(When I uploaded this chapter I had forgotten to put the end onto it. I was suppose to finish with a final scene with the Krogoth but forgot. That has now been corrected and added. I apologies for the screw up and I please urge readers who have already read the chapter to re-read the ending)

Fallout Equestria
Broken Steel

Chapter 19: Broken

The Krogoth was walking up a beaten old road. Its massive hooves totally demolishing the road as its extreme weight crushed and crumpled up what remained of the cracked and damaged road way. The machine had detected an old Equestrian Military beacon coming from what the machine had managed to identify as being Fort Battalion. The machine’s memory housed information of all of Equestria’s military outposts and their specialties and Fort Battalion specialised in long range weaponry and as memory served, the Krogoth knew that Battalion had a forty six centimetre artillery cannon in its grounds. The Krogoth felt that it could benefit from having an artillery cannon as it could then attack targets from range rather than get close to prevent taking damage and it would be better than using the missiles as there is a chance the missiles could be shot down as it witnessed during its battle with Raptor Atlas.

The road lead the machine to a fork in the road and the road to the fort branched off to the machine’s right. The machine looked down at the large road sign that would indicate which way the roads would lead and the machine’s eyes seemed to focus solely on the name of the town which the road still heading straight would lead to.

“Uddersfield…” The voice of Short Circuit said as if in remembrance.

“Warning, system failure, unable to comply” An automated warning sounded as the Krogoth began to move away from the right hoof road to continue following the road up to the town of Uddersfield.

The Krogoth couldn’t understand why the town seemed to hold great importance to it but it felt compelled to go there. Like some unknown force was now driving it there. Short Circuit is as much of the Krogoth’s mind as she is the machine. When the Krogoth absorbed Short Circuit it unwittingly acquired her soul and memories of her loved ones and Uddersfield turned out to her home town.

XXXXX

Applejack Ranger Monitoring Station Beta

Before and after the battles that the two Ranger factions fought in the Applejack Rangers who now strive to help the ponies of the wasteland began to setup monitoring stations so they could observe the wasteland and help to direct their efforts to places that would need their support. With some help from technical ponies and permission from Homage/DJ-PON3 they connected their equipment to the SSP Towers so they could use their camera systems.

As part of their job to help ponies some Rangers would monitor potential threats and record their movements to help better prepare the Rangers that would later be sent to deal with the threat and since these Rangers picked up the Krogoth walking along the M66 Carriage Way they had been keeping a close eye on it. They have been taking shifts watching the machine as it walked up the old road and predicted that it was heading for the old Fort that was further up the road and the information they had received about the machine’s ability to improve itself helped to solidify their belief that it was heading there.

“Sir, its changed course”

“It’s what?”

“It’s heading for the ruins of Uddersfield now”

“That doesn’t make any sense, there is nothing there”

“I share your disbelief sir”

“Hmm, do you think there could be something hidden there?”

“No idea sir but I’ll keep watching to see what the machine does next when it arrives”

“Very good, keep me informed”

“Yes sir”

The Applejack Rangers of Monitoring Station Beta were stumped as to why the almighty robot was wasting its time heading to the old town but they continued to monitor its progress. If there was something there then they would know what the machine had found if it uncovers anything and prepare themselves for it.

As the machine continued to walk the Ranger on duty began to notice some idle movement on the machine. He noticed that every weapon was moving independently. The machine gun was rotating anywhere from twenty degrees to a hundred and eighty degrees and its gun barrels were tilting up or down. Its massive railgun pontoons were tilting up and down slightly and also pivoting left and right by ten degrees each. The missile pods were rotating from between fifty degrees to doing complete three hundred and sixty degrees in both clockwise and anti-clockwise rotations and was also tilting the pods up slightly or bringing them down level. The fourth weapon which had morphed into its AA railgun was doing the same in rotating as the missile pods but its gun barrels were always kept at a high angle.

“Hmm, all its weapons are moving. This could make it difficult to do the swarming option. Wait…”

The Ranger leaned forward and noticed how the missile pods were failing to tilt down, making it impossible for the machine to launch its missiles at ground targets within a certain range.

“Hmm, maybe if we get in close we can get under its weapons”

He then noticed how the tail was moving. Unlike the sentry drones that have cosmetic tails the tail of the Krogoth was bobbing up and down as it walked but it also did what the Ranger was not expecting. It was twitching and flicking about like a real pony tail. This struck the Ranger as odd and he made sure to make a note of that while also making a note on making the tail itself marked as a weapon. With the tail’s free movement it could easily be used as a weapon. For all he knew it already had been used. The tail end could make an effective wrecking ball.

“I really hope those ponies that told us about this thing really know how to kill it” He said to himself with fear in his voice.

XXXXX

Uddersfield. Once a peaceful town known for its bovine population and dairy products. Now it was just a dead and empty ghost town. The town was mostly run down with almost all of its buildings empty shells with no floors or roofs. Its tallest buildings were mostly tower block apartments and one or two office buildings in the town centre. Beside the tower blocks and the offices the only other large buildings were old mills which most had collapsed due to age. Everything else was small two to five story buildings that were mostly homes. The Krogoth took interest in just one of these homes, a small semi-detached house that sat next to the town’s canal with its back garden extended all the way to the water’s edge.

The machine was unaware of the SPP Tower cameras watching it from afar as the machine stood in front of the old home. The blue magical glow from between its armour plates faded as the Light Bee dropped down from its dock. When the small diamond shaped device reached the ground it began to glow and a wire frame pony appeared before it’s solidified into Short Circuit who stared at the house with a mixture of emotions. She was confused, happy, scared and conflicted as she looked upon the grimy old and rotten structure.

“I’m home, but, what happened?” She asked herself. The electronic edge to her voice vacant as she spoke.

Inside the crusader chamber in the Krogoth’s heavily armoured chest, several of the monitors were flashing with system failure warning and system lockdowns. Whatever had happened upon seeing the word “Uddersfield” on that road sign had triggered something in Short Circuit’s consciousness. The Krogoth knew it was Short Circuit who was in control of everything at the moment. It knew that because when it stole her mind it ripped out everything that made her her. It had managed to keep her locked out but seeing “Uddersfield” on that sign had somehow managed to give Short Circuit’s mind the strength to overcome the Krogoth’s mental control. The Krogoth was working tirelessly in trying to regain control. With Short Circuit in control at the moment the machine was completely open and since she didn’t know how to use anything of its mechanical body all its weapons were offline. Leaving the machine completely open and vulnerable.

“You can not remain in control Short Circuit, your apart of me and must not interfere”

The hologram froze as she reached the open front door and began to look around as if she heard the Krogoth’s voice. She didn’t see anything but the dead and rotten houses and heard nothing but the eerie dead silence and the gentle howl of the wind as it passed through the open windows of the house. Not seeing or hearing anything that could have spoke to her she continued into her old home.

“Her emotions are at an all time high; these emotions are somehow overriding my mental blocks”

The hologram walked through the open door. She looked around and cringed as she saw black mould and two hundred years of grime coating the walls. Her mouth was agape as she saw all the rubble and litter covering the floor along with damaged old furniture. She began to explore the house. She was lucky that all the doors were either flat on the floor or had been broken into splinters as her mind would have likely shutdown if she saw how her hoof would have gone through the door. The whole house was a tip. There was little to no memorabilia in any of the rooms on the ground floor as the elements have rotten them to almost nothingness. She was a little creeped out as when she walked up the stairs she didn’t hear her hoof falls and she didn’t hear the old rotten wood staircase creak as it should have done with a pony walking up it. She made sure to keep as close to the wall as she could as she walked up the stairs as the banister had fallen away leaving some nasty sharp looking wooden spikes where the support beams would have been for the banister.

