Fallout Equestria
Broken Steel

Chapter 18: Light in the Darkness

199 Years Ago in Stable 2

Applejack lay on her bed in her quarters. It had been many months since the end of the world forced the survivors into the underground complexes called Stables built by Stable-Tec. She lay with a small bundle curled up against her belly, her foal. Applejack softly lent over to her end table as not to disturb her child and used her natural earth pony magic to grip the table drawer knob and pulled it open. Inside she reached in and pulled out an old weathered journal and opened it to the latest page. Using her natural magic to grip a pen she began to write.

“It has been nearly a year now since we had to leave our world behind, to live down here, underground, without the sun. Ah have already babbled how much being in the same place for so long has made me feel so Ah won’t bother anymore, quite frankly I’m starting to get used to it now”

There was a pause in her writing as she looked down at her little foal.

“At least mah child won’t know any different. She’ll be able to handle it as she grows up.

Lately Ah’m finding mah thoughts turning to mah unfinished work. The things that might or could have made a difference in the war. The one that always ends up in mah head is the biggest project Ah’ve ever tried and also the most critical.

K-01 ACM KROGOTH…

Ah don’t know why Ah keep thinking of that darn machine. Ah guess it’s because of why Ah wanted to build it. For mah friends, mah family, Princess Celestia and Equestria. Well, that’s the reason Ah was going to tell everypony at the press conference Ah was going to schedule when Ah got back from Canterlot.

Ah guess Ah shouldn’t have been surprised that Celestia told me she knew about the Krogoth when I was in Canterlot. She told me she had a select few ponies who worked inside the ministries to keep her informed and Ah also wouldn’t be surprised if Twi told her. Ah can’t expect her to keep something like that from Celestia after all. She had told me the ponies of Equestria needed hope and she felt that the Krogoth could give them that hope if Ah went public. Ah could understand that, the war had taken a dark turn and the threat of balefire bombardment became almost certain. If ah told the ponies of Equestria Ah was building a weapon of war that could take a hit from such a bomb and survive as well as wipe out entire battle groups out without so much as taking a hit then it would help raise moral”

Applejack froze and shuddered.

“Yes, telling ponies would have helped to raise they’re spirits and at the stage we were at Luna wouldn’t be able to stop it and the Zebras wouldn’t be able to formulate an effective counter in time. But thinking of the reactions I would get from mah friends.

Rainbow Dash would likely say it was freaking awesome.

Rarity would likely complain about its colour as it would have been military green.

Twilight would be begging to know how her Crusader was coping under its combat programming.

Fluttershy would be terrified of it, bless her.

And Pinkie Pie… Ah don’t rightly know. She’s a weird one but after seeing how bad she was during that party when Twilight yelled at her about her addiction. Ah just don’t know how she would have reacted, she got pretty bad during the war, she wasn’t her happy cheerful self. She was down right scary when her hair was all straight and limp”

Applejack shook her head at the horrible memories of how her friend deteriorated.

“Ah know Luna would have thrown a fit since Ah kept it a secret from her for years but gosh darn it she was out of the loop in a lot of things. Ah bet that sneaky bastard Golden Blood kept vital things from her. Ok, that’s enough of that garbage.

No, Ah will admit this here and now. Ah didn’t build Krogoth for Equestria, for Luna or Celestia. Ah built it for me and mah friends.

Ah was loosing everything. By the time Ah began to build it, all Ah had left was mah friends. Ah know I still had Applebloom but she was so caught up with the company she and her friends built up that she seemed to drift away and Ah also had Apple Snack but after what he did to Zecora, things were just never the same, even though Ah still loved him. Ah couldn’t handle loosing anypony else. Ah didn’t want to die alone and Ah didn’t want to loose mah friends more than anything in the world.

The Krogoth came to me on a train ride to visit Granny Smith’s grave. A little colt was reading a comic that showed a giant robot from space. The image of a giant pony shaped robot stayed in mah head all throughout the train ride and the more Ah had that image in mah head the more Ah started to think on it as a serious idea. By the time the train arrived in Ponyville Ah had a solid design in mah head. Once Ah visited Granny’s grave Ah told Rarity of the design Ah’d like her to make. Eeyup, that fussy mare designed Krogoth’s appearance. But she thought it was for a new model of power armour.

Ah did everything Ah could to ensure the secrecy of the project. Ah recruited convicts from prisons as they could be kept on site at all times without anypony missing them. Ah recruited experts in various fields to ensure the machine had the best chance of success. Ah had its facility built in Crescent Moon Canyon near the site of the Pink Cloud disaster that occurred at Luna’s School for Gifted Unicorns. No pony with half a brain would dare come near there if they came snooping. Ah made sure it was kept off the records at all cost. Ah had its parts ordered from dummy companies to avoid suspicion and when it came for the specialised parts they were labelled from the different companies as experimental test items which would later be put down as failures and discontinued when they were in fact successes. Some of the companies that supplied these special items included Flash Industries and Robronco along with Horse Industries.

The Krogoth had been my most ambitious project and took three years to get it to near completion. Ah have only one complaint about that though. It would have been finished by now if it wasn’t for all the accidents that happened during its construction. If those never happened and if we didn’t loose Short Circuit the Krogoth would have been finished four months ago.

While on the train back to Ponyville Ah remembered the argument Ah had with Blueberry. Ah maybe a stubborn mare but Ah had to admit she was right. With its mission stating “ALL” rather than “All Enemies” the machine had the power to choose who was a threat or not and that meant really none of us would have been safe from it. Ah was going to go back to the Hangar after Ah got back to reprogram its mission but before Ah could do that the alert came through my broadcaster that all ponies must make their way to their respective stables immediately.

Ah now find mahself wondering what would become of the Krogoth? She has been left standing in the middle of a giant facility to rot. Ah just called it a she… Ah don’t know why but Ah’ve been calling it that more and more lately. Ah guess it’s because of how much Ah cared for it then when Ah knew it could have helped us. Ah hope that one day somepony finds it and finishes it, if there are any ponies out there to find it that is”

There was a knock at the door which was followed by a beautiful silky voice.

“Applejack, I’m sorry to bother you on your day off but one of the apple bucking team members for today has hurt his leg. Would you fill in for him today please?”

“Sure thing Sweetie Belle just let me put mah foal to bed”

“Thank you, you’re a life saver”

XXXXX

Four Days after the Krogoth’s Awakening.

The Krogoth had discovered a town that had been built around an old Equestrian Weather Station after its confrontation with the Enclave Raptor. To avoid suspicion the Krogoth’s Light Bee flew up and over the town and came down on top of the weather station where it then formed its hologram of Short Circuit when out of view of anypony.

The weather station had terminals that controlled the doors which had been locked. Even though the hologram couldn’t physically touch anything it could however interface with terminals by touching them. Using Short Circuit’s experiences and knowledge the hologram was able to hack and open the doors into the facility with ease.

