"Intruder detected. Engaging hostiles."

Ducking under a slew of blue magical energy weapon fire, I floated out the Terrible Shotgun and sent three slugs through the chest of the latest synth to attack us in Fort Haygone. With the torso shredded the mechanical pony went down and stayed down, the repair talismans on these pale Gen 1 synths weren't great, but they could be an annoyance.

Ever since we walked through the door from the motor pool we had been under attack by a horde of these Gen 1s, it was a good sign Kellogg and the Institute were here, but presented an obstacle. Added to the fun was the fort's security system, the stenciled legend on the door that said to keep security clearance visible at all times wasn't kidding around, without a pass the unobtrusive turrets in the ceilings regarded us as a target and opened up with a hail of bullets when in range.

Charging the Last Minute to take out another of the bothersome turrets across the large room, Steel Dance's minigun shredded several more synths and a few of the office cubicles in the way. Still wearing the bulky power armor I had my own to use, but was more comfortable with my normal weapons and decided to save it for occasions I could actually put it to effective use.

Now that the latest group of enemies and that turret were taken care of, we had a moment to breathe in the dusty office. Val looked over to me and shrugged, "Alright boss, now what?"

The suit's enhanced E.F.S. still showed a lot of red, either further in the maze like building or above us, so we weren't anywhere near in the clear yet. Now that we were inside the fortress I had no idea where to go other than aimlessly wandering around the building in search of Kellogg. Luckily Scribe Wind had spotted an evacuation map on a wall nearby and was studying it carefully, with a determined nod she turned back to the rest of us and pointed at it.

"We need to get to operations Fast, it's upstairs. This cyber pony your after may be there, or may be in the command center underground. There's an elevator that goes down from there so up is our best bet right now."

Clomping over in the heavy power armor, I studied the map and let my pip-buck download it. As far as I could tell she was right, upstairs was the way to go right now. I was still curious what exactly the Brotherhood duo wanted here, last time we cooperated it was to get a deep range transmitter so they could communicate with the outside world.

"Alright, up we go. So, what is it you want here anyway? You talked about reinforcements?"

Paladin Dance and Scribe Wind exchanged a loaded glance, finally the Steel Ranger spoke up reluctantly. "Installations like this had systems in place to have a minor impact on the weather, too many pegasi were busy during the war to guarantee their assistance. If it is still operational we hope to pierce the barrier and allow safe passage for our order to enter the Commonwealth. Scribe Wind explained the barrier storm outside correct? Such storms come up to keep outside interference from entering the Commonwealth."

Jade gave a shudder and nodded, "He is correct Fast, a lesser storm such as the one outside came up when I had almost reached the Commonwealth. I now believe it was because I was part of an organized group attempting to reach this area, the lightning that struck me when we met was a result."

She smiled recalling our first meeting and looked frustrated I was currently encased in armor, bowing to those demanding blue eyes I released the helmet and thought while she nuzzled happily. So it was true, the weather really did try to keep anyone out. Scribe Wind's theory about the S.P.P. tower being operational was apparently correct. Between that and the interference that made communication with the outside difficult... someone wanted the Commonwealth sealed off badly, it wasn't natural phenomena, it was intentional.

Something to think about later, for now we had the labyrinth of offices and hallways to navigate to reach the second floor. Dealing with all the synths and turrets was made easier by changing up our formation, using the power armor Dance and I acted as a wall as we moved forward. Val was free to attack from behind us and guard Jade and Summer in the rear, while Zed had scouted ahead, silently dispatching problems before they arose.

As we moved I kept ducking my head into the assorted offices, judging by the skeletons left behind and the poses they were in... a great many of the ponies here had found ways to kill themselves in the end. Several yielded some more 10mm pistol ammo if nothing else, though it was disturbing seeing how they had all given up.

Finally we came across an intact staircase leading up to the second level, a dirty sign on the wall confirmed 'Operations' was up there with an arrow pointing up. Above a lot more synths were waiting down the long hallways, effectively using cover and tactics. They weren't smart enough to pretend to be a real pony, but they were plenty intelligent enough when it came to combat.

All the robotic enemies were providing me with a wealth of parts when they didn't melt into goo at least, even a few of their repair talismans in cases where the head was obliterated and unable to be repaired. I had also got to look over their strange magical energy weapons Val kept snatching up, not a model I had ever seen before. They were made of white and red lightweight plastic casings, advanced innards as well but used standard ammo. The blue beams they fired seemed less effective than Val's red ones, apparently they were made by the Institute themselves.

Given the air filling with those beams I was grateful they weren't as damaging, I really hoped they didn't have the potential to just turn us to ash on a lucky shot either. Just in case I let loose with the minigun at my side, raking the hall ahead in a short burst and moving forward to mop up with my usual weaponry. The defense of power armor was nice, but I could do without being so slow, I was used to being a great deal more mobile in combat.

The offices up here weren't cubicles but individual rooms instead, all with nameplates for the fort's top brass including the base commander. Val's eager looting turned up a few treasures, lots of ammo, alcohol she pocketed with glee, and a safe in the commander's office yielded a lot of pre-war bits and gold bars. The terminal in his office was dark and dead, but if I had to guess I'd bet he had some under the table dealings with the Institute for allowing them to play around with the power armor on base.

