"How did you know?" The voice of Proctor Pop Quiz was quiet and interested, speaking behind me as I looked over the fallen suit of rusty power armor critically.

Shrugging I poked around at the suit with my magic, inspecting what was intact and what could explain seeing it walking around and trying to kill us on its own. "It moved wrong... I work on a lot of robots, it moved like one of them, not sure how though..."

Lt. Dawn released the helmet of her dark Shadowbolt armor to scowl at me, having regained her wits after nearly becoming a victim of the armor I was working on. "What if that was a ghoul?! There's a body in that thing, it could have been a Ranger! You just trust this zebra that it's a corpse?"

"Actually yes I do, so should you when it comes to this kinda stuff. If it was a ghoul my lightning would have just shut down the suit though. These things were designed my Ministry Mare Applejack to protect ponies above all else, they're pretty good at it. Just in case you still want to argue though..." I released the manual catches on the remains of the melted helmet, kicking it off to demonstrate my point, revealing the blackened skull of the occupant. "Ghouls don't look like that, that's just a skeleton."

With no further way to gripe for the moment, the annoyed lieutenant turned with a flip of her pale blue mane, storming off to check on her subordinates. The number of red dashes and that eerie wailing out in the halls of this old Steel Ranger base was distracting enough, I was glad to be rid of the lieutenant adding to it and returned to my inspection.

The pale Bunker Hill guard Drift had made his way close by while I worked, giving a short cough before gesturing with his rifle at the armor. "What's that there? On the back."

I had started checking the armor's systems, making sure it stayed down and then trying to figure out what was wrong with it. The rust and damage proved the repair talisman wasn't working, but my check so far showed it to be in perfect shape. I hadn't taken a look at the big picture in my interest though, there was something odd about the back of this suit.

A closer look where Drift had indicated revealed a strange... part? Something attached to the back of the armor, right down the spine and doing a good job of blending in.

"Good eye Mr. Drift... That doesn't belong there, must be what's controlling the armor..." I looked over the odd part carefully, it seemed to be tied into the armor's systems and immovable without a lot of work.

I didn't want to start spouting conspiracy theories right off the bat in front of strangers, but I knew the Institute had experimented on power armor in the Commonwealth from Fort Haygone. This wasn't benign like making them unicorn compatible, as the suit I had to leave home was, but it bore their hoof.

Proctor Quiz stamped his hooves beside me for attention and called out to the Brotherhood of Friendship ponies he was in charge of. "Alright, we still have a mission ahead of us and now we have an idea of the threat. Given our companions I believe we should discuss our options and make a plan of action."

"You still wanna go poking around down here? This place is a tomb with some nasty ghosts haunting it, maybe the one who got out had the right idea sealing it up huh?" Our Bunker Hill representative, Drift, spoke up, raising a good point.

Val waved one of her dark claws at our surroundings and the number of red marks in my vision all around us. "Not that I mind blowin' these things up and lootin' this place, but might wanna consider what he's sayin'."

Lt. Dawn still had her helmet down, showing an annoyed glare to the fiery griffon and guard as she turned on them. "Brotherhood troops don't give up on a mission just because of the unexpected! We came here with a goal and these... things aren't going to scare us off. You can run away if you want though."

The scowl Val wore as she stomped towards the former Enclave soldier had me worried things were about to get violent, calling Val afraid of anything was inaccurate and a big mistake. Thankfully Jade stepped between the two before they reached each other, blocking them off with her large wings and speaking soothingly to Val. "Easy Valkyrie, no one thinks you wish to run away. I am sure that was just spoken out of shock and... poor temperament..." She gave a momentarily unkind look to the lieutenant before continuing, "I believe we should continue to help, now that the door is open what would happen if these golems were to escape? Or if there are worse things further within? Bunker Hill may be in danger and we are here as a neutral party to help them and the Brotherhood."

My griffon mercenary still looked annoyed, but calmed slightly at Jade's soft urging, giving me a questioning glance for the final say so. "I think she's right Val." I shrugged to her and returned to poking at the weird part, something about it was bothering me, like one of those illusion pictures you had to stare at before you saw the old and young mare faces were both there at once.

That got her to back off from the lieutenant but she stormed over sullenly to grumble at me. "You always think she's right boss! S'not fair, I'm all fer lootin' an old Ranger base, but if all those marks are more of these? Power armor's annoyin' ta take down, specially if the pilot's already dead..."

Lowering my voice I answered in a conspiratorial tone, "I know Val, and I don't always think she is... mostly maybe... It's not just about playing nice with the Brotherhood and Bunker Hill either, or the loot though I bet there's plenty... It's because I think the Institute did this, that part is right up their alley. If they did I want to know why, and how, and anything else I can. That enough to put up with the snotty lieutenant awhile? Pretty please? I'm sure the toughest, meanest, most beautiful griffon bodyguard in the Commonwealth can manage for a little while right?"

Val snorted a laugh and fluttered her eyelashes, ruffling my mane and skewing my hat. "Watch that boss, bein' too cute for yer own good. Alright, so we keep goin', what's the plan poindexter?"

Proctor Quiz gave her a sour look at the nickname, shaking it off to pace in front of the armor and speak in a lecturing tone. "Very well... Let us assume there are more of these, that every suit of power armor in this base was so modified, how many would that be Scribe Butterscotch?"

After a lot of surprised scrambling through his packs, the young Scribe found the paperwork he wanted, reading off the numbers. "24 suits of... T-51s sir, 12 suits T-45s, and one suit of T-55 for the Elder, if records are accurate."

Continuing with his pacing, the Proctor acknowledged his Scribe with a nod and resumed. "So, 37 suits, 36 now of course... That's if every suit on this base was modified in this manner and they have all survived. Judging by the damage this one had already suffered, I believe that to be unlikely. Lt. Dawn, how many spark rounds and grenades do we have?"

