I am weak. I had given into my darkness. I wasn't strong enough to win the battle. Me versus two massive ponies. I let Dark take control as I simply shut my eyes and blocked my ears. Trying to forget, like I forgot the post office. But unlike the post office, I didn't simply wake up after this was over.

The only sense I had left was my hearing. But I really didn't want to hear what Dark was doing. One of the two ponies screamed, followed by a thud as his bulk hit the ground.

There was silence from the crowd as that pony screamed in pain. "I cut the ligaments to all your limbs," Dark's voice echoed around the darkness as I could practically feel his sadistic smile.

"You bastard!" It was Bulk Build, which meant the other pony, Buff Body, was still standing.

There was the sound of rushing air, followed by more screams. "Five cuts."

"What the hell are you doing?!" a low voice screeched.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You better wait your turn."

There was the sound of rushing air again, followed by a grunt. "Stand Still!" Buff Body was on the attack.

More screams. "Four cuts."

I whimpered to myself. "Please stop."

"Allow me to educate you all." Another scream from Buff Body. "What you are experiencing is called lingchi." The sound of flesh being severed, sickening.

"Stop please!" Bulk seemed to cry out. Another thud resounded.

"It's a foreign term, but its nickname is death by three thousand cuts." I recalled briefly reading it in some old book. More screams snapped me out of my thoughts. There was also the sound of wet things hitting the floor.

Buff yelled out, "You fucking bastard!"

"Wait your turn." A symphony of screams started. I tried to block it out as it was the only thing I could hear, aside from the sound of the knife cutting into a pony.

"Stop! You win! We surrender!" Buff Body cried over a gurgled wet cough.

The P. A. System crackled to life once again. "Too bad, this is a death match. That is what the ponies demanded." Iron Hoof, even through a speaker, sounded as malicious as ever.

"Please stop Dark..." I pleaded, knowing he could hear me.

I could hear the crowd mumble and look down on us, confused by the turn of the battle. But then some pony started chanting and cheering, for me. “Star! Star! Star!”

"How can I stop now?" His smirk and sadistic ego grew.

There was a groan and a wet gurgling sound as the crowd went silent again. I then heard Dark fiddle with something before there was a pop and a whistling sound. "You're not getting out of this that easily."

"Bulk! What did you do to him?!" Buff's voice was filled with panic.

I could still hear the whistling sound, reverting up and down. "Relax, I just saved his life." The whistling sped up. "After all, it belongs to me."

The crowd started to chant my name again, but suddenly stopped. "Give me a hook and chain." Soon there was a clank followed by the sound of chains rattling.

There was the sound of a gargled whistle filled scream, as I could hear the sound of meat being torn. "Now pull him up."

I could hear the chain shake as Bulk Build thrashed. I tried to keep out the thoughts of what might be going on, as I just mumbled, "Stop." Over and over again.

I could hear Buff Body weeping as he watched his friend being hoisted up. "Please stop."

Dark chuckled. "You should be begging me to give you the same mercy, after all, you’re the one getting a slow death."

Hooves collided with flesh. The crowd’s chanting revved up, chains rattling.

It began to repeat in a rhythm.

The crowd quieted down as I could hear Dark pant a little, the pounding and cracking finally stopping. The chains slowly creaked as the whistling of Bulk Build was much slower and lower. "I am Dark, The Angel of Death." A stomp of a hoof accentuated his title.

The sound of a blade cutting meat was followed by a disturbing large wet sound. The crowd erupted in cheers. I could even hear some threw up through the ovation. But most of all, the whistling stopped. I knew Bulk Build was dead. I couldn't help but cry in the darkness, hugging myself tighter.

Somepony growled at me. "You bastard!" Buff Body. I heard him shift his large bulk, before falling down. Failing to stand up as he was too injured.

The sound of something wet and squishy being moved was eerily close. "If you don't shut up, then I'm going to gag you with this as well." I could hear Buff Body whimpering as Dark did something with something. "There, now the cuts will be a surprise."

The screaming started, but this time it didn't stop. It felt like hours of screaming as the crowd's enthusiasm didn't let up. All of them cheered for more blood and pain. All the while Dark sliced slivers off of Buff's body. No matter what I did I couldn't block out the sound.

Dark chuckled. "Don't pass out now, we're only at two thousand two hundred and twenty-two cuts."

Buff Body whimpered softly. "Please... Kill...Me..."

"What do you think I've been doing for the past hour?" Dark lightly chuckled. The crowd fell silent as I heard the door open. Dark growled. "What do you want?"

"Time's up." Sonata?

This sound, this song. It was Lost Stars, Candy's music box. I felt the darkness melt away as I slowly stood up, opening my eyes. I saw Sonata standing in the doorway, his horn and hair burnt. He looked at me with an expression of sadness and understanding. In his hoof was Candy's music box. I then began to look at my body. It was covered in blood, I was soaked in it.

I slowly began to turn around. "Don't!" Sonata shouted.

But I couldn't help it, I was too curious. I screamed and jumped back toward Sonata. Bulk Build was hanging from the second floor by a chain and hook through his chin. He had a pen sticking out of his neck as there was a stream of blood pouring out of his mouth. He must have tried to choke on his tongue. His limbs had deep cuts on his ligaments.

His chest and ribs were broken. I knew because his body was forced open, sliced from pelvis to the base of his neck. In a near medical manner, in the shape of a horizontal H., His organs hung from his body, connected only by each other. His heart kept on beating, but all his blood was either on me or the floor.

His guts were laying on the floor as well. A section of them was pulled and cut away from the rest. I looked over to Buff Body, finding the missing guts. They were tied around his face, like a blindfold. He had varying depths of oval-shaped cuts carved out of his body. The removed meat and flesh laid in thin slivers around him. Despite the fact that there were thousands laying around the room, he was still alive, well breathing.

The level of Dark Star's sadistic violence was just monstrous. To make things worse, it was all on show for a bunch of worsening mercenaries. They ate it up like bloodthirsty dogs, savages kept in check by fear of Iron Hoof. If she were to vanish then this group would turn raider in less than a day. True that she may be clinging to a dead militia's name. But their ideas and future were fast fading.

