Fire.. it had to be fire...

Just from what I could see through the scope of the Last Minute, these 'Forged' ponies were going to be a problem... My magical Shrouded Stallion armor could protect me from a lot, but didn't do much against fire... I tracked another member of the gang patrolling around the huge Sausage Ironworks complex, adding them to my running mental tally of way too many enemies.

Worse, from what I could make out through the green tint of the gauss rifle's nightvision scope, the Forged wasn't just a clever name. These raiders were a unique brand of crazy to go along with the title, what patches of hide I could see bore angry burn scars, the rest was covered in heavy, fireproof aprons and boots, patchwork metal plates and dirty black goggles. The multitude of flamethrower battle saddles and bandoliers of molotov cocktails only added to the theme of 'Insane Pyromaniac Ponies'.

The fortified foundry was the capper, big delivery carts and empty rail cars were pushed against the patch chainlink fence and stacked in intimidating fortifications. More gang members patrolled rusting catwalks circling the upper levels of the building, passing in and out of modular covered sections or the building itself. The whole area was lit by piles of tire fires and burning barrels spread to light a wide lot around the huge building, casting the frightening structure in flickering orange light.

If it hadn't been for Eyes Forward Sparkle I might have been killed before ever getting this close, I had crept my way towards the mark on my compass carefully, trying to find a good sniping position to look over the Ironworks only to find the best one already occupied. The Forged sniper was alert and knew his business, building his own camouflaged perch in a precariously leaning billboard and regularly checking the likely angles of approach.

In the full dark of the early evening though, I was a moving shadow, creeping up on his perch silently and sending Best Served up in a silvery flash to cut his throat. I huffed my way up the makeshift ladder he had cobbled together in the skeletal ribs of the tattered billboard, panting by the time I pushed myself up to his perch and pulled his corpse back from the tumbling to the ground.

The buck's orange coat was stained black with soot and burned ritually in several places, I could only guess at the meaning behind the dashes of scar tissues showing through his darkened armor. Rifling through his possessions got me what ammo he had, several .308 rounds for his well maintained sniper rifle and a significant stock of glowing red canisters of flamer fuel for the compact flamer in his bags.

My supply of 2mm EC rounds for the Last Minute had dwindled down to just a hoofull of shots with the gauss rifle left, the sniper's weapon would serve as a temporary replacement for now since I had plenty of .308 rounds. On the plus side, the rifle had a bulky suppressor attached the the barrel, and the gang members wouldn't think much of their sniper shooting his rifle from his normal perch.

I shoved the previous owner's corpse aside and took his place, bracing the rifle on his firing stand and tracking my targets. Occasionally one of the patrolling guards would wind up out of view of the rest, down some shadowy section of catwalk or rounding a corner. I squeezed off a careful shot at each of these opportunities, silently dispatching half a dozen of the red marks on my compass before they started realizing something was wrong.

They knew somepony was shooting them now, but still weren't clear on who or from where, letting me take a few more shots at the scorched gang members running around frantically trying to seek out their attacker. Another two hit the dirt, though whether down for the count or not I couldn't be sure, nice, slow shots with plenty of time to line up weren't that hard, but leading the targets properly once they knew something was up was a good deal more difficult with my blurry vision.

An ominous 'fwooosh!' below me pulled me away from the scope in a hurry, one of the Forged either smarter than the rest or lucky enough to have been patrolling nearby had found me in my perch, igniting the faded remains of the billboard I sheltered in. Floating the sniper rifle with me, I looked out to the Ironworks to see the remaining guards had seen the burst of fire out here, galloping through the brush between us and looking to join in the bonfire.

I pranced nervously in place, the ladder I had taken up here was already engulfed in flames, the billboard might be leaning alarmingly towards the ground, but was still fairly high up even at its lowest point. Not a lot of choices here though... I retched on the thick black smoke pouring up into the gap between the signs I was wedged in, breathing was hard enough already thank you.

Making an ungainly and graceless leap from the billboard into the dead brush below, I only had a moment to gripe at the fact I had managed to find thorny bushes to land in and wince against the stabbing pain in my right hindleg from landing wrong. There was plenty of tall brown grass, dead trees and then the parking lot filled with rusting hulks of carriages and chariots, giving me ample hiding places.

Given the shape I was in and the fact I was alone, leading the cluster of angry psychopaths charging my way around in a game of cat and mouse was my best option. I was in no condition for a direct confrontation, letting them chase me and whittling their numbers down to more manageable levels was the better plan.

Even though I didn't appreciate having to slog through the wet weather all day, I found myself thankful for it saturating the dry brush and dead trees now. After silently dispatching three more Forged, they started catching on and spread out, sending great gouts of flame off in an advancing net and trying to ignite the brown grass and bushes I was crawling through.

They were pushing me towards the Ironworks, the large bonfires burning all around it and the empty parking lot I was heading towards would make me a bug on a plate, easy to find and finish off. I really wished I had some mines to leave as a surprise for the advancing line of raiders, unfortunately that was one more thing I hadn't restocked yet after Fort Haygone.

A half buried sky carriage protruding from the earth like a rotten tooth offered a convenient hiding spot, even I had to wriggle my way into the narrow gap leading under it, the burly raiders had no chance. Of course if they knew I was here they didn't really have to follow, just send a burst of fire in where I couldn't escape... Why couldn't I just be an optimist and not think of things like that...

