The bassy rumble of an explosion somewhere in Cantercross lightly shook the Remora. The sounds of gunfire and fighting drifted through the numerous holes Tall Tale had left in the hull plating of the skycraft. Even with a list of a few degrees to the right, we flew steadily towards the center of a city in the midst of conflict.

But I had to give the Architect this; at least he knew how to build a cloudship that didn’t lose power after taking one or two hits! From everything my parents told me about the track record for Vertibucks, the Enclave could really learn a thing or two about that.

“Ahh!” I hissed as Hispano wrapped a piece of old cloth around my bleeding wing and cinched it down tight. “Fucking hell that hurts…”

The shot had only nicked me, but you’d have thought otherwise from the amount of blood that had drained down my feathers. Still, it could have ended up much worse than it did, and for that, I was at least thankful. I grunted and bit my tongue as Hispano tied the cloth in a tight knot.

“You’ll get over it.” Hispano sighed as she pulled her bloody talons back and looked at them. With a frown, she reached over to my good wing and proceeded to wipe her claws on my clean feathers. “You know, this getup of yours is pretty neat. Advanced flight controls, titanium and polymer construction, this thing’s got all the bells and whistles for someone as... flight challenged as you are, Dum Dum.”

“Gee, that’s such a nice way to call me disabled.” I rolled my eyes into a deadpan that I couldn’t hold as she smiled at me.

“Eh, don’t mention it!” She beamed before hefting her sister up to lean on. “I mean, you pegasi needed to invent some way of competing with us griffons after all.”

“I seem to remember a few wartime heroes who were quite well known for taking on entire wings of griffs and making it out without a scratch.” I pressed my hoof to my chest like I knew what I was talking about, rather than just stating Enclave propaganda I knew was more than likely fake anyway. Shifting on my hooves, I looked over the flight suit again with a smirk. “Still, it's hard to think that this was all I'd needed to be able to fly normally. I feel like if I’d just had it years ago, I might have had a whole different life.”

“Well, I wouldn't be caught dead in it,” Hispano sighed softly as she leaned over and pressed herself against me. “And hey, Dum Dum? Just know that you flew fine before you got it. The suit makes you better, sure. But just remember that it isn’t what makes you, well, you.” Her eyes drifted down to her sister, and she held her out in her talon for a moment. “There's a lot of bad that can come from putting something you use ahead of yourself like that...”

“I know.” I nodded and reached out with my hoof. Carefully, I pulled her closer into a hug and gingerly wrapped my injured wing around her. “You know, I'd had a thought when I first used the suit. That everything I've been through down here just to get it from the Factory? It wasn't worth the cost. It never will be.”

“Doesn’t mean we don’t deserve these tools.” Happy snorted from across the Remora’s dark cabin. Shifting my gaze over to him, he had a sort of far off, hollow look to him as he hoofed roughly at the pommel of his silver sword. “We’ve lost more than enough that we deserve to take what we want from ponies like Solomon, Mr. Wizard, and Motor Grader. The north owes us for what we’ve been through.”

“Woah, since when did he get all moody like that?” Hispano whispered to me as she pulled Suiza close to herself again.

“Probably since he’s started understanding what it takes to survive.” My voice wasn’t loud, but from the way my words knocked him out of his thousand yard stare, you’d think I yelled it at him. “Something we’ve all had to work our way through at some point.”

“I can respect that.” Hispano gave a short, but affirmative nod to Happy. He returned it, only to go back to staring through the wall again.

“The Remora is almost at the drop zone.” Buck’s voice crackled over my headset, shared with a short burst of static that sounded like it came straight from his own voice. Funny thing was that the burst hid any sort of tell from me on how he felt about this.

The damaged hydraulic systems struggled to pull back one of the side doors on the Remora. A heavy upwards gust of wind shifted the Remora nearly onto her side, and both Hispano and I were pressed back against the wall. The back of my head slammed against one of the hull braces and I saw stars as I did my best not to panic. Happy, however, predictably let out a scream as he was tossed against the hull beside us.

I shook the stars from my eye and took in a deep breath, only to choke as I found that the Remora’s interior was beginning to fill with smoke.

“The fires from the battle inside the city are creating uneven updrafts through the collection tower.” Buck grumbled into my ear as the frantic sounds of typing on a terminal came through with his voice. “And with the damage it took, it’s making it nearly impossible to keep the Remora steady.”

“You fucking think!?” Happy snapped into his own headset. “Wait, did you hear that?”

There was a groan as the door behind us gave slightly. Which of course, was about when I remembered that the Remora has doors on both sides. I looked over at the hydraulics that held the door on this side shut, and watched as the last of their fluid drained out.

So much for the Remora being more reliable than a Vertibuck...

The door dropped out like a trap door in a theatre production, dumping the three of us into a choking black cloud of smoke. The wind pressure coming up from under us was intense, and the roaring it made was almost loud enough to cut out Happy’s full bodied scream as he sank through the air like a rock.

“Come on, Dum Dum!” Hispano squawked as she peeled off from my side and dove downward.

It wasn’t hard to follow the screaming mule, and in moments, both Hispano and I had found our way to Happy again. Hispano at least had the luxury of dexterous talons as she grabbed around both of Happy’s left legs. Me on the other hoof, I struggled to grip his right legs in my fetlocks. But even if I had to break his bones, I was going to hold on to Happy for dear life.

Looking around quickly, I couldn’t see a damn thing. The smoke blotted out any light we got from the morning skies above, and it also had the force to fill every nook and cranny in my lungs with itself. I had to do everything I could to keep from reflexively letting Happy go and surfacing out of this hell for some fresh air.

“Alright, flare in three, two, one…” Hispano called out.

“Now!” I screamed as I forced my wings open and cinched my hooves around Happy’s like vices.