"Sonata?! What are you doing!?" A voice screamed from down the hallway. Soon Mane Care rounded the corner and ran towards the room. "It's not safe!"

I groaned as I was about to slowly get up. All my body sensations returned. I screamed as I collapsed in pain, all of my injuries stinging and throbbing at once.

"He needs help," Sonata said, looking up at Iron Hoof, in her little window. Mane Care ran up and stood next to him.

The P. A. buzzed. "Well, folks? What do you say? Has this Pegasus proven himself?"

The crowd burst out in cheers of praise, chanting my name. 'Star... Star… Star...'

Sonata moved forward to my side but Mane Care held him back, shaking her head. Some ponies carrying a stretcher ran in, injecting me with Med-X, before picking me and placing me on it. I groaned as they carried me out. I saw another group with a stretcher walk over to the barely alive Buff Body.

I looked at Sonata, clutching the music box.

"Thank you," I mumbled

I was carried over to the medical station. I was patched up with bandages and two healing potions. After an hour of them forcing me to sit back and let the healing potion do its work, they redid my bandages and helped to wipe off most of the blood.

There was a poster next to the bed. One from Ministry of Love. 'Love and time are nature’s medicine.' was written in white over a mostly green poster of an orchard. It looked like one side was a pear orchard and the other side was an apple orchard during sunset. In between them were two trees twirled together, separating and joining together again at the top, forming a heart. Both trees bore apples and pears, together. I could see the heart shape and the lovingness, but I felt that there might have been a deeper meaning to the poster's design.

Afterwards they brought over a needle gun with some magical ink in a tube. Despite my complaints and arguments, I was forced to get a tattoo. Stupid thing hurt, but I ended up getting the Minute Mares’ clock tattoo on my left shoulder. I looked at it in a mirror, seeing it tick. Unfortunately I was now a part of the Minute Mares.

I was finally allowed to get up and leave. I was told to go to the Overmare's office right away. Not being familiar with the Stable’s dull maze-like layout, I was in need of a guide. I got to the automatic sliding door, it opened, on the other side was Sonata.

"Sonata?" He had a bald patch around his horn, all the burnt hair was cut off and his horn was cleaned.

"Oh Star, I was hoping to catch you." He smiled up at me.

"Why?" I asked inquisitively.

He turned and waved a hoof for me to follow, so I did. "I've been asked to take you to see Iron Hoof. That and I wanted to talk."

Some ponies passed us, still talking and muttering about the fight. They stared at me and my wings. "There he is, the Angel of Death." They chuckled and walked away. I just tried to shrink down, ashamed of my wings and my new nickname.

"That wasn't me..."

Sonata came to a sudden stop in front of me. "I know, I've been inside your head."

I just stared at him for a moment. "Sorry."

"It's..." There was a pause as he thought of the words to say. "Messed up in there."

I gave a light chuckle. "I know."

We kept walking again. This time Sonata pulled a paperclip out of his tail and held it in his mouth. "Mane Care doesn't want me near you. But I know about your pain, the demons you carry. Besides, she's busy helping stabilize Buff Body."

I trotted up next to him. "Will he live?"

Sonata's horn sparked as he concentrated on the paperclip he held in his mouth. "Don't know." A small blue aura bubble emerged from the tip of his horn. His magic enveloped the paperclip and held it out in front of him, shaking and bobbing up and down.

I cocked my head. "What are you doing?"

"Magic training." Slowly but surely the paperclip began to twist out of shape. "Shaping paperclips demands focus and precision."

"Oh, interesting." I gave him a light smile as I saw him hold his breath and concentrate.

Sonata soon exhaled and panted slightly in exhaustion, dropping the paperclip. We stopped as he picked it up. "Here."

I took it with my wings and looked at it. He had shaped it into a star. "Hehe, thanks."

"I use to be able to shape multiple paperclips without a problem. But now I struggle to even shape one." He looked kind of down but chuckled to himself a little. "Come on, let's go."

He started to trot faster. We broke out into a light canter, both of us laughing a little. We eventually ran into a room, the one with a piano. "Why are we back here?" I asked as we caught our breaths.

Sonata made his way to the piano. "Take a seat."

I looked around, finding the pillows and sitting down where I had last time. I gave a light chuckle. "All I'm missing is the cage."

Sonata giggled. "Hehe, sorry about that." He gave me a sheepish grin.

I laid back. "Now what?"

Sonata pulled out some musical sheets. "Just sit back and relax." He threw something at me and I caught it in my wings. Candy's music box.

My ears perked up as I recognized what he was playing after just a few notes. Lost Stars. I sighed, relaxing as I let the music wash over me.

The song seemed to end as soon as it started, it was a short song indeed. Still, it really helped to wash away my anxiety. "Star, what's behind the door?"

I didn't even look at Sonata, I just kept blankly staring at the ceiling. "I don't know and I don't want to."

"Oh, okay, sorry."

The question kept nagging me. "Do you know?"

Sonata gave a light chuckle. "No, I don't think I want to know either." He sighed. "We should probably go see Iron Hoof."

"Yea." We both got up and I followed him once more, looking down at the little star he gave me, as well as the music box.

We got to the Overmare's door, Sonata stopped before it. I nodded, thankful, before stepping forward. The door slid open. I didn't expect what was inside. Sharp was talking and laughing with Iron Hoof. They were having tea as they sat around a table. There was an empty seat for me. Sharp was still wearing that Stable suit, while Iron Hoof still wore my blue hoodie.

"Star! Are you okay?" Sharp shot up and hugged me.

I hugged her back. "Umm yea? What's going on?"

Iron Hoof took a sip of her tea before waving a hoof. "Have a seat, let's chat."

I looked to Sharp and she nodded, so I complied. "So what's going on?" I asked.

"We're having tea," Iron Hoof said as she poured me a cup.

Sharp sat down. "I prefer coffee, but they only had tea." The two of them took a sip of their drinks.

