Good morning Commonwealth! And what a crazy morning it's shaping up to be huh? For those sleepyheads just waking up, you missed a lot of excitement last night that looks like it's just getting warmed up. First off, I advise all my listeners without a death wish to avoid the entire area of downtown Trotson surrounding the Public Library, that's important folks, remember it for later.

As for the why, well... details are sketchy, but the effects are easy to see for yourself. Seems somepony stirred up a hornets nest, I have a good idea of the likely culprit and hope our favorite dark hero is alright. Let's see... where to start, well let's address some of the more frantic reports that have come into the station.

Yes, there are alicorns all over downtown Trotson and beyond, everypony stop freaking out about it and just calm down, they're ponies just like us, apparently some very pissed off ponies, but still ponies. The mares of Trinity Tower have come out of hiding, we've got sightings in a much wider area around their home than ever before and from what I'm hearing there are a whole lot of them visiting Goodneighbor itself, even rumors of them speaking with Mayor Shamrock in some kind of negotiations! Princess Jade of Sanctuary is believed to be acting as a go between, as the sightings of her keep pouring into the station in connection to her relatives from the tower. I just want to say personally, I hope everything is alright and... well I hope a certain alicorn is ok most of all.

The mysterious mares aren't the only thing flying around Trotson this morning though, the Brotherhood of Friendship is all worked up and their Vertibucks are buzzing the Trotson Library constantly. Former Enclave pegasi are everywhere in downtown and patrols of Steel Rangers are digging in and directing everypony away from the area.

The Brotherhood are joined in this strange operation by a horde of Minutemares trickling into the area all night long. So far their focus has been the safety of the ponies of the Commonwealth, setting up a wide cordon around the Library and helping scavvers and settlers in the area evacuate. The Followers of the Apocalypse are right with the Minutemares too, throwing up emergency medical tents nearby and helping anypony that needs it.

What's the cause of all this hubbub? Why is the Trotson Public Library shaping up to become a warzone? Who pissed off so many ponies at once? Well from what we're getting at the station, a coterie of the Church of Balefire was uncovered there. One might wonder why anypony would bother with the secretive sect of fanatics, but if you want this DJ's opinion it's not about the religious ponies, but about who's behind them.

I don't want to jump the gun here, but indulge me in a little opinion folks, I think it's important. Everyone in the Commonwealth knows their name, spoken in whispers and fearful voices, I think it's high time we address the dragon in the room loyal listeners, I'm talking about the Institute. It's been a long time since anyone tried to take a stand against the mad scientists hiding in the shadows, but I think it's about to happen now.

We all know they're powerful and dangerous, most of us hope to never cross them and just live our lives. That's not good enough though, the Institute plays with us like we're toys here for their amusement, not ponies just trying to survive. They mess with us, I for one am glad to see somepony messing with them for once. Things have got to change guys, it's time we took a stand.

Mile's voice from a nearby radio penetrated the fog I was in, acting as a lifeline to consciousness as I slowly woke up. Opening my eyes revealed the source of the insistent shoving that helped me shake off the last of wisps of sleep, Angel was nudging me awake, a worried expression on the face she shared with Moondancer.

"Ugh... I-I'm up... gimme a sec..." I groaned and lifted my head, taking in my surroundings curiously.

I never thought I'd be glad to see wasteland ruins, but after the immaculate and sterile halls of the Institute, the musty and crumbling room I found myself in was a relief. I had been out here long enough now that being in a place that was as clean and new as the old world felt wrong, the ratty red carpet, peeling wallpaper, sunken ceiling and aging junk surrounding me was more like it.

I spotted former Overmare of Stable 114, Fancy Star, sitting in front of a battered old radio in the corner morosely as the music started. She had been down there longer than I had, she must be curious about what was going on in the Commonwealth. The radio report I struggled to remember and puzzle out didn't fill me with relief, a war was brewing in downtown Trotson, one I was probably at least partially the cause of...

Pushing myself to my hooves had become a real effort, my muscles ached and twitched, my back burned incessantly, my head ached and my stomach gurgled uncomfortably. Angel worriedly helped me up and looked me over, letting me lean on her as she led me to a formerly expensive office chair behind the big, circular desk that was the focus of the room. The rusting metal name placard caught my eye as I passed it, reading; 'Hospital Director--Dr. Dala'.

I settled into the still comfortable chair with a grateful sigh, looking up to Angel checking me over in concern and speaking in a rush. "Good, you're finally awake, it hasn't been long Fast but I'm pressed for time. Are you feeling alright? N-No.. no of course not, are you feeling well enough to move rather?"

"Ugh... gimme a minute... W-Where are we?" I winced and checked my pip-buck's map, now once again able to place me in the Commonwealth and answering my question ahead of Angel in a flash of text; Discovered Location: Mareford Memorial Hospital.

"We are in the Doctor's old office, in Mareford... I'm sorry, I couldn't risk teleporting anywhere close to my destination Fast. Patriot set the relay in Biosciences to overload after we went through, but the Institute will be swarming this area soon enough... You have to leave, as soon as you can." Angel anxiously answered, pointing to her Cybreezie necklace as the reason we weren't immediately followed.

I looked around the office in thought, getting a better picture now that my head was clearing up a bit. A section of bookshelves on one wall was out of place, a hidden door standing open and leading to a smoking teleport platform. Of course, if this was Moondancer's office at the hospital, she'd have a teleporter right on hoof to travel as she liked.

