I flinched on entering the Shrouded Stallion gift shop and hearing that intimidating voice warbling out, an old speaker above the door.... phew...

I'd normally just be immediately delighted at the motion activated catchphrase on entering, instead of fighting down nerves to feel so after figuring it out. Between the batpony mare inching in behind me and the residents of Eclipse, I could be forgiven for being a little spooked, they all told stories about the real Shroud, like a ghost haunting this place... It was a little spooky...

I got over that quickly enough looking around the dark space though, I was disappointed at how ruined and ramshackle everything was, but I still saw the Shrouded Stallion everywhere my nightvision eyes fell. Tattered, moldy posters for the tv show that never came out, rotting boxes that were familiar packaging for Shroud toys, a few ratty shreds of dark cloth draped from rusting hangers, even a few dusty old black hats like my own.

As the only one of us who couldn't look around perfectly well in the dark, Val grumbled and clicked her pip-buck light on, huffing in annoyance at a big room of junk. "Don't look like much is left boss... satisfied?"

Turning on my own light even though I didn't need it, I shook my head and peered around curiously. "No. There's gotta be more, we haven't even looked in Mr. Cane's house yet! Hey, a door! Locked even! Er... if you could Val?"

Rolling her eyes at me scrambling behind the broken glass counter, Val followed along willingly enough, setting her claws to work on the steel door's lock with practiced ease. "There better be somethin' good in here somewheres boss..."

Oh but there was though! All over the place, sadly mostly ruined... but what this place had been before? Oh Luna, if only I had come here before the end of the world... Posters for the biggest story arcs were still in framed glass cases lining the upper walls, a narrow stairwell leading up to the balcony overlooking the gift shop led there, but that was for ponies who couldn't simply fly right up!

I flapped up and started tugging at the frames with my magic, shattering dirty glass to get to the preserved posters beneath, rolling each up carefully and stuffing them in my bags. When we got home, I'd have new decorations! Maaaaybe Jade wouldn't let me just plaster every wall of our now shared bedroom, but I always had my workshop too! Surely she'd give me a couple of the best ones... the Mechanamare saga at the very least!

Happily trotting to the next frame down, I found it easier to not get riled up by the tinkling laugh of the batpony filly perching on the bent railing behind me in my obsession. "Thou really likes all this stuff huh? How funny! To think those foal's stories could inspire real heroism... Most of us consider them something to be ignored, an oversimplification of an important legend of Goddess Luna."

"Yeah but almost nobody'd know it at all if it weren't for the comics, it's a retelling!"

Witchy paused at one of the posters, featuring both the Shroud and his secret identity Waning Moon, cocking her head quizzically and asking an interested question. "I have never understood this part... Why did the Shrouded Stallion pretend to be an ordinary pony?"

"It's a secret identity of course! If the bad guys knew who he was, they'd come after him and everypony he cared about right? He was only able to be the Shroud at night too, if they could catch him in the day like issues #28, #89 or #174, he'd be in real trouble!"

She gave a small smile in reply and huffed, "The real Shroud was not a normal pony, it is a ridiculous distortion of the truth. Such silly stories..."

"They're not silly Witchy... The Shroud was as awesome as Ministry Mare Dash! He certainly helped me out more than once since coming out here."

"Out here? You mean to this part of the Commonwealth?" Witchy tilted her head quizzically, oh yeah... With the whole being recently mutated into an alicorn thing, I kinda forgot to mention I wasn't exactly local in a few ways.

She already knew plenty about me though, I trusted the odd batpony for whatever reason, though I hoped it wasn't just my interest in seeing what batponies were like in... dammit... "Er... Not quite Witchy... I'm from a Stable, 111, way up north. I'm kinda... old..."

Val hooted laughter below us, distracting Witching Hour from her confusion and then just adding to it. "Ha! Just a little bit, freakin' prewar pony, always whinin' bout makin' the wasteland like the old world..."

"P-Prewar?! Thou are from before... h-how?" Witchy's sharp gasp made me groan, this was always hard to explain...

"Stasis... My Stable was weird ok? Maybe not as weird as others from what I've learned, but odd... We had stasis pods, I spent most of my time asleep for the last 200 years. I grew up in 111, but I was a foal when we entered as the bombs dropped, I lived in the old world once..."

Her mouth hung open a minute, giving me an excellent view of those needle sharp, gleaming fangs in that soft, warm mouth that... no! No thinking about kissing her... I had once already, that was more than enough, Val was right there and... of course if she joined in....

"NNNGGH!!" The poor thestral at my side flapped back a bit at me bashing my head against the crumbling plaster of the wall, putting a big dent in there and shaking dust from my mane angrily. I was going to get this under control dammit... Those things might be fun, might be a looooot of fun... but I had Jade, and now I had collectibles to look for too! I could keep myself under control, easy peasy...

Once I moved on, she kept following, a lot more energetic and awake now that it was growing dark outside and still focused on her mission. Until I came to her town of Dreadnot with her, she was just going to keep right on tailing me everywhere... She looked lost in thought trying to process what I told her though, eventually looking up suspiciously. "You aren't fooling me? Playing a joke? You really are from before... all this?"

"Yup... I promise, no foolin'. Wooo! A Shroud insignia button!" Almost lost under the junk underhoof, into the bag it went.

My happy and sure answer was met with a roll of her amber eyes, hanging on the crescent moon above the dark city skyline in the poster. "D-Did... did you ever see Goddess Luna? The Princess? When she still lived?" She asked in a religious hush, forcing me to stop digging around to consider the question.

"Well... on tv sure, everypony saw her there. Live and up close though? I was just a kid, not like I had any royal audiences or anything Witchy..." Thinking harder at her crestfallen look, I stretched to change that quickly, "I er... I did see her once at the solstice parade... Mom still knew lots of high ranking Shadowbolts and all, got us good seats. I think the Princess even looked our way! T-That's about as close as I ever came though, sorry..."

Her slitted amber eyes widened at just that much, a look of awe spreading joyfully across her fine features, her tufted ears pointing straight up in excitement. "The Lunar Princess... in the flesh! You actually saw her with your own eyes Fast! Oh what an honor! Do you know what the ponies of Dreadnot would think if..."

Whatever she was saying was cut off by Val's huff of victory at the lock below, sending me sailing down to her and prancing in place as she pushed open the steel door behind the counter. "There, all open boss, probably more junk is all but..."

"Thank you Val!" I planted a sloppy kiss on her cheeky and dashed past, barely hearing her mutter to herself happily.

Storage, storage for the gift shop, meaning boxes of stuff to sell that hadn't been scavenged yet! A cramped and small area lined with shelves, but those shelves still had dusty, moldy, rotting cardboard boxes and that's what I hoped for! A moments focus surrounded everything in here in the glow of my blue magic, lifting it all in a swirling cloud and dragging it out with me where there was more room.

Val chuckled and got out of the way, but gave a happy whoop at the steel safe hidden back there too. Nothing of real interest to me at the moment, but she dove right at it. Really... it was probably just for holding golden bits and gems from the store, empty the rusty register nearby into periodically, who needed money? What I had was the real treasure...

Cardboard and packaging was torn to confetti in a swirl of magic around me. I had always been good at fine control telekinesis and juggling a lot of tools, but now I could managed dozens of objects easily, ripping packaging to shreds to get at the goodies hidden within. Wooo! The Shroud's faithful zebra butler Alf! A horde of bad guy figures to fight! A Mysterious Mare do Well from the crossover! Aha! The Shroud's love interest even! Lonely Lane, the pale blue reporter mare always trying to uncover the Shroud's identity, never realizing billionaire playbuck Waning Moon was in actuality... the Shrouded Stallion! These were particularly rare! Mine!

Hell, there was so much here and so many doubles, I could open a toy shop! Fly around and deliver gifts on Hearth's Warming Eve even! Maybe not quite that much, but I could send a nice care package to Ivy's orphanage in Goodneighbor! Not only that, there were mostly intact t-shirts, foal sized Shroud hats, mugs, steins, bumper stickers, buttons and more, all stamped with the Shroud's insignia!

Practicing with my new alicorn telekinesis, I separated the loot from the junk and wrappings, then split the stack between what went in my bags immediately and what was set aside to give away later. I held onto one of the mini hats for Glitter and snatched a snowglobe with a miniature Castle Equinox in the sparkly snow inside, then took a look up to the balcony and the door leading to the walkway.

"We happy yet boss? I ain't gettin' near as much outta this as you ya know..." Val grumbled playfully from the open safe, dumping bags of bits into her own packs and waiting patiently.

I shook my head and landed by Witchy, gaping from her perch at the railing with a whisper. "N-Not what I expected at all... utterly mad..."

Bah, these two just didn't have the right attitude! There was still Mr. Cane's house itself to explore! I pranced my way to the door and walked out to the walkway leading between the gift shop and the surprisingly well preserved house. As a museum, they must have used some powerful magic to keep it in such good shape, who knows what might be inside!

"Onward! Into the unknown my faithful sidekicks!" I grinned back to the two ladies following with a groan.

