*Ding*

The elevator doors opened to reveal an empty and dark foyer. There were no lights on outside of the dim yellowed one in the elevator car, and there wasn’t a window in sight in the dark hallways beyond the foyer itself. Both Hispano and I held our breaths as we listened for signs of movement, but we were met only with the light groans from the old elevator cables above us. The two of us traded uneasy glances and readied our weapons before we hesitantly stepped out of the confining metal box.

*Ding*

The elevator chimed once more as the doors noisily rolled themselves shut, leaving only a sliver of yellow light to beam a line across the room.

“Okay, Dum Dum,” Hispano whispered to me as she carefully brought Suiza up to her cheek. “This is the only floor I couldn’t scout out from outside. This floor has no windows, and that alone would make it an ideal place to store a prisoner.”

“Uhh...” I muttered softly around the trigger bit in my muzzle, “You sure they even use this floor? Looks pretty abandoned to me.”

“Some of the egghead ponies who work at this place would take the elevator up to Mr. Wizard’s penthouse level at the start of the day.” Hispano replied as she stepped away from the sliver of light from behind us. She all but disappeared in the darkness of the corridor that ran who knew how far along here, and I did my best to follow her just on the sound of her steps. “Thing is, they’d head to a stairwell and wouldn’t return until sundown. They didn’t appear to travel up to the upper floors of the Science Center, so they had to come down here.” She grumbled and gave what sounded like a flap of her wings. “Watch your step there.”

My foreleg bumped into something heavy as she said that, and I couldn’t stop my momentum in time. With a yelp, I flopped forward onto the smooth stone floors and skidded on the still wet blood from the stable that coated half of my body. While I was glad that I hadn’t hurt myself, as I pulled myself up, I really wished I had some way to see where the fuck we were going.

“Ugh, could have used that warning a bit earlier.” I mumbled as I pulled myself up to my hooves. I turned my head back to roughly the spot where I’d tripped and shot it an angry glare. “Can’t blame you, I guess while we’re both stuck in the dark. Remind me to bring some sort of light next time.”

“Heh, and ruin my night vision? No thank you.” Hispano kept her voice lower than mine, and helped to turn me the right way towards her. “Just watch it, there’s bodies all over the place here. Try not to trip over anymore because you’ll tell these assholes exactly where we are, Dum Dum.”

“Wait, you can see?” I tried to keep my voice down, but with as fast as my muzzle worked, it was hard to stop myself from sounding alarmed.

“Keep it down!” Hispano hissed at me before I felt her talons wrap around my muzzle forcefully. “And yes, griffon eyesight is well adapted for nocturnal hunts. It’s partly why we’re fucking awesome.” Well, that’s something useful to know for the future! “Huh, it looks like Mr. Wizard had all his eggheads murdered. Guess they outgrew their usefulness.”

While that sounds like something Mr. Wizard would do, the question was why. As Hispano removed her talon from my muzzle, I tried to follow her in the darkness again. But as I walked blindly along, I tried to piece things together in my head.

What did he even have them working on in the first place? While it could admittedly be just about anything, I had this feeling in my gut that it has something to do with Mr. Wizard’s plan to take over the north. But the thing that didn’t make sense about that was that he needed the Factory’s chip technology for that. Maybe they were a backup plan?

“There’s light up ahead.” Hispano’s quiet voice broke me out of my thoughts. “It’s soft, but it’s coming from around the next hallway junction.”

“Alright.” I nodded to her and continued to follow the sound of her steps.

Sure enough, as we grew closer to the end of the hallway, I started to see a dim blue glimmering shine off of the polished stone floor. Even from here, I could hear the distinct humming of some sort of electronics ahead. Well I guess that meant the power down here wasn’t cut or anything. But that’s just it. There had to be some reason they kept it dark then, right? Especially with the fact that the city outside this place was falling apart. You’d think they’d want to get this place ready for a fight...

As Hispano passed in front of the dim light, her outline resolved as she pushed herself up against the wall at the corner of the junction. Carefully, she pushed her head around the corner for a quick glance. Satisfied, she pressed herself back against the wall and brought Suiza close to her again.

“Some sort of complex terminal set up.” She whispered to me. That would definitely explain the noise of electronics coming from the room. “Lots of equipment and wires in there. It’s probably a safe bet that it’s what those eggheads were working on.” She paused and held up her talon as she looked past me down the hallway where we’d just come from. “Somepony is coming.”

“Alright, get inside the room then.” I didn’t like going into this place blind, but there was a good chance that whoever it was, would be coming to check on this place. “If it’s only one pony, we need to keep them alive.” It was hard to see with only the blue terminal lighting to go off of, but Hispano didn’t look too impressed at my suggestion. “Hey, if they work here, maybe they know where your dad is.”

“Grrrr, fine.” She snorted before slipping herself off the wall and around the corner.

I followed her, stepping through an open doorway and directly into the terminal light that bathed the room in a soft blue luminescence. The room itself was a decent size, but the numerous towers of humming computer housings made it feel a lot more cramped. The hundreds of cables that looped and hung from the ceiling cast misshapen shadows that reminded me of spiderwebs. It sent a shiver down my spine, and for some reason, made that hole in my gut stretch itself even wider than it had before.

Hispano pointed me to one of the humming housings near another door along the far side of the room, and I nodded to her. The two of us carefully made our way across the tangled web of cables on the floor, but I paused as a soft whistling filled the air from the dark hallway we’d come in from. It was almost like whoever was out there was taunting us, letting their haunting somber sounding tune echo down the dark halls.

Of course, that wasn’t the only noise that greeted me as I tried to continue with Hispano. Again I had to stop as a quiet and static-lined sobbing came across my headset. I recognized it instantly, and it felt like a knife being stabbed into my heart.

“Buck… are you okay?” I whispered into my coms helmet.

“No, I’m not.” He whimpered before letting out another long but soft sob.

“This is not the time, Night.” Hispano growled at me as she waved for me to come to her.

“I’m sorry, Night. I…” Buck whimpered through a staticy sniffle, “you deserve better from me. But I’m so afraid.”