The updraft slapped against my wings, pushing, bending them. I let out a scream as my wounded wing threatened to buckle under the force, but the titanium braces of my extra wing kept it just long enough for our speed to drain slightly. We were still falling, but nowhere near as fast as before. And with how thick this smoke was, it was hard to get a gauge on our altitude at all inside the updraft tower.

“How much farther down is it!?” Hispano’s voice barely beat out the wind before she dropped into sharp, hacking coughs.

“I don’t know!” I tried to fight back my own coughs as I called out to her, but a dull thumping filled my ears. It was slow and steady, like an enormous heartbeat from below. Each pulse rippled at the rising smoke, and with each pulse, a blast of fresh heat pushed at Hispano and I’s outstretched wings.

“What’s that noise!?” Happy screamed out at us. “Buck said there was something scary in here. He didn’t want to tell me, but now you’re going to fucking tell me!”

“It’s the main turbine.” Hispano called out as she flapped her wings hard. “Come on, we need to slow our fall if we want to time the blades!”

“Blades!?” Happy screamed and wiggled himself hard enough that his forehoof slipped free of my grip. Flailing my own forehooves, I managed to snatch his leg again, but at an odd angle. As I beat my own wings and pulled him upwards again, there was a fleshy pop that I could feel down to my bones.

Which of course, was followed by a piercing scream in my ear.

“It’s just dislocated, you’ll live!” Hispano snapped before coughing again. “Can’t your robot friends just shut this down!?”

“Negative. Shutting it down would tip our hoof to Mr. Wizard.” Buck’s voice came into my ear with a starkness I didn’t really appreciate hoving somewhere above a set of giant spinning knives. “You must drop between the blades to reach the entrance to the display stable.”

“Buck says we’re on our own.” I called out to Hispano.

With the two of us using the rising bursts of air as energy, we managed to come to what felt like a rough hover in the air. Unfortunately, the pulsing smoke stabbed at our eyes, and the lack of lighting inside the tower meant that we couldn’t see anything below us at all. How the fuck were we supposed to time this!?

“Alright, Night, I need you to trust me.” Hispano coughed out. “Again, I’m going to count down, then we drop, okay?”

“No! Not okay!” Happy grunted out through his clenched jaw. At least he didn’t fucking wiggle so damn much this time. “How do you know we’ll make it!?”

“Four blades, five RPM, given the diameter of the tower…” Hispano spat out before again choking on the thickening smoke. “Fuck it, no time to explain the math, just trust me!” She snapped before turning her gaze to me. “Three, two, one…”

The two of us snapped our wings shut, and with Happy’s scream filling our ears, we fell.

The pulses grew louder, and each blast of air that hit us as we fell, squeezed at my already struggling lungs. In the black of the thick and swirling smoke, light started to poke through. The air below us was growing warmer, and thinning alarmingly fast.

With a heavy burst of air, I could see a monstrous silver wall sweep over our heads. The massive slightly rusty blades of the fan thumped the air one last time as we passed just in front of it. Before I even had time to call it out, the upwards pressure of the turbine sucked my wings off of my sides, and both Hispano and I flared them to help stop our fall.

The floor under the center of the fan consisted of a curved concrete peak. While we’d slowed with the updraft, we all dropped onto it hard and tumbled down it’s side. The three of us offered our own myriad of colorful obscenities as we finally came to a stop near the bottom of the slope. My injured wing throbbed, and my empty socket stung behind my eyepatch.

My lungs seized up as they did their best to expel the thick smoke we’d dropped out of. Thankfully for us, the updraft tower did it’s best to keep the ground only modestly smokey. As I rose to my hooves, I looked around to gauge just where we were supposed to go next. And to my surprise, I found myself looking at a blazing inferno through the seized intake fans that ringed the base of the tower.

The park we’d driven past on our way into the city was completely ablaze. The sheet metal buildings that had dotted the park had either collapsed, or were somewhere in the process of melting. Bodies of ponies littered the bases of the small buildings, charred, and in a few cases, still on fire. It was… disturbing to look at.

“How pathetic.” Solomon’s voice made my mane stand on end.

I watched as a billowing cloud of smoke wafted through the air in front of me, and like a ghost, Solomon appeared out of it. His pristine white coat almost shimmered even in the smoke and ash, and his smug smile was just as terrible as ever. He raised his hoof to me, and with a dismissive toss, forced a cloud of smoke up over me.

I coughed and hacked as my lungs were filled again, but as I waved my forehoof to clear the cloud around my head, I found myself standing on the highway outside of the city again. Before me, sat the wreckage of the hauler. Looking over to where I’d found Hardcase, the large sheet of metal wasn’t there, but he was. I gasped in horror as his corpse sat there staring at me, judging me.

“No, no… not again…” I muttered, gasping as along with my words, a thick black cloud came from my muzzle. Again, the cloud made my lungs burn as I panicked and galloped forwards out of it. I’d only made it a few steps before I was tripped and came tumbling down to the ground.

“It’s so sad that you killed them.” Solomon’s voice echoed in the air.

It was like he was everywhere, I… I couldn’t escape it. Scrambling to get back up, I pulled myself up using the remains of the rec area couch. It shifted with my weight, nearly tipping back over and dumping Lucky’s burned corpse onto me.

I screamed and forced myself back to my hooves, shoving his charred and broken body off of me.

“Hardly a way to treat someone you once thought of as a friend.” Solomon let out a laugh that sent a shiver down my spine. “Don’t take it personally, Night. It’s just business.”

“No!” I screamed out at him. “I’m going to fucking kill you! You hear me!?”

“Night.” Buck’s voice was only a whisper in my ear, but it was there. Turning around, I looked for Buck and found him pinned under the reactor debris, just as he had been. He wore a sad, vacant look across his face, but his muzzle still moved as he spoke to me. “It’s not real, none of it is. You have to remember where you really are.”

Wha… wait, this wasn’t… real?