Following the signs and Zed's scouting we eventually wound up in the operations room, a large chamber filled with terminals and equipment, a darkened electronic map of Equestria on the wall all the seats faced, and an unobtrusive set of sliding steel doors in the back corner that grabbed my interest.

With the room cleared Scribe Wind immediately started fluttering between terminals, lighting up some of the equipment with a few sparks and bringing the map back to life. I studied it for a moment sadly, it now displayed major cities of Equestria as the end of the war played out. Canterlot was marked with a big X, and Manehatten, and Fillydelphia, Cloudsdale... it went on... and on... Abstractly knowing what happened after we ran to the Stable and seeing it spelled out on the big map was somehow different.

Summer Wind at least snapped me out of my reverie, "Fast, I could use your help here. It's the approach vector assist system, I think it's still functional but it's gonna take some patching."

"R-Right... sorry." Having something to fix let me clear my head, though tinkering around with the assorted, interlinked systems up here was more difficult wearing this bulky armor. After a bit of trial and error Scribe Wind gave a shout over at the main terminal and started tapping away furiously, her brow furrowed in concentration and her tongue stuck out of the side of her muzzle.

After enough increasingly frustrated work with the keyboard she smacked the whole terminal with her hoof and sighed, "No good... I can access it, it's operational... but there's a lockout in place. I think we have to go down to the command center whether who you're after is there or not."

Out of curiosity I took a look at the terminal she stepped away from, it displayed a complex system tied to the base's radar. The storm outside and the normal interference at the edge was causing problems, but I could see she had locked on to some kind of signal out there beyond the barrier. Her reinforcements I guessed, it had to be something big and able to put out a powerful signal on its own to be picked up though. She was right, anything more than what she had already done was under a security lockout.

Dance had already reached the elevator in the corner and hoofed the button, causing the metal doors to slide open with a warbling 'ding'. "Well, it appears we're still together in this then. I believe this is the way down?"

"Ok, let's go then. Er..." Peering in the elevator that looked to be a difficult prospect for the six of us, two suits of power armor and one alicorn took up a loooot of room, while that was a big elevator it wasn't quite that big. "So how do we do this?"

The others joined me in staring at the small space, but no one was backing away. Jade absolutely refused to wait and let me go alone, Val voiced the same opinion as my guard with Kellogg potentially down there, and Zed was unwilling since he had his own questions though he wasn't quite as adamant. Scribe Wind was actually willing to stay, but since she took up the least space other than myself if I abandoned the armor that wasn't a big help, plus Dance refused since she was needed to fix the system to his liking.

I groaned and crammed myself into a corner, waving the others forward. "Fine... we have three fliers here, you guys just kind of... hover up above us alright? Try not to add to the weight limit of this thing, who knows what shape it's in." The trio of dirty looks I got at that from our flight capable members made me blanch in confusion, "What?"

Jade gave a little huff and looked away, Scribe Wind grumbled and hid under her hat, only Val moved right up in my face and purred out a dangerous sounding response. "You ain't sayin' we're fat with that weight limit crack, are ya boss..."

"What!? No! Just... ugh... it's old ok! That never occurred to me, sorry! Repair-pony remember? Two suits of power armor is already pushing it, plus a zebra, you three could be light as a feather and I'd still be worried. Not that you aren't! I... just let me stop talking and get in here already..."

It was a tight fit, and all of us on the ground kept getting hit with dangling legs or flapping wings, but we managed to all make it in and hoof the down button without the alarm screeching at us. Despite the discomfort and close quarters, having Jade directly overhead was comforting, as we made the long trip down we were getting closer to Kellogg, I knew he was down here somewhere.

The reception area at the bottom of the elevator just reinforced my belief the cyber-pony I was after was down here. The medium sized room was well appointed, thick but tattered red carpet and a wooden receptionists desk waited as we piled out of the elevator. To the right were two doors, one for the office of the commander on duty and the other for a break room for the workers. Directly across from us was an open steel door leading to a long hallway, for now we spread out and explored our decidedly lived in surroundings.

Val's inspection turned up food, water, beer, whiskey and cigars in the break room. Poking around in the commander's office yielded a few surprisingly clean sets of clothing, a mattress that was slept on regularly with a small radio beside it, and a footlocker full of ammo and medical supplies. Curiously by the mattress an old plastic Pinkie Pie mask was hung on the wall, it was battered and scorched, but that was the young Ministry Mare's face alright...

Why would a legendary mercenary like Kellogg have something like this? It was just a simple plastic mask with a stretchy string and eyeholes cut out in Pinkie's manic blue eyes, something you'd find at the Fillydelphia Fun Farm, or in stores around Nightmare Night. It was just too weird to leave it here, hanging on the wall and staring at nothing, on impulse I floated it down and snagged it before moving on.

Jade raised an eyebrow at my strange acquisition, "That thing? Why would you take that Fast?"

"I dunno... It's just weird seeing her here. Pinkie used to be my favorite Ministry Mare."

She shrugged and returned to the footlocker, "Very well. It seems rather disturbing to me, but if you like it go ahead."