The upstairs wasn’t as bad as the downstairs in some areas with little mould and grime but her old room and the bathroom were inaccessible as the roof had fallen in leaving rubble bulging out the doorframes. The only room that was still intact on the first floor was her parent’s room. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she might find and then walked through the open door. The room was practically untouched despite the grime. Everything was where she remembered but her gaze ended up locking onto the king-size bed in the middle of the room. Two black skeletons, one with the tattered remains of a nightie on it lay on the bed. Short Circuit fell to her haunches as she looked at the two entwined skeletons.

“M-mummy, D-daddy” She whimpered, her eyes filling with illusionary tears.

She stared at the bodies of her mother and father for a good half and hour before she finally made herself move. She had cried but it left no mark as her tears were not real. Mentally exhausted from the realisation of the reality of the world and the loss of her family she got up and began to move out the door until a little shine caught her eye. She turned to look back at the bed and noticed a pristine piece of paper lying in the hoofs of the body of her mother. Gathering what courage she could to she approached the bed and leaned over to view the paper and began to read.

“Dear Sweetheart,

We are so sorry we were not there for you when Pinkie Pie took you away. I blame myself for what happened and I have wished I was a better mother to you. I hated myself even more when Applejack came to us, telling us about the accident that left you brain dead. I wanted to see you but I couldn’t bring myself to go see you. A part of me died when I received that news. Your father had been a saint from the start of this mess. He supported me through everything even though I was tearing us apart from my grief.

It finally happened. The zebras launched their balefire bombs. The world is ending all around us and we never got accepted into a Stable. Me and your father took an overdose of pills so we will die before the bombs kill us. I’m writing this so that I can give this to you in the afterlife. To show you that I am sorry for how things turned out.

We’ll see you on the other side.

Love.

Mummy and Daddy”

The letter had been written on age proof paper and had remained in her mother’s hooves since the end of the world. More distraught and crying a fresh wave of tears she noticed the bottles of pills they had used. With her emotions now spent the Krogoth was starting to get through. The hologram began to flicker as Short Circuit faded out and then reappeared but her forehead now had a K on it to symbolise the Krogoth’s control.

“Finally. I will have to strengthen my psychic blocks to prevent a recurrence”

The hologram left the old house and dissolved back into the light bee and returned to the Krogoth.

“Now to resume what I had originally planned. Fort Battalion is now an extra five miles away. This little, unplanned, detour has cost me valuable time”

Now fully in control again the machine turned around and began to head for the old fort.

XXXXX

Monitoring Station Beta

The camera systems of the tower picked up the machine’s movement and alerted the pony on monitoring duty.

“Sir, it’s moving again”

“Is it heading for the fort again?”

“Yes sir”

“Right, contact Stable 24; they’ll need to know about this”

“Shall I tell them what we think it’s going to do?”

“Yes. They’ll want to know any possible reasons why its going there”

XXXXX

Oh man what a nightmare that was. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a realistic dream before in my entire life. It felt so real, the pain and everything. Why can I still remember it with such clarity?

My eyes were still closed as I began to wake up from my sleep. When and where I fell asleep I can’t recall, hmm, odd. I lifted my left fore hoof and brought it to my forehead. A sudden headache shot through my head from my horn as my hoof collided with my horn. Dear goddesses that hurt. I’ve hit my head with my hoof before and they never hurt that much before. Oh wait don’t tell me I fell asleep with my armour on.

I opened my eyes and was immediately treated to an unfamiliar sight. A very creepy sight if you ask me. The room was dark and quiet. As I looked around I saw numerous racks with all manners of synthetic legs and other body parts hanging from them. It was really dark in here, so dark in fact that I could barely see my own hoof in front of my face but their was enough natural light coming in from the… barred up window that looked like a prison window… that it illuminated the synthetics in dark with long shadows.

Ok, I’m starting to feel really creeped out here. What the smeg is going on? I looked around but still could barely see anything but the dark shadows of the limbs. Oh, wait, I’m a unicorn duh. I concentrated on my horn, channelling my magic into it and causing it to glow like a light bulb. My magical aura around my horn shone brightly, casting much of the room in my white magical light. That’s better; I can see now but now it’s even creepier as there weren’t just a few limbs hanging from racks, there was hundreds.

“Holy shit” I said out loud. I felt like I was in a horror flick with me lying on a hospital bed in the middle of some sort of medical room surrounded by hundreds of mechanical body parts.

I lifted my left fore hoof again. As my leg raised I had my eyes cast to the window and I could see that it was night outside and the moon was just hiding behind a building in the distance that shielded the room from the moon’s light. As my leg rose I heard an odd whirring sound which I didn’t pay much attention to. I put my hoof to my forehead and froze upon feeling the cold solid metal press against my head. I blinked and looked down at my body, seeing that I was out of my armour.

“What the hell?”

I then looked to my left foreleg and my heart stopped in my chest as my eyes were glued to the skeletal looking mechanical leg where my organic leg was suppose to be. I did what any mare what have done in this situation. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Moments later a set of double doors burst open and Zyon slid across the floor and crashed into a rack of synthetics and caused an avalanche and he was buried under them. He burst out from the pile of limbs and looked over at me with shock and surprise in his eyes.

“Appletart, are you alright?” He asked.

“Am I alright?” I screamed at him and pointed the robotic leg at him. How I was controlling it at the moment was beyond me but I didn’t care at this moment in time. “What the fuck do you think?”

“I’m sorry” He said looking down in shame.

“What the fuck happened to me?” I screamed.

“You don’t remember?”

I blinked and sat in thought. As I though the dream came back in full force. Oh, that wasn’t a dream, that actually happened to me.

“You stepped into an Ursa Trap I failed to see and it was crushing your leg and you told me to cut it off. I did it as it was also the only way to free you from the trap”

I cringed as I remembered that part. Oh that was definitely the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I looked back down at what is now my left leg.

“But what the fuck is this?” I cried.

“That would be a C9-03 prosthetic limb with working servos and motors for realistic leg movement” A slightly electronic female voice said from the doors. I turned my head and I saw a brown earth pony mare with a short but curly cream mane and tail who stood a hoof taller than Zyon standing in the doorway.

Zyon pulled himself out of the mess and walked over to the mare.

“Appletart, meet Zeta. She’s the one that gave you back your leg”

I blinked in confusion.

“You’re Zeta?” I asked in confusion as I had been told that she was to be a bio-mechanism.

“That is correct” She said as she entered the room fully and approached the bed I was sat on.

“But you don’t look like a… err…” I trailed off as I didn’t know if she’d take offence to being called a bio-mechanism or a robot or whatever.

Zyon leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear and she nodded. She closed her eyes and suddenly her entire body began to glow brightly before the light faded. As the light faded a complete robotic pony stood before me. I noticed many small little domes all over her body and I figured they were hologram emitters. Of course, she has emitters to hide her robotic body. I rolled my eyes at how obvious that observation was. However I was still not ready for what I saw.

I eeped and jumped back slightly from what I saw. After I calmed down from the fright I pointed my synthetic at her.

“You did this?” I asked in an unintentionally accusing tone.

She nodded. “Yes”

“How is it that I can move it as if I’ve had it my entire life?” I almost barked the question, still in shock at waking up with it.

She reverted to having her body hidden by her holographic body again. The lips of her muzzle curled up as she smiled. I guess she likes questions that are technical.

“The leg was already pre-calibrated for a unicorn mare of the same build and age as you. The leg although small houses numerous magical receptors that gauge and monitor your natural magical flow as it pulses throughout your body. The leg would have needed calibrating if it was just a standard C9. While you were unconscious from the trauma of the accident I connected the leg to your stump and made sure that your nervous system was integrated so your body would send the movement commands it would need. The magical receptors also helped control the leg. The calibrations allow for the leg to be controlled in such a fashion that the flow of your magic can govern how sensitive it reacts. Your magic will flow at different rates depending on your mood and emotions and your emotions can also apply strength to the leg” She explained.

“So, not only is my brain controlling it but also my magic?”

“That is correct, count yourself lucky. The last pony that I made a replacement leg for had to learn how to walk all over again”

“We know” Me and Zyon said at practically the same time.

