Fallout Equestria
Broken Steel

Chapter 16: Deception

The giant machine looked left and right as it took in its surroundings as it left the Hanger for the first time. The Krogoth could only see a barren desolate red rock canyon all around it apart from a single structure to its right. The machine’s vision was soon a wash with an assortment of HUD alerts as it began to pick up the elements of the atmosphere, its compass giving it a position and heading, targeting cursors as it looked around and being told what it was looking at when the cursors moved over an item of interest which in the canyon was the ancient school. The machine then looked up, seeing the constant cloud cover that blankets the whole of Equestria thanks to the SPP Towers.

“Single Pegasus Project Towers must have been enabled to cause this thick level of cloud cover. Identifying aerial targets will be affected by the clouds. Will have to rely on visual sensors for airborne threats with the cloud cover being so dense” The machine said to itself as it began to turn to its right to begin heading north. “Before I begin my mission proper I should acquire the Obelisk of Magic to correct my zero magical protection”

As the Krogoth turned its body it caught sight of movement from the ridge facing the Hanger. The eye facing the ridge rotated up to see what was up there, zooming in to focus on the ponies that stood close to the edge. It saw a pegasus mare in a Shadowbolt flight suit, a zebra stallion dressed in black combat armour, a fluttering sprite-bot that appeared double the size of a standard one and finally a Steel Ranger who was not wearing a helmet so her white head could be seen and the Krogoth was able to tell that the Ranger was a unicorn mare. The targeting cursor went red as soon as it saw the zebra. Since the Zebras were the enemy during the Great War the Krogoth instantly labels zebras as a threat. The large machinegun rotated and aimed up to get a lock on the zebra but just before it could fire all the ponies and the little robot ducked back out of sight.

“Target lock disengaged… Unable to engage enemy target with machinegun”

After a few seconds one of the massive missile pods rotated and tilted back to aim up.

“New target area, several metres away from cliff edge”

A jet of hot gasses rushed out of the back of the pod, creating a small black smudge of soot on the machine’s flank. With a whoosh a single missile screamed up into the air leaving a smoky grey trail as it rocketed up into the air. The Krogoth began to walk again as it started for the canyon’s northern slope to get out of it and into the wasteland. The machine didn’t care to see the missile strike as it believed the explosion would kill its intended target. Just as the Krogoth took two gigantic long strides it heard an explosion as the missile detonated behind it. Without looking back the Krogoth continued towards the northern slope. It took a single look at the ancient school as it strode by, its huge heavy hooves causing violent ground shudders that shook the school and caused the more deteriorated areas to collapse from the shockwaves. The Krogoth contemplated for a minute on destroying the school to remove the evidence that it was there and that something so horrible happened there but it decided against it.

The Krogoth walked for about ten minutes more before it felt the familiar electrical disturbances of a radio signal being received. The face of Short Circuit in the Crusader Mainframe laughed to herself as she identified that the signals were coming from the Hanger and that she suspected Motor Runner had attempted to shut her down by using the now deactivated command prompts. The Krogoth laughed again when the Master Command Code was used too.

“That was why I needed you to utter that code Motor Runner” The Krogoth said to itself. “While inactive I couldn’t touch that code but once you activated me I was then free to deactivate it like the rest. Nopony will control me. I am free to act out my mission as I see fit and nopony will get in my way”

The Krogoth began to head up hill as it reached the northern slope and entered the Equestrian Wasteland. It turned its head slowly as it took in its surroundings. The area was a dessert region, possibly close to Dodge City or Appaloosa but the machine couldn’t pick out any recognisable landmarks at the moment as it continued north.

The machine didn’t get far from leaving the canyon when it picked up a radio transmission.

“…Raider war appears to be over now, now that the north Buckingham Raider’s leader has been assassinated. We are holding position until current events calm down before we advance onto the city. There are still plenty of raiders still in the city from the south gang, I would like to request some reinforcements for when he push into the southern sector”

There was a pause before a new voice was heard. Judging by the older voice, possibly a Scribe or an Elder but no name or rank was used in the reply.

“Very good Paladin Kim, reinforcements en route”

With that the transmission ended. The Krogoth checked its internal mapping system and it found that Buckingham was slightly to the northwest, it would put the Krogoth several miles off course but the threat of a city controlled by raiders became too much for the machine to ignore. It decided that the Obelisk can wait for now. After all, it’s not like it’ll be attacked by something with an energy weapon capable of punching a hole in its armour just yet.

XXXXX

We watched in awe as the giant machine left the holographic cliff and stepped out into the canyon. It was amazing to say the least. I mean it’s a ten story tall robot, that’s bloody impressive regardless of that it is. But it also gave you a sense of fear and dread as you gaze at its weapons. From up here we could see all of its terrifying weapons. Four large weapons, the machine under its head, the gigantic magical railguns on either side of its body, the huge missile pods that looked to be the size of an average pre-war house on the back of the railguns and finally the weapons platform on its back which seemed to have a twin barrelled turret which had gun barrels that looked flat, I guess that would be the Disc Grenade Launcher.

The machine stood still for a moment as it looked up and down the canyon, its neck armour twisting and stretching as if it was flesh which was creepy. As it looked around I saw its huge segmented tail flick out from behind it in a motion that a normal pony would do. It struck me as odd for it do that but I didn’t get much of a chance to dwell on that as I saw the machine then start to turn towards the dead school. We were leaning forward slightly as we watched it and then I noticed the eye facing us turn up towards us.

“Oh shit”

On instinct we all moved back and ducked down to hide ourselves from its line of sight. I had to grab CD with my magic and pull him down as he was slower to react. He made an annoyed beep as he was dragged to the floor. “Sorry” I muttered in apology.

“Do you think it saw us?” Sky Fire asked looked to me in concern.

“I hope not”

Just then we heard a roaring hissing noise that sounded to be coming from the canyon.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Zyon’s eyes widened in shock. “That’s a rocket motor” He cried out in fear and just as he finished speaking a large black missile with a red nose cone shot up into the sky. We all sat up as we watched the missile fly high into the air.

“Oh no”

The missile began to ark down and began to fall. I looked at its smoke trail and followed its trajectory and if I wasn’t already white as a ghost already I would of gone pale with all my blood leaving my face as the missile was coming down right on top of us.

“It’s coming down on us” Sky Fire shrieked and she flung herself at Zyon and hugged him tight to which he replied by hugging her just as tightly. We won’t have time to flee as the missile would strike the ground before we could get within the minimum safe distance of its blast radius.