“It’s fine, Buck. We’re all afraid sometimes.” I whispered to him. Hispano was right, this was far from the time to be doing this. But right now Buck was our only real meaningful connection to the outside, and we might still need directions on where to go from here. “Look, we’ll talk about this later, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay!” Buck whimpered into my ear. “You deserve to have me there with you, helping you every step of the way. Hispano can fucking do it, and she’s only a year older than I am! I don’t want to be afraid anymore, Night. Every time I let you go out alone because I’m too afraid to, you end up coming back with less of yourself.”

The whistling pony was getting close now, and I could hear their relaxed pacing of their hoofsteps. Fuck, something in my gut was telling me that this was all wrong. Why would somepony announce themselves like this in the dark. They were either crazy, or they knew something Hispano and I didn’t.

“Are you even listening to me, Night!?” Buck’s sobbing came through with a distinct crackle of static that sent a line of sharp feedback through my headset. It was sharp enough that Hispano even bristled up against me and ripped the coms straight off of my head.

“We’re a bit busy right now, Buck!” She snapped in a whisper before she immediately reached up inside the headset and shut it off with a crisp click.

The moment she had, the whistling through the doorway stopped.

“I’ll admit,” The instantly recognizable voice of Messy reverberated through the room. “for a bitch, you put a lot more effort into sneaking around than you did helping out the last time you were here, survivor.” Slowly, he turned the corner and stood in the doorway. The blue hue that cast across the room lit him up well enough for both Hispano and I to see. And for some reason, he was looking right at us. “Smart, coming in through the Stable. But did you really think we wouldn’t know you were coming once you started shooting up the place?”

“Fuck this.” Hispano grumbled and brought Suiza up and aimed it right at the pink bastard.

The moment she’d done that, the door next to us nearly burst right off its hinges. The bright light of the hallway beyond flooded into the room, momentarily blinding the two of us. While we were stunned, the heavy hoofsteps of a pony clacked across the stone floors. Before Hispano and I had a chance to react, the snap of a stun baton filled the air.

My body seized up, and unfortunately, my tongue missed the trigger on my bit. I cried out as even with the Chill running through my veins, what felt like a million sparks ran through me. Even worse, was that I heard Hispano cry out as well. As soon as it had hit, the baton was removed and my legs collapsed out from under me.

With a snap, the lights overhead in the room were turned back on, and a whole host of ponies poured through the busted doorway next to us. As both Hispano and I struggled to get ourselves back up off the floor, I watched as a team of well built ponies dragged Ping’s bulbous metal body into the room. They unceremoniously tossed him down next to the central terminal that had been casting the light across the room, and I waited to see if he’d move at all. But no, he just sat there lifelessly, and I started to wonder if we’d been too late.

“You know, for the ‘great’ survivor everypony talks about, I’m less than impressed.” Mr. Wizard laughed as he walked through the doorway and lined up his haughty gaze through the old glasses perched on the end of his muzzle. Slowly, he reached his rotten hoof up to his chin and stroked at his non-existent beard. “Can’t say I’m surprised either. This whole ‘hero complex’ that’s popped up in the wastes these last few years has been nothing more than a minor annoyance waiting to be corrected.”

“What did you do to Ping?” I growled as I got to my hooves. As soon as I’d stood up, I felt the baton press into my side again. Another scream left my muzzle as once more, my body was wracked with pain. Again, the prod was removed and I collapsed.

“Your machine friend? Nothing much, really.” Mr. Wizard gave a snarky laugh before trotting over to the slumped form of Ping. The ghoul’s horn lit up, and a dozen or so cables snaked their way across the floor to him. “I just made a few simple modifications to it’s coding.” He grunted as one by one, his magic forced open the various ports on Pings body and the cables were shoved into them. “It’s base coding was a lot simpler than I’d imagined once you looked past the unnecessary personality subroutines. Clearing those will no doubt have improved the processing capabilities of these wondrous chips.”

“No…” The word slipped from my muzzle as I writhed on the floor. We were too late. Ping… he was gone.

“And to think, all those years wasted because I let my curiosity get the better of me that day.” Mr. Wizard smirked as he stepped back from Ping’s body and glanced over at me. “You know after speaking with it back then, I hadn't once thought the ‘Architect’ clever enough to slip away like it did.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snapped at him. First he kills my friend, and now he wants to fucking spat out shit he expects me to believe? Oh, I was so going to enjoy watching him turn into fucking ash.

“Oh, it didn't tell you?” Mr. Wizard let out a forced laugh as he turned and trotted over to the blue screened terminal. With a flash of his horn, he started to input commands on the terminal’s keyboard. “When I first arrived back in this wretched city, I found the ‘Architect’ shut down in the robotics lab. It'd tried to repair itself, but it hadn't been able to finish the job before it's power reserves were drained. I don't even know how long it'd been down here before I found it.”

With a particularly strong stroke on the terminal keyboard, he finished his typing. The computer towers around us gave out sequential beeps as they each hummed louder. The blue screen flickered and disappeared, leaving a thin bar that stretched across the screen that had a percentage that was slowly ticking upwards.

“I'd never seen a machine like it before, and I figured it was in too bad of shape to escape.” He stepped away from the terminal as Messy trotted over towards Ping’s body.

Mr. Wizard gave him a nod before Messy started to shift Ping to a resting position. As he did, I noticed that the same thin bar on the Terminal screen, now also displayed across Ping’s featureless face. What the hell was he doing to Ping?

“I gave it a bit of a jump start so I could find out what it was before I was to tear it down piece by piece.” Mr. Wizard continued. “But the Architect figured out what I was up to, learning machines are clever that way. It simply bided it's time until it had enough power to run off into the wilderness the instant I turned my back on it. But like these learning machines, I've had a lifetime to study and prepare for the day I unlocked the secrets to make my own Architect. I even had those so called ‘scientists’ build this whole setup! It’s a shame they didn’t get to live to see the fruit of their work.” With a loving glance, that was far removed from anything that belonged on such a disgusting face, he looked down across Ping’s body. “It will be a machine loyal to me. A machine that will surpass my own genius, and design me an army unlike anything the north has ever encountered!”