"Standard compliment sir, 10% of loadout for everypony, Boomer may have more grenades than that, he does like to hoard them." The Lt. snapped off a salute and gestured off to the Steel Ranger armor beside her. The battle saddle with a missile launcher and grenade launcher setup had to mark the one of the pair called Boomer.

"Right, we all know our armors well enough to know how to disable them as well. We can rely on our stock of armor piercers to help there. From Paladin Dance's report I understand Mr. Times is a talented repair-pony as well, you have anything to add Fast?" Pop Quiz turned to me with honest curiosity and courtesy, I had to wonder what all Dance had put in that report.

"Not much, the repair talismans are disabled on this suit but working. If that's part of how they're doing what they're doing, the ones on the other suits may be out too. If so taking out limbs and weapons will work to stop them, easier target than the spell matrix housing here." I pointed out the area in question on the ruined armor, a small target on the stomach that was heavily shielded.

Proctor Quiz gave a quick nod and adjusted his glasses, "Excellent point. Lt. Dawn, if you would lead on we can resume our mission."

With a hiss the lieutenant's black helmet slid back into place and turned to the heavily armed Brotherhood troops. "You heard him! Phoenix squad, move out!"

Leaving the rusting armor with the strange addition reluctantly, I followed along and rejoined my friends in the midst of the Brotherhood guard. Striding forward through the ancient steel hallways, heading towards the terrible wails in the dark below in the rest of the base.

"Another resource seizing mission today, I know working with those eggheads helped us survive, but I still hate it every time we go somewhere like the Robronco factory for them, instead of something like a M.O.P. stash they just 'happen' to know about for the survivors still hanging on. It's still snowing up there, that horrible glowing green blanket keeps piling up, the skies haven't cleared since the bombs, new monsters are showing up every trip we take to the surface, it's hell up there and we're worrying about some robot factory? Safeguarding M.W.T. tech is one thing, but some of the things they want... I just don't get it. I'm not the only one either, there's been a lot of complaining in the barracks about some of the things they have us do and... oh gotta go, debriefing time, yay..."

Listening to a holotape recording we found in another of the empty living quarters on the first level, I got another bit of confirmation for my Institute theory. Of course 'eggheads' could be a lot of ponies, but I didn't think it was totally obsessive to believe it was the shadowy group of survivors that the mare I heard complaining in my ear was referring to.

The trip down to the second level had been quiet so far, the red marks on Eyes Forward Sparkle moved around us, but must be below the first level. Once down to the second floor, the young Scribe Butterscotch whispered to the rest of us fearfully, "Armory and training level... there'd be a lot of armor down here..."

His caution didn't seem to be shared by Lt. Dawn, who kept leading us down the flickering gloom without pause. I understood it better, but mainly because I was busy mulling over the facts we were working off of along with my own guesses. Jade walked close and gave my flank a playful bump with the bottom of her own, sending me staggering a few steps.

"Oh! I am sorry Fast! I meant to be a t-tad more gentle... You seemed absorbed in your thoughts, I grow concerned when I notice you brooding... What is wrong?" The big alicorn still didn't know her own strength sometimes, giving me a chuckle and rousing me from my thoughts as I recovered and she fretted with her deep blue eyes full of worry.

"It's ok Jade, push me around any time you want Princess, it's usually fun." She blushed and giggled despite herself, cocking an eyebrow and trying to look stern when she stopped for me to continue. "Just thinking is all. I think it was the Institute that modded that suit of armor. But any good tech working on them would see that added part and want to tinker with it. From this recording they were working with the Institute for awhile after the end, that would have been plenty of time to have figured out what it did. So did the Institute and these Steel Rangers just have a falling out one day and they turned on that part to control the armor, that the Rangers never did anything about?"

Jade gave me a kiss on the cheek and puffed up, sticking her nose in the air regally and answering with a lidded, sideways glance to me. "Well, their technicians were just not as good as you are Fast. They trusted the Institute without having a repair-pony of your caliber inspect it, that must be it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence sweetheart, but I don't buy it. They didn't totally like working with them, they wouldn't trust them, something just isn't adding up for..."

"Quiet! Three ahead, quit your flirting with that... her... and get ready in case we need that lightning of yours again." Lt. Dawn hissed through the speakers of her armor, pointing ahead with a wickedly armored and barbed tail to the steel door ahead marked 'Firing Range'.

"I can't do that a lot you know..." I tried to warn the lieutenant about the drain that spell still caused, but she and the other armored troops had taken up positions at either side of the door.

At the lieutenant's nod, one of the Steel Rangers slammed a metal hoof on the panel and the doors slid open in a rain of rust. The Brotherhood ponies instantly peeked around both sides of the open portal, the Rangers crouched low and the former Enclave hovering above them.

My view was obscured by Zed and Val waiting behind the bulky armored Brotherhood, but the look I got was enough. A chain link cage blocked off the bulk of the long room, steel counters and square holes cut in the barrier at regular intervals for firing ports, leading to a wide gate at the end hanging open. Beyond the small firing area three suits of power armor milled listlessly on the long range itself, barely reacting to the door opening.

"Move in, light em up!" Lt. Dawn kept her voice low before swooping into the room, her wingpony behind her, the heavy Steel Rangers tromped after them, taking up the old firing stations and opening up with their heavy weaponry. Val followed their example, taking one of the square gaps for herself and blazing away with a cackle as the long room filled with the roar of explosions.

I ran in with the others, but the firestorm beyond the fence limited my options along with Zed waiting patiently at the gate. My pistol was worthless against power armor, the Terrible Shotgun was slightly better if I used armor piercing slugs, of which I had a limited supply. I had Thump Thump, but was nearly out of rounds for the grenade launcher, Fort Haygone had wiped out my supply of the 40mm rounds along with my mines and grenades. The gauss rifle The Last Minute was my best choice, but I wouldn't be picking my shots with the blinding clouds of explosives obscuring my targets.