The inside of the odd mask somewhat supported her view, the number 42 was scrawled in red that looked suspiciously like blood for some reason. Still, I didn't like it down here, Pinkie was better than this, maybe I could clean it up or something, or just dispose of it properly, anything but leave it here as some weird trophy for Kellogg.

Dance and Summer were studying another map on the wall near the elevator, conferring with each other over their next steps. Val was busily ransacking the break room for all the alcohol, grabbing anything else as an afterthought. Jade had taken over sorting through the medical supplies to share out among us. Zed meanwhile was roaming about impatiently, rifling through the receptionists desk since no one else had yet.

That left little for me except for the security door with the terminal next to it, but it was standing wide open so had no need of my skills. Still, I walked forward to it and took a look down the obvious direction to go, somewhere down there... he had to be somewhere that way... It was a pretty bare hall compared to this reception area, beige concrete walls and grey floors, fluorescent lighting that was half functional, lots of signs, I kept going to take a look at the nearest, slowly passing through the doorway.

As soon as I was through the security door slammed shut behind me and locked with an echoing click down the long hall. I spun on the spot and could see the others frantically pulling at it on the other side of the dirty, bulletproof glass. Jade's worried expression was just behind Val's grimace of effort as she yanked uselessly at it, I held up a hoof to calm them and started looking for the terminal nearby to reopen it. I had no idea why it did that, some kind of automated security or somethi....

"Well, there you are. 111-3-42, it's about time..."

I froze and looked up at the speakers overhead, I knew that voice... I only heard it once, on the recording Overstallion Rocky Shores made as Stable 111 was being overrun and everyone on Shift 4 was killed. That was him...

The others heard him too, they were all looking up as well while I shook on the spot as the voice continued. "You've come a long way to talk with me haven't you? So let's talk... Just you and me. Open that door and I'll assume you don't want to and leave, I don't feel like having a long conversation with a big gaggle of fools, just you."

That dark Shroud in my head was burning with fury, blowing past the voices of the Ministry Mares in my head easily. He wanted to talk pony to pony, fine... I looked back to the glass and saw Jade shove her way past the others, pressing her hooves against the barrier and shouting NO! soundlessly. Releasing my helmet to at least look at her directly I faltered and looked back to my pip-buck and the terminal, I shouldn't do this... we could catch him together...

"Oh? What's the matter? Can't do anything without your big mutant mare's say so? You know I'm surprised some pre-war pony would go after one of those monsters, let alone get anywhere. I would've thought you'd want to keep the freak out of this though, don't want me to kill her like I did your Stable do you?"

I could feel my eyes flare to burning suns at that, how dare he call her... he wouldn't touch her! Looking back to Jade through the window I saw her screaming NO! repeatedly now, banging against the steel door with her hoof and actually making it shiver slightly. Val was right next to her, yanking away on the handle and screeching at the glass in fury.

"Maybe you're scared to do anything without that useless traitor bodyguard of yours? I tell you, a reject from that group of rejects I left, you sure know how to pick them don't you kid? Heard enough about that piece of trash even out of the loop, should have died in the gutter. Or maybe the zebra? You really don't know anything do you? Hanging around with one of those stripes, he'd turn on you in a heartbeat, the ones round these parts are particularly pathetic. Don't even get me started on the Ranger or the Enclave bitch, they're just using you kid, neither of those idiotic groups are worth a damn, together they're even worse."

Oh you son of a bitch... you hateful bastard... The darkest parts of me surged at the goading, I knew what he was doing but couldn't help it. No one insulted my friends, my mare, especially not this evil piece of shit. I didn't want to share him anyway, I wanted Kellogg myself, dealing with him in front of the others, in front of Jade... I'd have to hold back, alone though... I placed my hoof against the glass gently I mouthed "I love you" to Jade until I was sure she saw it and turned away, locking the steel helmet back in place.

"That's more like it... I figured if you made it this far you couldn't be that much of a coward. Now, just come on down the hall and let's have ourselves a nice chat."

Struggling to keep my breathing under control, I started trudging down the concrete hall, looking around carefully and speaking to no one. "Can you hear me?"

"Sure I can, but you want to talk face to face right? Oh, but you're a curious little pony aren't you? Guess you have actual questions before our different kind of 'talk' don't you? Why not kid, go ahead."

"Why did you take my Stable?"

"Why? Why not? I don't ask questions like that of those nuts, they said they wanted it, I got it. Though it may interest you to know you were quite the monkey wrench in that whole operation. One of my first jobs for the Institute and I missed one puny little pony, but they go nuts over it. That's when they really started going at each other you know, old Mobius was against the whole idea for the most part, when he heard how I took it and that I missed you, he really went off the deep end. That damaged pod of yours, figured you were awake and got wasted with the rest. They declared the whole place off limits after that."

That was interesting, any other time I'd ponder it but I had more pressing questions now. "Where are they..."

"Who, the ones asleep? or the Institute? Guessing you meant the former. Well that is a good question, they got split up far as I know, 900 pods and 6 divisions, they all took a piece to play with when things went bad. If it makes you feel better I think they hang on to what they have, rare commodity and all, other than that I couldn't say."

"And the Institute?"