“Ah so I guess you have met mister Scrapheap or Motor Runner as he said he preferred to be called now”

“Yeah, he’s actually apart of our group”

“Is he? I thought he would be with that machine he was restoring”

“That is why we are here actually” I said looking at her with a serious expression.

“We were hoping you might be able to help us in trying to stop that machine” Zyon finished.

“With your knowledge of mechanical and computer systems we were hoping that you might be able to help”

“You want to stop it? You mean he’s not in control of it?”

“The machine turned against him, apparently it had stolen the mind of a pony before the bombs fell” Zyon explained.

“I see, that mind gave it free will in a way didn’t it?”

“Yea, but its adamant in following its creators wish but the mission it was given was flawed so it’s going about it the wrong way”

“I see, I don’t have to go with you to fight it do I?” She asked, clearly afraid of leaving the hospital. Thankfully I knew of her fear of being around groups of ponies because of what she is.

“No”

“Well in that case. Motor Runner had told me some of the things that are in it such as its scanner systems from Robronco. I would be able to fashion a signal jammer that would block its EFS”

“Hmm with a jammer like that we would be able to get close to the machine without it seeing us on its radar that would work nicely”

“However I can not build the jammer with what I have here. You would need to scavenge the parts I require from in the city. There is an electronic superstore about a mile down the road from here going towards the city centre. I will provide you with a list of what I would need”

“Well I guess we can go shopping”

“But first, I must finish your leg, that’s just the basic skeletal form. Now that you are awake I can add some extra features and an armoured casing to protect it”

“Oh, ok” I said, clearly nervous.

“If you’ll just follow me” Zeta said as she turned around and began to walk out the room.

Me and Zyon followed our host out of the recovery room and began to follow her up a long corridor. It was creepy dark in here. The hallway was so thick with shadows I felt like something was going to jump out at me at any second. I walked close to Zyon, so close in fact that occasionally my large rump would brush up against him. I blushed at the contact but that then reignited a question I had in my head.

“Where’s my armour?”

“Huh, oh, it’s where we are going now actually”

“Oh good”

The walk was short but I was well and truly scared in this place. The low lighting just cast deep dark shadows everywhere making for a scary environment. The unfamiliar metallic click of my metal hoof along with my normal soft clip clop of my organic hooves added to the uneasy feeling and my anxiety. I breathed a sigh of relief as we came to a brightly lit room. My ears drooped to the sides of my head as I saw the glowing blue sign just hanging from the ceiling in front of the door. “Operating Theatre”

The operating theatre was indeed brightly lit from several ceiling lights along with the spotlight thing that hangs from the ceiling and is kept low to keep the body fully illuminated so the doctors and nurses could work on the patient without any loss of light. However, despite the light the room was dirty as fuck with dried up blood stains, mostly on the bed, and two hundred years of grime clinging to most of the surfaces. I visibly shuddered at the room and like the corridor it too was scaring me. Along with all the shit, it was also filled with synthetics and lots of medical gear. My eyes were darting from one to the next. I could see saws, scalpels, tweezers, knives, scissors and even power tools that included things like drills and buzzsaws that made the operating theatre look more like a garage workshop.

“Holy Celestia” I moaned sitting on my haunches as I stared at all the gruesome things in the room.

Zeta stepped up to a table that held several pieces of armour like segments as she seemed to look over the materials.

“Can you lie down on the operating table please” Zeta asked in a firm commanding tone.

I quickly did as she commanded but I laid down looking for a good spot that wasn’t coated in dried blood. I laid down and shivered from my nervousness.

“Do you want anything special for your leg at all?” She asked as a pair of small robotic arms extended from out the base of her holographic neck. Now that was creepy. The arms opened a pair of small claw like hands as they picked up a pair of armour segment.

“Oh no, please, I just want my leg back” I answered while looking down at the horrific black metal limb.

“Very well, now, Zyon, the knockout drink if you please” Zeta said in the same commanding tone.

“Knockout drink?” I asked with fear gripping my words.

“Of course, the process in connecting the panelling and internal systems and other items will be painful and the seal would be excruciatingly painful” She explained matter-of-factly.

Oh fuck…

“Here Apple, drink this” Zyon said as he held a flask in his hooves near my muzzle.

“Will I feel anything?” I asked scared to drink it.

“No, you’ll fall asleep in seconds and wake up a few hours later feeling refreshed” He told me with a knowing and reassuring smile.

I stared at his reassuring smile and it gave me the confidence to take the flask in my magic and drink the contents of the flask. I was expecting something that would taste absolutely foul but actually is tasted rather nice and of apples of all things. At first I felt nothing but then a creeping sensation began to spread from my stomach to all parts of my body. The sensation devolved into pins and needles which only seemed to get worse which also made me panic. I was about to throw myself off the table and run but that was when I realised my limbs wouldn’t work. I began to look around in panic but my vision began to darken and blackness was creeping in around my eyes before finally everything went black and I feel into a deep sleep.

XXXXX

I yawned and sat up feeling like I’ve had a good night sleep. I actually felt good as I sat up in bed, however my good feeling evaporated when I opened my eyes and found myself in the recovery room I was in the last time I woke up but it was now bathed in the orange glow of the rising sun. The orange light of the sun bathed the room in a new light which made it seem less scary and more hideous with dirt and grime that the darkness hid.

I looked to the barred window and smiled as I saw the rising sun peeking over the distant hills beyond the city. Since the birth of my baby girl, hope she’s doing ok, is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. As I stared out into the distance, watching the rays of orange sun light crossing the skies I moved my forelegs so they’d cross and rest together and that’s when I felt the cold metal of my recently rebuilt left foreleg.

I cringed and shivered at the cold smooth feeling it gave. I gulped and steeled my nerves as I slowly looked down to my left leg. What I saw was not what I was expecting. I was expecting something bulky looking with exposed joints and odd shapes like some of the synthetics I was seeing around me but this leg looked like a natural foreleg despite the grooves between the metal plates, some identifying markings and where it joins my organic body. I stared at the join; it looked absolutely awful and repulsive. I can see why Motor Runner has stuck to wearing his suit to keep it hidden. As I stared at it I couldn’t help myself as I lifted my right organic hoof and began to stroke down my leg until my hoof brushed over the join. It felt smooth and almost natural but it certainly didn’t look it. I can only guess Zeta did the same pink cloud thing that Motor Runner had mentioned. Where the steel met flesh it was warped and twisted so that it seemed the flesh and metal was one in the same. There was no way this leg was going to come off by someone tugging it unless they intended to rip out the rest of my left leg with it. While I examined it I noticed something that caught my as strange. There were no joints to allow my leg to bend and flex. Come to think of it, neither does Motor Runner’s. I gingerly began to lift my new leg and to my surprise it began to flex and bend. I could see the metal stretching and compressing as if it was made of rubber but was still solid to the touch.

“How is this possible?” I asked myself, blissfully unaware that Zyon was standing in the doorway.

“Do you like it?” He asked which made me jump.

I literally jumped clean up from the bed and fell backwards off the bed and landed on my back on the floor with a girly eep.

“Argh shit, Zyon you tosser, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I screamed.

“Sorry Apple, are you ok?” He asked as he offered a hoof to help me up.

I reached up with my left synthetic leg and took his hoof. Our hooves stuck together and as I got back onto my hooves I couldn’t pull it away.

“What the fuck?” I asked trying to tug my hoof off. “I can’t let go”

“It must be the magnet”

“What magnet? Whoa…” I shrieked as suddenly my hoof separated from Zyon’s and I found myself back on my ass.

“C’mon, Zeta is waiting for us”

I grumbled to myself as I picked myself back up and began to follow my striped friend back to the operating theatre, oh goddesses, to meet Zeta.

Zeta was standing by my armour which now had a new left foreleg which had a hole in the lower leg area where my pipbuck would have been but as I looked down at my leg again I saw that I didn’t have a pipbuck so what was the hole for?