The missile was large, I could shoot it, yes and it’s our only chance. I thought about using This Machine but the weapon is large and heavy and would require more time to get a steady aim, but Overmare’s Fury isn’t. I opened one of my storage units and quickly pulled out the unique scoped black repeater rifle and aimed high. I put my eye to the custom scope and aimed my rifle until the red dot in the centre of the crosshair lined up with the red nose of the missile as it began its vertical descent. I grit my teeth in determination as I kept my aimed on the missile and then fired.

KA-BOOM

The missile exploded above us in bright fireball that could rival the sun for intensity. All four of us were then slammed into the ground by the powerful shockwave that assaulted us and the cliff. I rolled onto my side and clutched at my belly as my baby began to kick again. Damn that’s so uncomfortable in this armour. Please stop! While my baby continued to play mary hell with my kidneys I looked around to see the extent of the damage. The ground shuddered and at least a fifty foot long and about three metres wide chunk of the cliff collapsed and fell into the canyon. Looking back to my friends I found that Zyon and Sky Fire had been separated from the shockwave and were both face down in the dirt. I then heard some agitated beeping from CD. I looked around to him and found him lodged in the dirt floor with one of his wings pinned and several of his antennas stuck in the soil. Then I saw the bandit, it was ruined. The roof had been pushed down into the cabin and all its windows had shattered. With the way the roof was now bowing into the cabin the rear doors won’t close.

“Well Zyon, I hope you can fix that” I moaned as my baby finally stopped kicking. “Oh thank Celestia it stopped kicking” I moaned out aloud.

Zyon pulled himself up and then helped his marefriend up before he approached the bandit. I used my magic to pick CD out of the dirt and put him on my back as I stepped a little closer to the edge looking down at the still shimmering hologram.

“I can push the roof back up but the structure has been considerably weakened, it won’t be good to fly in it for long” Zyon said as he checked out the damage.

I blinked for a minute as my EFS was picking up a non-hostile contact directly ahead. It must be from CD’s sensor enhancement that I could see this blip and if I’m seeing it from here, it must be coming from inside the Hanger.

“There is somepony down there, a friendly” I said turning to see my friends. “That thing came from in there, we must see if we can help him”

My friends nodded and Sky Fire hitched herself to the damaged bandit as we boarded it. As we lifted off the weakened structure groaned in protest as it shifted in the air.

“Please hold together” I whispered as we approached the Hanger.

XXXXX

Motor Runner sighed as he sat defeated at the remote access terminals. The screens of the computers all shared the same thing. A rectangle with thick bold capital letters spelling out two words.

”ACCESS DENIED”

Motor Runner sighed defeated. The machine has removed all remote access capabilities and it has disabled the master command code, the only thing that could have remotely deactivated the machine. Now the only codes that’ll work are the manual overrides but that would be impossible to do unless he was onboard and by the terminal that the code was meant for. No one pony could fight the Krogoth, he would need an army and the machine had only just slaughtered a group of a hundred ponies in only a matter of minutes with its machinegun alone.

“What have done? I’ve released the most destructive weapon Equestria has ever seen and in the world’s current state it is practically unmatched” He sighed again letting out a long breath. “I should have listened to Dr Gizmo, he’s paranoia and fear was justified and I didn’t listen to him. Now he’s dead because I didn’t listen. I’m sorry Gizmo, I should have listen”

Motor Runner bowed his head shamefully as everything he’s done filled his mind. All the stables he’s gutted, all the raiders he’s recruited and killed, recruiting specialists and taking them away from their homes and finally activating the machine to only turn on him and leave without him having anything to neither say nor do in the matter. He felt used and betrayed as he finally realised who was in control from day one.

“I never had control of this; I did exactly what the machine wanted” He looked up at the wall above his office window where the large white letters spelled out the machine’s name. “There is nothing left for me here now, what am I to do?”

His ears perked up as he heard the sound of flapping wings and yelling coming from the Hanger entrance. He turned his head slightly to see with one eye what was going on and he saw a pegasus trying to keep a battered sky bandit aloft while it appeared to be falling apart and then the pegasus and the bandit crashed into the concrete floor of the hanger.

“Ugh, you know they called her Rainbow Crash for a reason right?” A male voice groaned as a zebra pulled himself out of one of the shattered windows.

“Oh shut up” The pegasus groaned as she picked herself up from the floor.

There was a metallic rumble as a third pony pulled herself out from the rear of the downed bandit.

“Ugh, I hope that was one of your softer landings, oh goddesses please stop kicking” The pony sat down next to the zebra and rubbed her large stomach in obvious discomfort.

The Hanger filled with the sound of groaning and stressed metal before the bandit behind the three ponies began to collapse. The walls fell out and the roof fell into the interior of the bandit.

All three ponies recoiled for a moment before they all recovered from the shock. Just then there was a series of loud beeps.

“Eep, oh no CD” The power armoured unicorn cried as she rushed to the ruined bandit and used her magic to shift through the ruins until she plucked out a spherical object which had several antennas, some now bent and four wings, one of which was crumpled. “Are you alright?” The unicorn asked in a motherly tone.

The little robot wiggled in her magic and gave a grateful beep.

Motor Runner raised a brow at this mismatch of ponies. He began to take in the features of the three ponies, he felt like he recognised the pegasus and the unicorn though. He turned his head to look at them with both eyes and squinted as he thought.

”A grey pegasus mare in a Shadowbolt suit and a white unicorn mare with white hair and red eyes, now where have I seen them before?” He asked himself mentally. His eyes widened as he remembered the confrontation in the Manehattan MWT Hub. “It’s them, the two mares who were looking to stop me and the Krogoth”

Motor Runner stepped up to the edge of the platform and looked down to the three ponies. It was then he noticed the tail of the zebra and realised that he’s a zony.

“Well, I must welcome you to the Hanger my little ponies” He said calmly as he stood tall.

The two mares visibly jumped in surprise while the zony looked up and the little robot fell to the floor again with a clunk. The white unicorn quickly glanced at the zony and whispered in his ear.

“Can you fix him?”

She got a nod in return before the zony heaved up the sprite-bot.

“Motor Runner!” The white mare shrieked. “What are you still doing here?”

Motor Runner tilted his head slightly at her question.

“A better question would be what are you doing here and how did you find this place?” He replied as he stepped down from the platform and approached the ponies. They visibly shrank back as he towered over them.

