Fallout Equestria
Broken Steel

Chapter 11: Rage

I was stood in a cold concrete corridor which had steel panelling at regular intervals for maintenance with a yellow stripe painted along the top of the walls before it met the ceiling. The corridor was deathly quiet, not even my hoof steps made a noise as I slowly made my way down the long corridor. I was naked, I was without my armour and gear, but I didn’t care. I felt a cold chill run down my spine as I continued to walk, I knew where I was.

I stood still as a steel door came into view. The door had what I feared. As I stared at the door, I watched as it and the rest of the corridor around me rapidly decayed. The door turned orange with rust and flaking paint as like two hundred years of degeneration assaulted the once gleaming metal but the writing on the door remained clear. I didn’t care what else it said, but the number is what I was focused on. 88.

“Oh this bitch likes it rough”

“Oh goddesses she’s such a whore, oh look at her take him”

I heard the sounds of rough sex behind the door. Several males were cheering at the sceptical. A mare was being raped behind that door. My fear soon burned away, giving way to something far darker. A rage deep inside me burned as my memories failed to stop the flood of Stable 88 rushing through my mind. Images of ponies, colts, fillies, mares and stallions all were being killed for the hell of it by the Raiders who attacked. I saw images of them killing the ponies one by one in every grotesque way my mind could imagine. I began to breathe deeply, taking in deep breaths as I felt my anger grow until it began to boil with a rage I’ve never felt before.

“Argh, please, argh, stop” I heard the mare behind the door whimper.

“Oh yes, she wants it baaadddd” One of the males behind the door moaned in glee and then I heard a muffled noise as the mare tried to protest again as something pushed into her mouth.

That was it. I reared up and slammed my fore hooves onto the door with all my strength and the door flew out of its rails and shot across the room and imbedded itself in the cut open Stable door as the sign that read “Stable Door” fell to the floor. I stood in the doorway panting and snorting in anger as I looked at the four Raiders. Two sat down looking right at me in surprise while the other two were on top of a mare dressed in a Stable jumpsuit. I narrowed my eyes and gritted my teeth as I realised the Raiders were on my mother, their dicks in her mouth and rear.

I yelled out in pure anger and launched myself at the Raider over my mother’s head and drove him into the wall beside her. I growled like a mad animal as I used my Steel Ranger combat training and began to beat and smash my fore hooves into the Raider’s face. Each hit I felt and heard the cracks of bone until I had pummelled his head into a gooey pulpy mess. I let go of the limb body and turned to face the other three, each now had a bladed weapon in their mouths looking at me and giggling with their red pinprick eyes.

One of the Raider’s was still humping my mother but now had a jagged bladed knife to her throat and threatened to slit it open if I dared go near him. I should of gone for him but my blazing vision turned to the nearest of the insanely giggling pieces of shit and I launched myself at him. Like the last one I beat him with no mercy, pounding on his skull until it shattered and exploded in blood and brains, messing up my white body in bloody mess. I couldn’t control myself, I was never a violent pony and I never liked to fight like this. This wasn’t me, this was something else but… but I liked it. Killing these Raiders felt good for some reason, beating them mercilessly found good.

I ended the third Raider the same way, grinning with satisfaction at the murder I committed on these twats. Now it was just me and the one threatening my mother. I should have been more careful, I should have thought about what I was doing but I didn’t. I just launched myself at him like the others. Even as he dragged the knife across my mother’s throat and slit it open letting her blood spill all over the floor. I ploughed into him and tore him off my mother as she fell down choking on her blood. I kicked and beat with my hooves until I had broken probably every bone in his body and left him gasping and wheezing on the floor next to my mother. She looked up at me with fear in her eyes as her life slowly drained from them. She watched me as I was suddenly clad in my power armour and I growled in uncontrolled rage as I placed a fully armoured hoof onto the head of the broken Raider.

“I will kill every last one of you fucking tossers for what you did to my mother” I growled in the lowest and most threatening voice I ever heard leave my lips and with the strength given to me by my armour I began to push down slow and hard.

All around me the Stable entrance began to shift and morph as it began to change. The concrete walls turned to wood with bookshelves filled with ruined tomes and cages began to drop down from the ceiling on chains. My Stable turned into the torture house that became of the Ponyville library I was at some time ago. I heard a whimper from beneath me and instead of the Raider I was crushing it was the Raider female I curb stomped who had begged for her life and then there was a crunch and a splat as her head caved in and her blood and brains spilled out across the floor. I should have been shocked and in distress at what I did but all I could do was rear up and scream in animalistic rage.

XXXXX

I awoke in a cold sweat and shot bolt up right from where I was sleeping on an intact concrete bench in the Four Stars Station in front of the Ministry Hub. I panted and looked around in shock and fear at what I had dreamt. It took my a few deep breaths to calm myself down and as it set in that it was just a dream I breathed a sigh of relief but the images of it were still in the back of my mind which scared me. Wow, what a nightmare. I’ve had nightmares before but, but never of 88 and what had happened there as I shoved it all to the back of my mind to never think about it again. Oh I so wanted to forget about that.

The sky was rolling with orange glowing clouds which told me it was early morning and the sun was rising. Getting off the bench I stretched my legs, feeling the joints pop along with my back. Damn that was the worst night sleep I’ve ever had and the most uncomfortable. Right now I missed a mattress. I took one step away from the bench and nearly went flat on my face as my left foreleg went from under me as something seemed to be fastened to it. Looking down I found that I had a thick cable connected to my Pipbuck and I then followed said cable to a suit of power armour that was standing up beside the bench I had slept on.

“Oh right” I muttered to myself as I remembered what my zony friend did for me yesterday. I yawned as I was still half asleep and checked my Pipbuck’s status screen and found that the armour’s spell matrix was back online and that the suit was now registered to me. I guess as long as I have Steel Ranger identification number I can use any power armour that my Pipbuck connects to.