At least the Brotherhood had taken my advice, choosing to disable the suits limbs and weaponry, rather than use up valuable spark grenades and rounds to shut them down. When the raucous noise finally died down, three hunks of vaguely pony shaped armor whined and clicked as they wormed their way on the ground uselessly.

Lt. Dawn flew back and landed lightly with the rest of us, trotting forward to Proctor Quiz with a smirk when her helmet released. "See sir, easy pickings. We'll take out what's in our way, let your Scribes and science ponies figure out what went wrong with them from what's left, they're harmless now."

"What kind are they? Can you tell Ranger?" I called over to the armored pony with the anti-materiel rifle and combat shotgun battle saddle, out in the firing range to check the squirming remains.

His answer of two T-51s and a T-45 wasn't comforting, whatever modification had turned the armor on its masters affected both the older and newer suits. I had hoped it had only been done to one model or another, both meant the full compliment of power armor for this base could be against us, now 33 suits. The fireworks show that took these three down was impressive, but that was a lot of firepower for three suits, did they have enough for the rest?

Proctor Quiz must be thinking along the same lines I was, calling out to the smoky room from the doorway. "A standard Ranger base would have a large weapons storehouse nearby, to check firearms in and out for the range. It should be..." His searching scan of the room stopped short when it reached the bright red-orange griffon already inspecting the odd steel door in the corner frantically.

"Already on it! Hey boss, get over here, fancy lock on this one." Val urged me towards the door with the blinking terminal lock beside it, bouncing on her claws at the prospect of the weaponry potentially beyond.

It was a strange door, bigger than normal for a Stable or the ones so far and split in half horizontally. When I made it through the rather tough security, the controls confirmed the top half of the door would open and the bottom could stay up, making a simple counter for the armory clerk. I hoofed absently at the first 'open' command I found, the top half of the door sliding open with a hiss and a pile of bones clattering out into the room.

I leapt back in... surprise... The logical part of me knew it wasn't skeletons making the armor move at this point, but the idea of all the skeletons doing it maaaaay have seeped in a bit. The poor soul whose skull rolled across the floor just illustrated how ubiquitous skeletal remains were in the wasteland, if they really could all get up and move... I shuddered at the thought of an unending army of skeletal ponies swarming over the wasteland and turned away, looking in the armory past the lower half of the unfortunate pony that came tumbling out.

Val had no compunctions about deceased ponies, not waiting for me to open the lower half of the door, but flapping right through the gap and into the candyland beyond. There was a lot of weaponry in there for her to go through and she looked blissful surrounded by all that destructive power.

Her inventory of the goodies left behind brought her to posing a question over her shoulder, while she tossed rounds for her grenade machinegun in her packs of course. "Don't get it boss, they had the kaboom to take these things out like we are. Couldn't have all been in armor at one time right? The one that shut the door wasn't, so how come they didn't take more out?"

"They probably didn't want to hurt the pony inside the armor Val, if the suit kept them alive they'd be like a hostage. Couldn't go blowing off big chunks of the armor with somepony trapped in it." The chilly stare she returned made me shiver, adding on a qualifier to try to change that look that said she would. "What if it was me stuck in it? Or Glitter? Or Jade?"

A box of spark cells dropped to the floor from a shelf and her shaggy head peaked out from where she was stretching up to reach it, a wicked grin on her face as she winked to Jade. "Oh, Blue can regenerate! No problem there, just blow the legs off, she'll be fine! Guess I see what yer sayin' though boss, that would suck. One of yer buddies wearin' one of those things is fine one minute, then all the sudden..."

"Help... I-I can't move..."

"Yeah, zactly pal, way to bring it to life! That would be pretty bad alright." Val waved to the Ranger out in the firing range by the remains, complimenting his bit of acting that so eerily illustrated what she had been saying.

The frightened tone in his voice though, unless the Brotherhood had some kind of drama club and this pony was the star, that was too good... I stared at the frozen suit of red trimmed armor with worry, realizing the dead hulks near him had stopped squirming around on the ground.

"Ranger... you ok?" I asked, cautiously moving toward the gate.

"N-No... something's wrong, armor's systems just shit themselves... I.. I really can't move here Lieutenant, Proctor... I... HEY!" His yelp at the end helped convince me the sudden jerk of one foreleg straight out wasn't his doing.

My heart started hammering in my chest and I backed away from the armor, now lurching forward with stiff legged steps that were causing panicked yells from the occupant. The green mark in my vision slowly turning red and spotting that weird part now on the Ranger's back made my mouth dry up and taste sour.

"P-Proctor... Lt. Dawn... I think we have a problem..." I croaked to the others, unsure what to do faced with this new wrinkle, new parts didn't just show up from nowhere, did they?

The others had started reacting to the Ranger, now screaming while the armor around him continued forward and faced the group. "STOP! I'm- I'm not doing this lieutenant! Help! I-It's moving on its own! Like the others! H-Help! HELP! It's.. LT. DAWN, LOOK OUT! IT'S GONNA..."

His warning was cut short when the anti-materiel rifle at his side opened up with a crash, the round slamming into Lt. Dawn's chestplate and tossing her against the nearest wall. I turned to face her and a flicker of movement, along with the sudden gunfire and confusion, made activating S.A.T.S. a great idea.

The cool nirvana of frozen time let me look around at the situation as I cycled through the available targets, the Ranger was listed as red now for sure. The other ranger Boomer, and the second pegasus were both turned to their Lieutenant, lying in a heap on the floor. Jade looked like she was already moving towards her, Val had her weapons trained on the new enemy from the door to the armory and Zed looked to be dashing over to cover Jade, while the Proctor and his Scribe ducked behind the doorway.