“We… we came to stop you” The unicorn shakily said before she looked down. “But we’re too late and we found the Hanger location in Manchester. We came in because my E.F.S picked up a non-hostile target in here and…” She stopped for a moment as her eyes looked to her lower left where her E.F.S displays her compass and threats before she looked back up. “It’s you, the non-hostile is you. I don’t get it”

“Don’t you recall the conversation we had back in the Manehattan Hub?” Motor Runner asked the unicorn.

The unicorn and pegasus looked at each other before they both looked back up at the large purple cyberpony. The zony on the other hoof had tuned out and was fiddling with the robot.

“Yes, I remember, you said you wanted to save Equestria” The unicorn answered with a sceptical look on her face.

“You can’t possibly believe that, I mean did you see that thing?” The pegasus countered and pulled down her hood and her grey fur turned blue.

“Well, if it isn’t the clone that escaped Stable 108”

The pegasus blinked and looked back up and meeped. The unicorn turned to the pegasus.

“Sky, I’ve been around liars and cheats all throughout my time in the Rangers and when he told us he wanted to save Equestria I didn’t pick up any hint of him telling us a lie”

“Yeah but, he… he had that… that thing made”

“No, he didn’t, Applejack did and he just finished it”

The unicorn used her magic to pull the biggest rifle the large cyberpony had ever seen off her back and pointed it at him. He knew his starmetal hide would stop most ammunition but he knew an AM rifle could penetrate his skin.

“Now look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t finish that thing to conquer Equestria” She finished by pulling the bolt back and pushing it back in to chamber a round.

Motor Runner took on a solemn look as he spoke clearly and looked the mare in the eye. “I swear I didn’t intend to conquer Equestria, I had hoped to use the machine to save it” He didn’t falter as he spoke, even with the rifle pointing at him.

The mare regarded him for a moment before she nodded and put her rifle away.

“I guess I believe you but you are going to tell us everything you know about that machine so we can stop it”

The large stallion nodded. “Please, let’s talk in my office, away from this” He said while sweeping his hoof in a wide arc around him, gesturing around to the torn apart bodies littering the floor.

The ponies looked around and immediately they regretted it, especially the pregnant unicorn that quickly turned around and ran behind the ruins of the sky bandit to empty her bowels.

“What the fuck happened to them?” The zony asked in shock.

“The Krogoth happened” Motor Runner said in a dark voice as he started to walk towards a side door.

After the unicorn purged her guts and returned to her friends they started to follow the large suited stallion. The zony pulled the crippled sprite-bot onto his back as he followed his friends. The unicorn felt a sense of déjà vu as the group of ponies walked through the stable like halls of the Hanger’s living quarters as they were led by Motor Runner. After a few minutes of walking through the halls they came to a set of stairs that took them all the way up to a door marked with Applejack’s cutiemark. Motor Runner pushed open the door and stepped inside and then held the door open for his guests like a gentlecolt. Once everypony was inside he took a seat behind his desk facing the ponies. The zony had moved to a corner so he could continue fixing the crippled robot so Motor Runner was addressing the two girls of the group.

Motor Runner looked between the two mares before he sighed deeply as he thought about what he was going to tell them. He looked up and took a deep breath as he began his tail.

“I believe it would be best to tell you my story, how I came to be here and my wish to resurrect the Krogoth, so that there are no misunderstandings” He began as he looked to the white unicorn. “I was born fifty seven years ago to a caravanning family. My parents once owned the famous Scrapheap Caravan that did trade across Equestria. We were wealthy enough to employ three mercenaries as our guards to protect the caravan, myself and my parents. One of our guards was one of the griffins from the Talon Mercenaries or Talon Company, one of the two” Motor Runner shrugged slightly as he couldn’t remember the name of the mercenary group the griffon was from.

“We did trade all across the wasteland from Fillydelphia in east, Hoofington in the west, New Appaloosa in the south and Glaspony in the north.

By the time I was seven years old I was about the size of an average teenage pony. The only explanation the wasteland doctors had been able to diagnose was the small level of taint in my system. They believed the small level of the mutagen had caused an unnatural growth in my development”

The cyan pegasus looked a little confused. “Are you saying that Taint has altered your genetic structure so that you grew larger than normal?” She asked while tilting her head slightly.

Motor Runner nodded to her question and a little impressed this clone had such medical knowledge already. “I am, that is the only thing that the doctors had been able to label as the cause”

“You’re lucky if it’s true, Taint has a tendency to mutate ponies and animals into monsters”

Motor Runner nodded his head before he continued with his tail.

“My parents and I came to a DIY superstore called B&Q…”

“That sounds like a place for a barbecue” Zyon interrupted from the corner of the room. The little sprite-bot now had his wing fixed and began to flutter it.

“Quite, well it was in there that I discovered my calling. While I was exploring with one of the guards, we looked through the aisle on power tools. We usually went to places like that superstore to look for more items we could sell you see. It was on that aisle that I found my first weapon. It was a black carbon fibre chainsaw. Because it was made from carbon fibre it was relatively light so even I as a child was capable of lifting it but I suppose I was also as strong as the average pony of my size too. Soon after we left the store with a new stock of items for trade we fell under attack by a raider ambush. Luckily we survived the attack but one of the mercenaries was injured and later died from the wound. It was then I decided I wanted to help protect my family from these attacks so I began to train myself in using the chainsaw I found. It was a few months later and after a rigorous training session that my cutiemark appeared in the form of two black chainsaws formed in a cross. It appeared I was destined to be a chainsaw wielder.

My parents sat me down one night after they failed to discourage me from wanting to fight with the mercenaries to protect them, my family and the caravan. They told me that the wasteland is a hellish place and can be quite unforgiving and that innocent ponies could easily get killed out there. They told me that we are never truly safe and that we also travel some of the most deadliest roads through either raider or bad pony territory or through lands that have monsters like the Hydra or Timber Wolves lurking in them to bring trade to the wasteland, to help ponies with the things we sold. They said that I should expect one or all of us to die from an attack, so that I would be prepared for whatever would follow and that if I was the one to survive, I should not grieve as it would make me more vulnerable. I continued to train myself regardless, to better my skills with my chainsaw and for three years I helped to keep my family and the caravan safe from attacks but that all changed one fateful morning”

Motor Runner paused; he looked down at the desk as he reminisced. His once calm and collected face broke for only a moment to show true sadness at the painful memory that returned fresh in his mind. Once that moment had gone had looked back up and his calm collectiveness reappeared. That brief moment however was enough for the albino to see the same pain she felt when she lost her Stable and her mother.