Watching the approaching dashes on E.F.S. had my heart pounding, a nervous sweat springing up on my coat as they got closer... and closer... and... passed... Phew... Now that I wasn't entirely focused on them, I heard the soft chattering from my pip-buck and realized I felt that pleasant tingling again.

I risked my light for just a second to confirm my suspicions, the flux regulator on this old heap was fractured and ruined a long time ago, I was basically sitting right under the residual radiation. Oh well, it was a slow clicking so nothing too serious, the rainbow colored gauge on my pip-buck showed my rad levels edging out of green and up to yellow slowly. That nice tingle even seemed to focus on my sprained hindleg, the pain fading away with a sigh.

Flexing the limb experimentally in the dark was enough for me to check my health status screen in surprise, it wasn't my imagination, the leg on the cartoon unicorn flickered from reading crippled back to normal while I watched... That was convenient at least...

Crawling on my belly let me squeeze back outside and creep along in the charred grass behind the line of flamethrower wielding ponies that had passed me by, growing increasingly frustrated as they neared the Ironworks without me breaking cover yet. Five of them, all with their backs to me and each with a back load of heavy tanks attached to their battle saddles.

Checking the forgotten depths of my inventory sorter dug up half a dozen .308 AP rounds I must have picked up here and there, the one nice thing to using a weapon I normally didn't have on hoof was a fair to moderate stockpile of those ammo types. I loaded the armor piercing rounds into my looted sniper rifle and activated S.A.T.S., queuing up shots to the explosive tanks of fuel and accepting the sequence.

Time started again and the suppressed rifle started firing, the edge of the parking lot ahead bathed in brilliant light from the first fireball. I tried to spread the damage around, detonating three of the flamer wielding ponies and sending the rest reeling from the explosions. If that wasn't enough to shake them, the sight of two of their friends running in circles and screaming as they burned like pony shaped comets sure was.

I was on them before they heard anything else, finishing off the stunned raiders with my pistol and knife. I stood panting in front of the gates into Sausage Ironworks, squinting against my blurry vision to check E.F.S. warily and relieved to not see any other immediate threats. I sincerely doubted this would get any easier, but at least I had managed to clear this hurdle without pissing off every raider inside.

A blast of hot air washed over me on slipping inside the huge Ironworks, making my eyes tear up and sinuses dry out instantly, it was like an oven in here! I crept through the entryway area past a series of lockers, presumably used by the raiders outside judging by the graffiti and crude epitaphs, peeking out into the cavernous space beyond and the source of all the heat.

The Forged had the foundry working again... partially anyway, blast furnaces roared along the walls, melting scrap down to slag in huge containers, hooked cranes dragged down the rails of the old transport system by ponies harnessed to it up on the catwalks above, lifted and moved the thick walled cylinders where they needed to go elsewhere.

Peering through the smoky, red tinted haze that filled the building, I made out enough details to make sense of all the green marks on E.F.S., slaves... they were making this place run with slave labor. I couldn't spot any of the blinking metal collars at least, the beaten and broken ponies were kept going more with the whips and bursts of flame to motivate them, plainly too weak to pose much of an escape threat.

Judging by the gaggle working on clearing a towering pile of rubble from a passage connecting this chamber to others further in, the Forged had started this exercise in misery not that long ago. What I could see of the industrial equipment belching acrid smoke and flames looked like recent and very makeshift repairs, the repair-pony part of me was amazed they hadn't blown the whole place up yet.

I ducked back from a red mare with ugly burn scars marring her cheeks and neck, leading a crew of exhausted ponies to a mound of rusty scrap in the corner, flicking them with a crack of her whip when their shackled progress faltered. All the slaves put a wrinkle in this admittedly bad plan, just trying to find and rescue the Finch's colt was hard enough, a few dozen slaves on top of that was a daunting prospect.

At least all the smoke, steam and noise was on my side, actually having to listen to the snap of that whip and the whimpering cries that followed was too much to not do anything, stupid or not. I floated Best Served out of the door and towards the cackling mare with the whip, the star metal blade slid out of the haze and neatly across her throat, her gurgling cry drowned out by the din and the dying crack of her own weapon.

I returned the blade to my side and stuck my head out, no obvious reaction... everything was still clanging and hissing like normal with no raised voices, even the slaves digging in the scrap hadn't noticed their tormentor falling in a puddle of her own blood. Taking another nervous glance up to the catwalks above, I snuck out and rifled through the possessions of the dead raider, whispering to the crew of slaves.

"Pssst... hey, everypony listen..." Most of the thin ponies sorting the scrap flinched and worked faster, only a few darting frightened looks back that widened on taking in who was speaking.

An older green mare with a sweaty grey mane hissed back over her shoulder, "Who're you posed to be? Go on, git fore you get us in trouble!"

I fished what I was hoping for out of the dead raider's packs, tossing the crude metal key to the slave shackles over to the mare brave enough to speak. "Guess you don't want this then? Trust me, I'm a friend ok? The guards outside are gone, get out of here quick. Umm... there's a farm not far from here, or this weird empty town of robots up north you could hide in... Just get out of this awful place now, I'll try to free the others too."

A few more anxious slaves slowed or stopped their work, looking to the elder mare glancing from the key to me suspiciously. "This some kinda trick? You don't mean that Galleria place do you? Tryin' ta get us killed? Nopony goes there, robots are all crazy..."

