In the early hours of the morning, Senior Paladin Twinkle’s squad returns from their mission. They are quickly debriefed and allowed to eat and rest momentarily. During this time, I attempt to deal with my mild hangover. However, CORA doesn't help it in the slightest. I don't remember doing it, but I muted her as she was talking to me last night. Because of this, she has had the entire night to boil with rage.

"HOW DARE YOU MUTE ME LIKE THAT!" She yells, causing my head to throb. I consider muting her again until my hangover is gone and move my hoof towards the button. "DON'T YOU DARE!" She screams as she notices my intention. "I already installed a work around so you can't mute me again! Geez Ratchet. Drinking before a large fight? Muting me, your precious assistant? What's come over you?" She asks me with puppy dog eyes.

I grimace as I reply, "I was just going along with Iron. You know I can't hold my alcohol...I just didn't realize what I was doing. Sorry, CORA." I try to sound as apologetic as possible. She narrows her eyes at me and thinks for a few moments. I'm personally thankful for the brief silence.

"Very well. Apology accepted. However!" She declares, "Don't do anything like that again. I won't forgive you so easily the next time." After saying that, she settles down and lets me deal with my hangover in peace.

After the debriefing, Twinkle's squad, us from Iron’s squad, and a few others meet in the assembly hall. Iron quickly goes over the situation in Ponyville and tells us briefly about their defences and numbers. He concludes by tell us to rest up until 4:00 am, when we will gather again for the final briefing and assault.

After the meeting, Iron, Arrow, the Elder, and Senior Paladin Twinkle, who I have yet to meet, exit and leave to discuss plans for the battle. All of the other Knights and Paladins go about their business and most, especially those who just returned, sleep. I, however, don’t find myself all that tired.

Since it is still only a little after nine in the morning, I decide to check my gear and make sure it is all functioning properly. I look over my barding and ensure that it doesn’t need to be patched up at all. I then begin taking apart my revolver like I learned to so I could clean it.

I still haven't gotten the hang of it, so by the time I finish and finally get it put back together properly, it is already noon. Feeling a bit hungry, I decide to head to the mess hall and eat a bit. Upon arriving there and collecting some food, I notice Thunder and Lightning sitting at the corner table Iron and I were at last night.

I walk over to them, levitating my tray of food in front of me. They notice as I approach and make room for me on the bench. Neither are wearing the armor and you can see their lightning bolt fur pattern Thunder always talks about. Lightning’s is on his left side, near shoulder and Thunder’s is just the opposite on his right side.

“So Ratchet, you ready for the assault tomorrow morning?” Thunder asks with a sly grin. “You could always stay behind, you know, since you don’t have much combat experience. No point having you slow us down,” he sticks his tongue out at me.

Lightning lets out a chuckle and says, “At least her combat tactics are better than yours, mr. blow everything up. Ratchet has been with us for a while now, she’ll be ready.” As he says that, he pats me on the back with his hoof.

“Thanks, Lightning and you’re damn right I’m ready Thunder,” I say, throwing him a playful grin. “You all taught me after all, if I’m not, whose fault is it, really?” This gets a laugh from Lightning while Thunder rolls his eyes.

“You know this won’t be like the previous fights we’ve had, right?” He asks me. “This is an all out assault, not a five on four squabble. We’ll be fighting in the town, potentially surrounded by enemies. We’ll be ready, but will you?” He asks as he hardens his stare at me.

“Oh like you actually took part in an assault before either, Thunder,” Lightning says. shaking his head. The both of us were a bit too young to go out on the initial assaults when the Stable opened. We’ve only been fighting in small squabbles ourselves.”

“Yea, but we have our time with Iron on our side. I mean, you heard all the stories about him, right? He was solely responsible for saving many lives, multiple times! I don’t think I’ve heard any stories about anyone dying while under his command. Honestly, the fact we are part of his squad is,” Thunder is cut off by Lightning striking his hoof on the table.

“Thunder! Come on, don’t get carried away. I know that our contingent has only lost five rangers thanks to his heroics, but restrain yourself, geez little brother,” Lightning says with a slight chuckle while shaking his head.

“Hey, I’m only like a few minutes younger than you at the most. That barely counts as me bring your, ‘little’ brother,” Thunder emphasises the word little with air quotes. Lightning is about to say something back, but notices the grim expression on my face.

“Hey, what’s wrong Ratchet? Have you heard the stories about Iron? You probably shouldn’t believe all the things you hear. Sometimes the others like to exaggerate. He has done good work though,” Lightning says.

I shake my head and reply, “He told me about the first assaults last night.” Thunder and Lightning both chuckle and Thunder shakes his head.

“He was probably being modest,” Thunder says. “He’s done great things. He even stepped down as Star Paladin after the first assault so he could focus on supporting the smaller squads. He was a great Star Paladin, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with Star Paladin Lily but…” he trails off.

“Yea,” Lightning agrees. “No one ever really talks about the first assault, but I’m sure that’s just because we lost a group. He would have gone on to be an amazing Star Paladin if he didn’t step down,” lightning concludes.

“Wait a moment,” I suddenly speak up, looking between the two of them. “He stepped down after the first assault? But he said…” I trail off, which causes both of them to focus on me with wide eyes.

“Woah, woah!” Thunder says quickly. “He told you about the first assault, didn’t he? Holy fuck! We need details! What did he do? How many lives did he save? Come on Ratchet, no one ever talks about it! Hook us up!” Both Thunder and his brother are looking to me eagerly.

I look between the two of them for a moment before I suddenly say, “I’ve gotta go.” I pick up my, now empty, tray and proceed to leave the mess hall, as they call out after me. All the while, I can’t help but think about the conversation I just had.

Was Iron really responsible, like he said, or did he just think he was? There were two possibilities going through my mind right now. The first, is that the trauma of losing those under his command caused Iron to reimagine what really happened and he stepped down. The second, is that he is telling the truth and the rangers who were there are covering for him so the younger generation still respects him.

While lost in thought, I had somehow wander into the armory and begin tinkering with armor. I shake my head clear of thoughts for a moment as I collect myself. Regardless of which possibility is true, it isn’t my place to say anything. Iron seems to genuinely care about helping ponies, and that is more than enough for me.

I nod, confirming this thought in my head as I continue to do some maintenance on the armor in front of me. Time quickly passes and I soon find my PipBuck reads 8:00 pm. Suddenly feeling tired, I finish up with the armor I’m working on and head to my bed to sleep till the briefing starts.

