"Intruder detected! Terminating unkno---SQWARK!!"

A pale Gen 1 synth turned to green goop under the stream of red M.E.W. fire coming down the long, pink tiled hallway. The plastic skinned double beside it fell over in a non-melty heap with its head neatly lopped off by a flash of starmetal. I complained as I ran towards the scrap left behind, still annoyed that the severed head melted instantly, I really wanted to try tinkering around with one of these things brains...

"The head Val, try to take the head off! I need the parts!"

I had my tools out in a floating blue cloud, expertly stripping the leftover robot body as Val stuck at my side, peering down the dim halls of the Switchboard and waving Ivy and Beacon up to the intersection I was working at. To be perfectly honest, I'd prefer to just take the whole body back for every synth I killed like this.

Their annoying habit of melting on death thwarted most attempts to learn more about them or the Institute, but mainly I really did want the parts. Even these earliest synths had magic talismans of highly advanced designs and greater efficiency than anything I could get anywhere else, I had repairs waiting on me back at the castle and they had taken on a greater urgency, the Gunners were coming...

"Quit yer whinin' boss, place is swarmin' with these ugly fuckers, plenty of junk for you to play with. Got bigger problems coming, you hear all that shakin and kabooms right? Fancy alicorn ears and all?" Val shrugged off my complaints and looted the plastic cased magical energy weapons the robots used, every bit of ammo helped, especially MFC now.

Ivy trotted up beside me as I hurriedly stripped the robot, looking up to the dust drifting down from the paneled ceiling and nodding. "She's right Fast, they've entered the upper levels and are fighting the robots above. My this is exciting isn't it? I never get to see such action, I hadn't realized how sedentary my life had become. I'm enjoying our date so far Fast!"

Her playful tickle made my tools jerk in the air and I groaned at my wings springing up. I knew I had promised her... that... But she had latched on to the idea I had with Peri, viewing this all as an old world date, just with less dinner and a movie, and more killer robots and mercenaries.

Given the end result of that previous outing was nearly getting Peri killed, I was a lot more worried than she appeared to be. Hoping to just get in, get whatever Beacon wanted, then get out the way we came after killing as many Gunners as we could safely. At least them breaching this weird facility wasn't that bad, the twisting hallways and offices made a better battleground for us than the ruined town above.

The Switchboard, according to Bright Beacon, was once a secret M.O.M. facility dedicated towards intelligence gathering and spy work against the zebra threat. I was pretty impressed at the sprawling complex the pale unicorn was leading us through, not only was it hardened and very well preserved, but it was full of interesting tech I kept shoving in my overladen packs.

Its proximity to the M.A.S.E.B.S. hub and the towering S.P.P. spire above, assisted in monitoring communications in the Trotson area, they were tapping everypony, work pretty far removed from planning parties... It did provide a wealth of salvage I could use, Castle Equinox once had its own radio transmitter and communication equipment, mostly ruined by the miretank infestation, but with some of this stuff I could get it working again.

"Ok, at least all the robots are heading upstairs, makes this easier. Take a left up here and we'll be in the control room. Then it's just a hop, skip and a jump away!" Beacon called back brightly and snuck ahead to the next intersection, peeking around the cracked wall and waving us forward with a hoof.

After dealing with a few more stray synths, we arrived at a heavy set of steel double doors and Beacon paused, taking cover at the doorframe and reloading his assault rifle, holding a hoof up to his muzzle and pointing at the entry. "Here we go... probably not moving from their posts inside sooo...."

I nodded and tried gently pushing one of the doors open a crack to peek in, E.F.S. lit up instantly with half a dozen red dashes as I took in the room, the monotone synth voices started proclaiming their actions ahead of them and firing blue lines of M.E.W. fire. A large, round chamber, full of terminals and workstations centered on a circular sigil of the Ministry of Morale in the floor. A pair of steel staircases led up to a balcony, framing a glass cage of a fancy command office overlooking the room.