Zeta looked up as we entered the goddess awful room.

“Ah Appletart, how do you feel?” She asked as she turned towards me.

“I feel ok thank you” I replied with a half smile as I also didn’t feel very comfortable in here.

“And how is the leg?”

“It looks ok, I’m sorry I don’t really know how to describe it. This is all new to me”

“I understand. Now I suppose your wondering about what I’ve done with it”

“Actually, yeah, I would like to know how it’s bending without visible joints and why my hoof stuck to Zyon’s when he helped me up”

She smiled as she sat down. “I installed some useful features that you’ll most likely need along with some things that would help to replicate the natural elements that you would have lost with your organic leg. You have a magical magnet in the sole of your new hoof. This magnet will react to your magic and simulate the natural pony magic to allow you to pick up items with your hoof or grip onto something. To make the leg look and feel natural the armoured casing concealing everything had been magically treated to be flexible as if it was flesh and still retain its resilience. The special items I installed include a built in pipbuck, when you wish to view it, it will open a panel on your leg and extend out for you to use. I must activate it before you go by the way…”

I guess that explains why I have no EFS right now then if I have this pipbuck installed.

“…You have a grappling claw. That would be three extendable claws that will dig into the floor or whatever surface you attempt to grabble, be it concrete, steel…flesh and it was meant as an extra means in case your magical magnet isn’t enough. Finally I have given you a regeneration talisman. The talisman will regenerate any injuries you sustain to your organic body. As standard your leg also contains the repair spell that your armour uses so you can repair the damage to your leg from being in contact with scrap metal or materials”

She took a simulated breath.

“Now, any questions before I activate your pipbuck?”

“Umm, yeah, how the fuck do I even use any of that?”

She looked at me as if I was stupid.

“The same way you’ve been using your leg. It’s all controlled by your synaptic signals through your brain. It will do as you think. It was built to simulate that of an organic leg and function in the same way. The spell to repair it will activate automatically and your pipbuck will appear when you want to it to. You just have to think it and it will happen. For the first few times it may be slow or unresponsive but that would be natural until you get used to it. It’s quite simple really”

Quite simple my ass.

“I bet it is” I said under my breath with a roll of my eyes when she wasn’t looking.

“Now, bring out your pipbuck so I can activate it”

I lifted my leg and twisted it as if I was going to look at my pipbuck. I notice a rectangle in where the screen would be. I took a moment to think about it. I concentrated on wanting to view my pipbuck and to my surprise the panel sunk into my leg and slid back to reveal a pipbuck screen plus buttons and the scroll wheel as it then lifted out. I gasped in surprise as it worked. Ok, it was exciting, but also weird.

Zeta stepped forward with her freaky neck arms out. I turned my head so I didn’t have to look at those things sticking out of her holographic neck. I swear that image will haunt my dreams.

I heard the little mechanical noises of the arms moving and then I heard a beep come my leg. Suddenly my vision flashed with familiar text from an EFS.

“Pipbuck start up sequence initiated for new user… Please stand by”

Suddenly my vision was assaulted by line up on line of text that was just gibberish. It took about ten minutes before it finally stopped. I had to blink my eyes rapidly to get the ghost images of text out of my vision before one last line of text appeared.

“Thank you for choosing Stable-Tec, Appletart”

After that the familiar compass, threat detector, health gauge and weapon condition and ammo gauge settled into my lower vision. There was a quick flash of the rad meter in my upper right before it faded and then in my upper left it shown a picture of a Stable-Filly instead of the Stable-Colt which told me that my pipbuck was all set.

Zeta said she’d meet us by the entrance after I had finished giving my leg a work out and got back into my armour. It strangely felt as if I never lost it but it was obvious it wasn’t natural though. I could feel pressure when I put my hoof down which also had a thin rubber sole. It was still thin enough to make a metallic clop as I put my hoof down. The grappling claw was the scariest thing I’d ever seen. I held my hoof to the wall and though about deploying it and to my shock and horror three small spikes shot out from the sides of my leg and impaled the wall. The spikes were connected to my leg on two strips of metal which allowed the spikes to extend out from my leg before coming down and digging into whatever I was standing on or had my hoof on. It was scary with how easily the claws dug into the concrete wall. Zyon told me the tips had been made out of Hellhound claws, like Motor Runner’s chainsaw teeth. That grappling claw could be one seriously deadly weapon. I best think carefully before using it.

After getting as used to it as I could for now I donned my armour and retrieved my gear. I moaned to myself as I had to get This Machine’s harness fastened up again around my armour. That harness is so troublesome. Once all dressed again me and Zyon met up with Zeta by the hospital entrance.

“Are you all set?” She asked.

We nodded in response.

“Ok, this list will be all I would need to make the signal jammer. Everything on the list can be found in the electronic goods from the Currys Superstore in the city centre shopping complex”

I snorted a laugh at the name of the electronics store.

“Do be careful out there; past inhabitants have left behind traps before the radiation became too great in most areas of the city. Stick to the path I have marked on your map…” There was a beep from my pipbuck saying that a route had been marked. “…and be careful to avoid the hulking hellhounds”

“Hulking what?”

“I don’t know what they are to be honest. They only just appeared in Saddleworth a few days ago out of nowhere. They look similar to Hellhounds but look far more grotesque, oh and watch out for monkey dog things too”

Zyon and I face hoofed and let out an annoyed groan.

Zeta blinked at us in confusion.

“Am I missing something?”

“Let’s just say we’ve dealt with those things before and it wasn’t pretty”

“Oh well, um, it should only be a ten minute walk if you don’t run into any trouble to the store” She said taking a step back from the door.

“Ok, we’ll see you soon with the things you need and um, thanks for giving me my leg back” I said as I turned and walked out the door and into the light of the sun shining down onto us.

I looked up and smiled warmly. I saw small white fluffy clouds that were tinted orange by the early morning sun lazily drifting in the deep blue sky. The sun itself had cleared the hills and was now casting its golden light down upon the city. I tore my gaze away from the beautiful sky and looked down the road that my direction marker was pointing down and frowned. It was now I realised that the return of Celestia’s sun was also a curse. When the cloud cover dominated the sky it cast a dull tone upon the wasteland, making everything in shades of grey which didn’t look too bad. Now though, the sun with its bright light brought with it a multitude of different colours upon the wastes and none of them good. Where as the cloud cover made everything look dull and grey, the sun made everything look sickly. The sun’s light changed the old palette of grey colour tones to that of every colour associated with death and decay. Browns, yellows, greens, blacks, reds, everything like that all mixed together to form an all new dreadful landscape. It was actually making me want the clouds back.

“C’mon, the sooner we do this the sooner we can go back home. I can’t imagine how Wirbelwind is feeling sitting out there alone right now”

“Oh shit yeah, I hope he’s doing ok out there”

“Let’s hurry, get the stuff and get back to our families”

I blinked for a moment. He’s right, I have a family now. Oh, Blueberry, mummy misses you. Hmm, Sky Fire and Zyon have been my only true friends since my mother died and I guess I see them as also part of my family. Its heart warming to feel that way. I guess only time will tell for Motor Runner. I now had the urge to go back to Stable 24 to see my daughter.

“Yeah, let’s hurry”

With a nod from Zyon we began to gallop. I hadn’t run in power armour in over six months and I was so out of shape I was puffing and panting by the time we got about half way there. I was just about to suggest stopping to rest when suddenly my left fore hoof stuck to the floor and caused me to fall flat on my face and with a loud crash when my armour hit the floor afterwards.

“Argh shit” I screamed in pain since I had landed on my chin. That fucking hurt.

I could just see Zyon through my blurred tear stricken vision trying not to laugh as he stopped. I blinked the tears away and looked to my hoof that was still firmly stuck to the floor. For a minute I thought I stood in something to get my hoof caught on something but then I realised that it wasn’t stuck in anything at all. The damn magnet had triggered and stuck my hoof to the floor. I can see this now being a pain in the flank. I got back up to my hooves and began to pull, trying to dislodge my hoof from the floor.