Forcing myself to blink a few times, the world swirled as thick black smoke consumed it. Flickering fires pushed the highway scene back into my memories where it belonged, and the world as it was slowly resolved itself again. I spun myself around towards where we’d landed, and was immediately met with a look of annoyance from Happy, as well as a concerned Hispano.

“I… I’m good.” I spoke into my headset. None of that was real, Night, it was just your fucking head again. “I’m sorry, I’m all good now.”

“Alright,” Buck’s voice came through crisp and clear over my headset. “There should be a maintenance hatch somewhere on the floor nearby that you can use to enter the duct-works of the Stable.”

“Alright, we’re on it.” I nodded and started to look across the floor.

“Hold up.” Hispano’s talon prodded me right in the chest, forcing my attention up to her. “Night, you’re pretty fucking far from ‘all good’. Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“We need to get Ping and your dad, and free the slaves Mr. Wizard has locked down there.” I reached up and pushed her talon off of me, forcing her to step back with a frown. “We don’t have time to wait for me to be alright.”

“Yeah...” Happy spat out before doubling over in a hacking fit that ended up with him actually puking up whatever he’d had in his stomach. With a groan, he wiped at his muzzle before going back to favoring his injured shoulder. “Plus, we need to get out of this smoke.”

“Alright, fine.” Hispano growled as she turned and walked up to Happy. “Open your muzzle.” Hispano barked at Happy, only receiving a confused look from him. Hesitantly, he did as asked before looking at me in a moment where I’m pretty sure he knew what was coming.

Without hesitation, Hispano wrapped her talons around his injured leg and twisted it. The fleshy pop that came from his socket as she pushed his shoulder back into place was enough that had it not been for the horrors of the wasteland I’d already seen, I’d have thrown up at it. The fully bodied scream he gave however, I could sympathize with at the very least.

“There, let’s get going then.” Hispano called out coldly as she walked off into the smoke.

I know that she meant well by wanting me to be alright, but she had to know that this wasn’t the time for that. Maybe it was exactly that she did know that made her angry, I’ll never know. But one thing was certain in my mind. That after all of this, I was going to have to make it up to her in a big way.

And I’m pretty sure that this time, a simple date was going to be nowhere near good enough.

Hispano chittered through her beak as she worked with a few of the wires to the sealed door that sat before us. It looked pretty much identical to the ones that were all throughout Salt’s hive, but that’s not surprising when he said they’d stolen the design from Stable-Tec itself. A few sparks shot from between Hispano’s talons as she connected a pair of wires, and the sharp hiss of pneumatic locks followed as the door unlocked.

The door slid open under its own power, revealing a grime coated and heavily corroded hallway beyond. Old yellowed and dim lights flickered along the corners of the ceiling, and the jarring hum that they gave off filtered out through the stale air that pushed through the open door to meet us. Happy scoffed at the sight.

“For as much as Ma’ had praised them, this place looks fucking terrible.” He snorted as he poked his head through the doorway. Hesitantly stepping inside, he looked visibly disturbed as his hooves clacked softer than expected on the rusty metal flooring. “If this is how Stable-Tec built shit, no wonder so many stables opened up early.”

“Well, I don’t think this is a good example of them.” Hispano spoke up as she swung Suiza up onto her back, and the two of us followed Happy as he pressed onward. “Looks to me that with this level of corrosion, this place probably wasn’t even maintained before the bombs.”

“Well, whatever the case, it looks like Mr. Wizard doesn’t even know this part of the Stable exists.” I blurted out as the flickering overhead lights caught my eye.

This place creeped me out. I couldn’t really say why, but something just felt… off. My gut didn’t have a feeling about it one way or the other, but you could feel something in the air that made everything seem just wrong.

Then again, maybe that was just my addiction messing with my head.

“Do you feel that?” Hispano cooed as she pulled away from me momentarily to press herself against one of the filthy walls. “This place is just oozing with magic. There’s something big going on down here.”

“Mirage ponies.” I spoke up, forcing Hispano to cock her eyebrow at me. “They’re slaves generating power for Mr. Wizard. We’re here to free them.” She looked confused, but overall satisfied with my simple explanation as she nodded and continued on.

“Alright, you’re officially outside the bounds of the Factory’s knowledge.” Buck’s oddly non-hesitant voice came through my headset. “We don’t know what it’s like down there, so you three have to be careful. Until the Celestia’s Angels can fight their way to you, you’re on your own.”

“Understood.” I nodded and looked to Happy, who gave me one in return. Looking to Hispano, I flashed her a nervous smile. “Welp, no more assistance from here on out. It’s up to us to find Ping and your Dad now.”

“Relax, Dum Dum.” Hispano gave me a pat on the side as her bright eyes lit up. “We’re now essentially a bunch of unsupervised kids with high powered weaponry. There’s no more rules unless we make ‘em!”

“You should be advised that I am still monitoring you.” Buck’s stern voice came through my headset.

“Yeah, now you’re talkin’ my language!” Happy laughed as he reached up and flicked off the strap that had bound his sword in his sheath. “Fuck the rules, let’s ruin Mr. Wizard’s day!”

“Good luck, Night.” Buck’s voice gave out a soft burst of static as he spoke. “If you see any of the mirage ponies down there, do your best to free them. They may not be armed, but their release might cause a bit of chaos in your favor.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll keep an eye open for them.” Happy smirked as he trotted up towards a nearly completely rusted out door. “But the faster we find Ping, the better.”

“And don’t forget we need to find my dad.” Hispano grunted as she all but shoved Happy away from the old door. With a stiff yank of her talons, the door let out a cringe inducing squeal and opened up.

On the other side, stood a very surprised stallion who’d been facing the other way.

“Shit.” Happy gasped as he returned Hispano’s favor by shoving her directly into me. The two of us stumbled back as Happy bit down on his sword, drew it, and hit the stallion right in the face with the blade.