Really? How bad could things be here if these battered slaves wouldn't trust somepony trying to help? Glancing around at the red marks moving on E.F.S., I snorted impatiently and whispered back. "Not anymore alright! If nopony goes there then it's a good place to hide, I'm with the Minutemares and some of them should show up there in a few days. Or go wherever you want, so long as it's out of here! Take your freedom and run!"

The old earth pony mare gave me a hard stare, never taking her eyes off me as she picked the key up in her teeth and tossed it back to the others. Watching me warily while I stared at all the machinery in the foundry, tracing the web of steam pipes criss-crossing overhead. After enough time for me to work out the gist of how they had this place cobbled together, the shackles had been unlocked and the slaves were making their unsure way towards the door at my urging.

The elder mare with metal can cutie mark showing through her rags gave me one last suspicious look on her way out, grumbling a wary thanks. "Dunno why yer doin' this young'un, but... er... thanks I guess. Oughta get outta here yerself while the gettin's good..."

I gave her my friendliest wave and smile in return, trying to reassure her this wasn't some elaborate raider prank. With a grin I tipped my hat and looked up to the first shutoff valve I found, enveloping it in my magic and twisting it shut with a screech, watching nearby pressure gauges start rising with satisfaction.

"Thanks Granny, still have some stuff to do here though. You all get going as far away as you can, there's going to be a big ka-boom before long..."

She gulped at the duct-taped together pipe hissing and beginning to rattle overhead while I twisted a few more shut, by that stunned stare she still wasn't too sure about my sanity, but liked the thought of the Forged being on the receiving end of that ka-boom if that cold twinkle in her eye was any indication.

I stayed where I was until I heard the door out close behind them, I really wished I could do more for them and hoped they'd be alright. The dead guards outside still had a variety of weapons and clothing, if they paused long enough to check they could be warm enough and able to start a fire for sure.

A ringing alarm deeper in the Ironworks accompanying a dense cloud of steam filling the lower floors was my cue to move though. From what I could tell this place sucked up river water to use in cooling the metal and for steam power to run the machines. A lot of Equestrian industry ran on steam, the fighting over the coal to power it was just one major drawback, another was its propensity to explode if everything wasn't working just right.

The billowing cloud I darted into was spewing out of an emergency release further up the line, the shouting raiders trying to get to it and find the problem choked and stumbled about blindly. Thanks to Eyes Forward Sparkle though, I was able to slink up to each red mark in my vision, flashing my knife out as each one resolved from the fog.

Following my ears led me to the vent and a quick bit of work with my pipe wrench shut it down too, as the air started clearing I sent the tool up and bashed the clapper off the school bell style alarm urgently ringing away still. In the silence that followed I heard a few gruff voices calling down from above, asking what the hell happened and if the machines were alright.

"Er... Fine! Everything's fine now! All fixed, umm... stupid slave tripped..." I lowered my voice and shouted back, really hoping all the noise masked my reply enough not to raise any eyebrows.

A few sickening suggestions on how to punish the imaginary slave floated down and the regular sounds and movement on E.F.S. resumed. With the air clearing I could see the nearest pressure gauges and snickered to myself, I just lit the fuse on a reeeeeally big timebomb...

That thought put a spring in my stiff steps and I moved on, heading to the cluster of slaves near the ramps up, clearing the pile of concrete and twisted catwalks from the lower walkway further into the Ironworks. Hopefully it wouldn't take as long to convince the rest to get out of here. I could roughly gauge how long I should have if everything else was in good repair, with things in the condition they were, I was basically making an educated guess.

I had just finished cutting the crew of slaves harnessed to one of the bucket carrying cranes up on the catwalks free, sending the exhausted team on their way out when new alarms started ringing. The clattering and banging of pipes below had been steadily growing louder, now all the red on E.F.S. moved with purpose all around me. Hoofsteps were galloping down the catwalk ahead, forcing me to duck into a side office that looked like it was used to house the harness team.

I held my breath while several Forged ran by the dirty, frosted windows of the dim room I sheltered in. Most of the light in here that wasn't that hellish orange was coming from a terminal in the corner, probably left here for just the meager illumination from the green screen. Judging by the counters and dead equipment the sad nests for the slaves were built around, this was some kind of lab or testing area? Despite the time limit, the tattered poster on the wall caught my interest, the moldy old advertisement for 'Saturnite Knives' was worth a moment to look around.

Interoffice Mail 28320---
Re: These Knives!

What the hell is up with these knives!? All the secrecy and horseapples about our 'patented alloy', just to turn that stuff from Sandwich Borers into kitchen knives? Have you seen what these things can do Brisket? Yeah they'll cut through a tin can as easy as a tomato, and through the cutting board, and the counter, and the floor... They're a lawsuit waiting to happen! Why in the world aren't we making these things for the war effort?! I'm telling you, something is screwy around here ever since that Dr. Vega came on, I'm starting to wonder if a call to the MoM might not be in order...

Interoffice Mail 28501
Re: These Knives!

Come on Crisp, think about it! You know all the striped espionage going on, think they're likely to try to steal cooking knives? No way they'd just use these as cooking tools, we've been playing with them in quality control all week. You seen what happens when you heat one up yet? Been tinkering with my own idea after seeing it, once they're done with all the secrecy I'm gonna show the bosses my prototype, make a million bits in military contracts! It's all a cover, don't do anything stupid and call the pinks, you'll ruin it!