I looked down at my cup, still a little confused. "But why are you here? What about the plan?"

"Plan? What plan?" Iron Hoof asked, putting her cup down.

Sharp took a sip of her tea before putting it down. "I planted explosives throughout the stable. I was then going to use that to get Star and the power armor out of here. Star was meant to distract you, but I never expected him to join you."

"I never agreed to join them, besides, did you... umm... see?" I asked, avoiding eye contact.

"Wait, go back to the bombs," Iron Hoof interjected.

"I didn't see your fight, I was too busy placing the bombs throughout the stable."

I sighed, relieved by that slight comfort. "Good."

"Where is the detonator?" Iron Hoof asked, still wanting to know more.

"I have it in my bag." Sharp finished her tea and stood up.

"Give it to me." Iron Hoof demanded.

"Once we're safely outside." Sharp wiped her lips with a napkin, smiling.

I followed her lead. "Thanks for the tea. I would like to stay a bit longer and ask some questions about my dad. But we're a little tight for time."

Iron Hoof sighed. "Very well, next we meet hopefully we'll have more time to chat." She moved back and pulled my hoodie off over her head. It was then that we saw a prominent abdominal scar. "The power armor is waiting for you at the entrance. Also if you ask about that scar, I'll kill you." She pulled off the hoodie and handed it to me, smiling.

I smiled back at her, a little unnerved. "Noted." I then proceeded to put it back on.

"Oh, before I forget." Iron Hoof went over to a table and pulled out my knife and handed it to Sharp. I just stared at it as Sharp put it in her bag.

We then got up and walked to the door, Iron Hoof following behind. We stepped out of the office, seeing Sonata waiting for us. "Ma’am?"

"Sonata, lead them to the exit. Oh and don't forget to grab the detonator off Sharp once they leave." Iron Hoof instructed, nodding to my sister.

Sonata smiled at us. "Right this way."

We passed a few ponies on the way to the entrance. All of them seemed to have a word to say about me or Sharp’s flanks. I didn't know which annoyed me more. We walked along the second floor of the atrium. I couldn't help but look down to the arena, looking to where Bulk Build was hung.

"Star?"

Hanging where Bulk once did was me, well, my body. "Why didn't you open your eyes?" it said around the hook in its mouth. I just stared at my mutilated body, just like Bulk Build's body was, except my body’s eyes were closed.

"Star?" I jumped a little as I spun around, staring at Sharp. She had placed a hoof on my shoulder, I could see the concern on her face. "Are you okay? You look scared."

"W~what no I'm fine, let's go," I mumbled, smiling at her before quickly turning away and walking forward.

The next few minutes were spent in awkward silence as we went to the Stable door.

Power armor. It definitely lived up to its name. I saw it standing just before the open door, two ponies standing around it. But I didn't care about them. The armor looked massive, like a pony-shaped tank. Even its tail was armored. The body bore a white non-magical insignia. On the back between the massive shoulders was a hole for something. The helmet seemed to have pipes for a built-in breather, a built-in lamplight, and black visor eyes. The legs have hydraulics sticking out of them. The whole thing seemed to have a few scratches and dents, the metal slightly worn and rusted, but it seemed to be in perfect condition overall.

"Wow, hold your horses," one guard said as I approached. The other guard hugged the one who was talking. The one talking just groaned. "What are you doing?"

"Holding my horses." He chuckled. He was a slim lemony yellow stallion with a cream colored long spiky mane and emerald green eyes.

The other one sighed. "Not now Cream Lemon." This guard had a steel grey coat, brown hair, and brown eyes.

Cream Lemon giggled before walking to me. "So you’re the one they call the Angel of Death?"

I sighed and avoided eye contact. "Yeah, I guess?"

Suddenly I found myself being kissed by Cream Lemon. I froze and blushed as a few seconds passed, he pulled off my lips, licking his own. "Kiss of death, pretty good."

"Lemon!" The guard shouted.

Cream Lemon sighed and proceeded to walk away, swaying his flank, but not before saying, "Fine, I'll go polish some poles or something."

After a moment of silence, awkwardly blushing, Sonata cleared his throat. "Anyway, here is the power armor."

The one guard stepped forward. "Yes, yes. T forty five power armor, repaired by our engineer, Billy. Rest his soul."

"What happened to him?" Sharp asked.

"Billy was eaten by ghouls," The guard replied bluntly.

I was still just frozen in place, too shocked to move.

The guard opened the power armor. "So... umm, yeah the armor is powered by a magic core."

"I thought power armor had built-in generators?" Sharp asked.

"That's what the old books say, but I dug around and found out why they changed to this obsolete method. Apparently, the Crystal Empire had a law limiting power armor usage time span. They simply replaced the generator with a magic core that could last just for a while. Also, the armor had its self-renewal matrix removed."

"That doesn't seem very smart. But for something without a repair function, this one looks to be in great condition," Sharp said as she inspected the armor. The body seemed to have the heavy metal armor attached to an exoskeleton frame made of metal, wires, and hydraulics.

"Yeah, this one doesn't seem to have seen combat." The guard pulled out a large cylindrical thing from his bag. "This here is the magic core that powers this bad boy. It should last you about ten to five hours, depending on how much you move."

I silently got into the power armor, finding the exoskeleton adjusting its diameters automatically to fit me snugly. The guard put in the magic core and the power armor started to close in around me. I looked to find it unobstructed, but then lights turned on and a heads-up display, lit in a translucent orangish yellow, appeared before my eyes.

"But watch out, the magic core is a fundamental weak point. They can even explode in a spectacular fashion if damaged. Could make a good grenade too, I suppose." The guard chuckled, I on the other hoof was a bit worried about blowing up.

There was a little blocky power armor icon standing in the left top corner. I supposed it indicated the condition of the armor’s individual parts. Under it was a general power use meter, which was currently at zero. Next to it was a small Rad gauge. In the bottom middle was a compass, currently pointed north-west. On the right side was a core level gauge indicating the current core condition as one hundred percent. The last gauge was in the right corner, it was something called A.P. Within that was a box to display ammo, but it was empty at the moment.