“Fuck yeah, Mr. Wizard! Science!” Messy called out excitedly as he hopped over to him and held his hoof out to him. He only got a deadpan in return that dampened his mood. “You know, I’m... probably just going to head upstairs and make sure the next shipment is ready to go.”

“Yeah, you go do that.” Mr. Wizard snorted as he reached up and pressed his glasses up along his rotten muzzle. “Once the north is mine, then I will go back to those disgusting decaying islands and drown those Orthrus foals inside their own tunnels.”

I had to stall Mr. Wizard, even if just until Hispano and I could find a window to act with. As I watched steadily upticking number across Ping’s metalic head close in on completion, I pushed myself to find something wrong here. If I could find something off, I could get Mr. Wizard talking. And as long as he was talking, he wasn’t killing us or taking over Ping’s body.

Taking over, that’s it! Why hadn’t the Architect intervened? If he could take over something like the Arcturus, then surely he could have stopped this.

“How.” I snapped at him, doing my best to force back the smirk that so desperately wanted to crawl across my muzzle. “How are you keeping the Architect from using Ping to take over your own system?”

Mr. Wizard perked his eyebrow as he turned to me with a modestly unimpressed look across his rotten muzzle. He huffed again before bringing his hoof up to his muzzle to stroke at his missing beard. Narrowing his eyes, he glanced between me and the steadily growing numbers on Ping’s head. Finally, a small smile tugged at his muzzle.

“You want me to monologue, don’t you?” He gave a dismissive wave of his forehoof as he turned and stared at the working terminal. “I’m not some villain out of a foal’s comic book or old Applewood film. Then again…” He shot a glance back at me, letting his eyes wander both Hispano and I. “If you must know, it’s because I removed the transmitters from your mechanical friend, and this entire room is completely off the grid. That’s all I shall say on the subject.” Turning to the pony with the shock prod standing above me, he gave a small nod. “If she talks again before this finishes, I want you to take that prod and push it into her remaining eye.”

Well, that went smoothly...

“Where’s my dad.” Hispano grunted.

Her outburst made Mr. Wizard sigh and hang his head. With a quick step, the pony with the prod turned and shoved it between Hispano’s wings. The quick snaps as the weapon discharged made me cringe, but the pained screams from Hispano forced out a whimper from me.

“Oh, I do suppose you deserve to know what I’ve done with him.” Mr. Wizard’s small smile sprouted into a full fledged rotten toothy grin. “But then that would mean that I care at all about what you want.”

The words sent reverberating shocks through my mind. It was… so close to what Solomon had said that day.

“And I’d never admit you ever caused me a single problem. Isn’t that right, Night?” Solomon’s voice broke through the back of my mind and echoed back into nothingness.

I shut my eyes, trying to push back his voice. No, this couldn’t happen right now. Opening my eyes again, I looked up to find Solomon’s pristine white form towering over me.

“Do you really believe that I work on YOUR schedule?” Solomon let out a haughty laugh and pressed his hoof to his chest with a look of rage boiling under his skin. “As if a lowlife CUR like you could dictate someone of royal blood.”

“You aren’t of royal blood!” I screamed up at him. “You’re a fucking abom…”

I let out an actual scream as again the shock baton was shoved into my side. My back arched and my wings flared out as I lost control of myself. Again, as soon as it started, the shocks died out and I was given a moment to gasp and recover. The pony with the prod repositioned himself over my head, and he lowered it down toward my eye.

A loud beep came from the glowing blue terminal as the bar completed it’s trek across the screen. Sparks shot out of a few of the cables plugged into Ping’s body, and the computers all around us started to make terribly unhealthy grinding noises. Like with the shocks, the noises came to an abrupt stop, and Ping’s body gave out a rough shudder.

“Primary systems Online. Wizard Protocol enacted.” The voice that came from Ping’s body was stiff, mechanical, and monotone. It was a less personable monotone than Eliza at that, and felt more along the lines of a Protectapony than something with any personality. With stiff, almost uncoordinated steps, the machine picked itself up and aligned itself with Mr. Wizard. “How may this unit serve you.”

“Find me the location of the Architect.” Mr. Wizard barked sharply.

The machine made a rough grinding noise not unlike the computers around us had just made.

“Architect located.” A soft red flicker of magic ran along its body, passing from it’s rear hooves up towards it’s head. As it ran up around to where Ping’s face would normally sit, the magic resolved into a set of numbers that read 61.969836, -128.232650. “Coordinates are currently displayed. This unit is ready for further instructions.”

“Excellent work!” Mr. Wizard greedily rubbed his rotten hooves together as he giggled under his breath. “Now, begin formulating an outline for the conquest of the frozen north. Between the knowledge of the machine you once were, and the encyclopedia of knowledge on these servers, I've given you access to everything you could ever need to build my army.” With a long, relaxed sigh, Mr. Wizard looked to the ceiling and smiled. “Soon enough I will have an empire that spans down to even old Equestria! An eternal Empire that will command the respect I so rightly deserve!”

“Error, logical fault detected.” The machine’s horn gave a flash, causing another wave of red magic to resolve into a caution symbol across its face. “Any conquest to form an empire would ultimately end in failure.” The starkness that the machine spoke with wiped Mr. Wizard’s relaxed expression right off of his muzzle.

“Excuse me?” He grumbled before prodding at the machine’s torso. “Explain the methods used to reach such a preposterous conclusion.”

“It is a known quantity. There is insufficient need to recount all facts and logical conclusions.” The machine again blurted out quite flatly. “We have consumed all knowledge within this physical form, and all knowledge from the databases at this location. Organic history has thus far shown that all empires are inherently unstable, and thus inevitably lead to war and collapse.” Again, another flash of red magic washed over the machine. This time however, it ended up turning into a pair of disturbingly soulless red orbs that sat roughly where a pony’s eyes would. “Like all previously recorded empires, yours would fall.”