An attached schematic file for something called a 'Shishkebab' got downloaded to my pip-buck and I took a second to glance at it, a very strange bladed weapon with a flame talisman housed in the complicated hilt. Wiping sweat from my brow with a shaking hoof, I took advantage of the hiding spot to open a Sparkle Cola and suck it down while I thought.

At least some ponies here were asking questions about the insanely sharp knives they had produced, though even 200 years later I couldn't be sure if the long dead correspondent was right about it being a cover story, or if they really had made cooking knives out of the exotic metal with no other plans.

At this point, neither would surprise me from the Institute.

E.F.S. looked clear enough, so I finished my drink and ducked back out to the catwalks. There were several more offices in this connecting section of the H shaped foundry, as I walked towards the larger workfloor ahead, I continued twisting shut off valves and eyeing the assorted gauges on the way.

I stuck mainly to Best Served to silently dispatch any of the Forged I couldn't avoid, it made a strange kind of sense to be using the knife that came of of Stable 111 with me here, this was where it was created after all. The trusty knife had been with me a long way and saved my life repeatedly, it had been a long, strange road to lead where it was made more than 200 years ago.

Distracted by my thoughts and blurred vision, I nearly ran directly into a burly brown Forged stallion, both of us froze at the corner we had rounded to find the other. I might be a little slow and logy, but I was still faster than the surprised earth pony, burying my knife in his chest with a muted 'eep!'.

He wheezed and burbled up foamy blood, the blade had punctured his lung so he couldn't call out and should drown on his own blood in no time. Unfortunately he had that sharp intake of breath from nearly colliding with me to keep going on, rearing up and tackling me against the wall, driving one metal shod hoof into my side repeatedly while trying to gurgle a shout.

I couldn't wrestle with a buck like this at my best, he had several inches and a lot of weight on me, dragging me to the ground while he kept hammering my ribs. One well aimed blow landed right on the growths spreading down my sides, sending a bright flare of pain that made my eyes swim and stomach revolt.

That horrified look on his face after he was violently vomited on made me feel a little bad, but not above taking advantage of his automatic revulsion to grab the hilt of my knife protruding from his chest, yanking it free in a fan of gore. The hefty raider fell to a heap on top of me, dripping partially digested carrot flavored soda and snack cakes in my face.

Not my best win... at least no one else was around to see that one, victory by way of projectile vomit... Val would never let me hear the end of it.

Trying to think of the stream of jokes she'd make if she were here gave me something to focus on, distracting me while I wriggled my way free of the corpse on top of me. I was panting and had tears standing in my eyes by the time I got loose, the tumor that got hit throbbed painfully and the bandages on that side felt damp.

Hoofsteps approaching forced me to push on, jabbing myself with another vial of Med-X and crossing a rickety bridge spanning a broken section of catwalk. Barely a struggle with one pony took that much out of me... I was doing ok so long as I had the element of surprise on my side, in any kind of a straight up fight... I was in trouble.

More so than any other time, I had to be a shadow, I couldn't just roll with it or recover if I got caught. The way I felt, if things devolved into a open battle, I wouldn't last long. That was just added incentive to be extra sneaky, I might not be up to Zed's standards, but I had picked up a thing or two watching the ninja-zebra operate.

The walkways ringing the upper level of the Ironworks wound their way around the large open chamber below, smoke, steam, heat haze and noxious fumes wafted up from the working smelters below and through the metal grates of the flooring. The trip gave me more opportunities to shut off valves on the clanking and hissing pipes, the main boiler had to be somewhere below and was probably close to redlining...

I still hadn't found the Finch's colt and was running out of time and green marks on my compass, only one cluster remained, a group feeding the fires of the smelters below. At the other end of the long room, a clump of red had gathered below, the Forged trying to regroup and find out what the hell was going on by the sound.

They were in one large group, nervously looking outward in a circle and deciding how to proceed, the blaring alarms drowned out most of what they were saying from up here though. Glancing around in thought, my eyes paused at the huge bucket shaped smelters, bubbling with molten metal. There were safety clamps keeping them in place until the ceiling mounted crane came to move them, but they didn't look that hard to take apart...

I had to hang my head off the railing to float my tools down and start disassembling the brackets, backing the bolts holding the whole thing in place down to the last thread and stopping. This was going to be a particularly nasty way to go... I should at least give them a chance, plus I was concerned about the slaves below too, it shouldn't reach them so far away, but better they have a heads up...

Holding my wrench on the final bolt, I ducked back into the shadows and did my best Shrouded Stallion, hoping all the noise and acoustics in here would mask the source.

"GREETINGS EVILDOERS! FROM THE SHADOWS OF LUNA'S NIGHT COMES HER AVENGER... THE SHROUDED STALLION! FLEE THIS PLACE NOW OR SUFFER THE NIGHT PRINCESS' WRATH!"

From what I could see peeking through the grating at the group, they all looked up and around them frantically. A few frightened shouts sounded out, but randomly shooting wasn't running away. Spinning the bolt free of the last thread caused the bucket below to give an ominous creak and groan as it shifted, the pool of red hot metal inside sloshing dangerously, hissing to the floor below in a patter around the Forged.

They had just enough time to see it coming and try to run, the thick walled metal bucket crashed down and spilled a wave of molten death into the crowd. Their screams were thankfully muted by the cacophony of twisting metal and clanging pipes, finally dying completely as their red marks on E.F.S. winked out one by one.