Hmm... besides magic to preserve the foalhood home of the creator of the Shroud comics, apparently some pretty significant security had been put in place too... I stared at the hefty locks holding the door leading from the walkway closed, maybe Mr. Cane valued his privacy? The stark sign on the door seemed to support that theory anyway....

Any lock keeping ponies out had Val's interest though, especially several on a single door. Believing it must mean there was something valuable within, Val went to work gleefully, raking the numerous tumblers with her claws while I worked on the electronic lock next to her.

After some muttered curses from both of us and a lot of work, the last lock clicked open and the heavy door swung free. The dim room beyond was on the second floor of a rather nice house even now, opening on the landing of the sagging stairs, leading to the front door. It was gloomy and damp smelling, mold and decay even in the preserved home, but not a complete ruin like most wasteland houses. Lots of pictures and certificates on the walls, dusty books on the shelves facing the landing, all pretty normal so far...

Trotting over to the tilting shelves, I noticed a set of brass posts and velvet ropes tucked away in the corner, must be for when tours were allowed... Even when available, where you could go must have been limited... Not anymore though! I was free to run around and touch anything I wanted! Taking a moment to peruse Mr. Cane's reading materials for anything interesting that had survived the sea air.

Lots of books on art, anatomy, myths and legends, a few surviving books out of a complete set of Daring Do adventures that crumbled under my hoof. The most interesting readable find so far was 'Zebra Infiltration Tactics', a wartime tome depicting a sneaky, suspicious looking zebra slinking about. Reference material maybe? The Shroud was sneaky... I snagged it along with a couple heavy leather bound mythology books, fairy tales and such. Glitter always enjoyed having a story read or told to her at bedtime, and I was exhausting even my prewar supply.

Val vaulted over the railing and down to the entryway on the ground floor, peering around in the dark with her pip-buck light held high and finding the kitchen after a quick check. A few rustling noises later, she gave a happy yell and I heard clinking bottles... Mr. Cane must have enjoyed a drink here and there.

I did at least remember to keep an eye out for anything practical on my way as I scouted out the upstairs with Witchy on my tail. At the moment I could care less about the healing potions I pulled from the tarnished medicine cabinet in the bathroom, but they were important... I guess...

A couple small green bottles with an image of a sun similar to Celestia's own mark were labeled 'Day Trotter' and joined the rest, along with a few magical bandages and an emergency kit still containing a dose of Rad-X, Rad-Away and Med-X, not enough to survive the apocalypse by any means, but good in a pinch.

So far most of the rooms were fairly subdued, I didn't see a lot of Shroud stuff hanging on the walls or littering the shelves, just normal old world junk mostly. I took a good look around what was the artist's spacious bedroom, glancing at all the crooked awards and pictures managing to hold on to the moldy walls and flapping over to bounce on the ancient bed with a rusty squeal of springs and creaking old wood.

As well preserved as this place was, we could probably just stay here while we were in Eclipse! Taking Mr. Cane's home as a vacation bungalow... who would have thought! I idly took a better look at the pictures I could still make out, lots of pictures of a stately buck around Equestria, images of Canterlot, Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Stalliongrad, Trottingham, Baltimare, Las Pegasus, Cloudsdale, Ponyville, he got around alright, pictures of the old world in all its glory.

Mr. Cane must have liked traveling, there were even strange landscapes; frosty crystals poking from deep drifts of snow, a dark, forbidding forest that had to be the legendary Everfree, bright earthtones of the San Palomino Desert and Splendid Valley, Neighagra Falls, forbidden jungles and spooky swamps, a snowy covered city of hulking yaks, and a craggy mountaintop city I had to wonder was Griffonstone. Auntie Broom described the place when I was little, that looked sort of like it... Maybe not streets paved in gold and bejeweled houses like she said... but mom's friend liked to tease me as a foal.

Beyond the travel pictures, there were ponies here and there too, one image in particular really caught my eye and I paused in my bouncing a moment, floating it over to join me and wiping it carefully. A quite young Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash both... wow.... They were young enough they weren't Ministry Mares at all, just friends...

They looked it too, both wearing what could only be described as 'Archaeologist's Outfits' by somepony who thought Daring Do was the end all be all of the profession, khaki shirts with lots of pockets and leather saddlebags, Both wore a funny pith helmets, beaming and hugging each other despite the dust and sweat covering them and grim looking dungeon they were in...

A dark, ancient stone chamber... lots of heavy chains and torches, creepy, angry statues surrounding the center of the round chamber. A blob of black crystal was behind the smiling pair, I could see the shadowy, faceted base at their hooves, but water had seeped in and ruined the top half of the picture. It had dripped down into a spreading black stain that looked like it was trying to separate the pair, tear them apart...

Witchy was taking a better look at the other images around the tattered room, while I shook that shiver down my spine off and bounced in thought, adding the picture to my pile of junk. This was still a nice... big... bed... Plenty of room... Jade and I could have some fun! There was room for more even, if... stop! Wrestling with my fantasies was made harder by the batpony giving an excited squeak and leaping over, joining me on the bed and holding up a dusty picture in her hooves. "Fast look!"

I gulped at the awed, happy face over the picture, dragging my eyes away from those fluffy ears and soft smiling lips to take a look. An older grey stallion with a blue mane, wearing a dapper suit and glasses, beside him was...

"L-Luna!?! P-Princess.... Goddess Luna? That must be Mr. Cane then! Wow... a picture of Luna..." That beat my two Ministry Mares by a mile...

I leaned in and wiped the glass carefully with my hoof, taking a good look at a happy looking night princess, a bound, signed collection of Shroud Comics held in her hoof while the other was wrapped around Mr. Cane's shoulder... oh that lucky old buck.

"M-May I keep this Fast? An artifact of goddess Luna... my people would be so happy! P-Please?" Witchy held the treasure with the same reverence I felt if not more, her slitted amber eyes wide and hopeful as she asked shyly.

"Nnnnn..... o-ok... I guess I'm already getting plenty, sure Witchy all yours, so long as I can take a look when I visit!"

Having the lavender-grey filly tackle me to the soft bed with a squeal was a shock to the system, in several ways as she hugged and nuzzled happily, overjoyed by a simple if rare gift. I could feel myself heating up with all that wonderful batpony pressed against me, nuzzling her back despite myself and struggling to remain in control. Keep those hooves at her back stupid... friendly hug... you can do this.... don't slide down... no seriously... don't go down and...

"Eeep!" Squeaked out when my hooves betrayed me anyway, followed by "AHEM!" when Val coughed from the door and sent Witchy flying, once I guiltily released my deathgrip on that ample rear of course... I cringed to the headboard, thunking my head against the thick wood repeatedly as Val snickered at both of us. "Told ya boss... ya ain't 'posed ta be alone with her, don't make me be a babysitter and break up the fun.... too against my nature, rather join in buuuut, gots me a contract with Blue! Paid me 5 whole caps ta watch ya boss, an' other favors of course! You behave, check it out, fancy lock here..."

That gave me something to gratefully focus on, slinking past her smirk back into the hallway and to the mellow green glow of a partially concealed terminal. I patched my pip-buck to the device dancing in anticipation, this was some pretty good security... top of the line, a real pain to hack and get past, something good must be in there...

Aha! The Shroud's butler's, niece's, cousin's, foal's name was a pretty esoteric password, 'Xianle' was a nice, confusing bit of subterfuge to hide the real password in all the lines of code nonsense, but they were dealing with a fanatic here... I found my entrance and the high tech lock opened like a flower, the sturdy door giving a heavy 'click'.

Swinging the barrier open with glee, I froze as what I hoped for was replaced for what was there. Mr. Cane's office... what I wanted but... I pictured a room as well preserved as the rest of the house, a drawing desk with unfinished comics, shelves of souvenirs and collectibles, autographed collections, holotapes of the radio show, treasure!

The room was sort of like that... There actually was a drawing desk, though it was stained with blackened blood and smashed, along with the bookshelves, any toys or treasures... all tossed about the room in heaps of scrap and junk, a once luxurious office chair in front of me held a dead body that slowly lurched up with a hiss... a zombie... a zombie in Mr. Cane's office... a-a Mr. Cane zombie?

It was a unicorn, it was a stallion... I stood transfixed as it rose, frozen while it snarled and leapt at me. I could kill it... I had gotten quite good at killing zombies actually, a single round from any of my firearms at this range would do it, a blast of lightning, a flick of starmetal, hell at this point I might even have a hope hoof to hoof with just one ancient undead pony versus alicorn/earth pony strength, but this one?

The squishy weight of the thing slammed into me, flat but effective enough yellow teeth sinking into my throat, snapping for more when I weakly tried to push it away as we tumbled down the hall. I could kill it, but I couldn't... I couldn't kill Mr. Cane! W-We could lock him up somewhere! Find a way to fix him or...

BLAM!

The snarling zombie head over me was vaporized by a big pistol and S.A.T.S. guided accuracy, Val screeching in the echoing silence that followed as I just lay there bleeding, the corpse flopping on top of me in a heavy heap. "W-What the hell boss!? Why'd ya just stand there like a lump stupid! You ok!?! Lemme see, shit!"

