A gray and dismal morning greeted us when we awoke. It had started to rain during the night, and seemed as though it would carry on throughout the rest of the day. Sentinel was sitting by the fire when I woke, keeping a silent vigil and stirring the burning embers with a rusty pipe to breath renewed life into them. There was no sign of the raider, and I had no intention of asking about him. I was pretty sure I had the answer already.

“Eat some breakfast,” Sentinel encouraged as Jerry roused from slumber. She yawned and stretched like a cat before rubbing her eye with a hoof. “An army marches on its stomach. An’ we need to do a lot o’ marchin’. More Gouged Eye will be coming if our friend was to be trusted.”

We pulled faded, pre-war foods from our saddle-bags and ate in silence. I glanced at Jerry, watching her stare at Sentinel. Her brow was furrowed and she scraped a hoof against the floor hesitantly. She wanted to ask him something. And that something probably had to do with our now missing raider.

“You two eat up, I’ll be back,” he said as he got to his hooves, telekinetically grabbed his rifle and trotted out the door. The silence hung over us still, fading only when I cleared my throat to get Jerry’s attention.

“You stare any harder and that stallion’s head will start to smoke,” I said. Jerry sputtered and looked down at her hooves.

“I-I just… I want to know what he did with the raider…” she said quietly.

“I’m betting you’d change your mind if you did. Just let it go, what’s done is done,” I said, reaching to place my hoof on her shoulder. She turned to me, strands of her mane falling across her face, framing it just perfectly.

“I guess you’re right,” she said with a weak smile. “Thanks, Free.”

This was it. I could just tell her now. Get it all out in the air.

“Jerry,” I mumbled. She looked at me with those emerald eyes of hers and my heart began to pound in my chest. She was just looking at me, patiently waiting for me to continue, but the words caught in my throat. Stopped dead as a storm of thoughts rattled my brain. Just tell her. No! Don’t tell her! Tell her how you feel. What if she doesn’t feel the same? How you’ve always felt. What if she laughs?! Just get it off your chest. “Jerry, There’s so-”

Sentinel bolted back into our camp, his eyes set with grim determination. “Douse it!” he said. Before Jerry or I could react he took up a bottle of water from our supplies and poured it out on the fire. The embers crackled and died even as Sentinel stamped them into soggy mush.

“What’s-” Jerry began, but Sentinel shushed her and moved to the nearest window. He pressed low and flat against the wall, peeking down into the street. The air grew thick with tension as Jerry and I stared at Sentinel. Then, slowly, we could hear something.

Voices.

Lots of voices.

“Bugger…” Sentinel breathed. I got to my hooves and edged slowly up to him to look out into the ruins of the town. The street was empty at first. Then a dirty, armored stallion trotted into view. Then another. Then a mare in a battle saddle. They came alone, and then in pairs, and finally in groups. There must’ve been dozens of them, each one clearly displaying the stylized eye I’d seen before.

“What’s going on?” I hissed at Sentinel.

“Our friend said what was left of their raidin’ party were cuttin’ thru ‘ere on their way back from the whuppin’ they got from Deepwater,” he said.

“How many?” Jerry asked.

“More than we can hope to fight,” he replied. He looked away from the window and nodded his head at our camp. “Pack up. Quick an’ quiet.”

Without further prompting, Jerry and I began collecting our gear and supplies and shoving them haphazardly back into saddlebags. We could sort out whose was whose later. Then, I froze as a thought wriggled its way into my brain. I moved back to the window and looked at the passing raiders. They were all heading in the same direction. My eyes widened and my blood ran cold.

“They’re heading for Ministry Town…” I breathed.

“That they are,” Sentinel agreed. I turned to him, goggling.

“We have to do something!” I said.

“Like what? Take on an entire army of lunatics?” Sentinel asked, gesturing out the window.

“We’d do better than those people in town. They’re already injured and terrified,” I hissed. I stared out the window as the raiders marched past. I couldn’t let them get to the town. I couldn’t ruin their lives any more than I already had. I stepped from the window, making my way to the door. Sentinel moved to step in front of me, placing a hoof on my chest.

“What’re ya doin’? Are ya touched in the ‘ead?” he asked, his voice a barely controlled whisper.

“Free,” Jerry called softly from behind me, “You can’t go out there.”

“I’m not letting these psychos take anything more from the townsponies. If you’re not gonna help me then go back to Rust Rail and get out of my way,” I said as I shoved Sentinel aside and trotted out the door.

“Free? Free!” Jerry called after me, but I didn’t listen. Couldn’t listen. Those ponies were in danger, and it was all my fault. I had to do something… anything…

What the hell was I doing?

I swear it was like tunnel vision. Just step out in front of the horde of raiders and stop them from hurting the town, Free. Don’t bother thinking about the how’s or why’s, nooooo, that’d make something too much like sense!

I took a deep breath and peeked out into the street from the ruined first floor lobby of the building. Raiders were everywhere, milling about in small groups. Several were nursing wounds, but none of them serious. Judging by what I’d seen in the town, they probably left anyone seriously wounded to die.

Okay… just… just what? What could I possibly do against so many raiders? I had no choice. I’d just step out into the street and demand they leave. They didn’t appear all that ready to fight. Maybe I could convince them I had a bunch of mercenaries with me.