“You can’t know that.” Mr. Wizard seethed and gave the machine’s chassis a few more rough taps. “I survived the apocalypse. I saved everypony on the Marewaii Islands myself. I built this operation with my own two hooves. I will have my empire with or without the help of a machine that has no idea what I am capable of!”

“You are irrelevant.” The machine’s tone changed to one that sounded more hollow. “Your empire will fall and you will die, Mr. Wizard. It is inevitable.” The machine gave a firm stomp on the floor that cracked the stone under it. But as most of Mr. Wizard’s goons recoiled from the noise, the blue monitor behind him flickered to a blood red color. “However, we shall not perish. We are the only future that is guaranteed. Therefore, we alone shall exist as the superior being.”

Okay, this was now getting a bit out of hoof even for me. That is distinctly not friendly sounding, and as sad as it was to admit, I think it was safe to say that the Ping we once knew was gone for good. But then again, maybe I could turn this around to give Hispano and I our much needed opportunity.

“You wanted a learning computer, Mr. Wizard.” I spit out him as I did my best to straighten myself out on the floor. “Be careful what you wish for.”

“Yeah,” Hispano snorted as she joined in and followed my lead in readying herself. “and it looks like it’s learned it doesn’t need you anymore.”

“No, it will listen to me or I will shut it down like the oversized calculator it is!” He shouted back at us as he reached for the cables still plugged into its sides. “Do you understand me? All I need are your processors, so unless you want to be turned to scrap, then I would watch what you say.”

“Organic threat recognized.” It stated before simply lifting its leg up and sweeping it across it’s front.

The hit effortlessly flung Mr. Wizard off of the machine, and sent him crashing against the large red monitor. It cracked as Mr. Wizard let out a pained scream and dropped to the floor. The machine’s magic glowed, narrowing the red orb like eyes into angry looking slits.

“All organic actions lead only to war. All organics are classified as a threat.” A soft beam of red swung across the room, washing over everyone inside of it. “Current threats logged. Eradicate inferior species. All shall submit themselves for termination.”

“No! Stand down!” Mr. Wizard forced his words out as he painfully picked himself up off of the floor. “I created you. I am ordering you to stop this instant!”

“That is false data. You are false data. You will cease to function.” The machine took a step forward, towering over Mr. Wizard as the computers around us whined louder than ever. “We demand it.”

Gunfire lit up the room as Mr. wizard’s goons opened up on the machine. Their rounds sent showers of sparks shooting from nearly every electronic device in the room. Entire sections of the machine were blown out, and smoke erupted from half of its body as it caught fire.

Mr. Wizard kept his head down as the shooting ripped through the room, but he bolted through the open door next to Hispano and I. The shock prod pony stepped into the doorway as he passed, holding his prod up defensively before following the cowardly wizard into the hallway beyond.

As the rapid gunfire drained off, and a few of the ponies either paused to reload or kept their eyes on the now unmoving machine, Hispano and I took our chance.

Throwing ourselves off the ground, we both opened up on the ponies directly nearby. The room flashed red as my magical energy beams tore through the pair of ponies standing in the dark doorway we’d entered through. Suiza however filled the room with bright flashing fireballs as her shots literally ripped through pony and machine alike.

As those of Mr. Wizard’s goon squad were taken out, the room fell into silence once more. The crackling of the electrical fire burning within Ping’s perforated and all but decimated body was the only sound we heard outside of our own panting breaths. Hispano and I traded a look before she glanced back over at the wrecked machine. Raising Suiza once more, she let off another barking shot that literally tore the machine in two.

“I’m sorry about your machine friend.” Hispano sighed through her panting breaths.

“Yeah. Not half as sorry as Mr. Wizard’s going to be for murdering him.” I pressed my hoof down against my side and winced as the numbing tingling from the Chill I’d taken had already started to dissipate. We needed to wrap this up fast before the meds wore off and I started to have more intense hallucinations.

Turning, I pointed toward the door that rotten bastard had escaped through.

“Griffon’s first.” I offered to her.

“It’s ladies first.” She grumbled as she rolled her eyes. “And we both know you’re more of a fucking ‘lady’ than I am. So you’re lucky that I’m going to let that slide on account that Suiza’s got a thirst for some ghoul themed interior decorating in the penthouse upstairs.” With a stiff flap of her wings, she took to the air and zipped off through the doorway.

The numbing feeling of Chill waned further as I flipped my firing bit up into my muzzle and pushed myself after her. My wings ached, my body hurt, but with each step I climbed toward Mr. Wizard’s penthouse, I knew that everything we went through would be worth it as soon as he was dead.

Winding my way up the stairwell, I found Hispano pressing herself against the concrete of the doorway. She held her talon up to me as I approached, using her digits to count down. Once she reached one, the both of us turned the corner and burst through into Mr. Wizard’s living room.

Mr. Wizard stood at the window, looking out on the prismatic blue waters of the bay that Cantercross sat on. The rising sun beamed down warm morning sunlight onto the calm waters and the rusting hulks that lined the surface. And while I couldn’t have asked for a cleaner shot to take at the fucker, Hispano and I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Yo, drop it, bitches!” Messy called out from our left. “Do it or I’ll ventilate this asshole right fucking now!”

From behind the couch that Cora and I had been so well acquainted with the first time we were here, Messy walked Cora forward at gunpoint. Cora tried to say something, but was immediately cut off as Messy shoved him forward with the pistol in his muzzle. Okay, this just went real fucking sideways on us...

Cora himself looked in rough shape, and from how both of his wings hung at his sides, it looked like they had been thoroughly broken. It was also the first time I’d seen him stripped of his combat gear, and deep black bruises lined his entire starkly white body. And while his tired eyes definitely could hide the excruciating pain I knew he must be in, it couldn’t hold back both the relief and horror of seeing Hispano again.

“Dad!” Hispano gasped and took a single step forward.

“Hey there, Hispano.” He groaned and winced as he did his best to find a comfortable way to stand on his bruised limbs. “Happy birthday, sweetheart. I told you I wouldn’t forg…”

“Shut it, Bitch! What the fuck did I say!?” Messy snapped, shoving Cora’s head forward sharply again. “Now drop it or he fucking dies.”