I let her fret and hiss over the ragged, bleeding crescent in my neck, pouring purple healing potion over it and slapping a magical bandage on top of that. An example of her go to position on being a field medic, 'Use everything, lots'. Staring at the shadowy ceiling and feeling tears dribble down my cheeks, along with the brains of the pony who created my favorite character... The very gray sludge I wiped away once thought up...

Surging up suddenly, I nearly knocked Val aside, charging down the hall with a hoof to my mouth and into the moldy bathroom, not caring whether the plumbing worked while working on pure instinct, finding the porcelain receptacle I wanted and losing my lunch as quietly as I could.

I had gotten so used to being forced to kill so much... living ponies like raiders and gangs making me to do so was bad enough, the mindless zombies paled in comparison and had simply fallen to the level of... monsters... monsters and nothing more. It was just so easy to forget... all of them used to be...

Another few dry heaves and I swayed on the spot, trying to focus on a nervous sounding Val behind me. "All better? Come on boss... talk to me..."

"F-Fine Val.. neck hurts... thank you. I-I forgot and.... thank you..." I wheezed and sucked in a good breath, trying to get the room to stop spinning and stumbling my way back to her, wiping my eyes.

Witching Hour had her gleaming combat rifle drawn still and looked on anxiously, hanging by a gently swinging light fixture that managed to hold on somehow. "A-Are thou alright? I assumed you could... you let it hurt you?" A note of suspicious confusion in her voice, I guessed just sitting there like I was fresh from the Stable looked pretty bad for the great Shrouded Stallion she came to find.

"I-I think that was Mr. Cane... I couldn't just... k-kill him..."

She glided down to the corpse and poked at it a moment, staring closely before shaking her head, sending that short purple mane around in fan. "I don't think so Fast, look!"

My new thestral friend held up the picture she had asked for proudly, tapping a hoof over the smiling Bobbing Cane being blessed by Luna's touch and then to the body. Male, unicorn, greyish hide... I couldn't see what she was talking about, a flicker of hope wavering as I gave her a pleading look

"This buck was greenish gray originally, and his mane was purple, not blue see! His frame is wrong too, even rotted as it is, this is not the pony in my picture Fast. It's alright..." Witchy soothed kindly and hugged the framed picture of the goddess happily, my savior...

"Oh thank you Luna! And THANK YOU WITCHY! Phew... I thought I... that would have been horrible! N-Not that it's not horrible anyway... I mean he was a pony too and... but if I was soaking in Mr. Cane right now instead, oh thankyouthankyouthankyou! How could you tell?" I jabbered and grabbed her free hoof, shaking her off the ground in my joy. I didn't cause the death of a pony I admired, wherever he was, it wasn't here.

Witchy gave a bashful whinny and managed to tug her hoof free with a blush. "I know many fine ghouls, it can be hard telling them apart unless one is used to them. If thou hadn't given me this artifact, I wouldn't have known though! You are more than welcome!"

My relief was cut short by Val's claw smacking me upside the head, sending me stumbling after my hat rolling down the hall with an angry grunt. "That's why you just sat there an'... Good Gawd boss! Yer little obsession is all fun an games till it gets ya hurt dammit! Ya should'a wasted that thing before it ever got up, was afraid somethin' was actually wrong stupid!"

"Sorry... I know it was dumb, I just froze ok? Thanks for having my back Val, doing what I couldn't..."

She looked pleased at the praise while I shuffled around the demolished office, kicking scrap and junk aside morosely and hoping something had survived. Awww... torn up pages for new comics... a broken easel with an unfinished painting of a dark cityscape, torn up books, spattered paints, lots of ancient blood...

Floating up the smashed desk in the corner revealed a flickering terminal at least, Stable-Tec made stuff to last... I nudged the poor arcano-tech device upright again and was happy to come up with something, scripts, notes, data files for all the radio shows... I would have really liked those ripped up pages, but the last few entries of text explained what had happened.

Subject- Shave Read Please
----Thanks again for picking up those panels for me Shave, in such a hurry to make the boat to Fog Harbor... I can't believe I forgot them! You're a lifesaver my buck, just take them to the local Ditzy Doo Deliveries office, should be ready to go and all paid for. Treat yourself to a drink or a bite then run on home, get that family out of town for awhile... I may not be a big mover and shaker, but I hear things... Take care of that filly of yours.

Subject- FUCK!
----Of all the... I can't believe... Just my fucking luck! Do the old guy a favor and just so happen to be here when the world fucking ends!?! Paranoid security shit locked down when they hit, stuck in his fucking office and... I feel sick, mane falling out... some of those booms sounded close, close enough, rads... Gotta find a way out, gotta be something in here to help, some password or something, just have to find it... If I don't... tell Butter and Whipped I love them, whoever finds this...

Subject- Rrngauwlah
----mwarnald Shroud... watching... wmnalda everywhere... haldnflad no escape, no key wmfnarrraggh... trapped, trapped forever hoawnfaldnaa can't die owandaldd sorry Butter... bukalrdjlag... love you... hwaounladjland

Shave, now I had a name for the headless zombie corpse on the landing... He had a family, knew Mr. Cane, was a good pony trying to help, and he'd been trapped here all this time. I found it easier to forgive the destruction in here now, it was a terrible waste, but so was what happened to him. He had been a pony, easy as that was to forget... at least we ended his suffering.

An interested squeak broke me out of my reverie, Witchy was actually helping me root around in here, I guessed after finding a picture of Goddess Luna, this place wasn't quite so silly to the loyal thestral. Her muzzle was buried in a pile of shattered bookshelves and came out with a glowing blue ball... "Mmwwow's Mhisss?" She mumbled around the round memory orb in her mouth while I gawked at it.

Val snatched the magical sphere from Witchy with distrust before I could move, stuffing it in her leather duster and scowling over my protests. "No! Don't even think about it! I hate them things boss, just flop over and be out ta lunch for who knows how long. Place like the Memory Den sure, but just wherever ya happen ta find it? I'll just hold onto that till yer safe in bed or somethin', got it?!" She had a point, they could be inconvenient...

But this one... this one must belong to Mr. Cane, it was in his office! His inner sanctum, where he worked and created, right there were potentially memories of the stallion himself. I couldn't wait! "B-But! Val that's probably a memory of Mr. Cane! I have to..."

"Nope! Ain't happenin'! Seen some of ya silly horn heads end up wasted playin' with these stupid things boss, fallin' off cliffs, flopping over in the middle of a fight, passin' out an' gettin' caught in dangerous ruins, I ain't havin' it so you can just... No way! Forget it!" Val held a claw to my head to keep me back as I grunted and pushed, waving my hooves feebly at her coat for my prize back.

A gunshot from outside followed by an indistinct shout interrupted and helped me forget all about it for now, rather elegantly proving her point. Trouble... outside....

Val had her pistol out and was glaring daggers out the dirty windows, muttering to herself and counting the shadowy forms outside.

"Company boss... Looks like we showed up just when they decided to come for another haul, Gunners..." Her pained whisper mirrored my own thoughts, drawing my weapons and looking for Witchy, finding her hanging from the tilted ceiling fan in the foyer and looking out the arch of dusty glass over the door.

Peering out the windows at the other side of the door, it didn't take even heightened alicorn senses to spot the mercenaries she was talking about. E.F.S. was lit with at least 20 dashes, all red... all facing the cluster of heavily armed and armored ponies, along with a sneering, older, vulture-like griffon cackling at the green dashes of Eclipse residents. Several shabbily armed guards and a pair hauling a wagon of food, trudging to the crescent moon plaza at the entrance to the ruined village, where we received our own armed welcome.

Panic welled up and threatened to freeze me again, Gunners! So soon!? I hoped for a little time to figure something out at least, be all clever and Shroud-y... but here they were already... Had they found Jade and the others? The Minutemares? The mare and stallion from Eclipse unhitching the cart of miretank meat and fish looked like they were doing business as usual...

Maybe they were buying time, Jade was there and smart, and she'd never advocate violence. If there was a peaceful solution for right now, she'd take it. From her perspective, with her knight missing on some stupid errand chasing toys... Yes, the status quo was the best option, time... give them what they want and get them out of here for now, let us come up with a plan.

Good girl, so long as we kept our heads down too, it should be alright. A check of my pip-buck showed the tags for Jade, Glitter and Zed all safely pointing to the beach, behind the walls of Eclipse, though Zed's was creeping along not far away from the others. A relief, but I was still slinking out into the dark and hurriedly slinking my way around the plaza. Back to the village and keeping an ear on the exchange the whole way, Val struggling to match my stealth and keep up, while the batpony Witchy had no such problems at least.

From this distance even I couldn't pick up what they were saying, just the occasional shout or cruel chorus of laughter as the Gunner griffon flew over to inspect the haul. The ugly looking male took a big bite of smoked fish and chewed thoughtfully, then reached out and slapped the young beige stallion to the ground to even more laughs floating to us...

"Be Dark..." Grumbled at the bullying we were forced to witness, much as I agreed with that voice, I still hadn't had any brilliant ideas or anything. Fighting them here would be dangerous for everyone, including the villagers and Glitter. If even one got away from an attack... This place could easily just cease to exist...

