Chapter 8

I was sitting on the balcony of the hotel we'd found in the capitol, Bits' Bed N Breakfast, enjoying the view of the Divide in the distance. I'd had a week and a half to adjust to my new state of mind, things were better now.

I'd noticed some definite changes however. I was a bit more aggressive, in all aspects, Token passed out on our bed was proof that she enjoyed it. Gallows' urges were fully prevalent now, but I'd learned to direct them at bad ponies instead of my friends.

New Trottingham wasn't the prettiest city, built like a fortress, self sustaining like 80, with hundreds of greenhouses and animal farms. It had an appearance similar to Tragedy, but much larger, and with hundreds of soldiers patrolling it.

The door to the balcony opened behind me, Shaky peeked her head out. I smiled and nodded her over.

She greeted me with a hug and sat down next to me, then let out a sigh.

"What's wrong poppet?"

"I'm confused." she muttered.

"About what?"

She fidgeted her hooves and blushed, "Stuff..."

I smiled slightly, "Boy stuff?"

"No." she murmured

I cocked an eyebrow, "Girl stuff?"

Her face went bright red, but she nodded, "You know how I s-said I liked Vespers?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, now I think, I think I like, d-dammit."

"Hex?" I offered. I didn't think her face could turn that shade.

"Yeah." she squeaked out.

I nodded, staring back out at the sprawling canyon in the distance, "That makes sense, you two spend a lot of time together, and you've been through some similar shit."

"Yeah, b-but I thought I liked, you know, colts, and Hex isn't a c-colt..."

"Who says you can't like both?"

"I dunno..." she muttered, fidgeting again.

"Nopony, that's who."

"I guess..."

I sighed and rested a hoof on her shoulder, "Sweetie, Token and I are happy together, really happy-"

"You and BB too." she said.

"Er, yes, her too I suppo-"

"And Salt that one time."

"Well yes but-"

"And that hooker you and Token b-brought home a c-c-couple days ago. Cinnamon or someth-"

I put a hoof over her mouth, "Shoosh," I scolded, "trying to give good advice here. The point is, do what makes you happy, and be with whoever makes you happy. It doesn't matter if they're a mare or a stallion."

She was silent, pondering, "So... sh-should I t-talk to her about it?"

"Do you want to?"

She shrugged, "Kinda, yeah."

"Then why not?"

She fidgeted more, biting her bottom lip, "Maybe, maybe I could t-tell her on Hearths Warming? It's tomorrow and I've b-been making her some b-barding as a present."

"Sounds like plan." I said with a smile.

The door opened again, then shut, the fact I couldn't hear Hex's hoofsteps was still weirding me out. She sat down next to Shaky and gave her neck a friendly nuzzle. Shaky coughed nervously and blushed, Hex gave her a quizzical look.

I chuckled softly and tousled Shaky's mane, then got up and trotted inside.

I prowled over to the bed Token slept on and clambered up silently. I looked the sleeping blue mare over, grinning maliciously as I thought of ways to make this morning an interesting one. I decided to keep it simple, pulling her close and softly biting up the nape of her neck.

"Mmm," she mumbled quietly, smiling sleepily, backing up closer to me, "good morning to you too."

"Enjoy last night's festivities?"

She chuckled softly, "Oh yes. You know it's Hearths Warming tomorrow, anything in mind for a gift?"

I growled softly into her ear and slid a hoof down her frame, "I have everything I need right here."

"Mmm," she said, biting her lip, "that's great and all, but let's try and think of something you want."

I chuckled and pressed myself against her, "Something comes to mind..."

"Oh be a bit more inventive, maybe we could have BB join in our shenanigans? Or we could bust out the hoofcuffs again."

"Or both." I whispered before licking her ear.

"Hmm, there's a thought... I hope your going somewhere with all this morning flirtation by the way, otherwise I'm going to be thoroughly disappointed."

I sighed, "I'd love to, but the girls are just outside. How does an early morning massage sound as a replacement?"

"Ooh, that sounds lovely."

I rolled her onto her tummy and started working my forehooves in small circles on her back, "Then I could pop downstairs and get some breakfast, we could eat in bed."

"You're spoiling me today babe."

"You put up with me, you deserve to be spoiled every now and again."

"So, plan for the day?"

"Breakfast in bed."

"Check."

"Lunch and a cup of tea."

"Check. I love that they actually have tea, don’t you?"

"Yes, it’s splendid. Head down to the bounty office after lunch and sign up for that expedition."

"Check."

"Come back up to the room, eat some dinner, do whatever and then sleep."

"Love it. Best plan ever. Quick question though."

"Shoot."

"Who's waking up the big guy and thunder slut?"

I sighed, "I suppose I'll do it."

"You really are spoiling me today."

I hugged around her neck and planted a kiss behind her ear.

"I'm going to go snag breakfast, anything you want in particular?"

"Bacon, scrambled eggs, some sausage, some carrots and a cup of coffee please."

"It shall be done my love." I said, bowing dramatically before I left the room.

The hotel was nice, 4 star rating, whatever the hell that means. They kept it well maintained, and it had plumbing, which was fantastic. The farms and greenhouses within the city walls brought in a lot of food, both meat and produce.

Stripe's room was next to ours, I didn't bother knocking, inside was Stripe sleeping next to BB.

I walked over and poked him, "Stripe." I said quietly.

He stirred and pressed a hoof to his mouth, "Don't wake Sparky." He nodded off again, snoring and somehow managing to look cute.

"Time to wake up sleepy head." I whispered as I ran I hoof through his mane.

"Five more minutes." he grumbled.

"Nuh-uh, up now, go get some breakfast and rehydrate." I wiped my hoof on the bed sheets. "Take a shower too, you're kinda sticky."

"Fine." he groaned. He nipped Blood Bolt's ear, she stirred and looked at him tiredly.

"Go warm the shower up baby, I'll go snag us breakfast."

She nodded tiredly and kissed his nose before clambering off bed and shambling to the bathroom. Stripe grunted as he stood and hopped off the bed.

He rolled his head left to right, cracking his neck, then shook himself and smiled at me tiredly, "How was your night boss?"

"Good, c'mon, let's go get some eats."

We exited the room and strolled to the elevator, an old world one that operated properly.

"You and BB an item?" I asked.

He chuckled and shook his head, "Nah, just had some fun last night. Where's Blue?"

"Up in the room still, treating her to breakfast in bed this morning."

"That's sweet, the girls?"

"Hanging out on the balcony, Hex is probably trying to figure out why Shaky's acting awkward."

He cocked an eyebrow, "An' why's she actin' awkward?"

I cocked an eyebrow back at him.

"Oh, that's why." He chuckled, "Kinda cute, her havin' a little crush an’ shit."

"You know, we sound a bit like parents having this conversation."

He shrugged, I grinned and shoved him with my shoulder.

***

I set our breakfast trays next to Token on the bed.

"Your breakfast my dear."

She smiled and bit into a slice of bacon, "Much obliged babe."

I winked and trotted out to the balcony with two trays for the girls. Shaky was lying on the ground with her face covered, turning ridiculous shades of red. Hex was smiling down at her, occasionally nudging her shoulder with a hoof.

I chuckled and set their breakfast in front of them, "What's up with her?"

"I dunno," Hex replied quietly, "it's cute though."

Shaky cringed and buried her face further in her forelegs. Hex snickered.

"B-bandage!" Shaky yelled, though it was muffled, "M-m-make her stop, she's embarrassing me!"

"Hmm," I said, smiling mischievously, "I don't see what you have to be embarrassed about. Do you Hex?"

"Alls I did was say she looked kinda cute when she blushed," Hex said quietly as she nibbled on a carrot, "honest."

I chuckled again and nuzzled behind Shaky's ear, "Come on poppet, we're just teasing. Now eat your breakfast."

She huffed and bit into her eggs, still blushing furiously. Hex grinned and nudged her playfully.

I rolled my eyes and went back inside, Token was exaggerating her enjoyment of her sausage for my amusement.

***

Tea time, a welcome reminder of stable life. We were sitting on the balcony with the girls.

"So why are we drinking t-tea?" Shaky asked.

"Because," Token said, matter of factly, "we're civilized Trottingham ponies, and civilized Trottingham ponies make time for tea."

"You kill ponies for money," Hex pointed out, "that doesn't seem very civilized."

Token was thinking of something to say something but came up blank, so stuck her tongue out instead.

"Yuck," Shaky said after a sip, "I need some sugar."

"Okay." Hex said, then threw her forelegs and Shaky's neck, nuzzling her cheek. Shaky instantly turned red and started mumbling.

"W-why are you h-h-hugging m-me?"

"You asked for sugar."

"I think she meant cubed sugar dear." I said.

"Oh, that makes more sense than asking for a hug while we're having tea." The gaunt filly smirked slightly, "Hey Shaky, you're cute when you blush."

Shaky groaned in frustration, Hex laughed quietly and continued to hug her.

"P-please stop hugging m-me."

"Stop being adorable and I will."

"Mom!"

I chuckled, "I think that's a fair offer, don't you Token?"

Token nodded and gulped down her tea, "Oh yes, completely fair."

"I hate you g-guys!" Shaky yelled.

I winked at Token, we both got up and joined in the hug.

"D-d-dammit! G-get the hell off me!"

"I told you," Hex said, "stop being adorable and I'll stop. Unfortunately that's not possible, so I guess I'm not gonna stop."

"And I love you too much to stop hugging you." I said.

"I just like hugs." Token said brightly.

Shaky pouted in defeat, "I hate you all s-so m-m-much."

***

We strolled through the bustling New Trottingham streets, navigating our way past hundreds of ponies and carts. I felt oddly claustrophobic around this many ponies, Stable 80 had a huge population, 4,500 or so, but generally speaking we all stuck to our assigned decks, which were huge enough to give plenty of wiggle room.

The bounty office wasn't so crowded, thankfully, and we signed up for that expedition into the Divide with no issue. We did have to invest however, 2 grand for everyone we brought along, 12 g's may have been steep, but we still had over 40,000 caps in the bank, and the reward for riding out the 4 month trip with the expedition was 10,000 caps a head. So, 12,000 now for 60,000 later was an excellent deal, not to mention all the sweet loot Stripe assured us would be waiting.

I felt like a high roller here in the Union, 40,000 caps to my name, staying in a swanky hotel. Then Stripe reminded me we were dividing that amongst 4 adults, roughly 10g's a piece, still good, right? Then we splurged...

Stripe bought a new suit of elite riot armor, setting him back 8,000 caps, though that was a useful purchase that would probably save our asses. BB purchased two very expensive looking magical energy rifles for her armor, setting her back 10,000 caps and Stripe's last 2,000 that she needed to borrow. Token bought an incredibly gorgeous and ornately designed .357 revolver she had dubbed Lucky, 3,000 caps, an old zebra assault rifle that was guaranteed not to jam for 4,000, and borrowed 4 grand from me to buy my 'presents'. I was actually hoping she bought some sort of 7,000 cap sexual device, but she emerged from the shop with a small gun case.

