"Um g-good evening out there this is Diamond City Radio here with a news update. It seems the refugees from Whinny just can't catch a break, er I'm sure we all know how that f-feels right? After escaping the Gunners who overran their home, they've been hunted at every turn. We have reports that after passing into northern raider territory they've been hounded by the Thundega raiders. From what we've been told um... yeah they're really determined to catch the small band, wonder why? A-anyway things don't sound good, we're hearing of some kind of fight in Poncord, lot's of raiders heading that way. Let's hope they're... that they come out ok huh? Here's Octavia to soothe their souls."

The light green stallion stared around the ruins of the museum, taking stock of the carnage and looking back down at me, his green mane spilling out from under his funny hat, brown eyes wide under its' brim. "You did all this? Really?" he stared out over the railing following the trail of destruction, an errant balloon from the party cannon downstairs drifted by.

I wobbled on my hooves in exhaustion with no desire to take another look, just nodding at him. "You needed help... The Princess should have come, but she couldn't so... I did," I answered simply.

Preston whistled and turned back, noticing my condition and trotting back, leaning against me to help me into the room beyond the security door. "Well if you did all this as a fill in, I'd hate to see what would have happened if this Princess had showed up. Here, come on and take a seat, meet the others," he chuckled. We walked into the dim room full of ponies and my pip-buck suddenly chimed with a fanfare in my ear, text scrolling away in my vision;

Mission Completed!: Where the Heart Is

Objective Completed-
--Return Home
--Search for Survivors

Mission: As You Wish

Objective Completed-
--Rescue the ponies of Poncord

Objectives Added-
-- Defend the Whinny Refugees
-- Lead the Whinny Refugees to Safety

They must have been trapped here awhile by the smell, a handful of ragged ponies looked up with a mix of fear and hope as we walked in. Preston led me to a chair by a battered old desk with a softly playing radio and I flopped down gratefully, looking over the bedraggled group of ponies... Wait, not all ponies...an elderly zebra sat across from me in a battered armchair, smiling with a knowing look as I stared. I had never seen a zebra. I knew they were the enemies in the great war, but mom and dad always tried to tell me they weren't all bad. They were mostly just trying to live their lives like us, though they told me not to say that to just anypony. Still, to see a real live zebra here was a shock.

Preston turned to the rest of the group, waving his hooves for quiet as they started to cautiously approach and murmur at my arrival. "Alright folks calm down, this here is Mr. Fast Times and you have him to thank for dealing with those raiders outside," he spoke to the group soothingly.

"What about that group on the radio! Those Thundega goons are on their way! He gonna take them all out too? Looks dead on his hooves Preston!" a sallow yellow unicorn mare with an blue and green mane spoke up angrily. Another group? I didn't like her attitude, but had to agree, I couldn't do that again.

A skinny, red and brown maned tan stallion holding a young orange colt with a frizzy red mane touched a hoof to the mare's shoulder. "Now there dear, let's be grateful for one miracle at a time eh? Thank you for your help sir," he nodded to me gratefully, his Colt staring in wide eyed wonder from his legs.

The colt struggled loose, while his father consoled his mother and trotted up, his green eyes wide and sparkling. "Are you really him?... The Shrouded Stallion?" he asked in barely restrained glee.

I blinked looking down at him, "How'd you hear.." I started to ask as a brown earth pony wearing faded blue mechanics overalls trotted up and mussed the colts mane, before running his hoof over his own pompadour styled black mane.

"Security system's up here, defenses are down o' course, but we could hear the festivities pal. Good work down there "Shroud"... Damn fine to meet you, name's Sturges Circuits" he snickered and stuck a hoof out that I reached out for automatically.

I blushed furiously and looked back to the colt, whose eyes had somehow gotten wider, while his mouth hung open in a huge grin, "OMIGOSH! You really are him! Where's your coat and hat!? How'd you know to find us!? Did Luna really send you?!? How'd you beat all those bad guys? Where's your silver gun? Are you gonna take us to the place Mama Xara talked about?!" the colt blurted out in a rush, prancing around me and finally jumping on me directly, making my injuries give a friendly reminder as he bounced up and down.

"Short Stack! Leave the nice pony alone, he's hurt," the colt's father rushed forward, pulling him off with a struggle. "Sorry sir, he's been cooped up here a couple days now and after all that... I'm Long Jump, that's my wife Cloudy Sun, happy to meet you," he smiled, holding the wiggling colt still trying to break free.