Now, I’d seen ponies blown up or shot to death. But I’d never seen somepony’s head split in half like that. Not even when Buck had killed that assassin back in Filly Crossing had it been so… clean. As the stallion’s corpse crumpled to the floor, the fleshy squelch that came as Happy yanked his blade out sent a shock up my spine.

That was grotesque, and sickening, and yet, horrifyingly amazing all at the same time...

“That… was a hell of a swing.” Hispano spoke up for the both of us as she pulled off of me. “Seriously, where…”

Hispano’s voice was drowned out by a piercing scream from through the doorway. The hysterical mare’s cries were joined by a dozen others in the room beyond. This time it was my turn to press forward, and I pushed past both Hispano and Happy into the room.

The room we’d broken into looked similar to the atrium room that Salt’s Hive had, albeit without as many vertical stories to it. The large square room held three different levels, and each one was jam packed with metal storage racks, wires, and tubes that carried various fluids in them. It wasn’t until my eyes fell upon what was stored on those racks that I realized who was screaming.

Zebra striped ponies, hundreds of them were strapped down to the racks. The cables and fluid tubes ran between them all, ending on each of their bodies in either intravenous medical gear, or electrodes placed all over them. But as horrible and terrifying as it was to see ponies kept this way, what was worse, was not a single one of them looked like they had legs. At all.

“Please can you quit screaming when we’re here to rescue you!” Happy stepped through the doorway and caused the mares in front of us to quiet down with a whimper. “That’s fucking better.”

“You… you’re here to rescue us?” The mare who’d been screaming the loudest paused and spoke up hesitantly. She was a white coated mare, with daisy yellow stripes that almost blended in with her pristine coat. The small horn adorning her head was nearly completely obscured by the electrode pasted over it, and from the way she shifted her diminutive wings across her back, I could tell she was still terribly frightened.

“What the fuck is going on here…” Hispano as always, asked the sensible question. “Are these those mirage pony things you were talking about? I’ve never even seen ponies like this before.”

“Buck, we’ve got a problem.” I grumbled into my headset as I swept my eyes over every rack in sight. Seriously, not a single one of these ponies had any legs at all! “We can’t move the mirage ponies, we’re going to need a whole crew to come down here to help them.”

“Are you sure?” Buck paused for a moment, letting a wave of static run through my headset. “Is there any way you can get any of them at all to help?”

“No, that asshole has them strapped down to metal racks and dressed up like fucking pincushions!” Happy helpfully snapped as he looked just as horrified at all of this as I was. “And this room has only a few hundred of them at most. If they’re all…”

The air was split as the chattering automatic fire of a rifle cut through it. Sparks flew off of the racks around us, and the white coated mare ahead of me let out a short scream before her and a few of the ponies around her were perforated by the spray of fire. Hispano pulled both Happy and I backward and squeezed the three of us into the open rusty doorway again.

“We’ve got company!” Hispano called out as the mirage ponies in the room started to scream and panic. Seriously, did they all need to scream? Though, I guess that was pretty much all they could do…

Slipping her sister into her talons, Hispano pushed the barrel of Suiza around the corner towards where the fire had come from. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself against the wall before dipping out into the room. Suiza’s barking shots left ringing in my ears, but also drowned out the panicking Mirage ponies.

The visceral scream that punctured the air over it all brought a smile to Hispano’s face as she stopped firing. Looking over to me, she waved for me to join her out in the room. The blast of a shotgun scratched scattered lines across the floor next to Hispano. Again, she answered with another few quickly aimed shots with Suiza.

Stepping forward, I felt a hoof firmly grasp me from behind. Looking back, I found Happy firmly pressing his other forehoof to his side to stem a bleeding wound on it. Fuck.

“Don’t fucking leave me just standing here, Night.” Happy growled at me as another pair of shotgun blasts filled the air behind me. “I won’t let you fucking abandon me.”

“I’m not leaving anyone!” I snapped back and pushed his hoof off of me. “Stay there for now and don’t die.” I understand that he’s scared, but I shouldn’t have to explain why the fuck I needed to get into the fight.

Spinning around, I pressed myself against the rusty doorway. Hoofing the bit to my submachine gun into my muzzle, I waited for Hispano to let off another few shots before moving. Pushing off, I turned to face whoever was attacking us, only to immediately duck.

I swore that the rusty saw blade that flew over my head sheared off a bit more of my already short mane before slamming into the metal shelf behind me with a resounding clang. The pony who’d nearly lopped off my head dipped back around the next doorway, dragging their large makeshift gun with them. From where I stood, they weren’t completely in cover, and I got to watch in profound fascination as they slid another saw blade in between two metal prongs on their gun.

Seriously!? Galina’s stupid auto-talon had been bad enough, but who the fuck built a gun that throws saw blades!? I call bullshit on that!

Okay then, he had to be the first to go. Taking advantage of my limited sightline, I walked forward a few steps. I pulled just far enough into the view of the pony that he paused his reloading to glance up at me.

I let loose a red spray of death that swept across the doorway, lighting the pony up in more ways than just one. The old wartime clothes the pony wore caught fire, while a few of the beams caused their body to glow and dissipate into a pile of pink ashes. If you ask me, it was too quick of a death for somepony who kept others in the state the Mirage ponies were in.

With the death of the sawpony, a spray of gunfire poured haphazardly through the doorway. Hispano answered with a chattering burst of rounds that punched holes straight through the concrete wall that lined the doorframe. She looked to me as she brought Suiza to her side, nodding for us to move forward.

The silver apple that came through the shot up doorway however convinced us that back was a safer direction.

Hispano and I dove for cover behind some of the Mirage pony racks. The blast of the small explosive was sharp, and it sent my hearing into nothing more than a constant high pitched note. It was a terrible prospect to use the Mirage ponies as shielding, but if the three of us didn’t make it out of here, none of them would ever leave either.