The broken windows ringing the room showed a cloudy morning sky, the sun trying bravely to brighten the gloom in the east. We looked to be fairly high up from what I could tell from my position, I wasn't in any rush to try walking over to look down though. Instead I turned to Angel, thinking over her tone and nervous prancing.

"I have to leave, what about you? You sound like you're not coming Angel."

She shook her head sadly and spread her wings, pointing out the windows facing south. "No, I am not Fast, I'm sorry. I have to leave immediately, I can't allow myself to be recaptured. I'd take you with me, but my flight abilities are not designed to carry passengers... You will have to make your own way, and quickly! Be careful leaving, this is a bad place..."

I stared at my pip-buck map of the Commonwealth, going over the long distance between me and Goodneighbor far to the south. Walk? All that way? Crawl maybe... ugh... I didn't feel like moving period, yet those miles separated me from Jade, Glitter and Val. I had to find a way to cross them, no matter what it took.

I noticed Fancy glaring at her own bejeweled pip-buck, looking over to us with a petulant wail. "What about me! You send us to the freaking middle of nowhere and just flutter off!? I'm nowhere near where they took me, I have to get back, find Freya and my snuggleboo!"

Trying to ignore her whining, I tapped at Moondancer's terminal on the desk absently, picking up a copy of the 'Canterlot Journal of Internal Medicine' on the desk and nodding to Angel, shrugging off Fancy's complaints. "Alright, thank you Angel, I think I get why you're anxious to get outta here. Go on, scoot. I'll be fine... fine-ish, don't worry about it, just get going and take care of yourself. Will I ever see you again?"

The synthetic alicorn smiled sweetly and kissed my cheek, whispering in my ear before she pulled away. "Thank you Fast, I'm sure we'll meet again. Just follow the Rainbow Trail... I... I hope when we next meet, you are... in good health..."

I scratched the irritating itch on my back and sides and waved her off with a blush, "Yeah, me too... If I'm not, well... thanks again Angel. No matter what happens, we're both free at least huh? Go on, get out of here already."

Her manicured eyebrows set in a determined line and she nodded, spreading her cream colored wings and launching herself out the window, sparing a final glance back as she sailed out into the grey sky to the south. We were going the same direction anyway, maybe I really would see her again somehow, before it was too late.

With Angel gone, it was just me and Fancy, a long way from civilization. I floated out my 10mm pistol and waggled it at the former Overmare, breaking off my idle perusal of the hospital computer system to lean back in the chair and speak with the rotten mare.

"What to do about you... I still hate you for what you did Fancy, but considering I just saved you I don't really want to kill you now either... I do want those questions answered, but you heard the synth, hanging around here isn't a great idea and I'm kind of on a time limit now, I don't want to waste any of it dealing with you. I'm getting out of here, I guess you can start talking while we walk out of this hospital, after that do whatever you want."

Fancy sneered and grumbled, but stood with a nod when I did and followed me to the door out. "Alright, alright... ask your stupid questions."

"Let's start with when and how you started cooperating with the Institute... we'll go from there." I glowered over my shoulder and pushed open the dirty glass door with Dr. Dala's name in painted in fading letters, stepping out into a ruined dark hallway and the hospital beyond cautiously.

"Wait... in the Stable? They started talking to you inside Stable 114?" I asked in disbelief, shoving a rusting old gurney out of the way and peeking in the exam room it blocked, this place looked like it hadn't been picked clean at least... I walked over to the yellow boxes on the wall bearing the pink butterflies of the Ministry of Peace, relieved to find a few more potions and magical bandages.

Fancy followed me sullenly, taking a mostly intact plastic chair by the door when I hopped up on the exam table. The itching and pain in my back was getting annoying, I couldn't resist taking a look while she answered. "Yeah, not long after I became Overmare. I started getting these weird messages on my terminal, but when I'd go back later they were gone... I started thinking I was going crazy, some kind of withdrawl or something, but the things the messages said were all true!"

I shrugged out of my black coat painfully and kept a careful eye on the untrustworthy mare. "And what kinds of things did they say Fancy?"

"That... that the world outside was habitable... That I could leave, how to do it, how to open the door and get out, what the outside was like, places I could go to be happy again... They told me where to go and what to say to the gang I found, how I could use the drugs in 114 to make money, live how I wanted..." She mumbled back as I wriggled free of my armor.

The sight waiting under my trenchcoat made my stomach do a lazy flop, lumps on my back... tumors or something worse, spreading down my back to my ribs. I gaped at the disfigurement shakily, finally looking away with a sigh and unrolling some of my scavenged magical bandages, wrapping it around my chest with my magic and staring at the tattered MoP poster on the wall. A happy and healthy Fluttershy told me 'Everypony's health is important to the Ministry of Peace'.

"Live how you wanted at the expense of your Stable you mean... Ok, so they used you, got access to your Stable and the drugs, one of the Trigger Jewel's members was a synth I took out, probably more of them too. So what happened after you were kicked out of the Stable? How'd you wind up framing me for murdering Haycom Svengallop?"

Fancy's tongue was stuck out in disgust and she stared in sickened fascination at the bandages winding around my back. "What the hell happened to you? Y-You're sick or something..."

"Yes I'm sick... Ugh... They shot me up with that potion ok? You might want to keep in mind they intended to use it on you next, I doubt you'd like..." I stopped and threw my head off the side of the exam table, vomiting proved my point anyway... Fancy looked a little shaken when I continued. "Bleh... doubt you'd like it huh? Answer the question."

"F-Fine... First off Haycom's not dead." She snorted with her nose in the air, trying not to peek at the lumps forming on my back.

"What? Er... he was pretty dead when I saw him..."