The horde of synths opening fire as soon as the doors moved were the pressing issue though, no sneaking in to deal with these, they were on guard and staying at their post as Beacon predicted. Abandoning stealth, Val pushed past me and kicked both doors open wide, launching explosives into the room with her grenade machinegun at her side and whooping at a straight out fight. "Alright! Die ya tin cans! Hey Ivy, how bout a lil cover!?"

Ivy's long horn lit up instantly and a wall of green shield appeared just inside the doorway, making a perfect barricade to fire around. A few well placed shots with the Last Minute obliterated the heads of two synths self repairing blasted off limbs, while the rest took cover and concentrated the blue beams on the shield, battering it down slowly.

With my radiation meter still firmly in the red, I was all too eager to bring the fight to them. I brought up my lightning walking spell with a thought and zipped out into the room, blazing beams of magic tracing the chamber right behind me as Val squawked and returned fire with her own.

As a proper bodyguard I understood her annoyance, but I was a lot better on the ground than the air, with Best Served in my mouth and the Terrible Shotgun floating at my side, I was a electric flicker of destruction racing around the big room with plenty of space to maneuver. One pale robot after another went down, only a couple of the blue beams scorching my armored flanks and singing my tail flowing behind me.

Some of these were such early models that they lacked the plastic panels forming their 'coat', either partially or entirely, looking like walking, metal pony skeletons. The apparent leader of this group was in the best shape however, totally covered not only in his plastic hide, but in white composite armor of Institute design including a spotlight bearing helmet. That one's weapon was superior to the others too, setting whatever it hit on fire in rapid bursts as it quickly adjusted its aim and zeroed in on me.

The next flurry of shots was on target, forcing me to abandon my lightning tinged charge and leap to the air, my wings giving an ungainly flap and sending me straight up towards the ceiling of the tall chamber. The Synth Commander's weapon lagged a bare instant before adjusting its aim again, but I had a good angle now.

Using S.A.T.S. to send three slugs right to its head at 90% odds shredded its noggin, blowing the helmet off to go rolling across the floor dripping green goop. That looked like the last of them in here, I turned back to see Ivy blast one crawling across the floor with its forelegs with a beam of magic from her horn.

Val even gave an indulgent snort and tracked down a couple more trying to regenerate behind the workstations, using her flaming Shishkebab to sever their heads and leave the bodies behind, rolling her eyes at me. "Happy boss? More junk... more loot too though! Takin' that armor, pretty tough stuff!"

"Thanks Val, take everything you can, er... think I need you to help carry some of this for me though... getting a little full. Just hurry, that noise is getting closer..." I replied in a rush, getting to work stripping everything from the treasure trove of tech in the room in a field of alicorn telekinesis. All this extra power did help do my repair-pony work more efficiently, I could never carry this much weight or handle this many objects at once before.

Her grumbles about reaching her limit herself with all the weaponry, ammo and armor she was packing was answered by Ivy, prancing from the door and puffing up beside me, nodding to her own big saddlebags. "I travel rather light Fast, hardly a gentlecoltly thing to do though, asking your date to carry your junk... But extenuating circumstances and such, allow me."

Despite her teasing, I was grateful as she dutifully floated piles of scrap to her bags, the Pinkie-Space enchanted packs taking in far more than should be possible for the stylish leather saddlebags on her flanks. Between them and her cute dress and bow, Ivy seemed to have taken to wearing clothes since I saw her last, now that it was no longer taboo for her kind.

With how charged up she had gotten before we left, the simple cream colored dress was still distractingly tight and kept drawing my eye, my unbidden ogling even more embarassing as she could read the urgently naughty thoughts that rose up taking in all that rich green alicorn fur stuffed in it. At least she wasn't offended, she was keeping a close eye on me and my traitorous brain, occasionally blushing or grinning, but no insulted gasps or anything so far.

Even though letting her in meant letting her see every dirty thought, I was still grateful for her mental presence. I asked for help and she was giving it, though for now things were fine. Robots were different than ponies, I didn't feel much of anything destroying them so my worst impulses weren't coming up, for now 'Be Dark..." was completely silent, almost hiding from her actually...