I shuffled in embarrassment a little and mustered up a little of the character, brushing my sweaty grey mane out of my eyes, "Well Short I.. I've been gone from the Commonwealth a long time, so I lost my coat, hat and gun, sorry. A Princess sent me to bring those villains to justice and Goddess Luna was definitely with me. I'm here to help, if that means helping you get somewhere, that's what I'll do, right?"

The foal squealed in joy and wriggled harder in his father's grip. A million fresh questions pouring out of him, only cut short when I reached into my bags and floated out my precious Shrouded Stallion action figure. His green eyes locked on it and he ceased his struggles, staring transfixed. "If you promise to be careful with it and return it, I'll let you see my... self portrait.. sculpture.. toy," I finished lamely. Short merely nodded reverently, taking the offered toy in his own magic like it was made of crystal.

Buying myself a moment, I leaned back and caught my breath, trying to focus and think, closing my eyes. I was roused by a friendly chuckle nearby and a pat on the knee, "Very kind of you little pony, that is very precious to you. Not often a pony offers a piece of their soul to another to bring them happiness. I knew you'd live up to expectations kid," the elderly voice said kindly.

I opened my eyes to get a good look at the zebra mare looking at me with a knowing smile, making little wrinkles at her old orange eyes. She was about my size, hunched with age, the black on her hide graying slightly. She wore a blue scarf on her head and a string of beads around her neck, marked with zebra glyphs similar to the one on her flank. "Mama Xara I presume?" I asked hesitantly, relieved when she smiled broadly and nodded. "Sorry, I don't mean to stare, I've never met a zebra before and... hold on... expectations? But the Princess should have been the one who..."

The Zebra mare snorted and waved her hooves. "Nope, it was always you I saw. The Stallion Out of Time, the Sole Survivor, Luna's Sword and Shield, The Knight of the Shadows... I told them you would come and here you are young one," she grinned and settled back into her armchair enigmatically.

I stared at the old mare as she just looked back, beaming. Those titles were... disturbingly accurate... How could this old zebra know any of that? The first two were related to Stable 111 and no one should know enough to come that close except Cogsworth. The Luna's Sword bit I could see if she heard me downstairs messing with those raiders, or looked at my cutie mark which featured a sword and shield, but the last one... I only thought of that to myself, I hadn't shared that private fantasy of being Princess Jade's knight with anyone... "H-how?" I croaked, staring at her.

Mama Xara smiled back at me with a twinkle in her eye, "I have the star sight little pony, always have. I saw you the first time when I was your age and have been waiting ever since. I'm sorry... for everything you've been through and everything you will yet. You just hang in there ok? I'm so happy you are who I saw, living in the wasteland, I started to doubt you could possibly be real. But here you are," she answered softly.

"Star Sight? What's that, are you saying you see the future? But that's impossible," I tried to reason it out, but if it wasn't true how could she possibly know?

She simply shrugged, "Anything is possible little pony, I believe you ponies call your version Pinkie Sense. Even your Twilight Sparkle was forced to acknowledge it, despite her preconceptions. I merely know what the stars show me, and they showed me you. You are marked by the stars, you even carry a piece of one with you now. Now here, drink, you'll need your strength soon. More are coming, but they're not the problem, it's what they'll wake up that's the danger," she answered cryptically and handed over an earthen jar with a strong smelling brew. I took a drink to be polite and felt renewed energy surge through me, my wounds and aches were soothed by the foul smelling drink, zebra potions were strong!

Preston stepped forward while I goggled at the zebra, "Come on Mama, leave off the star sight for now, the raiders are bad enough and if you and the radio are right, we can't get out of here in time. We have to come up with a plan and do something while we can," he spoke not just to Mama Xara, but the tired and frightened ponies crammed into the office.

"Preston, what's going on here? Why are these raiders after you, why are you even here? You look like you've been through tartarus and I want to help, but I need more information, who are you guys?" I asked the stallion in charge, hoping for something I could make sense of.

With a sigh, he turned and seemed to collect his thoughts, "Well, short version since we're on a time limit here... These are the ponies of the settlement of Whinny, they've been... recently evicted by Gunners and we had to flee. We started with over twenty, now it's just us. First it was the Gunners trailing us all the way out of their territory, then it was the raiders soon as we came north. The ones coming here now according to the radio are particularly focused on capturing us. I've done my best by these ponies, but... I'm the last Minutemare."

