-win for everypony. Of course, it would also have the benefit of fixing the islands, getting rid of the toxic pollen and radiation and we’d all live happily ever after. Pretty great plan, don't you think?”

“Are you implying you would use the elements of harmony?” Phobetor cocked an eyebrow, then smiled. “That would be disastrous for me, that alicorn cheat magic. But, the elements don't exist anymore, Cold Iron, so you can stop playing games and just tell me your secret!”

Even now, did she not know? Or was she just playing head games with me still?

I chuckled at the idea that she couldn't just dig the answer out of my mind like she could before. It might be because I'm undead, but then again she was also managing the Republics C.C.N. So that might be restraining her power.

“Come down here and find out.” I said with a smirk, “And not this farce you use to show up, I mean the real you. We can even throw a party for everyone, just remember to make a daiquiri or two for me.”

She frowned at me. “If you’re going to be that way, I might as well rip that brain out of that head of yours and plug it into a robot. Dullahan or not, it should still work… or at least, I will soon find out.” Phobetor motioned for the other equalists to get onto the cart before looking back at the pony holding my head. “Take this thing back to Vally Port Station, it's going to see the light of Equality, whether it wants to or not.”

“Yes ma’am.” The mare holding me only had the time to sit up before the sound of a revolver shot went off, and the mare dropped me.

With my magic, I was able to prevent myself from hitting the ground too hard, and managed to turn myself to see what was going on. In the middle of the crowd of ponies my body stood, holding my revolvers with magical blue flames. Every pony stood still, looking at the headless pony, it with a cold blue flame flickering from its neck, and surrounded by a black fog that covered the ground around it.

Phobetor snarled at my body. “Kill it, kill it now!”

The Equalist soldiers quickly pointed their guns at my body, but my body responded faster. Eleven shots spit from my revolvers so fast that it would make Red Steel blush. Each pony shot had a blue flame erupt from their bullet hole as they fell over, screaming in agonizing pain. The remaining soldiers took their shots, but with a dash, my body slammed through the remnants of a barricade, and vanished into the shadows, leaving the pink energy bolts to cut through empty space. I watched as Phobetor backed up, her golden eyes turning back to red. The bitch had ran away again!

My body hopped out of a shadow, letting out twelve shots of death magic enhanced bullets, killing the ponies hit by it. But before it could vanish again, a wave of energy bolt slammed into it, followed by Blaster Beam herself, using her cannon leg as a large club.

“That quite the trick you pulled off! No wonder Theremin became obsessed with you, you’re a downright killing machine!” She swung her massive leg again, sending my body flying over my head. “I'd love to learn how you do it, but I also want to kill you! And I mean, I really want to kill you.” I watched as white fluid dripped from her mouth like drool. She looked down at me like some ravenous monster and smiled like she’d finally lost what little was left of her mind.

Now close to my body again, my magic was able to reach out, and pull myself back together, my head floating just above my neck. “It's time I put you down like the rabid bitch you are!”

“Please, do try.” Blaster Beam said with a wild look in her eyes. Her wing and tail guns pointed at me, unloading a barrage of pink energy bolts. I managed to take cover behind half of a metal table. The brutal assault was quickly turning the old metal red under the heat of the unrelenting strikes of energy bolts.

“The whole shadow hopping thing would be really useful right now!” I told my body as I looked down at it, but it just shrugged back at me, leaving me a bit frustrated. The table began to melt from Blaster Beams assault, so with no better option, I stuck a leg out.

Like a cat and a laser pointer, Blaster zoned in on my leg, and her shots immediately ricocheted off, flying wildly back at her. After a few seconds, she stopped, and I poked my head out, hoping she’d killed herself. Instead I saw that the left side of her face had lost its skin, exposing more of her cybernetic skull. The cyber mare then spat a gout of fire at the ground, and sneered at me.

“Right, forgot your fucking legs can do that. But that only means that once you’re dead, those legs will be my legs.” Blaster looked about the room, and then smiled back at me. “You did well to thin out my numbers, but it's not good enough! But now, let’s test the C.C.N.’s newest program!”

Her eyes flared with a bright red light, and the bodies of the ponies I killed before began to twitch. Not all of them moved, just sixteen of them. Standing up, they were drooling and had blank lifeless eyes. Then they all turned their heads to me in unison. One opened their mouth, its voice sounding gargled and under stress.