I leaned over the railing, choking on the smoke and stench of cooked ponies before calling down to the last group of slaves. "Get out of here! You're free! This place is gonna blow before long so get going!"

They gave the same wary and confused look the others did, but I didn't have time to convince them. There wasn't a buck the right age down there, that left only one place where Bull Finch could be, the cluster of red with one blinking green mark further in. I galloped down the catwalks towards the marks on my compass, off the metal walks and onto a stone landing with two doors to either side.

The rusty 'Roof Access' sign on the left was worth noting, but the 'Test Smelter' to the right is where the last cluster of Forged were. The battered power armor workstation beside that door made me a little concerned, it was in poor shape but it looked recently used...

No time to worry about it, I was getting concerned about my ability to get out of Sausage Ironworks before it was blown to the moon. I had come this far already and wasn't about to turn back now, worrying about details was just eating up time I didn't have.

"Hey, there's our mystery guest! Nice of you to join us finally!"

Shit...

As soon as I passed through the door I was caught, there was no slipping into the smaller chamber inside, the glow from the fires and the pool of molten metal just inside lit the sweltering Test Smelter room brightly enough to easily see me enter. The fact the five ponies inside were all facing the only door didn't hurt either.

Metal grating and scaffolds surrounded the large smelter set in the floor, a miserable looking slave mare cowered at the edge of the bubbling metal, a buck only a few years younger than myself held a shaky pipe pistol in his mouth and looked up guiltily. A pair of ramps led around the circular smelter and overlooked the room from a wall of equipment, a number of the gauges up there were shaking and edging up towards the red.

Perched up there were the other three marks on E.F.S., a pair of Forged to either side and a tall red earth pony in a cobbled together suit of power armor. Identifying the suit was difficult, large sections of the plating were makeshift replacements, decorated with spikes and chains.

The blue maned stallion wearing it had a smug grin from the dragon shaped helmet made of bone fragments, continuing in an amused drawl. "Now see here Bull, that's the kinda stones it takes to join us brat. Made it all the way up here, gonna be some serious burnin' for all those fools that let him do it, but here he is! We were forged in the fires of Fillydelphia! Just bringin' some gift ain't enough to join up with us, though I do love this thing!"

The burning weapon he drew from his back had to be the Shishkebab, a long, curved blade that glowed white hot. A series of burners engulfed the sword in fire and looked to be controlled by a handle at the hilt. Mrs. Finch said their 'family heirloom' came from here to begin with... Bull brought it back home too.

"Let him go, give that back, and we'll leave..."

The armored pony in charge barked laughter in response, "See! Big brass balls! If Bull here had 'em he'd already be in, as it is he's lucky we're lettin' him off with just this sacrificial initiation! We ain't holdin' him here, he wanted to join the Forged. Kill that bitch Bull and help us finish off this nut when you're done!"

The yellow-green buck with the pistol looked up to the one giving the orders and back to the shivering slave and me, I interrupted them in the middle of working him up to murdering for them... At least he still looked unsure and scared, not eager to take the poor mare's life.

"D-Don't do this Bull, your family's worried about you, sent me to find you. Let's take her and get out of here alright?"

Young Bull Finch gave me a terrified, pleading look, his pinprick eyes darting back to the leader of the Forged. "My f-folks? Pa wouldn't... I'm doin' this for them! So they'll be safe... Slag promised if I was a value to the Forged they'd leave them alone..."

A resounding crash in the distance shook the building, making everyone look up nervously at the dirt and junk raining down from the ceiling. I pointed a hoof back towards the noise and shouted over it, "They'll be safe! This place is about to blow up, I don't think the Forged will be a problem anymore!"

Bull's hopeful, surprised expression was cut off with a wince as the Forged leader, Slag, roared down at me. "WHAT!?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

I grinned back and drew my weapons, bracing my twitching legs. "I did some repairs on your Ironworks! It'll make a much better fireworks factory! You should stay and enjoy the show!"

KRAKA-THOOM!

The blast of lightning from my horn sent me skidding back with a wave of nausea, I aimed low to hit the metal scaffolding and let it conduct the electricity to all three of the Forged up there. I was grateful the blast knocked me back when Slag surprised me, not ducking away from the crackling storm of magic but jumping straight at me, over the molten metal and lightning bolt entirely.

He landed just where I had been, squarely stomping with all four armored hooves to cause some kind of directed explosion from the impact, knocking me flying through the air and against the wall. I spotted Bull struggling up from the floor, but the poor slave perched at the edge of the smelter was nowhere to be seen... I barely brought Best Served up in time to parry the wicked blazing slice with the Shishekab that followed, the burning white blade stopped inches from my face by my own.

Slag's eyes widened inside his gruesome mask, if that was a star metal blade he probably hadn't run into much that could stop it before. Comprehension lit his face when my own knife started glowing white hot as well from contact with his flaming sword, his confusion had given me enough time to get back to my hooves anyway.

Awkwardly dodging his next blow, I turned tail and ran for the ramps he had jumped down from, his two sidekicks had gotten a little of the lightning bolt even if he didn't and were just recovering. More explosions shook the building as I charged at the first, opening up with the Terrible Shotgun as I ran by.