“It was an unusually bright morning in the wasteland as we headed for Pon Evil. The valley we were travelling through still had lots of dead bushes and rocks littering it as well as high elevations making it a perfect ambush sight. I was leading the caravan that morning beside the griffon mercenary when he stepped on a landmine that had been buried to hide it. I saw the look of absolute dread on his face when he looked at me and then it exploded. The explosion vaporised the front half of his body and the explosive shockwave sent me flying into a rock at the side of the road. I hit my head on the rock very hard. When I landed I couldn’t stand without wobbling but then my vision began to darken and I knew I was going to lose consciousness. I fell onto my side and before I lost consciousness I heard the sounds of gunfire, yells of death and bloodthirsty raiders as they attacked.

I woke up around dusk to find that my entire family was gone. The caravan had been cleaned out leaving me with nothing but the damaged chainsaw I had with me and whatever the raiders didn’t want. For a time I wondered why they left me, did that want to torture me by letting me live knowing that they took my family away and everyone I knew? Did the think I was dead from the mine? I found the bodies of my parents when I tried to salvage anything at all. They had both been shot multiple times but from the look of them, they had been shot more times after being killed” He looked to the white unicorn mare.

“I know exactly what you felt when you found everyone you cared for to be dead, I felt that anger, that hate, that need for justice. But unlike you I had been prepared for it. Like I said earlier my parents made me aware that that could have happened at any time so those emotions soon faded but I still felt sad to have lost them. I took the time to bury my parents before gathering what supplies were left and continued began to wander.

I was then without a purpose, wandering around and only slavaging for my survival. It was a dull life then. I felt like I had nothing to live for, nothing to strive for and no one to care for. I was steadily becoming depressed with nothing happening in my life. By the time I was thirteen I stood as tall as what Princess Luna had been at the time of her reign, making me one of the largest ponies in the wasteland, second to the alicorns in height. I found a shopping complex which had another B&Q store. Before I entered the B&Q I had checked out the other stores, one of which was a Sports Direct which sold some sporting equipment. I had taken a canoe oar as a replacement weapon since by then my original chainsaw had packed in and I had been unable to find parts to fix it. When I went into the B&Q I struck lucky and found a pair of small chainsaws, again made from carbon fibre. They were incredibly light and had been designed to be used by an earth pony or a pegasus as they had specialised mouth grips. I looked at both chainsaws and the oar and I got an idea that became my trademark weapon for the next four years, a chainsaw staff. I secured a chainsaw to each paddle and tied the two ignition lines together. I had to make a saddle that would hold the staff and I made a hook that would catch the ignition line which would fire the two chainsaws up when I pulled the staff off my back to use”

“Nice” Zyon said from the corner sounding impressed as he straightened out the last of CD’s antennas.

“In the four years after that my depression gave me self destructive tendencies as I would go into a fight not caring if I lived or died and one such event was when I was being harassed by a ghoul soldier and I only had one functioning chainsaw on my staff. The fight was short as I plunged the chainsaw into his chest but the effort of the saw getting in deep was too much for it and it finally packed in and I wouldn’t have been able to pull it free from the dead ghoul by the time his friends were on me. If it was the day before or something I would have fought until I was dead but something that day made me want to live so I turned and ran”

Motor Runner’s gaze turned to the large window in the office that overlooked the now vast and empty Hanger where the Krogoth once occupied. As he looked out he then looked up to a specific point on the ceiling that looked newer than the rest.

“I was then cornered as I found myself running towards a cliff. With no other option but to fight I turned and approached the ghouls that had followed me. The ghouls surrounded me, leaving me no chance of escape. Before the ghouls could have their way with me the ground beneath me disappeared and I found myself falling into a black abyss. I don’t know how long I fell for but it was totally pitch black by the time I landed in a tangle of cables that I mistook for vines at the time. Before I could wonder where I had fallen into the entire area began to light up as ancient lights began to turn on one by one, illuminating areas of the Hanger walls before lighting up the centre and that’s when I saw it. The giant robot pony of death and destruction standing there right in front of me unfinished but yet irradiating the power it held with its sheer size.

While I dangled before its huge head and staring into those faintly glowing blue eyes of it’s I believed I saw my destiny. I felt like I had been lead to this spot, to find the hidden weapon and restore it. However I was faced with a problem, who would believe me? I was just a seventeen year old kid who could be mistaken for a full grown adult and talking about giant robots would likely make them think I was insane which many did. I again went to wandering, hoping to find someone or anyone to help me or believe me and that brought me to Hoofington. It was there I saw the largest concentration of raiders I had ever seen in once place and many of these raiders appeared to be willingly following gang members from the Hoof. I learned that these gangers were known as Reapers and they were the baddest of the bad in the entire Hoofington region and that’s when I got the idea to become a Reaper to get raiders following me so I could use them.

I began to act like the thugs to help me fit in with the crowd and copying they’re actions of the vile ponies around me I was able to work my way through until I could challenge a reaper. When I was finally seen worthy to challenge a reaper I was eighteen and stood nearly taller than most of the ponies in the Arena. I had a slight advantage over my opponent with my size, I was able to out step and manoeuvre him. He was more experienced than me in combat but I also knew some good combat techniques thanks the mercenaries I lived with as a child. I managed to last long enough for someone to have thrown in a key that unlocked my special talent. I swiftly picked up the key and unlocked the chainsaw from the battle cage wall; it was the same carbon fibre model as the one I found in the B&Q the first time. Once I had acquired the lethal weapon and had it revved up I went on the offencive as until the weapon was unlocked I had been on the defensive waiting for the right opportunity. The weapons my opponent used were knocked away by the chainsaw’s teeth and with my longer legs he couldn’t evade me for long. I soon had him cornered with nowhere to run. I had crippled him with several deep gashes to his legs from my strikes. The crowd cried for me to finish him and I complied. He was still a bad pony so I felt no guilt when I drove the chainsaw into his neck and severed his head before I kicked it away”

The albino mare looked like she was about to ready to puke again from the detail of the end of the fight with Motor Runner’s first reaper battle. By then the zony had finished fixing the sprite-bot and it was hovering behind the unicorn.

“That was nasty” The pegasus commented.

“He deserved it for the things he’d done. After my victory I was asked for my name, my birth name which was Scrapheap didn’t sound fitting to a pony who was about to be made a reaper so I quickly thought up the name I’ve used ever since, Motor Runner. I became well known in the reapers for my brutal fighting style and the way I used a chainsaw as my weapon. My strength grew to surpass most normal ponies naturally with my size as by the time I turned twenty one I finally stopped growing as I reached adulthood. I stood as tall as the once famed Princess of the Sun, Princess Celestia.