"Oh, well that's a more difficult question, they're all over as I imagine you've figured out by now. Hooves in a lot of pies around the Commonwealth and all that. Dala and Vega hang around up here in the north a lot, around their labs, not that you're likely to find a way in. The other four... have different priorities and areas of influence, same problem though, you'll never get to them. I rarely speak with any of them directly myself, and even then it's almost never in one of their private labs, more in their little think tank they share."

"Dala... where's Dala and her Cathedral?"

"That lonely old mare? Why her specifically? Oh... alicorns, of course. Well, can't tell you, like I said, I prefer to keep her happy since she keeps me kickin'. Usually not hard, she's just starved for attention, missed out on a lot far as I can tell, turn on the charm and she melts. Her Cathedral... well I wonder where a mare like her would consider a cathedral."

There was the hum of a lot of arcano-tech generators to the left as I walked the hall towards the next steel door in front of me, doors to the right led off to quarters for the personnel here and assorted offices as well, but directly ahead was the way to go. "Why are you waiting for me?"

"Ah saw through me huh? They told me all I had to do was make myself known and you'd come, let my former associates spot me a few times and waited, sure enough here you are. Had my doubts, you must be tougher than you look kid. Come on in and I'll tell you why. Don't worry about my friends, I've told them to back off."

Shoving open the door I saw his friends were a couple of Gen 1 synths at rest in a dark room, blinking lights filled the space beyond the fan of light the doorway behind me let in, beyond that there was nothing much I could make out. He must be hiding in here somewh...

BLAM!

At the sound of the gunshot my vision flickered with alerts for a bare second;

CRITICAL POWER SYSTEM FAILURE!
ENTERING STANDBY MODE!

And everything went dark...

"There we go, that was easy enough. Gotta thank you kid, wearing that tin can in here made catching you a lot easier. Killing you would have been ok as a fallback, would have made Vega happy anyway. But I like keeping Dala satisfied better like I said, and she wants you alive. That's why I was waiting kid, you've become a problem and I fix problems."

I frantically wriggled in my steel container, I don't know how but he managed to shut the suit down with one shot, turning it into a large, useless steel statue. Nothing was working, I couldn't even release the helmet at look at the bastard, just a field of darkness as he gloated and claustrophobia started sinking its claws into me. I knew it was a trap and got hooked anyway, stupid! The worthless dark in front of me just mocked my own arrogance, there was nothing there to help me... wait wasn't there?

A blinking cursor at the bottom of my vision caught my attention as Kellogg continued to himself, "Now... how to get you out of here in that thing..."

_
_ _
_ _ _ ....
.....ACTIVATING UNICORN USER INTEGRATION....
REROUTING POWER...

My vision suddenly came back and I could see Kellogg moving about the now lit command center, directing his synth minions about in making preparations to take me. He had disregarded me now as dead in the water, honestly I was surprised I wasn't myself. The modifications... integrating the power supply... For once the Institute's meddling had come in handy, I could feel a drain on my magic as the lowest levels of the armor's systems came back online.

Now that I could glare at Kellogg himself I saw what the posters showed more or less, he was a big dirty brown earth pony, no mane and a long scar down his cheek and across one of his grey eyes. His front left and rear right legs were bulky, dark metal cybernetics, the glow of a screen like a pip-buck showed on his cybernetic foreleg, though I couldn't tell if he wore it or if it was part of the appendage. He wore a thick black vest crossed with a bandolier holding a huge silver revolver he currently had holstered. On his flesh and blood flank a series of numbers and letters had been crossed out with a long scar, leaving them legible but marked like Val's.

Alright... I couldn't run the armor on my magic alone, not for long anyway. With power restored I could at least get out of the suffocating steel coffin, before I did I played around with the settings, I could afford to spend a little magic to give him a surprise. Every missile left in the battle saddle flew out with a fwoosh at my side and I triggered the emergency eject, the armor unfolding and booting me backwards. The resounding explosions at the end of the room covered my exit and tore the two synths to pieces, though Kellogg was annoyingly quick on the uptake and dove clear.

Drawing my weapons and floating my hat back to my head, I scowled at the mercenary as he got back to his hooves with a growl. "Sorry. Not going to be that easy."

The bastard actually chuckled looking over at me, "I suppose not young buck. Guess Vega may get his way, lot harder to take you alive now. Not letting you take me kicking either, on the off chance you somehow manage it. So... nothing left to say huh?"

"No."

I punctuated my reply with half a dozen rounds from the Terrible Shotgun as I ran forward, answered with three shots from his booming revolver that hammered into my side and sent me skidding sideways. Yeah, definitely had to see about padding, getting hit with that was like getting punched by a dragon, it knocked my breath out and I barely saw only half my shots hit Kellogg to little effect.

I dove behind a large console and took aim with the Last Minute, if the shotgun slugs wouldn't get through then let's see about the rifle that bored holes through everything. One blurring round took flight just as he faded away from view in a blur, a grunt from that direction was encouraging but not the wet splat of his head exploding I hoped for. He could pull AssaultJack's trick? A stealth-buck.... had to be, great.

"Oh you are an annoying little twerp aren't you? Maybe I'll take you alive anyway, she didn't say what kind of condition she wanted you in."