“Oh this is lovely, with the new implants we can even get the dead to fight for us!” Blaster Spoke through the dead pony as they all took a step forward. “But the feeling of pain from them is a bit distracting, like pins and needles in my brain. Something that can be fixed later, once you’re dead, of course!” Another dead pony then spoke. “Now let's see how well these cadavers can fight!”

As they closed in, I saw that some of the clearly unconnected equalist had dropped their weapons in shock. A few even turned tail to run away, only to make it just several hoofsteps before being gunned down. Others looked on in confusion and horror, but most seemed transfixed by the cybernetic equivalent of necromancy.

Blaster Beam chuckled, and pointed at me. “Kill!”

The cybernetic undead charged at me, mouths agape, tongs flopping out. Firing off my revolvers, I kneecapped one, sending it falling to the ground. Of course that didn’t stop it, it just started to crawl at me. Another one got a shot in the chest, which did nothing to slow it. A third got a bullet between the eyes. It fell over limp and stayed that way, meaning that headshots were needed to put them down permanently.

With quick gunwork, I was able to take out four more of them before they got too close, the first to attack tried to bite me, only managing to bite off her own tongue on my armor before I put a bullet through her brain. Two more jumped me, holding me down as another two grabbed my revolvers. Three more began to use their muskets as clubs to beat me with it. Pulling out two throwing knives, I shoved them deep into the eye socket of the ponies holding me down, and twisted the blades.

Freed from my assailants for a moment, the first thing I did was gore one of the ponies hitting me with musket. I swung my head hard, and my horns went under their muscle, and into their skull. A second later blue flame gouted from their mouth, and they collapsed, taking my head off with them. My body rolled to avoid another hit from the butt of a musket, and bucked one of the ponies with my revolver into the other with my revolver. I took the opportunity to recover my guns, and levetate them at the remaining assailants. With swift shots the last two attacking dead ponies were put down for good. My body stepped over, recover my head and placing it firmly back onto my neck.

Their were still seven more moving corpses surrounding me, but from what I just dealt with, they were just too weak to be a real threat. Unfortunately, Blaster Beam was a step ahead, and was now pointing her oversized cannon at me. It glowed brighter than ever as it was fed magic by the surrounding equalists.

“You may have gotten lucky so far, but let’s see you survive this!” The light had not reach full brightness, meaning I had time to stop her, but taking a step forward, Blaster Beam gun wings and tail pointed at me, causing her to ‘tisk, tisk’ at me. “You're going to stay their, and your going to die.”

Looking to either side of me, and escape route was blocked off by cybernetic undead, and the remaining equalists. Anything I could hide behind would be useless against her cannon, and attack would result in energy bolts to the face. Blaster Beam had trapped me, and Phobetor had still not truly shown herself. That nightmare was likely laughing at me right now, secured in my continued failure.

With a sigh, a grin formed on my face as I pulled out the megaspell case from my back. “Sorry to disappoint, but I'm already long dead. Though, as a messenger of death itself, I certainly can take you to Tartarus with me.”

“Is that so.” Blaster Beam rolled her cybernetic eyes at me. “Then you better make whatever pathetic attempt you’re about to make, good. And, I’m curious, because I do love surprises.” Behind her I could see a faint blue light, it vaguely pony shaped, only just barely there, yet I knew it wanted me to… to not give up.

I took a deep breath, securing the megaspell case on my back again, and looked Blaster Beam in the eye.

“Well let's start with something you already know.” I raised a hoof up in front of me, unsure if I was even bluffing myself. “You already know that my armor can deflect your energy bolts, so I wonder what will happen if it's shot by that oversized cannon?” She narrowed her eyes at me, but still maintained eye contact. Focusing on her with my evil eyes, I didn't know how well it would affect her at this point, but I tried to project as much negativity into her. “Imagine you losing again, by your own weapon... again.”

She clicked her teeth, and the magical shimmer around her faded a bit. “Oh no, no… that will just not do.” The voice of Phobetor came out of the cyber undead ponies mouths, gargled, yet still full of arrogance. “After I gave you those new toys, you lose heart.”

Blaster Beam took a step back with a look of worry on her muscle. “I have her trapped my glorious lady, is that not what you wanted?”

The golden eyes cyber zombies twitched their necks, much like the ghouls from the R&D stable. “No, I had wanted her captured, now she's too much trouble to keep alive. But, I see I was not being clear or serious enough about this.” They all turned to look at me. “Those legs, they’re meteoric iron, aren't they? Worldly and unworldly magic is not going to affect it at all.” All of the undead turned to look at Blaster Beam. “But I know a little spell to get around Hades little gift, and it’s a favorite of mother Hera.”