For apparently being so charming, she had a nasty laugh... "That wasn't him stupid! Just some robot fake he made. After YOU kicked me out of MY Stable, he told me where to go, brought me to Diamond City and bought me nice things. Said he had been looking for a pony of proper breeding and standing to marry his son Neighson and become Diamond City royalty, a princess for the city's nobility. Somepony to stop all those peasants from looking up to your precious marefriend so much.

He told me what to do, set it all up, got another knife just like yours and played you easy peasy. After you were on the run he gave me the caps to put out a contract on you, got me lots of pretty dresses and started setting me up as Diamond City's own Princess. Bunch of boring public relations stuff, giving out canned food and medicine to dirty ponies down on the field, making public appearances with Neighson, getting ready for a big public wedding to make the announcement that 'The great green jewel had its very own princess', blah, blah, blah...

Haycom said he knew all about public relations, how to fool ponies and mess with public opinion, said it was his job... Once he was publicly 'dead' he told me to call him Vega..."

"Vega!? Haycom was... is Vega?! Dr. Vega? Like head of the Public Relations division of the Institute Vega?!" I goggled at the pale unicorn shrugging off my surprise.

The revelation took a minute to absorb, letting me numbly finish wrapping the growths on my back and shrug back into my coat, jabbing myself with a vial of Med-X lying on the table nearby. Haycom was Vega... Piper told me the Svengallop's had been Diamond City nobility since the beginning, of course the head of Public Relations would have a guiding hoof in the de facto capital of the Commonwealth.

He had been meddling with Diamond City from the start, right out in the open as the respected Svengallop family. If things went the Institute's way, they were going to use their I.M.P. to turn Fancy into an alicorn after me, or use their synth version of her if that didn't pan out. Hell, he'd probably make a big production out of it... my own flair for theatrics let me see just how to do it.

Neighson and Fancy get married in a big, public wedding for all the ponies in D.C., put Fancy in a pretty white wedding dress and she'd be a blinding bit of beauty, so long as you didn't know her... Make sure to do P.R. before the main show, have her pretend to be kind and to care about the citizens, then hold the wedding. Wait till the big moment, then have alicorn Fancy's wings bust out of her dress or something, maybe throw in some magic sparkles and such... then bingo, your very own Princess, ready and willing to be a figurehead...

One thing threw me though... Svengallop... Vega rather, had been manipulating Diamond City for 200 years, he wouldn't just give it all over to his son to run, he'd be right in the thick of things at all times. If his son was supposed to take on the role of power behind the throne, would Vega leave it to him? No... no he wouldn't.

"You said he gloated about hurting your snuggl... Neighson... He's going to replace him isn't he? Sure, just make a synth copy and take it over, keep right on running Diamond City with no interruption... Your fiance is in big trouble isn't he Fancy?"

Her anguished cry actually made me feel for the evil former Overmare, tears shimmered in her green eyes as she looked to me desperately. "YES! T-They're going to hurt him, replace him! I can't let them do it! I have to save my snuggleboo before it's too late! He's the only thing I care about, the only thing that makes me happy since... since the drugs stopped working... I can't let them do it, I WON'T!!"

I hopped off the exam table with a groan, stumbling a bit when I landed and drawing my pistol, walking back out to the cluttered halls. "That's the first thing you've said that doesn't make me hate you more Fancy. Maybe there's hope for you yet. Come on, I have my own loved ones to get back to, if we want to get back in time we better get moving huh?"

Mareford Memorial Hospital was a treasure trove... it looked like nopony had scavenged the place in all this time, which was starting to worry me. A hospital shouldn't have this much untouched medicine, I floated it all to my packs as we walked down the dark corridors, but couldn't be that happy about my haul. Something had to be very wrong here...

We reached a waiting area at the head of a set of stairs leading down to the lower levels of the hospital, Moondancer's office was apparently at the very top of the three story building, her own little tower to hide away in. There were plenty of the ever present skeletons of long dead ponies all around, but no signs of anypony else coming here since they died.

The waiting area was full of such long dead remains, huddled together on tattered couches or seated in plastic chairs. A couple skeletons were near black splashes of long dried blood that made me concerned, not everypony here died from the bombs... The small waiting nook was lit up by the dirty vending machines to one side, snacks and such for relatives waiting for their family to come out of treatment. I trudged my way over to the Sparkle Cola machine, wiping dust from Fluttershy's ecstatic face and rooting around in my saddlebags for pre-war bits to feed it and the snack machine nearby.

"Really? You're stopping for more food? Quit being such a glutton and let's go!" Fancy stomped her hooves behind me impatiently and whined.

"You know I'm sick Fancy, and why... I'm hungry and out here you never know where your next meal is coming from, I'm getting what I can."

The first bottle of the carroty beverage fell out with a resounding clang that echoed down the stairwell and hallways, opened as soon as it was in my hooves and chugged to half empty in an instant. Fancy hissed in annoyance and turned back to her golden tail, nosing at it a moment before pulling her muzzle free holding a bobby pin in her mouth.

"You got a screwdriver right repair-pony? Lemme have it, I'm not sitting here all day while you feed that thing bits." She mumbled around the tiny bit of metal and held a hoof out.

Warily letting her have one of my precious tools, I watched with interest as she floated the pin and screwdriver to the lock on the vending machine. She cursed and sweated working at it, going slow to not break the bit of metal brushing the pins inside the lock delicately. Eventually she gave a little shout of victory and the tall machine's face swung open, revealing a number of bottles holding a variety of Sparkle Cola flavors, some I hadn't seen before.