The smell of blood had quickly filled the air, and the remaining lights above the blast zone flickered wildly. My heart was racing, absolutely hammering against my chest, but not because I was afraid. No, it was because for once, I knew what I was doing in a fight.

I mouthed my trigger bit and both Hispano and I pushed around the edge of the racks. My eyes met those of the unicorn who’d been blindly firing his shotgun into the room. He’d had his gun pointed over toward the door we’d come in from, and that was going to cost him.

Bursting the lancing red death from my sub gun, I loosed spray after spray. The pony was tagged a few times in his right leg, but he managed to roll behind a rack of mutilated mirage ponies. Giving one final burst, I sprayed over the remains of the unfortunate ponies, but none of my shots could penetrate. Unfortunately, that’s one downside the Enclave always knew magical energy weapons had...

The air thumped as the report from Suiza flashed from my side, and a spray of gore erupted from the rack ahead. A bloody hoof sized hole had been punched straight through the shotgun pony, and his shotgun slid out of his magic as he died on the spot. While M.E.W.s had problems penetrating, it turns out that it’s not really a barrier for something that can pierce through concrete!

A light tapping came from behind me, and I turned to find Happy propping himself up against the doorway. He still had his hoof firmly pressed against his side, but his silver sword was held firmly at the ready in his muzzle. Seriously, he needed to stay back! Lifting my hoof, I told him to stay put.

He simply rolled his eyes and glared at me. Something was different than before though, I could see it in him. He was determined. I don’t know if it was just the stubborn donkey half of him, but it was there as plain as daylight.

Even so, now was not the time for him to argue or get in the way.

Looking back at Hispano, she flicked her talon for me to move forward. I nodded, pointing towards one of the racks against the wall next to the doorway. With her own nod, she steadied Suiza against herself and simply stared down the sights toward the door.

Okay, Night, it’s time to be a distraction. It’s just a hop, a skip, and…

I pushed off on my rear hoof and my prosthetic, dashing towards the far wall. As I burst into my gallop, I glanced over at the dead shotgun pony to confirm he was well and truly gone. Unfortunately, that meant I wasn’t watching my hoofing.

With what must have looked like comically wild flailing to Hispano, I slipped on the pooling blood and bits of gore. Even my prosthetic couldn’t find any purchase, and I crashed down onto the metal floor. My momentum carried me on my side, and I slid through the bloody muck coming to a skidding halt.

I pushed myself to get up, but my hooves only slipped and slid. The seconds ticked past as I failed to push myself up, and my heart started to beat faster as a bit of panic crept in. Come on, Night, you need to move. Now!

Another bright silver apple rolled into the room, coming to a stop just out of reach of me. I stared at it in horror as I was helpless to move. No cover, no time to think.

A spike of pain enveloped my wing and back as immense pressure came down on them. I screamed as I felt the bone in my right wing snap as the flight suit was deformed by whatever had pushed down on it. With my eye wide open with the scream, I looked up to see the towering form of Happy standing on my back.

With a scream that nearly beat back the ringing in my ears, he torqued himself hard, and I felt a rib shatter in my chest with his shifted weight.

The wide leather wrapped pommel of his sword swung down beside me. With one swift motion, the pommel smacked the grenade back through the doorway and out of sight. The sword dropped to the ground as Happy threw himself to the ground next to me, and the grenade went off.

What little hearing I’d regained from the first grenade died again with the second blast. A cloud of dust and smoke shot through the doorway and the holes Suiza had made in the wall. And as my heart pounded away in my chest from the close shave, I felt thumping through the metal floor. Heavy, methodic shakes that almost felt like…

Through the smoke and dust in the doorway, a massive silver figure pushed into the room. The soulless eyes on the helmet of a suit of Steel Ranger power armor turned to look down at Happy and I. The heavy machine gun bolted to the suit held a near comically long barrel, but the belt of large fifty caliber ammo attached to it was nowhere near as funny to me.

Pivoting, the power armored pony attempted to turn to line the massive gun up with Happy and I, but as he turned, the large barrel smacked against the doorway and stopped him. With a furious stomp, he straightened himself out and stepped forward before trying to turn again. This time, the barrel threaded between a rack and it’s mounting, getting the barrel stuck once more.

You could almost see the look of rage and frustration through the expressionless mask. I had to fight back a laugh as the pony fought to maneuver in such tight quarters. But while a healthy chuckle would have felt good, my ribs and probably punctured lung thanked me for refraining for now.

Sparks erupted from the chest plate of the power armor as a set of holes tore through the suit from Suiza’s shots. Blood poured from the holes, even as the suit immediately began to repair itself. The pony, amazingly wasn’t outright killed by the rending hits. A testament to the robust design of wartime power armor’s onboard medical systems no doubt.

However, the three of us had already learned how you deal with hard to kill assholes in power armor.

Hispano’s next burst shaved the entire upper half of the pony’s helmet straight off. Blood, bone, and shards of metal exploded upward as her piercing shots ended the fight before it could start. With a shudder, the damaged power armor slumped forward, bending the pinned barrel of the heavy machine gun into an L shape as it did.

A pause took hold of the room, and even the steady ringing note in my ears dulled slightly. My broken rib and wing flared in pain as my body beat out the adrenaline pumping through my veins. Still, I had my eyes locked on the doorway, watching, waiting for somepony else to come through.

How many more would we have to fight through? How many more ponies did we have to kill to get to Mr. Wizard? The truth was, none of us had any idea, but I knew that both Hispano and Happy were ready to do what it takes to get our friends and family back, no matter how many more lined up to die in that doorway.

“Ruthless, efficient.” Solomon’s voice once again drifted through my mind. His smugness easily cut through the ringing in my ears, and caused my socket to flare up in pain again. “If I had to make a comment, I’d say you were becoming just. Like. Me.”