"What're we doin' boss? Tell me we're wastin' em... please.... Gunter there is a real prick..." Val pointed at the sneering griffon and scowled, itching to blast him to pieces by her tone.

"I don't.... just stay down for now, if Jade and the villagers can get rid of them for now, that's best... We can't kill them here or the ponies of Eclipse suffer, we need time to..." I smacked my head trying to force my brain back into gear as we crept through ruined buildings out of sight, away from thoughts of comic book villains and back into the world of real ones.

A shrill scream helped that along with only slight stripping of mental gears, several of the Gunner ponies were crowding around the pretty Eclipse mare who brought their tribute. By their body language, rude gestures and roaming hooves, they had decided they wanted more tribute... Pony flesh on top of fish and miretank, they were getting grabby, dragging the screaming mare to their own armored cart they were loading up. Ponynapping her!

The Eclipse guards who had come with the tribute raised their weapons, but were incredibly outgunned and outnumbered. I could hear the raised voices barking orders and some heavy firepower came up as one. That portly griffon got right in the face of Captain Salty, his hat unmistakable among the Eclipsers, after a moment the Captain raised a hoof and his guards lowered their crude weapons reluctantly. Nothing they could do...

The troop of heavily armed ponies in matching green prewar combat armor marched off, bold enough to fly a banner of the Gunner's skull shaped emblem as they followed the griffon flapping lazily at the lead, down the crumbling dirt and asphalt road leading west. The Shroud in my head raged as they retreated, but we had reached the junk walls surrounding Eclipse and there were red dashes within too. First things first, Jade and Glitter...

Peeking up over the uneven, rusty barrier, I found the Gunners attached to those red marks on E.F.S. easy enough, they weren't trying not to stand out or anything... A trio of heavily armed ponies, laughing and tossing possessions from the best cabin remaining of the old resort, a nasty looking pink mare bucked an older stallion for fun, her grenade cutie mark accented by the barcode tattoo beneath it.

Tearing my burning gaze away from the abuse, I tried to find what I was most worried about. I sailed silently over the walls of junk protecting the arch of cabins and ramshackle buildings, diving right for the one leaning at the alarming angle and panicked to not see anything.... No blue Minutemare's cart, no Minutemares, no Preston or Sassy, no Jade, no Glitter... NO!

I heard a soft sigh before I blew my top and spun, flooded with relief at the beautiful blue alicorn appearing behind the tilted cabin. Jade was hitched to the Minutemare's cart and had all of them crammed together, packed so tight there were a lot of muffled yelps and hooves poking in uncomfortable places, topped off by every foal of Eclipse. Glitter was safely on her back, giving a worried yell when her mother took one last trembling step towards the beach and collapsed under her, turning all of that invisible had to have taken a lot out of her.

Managing to land in a stumbling, pinwheeling run, I only mildly crashed against the cart, causing just a few grunts and curses from the occupants trying to disentangle themselves quietly, jumping out to detach Jade and keep pushing the cart away from the danger. I lurched back up to caress Jade's cheek and check her weakly fluttering blue eyes with the little filly at her side.

"T-That was great mom! Y-You did it!" Glitter cheered in a whisper and anxiously nuzzled her, soothed by a shaky hoof on her back.

"Are you ok Jade!? Hey, t-talk to me, you're ok right?" I gave my own worried affection, ignoring Val and Witchy catching up behind me and the crashes and thumps of the trio of Gunners nearby. Nudging her carefully and noting the sparks from her horn, along with her ragged breathing, she pushed way too far...

"F-Fine... W-Weak... too much... all safe?" My princess gasped, rolling an eye to Preston tugging his hindleg free with a grunt and running to check on her too.

"All safe Jade, you did it, get some rest, please, that was amazing Princess, we'll take it from here." Her eyes slid shut in relief and Preston turned his attention to me, continuing in an awed voice. "Scouts, sent in to make sure they weren't holding anything back, changed the deal, their new 'local governors'... She didn't want fighting to start, I d-disagreed with her just letting them take what they want and leave out there, but just the crew they sent in here could... She hid us all Fast, determined not to start fighting in the middle of town... can't believe she could..."

A surprised snort drew both of our attention away in fear, one of the Gunners drinking a stolen bottle of booze and parading around the village like its new lord, came round the corner of the cabin and spotted us to her surprise. Her sneering mouth started opening, the earth pony letting the vodka bottle fall to the sand and drawing a breath to shout...

The striped shadow from the tilted roof over her dropped on her like a ghost, muscular forelegs wrapping around her head and giving a sharp jerk and tug, snapping her neck and dropping her silently at the hooves of Zed. The zebra winked and looked around quickly, making sure he was unnoticed and grabbing the mare's ratty red mane in his teeth, dragging her behind the cabin and out of view.

1 down, 2 to go... "Preston, stay down, get these kids where you were going and stay down a second. Glitter, stay with your mom ok? Go get her some of her red Sparkle Colas and dig out her little lead box, she needs rest and radiation, she'll be ok though, don't worry. I'll be right back...."

The exhausted blue princess sighed and waved a hoof feebly, "B-Be careful... Villagers..." her first thoughts always for the safety of others. She protected everypony here and kept this from being a bigger mess, now it was my turn...

Drawing my silenced pistol and Best Served, I started creeping towards the cruel noises of the two remaining red marks in my vision. Every second we were here, the rest were getting further away with their victim... Whatever else we figured out, those two couldn't be allowed to remain here, it was only a matter of time before the Minutemares and Jade were discovered...

Zed sprang back to the rooftops and disappeared, I could count on him to take one out, hell he could take both easily enough... We couldn't let them get a shot off though, no noise... the Gunners weren't that far away yet, sudden gunfire or explosions and they'd be right back in force. So I was a little concerned at Val falling in right at my side, the fiery griffon was anything but sneaky...

She had her Shishkebab drawn though, keeping the flames off for the moment and muttering darkly to herself, her eyes locked on the burly pale buck on the porch of the cabin used as the general store for this small town. 'Bits and Bobs' hung from a tired wooden sign decorated with a rusty, oversized fishhook and faded red and white bobber, that the younger yellow unicorn with him ripped down with his magic.

The bigger buck is what had both our attention, Jade had managed to hide every foal, but a younger apple red filly had been caught out there, old enough for her cutie mark, old enough to work... just like back home. Only a few years older than Glitter, but being dragged into the cabin by a leering, slobbering buck with one thing on his mind.... NO!

He slammed the door behind him once she had been successfully forced in, her hooves leaving scratches down the rough wooden porch trying to hang on while the unicorn laughed, waving his assault rifle around at the frightened residents from the porch and chortling about 'his turn' once his comrade was done...

Oh you want your turn? Then you can go first instead... Best Served floated up in my magic and started spinning, the blurring starmetal blade sent shooting through the air with an ominous whickering noise and flashing right through the buck's neck. There was a gasp and a few cries as their tormentor lost his head, but I was out and running before his body fell, making hushing noises over the screams coming from the cabin, hurry! Please let me...

Val flew ahead of me at full speed, barreling right through the door and kicking it in on her way, igniting her Shishkebab as we went. I tried to hiss a warning and catch up, begging her to keep it quiet and wishing the zebra on the roof had got there first. A muffled yell sounded out as I hit the porch, met by the terrified orange maned filly being shoved out and grabbing me in desperate sobs, bruised and wearing tears in her simple dress, but still safe and with her virtue intact.

I stared into the cluttered room beyond, the pale Gunner had stripped most of his armor and that combat shotgun/sniper rifle battlesaddle off, his interrupted rape obvious as he dangled from Val's dark claw squeezing his neck shut. "Helloooo Jack Knife.... up to your old tricks again? See Gunter's crew hasn't changed much, remember me?"

"T-Traitor... Bitch... W-What? J-Jealous? Want anoth..." The struggling buck choked out a sneering answer and Val slammed him to the wall again, lowering that flickering starmetal weapon from his neck to lower parts and glaring back over her shoulder at me watching.

"Leave boss. Gimme a second."

"A-Are you ok Val?" Much as I wanted to kill the rapist pedophile myself, all laughter and jokes were gone from her voice, I never heard Val sound so close to breaking, such cold hatred...

"Leave boss. Now. This fuck right here... He's my pay today, you don't wanna watch this... Go check Blue an' the kid, I'll be along... shortly...." The griffon managed to answer in a tightly controlled hiss, she was hurting... but... This was happening, I was ok with whatever she wanted to do to this asshole, just worried about her.

"Alright Val. He's yours. Just... w-we're talking about this later..."

A noncommittal grunt was all I got back, well... that and muffled, choked, panicked screams as the muscular stallion struggled uselessly in her grip when I turned to leave him to his fate. I could hear Captain Salty and his guards returning through the gates behind me, a rising murmur of worried questions and angry shouts as they approached, we were on the clock, other things to do.

I ran back for the tilted cabin and Jade, cautious Minutemares peering out from cover, several attending the weak alicorn princess with her head hanging from the cart being hauled away to safety. A furious looking Captain Salty Swim charged after me, fresh from the plaza where the 'exchange' had gone so well... Fuming and shouting as he came, "They never! T-Took Mint Twist! T-Thought you Minutemares were here ta help! Fat lot of good your Princess and all you..."