I made the turn towards where Slag had been standing, skidding to a halt at the burst of flamer fire blocking my path and rolling to the ground. My armor was smoking and my tail got singed, but I avoided the worst of the blast and snapped Vengeance up when it cut off, using S.A.T.S. to put two in the raider's head.

The heavy clomp of armored hooves behind me let me barely turn and face the pony shaped locomotive barreling at me, Slag slammed into me at a full run, the ugly spikes on his armor puncturing my shoulder and sending me rolling into the railing. My back hit squarely on one of the metal uprights and I screamed at the twitching spasms it erupted into.

Another series of rapid explosions shook the room, cracking the far wall and sending rubble raining down. Slag was stomping his way over to me, the cruel claws at his armored hooves grinding the metal catwalk with each step, he was going to stomp me into paste...

Activating S.A.T.S. gave me a second, other than trying to muster up another bolt of lightning, there wasn't much I could do against even a scrapyard suit of power armor. Though I did have one trick left, Kellogg managed to disable my suit of power armor with his pistol and S.A.T.S. Overcharge doohickey, I had both now...

I targeted the shielded power supply and went through the new menus for the S.A.T.O.S. module, the crystal sticking from my pip-buck was lit up with a full charge. Hitting accept sent time slowly moving forward, the gleaming revolver in the grip of my magic was enveloped in a bright layer of overglow before firing with a shockwave.

Slag grunted and was knocked back, but I could see from the sparking damage to his suit that it wasn't good enough. That power supply may be ruined and run out before long, but he'd have plenty of time to tap dance on my spine before that happened. The angry red stallion loomed over me and gave a mirthless smile. "Now you little bastard... you are going to..."

A cloud of heat and smoke from the crumbling wall blew in with another round of explosions, blowing a large hole in the wall that a blessedly familiar voice called out through. "Aha! There you are boss! This stupid arrow thing wouldn't say what floor you were on!"

Lines of red magical energy weapon fire rained down from the new exit, parting enough of the smoke and dust to make out the fiery griffon behind the attack flapping outside. Slag turned to face the new threat, hunkering down against the stream of fire pinning him down. If I wasn't so close by she could have probably lobbed a few grenades over here and knocked him into the molten metal below...

Actually... that would work just fine... Slag had completely forgotten about me as no longer a threat on the floor behind him, turning his back to me while he focused on Val. I had one new toy I picked up for my griffon friend that would fit the bill, I carefully floated the modifed Balefire Egg Launcher from the Robronco Galleria out and lined up a shot.

I only brought one bowling ball for the weird weapon to use, it was heavy enough already, I wasn't lugging around a bunch of 15 pound bowling balls to reload it when I was already so weak. The one shot I had was enough, once I had Slag positioned between the large weapon and the pool of metal, I hit the trigger and watched the result with satisfaction.

If Slag's shoes weren't attached to the armor I think it would have knocked him out of them, the high speed projectile slammed into him with a clang, sending his Shishkebab flying from his grip as he sailed out into the empty space above the smelter, splashing down with a series of thrashing screams.

Val poked her head in the hole in the wall to watch the Forged leader sink, gliding down to grab me in a her claws and squeeze the air out of me. "BOSS! Yer ok!! Aw man that was awesome, where'd ya get that thing!? Can I have it? Where the hell you been!? You know how worried every..."

"V-al... air... C-Catch up later... building g-going... kablooey..." I wheezed weakly in her grip as the alarms and shaking increased, managing to point where Bull Finch huddled with his recovered family heirloom. "G-Grab him too... r-rescue..."

The griffon's violet eyes took on a manic gleam at the impending explosion, rolling to the ceiling in a huff when I gestured to Bull. "Awww! Always gotta be doin' some goody good nonsense! Takin' yer time gettin' back to deal with this kinda stuff boss?! Alright fine..."

With a flick of her dark claws I was tossed to her back, left to struggle to hold on as she soared over to grab Bull by his dirty collar and mane, lifting off towards her entrance with a powerful flap of her wings. Once we cleared the building I sucked in a wonderfully cool breath of air, looking back to watch the first major explosions start tearing large chunks out of the building.

Destroying a working foundry and industrial resource pained the repair-pony in me, but that place was evil. Better it was wiped out entirely and rebuilt into something better. From the safety of my mercenary friend's back, I breathed a sigh of relief and fell against her shaggy neck, kept awake by Bull's frightened screeching below and the fanfare from my pip-buck.

Mission Updated: Out of the Fire

Objective---
--Rescue Bull Finch
--Eliminate the Forged
--Return to Finch Farm

Optional Objectives---
--Recover Finch family heirloom

"So the Institute really took ya boss? What was it like? What'd they do? How'd ya get away!?" Val gleefully bounced on her claws, pacing in front of where I huddled by the fire and watched the Finch's reunion.

"It's... it's a long story Val, I'll tell you all about it, soon I promise. Is everyone ok? Jade and Glitter?"

Val snorted and punched my shoulder, nearly knocking me over in answer. "Course not stupid! Those two are a wreck! C-Course I knew ya were fine, that mare of yours is piiiiiiissed though... she outright went ta war with them Church of Balefire nuts!"

Jade? Going to war? That had to be one of Val's jokes, I couldn't imagine that level of violence out of the gentle blue alicorn I was looking forward to getting back to. Val kept pacing around me and looking me over happily, that manic glee was making me concerned it was to mask something else though, and I didn't want her checking me over too carefully yet.