Fancy had a smug look as she went to work on the snack machine, leaving me to empty the soda machine while she picked the next lock. I grumbled over while I floated all the bottles out, glancing over some of the different labels for Sparkle Cola; Quantum Quick, Grape Gulp, Cherry Jubilee, Quartz Kiwi...

"My friend Val is better at that, she does it with just her claws..."

My companion glanced over and narrowed her eyes, tossing her mane and returning to the lock sullenly. "The griffon right? Well I don't have claws, Freya taught me how to do it without them though, guess yours didn't teach you did she? My griffon's better..."

"Don't start Fancy... Val's my friend, not my... employee, someone to boss around. I care about her, don't insult her."

The snack machine lock proved easier and she swung the glass front out with her nose stuck in the air, reluctantly returning my screwdriver. "Ugh I know, I know... I heard that sappy message you made for her remember? 'Oh Val, I love you so much, mwwahhh... Bleh! Griffons all only care about money, pay them enough and they'll do whatever you want. I bought Freya to be a guard, not a friend."

"There's no reason they can't be both, and I didn't 'buy' Val, she's my partner and friend. You ought to try being nicer to Freya if you find her again, I'm sure she has a pretty thankless job..."

Tossing her head and trotting away in a huff was as much of an answer as I was going to get, letting me empty the most preservative laden snacks that had survived the centuries into my bags. I opened my mouth to awkwardly continue and froze with a squeak, red dashes had appeared on E.F.S. all around us while we were talking...

"If I want her to be my friend I'll order her to! B-But I don't have to, I have lots of friends! I-I'm very popular you know! I don't need..." Fancy snorted and shouted, making me dive clumsily to tackle her and shove a hoof in her mouth in panic.

"Shut up! Don't you see that? We're in trouble dammit!" I hissed and drew my weapons, my ears flicking in all directions, only now picking up faint noises and shuffling.

Fancy looked around frantically when I released her, whispering back angrily after leaping out of the embrace. "S-See what? We're all alone dummy, d-don't make stuff up as an excuse to grab me like that!"

I goggled back at her rosy grimace, slowly working out the problem and approaching her again, grabbing her leg and clicking away at her decorated pip-buck. "Don't flatter yourself Fancy, not interested. This thing isn't just for decoration you know, you don't even have the heads up display on! Jeez... gold plate it and encrust it with jewels, but don't learn how to use it or anything..."

She tried pulling away from my grip, relenting when she finally figured out I was more interested in the bit of tech on her leg than who it was attached to. Fancy settled for watching me work as quick as I could with mild interest, while I flicked through the settings and controls of her gilded pip-buck.

Shockingly she really didn't have the HUD up at all... no compass, no Eyes Forward Sparkle, no medic alerts like the angry ones flashing in the corner of my eye, nothing! I briefly considered the risk of helping an enemy become more effective, but for the moment we were stuck with each other, not having the basic systems online and using them was a major weakness.

Fancy crossed her eyes at the display appearing before them, shaking her head and whining. "Oh this stuff... I don't like it, it's ugly and bothers me, all that stuff floating at the edges of what I'm seeing."

"Goddess Luna save me from this nightmare... That 'stuff' can save your life Fancy, see those red marks at the bottom? Those are things that want to kill you, and they're nearby!" I urgently whispered back, gesturing to the marks on E.F.S. all around us.

Her green eyes widened as her head panned from side to side, now able to take in the number of hostile indicators I saw on my own compass. Speaking in a hushed, fearful tone as she answered while trying to hide behind me. "What! Those are all... W-What do we do?"

"We get the hell out of here, quietly..." I replied in exasperation,

Really, the sooner we left the sooner we could go our seperate ways. I may have saved her and might not want to kill her as much, but I didn't want to hang around with this spoiled filly. She couldn't be bothered to learn how to use the amazing bit of arcano-tech on her leg after this long out of the Stable? Her survival could only be due to the help from the Institute she had filled me in on, I had no interest in taking on the job.

I crept down the stairs with her right on my tail, making a good deal of noise even trying to sneak behind me... Great, of course a mare who had to be the center of attention didn't know how to be quiet... Meaning I had a loud anchor dragging along behind me everywhere I went, the marks on E.F.S. were moving around, searching out the sound.

We made it as far as the landing before the first found us, the slow echo of hoofsteps from the second floor picked up to a gallop growing louder rapidly. I held a hoof up to signal Fancy to hopefully stay still and shut up, crouching at the head of the stairs leading to the gloomy second floor with my 10mm pistol and Best Served at the ready.

I had a few seconds as my eyes adjusted to the dimmer light of the lower level to take in the scene below, the skeletons I picked out were a lot more disorganized and splashes of dried, black blood stained the floor and walls. Then a pony came charging down the hall, skidding to a halt and looking all around aggressively, growling around the magical energy lance in his mouth.

Taking careful aim at his... strange looking head...(Were those talismans and cooling vents sticking out of his mane? Why did he have such an ugly scar right across his forehead?) I breathed shakily and tightened my telekinetic grip on the trigger, preparing to blow its brains out with the silenced pistol. The clank of a can and a sharp "Eeep!" from Fancy behind me completely ruined any chance for a sneak attack, the dirty and crazed looking stallion's head instantly swiveled and locked on me, charging forward with some weird, wordless battle cry.

"Dammit Fancy!" I yelped and stood up, firing away with the silent pistol at the incoming enemy, recklessly swinging that crackling energy lance as it hit the stairs.