"Minutemare? buuuuut... you're not a mare..." I tried puzzling it out, I guessed the jaunty tan hat and coat was some kind of uniform that meant 'Minutemare' up here, but I had no idea what that meant.

Short Stack laughed at that, playing with my Shroud figure on the floor, seeming to re-enact his version of the fight downstairs, mouthing my little speech to the raiders nearly verbatim followed by a huge "BOOM!" as he threw his hooves into the air and tittered.

Preston just looked chagrined, "Yeah I get that a lot, thanks for noticing. The Minutemares aren't a group just for mares you know, we're supposed to be protectors of the Commonwealth, ready at a minutes notice. Why we... we were anyway, now it's just me," he finished sadly, shaking himself and renewing his resolve. "Anyway, that's besides the point, we have a world of hurt coming down on us and better get ready."

Cloudy Sun snorted and crossed her hooves, sitting on the floor near her colt playing with my toy, "Get ready for what Preston, to be finished off finally? Caught and sold into slavery? Killed and eaten? What's this runty little colt going to do, other than share our fate?" she grumbled. I was beginning to get annoyed with that mare...

Sturges trotted forward and interrupted the whining, "Well, with our new friend here and his pip-buck, there's always that thing on the roof... ought'a even the odds I reckon?"

Preston spun on him with new hope clear on his face, "Will that work Sturges? I thought you said you couldn't fix it," he asked wide eyed.

"Ayup, I can't fix it, he can though," Sturges answered laconically, pointing at my pip-buck thoughtfully, "Advanced model you have there Fast, couldn't help but notice."

My ears had perked up at the talk of fixing something and I regarded Sturges as more of a comrade in arms, a fellow repair-pony, "I do happen to be pretty handy at fixing things, what are we talking about here?" I asked as Sturges and Preston both smiled, I glanced at Mama Xara who nodded sagely and gestured to a door in the rear of the office marked 'Roof Access'"

Sturges and Preston had led me up to the roof of the museum and I stared in shock, hidden from view from the street below, a Vertibuck was crashed into the air conditioning units of the building, it's nose buried in rubble. Just outside the vehicle sat an amazing sight, an intact suit of Steel Ranger power armor stood like a rusting sentinel looking out into the drizzly night, a minigun mounted on its' right at the saddle, with ammo bins on the opposite side for balance..

"Been sitting here since the war seems like, listened to the audio logs in the vertibuck transport when I came up here before. Got hit with some kind of pulse weapon, knocked out the Vertibuck hover systems and the armor's spell matrix. Tinkered with her, but couldn't do anything bout the spell matrix without one of those," he said, gesturing to my pip-buck.

I trotted around the magnificent piece of tech drooling, wishing I had gotten to do the service Sturges had already put into it, I always dreamed of fooling around with one of these beauties. Completing my circuit, I pulled my pip-buck's interface cable and jacked into the port on the back, watching avidly as the two devices interfaced and the command controls flashed on the pip-buck screen. I tapped 'Initiate Spell Matrix Reboot' and listened as the pip-buck and armor chattered back and forth, before the armor started coming back online with a hum.

"Actually, I've read about being able to do it with a standard terminal and a hotwired interface... tricky though. This is a lot easier," I answered, watching the progress and status reports flashing across the screen.

"Oh-ho, a fellow tech head eh?" Sturges laughed and hoofed me on the shoulder, "Finally, somepony to talk to about the important things in life!"

I nickered, pulling the interface cable free and watching as the power armor started opening, panels sliding out of place and unfurling like flower petals. Turning towards Preston, I gestured to the armor, "Here you go Preston, I'll back you up."

Preston blanched and stepped back, "I can't, no idea how to use that thing, don't have one of those things on my leg either. Plus I'm the last Minutemare, make a tempting and known target. If I'm not out front, they'll know something's up."

I turned to Sturges, but he simply shook his head and shrugged, "It's an enhanced model, unicorn compatible..." he muttered. Looking back and forth between them I gasped, "Me?! I don't know how to use it either! I'm not a heavy armor kinda pony anyway!" I struggled to make them understand, how could they want me to use this thing, repair it yes, but use it?!