Inside the hologram used the terminals again to shut and lock the doors; it didn’t want to be disturbed. The hologram found a still working terminal on a desk against the back wall. Using its method of accessing a terminal by touching it the Krogoth was able to discover that the makeshift town surrounding the weather station was called “Flank Market” and was a town of slavers who sold and bought slaves and also took the healthiest of the fillies form slave families to be turned into whores for the pleasure of the slavers and their clients. This was something the Krogoth couldn’t stand for and had marked the town for destruction. As it continued to review the data on the terminal it discovered an encrypted entry and again with Short Circuit’s abilities it was able to crack the encryption and unlock the file which told it that the weather station was actually a secret Equestrian Military Listening Post.

After the hologram had accessed the encrypted file another terminal activated. The Krogoth moved over to access the new terminal which only had one option on it. The terminal opened a secret hatch that allowed access to the listening post.

Descending into the lower level the Krogoth accessed the listening posts communication array. The machine was thankful that the old systems were still functional. As it powered up the old systems the Krogoth checked all the pre-programmed frequencies for any that still worked. It found that at least half of them were still working but were being used by ponies that were not authorised to use them and the ones that didn’t worked either were either non-existent or locked down. The array was also picking up unknown frequencies which the Krogoth tuned into to monitor the transmission.

For four days the machine monitored transmissions from multiple sources including Steel Rangers, Applejack Rangers and the Enclave. The Krogoth learned more about what it was going to be facing out there in the wasteland. It listened intently to some Enclave engineers for a while as they had examined the wreckage of Raptor Atlas and learned more about the structure of the warship. It learned a great deal about the Enclave’s technological advantages and their weaponry which was something the Krogoth was slightly familiar with from its previous battle. It learned that there were five major factions that operated in the wasteland now. Steel Rangers, the splinter faction of the Rangers the Applejack Rangers, the Slaver forces of Red Eye, the Goddess’s Alicorns which seemed to be less of a danger now since their lead figure had been destroyed but because of how numerous and now how unpredictable they have become they were still a danger and finally the Grand Pegasus Enclave.

In that time the Krogoth was in the listening post it learned that a battle between all five major factions exploded. It seemed the battles were more against one faction, Red Eye. The alicorns were mixed; some had been reported to be working for Red Eye while others fought against his forces. Red Eye was being attacked from multiple enemies at two locations. It seemed Applejack and Steel Rangers confronted his forces outside Fillydelphia. The Enclave battled him in the middle of the Everfree Forest and the Krogoth got a shock when it received reports of a giant cybernetically augmented dragon was involved. There was a third battle which seemed to be against the Enclave and some unknown forces but again the Krogoth was shocked to hear that a huge purple and green dragon was with the attacking ponies. The Enclave chatter was talking about the attacking ponies trying to gain access to the sealed Single Pegasus Project Central Tower. On the fourth day of the Krogoth’s information gathering the battles the Krogoth was listen to the chatter on had ended. The forces of Red Eye had been decimated in both locations. The Enclave had a Thunderhead in the airspace above Everfree and his Citadel had been completely destroyed by the ship’s firepower and his forces in Fillydelphia had been wiped out by a super weapon called Celestia One. The Krogoth was aware of this magical weapon of focusing the sun’s solar energy into a destructive beam to scorch a larger area. All factions had suffered significant looses at the end of it. The two Ranger factions were the better off but the Steel Rangers were in more disarray than before. The Enclave was defeated but still there but like the Steel Rangers they were in disarray and were splintering with pegasus ponies going down to the surface. This went into the Krogoth’s favour as with the main forces decimated the machine was now uncontested.

After the four days it spent in Flank Market the hologram looked around the town. It wasn’t very large, maybe thirty to forty small makeshift houses surrounding the weather station. Around the back of the station there were some enclosures for the slaves made from chain link fences. The Krogoth counted up to thirty slaves including the foals which counted up to about eight. The hologram noted that the enclosures were several feet from the buildings and there were ridged sheets of old metal roofing sheets lining most of the enclosures which would provide some cover for the slaves. The Krogoth had already determined the town had to be destroyed and the slavers also needed to be eliminated but the slaves didn’t pose a threat and needed to be rescued. After one last look around the town from the top of the weather station the hologram dissolved back into the light bee and floated back up into the air and returned to the Krogoth.

XXXXX

“Red Eye’s forces have been beaten; business is going to take a bit of a dip without his slave trade”

“That’s just bloody marvellous, if we had it bad before we have it bad now with the shit merchandise we have right now”

“We are going to need to find more buyers and suppliers now, fucking brilliant”

“Hey bitch, another beer over here”

A young mare whimpered as she pulled a beer bottle out of a fridge from behind the bar and popped the cap. She began to levitate the beer on a platter as she brought it over to her master and stood close by while she waited for further commands.

The slaver too a swig and put the bottle down on the table before swearing at the slave for bringing him a warm beer but before he could physically abuse his slave the bottle hopped off the table and fell into his lap and spilled its contents all over his crotch.

“What the fuck?” He then stared daggers at the slave as she was a unicorn she was the prime suspect for the incident. “You fucking bitch, you’ll pay for that”

Just as he got up the whole room seemed to shudder and the table bounces with everything on it clattering to the floor.

“What the hell was that?”

“You got me”

There was another stronger shudder which was followed by the hanging light to fall from its perch.

“Outside now, and you, you fucking whore, back to your pen”

The mare didn’t waste a second as she was gone as soon as she was told to leave. The two slavers walked out of the bar and into the streets of the town. The slavers looked around to see most of the town was out in the streets in the middle of Luna’s night.

“Ok, what’s going on?”

There were shudders running through the town at regular intervals and getting stronger. A weakly made slaver house collapsed somewhere in the town as the strong vibrations shook it to pieces. As the slavers readied their weapons while looking around for any possible attackers a series of blue lights began to appear in the distance.

“Just what the fuck is that?”

The clouds parted and Luna’s Moon shown her bright white moon light down upon the area and illuminated the giant robot approaching the town.

“Holy fucking shit!!!” Several of the slavers screamed at the sight of the giant machine approaching the town. “Look at the guns on that thing”

The moon light had revealed to the slavers the array of weapons that the machine possessed and it was more than enough to make some of the more cowardly slavers to turn and bolt out of town. As the giant machine came within a hundred feet of the town, all hell broke loose.

The large gattling gun under the chin began to fire. A steady stream of bullets began to tear threw the buildings. Slavers who thought they were safe inside their homes soon found out how wrong they were as they found themselves cut in half or plastered all over the walls as the fifty calibre rounds punched through the steel sheeting leaving enormous gaping holes. The force of the bullets tearing through some of the buildings was enough to rip them apart.

Slavers began to run from cover to cover as they fruitlessly tried to fight back. Popping up from behind old sheets of metal and the remains of their homes to fire off pot shots at the machine as it began to walk through the town, further destroying it as it stood and crushed their homes.

A group of slavers got behind the machine and began firing at its rump. The bullets harmlessly pinged off its armoured hide. The Krogoth was alerted to being attacked from behind and since its disc grenade launcher couldn’t hit them while being too close, the Krogoth used its tail as a weapon. The segmented tail swung to once side and then came crashing back down at great speed and swatted the group. It was like getting hit head on by a freight train and the force of the impact tore the slavers apart while also demolishing more of the make shift buildings.