Half a dozen rounds to the chest slowed the crazed... raider? It didn't quite seem like one... why was he wearing a stained hospital gown? Whatever, the pony my pip-buck informed me was bad didn't do much to change my mind about its initial assessment. He stumbled back a few steps and the glowing green weapon drooped, but just started jabbering and climbing back up, hardly phased despite the blood spattering at his hooves.

Was he foaming at the mouth? I barely had time to take in the worrisome sign, how could he keep moving so fast punched through with that much lead?! The blazing lance swung out at me, forcing me into a clumsy leap over the low attack and down the stairs. I managed to slice down his side with the blade in my mouth on the way, but was in no shape to actually land from the desperate move, tumbling down the stairs in a splash of blood just ahead of my attacker.

I got back to my hooves as quick as I could, flopping my way across the floor, away from the buck still weakly trying to swing that lance at me even while he bled out. Grabbing the nurse's station counter I ran into helped me get up again, just in time for more rapid hoofsteps coming down the halls to either side of me.

Ok... low on ammo or not, I wasn't dealing with two more ponies like the one finally dying next to me while holding back. The Terrible Shotgun joined my floating pistol and pointed down the hall to the right, where the galloping steps were louder. A mare wearing another hospital gown and goggles, a blazing green axe in her mouth, came sliding around the corner and facing the weapons waiting her arrival.

Activating S.A.T.S. let me use up the rest of the 10mm's clip on headshots with about a 60% chance against the... Lobotomite? That's what my pip-buck identified this pony as for whatever reason anyway... Accepting the sequence let time resume and the silenced pistol starting firing, a few shots that hit pinging off metal after digging into flesh, but not dropping the charging mare.

I fired the Terrible Shotgun from the flank, two slugs slammed into the mare's chest and neck, putting her down in a skidding heap that threatened to bowl me over. I lurched out of her path just ahead of the glowing axe weakly swinging out with her dying breaths, smacking into a dented trash can and trying to turn to the other hall, managing to face my next attacker just in time to get tackled.

This one was a large and quite heavy stallion, stabbing at me with a long, glowing blade that dug into the tiled floor next to my head with a crackling hiss as I dodged frantically. He managed to pin my shotgun between us when he slammed into me, leaving me to parry and slice at him with Best Served and try to wriggle free.

At least the star metal knife could stand against the blazing magical energy blade, it couldn't slice neatly through the field of magic surrounding the weapon, but it staved it off and spared me a messy death. I caught sight of Fancy cowering where I left her on the landing above from the corner of my eye, jerking my head away from another lunge and yelling up to her.

"Shoot him dammit! I let you keep that Institute gun, can't you use it!? If I die you're on your own Fancy!!"

The prospect of being on her own out here looked to decide the former Overmare, her pilfered Institute M.E.W. floated up in a field of her golden magic and took aim at the brute on top of me. It occurred to me that she could just shoot me too while she was at it, or miss horribly given her apparent lack of combat skills, but too late now...

I flashed my knife out in a quick horizontal slash at the lobotomite's neck, knowing I'd probably miss but at least make him draw away and give Fancy a better shot. I had a bare instant to worry she changed her mind, then several blue lines of blazing death shot out, surprisingly all hitting the mark. The last shot even managed to vaporize the big pony over me in a cloud of sparkling blue ash I coughed and choked on.

Wiping the pale cloud of ash from my dark coat and shaking out my hat, I crawled back to my hooves and swayed a moment, closing my eyes to get my balance and hold onto my stomach contents. E.F.S. still showed red marks moving around at the bottom of the back of my eyelids, but I didn't hear anything close by and none of those marks were moving quickly.

"T-Thank you Fancy... nice shooting, surprising but I'll take it... urk..."

I heard her coming down the stairs slowly as I caught my breath and settled my stomach, her shaky voice wary but still with a note of superiority. "Nothing personal... j-just did it because you're right, I don't want to be alone in this place, m-maybe I'll kill you later... What's so surprising anyway? Magical energy weapons are rare and expensive, of course I know how to use them, they're a status symbol..."

Opening my eyes revealed the white mare reaching the second floor with me, cautiously creeping out to poke at one of the corpses. The stairs once turned and continued to the ground floor, but of course we weren't that lucky... a collapse of the wall and ceiling had completely blocked off the way down.

I gave a wistful smile at the thought of looting the bodies for anything valuable. Without Val around, I supposed it was up to me, she'd probably be mad if I came back without any loot to show for this miserable misadventure... The burning axe and lance floated up in my unsteady magic, the blazing magic around the disappeared with a click when I shut them down and removed the energy cells, stuffing the weapons in my bags.

Despite my misgivings, I sent the glowing knife and magical energy cells over to Fancy. Even sick, I was pretty sure I could take her out if I had to whether she had the new weapon and ammo or not. She had just proven making her combat effective was worthwhile for now though.

Actually picking at the bloody corpses made me miss my griffon friend even more, my guts disagreed with the whole icky prospect of rifling through their possessions. How she could just toss bodies around without a care was beyond me, I wasn't that desensitized yet I supposed. On taking a better look at the body I missed Jade even more too... there were some serious things wrong with this pony I could only begin to guess at.

The bits of circuitry and glowing gems showing through the skull of the mare I shot repeatedly in the head had me at a loss, that scar on her forehead went all the way around her skull... where was her brain? For that matter why was her apparently yellow coat so dingy and grey? Where was her cutie mark by Luna?! My dad and then Jade may have tried to drill medical knowledge into my head, but I wasn't up to figuring this out.

Well... maybe not the medical stuff, but the technology I could see stuffed in this mare's skull was something I could figure out. It looked quite a bit like an advanced robotic central processor, an artificial brain...