I was planning to spend my money on useful things like medical supplies and food and ammo, but Stripe assured me that the Divide had a plethora of all that. So instead I gave a few grand to Stripe so he could upgrade his battle saddle with an auto loader and a place for his rocket launcher. Bought some knee high red and black striped leg warming thingies called 'socks' for myself, because for some odd reason they were incredibly sexy. That left about 3,000 caps.

We were back to being relatively poor in less than 3 hours, and I was fine with it, gave us an excuse to keep working, which in turn gave us an excuse to keep travelling.

***

I was out on the balcony again after dinner, Hex, or at least I assumed it was Hex considering I didn't hear hoofsteps, opened the door and approached me. She sat down next to me with a soft grunt and followed my gaze out in the distance.

"Shaky has a crush on me huh?" she asked quietly.

"What makes you say that?"

She chuckled softly and adopted that sad smile once again, "She gets all blushy and flustered when I'm around, and super embarrassed when I say she's cute..."

"Well, it's not for me to tell is it?"

She shrugged, I could see every one of her bones move when she did it. I'd stopped being worried about malnutrition a few days ago, she ate her meals, had plenty of energy, and aside from a few minor problems was a completely healthy filly, Hex was just naturally gaunt.

"So, do you like her?"

The filly smiled, blushed, and fidgeted her hooves, looking oddly sheepish considering her usually gloomy demeanor, "Maybe... I dunno, Shaky's cool, and she's nice, and, um, um-"

"Cute?" I offered

She blushed more and ducked her head to hide behind her mane, "Yeah, but I can't tell for sure if she likes me back, and I don't wanna ask 'cause that'd be super awkward if she doesn't."

How to handle this... I could tell her, but then I'd miss the raw explosion of adorable brought about by Shaky nervously telling her herself. Reassurance was probably my best bet, or I could just keep my mouth shut...

"Just hold out a couple days," I said finally, "Shaky's pretty straightforward, if she likes you she'll tell you."

"I guess... Thanks Bandage."

"No problem hun."

She smiled again and stood with a soft groan, then limped back into the hotel. I'd had a doctor check out her hip, it wasn't anything from rape, just naturally displaced and tender for whatever reason.

I sighed and followed her inside, clambering onto the bed next to Token. She smiled, I held her face and rested my forehead on hers, just looking into her eyes.

"Planning any funny business?" she asked with a smirk.

"No, enjoying the view."

"You're so sweet Bandage."

I nuzzled her nose and smiled, "Only to you. Anything you want to do tonight?"

"Hmm, you, me, a warm shower and the room to ourselves. No sex or anything, let's just, you know, hang out."

"You got it... You know, I might’ve thought up an idea for the holiday."

"Oh? What would that be?"

"Let me take you on a date."

She blinked, "A date?"

"Yeah, you know, I take you out to dinner, maybe we dance a little, enjoy some wine, come back up to the room-"

"Make love?" she asked softly with a smile.

"Yeah, none of the kinky stuff, just, you know,” I coughed awkwardly, “enjoy each other's bodies, and stuff..."

She smirked, "And stuff?"

"Shut up!" I whined, "I've never asked anypony out before, it's a bit awkward."

"Well, I think that sounds like a lovely way to spend Hearths Warming, I guess you can pick me up tomorrow night at eight or something?"

I smiled and kissed her softly, then strolled into the bathroom to warm up the shower. She followed me, affectionately brushing against my side and nibbling on my ear.

"I thought you said no funny business?"

"A bit of contact and the occasional nibble doesn’t always signal sex Bandage."

“Nine times out of ten that statement is false.”

We showered, it was pleasant, and ‘funny business’ was kept to a minimum. Afterwards we were just lounging around the room, enjoying each other's company, occasionally kissing or hugging. It made me feel good, normal, like I wasn’t some gun for hire that fought raiders for money and fun, trapped outside of my home and having my face slowly but surely torn to pieces. We decided to spar, actually spar, not any prelude to sex. I won, like always, but Token was getting better, the couple months of combat experience serving her well.

Still, it ended with me on top, pinning her to the floor by her chest.

“It’s kind of nice wrestling with you and not some raider or a mutated bear.” I said jokingly.

“Yes, and I believe you’ve still got it. I remember when we used to do this you pinned me just as fast.”

I leaned in close and grinned, “And then you got all flustered and blushy from all those sexually repressed feelings you had for me.”

“Oh do behave.” she scolded, pushing me off her.

She climbed into bed and motioned me over, “C’mon, let’s get some sleep.”

“Nah,” I said as I trotted out the door, “I’m gonna chill on the balcony for a while, I’ll be in in a couple hours.”

She shrugged and flopped back onto her pillow.

New Trottingham was completely different at night, mostly because you could see the massive watchtowers in the distance quite clearly, and spotlights had the artillery points well lit. The city wasn’t just the capitol, it was the last line of defense against the Confederation, or the Trinity, or whatever the fuck they were calling themselves.

There wasn’t much nightlife either, curfew laws were in action and enforced. Occasionally I’d spot a light or two from the larger buildings, and if I peered close enough I could make out ponies partying their asses off inside, but other than that things were quiet.

A siren droned through the city, the spotlights on the watchtowers swung around and focused on something far outshining the beams of light, it was a pony, a pegasus with... no, couldn’t be. I rushed inside Token was looking up from her pillow with a worried expression.

“What’s going on?”

“No fucking clue,” I said as I frantically put on my armor and slung Victory over my back, “I think I’m seeing things.”

“Why?” she asked, getting out of bed and gearing up, “What’d you see?”

“What’s that word they had for what Celestia and Luna were? You know, winged unicorns?”

“Alicorns?”

“Yeah, I think there might be one walking down the Span.”

***

Token, Stripe, BB and I galloped down the street, following the soldiers that were spilling out of their respective barracks and moving towards the watch towers.

“You sure it was an Alicorn?” Blood Bolt shouted over the siren.

“No clue!” I called back, “But if they’ve got this many troops moving to stop one pony, it’d have to be something pretty fucking threatening!”

We hit a wall of troops trying to clamber up into position, there were too many soldiers stationed here to squeeze through the narrow gate.

“BB!” I called, “Gimme a boost!”

The pegasus nodded and scooped me up in her hooves, flying us over the crowd and past the gate. She stopped dead when we saw her. Moving up the path towards the gate in an almost elegant fashion was a dark red Alicorn, covered in ornate metal body armor that looked too well crafted to be thrown together in the wastes. She had two large swords hanging off her sides, and blade-like armor strapped to her wings, all of it just as well crafted as the body armor.

BB set us down at the front near a few bewildered soldiers, one looked like he was about to start shooting but I pushed his gun down and shook my head. The mare approached us calmly and halted only a few metres away.

She removed her helmet, unleashing a long red mane streaked with shades of blue red, her vibrant orange eyes bore a piercing look, similar to Stripe’s when he was pissed. Her magnificent appearance was matched with a domineering stature, from here I could guess she was taller than Stripe, maybe even taller than Birch. She glanced us over with a look crossed between apathy and subtle amusement.

“Lower your weapons foals!” she called out, “I come on behalf of the Trinity, representing my royal sisters!”

“BB?” I whispered.

“No fuckin’ idea,” she replied, “Ah’ve seen the reports of the Alicorns runnin’ round Fillydelphia, but ain’t none of ‘em been reported to look like this.”

The Alicorn picked me out of the crowd and trotted up to me, I cringed as she approached, her height was tremendous, at least twice Stripe’s size.

“You,” she said in a regal yet surprisingly soft voice, “mercenary, you hold more worth than any of these whimpering foals, you may want to have them stand down, lest my blades spill their blood over these puny city walls.”

I gulped and nodded, “Yes ma’am.” I squeaked out.

“Alright you lot!” I shouted out, “Stand down before the freakin’ huge super mare turns us all into minced meat!”

The sound of hundreds of troopers simultaneously turning on their weapons safeties echoed through the silent passage. The Alicorn smirked and extended an armored hoof, which I shook gingerly.

“Princess Gehenna,” she said proudly, “High General of the Trinity.”

“Bandage,” I choked out nervously, “pleasure to meet you ma’am.”

“Likewise, I would very much appreciate it if you could convince one of these dribbling foals to escort me to their leader.”

“Er, sure,” I said rather awkwardly, I glanced around behind me and called out, “anybody game to escort Gehenna-”

“Princess Gehenna.” she corrected.

“Sorry ma’am,” I muttered, why the fuck was I already calling her ma’am? Oh yeah, freakin’ huge super mare, “Princess Gehenna to whoever you take your orders from?”

The crowd shoved a teenage mare who’s helmet barely fit her to the front, she raised a hoof and squeaked sheepishly when Gehenna approached her.

“Many thanks young one,” Gehenna said kindly, “please, lead on.”

The trooper gulped and nodded, standing up and leading Gehenna through a quickly dispersing mob.

“Bandage,” Gehenna called behind her, “follow please.”

I looked to Blood Bolt, who simply shrugged, then sighed and followed.

I nodded for Stripe and Token to accompany me, the two shared a confused glance but stepped in line next to me nonetheless.

“Why in the hell are we followin’ her boss?” Stripe whispered.

“Do you want her to kill us all?!” I whispered back.

He recoiled slightly and blinked, “Not particularly no.”

“Then shut the fuck up and follow!”

We were lead into the district military office, where Gehenna politely dismissed the young trooper, who squeaked a response and scurried out of the building. Several troopers crowded into the room, Gehenna calmly asked to speak with the commanding officer. Several minutes later a greyish brown mare with a wispy white mane stepped in, wearing a red beret with a star on the brim, medals adorning her uniform.

The middle-aged mare cleared her throat, “Might I ask what this intrusion is about?”

“Yes,” Gehenna replied, “my apologies for coming unannounced, Umbra has our messengers tied up on the front in Shetland. I am Princess Gehenna, High General of the Trinity, I have come on behalf of my sisters to further negotiate the ceasefire.”

The older mare cocked an eyebrow but nodded, “General Shady Sands, I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you but I was woken up by a rather loud alarm and few dozen belligerent troopers because of you. Follow me up to my office if you would be so kind.”

Gehenna nodded and followed Shady Sands up a stairwell on the far end of the room, motioning for me to tag along. Shady Sands’ office was rather dull, a desk, a few chairs, a terminal, the only decoration was a painting of the Union’s Prime Minister hanging on the wall behind her. She sat down at her desk and grumbled something before looking up at all of us.

“I’d offer you a seat, but I’m afraid none of these chairs are suited to your size.”