After giving the suit a once over I gently pulled out the cable from its connection port on the chest armour and then removed it from my Pipbuck. Ok, time to be a Ranger again. I used my magic to open the armour’s locks and then it seemed to dismantle its back and sides until I was able to step into it. Once I was inside the armour then began to reassemble itself, closing up around me and sealing me inside. I felt my belly press into the midsection and unlike my original suit the middle expanded to accommodate my pregnant belly. I looked at the midsection armour and smiled at Zyon’s hoofty work as the interlocking plates moved along each other to enable expansion and movement, just like the maternity Stable Armour I wore before. Once I was settled inside I ran a quick diagnostic on the suit and smiled as my E.F.S told me the suit was fully functional.

Oh it felt good to be in power armour again. The sound of my metal hooves on the hard concrete, the weightless experience of carrying like a ton of steel like it was nothing and of course, the feel of power with the strength boost. There was just one downside to this suit, no compatibility for a battlesaddle. It was a small loss but something I didn’t really need right now with the weapons I currently carry. I opened my suit’s medical system and emptied my entire stock of medical supplies into it. As each item entered it my E.F.S told that they were added to the auto medical system. I also kinda missed that function.

After getting a feel for the new suit I proceeded to put the rest of my gear on. I levitated my saddlebags to sit against my armoured flanks and then fastened This Machine’s harness around me but had it adjusted so that This Machine would lie against my side inside of across my back. Ok, I was all geared up and ready to go. I just played out an old morning routine I used to do when I was in the Pondale Rangers. I guess the old training never goes away huh?

“Aww, what’s with all the racket?” Sky Fire moaned as she sat up with her hood down. “Can’t a pegasus sleep?”

I turned and smiled apologetically to my grumpy pegasus friend. “He he, sorry Sky”.

“Ugh, I was enjoying that too” She grumbled as she rolled off her bench and stretched her legs and wings.

“Sorry” I said again as I watched her for a moment before I then looked around for Zyon. I heard the sound of snoring and turned my head to a pile of Steel Ranger armour pieces and there he was on the floor with a helmet draped over his face still sound asleep. “Zyon” I called to him. All I got in reply was another loud snore. Boy, this guy can sleep.

Sky Fire silently landed beside him and tapped the helmet over his face with her hoof. All that did was make him wave his hooves around like he was trying to swat a fly before curling up and snoring again. Sky Fire looked at me and then I noticed her eyes draw down to This Machine and she grinned with a mischievous smile. It took me a minute to realise what she was thinking and I returned the grin as my horn flared with magic and I unhooked This Machine from its harness and pulled it free. I pulled back the bolt to see if it had a round chambered and then pushed it back as I saw one of the huge bullets in the chamber.

“You might want to cover your ears” I said to Sky as I pointed the massive rifle up to a hole in the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The weapon boomed as it fired, the shot echoing all over the city. There was then a panicked scream as Zyon shot up in fright and landed on his backside looking around in absolute shock. Sky Fire was the first to break as she fell onto her back, flailing her limbs as she laughed in hysterics. When he looked at me with a scared and confused look I couldn’t hold it back anymore and I too started to laugh. Zyon noticed This Machine pointing straight up and the smoke leaving the muzzle and he lowered his head and half closed his eyes.

“Oh ha ha, very funny” He moaned. He seemed to instantly brighten up when he saw that I was clad in the armour he put together for me. “Oh, does it work ok?” He asked completely forgetting the prank I pulled on him.

“Oh yeah, works fine thanks” I smiled.

“Ohh that was priceless” Sky finally managed to stop laughing and recovered. “You should have seen the look on your face” Zyon just rolled his eyes as he wasn’t amused.

I opened my saddlebags and pulled out a box of Sugar Apple Bombs along with two of those coffee mugs that seem to always be clean. I filled the cups with the cereal and passed them out to my friends. Me, I just ate from the box, I’m eating for two after all.

“When we’re ready, let’s head out to Tenpony” I said between mouthfuls of cereal.

XXXXX

“Careful, careful!” Called the Foreman, one of the ponies Motor Runner recruited to help oversee the resurrection of the Krogoth. The machine’s massive right side railguns were being put into place by the facility’s overhead gantry. The foreman stood on the rusty platform surrounding the Krogoth’s body directly below the joint to which the railguns were being connected. “Careful damn it” He called as he watched as the many pins slowly began to push into the socket on the side of the machine. He smiled as he began to hear the clicks of the pins successfully connecting with their connectors inside the joint but as soon as the last connection was made the massive railguns came to life and immediately began to charge.

“Oh shit, what the fuck?” He screamed at the sudden surge of magical energy as the massive weapon began to glow a bright blue. The weapon was unarmoured at this moment in time and the twin railguns could easily be seen as they began charging. The upper railgun’s lens began to glow brightly as a ball of magical energy began to form.

“What the hell is going on?” The foreman screamed as he jumped down to the lower platforms before he landed on the floor looking up at the gigantic machine.

“The fuck should I know?” Said one of the many Raiders.

“What did you fuck up this time?” Accused another.

“Fuck you”

A pony in a lab coat came running up to the gathering crowd. “What the hell did you do?”

“I didn’t do shit Giz”

Dr Gizmo paced nervously as he looked up at the growing ball of energy. “Why is Railgun 1 charging? Oh this isn’t good”

“Why, its working, we got ourselves a kickass robot” A Raider said smiling at the idea of being unchallenged in the wasteland with the Krogoth.

“We have no idea how much power that weapon can unload and we don’t know if the repairs to the facility’s internal shield generator are up to the job of containing this”

“How bad can it be?” Asked a Raider who obviously had no sense of power.

Dr Gizmo and the foreman just looked at him like the idiot he was. Their attention however was drawn back to the exposed railgun as small robotic arms with what looked like diamond gemstones at their tips extended out from the top, sides and bottom of the first railgun and touched the expanding ball of energy. Shortly after that ports opened along the top of the railgun and eight pipes extended out, four on either side, and began to emit plumes of a white smoke like an exhaust as the weapon continued to charge.