The dirty sign hanging from the ceiling in front of the nurse's station identified one of the hallways leading away as the 'Traumatic Brain Injury Wing', I guessed having your brain replaced with a bundle of robot parts was pretty traumatic alright. What had Moondancer been doing here?

I shuffled my way into the nurse's station, trying to avoid the piles of bones spread out in agonized death throes and pools of long dried blood. A door to the head nurse's office further in looked like it had been battered and chopped down, the thick wood that was left bore angry burn marks and slashes. A single skeleton wearing a tattered nurses outfit was slumped against the metal desk inside, one bony hoof leading up to a glowing terminal.

Holding still and cracking the terminal was still easy enough anyway, my physical symptoms made concentrating difficult, but I could still think like myself so far. I hit play on the active audio file, rifling through the bloody papers strewn throughout the room as an older mare's frightened voice came from the speakers.

"P-Patients... the patients are going crazy! After the bombs fell in the city, w-we tried to help all we could, took in so many sick ponies... some of them looked like they were dead on their hooves, burns, rad sickness, so many injuries from the world falling apart out there, ponies turning on each other... it was all horrible but w-we were trying to hold on!

Then the patients in the traumatic brain injury ward started acting funny, n-never trusted the things the hospital director was doing in there. Everypony made such a big deal about that cop recovering, but I saw what they did to him and the others... Went from using that tech to help veterans recover with a little assistance to... I don't even know, not helping to heal but... replacing...

Last night though, they all went insane... started attacking anypony they saw, overpowered what few members of the Equestrian Guard still trying to help us keep going here, got into their weapons they brought from training yard... They're killing everypony now! Hid in my office but... but they're coming... they're... oh no!"

I cut the recording off when it devolved into screaming and the sound of a door being broken down. This was on Moondancer too then... she had been playing with ponies even then, found a way to fix traumatic brain injuries with a little arcano-tech help, then decided 'hey, why not just replace the whole brain?' apparently...

After the balefire, the Institute probably decided to just clear out the survivors here for whatever insane reason, turning the veterans that were sent here for help into killers... I sighed and flipped through a few file folders still held in slots on the wall, names of patients who were now wandering the halls waiting to kill us.

My eyes hung on one name on the list and widened, I swung my head to the faded signs on the wall and found the direction I wanted, the way to room 213. Well, we couldn't take the stairs down and the elevators nearby looked decidedly out of commission, going that way was as good as any other...

My ears angled from one hall to another as I studied the red marks in my vision, the... Lobotomites may have swarmed out from the brain injury ward, but they were all over the hospital now from the looks of it. While I thought, my foreleg started twitching uncontrollably, forcing me to hold it to my chest with the other and finally pay attention to all the medical alerts stacking up in the corner of my eye.

Let's see... foreign substance detected, increasing fever, elevated blood pressure, weakness, nausea, tumorous growths detected, moderate organ damage, tissue damage, nerve damage... Yeah, Moondancer's potion was just fantastic...

"Let's go, this way..." I mastered the tremors and trudged down the hall, letting the scared filly follow if she wanted.

I could do without all the whining, usually my companions were more enjoyable company. "W-Why go this way? Where are we going? Do you even know?!"

"We're looking for a way down, this way is where we're starting. Stay here if you want..."

Ignoring my situation, I had to smile at the scared yelp and clatter of hooves behind me. "Hey! W-Wait up! You'll... er.... p-probably need my help!"

After a few more encounters with the crazed lobotomites in the dark and cluttered hallways, Fancy and I had worked out a more effective strategy. Taking advantage of our varied strengths and weakness... she hadn't quite caught on that she had become the bait yet thankfully.

Sneaking ahead of her and finding shady spots to hide in was working pretty well, when she inevitably opened her mouth or knocked something over, the bizarre opponents ran right for her and past me, letting me blast them as they passed me by unseen. Telling her I was scouting ahead rather than using her kept up our fragile alliance to get out of this place.

Finally we had reached the room I was quietly looking for though, I stopped and stared at the corroded brass numbers 213 and the clipboard hanging to the side, finding the name I saw at the nurse's station without much satisfaction.

"Stay back, I have to check something..."

Fancy caught up and whinnied imperiously, "Check something!? Oh sure, take your time, have a good look around, no problem! Are you stupid or something!?"

I huddled against the wall by the doorknob and caught my breath, gripping the dirty knob in my magic and steeling myself. "Shut up. I have to check this, it's important. Stay quiet..."

The door creaked open and slowly swung into the room, letting me peek in at the source of the green mark on my compass moving back and forth. A lobotomite was in there alright, this one non hostile at least, moving around the small room in repetitive motions, stopping occasionally to wave numbly before moving on.

Moving slowly, I crept into the room, relieved to find the mindless pony didn't react to my presence when he surely must have noticed it. Instead the dingy grey stallion with the rusty, grey tinged brown mane kept up his strange behavior, moving towards a dirty hospital bed with a lot of equipment and long dead flowers surrounding it.

A wobbly table by the wall held more dead flowers wrapped in brittle plastic, long faded cards sticking out of each. A few broken picture frames held moldy pictures of the stallion in the room in much better shape than now. Most interesting were the newspaper clippings hung on the wall under a torn 'Get Well Soon' banner, I approached the ancient news articles and read the headlines in a breathless whisper to myself.

Winter Gang Suspected in Assassination!

Victim of the recent cold blooded shooting in Trotson, Juniper Land, has died in the Mass Bay Medical Center I.C.U., she is survived by her fiance...