“I am comfortable standing.” Gehenna replied.

“Good, mind if I ask why you’ve got a bunch of mercs following you around?”

“Because,” Gehenna said, levitating out a small sack of caps and passing it back to me, “they have just been employed as my guard for the duration of my time here.”

I weighed the sack with my forehoof and listened to the caps jangle inside, “Three thousand caps,” I muttered, “yeah, that should do.”

The Alicorn glanced back at me with a smirk before continuing her talk with Shady Sands. They didn’t talk for long, the negotiations were simple and cordial, both agreed to each other’s terms and Gehenna bid the General goodbye before leading us out of the building.

“My thanks for your prompt response to my offer.” Gehenna said as we stepped out into the street.

I shrugged, “I’m not one to turn down good caps for easy work. Mind if I ask why you needed protection in the first place?”

She snorted, “Truthfully protection was a ruse, if I'd wanted that I'd have brought my own guard contingent."

"Well... what'd you need?"

"I need you to kill someone."

"Uh-"

"That general, there's another twelve thousand caps in it for you if you take the work."

"Don't you have people to do that? Royal assassins and such?"

"Oh yes," she chuckled, "one, but discretion isn't one of his many strengths, and I would like to avoid this being traced back to the Trinity."

I paused, pondering, and looked back at my friends, "Guys?"

Stripe spoke up, "Fifteen grand to put a bullet in some old bitch's head? Sounds like a good deal."

"Ah'm in agreement with big'un." BB said.

Token was glancing away, thinking.

I touched her shoulder, "Love?"

She sighed, "We need the money, I suppose..."

"That's the spirit!" Stripe said brightly, smacking her on the shoulder.

She looked at me but glanced away again when our eyes met, "Really, it's fine, go ahead."

Her voice was carrying a subtle tone of disappointment, it broke me. I bit my lip, looking between my mare and the Alicorn, deciding. It was a simple job, I didn't owe any allegiance to the Union, I didn't know Shady Sands, and the money was good... but, I couldn't bare Token being disappointed in me.

I sighed and passed the 3,000 caps to Gehenna, "Find someone else, not my kind of work."

"I understand," Gehenna said, "I trust you'll keep this dealing between us?" her voice was also carrying subtle disappointment, but I couldn't give a fuck what she thought of me, or what anypony else thought, Token's opinion was the only one that mattered.

"Of course, mum's the word."

"Excellent, well, enjoy your evening I suppose."

"Yeah..."

The hulking mare smirked slightly and strolled back to the gate.

I smiled at Token, though I was still conflicted on the monetary loss. Token brushed against my neck and smiled approvingly, all those feelings washed away.

Stripe snorted, "Well, that was anticlimactic as fuck, I'ma go back t' bed."

***

I stayed up all night, the assassination business had me bothered. The morning came, Token dragged me to bed and forced me to sleep.

I woke up at noon, Shaky was curled up in my forelegs, snoring softly, sirens had probably kept her awake. I nudged her and she stirred.

"Wake up poppet, it's noon."

"Don't wanna." she muttered tiredly, pressing her face to my neck.

"I could get Hex in here to wake you up," I teased, "she'd probably comment on how cute you look when you're sleepy."

She looked up at me and pouted, her golden eyes bloodshot, "P-please just let m-me sleep," she pleaded, "I'm so t-tired."

I nodded and let her rest her head on my chest, then held her tight, massaging her back with a forehoof.

"I wasn't having the t-terrible dreams anymore," she whispered, "then I dreamt everypony died last night and couldn't get b-back to sleep."

"Going into the Divide freaking you out?"

"Yeah, I'm g-going with you though, nothing's changing that."

"Oh I know," I said with a joking smile, "I already paid for your spot on the expedition. Plus I don't trust you here alone with Hex, who knows what kind of naughty stuff you'd get up to."

She sighed with frustration, "That's gross, and p-please don't m-make my crush on a filly weirder than it already is."

I chuckled and tousled her mane, "Sorry kid."

"It's fine," she yawned, "just let me sleep d-dammit."

I nodded and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, she smiled and nestled against my chest before dozing off.

I just laid there for awhile, listening to Shaky's soft breathing, feeling her chest expand ever so slightly, simply enjoyed the presence of my 'child'. Finally I forced myself to gently levitate her off of me and rest her on a pillow.

I got up and walked out onto the balcony, giving the sleeping grey filly one last glance before shutting the door.

Token was sitting across from Hex, a chess board on the ground between them, by the looks of it, Hex was winning by a long shot. Stripe was watching their match intently, once again wearing those ridiculous reading glasses. BB was lazily circling the balcony, looking bored out of her skull.

"You going Token?" Hex asked quietly, "You only have five pieces left, shouldn't be difficult."

Token bit her lip, carefully surveying the board, "Umm..."

She picked up her rook levitated the piece into place, the filly brushed her mane out of her eyes to examine the board and smirked, moving her own rook.

"Checkmate."

Token cocked an eyebrow and looked over the pieces before smacking a hoof on the board in frustration, "Fuck! That's the sixth time this morning!"

Stripe shooed her away and sat down in her place while Hex reset the board with her magic.

"You play chess?" I asked him as I rubbed Token's back to calm her down.

He carefully nudged a pawn forward two spaces with a hoof and adjusted his glasses, "Mhmm, game of champions... Well, not in Blue's case."

"She's cheating somehow!" Token objected.

Stripe shook his head, "Nah, she's playin' things legit, just a lot better than you, six steps ahead actually." He pointed a hoof at a square, "Move my King's Knight here please." The filly nodded and moved it to the square.

We all watched the game silently for 30 minutes or so before they had somehow completely wiped out all of each other's pieces but the kings.

"Stalemate," the zony muttered, "damn."

"Good game though." Hex said quietly, extending a hoof.

Stripe nodded and bumped her hoof softly, but continued looking over the board, "You're pretty good at this kid, who taught ya?"

"My mom, she taught me lots of stuff, like lockpicking and pick pocketing and knives, how to walk really quiet too. She had me play games that would make me think ahead."

Stripe blinked, "Kid, I think yer momma was a thief."

She nodded and wrapped all the pieces in the soft grey glow of her magic, "For a long time before I was born. Let's play another match."

Stripe nodded, Token groaned and pushed me inside. "Oh!" she exclaimed, fishing the gun case she'd bought out from under the bed, "Almost forgot your Hearths Warming presents."

I smiled and opened the case, and gasped as I levitated out the twin .45 automatic pistols. They were brand new and beautifully crafted, one was all ebony, with ornate white vines covering the surface, Tolerance was etched into the handle in gorgeous white cursive. Its twin was the opposite, all ivory, mostly plain, with LOVE etched on the handle in plain black lettering.

"Babe," I said quietly, "I don't know what to say."

"Hmmm, thank you might be a good start."

I set the pistols back in their case gently and pulled Token in for a kiss. She smiled, pushing my goggles to my forehead and staring into my eyes before kissing me back.

"Thank you." I said as I hugged her.

"You like them?"

I gave her a hard squeeze with my forelegs, "I love them."

"So... what'd you get me?"

I smiled coyly and pushed away with mock bashfulness, "Something."

She switched our usual role and latched onto me with some aggression, smiling mischievously, "Is it a special sort of something?"

I licked her nose, draping my hooves around her neck gently and smiling coyly again, "Maybe... guess you'll have to wait and see huh?"

She pulled me close and bit my ear softly, "You awful tease you."

***

We were able to drag Hex and Stripe away from their intense chess marathon long enough for us all to exchange gifts that evening. It was mostly junk gifts, more sentimental than anything, nobody minded, we were all broke.

Stripe and BB left the room, considering the giggling of the latter, probably to have sex. Shaky coughed nervously as she dragged out her gift for Hex, which was wrapped in a burlap sack. Hex looked at it quizzically, but smiled and opened it.

It was full body barding, all black, with a loose hood. Hex wriggled into it and smiled again as she looked herself over.

"It's cool," she said quietly, "thanks."

"N-no problem..." Shaky said, shifting and fidgeting, "hey Hex, I uh, um, I like-"

Hex leaned in and pecked her on the cheek, Shaky promptly sat down and blushed furiously.

"I know," Hex said, her own face turning bright red, "I like you too."

"Adorable." Token said quietly as we sat on the bed, watching them like our mothers would've watched an old world soap opera, minus the bath robes and the popcorn.

They fidgeted more as they talked quietly, smiling and blushing, then trotted out to the balcony. I watched as they sat outside chatting quietly, occasionally one would tentatively nudge the other, and eventually Hex rested her head on Shaky's shoulder, causing her to tense up like crazy.

I smiled to myself and nudged Token, "Think we would've been like that if our kind of relationship was allowed in 80?"

She shrugged, "Maybe, we'll never know though."

I nodded and nipped her ear, "Ready to go on our date?"

She rolled off the bed and grinned, "Absolutely."

***

I laid in bed comfortably, my face pressed into Token's mane, taking in her sweet scent. The date had been wonderful, we'd gone to a restaurant on the strip, gone back to the hotel and danced for awhile, and then made gloriously passionate love. I was in a state of bliss, curled up next to the sleeping blue mare.

I woke up the next morning to a very pleasant kiss. We shook ourselves awake, hopped in the shower, enjoying it thoroughly as it would be our last for several months, geared up and collected the gang from the balcony, who were all watching another intense game of chess between Stripe and Hex.

***

The sun hit me hard as we stepped out onto the Span, it wasn't the pleasant warmth of Oasis, but the scalding hot waves of the desert.

The wind was already tearing at us, not the flesh rending storms of the canyon below, but still rough. Stripe led us the the passage where we were to meet the rest of the expedition.

It was a motley assortment of ponies, a dozen or so led by a ghoul wrapped head to hooves in a sand colored robe, a masked Diamond Dog wearing a ragged hooded cloak, and a griffon in what looked like power armor.

"You the rest of my crew?" the rotting mare shouted as we approached.

"Yeah!" Stripe shouted over the wind, though it was somewhat muffled through his riot helmet.

"Stripe?" a disembodied voice shouted.

"Adze?" Stripe asked in response.

The griffon removed his helmet, his scarred face grinning brightly, Stripe removed his own and grinned back, the two practically leapt at each other and hugged warmly.

They pulled away and shared a friendly head butt before grinning yet again.

"Thought you was in the Blasted Lands?" the black griffon said.

"I was! Just got back a couple months ago."

"Been to Tragedy?"

"Yeah."

"How's my baby sis?"

Stripe chuckled, "A conniving bitch, slowly working her way to having half the Union's leadership by the balls."

"'Atta girl." Adze said brightly. "Say, where's that old junk suit of armor you always wore?"

Stripe huffed, "In a ditch somewhere south of Tragedy, old hunk o' shit kicked the bucket."