All the cyber zombies collapsed, and Blaster Beam buckled over, a sickly green fire enveloping her eyes. One of the equalists that had been providing her with magic stopped, backing away slowly, Blaster responded by shooting the pony with her tail blaster. But the pony didn't disintegrate, she turned to stone, frozen with a look of horror on her face, in which Blaster then smashed to pieces. The Reaver then got back up, the white fluid that dripped from her mouth was now a deep dark red, and it bubbled and hissed on the ground. She then looked up at me, and my body as though by instinct, quickly moved my hoof to block us from making eye contact. I could actually feel her stair. It radiated vile, unnatural magic that was trying to wrench it's tendrils into me.

The equalists broke into a panic as both those connected to the C.C.N. and those not began trying to run away. Soon after I heard Blaster Beam give an unnaturally scream right before firing off energy bolts all over the tunnel. No longer Feeling Blasters gaze on me, I took a peek, and saw the Reaver attacking her own allies in a blind rage. Her form was changing, becoming longer, and somehow even more ugly than before. Stranger still, was her burnt mane. Cables were now snaking their way out of it through her skin, and moving about as though they were alive.

Every pony she shot turned to stone, frozen in their terror. There were still ponies not attacked, the few remaining soldiers, who calmly kept their heads down as Blaster Beam rampaged. Backing away, I saw as Blaster’s hind legs then fell off, and her tail seemingly grew and absorbed the back half of her body, turning her into some sort of cybernetic snake pony.

The cybernetic monster that had pursued me across the islands, had somehow become more monstrous.

“How wondrousss!” Blaster Beam spoke with a slight hiss in her voice. “My gloriousss lady, our gloriousss leader, I have been bestowed a miraculousss gift!” She lifted herself up by her tail as she arched her back. “With thisss, not only can I kill her enemiesss, but present them asss a gift. And I know who'sss first to join my dark and gloriousss ladiesss collection.” both her wing, and tail blasters pointed at me, lighting up with a harsh and vile green light.

Not wanting to find out how I'd look as a statue, I dashed to cover, the energy bolts chasing me. Finding safety behind a rusty cabinet, one of my back hooves made an odd clunk sound. Looking down at it, a rock seemed to be fused to my armor, but luckily it hadn’t been turned to stone. Still, it meant that I could not rely on the armor to protect me like before.

“Oh don't be like that Chime, why don't you use that eye power of yourssss? I want to sssee how it comparesss to my new eyesss. I bet they are posssitively petrifying.” I growled at her pun, finding that Blaster had also become monstruly annoying. The sound of bending metal announced her slithering closer, her cybernetic snake body grinding on the ground as she moved. It was clear that I couldn't even look at her, or defend against her energy bolts, meaning that I was at a complete loss on how to kill her now. “If you won't come to me, then I'll jussst have to drag you to me!”

With a crash, my cover was knocked away by Blaster’s tail, the force of it knocking me forward. Before I could get up to run, my hind legs were bound together, and I felt myself be dragged back, only giving me time to hold onto my head as I was then lifted into the air. The feeling of her evil magic prodded at me as I avoided eye contact.

“To tell the truth, I was expecting Phobetor to send an armored train or some other hogshit to run me down,” I said with a chuckle, trying my best to remain calm. “but this, this actually has me surprised!”

Blaster chuckled as well, then slammed me to the ground, sending pain throughout my body, my armored hooves doing their best to protect my head. “Ssscum like you may not talk about our dark lady!” She hissed screamed at me as she lifted me back up. “And even now I can feel her displeasure, for the longer you live, the more angry she becomes!”

I laughed. “Then let's party all night, and see just how pissed she becomes.”

“No!” Blaster Beam growled. “I'm ending your little game right now, with only but one petrification beam.” The feeling of her vile magic gathered near my head, from energy gun on the tip of her tale. It felt cold and dry, like it was stealing the moisture from my body.

My ears rang with the sound of an explosion, and I dropped, slamming into the ground. Blaster screamed in pain as she fell over, thrashing on the ground. Next to me was the end of her tail, the blaster a smoking wreck, having been severed from the monstrous mare.