Tabbing through all the available targets rewarded me with two that had moved too fast for me to follow, without the benefit of pausing the world anyway. The two new targets made me glad I could sit and stare without consequence for a moment, they were tiny, metal, basically pony shaped, with a set of glowing artificial magic wings like a Sprite-bot, along with a pair of long antenna from the head also brightly emitting violet light.

I didn't need the pip-buck displaying 'Cybreezie' under the target heading for the real name to float up from the murky depths of memory. "A Breezie? A... robot Breezie..." I thought to myself since the urge to murmur it aloud was stopped short, with my mouth frozen along with the rest of my body and the world.

Where'd I know that name? It tickled a very old memory that felt more vibrant than some entry in dad's Magical Creatures Manual from the Preservation Society. Colors... bright colors... that was all I could get. More interesting for the time being was what one of the little robotic targets was doing when I triggered S.A.T.S., it was currently hovering very near the back of the black suit of Enclave armor still in action.

More than just the position it was taking I was very concerned about how those long antenna were reaching towards the armor, the way it was holding its limbs, forelegs set to wrap around the shoulders and hindlegs straight back, the clunky thing looked vaguely like... the part... The weird part that was added to all the armor so far, it wasn't a mod the Institute made to the armor already, it added itself...

A surge of panic as the repair-pony in me put it together made me reassess the situation, those little robots suddenly became a lot more threatening. Looking over things now I could see Zed was heading Jade's direction, but was locked on to one of the tiny 'Cybreezies' flitting towards Lt. Dawn. I had no idea how he even followed the tiny target, it took S.A.T.S. for me to spot it but he must have started moving without it to help him.

I risked hitting him when things resumed if I went after the same target, trusting the zebra and his insane ninja-pony skills I turned back to the second Enclave armor. The robot I was convinced was trying to take over the armor had abysmally low odds to hit in S.A.T.S., switching to the Terrible Shotgun I used half the charge up on the robot and hoped for the best. The spread from the 12 gauge rounds might sting a little, but it wasn't going through the armor.

As soon as I confirmed my choice and time resumed the shotgun started barking, the fourth shot looked to blow the hind legs off the blurring little thing, but it was small and quick. I didn't feel that bad for not spotting them at the speed they moved, the wounded robot whipped its antenna around the armored neck and latched on to the back between the wings in one fast motion. A loud crunch near lieutenant stung a little though, Zed didn't have any trouble keeping up and nailing the winged robot against the wall with one hoof.

The one I partially hit did just what I feared, the head burrowed down to the armor at the neck, the wings powered down and the limbs clung to the gaps in the dark armor plates. To my horror the thing even regenerated its lost hindlegs once it was attached, blending in perfectly as just a additional part on the armor as it fell to the ground like a statue.

"Oh Luna fuck me! My armor's doing it too! HELP!" a frightened yelp came from the pegasus frozen on her side in the Enclave suit slowly turning on her.

"H-Hang on! Lightning! I'll disable them and..." Shutting them down entirely seemed the only safe option now that there were two red marks on E.F.S. matching my Brotherhood companions. The little robots must have some intelligence though, at the mere mention of the idea the head of the infected Ranger armor twisted around towards its own rump at a painful angle, eliciting a scream from within. The Shadowbolt armor followed suite, wrenching the unfortunate mare's hind leg out at an unnatural angle with a sickening crack and scream.

Only when my horn stopped sparking did the possessed suits stop torturing their occupants, just to resume trying to kill us. The Ranger suit clomped forward and slowly turned towards the next viable target, Jade administering healing magic to the lieutenant... I felt bad targeting an ally, but I knew who was more important and it passed quickly. A S.A.T.S. assisted gauss rifle round hammered directly into the deadly weapon at the Ranger's flank, pushing it off target and obliterating the receiver.

Zed saved the former Enclave trooper from being blasted by Val's explosives, these strangers didn't fall under my limited example so she didn't seem to have a problem targeting them. The spinning kick the zebra delivered right under the armored wings, the energy weapons mounted to them already glowing green, sent the soldier flying towards the stumbling Ranger suit.

"Out! NOW! Take her and let's move!" I shouted and started pulling at the unconscious Lt. Dawn, trying to get Jade to stop worrying over a patient and out of here, this was only going to get worse if we stayed.

The beautiful blue alicorn accepted my frantic command, scooping Lt. Dawn up in her magic and flying off with her draped over her back, diving through the half open door to the armory I pointed at. Ranger Boomer helped corral the Proctor and his Scribe, all of whom were reluctant to leave their comrades but effectively boxed in on choices. At my yell Zed followed, springing over me nimbly while I scrambled up the counter leading out alongside guard Drift. Val grabbed my mane and yanked me through, letting me go to dash over to the console on this side and shut the upper door, leaving the other Brotherhood ponies behind.

The deafening wails blasting from their speakers followed me like cries of condemnation as the door slammed shut, I clenched my eyes against the guilt over leaving them behind. There had to be some way to help them, but for now the only option was getting away.

Several twists and turns down the steel hallways eventually led us to clear office to hide and regroup. We had to dodge several more animated suits of armor on the way, I was starting to get the idea it wasn't just my guilty conscience making it seem like the loud wails they voiced were following us.

With two more companions still wearing power armor that could turn on us, I was unwilling to engage any more of the possessed suits. Calling on Knight Boomer to use spark grenades only on the ones we had been unable to avoid safely shut them down, but there weren't a lot of those to burn. Two less after getting caught in a dusty gym by three more of the skeletal suits.

Lt. Dawn had the breath knocked out of her from the hammering blow of the anti-materiel rifle and a couple broken ribs, but she was awake and grudgingly under the care of the doctor alicorn fretting over her. "We... h-have to go back! Save Knights Oak and Cloud! We..." She groaned from the floor, Knight Boomer, Proctor Pop Quiz and his Scribe hovering nearby.