"That's a damn shame brother, looks like you'll have trouble keeping up with your ol' pal on this run."

Stripe scoffed, "Please, the day I lose to you is the day a ghoulified balefire dragon leaps outta the ground and lays waste to half of Trottingham."

"We'll see!" the griffon said with a mocking grin, then he glanced behind Stripe at us, "Who the fuck is this bunch?"

"My friends, good bunch, decent fighters, I'll properly introduce ya to 'em later."

"Good!" the ghoul yelled with frustration, "Let's fuckin' go already!"

The two shrugged and put their helmets back on, Stripe motioned for us to follow as the griffon took to the air.

The mare led us down a long passage, and slowly we descended into the Divide.

***

The blasted rock and buildings sprawled out in front of us, dust storms blowing in between massive crags and crumbling high rises. Military bases were scattered about the landscape, a dizzying amount considering the relatively small expanse in front of us.

We were still high up on the canyon wall too, this small stretch of the Divide would look considerably larger once things got a bit more personal.

The ghoul cleared her throat, an utterly putrid noise, and addressed us, "Alright listen up runts! We will be heading south, towards the ocean, exploring stretches of the Divide nopony's ever been before. This here? This is a piss ant portion of the road we're gonna be walkin' the next four months, so don't start bitching when a minuscule amount of shit hits the proverbial fan, cause it's just gettin' started."

She glanced us over, her glowing eyes seeming to glare, "Any questions?"

The whole party shook their heads, the mare snorted, "Good, I'm Blood Nap, welcome to Hell."

***

Rawr, the 'Hellhound' in our expedition, and I were belly crawling up a small and narrow cliff formed from a wrecked building, occasionally peeking our heads up to scout out the camp of Marked Ones below.

He latched onto the ledge and pulled himself forward, unslinging the energy rifle from his back. I crawled up next to him, drawing Victory.

The camp was small, but the payoff would be huge, I spotted at least 10 crates of ammunition, and 5 crates of food. The Marked Ones were patrolling their camp diligently, except for one who was carefully mutilating another Marked One. Apparently they were divided into indistinguishable gangs that constantly fought, but for some reason unified when living intruders entered the Divide.

Rawr nudged me and whispered, "You ready pony?"

I nodded, sighting in a skinless ghoul with an AM rifle, I glanced away from my scope when the creature turned around, staring directly at us, levitated out a flare gun, and fired it.

"Ambush!" Rawr yelled, scrambling to his feet and away from the ledge. I did the same, but as we turned around the soft ground in front of us erupted, ghouls clambering out and firing wildly with battle saddles armed with assault rifles.

Rawr slammed me to the ground, just in time for a 5.56 round to miss my head. I drew Love and Tolerance and fired round after round into one's chest, the .45 caliber rounds easily perforated his flimsy armor, but the ghoul didn't go down, barely even flinching as the pistols tore away at him.

Rawr sent one quick blast of pink magical energy at another, instantly turning it to ash, then leapt up and charged the one on the far left, decapitating it with one powerful swipe of his claws. He turned on the last, the one refusing to go down but was thankfully hitting everywhere but my face, tackling it to the ground and violently hammering its skull with his fist until it popped.

The dog approached me and yanked me to my hooves, then nodded his head back to the ledge, we crept back to our places, carefully peeking our rifles over. Chaos was unfolding below, two of our crew were dead already, swarmed by a sudden onslaught of Marked Ones attacking from crumbling rooftops.

Stripe and Adze were standing back to back, both spraying wildly with miniguns, Stripe firing rockets left and right. The rest of the group was crouched behind a fallen concrete column, doing their best to keep the ghouls on the rooftops from flanking them.

Rawr started blasting away at them, occasionally ashing one, I focused on the snipers with AM rifles that actually posed a threat to the pair of heavy gunners below. I tried keeping it simple by shooting them in the chest, but they just wouldn't go down, headshots rectified that.

Another flare went up, followed by another from the overpass above the camp. There was a deafening scraping of metal on concrete, then a massive cage was pushed over the edge. Adze grabbed hold of Stripe and quickly shot them both backwards, narrowly avoiding being crushed.

The two ran their way to the fallen column, spraying at the few remaining ghouls on the rooftops, though I couldn't tell why they were retreating.

Two Marked Ones leapt from a roof to the top of the cage and cut away the thick straps keeping the massive door shut, it opened, hitting the ground with a thud, the zony and griffon clambered on top of the column and started firing.

Ferals, skinless ferals, hundreds of them poured out of the cage in a wall of screeching death. The pair stood strong, holding them back by shooting the legs out from under them as the rest of the crew scrambled for higher ground.

Rawr and I finished off most of the Marked Ones, the rest retreating into the buildings, we tried helping out with the ferals, but there were just too many for two snipers to make much of a dent.

As the wall hit them the pair switched to close quarters combat, Stripe knocking ghouls through the air with his hooves, shattering bones and crushing skulls, Adze drew 2 hatchets and went to work splitting heads in half one at a time.

They were quickly being overwhelmed, the sheer amount of ghouls was ridiculous, and quickly growing as more and more spilled out. I heard a loud, bellowing scream, and looked up to see a streak of red lightning.

BB hit the ground, sticking the landing perfectly, shattering concrete and pulverizing any ghouls under her. I could barely make out her form, she was almost completely enveloped in a bubble of lightning. She raised her head to the sky and screamed again, the bubble turning into a massive arching blast of lightning that practically vaporized every feral around her.

Stripe and Adze barely got away, the griffon quickly grabbing onto him once again and flying them both to cover before the blast overtook the entire camp.

It finally died down, the camp was charred to nothing, and virtually no bodies had survived the explosion of heat and electricity. BB was standing in the epicenter, shaking as steam rolled off her armor, which was white hot. Electricity still arched off of her, licking at the glassy concrete.

She screamed again and collapsed as her armor mushroomed out and a long gout of blood spewed out of her, a moment later I heard the distant crack of an anti-machine rifle.

Stripe was to her almost instantly, throwing her onto his back and running to meet the rest of the group as they scrambled into a building for cover.

Rawr and I ran after them, diving behind a wall just as a .50 caliber round slammed into the ground behind us. I scrambled to my friends, Stripe and Adze were working quickly to remove BB's steaming armor.

"Stay with us Sparky." Stripe said as he removed the whimpering mare's helmet.

"Get her chestplate off." I ordered, Adze nodded and pried it off, resulting in a soft pained groan from the pegasus.

I had to force a healing potion down her throat, she was mostly unconscious. The massive bullet wound was surprisingly clean, having missed anything vital, and her armor had slowed it down enough to avoid any critical damage, but she was still in danger of bleeding out.

I forced another potion down, the bleeding faded from a torrent to a faint trickle, one more and it was done, just an ugly scar from the exit wound.

I smacked her face softly, she stirred, "You with us BB?"

"Yeah," she groaned, "what the fuck happened?"

"You took a .50 caliber anti material round to the torso."

"Dayum."

"Alright," Blood Nap interrupted, "we're two men down, shit was already rough and it's looking to get worse. Adze, Stripe, form a decent perimeter but don't expose yourself. Rawr and Bandage, go hunt down that sniper. The rest of you lot stick with me and stay frosty."

Rawr grumbled and nudged me with an elbow, motioning towards a gaping hole in the back wall. We climbed out of the building and belly crawled through a ditch to the building across the 'street'.

"This sniper could be a mile away for all we know." I said as I climbed through the barbed wire he was holding open for me.

"Yeah," the dog grunted, "Rawr figures he'd be on overpass though."

I looked up, spotting a hole in the ceiling leading to the second floor.

"Gimme a boost."

Rawr grumbled but grabbed hold of me, then pulled us both up with his free arm.

The room was empty, aside from a crate of M.R.E's. Rawr smashed his fist through one of the boarded up windows and peeked outside.

He snorted, "Dust storm movin' in, best time t’ move without gettin' shot."

"Don't those, you know, peel the flesh off bone?"

He snorted again, "Different kind of storm, you know when you see." He stooped and sat on his haunches, sighing as he rested against the wall, "Nothin' t’ do now but wait."

I rested Victory on the wall and slouched against it, letting out my own sigh. The Hellhound pulled down his cloth mask, revealing a vicious scar going up his face and ending with a dead left eye.

He grumbled again as I stared at his scar and fished a cigarette and lighter from inside his cloak, sighing as it lit and he took a drag. His good eye locked onto me and he growled, "Stop lookin' at Rawr's scar pony."

I squeaked and stared at the far wall, "So, uh, how'd you, you know, get that?"

Rawr snorted, "Other dogs didn't want Rawr around anymore, said Rawr too friendly with ponies, Rawr didn't want t’ go, dogs forced Rawr t’ go."

"So, I'm guessing one clocked you pretty good then?"

Rawr smirked, a somewhat frightening gesture, "Not before Rawr killed a few and took the alpha's rifle."

Dust began rolling through the hole in the window, Rawr sighed and crushed his cigarette, donning his mask.

"C'mon pony, Blood Nap not a zombie you want t' keep waitin'."

I nodded, wrapping my head in my shawl and following him as he demolished the wall and leapt out of the building.

The dust made it difficult to see even a few feet in front of me, I was relying on my E.F.S just to follow Rawr. The Hellhound stopped as we reached the overpass and threw me onto his shoulder before clawing his way up the large support column.

There were 6 red bars on my compass, and the dust storm was dissipating the higher we got, there'd be no cover once we got up to the road.

Rawr shrugged me off his shoulder and caught me in this left hand, then threw me up onto the road and leapt up after me. I scrambled as I landed, dodging assault rifle fire as I galloped to a battered concrete road block, diving behind it and drawing Love and Tolerance.

Rawr was right behind me, the hulking Hellhound nearly crushed me as he rolled behind cover. He growled and clutched his leg to stem the tide of blood from a bullet wound. I tried to pass him a healing potion but he pushed it aside and started blind firing over the concrete with his energy rifle.

A Marked One leapt over the wall, swinging some sort of large makeshift sword clutched in its teeth, Rawr ducked it and vaulted forward, grabbing hold of the blade and wrenching it out of the ghoul’s mouth, then swung his left arm and buried his claws in the creature’s head. The dog howled in agony as assault rifle fire peppered his back, but didn’t go down. Instead he frenzied, lifting up a massive chunk of loose asphalt and throwing it at the group of hostile ghouls.

One was crushed by the flying rubble, the rest scattered as Rawr charged them in a blind rage, he fell on one, tearing it to shreds with his powerful claws, then leapt at another trying to climb up a desiccated sky carriage, pulling it to the ground and clubbing it to death with its own assault rifle. I quickly opened fire on the exposed sniper, who was lining up a shot on the frenzied Hellhound, its head popped as one of Love’s .45 caliber rounds slammed into its skull. Rawr hounded the last, quickly catching up to it, then picked it up by the throat and clenched his hand, decapitating it.