Hero Cop Critically Injured!

In yet another example of mob violence on our streets, a Trotson City PD Detective was shot on the streets in broad daylight today. The TCPD has made a statement, accusing the infamous Winter Gang of this cowardly attack, the ponies in blue vowed to bring the culprits to justice. The unnamed victim has been airlifted by Ministry of Peace medics to Mareford Memorial to undergo immediate brain surgery...

Heroic Detective on the Road to Recovery

In a bit of happy news during these dark times, a press conference at Mareford Memorial today held by the hospital director and Commonwealth Institute of Arcane Technology division head Dr. Dala, revealed to the world the amazing recovery progress famous TCPD Detective Nick Hearts n' Hooves...

I turned away from the yellowed articles and looked at the lobotomite wandering the room sadly, "Hello Nick... Nice to meet you again. I guess you were the first huh? Must be why you're not nuts like the others..."

The pitiful creature in front of me seemed to react somewhat to my voice, turning his dull golden eyes my way and waving again, this time slurring out a groggy response in a sick parody of Nick's voice. "Goooood... t-to beeeee baaaaack... Feeeeel goood... baaaackkk tooo werk sooooon..."

I looked over the empty shell of Nick Hearts n' Hooves old life and sniffled, taking in the faded, washed out colors, the blank flank and the scarred, empty head. "She took everything from you didn't she? Your mind... your mark... then used what was left as a puppet... I guess that robot brain keeps the body just chugging right along huh? I'm sorry Nick... I don't know what to do here, putting you out of this misery isn't really my choice I guess... you're still around to make it, just somewhere else..."

Seeing that it was safe, Fancy braved coming in the room and stared at the harmless lobotomite husk with disgust. "Ewww... why are you talking to it? Just shoot it already, before it goes crazy too!"

I frowned over to the mare waving a hoof in front of... Nick's face... and shook my head, carefully peeling the fragile bits of newspaper off the wall and into my packs. "I can't, I know him... kind of... it's complicated. At least if I make it back, maybe I can give him some answers, he can decide what to do. Leave him alone Fancy, he deserves better."

She sneered as I crossed the room, digging around near the abandoned bed and night table nearby. An ancient, cracked leather holster holding a large silver revolver was hung on a bedpost at the head of the hospital bed, a corroded golden badge with Nick's name was clipped to it as well, waiting 200 years to be reunited with its owner.

When I scooped the old revolver into my packs, my pip-buck identified the weapon as 'Persuasion' and I had to crack a grin, I could just see Nick using the joke... 'Time to try a little persuasion' or something and drawing the big gun in his mouth with a smile. Beyond sentimentality, grabbing the old holster added a few more .45 rounds to my meager supply. This was Nick's gun, not mine, but the ammo would fit Vengeance just fine.

Nick's room was pretty nice, all things considered... The hero cop earned a private room and a lot of flowers anyway, most of which were arranged near the large windows looking out on Mareford below. The grey light filtering through the dirty glass lit the room and the ruined town outside, sprinkles of rain spattered the windows and a cold gust blew in, making Fancy shiver in her thin coat she grabbed on our way out of the Institute.

Her teeth chattered as she griped and walked to the window, staring out at the wasteland outside with a pout before wheeling on me. "Whatever! It deserves a bullet, but if you want to be all sappy go ahead and leave it, let's just get out of here! There's the outside right there! Can't we just... jump out or something!? I hate this place! Hate it! Hate it! Hate... EEEK!!"

Fancy made the mistake of punctuating her whining by jumping up and down in a tantrum, which was more than the weakened floor by the exterior wall could take. She fell in a crash of flooring and dust to the floor below with a yell, I rushed after her too late to attempt a grab with my magic, skidding to a stop at the edge of the new hole and peering down anxiously.

Well... at least a good chunk of floor held together on the way down, falling down at the window but still hanging on to the middle of the floor in here, forming a makeshift ramp to the first floor and depositing Fancy in a bloody but living heap below. I tipped my hat to Nick's... shell, and ran down the new path below, reaching the injured filly just as she started to really cry out in pain.

I had to stuff a hoof in her mouth to quiet her down again, which she immediately bit... but I held my tongue, given the red marks on E.F.S. moving around so erratically, that loud crash must have stirred them all up and I couldn't yell out either. My eyes watered while she kept gnawing on my hoof and I checked her over, finding a long fragment of wood piercing her flank and yanking it out with my teeth.

Pulling my hoof away with a hiss, I shoved a purple healing potion in her muzzle instead and growled at her. "Quiet! It's just a flesh wound, shit happens Fancy, be glad we have a potion and it will fix it. And for Luna's sake stop making so much noise!"

Tears streamed out of her angry green eyes as she whimpered around the crystal bottle, greedily sucking it down and watching the wound slowly close back up. While she pouted, I looked around at where we landed, surprised and happy to find we were in the gift shop, which traditionally should be near a door out...

I left her to sulk at the bottom of her renovation and crawled over to the gift shop counter, stifling a sneeze at all the dried out bouquets of flowers and absently grabbing an amazingly intact snowglobe with a tiny 'Historic Haylem Village' inside for Glitter. I scooped out a few bits from the open cash register while I propped the Last Minute on the counter and stared out at what was hopefully the lobby, beyond the broken glass windows and door.

Bad things had happened in there... There were a great number of skeletons, and splashes of black blood everywhere. Barricades were set up to one side and a few bony remains wore green rags of Equestrian military, plenty of cots had been set up all over the wide open lobby too, they really had tried their best when the bombs fell...