"We have to think. You have to get out of that armor and let me disable it, both of you." I answered absently, rifling around the office we were sheltered in. A small room, crowded with all of us in here, a simple steel desk with a glowing terminal, a locker and weapon racks on the walls, a tiny attached bedroom with a locked chest for Val and a closet sized bathroom with shower. Not much, but luxurious compared to the barracks and communal living upstairs, the skeleton sitting at the desk must have been important.

The injured lieutenant snorted and pushed herself up with a wince, "Get out of... are you crazy? How are we supposed to fight those things without our armor? Disable them? What is wrong with you?"

Thankfully Proctor Quiz and Knight Boomer stepped in and got her caught up, the armored Knight already disengaging his Steel Ranger armor helped convince her. Their bit of exposition gave me a moment to tap away at the terminal, I gently shoved the skeleton away and was totally not worried it was going to jump up and attack.

A bit of calming hacking unlocked the terminal, revealing this was the office of Star Paladin Mustard. I looked up to check on the others before diving into the files, Jade was still busily tending the lieutenant who was arguing with her Brotherhood comrades, Val was rooting through everything in the office unconcerned, only Zed looked like he wanted attention quietly hovering nearby. I held a hoof up to the zebra, asking for a minute while I perused the information in the terminal and thought.

Star Paladin Mustard's Log #280

Those C.I.A.T. bastards are pushing their luck, we were happy to get in contact with anyone when they reached us, but they're dictating our objectives now? I agree with the Elder, working with them has been beneficial, they're smart and... eerily well informed, but they seem to have misunderstood the nature of our relationship. The school was a military contractor, they're our subordinates as this is definitely a military operation.

Elder Cane is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, looks past some of the things they want us to acquire for them, areas they want secure Celestia knows why, anything they want it's all sunshine and smiles. Meanwhile they're sitting on a hoard of advanced tech that properly belongs under M.W.T. care, our care...

Star Paladin Mustard's Log #372

Sparkle World!? Really, Sparkle World?! That tears it, a lot of us have been getting fed up with the objectives we've been getting, but securing the amusement park? Enough is enough, who knows why they want some cola themed Fun Farm, but we all know who issued the bullshit objective. A full detachment already on their way out, one third of our strength sent out on some lunatic wild goose chase.

No more, I've had scouts on the job tracking those Institute robots, they disappear at a dozen spots in the city, but big stuff nearby always goes to Mareford or further north towards Neighlem. They've got a lot more than they claim, records we have are way too spotty, redacted horseapples! Still, more than enough left to have to wonder what they're holding out on us.

Drawing up plans to hit Mareford, sweep it clean in one attack, find where they take all that salvage and put 'the Institute' in their place. Have to convince the Elder, but the cracks are showing there, think even he's fed up.

Star Paladin Mustard's Log #375

Armor's killing us! Recon 3 came back from scouting the hospital, weapon malfunction resulted in friendly fire fatality on the way in... They got back and the armor started... started killing us! Beta squad goes in, then they get taken over too! How!? Doesn't matter, calling off use of all power armor, sent Squires in with spark grenades and they said they could hear Rangers screaming in the suits, scared em off. Can't believe... Hey! I said no armor out there! What do you think you're...

That last entry had to have ended with all the gunfire pocking the wall, desk and chair I had moved, along with the chair's occupant. So this is what happened to this base, those little robots turned the Rangers against each other, killed them using their friends and family, made them kill those they loved or die themselves.

Now we had gotten snared in the same trap. But there had to be a way out, right?

I looked away from the monitor with a sigh and nodded to Zed, still waiting patiently. At my attention the stoic zebra strolled over and dumped a bundle of scrap from his hooves onto the metal desk with a tinkle of tiny parts. "One of those... things, it is robotic, I thought you may be interested."

Not only had Zed managed to track and smash the little thing, he actually thought to hold on to the remains. I had to give it up to the zebra, his skills were impressive and he kept his head in a pinch. What was left of the robot was mostly a flattened plate of a torso in a basic hoof shape from Zed's blow, the crystalline head had a mouth that looked disturbingly like a pip-buck universal patch connector, the hair thin filaments of the wings and antenna were powered down and dark.

"Thanks Zed, I am definitely interested. How'd you know.... I mean you were right on top of it, I barely spotted them." I gratefully poked and prodded at the scrap parts on the desk, marveling that anypony could make a robot this small and complex.

Zed gave a shrug while I worked, "I have faced many types of foes in the Commonwealth wastes, these were not the fastest and were brightly lit. I saw one detach from the other armors and went after it, your pip-buck thing said it was hostile." He shook his hindleg bearing his own device to demonstrate.

My tinkering attracted the attention of Proctor Quiz and Val, the skinny unicorn looking over the parts with interest as Val squinted and poked a claw at them. "Is that a... a robot Breezidore? Where'd ya get that boss?"

"Breezidore? It's a Breezie Val, er... a Cybreezie apparently, this is what took over the armor."

She gave me a confused look for a moment, shrugging as she poked at the scattered bits. "Breezie? Must be some pre-war name boss, sure looks like a Breezidore ta me. Smaller wings though, so this little thing is what's screwin' with the power armor?"

Jade perked up at the conversation and hovered near the limping Lt. Dawn as she made her way over. Taking on a lecturely, teachers tone, the alicorn peeked over the group gathering around the desk and gazed at the robot with her wide blue eyes. "Breezies were a species of unique magical creature Valkyrie, they once made regular migrations across Equestria to their own magically sealed pocket realm. They were subject to the breezes and weather patterns however, after the bombs and with the lack of pegasi looking after such things, it is believed most left on Equis would have died. By your alternate name I can only suspect some may have mutated into these Breezidores you know here in the Commonwealth. This creation appears modeled after the pre-war version of the creatures, if you would like to see I have a lovely picture of..."

"Yeah, yeah Blue, thrilling stuff. More interested in the little murder machine though." Val waved off the detailed explanation, causing Jade to deflate with a whinny, bringing a cute pout to her features that made me smile despite the situation.