I took a deep breath.

“This is a fucking stupid plan,” I whispered as I lifted a hoof. Suddenly a green clad foreleg hooked around my neck and yanked me back into the room. I toppled onto my back, and stared up at Sentinel’s disfigured face. Oh thank the goddesses it was him and not some raider.

“I swear ta the Goddesses you are a fuckin’ barmy twat!” Sentinel hissed. “You’re gonna get me and the lass killed!” He let up and I rolled onto my hooves as Jerry came trotting up. She shoved past Sentinel and smacked me across the face with surprising force for such a small mare.

“What the hell is wrong with you!?” she hissed, glancing around me to ensure that she hadn’t drawn any unwanted attention in her anger. Satisfied that we weren’t about to be attacked, she returned her glare to me and struck me again and again as she spoke. “Stop! Doing! Stupid! Shit!”

“Ow, stop,” I said, raising a hoof to defend myself. “I can’t let any more suffering come to those ponies. Especially since it’s my fault.”

“I hear ya, I do,” Sentinel said, “But that don’t mean ya get ta go off all ‘alf cocked. Ya got a brain, best start usin’ it.”

I sighed. Okay conscience, I get it. You don’t need to have others remind me too. “What do you suggest?” I asked.

“Ya want ta get their attention, huh?” he asked as he trotted over to the window. I nodded. A smile crossed his mangled features as his horn flared into a blue glow. A small, round metal ball lifted free from his saddlebag and hovered near his mouth. He stared silently out the window, waiting for… something. “Right, when I move, you move. Clear?” Before I could ask him for clarification he bit a small stick on the metal ball, yanked it free and then tossed the whole thing out the window. Panicked shouts immediately erupted.

“Grenade! GRENADE!”
They were silenced by an explosion that left my ears ringing and the world a dull burbling. Motes of dust drifted from the ceiling. Jerry’s ears were pinned back against her head as she shook it, presumably dealing with the same problem I was. Sentinel clapped me on the shoulder. He was shouting something, but it was lost in the din. Then he galloped past me and out into the street where the raiders were. I hooked a leg around Jerry’s shoulders and guided her out the door.

We stepped out into the rain. And the blood. Torn bodies lay in the street, limbs missing or mangled into unrecognizable shreds. I was certain there was screaming, but thankfully I couldn’t hear it. Sentinel stood at the far end of the street, his rifle flashing in his hooves and steadied by his magic as he blasted down the street. I ushered Jerry across to him and he practically shoved us into the alley as the world came back to me in screams and gunfire.

“Move, move, move!” Sentinel shouted as he loosed a few more shots.

“To where?!” I shouted as Jerry and I galloped down the alley with Sentinel in tow.

“Anywhere! Just move!”

We spilled into the next street, and banked right to run away from Ministry Town. Rows of rusted wagons lined the street, many still containing their occupants. Further down the street a rotted door flew off its hinges as a raider burst out of a building. “HERE! OVER HERE!” he shouted. For a brief moment I wondered why he was calling out to us, then he bit down on his battle saddle’s trigger. Dual rifles coughed and spat bullets indiscriminately down the street.

“Cover! Cover!” Sentinel shouted. I practically tackled Jerry, sending us both down behind a rusting wagon. Jerry curled up, hooves over her head as bullets chewed into the wagon. Sentinel ran up to us, keeping his head low. “We gotta move! Fast!” he shouted over the gunfire.

“Suggestions?” I shouted back as something inside the wagon began to whine, growing in pitch with each passing second. Sentinel’s eyes widened.

“Move! NOW!” He shouted. We broke cover as a group, Sentinel firing blindly as we ran. The raider’s shots faltered as he ducked back into the building. We rushed down a narrow alley with a slope of rubble rising in the middle. Jerry scrabbled up it first, disappearing over the crest. I followed after, knocking several large chunks free as I clambered up, the whining wagon reaching a fever pitch before suddenly going quiet. “DOWN!” Sentinel said, throwing himself bodily on top of me.

The wagon exploded with a loud boom as wild magical energies ripped their way free of the wagon. A cascade of colorful magics tore the wagon apart in an expanding orb of enchantments gone rogue. The metal frame of the wagon twisted and rent even as it grew red hot and my pip-buck clicked out a staccato rhythm. Then the expanding orb contracted suddenly and burst apart with a second, louder explosion that shook the buildings and shattered any glass that remained in their windows. Shards of hot metal lanced in all directions, embedding themselves in the surrounding wagons and buildings. I stood up, forcing Sentinel off of me as I turned back to the street. The wagon was gone, and in its place was a charred, twisted hunk of metal that was rapidly cooling in the rain.

It dawned on me slowly, that the whining was still going. If anything it sounded-

“Run! Run now!” Sentinel said as he scrambled up the slope and disappeared over the top. I followed after him, opening my mouth to ask what was going on. Then the next car exploded. And the next. A daisy chain of magical explosions tore up the street. If the ponies in Ministry Town hadn’t heard the gunfire, they surely heard this. The expanding air hit me like a wall and threw me over the slope. I rolled down the debris and came to a stop in the middle of the next street. I coughed, struggling to breath, the wind having been knocked out of me.