Kellogg's gloating gave me a general direction, if I was relying on just my guns that wouldn't be enough but I had something that would work here. Focusing on spreading it out as much as I could and giving it half my magic, I unloaded with my lightning spell on that half of the room.

KRAKA-THOOOM!

Part of me was vaguely concerned for what the Brotherhood ponies wanted down here, but oh well... Most of that part of the chamber was just a wall of monitors that exploded in a shower of sparks, falling on the reappearing form of Kellogg jittering on the spot. I sprinted at him with Best Served in my mouth, that should have shut down his stealth-buck and his cybernetics, he was half disabled now, if I took out another leg he wouldn't be able to get away. My pistol ran through the entire clip as I closed the distance, first I'd take that front leg, then the rear one... then his hide...

Right as I lunged forward he brought that front cybernetic leg out like a shot, bashing me in the muzzle and sending my knife flying. A set of blades coming from the artificial foreleg slashed my neck as he followed through, washing my side with warmth and a searing line. With me off balance he spun and gave a cyber assisted buck to my chest, the metal hoof blasting out some kind of explosion that tossed me across the room in agony.

Holding on to what focus I could I slid into S.A.T.S. and targeted his head with two rounds from the Last Minute. The first managed to drill a hole through his neck but the second was cut short by the boom of his revolver striking the weapon and knocking it out of my grip. Another shot from his gun knocked my pistol away before I could switch to it and a third punched through my flank leaving me rolling on the floor in blood.

"You aren't the only one that can pull that whole Stable-Tec Assisted Targeting routine kid. Gotta admit you're not bad, if my augments weren't shielded you woulda had me alright. Now how about you behave and this will go a lot easier, if I see another thing get all floaty around here I'm just gonna knock it away too. You're beat youngster."

He was reloading his revolver and approaching slowly, drolling out his speech in a bored tone. Coughing up a spatter of blood on the floor I was afraid he was right, he was fast, he was good, he had S.A.T.S. and was a pro at using it to take out my weapons so easily. Anything I did wouldn't be quick enough when he could pause time too. I could see a gleam under one of the consoles behind him, Best Served... Fork's knife... I promised, promised I'd kill this son of a bitch with his knife for what he did.

Looking over the knife while Kellogg strolled up and thinking, I had one last trick I hadn't considered before. I'd never done it successfully on anything this size... but the sight of him walking up unconcerned, the thought of those foals in the freezer, of Fork's guarding them until Kellogg killed them... I focused on the knife with my magic and concentrated, letting my hatred of the cyber-buck fuel the attempt and every voice in my head guide my spell.

Kellogg noticed my horn glowing and was on guard, but still confident. "Come on kid, I told you anything you grab is gonna be...."

FLASH!

His self satisfied dismissal was cut short by the shining knife protruding from his chest suddenly in a flash of magic. He stumbled back in disbelief and I struggled to my hooves painfully, glaring at him and enjoying his shocked look of pain. Teleportation still wasn't easy for me, I could only manage small objects, and strictly speaking you were supposed to try not to teleport things into other things, but I made an exception here... I grabbed the knife in my magic and ripped it free with satisfaction as he gurgled and slumped to the floor on his haunches.

"Spring Shower, Wispy Water..." I sent the blade slashing at his living rear leg, slicing it off neatly as I dragged myself forward.

"W-What..." His breathing was ragged and a lot of blood was coming up at the words, he'd last long enough though...

Sending Best Served out in a horizontal flash I cut off his flesh and blood foreleg, "Mocha Mug, Neon Glitter, Radish Sprout..."

"W-W-Wh..." I had to admit, he was pretty tough to not be screaming his head off, confusion warred with pain in his grey eyes as his cybernetic limbs flailed uselessly.

"Foals... y-you killed foals in my Stable, I saw them. You killed everyone, you t-took my family, you took my friends, but you killed f-foals too... You killed the one who tried to p-protect them then walked over his body to get to them, and do you know who that was?"

More confusion as he burbled out weakly, "J-J-Job..."

"IT WAS HEARTY FORKS! AND THIS IS FROM ALL OF THEM!!!" With a great deal of satisfaction I sent the knife forward again, spinning straight through his neck and chopping his head off.

Falling to the floor and panting left me staring into his grey eyes as they lost the last spark of life, that was good, I did want to watch him die, and for him to see me doing it. That just left me bleeding on the floor and adding to the blood with each rattling breath from that explosive buck. I fumbled weakly for a healing potion as the edges of things were getting blurry, providing juice to that power armor, using lightning and then actually teleporting something bigger than a bottlecap had severely drained me. Even with things fading a little I could make out the flash of my pip-buck in my vision;

Mission Updated: Reunions

Objective--
--Kill Kellogg

Optional Objectives--
----Help Brotherhood at Fort Haygone

Come on... hurry... I knew I had one with me, just had to focus long enough to get it out and use it... Get back to the others... back to Jade...

"FAST!" The voice of the mare I was thinking of boomed from the door and I heard her land beside me with a thump. Healing magic immediately started pouring into me, adding to that warm, fuzzy feeling that was so nice. I'd just take a little nap... Jade was here, it was ok now...

When I came back I was staring at a pair of big blue eyes set in a worried frown directly in my face. Blinking slowly I gave an ashamed look up to Jade looming over me, "H-Hi... umm... sorry..."