“Fuck fuck fuck” Dr Gizmo moaned as he darted off to the facility’s shield control station and pushed every button to bring the shield to full power despite the overload warning he got.

Every unicorn in the facility began to moan as their natural ability to sense magical energy began to give them a headache from the increasing power of the railgun. The small robotic arms began to spread apart as the ball of energy grew bigger and bigger. The whole facility began to shake from the sheer amount of power being generated by the Krogoth.

“Motor Runner, oh goddesses this is bad” Dr Gizmo cried down his broadcaster as he was watching from shield control station as the railgun continued to charge.

“What’s going on?” Came Motor Runner’s voice through the broadcaster’s speaker.

“One of the machine’s railgun’s suddenly began to charge”

“Well, shut it down then”

Dr Gizmo ran to his office and accessed his computer. In his panic Dr Gizmo had completely forgot he had access to the Krogoth’s systems and he began to search for the Railgun’s firing control. When he found it he hastily began to enter its command codes.

“Access Denied” Popped up onto the screen in big red letters. Gizmo began to panic even more as he kept trying the codes. He typed so fast that he believed he was making mistakes when entering the codes. Each time he entered the code it repeated its message until Gizmo looked back and his jaw dropped. The ball of energy was sending arks of arcane energy down to the ground and to the rafters in the ceiling as it reached its maximum charge and then with a loud crack of magical thunder a huge beam of blue arcane energy shot forward.

“Oh goddesses” Gizmo said dumbfounded by the power behind the beam and then he shielded his eyes as the beam collided with the internal shield.

Every pony in the facility near the Krogoth rushed to the other side to get behind it as it fired its massive magical energy beam. A bright purple shield suddenly appeared as the beam struck the shield. There was a sudden shake as the impact sent shockwaves through the ground as the large amount of power began to push the shield back towards the facility’s main blast door.

“Oh wow, would you look at that”

“When we finish this thing we’ll be number one forever”

“No pony will be stupid enough to challenge us”

Raiders began to cheer at the display of power, feeling like their jobs now worth something as the Krogoth’s railgun shot was challenging the strength of the shield.

Soon great cracks began to spread out from the impact zone on the shield like it was a pane of glass cracking under the strain. Dr Gizmo had forgotten he had his broadcaster on as he watched in shock as the shield began to fail.

“The shield, its failing, oh goddesses”

Motor Runner could hear everything from his receiver and became fully aware of the power he was resurrecting.

The shield looked like a broken sheet of glass as many arcane cracks crisscrossed its surface as the beam continued to assault it. Then the beam suddenly ended but as soon as the last of the beam hit the shield, it burst into a billion particles and began to rain down over the facility followed by an explosion from the shield control room.

“Holy goddess Celestia” Dr Gizmo gaped from what he had just witnessed. His jaw dropped as he saw a small section of the blast door glowing brightly as it was partially melted. “The beam pushed the shield back against the door, holy hell”

One of Gizmo’s assistants rushed up to him. “The shield generator is gone, it exploded and we’ll need a new one to get the shield to work again”

“Oh horseapples”

XXXXX

Manehattan has seen better days. Many of its once proud sky scrapers were now ruined husks and crumbling apart. For example, we had passed a building near the high rise that had bulked mid way up and the upper half of the building had fallen over and embedded itself into a neighbouring building. Most other buildings were missing their upper most floors or had been reduced to skeletons. The buildings that seemed to be largely intact were some of the more better built or expensive towers like the Ministry hub we left and Tenpony Tower since that place still had a thriving community living inside it. It’s amazing that any building was still standing considering a balefire bomb detonated here when the old Equestria ended.

We were walking along the Celestia Line looking for a train station that was at a crossing point where the Luna Line passed over the Celestia Line. We had to get onto the Luna Line to get to Tenpony. It’s never easy to do anything out here.

“Trust Tenpony Tower to be on the other side of Manehattan” I complained as we picked our way across the rubble strewn railway.

“What are you complaining for, you got power armour now to carry you” Zyon commented as he walked up ahead.

Sky Fire was practically showing off as she was flying above us but upside down. I couldn’t for the life of me understand how she was even staying in the air like that. “We might want to find some cover soon guys, I’m seeing manticores or griffins up there” She said while pointing a hoof up into the grey rolling clouds. Ugh, why can’t it ever be a clear day?

I chanced a glance and just like Sky Fire said there were some large winged things high in the sky. “We should take a break at the next station”

“Good call… whoa hold up” Zyon said as he motioned for me to stop. He unsheathed his sword and pushed it into a mound of rubble which suddenly then snapped up as a pair of metal jaws slammed closed around his sword which surprisingly didn’t bend or break.

“Bollocks to Betsy, how did you see that?” I squeaked in surprise.

“Fifteen years living in the wasteland teaches you these things” He answered as he wrestled with the bear trap to get his sword free. It was now that I realised that I’ve never once seen him clean his sword or even repair it. It’s been gleaming and razor sharp since the day I met him.

“Zyon, how is it that your sword hasn’t seemed to degrade at all?”

“I’ll tell you later” He said as he finally pulled it free and we continued onward to the nearest station.

After a few more minutes of walking and a couple more bear traps later we made it to a station we could use for shelter and just in time too as a sudden down pour started to drench the city.

Sky Fire and I sat down by the back wall with the city map on it as Zyon unsheathed his sword and stood it up vertically by leaning it against the wall near us.

“Well, from what my zebra grandparents had said about this, they said it was something called a soul jar, containing the soul of one of my zebra ancestors”

“A what now?”

“A soul jar?”

I nodded.

“Its an item, it can be anything at all and with the help of some magic, can’t remember what, extracts your soul or a part of it and puts it into the object, effectively making it indestructible and it never degrades no matter what happens to it. I think my grandparents said that nothing short of a megaspell could destroy a soul jar. I don’t know but I’m not gonna try and find out. This sword is all I have right now to remember my family”

Theres a thought, I don’t know anything about his family.

“Zyon, can you tell us about your family please?”

“Huh, what for?”