I was on him before I could stop myself, in his face with my eyes burning and growling in a whisper so Jade wouldn't hear any more. "Would you rather we started a battle right in the middle of your village!?! She took the best choice she had, now shut your mouth and let her rest! They're not getting away with it, I promise you..."

He froze and backed off, glancing from my furious stare to the shadow of the castle above, crossing himself and nodding anxiously. I understood where he was coming from, his home invaded and one of his own taken, but nopony was blaming Jade...

With some help from the Minutemares, Jade was gingerly moved to the tilted cabin and laid down to rest, basking in the gentle click coming from her small lead lined box in her hooves, tucked away in the corner and absorbing rads to restore her slowly. Glitter kept her distance from the warning noise her pip-buck gave, but anxiously looked on from as close as she could get safely.

The annoyingly leaning room was packed, Preston and the Minutemares, all of my friends, a few angry villagers and Captain Salty, all arguing in a rush over each other. Val still looked shaken, some terrifying noises had come from the cabin she shut on me to attend her former comrade, she tossed the corpse for the Miretanks herself, but the mess left behind that she apologized for... Jack Knife had died in agony, and not quickly...

I had to stamp my hooves and shake the whole unsteady structure to get some order, glaring around and focusing on the leader of this community. "All of you calm down! We're going to get her back, I swear! I need to know where they're going, what they'll do, have they ever done this before?"

Captain Salty shook his head angrily and snorted, "Never! Things ain't been great livin' under the Gunner's hoof, but so long as we gave them what they wanted... They never ponynapped nobody! An' tellin' us those three were our new managers? They was gonna just take over the town completely!"

Val scowled along and checked her pistol for the fifth time impatiently. "S.O.P. boss... puttin' the fear of Gawd in em... Takin' control of an asset. This kinda nasty shit is all Gunter's bag. Let's go kill him already...."

Witchy nervously piped up to join the conversation, "N-Nothing has changed! If you go out after them, Eclipse will suffer... think! One can't just pick a fight with the Gunners so openly in their territory! I know well, believe me! I know it hurts, but one pony versus a village... They probably won't kill her!"

"No, they probably won't... Just beat and rape her maybe?! Is that ok?! I can't... nnnnghh!!! Dammit!!! Luna help me! There has to be a way to..." I thunked my head repeatedly, trying to avoid the cold logic she had put out.

Zed spoke softly in his rich baritone, trying to contribute on the side of reason. "Eclipse will suffer if they believe them responsible. If this is new behavior for them... only that group likely knows they took the mare from here. Unless they were ordered to?"

"Rapin' and ponynappin' is more a discretionary thing... or was, they was ordered to take over this place sure, but takin' that filly was just a bonus..." Val answered harshly, giving me a crazed look and carressing her grenade machinegun at her side. "Let's go kill em boss... all of em, right now...." That simmering fury worried me, she sounded like the worst impulses in my head, completely focused on retribution and blood, but we couldn't afford to indulge in that with innocents in the line of fire. Much as part of me wanted to with her...

Looking between the group crammed in here, I stopped at Witchy's nervous slitted eyes, my mind drifted to what she had asked about my hero, why use a secret identity? To protect the innocent... If they thought the ponies of Eclipse were involved, they'd come here, but somepony they were already hunting? They could hardly hate me more could they?

"Val! Where will they take her? How far away?!" I gritted my teeth in frustration and begged for an answer I could work with.

My griffon bodyguard looked up in thought, considering carefully before padding over and using those dextorous claws on my pip-buck, flicking through the map and pointing, creating new map markers just by her answers. "Been awhile boss, things have probably changed... Nowadays though, probably here in Whinny if I had to guess, not far from here. They might stop at University Point on the way if they're doin' the same shit there... Maybe the Skyway outpost here... used to be a few little spots this way, crash spots and resupply depots mostly... Gunner's Plaza is waaay over here south of that big weather thingy... If they took Whinny though, that'd be my guess for where they're based outta, they'd fortify it, make it a new forward operations center. Be a tough nut to crack if they get back there..."

I had no intention of fighting a fortified Gunner stronghold town yet, but that was a bridge to be burned that was already smoldering. I noticed Whinny was between us and Witchy's home of Dreadnot on the coast, we'd have to deal with it eventually. For the immediate problem, not far from here meant we wouldn't have to follow them far... just far enough from Eclipse to throw off suspicion and then... I had a very rough plan... "Alright, that's good enough! C'mon, quick before they get too far! Captain, everypony, we'll get your friend back, just hang on and help my princess alright!"

I trotted to Jade in the corner, buoyed by the tingle of rads spreading from her box and her soft touch, leaning up for a worried kiss and whispering weakly. "I do not like this, but take care of each other... Do what you can, make sure the villagers do not suffer for our..."

"Meddling.... yeah, I will Jade, don't worry, you just get some rest! I'll... We'll figure something out, make sure they won't get blamed before we can protect them, I promise!"

"G-Go get 'em daddy!" Glitter cheered from her safer distance, opening another glowing red bottle in her teeth and running over to carefully tip it to Jade's waiting muzzle, grabbing the empty and giving us both a tight, worried hug. They'd be ok, they had each other... just stay safe. Safe and far away from seeing what I wanted to do...

I reluctantly broke off the embrace and ruffled her mane, turning to leave and pausing at the batpony digging in her dark leather packs, pulling gleaming silver pieces of a heavy weapon she was assembling expertly on the spot. A long, gem adorned anti-materiel rifle took shape before my eyes and was quickly attached to Witchy's shining blue-steel armor.

"Er... I'll be back soon Witchy, don't worry I'm still coming to your town, this is more important though alright? I'll be back soon, I promise! Why don't you stay with Jade and Glitter, keep them safe and...."

To my surprise, the pale lavender gray mare flew up and stuck right at my side, her leathery wings sending her over to me silently. "You are my mission, I can't leave thee alone to get yourself killed. I... I c-cannot be seen helping though, if the Gunners think Dreadnot is openly fighting them then..."

"Which is sort of why I was trying to give you an out here! Just stay here and keep out of it, it'll be ok!"

The flat look I got from those amber eyes brooked no argument, right behind me galloping off the porch, wherever I went, she went... Even if that meant following me to war. Well, she was dedicated anyway... No time to argue now, they were getting further away every second.

One forceful flap sent me straight up and into the night, off to find the loud and obvious marching Gunners. Val, Zed and Witchy flying in a much more graceful formation around me as I wove my way up. I wasn't fighting the Gunners here, too many innocents, too much like Goodneighbor... But out on their turf? Where the collateral damage was all against them? Oh yes...

Castle Equinox and Eclipse were at the end of a narrow peninsula jutting out into the sea, flying so high over things I was trying to pay attention to the geography and keep my mind busy, thinking ahead beyond just the immediate danger. The widening strip of land leading back to the edges of Trotson was cluttered with sinking ruins, a few industrial buildings mostly on the shores and a warren of tightly packed, squat wooden housing in the middle, along with what looked like a pretty good sized crumbling brick school. All of it uneven and saturated in a murky swamp of debris and seawater, skeletons and rusting shells of ancient boats sticking up from the muck or straight through buildings, as well as partially sunk in the shallows.

The Gunners followed the main roadway leading west, looking back on our course so far, I was happy to at least count one advantage in our favor already. There was only one approach they could take to get to Eclipse, a single point of entry to defend... unless the Gunners had a navy or something... I was suddenly grateful for every Ministry of Image war movie and book, they had sadly become applicable and I was being forced to think in larger terms...

That still left the air of course, Gunner griffons were tough and fast, I had no desire to try dealing with one up here, but they only made up a fraction of the mercenary company from what I had seen so far. Even one griffon for every ten ponies was still doable, we'd need help, but it was within reason.

I was grateful to the batpony staying on my tail, not only for joining us. Even if it was just because I was her mission, the help was welcome and she gave useful advice on flying Val was just not qualified for... I was pretty damn sneaky on the ground, but a complete novice when it came to the skies. Witchy had to keep giving me nervous pointers as we went; don't get between the waning moon and our targets or they'd spot us, stay high and glide, stick to shadows, ride thermals, try not to flap, take cover behind errant clouds up here...

That last tip brought us to a sizable fluff of grey cloud the thestral dove into with a poof and Val landed on easily, laying flat and peeking over the pillowy edge. Zed's cheating zebra magic didn't let him treat the small cloud as a solid object at least, leaving me to approach the cloudy surface with caution while he flapped in place behind it.

The last time I touched cloud, it darkened and rumbled immediately under the effects of my twisted, lightning tinged version of the cloud walking spell. Now... Now I was different... I was supposed to have access to all three branches of ponykind's magic...

Stretching a tentative hoof out to the fluffy surface, I lightly touched the cloud and was relieved to feel solid pressure against my hoof. An unsteady few flaps brought me over and I sank cautiously to the top with Val, the griffon immersed in scanning the outpost with a cracked pair of binoculars.