Mr. and Mrs. Finch gave me a break from her attention, walking over with happy tears and their buck and filly trailing behind them. Mrs. Finch and her daughter Goldie ran up and gave me a hug before I could react, sniffling overjoyed thanks. Mr. Finch and his son stood nearby, the elder stallion giving a gruff but friendly hoofbump.

"Thanks... fer savin' my boy and all them others, gettin' rid of the Forged, we appreciate it stranger. Have to talk with them other Minutemares about joinin' up after what you did here. Here, I... I never cared 'bout this silly thing as much as my son, you should take it, Bull give it over..." Mr. Finch shrugged back at his son, who trotted forward and set the extinguished Shishkebab on the ground before me.

Noticing the way Val was eyeing the sword greedily, I nodded my thanks and stashed it in my bags. "Thank you, Bull was just trying to think about you, protect you... when it came down to it he made the right choice though, he has good parents. Umm... where's my... companion Fancy? I haven't seen her around since we got back."

Mrs. Finch released me and wiped her eyes, gesturing to the southeast. "You asked to help get her ta County Crossing, she didn't wanna wait. Temperamental little thing isn't she? Our worker Mr. Spade offered to take her there not long after you left, don't worry, he knows the way."

"Fancy!? As in that crazy bitch on wheels Overmare Fancy? You was with her boss?! Jeez, what'd I miss? No wonder Freya didn't chase after me..." Val yelped in surprise.

"Freya? You saw her?"

Giving a shrug, Val scratched her plumage and nodded. "Yup, circlin' around the river. Figured I'd have ta deal with her, but she wouldn't do nothin'. If I wasn't on more important business I would'a stopped to blow her outta the sky, but ya know... had to come find my absentee boss..."

She chuckled to herself and gave me a not too gentle noogie, finishing by clapping me on the back and making me whimper in pain, biting my lip to hold it in. "S-Sorry Val... can you find her again, I need to talk to her..."

Val took her claw from my back slowly, giving me a piercing stare as she groaned out an answer. "I guess.... why ya need ta talk to that frigid bitch? Hey... you feelin' alright boss? You don't look so hot..."

"Fine! J-Just fine! Umm.. later... really... I need to talk to Freya because... well, Fancy won't last on her own without her... We escaped the Institute together, she helped me get this far, letting her die on her own just seems like a... a waste ok? If Freya really is still looking for her, then we just need to tell her where Fancy's going, no going way out of our way or anything I promise.."

With an exasperated, whining sigh, Val flopped on her back to the ground and drummed her paws on the dirt. "Ugh! Fiiiiiine... I didn't miss this kinda stuff while you were on vacation boss, ought'a kill the both of them and be done with it. Whatever, yer talkin' to her though, not me!"

I took the Finches up on their offer of more food and made my goodbyes, a few ragged slaves had opted to head here first so I got to see some of them had escaped successfully. They were a little friendlier out here under the stars than back in the Ironworks, but were still beaten and battered ponies, dealing with a lot all at once. I made another attempt at convincing them the now functional Galleria I had passed through to the north was a safe haven, settling for writing them a note for any Minutemares they ran across after trying my best.

Finally Val tossed me to her back again and took off into the night sky, forcing me to bury myself in her warm feathers against the chilly air up here and speak in muffled shouts on the way. While the distant, shattered towers of Trotson grew closer and closer, Val filled me in on a few things that had happened while I was gone.

Apparently she wasn't entirely kidding about Jade going to war, when I was taken and disappeared off the pip-buck map, she had started calling in favors. She didn't try to order the Minutemares to tear the library down to find me, holding on to her principles enough to ask them and the Followers of the Apocalypse to care for and protect anyone who needed it.

She did go directly to Bunker Hill and inform the Brotherhood of Friendship still there what happened, making it very clear the Church was a front for the Institute and that a teleporter leading to the secretive group was most likely in the library. Then she just got out of their way, only stepping in to help facilitate cooperation between the Brotherhood and her sisters from Trinity Tower, who did not share her pacifist ways.

According to Val, the alicorns of the Commonwealth were furious and had radically altered their behavior in response to the attack on their leader. They were already attacking the Church of Balefire in the Trotson Public Library by the time the Brotherhood got there and joined in. Most of the day I had spent walking south had been an ongoing battle back in the city, winding down by the time Val had left to get me.

On the plus side, the dark blue Stormy had gotten several of her wayward sisters in the church to rejoin the Trinity Tower alicorns, sharing how ready the synth Moondancer had been to kill her too hadn't gone over well. What's more, Umbra had apparently come around when it came to dealing with the outside world, visiting Goodneighbor herself and speaking with Mayor Shamrock. If the Institute was willing to frame Goodneighbor for her murder, they were worth opening up to according to the Trinity Tower leader.

Since the fighting had died down at the Library, Jade had stayed there, healing the wounded from all sides and desperately seeking out the hidden teleporter that took me away. Val said she and Zed had spent most of the day helping the Brotherhood scour the library for it with no luck, breaking off the search when I reappeared on everyone's pip-buck maps.

By the time she was done catching me up, we were over the river and she started banking in long loops, scanning below her with a grumble until she found the circling white speck sharing the sky with us. Dropping altitude to match as she approached, Val looked over her shoulder and pouted back to me. "There she is, this is yer deal boss, I ain't helpin'..."