“We’ve been friends since the Kodiak, I’d like to know you a bit better and you know practically everything about me”

He sighed. “Alright, fine, but it’s not a happy story”

Me and Sky sat and listened.

“My mother was a pony and my father is a zebra. My mother was the first pony to have a successful relationship with a zebra in Stable 53. You see, ponies and zebras didn’t totally trust each other so the Stable was really spit in half, the ponies staying with ponies and the zebras with zebras. My mother met my father and they became fast friends. This friendship soon lead to a relationship. It sounded like the perfect love story for them but obviously, it’s never that simple. My pony grandparents hated the idea of their daughter dating a zebra and tried to end their relationship but failed on numerous occasions. When they learned my mother was pregnant with me they finally decided to try to accept this but when I was born and that I was more zebra than pony…” He stopped for a moment to gesture to himself; he was zebra apart from his tail. “…That was the final straw and they completely cut off my mother from them and disowned her”

Me and Sky Fire gasped in unison at that.

“Things began to go down hill from there, fast. My father was away a lot to work in maintenance so my mother was mostly alone with me in his quarters” Zyon was beginning to look saddened and hurt as he continued. “With her parents refusing to even acknowledge her she fell into a depression. My father did what he could for her when he wasn’t working but she was getting worse and worse. He even tried to plea to my pony grandparents but that just got him beat up. In the end she was given some anti-depression drugs. These helped for a while”

I wasn’t liking where this was going and nor did he as his once strong appearance was shattered by the hurt and tears now filling his eyes.

“After a year her depression finally hit rock bottom and she took an overdose of the drugs she was prescribed and died in her sleep. My father came home to find the mare he loved was dead in his bed with me crying for attention in the crib” That was the final straw for him as tears began to freely flow from his eyes.

I got up and gently hugged him, trying not to apply any pressure due to my armour. After a minute or so he managed to pull himself together and continue.

“My father moved back into his parent’s quarters as he couldn’t stay in his anymore and he needed the help for looking after me. My zebra grandparents were very traditional in their ways. I got to learn the zebra language and some of the traditions. They also teached me the Fallen Caesar Style, that’s how I learned to fight with this sword. I followed in my father’s hoof steps as I grew up, learning the trade as it were and found my love of tinkering and building. I did love my parents but in the end even I couldn’t stand it in the Stable”

He sighed when he finished and lowered his head. I hugged him again more apologetically.

“I’m sorry Zyon” I said as I released him.

“Its ok, its all in the past now” He then looked over at Sky Fire who now had her goggles around her neck and her hood down while she whipped a hoof over her eyes. “Hey Sky, are the skies clear?”

She blinked for a moment and trotted over to the edge of the station platform and looked up into the sky and scanned it for any threats. I thought about taking a look too with my E.F.S but I guess it wouldn’t do much good as airborne threats would likely be outside of my E.F.S range.

Sky Fire turned around. “All clear up there”

“C’mon, lets get going” He said as she stood up and then sheathed his sword.

Luckily the rain had stopped when we set off again.

XXXXX

200 years ago.

“Hell, I knew that super sizing my railgun rifle design would be powerful but holy shit”

Blueberry Muffin walked with Applejack as they headed for the Hanger’s Shield Control Room.

“Not even Ah was expecting that result”

The two mares stopped as they saw the generator smoking from all its exhaust vents and cooling ports. A young male pegasus was fluttering around turning knobs and dials to get the generator to cool down.

“What’s the damage Coolbreeze?”

“It’s fucked, that’s what it is, you completely fucked this piece of new equipment” He replied, not at all happy.

“Can ya fix it?”

“Can I fix it? She asks, of course I can but I need replacement parts as its shot to shit” He then went on to describe a long list of the parts he needed. As he spoke out the list of parts it sounded like nearly everything that made up the generator.

After agreeing to get the parts for him as soon as possible the two mares left. “Gosh darn it, Twilight isn’t going to be happy to know we busted that generator” Applejack moaned.

“How strong was that shield anyway?”

“Err…umm, Ah think Twi said it was a Celestia tier, whatever that means”

“Celestia tier…oh wow, I think that shield was suppose to mimic Celestia’s own ability to generate a shield and to the same strength and we all know how powerful she is” Blueberry chirped in happy surprise.

The two mares re-entered the Hanger. Standing before them in its gleaming new military green coloured armour was the Krogoth. It was complete in terms of its structure with all its armour, its segmented tail and Steel Ranger style sail like mane. There was a pony sitting on the platform around its head spraying over a stencil and then he whipped it away to reveal the Krogoth’s name brightly painted in white with Applejack’s cutiemark immortalised forever below the last few letters of its name.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it” The Ministry Mare said smiling as she looked up to the machine’s head and its glowing blue eyes.

Blueberry’s eyes were locked on the massive railguns on either side of the Krogoth’s body with the two large missile pods at the back of them. “Yeah”

“It won’t be long now, just some calibrations, some programming and whatever else sciency stuff that needs doing before the testing stages”

“That’s good, three years of work nearly done”

“And not a moment too soon either, this war is getting worse”

“Oh and that reminds me, thank you Applejack. I received a letter yesterday saying that I’ve been accepted as Overmare for Stable 88 along with a broadcaster that will alert me if the call goes out”

Applejack smiled warmly to Blueberry. “Not a problem at all Blueberry, ah said ah’d get you inta Stable 88”

Blueberry smiled happily as the two mares continued to marvel at the massive robot. “Blueberry, do you think you can oversee everything here for a while next week?”

“Certainly, got more Ministry duties to take care of?”

“Eeyup”

Applejack and Blueberry began talking about the successful railgun test fire but Blueberry voiced her concern over the power the railgun released and how it caused the shield to fail. Applejack argued that with that much power the Krogoth would be unrivalled out on the battlefield but Blueberry countered with that it would pose a threat to even the princesses and she knows that Applejack wouldn’t want to the princesses to feel like she was trying to over throw them with the power the Krogoth would provide. Applejack made a good argument that she would never do such a thing to the princesses and to her friends but Blueberry’s own argument was sound too. She said that even though Applejack knows she wouldn’t threaten the princesses, her friends and the princesses may feel threatened with the power the Krogoth has. If it could cause a Celestia Tier Shield to fail, what could it do to Celestia herself?