I tried to speak, but nothing got through, it seemed like the mic or whatever this thing used for audio was broken.

"Audio issues still persisting? Oh well." He shrugged and went on to explain more about the suit. "Self-powered spell matrix helps run all your standard functions, courtesy of Stable-Tech. You got your inventory, organizational controls, maps, S.A.T.S., self-monitoring systems, E.F.S. and such, just like a Pip-Buck." The guard walked around, inspecting the now powered power armor.

"What's E.F.S. and S.A.T.S.?" Sharp asked, looking at her Pip-Buck.

"You mean to tell me you have a Pip-Buck and you don't know?" the guard asked, cocking his head.

Sharp shrugged. "Technology has never been my thing."

They couldn't see it but I was rolling my eyes. The guard chuckled. "You might as well have worn it as a necklace. E.F.S. is the name of the stuff you two should be able to see. Eyes Forward Sparkle."

"So that's what the display is called," Sharp said as she adjusted some setting on her Pip-Buck, her hud light changed from a green light to a more fitting red. “So if something is in range it will show up on the compass as a marker?”

"Correct, also if it switched colors then it means that thing means hostility. Next is S.A.T.S., Stable Assisted Targeting Spell..." The guard was cut off.

"I do believe we are pressed for time. You are wearing a bomb collar after all." Sonata, I'd forgotten he was here.

"Right, right, well umm you should be good to go. Just take it slow and get used to it, most ponies get training time. But I guess the crash course will do." The guard began to walk off.

"Who was that anyway?" Sharp asked.

"Pip Tech, he joined so he could help us with technology. He was rather annoyed to find no Pip-Bucks in the Stable, as well as the technician's room converted to a jail." Sonata moved to Sharp and pulled out a memory orb out of his tail. "Here."

"What is it?" Sharp asked as she put it in her bag.

"Some history on the Stable," Sonata replied.

Sharp thanked him and nodded too.

"Oh and your stuff is in a duffle bag outside the Stable door." Sonata pointed.

I moved my head, hearing the armor’s hydraulics work and signaling that we should go. Sharp nodded and walked in front of me. I went to take a step and fell forward on my face with a thud. Everything shook as I groaned in more annoyance than pain.

"I guess the crash course was literal." I could hear Sharp and Sonata chuckle.

I stumbled to my hooves like a newborn. "Not funny." Oh right, I forgot they couldn't hear me. I began to slowly walk forward.

"Wait." Sonata, I turned around and looked down at him. He avoided looking directly at me. "Star, we're friends, right?"

Knowing he couldn't hear me, I simply nodded.

"So will you come back and visit? Promise?" He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes. I saw my reflection in his big deep green eyes.

I couldn't help but tear up, I swear I even heard Sharp sniffle. I nodded and smiled, he smiled back. With that, we were finally off. We trotted out into the tunnel, but stopped and watched as the Stable door closed. We turned and we now were officially off, after getting our gear.

Fog, a dense fog and a light sprinkling of snow rolled in. Luckily for me, this armor was heated, I even figured out how to operate the lamplight. I looked to Sharp next to me, seeing her shiver a little. We were at least halfway to Iron Gem, making great time, despite visibility being quite poor.

"I've seen your other side before," Sharp started. I looked at her, a little puzzled. "The darker side, back in the post office."

I stopped in my tracks, shaking my head slowly as I felt shame wash over me. "Star I don't mind, it saved your life. As long as it doesn't hurt you. You're not a monster, you’re my brother and I love you."

I wanted to tell her. Tell her about the visions, the door, Candy, and Dark. The way he made me feel, that sickly pleasure I felt when I accepted him. I knew what she was trying to say, that I shouldn't be holding myself back and putting myself at risk just because of somepony’s opinion of me. But that wasn't the only reason I rejected Dark. No, I also didn't want his power because it scared me.

I didn't know what Dark was, but I knew he was connected to the black door. I didn’t know how, but I did know that neither of us wanted to open it. Maybe I was just overthinking things, or maybe I was going crazy. Either way, I knew that I couldn't accept Dark, even if Sharp was willing to. Besides, even if she said she didn't see me as a monster, I couldn't help but think she was lying.

We started walking again, although I was a few steps behind Sharp. I was in my own little world, thinking about Dark and what to say and who to say it to. Despite being my sister, Sharp didn't come to mind first, Selen did. I barely knew her, but I felt more connected to her than to Sharp. Not just physically, she just seemed friendly and caring. Not that Sharp wasn't friendly. Well, she was just kind of serious and distant most of the time.

A hoof to my armored chest brought me to a halt. I looked down at her hoof, then upward. I stopped when I saw a power armor helmet laying a few hooves in front of us. I looked ahead of us to see the rest of the suit lying next to a damaged wagon. The only problem was that there was a pony inside it. But their head was clearly still in the helmet.

The armored pony had a huge grenade machine gun on the right side of their monstrous battle saddle and a large box filled with missiles on the left. Both seemed to be heavily damaged, but they looked to have a shot or two left in them. Two dead brahmin lay at the front of the wagon, large gash marks over their bodies. All these corpses looked rather fresh, still bleeding even.

The wagon, which was missing two side wheels was itself a full cloth covered type, like the one we were traveling in before. Some of its boxes, which appeared to be full of food and drinks, were spilled out the back. There was a light on the other side of the wagon, things on the other side cast a shadow over the cloth cover.

Silently, a large powerful shadow rose up. It was hard to make out what the slumping figure was, but it was clearly taller than a pony or Griffin. Large long arms hung down its sides, as it stood higher I could make out some horns on its head. I even saw what seemed like a tail, swaying just above the side of the wagon. The thing seemed to have spikes all over its body and down its back. I didn't know what it was, but it scared me.

I took a step back, my metal hoof sounded like thunder among the quiet atmosphere. I saw the shadow’s head turn a little before it released a soul-crushing howl that shook me to the core. The ground itself seemed to tremble as well. Before we could react the beast threw the wagon at us. We dove to the side as the wagon and brahmin slid out of sight. I stood and looked to my side, seeing sis rise as well.