As the machine tore its way through the town it turned its disc grenade launcher to aim behind it. Its scanners were picking up hostile contacts behind it as it moved through the town. Aiming the weapon in the general direction of the targets the turret began to fire off bursts of four grenades behind it.

Two slavers believed they were safe as the machine had passed their home. One of the slavers had the front door open a crack so he could see the commotion outside.

“It’s pretty hopeless out there with that thing”

“No shit”

There was a sudden clattering on the roof.

“The hell was that?”

Suddenly a strange disc like object fell through a hole in the roof a landed in the middle of the house.

“What the hell is this?” The slaver who was inside the house asked as she used her unicorn magic to levitate the odd looking device as it made a single low tone beep.

The slaver by the door looked back at his companion. “I have no i….” He never got the finish his sentence as the object exploded and caused the house to collapse upon itself.

Slavers began to see the hopelessness of their situation and began to flee while the machine was occupied in destroying the town. They’d rather take their chances out in the wasteland in the dead of night and the roaming monsters rather than to stay and die at the hooves of the giant machine.

The slaves locked in their enclosures huddled together up against the walls of the weather station apart from the foals that were locked in a separate enclosure. The braver of the mothers or fathers of these foals stayed as close to them as they could while trying to keep their heads down as bullets and explosives were tearing the town apart around them.

There was an almighty crash as the machine used its tail like a wrecking ball and demolished a house, sending bits and bobs flying over the enclosures.

“Holy shit, what the hell is that?”

“It looks like a Steel Ranger”

“Do you think its here to save us?”

The slaves had a glimmer of hope that it was there to save them as it was destroying the town and the slavers but was ignoring them.

“That thing nearly got me killed” A young mare slave said as she huddled with the group. She was the slave who was working in the bar when the machine arrived.

The attack lasted for about half an hour before much of the town had been destroyed and most of the slavers had either fled or were dead. There was still some hiding but it was now more or less safe enough for the slaves to make an escape. The Krogoth turned to face the enclosures and stood on a corner face that broke the chain link off the posts and squashed the section down into the floor. Where the Krogoth had squashed the fence it opened up the foal enclosure and the main slave enclosure which allowed the slaves to gather their foals.

The Krogoth looked down as the slaves scooped up their foals and hugged them happily. It noticed that the eldest of the slaves was staring up at it.

The machine tilted its head down to look at the older pony with both eyes before it spoke. “Leave”

The elder nodded and ushered for the rest to follow, heading out and away from the town. The Krogoth turned slightly as it watched the freed slaves leave. Suddenly it was alerted to a missile launch and as the machine turned to look in the direction of the alert a missile collided with its head.

“Hah, eat that bitch” A slaver yelled as he sat on the roof of a house with a missile launcher resting on his shoulder. His eyes widened in shock as he saw that his missile just left a dirty black smudge against the machine’s cheek. “Ah fuck” He whined as he dived down abandoning the launcher and began to run through the ruins of the town.

The machine stomped its hooves as it kicked and trodden on the remains of the enclosures and buildings as it went in pursuit of its attacker. The slaver used the weather station as cover so he could get around to an intact building and quickly dove through the door and slammed it shut behind him. The Krogoth had lost sight of its target as it ran behind the weather station but it knew where he was as the machine’s EFS was showing a red marker inside an intact building now in front of it.

“Shit, what I gonna do now?” The Slaver panted as he looked around the building. He had dove into the town’s armoury ,or what could be classed as one, which had survived the initial attack. “Ohh that might work” The slaver said as he found the most powerful weapon the slavers had scavenged. A Fatpony. A specialised launcher that fired small balefire eggs which were essentially mini-balefire bombs. He quickly loaded an egg into the launcher before hauling it onto his shoulder and kicking the door open with the weapon ready.

The Krogoth saw the door fly open and looked down to see its target and also noticed the weapon he was carrying.

“Warning, Balefire Egg detected”

Before the Krogoth could react to the danger the slaver launched the weapon. He didn’t have the physical strength to hold the weapon properly through its launch and the egg was arcing lower than he had wanted and slightly off to the right. The egg collided with the Krogoth’s upper foreleg and detonated. The explosion was huge; the resulting fireball engulfed the front of the Krogoth and obscured the slaver’s view. As he couldn’t see the machine from the explosion he thought he won but then the flames died away leaving a now slightly burned Krogoth. At first glance the machine looked to have suffered little to no damage but the machine was getting damage reports from its foreleg’s sensors.

“Armour plates compromised.
Internal system damage.
Knee joint advanced movement system disabled”

The balefire egg had caused more internal damage than external and with the knee joint damaged the machine became aware of something that would require improvement for later.

“No fucking way” The slaver gaped at the machine still standing after taking the hit. “That’s impossible”

The slaver had nowhere to go now as he heard the large gattling gun under the machine’s head begin to spin. “Oh Goddesses, not like this” He cried out as the machine began to fire. The high powered rounds tore through the slaver and began striking the stocked up ammunition in the building which was followed by an equestria shattering explosion.

The fleeing slaves all stopped and turned around to see the town as a blinding flash caught their attention. They saw a tower of fire reach up into the air gaining at least a thousand feet of height which lit up the wasteland for miles around. This was followed by the eardrum splitting explosion and the shockwave.

“Oh dear goddesses” The elder said as she couldn’t see their saviour.

The group of freed slaves sat and watched as the fire spread to consume much of the town in seconds and heard some more but smaller explosions as the rest of the munitions detonated. It was several minutes after the explosion that the ground began to rumble again in the steady rhythm of heavy hoof falls and to the amazement of the freed slaves the giant robot walked through the tower of fire.

“It survived”

“That was incredible”

The slaves began to comment as they watched as the machine began to walk away from the town it had just eradicated.

The eldest slave may have been old but her eye sight was perfect and she saw the machine’s name printed on its cheek illuminated by the fire as it walked.

“Thank you Krogoth, thank you for saving us”

The Krogoth was walking at a slight limp as it began to head back towards the wreckage of the Raptor it destroyed four days ago. The ship’s armoured hull would make for the perfect material to create some knee guards for the Krogoth’s advanced knee joints to prevent further damage like it received from the balefire egg. This was one of the Krogoth’s functions, to better itself. If it gets damaged and it thinks of a way it could improve itself to prevent it from receiving the same damage again it can use its Assimilation Spell to absorb the materials it needs and form the absorbed material into what it requires.

XXXXX

Two Weeks after the rise of the Krogoth.

I find myself lying on my back on something soft and comfortable and wrapped up in clean smelling sheets. I must be in a bed. I can hear the soft hum of electronic equipment and my closed eyes were being assaulted by a soft white light. I then began to hear voices. Wait a minute; I don’t remember getting into a bed. I was suddenly gripped with fear as I shot up in bed as I didn’t know where I was or the voices I heard.

“Where the bloody hell am I?” I screamed sitting up in bed and throwing my red eyes open.

“Whoa whoa, easy there Appletart, your in Stable 24’s clinic” I heard a masculine voice say in a soothing tone to my right. I turned my head to see him and at first he was blurry but my vision soon adjusted and I was looking at a black and white striped pony. Wait, no not pony, zony. He’s Zyon, my oldest friend.