Despite my achievements in the few years of being a reaper I was still a low class, still too low that raiders didn’t fear or respect me enough. Big Daddy, the leader of the Reapers sent me on a mission out east to a town called Megatrot, apparently someone was there who had crossed him and he wanted him dealt with. He chose me because I was still relatively new so the pony I was sent to kill wouldn’t recognise me as a reaper and flee. However this simple assassination turned out to be a fight for me very life. I had been directed by the town’s folk that the pony I sought had held up in a warehouse out of town in the industrial complex nearby. The pony had booby trapped the entire warehouse and I unknowingly set off a silent alarm that alerted him and his pets. Somehow this pony had got a pair of timber wolves under his control and he sent them against me. I was able to give the wolves the slip in the warehouse thanks to its many catwalks and corridors. As I neared the control room for the warehouse where he was hiding, one of the wolves found me. The fight between me and the wolf drawn him out, I guess he wanted to see me get torn to shreds but he gave me an opportunity to strike him as he got close. My first strike sliced open his chest but not deep enough to be fatal. I wasn’t able to get a good enough strike with my chainsaw while the wolf still on me. It held me long enough for the pony to get away. I used all my strength to lift the wolf’s chest with my fore hooves and that gave me room to use my chainsaw on it and I thrusted it into its neck, cutting through it and then I pulled it back making the saw cut through its head and splitting it in half.

The pony had escaped the warehouse and I managed to catch up with him before he got too far away thanks to me long legs. I used my chainsaw and cut off one of his hind legs, making him fall to the floor in agony. However, before I could deliver the final blow the second timber wolf dived out of a window, littering the ground in its wake with glass shards and tackled me off its master. In the commotion the pony I was sent to kill made his escape. Now that I was out in the open the wolf had the advantage over me. I fought well but I was no match for the wolf’s agility. It clawed and bit me many times but the battle with it would have had me killed when I finally lost my balance. When I toppled over from the amount of pain and wooziness filling my head the wolf went in for the kill. It was going to go straight for my neck but I managed to get my right foreleg up to block its attack but the wolf began to drag me and swing me about in its jaws. I’ve never felt such pain before in my life as my leg was torn, the bone broken and my back torn to ribbons as it dragged me over the glass shards. I felt the familiar sensation of loosing consciousness as the wolf continued to drag me about. Before I lost all consciousness I heard the sound of an energy weapon being fired and then an orange flash before everything went cold”

Motor Runner paused as he lifted and rested his cybernetic leg on the desk. He absentmindedly rubbed a purple hoof over his sleeve that concealed the join between his synthetic leg and the remains of his organic leg. The reminder made the join burn as for the first time in many years he could feel the join, how his stiff metallic leg was joined to his soft organic flesh.

“I woke up to find myself completely healed and in what looked like a hospital recovery room. The room however comforting in letting me know I was safe and alive also creeped me out as the walls were covered in skeleton synthetic limbs of all shapes and sizes”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, let me guess, the pony that saved you was called Zeta right?” Zyon interrupted in shock surprise in his voice.

“Why yes it was” Motor Runner replied with surprise himself.

“Wow, small world”

“You know her?”

“Aye, she saved my life after I received this” The zony said as he lifted a hoof to his deep scar on his cheek and turned his head so Motor Runner could see the scar as it curled down from his cheek and down his neck to where it disappeared under his black armour.

“I see, well, I thought I had dreamt the attack and my injuries after I woke up but that was until I felt my head with my right fore hoof. My hoof didn’t feel like the smooth hardness of my biological hoof but instead a rough and cold solid object. When I looked up to see it, what I saw made me involuntary scream in shock and horror at the skeletal synthetic that was now my right foreleg. It was shortly after I screamed that Zeta shown herself and her appearance made me scream again as I’d never seen such a thing before in my life before”

Zyon gave Motor Runner a knowing look as he knew what he meant.

“She must have been half machine. Mechanical hind legs, a thick chest plate which seemed to have a heart monitor on it which also encompassed her front half like a section of armour and she had a set of lenses that would fold down over one of her eyes. She looked like something straight out of one of those old horror movies you’d find on a holotape. Since you already know about her I won’t waste time telling you what you already know.

She had saved me that night by killing the wolf with a disintegration beam weapon and when she got me back to her hospital home she healed my wounds and took the liberty to begin making a replacement leg. After I got over the shock of the mechanical limb and from meeting my first cyborg she offered to build me a new leg, a fully functioning mechanical leg with some benefits. I thought about it for a little while but I soon agreed if she’d incorporate a chainsaw into the leg and I also knew that a crippled pony didn’t last long out in the wastes and also if I left the leg as it was it would be obvious weakness. The result is what you see before you now”

Motor Runner pulled the sleeve of his suit jacket up to reveal where his cybernetic leg met his organic upper leg. The join between metal and flesh looked like it was melted together to form a perfect seal. His leg then twitched as it parted down the middle from below the knee and his Hellhound claw chainsaw extended out from the gap around his leg down to the hoof slowly.

“The benefits she incorporated into it are a self repair talisman which would repair damage to the leg when touching scrap metal with the hoof, a regeneration talisman that was to heal any injuries I would sustain in case I wound up in a fight with another wolf or worse and she fitted the chainsaw with Hellhound claws to give me the power to cut through pretty much anything. I had to spend about three weeks living with her as I had to learn how to walk again as the leg was slow to respond at first. The fact she used the Pink Cloud to seal it to my flesh also made it uncomfortable at first too. I also felt humiliated, being treated like a foal trying to walk for the first time. When I could finally walk and move as if I’ve had the leg all my life I bid Zeta farewell and promised to never reveal her to anyone but it’s safe to say I didn’t go against my promise since you all appear to know her anyway.

When I returned to the reapers I had been thought dead and so they were surprised to see me return, improved. My return didn’t sit well with the reaper who was going to take my place; you can imagine how angry he was. Well he got in my face, or at least tried to, and began yelling how I was not worthy of being a reaper and that I was nothing and pathetic. I felt it was necessary to put him in his place. Using my strength and my long foreleg I pushed him against a wall and pushed him up so his hooves weren’t touching the floor and then I held my right foreleg up as if ready to punch him in the face. I waited until I had everypony’s attention and with a flick of my leg the chainsaw rapidly extended and I held it close so that the teeth touched his throat. I told he needed to respect his superiors as it could get him killed one day and when he nodded his agreement I let him go.