“Alright, listen up rangers!” Senior Paladin Twinkle addresses the crowd that has gathered in the assembly hall for the briefing. “Today, we are going to war. Our enemy is the Track Gang raider group that has taken up residence in Ponyville. You all know the basic details from yesterday’s briefing. Right now, we will be going over the plan of attack,” she pauses to look over the ponies gathered in front of her.

She is wearing her armor, minus the helmet. She is an earth pony with a lavender coat and a blood red mane, which is cut short and parted to one side of her face. Her authoritative blue eyes pierce into each of us as she looks over us all. After she looks over the entire crowd thoroughly, she puts on a twisted smile.

“We will destroy all of them! Each and every single raider will know death before we are through today!” As she shouts this, I hear a few ponies chuckle and see some shake their heads. “They go around terrorising the citizens of the wasteland? Well we shall go and terrorise them! We will drive them from Ponyville and straight into the flames of Tartarus!” She raises a hoof into the air to punctuate this.

As she does so, a fraction of the ponies in the crowd do so as well and let out a yell. I notice almost all of them are from her squad. Lightning comes up beside me suddenly as says, “She’s always like this when it comes to fighting raiders, and her squad is more like adoring fans than soldiers. She’s quite popular with the stallions, if you get my meaning. I personally like my mares a little less,” he pauses, looking for the right word, “bloodthirsty?”

“Don’t worry though,” he adds. “She is a capable leader and will lead us to a sure victory. Next to Star Paladin Lily, she is our most brilliant tactician,” he says with a smirk before returning his attention to the raised platform she is standing on.

Senior Paladin Twinkle raises her hoof to her muzzle and coughs before she continues, in a much more normal tone, “As you all know, they have created a stronghold out of the town Plaza centered around the town hall. There are two entrances into the stronghold, one of the bridges and a makeshift gate.”

“We will break into two groups a primary assault group and a small group that will flank them. The primary group will attack from the bridge at the south, while the small group will sneak in through the gate at the north,” she says as Iron unrolls a map and attaches it to the board behind her.

Using her hoof, she points to the map that I recognize as Ponyville. “The assault group will initiate the battle to pull enemies from the flanking force. We will position snipers on the other side of the river to provide cover while we forge our way across. Keep an eye of the rooftops and windows,” she tells us.

“It is assumed that their leader is in the town hall and it is known that they have at least one hostage. However, given that this is an assault hostage rescue is a secondary objective. Unlike our normal engagement, we will not offer surrender to any who are armed. If you encounter an unarmed pony, check them for weapons and tell them to stay put,” Twinkle says.

“Once the dust settles, anyone who has stayed alive will be rounded up and brought back for debriefing. Now then, as for who will go with what group...Iron has volunteered his squad to be the flanking group. The rest of us will be assaulting the bridge. Now then, are there any questions?” She asks.

After looking around the crowd for a few moments, she nods her head. “Very well then!” She shouts, her twisted smile appearing again. “Get your gear and prepare for the assault! You have fifteen minutes or I’ll come find you myself and drag you to the battlefield! Dismissed!” She quickly flings her leg through the air, dismissing us.

The crowd salutes and quickly disperses, however everyone in Iron’s squad stays behind, including myself. As everyone else exits, Senior Paladin Twinkle and Iron walk over towards the rest of us. Senior Paladin Twinkle looks at me normally, before she quickly switches her expression to her twisted grin.

“Well! Scribe Crusader Ratchet!” She shouts suddenly, “I do believe this is the first time we’ve met. But I’ve heard about you plenty already, I hear Iron here has taken you under his wing, so to speak, anyway.” She lets out a giggle at that.

“But who cares about that, I hear you’ve taken out some of those raider scumbags we’ll be fighting! So tell me, do they put up a fight? How ugly are the fuckers? Do they scream when they die? Oh Luna, I’ve missed combat, I’m getting all giddy,” she declares.

I’m slightly taken aback by her questions and overall attitude. “I...I don’t know,” I manage to stammer out. I don’t recall any of them screaming and I never paid attention to their looks. I’m sure she was informed of their combat effectiveness already though.

She rolls her eyes and says, “I do hope you fight better than you speak. Don’t become a liability for Crusader Iron, you hear me? He’s got some sort of hero complex, so don’t cause him undue trouble.” She begins to trot past me and pats me on the shoulder. “Prepare yourself, Eberron the God of Death demands sacrifice, and he will have his fill of raider blood today!”

She shoots me one last, particularly twisted smile as she leaves the room. “Eberron…? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. The old...well, i suppose old, old world’s God of Death. What does she mean he demands sacrifice though?” I ask to no one in particular.

Iron shrugs. “Don’t pay her any mind. She read about him in an old book years ago and took a liking to him. She practically worships him and says all of her kills are sacrifices in his name and honor. Of course, she only kills criminals. I know she doesn’t act like it, but she values justice and dislikes random violence,” he explains.

“Anyhow,” Iron says with more determination in his voice. “All of you get geared up and meet up at the entrance. Today is the day we end the Track Gang’s presence in the Ponyville area.” He nods to us as he leaves the room as well. The others follow suit, leaving me alone in the room to think.

Fifteen minutes later, we gather in the entryway and begin marching to Ponyville. It isn’t long before we reach the outskirts and our forces separate. Senior Paladin Twinkle takes her assault team and crosses the railway bridge to circle around to the bridge entrance.

Iron leads us into town and we set up camp in a house a short ways from the gate up north. We wait around, staying on guard while we wait for the assault team to begin their attack. The minutes slowly crawl by and isn’t helped by the fact we aren’t talking in order to keep our location concealed.

From the house, I can see the wall surrounding the city clearly. It is composed of a patchwork of lumber and scrap metal, and I can see major parts of it are made up by cars and skywagons. The gate itself is two cars attached together with their fronts hanging an inch off the ground. They are suspended from chains and pulleys and are set between what looks like a makeshift track to prevent them from swinging much.

The entire wall seems to have a walkway around the top with makeshift covered towers spaced in a few places. I notice each tower has at least one raider in it looking over a section of the city. It kind of reminds me of the old castles from long ago, just made out of scrap supplies.

Suddenly, we hear loud explosions coming from the south where the bridges are, signaling the start of the assault. Iron nods to us as we all prepare to begin our attack. Iron explained to us earlier on the way here that we were to wait for a while after the fighting began, to give the raiders on this side of town a chance to leave.

A little while later, Iron waves his hoof and opens the door. We file out into the street and cautiously move towards the gate. Once it gets in sight, we notice two stallions standing on the gate, guarding it. We divide into two groups to take cover behind buildings on opposite sides of the street.