Rawr finally stopped, slumping over and panting, occasionally whimpering. I grabbed his rifle in my magic and rushed to his side, fishing healing potions out of my bags. I dug the bullets embedded just under his thick hide out and gave Rawr the potions, the dog drank them down greedily, the wounds on his back sealing shut. He snatched his rifle and propped himself against it as he stood up, groaning softly.

“Thanks pony,” he mumbled, “let’s go back t’ zombie.”

***

BB was up and around by the time we got back, though still a bit off from a combination of blood loss and the Med-X Stripe had given her. I had to continuously scold her to stay put so she wouldn't stumble through the hole in the wall and into a ditch.

Stripe and Adze were out patrolling the camp perimeter, Blood Nap and her crew were salvaging what they could from the destruction, Rawr was up on the roof keeping watch, the girls, Token and I were downstairs keeping an eye on BB.

Hex was trying to teach Shaky how to play chess, it wasn’t going well, I’d stopped watching after the fifth checkmate, but every 10 minutes or so the filly would let out a frustrated groan or obscenity that signaled another loss. Token and I had made up a game of our own, gently pushing the still dazed BB back and forth between us while she slurred death threats and profanities.

Token gave her one good push, sending her at me with enough momentum to knock me to the floor laughing, I tried pushing her off but decided against it when I noticed the pegasus had passed out and was snoring comfortably.

“Dammit Token,” I sighed, “now she’s too cute to pick on.”

Token trotted up to us and gave the sleeping mare’s mane a tousle, “Aw, she’s out cold, looks like you’re going to be there for awhile.”

“Help me get her off would you?”

Token cocked an eyebrow and looked the two of us over, “Well, I suppose you’re both in a decent enough position, but do you really want to wake her up like that?”

I blinked, then blushed, “I didn’t mean get her off like that you perv, I mean help me lift her off.”

“Oh, sure.”

We both wrapped BB in our magic and gently lifted her, careful not to wake her up, then sat her on a nearby sleeping bag. She was sort of cute, curled up like that, kinda like Stripe, vicious killing machine when awake, adorable pony when asleep.

Blood Nap and her crew stepped in, a few were loaded up with weapons, two others were lugging several ammunition crates, she had a crate of M.R.E's dragging behind her.

"It ain't much," she said, "but it ought to hold us off for a couple weeks. How's your friend?"

I nodded towards BB's resting place in the far corner, "Out like a light, probably stay that way for a few more hours."

"That's fine I s'pose, think we're just going to camp here for the night. I need you and the mutt to alternate watch every few hours."

"Sure."

***

Night watch had been boring, nothing had made a move on the camp. Occasionally I'd hear gunshots off in the distance, but nothing ever came of it.

We headed out early the next morning, walking the trail under the overpass until we reached a point where it collapsed. A sort of tunnel had been formed from the debris, but several wrecked sky carriages and auto-carts were piled up around the entrance, and the passage we were in was too narrow to go around.

“Shit,” Blood Nap muttered, “looks like we’re goin’ back through that pass and findin’ a way around.”

“Nah,” Stripe said, walking past her and pointing a hoof at the wreckage, “see that military carriage there?”

The ghoul trotted up next to him and peered at the wreckage, “Yeah, what about it?”

“Look in the back.”

The ghoul whistled, or tried to, the lack of whole lips made it difficult. I walked up beside Stripe and looked as well. In the back was a conical hunk of metal, bullet shaped, but the tip was spherical and glassy, an unsettling green glow emanating from it.

I gulped, “Is that what I think it is?”

“Eeya.” Stripe said almost casually as he approached the balefire warhead, I followed, wincing slightly as my PipBuck started ticking from faint radiation. Stripe pulled off his helmet and donned his glasses when he reached the ancient weapon, I collapsed and covered my face with my hooves as he gave the base a solid smack.

I blinked, peering out between my armored forelegs, still alive, “The fuck?!”

Stripe snorted and yanked me to my hooves, “It’s stable, calm yer shit.” He glanced the warhead over again, adjusting his glasses before pulling open a tiny hatch on the side and worming his hooves around inside, talking absently as he worked, “Type-23 Intercontinental Balefire Missile warhead, Equestrian made, approximate yield of five hundred kilotons, we’re lucky it’s intact, these old fuckers had a tendency to leak if they got shaken up to hard...”

He fished a block of explosives out and gently rested it inside, then carefully shut the hatch and motioned for me to follow as he walked back to the group.

“Uh, Stripe?” I asked nervously as we trotted back.

“Hmm?”

“What are you-”

“Controlled detonation, Equestrian models have implosion failsafes, blows out the wards and bomb at the same time and forces the blast to stay contained, it’ll only end up blowin’ up to about the size of a balefire egg, we’re a good distance out of the blast radius, we'll be fine.”

He was about to press the button on the detonator, but stopped himself and held the small square out to Hex. She glanced at it quizzically, but Stripe nodded his approval and she tapped it tentatively.

The blast was massive, and really, really fucking loud... and that was just the det charge. The pile mushroomed out in a fiery green explosion. The shockwave knocked away loose rubble, and shook the dust from the bottom of the overpass, raining it down on us. The immense heat melted away the metal and glassed the concrete, hitting us as a slight burst of low radiation, anything not instantly pulvarized was tossed away like nothing.

We all stood there, awestruck, Stripe just chuckled and tousled Hex's mane, "Way's clear."

"Yeah..." Blood Nap muttered, "alright boys, let's move."

She and her employees walked to the now clear tunnel entrance, tentatively checking their footing as they descended down the scorched path. Rawr snorted and trudged after them. My friends and I waited up for Hex, who was still spaced out.

She looked up at Stripe with wide eyes, "Can we do another?"

Stripe laughed and followed the group, the rest of us right behind him, "Sure kid, we're bound to find a few more, may as well make some noise."

"Let's go!!" Blood Nap shouted back at us.

Stripe hesitated as we reached the tunnel, glancing nervously into the darkness, he jumped when Adze smacked him on the shoulder.

"You okay brother?" the griffon asked quietly.

The zony snapped out of it and smirked, though his eyes were still hesitant, "Yeah man, I'm good."

***

Stripe was uncharacteristically jumpy as we walked through the near pitch black tunnel, the only light was coming from large cracks and holes in the crumbling roof. He avoided every shadow, jumped with every tiny sound, and any cracks in the floor he stepped around, giving each a wide birth.

We'd stopped our advance, for a moment anyways, a lone manticore had crawled through a gap in the ceiling and was now prowling the tunnel. It's ears perked up as faint sounds of a small animal echoed through.

The beast honed in on the sound, sprinting towards an old tipped over freight car and pouncing at whatever was inside. It bellowed out in agony, then silence, we all waited, our weapons trained on the container, Stripe muttering what sounded like prayers to himself.

A scaly clawed hand emerged first, covered in fresh blood, then two glowing green bug eyes peeked out from around the corner, followed by the rest of it's body. It had the build of a Hellhound, but it was shorter than Rawr and covered in black scales and fluorescent green spines. The creature dragged the severed head of the manticore behind it as it carefully stepped towards a series of large steaming holes, watching us as it went.

It tossed the head down a hole and climbed down after it tentatively, giving us one last glance before completely disappearing.

"Well," Token said with a nervous chuckle, "that was anti climac-"

She was cut off by a loud screech, followed by a much deeper bellow, then the ground started moving.

Stripe and Adze stepped in front of us protectively, the former muttering something about how fucked we all were. A section of concrete exploded out and we all opened fire, but as the dust cleared, we realized nothing was there.

A scream from behind, I turned just in time to see a pony dragged through a crack, Token scrambled for him, extending a hoof to try and help, but she was a fraction of a second too late, I pulled her back just in time for a claw to narrowly miss her face.

Blood Nap's crew became frantic, rambling, screaming, praying, shooting their rifles at every glowing set of eyes now peering at us from the shadows. Stripe was yelling something about higher ground when the floor erupted in front of him and a Tunneler twice the size of Rawr leapt out and swung at him.

He dodged it, barely, the face plate of his helmet took the very tips of the three claws, clipping him with enough force to send the large zony sprawling as the blood dripped from the new cuts in is helmet.

The beast was about to finish him when Adze opened fire with his miniguns, peppering and tearing into its face, drawing fluorescent blood. The beast only recoiled, momentarily backing away as the griffon continued to fire while Stripe got to his hooves and joined in.

The Tunneler stayed up, grunting in anger as it tried to cover its mangled face with its hands. Stripe and Adze advanced on it slowly, pushing it back to the wall where it curled up and let the tougher scales on its back sponge the onslaught.

Another Tunneler emerged to their right, leaping at Stripe. My friend's weapon was cut into pieces as its powerful claws tore through his armor and deep into the flesh underneath.

The zony cried out in pain but recovered, slamming his hooves into its face, denting its skull and sending fractured teeth through the air. The beast sprawled to the floor, holding its face as it tried to crawl back into its hole, Stripe fell on it, relentlessly hammering his hooves against its skull, drawing blood and bits of brain matter as its head split open.

A noise behind me, I turned again to see another silently emerging from a hole, I leveled my pistols and started pulling the triggers, but I'd neglected to reload them before.

Rawr barreled into it as it raised its claw, tearing into its chest and ripping apart the hideously mutated vital organs while he clamped down on its throat with his powerful jaws. He tore away, getting hosed with fluorescent green blood, howling with triumph, the vile ilk spewing from his mouth as he roared. The frightening display caused the Tunnelers that were beginning to close in to back away, if only for a moment.

Adze took the precious seconds to finish off the one he had cornered and fly up and to the end of the tunnel, motioning for us to follow.

"LET'S MOVE!!!" Blood Nap bellowed, sprinting through the small collection of massive holes.

I threw Shaky on my back and Hex onto Token's and galloped alongside the rest of the group, ignoring the screams as ponies were snatched from the group and dragged into the holes.

I stopped dead when I heard Stripe cry out yet again, turning to see him bucking at the smaller Tunneler as it bit into his leg. I sighted it in with Victory and sent a round into its eye and out the back of its skull, but the creature had enough life left in it to flee into a hole.

"Come on!" I yelled frantically to my friend, he nodded, blood sloshing out of the gashes in his helmet, then slowly limped towards me.

For the first time since I'd met Stripe, he looked helpless. He was walking on three legs, his right foreleg occupied with keeping his intestines from spilling through the gaping cuts in his body armor, his escape slowed even more by the urge to keep weight off his injured back leg.

"C'mon Stripe!" Shaky urged, "M-m-move your ass!"

The mangled zony quickened his pace, just barely, I galloped to him to help but stopped when I saw several more Tunnelers running at him from behind.