As my hearing recovered, I heard the screeching of brakes get closer, and in front of me a light rail carrier appeared out of thin air. On the rail carrier were three Specters, two in standard combat armor, and the other in the specter power armor.

“Alright, the Republic are right fucked in the head if their making whatever that is!” Temboril shouted as she adjusted her railgun for another shot. One of the other specters sat on a motorcycle, the third sat behind Temboril, a line of smoke wafting up from a box next to them.

Quickly I got onto my hooves, and ran to the motorcycle converted rail cart, throwing myself into the passenger carriage. “Fucking go! And don't fucking look at it! The bitch will fucking petrify you with her stare, and her beam weapons do the same thing.” I shouted, and Temboril looked over at the driver, and they nodded back at her. The driver pulled back a lever, making an audible click for a mechanism under the cart. The cart pushed itself up, turned around, and clicked back in place on the rail. The rev of the engine picked up, and the wheels started grinding on the rails. I was pulled down in my seat as we picked up speed, driving quickly away from Blaster Beam.

Taking a glance back, the bitch had stopped thrashing, and was now getting back up, only to be hit by another shot from Temborils rail gun. I sighed when I saw that Blaster was unharmed, protected by a magical barrier powered by the remaining republic soldiers. Then she looked our way, and I averted my gaze, unsure what the distance her magic had.

“Fuck!” A loud pop came from Temboril, a shoulder panel on her power armor opened up, ejecting a smoking talasman. “Fucking seriously!” She shouted as the faceplate of her helmet opened, and then she lurched over the side and threw up. Wiping her mouth before looking over at me, I could see pain etched onto Temboril's face, her right eye now a stone orb. “Shit… you did warn me that it had a petrification stare… So, then can you tell us what in the fresh fuck that monstrosity is?”

“Does the name Blaster Beam ring a bell?” I asked her.

She cocked an eyebrow, then flinched in pain. “Right, that phycotic reaver. Would make sense they turn their freaks of attack dog into even bigger freaks.” Blood began to seep from under Temboril’s stone eye, causing her to attempt to cup it with her armored hoof. “If that thing is allowed to get to Pineapple Island, it's going to rip through our defensive line, that can't happen.” She staired at me with her one good eye, and smiled. “I had a strong feeling that you recovered the bomb, and good job killing the reaver that snuck in… but why the fuck did you kill one of our own?”

I didn't show her any pretence of guilt, or shame, That pony didn't really matter in the long run. “She was in my way.”

Temboril gave me a death stare. “Your sister wouldn't approve.”

“I'm not Vibraphone.” I said as calmly. “As I told you, she died back in the R&D stable.”

“That, I can see clearly now.” The Specter looked away and sighed. “The Echo sisters had more respect for life, but you, you seem to respect death.”

“All things die Temboril, that's just how this world is.” I adjusted myself in the seat, trying to calm and focus myself now that I had a moment to rest. “It's also why I'm here, as the death of a few will save many more.”

A frustrated sigh came from Temboril. “Lets just drop the philosophy talk, okay? We need to arm that bomb and collapsed the Tunnel. The Equalist are sending an armored train to shove down our throats, and that’s not something we can't let happen.”

“Also the monster is coming!” The driver yelled.

“I know! That's why this tunnel needs to be taken out now.” She said back.

“No, I mean it's coming NOW!” The driver failed at the instruments in front of him. “The sensors are telling me we got something catching up with us, likely thar republic rail cart.”

Temboril closed her helmet before facehoofing. “What's our time until we reach the station?”

“Top speed, fifteen minutes.” He answered.

She looked over at the second specter. “How's our countermeasures?”

The second specter stood next to a metal box with an Orthrus drone attached to top of it. A line of black smoke seeped from the box, and the drones eyes were nothing but cracked stone. “The optical sensors are fucked, but the shield can be salvaged. If you want to use an attack talisman, your going to have to aim the little guy by hoof.”

“Which will petrify any pony before it's ready.” Temboril then looked over at me. “Now give me that megaspell!”

I glared back at her. “It's still too soon.”

“If that bitch gets out of this tunnel, it will be too late!” She screamed at me.

“If we don't cut off the head, there will be more.” I screamed back. “Look, I'm close to my target, I just need one more push. Stopping Blaster is that push, kill her then the queen bitch will show herself. If Phobetor does not die, then this war is going to get a whole lot worse a whole lot faster.”

“Right, I doubt Blaster is their only super weapon.” Temboril let out a huff. “We’ll give it a shot, but as soon as shit goes south, were blowing this tunnel. Understood?” I nodded back in confirmation.