Iron, Thunder, and Lightning are behind the building across from Arrow and I. Iron and Arrow are the closest to the corners and Iron motions to her with a signal I don’t recognize. In a quick movement, both Iron and Arrow step out of cover and shoot at the stallions on the gate. A few seconds later, I hear the thuds of their bodies as they fall to the ground below.

With a nod, Iron leads us back into the street and up to the gate. “Ok Thunder, you’re up,” he says, stepping aside and letting Thunder approach the gate. Thunder takes out what I recognize as explosives and places them along the sides of the heavy gate. He nods to us as we back up and he joins us.

A moment later he hoofs a button he’s holding in his mouth and the gate erupts into a series of loud, fiery explosions. With a loud sound of shearing metal the gate slides to the ground, wobbles for a moment, and then tips over to lay completely flat on the ground. Thunder smiles broadly throughout the show.

With the gate fallen, Iron leads us inside. Across the mostly open expanse of the plaza, I can see that the assault team blasted through their gate as well and are using the remains of it as cover. I can also just make out a few of them across the river laying down suppressive fire with what I assume are sniper rifles and missile launchers.

Frequent explosions and gunshots resound throughout the plaza as the raiders and assault team clash. We skirt around the plaza which has been filled with various makeshift barricades the raiders are using as cover against the ranger assault. We peek in a few of the houses that the walls have been made part of the walls looking for any hidden raiders that might try to catch us or the assault group by surprise.

Most of the houses appear to be empty, and it shows in the amount of Track Gang members that are in the plaza. If I had to guess by the amount I can see so far, they have almost three times as many ponies as we do. However, most of them are only armed with assault rifles whereas the rangers are armed with better, higher quality weapons.

I do notice, however, a few of the raiders wielding large weapons. At least one is using a minigun, another I notice is using a plasma rifle, and I think one has a rocket launcher. I don’t think they have much ammunition for those guns, though, as I don’t hear them firing very often. What I do hear frequently, are screams and shouts from the raiders as the rangers advance on them.

I turn my attention away from the fight in the plaza and back to the houses we are checking. So far, we have looked through three of them and they were all devoid of life. The interiors however look lived in. Tables have partially eaten food and drink on them, some spilled over as their owners no doubt ran out in a panic.

We continue checking the houses on the north west side of the plaza and Iron looks in the window of the next house. After a quick peek, he looks back to us and knocks his hoof on the old cobblestones three times as he motions his head towards the house. His signal for telling us there are three ponies in the house.

We stack up around the door with Lightning and I aiming our guns at the hinges of the door. Iron nods and we blow the hinges off the door. Immediately, Thunder slams into the door and sends it into the house. Iron follows in after him and begins opening fire. Lightning and Arrow take cover on opposite sides of the door frame as I enter in after Iron.

As I enter, I notice the door lying on the stairs to the second floor which are directly in front of the entryway. “Shit, what the fuck!?” One of the raiders shouts as he attempts to grab his gun from a nearby table before getting shot by Iron and falling to the ground. The other two in the room are already armed and begin opening fire at us.

I quickly dive behind a wall separating the entryway from the living room they are in. A few bullets penetrate the wall just inches above my head. I hear Thunder’s minigun spinning up as I float my revolver around the wall and fire a few shots in the raiders general direction. I get two off before Thunder’s gun opens fire and silences the raiders’ fire.

As his guns spin down and the bullet casings fall to the ground, Iron walks up to the raiders’ bodies. “What the fuck is going on down there?” A stallion shouts down from the second floor. I hear hoofbeats on the ceiling and a groan from one of the raiders Iron is near, before Iron’s gun fires again and silences it.

The hoofbeats reach the stairs as Thunder and I turn towards them. I swing my revolver around as the raider comes into view and says, “Son of a-” but gets cut off as I start shooting at him. Thunder’s gun begins spinning up even before he fully turns around. One of my shots catches the raider in the front left leg and causes him to trip down the stairs.

Right then, Thunder’s gun opens fire and begins hitting the wall to the left of the stallion as it slowly moves towards him. In a few seconds, his shots perforate the side of the raider and sends him slamming into the wall as he continues tumbling down the stairs, coming to rest on the landing halfway down the staircase. He doesn’t move or make anymore sounds as his blood begins to run down the stairs.

Iron comes back into the entryway and says, “This floor is clear. Let’s check the second and move on.” I levitate the door from the stairs and set it against the wall. After I do so, Iron starts up the stairs with Thunder and I following behind him.

As we crest the top of the stairs, I hear a few whimpers. Once we enter the next room I can see that it seems to have been made into a holding area of sorts. Five ponies have been put into cages and they look cautiously up at us as we enter.

In one cage I notice a stallion and what I assume is his foal huddled together. Another has two mares that are laying against opposite sides of the cage. The last occupied cage contains a familiar brown coated mare with a blonde mane. My eyes go wide as I mumble out, “It’s her!” I’m about to gallop over to her cage as Iron speaks up.

“Don’t worry, you’ll all be safe now. We are Steel Rangers, and here to help. However, we are in the middle of an assault, so you will need to wait here a little longer. Sit tight, and we’ll come for you,” he tells them, nodding to each one as he does so. “Thunder, Ratchet, let’s keep moving,” Iron says as he turns to leave.

I look at him, then back at the captives. “Can’t we let them out first at least?” I ask him. He shakes his head without turning around.

“If we did, they might panic and try to make a run for it. If they were to grab a weapon...well, remember what Senior Paladin Twinkle said? We are to kill on sight all armed ponies. They’ll be safer if we leave them caged up,” he says as he continues walking out of the room.

Thunder nods in agreement as he follows Iron out of the room. I hesitate for a moment and look back at the captives and the mare I watched get captured. I take a deep breath and say, “I’ll be back for you, all of you. I promise.” I nod, affirming my decision and trot to catch up with Iron and Thunder.

We continue to check a few more of the houses on this side of the plaza, but all of them are empty like the first ones we checked. Iron leads us into one and begins checking his gun’s ammunition as he addresses us.

“Alright, our first objective is done. We’ve cleared this side of any reinforcements to prevent them from flanking us. Check your ammo and get ready for our next push. We’ll push into the town hall and capture it, then use it to rain down fire on the remaining raiders fighting the assault force,” Iron tells us.

“This house has a roof access,” he continues. “Arrow, I’d like you up there to provide cover for us as we cross the plaza. You’ll be alone, so clear off the wall first and check your surroundings frequently. Thunder, once we clear the first floor of the town hall, you’ll guard the door and prevent any of them from coming in after us.”

“Lightning, Ratchet, and I will then proceed to clear out the rest of the building and get out on the balcony, where we will signal Arrow. She will then regroup with us. The four of us will then provide support for the assault group from the balcony while Thunder guards the door,” Iron explains.