“Ugh Zyon, what, what happened to me?” I asked as I put my head in my hooves. Before he could answer I began to remember everything. I remembered arriving with my friends outside of the ponyhole cover, the two Applejack Rangers coming out of it, the conversation we had, them leading us down to the Stable entrance and then… My water broke as we entered the Stable. I then remembered extreme pain before everything went black. I guess I passed out from it, oh goddesses that was the worst pain I’ve ever felt.

“You went into labour…” Zyon began only for me to cut him off as I threw the covers up to reveal my white plump belly. It was plump, soft and squishy, not large and round with foal.

“Where is my baby?” I screamed at him as I began to hyperventilate from the sudden scare I had that I no longer had my foal in my belly and not here with me as I could see it was just me and him in the recovery room.

“Your…” He was cut off again as the door to the room opened.

“Your foal is right here Miss Appletart”

“Oh for crying out loud” Zyon grumbled as he was again unable to speak.

I looked to the mare standing in the door. She came as a shock as she is or was an Enclave pegasus. As she began to approach I was able to get a good look at her. She is a teal green mare with a fiery yellow mane and tail which had been styled in a windswept fashion. She was also wearing pegasus power armour or half of it. She seemed to be wearing a cut down version; she had hoof guards, knee guards, and a chest plate with shoulder guards and a crotch piece. There was no under suit so where the armour didn’t cover she was bare. Her unprotected wings were out stretched and raised high as if she was carrying something and was keeping it protected on her back.

“Your foal is right here miss” She stood with her side flush to the bed and then she gently dropped the wing next to the bed and as it went down I saw something wrapped in a clean white towel on her back. I used my magic to gently pick up the soft bundle and levitated it to me. As it drew close I reached out and cradled to the bundle and I found myself staring down at the most beautiful foal I’ve ever seen. My Foal.

“You gave birth to a healthy unicorn filly” The pegasus mare said with a soft smile.

I smiled with genuine happiness as I looked down at the tiny foal in my hooves wrapped up nice and snug in a white towel. She has chocolate brown fur and her tuft of a mane was a nice deep blue. She looked just like my mother. For a moment my thoughts turned to my mother but they quickly turned to happy thoughts. I thought of how proud of me she would be that I gave birth to such a beautiful little girl. That’s it! I know what to call her.

“She’s my darling Blueberry Muffin” I said out loud, giving her name.

I shuffled back in bed so my back was against the headboard and I reclined against it as I cradled my little girl.

“That’s a nice name” The pegasus said with a smile before she was suddenly tackle hugged to the floor by a rainbow blur.

I looked in shock surprise to see Sky Fire hugging the poor mare like she hasn’t seen her in a long time.

“Oh come on Sky, how many times are you going to keep doing this?” The mare asked as my clone friend squeezed her around her barrel.

“Until we have to leave, I haven’t seen you in over a year”

“Wait a minute, you know her?” I asked. The question was really to both of them.

The two mares looked up at me and at the exact same time they spoke.

“Of course I do, she’s my sister” The two sisters looked at each other, grinned and again at the same time happily yelled. “Jinx” and then began to giggle like a pair of school fillies.

I smiled again as I watched the scene and lowered Blueberry so she lay on my soft belly while I still supported her with my forelegs. I was then reminded of what I felt shortly after I woke up, my belly being soft instead of still being swollen. Come to think of it, why wasn’t I in pain. I know that after birth a mother would still be hurting for a little while but I felt fine. I felt like I’d had the best night’s sleep I’ve had in years and I felt totally rested.

Zyon must have seen the confusion on my face as I also seemed to stare off into space. “Apple, are you alright?”

I blinked as I refocused. “I don’t know, I feel totally fine, I don’t feel like I expected for after the birth”

Sky Fire sat beside Zyon and the pegasus mare stepped up to the bed.

“My name is Rainstorm and I helped with the delivery of your foal two weeks ago”

My eyes went as wide as dinner plates as she said that. I was about to scream at her before I remembered I had my foal in my hooves and managed to reign in my outburst so it came out in a more normal volume. “How long ago?”

“Two weeks” She repeated.

“What the hell happened to me?”

“There was a complication during the birth, your foal was coming out in slightly the wrong position and her unicorn horn tore at your vaginal wall. You began to bleed excessively and just after we got the foal out you fell unconscious but unfortunately you also fell into a coma because of the blood loss. We managed to patch you up and I’m glad to see you made a full recovery; it was just a matter of time until you woke up. You’re lucky your foal decided that she wanted to come out when she did, if you were in the wasteland you would have likely died. Your body has had time to heal while you were asleep so that is why you feel ok” She explained.

I just stared in complete shock at the fact I could have died and that I had been asleep for two weeks. I blinked to focus again and I looked at Rainstorm. “Thank you, thank you for saving my life and my foal” I said in deep gratitude.

She smiled warmly. “It’s my pleasure, it’s my job to help those who are injured or in need” She said with a bow of her head.

I looked around and realised we were missing two members of our team.

“Hey, where are Motor Runner and CD?”

“Huh, oh, Motor Runner has been helping the scribes with documenting all the information we could give on the Krogoth since he had the most experience with it and CD, well he’s getting an upgrade” Zyon answered.

“An upgrade?”

“Yeah, he’s getting an upgrade to his weapon to allow for a quicker firing rate and to make it more usable when in close quarters” Sky Fire said as she snuggled against Zyon.

Rainstorm smiled as she sat beside the bed next to me. “Appletart, I want to thank you” She said with a happy smile.

“Thank me, for what?”

“For bringing my little sister back to me. I heard how she went MIA and after a few weeks she was declared KIA. I thought she was dead but you brought her back to me. She may be a clone of Rainbow Dash on the outside but she’s still my little sister on the inside. It was still heart breaking to know she still died but I’m happy she was reborn. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for bringing her back and keeping her safe”

I smiled warmly at the older pegasus. “I’m not the only pony you should thank” I told her as I remembered what Motor Runner had said went we talked back at the Hangar.

“Oh, who else should I thank?” She asked.

“Motor Runner” I answered.

“Why him?” Zyon asked with a scoff.

“If it wasn’t for him opening the stable she may have still been trapped in there” I replied.

“She’s right” Sky Fire said in agreement. “If it wasn’t for him I don’t know what would have happened”

Zyon thought for a moment and then nodded his head in agreement.

“Well, I’ll be sure to thank him next time I see him”

“Am I ok to get out of bed and everything?” I asked hopeful.

“Hmm, I would recommend you stay in bed for the next twenty four hours so we can be absolutely sure your ok. After that we’ll give you a check up and if you pass we’ll let you go”

I smiled and nodded. I’ve already spent two weeks in bed; another twenty four hours wouldn’t hurt.

“Well, I must get back to my rounds, congratulations on becoming a mother and its good to see that you’re awake, take care” Rainstorm said happily as she turned and left.

“She was nice” I commented as I watched her leave, that crotch guard certainly complimented her nice flanks. Hehe, uh oh. I could feel my cheeks flushing red. Yeah, I’m bisexual, I admit it.