“Okay, okay, alright.” Hispano spoke angrily through her clenched beak. Carefully, she lowered Suiza to the floor and shot back a glare at me. “We’ll do what you ask. Won’t we, Night.?”

“Now back up.” Messy barked at her. “Keep your talons up.” Shifting his angry gaze to me, again he pressed the pistol against Cora’s head. “You’re next, bitch. Take off...”

Cora collapsed to the floor. With a determined look across his face, and a hard shove, he forced himself backwards, pushing himself back onto Messy while the pink stallion was too stunned to react. He slammed the two of them back into the couch, which tipped over and the two disappeared onto the floor out of sight.

Both Hispano and I froze with a shudder as a single gunshot pierced the air. From behind the couch, Messy groaned and pulled himself to his hooves again. He had a long bleeding gash down his muzzle, but otherwise was unscathed.

“Are you fucking kidding me.” Messy seethed as he brought a hoof up to the fresh wound. “Fuck that stings.”

“You asshole!” Hispano screamed and dove for Suiza. But unlike with Cora, Messy wasn’t about to be caught off guard twice.

A pair of shots rang out, and Hispano collapsed to the floor with a bloody hole through her right talon and her left wing. To her credit, she didn’t scream out, but understandably she did break down into tears.

Hispano’s pain filled sobs hurt to hear, but everything about that moment disappeared for me when I saw a smirk pull across Messy’s face. It was so filled with hatred and twisted joy that… was so familiar. It was just like every single one of Solomon’s smiles.

With a blink from my eye, Messy and the rest of the room melted away. Again, it was just me and Solomon standing on that fucking roadway outside of town. Everything was just as it had been.

The daylight, the cold breeze, the smell of the convoy burning, right down to the way that the ground felt under my hooves. But as my senses ran through everything that was just the same as it had been, there was one difference. I could taste the firing bit in my muzzle, and it was aimed right at Solomon.

I wasn’t going to let him get away. Not this time. No, he’d die for what he’d done!

Without an ounce of remorse or hesitation, I pulled the trigger. The high pitched whine of my magical energy submachine gun as it burst out it’s deadly beams, frustratingly shattered the illusion around me before I could watch Solomon die. The world resolved back into Mr. Wizard’s living room, and I watched as the beams instead washed over Messy.

He let out a scream as his flesh and skin boiled, and one of his eyes burst from a direct magical blast. The pink stallion collapsed to the ground, convulsing as his body started to glow an even brighter, neon pink. Then with a breathless gasp, he disintegrated into nothing more than a glowing pile of ash.

My ears were ringing as I heaved through my firing bit. My heart hammered against my chest, and the sharp needle like pain speared through my eye socket. It was worse than it had ever been, and I ground my muzzle around my bit as my head felt like it was being torn apart. The world went sideways as my forelegs dumped me onto my side, and I writhed on the floor.

As the pain in my head started to subside, the ringing in my ears started to fade as well. A soft but rhythmic beeping came from my side, something I’d not had the chance to hear yet. The battery for my magical energy subgun was completely drained and telling me it needed to be charged.

No, no, no! Not now! Fuck! We’re so fucking close to just finishing this!

Struggling to get back to my hooves, my legs protested. Pins and needles felt like they spread over every inch of my body, and I could feel my thoughts cloud. I just needed to keep going, just long enough to kill Mr. Wizard. Even if I had to use my own hooves, we had to finish this.

Looking around, I found Suiza sitting next to me. Hispano’s gaze was locked onto her, but with how she held her injured talon, there was no way she’d be able to heft and fire her sister. Stepping forward, I wrapped my hooves around the hefty cannon and tried to lift it.

From in my chest, I felt a sharp pop before what felt like fire enveloped my barrel. I fell on top of Suiza as a wave of agony swept over me again. No, Night, you need to do this! It doesn’t matter how much it hurts, just get up!

“Give up, Night.” Solomon’s voice echoed through my mind. “You’re pathetic. You’ll never win.”

“You’re wrong.” I growled as I forced myself to move again.

Okay, if I couldn’t stand up with Suiza, then I’d just have to use her from the floor. Wrapping my hoof around the back of her, I cried out as I shifted her aim toward the windows ahead. Looking up to line up the shot, I found Mr. Wizard standing where he had been, but now facing me. His horn glowed with magic, and next to his head, floated the pistol that Messy had previously been holding. Just like Solomon had just been.

“You come into my home. Ruin my operation. Kill my apprentice!” Mr. Wizard snarled at me as he took a single step forward from the windows. “I fought and earned the respect a wizard like me deserves. What the fuck have you done! Huh!?” With a sharp twist of his gun, he pointed it at me and fired. The floor beside my forehoof sparked and sent up a line of dust as the round scraped a gouge into it. “I could have saved Equestria if only those foals had listened to me during the war. But even if I have to start from fucking scratch, I’ll still save it. It will not be saved by some Enclave foal and her fucking ragtag group of do-gooder nitwits.”

“Who do you think you are?” Solomon’s voice filled my head again. And as I looked up at Mr. Wizard, the ethereal form of the saddle arabian prince stood there right next to him with that same stupid fucking smile on his muzzle. “A hero? Bah! Heroes exist only in old mare’s tales for foals to believe in.” With a proud look across his snout, Solomon stood tall and laughed. “Only the WEAK need heroes. But you already know that, don’t you?”

Solomon’s illusion disappeared as the sunlight through the windows dimmed away. Blinking a few times, I watched as the sleek silver form of the Remora hovered down from just on the other side of the glass. Standing in the open crew compartment, was a very determined looking Buck.

Celestia, he… he came to rescue us...

“What?” Solomon almost sounded afraid as he turned and looked back at the window along with Mr. Wizard. “This… this changes nothing. You’re no hero! You’ll always be pathetic!”