A pair of lobotomites galloping down the pair of stair cases out there brought me back to the present, leading my first target as it ran this way and trying to shake the fuzziness from my view through the scope. The first blurring round went wide, drilling through the crazed lobotomite mare and the wall behind her and making me groan in anger, one of a few limited rounds wasted...

Hurriedly adjusting my aim let me take advantage of the second target crossing into the scope, puncturing his neck as he hit the bottom of the stairs and blowing out a big hole on the other side, spattering the wall in a spray of gore. The mare I winged hit the empty door to the gift shop and I swapped to Vengeance, using a couple of my replenished rounds with S.A.T.S. to blow her head off.

I turned to tell Fancy to get moving and saw she had stopped pouting miraculously on her own, her plastic cased M.E.W. floating up and firing out at more targets pouring in from other areas of the hospital. This was quickly getting out of hand, the collapse that let us down here was bringing every lobotomite down on our heads. We had to gamble on my vague hope that I understood what had happened here.

Dragging Fancy along by the foreleg, I drew my shotgun and pointed out to the lobby and the main doors, shouting over the 'zzzorch!' of her weapon and the warbling warcries from all over the building. "Come on! We gotta run for it! Just go!"

I charged ahead, she could follow or stay, whatever she wanted. The Terrible Shotgun barked as I ran, knocking several charging attackers back while I ran on to the shattered glass doors out. I watched the ammo counter in the bottom of my vision slowly deplete with each blast from the shotgun floating beside me, one drum after this...

Apparently Fancy decided to follow, blue lines of M.E.W. fire lanced out from behind me, zapping a few more lobotomites before we dashed out the empty door frames and onto the cracked streets of Mareford. Once my hooves hit asphalt, I risked a glance over my shoulder at the horde of brainless ponies back in the hospital hopefully.

Several of the hospital gown clad creatures hit the doors and stopped, growling and snapping at us, swinging their glowing magical weapons threateningly, but not crossing that border... Thank you Celestia, I was right...

I stumbled down to a trot and finally a shaking stop, panting in rough gasps and wheezing to Fancy running ahead of me. "S-Stop... you can stop... they c-can't follow... safe... safe-ish..."

The miserable looking filly slowed and looked back warily, breathing heavily when she eventually cantered back to me shaking on my hooves. "Why? Why aren't they following? How'd you know?'

"R-Robot brains... programming... Nopony scavenges there... f-figured they can't leave the hospital.... N-Not that there's not some new... whatever waiting out here... but s-safe from them I think... We're out, see you later Fancy."

The skies chose then to open up, the light sprinkle picking up to a steady rain that helped cool my overheated body. Fancy looked like she didn't enjoy it as much, shivering in the street and looking around at the ruined town we had escaped to with a frightened, desperate look in her green eyes.

Her Institute M.E.W. swung up sharply and pointed at me, still panting on unsteady hooves. "Y-You... You take me out of here, b-back to civilization so I can find Freya..."

I looked up from under the brim of my hat incredulously, a slow, raspy giggle building to outright laughter. Eventually I was rolling in the street, holding my itching sides as my ribs ached from the guffaws and tears streamed from my eyes. I tried to pull myself together, only for Fancy to snort and whinny over me, giving me a very unsure look as she gestured with the weapon and sent me into fresh gales.

Her insulted sneer and rosy blush of embarrassment at being laughed at just made it worse and I howled laughter, rolling on my back and staring at the sky as the rain came down in my face, laughing harder and harder, perhaps a little hysterically at this point... Some of the barking laughter held a note of crazy that made me concerned enough to try to get it under control anyway...

Finally I stopped, holding my foreleg over my eyes and gasping to a stop, lying in a puddle, miles away from everyone I loved... dying...

Fancy huffed and tried again, "W-What's so funny!! You get up and get me out of here! R-Right now! I-I'm in charge here so..."

"Don't make me kill you Fancy... please. Zed told me some... some zebra stuff about... b-being responsible for the life you save... Seemed kinda weird, b-but... I didn't go through all that... just to kill you. I'm already sick dummy, probably dying, m-miles from where I want to be, alone... you really think you can threaten me into getting w-what you want? Come on... it's funny... T-This isn't how you ask for help... even s-sick.. I think we both know who's gonna win... R-Right?"

The plastic M.E.W. shook and drooped away as I crawled back up to my hooves, hate and fear were at war on Fancy's face, but she didn't do anything particularly stupid. After catching my breath, I took a shaky step south down the cracked street, then another... then another... settling into an uncomfortable rhythm and trudging away in the rain. The marker on my compass showed where to go, back to Jade...

After wearily making it to the half a block mark and not hearing anything but quiet weeping, I stopped with a sigh, leaning against a rusty blue mailbox and calling back to the pitiful mare in front of the ruined hospital.

"You ask for help by saying 'please' Fancy... Are you coming or not..."

The grateful, beaming smile that answered was the first time I ever thought Fancy looked pretty, despite being soaked and shivering, sniffling up her tears and tossing her sopping mane with a wet slap as she cantered after me. "O-Of course I'm c-coming... y-you need somepony to... t-to watch out for you, l-lucky I'm around to help out... er.. P-Please..."

I rolled my eyes and flipped my collar up against the gusts of chilly air, turning back to the south and resuming my march forward, grumbling over my shoulder in a weary sigh.

"That's... better..."

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

And Stay Back!-----------------------
After all your experience with them, you've discovered a Shotgun technique that has a chance to knock an enemy back! Shotguns have a 10% chance, per pellet, of knocking an enemy back on their rump! Good way to buy yourself some breathing room!