Standing on yielding, squishy... ground? Cloud? Something solid... It was a familiar experience, but before I always needed cloudwalking magic, now I just... could.... It felt like I could push through it if I wanted, even move and shape it like clay, but for now it gave me somewhere mostly steady to land and watch my targets, safely hidden in the gray heaps of cloud. While we caught our breath and figured out the actual plan part of this plan.

My new eyes could pick out as many details as Val's binoculars, through the scope of my gauss rifle though, everything leapt closer and I could read the numbers off every Gunner flank if I wanted. The caravan of Gunners had stopped at an intersection joining the crumbling road they had followed so far to a bigger highway running south, a fallen onramp led to the elevated highway ruins still surrounding Trotson in a gaptoothed trail of rusting girders and fallen asphalt.

That fat griffon was flying up to the intact section of double decker road high above the ground, following his progress through the scope, I saw it had been fortified. A basket of a lift led from the shacks in the shadow of the ruins, up to the mostly covered lower section of road with rails for the Four Stars monorail line in the center. One of the ancient monorails itself was dangling from the broken section of road, a drooping snake of rusted cars sheared off when that section fell.

Some kind of checkpoint or base, not a fortress really, just a small outpost in Gunner territory... What Val identified as the 'Skybridge' outpost. From her brief muttering, the military minded group had a lot of places like this then, little spots to exert their control, followed by big strongholds Val talked about like Whinny. Alright then... that was even better...

Granted the imposing ruin was pretty daunting for just an outpost, I dreaded finding out what Val considered a stronghold was... There were at least 20 Gunners in the crew that stole from Eclipse, maybe that many again in the elevated roadway fortress. They had pushed rusting carts and carriages around in heavy fortifications, empty shells of buses or monorail cars used as places to sleep and as walls, lots of barricades and sandbags, turrets, oooo... a Sentry-bot rolling around on the top road too... that could be a problem...

I focused the scope down on the armored cart the Gunners were unhitching, dragging the sobbing pale green mare from Eclipse over to that basket thing, she was too close already, but if they took her up to that maze of junk.... Too dangerous, couldn't guarantee she wouldn't end up in the crossfire... had to do something now, but what?

"What's the play boss? Takin' an outpost like that ain't easy, but figure we can manage maybe.. They all get up there together though..." Val kept looking from the group on the ground to the group up on the roadway, she was right, if they all went up there we'd have a problem, forced to wait until they split up again while they did Celestia knows what to that poor mare...

Zed seemed to agree too, carefully lifting up to peer over the cloud and down to the group below the bridge. "I am more comfortable fighting on the ground, with support and distraction, I believe I can manage those that remain on solid earth."

That basket trundling down from the bridge was small, it would take several trips if they were all going up there, most likely some of them would stay in the ugly sheds and fortifications around the conveyance. Not something I'd send even the deadly Zed at alone, but as he said, with support and the flickering shadows down there, yes, he could do some serious damage.

That just left the heavily fortified bridge above, a rusting maze of girders, concrete and rebar, monorail cars and carriages, and a griffon guarding it. Val sounded more than ready to take that problem head on, but it would keep her occupied and my flight skills weren't up to dealing with that obstacle course, let alone the Gunners and their robot on top. We needed more... some bright idea or plan... things I didn't have.

I slammed a hoof down to the spongy surface in anger, trying to figure something out and gasping in surprise at the rumble my cloudy hiding spot returned at the gesture. Pegasus magic... Weather magic... Beyond just being able to sit here on what should be misty, unsupportive nothing, pegasi could do other things with clouds... could I now?

Another hard kick made the surface darken and rumble again, forcing Witchy out with the rest of us, a weak spark of lightning frizzing her purple tail. "What are thou doing!? Now isn't the time to be playing with..."

"It's always a good time to play... I'm thinking..." I murmured back in thought, how did mom do this again? I rode with her as a foal, she showed me things pegasi could do... I watched jealously at the time, but it was beyond my ability so I had buried it, now though... 'You have to make them angry baby, see? Give it a good kick and...'

Finally able to actually apply mom's long ago lesson, I grinned and bucked the cloud again, watching it darken and crackle in warning over Val's ruffled feathers and smack of her long tail for messing with her perch. Alright, this I could work with... I needed more though...

"Alright... Umm, Zed, the ground is all yours, use your best judgement and be careful buddy. Don't worry, you'll have a pretty good distraction, they should all be looking up. Witchy, can you help him? That billboard on the hill, the Shadowbolt's recruitment one there... If you're good with that rifle, you can set up there and just support him from hiding, that way you won't get found out right?"

The batpony mare chambered a round into that long anti-materiel rifle with the sound of smooth, well oiled machinery, a nearly silent click in the night and a dim purple glow from the gems adorning it, drowned out by her high pitched huff. "Am I good? Surely thou jest! Don't worry about me, with a perch like that, your zebra friend is safe... But how will you...?"

Ok, putting the thestral and the zebra together might not be the best pairing considering Witchy's reaction to Zed, but they both looked to trust me if not each other at least. If they could handle the low road, Val and I were left with the high road. Time to see if I actually could do this...

"Val help me!" I yelled and wove my way to another cloud nearby, hoping she got the idea as I awkwardly tried to push it back. Hurry, there was one, and another! I flapped awkwardly around, trying to corral stray clouds together into one larger mass to fumbling success, greatly aided by Val grinning as she figured it out and zoomed around expertly doing what I was trying for.

Making a weaving series of loops to tie it together and kicking at it as I went, the whole mass darkened and rumbled. Ok, now just try to... shove... it... that... way.... How could clouds be heavy!?! The whole dark clump slowly started drifting on target, gliding over to the elevated road as I brought up my lightning walking spell.

Clouds didn't seem to like the electricity arcing at my hooves... my hooves and wings? That was odd... I guessed pegasi didn't really need the cloudwalking spell, the effect surrounded every limb though, not caring there were 2 new ones. It still worked on the cloudbank anyway. Tracing just one sparking hoof along the surface as I flew by made the whole thing grow black faster, sparks and arches of power crackling between my hooves and the clouds, oh yes... this would work just fine if I could get it to cooperate...

"Alright Witchy, Zed... er... may wanna get moving, this won't be subtle..." I tried to warn the pair and flapped straight up above the black bundle of cloud, peering around it to figure out my target with Val right on my tail.

"I can move em around and stuff boss, but what yer thinkin'... that's on you, can ya do it?" My fiery griffon shadow called over in the cold wind up here, easily keeping up as I struggled higher and higher and asking hopefully, a glimmer of manic glee in her violet eyes.

The Sentry-bot... that thing was dangerous, I knew from the one I had reprogrammed for Hexington just how much trouble it could be, this should take it out of the picture nicely, maybe even give me something else to work with... A few more unsteady beats of my wings brought me hovering far above my prepared weapon, gulping at the view allllll that way down...

"No idea Val! Let's find out! Geronimo!!!!"

I folded my wings in as much as they'd cooperate and dove right at the cloud bank, a black streak of lightning tinged contrail stretching behind me. Neat! I couldn't fly fast enough to cause the phenomenon on my own, just fall, and it was no rainbow or anything.... but it was me. Diving straight at the ominous thundercloud I created, I charged my horn with a crackle of impending lightning, give it something to follow... path of least resistance...

So long as I wanted to, I had no problem plunging through the formerly solid-like substance, plowing right through the black fluff and feeling a storm of power surrounding me for an instant, then following me through, falling like a guided missile with a wall of electricity racing to chase my sparking horn. Had to do it now, while their hostage was on the lift, the grounded lift...

A blinding bolt of lightning came down from the heavens with me, slamming into the top level of the elevated roadway with a noise like the end of the world, guided away from incinerating me too by unleashing my own lightning spell. Flickering streaks of electricity washed over the entire structure as it shook and rumbled with the crack of thunder, all that red on E.F.S. scrambling in panic.

The Sentry-bot I slammed clumsily to the ground before gave a warbling squawk and powered down, while huge chunks of concrete rained down from the impact and I had to flap crazily to keep from sinking with the crumbling road beneath my hooves. Hovering over the blooming cloud of dust and frightened shouts, my horn glowed and I did the opposite of Witchy's advice, putting the moon at my back so they'd get a good look at the source of the booming voice spell;

"What the fuck!?!"

"What was that shit?!"

"Who?!? Can't hear worth a damn! Ow!"

"We're under attack you dumbasses!!! Kill it!"

"S-Shroud... it's the Shroud!!!"

Ahhh... that dark part of me reveled in that note of fear, that's what I wanted to hear. It didn't stop the hail of gunfire coming up to meet me of course, but their aim could be a lot better if they weren't shaken up. Now to add to it... The muffled firecracker string of explosions from Val's grenade machinegun in my ringing ears made me amend that, add to it more...

The slumped form of their green painted Sentry-bot was at the edge of the crater I had made in the concrete, a quick dive took me to its hulking back and I started ripping panels away in my magic. Plastering my... 'compact' body against the dark bulk of the thing, they lost me for a moment in the chaos Val was unleashing, giving me enough time to work. Ok.... Change targeting parameters, remove restrictions... self destruct... Mmmm tempting... but such a waste of a good robot, I could use this thing....