Seriously, when I yelled at Violet and Buck in my head that I didn’t need them anymore, it was not an invitation for my mind to put fucking Solomon in their place…

My head was pulled to the right as my communications gear was torn from it. Firm talons pressed my head sideways before cold liquid splashed into my ear. With a fizzing pop, the constant ringing was replaced with the sounds of screams, agony, and crying from the surviving Mirage ponies around us. With another yank, Hispano tilted my head again and poured a bit more of her healing potion into my half-ear.

“Thanks.” I grumbled, flicking the wetness from my ears as the world fell back into it’s stereo sound again.

“That was a solid engagement, Night.” Hispano’s voice had a note of pride in it, but I could tell that it wasn’t exactly full of excitement like normal. “But we’re not done yet, and I wouldn’t count on having your ass saved like that again.”

Looking up at Hispano as she carefully stepped through the gore around me, I caught a smug look across her beak before she shoved the potion into my muzzle for a few moments. I nearly choked on the purple fluid before she ripped it away to give the remaining half to Happy. While it didn’t heal my wing or my rib, it at least numbed the pain enough for it to be manageable for the moment. What I really needed right now was some Chill to…

No, Night, that’s not what you need.

“Speaking of, that was quick thinking, Happy.” Hispano cooed coolly at him as he took the potion and completely downed it in one go like it was a glass of whiskey. Some of it leaked out of the large gash the sword had cleanly torn through his left cheek when he’d swung it. Slowly, the wound pulled itself together as he reached up and wiped his blood away with his hoof. “Where’d you learn to use a sword technique like that?” She asked, almost sounding impressed.

“Ma’ always wanted me to keep up Burro family traditions when growin’ up.” Happy groaned as he tossed the empty glass bottle away, shattering it on the floor in the corner. “That included this stupid traditional donkey game called ‘golf’.” Reaching up to his newly healed cheek, he rubbed at it with a frustrated look across his face. “Though you’re supposed to swing clubs, not swords. Still worked, but I ain’t too happy with what it did to my face.” Groaning, he tried to stand, only to go wide eyed and choke back a scream.

“Yeah, the bullet you took is too deep to quickly remove.” Hispano spoke up as she gave a flap of her wings and pulled herself up off the gore coated floor. “You won’t bleed out internally so long as you don’t pull any daring moves, just stay put for now. Buck’s going to have to dig it out of there once this is all over.”

“Fuckin’ hell.” He grunted as he pressed his hoof to his side. With a few quick breaths, he tried to stand again, but cried out and collapsed to the floor once more. “Fuck, I don’t think I can even go anywhere like this...”

“Then, as I fucking said, you need to stay here.” I spoke up as I carefully tried to pick myself up. My hooves slid slightly on the slick floor, but without having to move quickly, I managed to get back onto my hooves without too much of a problem.

“No, we stick together.” Happy groaned as he rolled onto his side and glared at me.

“He’s right, Happy. You’re dead weight in a fight like this.” Hispano shot him a glare and pointed her talon out sharply.

She shifted herself and held her talon out to help steady me as I tried to walk over towards the deceased power armored pony in the doorway. With a few close calls on the slippery floor, I managed to get close enough that I could reach out and brace myself against the bulky metal armor. Once she knew I was stable, Hispano fluttered through the doorway and returned with the odd Sawblade gun. Carefully, she brought it to Happy and set it down next to him.

“I know you can’t really move, but it’s on you to protect yourself and the Mirage ponies while we fight our way forward.” Hispano’s stern tone definitely sounded more like her father’s than the happy-go-lucky griffon I remembered hanging out with on the convoy. I mean, I knew we’d all been changed by the convoy’s destruction, but… I guess I hadn’t expected so much of a change from Hispano.

“Well, if that’s the case…” Happy groaned as he pulled the sawblade launcher closer to him, snorting in disgust as he lifted it from the gore coated floor. “Can’t you help me into that power armor or something? This piece of shit isn’t going to jack squat against a group of ponies if they come for them.”

For some reason, that made me laugh.

“You can’t operate power armor without training.” I snorted and gave the heavy armor under me a good smack with my hoof. “If you got inside without knowing what you were doing, you’d break your back, or worse.”

“Again, gotta side with Dum Dum here.” Hispano smirked as she fluttered over and landed herself on the raised rump of the armor. “Just keep on your headset and Buck will have someone down here to help you in no time.”

Oh, right, my coms helmet!

Turning around, I looked down at the puddle of gore across the floor. I was forced to pause as I noticed the streaking red lines and uneven coating of where I’d skid across the floor. There was a lot more blood than I’d thought, and looking up along the racks around us, I noticed just how many mirage ponies had been killed in our fight.

It hurt to see the sheer amount of suffering and death our actions had brought, but honestly, it just made me angry. They wouldn’t have ever been in this situation if it weren’t for Mr. Wizard, and I wouldn’t need to kill that bastard so much if he wasn’t helping Solomon. While the deaths of so many innocent ponies was regrettable, it would all be worth it once I killed them both.

“So then, now that you understand how it works, how can you say you’re any different from me?” Solomon’s voice echoed through my head again. “Because so long as you get what you want, it doesn’t matter who you have to trample over. It’s just business, Night.”

“Just shut up!” Clamping my blood coated hooves to the side of my head, I screamed out. Why couldn’t I just get these thoughts out of my head? I know they’re my own, but sweet Celestia… I just needed something, anything to numb them!

Warmth radiated around my body as I felt Hispano wrap her talons around me in a tight hug. It didn’t help to numb anything, but the feeling at least silenced the thoughts in my head. Opening my eye, I watched as she averted her own, reaching up to me with a balled talon. Slowly, she opened it to reveal three and a half tabs of Chill.

I wanted to open my muzzle and refuse, to tell her that I couldn’t take them. But as it always did, my body acted without my consent. I practically dove into the pills, sloppily slurping them from her talon and greedily forcing them down my throat. It was the most embarrassing thing to have to witness from inside my own head, and I wanted nothing more than to just throw the pills up and cry about how far I’d fallen.