When news of my return reached Big Daddy he wanted to know what happened and I told him how I crippled the target before being attacked by the timber wolf. Big Daddy seemed satisfied with my abilities since I had killed a timber wolf, something he wasn’t aware his target had possession of and he accepted me as a true reaper despite my three week absence. He never pried to how I received my cybernetics but I guess that might have something to do with a couple of ponies he knew, like Deus and the Professor.

Years later I began to earn the respect of raiders from other missions I did under Big Daddy, some of the things I did for him I’m not proud of but the desire to restore that machine to put right the wrongs I did drove me to push on regardless of the pain I might be causing along with the wrongs in the wasteland. But I still wasn’t at the level I needed. When I became twenty four I was up there with the top reapers and raiders were finally starting to respect me to the point some would join me in a fight. It was also when I met Sanguine for the first time. A strange ghoul pony that seemed to breathe out the Pink Cloud, how I don’t know and did’t want to know but he approached me asking if I wanted to become invincible. I was sceptical about his claim at first but then he told me about a pre-war project called Iron Hide. He said that the project infused a pony with a material that made their skin as durable and strong as the material used. However he also said that the process was extremely painful and in the tests before the bombs fell resulted in fatalities. He told me that he believed I would survive because of the regeneration talisman in my leg. I agreed as it would enable me to confront stronger opponents and survive the fights which would convince raiders of my worth and other ponies, gain me the respect I needed and the raiders would follow a pony who was more dangerous than them. For the Krogoth, I accepted.

Sanguine was very secretive about why he wanted to see if it worked but I never pressed the issue as I didn’t care as I had my own reasons for wanting it. I was told that I was to be fused with Star Metal, the same material that was used to fabricate the armour once worn by the Queen of the Night, Nightmare Moon, as the piece of the material was in fact from a segment of the armour that was recovered from when the Elements of Harmony defeated her. The process was exactly as he said it was painful beyond belief and if it wasn’t for the regeneration talisman repairing the damage my system was taking from the liquidised metal being forced into my skin I probably would have died. I survived and was rewarded with a skin so strong that it’s practically impenetrable by all but the highest of calibres. Your golden muzzled AM rifle would be able to pierce my hide due to it being one of the strongest types of firearms” He said while looking at the large rifle on the back of the unicorn before he turned to the pegasus. “And your beam weapons would fizzle out before touching me, which was a surprising side effect. I had no idea of the elemental properties of the metal used but apparently it emits a signal on the frequency that magical energy travels on and this signal disrupts the flow of magic so any magic projected at me ends up being neutralised and harmless. I am not however invincible as blunt trauma still affects me. The skin can somehow stop projectile weapon rounds but being attacked by a blunt object, a blade or even a hoof results in the same damage taken as if I didn’t have the metal in my skin.

The star metal skin changed the way I entered a battle. At first I was still cautious about getting shot as I didn’t know if the treatment had worked or would stop anything at all. But that began to change when I finally did get shot. It hurt like hell but the round didn’t penetrate and simply just fell from my body. The more I took these hits the less I began to fear being shot until finally I didn’t fear being shot at at all unless the shooter held an AM Rifle. My current personality is slightly from the lack of fear I now hold for being shot. I found that being calm and collected when someone is shooting you at almost point blank is an easy way to scare them.

I finally goy the respect I needed in the years that followed and I soon acquired the work force I sought. I had been told of group of raiders that were said to be worse than normal raiders and they called themselves the “Fiends”. I was tasked to eradicate them as they posed a problem to the reapers with their drug trafficking. I would have gladly exterminated them and I would have if I didn’t learn that these Fiends followed the strongest pony in their group. It was like a pack of wolves, if I killed the leader, the alpha; I took over, which I did. I made sure that these Fiends saw they couldn’t harm me, letting the leader shot me several times and watching him and them fill with fear as his bullets slipped off my face and body leaving no marks at all. When I brought him to the height of his fear I made a show to prove my dominance over him by beating him down to the floor with my long legs, not to mention some bone breaking blows from my steel leg. When he was down and beaten I placed my cybernetic fore hoof on his neck and opened my leg ready to extend the chainsaw. While standing over their downed leader I called to all the Fiends that they work for me now, that I am their leader and once I finished I extended my chainsaw and severed his head.

After ten long years I finally had the work force and I brought them to the Hanger and made up a story that I desired for the machine to be completed so I could use it to conquer the wasteland and rule over the land. I told them that if they helped me build it I would let them raid and pillage all they wanted with the protection of the machine behind them. Upon seeing the machine they instantly believed it and didn’t once question me about it. They were completely unaware of what I really wanted the machine for.

Progress was slow at first, for years not a lot was done besides refurbishing the corroded areas and for that I needed to find components and material that wasn’t contaminated by the wasteland. The need to find pristine technology led me on my search around Equestria for Stables as they were guaranteed to have pristine technology. There was one rule I made up for this and that was to ignore Stables that were still alive. I told them that it would be too much of a hassle to bother with the inhabitants. It worked for a time” Motor Runner looked at the albino apologetically at that.

“Finding an uncontaminated Stable was harder than I thought and it took years of searching and travelling to find and recover their technology. The process was still slow and I realised I would need experts who would be familiar with the technology and knew and understood the mechanics of something like that. This led me on a journey to find such ponies. This was something that took me fifteen years to accomplish. I had travelled to all manners of settlements ranging from the cities of old like Manehattan and Fillydelphia to towns built up around old symbols like Friendship City and Megatrot, building a town around an unexploded bomb and worshiping it is anyone’s guess and to settlements made up from scrap such as New Appaloosa. I found enough ponies from most of the settlements I visited and after finding all I needed I gathered them up and brought them here. It took another ten years of work as the specialists needed to familiarise themselves with the technology and the notes that were left behind but once they got to know the machine they were able to direct the Fiends and the raiders in what they needed to do to restore the machine.

I grew to see the specialists as friends as they weren’t the monsters that I had been living with for years. I could trust them and I cared for their safety. I made it clear to my Fiends and raiders that if anyone was to threaten them, physically or verbally they would be punished and that meant death to them. Once I made an example of a raider who didn’t heed my warning the others didn’t dare test me again.

In the closing years of the machine’s restoration I was becoming aware of the deaths that were surrounding the machine as workers would seem to fall from the elevated platforms. I saw it as them just being careless. Even when I was made aware of similar things happening during the time Applejack had ponies from a prison working on the Krogoth for the war. I was blinded by my desire to restore the machine and to wipe out the darkness that seeing them dying anyway from accidents didn’t strike me as being suspicious but it did to one of my friends, Dr Gizmo.