Beacon left us to our looting and ran up the stairs, working on the door to the command post overlooking the room and calling us up once he had it open. A smaller version of the M.O.M. insignia was on the pale blue floor in here too, a brass plate of the same on the polished wooden door on this side.

The Railroad spy walked over the big desk before the windows overlooking the command center below, ignoring the terminal I was eyeing in favor of the body sprawled over it. An orange buck in wastelander gear, a tattered shirt and scorched leather armor over it, he was burned all over and had been dead a few weeks, one rotting hoof stretched toward the terminal and the other on a compact pistol with a long silencer attached.

Our guide patted the corpses back and turned around with a shimmer in his eyes, "Whistler... a good pony, standard procedure is to purge all our data if we're caught, keep the others safe, looks like he made it before the end."

"Sorry... er... sounds like a good buck, wish we could like... take him out of here, but under the gun at the moment Beacon, sorry..."

Wiping a damp eye, Beacon nodded and tugged the dark pistol free with his yellow magic, floating it over and waving a hoof to me. "Yeah, I know, thanks Fast. Here, noticed you use something similar sometimes, think you'll find this a better option. Ought to go to our new heavy, take his place and all, he got it from the old commander of this base."

At least my condolences weren't that awkward, I accepted it respectfully and checked the weapon over with a critical eye. A 10mm pistol like my own cobbled together gun from Stable 111 security, but far superior. Made with dense, dark metal with no shine whatsoever, an advanced receiver with minor enchantments from what I got out of my horn, extended quick-release clip and a long, rune etched silencer. My pip-buck volunteered the name 'Deliverer' on inspection and I reloaded it on the spot, adding it to my options and thanking Beacon.

Beacon leaned over to tap a few keys, nodding at the green glow of the screen and galloping back out to the sound of heavy steel doors sliding open further in. "Hang on, gotta check something then we're on our way, hold tight!"

Given a minute to look around, I inspected the richly appointed room with Val, leaving her to toss it for traditional valuables in favor of looking over the bookshelves before hitting the terminal. A dogeared copy of 'Equestrian Army Today' got tucked away with the junk and I trotted over to patch into the waiting computer.

The dead Whistler had indeed deleted a great deal of data before his demise, but the prewar stuff was read only, still waiting on the higher levels of the system the Railroad hadn't been able to crack into. The security options waiting were intriguing, but I passed them by for the moment to see what I could see in what was left of the logs.

Switchboard Status Report #1012

Information gathering side of things progressing apace, forwarded those coded communications going to Four Stars to the Manehatten hub. Encryption analysts aren't happy about those so flagged them high priority. Also putting together a file on those local communications we are definitely, positively, absolutely not listening to. Having more and more doubts working with that school, having them inside the facility is getting to be a security risk.

Switchboard Status Report #1230

Ministry Mare visit went well, well as can be anyway. She looks pretty haggard, that research their doing in the P.S.R. wing isn't helping either. That pegasus is too loopy to be allowed near a place this secure, but she goes down there with him and comes out bouncing off the walls, er... more so than usual. Rumors are it's Mint-als, that the Doc is not just letting her take them, but joining in... Filing a complaint probably won't do much good, but getting in contact with Agent Mess in the local hub, that school needs to be looked at.

Switchboard Status Report #1307

P.S.R. Division reports 97% inevitability of Balefire Armageddon... Cheery way to start the day. Worse with the track record they have lately, accurately predicting attempted zebra infiltration on the coast, warned us invisible subs were in the pipeline weeks before we ran into the first, spooky... Sent it up the chain and hoping the rumored raid in Manehatten today puts us safely in that 3% window, but taking a little vacation with the family when I clock out. Just to be safe...