Everything lit up by a bright sickly green light as a large beam of energy smashed into the carts magical barrier. The box next to the second specter to made a loud popping sound, and burst into flames like the first had. So much for buying us some time.

“Countermeasures are shot!” Shouted the second specter.

“Both of you, pass me your counter curse talismans! I'm going to blast that bitch to Tartarus.” Temboril snarled.

Our cart then rattled violently as it made a loud grinding noise, and sparks began to fly as though one of the wheels just had the emergency brakes find on. Looking over, it was worse, as the axle had stone fused to it, preventing it from turning.

“Bitch shot the wheel!” I shouted as I pulled my head back in, and saw Temboril installing two talasman into her armor. “What the fuck do you think those are going to do?”

Temboril closed the panels on her armor, and checked her rail gun. “They’re going to buy me the time I need to shoot that monster.”

“And what about her barrier?” I asked.

“I'll overcharge the rifle,” Temboril just coldly said. “the other two here can help me with that. But If you have a better plan, then tell me.”

I glared at her, and then remembered the first paradise dragon I took out, and how it predicted my shot… But unlike back then, there would be no second chance with Blaster Beam. “Besides her cannon and eyes, she still has three more guns, and that also doesn't count if she tries to dodge. Your going to need a distraction, somepony to keep her focus off of you.”

“Fighting blind is basically suicide, Cold Iron.” She told me.

I shrugged. “For a normal pony yes, but I'm not normal. I'll get her to turn her back on you, just make sure you don't miss when her shields drop.”

“Alright, but I doubt you will do much with those revolvers.” Temboril motioned her head at the second specter. The specter grabbed another box near her, and passed it to Temboril. Opening the box, I was presented with a large double barrel shotgun… the ten gage my sister used. “This is the anti-air superior shotgun that your sister owned, she called it ‘The Doom’. If your going to make yourself a threat, then this will definitely do the job.” I took the shotgun, and it's six massive shells, loading in two and shutting it. “I'll take your first two shots as a sign to take aim.”

“Just don't fucking miss.” I told her again as I used my scarf to cover my face, the tight fabric blinding me, and it surprisingly staying on with little to no problems. “Alright body, it's all you.”

I felt myself jump off the cart, and my iron hooves slam into the ground. Surprisingly, our speed wasn’t fast enough to knock me off my balance, and I was able to get right to a gallop. Charging in, I smelled the stagnant tunnel air somehow becoming even staler, and felt a cold and violent magic ahead of me. My body jumped to the side right as a sickly cold magic passed me by, followed by three hot and aggressive magical waves.

“Ssso desssperate are you now, you mussst know you're fated to fail!” Blaster Beam mocked me.

“Well you still haven't killed me!” I mocked back. The violating magic from her eyes were firmly focused on me, seemingly begging for me to uncover my eyes. This gave away her position, not perfectly, but it did at least give me a direction. Now that I thought about it, this feeling reminded me of a pipbuck’s E.F.S..

‘Focus more’ a voice whispered, not in my ear, but in my head, as though using telepathy, yet too soft to be that. ‘you are a mirage pony’ it whispered again.

My body was forced to change directions as it dogged beams of magical energy. I had no time to question it, though I was no longer the pony I use to be, I once more focused. Pulling on the death magic deep down within me, feeling it's cold magic touching the flame with my mind, and then letting it go. Letting my mind reach out, feeling for the magic around me, the world began to fade away, all the sounds of the fight dulled.

A roaring green flame of evil matic appeared in my blind vision, filled with malice and madness. Around it was six dull gray orbs, almost lifeless in how they gave off nothing but simple magic, no emotions, just magic. Behind me were three vibrant orbs, one a brilliant emerald green, stoic, yet playful. The second was a worried pink, and the third a calm blue. Their was more magic around me, small, confused, and scared, scurrying away as fast as they can. I smiled.

“Blaster Beam, you have been given all this power, yet all you have done is fail.” I laughed at her.

The green flame flared with anger as the six dull orbs focused on me, their magic arching together before reaching out for me. Seeing the attacks coming, my body didn't just dodge, but I pulled out solar eclipse, and counter attacked. Four shots, and two of the dull orbs went out. The green flame, Blaster Beam, reached out with her magic as well, but failed to hit me. Though she was extremely dangerous, the monster mare had also become predictable. The four remaining orbs, the republic soldiers, attempted to shoot at me again, but I fired my two remaining shots from my revolver at one… and nothing, something like a thin wall blocked my shots, their barrier.