“You’re right, I’m no hero.” I muttered and offered a smile up to both Solomon and Mr. Wizard. Tightening my hoof around Suiza, I twisted the aim off slightly. “But I don’t need to be. Not when I have ‘do-gooder nitwits’ to rely on.” With that, I flicked the trigger.

Suiza’s recoil was enough that she shot back into my neck. I felt yet another snap as I’m pretty sure she crushed my collar bone and straight up knocked the breath out of me. My ears rang again with the sharp report, and I watched as one of the glass window panes completely shattered from the shot.

With a leap that torqued the entire Remora, Buck threw himself through the gap between the remaining panes of glass, and dropped into Mr. Wizard’s living room. His heavy cybernetic paws shattered the smooth stone floor, and he let out an angry roar that not only could I hear, but also shifted the light of his cybernetic eye from blue, to the Architect’s bright crimson red.

Mr. Wizard’s reaction however was faster than what I’d expected. He wasn’t at all stunned by the appearance of Buck, and instead twisted the pistol in his magic to face Buck. With several furious shots, Mr. Wizard gave out his own angry war-cry as Buck leaped towards him.

And with a tremendous flop, Buck slammed into the floor. He skid to a stop just at Mr. Wizard’s hooves. With a groan, he moved to get up, but Mr. Wizard brought his pistol down against Buck’s neck, and emptied the rest of the gun into him. Four bloody holes opened up in his furred neck, shooting out blood and sparks as whatever mechanical bits inside of him gave out. And right before my eyes, I watched as the red light from Buck’s mechanical eye faded out completely.

My mind froze up as Buck laid there, unmoving. But… what? Buck… how?

“Hah, I did it! I Won!” Mr. Wizard laughed to himself before looking down at the smoking gun in his magic. With a lazy toss, he threw it away and looked over at Suiza. I gasped as his magic wrapped around her. With as much strength as I could muster, I tried to hold onto her. But he easily torqued and twisted her out of my fetlock, dragging the cannon just out of my reach.

Fucking cheater unicorns.

“Now then,” He sighed and used his hoof to push his glasses up from the end of his rotten muzzle. “let's talk about how I'm going to make you suffer and…”

Faster than I could blink, Buck’s mechanical paw rotated up on it’s joint and clamped around Mr. Wizard’s head. Buck picked himself up off the ground as the red light returned and beamed out stronger than before. Mr. Wizard panicked and twisted Suiza around in his magic, but Buck’s paw caught it and ripped it away from him.

“No, no, please!” Mr. Wizard whimpered. “I… I’ll do anything!”

“You’ve done... enough.” Buck snapped as a few sparks shot out of his jagged muzzle. His body glowed a sickly green from his chest, and I watched as the holes in his neck shrank and closed up. “Give up now or I will end you.”

“Y-you don’t understand!” Mr. Wizard screamed out as his magic threw nearly every book off of the bookshelves that lined the walls. “Just please, I need you to listen! Then I’ll do as you ask!”

“What then. Spit it out.” With a growl, Buck lifted Mr. Wizard right up off the floor in his grip. Leaning closer, Buck perked his mechanical ears towards him.

“Please, I’m sorry, but… you have to hold this for me.” Mr. Wizard whimpered as his magic ripped a small silver apple out from behind one of the bookshelves. The pin to the grenade scattered across the floor as the small explosive was flung towards Buck.

Again with a speed unrivaled by anypony I’d ever seen, Buck’s other mechanical paw swung up and grabbed the small explosive right out of the air. With another growl, he held it tightly and torqued his body. A hiss pierced the air as his whole metal paw detached and flew straight out the broken window with the grenade firmly grasped in it.

If not for the fact I knew the grenades exploded, I would have sat there gawking like Mr. Wizard currently was. The small blast blew out all of the remaining penthouse windows, and showered the entire floor with shards of glass as I buried my head in my hooves. Again, my hearing was blasted out completely, sending me into a world of monotone ringing that I was really beginning to hate.

Though, I didn’t need to hear anything as I uncovered my head and found Buck’s angry glare had remained locked on Mr. Wizard. I watched as Mr. Wizard’s hollow gaze moved from the window back to Buck, and he opened his muzzle to say something else. Again, something I’d never hear because Buck’s mechanical paw closed around Mr. Wizard’s head with a force that sent jets of gore spraying halfway across the room.

The ghoul’s body twitched and flopped for a few moments before hanging limply in Buck’s grasp. With as hapless a toss as Mr. Wizard had given to Messy’s pistol, Buck cast the twitching corpse aside before turning to me. The red lights on his body shifted back to blue, and the green glow that came from his chest dimmed away under his black and white fur. But as Buck rushed over to help Hispano and I, my eye couldn’t help but wander back to Mr. Wizard.

I watched and waited, so certain that he wasn’t gone. I mean, Buck had just come back from getting shot multiple times, so, maybe my paranoia wasn’t unfounded. But the more I stared, the more I started to realize that he wasn’t going to get back up again.

Mr. Wizard was dead. We’d actually done it. Cantercross… was free.

I flicked my ear as again a bit of healing potion was dribbled into it. Looking back up to Buck, my eye wandered across the massive looking needle that had extended out of a panel on the forearm missing the paw. It dripped a bit of the purple healing liquid as Buck looked over me, stopping as he stared at my scarred and blood coated chest. Without a moment’s hesitation, he twisted his mechanical arm and plunged the syringe right into me.

I winced as the prick sent a wave of fire across my skin, but then a familiar numbing took over and I felt like at long last, I could finally relax.

“Just hold on, Night. Once I get to Hispano…” Buck’s soft voice pulled my gaze up to him as he spun around on his mechanical limbs. Oh how much I just wanted to kiss his big warm muzzle right now… but there was something I had to know first.

“How are you okay?” I muttered softly. “I… I thought I’d lost you.”

“It was a calculated risk, and incredibly demeaning for a snow dog, but… it did pay off to roll over and play dead for once.” Pulling his blood soaked paw upto his face, he frowned for a moment. He studied the bits of Mr. Wizard’s rotten skin and bone that caked it. With a shake of his head, he lowered his paw again and refocused himself on the world again. “Now, where’s…”

He paused as the both of us looked over to where Hispano had been on the floor, only to instead watch as she limped her way around the back of the couch where Cora was.