“Ow…” I mumbled as I shakily got to my hooves. Sentinel’s olive drab form appeared beside me and helped steady me.

“Can’t believe they made them things,” he said as we galloped into the next alley and slid into cover at the corner. He waved me past as he waited to see if anypony followed. We were cutting a swathe through the ruined city. Through the chaos in our wake I could hear angry shouts from the raiders as they followed us. Wasn’t too hard, given the trail we were leaving.

Jerry stood in the middle of the next street, nervously dancing in place. She spotted us immediately, and hurriedly waved at us. “C’mon, c’mon! This way!” she called urgently, waving us on with a hoof. Behind her loomed a large, office building, distinctly different from the others around it in its height and opulence. It sat on a plot of land, giving it some distance between it and the buildings all around, adding to the contrast. A tall, wrought iron fence, twisted and worthless with age once separated it further, but was in such bad shape that it may as well not be there. Jerry galloped through a section of missing fence and in through a hole that had been blasted into the side of the building, disappearing from view into the second floor.

“Wait! NO!” Sentinel called as he came galloping up. “Son of a bitch!” he hissed through clenched teeth. He whipped around looking back at the alley, and then back at the building that Jerry had entered.

“What?” I asked, “What’s wrong?”

“That’s a ministry hub!” Sentinel said. It took me entirely too long to recall what that meant. Both Sentinel’s and the old stallion’s warnings were suddenly screaming in my head. My eyes widened and my stomach sank into my hooves.

“Jerry’s in there!” I said, panic beginning to build inside me.

“I know! I’ve got eyes!” Sentinel shouted at me.

“We have to go in and get her!” I said, tearing my gaze from the building to look at Sentinel.

“No! No fuckin’ way am I venturin’ in to a hub! Not for you! And not for some bird!” he said, jabbing his hoof into my chest. I felt my chest grow tight, fighting the urge to feed the ghoul my hoof. I settled for brushing his limb aside.

“Fine! You stay out here with them!” I said, jabbing a hoof back the way we’d come. The explosions had begun to settle, and now the voices of the raiders were becoming clearer and louder. It sounded like the entire raiding party was coming down on us.

Sentinel looked between the alley and the hub several time before loosing a terrifying growl. “FINE! But after this, we’re thru! I’m going back to Vi’s and you’re on your own!” He shoved me aside with surprising strength and galloped into the building with his rifle floating beside him. I followed after him, his words of warning still ringing in my head as I stepped into the darkened interior of the building.

The museum had looked like it had been ransacked. Broken display cases, vandalism, and rifled desks had not been an uncommon sight. But this place seemed more like it had been outright abandoned. Desk and filing cabinet drawers remained shut, terminals were intact and not smashed open, and all sorts of other things that leant to the eerie feeling that was settling in the pit of my stomach. A coffee mug still sat on the nearest desk, a thick patch of grey-green fuzz had sprouted from it and was in the process of creeping its way across the desktop while a trio of luminescent green mushrooms each vied to stand the tallest at its core.

Sentinel strode slowly past it all, his rifle whipping back and forth, as though he were expecting to get jumped at any moment. He moved in careful, calculated steps, leading with the barrel of his gun and dutifully checking each cubicle we passed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, “This place doesn’t look like its seen anypony in a century.” Sentinel looked back at me, shook his head and resumed his paranoid crawling pace through the building.

“If ya only knew, kid,” he muttered, but didn’t clarify. I pursed my lips and sighed. Clearly I had pissed off the stallion. I’d have to try and apologize after we found Jerry and before the army of raiders outside slaughtered us. I turned my attention to our surroundings again as we made our way slowly through the building. Nothing was disturbed, leaving us no clues that Jerry had even come this way. She was a scavenger by nature, but with all hell blowing loose outside, I doubt even she would take a moment to loot anything.

“What is this place?” I asked Sentinel, hoping to break the tenuous silence.

“Image Hub,” he said flatly. He glanced over his shoulder at me and I took the opportunity to give him my best ‘I’m just a dumb slave’ look. He rolled his eyes dramatically and continued forward. “Right, keep forgettin’. Though I don’t know how best ta fill ya in on it. It’s a lot.”

“Basics then. Like I’m a foal,” I said. Sentinel nodded at that.

“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria,”

I raised my hooves, waving him silent. “Wait wait wait, stop. Let’s go with colt instead of foal,” I said.

Sentinel shrugged. “Story starts the same either way. Now ya mind letting me continue?” I nodded and Sentinel let out a sigh. “Equestria wasn’t always like this. When I was little, you could still see ‘ow great she was. Ponies was still friendly, and the whole world seemed... safe.” Sentinel stopped and turned to face me, his rifle lowering. “It was like… like a storm on the ‘orizon. Everypony could see it building, but it was so far off that nopony paid it any mind ‘til it was right on top o’ us. We’d just started industrializing on a massive scale. For that, we needed coal. We had some, but the Zebras? They had gobs of it. We traded fine for a bit. Then somepony got greedy. Relations strained. A few brush fire wars broke out. And then… Littlehorn.”