But no sooner than they’d gotten into my stomach did they start to work, and the warm numbing feeling I’d come to rely on swept over me. My heart calmed, and I felt just the hint of a smile push through the intensely guilty look I wore. I hated having to do this, but I didn’t have a choice.

“Get your shit and let’s go.” Hispano’s sharp words weren’t loud. The disappointment in them however, cut deep as she wicked my saliva off of her talon and rubbed it off on her saddlebags.

Turning around, I reached down and picked up my comms helmet from the gore coated floor and put it back on. As I did, I caught the tired and almost sad look that Happy wore as well. I knew that while he and Hispano trusted me, they couldn’t stand to see me need some stupid drug to keep my sanity. But like I’d told Buck, once this was all over, once we’d killed Mr. Wizard and Solomon, then I’d take the time to get clean.

But for now, we had shit to do, and I couldn’t apologize to them for doing what I needed to in order to see it through.

Hispano sniffled and wiped at her eyes as she angrily fiddled with the door panel wires that operated the massive cog shaped door. Neither of us had uttered a single word as we passed through up to here. We didn’t have to say a single thing to know we both understood that this was worse than anything we could have expected.

Four minutes. That’s all it’d taken to walk to the front of this multi-room horror show. We passed through four different styled atrium, six different layouts of recreational facilities, and three separate living quarter layouts. Each and every fucking one was packed wall to wall with racks of Mirage Ponies. Even worse, were the rooms that were just nothing but foals. Some of them even still had legs of their own, which had brought an even worse revelation to Hispano and I as we’d made our way unopposed to the entrance of the fake stable.

“Night,” Buck’s voice popped through my coms helmet without warning, making me jump a bit. “Ping’s systems just came back online, but only for a few seconds before we lost it again. He is inside the main Science Center building, in the proximity of Mr. Wizard’s personal quarters. What is your status?”

“Hispano and I are at the door to the display Stable. We’re trying to get it open now.” Even as I responded, I looked back at the way we’d come through and shuddered. “You should see it down here, Buck. It’s so much worse than what we thought, these ponies are going to need a lot of help.”

“I have news for you.” Buck responded almost dismissively, “reports from the Celestia’s Angels are that the train maintenance yard has been liberated, as have residential sectors two, four, and five. The CCPD is still remaining neutral, and has barricaded its forces inside the city police headquarters building.” It was weird, but Buck’s voice almost sounded hollow to me. It was his voice, but like he’d taken all emotion out of it. To be honest, it kind of scared me...

“What’s going on?” Hispano paused at her work to prod at my heavily bruised side.

“Buck say’s we’re winning the fight out there, but Ping’s now somewhere in Mr. Wizard’s house.” I shot back, bringing a bit of Hispano’s once hope filled look back to her eyes.

“Great, when do we get some backup then?” She snorted as she got back to working on the panel.

“All assets are currently engaged and unavailable at this time.” Again, Buck’s voice came through with a light burst of static to it that made it sound tinny. “If you require assistance, it is advised that you seek out and rescue Miss. Hispano’s father.” Wait, Miss. Hispano? We… we were a family. Why would he ever call her by something so... formal?

“Buck, is… everything alright?” My gut tightened up as the words tumbled from my muzzle. “You don’t sound alright…” Oh Celestia, please let everything be...

“Yes, I am fine, Night. Everything is going according to plan.” Buck’s prompt response was all I needed to know that something was indeed wrong with him. There wasn’t any emotion in his voice, no care or worry, no love. “Why do you inquire?”

“N-nothing.” I flat out lied to him. I know I’d said I wouldn’t ever lie to him again, but this… this wasn’t on me this time. “Just… we need to talk after this is over, alright?”

“Okay, Night.” Again, he was dismissive and distant. And it hurt to hear it a lot more than I’d expect it to. “Make sure to check in once you have found Miss. Hispano’s father. More than likely, we won’t have much time before Ping is permanently disassembled.”

As soon as Buck had finished, yellow caution lights flared to life on the walls around us. Hispano stepped back from the panel, pulling Suiza up to her breast as a short klaxon blared through the air. The massive hydraulics in the walls worked to drag the heavy Stable-Tec branded door out of it’s home, pulling it onto it’s toothy track in the floor in front of Hispano and I. With a rhythmic hissing and thumping, the door slowly rolled out of the way.

A pair of confused looking and well armed goons turned from their posts on their side of the door. A shot from Suiza and a spray of magical energy from my saddle cut them down where they stood. All that was left in front of us was a large, bland concrete room that ended in a pair of elevator doors on the opposite side of it.

“Guess they really weren’t expecting anyone to come through from this way.” Hispano sighed as she brought Suiza up and slung her around her back again. Straightening out her flight cap, she glanced over to me with more than a hint of concern across her face. “So, you going to turn off your coms for a moment so we can talk in private?”

Spitting my bit from my muzzle, I folded it into its stowed position. As we both stepped over the gap where the door had been I reached up and slipped my com’s helmet off and hoofed at it’s inside. With a crisp click, I switched channels on it to one that wasn’t being used instead of outright turning it off, which… now that I thought about it, I had no idea how to do anyway.

“Alright, we’re alone.” I nodded to her as we both walked over to the elevator doors. They were in remarkably good condition compared to the maintenance hall we’d come through, so it was a good sign that this was probably the main way Mr. Wizard and his goons got in and out of the stable. Turning to Hispano, I sighed as she hit the recall button for one of the cars. “Now what did you…”

My words were stolen as Hispano lunged at me and pressed her beak to my muzzle. I can’t say that it was unwelcome to have her kiss me again, but I was more so confused at the odd timing she had with it. As she broke the kiss with tears dripping down her cheeks, I knew that maybe it wasn’t about the timing, and more about having something familiar in her life again.