Preston reached out and touched my shoulder, looking grim and raising his chin to the west where torches and movement could be seen down the road. "No time to argue, you're the best chance we have Fast. You know how it works and how to fight, just put the two together, please," he pleaded, visibly paling as he stared past me, looking at the two dozen or more angry raiders marching on Poncord.

I could feel panic welling up in my chest, sure, just hop into a set of Steel Ranger armor and take on an army... I couldn't do this, I just couldn't! Frantically, I looked around, trying to find some escape from this situation. Yesterday my life was normal, boring and a little lonely maybe, but normal! Now I was out in this wasteland and had wound up with a couple dozen sadistic raider ponies marching down on my head. How did I even wind up here?!

In my panicked search for a way out, my eyes lighted on a red shape in the distance through the rain, the Red Rocket station... I felt the rising panic calm slightly, I was here because I made the decision to come. I took on Princess Jade's mission and this was it, if getting in this tin soldier was what was required... I'd do it for her. Sighing, I stepped forward into the armor and shuddered as it started folding shut around me. I suddenly knew why mom didn't like getting in the stasis pods...

Preston stood in front of me and watched as the armor finished closing. There was one heart stopping moment when I was locked in darkness, then the system booted up and I could see again. I tested the armor, experimentally moving my hooves and craning my head around, as a rush of text and diagrams flashed through the visual system.

"This is weird.." I said, startled hearing my amplified and distorted voice from the helmet speaker.

Preston put a hoof on my shoulder and nodded, "You'll be fine Fast, I gotta get back down to the balcony, make a nice juicy target. Look... in case we don't make it through this... thanks again. I was ready to give up, getting this far and losing so many... I started to think there weren't any good ponies out here. No matter what happens I'm glad I met you, we make it through this I am bowing down and kissing this Princess of yours hooves for sending you."

I shuffled in the armor, glad for the helmet hiding my face. Ok so maybe she hadn't sent me per se... but it was the thought that counts. I shook off the fears that had threatened to overwhelm me for a minute there, I was glad I came now too. "Preston, here take these," I stopped him before he trotted back to the door down, looking back expectantly. I blanked trying to figure out how to access my inventory from here.

At the thought, there were whirs and beeps in my ears and a modified version of my normal pip-buck interface sprang up. It was overlaid above the still scrolling messages and calibration sequences the power armor was going through. A hatch at my sides hissed open, allowing me to float out the remaining molotovs I had taken from the Red Rocket raiders and pass them over to the Minutemare. Preston plucked them out of the air in his mouth and stashed them in his own leather packs with a nod before heading back downstairs.

Sturges stayed with me, pulling out a heavily modified hunting rifle and looking about for a place to set up here on the roof. "How's it going in there? Ought to be close to finished adjusting for a new user now," he asked curiously.

Suddenly I felt the odd sensation of the armor moving around me, it had felt pretty roomy when I got in, but now moving parts were adjusting the fit until they came into contact with my hide. A message flashed in front of me, MINIMUM FIT ADJUSTMENT REACHED hmm, I still had some wiggle room in here. Ok, apparently these suits weren't usually worn by ponies of my stature... shut up. I might be a little short for a knight, but I felt like one in the heavy armor. I tried moving awkwardly, expecting to have to trudge under the heavy weight and nearly falling flat on my face, my hoof flying in front of me.

"Easy there, it's power armor, it amplifies your strength and compensates for the weight automatically. Just try not to think about it, let your subconscious and the armor work it out ok? Just nod! Can't have that speaker blasting out your position now. I gotta get set up, I can hear 'em down in the streets. Hey, one repair-pony to another, you got this, it's just a fancy machine," Sturges winked and slunk across the roof, crawling up to the edge on the opposite corner and readying his fancy rifle.

Alright, don't talk, don't move yet... I started flicking through the menus and systems of the armori familiarizing myself with it as much as I could. Sturges was right, it was a machine and I knew machines. The modular battle saddle system listed the attached minigun and 892 rounds of 5mm ammoi along with two other ammo categories for the attached ammo boxes, 127 rounds 5mm AP and 28 rounds 5mm EX. Hmm... alright, wouldn't mess with those unless I had to find out what they were the hard way.