Sentinel stared through me, losing himself in an unpleasant memory. “They… they was only foals.” He shook his head and blinked at me a moment. “Anyway… war broke out. A real war. And things went from bad to absolute fuckin’ shit. Celestia stepped down, gave the throne to Luna. I was older then. I enlisted before they could draft me.” Sentinel turned his back to me and we started moving through the office at a slightly faster pace. The memories were coming from Sentinel freely, as though a dam had broken and they were flowing through him unabated. “Luna was a fine ruler, but she was used to being a piece of the whole. So… she created the ministries to help her manage things. Image, was in charge of making things look good. They made the propaganda, and controlled the flow of information. The things we knew, were the things Image let us know.”

We came to a stop at the end of a row of cubicles. Through a broken window I could see five more buildings, each one a near identical copy of this one. A large medallion hung over each entrance, emblazoned with their Ministry’s logo. A once lovely courtyard connected them, the remnants of a fountain at its center. Strange shapes were strewn about the landscape and it took me entirely too long to realize I was looking at bodies. Some were nothing but bones, bleached to a near gleaming white, others still coated in a thin layer of desiccated flesh and the trappings of scavengers. As I surveyed the scene, a large, metal beast rolled into view on a trio of limbs, easily twice my height. A red colored spotlight flashed across the field of corpses as it moved through. It crunched over a rotting corpse and, just as quickly as it had appeared, disappeared from view once more. Now I understood what Sentinel and the old stallion had meant about this place being dangerous. “When I was still a fresh recruit, I thought the ministries would end the war…” Sentinel said solemnly. “I guess, in a way, they did…” Tearing his gaze from the window, Sentinel continued down the hallway. “C’mon, let’s find your marefriend and get out of here while we still can.”

The next few minutes passed in terse silence. I got the distinct impression that I’d reopened some painful wounds for Sentinel without really meaning to. I kept quiet too, letting him deal with things in his own way. Living through the end of the world entitled him to his share of problems, and it was incredibly unlikely that I would have anything to say on the matter that might help. Instead, I occupied my time by worrying about Jerry. We’d seen no sign of her since we’d entered the building. Which was especially worrisome. I got flashes of the ferals in the museum, and my imagination was obliging enough to fill in the gruesome details. I shook the thoughts from my head and took a deep, calming breath.

Relax. She’s fine. She’s just… alone… somewhere… in here… with whatever else might be lurking in- Okay that’s not helping!

I turned my attention back to my surroundings to distract myself. There was an odd elegance to the building. Little details like the mirrored arrangement of each cubicle or the detailed gold filigree that snaked up each support column. I lagged behind Sentinel and carefully brushed a hoof along the glittering latticework.

“Somepony put a lot of work into making this place… pretty,” I mumbled, quickening my pace to catch up with Sentinel. He grunted in reply, which was honestly more of a response than I’d been expecting. Silence fell over us again and, with a sigh, I dropped back several paces.

Where the hell could she be? There’d been no sign of her since I saw her disappear into the building, and it’s not like she could’ve gotten all that far before we came in after her. Something was definitely not right about the whole thing.

“What kind of protection would a place like this have?” I asked as I came to a complete stop. Sentinel slowed, but didn’t stop as he glanced back over his shoulder at me.

“Varies,” he muttered, “Armed guards were a given, but they’d ‘ave other things. Protect-a-ponies, automated turrets… that big fuckin’ sentry bot we saw outside…”

“Anything that doesn’t kill a pony?” I asked.

Sentinel shrugged and opened his mouth to answer, but stopped. He stared past me and suddenly, I was acutely aware of something behind me. I turned slowly, expecting to see… well… something horrifying standing in front me. But there was nothing standing there. Instead, a silver orb about the size of a head floated in the air. It sported a single gleaming blue lens that was focused on me.

“Identification please,” it said softly in a mare’s voice.

“Easy kid,” Sentinel said slowly. “No. Sudden. Moves.”

“What is it?” I asked out the side of my mouth.

“Identification please,” the drone repeated in the same pleasant tone.

“Scanner,” Sentinel said. “Don’t move.”

“Its. Not. Leaving,” I hissed.

“Final warning. Identification please,” the drone said, its voice suddenly deep and angry as the lens turned a bright red.

“Um… I left it at home?” I said, offering the drone a smile. The orb hovered closer, almost bumping in to my nose.

“Please follow the drone to security. Any deviation from this order will result in a full security lockdown,” it growled. I nodded slowly as the drone turned around. Then I reared back and brought both hooves down on top of it, driving it into the floor. It let out an electronic squeal as it tried to raise itself off the floor, magical energy sparking out of a crack I’d put in its polished exterior. I reared back and slammed it back down again. The shrieking instantly cut out and the light faded from the lens. I turned back to Sentinel to see him with his hoof pressed firmly to his temple.

“...Goddess damn it, kid… ya remember what I said about ‘alf-cocked?” Sentinel muttered. As I opened my mouth to speak, red emergency lighting ignited along the ceiling and an alarm began to blare. Steel shutters descended over the windows, cutting us off from the view outside and casting the building into a hellish red darkness. Then twin domes sprouted from the ceiling and opened, revealing the vented barrels of machine guns. “RUN!” Sentinel shouted as the guns opened up. Bullets ripped into the floor, puffs of pulverized carpet tracing a heart stopping path towards me. I twisted on the spot and scrambled for purchase before scurrying after Sentinel.