"Fascinating... A miniature robot, capable of usurping control of Steel Ranger and Enclave armor. You saw this Mr. Times?" The Proctor had picked up the head of the tiny robot in his magic, turning it this way and that to examine it, only helping the curious griffon in scattering my work across the desk.

Lt. Dawn sidled next to the Proctor and snorted, bringing a wince to her stern features. Out of the armor she was a fairly attractive mare, wearing a tight purple flight suit, with the familiar Shadowbolt yellow lightning design and three apples stitched to the flank, along with a holster for a small energy weapon. Her personality soured her appearance though, shining through as she grumbled down at the remains. "This thing!? This is what took over Oak and Cloud's armor? What the hell is it and how do we kill them?"

"It's a robot, obviously. Yeah I saw it take over the other Rangers Proctor Quiz, it latches on to the back, then boom, it's in charge. As for killing it... I'm not sure, it takes over the suit's repair talisman for itself, but you could blast it off if you had a shot. A spark grenade or my lightning spell would shut it down along with the armor, why we didn't have to deal with the first one we ran across.

Unfortunately they seem somewhat smart, if simple. They make that wailing noise to draw all the others towards targets I think. Plus if they detect a threat they threaten the live hostages they now have, to save Knights Oak and Cloud we'd have to hit them without them seeing it coming."

Guard Drift had been tapping through the terminal, adjusting his helmet to gesture at the desktop. "Probably have a way of makin' more of themselves I'd think. Logs here say it started with one suit out on patrol, then happened to the rest when they got back." That was something I hadn't considered, but sounded reasonable, adding to my worries.

"Then that's what we do, go out there, find Oak and Cloud and sneak up on them if that's what it takes! You hit them with that lightning of yours and get them out of those deathtraps! Come on!" The Lieutenant stamped her hooves and shook, rearing to go despite the pained look that brought.

"I tried to tell you, I can't do that often. We'll get them back, but there are a lot of those suits tromping around and I've got two, maaaybe three shots like that left in me. If they get out, or do make more of themselves... you Brotherhood ponies brought a loooot of power armor into the Commonwealth. Or what if they can take over more than just armor? Robots? Computer systems? I think the one who escaped had the right idea, they can't get out. We need a way to take out all of them, a way they won't see coming so we can save your friends."

I was grateful I had never seen one of these things out in the Commonwealth before, that didn't mean they weren't out there as I was sure the Institute could make more, but no reason to worry over that for now. My brain was plenty busy enough trying to figure out a way to manage the current problem, some way to...

"You mean like... trap them?" Young Scribe Butterscotch voiced my troubled thoughts meekly from beside the Proctor, at my nod he looked nervous continuing but pressed on. "If that noise they make is them communicating... it sounded like the suit's emergency beacon. W-We could rig up the helmets of these two to make the same noise, draw them where we want?"

"Yeah! Good thinking Scribe Butterscotch! If we get them all in one place and clumped up... maybe I can hit enough at once..." My enthusiasm over the young buck's idea drained slowly, if one third of the suits on base really were gone that still left 24 to hit in one shot. That was more than I thought I could manage, unless they all conveniently crowded together, out in the open and I used the spell at full blast.

"How many of them spark grenades you got there Ranger?" The pale guard Drift called over to Knight Boomer, giving a whistle at the pile of blue banded grenades he hoofed out from his empty armor. "Happen to have a little experience with things that go boom myself, if you wired them up to blow together, could probably get all of them haunted suits at once. Bet I can even give em a little boost with your help Fast."

Choosing not to dwell on how a Bunker Hill guard had that kind of specialized knowledge, I clutched to the beginnings of a plan, working out the details with the others as quickly as possible.

Some time later I was pulling conduit from the walls of the large cafeteria, helping Drift with his clever wiring job to the spark grenades scattered around the big room. Val and Lt. Dawn had each taken one of the armor helmets Scribe Butterscotch and I had wired to make the same loud wail as the possessed suits, each going to a different section of the base to start drawing them all this way.

Jade, Zed and the others were shoving the metal tables into a series of barricades facing the main doors. From the look of the battered room it seemed like the Rangers had tried the same thing, skeletons were scattered behind each long table they lifted back up, the remains of their weapons nearby.

Hopefully this would work out better than the stand they tried to take...

Guard Drift paused in his twisting of several stripped wires together with his green magic, raising an eyebrow as spoke behind the furthest barricade back from the doors where all the wires led. "Breezie huh? Never hear anypony call em that, Commonwealth only knows them as Breezidores."

"I only know the pre-war name, when I saw that robot it just came back to me." I shrugged and floated over more conduit to the guard pony, still puzzling over that vague memory of bright colors tied in my head to the creatures for some reason.

Jade surprised me by solving my difficult attempts at recollection, trotting over and smiling sweetly. "Yes, I am jealous you actually got to see their last migration Fast, what were real Breezies like?"

That wide eyed look of awed interest she was giving just added to my confusion, I hated to disappoint her but... "What? Er... I dunno? I saw them? Really?"

"Yes! Do you not remember? I have a lovely picture of you as a foal surrounded by them. I am quite sure, it is one of my favorites of you and... v-very cute..." The smirk Drift was giving the two of us made her turn bright red at the admission she had favorite cute family pictures of me, but it did dislodge a bit more of the memory.

"I sorta... kinda... remember. The migration was a big deal, all the grown ups were excited and we had company. I guess I did, I'd like to see that picture when we go home again though, it's all pretty fuzzy."

The big blue filly managed to turn even redder, twisting a hoof into the floor and shrinking with further embarrassment under Drift's snickers as she meekly admitted, "I... Y-You can see when we return to our room... I d-did say it was one of my favorites..."