The armor had synced with my pip-buck entirely now, the HUD shifting from the amber color it had been when I got ini to my normal green. My entire inventory flashed by on the screen, the on board medical talisman integrating what I had with its' own medical reserves. Another message towards the bottom scrolled past quickly, ENHANCED E.F.S. SYSTEM ONLINE and I gasped as the compass filled with red. This thing had a wider range than my pip-buck for detecting threats and the incoming raiders had crossed into it.

I didn't want to give myself away by going to the edge and taking a look but watched with dread as the horde of red hash marks spread out in front of the museum. A handful continuing around the back to cut off any escape. A rough shout floated up from in front of the double doors to the museum. "Minutemare! It's over! Send the zebra out and maybe we'll let you live, Crankcase just wants her!" the raider spokesman shouted up at Preston.

The zebra? They wanted Mama Xara? Faced with odds like this, I wondered what he'd do with an offer like that on the table. Not that I believed it for a second after seeing how these raiders had behaved so far. But staring at an armed pony for every one of those red marks I was looking at.... it had to be tempting.

"Not happening!" Preston shouted back and I cheered inside, "Go back and tell your boss to give it up, two days of killing you fools now and I'm getting bored of it. Talk some sense into him! The Zebra's just an old mare, not some witch! Your boss is crazy, take a look around, you wanna join the others he's sent after us so far?"

A laugh rolled through the crowd of ponies below and I could hear a variety of clicks as weapons were readied. "Last chance Minutemare! You really think you can stop us? Your order is dead, give it up and walk away!" the raider chuckled back. He sounded like he didn't care either way.

"BOSS!!! ON THE RO..." a shout rang out ahead of me cut short by a blast from Sturges' rifle. I looked up just in time to see the raider on the third floor of the wrecked building across the street tumble to the pavement. The fellow repair-pony swung the rifle around to the crowd and shouted "NOW!" over to me, opening up on the raiders.

He was right, so much for surprise at this point. Trying not to think about walking I clanked forward to the edge of the roof and stared down at a sea of ponies. I went to trigger the minigun, fumbling at the mouth bit in the helmet. I realized I had no idea how to operate the controls, I was a unicorn and used magic for this kind of thing... At the thought a loud whir came from my right as the minigun started spinning rapidly, Sturges did say it was unicorn compatible, but no bullets came out? I barely caught a frantic scream of "Power Armor!!!" before the whir was supplemented by a long ripping noise that drowned everything else out. I could feel myself being shoved to the right by the recoil trying to spin me in a circle, but text flashed by my eyes in response, RECOIL COMPENSATION CALIBRATED and the force lessened.

Wherever I looked ponies were shredded, the spinning engine of death tracking my HUD targeting reticule. The raiders scattered screaming, taking cover from the rain of death from above. They charged into ruined buildings and behind rusting hulks of wagons and sky chariots. The tinkling of glass followed by flames closed off the street running west to east in front of the museum. The molotovs I gave Preston left the long road heading north as a shooting gallery.

Stray shots started seeking me out on the edge of the roof and plinked harmlessly off the armor. I now understood the allure of being a big heavy armor pony, this was like cheating. The only issue I could see at the moment was how fast the ammo counter on the HUD was scrolling through available ammo. Numbers spun away faster than I could count, this thing was an bullet hog.

With the crowd dispersed and under cover I tried to slow the gluttonous gun down. It was tricky but I started finding a balance of keeping it spinning right at the edge of firing, only spinning it up to firing speed when I spotted a target. Letting it spin down safely away from that firing point, I risked a glance at Preston and Sturges. Both were selecting their shots at the remaining raiders taking cover from my assault. Unfortunately, more of the raiders were getting the idea those two were better targets and fire started converging on them. As I watched Preston's flank was grazed in a bloody spray, but he just grunted and returned fire with his magical energy rifle.

Alright, had to get them to focus on me again or give them something new to worry about. They knew where the deluge of lead was coming from now and were moving with me in mind. E.F.S. reported about half the number of red marks than we started with moving around erratically. I looked down to the street and gulped, backing up quickly. Armor or not I was three stories up... I knew the specs on the hydraulics, but knowing and doing are two different things. Gritting my teeth, I charged towards the edge of the roof, my metal hoofsteps pounding forward. Oh this was a bad idea...such a bad idea. I clenched my eyes shut and jumped out into space, feeling wind rushing in my ears even though I was sealed up.