My growing fascination with the records was interrupted by the loud blasts of real gunfire, coming from the maze of hallways Beacon had disappeared down. The buck himself came charging back with pink and purple beams of M.E.W. fire on his tail along with bullets pinging off the floor.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Problem! Big problem! Help!" Beacon yelped as he ran, a high caliber round tearing through his foreleg and sending him skidding to the tiled floor down the hall.

The jeering yells my ears could pick up echoing down the hallways told me the rest, Gunners... Rather than rip my pip-buck from the terminal, I backed out in a rush and went into the security system, tying it to E.F.S. and activating the turret grid. As I pulled free and ran for the hall, round metal turrets were already dropping from the ceiling, swiveling towards the red on Eyes Forward Sparkle I was running towards and opening fire ahead of me.

Ivy's green shield was sheltering Beacon as he sucked down a purple healing potion at the corner, leaving me free to skid around it with my weapons drawn and Val on my tail. Half a dozen Gunners, heavily armed and tearing the turrets to shreds with minimal damage, but they were distracted at least.

Val launched several 25mm grenades ahead of us that engulfed the group in fire and sent them scattering away, as lightning flickered around my hooves and wings. I launched myself into the confusion and smoke while they were off balance, slicing one unfortunate mare's hindleg off as I passed and activating S.A.T.S.. Vengeance floated up and spun in the blue grip of my magic, the hammer fanning and emptying the cylinder, drilling three of the opponents with headshots and getting the pained attention of the other three.

The remaining Gunners spun to face the source of the noise and destruction, several high powered weapons blasting a hole in the tiled floor where I was as my wings carried me to the ceiling. I dove at a green buck firing the Terrible Shotgun on my way, he was quickest on the uptake and his own combat shotgun battlesaddle hammered into the chest of my Shrouded Stallion armor, blowing me back from the force and back down the hallway to be caught by Val laying down M.E.W. fire.

Oh that bastard! That hurt! Even worse was reinforcements coming from behind them, led by a flat green suit of advanced power armor, a minigun opening up with a roar and green bolts of plasma streaking out, forcing us back. Val tugged me back to Ivy's shield and grimaced, "That sucks boss... that's Clint, fucker's a Lieutenant, and good..."

Lieutenant... As in high enough up the chain of command to be one of the ones who... I felt my eyes burn and sucked in a painful breath to growl in the Shroud's voice with my horn glowing, any attempts that darker voice had made towards behaving were gone in the face of one of Val's tormentors.

I felt Ivy's scrutinizing presence in my head but chose to take advantage of it, leaping out into the hall and covered by her expanding shield. Heavy fire started battering it immediately to her panicked look, but I only needed a second, charging my horn and planting my hooves. Cracks were forming when I mentally nodded to the green alicorn, (Drop it now!)

She didn't look or feel like she liked it, but the glowing barrier disappeared instantly giving me a clear line of fire. Rather than being perforated once it dropped, several of the Gunners clutched at their eyes and stopped firing, screaming about being blind thanks to Ivy's glowing horn. Giving me all the time I needed...

Lightning filled the hall, centered on the power armor but blasting anyone near it with collateral damage, leaving several Gunners twitching on the ground, sparks of electricity racing over their armor. My triumph was short lived however, the power armored Clint didn't go down, the blast that should have knocked his spell matrix offline flowed harmlessly off his smoking chestplate and he staggered up again, filling the hallway with lead and forcing me to dive back to cover, several 5mm rounds digging into my flank.

"Get up you pussies! He's not some fucking storybook ghost dammit, he bleeds just fine! Kill him and catch the traitor if you can! Want me another round with..." Clint screeched at his woozy underlings, turning to yell at them and stomp angrily with his steel clad hooves.

His words brought the dark Shroud roaring all the way to life though, he admitted it! Wanted to inflict more suffering on my friend! Oh he was dead, he was so. fucking. DEAD. Lightning flared at my limbs and surrounded me as my fangs extended and I dashed back around the corner, ignoring Val's angry squawk and Ivy's panicked whisper in my head. Blasting down the wide hallway didn't offer much room to escape the steady stream of minigun fire that traced after me, but wings and speed let me dodge around effectively enough, zipping from one corner to the other in a manic charge at the suit of power armor.