Setting my new minion loose as it rebooted under my pip-buck's instruction, I flew down the hole I left in the road and cackled in the Shroud's voice. "Luna's judgement has come for you Gunners this night! Take your lives and flee, or don't..."

'Don't' seemed to be the answer they were going with, several high caliber rounds slammed into me, tossing me through the air as I crashed into the lower roadway. Shit, some of those made it right through my armor and lodged in my flank, dribbling blood down my hindleg and leaving a trail as I dashed to the shell of the monorail.

A second enemy griffon had flown up to join the ugly vulture looking one and were on Val's tail now, unless I got really lucky or she brought them down to me, I had no business joining that aerial ballet... I kept seeing red dashes disappearing from Eyes Forward Sparkle too, though I didn't hear a thing to indicate how. Zed and Witchy taking the crew below to pieces, I could hear yells and shouts drifting up, mostly focused on all the destruction going on overhead and not on the shadowy pair picking them off one at a time.

A crazed orange mare rushed my shelter with a light machinegun battlesaddle, filling her path with lead and crashing to a heap when Vengeance boomed, all that heavy combat armor useless against a S.A.T.S. assisted .45 to the head. If she had simply tossed some of those grenades jingling from her flank, she would have been better off with me trapped in the enclosed space. I snagged the additional ordinance as I scrambled past, keeping my head low and running down the long monorail cars, past dusty skeletons on a centuries long commute to nowhere.

I could hear the ripping roar of their own Sentry's minigun opening up above, surprised screams as what was their robot operated under new management. "ENGAGING HOSTILES! LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED!"

The cars I ran down rattled with the sounds of gunfire pinging off the rusting shell and ricocheting behind me, right on my tail as I pulled grenade pins and tossed them out the windows in my wake, the whole vehicle giving a warning shudder at the explosions. Shit... had to get out of this thing quick, Gunners were quickly barring every exit though, they knew this place and where I could escape, and weren't letting it happen...

The only unguarded path was the torn half of the final car, drooping out into empty space. The angle of the rail cars got steeper and steeper as I ran, my wings forced to assist to keep going without tumbling and falling to the ground below. A final, well aimed leap at the last nearly vertical car let me dive into open space, only clipping my side against one of the rusting metal poles going from the ceiling to the floor.

I had an instant to enjoy being in open air again, before gunfire filled the air and started zeroing in on me, followed by blazing pink beams and a whistling blur of a missile barely missing. The close call exploding against the monorail as the final straw that sent the whole thing creaking and sliding its way down with a rumble.

I made a graceless, pinwheeling dive away from the mountain of metal raining down, struggling to right myself and line up on the dash of green among all the red on Eyes Forward Sparkle, there! The wildly swaying basket was halfway up to the roadway above, a pair of Gunners hanging off the edges and firing at the crazily lurching dark blur streaking their way. At least my poor flight skills made me a harder target to hit, they weren't intimidated or unaccustomed to airborne enemies, but most of those actually knew what the hell they were doing, a good deal more predictable I was.

I couldn't shoot at them either... the poor filly captive was curled up in a fetal ball at the bottom of the basket, crying and praying... I could actually hear her shouted cries to goddess Luna over the chaos, begging to be saved somehow in the midst of all this destruction. Sure, answering prayers... no problem... all in a nights work for Luna's avenger...

Oh she reeeeally wasn't going to like this rescue... but be careful what you wish for! I couldn't risk shooting so close, even with S.A.T.S., I could see her though, and take her captors out of the equation entirely... With a nervous gulp, I dove forward and sent Best Served spinning ahead of me, my attention divided between guiding the blade and being ready to grab the mare.

One smooth pass of the glimmering weapon and the steel cable the basket was inching up was severed, the rusty yellow lift hanging in midair for a bare instant to shocked faces, then plummeting like a stone. I was incredibly grateful for alicorn strength at this point, able to surround the screaming green filly in my blue magic and tug her up, hovering weightlessly in the air as her tormentors were decidedly not...

Their curses and shouts were drowned out by the crash of metal and asshole when the ground rushed up to meet them, sending a donut shaped puff of dust up with more angry shouts below. I actually managed to hit what I was aiming for, diving at the filly struggling in a field of telekinesis so high above the ground. I scooped her up in my outstretched forelegs and flapped with everything I had, pulling out of the dive and veering away, had to get her somewhere safe...

At her wide pink eyed stare as she trembled in my grip, I gave a crooked grin and tried to be consoling. "Er... H-Hi! Hang on just a sec, let's get you outta here and..."

Shit! Missiles!?! Another streaking explosive barely missed, detonating against one of the massive supports we were passing by my tail and sending me cartwheeling through the air. Mint Twist screeched in my hooves and tightened her hold, burying her face in my mane and throwing me off more. A controlled fall with another adult pony was within my skillset, but actually flying well was hard enough, all the warm, soft weight in my hooves was dragging me down inexorably.

I rolled an eye back over my shoulder, following the smoking trail of the near miss and spotting another griffon diving at me. A series of red magical energy weapon fire rained down at him from above in another strafing run that had been keeping my attackers divided, but Val had her claws full with the surprisingly agile fat griffon on her tail. Great, the second was heavily armored and fired another missile at us, forcing me to roll and duck for the maze of struts holding this section of road up still.

Sweet Celestia this mare was heavy! I kept that to myself of course, she was anything but fat, but I never tried to carry a full grown pony before, I couldn't keep this up long. The crumbling, rusted struts only offered a little cover and our pursuer wasn't dissuaded from trying to hit us, explosions rocking the unsteady structure overhead...

"HANG ON! This is gonna get a little rough!" I shouted to the terrified mare clinging to me, using my magic to lighten my load and gently shift her to my back, that was better. It might be cheating during training, but making her weightless helped immensely and she was a little more aerodynamic plastered against my back between my frantically flapping wings.

Explosives, everything I had... Paladin Dance's 40mm grenade launcher floated up to join the Terrible Shotgun, a dozen grenades and half as many mines in a cloud as I veered for the weakest looking support, dodging more missiles seeking us out. I sent the whole clump right at the cracked concrete structure, pausing in between it and the griffon chasing us to fire Thump-Thump and dive at the whoosh of another missile coming in.

In the echoing silence after the ringing series of detonations, an ominous creaking, rending, tearing noise drew every eye. A terrible moan of rusting steel, crashes of stone chunks falling to the ground and an earsplitting screech of tearing metal. I lit my horn and flew for my life, breathlessly shouting in the Shroud's voice;

I spotted the zebra already charging clear, abandoning stealth to get out of the way as the cacophony just grew louder. Explosions, crashes, thunks that shook the whole trembling structure overhead, a big chunk of the upper road fell in and smashed anypony unfortunate enough to be up there in a choking cloud of dust billowing out.

FLY stupid! Faster! My hooves were taking long strides in empty air, trying to propel me faster, out from under the shadow of the teetering roadway on its way down after all these years. Even my enhanced ears had trouble picking out the shouts and cracks of a rifle right behind us, the griffon catching up, an armor piercing round tracing down my neck in a stinging line, inches away from the poor mare's head, and my own...

I looped past the last crumbling strut and dove for where I saw Zed last, lining up on the billboard featuring a scary looking Rainbow Dash in Shadowbolt power armor that Witchy sheltered in. There... running and vaulting over fallen trees as he scrambled up the hill, I hated to give him more to deal with, but I had to get Mint Twist out of here safely, I promised...

Making a poor dive right at the zebra, I rolled over in the air and tried not to get confused by the inverted world zipping by. The Eclipse filly screamed louder in my ear, but she could complain later. I tried to shout an apology back as I got in range of Zed, letting her loose of my telekinetic grip for gravity to reassert itself, instantly pulling her and me towards the earth again. Zed was right above... below... now! I gave one last sorry and shook her loose, letting her fall a few feet to the ground at the zebra's side and veering away, righting myself and relieved to find my griffon tail sticking with me.

More than sticking with me, catching up... easily... Where was Val? I couldn't get in an aerial contest with a deadly, well trained griffon, he outclassed me completely up here! Looking around in a panic, I just spotted her chasing that ugly, fat griffon above the collapsing Skybridge, diving in and out of the billowing clouds of dust climbing ever higher into the night. Her screeches were furious, even from this distance I could make them out over the noise, she wasn't going to stop...

Ground, I needed to be on ground to even attempt this... The dark brown griffon blasted past me, sharp claws tearing at my armored coat and flesh beneath as he cackled. "You are fuckin' dead shrimp!!! Outta yer class up here!"

Yes I know... Let's even the playing field a bit then asshole... I brought my lightning walking spell back up and dove for the wildly leaning roadway, making its way down in a slow motion train wreck. The Gunner griffon was right on my tail again, but the second my hooves touched the cockeyed surface, I blasted forward and out of his range.

The rumbling, shaking surface wasn't exactly conducive to running, already littered with fortified carriage hulks and stacked road dividers, all now sliding their way to the right along with the whole structure. They gave me obstacles to dodge at full speed, but on the ground I was more agile than even my squawking pursuer.