We looked forward to see the beast. A bipedal monster with short, curved, forward facing, thick dark-ringed horns and external yellow dulled teeth. Glazed yellow eyes stared at us as a forked snake tongue flickered out its maw. Its powerful tail dragged on the ground behind it. Muscle bulged under its dark brown leathery skin, with thicker darker patches all over its body. Its hide was protruded by black simple smooth spikes along its back, elbows, tail, and shoulders. I could see the condensation of the creature's breath coming out of its two small nose holes.

I could hear the beast’s shallow breathing as its chest of leather and muscle rose and fell. It walked forward, its tri-toe claws piercing the ancient road, as the whole ground seemed to shake with each step. Its innermost toe claw was larger and more curved than the rest. It spread its arms open and held its fingers, I believe that’s what they're called, out straight.

"I don't think it wants a hug," I quipped nervously, forgetting for a moment that I was mute to everyone outside my suddenly inadequately feeling suit. Especially because I was unarmed.

I could feel its low growl reverbing in my bones as it approached. It stepped on the now downward facing decapitated power armor wearer. The metal creaked and bent under the weight of the beast. Its toe claws scratched at the armor as the inner claw pierced right into the suit. I then looked to the death-demon's hand claws, seeing the three middle claws slowly protrude outward more, seemingly getting longer.

Behind it were three more pony corpses, ripped to shreds. Entrails were strung around a still burning campfire. It appeared that the monster had gotten the drop on them. There were a few bottles of whiskey laying around, rags of cloths stuffed in them, Molotov cocktails. One pony in destroyed leather barding had a ten-millimeter pistol. But his mutilated buddy, laying in two pieces, had something interesting.

A partial power armor frame. The shoulder blades, whole right front hoof, and half a chest piece were attached to his body via leather straps. The only armor on the frame was a shoulder plate not unlike mine. But on his framed hoof was a large heavy hoof shaped weapon, with big heavy hydraulics on them. Three magic ammo cartridges were attached to it, possibly powering it, indicated by a full light bar.

Next to the campsite was a large hole in the ground. A grunt from the beast drew my attention away from it, I watched as its chest inflated. It was taking a deep breath for another roar.

A red laser bolt struck the power armor’s back between the monster's toes. It looked down as the red glow intensified.

There was an explosion of color, literally. I stumbled back as a rainbow fireball rose and the air roared, my radiation meter spiking for a second. Soon everything calmed down as dust filled the air. I couldn't even see Sharp due to it. I took a step forward, certain the clawed demon was dead.

I felt claws scrape across my chest before I could move back. But after I did I looked down to see three prominent claw marks shredded easily through the power armor’s chest piece. I wavered as I felt the stinging and bleeding of a deep wound. A hard shadowy figure moved towards me and I dove back again, barely avoiding another swipe of its deathly claws.

I moved in and gave it a power armored, hydraulic hoof to the side of its face. Its head whipped down for a moment before it rose it back up. Things went silent as we looked at each other. I slowly put my hoof down. It spat out a tooth from its mouth and glared at me angrily.

"I'm sorry."

Another red laser bolt flew out from the dust, striking the monster. It knocked me away with its tail and growled. I got up, a few meters down the road, looking over I saw the intensifying red glow of Sharp's charging magic crank rifle. I ran forward, remembering the downed ponies’ weapons. Scrabbling forward, a warning popped up, saying something about a built-in auto-doc. It stated that I didn't have any stim packs in my inventory, I ignored it.

I ran over the new small crater in the road, my radiation meter not liking that. It must have been two hooves deep and five hooves wide. How the monster survived it was beyond me. Getting to the camp, I struggled to pick up a Molotov in my hoof, breaking one. I decided to try the powerful looking hoof-like weapon.

I was able to get it off easily, looking back. I saw the dust had settled and Sharp was dodging the monster. It was missing a foot, bleeding black blood, but it still stumbled and crawled after Sharp. Luckily it couldn't keep up with her, as she took pot shots at it, only angering it more.

I quickly put the device on my hoof, surprised to find the frame automatically adjusting to fit over my power armor. Strapping the power pack with the three cartridges on, as well as the light bar sensor on my upper leg, I then grabbed another Molotov and threw it at the crippled monster.

"Burn to d~ash you demon!" I yelled, my chest wounds aching as I did, causing a stutter. A message popped up as I did. 'Applying drug, Dash.'

I felt a needle stab into me as the armor injected me with something. There was a surge of energy throughout my body as time itself began to slow. I was able to watch the world move many times slower than it normally was moving. I watched the burning Molotov turn and tumble through the air, the liquid inside sloshing around. The label was different to most generic whiskey's I had seen.

This one was similar to Jack Rabbit wine. Same font and writing, although it read 'Jack Pony, White Whisky.' It also was a white labeled bottle with a magically animated cartoon, of a pony this time. It had a jug with three X's on a label, as it too drank the bottle and spun around drunk. Before falling over, its eyes were spinning lines, little bubbles came up after it lay down. It soon got back up with another bottle and repeated the animation, just like the rabbit wine counterpart.

I hit the beast right in the back, fire washed over it in a beautiful manner, seeming to crawl over the monster. It just froze, slowly turning to look at me and roaring again. I charged at it as it rapidly dragged itself forward, time still at a crawl. It flung itself up into the air as it lunged at me. I jumped up towards it, hoof at the ready. Its arms and claws shot forward, ready to attack me, still on fire.

I could feel its claws ripping into the sides of the power armor as the metal screeched. I swung my weaponized hoof around, aiming for the side of its head. I felt its claws touch my sides, just below my wings, as my hoof made contact with its jaw. A moment after, as I felt its claw tips break my skin and draw blood, the hydraulic punching power of the large hoof weapon kicked in.