“I’m sorry.” She spoke softly as she wrapped her talons around me loosely enough that she didn’t press against my side or wing too much. “It’s just, I waited for so long for you to come back. I knew that you were still out there, but… I didn’t know it would be like… this.”

“Like what?” I asked sharply, scrunching up my muzzle as I pulled a glared from her.

“You came flying back into the city with a robot. Happy’s acting like a fucking wartime ghoul with WTSD, and you?” Her voice squeaked as she tightened her grip on my sides. “You’re worse off than even I was after you went to kill Galina.” Averting her eyes, she let her grip slide down until she altogether just let go of me. “Now you’re questioning if Buck’s alright, and… I don’t know what to think anymore because everything’s just different now.”

“Hispano…” I tried to tell her that I was sorry, that I wish that things were different. But I couldn’t bring myself to say it. She was right, a lot had changed for all of us. But we’d all done what we needed to in order to survive. That’s all I’ve ever done.

“Look, Night,” Hispano rubbed at her forearm with her talon nervously. “I know things haven’t really gone as planned, but I just want to go back to how things were, you know? And I’m...” She paused with a quiver of her beak as she looked down at the ground. “I’m afraid that it’s too late. That things will never go back to normal.” And with that, she finally broke down. “I just want to be a family again, with you, Buck, and my dad.”

“Shhh, I know, Hispano.” Reaching forward, I wrapped my hooves around her and pulled her close again. It’s all I really could do. “We’ll work through this. Even if things aren’t better when it’s over, then we’ll just have to try again tomorrow, right?” She forced herself to nod as she sobbed into my bloody harness and coat. “And even if things are different, it doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere without you or Buck ever again. Got it?”

She sniffled, pulling her blood smeared face up to look at me. Again, she forced herself to nod, even if the pain in her eyes told me that she didn’t believe me. I leaned down, planting a soft kiss on her forehead plumage just below her flight cap.

The elevator gave a soft ding as it arrived, and the doors slid open with a mechanical clack. The two of us stepped inside and took our places on opposite ends before Hispano reached over and hit the button that read 15 on it. Soft music played through speakers hidden in the elevator car, and a small chime played out before the doors once again slid shut.

“Hello, Night.” The Architect’s voice came through my coms helmet. “I just wanted to remark that you have nothing to worry about with Buck. He will be fine.”

“Uh...” Putting my hoof up to my helmet, I scrunched up my muzzle in confusion. “You’re on this channel, Architect?” Glancing over at Hispano, her expression immediately sank into one of immense concern again. I waved my forehoof to try to tell her not to worry, but somehow I knew that this wasn’t going to be that kind of a conversation. “What do you mean I shouldn’t worry? What’s going on?”

“Yes, I am on all channels monitoring your progress.” The pride in the Architect’s voice sat at odds with how Hispano and I’s conversation had just left me feeling, but I couldn’t blame him for not understanding. “But to answer your question,” He continued, “the command position you place him in that allows him to see every extent of the current fighting, and that has not been easy to view, even for me. Buck has as a result, suffered a tremendous amount of emotional stress that had developed into a near mental breakdown. Much like with his fear of flying, he has asked us to suppress his emotions in order to allow him to keep coordinating this operation.”

So that’s why he was sounding like a fucking machine? Really!?

“Look, Architect, he can handle it.” I tried not to let my annoyance bleed through too much, but at this point, I didn’t really care to much about being subtle. “He himself said that he understood how things worked now, that you showed him the necessity of it. It might be overwhelming at first, but it's just something he'll have to work through.” Again, looking over at Hispano, her expression had shifted to being more grim, and the hope she’d held before was once again gone. “That's how I had to do it, so you need to let him feel it because you can’t keep him safe from it forever.”

“I’m sorry, Night,” The Architect let off a sigh over the radio. “But it is in the interest of this operation and his mental health that we help him to suppress…”

“No.” I snapped at him sharply, even making Hispano jump a bit from my tone. “If you’ve really been listening in, does it sound like Buck’s better off to you? Cause to me, he might have the same voice, but he’s not there anymore. You’ve changed him because you’re allowing this, and you of all creatures are going to tell me it’s necessary? How fucking hypocritical are you to allow it so long as it isn’t a resident of the Factory?”

“You… you are right, Night…” The Architect’s voice did have a note of remorse to it, but I just needed to hammer the point home once and for all.

“You’re Celestia damned right I am. So I’m not asking you, Architect.” I spat at him with all the anger and force I could ever hope to transmit through a radio. “You give me my Buck back, right now. Am I understood?”

“I understand.” The Architect’s voice came across as more monotone than normal, and I couldn’t help but feel that maybe he was suppressing his own emotions of regret right about now. “I am at a loss as to how I did not see or consider the implications it would carry. And for that, I am sorry, and I will do my best to keep incidents like this from happening in the future. I will get to work on removing the suppression software from Buck's augments in stages, as to not overwhelm his emotional state. You have my word, Night, that he will be back to his normal self soon.”

“Thank you.” I grumbled before tearing off my communication’s helmet and fiddling with it to turn it completely off. After what felt like a full minute of fumbling, I finally found the off switch and flicked it hard enough that I was almost afraid I’d broken it. Only then did I sigh and let myself slump back against the elevator wall.

“Well,” Hispano’s meek voice brought my eyes up off the cap and onto her forced smile. “If anything’s changed for the better, I’m glad you’re not a doormat anymore, Dum Dum.”

“Heh, yeah.” I forced myself to let out a short laugh as I joined Hispano in trying to suppress our shared disappointment. “Let’s just find your dad so we can get Ping back and end this fucking nightmare already.”

Author's Notes:

Once again, I'd like to give my thanks to TheFurryRailFan for going over this chapter and fixing a lot of the little errors I leave in. While I've still not gotten myself back to 100% in terms of writing, it's nice to know I've always got someone to lend a pair of eyes to keep my chapters clean.

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat as always, for creating and lending out this universe to all of us in the FoE fandom.