Another missile exploded where I just was, making me stumble and run right into a crashed sky carriage slowly scraping across the crumbling asphalt into my path. I threw myself off the barrier and to the falling ground, rolling away from a series of rifle rounds pinging off the stone behind me, one finding my chest as I rolled and another sinking in my shoulder as I snapped the Terrible Shotgun up in return.

Four slugs slammed into his heavy green breastplate, making nasty dents and throwing his next missile off to go whistling out into the night, but not putting him down. A bounding leap let him catch up and pin me to the canted roadway falling apart around us, panting and wincing at his wheezing breath, how many ribs were broken from that?

He coughed blood but sneered over me, "Oh you fuck! You crazy fuck! You did this, you can go down with it! Gonna beat you to a pulp an' let you come crashing down with all this shit you little bastard! Think you could actually beat me!?! Nobody fucks with the Gun..."

"D-Didn't plan on beating you myself... still h-have... new friend..." I grunted under his vicelike grip, rolling my eyes up to the clanking noise struggling towards us.

"ENEMY IDENTIFIED! ALLY IN DANGER! ELIMINATING TARGET!"

The griffon had a bare instant to look up in fear, then was shredded to a messy, bloody pulp over me. The Sentry-bot's minigun ripping through armor and flesh alike, leaving a quivering pile of meat as its four rough, knobby wheels struggled to hold its grip on the falling road, more explosions rocking the precarious structure from below.

I stumbled back up and leapt back for the safety of the sky, yelling back as I went hopefully. "Thanks Sentry! Er... If you survive this, go to Eclipse! Ummm.... wait for further orders!!"

"CONFIRMED!" Boomed out below me as the Sentry and the whole Skybridge fell away, sinking to a tumbling crash that reverberated for miles. Probably not very likely, but Sentry-bots were robotic, rolling tanks, if anything could survive, one of them probably could... maybe...

I flapped up higher, relieved at the tiny number of red dashes on E.F.S. remaining, Val's screams above drove me forward, trying as hard as I could to match her altitude and catch up. That portly griffon was leading her in a looping chase, but avoiding her attacks and now climbing away from the lost Gunner base, trying to get away...

"NO YOU DON"T GUNTER!!! You ain't gettin' away you fat fuck!! Get back here!!!" Val screeched and dove after the laughing griffon, flying west faster than I could catch up, leaving me to yell against the wind and noise after her.

"Val wait up! I'll come and..."

"HE'S MINE BOSS! I'LL BE BACK!!" Her furious voice called back and she kept pulling away, chasing the ugly Gunner into the night and leaving me behind. No! I couldn't leave her alone like she wanted! We had to stick together!

More gunshots below tore me, only a few Gunners left, but they were after who they could reach, chasing Zed and Mint Twist, closing in on Witchy's hiding spot... Dammit!!! I snorted in frustration and dove back, finish them off, end this and go after Val, quick!

Swooping overhead, I pulled out the Last Minute and aimed down the scope, picking out the last clump of red on E.F.S. chasing Zed and the pale green mare from Eclipse up the hill. Charging it to full power with that high pitched whine, I hissed in annoyance at how difficult it was to line up a shot while flapping along overhead, come on.... line up and... CRACK! The Gunner in the lead fell to a headless heap and the others scattered, trying to identify the new threat and giving Zed breathing room.

Too rushed to even bother attempting to land, I dove right at the next biggest threat, a tough grey buck with a multi-gem M.E.W. battlesaddle sending blue lines in a web around me. For once crashing came in handy, tackling him to a pile of swinging hooves and flapping wings, I got out of the way of my worst impulses and sank my fangs in his neck, tearing away a good chunk of meat in a fountain of arterial blood.

Seeing a black alicorn streak from the sky and rip a ponies throat out was enough of a shock to give even the mercenaries pause, more than enough time to activate S.A.T.S and start selecting headshots with Vengeance. Accepting the sequence, the gleaming revolver floated up and started spinning in a arc, the hammer repeatedly falling with a crash that tore satisfying holes in Gunner flesh.

I stood and panted, perched on a rocky outcropping that was once a narrow, one lane road up the hillside. A single gunshot answered from what was left, a shotgun slug to the chest that made me stumble and suck in a burning breath, but met instantly by the Terrible Shotgun blasting a good chunk of the purple mare's jaw off.

That left one lonely, trembling Gunner below. A younger tan buck frantically trying to pull himself free from the heavy, bleeding corpse of his comrade that had fallen over him. I walked slowly down the hill to him, watching his blue-green eyes shrink in fear and his struggles increase as I stumbled closer. A bloody, black, avenging shadow that came out of the night and brought Luna's wrath, he would work just fine if I could stay up without ruining the effect by sucking down a healing potion for a minute...

"Greetings Evildoer... Are you ready for Luna's judgement?"

He screamed and jabbered, yanking uselessly at the corpse pinning him, dragging himself down the hill with his bleeding hooves. Perfect! I loomed closer and leaned down, waggling Vengeance right in his face and getting him to stop, transfixed by the dark bore of the .45 before his eyes.

"P-Please... I didn't... I just... Please goddess Luna, forgive me!" He yelped, a rank smell coming off his sweaty face and lank blonde mane, fear... that's what fear smells like... fascinating.

Struck with inspiration, I flicked through my pip-buck's inventory sorter and found what I wanted. Taking another shaky step forward and spreading my wings, my glowing horn giving me the Shroud's voice and making sure he knew what had come for this den of evil. The ancient bumper sticker floated out in front of his terrified eyes and I tugged the backing free, thumping a hoof to his battered chestplate to stick it there and growl in his face.

"You beg Luna's forgiveness and she is a merciful goddess. You've been marked now. Even if you remove my sigil, you've been marked and I remember, if I see you again, you suffer double... Run. Be better. Or run and tell your friends what's coming for them. Tell me so I'm sure you get it right, who did this?"

"S-S-Shroud.." He whimpered, good, but not good enough. I wanted to screw with the Gunner's heads, make sure they knew who did this and that it most definitely wasn't Eclipse.

"WHO!?"

"T-T-The Shrouded S-Stallion!!! A-Alright!? P-Please!!" Ahhh... the dark Shroud in my head sighed his approval, that was the right level of terror... Had to go after Val, but needed to make sure this was done right.

"That's right... I suggest you find a new line of work, be a better pony, make the most of Luna's mercy. The Night Princess has declared open season on Gunners, you're just the first I ran into... I'm coming for the rest.... don't be there."

I left him to flop to the ground and shiver as I flew away, that young buck was going to feel like a million bits in the light of Celestia's dawn tomorrow, near death experience and all. Who cares if he looked a little silly with a Shrouded Stallion bumper sticker across his chestplate, it ought to send the message anyway. I caught up to Zed trotting up to the shadow of the billboard, Witchy's tufted ears poking up above the top followed by her slitted orange eyes, round and wide in shock.

The rescued Mint Twist collapsed to the ground in a shaking, panting heap, sweaty and exhausted but alive and safe. I made sure of that and turned on Zed looking up to me, drinking a healing potion down and cocking an eyebrow in partial annoyance. "You could have given more warning before dropping then entire roadway on my head Fast..."

"S-Sorry! It wasn't so much a plan as... er..."

"As directed chaos, yes... I am familiar with your 'plans' Fast... You were much closer for far longer, so I suppose I can't complain that much. Where is Valkyrie?" Zed gave a gruff chuckle back, ignoring the incredulous batpony gliding down with us.

"Y-You destroyed... killed all those... that buck... A-Are thou truly the..." Witchy stammered senselessly, disbelief and a note of fear in her voice. I did tell her to stay out of it... No time to assure her, Val was out there...

"Chasing that last griffon, something's wrong with her, I have to go! You two, take Miss Twist back home, please? I gotta try to catch up to Val, tell Jade and Glitter we'll be right back as soon as I can ok!"

I didn't wait for an answer, Val needed me and I was going to be there for her dammit, stupid wings or not. I may not be fast up here, but I had her locator tag to follow, just hang on Val...

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

Shrouded Imperialist----
---Visiting the home of the Shroud's creator and the shadow of the real thing's resting place, you are more in tune with the character than ever! As Luna's Avenger, servant of order and royalty, you gain +15% Damage and +25% accuracy in S.A.T.S. to various uncivilized tribal, raider and criminal characters.

Wonderbolt Maneuver Added!-----------------

Lightning Dash Dive---
---With your affinity for lightning magic, you've stumbled on an ancient Wonderbolt trick you can actually manage! With sufficient clouds to work with, you can bring the lightning down from the heavens with you in an amplified area of effect blast. Any robots or power armor in range suffer the effects of a matrix-disruption grenade and everything in the blast zone takes damage. It takes a good amount of setup enemies may not give you, but you snooze, you lose!

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

Gunners - Vilified
----There's a world of difference between just being a target of a bounty, and intentionally picking a fight with the worst mercs in the Commonwealth. Hopefully this will all be directed at you and not the villagers of Eclipse, but the Gunners have a serious hate on for you now...