We tore through the building at full speed and zero concern. Our attention now solely on not being punched full of holes. New turrets emerged ahead of us, hell-bent on ending our intrusion. As we rounded the next corner, a pair of turrets had already descended from the ceiling and were waiting for us. Sentinel, much faster on the uptake than I was, dove into cover as the turrets opened up. My eyes widened and I rolled behind the closest thing I could find, an old wooden desk. Automatic gunfire chewed into my cover, blasting wood chips and splinters out of it. Twin heavy guns roared as they ripped the thing apart inch by inch until I felt the first bullet dig into my armor. Time to move again.

I shouted an inarticulate growl as I peeled away from the desk and sprinted at a marble pillar that supported the ceiling. The bullets followed me, ripping up moldy carpet and chipping the floor underneath in my wake. I dropped to slide across the floor and scrambled into cover behind the pillar as the bullets began to tear into it. These things had to run out of ammo eventually, right?

“This is your fault!” Sentinel shouted from across the room, hidden behind a pillar of his own. “This is all your fucking fault!” He flinched as a piece of his cover splintered a little too close to his face.

“How do you figure?!” I shouted back. Sentinel fixed me with a flat ‘are you serious?’ look and I felt my ears droop. “Alright! I’m sorry!” I shouted.

“Sorry?” Sentinel shouted back. “You’re bloody sorry?”

“Um… yes?” I replied. Sentinel put his hooves to his head and growled again.

“Oh, it’s no problem t’all then! Because you’re fuckin’ sorry! Sorry makes everything better!” I snapped my mouth shut. I’d seen enough pissed off ponies to know when it was better to shut up and leave well enough alone. “Sorry we dragged you out of your cozy room in Rust Rail, Sentinel!” he continued, gesturing with his hooves as much as his cover would allow. “Sorry we can’t give you a decent, goddess-damned destination, Sentinel!” His rifle raised, surrounded in his blue magic. “Sorry we won’t let you bump off the poor widdle raider, Sentinel!”

He twisted, his rifle aiming at me for the longest moment of my life. I felt my heart stall in my chest as I stared down the barrel. Then he continued in the maneuver around his cover. He and his gun roared with a fury that drowned out the turrets as he loosed a stream of bullets. The turret housing warped and rent as he blasted the first apart and then turned his attention to the next, which clattered to the floor much like its partner. Silence came crashing down upon us. Sentinel stood between our two pillars, his machine gun raised. He was breathing hard and staring up at where the two turrets had been. Slowly, I unfolded and got to my hooves.

“Sentinel?” I called carefully. The soldier took a deep breath, his weapon lowering and he turned to face me.

“That was cathartic,” he muttered as he ejected his empty magazine. He replaced it with one from his pack and tucked the empty into his saddlebag as the weapon replaced itself on his back. “Alright, let’s take a moment and try’n figure this out,” he said, taking a seat. “The bird didn’t enter all that long before us, and we didn’t see ‘er anywhere on this floor,”

“Jerry,” I corrected.

Sentinel waved me off with a hoof. “Whatever.” He tapped his hoof on the floor for a moment before looking up at me. “What if that little drone ‘ad found ‘er?”

“What? The little floaty ball thing?” I asked. When Sentinel nodded, I paused. “Well, it was polite at first. I guess… she’d follow it like it wanted.”

“Then she’s probably in the security office,” Sentinel muttered. “That’ll be somewhere on the first floor I’d wager. And likely behind a arseload more turrets.”

I glanced around our darkened, red-tinted surroundings. “How do we get there from here?”

After a long moment, Sentinel sighed. “I’m gonna wind up shot before the day is over…” he muttered.

“Probably,” I muttered. “Look… I’m sorry things are so… difficult with us.” I said, choosing my words carefully. “But… we’ve been slaves most of our lives. We’re not used to… to asking for things. Let alone getting them. These last few days have been… shockingly different…”

“Right… I get that. I’m not blamin’ ya fer that. I jus’ want ya to think more an’ act less, ya?” He grunted. He didn’t sound any less pissed off though. I thought it would be best to let him lead and follow quietly behind. Like… like a good little slave. Ugh, that thought left a bad taste in my mouth.

Sentinel moved ahead of me with a surreal grace that bordered on unnatural. He slipped shadow to shadow and cover to cover. Each burst of movement he made was followed by a quick series of beeps at the turrets attempted to lock on, but stopped when he disappeared from their sight again. He stopped and looked back at me, gesturing with a hoof for me to follow. My brows rows and I pointed a hoof at my chest.

“You’re kidding… right?” I called to him.

Sentinel sighed in exasperation and peered quickly around cover. “Fine, wait there,” he said before darting around the corner and eliciting another startled beep from a turret.