Relief was battling with an odd kind of fury on her features and she answered shakily, "Do not give me your sorrys Fast! You left me! You went alone! You could have died to this... horrible creature! I am very upset with you!"

With a wince I shuffled and looked around, I was still in the command center, the others were here too but were staying well out of the angry alicorn's way. "R-Really Jade... I really am sorry, I know it was wrong. He said he'd leave, he said he'd hurt you... I c-couldn't... I couldn't let him have the chance. Honestly I wanted him alone, I didn't want to drag anyone else into this... especially you. I know I shouldn't have and that I scared you, if you hate me I..."

Having her lunge forward and envelop me cut off the rest of my apology, she was shuddering and planting desperate kisses all over, her eyes spilling tears as she lectured and tried to hang on to her anger. "I could n-never! I am s-still most upset, you should not have... you could h-have... You may not! You may not do anything so foalish! Try to keep me safe and put yourself in danger! We were to do this together a-and you... j-just look at yourself! You are still in trouble Fast!"

Returning her shaky affection slowly calmed her down, I held her tightly and stroked her cloudy mane, nuzzling her gently with a wince and whispered in her ear. "I know I am. I'm sorry. It's alright now, I... p-promise not to do anything like that again if I can avoid it. I'll do whatever you say, ok? I'll take whatever punishment you want, I know I deserve it."

Finally soothed she pulled away sniffling and her horn lit up brightly, continuing to heal my wounds as she wiped her eyes and looked thoughtful at just what I deserved. The relief flooding through me let me look around a bit more and spot Val glaring at me across the room, standing over the corpse of Kellogg, she looked between us a few times and finally sighed and gave him a kick.

"I'm as pissed as she is boss, but guess she can handle your stupidity. Honestly I'm more impressed now, ya actually did it... how the hell did you manage to take out this old bastard?"

Groaning back at her I forced myself back to my hooves despite Jade's fretting, "It wasn't easy... nnnn oww... If he wasn't so full of himself don't think I would'a, used a trick I never have before. Figured he had intel on me from the Institute, could only plan for things he knew I could do, not something totally new. Teleported the knife right into him."

The griffon's violet eyes widened and she rolled the body around, inspecting the deep wound in its chest and the ripping exit. "Teleported... holy hell boss, you can do that? Alright, I'm slightly less annoyed with you now, that is friggin awesome!"

Even Jade was distracted from her grousing at that, "You were able to... That is very good Fast, are you not glad I forced you to see Miss Corona and learn magic? It would seem keeping you working on her lessons every day was useful after all, was it not?"

"Yes Jade, you're right, as always. It saved me here, thank you. So er... how did you guys get in here, I was trying to take a healing potion and reach the controls, undo the lock on the door from here. What happened?"

With a reluctantly grateful look Jade pointed over to the small pegasus busily working the remaining terminals in here. "Scribe Wind was able to use my pip-buck to bypass the lock. Though it was difficult."

Looking up from under the brim of her red cap, Summer shrugged and smiled over to us. "Working through her pip-buck slowed things down, I couldn't talk her through it so I had to do it. You were right, she really doesn't know technical stuff at all. B-But we were both worried about you! Thanks for not completely destroying the command center Fast, just got the security lockdown released and the system running from here."

At her words my pip-buck gave a fanfare in my ear and flashed;

Mission Completed!: Reunions

Objective--
--Kill Kellogg

Optional Objectives--
----Help Brotherhood at Fort Haygone

"Good, glad I didn't totally wreck the place, was a little worried about that but... well Kellogg came first, sorry. So you're good here? Your friends from outside can get here?"

Steel Dance clomped up and gave a satisfied nod, "Yes indeed soldier, can't say I agree with your rash actions either, but it worked out. There's an express elevator back here to the roof, emergency escape for staff here, anytime we're ready to leave. If you can do something about that armor it would be a shame to just leave it behind, normally I'd commandeer it, but I'm alright with you keeping it."

Inching my way along to the empty power armor I spotted the problem. Kellogg had hit the connections to the power supply, a shielded and difficult target to hit, cutting it off entirely with one shot... I glanced over to the corpse and gave a shaky sigh, he was that good... and I survived. Jade and the others had good reason to be mad at me, by all rights I should be dead, if I couldn't do something he wasn't ready for... Best not to dwell on it, the repair wasn't a difficult one and while I didn't particularly care for using the heavy armor, it did come in handy sometimes, better to have one around if I needed it.

While I worked Zed came strolling in from a side hallway, actually getting me out of some of the trouble I was in somewhat. "It appears this Kellogg was not lying. There is an escape tunnel down this way, it was too long to follow but I assume it is how he came and went without dealing with the manticores. He could have escaped any time he wished had Fast not followed his demands."

Jade gave him a dubious look and huffed as I reconnected the armor's power system, she obviously didn't care for the zebra confirming anything in my favor. Val didn't look particularly happy with him either, but was busy rooting around in Kellogg's belonging, apparently happy with what she was digging up.

As I stepped back into the repaired armor she crossed the room and presented his huge revolver to me with a flourish. "Here boss, ya killed the baddest Gunner alive, you should have his piece."