I hit the hulk of a rusting carriage like a bomb, knocking the raiders taking cover behind it back in the shockwave. Despite everything my terrified mind had told me, I hadn't broken all four legs. I barely felt a thing actually. I spun the minigun up again and laid down a line of fire, swinging from one side of the street to the other. A lucky shot apparently hit a spark battery on a wrecked sky carriage up the street as it went up in a huge fireball, sending more raiders flying. I had succeeded in getting their attention again as round after round sparked off the armor, the HUD flashing damage reports and armor condition. A flicker of movement caught my attention and I glanced down to see two grenades roll across the pavement at my hooves, then the world exploded.

There was the brief sensation of flight again, followed by a hard impact and a crunch before I hit the ground. Groaning, I looked up at the hole I had made through the brick wall of a laundromat. The medical and repair systems were flashing angrily at me, the healing potion reserves were drained slightly as it injected me above my heart with a pinch. The concussion of the grenades had done some damage, even if I hadn't been turned to a red smear by that blast. I winced and coughed up something wet, struggling back to my hooves. I looked over in idle fascination at the crumpled washing machine I had been thrown against. A field of what looked like my magic had reached out to the metal hulk and was stripping it away as the armor repaired itself, that was handy...

Being thrown into dusty building put me out of the fire for a moment and I checked E.F.S., maybe a quarter of the raiders remained. A couple disappeared as they passed out of even the extended range, making their escape. Others were moving on the museum again, believing me out of the fight. The ammo counter flashed 238 rounds remaining in the minigun, I crawled up over the pile of bricks my entrance had made, heading to the street again. Just as I poked my head out, I heard a horrible roar and the ground shook under my steel clad hooves. I could feel that even through the armor...

The raiders heard and felt it to, the gunshots outside stopped and the ones I could see were looking around frantically at the pavement. Terror was etched on all of their faces, what was going on? Suddenly I remembered Mama Xara saying something, 'the real danger wasn't the raiders... it was what they woke up'.

I could target several of them, but held off, joining the bizarre cease fire. Then as I watched the raider across the street, the ground opened up beneath him and some... thing... came roaring up from the pits of tartarus. I made out a huge shape, red eyes, claws, fangs... then blood, lots of blood. The raider was turned into confetti in front of my eyes with one blur of movement, the others screamed, running and firing at it. From the museum I could hear Preston screaming, "HELLHOUND!" and flashes of his magical energy rifle speared out at the furry monster.

That was all I needed, raiders and Preston were both focusing on the new threat and not each other. I spun the minigun back up and hammered away at the giant dog looking thing as it charged forward on its hind legs. It grabbed another raider in its claws and ripped her throat out with a snap of its jaws, shaking its head in a spray of gore. The minigun spun dry, every remaining round had peppered the beast and it barely noticed...

Not that it didn't notice of course...

The hellhound lunged across the street as I frantically approved of loading the next available ammo type at the armor's questioning. The first shots barely started to fly as it closed the distance. The ammo marked AP penetrated the things hide at least, but they didn't seem to phase it. A flash of claws shot out at me as I screamed and dodged back into the hole in the wall, feeling lines of fire bloom down my side. It slashed right through the power armor?! Sweet Celestia it could have taken my head off!

The wall didn't seem to serve as any kind of obstacle for the monster either, glancing back over my shoulder, I saw another flash of claws obliterate the heavy brick wall and I ran for all I was worth. The armor was throwing up a long litany of warnings and alerts, dumping most of the healing reserves into me. It added a charge of Med-X, but the surge of adrenaline I felt made both it and the pain it was meant to soothe distant and irrelevant. I caught it trying to reach out and pull in more materials to repair the armor, as I bolted down the row of washing machines and out the back.

I kept running for my life, charging right through two raiders standing in the side street and jumping through a broken window of a bakery with a crash. I spun, getting the minigun up to speed as I hit the rubble strewn floor and lined back up on the thing in time to see it rip one raider in half and snap at the second. More of the AP rounds tore into the creature and it howled, but didn't seem overly concerned, biting the second raiders head off.

The hairy killing machine suddenly dove into the ground and disappeared as the minigun spun dry again. It just dove underground like diving into a pool. I frantically accepted loading the handful of rounds marked EX and shivered in the armor. Unless these were 28 magical Bullets of Hellhound-Slaying, I was screwed, nothing had made a dent so far and it could move through the ground. It could be...