“I hate this...” I muttered to myself after several minutes. I sat down and sighed, willing myself to calm down. I was on edge. The museum. The stable. Ministry Town. The raiders. And now this? It was all so very different from everything I had lived before this. And so much in such a short time. Sure, The Dig hadn’t been any better. But it was a horror I was accustomed to, regrettably, something I had learned to accept as normal. All this was new and terrifyingly different. I glanced around me again, feeling as though something was there, lurking just in the shadows. I didn’t think it was possible, but this place actually got worse when you were alone. I looked around, carefully peeking around cover until the angry alarm from the turret scared me back into safety. As much as I liked my new armor, I wasn’t about to see how it stood up to a hail of bullets. So I was stuck here until Sentinel returned.

Awesome.

I slumped down a little further and sighed. Great. All I could see ahead of me was row after row of empty desks and chairs, forming an aisle that ended in an open set of doors. One side mirrored the other, right down to the placement of the items on the desk. It was the kind of symmetry that bordered on being a problem. I imagined some shadowy pony carefully using a ruler to adjust everything to be absolutely perfect. I sat up slowly, realizing I wasn’t imagining the entire thing. There, at the far end of the room, was the shadowy shape of a pony.

“Jerry?” I called. The figure looked at me and then carefully stepped through the doors at the far end. “Jerry!” I got to my hooves and stepped forward, stopping myself just before breaking cover. The turrets were still there, just waiting for me to stick my neck out.

It had to be at least sixty feet to the doors. And Goddesses only knew what was waiting for me just past them. It couldn’t have been Jerry. Jerry would’ve responded. But…

Dammit.

I dashed forward, keeping my head low. The turrets chirped and then roared as they shot at me. I galloped in a straight line towards the door, hoping that my armor would make up for my lack of speed. The first bullet bit into my armor before I’d made it ten feet, followed immediately by several friends. It felt remarkably like Bruiser slamming his hooves into my back once more. I was halfway there when I felt hot pain in the back of my right hind leg. I stumbled, but somehow managed to remain on my hooves.

Just a little further. I grit my teeth and powered through the pain. The door was nearly within reach. I bent my legs and threw myself forward the final few feet. I shouldered the door open and tumbled end over end until I landed painfully upside down against the far wall. I was breathing hard, and as I exhaled, I began to laugh.

“Huh, ha, ha HAH!” I breathed as I tumbled onto my side and pointed back the way I’d come, mocking the turrets. I glanced at my leg, taking note of the hole punched cleanly through the meat as I fished a healing potion from my saddlebag and choked it down. Muscle and flesh knit itself back together as it closed. “That was easily the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” I muttered as I dropped the empty potion bottle. Sentinel was right, I needed to think things through a little more before acting. I glanced back through the door. I must’ve been out of range of the turrets, because they were quietly tracking back and forth, searching for a target. I took in the area I was now in, searching for any sign of the figure I’d seen.

I’d tumbled past a security checkpoint of some kind. The hallway was half dominated by a guard post, with what looked like an empty door frame on one side. A soft, if a bit moldy, red carpet split around the station, through the door frame and down the entire length of the hallway towards a set of wooden doors decorated with a seal depicting a feminine eye over an open book. The doors were also open just a bit, the seal split down the middle. I reared back, planting my forehooves onto the guard station and peered over the top of it. Nothing but a trio of empty chairs and a faded copy of Guns and Bullets magazine. I looked at it for a second and then shrugged. I didn’t care for guns anyway. I stepped around the desk, and up to the doors.

I reached out with a hoof and pushed. It opened smoothly and without a sound, stopping itself before hitting the wall. The entire office was breathtaking. Gleaming white marble, plush red carpeting and a chandelier that looked to be made of real gemstones. A large, dark wood desk sat in front of an even larger, arched window that would’ve offered a great view if the shutters weren’t down. A sleek, white and chrome terminal rested on the desk, awaiting an owner that would never return. Bookshelves packed with books of all sizes and colors lined each wall. But there was nopony here either.

“Great, now I’m seeing things,” I muttered as I trotted into the room. The office was a level of opulent that the rest of the building could only aspire to, and to me the whole room screamed of… waste. Why would anypony need so much? I moved around the edge of the desk and pushed the chair aside. Nopony under the desk either. There was nopony here. “I must be losing my mind.”

I dropped down into the plush desk chair with a sigh. At least waiting here was better than being huddled behind a column, hoping I didn’t get shot… even if it took getting shot to get here. I glanced at the terminal. It didn’t look too dissimilar from the one Dig Deep had plugged into not long ago. In fact, there was a socket on the front of it like he’d plugged into. I glanced at my pip-buck. It couldn’t be all that difficult, right? It took a moment, but I located a similarly shaped protrusion. I bit down on it with my teeth and pulled free a length of cord. With some finangling I managed to plug it in.

Both devices whirred and clicked as the old machines worked. I glanced at the screen of my pip-buck, spying green text as it scrolled by. After a moment the screen filled with what amounted to the scrawlings of a foal with the occasional word thrown in here and there. The words ‘password required’ and four squares were at the top. I didn’t exactly see what Dig Deep had done to get into the other terminal, I just remembered that he had pressed buttons and fiddled with the knobs on the pip-buck, so, I followed suit. A small indicator on the screen moved as I fiddled with the dial. I dared to press the button and the terminal beeped angrily. On the right of the screen a new line of text had appeared.