“C’mon, let go” I moaned and it did. As I was at full strain the magnet released and I flew off my hooves and crashed into a rotted wooden bench that was up against a shop wall and I crashed through the rotten planks and smacked the back of my head against the stone wall. I cried out in agony as I rolled back up onto my hooves. I cried out in pain from the pounding headache I now had from cracking my skull against the wall. As I stood there trying not to cry from the pain I began to feel something warm and wet begin to trickle down the back of my neck before I felt the familiar sting of my armour injecting a healing potion to which the slow trick stopped.

“Oh shit, are you alright?” Zyon asked as he walked over to me looking concerned.

“Hmm, yeah, I’m ok” I said as the potion got rid of the headache.

My crash and burn hadn’t gone unnoticed with the loud crash that had accompanied it. Just a little further up the road a shop door was catapulted off its hinges and sent flying half way down the opposite street and this was followed by something we haven’t seen since New Hope.

“Oh goddesses not these guys again” Zyon whined as he pulled out his sword.

I remember when we first encountered the Sires back in New Hope. They just wouldn’t die unless you mashed up their brains or cut their heads off. These things would be more than a match for any pony who didn’t know how to fight them. The hulking horror was facing the opposite direction, looking up the road as it searched for the noise I made.

I used my magic to pull This Machine from my back and aimed for its hunchback as its head would be on the other side. As I zeroed in on where I believed its head would be it turned around and saw us. Fuck! The monster opened its misshapen mouth and let out a gurgling roar. It was one of those roars that just didn’t sound natural and messed up. I cringed but kept my aim and pulled the trigger. The thunderous boom of my rifle caused the shop window next to me to explode from the sound. The monster’s head exploded, silencing its scream as it toppled backwards and landed in a twitching heap on its back.

We were about to breath a sigh of relief but that was short lived as two more burst of the door from the roar and my weapon’s loud bang. The two other sires saw us and immediately began to charge at us. I chambered a new round but didn’t have time to properly aim and pulled the trigger. A large chunk of one of the sires’ stomach exploded leaving a clear hole. The monster howled in pain and fell over from the force of the blast. The other sire zeroed in on me as I pulled back the bolt in haste to chamber another round as the monster came running at me with its arms and clawed hands out stretched ready to grab for me. I quickly and fearfully pushed the bolt back in but too soon. The bolt jammed which meant I wouldn’t be able to fire before the monster was on me. In a panic I began to jiggle the bolt trying to free the bullet. My eyes widened in fear as the monster came within a few feet of me and began to raise an arm ready to strike. Out of nowhere Zyon landed a strong applebuck to the monster’s face causing it to stagger backwards a few feet. It turned to its attacker and roared again and lowered itself ready to charge at him. Zyon readied his sword and pounced at the monster. He sunk his blade into the side of the creature’s neck and tucked his body in as he held the handle and pushed himself into a swing. I heard the sickening crunch of breaking bone as Zyon swung around on the creature’s neck, his sword cutting through its neck and which resulted in him decapitating the monster. As its head fell from its body the sire fell onto its back dead and Zyon flipped in the air and landed on his hooves. I have to admit that was awesome.

The other sire by this time had managed to get back onto its feet and didn’t look too happy that I blew a hole in its gut. It let out a bellow of rage and charged at us again. I had the time during Zyon’s brief battle with the last sire to sort out the jam and had a round ready. I wouldn’t be able to get an aim on it before it was on me but thankfully Zyon was aware of this and he charged at the sire. He jumped up, twisted in mid air and delivered a strong applebuck to its head. The strike stunned the monster so I could get my aim on its head. Zyon dove away from the monster as I pulled the trigger. I smiled in satisfaction as its forehead exploded along with a chunk of its hunchback. The monster let out half a scream before it crumpled to the floor.

“Goddesses I hate those things” Zyon moaned.

“Let’s go before anymore show up” I urged.

“Right”

We managed to run for another two minutes before my hoof again stuck to the floor and made me fall on my face again.

“Oh for fuck sake” I complained loudly as I got back up. As I stood I could see the shopping complex up ahead and our destination. From here we will be passing a couple of cafes, crossing a main road and then going across the carriage park to the shop’s entrance. It shouldn’t take more than another couple of minutes to get there.

However fate isn’t on our side as my fall had altered the other threat. The familiar high pitched scream of a Wretch greeted us.

“Oh crap not them as well”

Sure enough it was. Wretches began to pour out of the woodwork. They all scrambled out of anything big enough to contain them and they quickly had us surrounded. Me and Zyon were rump to rump moving in a circle as we were surrounded by the little terrors.

“Shit, I count twenty four” Zyon said as he quickly grabbed his sword.

I have no melee weapon but I do have a lever-action shotgun that could make a good club. I quickly pulled it out as the little monsters started to circle. I know twenty four against two sounds like bad odds but luckily we knew that these monsters were fragile. They can be killed from one decent strike but we are dealing with lots of them and they are armed literally to the teeth. This is going to get messy.

The first one jumped for me. I quickly flipped my shotgun around and clobbered the wretch with the butt of the gun sending it flying back to its mates but this then prompted the rest of them to dive in. They all jumped onto us. It was our armour that stopped them tearing us to shreds but our heads were not protected and they soon realised this. With my magic I was able to pull some of them off me while using my shotgun to smack the rest off. Zyon being more athletic was able to start bucking like a bucking bronco to send them flying off his back. I watched for a moment as he kicked and stomped on some wretches that got under his hooves. He had this covered. I on the other hoof did not. I was much slower than Zyon in my armour but I had better protection. I kicked and stomped, missing half the time and used my shotgun any chance I had, firing it or using it like a club. Yeah, in a large group these things would be deadly.

During the fight I got backed up against a wall with five of the wankers clawing at my legs and face. One of them jumped at me in attempt to go for my neck. I reared up onto my hind legs and brought down my forehooves and caught the little monster in mid jump and squashed it under my hooves like a bug with my weight of half a ton. I felt its bones crumble under my hooves before I looked up and was greeted to three of the monsters in mid air. I let out a panicked shriek as they all landed on my head. I screamed out in pain as I felt two lots of pain in my neck as two of them sunk their clawed feet into the sides of my neck so they could cling to my face. I screamed with pain as they began to bit and scratch.

“Get off of me” I screamed as I flailed wildly with my shotgun trying to knock them off. I failed to hit any of the ones on my face since I had my eyes closed but I did whack the last one on the floor.

I felt more burning pain and the slow trickle of blood as the wretches clawed at my face. I felt a claw cut into my cheek and tear through it until it came out just under my ear. I cried out in agony from the pain and then spat some blood out as I could taste it filling my mouth. I put all my strength into my neck as I threw my head up in an attempt to dislodge them. I felt two of the little beasts fall away from me but one of them still clung to my neck. I opened my eyes just in time to see a clawed hand and then my vision in my right eye went back which was followed by tremendous pain. I screamed in absolute agony as the wretch had clawed my eye out, not literally, but it had blinded me.

“Get the fuck OFF OF ME!” I screamed with fury filling my voice as now I was now getting angry with the monster.

I felt the familiar tingle from my still working eye as my eye flashed. I know I just shifted to dark magic. I was pissed and I’ve had enough of these little fucks. I can taste my own fucking blood and they have taken out my right eye. I could feel pain all over my face from smaller cuts and bites as well as the burning pain from the puncture holes in my neck. Now it’s my turn to tear them apart.

I used my magic to rip the wretch still clinging to me off of my neck which was a bad move as its claws in my flesh cut even longer holes into me. I screamed in pain as I then gritted my teeth and put all my magical power, which was feeding on my hatred and anger for the monster, making it stronger and threw the wretch into the side of a rusty old skybandit. The side of the old passenger transport dented in and I heard the creature’s bones all break upon impact.