“Someone like my sister’s ass” Sky Fire burst out laughing which was followed by Zyon’s deeper laugh.

My face went as red as a tomato but then I started to laugh. Oh it felt good to laugh with friends.

After we calmed down I looked over to my two friends.

“What’s been going on since I’ve been out?”

My friends told me about the conflicts that erupted soon after we arrived. I was shocked and slightly ashamed that I wasn’t there to help but everything turned out ok. The Rangers may have had looses but with the battles over and everything back to being as peaceful as the wasteland can be, maybe better since Red Eye and the Enclave were out of the picture but that still left the Krogoth which had been absent from the battles.

“While we’ve been here the Krogoth had been missing for about four days”

“Wait, missing?” I asked as I levitated my daughter to the cot that was beside my bed.

“Yeah, for days there was no sign of it but that was until last week when we got alerted to an explosion nearly as powerful as a megaspell going off out west somewhere. An SPP Tower caught the machine leaving a battle scene, oh and it did shoot down a Raptor. Another SPP Tower took a photo of its crash site”

“Motor Runner had thought that the machine had been gathering information so it would be prepared for what the wasteland had to offer”

“That would make things more difficult wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, it is Equestria’s ultimate ground weapon after all. It is part of its programming to learn and improve itself to better ensure it can handle what it will have to face” Motor Runner said as he entered my recovery room. He frowned slightly as he had to duck his head down so he could get through the door as it wasn’t large enough for his tall frame.

Once he was inside he straightened himself out and then smiled as he looked at me. I couldn’t help the blush that formed as he smiled. Oh goddesses, why does he drive me mad?

“It is good to see that you’ve finally woken up Appletart, I was worried you wouldn’t wake up”

My heart fluttered as he said that. He was worried about me. Mentally I was like a school filly giggling with glee.

“You! Worried? Hah” Zyon scoffed. This only resulted in him getting a hoof up side the head by Sky Fire who threw him a dirty look. “Ahh, fuck, what was that for?” He moaned as he rubbed the back of his head.

“You need to learn to button it” Sky sneered. She then pulled his head down so she could whisper into his ear but she was still loud enough for me to hear. “She likes him that much is obvious, she doesn’t need you making wise cracks about him or making fun of him every chance you get and he’s trying to help us after all. If you have something to say, keep it to yourself”

I blushed again as I overheard what she whispered and Motor Runner sat on the opposite side of the bed to my friends. He however seemed as stoic as ever, well, that was until he looked at me and a frown appeared on his purple muzzle and for a second I thought I did something to upset him.

“I however come with some bad news” He said as he leaned down to his suit jacket’s pocket and pulled out a photograph and placed it on the bed so we could all see. I breathed a sigh of relief as it wasn’t something I did.

“What is it?” I asked leaning forward to see the photo.

“I’m afraid the Krogoth has improved its armour”

“Oh great, if it wasn’t already bad enough now it’s even worse”

“Indeed, luckily however the improvement to its armour has only been five additions. Four knee guards and a tail base guard” Motor Runner explained.

Sure enough the photograph showed the machine with those things. It was easy to notice them since we had seen the Krogoth in its basic form and also because the additions were black rather than green. Noticing that I also noticed that some parts of the Krogoth was now black too like the armour casing around the left railgun at the front.

“Why are they black and not green?” I asked.

“The Krogoth’s Assimilation Spell can only use the materials it absorbs so the new armour additions are the same colour of what it used to form them and it’s the same for the damage it has repaired”

“It must have used the wreckage of the Raptor to reform the damage it received as well as the additional armour” Zyon observed.

“You are correct Zyon” Motor Runner confirmed. “Fighting the machine is going to be difficult but not impossible. The Rangers here are aware of how dangerous this machine is and have agreed to help us fight it when the time comes. I had spoken with the current Elder about our situation”

I nodded. “That’s good. How many Rangers are there here?”

“A few dozen but there are more Applejack Rangers out there in the wasteland. There are more and more Steel Rangers defecting and turning to the Applejack Rangers now after the battle as they are torn between what they have been taught and what they believe”

“We are going to need more than that if we want to form a sizeable attack force to distract the Krogoth” I said looking over the photo more closely.

“Distract?” Zyon asked confused.

“No matter how many Rangers we have with us to fight the machine we will all fail with the weapons that thing has but we can exploit some of its weaknesses to distract it to give us the window we need to punch a hole in its armoured side” I said narrowing my eyes a bit as I focused on the ridged mid-section what allowed the machine to twist its body.

“The Ranger’s weapons would be enough to hurt the machine if focused on a specific spot. We will need a large number of them to fight with us to ensure we distract it by swarming it. It’s only one machine and can not deal with a swarm of ponies. It will have difficulty taking us on but it will eventually get the upper hoof. We will need the Rangers to put a hole in its armour so we can inside”

“Inside?”

Motor Runner continued from here as he seemed to catch on to what I was thinking.

“Yes, the machine is most vulnerable from the inside. I know the machine’s manual overrides and if we want to destroy it completely we have only one option”

“Its reactor” Zyon said in realisation.

Me and Motor Runner nodded. “If we set its reactor to overload, it will create and explosion on par with the biggest megaspell or balefire bomb ever recorded. An explosion of that magnitude from within will overwhelm the machine’s extremely armoured internal chambers and tear the machine apart. Without its reactor and most likely the crusader would be destroyed too, the machine will forever be destroyed”

“At least we know how to destroy it. It’ll just be a matter of how we go about it”

“Hmm, maybe our mutual friend Zeta might be able to help us. She is ninety five percent machine after all”

“Zyon may have a point. She’s well educated in robots and she has worked with plenty of Robronco systems in the past. She may know of something that could help us disable its scanners for a period of time or cause it problems”

I nodded in agreement. “Would you be able to take us to her?” I asked either of them.

“We can’t all go, she will get nervous if there is a group of ponies coming her way and she will lock the hospital down tight to prevent them from getting in or seeing her. If it’s only me and maybe Sky Fire or you she might not hide herself”

“I’ll be needed here” Sky Fire said as she joined in the conversation. “There are still a lot of wounded here from the battles and they need all the medically trained ponies they can use”

Zyon nodded as he was well aware of that, unlike me. I wish I could have helped.

“It would also be best if I stayed here to help monitor the Krogoth’s progress and to help teach the Rangers about it” Motor Runner said. “The more they know the better prepared they would be when the time comes”

“Well, I guess that leaves me and you… and maybe CD if he turns up”

“No, you just woke up from a coma and you have a baby to look after” Zyon said matter-of-factly.

I looked over to my sleeping foal. I frowned as he was right. No, I must keep fighting, for her. The ponies here have looked after her for the two weeks while I was unconscious. They can look after her again; keep her safe for a bit longer while I fight the Krogoth with my friends. This is no longer fighting to stop the machine for Equestria. No this is now to stop the machine for the sake of my only child. I can’t let her grow up in a dangerous world when I can do something about it. If I don’t and the Krogoth fails to be destroyed by whoever we leave in charge to stop it, we’ll be constantly looking over our shoulder in fear of it finding us and we won’t be able to settle down anywhere as we’ll also be constantly on the move to keep out of its way. No, I have to help fight it.