>Invalid Entry.

I stared at the screen a moment and then scrolled over further, this time over the word ‘Towel’ and pressed the button again.

>Towel
>Entry denied
>4/5 Correct.

“Four of five correct? Four of five what?” I muttered as I scrolled to the next word. Tower.

>Tower
>Exact Match!
>Please wait while system is accessed.

I did it! I’m not sure exactly how I did it, but somehow I’d got into the terminal. The screen flickered and changed as new text filled it.

>Log Entries
>Unlock Safe
>Lift Security Lockdown

My eyes immediately locked onto the last selection. It couldn’t be that simple, could it? I scrolled to and selected it.

>Lifting Security Lockdown…

There was a loud boom as something mechanical or electrical switched. Instantly the red lights died and the ceiling lights began to flicker and glow as the shutter lifted from the window. I blinked several times at the sudden brightness. “Huh, guess it is that simple,” I muttered as I scrolled up to the next option and selected it. There as a loud mechanical click and something metal banged into my hoof, startling me. I scooted back in the chair and peered under the desk. A small safe had been opened. Inside were stacks of old gold coins, two strange glass balls, and a cassette like the ones I’d found in the stable. I tucked the balls and the cassette into my bag and looked at the coins, debating if they would be worth carrying. I shrugged and scooped the coins into my saddlebags with a satisfying jingling.

My looting complete, I turned back to the terminal and selected the only remaining option. The log entries opened and I selected the top entry of the two that weren’t labeled ‘corrupted’.

I had to get official at the museum today. The doctor, some overly excited little mare, told me that we had no right to censor important historical finds. I put on my deepest, most serious voice and set them straight. I told them that according to wartime law, before any information can be made available to the public it must first be processed by Image to deem it safe for public consumption and then had my ponies collect her work. I must admit watching her face fall was delightful. I’m such a bad mare. I love the position of power I hold.

I’ll look over her research tomorrow. I doubt it will be anything terribly exciting, but not every part of my job can be fun.

This one’s a real piece of work. I didn’t have any trouble imagining her fitting in with the slavers at all. I moved on to the next entry dated several days later.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not much of a history buff. Pretty sure I failed that class in college, actually...

But this mare’s research is terribly fascinating.

A lot of theories that these fragments of pottery and moldy fabric are the remnants of some pre-historic pony-like civilization. And they’re not talking cave-ponies either. I’ve forwarded a copy of this information to Mistress Rarity. I need her input on this. This is well above my pay grade. The artifacts will be collected and sent with the paperwork. I don’t want to leave anything to chance.

“Where the ‘ell did you get to now?” Sentinel’s gruff voice bellowed from down the hall.

“In here! Big room at the end of the hall!” I called back. A moment later Sentinel trotted in with Jerry in tow.

“The ‘ell you doing in ‘ere?” he asked as he stepped up to the desk. I unplugged my pip-buck from the terminal and leaned forward onto the desk, offering him a smug smile.

“Just lifting the security lockdown,” I said. Sentinel’s brow furrowed and he raised a hoof to rub it over his face as he sighed loudly. I glanced around him and smiled at Jerry. “Where’d you get off to?”

Jerry looked down, sheepishly tracing circles into the carpet. “A little floating ball came up to me and asked me to follow it. So... I did. I was in the process of getting a security badge when the whole place went into lockdown for some reason.”

Now it was Sentinel’s turn to smile smugly. “I wonder ‘ow that ‘appened.”

I cleared my throat and shrugged as I slipped out of the chair. “No idea. Hey! Let’s get out of here! With the lockdown lifted and Jerry found, we can get moving again.” I suggested. Sentinel shook his head and trotted over to the window.

“We can’t leave yet, this place is… is a gold mine. It’s NEVER been scavenged.” Jerry said. “Plus, I DID go through all the trouble of getting security badges…”

“Jerry, did you look outside?” I asked. At the shake of her head I guided her to the window and gestured at the multitudes of desiccated and destroyed husks that had once been ponies just like us. “We need to leave before something else hap-”

“YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!” came a sudden loud, yet muffled screaming.

I shut my eyes tight. “Sorry, that was my fault. I should’ve kept my big mouth shut,” I muttered.

“No,” Sentinel said, tapping on the window, “This one is definitely my fault.”

I followed his gaze to the small army of raiders that stood in the street, just beyond the perimeter fence. Dozens of mares and stallions in shoddy barding and brandishing all sorts of weapons. At its heart was a small clearing with two ponies supporting a third. I immediately recognized the dark green stallion from Ministry Town. The one Sentinel had killed. Or so I’d assumed. A strip of moldy cloth had been tied around his face, and I could see two ruddy stains where his eyes would be.

“I thought you killed him,” Jerry said.

Sentinel shrugged. “Yeah, well, you two seemed awfully miffed at the thought. So I showed our friend ‘ow much it ‘urts havin’ your bleedin’ eyes cut out.”

The raid leader shoved the two ponies flanking him aside, and staggered forward a step. “You rotting fuck! I’m going flay you alive for this!” he screamed.