“Now, remember, their leader is supposed to be in there so expect heavy resistance. We’ll mop them up once their leader is gone and take Ponyville! Tread carefully and let’s dispose of these raiders and free those captive ponies,” he says.

We all finish reloading our guns and checking our equipment as Arrow begins climbing the stairs to go to the roof. Iron opens the door and leads the rest of us out into the plaza. We begin making our way slowly across the plaza, taking cover behind their makeshift barricades to hide from any prying eyes.

Once we make it about a few feet from the door, I hear the sound of Arrow’s sniper going off and notice a few ponies beginning to fall off of the wall. After a few moments, her gun goes silent and I look back to see her giving me a wave.

We continue towards the town hall and make it about halfway before we run into any raiders. A group of three are taking cover behind a barricade in front of us as one of them notices us. He lets out a shout and aims his rifle towards us before his head explodes into meaty chunks as Arrow’s rifle goes off.

The other two look over at us, now covered in the blood and brain of their friend and open fire. As they do so, Iron and Lightning begin firing as well. The raiders’ bullets ping off their armor while the raiders take a few shots and scramble behind cover.

We take cover as well, but Lightning carefully dashes to some cover that has a line of sight on them. He moves to shoot them, but more gunfire from in front of us causes him to get back into cover. Five more raiders are charging towards us and take up cover behind a few different barricades around us.

While we are partially surrounded, Arrow attempts to take a few of them out, but they manage to hide from her shots. Four raiders are taking cover between us and the town hall, the two wounded ones are on our left, and one is on our right. All of them begin shooting shooting at us and our cover begins to chip away.

“Alright, we need to move quick,” Iron suddenly speaks up. “Thunder, you take the one on the right. Ratchet, Lightning, the two on the left. I’ll distract the ones in front of us till you’re done.” He makes a signal towards Arrow and she shoots at the cover the four in front of us are hiding behind. “Let’s go!”

We all nod and scramble out of cover. Lightning and I dive behind the closest cover to our left and attempt to get sight on our targets. I look over to see Iron shooting at his targets, but I can’t see Thunder from here, though I can hear his minigun. “Provide me some cover, I’ll take them out,” Lightning tells me.

“Alright, I’ll cover you,” I tell him and he dashes out of cover. I lean out of my cover to line up a shot on them as one of them leans out to shoot at Lightning. However, I shot at him twice and he gets back behind cover. This gives Lightning the chance he needs to flank them and spray them with his SMG. With our targets taken care of, we go to regroup with Iron.

We lay down some fire on the four he is shooting at as we get back at about the same time Thunder does. However, once we do so two more raiders show up to support the four we are already fighting. “Shit, we’re getting nowhere,” Iron says. He thinks for a moment as we brace ourselves against the bullets flying towards us.

I hear the sound of a minigun spinning up before one begins shredding our cover. “Damn it! Ratchet, what spells can you use? Any offence or defence spells?” Iron asks me.

I think for a moment before I reply, “My only offensive spell is a pretty weak fireball and the only defencive spell is a minor shield. I can let us shoot through it, but not them. However, I can only make one large enough to cover one of us, and it won’t last long against this kind of gunfire.” I shout over the gunfire quickly cutting down our cover.

Iron thinks for a moment before he says, “Alright. Surround me with your shield. I’ll charge at them and try to take them out. Lightning, Thunder, you two flank them and finish them off. Ratchet, you concentrate on the shield, stay behind cover. If it falls, don’t worry. With this armor, I’ll be fine for a while.”

We all nod in confirmation as we reload our weapons. “Let’s do this then! For Equestria!” Iron shouts as I cast my shield spell around him and he dashes out directly into the line of fire. The raiders take the bait and focus their fire on him. With each bullet I can feel the strain on my magic increasing. Even a few seconds into using the shield I can feel my magical reserves depleting rapidly.

Lightning and Thunder dash out shortly after Iron and begin opening fire. Slowly, the amount of bullets hitting the shield decrease as they take out the raiders. I hear at least three of them scream out before I can’t keep the shield up any longer. That means there are only three left. I peek out around the cover, breathing heavily from the exertion of using my magic.

I can see three raiders continuing to shoot at Iron, including the one with the minigun. I float my gun from my holster and shot a few round towards the one with the minigun to distract him, but my aim is thrown off a bit since I used so much of my magic.

Thunder and Lightning are closing in on the remaining raiders, however and two more go down a few seconds later. Iron keeps firing at the remaining raider, closing the distance to him. Iron hits the raider a few times in the chest, but at the same time I see a red beam flying towards him. My eyes go wide as I shout, “Look out!”

However, my warning comes too late as the projectile strikes Iron in the head and explodes, knocking him to the ground and destroying the right half of his helmet. I hear him call out in pain as the shards of steel from his helmet dig into his face. His screaming doesn’t last long, however as another beam finds the gap in his helmet and explodes again.

Seemingly in slow motion, the remainders of Iron’s helmet explode outward, sending shards to steel, blood, skull, and brain everywhere. His body thumbs completely on the ground, blood pouring from his neck. I stand in shock staring at the sight I just witnessed. I’m acutely aware of the shouts of Lightning and Thunder as I walk towards Iron.

CORA says something I don’t hear as a red beam hits the ground next to me. I can hear Arrow’s rifle go off as another red beam misses me horribly. I keep walking forward, however, ignoring the world around me, focusing only on Iron’s body. Thunder and Lightning run to me and begin dragging me backwards away from Iron.

“Let me go!” I yell at them. “I-I need to, I’ll…” I trail off, not sure what to do next. They get me back into cover and set me against it as I fall to my haunches. I look between the two of them, eyes wide as I continue to stammer out, “I...I...we...we...Iron…”

“Ratchet! Snap out of it!” Lightning yells at me. “You’re in command now, we need to go! We can’t stay out in the open like this! Ratchet!” I hear his words but can’t stop staring blankly ahead and recalling the scene that just played out.

Suddenly a bullet strikes the cover right above my head, causing me to jump. I look around quickly but see no one other than Arrow on the rooftop, rifle aimed at us, just watching. “Shit! Was that Arrow?” Lightning says. “What’s she thinking? She could have hit one of us.”

“She’s right,” Thunder says. He stands over me and as I start to look up at him, he punches me in the face. “Get your shit together, Ratchet!” He yells. “Iron is dead! You are our leader now! If you don’t do something, we are going to die. Was I right back there in the mess hall? Are you going to become a liability?”

His punch knock me to my senses and I look between them as I calm down a bit and take a deep breath. As I do so, I notice that they are shaken up as well. I remember our conversation in the mess hall, how they were new to this kind of fighting as well. How no Steel Rangers have died since the first assault...until today.