I was forced to dive as one of the energy bolts singed my tail wrap. The bastards could shoot at me, but I couldn't do the same back with that barrier up.

“Keep trying to look down on usss, but sssoon your corpsss will decorate our dark lady'sss palace!” Blaster Beam boasted as she gathered magic from around her and from the four soldiers, pouring all of that magic into her cannon. Magic which included the magic supporting her berrier, causing it to fair out of use. I grinned wider, pulling a snarl from Blaster Beam.

The massive buildup of energy reached out for me, and fired, but my ability to feel it gave me the insight to predict where it was going it. Though I was still cutting it close, as one of my back legs scraped on the ground with more stone fussed to it. Pulling out lunar eclipse, I didn't waste my bullets this time, and took careful aim.

One, two, three, four. All four dull orbs of the republic soldiers went out with each corresponding shot. The energy of Blaster Beam’s smaller guns reached out at me, and I booked it, avoiding the shots.

Without her supporters, I was able to get to the other side of Blaster Beam, putting Temboril behind her. Unfortunately, her barrier had come back on, so I was going to need her to fire her big cannon again.

“You think me a fool, I'll ssshow you!” Blaster Beam screamed as she charged her magic.

This time she drew her magic into her wing guns. It wasn’t enough to drain her barrier, but still a lot of evil magic. I could feel it, her wing guns vibrating with magical energy, clearly far more energy than they were meant to contain. They were leaking her evil magic like a broken pipe just waiting to burst. I took a step back, bracing myself for what was to come, feeling her magic reaching out to me like hundreds of long thin hooves filled with malice.

Her wing guns literally exploded when they fired, raining down green beams of first magic at me, bright enough that some of the light somehow got through my scarf. Being able to sense the magic, I was able to avoid the worst of it, jumping to safer spot. Unfortunately I had not escaped the danger unscathed, several of the small beams pelted the right side of my body. Both my right legs creaked when I tried to move, stones fused to them and preventing any fine motion, with my front right near completely unusable. My right horn and ear had also fallen victim, causing my head to become heavier, and giving me a painful feeling of pins in my skull.

“Sssstil alive? No matter, I'll fix that sssoon.” Blaster Hissed at me, and I could sense her channeling magic into her cannon. It was my one chance, and I drew my sister's shotgun, firing two shots at Blaster, both harmlessly blocked by her barrier. “It'sss futile to resssissst, but keep ssstruggling, it only makesss my victory sssweeter.”

“Fucking stop hissing you fucking cunt, it's neither charming or cleaver!” I shouted as I reloaded the shotgun. I could feel the overwhelming evil magic reach out at me, and I still had one good back leg to jump with, so I braced myself to dogged her attack.

A beam of green energy shot out from behind the cannon, striking my good back leg. “No, you ssstay right there!” Blaster said smugly, waving her other hoof, it radiating with the evil magic. I attempted to move my left back leg, only to find it fussed to the ground. Frantically I started to hit the leg to free me, chipping at the rock, but not enough to separate it from the ground. I only had the time to look back at blaster, sure that she had a shit eating grin on her face as her cannon reached maximum charge.

Her cannon fired, and I was surrounded by the green magic, and I felt the world vanish… but I was clearly not dead…

*Kerzap, Boom!*

Blaster Beam screeched so loud that my ears hurt, followed by a loud thud, and the sound of her thrashing. “You hogshit filled cunts!” She shrieked. “I'll kill you, I'll kill everypony, just you wait!”

I couldn't feel her sick magic on me like before, now weaker, and unfocused. Lifting my scarf to take a peek, and I saw that Blaster was indeed thrashing about, with half her face missing, along with both her eyes, and part of her skull, exposing her brain case. I couldn't help but feel a sick pleasure from this, seeing that the last of the reavers was finely going to die, and part of this nightmare was over. I attempted to take a step, but found my hoof still stuck. Annoyed, I took my sister's shotgun, and after reloading it, I fired it at my hoof to free it. The blast to my leg unbalanced me, causing me to stumble over. Hitting the ground, my petrified horn and ear shattered, sending even more pain into my skull, but I ignored it. Getting back up, my eyes fell onto a petrified drone in front of me, the one that was with the specters, the box under it was no longer seeping smoke. I carefully stepped over it, the thing had taken the petrification blast in my stead, so it at least deserved some respect.