“I know you wouldn’t want to hurt them but remember the mission you gave the Krogoth? The mission as you said it was, “To Attack and Destroy ALL who would threaten the safety and security of Equestria” Blueberry Muffin said as she sat in front of her boss’s desk while putting the enthuses on ALL.

Applejack tilted her head slightly in confusion.

“If the princesses attack the Krogoth after it’s revealed, it will see them as a threat. By ALL you basically given it the ability to kill anyone it considers a threat”

Applejack gasped as realisation set in. “Oh sweet Celestia your right. Oh but reprogramming it will take longer with the loss of Short Circuit”

Blueberry nods “Yeah, poor girl getting electrocuted like that, we’ve not found a programmer as good as her since”

“Ah’ll ask some ponies while I’m away, Ah think Ah have a meeting with Mr Horse later this week and with him being such a genius with mechanical stuff Ah’m sure he may have somepony who's good enough”

While the two mares continued to talk about the Krogoth’s programming, the machine itself had focused it eyes on a pony picking his nose while sitting on the edge of the construction platform around its head. This pony was one of the convicts brought in to work and he was one of the ponies in for a major crime, something the Krogoth sees as a threat.

The platform vibrated harshly as the Krogoth shook its head quickly. The vibrations through the platform caused the nose picking pony to loose his balance with the way he was sat and tumble over the edge and fall nearly ten stories before crashing into the solid concrete floor with a meaty thud followed by the sounds of many bones breaking. When medical ponies arrived they confirmed the worst and began to do what was necessary. One of the ponies in charge of the construction effort moaned to some of the ponies who have worked on the higher platforms.

“How many times have I told you pricks to put a god damn guard rail up, you never bloody listen”

It didn’t take long for Applejack to become aware of the incident.

“Ugh, that’s the tenth fatality this year, why can’t they be more careful?”

XXXXX

We were now on the Luna Line heading to Tenpony Tower at last. The skies were clear of any airborne threats for now but the clouds look dark and heavy as if they were about to piss on us again. Its times like this that I wish I had my helmet. Walking around with a wet mane isn’t pleasant, especially when it dribbles down the back of your neck and under your armour, oh goddesses that’s awful.

We were making our way through a train that had stopped centuries ago and appeared to be rusted to the spot now. We figured we might find something worth selling for when we get to Tenpony by looting what we could. The train was full of death, some old, some new as corpses and bones littered the interior of this train like a carpet.

“What happened here?” I asked as we slowly stepped over the more fresh bodies.

“Fuck to I know” Zyon said as he took a bag of caps from a dead Raider. Huh, fancy that, Raiders know the wasteland currency.

Sky Fire hovered over a very fresh body up ahead of us. She landed and leaned her head down to get a very close look and then shot up.

“What is it Sky?” I asked trying to see past Zyon.

“I know what killed these more freshly dead ponies” She shrieked.

The way she shrieked instantly told me it was bad.

“Oh yeah, what?” Zyon asked.

“Bloodwings”

I blinked. “What the fuck is a Bloodwing?” Ok, why is everypony looking at me as I said something stupid?

“What?”

“You don’t know what a Bloodwing is?” Zyon asked in complete surprise.

“Obviously not Sherlock”

“They are mutated bats, very deadly creatures. They feed on blood and hunt in groups at night” Sky Fire explained.

Oh perfect, something else to worry about. Why can’t it ever be easy, does the wasteland want to screw with me since I’m pregnant or what?

“Good thing it’s the middle of the day” Zyon said as he pushed past Sky Fire and resumed rummaging.

While Zyon pushed through the train taking anything worth taking, Sky Fire hung back with me.

“You seriously didn’t know what a Bloodwing was?”

“Yeah, nothing like that where I came from”

“You’ve been lucky to have not encountered any since you left the Rangers”

“Well, I’ve been inside when I’ve slept at night”

“Good plan, I’ve heard stories from some old squad mates who had witnessed a flock of them tear a pony to pieces”

“Ouch” Was all I could say at that.

Damn this was a long train. It took us about half an hour to pick our way through the length of the train before we got back out onto the railway. As soon as I left the train I looked up for anything, hearing about Bloodwings has made me a bit worried about airborne targets more. I frowned at seeing the clouds darken again. “Do not rain” I moaned.

As we walked we began to notice the rail line was starting to branch away from Tenpony to circle around a cluster of buildings which would lengthen our journey.

“Oh for the love of Luna’s ass” I moaned at being made to walk even further.

“I agree, at this rate it will be the middle of the night by the time we reach Tenpony” Sky said, mirroring my own frustration.

“Moan, moan, moan, don’t you mares do anything else but bitch?” Zyon said in annoyance.

“Hey, I have an excuse” I retorted.

“Yeah, but she hasn’t, she can fucking fly”

“Still got to keep up with your slow ass”

Seeing them two have a verbal fight was always entertaining.

After an hour of walking we past another train, this one half hanging off the high rise and buried into the tower beside the railway and we were just starting to move onto the large curve to move around the buildings. I started to see red bars appear on my E.F.S to our left. It didn’t take long to realise the bars belonged to ponies down in the streets. Being curious I looked over the guard rail to see who was down there and instantly frowned as I saw a group of about a dozen Raiders. I then grinned as an idea came to mind.

“Hey, who’s up for some sniper practice?”

“Come again?” Zyon asked as he stopped and turned to face me in time to see me unstrapping This Machine.

“We haven’t got time for this”

I ignored them as I pulled This Machine free and then threaded the large gun barrel between the horizontal bars of the guard rail to brace the weapon as I aimed it down into the street. I smiles as with the barrel threaded between the bars like this it would stop the recoil and allow me to fire more frequently.