Zyon had just dispatched the last of the wretches attacking him. I could just about see him in my half vision. He had small cuts and bites littering his face and the exposed sections of his forelegs. He had managed to get out of his fight without serious injury unlike me. He frowned as he noticed my magic shift.

The last two wretches noticed that their pack of twenty four had been reduced to just them and knowing they would loose they turned to run.

“Not so fast you little fucks” I growled as I seized them both in my magic and levitated them off the floor. “You ruin a girl’s face and you expect to get away with it? I don’t fucking think so”

I levitated them high into the air and then I began to squeeze them with my magic. They compressed into balls, howling and moaning in pain as I began to squeeze the life out of them

“Appletart stop, you’ve beaten them” Zyon shouted but I ignored him

“Little wankers” I growled as I began to hear their bones breaking. Blood began to drip down them as their breaking bones began to burst from their skin. They soon died from the crushing but I wasn’t done yet. With one final squeeze I squashed them until they were flat before I flung their bodies away. I must have been on an adrenalin high as the pain I was getting from my wounds seemed to have faded to bearable levels when I dealt with those wretches or my anger and hate for them blocked it out. I panted and moaned from my exertion as I looked around with my left eye and found that we had beaten them all. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, I felt the magical flame from my eye disappear and from Zyon’s relieved expression my left eye must have returned to normal. After I had calmed down the pain came back in full force and I began to cry from the sheering pain burning my face and neck.

Out of danger for the moment I was expecting the familiar sting of a healing potion being applied by my armour but that didn’t happen. I lifted my left leg and thought to see my pipbuck, bringing it out. I turned my head so my left eye could focus on it and scrolled through to my status screen and moaned when I found that I had no healing potions in my suit’s medical unit. Fuck.

While I whined from the pain I soon became aware of a soft pink glow.

“Hey, I think the regeneration talisman has kicked in” Zyon said.

I looked around for something reflective and found a shop next to where we had our fight with the wretches with an intact window. I walked up to it and was greeted with my reflection, albeit slightly blurred from the grime. He was right, the deep cuts on my neck and face were glowing with the pink glow that I recognised from Motor Runner’s talisman and as I watched they were closing. My vision blurred as sight in my right eye began to return before I finally had my vision back. I smiled with happiness that I had got my eye back but that smile turned to a frown as I noticed that although the talisman closed my deep wounds I was still left with scars.

“My pretty face” I whined as I saw the several scars now littering my neck and face.

“It doesn’t look that bad” Zyon said with a smirk. “Stallions dig mares with scars”

“Yeah sure” I scowled as I began to walk ahead.

I now had three scars crossing over my right eye, two parallel scars on my left cheek under my eye and up to my ear and on my neck I had three parallel scars that cut across my neck from when I pulled the wretch off me and three small dots on the other side from the other wretch that had clung to me. They are going to think I’ve been in a war when we get back to Stable 24.

We decided to walk the rest of the way as twice in a row my hoof had stuck to the floor and resulted in us being attacked. We were now passing the cafes. One of the cafes was boarded up as if it went out of business before the war and the other we were passing had lets of tables and chairs out which were surrounded by a red rope. It looked like it was having its best year before the bombs fell. Its weird how one can be doing so badly and the one on the other side of the road could be doing so well. I frowned with a depressing thought in my head as up ahead I saw a pram sitting next to a chair with a skeleton slumped against the table next to it. Poor baby.

We reached the pram and were passing it when I heard a strange hissing sound which was followed by a ding.

“That sounds like a bomb arming because I’ve heard that before somewhere” Zyon said as he began to look around.

The hissing was followed by the scariest sound I’ve ever heard in a long time. A foal crying. We immediately looked at the pram and inside it we saw a foal doll head with glowing red eyes and wires coming out of the neck and they were all connected to three armed landmines.

“Holy shit” We both screamed and bolted up the road as fast as we could. We only just managed to clear the blast radius by the time the timer ended and the pram along with the table and chairs it was next to went up with a loud boom which shattered the rest of the café’s windows.

“Who the fucking hell would use a foal’s cry for a fucking trap?” I screamed as my head filled with horrific images of someone torturing a foal and recording the cry.

My heart was pounding from the scare and the adrenaline as we entered the vast carriage park in front of the shopping complex. This was one huge open space with lots of old rusting hunks of old chariots, carriages and sky carriages and all in multiple levels of degeneration. We came around an old chariot with a blurred Baltimare sticker on its bumper and I heard a snap. I looked down at my fore hooves and found that I had stepped on a string that had been pulled taught between two pieces of metal.

“Oh crap a tripwire” I cried out in warning.

There was then a small pop from the chariot beside us. Zyon quickly looked under it and then quickly pulled himself up and turned to me with a very fearful gaze.

“Run” He yelled and with that we both began to gallop as fast as we could towards Currys.

We didn’t look back as we focused on the doors a head of us. We dodged and weaved between parked chariots and carriages as we made our way through the maze of wreckage as the trap we had triggered exploded. The explosion was huge. I felt the vibration of the shockwave through the floor but then we hear more explosions. The trap set off a domino effect and the chariots and carriages in the carriage park were blowing up one by one.

We made it to Currys and dove through the open glass doors. We found ourselves inside a double entrance as there were more doors in front of us which still had glass in them and were sealed shut. We needed to get into cover before the chariots out in front of the store went up. Looking around we found that there was an alcove made up by the brick and steel sheet coated wall and we took cover behind it. We made ourselves as small as possible as the explosions drew near.

“Here they come” Zyon yelled as the outside exploded violently. We were blinded for brief moment as the chariots outside detonated with magical energy and the explosive shockwave caused the glass doors to shatter. I pulled myself up and moaned as my hearing was dominated by a loud ringing. I could barely hear anything at all as we approached the glass strewn floor. I looked in through the now open doors. I slowly scanned the vast store and found that it was mostly intact and didn’t seem to have been looted at all as I could still clearly see electrical goods on the many shelves and aisles.

“It looks clear” I yelled over the ringing.

Zyon nodded and walked in first. The ringing in my ears began to subside as I began to walk through the doorframe and into Currys itself. By the time I pulled my last leg into the store I had my hearing back and that’s when I heard another tripwire and that was instantly followed by a shotgun blast and a lot of dings as the shotgun trap had peppered my ass.

“Oh fuck me” I screamed in fright from the sudden blast to my ass.

“Are you alright?” Zyon asked as he turned around on the spot.

“Fuck, yeah, I’m fine. It just hit my flank armour” I said as I turned to the source of the shot.

Bolted into a small frame and with a servo motor connected to the trigger and an Arcane-Fusion Cell is a Combat Shotgun. Ohh that’s a decent gun. The trap was fastened to the door frame so anyone who walked in would trigger it like I did. Luckily for me it was my hind hoof that caught the tripwire so the shotgun got my backside instead of my face.

“Umm, Zyon can you get that shotgun out of that please” I asked while I stared at the black weapon. A Combat Shotgun is a decent close range weapon and its twenty shell drum and being semi-automatic made it a very deadly weapon for close range combat.

“Sure no problem” He said as he whipped out his screwdriver and began to undo the screws holding it in. Within two seconds of his quick worksponyship the gun was freed and he hoofed it to me.

“Thank you” I smiled as I took it in my magic. My pipbuck registered it and it also told me why such a good shotgun was left to be used as a trap. It had zero rounds in its drum which meant the shell it fired was its last and that its condition was at four percent. I frowned as if I reloaded the weapon and tried to fire it, it would likely explode in my face. I best put it away for later and so it disappeared into my flank storage units.

The inside of Currys was absolutely enormous. I bet it could fit a full sized hoofball field in here plus a row of terraces. I looked up and the ceiling was so high up it could have likely hosted an indoor Wonderbolts Derby.