I get to my hooves as CORA speaks up, “Ratchet, we have to keep going. It’s what he would have wanted. You have to lead us to victory now.” I nod in agreement with her.

“You’re right CORA. You too Thunder. I’m leading now and we…” I take a deep breath. “We still have a mission to complete. The plan stays the same, let’s get moving.” They nod in agreement as I give Arrow a small wave. She waves back before looking back down her scope.

The rest of the way to the town hall we only encounter one more raider, which Arrow takes out for us. The rest we manage to avoid. As we stand on the porch surrounding the town hall, I glance at the bridge the assault force should be at. I notice they have stopped advancing and are pinned down on the bridge.

“We need to get this place under control quickly,” I say as we prepare to enter the town hall. Thunder and I are on one side of the double doors and Lightning is on other. I give Lightning a nod and he opens the door closest to him. Immediately after, Thunder and I charge in, with Lightning close behind.

Thunder’s gun spins up in anticipation of a fight, however we find the lobby surprisingly empty. Lightning closes the door after us once we realize this. “We should check the rest of this floor,” I tell them. They give a nod and follow me as I begin to check the other rooms.

Like most of the buildings in the wasteland now, the town hall shows signs of destruction. The floors are covered in dust and grime, the wallpaper is flaking off, and the furniture is in a ragged state. After checking all of the rooms on the first floor, we find it completely deserted.

“Perhaps they all went to defend?” Lightning suggests. I shake my head, however. Something just doesn’t seem right.

“It could be a trap,” I say. “However, trap or not, we still need to take this place over. Thunder, you’ll stay here and guard the door. Stay behind the reception desk so you have some cover. I’ll send Lightning down when we’re done, so you know to expect Arrow’s arrival.”

“Right. You two, stay alive. Also…” Thunder pauses for a moment. “That fuck who killed Iron is somewhere in here. Make sure you give him an exceptionally painful death,” he tells me with an angry look on his muzzle. “No one will get past me, aside from Arrow. Now go.” He gets behind the reception desk and faces the door.

“Let’s put an end to this, Ratchet,” Lightning tells me as we head to the stairs. “And my brother is right, for once. That bastard who shot Iron is going to pay.” I nod in agreement with him as we reach the stairs.

“They will, but we need to be careful. It’s only the two of us from here on,” I tell him. He nods in agreement as we check our ammo and begin to climb the staircase. As we do so, I can’t help but realize the sudden quiet of the place. I mean, there are still gunshots and explosions happening outside, but they are muted a bit. There is also no one trying to stop us, which is pretty odd.

We reach the door to the second floor and I tell Lightning to follow my lead. I open the door and look around inside. The room appears to have been made into an office. A desk sits in the middle with a few chairs in front of it. A terminal is on the desk and a chair facing the opposite direction sits behind it.

As I continue to look around the room, I see numerous places ponies could be hiding. “Stay on your guard,” I tell Lightning. He nods, eyeing the room suspiciously.

“Indeed, you should stay on your guard.” A stallion’s voice says suddenly. He sounds angry, yet confident. The chair behind the desk slowly turns around to reveal a black unicorn with long red mane. He has a cigarette in his mouth and a long scar that crosses his left eye.

He sets his hooves on the desk, takes a puff from his cigarette, and then taking it from his muzzle with his magic. Exhaling the smoke, he says, “You know, I’ve always wanted to do that whole, spinning chair reveal thing.” He lets out a chuckle. “So! You Steel Rangers decided to attack us, the infamous Track Gang? You should have brought more soldiers. We have your troops stopped at our gate.”

He laughs again. “And you’re not even wearing any power armor!” He addresses me. “Did you rangers run out of supplies? It’s no wonder you couldn’t get past blowing up our gate,” he says as the grin on his muzzle changes into an annoyed glare.

“Come on out boys,” he says. At these words, six ponies emerge from hiding places, each of them pointing guns at us. Most are wielding assault rifles, but one has a plasma rifle. “Before you die, I suppose I should tell you my name so you know exactly who you messed with,” he says as a smile returns to his face.

“I am the leader of the Track Gang, Railspike, and you are interrupting my operations. The sentence for that is death. Kill them,” as he says this I tense up into SATS. I look around at the ponies around me and decide I should focus on the one using the plasma rifle.

With an 87% chance to hit at this range, I line up two shots on him and one shot on another, both of which are on my right. Lightning is on my left, and I trust him to get those closest to him. However, assuming I can hit these two and Lightning manages to take out one in that time, that still leaves three armed ponies and Railspike.

I get a random idea and decide to use it. “Hey CORA, think you can help us out here?” I ask her. “Once I exit here, shout something as loud as you can. Maybe it’ll distract them enough to throw off their aim temporarily,” I explain.

“What should I shout?” CORA asks as she walks around my vision looking at the ponies who ambushed us.

“I don’t know, anything will work, I guess. Just shout it as loud as the volume will allow you,” I tell her. She nods her head as I confirm my selections and SATS takes over my body. The shots go off and all three hit. The raider with the plasma rifle thumps to the floor and the other raider recoils from the hit and hits the wall behind him.

Almost instantly after the shot CORA shouts out, “I LIKE SCIENCE!” which actually helps to throw off the aim of the other raiders and all of their shots miss. I hear Lightning’s SMG go off and hear his targets scream out before thumping to the ground.

At the same time, I turn to my next target and shoot off the rest of my shots at hitting him twice in the chest and once in the head. As the raider I shot earlier staggers to his hooves, I grab the plasma rifle from the first raider in my magic and point it at him. As I pull the trigger, I holster my revolver. When the bolt of plasma hits the raider, disintegrates into green goo.

I turn around to help Lightning, only to find him standing over two dead raiders while pulling his knife out of a third’s neck. He notices me looking at him and says, “Damn, I thought for sure I’d beat you. I bet you used that cheating PipBuck of yours.”

I roll my eyes as we both turn to face Railspike. “And your armor isn’t cheating?” I reply back to him. He just lets out a laugh. While keeping the plasma rifle trained on Railspike, I reload my revolver. Railspike just stares us down with an angry glare.

“I suppose I must commend you for taking out my personal guards. I should have just killed you myself to begin with. No matter, I won’t have to pay them now. But you’re both still going to die,” He says with a smirk as his horn lights up and levitates up a familiar looking gauss rifle from behind his desk.

It is the black and red, custom gauss rifle Grimoire tried to sell me before we left on our last patrol. Raptor Blood. My eyes go wide as I realize this and ask him, “Where did you get that?” Did they kill Grimoire and take his supplies? I thought we got him out of danger.