Claws scraped along my sides as the monster was sent flying, along with some of its teeth. But not before it almost shredded me and the armor. I dropped to my hooves, feeling the shallow cuts along my side. The dead clawed creature tumbled and rolled across the ground, the flames going out. It scampered around me, giving me a wide berth. It crawled back down its hole.

I panted as the Dash wore off, my heart still racing as I felt exhausted and overheated. There were damage warnings and the pony icon was orange and red all over. I could feel my blood that coated my chest and hoodie. I wanted to lay down, but I was surprised to see Sharp galloping up to me.

"Run!" she screamed.

Why was she in such a rush? The danger was over. "Oh shit!" I burst into a gallop, the armor creaking and my wounds aching as I dripped blood. I had forgotten about the damn bomb collar.

I had ran ahead of Sharp, through some more fog, through the open gate to Tri-Hole in sight. The collar was going crazy as it kept beeping faster and faster, threatening to pop at any second. I didn't give the stunned guards a second thought as I ran past them and onto the bridge. I could hear gunfire and alarms as they must have been shooting at me. But all that was drowned out by the panic-inducing beeping.

The collar let out a single long warning, indicating my time was up. I shut my eyes, lunged forward and prayed I'd make it.

I landed on the floor of the bridge and slid a little bit, the sound of metal scraping on metal. I soon came to a halt and panted an exhausted sigh of relief. Cadence being anal-hoofed with whatever-the-fuck-was-on-my-hoof, I had made it back. I could hear commotion around me, but I just wanted to lay with my head down, panting, a little bit longer. Eventually, I caught my breath, the alarms dying down as I knew I was probably in trouble.

"Get up, slowly." A gruff voice demanded. I looked up slowly, seeing I was staring down a long barrel.

It was an old worn anti-machine rifle. Able to easily punch through medium to light armored war machines and robots, including power armor. A long barrel was followed by a large block muzzle break. The scope was fixed at an angle on the side. From what I remembered from old world war magazines was that the gun was often semi-automatic, box loaded. But this one seemed to be an impractical, fully automatic modified version, with a belt-fed adaption connected to a strapped on ammo box.

They didn't have standard rounds in them either. This weapons rounds had silver and red rings on its ammo. I remember reading about these too. If memory served me right, red ringed ammo means it's an incendiary tracer round, while silver was armor piercing. Unique ammo for any gun was extremely rare, to the point where I thought it was a myth. I hadn't even come across it, until now. Unfortunately, it was pointed at me.

But even more striking than the gun was the wielder. Not a pony but a Griffin. It, however, was a lot more butch and robust shaped then Selen. A grey and black coloring with white eyeliner ring. Its dark wings open as it towered over me, glaring at me with sharp yellow eyes. The Griffin wore thick leather armor, the logo of Blood Skull branded on its leather chest piece.

"Rise, slowly." Its voice was deep, gruff, manly. I guess this really was a male Griffin.

I looked around, seeing I was surrounded by not only armed guards but also by dozens of Griffins flying stationary above us. All their weapons were trained on me, even a missile launcher. The one pony I didn't see was Sharp. I tried to comply, the armor groaning as the metal screeched. I managed to get on my front hooves, but ended up collapsing as I was hit with a sudden dizziness, blood loss.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The Griffin demanded as he got closer, pushing the barrel to my head. Although due to technical difficulties, I was unable to answer. "Are you with the Crystal Brotherhood? Or perhaps Steel Brotherhood? Wait, that’s an Iron Fist weapon?"

I slowly shook my head, a little worried about their reaction. "Hmm? Can't talk?" This time I nodded slowly.

"I think he was wounded, I saw damage to the power armor, there's also a steady blood drip trail," Somepony said, probably one of the gate guards. I started to get a small trickle of blood, that ran out beside me, for them all to see.

Two ponies from my side came and pushed me, struggling to roll me onto my side, then back. I groaned as I could hear some of them gasp as they saw the damage. Someone mumbled 'Death-Claw.' I just lay there, shallowly breathing as they checked the damage. At this point I was admiring the boringly dull grey cloud covered sky.

"Remove his weapon, core, and helmet, with those wounds he shouldn't be any trouble," the nameless Griffin squawked orders, clearly being the leader.

A few of them pushed me, leaning me up. Two stuck their gun barrels through the claw holes in the armor, pressing it on my wounds. I groaned as it hurt, shutting my eyes. There was a click and a hiss before I felt the helmet being pulled off my head. I opened my eyes to a sight to behold. Not the dozen or more ponies and Griffins pointing guns at me. But rather the fog rolling off the edges of Iron Hole, flowing and falling just like a waterfall into the abyss.

"Wait a minute, I remember you!" It was the guard from when I first entered Iron Hole, the one Mr. Luck didn't shoot.

"You?" I muttered.

"So you can talk? Guard explain," the Griffin said.

The guard stepped forward. "Sir, he entered here with a mare, escorted by Mr. Luck after the incident a few days ago."

"Mr. Luck informed us about a possible client. A unicorn and her brother," another guard said.

'Yes I recall, I was there after all." The Griffin lowered his head towards me.

The crowd started to mumble. "Take me to Blood Rose," I said, to the shock of the crowd. They all started laughing, all except the male Griffin before me.

"Okay," the Griffin said, shocking everyone, including me. The crowd erupted into arguments. I couldn't help but snicker at their lack of discipline. But all that came to a sudden stop with the sound of an anti-machine round going off, followed by the round whistling through the air. "Quiet!"

"But…" someone mumbled.

"I am acting chief of security Grumble, you will do as I say! Now, bring a cart, we will bring him to Warlord Blood Rose." I watched as most of the Griffins and guards dispersed.

They loaded me and my stuff onto the back of a wagon and started heading toward the exit gate of Iron Hole. I looked past two armed guards on the back as I saw Iron Gem at night from a distance. It was like an iron wonder strung above darkness. The city seemed to glow with shades of yellow and white, glimmering from candle and bulb lights strewn over the top.

Its middle layer was dim, more organized and methodical, only light when and where it was needed. However, it was hard to see the underside, which remained the darkest. Only a few fires in barrels kept it alight. Other exceptions were two lights on each side, one being the bright three-storey bar and the other was a small house hanging over the edge, Armored Wall's place.