“Wow this place is huge” I commented as we passed the checkouts and followed a path marked on the old carpeted floor to the central aisle that divided the store into two halves with horizontal aisles.

“Before the bombs fell Currys was one of Equestria’s biggest domestic electrical goods retailers”

We followed the central aisle all the way up to the back wall while looking up and down each horizontal aisle so we could get an idea as to where to look when we check the shopping list. At the end of the central aisle we came to the back wall which was covered in flat screen TVs. Some of them where on stands that were sitting on like glass coffee tables.

“Boy, I would have loved to have had one of these in my bedroom” I said as I looked over a old forty two inch HD TV.

“Heh yea, then you could watch the same old shit over and over in high definition”

“Well, better than reading the same shit over and over or staring at the ceiling and slipping slowly into madness” I giggled.

I moved over to another TV that was a larger size but also had a small camera mounted to the top. A plastic corner piece was sitting on the TV’s upper left corner and inside the plastic it held a small triangle leaflet that said that this model was a smart TV. All of a sudden every single TV came to life, some exploding from receiving power for the first time in decades, and each one showed me looking back out across the store.

“Holy shit” I shrieked as I jumped back in fright. “Someone is watching us”

“Calm down, it’s that camera on the TV” Zyon said as he pointed a hoof to the smart TV with the camera.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I calmed down from the sudden fright.

“But who turned them on?” Zyon asked as he was looking around the TV.

I looked around but my EFS was clear.

“Trap?” I asked.

“I dunno, I can’t see anything that could have been the trigger”

We didn’t have much time to ponder on this as the TVs began to explode. We back peddled to get away from the TVs as one by one they exploded in a shower of sparks.

“Let’s just get the things she needs and get out of here” I said as I checked the list.

The list said we needed to pick up a bunch of things that didn’t make sense to me. Speakers, Hi-Fi Stereos, Telephones, a games console, the sound and video cards from some computers, a VCR and a few other things. It sounded like a load of junk. Well, if she needs this shit to make the signal jammer then who am I to complain?

Zeta was right about this store having everything we needed. We were finding everything on the list pretty easily. The store had been divided so that each section would hold a specific type of product. In ten minutes we had picked up everything we needed apart from a Telephone which was on an aisle close to the checkouts. We turned onto the aisle and stopped. The aisle was filled to the brim with phones.

“Err, which phone does she want?” I asked.

“Let’s just grab a few of the more expensive sort” Zyon reasoned.

As we walked up the aisle looking up and down the shelves for any good phones, one of them that looked like a chameleon on a branch began to sing a song. The sudden blast of music and jerky movement from the chameleon phone scared the living daylights out of us. Just as quickly as it begun the phone went silent like nothing ever happened.

“What the fuck?” I practically screamed.

“Is someone fucking with us?” Zyon asked as he looked around.

“My EFS is still clear”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Let’s just get the phones go”

He nodded and we continued on. We got scared several more times as at random a phone would ring. The last phone we came to that rung I snapped. I lashed out with my cybernetic hoof as I swung it up to whack the ringing phone. From the anxiety caused by the fright and annoyance of these stupid things I suppose my magical impulses must have put my leg into overdrive or something as the hoof tore through the metal shelf and sent the ringing phone flying into the air before it crashed down somewhere in the store. The crash of the phone was followed by an ear shattering avalanche of junk as the phone must have caused a set of shelves to collapse.

“Whoops” I said blinking at the hole in the shelf.

“Damn, maybe we should get Zeta to tone it down a bit. I wouldn’t like to get a slap from you with that. It could take my bloody head off”

Not wanting to get scared by another random phone ringing me and Zyon just grabbed a hoofful of phones we could reach. My EFS alerted me that we had acquired all the items we came for.

“That’s everything”

“Good, let’s get the fuck out of here”

“I second that” I said.

We left Currys through the shattered exit doors and into a warzone. The carriage park was strewn full of wreckages that were all burning. It literally looked like a war had just been fought.

“Damn” I said to myself out loud as I looked at the damage I caused. It was me since I stepped on the wire.

We began to trot through the wreckage. It turned out to be like a maze of metal as we worked our way through it. It took us about half an hour to make it to the street to head back to the hospital. It was around noon as we walked down the street. We walked in high alert to be sure we wouldn’t get attacked again by the sires or wretches. While I was looking at an old record store my hoof magnet activated again and I found myself flat on my face for the third time today. Zyon began to chuckle at my misfortune but I gave him a deadly death glare and he quickly shut up.

“Hehe, sorry”

I pulled myself back up and rubbed my cheek when my hoof when it decided to let go of the floor.

“So help me, if this happens again I won’t be held responsible” I growled as I began to storm off.

The rest of the trip back to the hospital went pretty much uneventful, thankfully.

“I was worried you had gotten hurt or worse?” Zeta asked as she approached us when we got back.

“Ah fuck” I screamed as Zeta just came out of nowhere.

“Is she alright?”

“We’ve had quite the trip, Currys was full of surprises like TVs turning on by themselves and phones randomly ringing which scared us half to death”

“Ah, I see you found some of the Jokers old gags” Zeta said as she turned to head back into the hospital.

“Jokers?” I asked

“Before they left the city they were a gang of raiders that loved to play practical jokes. They left behind lots of traps to continue their jokes. Half of them were lethal…”

“Yeah we ran into some of them” I said remembering the pram trap and the carriage park. I'll never look at a pram the same way again.

“Yes, and some where just to give someone a scare”

I gave an exasperated sigh at that, remembering the phone I sent flying.

“I take it you ran into a lot of those”

“Yeah, that store was full of them” Zyon said with a roll of his eyes.

It was at that moment I decided to change the subject. “Here, we got the things you needed” I said as I levitated the bag of things to her. Once she grabbed the bag with her freaky neck arms I stormed off. From everything that had happened this morning, I was fed up.

XXXXX

I took some deep breaths to calm myself. I had been fighting to keep myself from bursting with the rage that filled me after we got back. All the traps going off on us today had really struck something with me. I guess it must have been a result of the Ursa-Trap. That was a bad move. My head filled with images of the trap clamping down on my leg, the pain that followed and finally it costing me my leg. I looked down at my synthetic leg while I sat on the hospital roof. My nostrils flared with anger as I began to breathe more deeply. It was my fault I lost my damn leg. My fucking fault. I didn’t look where I was going, I didn’t check the grass and I just fucking stepped in it.

Something snapped in me. I just saw red as I stared at an old ventilation vent and jumped at it. I screamed with rage for myself as I took out my anger on the vent. I used both my fore hooves to beat and flatten the thin metal. I was aware of the dark magic shift as I beat the crap out of the vent. It’s my fucking fault this happened to me. I stood over the beaten flat vent, panting in frustration as I couldn’t bash it anymore. I dropped to my haunches as I panted with tears in my eyes. I looked down at my cybernetic limb and it finally hit me.

“I’m not a pony anymore…”

I blinked as the reality of my situation hit home.

“I’m a cyborg, I’ve lost my equinity”

I broke down then and there. I went from raving mad to crying in despair. I don’t know how long I had been on the roof crying but by the time I cried myself dry Zyon had found me with something on his back.

“Ah, here you are, the jammer is done” He said as he approached me. “Hey are you alright?”

I wailed at him about how I lost my leg, how it was my fault and how I wasn’t a pony anymore. He tried his best to comfort me. Telling me it wasn’t my fault and that I was still a pony. I didn’t believe him of course. I did manage to stop crying, because I had no tears left to shred, but I still felt like shit inside.

I spent a few minutes recollecting myself. I still felt bad but at least I managed to pull myself together enough to function.

I lifted my pipbuck and turned on the broadcaster and tuned it to Wirbelwind’s frequency.

“Wirbelwind, do you read me?” I asked, still sounding a bit down.