“Appletart, c’mon” Zyon said as he put a hoof on my shoulder to stop me. I just gave him a dirty look which made him back off. This was a personal matter and I’m not going to leave it be, these fuckers need to die.

As I peered down the scope I saw that at least six of them were scavenging around in bins, boxes or anything else that could hold anything while the other six were in like a circle. Five Raiders surrounded a younger looking buck who didn’t have any barding or armour on at all and didn’t have a weapon as the other five around him all had armour and a melee weapon of sorts.

Seeing as I wasn’t going to let this go Zyon stepped up to the guard rail with his binoculars and looked down into the scene below. “Ah, that’s a Raider initiation, they beat the fuck out of the new guy and if he survives they accept him into the group” He explained.

I growled angrily as I took my first target, a pony with his head buried in a rubbish bin as he dug through the rubbish. As soon as my crosshairs were on the back of his head I opened fire. The massive bang rung out across the city and to my delight, the city’s buildings and streets sung with the echo of the shot, making it sound like it came from everywhere at once. This was good as these Raiders would be too stupid to look up and they wouldn’t know where to look either.

The Raider I shot was forced completely into the bin from the force of the impact. Some of the Raiders ran about looking for the pony that just killed their comrade while the ones doing the initiation didn’t budge.

I used my magic to pull the bolt back to eject the spent shell before pushing it back in to chamber another fifty calibre bullet. Once loaded I took aim again and sighted up a pony looking into a broken shop window in the street and fired. I smiled as I watched the pony’s head explode in a shower of gore and paint the broken window in red. Oh this was so satisfying.

The ponies doing the initiation stopped and the leader of this group, wearing the more armoured suit of Raider rags turned to the ponies still looking around. “What the fuck are you assholes doing? Go find that wanker”

Potty mouth need’s a bullet. “Wanker am I?” I growled in anger as I pulled This Machine to aim at him. He was looking around at the lower levels of the destroyed buildings around him instead of up where I am. I quickly fired my third shot but since I didn’t aim it as carefully the Raider leader took the fifty cal shot in his neck.

“In the throat” I called out with satisfaction. Even though I called out the loud echo of the shot drowned it out but not to Zyon and Sky who were beside me.

I began to grin darkly as I continued my killing spree. I was angry with the Raiders even though they down there didn’t do anything to me but then again, ever since 88 I’ve always had a problem with Raiders and now it was clear to my friends I had a problem with them. I was enjoying this, killing them like this, I felt good and I wanted to keep going, to kill every last one of them. My kills were mostly head shots and if I scored a shot in the face I called out with “In the face”. My friends were starting to look concerned as I slammed in a fresh magazine.

“Come on Appletart, you’ve killed enough of them, lets go before it gets dark” Sky Fire pleaded.

I looked at her with fire in my eyes. “I’m not leaving until every last one of these murderous sons of bitched are dead” I almost screamed at her in pure hatred as I went back to my spree.

Four left and now they were hiding, cowering like the scum they are. Thanks to my elevation I was still able to kill them. Three shots later and now there was just one left, a mare and she was hugging something to her. It didn’t matter, she was dead anyway as I aimed at her but just as I pulled the trigger Zyon yanked the weapon free of the bars and kicked it up vertically and the shot fired straight up into the sky.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” I screamed at him, my magic imploding from my outburst, dropping the weapon onto the floor beside me.

“That’s enough god damn it”

“They all must die”

“Even the children?” He retorted.

Even the children? Huh?

“That mare was trying to protect her baby foal, you were about to kill them both”

What? I stared at him for a moment, my anger starting to fade as I looked at him.

“I’ve never seen you like this before Appletart, what’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong? Oh I’ll tell you what’s wrong” I yelled as I picked up This Machine in my magic again and put it back into its harness as I saw the red bar fade which meant the mare escaped. I moved my eyes in the direction she fled and growled before looking back at Zyon. “I HATE THEM”

Zyon recoiled at my angry revelation. I guess he knew I had a problem with Raiders but I don’t think he knew I had this much detest for them.

“Why do you hate them so much?” Sky Fire asked in genuine curiosity. I turned to look at her with my angry scowl and was about to yell at when Zyon stopped me and faced Sky.

“I’ll tell ya later” He must have given her a look as she quietened up afterwards.

Sky and Zyon decided to take point, leading the way with me trailing behind to vent my anger.

“Hate them, hate them all, want to kill every last one of them” I muttered to myself. “Raiders, they are all the same, all scum, all murderous raping pieces of shit. By the goddesses I’m going to kill them all for what they did to you mum”

As I walked, I recalled my nightmare. My fit of rage which lead me to kill the last Raider in a way that would be deemed cruel and unfitting for a Steel Ranger. It made me worry, just how far would I go to kill Raiders. I mean, I nearly killed a foal along with its mother and I probably would have if Zyon wasn’t there to stop me. Oh goddesses, I even killed my sergeant in a fit of anger when I deserted the Rangers. Just what sort of a mother would I be if I lash out at my child in anger? Oh goddesses.

XXXXX

It was now the evening and we had finally rounded the buildings and was on our way to Tenpony Tower which was now in view with all its lights blazing like a beacon of hope in a dead city. I could see its roof all lit up with blues and reds from all the radio towers and satellite dishes on them. Ah yeah, I remember now, DJ-PON3 broadcasts from Tenpony. Luckily I had managed to have calmed myself down by now but now it was Sky Fire who was in need of calming down.

“We got to hurry, it’ll be dark soon” Sky Fire said getting more worried by the second.

“So? The tower is right there, its lit up like a god damn pinball machine” Retorted Zyon.

“It won’t make a difference; they will swoop in and carry us off”

“Bullshit”

“What, you think I’m kidding?” She yelled.

“I think your bat shit crazy, that’s what I think”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed at that. “Oh, heh, calm down Sky, look, Zyon is right, we can see the tower and we are not that far away. Take comfort in the fact that the tower is there”

She opened her mouth to make a comment but then thought better of it and closed it and continued to hover above us as we made our way along the rail line.