Ivy's shield kept appearing and trying to keep up or block me, giving me additional cover along with a minor obstacle to get around, ignoring her mental voice trying to warn me and call me back. (Stop! I cannot affect the one in power armor Fast! He has some kind of protection! STOP!) No. No stopping. Faster... I could make it if I just went faster, more speed, more power at my hooves, more lightning washing over my body, faster! Just needed to get from where I was to where I wanted with more speed, MORE!

My ears popped and I was right where I had been focused on suddenly, haha! Teleportion suckers! I still wished I could do it intentionally, but I almost understood it that time, Swan's explanation of making a 'you shaped hole' clicked in place with that sensation of absolute speed, warp speed even... I could get that! Making the hole was only part of it, you had to move through it and I had apparently, in an electric flicker sparking around me as I got my bearings.

Right above Clint, flapping in confusion for a moment but exactly where I was aiming, the power armored Gunner trying to turn around in his slow moving armor and aim at something directly overhead. Applejack's Steel Ranger armor was powerful and dangerous, but also slow and clumsy in all but the best hooves, with a bit of a blind spot right where I was. Clint's groaning subordinates were faster to move but still recovering, letting me pounce on the steel clad back and wrap myself around his neck with a cackle.

Best Served and the new Deliverer floated up in my magic while I held on like grim death to the bucking, steel clad pony under me, freezing time with S.A.T.S. to deal with his underlings. I queued up shot after shot with the compact 10mm pistol, amazed at how little spell charge it took, using only half of it for several shots each to four enemies.

Once the sequence was accepted, the dark automatic pistol started firing, hard to tell though as it didn't even make the normal 'pfft!' of my old silenced pistol, this thing was silenced silenced... and very fast, the trio of tiny gems in the dark wooden grip glowed very faintly as round after round found pony flesh in a spinning dervish, sweet Celestia I loved this gun!

Clint continued to buck and fire wildly, his remaining comrades fell around him as he staggered over them, crushing the windpipe of one unfortunate yellow mare bleeding but not dead yet. Clint reared up crazily as Best Served flashed down at his side, slicing the minigun free to fall to the floor, dancing across the tiles as the last rounds traced a line down the wall and the barrels spun down.

Halfway disarmed, he fell back to the wall and smashed me against it, trying to dislodge his passenger while I focused on the big plasma caster on his other side. First disarm him, then peel him out of this tin can, and then... peel him again maybe... I grunted as he crushed me against the wall again, plaster raining down on my hat as a glowing green bolt of plasma melted a hole in the ceiling, then the heavy M.E.W. was severed too.

"YOU HAVE EARNED LUNA'S WRATH EVILDOER! Ooof!... PREPARE FOR DIVINE PUNISHMENT! ...Ow!... I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE BASTARD!!!"

My booming threats were making his struggles more frantic, kind of undercutting them as he kept smashing the air out of me, but I couldn't stop. Only Val's furious screech got through, the sound of her Shishkebab igniting accompanying it. "MOVE BOSS!!! NOW!!!"

I could listen to that, Val was important, her words got through and I trusted her, all of me. The dark Shroud viewed her as 'MINE' and was therefore willing to obey. Clint bucked and reared back for the wall again, but I released my hold and flapped my wings, diving aside as he crunched a bigger dent in the wall and Val's flaming starmetal sword skewered him through the chest, melting right through the heavy armor and pinning him to the wall.

I fell back to the ground and staggered, wincing now that I was no longer running on pure adrenaline and realizing how much damage I had taken, but still focusing on the struggling, power armored bug pinned by Val's flickering blade. My griffon merc glanced over with a hint of worry in her violet eyes to check on me, before nodding and returning her attention to the Gunner before her. Those dark claws took their time finding the manual releases of his helmet, flicking one after another with a grin until it gave a hiss and she tore it off him.