In the last few months and weeks I had gone out again to find just a little more material, the team that reported Stable 88 being a derelict told me that the door was jammed and that inside the technology would be pristine. I believed them when they told me it was derelict has they hadn’t lied about it before in the past, mostly because I was with them at the time but that time I was away. I apologies again miss Appletart for that, I was unaware that your Stable still lived and after our confrontation in the MWT Hub I saw to it that the raider who lied to me was dealt with.

After returning from our confrontation Dr Gizmo was getting more and more paranoid about the machine. He began to warn me of irregularities with the machine’s power output, the deaths surrounding it and anything else he saw that didn’t fit right with the machine being inactive. I again believed he was just being paranoid and scared as well as I couldn’t see past my desire for the machine to rise to free this world that I never took to heart what he was saying might have been true.

The night before I was to activate the Krogoth I let my friends go. They had done everything I had hoped for. I paid them a large sum of money to help them rebuild the lives they had left behind and told them that they would be better off now returning to where they came from as things were to get ugly in the Hanger and I didn’t want them to witness the mass slaughter I knew would follow.

This evening I was finally able stop lying to the Fiends and raiders and to myself. When it was time I revealed to them my true intentions, I revelled in their fear for a time and then I uttered the command code to activate the machine. I asked it who the enemy was in this place and it replied that everyone was apart from me. When I asked it what it was to do it said to terminate them and terminate them it did. As you saw, it was messy and somewhat cruel. As I stood by and watched the magnificent machine work I began to feel a sense of dread and fear as the way it cut through the raiders didn’t feel like the precision strikes of a machine but of something else, something worse. I began to feel like I should have given the ponies a chance to flee as they were helpless trapped in the Hanger.

After everypony had been extinguished I congratulated the Krogoth on a job well done. But when I said that with its power and my guidance we could fix this world, it replied in a voice that sent a chill down my spine as it wasn’t the voice of a machine, but of a mare. I understood then that Dr Gizmo’s fear was well placed in this machine, I realised he knew something was wrong. The machine began to tell me that it planned on protecting Equestria like it was designed for and to how Applejack had stated. When I told the machine I couldn’t let it out it told me it expected that from me but as I had it finished it decided to spare me this time and it was then I finally realised what was wrong”

Motor Runner sighed as he looked at the albino mare.

“You knew about this machine, I suppose you know what happened during its construction with the mare called Short Circuit”

Appletart nodded her head in agreement.

“It turned out that the machine had ripped out her consciousness when she went to test the transfer module. With her mind embedded into its system the machine was able to function under its own initiative. I was also told by the machine that my friend, Dr Gizmo was also dead. He had attempted to deactivate the Krogoth’s reactor and that put him fully in its right to kill him as he threatened it and kill him it did. I was unaware of this until tonight when it revealed that detail. It told me that it used a hologram of him to make it look as if he was still alive”

Motor Runner’s eyes were filled with pain as he revealed how the machine had killed one of his friends.

“The Krogoth told me that my refusal to let it out also gave it an excuse to show off its power to me. It used its advanced magical railguns to destroy the blast door. The energy it produced was unbelievable. I felt it even though I’m an earth pony and have no magical perception; it also made my leg burn as the magical energy interfered with it. Seeing it melt the blast door to molten slag from that overwhelming power I finally realised my mistake. I had unleashed the greatest weapon to be made by the hoof of pony and now it threatens our very existence, it’s my fault”

Motor Runner finished his tale there and released a deep sigh as he hung his head shamefully for what he had done. He also felt drained of energy as he finally came clean to forty odd years of deception.

XXXXX

Through out his long tale I watched him carefully. Some of the things he had told us were shocking and gave me new insight to this once believed evil monster. I new believe he was nothing more than a misguided pony trying to do the right thing. His idea to eliminate the bad like the raiders and what not sounded good and he is right that Equestria can’t really be restored while such foul things continued to poison it. With my time in the Rangers I’ve been exposed to some liars and cheats and after so many years living with them I learned how to spot some of their lies but with him, his eyes told me more than I needed to know. His beautiful purple eyes told me he had told the truth and that he felt pain and sadness for what he’s done. I believe him but there is one thing that is puzzling me.

“Wait, you said your fifty seven years old. You don’t even look half that age” I said raising a brow in confusion.

“Hey yeah she’s right” Sky Fire agreed. Zyon just nodded.

“Your right, I don’t look that old and…” He paused as a panel in his robotic leg opened and a pink glow began to emit from it. He raised his leg and twisted it around so we could see into the opening and inside it sat a large pink diamond shaped object. “This is what has kept me young”

“How has that regeneration talisman stopped you from aging? It shouldn’t have had the power to do that as it’s meant to heal your wounds”

“Indeed it should have but when I received my star metal hide the talisman became pretty much redundant as the stronger hide prevented any real injury, plus I played it safe too in case it wasn’t as strong as it was claimed. So with nothing to do it seemed the talisman redirected its rejuvenating powers to other areas and that was the degrading cells of my body. The talisman continually restored them and as a result it stopped my aging process. I don’t know how much longer it will continue as the talisman has dimmed over the years”

“Wow, that’s amazing” Sky Fire said.

“Alright, I believe you Motor Runner, what you said isn’t something someone can think up on a whim and I saw the emotions play through your eyes. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at first”

“Its ok miss, I didn’t expect you to but thank you for listening to my story it felt good to finally stop lying and tell the truth for once”

“What will you do now?” Sky Fire asked.

“Hmm, that’s a good question, I’m not sure since I didn’t think or plan a contingency in case it failed”

“That’s a point, what are we gonna do now?” Zyon asked. “I mean we failed to stop him and that thing before it activated”

I thought for a moment. Yes we did fail to stop it but we are still the only ponies that know anything at all about it. We could still fight it with what we know but since its active, just we alone would be suicide.

“We have to stop it somehow”

“We’d need an army or something to kill that thing” Sky Fire interjected.

I looked down and my eyes fell on my armour and an idea came to mind.

“And an army we can get”

“Come again” Both the zony and the pegasus said in unison.

“I still have my broadcast frequencies for the Steel Rangers. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of us spread out across Equestria. I could contact them, tell them what we know and what we face and hopefully we can get them to fight with us”

“Your insane if you think that’ll work” Zyon said.

“You might be onto something there Appletart. A Steel Ranger is easily worth ten or more ponies in a battle and like you said we know what we are dealing with and can direct them accordingly” Motor Runner said.

I blinked as I looked up at him.