Approaching wails growing louder down the halls saved her from continuing, seconds later first Lt. Dawn then Val came swooping in the large room. Both fliers dumped the Steel Ranger and Enclave helmets that were still blasting out that siren cry to the middle of the room, then took cover behind some of the tables and watched the entrance.

Val was sweating lightly and panted over to me from her spot, "Hope we're good to go boss... cause they're comin'!"

Guard Drift cursed under his breath and sped up his work with the wires snaking across the room. Judging by the clanking and warbling cries coming from the door, we didn't have long so I hoped he was nearly done. I strained to lift another long table and shove it in the corner to cover his work, calling out to the others as I drew my weapons.

"Ok here we go! Proctor, Scribe, Jade, back to the kitchen where it's safer. Everybody else, we get to be bait until they crowd in here. Remember, it's ok if some get away, but the two Knights have to be in here before we trigger this!"

Proctor Quiz and his Scribe dashed off to the moldy kitchens behind us as planned, Jade however plopped her rump down beside Drift still engaged in his frantic wiring and looked thoroughly immovable. Sticking her nose up and huffing at my expectant stare, "I am not leaving. You must stay out here and be a target, I intend to do the same."

This would have been a point to argue over, had the first suits of animated power armor not made it to the door and started clomping in. The thump and crash of Val's grenade machinegun started up, giving me a chance to dive behind the barricade in the corner with Drift and Jade, hoping the others could keep their attention.

A series of pink beams shot out from Lt. Dawn's position, cutting into the cloud of explosives unleashed by Val and Knight Boomer tossing more of his supply of grenades into the fray. The tan earth pony in the red jumpsuit wasn't as intimidating without his armor, the full heavy weapons battle saddle was too much to carry without it. His skill with just the grenade machinegun and the amount of explosive apples he had on hoof was making up for it.

I had Paladin Dance's old grenade launcher Thump Thump out and ready, but didn't want to give away our position unless I had to. The others dodged from one bit of cover to the next after firing, keeping the empty armor that was now steadily streaming into the cafeteria confused.

If nothing else I was glad the Cybreezies seemed to have such simple programming, they had a few set responses that were annoying, but they didn't handle complicated problems well. Watching as one of the armors opened up with a light machine gun, peppering a metal table with rounds until it clicked dry, while Val had already snuck away from the position, the repair-pony in me guessed it must be a limitation of making the robots so small. Of course they were close to 200 years old now, I shuddered to think what they had done with these little monsters in the meantime...

Intelligent or not, I could see how effective they could be using their strengths. They were an irresistible tide, how quick they were mattered less and less with the amount of fire they were starting to fill the room with. Worse yet, I spotted the captive Knights being moved to the front of the crowd, used as living shields while the rest moved in.

"Drift... I hope you're done, now would be a great time..." I hadn't exactly been keeping a running total, but if this kept up we'd get overwhelmed, already I could see all of our defenders were bleeding from an assortment of wounds.

"Almost... where... Dammit! Hang on, hit it when I yell alright!" The Bunker Hill guard's eyes darted all over his taped together knot of wires, following one out beyond our barricade and spotting a break. Drift dashed out into a hail of fire floating his roll of tape and wire cutters with him.

The open movement was plenty for the armor attacking us to track, the ripping roar of a minigun traced behind his desperate dive to the break and stitched his flank before Drift could roll behind cover and start patching the wire. Watching the guard bleeding in a puddle below him was too much for Jade, her blue shield bloomed around her and the alicorn flew out to start healing, heedless of the number of suits now firing in our direction too.

A missile streaked out from the crowd and barely missed her, thanks to a graceful dodge as she landed beside Drift. The close call made my heart race as I pranced anxiously in place, "Any time now Drift!"

I saw the pale unicorn fumbling at his patch while Jade healed him, through the blue tint of her shield that was weakening under all the fire it was attracting. Finally the wire was repaired and he gave a raspy shout above the roar filling the room, good enough for me. I focused on the terminus of all the wires, a steel bar broken off one of the benches in here, now made into a lightning rod for me to unload my spell on.

KRACKA-THOOM!!

Half my remaining magic went into the blast of electricity, channeled down the nest of wires and out to the clusters of spark grenades hidden throughout the room and hallway beyond. However guard Drift knew to do it, the result was as advertised. The spell boosted the power of the grenades, all of them exploding in a sparking blue haze that filled the room.

Being at the edge of the field tingled, but the effect was more pronounced on the armor, every suit jittered and fell dead under the assault, leaving the room silent when the storm passed. Jade's shield faded and she peered around the room, unaware her mane and tail were comically sticking straight out in a static filled puffball, along with everyone else's in the field.

Val poked her shaggy head up from her latest bit of cover, her feathers sticking straight out and sparking with static. She scanned the room with her violet gaze and gave a screeching victory whoop, along with the sudden disappearance of every red mark on E.F.S. it seemed like a good sign we won.

One of the crumpled suits of armor in a heap near the doors called out, breaking the cautious silence. "Yay... now could somepony get me out of this thing!"

"Can't trust the computers anymore, writing my logs down from now on where they can't get them. After the bombs fell, when the school contractors got in touch it was a gift from Celestia and Luna. They knew where everything was, what to prioritize, had plans in place, why wouldn't we trust them? I had a good idea how much they had in the way of resources, hidden away behind sealed records and dummy companies.

Last conversation was a little too threatening though, made it clear they don't need us and are aware of some of the complaints on base. Refuse to explain the things they want, but heavily implied what would happen if they consider us a threat to their 'research'... Starting to think those ponies have completely cracked, Mustard may have the right idea, better to get them under control now. Just have to be careful, who knows what they can listen in on here.

Agreed with their amusement park request, partly to keep them happy and partly because I know just how much of a hoof they had in that Flim Flam, Hippocratic project. Rangers are mad about it, but with or without them it's an installation worth taking. Shows how nutty they are though, some of the arcane science they put into a kiddie park, untested technology, experiments... completely bonkers. No wonder the world ended up like this..."