He turned to look as well, then back to me, he sighed and shook his helmet off, letting the deep cuts on his face bleed freely, looking at me with a sad smile.

"Take care of the girls boss," he said as he turned to face the advancing swarm of beasts, "be good for yer momma Shaky..."

"Stripe?" I asked quietly. The world seemed to stand still as he glanced back one last time with his defiant smirk before leaping headlong at the creature leading the group, wrenching it by the neck into one of the gaping emergence holes.

The creatures stopped advancing, looking between us and the hole before growling and following their leader down.

I slumped in disbelief, sitting down hard on my haunches with a dull thud.

"Stripe..." I whispered softly as the tears started to pool in my goggles. I felt a wetness on my mane, and heard the sound of Shaky's soft sobbing.

Hoofsteps, I turned to see Token and Adze approaching us, the rest of the crew were continuing through the tunnel as fast as possible.

"C'mon babe we gotta go." she urged. Then she glanced around, confused, "Where's Stripe?"

I started to say something but choked on a sob and just shook my head instead.

"Oh..." she said quietly, sitting next to me and throwing a comforting foreleg around my shoulder.

"I'm goin' after him." Adze said, brushing past us.

"No," I croaked out, "he's gone, we have to leave."

"What?" Adze growled, turning on me, I couldn't see his face, but I could feel the griffon's fiery glare.

"You heard me," I said firmly, "he's dead, we need to go."

"I ain't leaving him!" he said angrily, I didn't flinch as he advanced on me, just stared at him absently.

"Believe me, I don't want to leave him either, but he sacrificed himself to give us the chance to escape... we shouldn't piss all over his last act."

The griffon slumped, and I could hear the faintest sounds of crying through his speaker, "He'd come after me..." he said quietly.

I rested a hoof on his shoulder, "I know, but if you go down you'll die too, and he wouldn't want that."

Adze stared at me through his visor, then nodded in defeat, circling around us and heading for the exit. Token prompted Shaky off my back and planted a soft kiss on my forehead, "Come meet us when you're ready love." she said quietly.

I nodded and sat there a few moment more, then tipped up my goggles and wiped my eyes before standing and following.

***

I had to push down the grief until we made it through the tunnel, and it was killing me. We'd lost three ponies in the fray, excluding Stripe, Blood Nap's crew was down to 7.

We finally reached a safe place to make camp, a large derelict barracks. Adze was patrolling on the roof, still not speaking to anyone. Rawr was out scouting tomorrow's route. The others were inside, Hex was tending to Shaky, Token and the rest were playing cards.

I was sitting alone outside in the rain, stuck somewhere between rage and sorrow.

My ears perked as the thick door opened up, I glanced over to see Shaky standing outside, tears still streaming from her eyes. I motioned her over, she nodded sadly and trudged over to sit in my lap.

I hugged her tightly, pressing my face to her mane. She was trembling, probably holding in sobs.

"We sh-should n-n-never have c-c-c-come." she said quietly.

I nodded and squeezed her tighter, kissing the top of her head, she looked up at me and started sobbing, pressing her face to my chest.

I rocked her back and forth, tried to soothe her, it barely helped. I still couldn't cry, as much as I wanted to, as if my body wouldn't let me cry so I could feel better, punishment for bringing us all on this trip.

Instead I sat in the rain in utter anguish, rocking my adopted child while I hummed old lullabies in her ear. It went on for a half hour or so before she finally calmed down and fell asleep. I carried her inside and laid down next to her on a sleeping bag, holding her tight to my chest while she snored and whimpered softly.

Token came in and laid down next to me, then nipped my ear softly.

"Bit for your thoughts." she said quietly.

I shifted, pressing my back against her, Shaky adjusted herself in her sleep and nestled closer to me.

"You know what I'm thinking about."

"Hmmm, a hot shower and a clean bed with me waiting for you in both?"

"Shut up." I said, more coldly than I'd intended. Token just gave me a knowing smile and kissed me on the cheek.

"I know it's tough losing someone close, frankly I'm surprised you're not a sobbing wreck right now. But you gotta stay strong, stay focused, for Shaky's sake, that's what the big guy would want."

I nodded, my eyes finally teared up, a welcome reaction, "Hold me, please." I said quietly, trying my best to hold in a sob.

Token nodded and wrapped me in a warm hug. I let out a broken sigh and let the tears flow freely as she gently stroked my mane.

***

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I did, and I woke up the next day with sore eyes and my chest covered in dried tears. Shaky was still curled up next to me, and Token was still hugging me.

Hex was sitting in the corner, looking at us with her head cocked with curiosity.

"Morning." I said quietly.

"Hey," she replied in her usual quiet tone, "feeling better today?"

I nodded.

"That's good. You should be able to rest a bunch, Rawr said there's a nasty storm coming in and we won't be moving until it passes."

I nodded again and rested my head on Shaky's tiredly, the filly snorted in her sleep and snuggled closer to me.

Hex limped over and sat down next her, looking at her with a knowing pity.

"She was a mess last night, said it was like losing her dad all over again."

She leaned down and pecked Shaky on the cheek, Shaky stirred and looked up at her, blushing when she realized what had happened.

"Morning cutie." Hex said as she nuzzled Shaky's cheek. Shaky could only stammer incoherently in response.

Hex laid down next to her, hugging Shaky and snuggling in close. Shaky blushed even more but hugged her back awkwardly, relaxing after a bit and resting her head against Hex's neck before drifting back to sleep.

I pushed away gently, careful not to wake them up, then rolled over and planted a kiss on Token's lips.

She stirred and smiled at me sleepily, wrapping her hooves around my neck and kissing my nose.

"Feeling better?" she asked, "You had good long cry last night."

I nodded and pressed myself close to her, kissing her neck softly, she giggled and pushed me away slightly.

"Didn't think you'd be in that kind of mood today babe."

"I'm not," I said, pressing back against her, "just feeling affectionate."

I kissed her again, then paused and just stared at her smiling face, "I love you Token."

She pressed her forehead to mine, "I know Bandage, I love you too."

Just like that I was crying again, she nodded understandingly and pulled my head to her chest, I pressed my face against her to muffle the sobs.

"It's my fault," I managed to gasp out, "it was my idea to bring us here, Stripe is dead because of me."

"Hush," Token said in a half scolding, half soothing tone, "it's nopony's fault."

"But-"

"Stripe could've talked you out of it, but he wanted to come, it's not your fault, keep arguing about it and I'll slug you."

I nodded, her words didn't help much but I didn't feel like pushing the matter further. She nudged my ribs playfully, my one ticklish area, then helped me to my hooves and silently motioned for me to follow.

"Where are we going?" I asked quietly after we left the room.

She brushed through the front door of the barracks and nodded me out, "Let's go for a walk. We can listen to some of that dubtrot music you like so much and take in the sights."

I cocked an eyebrow and grinned skeptically, the tears stopping momentarily, "We're in a debris filled canyon, what exactly are the sights?"

She waved a hoof outside dramatically, "The sights babe! They're out there, waiting, ripe for the picking! This is like pioneer tomfoolery 101 Bandage, manifest destiny!!!"

"Shut up doofus." I chuckled, pushing her out the door into the light morning drizzle.

Rawr gave a grumble and a half-hearted wave with his free hand as we stumbled past him, his other hand occupied with picking bits of stringy dark green muscle out of his teeth. Adze simply nodded from behind his veil of cigarette smoke. I started to wave but was yanked away by my adventure anxious lover.

"Come on!" she cried, pulling me by the neck with her magic, "So many sights!!!"

She stopped choking me when we reached a tall wall of rubble, then motioned me to follow as she started clambering up the broken chunks of concrete.

"This seems a bit dangerous love." I said after knocking a cinderblock loose and sending it falling 10 metres or so.

"Don't be such a pussy!" she called back at me.

She clambered up the rest of the way and let out an impressed whistle, "Babe, you gotta see this!"

"I'm comin' dammit!" I barked as I climbed up, "...Whoa."

We were high up, really, really high up on the edge of a cliff looking over a sprawling valley of red stone and crumbling buildings, it looked oddly natural, somewhat foreboding, but peaceful. The ocean was far off on the southern horizon, even at this distance it looked murky and dark, but still beautiful, in a way.

Token nudged me and pointed towards a mesa, a family of manticores was roosting, the mother dropping off a fresh kill and urging her cubs to eat.

My turn to nudge her and point. Out on the ocean a young dragon was swooping down like a hawk, skimming the water and returning to the air with a large mutated fish clutched in its claws.

"Beautiful." I muttered.

"Hmmm?"

"Dragons, they're apex predators, watching them hunt, it's beautiful, in a way. Know what I mean?"

She shrugged, "Sorta, it's like how you look really sexy when you're in the zone."

"Sure." I said dryly.

She shoved me playfully, "You do though!" She smiled in a sultry manner and brought her face close to mine, "Never has a rifle had such a dauntingly sexy mare behind it."

I rolled my eyes, shoving her away, then glanced back down at the valley and spotted something strange. Down the cliff face and a few miles from our position was what appeared to be a small community, an actual community, not a raider compound or Marked One camp.

"Adze!" I called down to the griffon, "Fly me up my rifle or a pair of binoculars!"

"Gotcha!" he yelled back. Rawr smacked him on his armored chest and handed him an old spyglass from inside his cloak.

Adze flew it up to me, I unfolded it and sighted in the community in the distance.

Movement, ponies, pegasi by the look of it, too far away to tell. Moving around normally, guards on a short wall patrolling, ponies inside handling errands or standing around chatting, children running around playing.

"Looks like someplace worth investigating." I said.

Adze snatched the telescope and looked for himself, "Guards look pretty well armed, could be hostile."

"They don't look like raiders."

He snorted, "Don't mean they're not prepared to shoot on sight. Not our call either way, we'd have to run it by Blood Nap."

"Right," I muttered as I traced a path to the settlement with my mind, "let's do that."

***

Blood Nap exhaled, smoke pouring from her mouth, nostrils and various other tiny holes in her chest, "We don't have much of a choice, we're lacking some essentials, plus they've got some heavy firepower, considering what we've seen so far we'll be needing it."

"Sure that's a good idea boss?" one of her crew asked.

She gave a putrid snort, "Hell no, it's a fuckin' stupid idea, probably gonna get us all shot to pieces. But it's like I said, we ain't got much of a choice."

"So we're good to go then?" Adze asked.

She sighed, "Looks like it. But we ain't movin' out until this storm passes, traversing this canyon is hard enough without flooding."

BB piped up, "We ain't anywhere near Enclave territory, Ah could hop upstairs and knock the shit outta those storm clouds lickety split."

The ghoul ashed her cigarette and took another drag before sighing again, "Sure, why the fuck not."