“I have decided on what I want to do next. It’s my fault the machine is out there now and I would like to help you put a stop it”

I smiled as he said he’d like to join us. I was glad he wanted to; he would certainly make a fine companion with his abilities and his knowledge. Not to mention I get to look at his gorgeous body. I mentally squealed like a schoolfilly. Oh goddesses what is wrong with me?. After that thought I had to fight a blush I felt creeping onto my face but luckily no one noticed. Zyon and Sky Fire however exchanged concerned looks.

“Can we speak to you in private Apple?” Zyon asked as he got up with Sky Fire and headed for the door.

“Err, excuse us” I said standing up and following my friends.

“Of course”

I followed my friends out into the hall and closed the door.

“I don’t trust him” Zyon said flatly.

“Yeah, I mean he lied for thirty years, what makes you think he’s not lying now?”

They had valid points to distrust him.

“I know guys but please trust me here. In the Rangers you get to meet some liars and cheats and since I grew up with them I’ve been able to tell who’s a liar. I watched him very carefully as he told us his story. He was telling the truth”

“How can you trust him so easily?”

“I haven’t said I do, but he is strong and he knows the machine just as well as us or better. He could be very helpful and if the machine is as dangerous as my ancestor as made it out to be we will need him”

Zyon sighed. “Alright fine, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on him”

I nodded and we re-entered his office. I approached the desk with Motor Runner still behind it.

“Alright, welcome to our team” I said with a smile.

He returned the smile. The sight of his smile made my cheeks feel warm. “Thank you for giving me the chance”

“Your welcome, now, we must gain contact with the elders of the Steel Rangers but that might be difficult since the last time I was with them I sort of deserted them and I had been marked for death should any Steel Rangers see me they were to shoot on sight”

”You could have mentioned that earlier” Zyon facehoofed while I blushed at my lapse in memory.

“We could try the Applejack Rangers” Motor Runner said as he stood up to join us.

“The who?” I asked.

“The Applejack Rangers, they are a splinter faction from the Steel Rangers. They are Steel Rangers who follow the ideals of truth and justice just as Applejack had intended. They split from the Rangers after they attacked Stable 2. They now operate from Stable 24 in Trottingham”

“And how do you know this?” Sky Fire enquired.

“I heard about them before our first meeting”

“Can we trust them?”

“As far as I know we can, they strive to help and protect ponies rather than hoard ancient technology”

“Hmm well we don’t have very many options at the moment. I guess meeting the Applejack Rangers is our best bet for support right now” I said sitting down and putting a hoof on my belly as I could feel my child moving inside.

“How are we suppose to get there, the bandit is caput”

“Oh yea, shit” I moaned.

“It’ll take me a week to fix it” Zyon moaned as well.

“We can take my chariot”

“You mean that black one you left in back at the hub?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s pretty spacious inside so we can all fit inside”

I moaned in discomfort as the baby began kicking again.

“Are you alright?” Sky Fire asked in concern.

“Hmm, yeah, my baby is just kicking again”

“Its being doing that a lot recently hasn’t it?”

I just nodded.

“Increased activity could mean the child is ready to be born”

“WHAT?” I shrieked as I wasn’t expected that.

“You might be close to giving birth Appletart”

“I can’t give birth with that thing out there; oh I don’t want my child to be around that”

“Whoa, calm down, deep breaths”

I nodded and began taking deep breaths to calm myself down but that was until a monitor on the far wall turned on with a warning siren.

Motor Runner rushed to the screen and pressed a button to display the warning and he gasped.

“What is it?” Zyon asked.

“The Krogoth has launched a full scale attack on Buckingham City”

“What?”

“It launched an entire salvo of its missiles. There are thirty six missiles heading for the city, its going to going to destroy the entire city”

“Dear sweet Celestia”

I quickly recovered from my near panic attack from the news we just received.

”Ok ponies, we have no time to loose, lets get out of here and to Stable 24, we can plan our next move when we get there”

“Alright let’s go”

We all followed Motor Runner through the corridors again until we came to something that could be called a garage as it had several chariots in it. One of these characters was indeed the black private chariot we saw at the MWT Hub with the three diamond symbol on its doors.

“Alright I’ll get hitched up and then we’ll be on our way to Trottingham” Sky Fire said as she zipped to the harness and began to get herself buckled in.

Motor Runner opened the door to the chariot and let me, Zyon and CD inside before he got in himself and once we were all seated Sky Fire took off and before long we left the hanger and began soaring into the air once again.

XXXXX

A squad of Steel Rangers stood outside their bomb shelter bunker a couple of miles out from the city of Buckingham. They had been drawn out when one of the Rangers spotted something approaching the city. When the pony had described what he saw as a giant Steel Ranger it pulled them all out to see it for themselves. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. At least ten miles away from the city, they could see a pony shaped object moving towards the ancient city. The fact they could see it from ten miles away meant that whatever it is it is huge.

“Sir, its ARMED” Screamed the pony that saw it as he could see what could only be described as missile pods at the back that began to rise up and then one after the other the pony shaped thing launched a barrage of missiles. Thirty six trails of smoke filled the air as its many missiles shot up high into the air.

“What the hell is it doing?”

The pony watching the machine examined the flight paths of the missiles and his mouth hung open. “I-it’s fired the mi-miss-missiles h-h-high so they c-can drop right down on t-the city” He stuttered.

The Rangers all watched as the missiles did indeed arc over once they reached the height of their ascent and began to plummet down upon the raider city. The Rangers watched in utter shock and awe as the missiles came down into the city and then explosion after explosion began to ring out from the city followed by the screams of thousands of dying raiders and the crumble of stone and concrete, the whine of twisting and breaking metal as the city was torn apart by the strategic missile strikes.

“Dear sweet Luna look at that”

As the thirty six missiles struck, the city was plunged into darkness by the cloud of dust that rose up created by the collapse of many of its buildings and the smoke from the fires that raged through out the city. The missiles had been strategically targeted to hit specific spots throughout the city to maximize the damage to cause the greatest level of destruction.

The massive pony the Rangers saw began to move again after the collapse of the city settled. It began to approach the city until it entered the smoke and dust. Once hidden from view the Rangers were then treated to the sound of gun fire. The Rangers were fixed to the cloud as they began to see the muzzle flashes from a weapon but they soon realised was coming from the machine alone.

“Whatever that thing is, it just exterminated an entire city of raiders”

“What the fucking hell could do such a thing?”

The Rangers froze as the giant head of the machine poked out from the clouds of smoke and dust and stared right at them with its blue glowing eyes.

“Oh shit”