The leather bound journal from the Elder's office that Proctor Quiz let me read filled in the last of the story here. The Elder's concerns over being spied on were well founded, but too late. The Institute got the idea the Steel Rangers were going to be a threat, so they removed the problem.

With no more Rangers in the Commonwealth and thus few suits of the armor, I could only hope the deadly little Cybreezies were unneeded and forgotten. Proctor Quiz was as disturbed as I was at the thought of more of them attacking the wealth of the suits the Brotherhood had brought in, promising to study and attempt to head off the threat on his return to their cloudship.

The Cybreezies were practically custom made to wreak havoc and destroy the power armored order. The zebras may have used robots during the war, making them an effective weapon if they could take them over as well, but the damage they had done here proved how well they could be turned against Equestria's own. It was as bad as Ironshod's making the anti-materiel rifle after the Steel Ranger was completed, a weapon to out do the last weapon... Maybe we really did deserve what happened in the end, maybe there was just no other way it could end except in megaspells.

I returned the book to the Proctor and walked over to Jade, still fussing over the injured. She had treated the two hostage Rangers and the worst injuries first, now she was back to Drift and his bullet riddled flank, pouring healing magic into him and stitching the wounds back together, despite his protests.

"Really Mr. Drift, stop your fidgeting and allow me to work. I staunched the bleeding but must tend the wounds properly." She lectured the guard pony unsuccessfully trying to get away from her care.

I could have told him trying to argue with her was pointless, holding his hooves up and trying to wave her off was not going to dissuade the doctor alicorn from her duty. His latest escape attempt just prompted her to grab him in her magic and move him as she pleased, the glow of her healing taking effect revealed what was behind his struggle.

The snowflake cutie mark on his flank that had been shot was... peeling away? A false mark, like a Nightmare Night costume sticker. A bit of color from the real mark was showing through the holes before the guard yanked his tattered coat down to cover it and gave a nervous chuckle. "N-Nothing to worry about there Princess, I'm fine. Er... don't suppose we could keep this quiet huh?"

Jade puzzled over the deception silently, while I lowered my voice for now and put a bit of the Shroud in it for good measure, "That depends Mr. Drift, keep quiet from who? and why?"

Drift gave the Brotherhood ponies clustered together comforting their rescued comrades and sidelong glance. "Well from them definitely... Just in general if possible. Sorry to be so sneaky, part of the job and I wanted a chance to see what you and the Princess were all about up close."

"What job? Who are you and why did you want to spy on us? I do have a griffon friend over there that will happily claw the answer out of you if I ask Mr. Drift." Keeping my volume down was a struggle, my eyes were burning at the spy still held in Jade's magic. If I didn't start getting good answers all sorts of unpleasant things could start happening, regardless of Jade's 'tsk' at my threat.

"Easy there Fast... I'm a friend, really! I'm with a group that has to be very, very careful who we open ourselves to. This isn't the first time I've kept an eye on you, started following the stories since you ponies showed up in Sanctuary and started helping, saw you in Diamond City. We're on your side I promise!" Drift whispered in a rush, trying to look harmless and pleading.

"I don't like being spied on, straight answer or I start yelling Drift. Now..."

The white unicorn slumped in Jade's grip, his blue yes darting around the room under his dark mane before relenting. "It's Beacon... Bright Beacon, guess this cover's blown anyway so I can say that much. I'm putting a lot of trust in you two but... let's just say you didn't overhear that argument about the Railroad on accident when you got here."

"The Railroad?" Speaking at just my normal volume in surprise sent Drift.. Beacon... into a flurry of waving hooves and begging for quiet, making me continue in a whisper again. "The Railroad? You work for them? Why all the secrecy, what's going on?"

"That's all I can say, sorry. It's for our protection, we have certain powerful enemies in common and I can't put anypony else at risk. We want to help, but we have to be cautious, so please keep this quiet. If you want to know more.. When you get out of here and cross the river, I suggest you do a little sight seeing, maybe take in the Rainbow Trail..." I pressed further, but the cryptic comment was the most the spy was willing to give up.

Jade gave a prim little huff and resumed her work with a frown. "I do not appreciate being lied to either Mr... Beacon. I only hope your reasons are good, now hold still and let me finish."

Val bounded over dragging a heavy sack of her 'finders fee' behind her, with Zed following sedately in her wake, ending the whispered conversation. Beacon... now Drift judging by the way he returned to normal like putting on a mask, silently pleaded with his eyes but said no more. Whatever the Railroad was they were against the Institute from what little I heard in Bunker Hill, meaning despite my distaste at the deception I was willing to go along for now in the hopes of talking with them.

"Nice haul here boss, ready to blow this place? The extra caps are gonna be great when we get to Goodneighbor!" Val beamed over her sack of loot, oblivious to any problems.

"Sure Val, let's get back to the others, see if Miles and Magnolia are back yet." I eyed Beacon warily as Jade finished and released him, tugging his coat further down and ambling off innocently. All the questions aside, I was tired and ready to leave this place, my pip-buck chimed with my thoughts on this secretive Railroad as we started the climb back to Bunker Hill.

Mission Added: Road to Freedom

Objective--
--Follow the Rainbow Trail

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

Hobbler-------
---- Chop them down from the ground up! With the Hobbler Perk, your chance to hit an opponent's legs in S.A.T.S. is significantly increased. You gain a +25% chance to hit a targets limbs!

Reputation Change!--------------------------------------

Bunker Hill-- Accepted
Considering the threat that was locked up under them, the ponies of Bunker Hill should be a bit friendlier. Convincing them to become allies is still a ways off, but you've given them a reason to trust you.

The Railroad-- Neutral
This clandestine group is aware of you and has extended a very vague invitation through their spy Beacon. Following up on it is up to you, from the sound of it they're waiting on the other side of the river...