The pegasus grinned and was outside and up almost instantly. I hung my head out the door and looked up at the bright red streak of lightning zooming up to the clouds. The valley echoed with Blood Bolt's drawling laughter.

She hit the clouds, both her shield and the storm erupting in a huge blast of red, a massive boom on a scale of which I'd never heard rocked the canyon, shattered windows, started small rock slides and rendered me deaf for a few moments.

She touched down in front of me with a smug grin slapped on her face and gave a short curtsey.

"Damn." was the only thing I could think to say.

My friend chuckled and casually scratched the back of her head, "Eeya, ain't no Sonic Rainboom, but Ah reckon it's pretty damn close. Daddy called it a Crimson Bloodboom, corny old motherfucker."

"It was just... Damn."

"Heh, trust me, t'ain't nothin' compared to the Wonderbolts, they can do Sonic Rainbooms without all the flashy cybernetics."

"Still impressive."

She shrugged, "That's what they tell me."

***

We'd practically fallen down the steep and narrow passage to the valley, one poor bastard had lost his footing and stumbled into a fissure, screaming all the way down... long drop.

BB and Adze had the luxury of flying, though they still had the duty of watching for ambushes. Token and I had point, constantly sweeping our heads left to right and keeping watch on our E.F.S. Rawr was right behind us, the girls thrown on his shoulders, constantly checking his energy rifle and sniffing the air, his ears perked up and scanning for the faintest noise.

We entered an unnatural portion of the passage, a fallen building, massive and rusted and crumbling, but so well fortified in it's heyday that it remained pretty well intact. The only way through was to climb up onto a balcony that was so warped it could serve as a platform.

Rawr grabbed Token and I by the collars of our armor and tossed us up with ease, then clambered up after us.

"Ya'll go on ahead!" Blood Nap called out, "We're gonna have the fliers try and find another way around!"

"Gotcha!" I yelled back.

We turned and entered the building, completely clear on the inside, damned messy though, and sideways. Other than the sign and hundreds of destroyed terminals were scattered about, nothing in the room popped out as a means of moving through.

The sign read 'Sleipnir Arcane Technologies, Intel Department'.

"Sleipnir..." I muttered, "Doesn't ring any bells."

Rawr grunted in agreement, Shaky and Hex just shrugged. Token glanced around the room, then set her gaze on something and trotted over to it.

"Hey babe," she said, "think this elevator'll work?"

I trotted over and examined it, "Don't see why not, the buttons are intact."

She shrugged and tapped the button with her hoof. The doors opened instantly, the inside was plain metal with glowing purple rods covering the walls.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Hex muttered.

Rawr snorted, "You and Rawr both little one..."

We all stepped inside, cautiously. Token pressed the button again and everything went white. I blinked rapidly, my vision clearing up but still fuzzy, we were in an elevator, like before, but this one was upright.

The doors slid open, and suddenly we were surrounded by turrets and, and...

"Robots," I cursed under my breath, "it had to be fucking robots."

And not just any kind of robots, the creepy floating balls with way too many limbs, seriously, why did something built for around the house tasks need a buzzsaw and a flamethrower!?

One of the metal abominations hovered towards me, one of its arms emitting a tiny red light.

"Remain still please." it said. I barely got out an 'uh' before it swept that light over my face.

"Unknown facial pattern detected, valid retina pattern confirmed, no identification card detected, please recite failsafe password."

I stood there dumbly, then looked to Token. She mouthed 'ice cream'.Hardly the time for a snack... I scowled and shook my head. Then she mouthed 'trust me', I gulped, but nodded and turned back to the machine.

"Ice cream?" I said with uncertainty, wincing as the words clumsily escaped my mouth.

"Valid password confirmed, valid vocal patterns confirmed, welcome agent Eclipse. Might I ask why madam is not in possession of her identification card?"

"Um... Didn't you notice I had reconstructive surgery performed? That ID is no longer applicable."

"Ah, excellent point madam." I cringed as the machine whirred, then blinked my eyes back open when it pinged and I wasn't a smoldering heap of slag. A tiny port had opened, and ID card with my dumbfounded mugshot slapped on the front was dispensed, a tiny string threaded through it.

I winced yet again as the robot used its filthy metallic appendages to drape the card around my neck.

"There you are madam, good as new, that should keep security away from you and your compatriots, given that they stay within ten meters of the teleporter."

"Thanks?"

"It was my pleasure madam."

The death bot finally hovered off, my legs quivered and I collapsed for a moment, "It, it... touched me!"

Token patted me on the shoulder, "You did well love, frankly I'm surprised you didn't try and smash it to bits... Helper never did hover right after that physical exam he-"

"Do not, bring that up!" I shouted.

Token rolled her eyes but made the motion of zipping her lips.

I sighed and closed my eyes, rubbing my temples, cringing as I heard the distinct sound of one of those metal monstrosities hovering in front of me.

I cracked one eye open, the little bastard had its optics right up in my face.

"What?!" I screamed as I scrambled backwards into Rawr's shin.

"I merely wished to ask if you would like an escort to your station. My logs show it has been many decades since your last visit and I thought you may need to be reacquainted with this facility."

"Erm, sure?"

"Excellent! Follow me please. Your comrades should remain here."

"Alright, I guess just stay here guys, be ready to bug out if shit hits the fan."

"Be careful babe." Token said as I followed after it.

The robot led me down a long hallway with four doors, then motioned at the one with 'Eclipse' in bold just above it and left me be.

I swiped my card in the slot next to it and the fortified door opened up. The inside was odd, to say the least, totally preserved wooden furniture, lots of astronomy based posters on the walls.

Two things stuck out clearly. One, the uber advanced looking armor suspended in a pod in the center of the room, two, the gorgeous blue-black anti-material rifle resting on a shelf labeled 'Luna's Whisper'.

My instincts and sudden moistness drew me to the rifle first. It was light enough for me to get it down without magic.

I looked it over as it rested in my hooves. The barrel was covered in odd coils running the entire length, ending at a suppresser the width and length of my foreleg, the scope was just as massive. the blue-black finish was topped off by an ornate etching of Princess Luna's cutie mark on the stock. I opened the breach, oddly enough, it was only chambered for 5.56mm rounds.

I shrugged and pulled a strange lever on the side opposite the bolt. The rifle hummed softly and somehow folded itself into a neat and conveniently sized cylinder.

I smirked and placed the cylinder in my saddlebags. I examined the armor for a moment, then shrugged and continued exploring the room.

There was a journal on the desk, a lot of pictures inside. The first was 3 ponies wearing that strange armor, standing with an earth pony and unicorn pair of mares in lab coats.

All but the crimson maned pegasus that looked oddly reminiscent of BB were wearing a stupid smile.

The two armored unicorns were standing next to each other, a bold red buck with a streaked black and grey mane and a black mare with an amber mane I assumed was Eclipse.

Her eyes were, well, mine. Red and keen, like my mother's.

The pegasus's eye was the same dull grey of BB's, his left was covered with an eyepatch surrounded by a lot of scar tissue. His left wing was cybernetic, the same model the unicorn buck had on both his sides.

The unicorn buck was sporting some shades, though an unsettling red glow was coming from behind them.

The pair of scientists, twins I assumed considering their near identical appearances, both of them cerise with messy lavender manes and thick rimmed glasses, looked to be bumping against the pegasus playfully.

'All of my besty best friends, except for Dart of course, silly girl loves being behind that camera.' Was written underneath.

Only a journal entry on the next page, 'Had sex with Chryses the other night... Just sorta happened, swept up in the moment and all that shit. Surprisingly gentle for an ex Hightower con with psychosis.

'Told Dart about it, she didn't say anything, just got up and left the room. Can't say I don't understand, we may be friends but she's had a crush on me for ages.'

'Pregnant' was written in huge bold letters on the top of the next page, 'Fuck, fuck, FUCK!!! Twins forced me to take maternity leave, Dart isn't talking to me again! Just recently got it to where we could chat and now I've got some psychopath's kid in my tummy. I love the guy, I do, but, fuck, months of me having to leave my squad.

'Chryses has been nothing but supportive with any decision I make, he agrees he'd be a terrible dad but stands firm that I'd make a great mommy. I'm having the kid of course but I'm definitely thinking about putting it up for adoption.'

I glanced at more, one of Eclipse and the unicorn stallion, Chryses I guessed, without armor and without glasses he was revealed to be a cyberpony, all of his legs replaced but painted red to match his coat, wings built into his sides, and glowing synthetic eyes in place of natural ones. They were embracing warmly, no, tenderly, smiling happily at the camera, one of his metallic hooves resting next to hers on her swollen belly. 'He has his sweet moments, guess that's why I love him...'

A picture of Eclipse, sweaty and deshoveled on a hospital bed with a newborn curled up in her forelegs, smiling tiredly but triumphantly, 'Keeping her.' were the only words on the page.

'Chryses broke it off, he cried when he did so, didn't think synthetic eyes could still tear up. Said he'd help me however he could and that he still loved me, but he doesn't want to lash out and hurt the baby.

'Broke my heart, but he did it for her... At least Dart is talking to me again.'

Picture of Eclipse, with a 2 year old filly resting on her lap, looking exactly like her father but with Eclipse's naturally red eyes. 'Little Red Dawn, the only thing of her father's I plan on keeping...'

Another of the trio on the beach, the pegasus was actually smiling now. His eyepatch was off, revealing mostly healed scar tissue and a blue eye that didn't at all match his other one, in color and apparent age. He had his teammates sitting next to him and their slightly older daughter sitting on his lap. The side with the cybernetic wing was covered in scar tissue, with only his cutie mark spared, a thunder cloud in the shape of an old fashioned fuse bomb. 'Good to see the old man actually smiling! First time he's acted normal since his accident. New eye is freaky though, from a 13 year old filly that died in the Trottingham clinic during surgery, her parents allowed her body to be used for organ transplants.

'He keeps a picture of her pinned to his desk, doesn't talk about it, we don't ask him about it. Occasionally I'll walk by his room and see him holding it, swear he's crying... Didn't know he had a soft spot.'

Another picture, the Twins on the beach with Eclipse, both hugging her and kissing her on each cheek with half-lidded eyes. Eclipse had a foreleg around each and was flashing a cocky smile at the camera with her eyebrow cocked in an almost bragging fashion. 'Made Dart jealous, ha ha! Her brow was furrowed so hard it looked like her head was going to implode! Owe the girls big time for agreeing to do it but it was definitely worth it. Dart's a good sport, agreed to take the picture with a bare minimum of bitching.'

One of the trio with the aftermath of a battle in the background, all covered in soot and blood, all wearing wan smiles except for the unicorn buck, who looked like he hadn't even broken a sweat. 'Rough battle, lots of casualties on both sides, just glad we all made it out alive... Especially you Dart, you're my best friend.