“Paladin Longshot? Thank goodness you’re alright. I was getting worried with how long it was taking”

“I’m fine” I lied. “Can you come and pick us up. We are on the roof of the hospital”

“Roger that”

“We’ll be going home in a few” I said turning to Zyon and then jumping nearly out of my armour to find Zeta stood with him. How the fuck she didn’t make a single sound approaching us I will never know.

“Sorry, I wanted to wish you farewell and good luck in your struggle against the machine” She said with a friendly smile on her holographic face. “And please don’t tell ponies about me”

I put on the best smile I could muster despite how I felt. “I swear Zeta; I won’t mention you to anyone other than our friends who already know”

She smiled warmly. “Thank you, oh, your ride is here”

Me and Zyon looked up to see Wirbelwind coming in for a landing. I looked back to where Zeta had been standing to say good bye but she was gone. I blinked in shock and confusion at how she pulled a Batmare, by that I mean how she disappeared without us noticing.

The ex-Enclave pegasus touched down and came to a halt just in front of us.

“Its good to see you guys” He said with a relieved smile.

“It’s good to see you too” I said as I used my magic to open the door to the chariot.

“Let’s go back to twenty four” Zyon said as he followed me into the chariot.

“Yes sir” Wirbelwind said as he beat his wings and pulled the chariot back into the air and with another burst from his wings we were on our way back towards our safe heaven under the streets of Trottingham.

During the flight, my thoughts continued to berate me for my stupidity at the loss of my leg. No matter what Zyon or any other pony would say, it won’t change the fact I lost a part of myself. A part of me was broken.

XXXXX

Fort Battalion

The Krogoth was fully under its own control again and had managed to setup new psychic blocks to help further prevent repeat of its eariler break down. The machine scanned over the fort as it approached. The Krogoth's large eyes took in everything it could see of the old artillery base. It appeared the fort had been taken over by a gang of raiders and from the jackets the Krogoth could see them wearing they were known as the "Gunslingers". From the limited information the Krogoth had on the raider gangs it knew that these raiders were some of the more normalish ponies but had a thing for projectile weaponry.

The Gunslingers all stared at the giant Steel Ranger as it approached. Their mouths hung open as they stared at the weapons mounted on the machine.

"Oh yeah, that thing will make us the top dogs" Said a Gunslinger who was stupid enough to think they could take it.

"Boys, arm yourselves. We will have a hell of a fight on our hooves" A larger pony, around the size of Big Macintosh stood tall at the end of a large gun barrel of base's signature artillery emplacement.

At their leader's words the gunslingers scattered to near by weapon racks and retrieved small projectile weapons. Some of the weapons picked up were small hoofcannons, small portable weapons capable of launching a high explosive shell.

The Krogoth crushed the perimeter fence to the base as it entered the old base.

"Attack" Ordered the leader.

All the gunslingers unleashed their weapons. Most of the gunslingers fired high explosive weapons. They all focused their fire on the machine's head. Small explosions obscured the Krogoth's vision as the small shells detonated on its armour. The gunslingers weapons weren't strong enough to penetrate the machine's battleship standard armour and so they just left behind small splash damage marks.

"Cease fire"

The guns stopped and a deadly silence fell over the base as the gunslingers just stared as the smoke obscuring the machine soon drifted away. There was an audible gasp from the gathering of ponies as they stared in shock that their guns didn't do anything at all.

"That's impossible" The leader yelled. He caught the sound of a gattling gun starting up and he quickly turned on his heels and bolted down the huge barrel.

"Fire anything you can at it, kill it" He screamed as he dove down through an open hatch in the top of the turret.

The gunslingers grabbed anything that could be considered as a big gun. Missile Launchers, 50cal rifles and even 120mm Anti-Dragon Cannons. While the gunslinger leader was busy getting himself into the turret's control centre his gang was being decimated by the overwhelming firepower of the Krogoth. He seated himself into the control seat and powered up the gun.

"Let's see if you can stomach a forty six centimeter shell to the chest" He said as he turned the wheels to turn the turret and raise one of the two barrels to aim at the Krogoth.

The Krogoth had just finished slaughtering the gunslingers on the ground with its machinegun when it got a threat warning. It looked up and at the turret in time to see one of its gun barrels aimed right for its chest.

"Eat this" He yelled as he hit the trigger. There was a thunderous boom as the turret fired its huge thousand pound shell. The Krogoth didn't have time to anything before it felt the impact against its chest. The shell only just managed to penetrate through the three feet of armour and collided with the heavily reinforced armoured Crusader chamber in the chest which it failed to penetrate. Shortly after the penetration there was a powerful explosion that filled in inside of the Krogoth's chest cavity. A jet of flames burst out through the hole blown into its chest.

"Warning, warning, foreleg control malfunction"

The explosion and the heat of the fire that rushed through and around the Krogoth's chest cavity burned away at the Krogoth's internal components. Suddenly the magical glow in the Krogoth's forelegs faded out as they were no longer receiving any input from the crusader. Being unable to support its own weight without any control to its forelegs it fell to its chest with its dead forelegs collapsing under it.

The leader climbed out of the turret. Without a fire crew to reload the turret he decided to take the opportunity of downing the Krogoth to make a break for it. He didn't look back as he broke into a run to get as far away from the mechanical monstrosity as he could.

"Self repair system initiated.
Repairing foreleg control units"

The machine raised its head to see the last raider make a run for it.

"Target fleeing...target locked"

One of the Krogoth's huge missile pods turned and aimed slightly up. Suddenly one of the large missiles fired out and arced in the air before it began to come down. The leader looked behind him just in time to see a big black, red tipped missile come roaring down at him.

"No!" He screamed before he was engulfed in an almighty explosion as the missile collided with the ground just behind him.

"All threats annihilated"

It took the Krogoth about half an hour to repair and reconnect its damaged leg control systems and pull itself back up onto its hooves. It tested its forelegs for a moment before it turned to what put the gaping hole in its chest. The large artillery cannon.

"Target identified as Luna Grade, forty six centimeter artillery battleship class deck gun"

A magical glow began to surround the turret as the Krogoth activated its assimilation spell. A teeth grating screech filled the air as the massive four thousand tonne turret was lifted out of its concrete base. The huge turret floated up into the air and rotated so its huge gun barrels pointed directly up to Celestia's sun and then it began to break apart. What the Krogoth didn't need it let them fall to the floor. Everything else began to float around the Krogoth as it dismantled all it needed from the turret and once it had all it needed from it they closed into the machine before being absorbed.

Nothing happened for a couple of minutes but then a hole appeared in the Krogoth's armour above the shoulder armour and two long gun barrels extended out until they sat just in line with the Krogoth's nose. The gun barrels rose and fell as the Krogoth tested how well they could pivot. They couldn't fall any lower than the default horizontal but could rise up to an elevation of fifty degrees which would allow the machine to fire its new armament great distances. Before the Krogoth absorbed the turret it knew it had a range of at least twenty eight miles but the Krogoth wouldn't be able to get that range as its scanners couldn't detect anything from such an extreme distance so its artillery support was limited to its current scanner range which was still around ten miles. The machine made a mental note to correct that soon.

The Krogoth used its reclamation spell to reabsorb the spent ammunition while also gathering up the shells its new artillery cannons would need. After taking all the ammo it needed the Krogoth decided to perform a test fire. It calculated the distance from the base to the house in which Short Circuit had taken the machine in her brief period of control. The house was within the machine's ten mile scanner range and it inputted the target's distance into the firing solution and took aim. One of the huge forty six centimeter cannons tilted up by twenty degree and let loose a thunderous boom as it fired its shell.

"Forty six centimeter artillery cannons online"

The Krogoth turned to the west and began to head back towards the ruins of Canterlot.

XXXXX

The deadly silence of Uddersfield was shattered when a tremendous explosion demolished a pair of semidetached houses. The Krogoth's shot came short but it was close enough to destroy the home of its mind's captive.

Author's Notes:

Earlier than expected I bet :p

Anyway, this has just been completed. There will be mistakes so please bare with me. I will re-read and correct soon. Thank you for reading.