The sweaty lavender buck's buzz cut violet mane was plastered against his head, his dingy yellow eyes frightened pinpricks staring into Val growling in his face. "Helloooo Clint... Hang around awhile... been itchin' ta catch up buddy..."

"F-Fuck you traitor! You're all dead! 3rd Company is gonna wipe all you goody goods out! Commonwealth is gonna be all ours! Graven wants your ass alive though bitch, so do I! Didn't get me enough of..." Clint tried to recover and sneer back, mostly likely hoping for a quick death at this point with a flaming sword skewering him like... well like a shishkebab actually...

His words almost got him what he wanted, Deliverer snapped up in my magic right beside his head with a warning click while Val twisted the blade, eliciting yowls of pain from the remaining Gunner. More noises weren't far off, but it was worth taking a moment for this asshole, images of all the ways to torture him flashed behind my burning eyes, cut short by Ivy's cool thoughts and her wing lightly brushing me.

"Both of you, wait a moment and calm down. I believe I have a better option, you say this... pony, is a high ranking member of your enemies?" Ivy asked warily, keeping a close eye on me panting and scooping up his abandoned helmet, if I had time I'd strip the whole suit, this was an advanced unit... Clint was a unicorn.

Before the Gunner could stop his screeching and hurl more insults, Val clamped a claw over his muzzle and growled an answer to the green alicorn. "Yeah, Lieutenant Clint, moved up in the world a lil' what with the fancy armor and all. Hey Ives, how 'bout ya make him think his rod is a teeny lil' spiky hydra head crawlin' up his own ass, wouldn't mind seein' how he likes that..."

Ivy shook her head and cautiously approached the trembling griffon, gently pushing her claw away from the grip of her Shishkebab, causing the flames to die away and leaving him pinned, while she tried to shove Val aside to look directly in the Gunner's frightened eyes. "Entertaining as that may be, I believe I have a more useful solution. Vengeance is enjoyable if you revel in it you two, but knowledge is more valuable in our situation. You have been a very bad pony Mr. Clint, I feel no compunctions doing this, consider it a mercy compared to what my dark friend there wants to do..."

I gave a guilty start at her worried glance, holstering my weapons and tucking the helmet away, while Val pouted and scooped up his heavy weapons. I reeeeally wanted to hurt that bastard, but watching his eyes roll back in his head and his limbs twitch at Ivy's glowing horn touching his own wasn't bad at least. She narrowed her bright green eyes in a scowl while the mercenary struggled and fought her in his head, it was a short battle... he foamed at the mouth and drooled, spasming in a seizure around the curved blade piercing his chest.

After a moment, Ivy snorted and tugged the Shishkebab free, leaving the heavily armored Gunner to slump to the floor twitching as she floated it back to Val and gave a curt nod. "He will never hurt another soul, trapped in his worst nightmare until he dies of that wound. I hope that is sufficient Valkyrie, better I stripped his mind of all information and left him so rather then letting either of you indulge. I will need time to process it all, but I assume a high ranking Gunner will have valuable intelligence."

Val and I both gave a reluctant, grumbling acceptance of her point, I was impressed and a little terrified actually. Is that what Virescent would have done to my brain if I hadn't fought her off? Even Val gave an appreciative clap on the back and impressed whistle. Of all the ways to hurt or kill ponies, Ivy had shown one that was truly scary, and I thought she wasn't very suited to fighting!

With a slight shiver, I turned to Beacon limping his way towards us in a hurry and pointing back the way we came. "Great work beautiful, she's right Fast, went that way to try to shut down the elevator to the surface, but didn't make it in time. That was just the first crew securing the area, more are gonna be coming so if we could like... skedaddle? Room we need is right that way, let's go!"

A glance at his gesture led my eyes to the faded stenciled words on the wall; 'P.S.R. Division'. After reading the old logs, that got my interest and cooled the frustrated voice raging in my head about being denied its victim. They were both right, if the Gunners had secured entry, more would be coming and there were still Synths in the way.