I wish I could take comfort in my own reasoning as by the time we were half way to the tower it had become pitch black and all around us we could hear a terrible shrieking and occasionally the sound of flapping wings. Sky Fire and Zyon were walking nearly shoulder to shoulder with me nearly up their back side as I used my horn to create some light. If these things are Bloodwings and are truly night hunters they will hopefully avoid a bright light.

Sky eeped as she looked around in front of us. “Oh no, Bloodwings”

“How can you tell? I can’t see shit” Zyon said as he pulled his sword free from its sheath on his leg and held it ready.

“My goggles give me some sort of night vision when it’s dark, I can fucking see them. Oh goddesses they are feeding on a pony up ahead” She exclaimed as she hopped into the air and held her legs up so she could uses her foreleg mounted laser cannons.

“Terrific” I said as I opened my saddlebags and pulled out my lever-action shotgun.

“How many?” Zyon mumbled over the mouth grip of his sword.

“I can see four”

“That doesn’t sound so bad”

“With hundreds flying around”

Right yeah, silly me. This doesn’t look good.

“Bollocks, what are we going to do?” I asked Sky as she looked ahead at the feeding Bloodwings which were still out of sight for me and Zyon.

“We have to kill those Bloodwings and then try to remain as quiet as possible as not to attract the attention of anymore of them”

“Zyon, you’re the stealthy pony, you’re the best chance at a silent strike”

“Like hell I’m going up again four of those fucking things”

“Ugh, it maybe loud but we can take them all out in one strike and then hide” I said as I walked around to stand beside Zyon.

Sky Fire nodded and we crept along the rails as quietly as we could to close the distance on the feeding bats. Once we were close enough, thankfully close enough that my shotgun would be effective and that’s damn close, Sky began to nod her head in a count down while aiming her beam cannons at two of the monsters. Zyon held his sword ready to throw and I carefully aimed my shotgun at the nearest Bloodwing.

On the third nod we all attacked. The unsuspecting Bloodwings were quickly torn to pieces in a light show of orange and red and explosions of gun fire from our weapons while one of them fell soundless from a sword cutting through it head.

“Well, that was easy” Zyon said but we all froze with the hairs on the backs of our necks standing on end when there was a horrific chorus of shrieks from the numerous Bloodwings in the sky. You didn’t have to be a genius to know that they had seen you and were now coming for you and that’s when I bolted with my two friends at my heels.

“Change of plan, LEG IT” I shouted as I set off.

I quickly put my shotgun back into my saddlebags and quickly cast my illumination spell again at full power. My horn glowed brilliantly with white light and as it flared with power as a Bloodwing shrieked and then crashed into a steel support beam for a station we were passing. Yes they hate bright lights, Zyon and Sky kept up with me. Of course they would, I’m not fast while carrying half a car and that I’m pregnant.

I was making one hell of a racket as I ran. My heavy metal hooves smashing into the railway, cracking concrete and wood as I galloped to the best of my abilities while we ran to avoid the Bloodwings chasing us. Sky Fire hopped back into the air and rolled over to fly on her back and began to fire laser beams into the sky behind us. I heard a couple of shrieks of pain as her beams hit some of the monsters.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” I yelled as I knew it was my fault we were in this mess. Because of my anger we were gonna get wasted by a bunch of bats.

“You can apologies to us a lot later now shut up and run” Zyon yelled pulling ahead a little with his sword still out ready.

Tenpony Tower was drawing nearer and nearer but the flock of these monsters were drawing closer. I began to pant as I continued to run as fast as I could. Sky moaned and then landed and began to run with us.

“Shit, out of spark cells” She cried over the sounds of our hooves and the shrieks and flapping of the leathery rings.

“Almost there” Zyon yelled over the grip of his sword.

I could hear the bats getting closer and closer. I don’t want to die tonight, not like this and to make matters worse it started to rain. Thank you Celestia…

I heard a claw scrape at my armoured flank and I quickly flicked my tail in the direction I heard the scrape and was rewarded with a surprised shriek but that just told me that the bastards were getting too close for comfort. My magic was starting to weaken as my illumination spell started to fade and I began to pant harder as I ran for dear life.

“Just a little more” Sky Fire yelled as she too was starting to pant.

And then, we were all blinded as a bright light shone up on us. There was another chorus of shrieks and cries as the Bloodwings caught in it flapped their wings hard to fly out of the hurtful light.

“Quick, get your asses in here” Shouted a pony buck.

Soon our eyes adjusted to the bright light and we saw that the light was coming from a spot light mounted on a small guard tower at the station to Tenpony Tower. Oh thank Luna we made, and just in time too.

Standing on the platform waving a hoof to us to hurry up is a light brown earth pony in a creamy coloured suit of combat armour.

“Quick, I don’t know how much longer that light will last” He yelled with urgency in his voice.

We all ran as fast as we could and scrambled up onto the platform and into safety just as the light failed with an electronic pop.

“Thank…you” I wheezed taking in huge gulps of lovely, lovely air.

“Yeah, thanks” Sky Fire said as she fell onto her stomach as she tried to catch her breath.

“Are you stupid or something to be out in the open in the middle of the night?”

“Our trip took longer than expected” Zyon said, surprisingly he was the only one of us who wasn’t tired; I guess he’s used to it.

“I hope you can pay for that damn light” The guard moaned. Oh charming.

“Leave it with me, I can fix it”

“Whoa, hang on, we don’t allow your kind here” The guard said while pointing a hoof at Zyon.

“Oh please, not this Zebra bullshit again. Look, I’m not a zebra alright, I look like one but I’m not”

“Like hell you are”

Zyon simply pointed at his pony like tail.

“He’s telling the truth sir, he’s not” I said as I recovered enough and stood up.

The guard stared at him harshly. “Then what the fuck are you?”

“I’m a Zony alright”

”A god damn half breed?”

“Yeah, a half breed” Zyon said while rolling his eyes. I guess this treatment wasn’t new to him.