I shook my head at Zyon. “I’m coming with you to see Zeta, I’m not going to sit around and wait for something to happen. I can’t ensure my daughter will have a safe existence if we fail to stop the machine here and now. Here my baby will be safe and well looked after, out there she’ll likely die from all the shit that’s out there. So, no buts about it, I’m still going to help in this fight”

“She’s right and Rainstorm was the pony who looked after the foal so she can continue to look after her. I can help too since I’ll be here still”

Zyon sighed. “Alright, we’ll leave when you’re given the green light”

XXXXX

That night I couldn’t sleep. The familiar electronic hum of the stable’s electricity, the computer systems, ventilation and the peace and quiet of the stillness of the sleepy stable. I haven’t lived in a stable for seventeen years and the quiet is almost alien to me now. I wasn’t feeling any peace at all from the stillness and sleep wasn’t coming easy either. I was tossing and turning for a while before I decided to just lie back and stare at the ceiling.

CD had returned shortly before my friends left the clinic for the night. He wouldn’t leave when the others left so he settled down into a corner out of the way. I would occasionally hear a low tone beep as he seemed to, err, sleep. There is something different about him, he seems to show emotion, I noticed that with the way he hovers and beeps. There have been a number of motions and tones he used that seemed to correspond with an emotion.

“It’s good to know your still alive Appletart and getting into this sprite-bot was a pain in the ass” Watcher said as CD fluttered into the air and turned to face me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin in a fright as hearing Watcher talk to me out of the blue and in the middle of the night was the last thing I was expecting.

“Holy fucking shit. Watcher you tosser, you scared me half to fucking death” I shrieked.

My sudden outburst awoke my child and immediately she began to bawl her eyes out loudly. Instinctively I picked her up from her cot and levitated her gently to my fore hooves where I cradled her and gently rocked her.

“Shh, shh, its ok, Mummy’s sorry” I cooed gently at her as I rocked her back to sleep.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion, I noticed this sprite-bot had appeared on my system as DCS rather than the standard S-B for a sprite-bot. I am unaware of where it is as its not transmitting its position” He explained in the familiar tinny voice.

“He’s not like the other sprite-bots, he’s special” I said as I cradled my child softly. “And he belongs to me since I found him”

“You have an attachment to it? Well anyway, it is good to see that you’re alive Appletart, I lost track of you when that large object fell from the sky and I feared you had been killed. What have you been up to?”

I explained to him how my ancestor was involved with a pre-war project started by Applejack, how it was meant as an endgame weapon and how my ancestor developed its weapons. I explained how I came across this and how me and my friends began to follow what leads we could to find the Hangar to stop it. I told him that we failed to reach it in time and that it is now roaming free out there but I also assured him that we had a plan that we will soon be put into motion once we have all we need.

“And I thought things were bad before, that thing will make it worse. At least you know what you need to do. I’ll do some digging and see if I can find anything out to further aid you” Watcher said as CD began to settle back to the floor. “Why would she keep something like this from me?” I barely heard him mutter to himself under his breath but before I could question him about it he was gone. CD popped back up into the air and screeched out an alarmed beep as he regained control of himself. The noise woke up Blueberry again. Well, best get used to it now rather than later. The joys of parenthood and the sleepless nights.

“Its ok CD, he wasn’t trying to take over you, don’t worry. I won’t let him take you away from me even if he tries”

The small bot beeped softly and seemed to settle down again but he seemed to remain active, like he was scared of going offline.

I decided to keep my baby with me rather than put her back in her cot. I think she’ll feel safer and more relaxed to feel her mother’s warmth. She settled down against my pudgy belly and curled up to sleep. She was so quiet and adorable. I lay there with her curled up against me for a time watching her little chest rise and fall. It was heart warming and actually relaxing watching her sleep. It also helped put my mind at ease as all I could focus on was her.

I don’t know when I fell asleep but I did. I sometimes wonder when you actually go as you can lie in bed with your eyes closed and still be in control and then all of a sudden you’re gone and when you wake up you have no idea when you drifted off. The following however I didn’t wake up on my own accord, no, it was from an unusual sensation. I won’t go into detail but all I’m going to tell you is that it felt strangely pleasurable. I was woken up to my child feeding from my teat.

After she was full she went back to sleep and I put her back into her cot just as my friends began to arrive along with Rainstorm.

“Good morning guys… or at least I think its morning” I said pulling myself up to sit up right in bed.

“Good morning Appletart, it is morning, it’s ten AM” Rainstorm said as she approached the bed. “How do you feel?”

Hmm, how did I feel? In all honesty I feel fine and so I told her as much. I think sleeping that long did my body a world of good and I still have my head so I’m not complaining.

She nodded and smiled. “Ok, I’m going to give you a quick check up to be sure your ok and if I find nothing wrong you are free to go” She said with a smile as she began her examination.

She checked pretty much everything and I mean everything. Damn her hooves were cold when she checked my hind quarters. After a good half and hour we were done and she gave me a clean bill of health but she did ask my friends to keep an eye on me just in case. While she was here we told her of our current plans about trying to find something to help us combat the machine and she was happy enough to agree in looking after Blueberry while we were away.

XXXXX

The armoury was impressive and my mouth was watering at the sight of all the huge ass rifles lining one side in their gun racks. Oh oh yea some of these are beasts.

“Here you go Appletart” Zyon said as he showed me to a gleaming suit of power armour. “The Applejack Rangers were generous enough to let me refurbish one of their spare suits. I practically dismantled the whole thing along with your old suit and rebuilt it using some parts from your old suit”

It looked like a brand new suit with how shiny it was. He even fixed up a helmet with a hole in the top for my horn. I haven’t worn a helmet since the library incident and now I actually didn’t need it since This Machine didn’t require a pre-programmed targeting system like my old AM rifle did. Huh, I wonder how my original suit is doing locked up in my old room. The suit also had the segmented tail which was something my old suit lacked and something I actually enjoyed. My tail gets itchy inside one of those. The suit’s storage units on the flanks bore the Applejack Ranger insignia and he had painted my crosshair cutiemark onto the shoulder armour.

“Thank you Zyon, it looks fantastic, but can you remove the tail please and I won’t be needing the helmet” I said while giving him a grateful smile.

He just smiled as he fished out his toolkit from his armour’s saddlebags. “Sure no problem” He didn’t seem annoyed or hurt that I asked him to change something on the armour he put together for me. I hope I didn’t offend him though.

As my striped friend worked I found my old gear neatly stacked in a box with This Machine and its harness hung up on a rack. I couldn’t help but check my gear to make sure everything was still there, well, everything I had since I was out for two weeks. Somepony could have helped themselves to something of mine. Growing up in a stable where no one liked you and the wasteland made it hard for me to trust most people with my gear. I trust my friends as we spend nearly everyday together. Motor Runner I’m not sure of yet on that front but he doesn’t seem the type with the way he seems but I do plan on getting to know him better. Thankfully everything I had before my long nap was still there.

“Alright, tail is off” Zyon declared as he put his tools away.

“Damn that was fast” I said as I turned around to see it. Yeah, without the tail it looked a lot better for me. “Thank you, it looks perfect now” I smiled as I approached it.