'Starting to get uncomfortable around Chryses, took all three of us to pull him off this zebra, guy was already dead but the crazy bastard was still tearing into him, like, with his teeth. Talked to the Twins about it, said their hooves were tied, O.I.A wants the tests on Steel Pony uninhibited by any "psychological adjustments", sick fucks, he needs help.'

One of them all together at Hearths Warming. The Twins were kissing in the most awkward way, blushing furiously and trying their best to look away from one another. The pegasus was hovering above them with mistletoe in his teeth, grinning mischievously. Eclipse was doubled over laughing, her daughter was looking at the two with her tongue stuck out in disgust. 'Worst, sisters, ever! Though seeing Dart grin like that behind the camera made Thunder Crash's prank sooo worth it. Cannot show their parents.'

Another of Hearths Warming, Eclipse levitating the mistletoe over the two stallions, one right next to it of the two kissing passionately while the rest looked on in shock, one next to that of the two vomiting into a bathtub. 'These two crack my shit up! Can't believe they actually did it, then again they were drunk to the point of falling over.'

Another next to it of Eclipse kissing a very pretty blue pegasus with a white mane very tenderly, a drunken blush overwhelming her face. 'Took a lot of egg nog, a lot of persuasion, and some mistletoe, but Dart finally got that kiss she's always wanted. Crash gave us funny looks, not surprising, she is his little sister. Was nice enough to take the picture anyway.'

Eclipse and Dart at some kind of carnival, hugging and smiling at the camera, one right next to it of Dart shoving her cotton candy in Eclipse's face. 'She finally worked up the nerve to ask me out again, said yes this time, should have a long time ago, best date of my life. Kissed me goodnight when we got to my place, didn't need booze or persuasion to kiss her back this time. Big thanks to the random carny that took these pictures.'

Long journal page, no pictures, lots of wild flowers taped to the page and a few doodles of a pegasus kissing a blushing unicorn with tiny hearts bubbling around their heads, 'Took me to the field we always played in when we were kids, made her one of those flower crowns she loves so much. Wish we could've taken pictures, but she insisted nopony come with us. Found out why an hour later, she was adorable, blushing so much, talking whisper quiet, made love like a champ though, for a virgin, and a mare.

'Told me she loved me, told her I loved her back, just laid there in the field holding each other until the rain moved in. She had a weird cough when we finally got home, probably got a cold from all that damn rain. Crash gave us "the look" when he saw us walk in laughing while we practically leaned on each other. Guess it's not as effective unless both eyes are his cause Dart just scowled right back at him and he left it alone.

'Made love again when we got up to her room, kept it stealthy for her brother's sake. Her parents found us cuddling afterwards, nearly had heart attacks, shouted louder than I've ever heard, Dart shouted right back, I just sat on the bed doing my best to cover myself with the blankets. Thunder Crash came in and stuck up for us, earned his name, yelled even louder than his dad, didn't know that was possible, the house was literally shaking.

'Dart is moving out to live with me ASAP, sucks that they kicked her out but I'm really glad.'

I turned the page. A picture of Eclipse and Dart sitting on a couch. The latter looked skinnier, and sick, but was still comfortably resting her head on Eclipse's shoulder and was grinning brightly at the camera. 'Poor thing is getting sick. Has a nasty cough and gets tired a lot, Twins forced her to take leave, just about broke her heart. I know what that's like, but at least I got a beautiful baby girl out of it.

'Her big brother stops by a lot to take pictures, keeps her in good spirits. He still gets uncomfortable when we kiss, but after that shouting contest he had on our behalf I know he's not against it. He's getting older, starting to sprout some grey hairs and he's got crow's feet around his eyes, fucked up considering he's only 30, guess that's what stress does to you.'

'Not the same without Dart out in the field with us, taking a vacation soon, said she has news, won't say if it's good or bad.'

No pictures on the next page, just an entry, 'Cancer... fucking cancer, probably from all those damn balefire bombs she and her shithead brother have been diffusing overseas. She's a tough mare though, and the Twins have her on something called chemotherapy. She'll pull through, she has to... Don't know what I'd do without her.'

Another lone entry, just a few random doodles on the borders, 'Trying to convince her she looks just as sexy without a mane, she doesn't believe me but it doesn't matter, I'd still love her if she was bald all over and had no teeth, that's a fact. She's getting sicker though, Twins said that was normal, but I saw that little glance they exchanged... She'll get better though, I know it for sure, that mare's survived too many zebras to let her own body take her out...'

A tear stained page, a picture of a meek and exhausted looking Dart lying next to Eclipse, their hooves overlapping, Eclipse warmly kissing her cheek and crying while the former smiled tiredly. Dart's once gorgeous white mane was all but fallen out, and her wings didn't have many feathers left, her green eyes were the only thing about her that looked lively. 'She's not going to get better, I've known it for awhile. Just wish I would've been smart enough to love you back sooner Dart...'

'Mission scheduled for next week, Chryses is running it solo, Crash and I aren't leaving her side, she doesn't have very much longer and I will be there to say goodbye... I will dammit.'

Next page was wrecked with water stains, more so than the previous, only a short entry at the bottom, '"I love you"... last thing she ever said to me, I said it back and she smiled, for a sec she almost looked healthy again, then she shut her eyes and sighed really tiredly, then her hoof went limp and that damn machine started that fucking tone, Crash threw it out the window and screamed like he'd just lost his wing again. In a way I guess he lost a lot more... Took a few nurses and a lot of sedative to restrain him, he was belligerent. Only reason I wasn't is because I feel dead inside.

'Shouted at Dawn when I got home, she didn't deserve that but it happened. She seemed to understand that I wasn't myself, she's a smart kid. Sat on my lap and let me cry, exactly what I needed.'

One last picture, the entire group minus one gathered at a funeral, Eclipse placing a bouquet of wild flowers on the casket, her face covered with a black veil. The twins both sat under the same umbrella, both had tears running down their faces, Chryses had his shades on and was just standing there in the rain with an emotionless expression, Thunder Crash looked to be sobbing, Red Dawn was hugging him tightly. 'Resigned today, Twins understood completely, they pulled some strings and got Dawn and I spots reserved in Stable 80. Not taking this journal, don't want to feel anymore, not even sure why I'm writing this, whole world is going to explode soon anyways... I'm glad, Chryses is probably glad too, gets to watch everything die, hell, the boss will probably get a kick out of the explosion anyways, he's always wanted to see a balefire bomb go off.

'This war is stupid, should've never started, I keep wanting to take Whisper and put a bullet in both the princesses for starting it, but I can't jeopardize my baby's life like that.

'Wish things were different, wish we weren't fighting stripes, wish I would've given in to your requests earlier, wish we could've made a life together, like we talked about before you got sick... Doesn't do me much good though, you're dead, Equestria's dead, wishing isn't changing shit. Only thing I can truly wish for now is that when I die, I go to heaven or wherever you are, and just be able to hold you again, just for a moment...

'Sirens going off, Cloudsdayle just got obliterated, never seen the old man so pissed off, except for when... Well, you know. I'm leaving now... I love you Dart, so very very much.'

Fresh tears peppered the page, I wiped my eyes shamefully, I shouldn't have been shedding tears for this mare, she'd been dead for more than a century. Maybe it's because I imagined Token in Dart's position, maybe it's because this mare was an ancestor of mine...

I remembered Red Dawn, Mum's great grandma, lived to the ripe old age of 104. Mum had never met her, but she was a legend, and my great grandma talked about her often to my grandma, who occasionally retold old stories of her.

I dried the journal page the best I could and placed the whole book in my saddlebags as gently as possible, then turned to the encased armor.

I flipped a switch on the desk and the case opened, the armor itself seeming to tingle, as if with anticipation...

I stripped out of my gear and approached it cautiously, reaching out a hoof and touching its smooth metallic surface.

"Welcome." I faint robotic voice said, I tried to leap away as the armor liquified and lurched at me, but it was too fast.

It enveloped me, then it embedded into me.

It was by far the worst pain I had felt in my entire life. First my veins bulged, feeling like they would burst out of my skin if the armor didn't have me encased, every blood vessle in my eyes was on the verge of bursting, every joint and muscle and tendon screamed at me, my heart was about to explode! Then something began to fill them, the sensation can only be compared to having burning napalm flushed through my body. My nerves started to tingle and burn, as if they'd been struck by lightning, the sensation hit my loins and I screamed in intense agony, though it seemed drowned out by the pounding of blood in my ears.

It finished, I pissed myself and vomited my breakfast. Relief was oddly instantaneous though.

I stood up, feeling, well, better. Lighter, stronger, faster. I looked myself over, wrapped in armor that seemed like a fusion of Enclave and Steel Ranger power armor, but much more advanced, looking like synthetic muscle in some places.

"This is great..." I muttered, checking out my own armored ass, the muscle look of the armor seemed to make it pop more, "Not much head coverage though."

I yelped as the armor formed a full helmet on my head.

"Sleipnir interface active," a synthesized mare voice buzzed in my ear,"nano composite armor fully functional, symbiosis complete, all systems nominal."

"THE FUCK?!" I screamed, "WHY IS THERE A ROBOT IN MY HEAD?!"

"I am not in your head, I am in the armor, communicating with you via earpiece in your helmet. Also, I am not a robot."

"Oh," I said with some relief, "well, what the fuck are you?"

"I am this system's VI custodian and tactical advisor, you may call me what you wish, but my creators dubbed me Beta, this is preferred."

"Beta, right... So, what kind of shit can this gear pull off?"

The floor shifted, the pod came back up as a small elevator.

"Allow me to show you."

I stepped into the elevator and held in a gasp as it sealed shut and started descending into the bowels of the facility. The door opened and I stepped out into a massive room covered in odd blue lights.

"The hell is all this?"

"This is the Virtual Reality training chamber, this is an excellent place to demonstrate the features of this system."

"Okay, run me through it I guess."

"The Sleipnir system is comprised of several sub systems. Shielding, repair, healing, strength enhancements, speed enhancements, and magic amplification. The shielding system use you natural magical fields to create a natural barrier over the exoskeleton. The repair systems incorporate several billion nanites to rapidly patch the physical portions of the armor, each acting as its own solitary repair talisman. The healing systems also tap into your magic and manipulate the nanites, stitching shut wounds and rapidly expelling invasive objects. Strength and speed enhancements use passive spells and synthetic chemicals to boost muscle mass and synapse reaction, these are permanent enhancements, active even when the armor is unequipped. Magic amplifiers vastly improve the effectiveness of the operator's spells."

I nodded slowly, processing everything that was just rammed down my ear, "Okay, I think I'm ready to test this thing out."

"Excellent."

Footnote:Level Up!
New Perk: Sleipnir Modifications, Strength and Agility maxed out.