"Er... ok... if you say so Val..." I had mixed feelings about taking the weapon that killed so many Shift 4 ponies in my Stable, along with who knows how many others. As I reluctantly floated it to my inventory my pip-buck went through an odd process I hadn't seen before, at first it identified it simply as 'Kellogg's Pistol', then with a flicker it changed the name it gave it to 'Vengeance' and settled down. Well... it wasn't Kellogg's pistol anymore, that was true, still it was odd. I really wondered at some of the strange things my pip-buck did sometimes.

"A-Alright... if we're done here, let's get outta this place. Other things to do and all, everybody ready?"

Everyone gave nods of affirmation, with minimal effort Jade wrapped Kellogg's corpse in some of the rags around the assorted skeletons in here and floated it up to her side with distaste. "You are sure we must take this corpse Fast? He deserves to rot in this tomb."

"I know, but I think he'll be useful. I'd like to take a look at his cybernetics and that pip-buck... thing on his hoof. I'll need your help with that, plus if things worked out well he might be even better to have around for a bit. Let's get back to Preston and see how things worked out."

Squeezing into the elevator this time was even harder with the body floating along with us, thankfully the express lift was a tad larger giving just enough space to manage the long trip in one go. When the doors opened with a 'ding' we were indeed on the roof, pelted with blowing rain from the storm raging out here. We piled out with relief and spread out on the roof, huddling under Jade's rain shield, the barrier storm had gotten worse.

A loud drone and the sudden splash of lights from above caught all of us off guard, well most of us, the two Brotherhood ponies didn't seem that surprised. Looking up into the skies to the west was a shocking sight, a huge, anvil shaped ship was breaking through the storm. Thick, billowing clouds were trailing from its sides, which should be enough to send it crashing down, the addition of a series of long metal cylinders above the giant cloud ship appeared to be what was keeping it aloft.

As I watched a number of Vertibucks sped out of the ship's hangar and darted off in different directions, a blaring amplified voice from above came just as my pip-buck informed me it had found a new radio signal. "Ponies of the Commonwealth! Do not be afraid, we are the Brotherhood of Friendship! We are here to help!"

Staring numbly up at the sight, Scribe Wind trotted over and joined me, quite pleased with herself by the look of it. "Impressive isn't it? It's a Cloudship, it's actually a..."

"Raptor Class..."

"Er... yes, it was wrecked during Operation... umm... C-Cauterize... but we refurbished it with help from our Applejack's Rangers friends. A little earth pony ingenuity helped make it a less susceptible to sonic rad-booms, and barrier storms thankfully. Glad to see she made it through, that's our Prydwen! How did you know what it was?" Scribe Wind looked proud of the ship buzzing by above us as it headed east across the Commonwealth, only slightly put out I already knew just what it was.

"My mom, she served on a ship like that... I saw pictures... They're still flying?"

The yellow pegasus looked confused for a moment, but waved it off. I hadn't exactly explained I was more than 200 years old to either her or Dance yet, it had become one of those things that slipped my mind when dealing with others. "Oh yes, we lost a lot when we... came to the surface the first time, but there are still quite a few up there, even a Thundercloud or two. I guess we need to get back to the police station, they're going to be looking for us... thanks a lot for all the help all of you, hope you got what you wanted Fast."

Steel Dance trotted over to his scribe and gave a salute, "Scribe Wind is correct, we're needed back at the station. Going to be a lot to report, including such a promising candidate for the Brotherhood. I do hope you'll consider joining Fast, at the very least come back to the station some time so I can introduce you to my superiors."

Summer brightened at that and fluttered in my face gleefully, "Oh yeah! Please do Fast, I can give you the grand tour of the ship! It's pretty neat, you'll love it!"

Jade sidled up immediately and curled a wing over me, her and the pegasus were doing better but she was still making certain things clear. "Umm... sounds good Summer, Dance, I would like to see that thing up close sometime. Still not sure about the whole joining up thing, but I really appreciate your help here, I'm glad we could help each other out again. We'll be sure to visit again when we can, you guys take care until then ok?"

The pair nodded and made their goodbyes, working their way over to the metal stairs leading down once the emergency escape ramps were released. The rest of us watched the the bulk of their order's ship making its slow way across the Commonwealth, blaring out its message, sending and receiving Vertibucks from its hangar as it went. We had helped bring something new to the Commonwealth... I wondered how that would change things.

The chilly rain gradually lessened as we made our way back to the raider camp surrounding the entrance to the Equestrian Ration Stockpile, I supposed now that the Brotherhood was here there wasn't much point. That put another mark in favor of the weather being guided by some intelligence, whoever it was it definitely wasn't the Lightbringer though.

Once we got within sight of the place I had to amend my description, former raider camp... The place looked like a warzone, which it basically was at this point. More than a dozen manticore corpses littered the crater riddled ground, along with a lot of ponies, both raider and Gunners. The ramshackle structures the raiders had built were completely demolished, the ground was a muddy, smoking ruin and the blood was still being washed away by the drizzle.