“You’ll need to sync your pipbuck with the suit’s systems first before it will recognise you as its wearer” He told me as he fished out a portable extension cable so my pipbuck could be connected to the suit without me having to be in it.

“Oh come on, how long is that going to take?” I moaned as he connected my pipbuck and began the syncing process.

“Shouldn’t take long, five minutes at the most. This suit has a blank system so it doesn’t have anyone else’s data to recycle”

“Oh, well, that’s not so bad” What a relief. I really didn’t want to be standing in here for hours.

“You should have seen some of the weapon buffs when we brought your gear in to store. They were wetting themselves to examine that alien rifle of yours”

My heart skipped a beat. “You didn’t let anyone touch it did you?” I asked in a panic.

“Not since I caught one of them trying to dismantle it”

“WHAT?”

“Whoa calm down, they didn’t take it apart, but they did pull a patch off of the stock which I think you’re going to find interesting”

Now gripped with curiosity I levitated the huge rifle over to me and turned it around in my magic. Thankfully it did seem to be untouched apart from the stock like he said. On the side opposite to the engraving “This Machine kills Noddies” I had noticed was a square patch which at the time I didn’t think anything of. It was now gone and what had lain under the patch undiscovered by me since I found it is an insignia.

“Wow, this didn’t belong to them at first, it belonged to their enemy” I said as I eyed the scorpion tail insignia that sat inside a triangular hexagon. This Machine must have been taken from a Nod soldier and later used against them. The patch must have been put on it to hide where the rifle had originally come from. I decided that I was going to leave the patch off, I actually like that insignia, it looks cool.

While waiting for the sync to finish the huge vault like door opened and an earth pony mare dressed in a blue scribe robe which I recognised as an elder’s robe entered the armoury. The pony that entered must be the Applejack Rangers elder.

“Ah, good morning Longshot, good to see that you’ve recovered” She said with a warm smile. She was pretty young to be an elder. I say she wasn’t any older than me.

“Thank you ma’am” I said in a respectful tone. It was instinct, I’ve been taught to respect my superiors.

BEEP!

I looked down at my pipbuck and a small message appeared in my EFS saying “Sync Complete”. This was followed by the suit segmenting so I could step inside. I smiled and stepped into my new suit. I threaded my legs into each leg until my pudge settled onto the armoured belly. I felt a pressure around my left foreleg as the suit’s armour closed around my pipbuck. The armour segments repositioned themselves and settled into place, sealing my inside the protective suit.

The elder put on a serious look for a moment. “We are aware of you desertion from the Pondale Rangers and the order that had been issued for you to be shot on sight which is the penalty for such acts by the late Elder Stanier”

My ears drooped and I cringed as she reminded me.

She then smiled softly which seemed to put me at ease. “You don’t have to worry about that Longshot. We aren’t the same as the Steel Rangers. Thanks to our late elder Steelhooves he managed to reform the Steel Rangers to support what Applejack had originally intended for them to be and we are keeping to that code. I’ve come to extend to you an invitation to join us”

I smiled in relief as I was safe with the Applejack Rangers. I had a moment of thought before I answered. “We have some important work to do and I not long ago since had a foal. After we are not under threat of the Krogoth I’ll happily join the Applejack Rangers”

“You can still be one of us and still work on your own initiative. All we ask is you keep to our code and not miss use our conduct”

“Oh, then in that case, sure I’ll be happy to join you”

She smiled. “Then in the power invested in me I here by return to you your position as Paladin” She raised her hoof for a shake. “Welcome to the Applejack Rangers, Paladin Longshot”

I placed my armoured red lined hoof against her’s and began to shake. “Thank you Elder…” I stopped as I didn’t know her name.

“Oh, my apologies, I am Elder McNamare” She introduced herself with a slight bow of her head.

“Thank you Elder McNamare, I won’t disappoint you”

“Don’t worry about that Longshot; you have a lot on your plate as it is at the moment with that robot your trying to stop. Your coltfriend told me everything about it. We don’t have the pony power at the moment to take something like that on, we do realise how much of a threat it is so we are trying to grow our numbers while still trying to do what we can for the ponies of the wasteland”

I nodded while also blushing as she called Motor Runner my coltfriend. Oh goddesses, I want that to be true.

“It was a pleasure meeting you Paladin Longshot. Good luck in your fight against the machine” She began to turn to leave. “Oh and Zyon, thank you for the repair work you did the other day” And with that she left the armoury.

“She seemed nice” I said as I turned to see Zyon. He nodded in reply. I ignited my horn with my white colourless magic as I began to pick up all my gear and levitated it to my large storage units built onto the flanks of my armour. After all my stuff was packed in and re-registered in my pipbuck’s sorting spell I brought over This Machine and began to strap the harness back on. It took me a few minutes of fiddling to get the harness to sit right on my back so the huge ass rifle would sit between the storage units.

Zyon chuckled. “Be careful when you turn a corner in here, with that gun barrel sticking out so far you might take a pony’s head off”

I looked up the length of the gun barrel where it ended in the huge flared golden muzzle and giggled myself. It stuck out a few feet ahead of me alright and it would certainly knock an unsuspecting pony out if they walked into it or I clobbered them with it by accident.

“Are you all set?”

“Yeah, let’s go”

I followed my friend through the stable all the way back outside to meet a pony who would be flying us to a spot where we would be walking from to avoid raising Zeta’s suspicion. It was heart warming to see some of these ponies who I had never met before show me some compassion as I passed by. Some asked if I was ok, some asked about Blueberry and some welcomed me to the Applejack Rangers.

As we climbed back out onto street level the sun had set and it was dark outside but it wasn’t how I remembered it. Before the sky was entirely covered by a thick cloud layer but now there were no clouds. I sat down on my rump and just stared out into the endless black abyss above me. Luckily I’ve had seventeen years living in the wasteland so I’m used to the endlessness of the sky above since I’ve been lucky enough to see the sky beyond the clouds a few times. I’ve heard some funny stories of how some stable dwellers when they were fresh from the stable having a fear that they might float off the floor and out into the endless sky. What made me sit and stare at the majesty of what I could see was the beautiful artwork painted onto the inky blackness. Hundreds of twinkling stars lit up the night sky in some of the most beautiful patterns I’ve ever seen and the light of the full moon lit up the sky almost like a sun with how strong the light was.

“Wow, the night is beautiful” I cooed.

“Yeah, since the Central SPP Tower was activated the cloud cover has been breaking up. I think its being reset to be more natural”

“That’s wonderful” I said as it would be a welcome change to not be greeted by endless clouds in the mornings.

An armoured pegasus approached us. His armour was of the Enclave but it had been repainted to have the Applejack Ranger markings. “Zyon and Paladin Longshot?” He asked.

I nodded. “That’s us”

“Oh good, my name is Wirblewind. I’ve been assigned to take you to your destination”

“Wait, Wirblewind? As in Motor Runner’s chariot flyer?”

He nodded. “Before he awakened the machine he told me I should seek out the Applejack Rangers”

I nodded with understanding as he led us to the same chariot he once pulled and what we arrived in.