But despite all that it really was a gem in this bleak wasteland. I looked over to the Blood Skull headquarters.

The Griffins flew under the base, taking refuge in the dark underside, out of sight but close by. I was being carted away from Iron Gem, my collar reactivating, twelve hours back on the clock. I was being taken south along the cliff edge, towards the fortress.

We got to the outer bridge gate connected to the fortress. Unlike Iron Gem's eastern gate, this one had four guards in similar gear, although they stood behind scrap barricades with sharpened metal pipes and shards protruding from them. Two watchtowers were built out of metal on top of the bridge's supports. Guards with pipe sniper rifles stood watch in them, glaring at the approaching wagon.

I had to turn my head around to see, although it was quite uncomfortable. We slowed down and Grumble proceeded to squawk orders to open the gate. Soon his command was done, the large gate slowly opened and we proceeded to cross the bridge. The bridge itself was wide open, although that also meant anyone on the bridge was wide open to any snipers hiding behind the numerous open windows of the fortress. I could just imagine them in the back of a dark room, looking down their scopes at my head.

Needless to say, I chose to not move my head. But the closer we got the more I felt the presence of the building. A shiver ran down my spine as we entered the last stretch of the bridge, entering the shadow cast by this place. I felt the cold iron dominating, an ever standing aura surrounded it. Its refusal to fall through war or time. The banners and guards meant nothing, for this building was itself a symbol of Blood Skull's intimidating power. A power that grew stronger the closer I got to the mouth of the building.

"Welcome to Iron Fortress," Grumble muttered as we passed through a lifted portcullis. It was made of large shards of metal welded together. It looked more like teeth in a monster's mouth than a gate.

We were in the courtyard of the Iron Fortress. By the looks of it, the courtyard was ringed around the large central circular building. A chain net was strung up just below the walkway of the outer wall. Multiple guards looked down on us from the outer wall, standing next to large turned off spotlights. The courtyard itself had dozens of ponies training with rifles, bare hooves and melee weapons, while others just mingled over the noise.

"Impressive," I muttered, genuinely impressed by the clan's feats.

Grumble, well, grumbled at me. I took his interpretation as a 'be quiet' kind of thing. Our escort ponies took me off the cart, leaving my stuff. They started dragging me across the courtyard. But as soon as they moved me I felt light-headed and dizzy, the blood loss catching up to me. They dragged me to what appeared to be the only entrance to the main building.

This door was definitely out of place, this was a Stable door. The number of the giant gear door was painted over in the icon of Blood Skull. A terminal sat on the outside. Grumble approached it and I tried raising my head to watch, despite my condition.

Just before he started using it, a black bag was put over my head. I heard the unmistakable sound of a Stable door opening as I was soon dragged inside. We were moving, although after a few turns we eventually stopped, oddly though we ended up going down some stairs instead of up.

"Grumble, to what do I owe the pleasure?" somepony or Griffin said, in a very masculine voice.

"Can it, cow face. It's Acting Chief of Security, Mister Grumble to you." The Griffin, who really seemed to prefer his title name, squawked.

"A yes, my apologies. Mister Grumble, Acting Chief of Security and Grouch of the Featherheads. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I could practically hear the smugness in his voice as Grumble growled.

I had to bite my lip to stop myself laughing. Meanwhile, those two seemed to get heated up, I could practically smell the burning anger between them. Wait a second, I could smell something burning? The shroud was lifted from my eyes as I saw it was, in fact, a blow torch that was burning.

It was being held by a large roughed up looking Griffin. He was much harder than Grumble, looking more botch and less curved than Grumble or Selen. The bulky Griffin wore a heavy black apron over his grey and black body. His eyes were a vibrant red as they examined me, but his reflective shiny welding goggles truly caught my eye.

"This one requests a meeting with our warlord, leave the armor on and see if you can patch him up before then." I could see a smirk grow on his beak as both of them looked to me with devilish eyes.

“What of the bomb collar? Should I leave it on or off?” The rough looking Griffin said as he raised the collar with a talon, looking at it.

“As long as it’s not set to go off in a few hours, leave it on,” Grumble said, shrugging.

“Slave probably belongs to those damn brothers, seems like something they’d do. I’ll go inform them of the trouble therein after he meets with Blood. Now get to work.” Grumble proceeded to pull out a flask.

The large Griffin revealed his other claw, some sort of staple gun in it. A frosty shiver ran down my spine as he reached for the blowtorch, I feared it wouldn't be cold for long. "I should warn you, my job is not that of a doctor but in fact a torturer. Although just like a doctor, I too need to keep my patients alive, most of the time."

"I'll go inform Warlord Blood Rose of our guest, have him ready shortly." The two of them exchanged a shallow chuckle as Grumble left me alone in this simple concrete room with this Griffin and his tools.

Pain, I had never felt pain like this before. The pain of staples piercing my flesh as they pulled my wounds shut, I couldn't help but want to squirm. However, that would have ripped my wounds open. That wasn't the bad part, no. The bad part was when he used the blowtorch, watching the beautiful yet dangerous blue flame.

I couldn't help but watch the flame as well, reflecting off his welding goggles. I screamed as I felt the overwhelming kiss of heat. He had moved my tattered hoodie out of the way as he cauterized my wounds closed, wielding the blowtorch with precision as it was just the right distance away. But I only realized all that after the crippling pain had died down.

The first thing I noticed was the smell of burnt hair and flesh that seemed to smolder from my chest. I felt exhausted as I was panting shallowly, barely able to stay awake after that. I was still groaning and drooling when he tapped my cheek. I looked at him, my eyes watery as my wounds felt like an every changing pain, relentlessly giving me no chance to grow accustomed to the feeling.

"Second-degree cauterization burn, it'll hold your wound shut and keep it clean. But if you move too much then the wound will rip open, although it will definitely scar." He didn't even look at me as he was packing up his equipment.