With a scream I dove for the side window as one of those wicked claws ripped out of the floor and slashed my flank, tearing chunks from the armor. If I hadn't realized the implications in time... Absolute terror drove me on, running back towards the museum and dashing for the alleyways I had traveled on my way into this cursed town. My mind raced and I could hear it out in the streets, playing with the remaining raiders.

What in Luna's name was I supposed to do now!? I was starting to think nothing short of a balefire bomb would take this thing out, not that I was packing one of those around... With that, a horrible idea came to mind, but I couldn't think of anything else. Desperate, I started flicking through the armors interface while I ran and started making some adjustments to the power system.

A bloodcurdling scream from across Poncord let me know this was my best chance, fast as it was, that was as far as I could ever hope for. I skidded to a halt, facing the main street from the alley and tripping the armor release. I was practically bouncing on my hooves waiting for the suffocating thing to open up enough to get out. I leapt free with my ears flicking in every direction and one eye on the ground, praying for all I was worth as I floated out my tools.

"Come on repair-pony powers, don't fail me now," I whispered manically, closing the armor back up and tearing the panel off the minigun firing mechanism. I frantically wired it to the rerouted circuit I had set up in the armor. Stupid thing had fought me at every turn and I had to override every safety I found, warning me against the very dire cascading system failure I could ...accidentally... cause if I wasn't a trained technician.

A growl from the street made me sure that was good enough and I ducked around the corner of the alley, just as a large shadow cut off the light of the fires burning out in the street. The power armor stood facing it, minigun aimed forward to the alley entrance and the approaching beast. With a glow of magic, I spun up the minigun from the outside and it roared, explosions sounding off rapidly for a bare moment before it ran dry again. So that's what the EX meant... wish I had more of those to begin with. The thing in the alley howled in pain, it didn't like that. The crude wire running from the gun to the armor's back sparked and I could faintly hear alarms wailing inside it as I dashed away, hoping I could make enough distance.

The monster charged down the alley and slammed into the vacant armor as I sprinted away. I kept glancing over my shoulder, hoping I faded away in the shadows enough to escape immediate notice. The hellhound shredded the armor with satisfaction, tearing into it and shaking it like a chew toy. It seemed I had annoyed it anyway, good. It was enjoying itself as I caught the sight of the casing holding the spark generator glowing orange and hissing under its claws. I poured on every last bit of speed I had left and jumped for the open dumpster at the end of the alley, cresting the lip of it as the rainy night turned to day.

I woke up surrounded by 200 year old garbage, my pip-buck ticked steadily at me and I felt like I had just been on a ride through the industrial dryer in the Stable laundry. In the distance, I could hear people shouting my name moving around. Groaning weakly, I struggled up and pushed the dumpster lid open, which was now to the side instead of above me for some reason.

Everything was fuzzy and spinning.... hmm... no wonder I felt like a freshly laundered Stable barding, I followed the trail the dumpster had followed. A series of impact points and broken walls through a ruined house, led towards a smoking crater to the west side of Poncord. I had been thrown in the dumpster as it tumbled away from the blast and must have hit every side of it judging by all the blood splashed on every side... wow... lots of blood...

I took a couple weaving steps as Preston came galloping into the backyard the dumpster had come to rest in. An expression of relief wiped away by concern. I raised a hoof and stumbled woozily in a wave of dizziness, "H-hey... did.. did we win?" I slurred and fell face first into the mud.

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

Foal at Heart-
--I know you are but what am I! So what if you like foal's stuff like the Shrouded Stallion, This perk greatly improves your interactions with children, granting unique dialogue options with foals and other foals at heart.

Reputation Change---------------

Minutemares- Liked-
So there's only one left, after fighting their side Preston and his crew trust you.

Thundega Raiders- Vilified!
Ok, you weren't going to be friends anyway. These raiders now have a grudge against you in particular. On the plus side, you are viewed as their own personal grim reaper pony and may be able to intimidate some of them.

Author's Notes:

Thanks as always to Kkat for creating FOE along with all the other authors adding to it. Also thanks to Aeluna for the constructive criticism, been a long time since I felt like writing and I'm pretty rusty. Tend to get all stream of consciousness and editing has never been my forte so friendly reminders always help!