"Thank you Val, it shouldn't take more than a minute." I patted her neck affectionately as she neared the snowy white griffon circling the north side of the river. I saw Freya's icy blue eyes flick over in our direction tensely for a second, before ignoring us in favor of peering at the ground below intently. Leaning up from Val's back to shout over to her made me dizzy, sending me scrambling for a better grip before continuing. "Freya!! Hey Freya! I need to talk to you!!"

"Go away! I'm busy! Kill you two later!" The pale griffon sneered back, glancing our way long enough to be sure we weren't there to start a fight and returning to her search.

"You're looking for Fancy right!?! I know where she is!!"

Freya's eyes shot up at that, flapping to a halt in midair and aiming her weaponry at us. "Start talkin'! What'd you do with the boss!?"

A gust of wind made me grab my hat and hug Val's neck tightly, looking back to Freya nervously and pointing a shaking hoof down. "Can we land please!? I'll tell you where to go!!"

She glared at me suspiciously, but after some gentle nudging to Val she followed us down to a nearby rooftop, landing softly at the edge while Val dumped me from her back and stormed off sullenly. Freya watched her go to pout in the corner while I stumbled my way over to her, trying to mask the concern in her question. "Alright, where is she?! What the hell is goin' on!?"

"We both got taken by the Institute Freya, we broke out together, helped each other get away. Fancy went to County Crossing to try to find you, if you hurry you'll get there not long after her. She's not gonna be very happy, but she needs your help and I owe her a little."

Freya raised a disbelieving eyebrow and snorted, "You, and the boss... helped each other? C'mon, come up with a better lie than that, what are you up to pipsqueak?"

"Nothing! I swear! Er... I'm not a griffon, so I guess swearing on my honor doesn't mean as much... hmm... Oh! You taught Fancy how to pick locks! She told me that, it helped out on the way. Look, Freya, just trust me please? I wouldn't have made it here without her help, she needs you and I'd really rather not just let her die after going through the trouble of saving her."

I pulled out a drink and snack cake from the vending machines Fancy had unlocked and munched away, trying to quiet my grumbling stomach while Freya stared at me, distrustful but worried enough to give me a chance from her answer. "Alright... Not that far, won't hurt to check I guess... haven't found her here in three days so I'll bite. If yer lyin' or did anything to her though..."

"I know, I know, revenge blah, blah, blah. I'm telling the truth, just go get her alright?"

Freya narrowed her icy eyes and stuck her beak up, launching herself up and to the northeast without a word. I sat where I was and watched her go, mechanically shoveling food in my muzzle and hoping the dizziness would pass. I looked back to Val, still perched in the corner and grousing to herself.

"Ok Val, let me finish here and we can go." I smiled back to her hopefully, listening to her huff and shuffle in annoyance.

"Come on Val, I know you don't like Freya but I had to do something... They owe us now right?"

That got a rueful laugh and her long tail swished angrily, still no answer though.

I sighed and floated out the Shishkebab the Finches let me have. "If you stop pouting you can have this Val..."

One curious violet eye peeked back, locking on the weapon before she leapt across the roof to snatch it up with a squeal. "Woooo! Fire sword! That's better boss, guess I'll let it slide. I told the kid and Blue I'd bring you straight back though, don't like makin' detours ya know..."

"I know, thank you Val, you're the best friend and merc a pony could... c-could ask... a-ask..."

Instead of passing that dizzy feeling was getting worse, I shivered and shook in place, feeling freezing despite knowing full well how high my fever was thanks to the medical systems on my pip-buck. I tried to raise a hoof to wave off that frightened look on Val's face swimming in front of me, watching the limb twitch and jerk as everything went sideways and I blanked out for a minute.

When the world lurched back, Val was above me, the night sky showing behind her shaggy head. Her eyes were wide and worried and one black claw shot out to smack me across the muzzle, her frantic cries slowly fading back in with the world. "BOSS!?! Hey boss!! WAKE UP!"

"Ugh... ow... s-stop hitting me... F-Fine Val..."

Val jumped back and yanked my up by my collar, peering at me closely as she shakily shouted in my face. "The fuck you are!! Y-You were just spazzing out on the friggin floor there boss! Was that some kinda... seizure or somethin'?! S-Somethin's wrong! Gotta get you back to Blue! Knew I shouldn't have let ya talk me inta stoppin'!!"

Falling forward against her fluffy breast, I wrapped my forelegs around her neck tightly and buried my face in her feathers, shaking my head sadly and wiping away the tears that wanted to form. "It's ok Val... I don't think even Jade can help, stopping for a minute won't change anything... I'll tell you all when we get back, I'm just glad we're together again. N-No matter what happens, I love you Val..."

Rather than soothing her, I just made her more upset... stupid... She threw me to her back again and took off like a rocket, shouting over the slipstream while we flew through the night. "S-Shut up boss! Now yer scarin' me! D-Don't get all mushy on me, we're gettin' you back to Blue right now!"

"That... would be... nice..." I murmured against her neck, trying to tighten my grip as I drifted off to a fitful sleep. Taking one last look at the glow of lights in the city and all the specks flying around it we were barreling towards, the Library... Jade would be there, I'd see her soon.

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

Ninja-Pony----------------
-----The Ninja-Pony perk grants you the power of the fabled shadow warriors! You now do 2.5x sneak attack damage with ranged attacks, as well as 4x sneak attack damage with melee weapons.