“Now that the Enclave is practically no longer a problem I will be able to fly at my full speed so getting you to the fields outside Saddleworth shouldn’t take too long” He said as he strapped himself into the chariot’s harness.

“That’s good, I don’t want to be away for too long” I said as I opened the door and let Zyon in first before I climbed in.

Once we were comfortably seated he took off. I felt myself being pushed into the back seat with his acceleration as he zoomed up into the sky pulling us behind him. As we sailed into the sky I couldn’t help but look down at the disappearing street and the ponyhole cover in which Stable 24 is and my baby. Blueberry, mummy is going to come back, you’re my light in the darkness.

XXXXX

We had only been in the air for about an hour before we had to land. Wirblewind was definitely fast. I think if he pushed himself just a bit harder he could break the sound barrier. We landed in a dirty barren landscape. I guess this area used to be farmland before the bombs poisoned the land and killed off most of the crops. The grass here was a sickly brown and looked like it’ll turn to dust with the slightest of touches.

“We need to head down that way” Zyon said as he pointed a hoof to our left. I could just about see some dark shapes in the distance plus a small red light that was high above the ground.

“Will you be alright on your own here?” I asked our pilot.

“I’ll be fine” He assured me as he activated his suit’s plasma rifles.

With a nod to him I turned with Zyon and began to walk towards the red light.

“Zeta lives in a hospital that is beyond the fields. That light is the radio tower on top of it”

We walked over a hill and began to walk down the other side when an old wooden fence came into view. In the light of the moon I could see that the fence extended for miles either way with multiple divisions to break up the land for different crops. Wow this must have been one huge farm.

We walked for a good half an hour with nothing but the silence of the night to keep us company and the crunch of the dead grass as we got closer and closer to the dead city on the opposite side of the fields. The walk was pretty much uneventful as everything was so still. I don’t think my EFS has ever been so clear for so long.

“Oh look, I sign” I said as an old rusty sign post came into view.

I walked up to the sign and looked over the rusty image and what text was still readable.

“Warning Mines” The sign said with a picture of a Stable-Pony tip hoofing over three mines.

“A minefield” I almost yelled.

There was a beep and my EFS alerted me to finding a new location. “Saddleworth Minefield”

“Sorry Apple, the whole hospital is surrounded by mines”

“How are we supposed to get past this?”

“There is a safe route about three miles to the north but it’ll take us around a day to get through the city to the hospital going that way”

“We don’t have the time to be away that long”

“I know. That’s why I’m leading. With my training I can lightly step through the field. I can mark or disable the traps and mines I come across so you’ll have a safe path”

“How long will it take to get through the field?”

“Shouldn’t take us more than an hour if I keep a good pace while searching for the traps”

“Hmm, ok, I’ll follow several paces behind. I trust you Zyon” I said putting my confidence in his abilities.

He smiled at that. “Thanks”

We crossed a dividing fence and stepped into the minefield. I was able to see some of the mines that were not buried as I could see the orange light on them to show they were armed. I even saw the bones of some poor ponies that had ventured onto the field and met their fates. But judging from the number of bones lying around this minefield has plenty of hidden traps. Zyon drew his sword as he slowly looked around the ground in front of him. The pace was slow but it was needed to be for this. Every now and then he would stop and bend down to deactivate a mine that was in our path or use his sword to trigger a bear trap. I so wouldn’t like to step in one of those.

It took us about half an hour to get around three quarters of the way through the field. The hospital was coming into view and so was the dead city. It wouldn’t be that much longer now. Zyon was a little further ahead. He was doing a wonderful job in finding the traps.

I placed my left fore hoof into a deep grassy bit as I walked and I felt my hoof step on something hard. Oh no. In the blink of an eye a set of steel jaws slammed shut around my left leg. They clamed down hard on my pipbuck with such force that the casing dented slightly.

“Ah shit” I screamed as I looked down at the razor sharp jaws of death clamped on my leg. Fuck, if it wasn’t for my pipbuck I think those things would have taken my leg clean off. There is something funny about this bear trap though.

“Apple, you alright?” Zyon asked as he came back.

“Yeah I’m fine, just had a bear trap clamp down on my leg. Help me out of it”

I began to pull my left leg to try and pull it out. Zyon slipped his unbreakable sword between the teeth and tried to use it like a lever to force open the steel jaws. The jaws of the trap began to glow with a dark blue light and I could feel my pipbuck beginning to squeeze my leg. It was as if the jaws were getting tighter.

“Oh shit” Zyon cried out when he noticed the glow.

The glass of my pipbuck screen cracked when I looked up to meet his gaze. “What is it?”

“That’s and Ursa Trap” He exclaimed.

“A what?”

“It’s a magically enchanted bear trap that was meant to capture something and not let go unless you knew the spell to remove the enchantment”

My eyes went wide with fear and in a panic I began to jerk my leg. I am not going to stand around here for-fucking-ever.

“Appletart stop”

“Get my out of this thing” I screamed in fear.

The more I struggled the tighter the trap gripped. Pain began to fill my leg as the jaws continued to close around my pipbuck. The pipbuck was designed to survive great punishment but they weren’t indestructible. I can’t get out of my armour as the pipbuck is sealed around my leg plus its connected with the armour and with it stuck in the trap I can’t move.

“Stop struggling, you’ll make it worse”

I couldn’t hear him; I was panicking and thrashing my leg.

My EFS began to go fuzzy as I began to get error messages from it before finally the screen exploded and my pipbuck died. I was now screaming in pain with how tightly the trap was squeezing my leg. I was loosing all focus from the pain filling my mind.

“Argh fuck, get it off, get it off” I screamed in agony.

I could feel the trap was now cutting off my circulation from how hard it was squeezing my ruined pipbuck against my leg. I don’t know if it is the pain filling my head but I think I can hear my leg bone cracking.

“Cut it off, oh fuck, cut it off” I screamed

“Cut what off?”

“My leg! Cut my leg off, argh fuck”

The pain was just too great, I couldn’t focus. I just had to get out of it and I didn’t care how.

“I’m not cutting your leg off” Zyon yelled in fear as he looked around the trap to see if there was another way.

“DO IT” I screamed in absolute agony. This pain was worse than my labour pain.

Zyon stood with his sword clenched for a minute or two as his mind combated with his emotions to do what he was being asked to do by me and what was right. He knew there was only one option.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I let you down, this is my fault, I should have seen that trap” He apologised as he turned his head ready for to strike.

“Please, I can’t bear it anymore” I cried. Tears of pain streaming down my face as the trap continued to squeeze my leg.

He closed his eyes and swung his sword. The blade cut cleanly through my leg from above the knee, above the ruined pipbuck. As soon as the blade cut through and separated me from my leg I toppled over onto my right side next to him. I was still in agony but I couldn’t feel that horrible squeezing sensation on my leg. As I wasn’t being tortured about the squeezing pain anymore I managed to regain some focus but upon seeing my leg still in the trap my mind went blank and I collapsed completely. My vision faded until it was black as I fainted.

Author's Notes:

I hope you have enjoyed this latest installment. Thank you for waiting.

Edit: I've reviewed the chapter and corrected any mistakes I came across.