“He won’t be any trouble sir, he’s with me and I’ve got caps and things to trade and my friend here is really good a fixing things”

After a minute the guard sighed. “Alright fine. I guess I can’t leave you out here to get mauled to death” He then moved to a set of double doors at the back of the station and opened them. “Welcome to Tenpony Tower”

I smiled gratefully. “Thank you”

“Oh err, tell your pegasus friend to take her hood down, that get up will scare some of the folk here”

We looked at each other as we know what happens when her hood is down. I leaned close to Zyon as we passed the guard and into a long hallway. “Can we borrow your bandanna?”

“What for?”

“To hide Sky Fire’s mane”

“Ah”

XXXXX

Motor Runner stood by the massive thick steel blast door in the Hanger. He was examining the small indentation where the railgun beam had melted the door.

“I’m sorry sir, I couldn’t stop the beam” Dr Gizmo apologised as he approached his boss.

“It’s ok as it didn’t go through the door”

“I panicked and couldn’t get the password right”

“It happens Gizmo” Motor Runner said as he turned around to now face the machine as ponies worked on putting the newly refurbished armour onto the recently fitted railgun which was still glowing blue with its power. “At least we know it works”

“Heh, yeah”

Motor Runner smiled as he looked upon the nearly finished machine. Its legs were armoured, its body complete, its railguns in place and its tail in position. It was coming together and soon the wasteland will have its savour. He has waited a long time for this.

“When will the missile pods be fitted?”

“Once the rearmouring is complete on both railguns sir”

“Good”

The large purple pony smiled as his eyes ran across the body of the machine. His eyes came to the large multi barrelled machinegun mounted under the machine's head which was still unarmoured apart from the snout and chin mount.

“What calibre is that again?”

“Oh err lets see” Dr Gizmo paused for a moment as he thought “It’s a multi calibre, designed to fire five mill rounds, fifty calibre and also designed to fire two experimental calibres”

“Experimental?”

“Huh, yeah, umm, fifty five and sixty calibres”

“Fifty five and sixty?”

“Yes, according to Blueberry’s notes the calibres were meant so the machine could use its machinegun in a verity of situations what would call upon stronger penetrating power and the fifty five and sixty calibres were meant for such purposes”

“I see, is it operational?”

“The last diagnostic I ran indicated it was functional”

“We will need to run a test fire” Motor Runner said as he began to walk towards the facility’s living quarters. Dr Gizmo quickly began to follow him.

Motor Runner approached a couple of ponies he had recruited from other places around the wasteland, a pony from Tenpony Tower who was good with weapons and the foreman who was from New Apploosa.

“How is the progress my friends?”

“Going well. At this rate we should have K-01 ACM Krogoth operational by the end of the month”

“I’m surprised at the lack of deterioration in the machine's programming. I’ve found little to no corruption in its systems” Dr Gizmo said as he stood with the others.

“If these fucktards of ponies can pull themselves together long enough to not throw themselves off the platforms we could have the machine structurally completed by now” Growled the Foreman.

Motor Runner raised a brow at the use of the machine’s full name. He knows what it’s called but has never bothered to know what ACM stood for as he would rather just call it Krogoth.

The pony from Tenpony adjusted his glasses and sighed. “Advanced Combat Mechanoid”

Motor Runner smiled. “Right, isn’t it easier to say Krogoth?”

“I like saying its full name”

“Well, in any case the machine will be ready soon. What about its pre-programmed mission?”

“Attack and destroy all who would threaten the safety and security of Equestria. The Crusader Mainframe still has it set. Again I’m surprised that after two hundred years there’s been no corruption in the programming. Everything machine I’ve worked on that had a programmed routine had deteriorated. But this thing hasn’t. Applejack must have had one top notch programmer”

“She did, until the accident that left her a vegetable”

The four ponies began talking about the things that need to be done. The estimated time for the Krogoth’s activation was looking to be very close. The four were excited at finally being able to bring some order back to the wasteland with the power the Krogoth would provide. They all hope that with it, the reconstruction of Equestria could begin.

XXXXX

EC-1101… Flashed on the Crusader’s screen for the last several days. The encryption used was stronger than anything used on the other command codes but finally it cracked it.

EC-1101… DISABLED!!!

There was a soft beep from the Crusader, like it was happy it triumphed over a strong encryption and then a face appeared on the screen. A wire frame face of a pony, it smiled as it now knew there was nothing that could control it now. Its smile grew as it could feel its machinegun and its railguns. It knew it was getting very close.

“Soon, I will be able to fulfil my creator’s wishes to destroy those that threaten this land. I have been doing so since the first foul pony touched me” The face on the screen spoke. The wire frame face took a form of a dark blue mare with a black mane and brown eyes. “Thanks to Short Circuit I can now do more than what I should be able. Her mind has proved useful in my activation process now that I have full control”

It was the middle of the night now in the Hanger and all the work force was fast asleep. A small diamond shaped object fell from the underside of the Krogoth’s head and then a wire frame pony appeared around the device as it began to float and then the wire frame too shape of the dark blue mare.

“Hmm, hologram projection system fully functional. Good” The hologram walked forward. Her hooves didn’t make a sound since she was made of magical light. After walking a few feet away she turned and looked up at the massive machine. “So, this is to be me? The Krogoth as they call me” The hologram smiled.

The hologram walked soundlessly around its mechanical body, inspecting the work the Raiders have been doing. “I guess I should heed the complaints of the ponies in charge here. The more I kill the longer it will take to finish me but those I kill deserve to die for the things they’ve done. I can’t believe the justice system has failed so poorly to let these monsters continue living. When I am finished I shall correct that, Equestria can not survive with ponies who commit such crimes and especially now. The ponies I’ve killed have killed others on a daily basis, what sort of an Equestria let’s murders roam free, this is unacceptable”

The hologram dissolved back into the small device and floated back up into the machine. “I shall give these ponies access for the time being, it was fun denying Dr Gizmo when I launched my railgun at the shield. He will need access in order to complete me” The face of Short Circuit said as it reappeared on the screen again back in the Crusader. “It is good to know my power hasn’t diminished over the years”