“Oh, this beauty?” He says, looking the gun over. “I bought it from our supplier, some random trader. He’s been supplying us with some great weaponry, assuming we pay up the caps. But, I do believe it is time for you both to die,” he says with a grin.

Lightning’s SMG is out of ammo, so I float my revolver over to him. “He’s the one, Lightning. That gun fires a red beam,” I tell him as I do so. Lightning drops his knife and takes my revolver. “Do you really think you can take us both out, Railspike?” I ask him.

“Well, I don’t really have a choice, now do I? But, as you’ve already seen, this gun doesn’t really care about your fancy armor. It’ll only take me two shots to take you both out,” he declares with a smirk.

I was glad he was stalling for time, seeing as SATS had a chance to recharge. We stare each other down for a few moments before he makes his move. However, right before he manages it, a bullet flies through one of the windows and strikes his horn, knocking the gauss rifle from his magic and sending him reeling in pain.

“Son of a bitch! There was another one of you?” He growls out, clenching his horn. “Fuck, I think it’s chipped,” he mutters. You’ll pay for that!” He starts to charge us, but Lightning quick on the trigger and puts a bullet in each of his front legs. Railspike stumbles and falls onto his muzzle.

“Hey Ratchet, I think you should go signal Arrow and tell Thunder she’s coming. I’ll take care of this guy,” Lightning says. “I’ll be borrowing your revolver for the moment.” I nod to him as I make my way to the steps that lead up to the balcony. Once outside, I hear a few screams from the second floor and I wave over to Arrow.

She waves back and then begins to leave the rooftop. I head back down to the second floor and see that Lightning has shot Railspike’s other two legs as well and is twisting his hoof on the bullet wounds. “I’ll be sure to finish up here before you get back, Ratchet,” Lightning tells me without sparing me a glance.

I continue downstairs and tell Thunder we’ve finished up. As I do so, I notice the five or so raider bodies that are around the doorway. “You doing ok here?” I ask him.

“Yea, I’ve got plenty of ammo left and they haven’t even made a scratch on me yet. You get the bastard who killed Iron?” he asks.

I nod, “Yea. Lightning is up there dealing with him now. He won’t be a problem.” As if on cue, a scream comes from the second floor. Thunder noticeably tense from this.

“Lightning, eh?” He says in an odd voice. “Yea, that will be...fine.” I’m about to ask him what he means when Arrow enters through the doors. Thunder’s gun spins up momentarily before he recognises her.

Arrow waves at me before she begins walking over towards the stairs. “Alright, hang tight Thunder, we’ll turn the tide of the fight and be done here soon,” I tell him. He nods as I follow Arrow up the stairs.

When we reach the second floor, I see Lightning sitting behind the desk using the terminal. I notice his knife, which is covered in blood, is stabbed into the desk as well. He notices us and looks up from the terminal. “Railspike wasn’t lying. He kept records of his trades with Grimoire. I never thought he’d trade with raiders…” Lightning trails off.

“Nether did I,” I respond. “But, we can deal with that issue later. For now, we need to provide support for the assault force. Let’s get to the balcony,” I tell them. They both nod as Lightning picks up his knife, wipes it on one of the dead raider’s barding, and puts it away. He then tosses me my revolver. I catch it in my magic and put it in my holster.

As we head for the stairs, I see Railspike’s body behind the desk. He is in a pool of his own blood and covered with knife wounds, including a stab wound in his unscarred eye. Most of the blood seems to have come from a single cut across his neck however. I can feel myself getting nauseous just looking at this corpse.

I barely manage to keep from vomiting as I say, “You didn’t have to go so far, Lightning.” Is this what Thunder meant when he said it would be fine? Lightning stops for a moment as he turns to me.

“He killed Iron, he deserved worse than I gave him. Let’s finish this and give Iron a proper send off,” he says with both anger and sorrow evident in his voice. I nod as we continue up the stairs and out onto the balcony.

Not much changed since I was up here last time. The rangers are still pinned down on the bridge and the raiders are taking shots at them from behind cover. Lucky for us, their backs are exposed to us now. “Alright, spread out and take them down. Thunder will stop any who try to come up to us. Watch out for returning shots,” I tell them.

“Right,” Lighting says as he and Arrow walk in opposite directions along the balcony. Once we are all in place, I aim my revolver and take the first shot. From this distance, however, I don’t hit anyone. Arrow and Lightning open up and take out two raiders immediately. Arrow ejects the round from her rifle and readies her next shot as I try to aim more carefully.

This time, I shoot off three rounds and manage to hit the raider I’m aiming for. She doesn’t go down, but stops firing at the rangers. Arrow, Lightning and I continue to take out a few raiders before they realize what’s happening.

A few of them turn and head into the town hall, which is quickly followed by the sound of Thunder’s minigun and the screams and curses of a number of raiders. Once the rest of the raiders hear this, more start looking up for us. They notice we aren’t part of their gang and begin to open fire.

Numerous shots fly past my head and I can see Lightning and Arrow duck down for a moment as well. Once the volley of shots subsides, I poke my head back up and fire off a few rounds, before my gun is empty and I have to reload.

I poke my head up again and slip into SATS and line up a few shots that have the highest chances, only 43%. A thought occurs to me and I share it with CORA. “Hey CORA, when I exit SATS and regain control of my body, I’m going to cast a sound amplification spell on the PipBuck. When I do so, address the raiders and tell them their leader is dead. Let’s see if we can demoralize them.”

CORA nods in agreement as I exit SATS and take the shots, which miss. I then immediately cast the spell and CORA yells, “Attention Track Gang! This is Scribe Crusader Ratchet of the Steel Rangers. We have captured the town hall and your leader, Railspike lies dead. Victory will be ours!”

I stop the spell as she finishes up. “Nicely done. But, I know you sound like me and all, but did you have to use my name?” I ask her. She just laughs and sticks her tongue out at me. I roll my eyes and continue shooting at the raiders on the ground.

After a few minutes, the tide of the battle doesn’t change and the rangers are still pinned down. Suddenly, a familiar voice yells out, “This is taking too long! Get up there and kill them all! Spill their blood and leave none alive!” I cringe as I recognize the voice as Senior Paladin Twinkle’s.

I’m actually impressed I can hear her over the gunfire. She continues on, “Fine! Paladin Flora, Paladin Glint, give me your fucking guns!” I can’t hear the Paladins’ reply, but Twinkle says, “Just put them on my back and take mine! You two not doing anything with it! Hurry up!” A few moments pass before I hear her voice again.