Preston spotted us approaching with his cadre of Minutemares and came trotting up, I noted with interest his crew was surrounding a trio in green armor, including a bloody and angry looking grey griffon, good. With a wave and tip of his hat Preston beamed at us, "Exciting night eh Fast? You have something to do with that big thing in the sky too? Guessing everything went well on your end, as you can see worked out here too. Didn't take much to mop up what was left, kept ahold of those Gunners that made it, they're none to happy with you. Nice armor by the way."

Clanking forward I released the armor and hopped out gratefully, I had no idea how Steel Dance stayed in one of those all the time, the smell must be amazing. I thanked Preston and gestured to Jade and her floating package, making my way to the Gunners glaring our way. The grey male griffon had deep black accents and burning yellow eyes that scowled into my own at my approach, Val joined us and chuckled at the prisoner.

"Hey there Char, see you made it through our little party mostly intact huh?"

The seething griffon hissed back at her, "Traitor! You set all this up!? You know how many of us just died in this insanity!?"

"Actually I did, it's not her fault, she just helped. Considering you're trying to kill both of us, forgive me if I'm not too broken up about your losses ok? Now then, I'd like to have a little chat with you, Char was it?"

"Why would I talk to either of you? You're nothing but bounties, if I was loose I'd rip that smug face off shorty!" Well he didn't have to get personal as he struggled against his bonds...

"Because, I want to talk to you about just that, bounties. Specifically claiming one and what I can get out of it." I floated out the wanted poster for Kellogg and hovered it in front of the griffon's sneering face for him to read.

After going over the paper he scoffed, "Bullshit. No one claims that bounty, it's impossible..."

Jade helpfully set her heavy load down in front of the trio of Gunners and unwrapped it to unbidden gasps as the bald head rolled free. "No way... you... you found him like that, you couldn't have..."

Val laughed and kicked the dead former Gunner, "Nope, boss killed the big bad himself, alone... Now I know my word ain't worth what it was, but I do swear on anything you wanna name, that's the truth. I'd listen to the little pony if I were you Char."

"Now then, if you're more inclined to listen, I believe this bounty is worth five times what I am right? 25 grand is a lot of caps isn't it? I'm not great with money, but I'd almost think you never expected to pay this bounty. I asked Val about a few things, unfortunately it seems I can't buy my own bounty right?"

The grey griffon was proving more cooperative now at least, "No, a contract's a contract, you can't pay to make it go away, only the one who took it out can cancel it."

"Right, I get that, I do. Keeping to the contract is important to you guys, no matter what it is. So, since I can't get mine canceled, my friend informed me of an alternative I'd like to explore. How much to buy your good behavior? From what Val tells me Kellogg's bounty ought to pay for you not to operate around the Kingdom of Sanctuary or its allies without permission right?

Frankly at this point I just want to be able to go home and not worry about you guys bothering me. If I'm the one who killed the legend none of you wanted to mess with, that ought to make me somepony you don't want to mess with too. But I want to sleep at night without keeping one eye open. I want a contract to keep you away. Considering the Princess of the place is right here I think we should be able to come to some kind of arrangement, right?"

The griffon didn't look too happy, but looked over the corpse, the Minutemares surrounding him, his two injured comrades, then me. "I give you this contract on behalf of the Gunners, you let us go?"

"Sure thing! I actually wish it hadn't come to this, the only reason it did is because you guys were trying to kill me though. The Princess here will even heal you fellas right up, she's itching to do it anyway just because you're hurt, only reason she's not now is we're talking. Are we done talking?"

He glanced over to the alicorn who was in fact anxiously waiting for the opportunity to treat the injured, even though they were Gunners. "Fine. Anywhere in the territory around this Sanctuary or within one of your allied settlements, you realize you're still a target anywhere away from your little corner of the Commonwealth. But within the range of your little 'kingdom'... no Gunners will operate without your leader's say so, this... Princess here, right? I'll need proof of the bounty you're using to pay for this too."

Val held one of her dark claws out and grasped the air impatiently, "Gimme yer knife boss, I know you want the rest of him, Gawd knows why."

Handing it over, I turned away from the fiery griffon engaging in the grisly work of neatly slicing the patch of hide on Kellogg's flank with all the numbers. The glimpse I caught made me a little queasy, but apparently those numbers would serve as enough of an identifier along with the grey griffon watching where it came from. Tearing the hide away with a wet, ripping sound, Val returned my knife and threw the chunk of meat at the other griffon's feet.

That was enough to strike the deal, as far as Char was concerned we had a contract he'd take back to the rest of the Gunners. Jade trotted forward and set about healing the wounded while I wrapped Kellogg's corpse back up and waited. Val had told me the leaders of communities could make deals with the Gunners to have them bow to local leadership, the expense involved however made Kellogg's bounty the best course to actually do it.

Now that it was done we just had to let Jade work and send them on their way, go back to Sunshine and Rainbows Co-Op and get Glitter then... we could go home, finally.

New Perk Added!-------------------------------------------

Nerd Rage--------------------
--Genius. Is. Angry! When your health drops below 20% your strength rises to 10, you gain deeper magic reserves and you gain 20% damage resistance while doing 20% more damage for a short time.

Quest Perk Added!---------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie Mask #42----------------
--Maybe it's because it's the visage of the creator of the party cannon, or because Kellogg held onto it? Whatever the reason this strange plastic mask grants +10 to the big guns skill! You're sure there's a story here though.