Hobbling over to Blaster Beam, she was screaming gibberish as she thrashed about.

“Hey, cunt!” I shouted, pointing the shotgun at her head. Blaster stopped, and pointed her cannon at me, charging with evil magic. “It's over.”

I fired the shot right into her brain case, turning the brain matter into gray mush and electronic bits. The reaver finally stopped moving, her magic quickly raiding away, and the stone fused to my legs became brittle, starting to flake off.

With a sigh, I returned to the cart, loading the last two shells into The Doom before passing it back to Temboril. She had opened her face plate again, her right eye no longer stone, but it was now completely clouded, probably leaving her blind in it. That, and didn't move along with her other eye, just drifted about... “I'm not going to ask how you pulled that off, but next time let's just arm the bomb and run.” She said with a smile as she took the shotgun from me.

I nodded. “If things go as planned, that's my next move, and thanks for the drone support.”

Temboril cocked an eyebrow, and then smiled. “I just did the sniping, thank the stallion behind me for that.”

“Wait, you didn't send the drone out?” The second specter spoke up. “Because it wasn’t me!”

A frown formed on Temboril's face. “You know what, let's just not question it, and focus on our next problem.” She pointed at the case on my back. “So when are you planning to use that?”

“Soon.” I replied, looking back at Blaster Beams corps. “I think I’ve proven my point enough, so all I need to do is wait.” backing away from the cart, I saluted to Temboril. “I'm announcing my resignation from the specter core. I want to say it's been a pleasure, but I'd be lying.”

Temboril gave me a half hearted smile. “You out of anypony should know this by now...”

“You can never truly leave Orthrus.” I finished her statement. “I know, it has been made loud and clear to me. So, once again I announce my resignation.”

There was a short pause before Temboril sighed. “Right, after reaching the defensive line, we found the position overrun, and only managed to recover one survivor among the defenders. The survivor was badly injured, and was in possession of the megaspell bomb. After pushing the republic back, the lone regular chose to stay behind, and detonate the bomb as next wave approached. For the reports of a strange mercenary, it appears that she was nothing but a mass misinterpretation, as she was actually multiple ponies acting independently, all confused as one just pony.” Temboril then closed her face plate, and turned around.

“Don't forget that Syndicate had been running amok during the madness.” I added.

“That will be in a different report.” She informed me, not looking back. The cart began to move, the stone on the wheels breaking off as though made out of sand, and quickly built up speed.

I watched as the cart disappeared from view, leaving me in neer darkness, with only a faint blue light to keep me company. Looking over at it, the blue orb of the spirit hovered in the air nearby, and giving off the feeling of impatience. I rolled my eyes at it. “Alright, thanks for the save sis.”

The blue orb took shape, forming into that of Rototom, with a cocky smile on her face. “Any time. Though you really should have kept The Doom.” Her voice was wispy, softly resonating in my head. But… it was just good to hear it again.

“I doubt a big fucking gun is going to do bucking shit to an ancient nightmare, Sis.” I told her as I pulled out my revolvers.

She just shrugged. “Just a suggestion Viby. That aside, are you really sure about this?”

I looked out into the darkness, seeing the faint outline of Blaster Beams corpse twitch. “Names Cold Iron now, and it's already too late to go back. Far, far too late.” With a sigh, I looked back at my sister. “You must be disappointed in me.”

“You have no idea.” Rototom frowned. “All that shit you've been doing recently… but then again, none of it would have happened if I didn't die on you.”

A loud clang drew my attention back to Blaster Beams corps, it slowly getting up. “And I should have been strong enough to help you, Sis. But in the end, I was just in the way.”

Blaster Beam’s corps bent unnaturally, her body bloating up as though something inside of her was growing rapidly and trying to push its way out.

“Well you want to give it another shot.” Rototom said with a chuckle. “See if we can put this bitch down, permanently?”

The corps of Blaster Beam exploded, and everything in the tunnel went pitch black, as though we had been sucked into a void. All except for the two massive golden eyes of a dragon. The eyes focused right on me, and I could feel pure hatred radiating from them. There was no mistaking it, Phobetor had finally shown herself. She was here to end this fight once and for all, the same as me.

“That's the plan sis, that's the plan.” I said with a smile, all while giving Phobetor my own hate filled glare.

Footnote.

Quest Finished: Special Delivery