Focus dammit, stay in control... Ivy was right, it was like learning how to deal with unity. I just didn't have the luxury of letting that part of me loose to rampage, stay on mission... "Ok, lead on Beacon, hurry..."

Bright Beacon nodded and charged down the halls on his healing leg, taking twisting turns down the maze of dusty hallways, eliminating clunky Gen 1 synths in our path. We kept following the chipped paint of the signs on the walls, leading us ever onward towards the P.S.R. Division, ending up at a hardened steel security door that looked like it could withstand a balefire bomb, stamped with P.S.R. and both the Ministry of Morale and Ministry of Arcane Sciences emblems.

Beacon dove for the terminal beside it and tapped away rapidly with his glowing yellow magic, scratching his mane as he dug up the proper passwords from memory. Only slightly faster than just letting me hack it, but it gave me a breather and let me guard our tail. The Railroad spy finally gave a whoop of victory, "Alright! Hadn't sent any smart synths down here to crack this baby open yet, still good so far Fast! I present to you, the Pinkie Sense Research Division!"

The foot thick door slid up slowly with a rumble, bright lights still working on the other side as a slightly familiar robotic voice called out from the other side. "Aha! Ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch! I knew that door would open!"

The wonderland of advanced technology on the other side of the security door closing behind us made my jaw drop and most of my insistent desire for violence faded. This place was a super high tech lab, a thin layer of dust coated most of the blinking surfaces and strange equipment, but not 200 years worth, the Railroad used this area...

It was easy to see why, a variety of equipment even I couldn't fully identify cluttered every surface. Looping, multicolored coiled wires formed a bizarre web, a good portion of which led to either the giant monitor on one wall, or the strange memory recliner looking torture chair beside it.

Padded shackles for all four hooves were are on the shiny arms and reclined legs of the seat, the huge golden dome at the headrest festooned with gems and wires wasn't a recollector though. A wall of equipment behind it still had brittle scrolls of papers hanging from wide slots for such, all decorated with fading, jagged red lines.

The monitor flickered to life displaying a simple horizontal pink line, drawing my eye away from the brain encased in a glass dome atop a steel housing attached to the system. The pink fluid filling it lit up along with the voice that spoke from the speakers and the horizontal line turning jagged at each word.

"Wow! I only predicted a 7% possibility agents from group identified 'The Railroad' would return, super duper to see you again Beacon! Your friends must be the reason for the achy shoulder, itchy nose, doozy I had. Hello unknown variables! Fast Times and Valkyrie Bloodtail of group 'Sanctuary', Ivy Alicorn of group 'Trinity Tower'. I'm P.I.N.K.! Precognitive Intelligent Neural Komputer! Nice to meet'cha!!"

Dumbfounded, I clung to the point I got hung up on trying to take in the strange computer talking to us. "Computer isn't spelled with a K..."

"Oh I know silly! But it sounds so much better, so nopony minds if I fudge a bit, that's what my makers said! Did you come to rescue me Beacon? I estimate an 87% probability that's why you came back with all these nasty guests here, is it? is it? is it?!" The pink line on the screen bounced and jittered at the happy words, a digital approximation of Ministry Mare Pinkie Pie...

"Sure thing doll, just like we talked about. Looks like you get to see the wide world outside through more than just your video feeds, the Railroad's missed your help. Brought the best repair-pony in the wasteland to put our little project together if you're ready." Beacon patted the crystal dome containing that glowing brain, smiling sheepishly at my gaping stare.

"Start talking Beacon, what the hell is all this? PINK? A computer?"

Before he could answer, Ivy whispered in my mind with all the shocked feelings coming with it. (No... I sense a mind and thoughts coming from that machine Fast... A mixture of arcane technology and a biological brain I can... feel... It is very disconcerting...)

Beacon's shrugging reply confirmed what she said, "Er... It's more than a computer Fast, real brain was the only way the eggheads working here could get the project to work. Do you know about Pinkie Sense Fast?" Turns out Ministry Mare Pie could sort of predict inconsequential, immediate future events. Prognosticate even..."