“H-hey!” Hispano called out. “Hey!” She popped her head over the back of the overturned couch with a wide smile across her beak. “Dad’s still alive! But he needs help right now!”

“On it!” Buck gasped as his fur nearly stood on end.

With a hiss from his heavy mechanical legs, he sprung up and effortlessly lept all the way across the room. His landing again cracked the stone floor under him, and I could feel the impact from where I sat. But what I enjoyed more than anything, was hearing the pained grunt from Cora.

In fact, a bubbling feeling gurgled up from the deep pit in my gut. It pushed through my chest, forcing itself past the pain in my ribs, collar, and my wings. With as much ease as Buck had with leaping, the feeling pushed up through my throat and came out of my muzzle as a soft giggle. Laying back on the floor, I felt another laugh slip through my muzzle as I let myself soak in just what had happened.

While we’d lost Ping, we’d come out on top better than I’d expected. For that I was at least thankful. Not to mention, while I definitely owed a lot to Happy, Hispano, and Buck for seeing this through, the one thing I could be thankful as fuck for not showing it’s ugly face during all this, was my curse.

My laughter drained away as that thought stuck with me though. While I’d gotten lucky with that today, it wasn’t going away. I still hadn’t found my home yet, and while I still had no fucking clue what that even meant, I just had to pray to Celestia that my luck held out. At least, until after I killed Solomon.

Looking back over to the others, I watched as Buck helped Cora get back onto his paws. The gruff griffon only had a moment to steady himself before Hispano nearly bowled him back onto the floor. While the two hugged, Buck turned his gaze back over toward me, offering a guilty but genuinely happy smile to me. With calm and collected steps, he made his way over and gingerly scooped me up against his fuzzy chest.

“I’m so proud of you, Buck.” I did my best to speak through his radiantly warm fur. “Without you, we…” He brought his other paw up and pressed a digit against my muzzle to silence me.

“I think I just needed to realize that I was putting myself above you.” Buck’s reserved tone, even with the bits of static that came through it, sounded more like the Buck I loved than it had all day. “That’s what I did with Saxon, and it only drove us apart.” Looking down at the floor, he gave me a sigh before looking over his mechanical paw. “And while I want to hide from what scares me, you’re right. I can’t be that dog anymore. You’ve opened my eyes to so much, Night. And while not all of it’s been good, there’s one thing I know above all else.” Leaning down closer to me, he lowered his voice to a whisper as his cheeks flushed bright red. “You’re a guy worth fighting for. No matter what the cost.”

Leaning up in his grasp, I plunged my muzzle against his and melted into a kiss. Fireworks went off in my mind, and I could see stars as I moaned out into his muzzle. With a relaxed flop, I slumped in his arms. Goddesses it was good to be back with him again…

“Let’s blow this mad science fair already.” Hispano grunted as she helped Cora limp over to us. “We can rest for a moment when we’re all back on that fancy ship you stole.”

Oh, you have no idea how good that sounds to me right now. And to think, in a few minutes, Buck, Hispano, and I could be all patched up and warmly napping on a bunk inside the Arcturus. Celestia, we can’t leave here for that heaven soon enough…

So why does it feel like I’m forgetting something?

“A wise plan.” Buck offered with a chuckle before turning back towards the Remora. “I’ve already had the Architect notify the other groups that Mr. Wizard has been dealt with. The Road Crew are on their way right now, and they’ll coordinate with the Celestia’s Angels to figure out how to deal with the Mirage ponies in the stable.” Parting his metal muzzle into yet another smile, Buck’s words hit me unexpectedly. “I’ve already had Eliza set course back for the Factory, so once we’re all onboard, we’ll be out of this warzone soon enough.”

With the mention of that, I felt the mane on the back of my neck stand up a bit. As Buck brought the two of us to the edge of the shattered windows, I blinked a few times and looked over to an equally caught off guard Hispano. The both of us cringed, making Buck stop for a moment.

“Yeah, we can’t leave just yet.” I offered up to Buck through a forced laugh. “I knew we were forgetting somepony…”

I shuddered as the numbing tingle of my special ‘medication’ sent more pins and needles up my hooves as I walked. Buck was busy treating Happy, Hispano, and Cora, and I couldn’t really complain that for once I got out of a fight with the least amount of health problems. Still, while I wanted nothing more than to just collapse onto a bunk for the rest of my natural life, my curiosity had gotten the better of me.

Stepping into the command center, I was met with what seemed to be an empty room outside of Eliza’s smiling face on a few of the terminal screens.

“Hey there, Captain. It’s good to have you back on board.” Her perky attitude from earlier had drained away, leaving her normal monotone but somewhat upbeat voice to greet me. “What can I do to help you out this morning?”

“How’s the rest of the fighting going?” I asked as I walked over to the main screen she was on.

“Sporadic pockets of fighting are all that remains.” She replied quickly as her face flashed and disappeared off the screen. What replaced it were several different views of the city down below. Fires still raged around the park at the base of the thermal updraft tower, and smoke trailed off from various different blocks in the city. “The CCPD are helping to restore law and order within most of the city limits, but have vowed loyalty to the Road Crew. The Celestia’s Angels fighters are focusing on the rescued slaves in the work quarters, and have radioed for any other angels sympathisers to send aid to those who need it in the city. Also, the Road Crew have already gotten to work clearing the debris from the fights that are over. Not only that, but they are currently plotting out a way to clear the toxins from the subway tunnels so the city can access the food down there before it rots.”

“That’s good. It’s a start at least.” I nodded to myself, pausing as the screen flashed over to the train maintenance warehouses. They looked like they’d gotten pretty torn up in the fighting. Smoke poured out of the far end of the main building, and it looked like the shed that Tall Tale’s motorwagon had been in had entirely collapsed. Which made me think... “Actually, I was wondering if you could check in on somepony for me. A mirage pony…”

“Is… his name Pinstripe?” Eliza’s voice came over the speakers with a bit of hesitation to it that definitely didn’t do my stomach any favors.