I managed to blurt out. "Staples?" My head was pounding, but I could still think straight. If one cauterizes the wound shut, then staples become redundant.

"I'll remove them in a few hours. Although the fact that they are under melded flesh means I'll have to go digging." He actually chuckled. "Oh and some medical advice, on the house, a healing potion and or magic won't do much for that wound. So don't do any vigorous activities in the next few days, if you live that long."

The door creaked open, I looked over, seeing a male Griffin silhouette. "Ah Grumble, welcome back, he's all patched up."

Grumble stepped towards me and leaned in close, although I found it hard to focus my vision. "So, you still want to meet Warlord Blood Rose? Or would you rather talk to me?"

I groaned and managed to mumble out. "Blood."

I was dragged down the cold metal, concrete halls, right by buzzing flickering lights. Occasionally we passed a speaker or an intercom, but that was about it. I just let my head bow down as two large armored ponies held me up, my rear hooves dragging along the floor. Grumble lead the way as we got on a large elevator of some kind. The thing groaned and creaked as it slowly moved upwards, displeased by the weight, but more than capable of handling it.

Eventually, after a few floors, we seemed to reach our destination, the highest floor. Then down some more hallways and around a few corners, we arrived at Blood Rose's office door. There were two sturdy metal doors and an intercom in the middle of the hallway. Grumble proceeded to walk up to the intercom, it crackled with static as he pressed the button.

"Warlord Blood Rose, I brought you a visitor." Grumble didn't take his eyes off me, a sick smirk on his face sending chills down my spine.

"Bring him in, alone and unshackled. He is a guest after all." The intercom system was rather crackly, so I was unable to get a feel for his voice.

"But sir, what if he tries something?" Grumble looked a little scared. But as soon as he questioned the warlord the two escorting guards began to mumble in disobedience.

There was a strict silence in the air before a beep broke it. The large doors began to retract into the walls, I could see they were a hoof thick. Grumble went to take a step in when he froze and quickly bowed, letting me be dragged into the room first before the guards opened the mangled power armor suit. I fell on the floor, the guards and Grumble quickly left.

I couldn't help but wince in pain as I landed on my forehooves, my chest in agony. I looked back, seeing my tattered hoodie still covering my wings. The large doors then slid shut.

"Welcome, welcome, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Blood Rose, but you may call me Blood." His voice was so energetic and happy, not at all what I was expecting.

When I looked up I was even more surprised. Leaning forward, smiling at me warmly was a dark pink coated earth pony with vivid red eyes and a rich rose red mane. It was rather large as it bulged forward atop his head, rose patterns all throughout it. But the fact that he had a glass of milk ready was also surprising and unnerving.

"I took the liberty of pouring you a glass of milk. Please do help yourself. I could get cookies if you like?" He had his front hooves crossed as he leaned on them and smiled at me.

I sat up slowly, trying to take my mind off the pain by looking around the room. Outlining the room was a bed of red roses. Above them on the walls were painted portraits of previous warlords of the Rose Clan. Stab Rose the first looked like a big pointy raider, but the further down the line I looked the more civilized they seemed to have become. Twenty-One Rose was the one before Blood Rose himself.

"Maybe later. For now, you seem to be admiring my family’s portraits." He looked upon them with a comforting look. "I hope to be worthy of having my portrait up there."

I took note of Twenty-One's lack of a death date. The portrait was that of a unicorn with a rose hair shape similar to Blood's, although he had a white coat, a red and black colored mane and yellow eyes as well as a pair of black and red chips with rose symbols on them as a cutie mark.

"I see you're admiring my father's painting. A great stallion who helped the Rose clan to not only survive the war of Thirty-two but thrive during it. Although he was a great leader, his true love was blackjack. I'm more of a poker pony myself." I was a little worried he knew who I was, given the milk and all. But that worry was quickly dying down.

"I prefer Go Fish," I muttered out.

Blood Rose fell back into his chair, clapping his hooves. "Ah, so he can talk! Goody!" He was extremely cheerful, swiveling in his chair, before coming to a stop. "So tell me, what is your name?" he asked, grinning at me.

"Uhh…" I closed my mouth, more confused by him. Was this really a warlord? Was this really the pony who was responsible for killing my parents?

I tried to stand, forgetting about my pain and injuries. Big mistake. I groaned as I fell to my knee as my wounds exploded in pain. Before I could do anything Blood Rose ran over to me, giving me a shoulder to lean on.

“Thanks.” Did I really just thank Blood Rose, the pony I imagined to be an evil warlord raider pony like his ancestor? Clad in blood covered, large spiky armor with impaled animals and organs on them? The artist who painted that first portrait must have had the biggest balls in the world.

Blood helped me sit back down before he went to his desk and pulled out a syringe, Med-X. “Take this.” He pushed it towards me on the table. "I insist.” Hoof fuck Cadence with that mega hoof weapon thing twice, he was nice.

I begrudgingly administered the painkilling drug, feeling its effects within seconds as the roaring pain in my chest died down, but was still present. Although I still felt a little dizzy and lightheaded. I knew if I tried to stand that I’d probably fall over.

“Well, what is your name then?” Blood Rose asked, tilting his head a little. I, however, chose to stay silent, the fact that he was the Rose Clan’s leader made me less than chatty. “It’s rather hard to have a conversation if I don’t call you something? And I do wish to have a nice chat if you wish to just listen then that’s okay too.”

Blood Rose slammed his front hooves down on his desk, shaking the milk. “Oh I know, I’ll just give you a little nickname? But what?" Blood then proceeded to rub his chin, looking me up and down. "I like Blue, but it doesn't seem to fit. Maybe bird? But I can't see why?" And now I was nervous again, did he know who I was? What I was? Was he just messing with me?

He suddenly stood on his chair, on his rear legs. "O bingo! I got it! I'll call you ****."

Author's Notes:

Updated last: 28/12/17

This was pretty fun, I enjoyed writing the Death-claw and Blood Rose. Sorry, this took so long, I was moving.

Thanks to my editor:
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/275628/EverfreePony