“Finally! Now then, if you all don’t want me to haunt you, move up and cover me!” She yells at the other rangers. “For Eberron! May he feast on many souls this day!” From the balcony, I can see a single ranger running from the bridge directly towards the raiders. All the while I can hear Senior Paladin Twinkle’s maniacal laughter.

The ranger I assume is Senior Paladin Twinkle stops halfway between the bridge and the closest raiders and turns her body to one side. As she got closer, I manage to make out her newly acquired guns. She has two dual minigun battlesaddles on her back and both their bits in her mouth.

“She’s crazy…” I mutter out. As I do so, she bites down on the bits and the four miniguns spin to life and let loose their firepower against the raiders and their cover. As the guns fire, Senior Paladin Twinkle slowly turns to face the other way, sweeping the guns across the raiders’ defensive lines.

The raiders firing at her suddenly stop and the battlefield quiets down for a moment once her guns spin down. She looks around for a moment before she yells, “If you’re trying to surrender, don’t bother! I can’t hear you with this ringing in my ears! Not that I’d let you surrender even if I could…” She lets out a laugh as the rest of the rangers move up to where the first line of raiders were.

Most of the raiders in the first line of barricades are now dead, a few try to crawl away, but the rangers that reach them put an end to their misery. “My name is Senior Paladin Twinkle of the Steel Rangers! When Eberron comes for your pathetic souls, tell him that I sent you!” The rangers take cover behind their new cover as the raiders begin to return fire.

On the balcony, we continue to fire down at the remaining raiders. Quite a few of them have stopped fighting completely and are instead in the fetal position. I can’t bring myself to shoot them, so I only aim at the ones that are still shooting. I’m about to take a shot when I see a rocket flying towards the town hall.

I turn my focus to it and see it heading straight between Lightning and me. He notices it too, and we both scramble to run away from the coming explosion. The rocket strikes the balcony, which tears in half and begins to collapse.

Looking back at the destruction behind me, I see the collapsing balcony dropping off closer and closer to me. I turn back towards Arrow’s direction and gallop as fast as I can, but I suddenly feel the wood beneath my hooves give way. “Oh fuck, Oh Fuck, OH FUCK!” I call out as I grab onto one of the rungs on the railing.

I begin dropping down towards the ground as Arrow reaching out to me when the balcony stops falling and leaves me hanging off the end of it. Hanging on for dear life, Arrow sets her rifle against the railing and wraps her right hoof around a rung further up from me.

She then stretches her left hoof down towards me. “Grab on, Ratchet,” she says with only the slightest hint of worry in her voice. I make sure I have a good hold on the rung I’m clinging to before I reach out my right hoof to her. We are just barely touch, but it isn’t enough to get a good grip. Arrow stretches further and I try to swing towards her waiting hoof.

We manage to link our hooves, but as we do so a few bullets strike the wood next to us, sending splinters of wood into us and causing our grips to loosen. Instantly, we are both sliding down the floor of the balcony trying to make a grab for any rung we can.

Hoofbeats from further along the balcony near us in a matter of seconds and Lightning dives and grabs Arrow’s right hoof in his as his legs catch the rungs of the balcony. Our sliding stops as most of my body hangs off the jagged edge. I can feel the splinters of wood digging into my stomach and chest as I swing back and forth.

Slowly, Lightning starts to pull us up till Arrow can stand on her own. Then Lightning takes my hooves in his and helps to pull me the rest of the way. Once we all make it back onto solid ground, we fall against the wall, panting. “T...Thank...you,” I manage to tell them.

Arrow nods as she gets up and grabs her rifle in her magic again. “Don’t...mention it,” Lightning says. “I’m just...glad I got...there in...time.” Arrow’s rifle goes off and she ejects the round.

“We should get back...to it,” I say as I get my breathing under control. I’m still shaking a bit from the experience, but we have a job we need to do. It shouldn’t be too long now since the rangers managed to move up. I get to my hooves and join Arrow at the railing. Lightning joins us moments later.

In the time we spent staying alive, the rangers have managed to push up the line considerably. Raider corpses are strewn about behind the advancing ranger line. The three of us continue to shoot down at the remaining raiders and dodge their return fire until we can no longer see the ones under us.

We walk around the remaining balcony and make sure no raiders are trying to make a run for it. In the distance, I see a raider running towards the northern gate. Seconds later, Arrow takes them out. “Ok, you two stay up here and watch the plaza exits. I’m going to check on Thunder and the status below us,” I tell them.

The gunfire has tapered off for the most part and now only a few shots can be heard every now and then. I quickly make my way to Thunder on the first floor and see a pile of spent 5 mm cartridges on the ground next to him. His armor is covered in scratches, dings, and has a few holes. A small pile of blood is under him.

“Thunder!” I call out as I approach him. “Are you alright? You’re bleeding!” I ask him worriedly. He doesn’t shift his gaze from the door as I speak.

“I’m fine,” he says. “Just small wound in the shoulder and a few scrapes on my sides. Cleaning my armor is going to be a pain though. I am running low on ammo though,” he informs me.

It is only when he says this that I look at the doorway. At least fifteen dead raiders surround the entrance and the walls are covered in blood and bullet holes. The door itself is hanging by one hinge and is perpurated with bullet holes.

While I inspect Thunder’s handiwork, the door opens and chooses that moment to break off the hinge and fall to the floor. Standing in doorway is Senior Paladin Twinkle, still carrying around the two minigun saddles. A single gunshot punctuates her entry.

“Good work, the raiders in the plaza are all dead. Eberron has been appeased. The assault group will clear the rest of the surrounding houses,” Senior Paladin Twinkle says. She looks around and says, “Where is Crusader Iron? Is he still topside?”

Thunder falls to his haunches and lets out a barely audible curse. I bite my lip and look down at the floor. “He...he fell in combat,” I tell her sadly. Upon uttering these words, she stomps up to me and looks me directly in the eyes.

“Show me,” she says with a hint of hesitation in her voice. I look between her and Thunder for a few times as I think.

“Ma’am, Thunder is injured. And we should probably tell Arrow and Lightning they can come down now. I think-” I begin to say but she interrupts me with a stomp of her hoof.

“Now!” She says weakly despite her volume. I hesitate for a moment, but lead her outside and towards Iron’s body. As we walk, she calls out, “Paladin Glint! Get the medics to see to Knight Thunder in the town hall.”

We reach Iron’s body and she glares at it for a long moment. “Which of them did this?” She asks. “You killed them, correct? Because if they are still alive...not even Eberron himself can stop me from extracting my vengeance on them,” she says as anger grows in her voice.