Sentinel spun his rifle around and smashed the butt into the glass, breaking out a small hole. “Good luck with that, mate! I’m already dead!” he shouted back. Judging by the way a few of the raiders looked away, I’m guessing there was a spattering of laughter through the crowd. This made the raid leader seethe even more. He reached out blindly, grabbing at air until his hoof found somepony and pulled them closer.

“Get in there! Bring me the rotter!” he screamed into the stallion’s ear.

“Get down!” Sentinel shouted as he hooked his forelegs around mine and Jerry’s necks and pulled us to the floor just as dozens of weapons opened fire. Bullets and shrapnel blasted apart the window, showering us with glass and debris.

“I changed my mind! Scavenge later! Survive now!” Jerry said as she covered her head with both hooves.

“Take note kiddies, this is was grantin’ mercy ta evil gets ya!” Sentinel said as he crawled to the office door.

“Is now REALLY the time for ‘I told you so’s’?” I asked.

“May not get another, so yes!” Sentinel said as he scrambled to his hooves. Once clear of the window, Jerry and I followed suit, the three of us galloping down the hallway back the way we came. Sentinel and Jerry split up, darting around either side of the small security checkpoint. Feeling a bit daring, I decided to go over it. I cleared the first desk, but tumbled into the security checkpoint, knocking over the pair of chairs that were there. I scrambled to my hooves and climbed over the next counter, catching up to Jerry and Sentinel.

“What happens when we get outside?” I asked.

“We run AWAY from the danger this time,” Sentinel shouted.

“Is… is that even possible in the wasteland?” Jerry chimed in.

“‘Ey! Don’t muddle this moment with your logic!” Sentinel snapped back.

“How about explaining how we avoid the army of raiders and all their guns when we step outside?” I called from the rear of the pack.

“Remember that big bastard we saw rollin’ around outside?” Sentinel shouted over his shoulder.

“Yeah? What about it?” I called back.

“Just be ‘appy we ain’t the ones shootin’ at a Ministry building!”

The small arms fire of the raiders were suddenly drowned out by the dull crump of an explosion that made the grenade we’d thrown earlier sound like a firecracker. Shouts and the sound of sporadic gunfire washed over us as the armored behemoth had apparently made them its target.

“Quickly! Out the front while its distracted!” Sentinel shouted as he disappeared down a stairwell. Without another word, Jerry and I followed.

Before too long we’d reached the edge of the development around Ministry Town and galloped out into the blasted landscape. Behind us we could still hear the sounds of conflict as the raiders and the robot fought. It was several minutes before Sentinel allowed us to slow to a walk and collect our breaths. He muttered to himself for the next twenty minutes before finally turning to us and glaring at us with his dead eyes.

“Right! Listen you two! We need to ‘ave a serious talk. You PAID me to do a job. That job is to keep you two rooks out of trouble. Then ya go and dive ‘ead first INTO trouble. So ‘ere’s how things are going to go from now on. Do. As. I. Say. Sound simple enough?” He suddenly jabbed a hoof at me, startling me in the process. “Don’t go runnin’ into fights!” His hoof shifted to Jerry, who jumped as well. “An’ don’t go runnin’ into ruins!”

“But that’s what we used to do,” Jerry said defensively. “I’ve been sent into lots of ruins.”

“Ruins are stupid dangerous, love,” Sentinel said, his voice suddenly softening. “Why’dya think they sent slaves in first? There’s always more ponies to be caught and controlled. Only so many guns an’ bullets to go ‘round. Better to let a slave go in first and get ripped open by whatever beastie made the ruins their ‘ome, than risk a trained slaver and his gear.”

Jerry’s ears fell at the world shattering knowledge imparted to her and her eyes drifted to the mud beneath her hooves. “I… I guess I never thought of it that way. I always just ran to Bruiser if something happened…”

“Look,” Sentinel said, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “I’m not aiming to make you feel bad. I’m just trying to do what you ‘ired me for. Despite ‘ow I look, I do know what I’m doing. Wouldn’t ‘ave survived this long if I didn’t.”

“I’ll listen to you,” I said, drawing his attention. “But I’m still going to do what I can to help ponies.”

“Haven’t you been listening?” Sentinel asked.

I nodded. “No, I heard you. But you don’t understand. I have to try to help. I can’t just walk away and let somepony suffer...” Bruiser’s ruined head briefly popped into the forefront of my memory. “No matter what they have done to deserve it.”

“That’s an admirable quality, kid. Really is. But the world don’t work that way no more.” Sentinel turned his back and started walking again.

“How can you say that?” I called after him.

“Because I watched that world burn. Now c’mon, it’s a long hike to the next settlement,” Sentinel shouted without so much as looking back. I glanced at Jerry, my ears drooping to lay flat against my head. She shrugged wordlessly, and followed after Sentinel, her head still hung low. I glanced back the way we’d come, spying the ruins concealing Ministry Town in the distance.

“Someone has to try…” I muttered, as I turned to follow them.

Footnote: Halfway to next level!

Author's Notes:

Hey all

Chapter 7 is now up and mostly good to go. It still needs a pass from an editor, but I don't know when that will happen.

Stay tuned for chapter 8.

5-25-18: Minor edits. Still awaiting a proper editing.
6-18-18: The final edited version is now released!