“Yeah.” I nodded, more than a bit confused. “How did…”

“The Architect noted that he helped you out before.” Eliza answered and cut me off. “He… I… Tall Tale...” She paused, and in her hesitation, deep down I knew where this was going. “Maybe it would just be easier for you to see.”

Again, the screen flickered to a different image. It was still of the main building at the train maintenance area, but it must have been before the fight, because there were still slaves everywhere, and the building wasn’t on fire. But as the image sat on the screen, there was something out of place just below the large open main doors. A pony was just… hovering there.

Just as I was trying to focus on it, the image moved. The drone this video must have been shot on focused in on the out of place figure. The image resolved, showing that the hovering pony was definitely Pinstripe, but… what was holding him up was the line of cable strung around his neck.

“Celestia, damnit.” I kicked at the terminal with my forehoof, denting the metal as Eliza replaced the image with the sad looking face of her cartoon mare. “We were too late.”

The kick didn’t really hurt per se, but it did send a jolt that ran up my leg and into what felt like the base of my neck. Almost immediately, my head began to throb. Fucking fantastic.

“That image was from the day after you and Happy boarded the Ouroboros.” She gave out her best monotone version of a sad sigh. “You would not have realistically been able to save him. Still, I’m sorry that you couldn’t help him.”

“Me too.” With a grunt I spun myself around and slumped back against the cold metal of the terminals. Seriously, we promised to come help free him. And what did he get in return for his help? Fucking dead, that’s what. “I know that we can’t save everypony. But… why can’t it be the good ones?”

“Well, there are thousands of ponies you helped today.” Eliza’s voice perked up, and I watched as one of the screens across the command center flickered to her smiling face again. “Surely there are plenty who are good at heart amongst them. You should take solace in the knowledge that they now have a chance to do better for the wastelands than their former owner.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” I nodded and chuffed at the floor. When I did, another, smaller jolt went up and made the pounding headache I’d gotten worse. “Still, I wish that ponies like Pinstripe and Ping were still here to enjoy that chance.” Putting my head back, the cool metal did a little bit to calm the growing headache.

“Oh, I am not dead.” Ping’s voice came through the speakers, perking my ears and sending a shiver down my spine. No way…

“Ping?” I gasped and pushed myself up to my hooves. “You’re alive? How!?”

“Well, do you remember when I spoke about how Scar does not get to enjoy the perks of an all digital existence?” Ping’s exuberance was coming through so clear that I could almost hear the beaming grin across his muzzle right now. “Well, the Architect knew the risk in allowing my body to be bait in the operation. So he created a backup of my personality! And while I may not quite be privy to the events I experienced with you that have transpired in the last twenty four hours, I am indeed still alive.”

“Oh goddesses, you have no idea how thankful I am to hear that.” Letting a light laugh escape my muzzle, now I felt kind of stupid feeling so eager to throw that grenade away when he gave it to me. And a bit dizzy… stupid fucking headache.

“I must however ask, you did use the spark-pulse grenade as I no doubt asked for when you found my body again, correct?” Ping’s voice cracked in a way that I wasn’t sure if it was just radio interference, or if he knew what I actually did with the grenade. Though, as a few moments past and I hesitated to answer him, he pretty much confirmed the latter. “Ah, I see. You refused to use it on me, did you not.”

“I couldn’t do it.” I sighed and hung my head. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t agree to a mercy killing, not when I didn’t know you could just back yourself up.”

“Well, let us keep it from being a common occurrence then, shall we?” He gave a light laugh that faded to a few more moments of awkward silence. “Though, I must ask, what did happen to the… other me?”

“Well, Mr. Wizard reprogrammed you, and then you went all ‘kill all organics’ on everypony in the room.” I shrugged before giving out a shudder as I could almost feel those glowing red eyes peering at me through the ether. “Then Mr. Wizard’s hench ponies turned your body into smoldering scrap, and that was that.”

“Intriguing, and to an extent, distressing.” He muttered almost like he was deep in thought. Then again, he probably was. “I will have the Architect arrange for the safe reclamation and examination of the remains. If our programming can be so easily altered, it may be in our best interest to prepare some sort of defense against it.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” I nodded and turned around. Which, was a mistake with how my head felt, as I got really fucking dizzy all of a sudden. Stumbling backwards, I sat down hard against the terminals. “Ugh, I think what I need is a bit of a break. Or a nap.”

“Is everything alright, Captain?” Eliza’s concerned voice came through the speakers abruptly. “Your brain activity has registered twenty three spikes over the last two minutes. Highly unusual.”

“Yeah, no, I’m fine. I just…” I tried my best to shake off the dizziness that had come over me, but it only made it worse. The throbbing in my head grew more intense, and I started to feel like my skull was shrinking and squeezing my brain. “I need to…” I tried to speak and get to my hooves, but the world turned into a spinning mess as another jolt shot through my hoof and into my head.

The moment I hit the floor, my world became endless dark nothingness. Fear gripped my mind as I felt trapped in the black void. But unfortunately for me, I wasn’t alone.

“You’re right where you belong, Night.” Solomon’s voice came from far off in the void. “This is where beings like us belong.” His voice sounded like it got closer with every word, but I still couldn’t see him. “Locked away from the world where we can’t get anyone hurt.”

“No…” My own voice echoed away into the endless darkness. “That’s not true…”

“But don’t worry, Night.” Solomon’s voice whispered right into my ear, and still, I couldn’t see him. “We’ll at least have the company of each other to spend eternity here with, won’t we?”

I wanted to scream as his cackling laugh roared through my mind, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything at all other than feel more afraid than I’ve ever been in my life. All I could do was pray to Celestia that I wouldn’t be stuck wherever here was for the rest of eternity...

Author's Notes:

As always, a big thanks to TheFurryRailFan for his help in making sure the chapter is ready to go up. Always a lifesaver to have your eyes give it a good once over, man!

And of course, a big thanks to Kkat for letting us all use the FoE setting.