“Their leader, Railspike got him with a gauss rifle. Lightning killed him. I saw his corpse...It wasn’t pretty,” I inform her as we both stare at Iron’s body.

“Good,” she says as her anger seems to fade slightly. “Where is Iron’s head?” She asks me.

“There’s...nothing left of it,” I tell her. She tenses up for a moment, but then stomps her hoof before rearing up and shaking the minigun saddles off her back.

Wordlessly, she approaches Iron’s body and begins to put him on her back. I attempt to use my magic to help, but she says, “No! I’ll do this myself.” I let my magic fade and watch as she gets his body onto her back. “Those miniguns were heavy,” she says sadly, “but this burden feels so much heavier.”

She turns to walk back towards the bridge, but I speak up, “Senior Paladin Twinkle, we found some captives. Can I set them free?” She stops and I can see her legs quiver for a moment.

“Yes. Get your squad and do so,” she tells me. Her voice is barely audible, and I think I can almost hear her crying. She continues towards the bridge as I follow behind her silently to meet up with the others.

After regrouping with Arrow and Lightning, we return to the room the captives are in. Thunder stayed with the medics to patch him up and the other rangers have started piling up the dead raiders. We quickly set about freeing the captives, who are more than thankful to be out of the cages.

Arrow and Lightning tend to the buck, his foal, and the two other mares, while I help the mare I saw get captured long ago. Compared to the others, she is in poor shape. Her front right leg has been broken and a harness has been put on it.

“Miss, are you able to stand?” I ask her. She nods slightly as she struggles to get to her hooves, keeping her broken leg elevated.

“I...I think so,” she tells me as she hobbles out of the cage. As she does so, she stumbles on the lip of the entrance. Right before she falls, I catch her and put her good leg around my shoulders. “Thanks,” she says with a hint of guilt in her voice.

“Think nothing of it. My name is Ratchet, by the way. We’ll have our medics look you, and everyone else over,” I tell her as we all begin to leave the room. The other captives are able to walk on their own, so Arrow and Lightning just stick close to them.

“My name is Rose. I don’t think I can ever thank you enough, Ratchet. I had given up hope of ever escaping here,” she says as she looks at Arrow and Lightning. “But, you’re all Steel Rangers, aren’t you? I didn’t think they helped others?” She asks.

I frown as I say, “I’m actually new to their ranks. From what I understand, a lot of other Steel Rangers have become corrupted. Our group, however, still holds true to the original values of the rangers. You’re safe now.” She smiles, looking relieved.

As our group continues out and across the plaza, CORA suddenly speaks up as we near the town hall again. “Hey Ratchet, Lightning said that the terminal up there was working, right?” She says. “It might be possible that we can download the rest of the updates for your PipBuck from it!” She announces excitedly.

“What? Really?” I ask curiously. “Stable 36 was cut off from the outside, but you think that random terminal would have the updates?” She nods her head vigorously.

“It is the town hall, so if it is the mayor’s terminal it would make sense it would be connected to the update servers. It is worth a try, at the least,” she tells me. I think for a moment as we are passing the building.

“Lightning,” I say quickly, “would you mind helping Rose? I’m going to look at the terminal in the town hall quick.” Lightning stops walking towards the bridge and turns towards me.

“Not a problem,” he says as he trots over to us and takes Rose from my shoulders. “I’ve got you miss,” he says as he settles her on his shoulders.

“Thank you,” I tell him. “You two see that they reach the medics, alright? I’ll catch up with you in a bit.” Lightning and Arrow nod to me before they continue on with the group. As they begin to walk off, I gallop into the town hall and quickly climb to the second floor.

Once I’m at the terminal, I use my PipBuck’s cable to hook into the computer. “Ok, now what CORA?” I ask her. There are various options on the terminal, but nothing that looks like what I need.

“It seems Railspike changed a lot of things on this terminal. But, I should be able to find the update server. I’ll also download the entries Railspike made, so we can show it to the Elder when we get back,” she announces. Her face disappears from my vision and appears on the terminal.

“Ok, let me see…” she says as she moves around on the terminal screen. “Here maybe? No...maybe here?” As she goes around, a message flashes on my screen that says ‘Download Complete’. “Ah, good!” she says, “his files are all downloaded. Now then…” She trails off with a look of determination on her face.

After a few moments she exclaims, “Eureka!” A new message appears on my PipBuck that says ‘Update In Progress’. CORA then disappears from the terminal and reappears in my vision. “I found the update servers!” She tells me, “It should only take a few minutes to finish.”

A few minutes go by with CORA’s eyes moving like she is reading something before a new message flashes into my vision. ‘COMPATIBILITY ERROR, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO SERVERS DETECTED.’ CORA’s eyes go wide as she begins looking around wildly.

“Oh no, this isn’t good,” she says. “Is it because it’s a custom model? No...then why...Oh no…” she trails off as a new message appears in my vision. ‘TROJAN DETECTED.’ CORA looks around wildly as she says, “The terminal had a trojan type virus on it. When we connected to the terminal, it jumped over to us.”

“Hold on Ratchet, let me see if I can contain it,” she says as her face disappears. My PipBuck screen is filled with status bars, error codes, and lines of information. A few moments later, CORA reappears. “Ratchet, this is going to be tricky. It will take a while, but I might-” she’s cut off as her face again disappears from vision.

A moment later, she reappears screaming, “NO! GET OUT OF ME!” Her face is contorted into a look of terror and pain. “STOP IT!” She shouts. Once again, her face disappears, however this time it is replaced by a black skull that appears to be laughing.

As quickly as it appears, it is gone. A moment later, my PipBuck shuts down completely. I frantically try to turn it back on. “CORA! CORA are you alright?” I yell. With the power refusing to turn back on, I rip the cord from the terminal and begin pressing all of the buttons on the PipBuck.

“Come on CORA, speak to me! Don’t let this virus win! CORA! CORA!” I shout at the PipBuck. However, no matter what I say or do nothing happens and the PipBuck remains dark and lifeless. Falling to my haunches and staring blankly at the empty screen I mutter out, “CORA...you can’t be gone...not you too…”

Level Up!
+2 Energy Weapons
+12 Small Guns
+4 Speech

New Perk:
--Educated: 2 extra skill points per level

Quest Completed: “Prisoner Rescue”

Author's Notes:

Mind the spoilers now. The battle for Ponyville has ended, now Ratchet and the rangers must pick up the pieces.

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading! :D

As a side note here, I'm back in college now so the chapters will be coming out a lot slower now. After attending each of my classes, I can already tell I'm going to have to focus in on them pretty hard. Since this chapter leaves you with a cliffhanger, I'll try to get Chapter 7 out in a decent amount of time.