Val snorted and explored the cluttered room, giving a greedy cheer at the stainless steel table near the strange seat, scooping up boxes of Mint-als and stuffing them in her pockets. "Wooo! Somebody liked to party down here, hell never seen some of these types! So what, that pink pony on all the posters could see the future, like Mama Xara back home?"

Giving a relieved nod, Beacon pointed to the vast variety of drugs Val was still looting that drew my eye. Mint-als and the Party-Time variant I knew, but some of those tins were colored and labled differently, purple, orange, red... an awful lot of the drugs just sitting by that memory recliner looking thing.

I tore my eyes away and listened as Beacon continued his explanation. "Right! Exactly! Well with a little minty help, she could see a lot more than just little stuff. Unfortunately it did a number on her, Party Time Mint-als tends to do that. Put a big monkey on her back, but she had to keep taking it to see the future, fight the zebras, try to stop our wonderful wasteland from happening.

Such a unique ability got the Institute curious of course, they pitched a project to find a way to reproduce it in a machine. Save her from having to do it all herself, this is what they came up with. Scanned and copied big chunks of the mare herself trying to get it working, but it does! They tested the system here in the Switchboard, she'd passed with flying colors and they were gonna move on to the next stage but... Well, world ending and all kinda put a crimp on things.

When the Railroad found this place, we found her too. Awful friendly, so she started working with us, she's jacked in to all the M.A.S.E.B.S. cameras on the S.P.P. spire outside, can see all over the Commonwealth, collect and process data and offer pretty damn accurate predictions. Kept us ahead of the Institute more than once lemme tell ya. Came to get her outta here with your help."

"Get out how?! This is a crazy system, and big! I can't exactly download it to my pip-buck, it's got a freaking brain Beacon! A PONY brain!! Where did they even get that!?!"

The Railroad agent waved off my yelping complaints, pointing out a small side door heavy cables snaked their way towards. "That was their next stage, never got to it, but there's a robot body right over yonder just waiting for a talented tech to put together!"

Val stomped over and hissed in his face angrily, pointing a shaking claw back the way we came. "You brought us here for the boss to fiddle with robot junk!?! Sure, just take a little break with Gunners and Synths swarmin' the place nitwit! No problem!!"

"Facility breach is like, totally managable griffon lady. I'm tied to the Switchboard's systems, I can help! Well... I do have a burning hoof and twitchy tail, so they're gonna get here eventually, but odds for successfully completing the transfer and escaping go up to 76% with a little assistance to keep them busy!" The bright voice of P.I.N.K. piped up in response to Val's strategic analysis, displaying a map of the maze like Switchboard, lighting it up with red dots and blue dots, Gunners and Synths.

Poking my head into the workshop door, I found an advanced robot workstation built into the room, a pink robot frame basically pony shaped, the rest of the components and more scattered about. Faded blueprints were tacked to one wall, displaying what the end result was meant to look like. Vaguely similar to a rather chunky Assaultron, a thicker chest and rear, heavier metal hooves, the domed braincase where the head should go.

While Beacon was a talented actor, he actually sounded truly serious trotting up behind me, staring at the components hopefully. "Please Fast, P.I.N.K. can't help what she is, but you can bet she was one of the first steps on the road to the synths we know today. She is alive, she deserves her freedom. I.. I couldn't give it to her when we had to run, all my plans to help her have fallen flat or gone ignored. You're the famous Shrouded Stallion, super repair-pony slash Institute and Gunner hunter right? The only pony I can turn to that can do this, don't make me leave her behind again. C'mon, I'm begging here Fast."

Mission Updated: Trotson Calling

Objective--------
---Meet Beacon near Pony Joe's (failed)
---Investigate the Switchboard
---Assemble P.I.N.K.'s robotic body

The note of concern and caring wore me down, flattery didn't hurt either... "A-Alright, fine... I can do this, probably... This better be worth it Beacon, if I'm doing this then who's helping to keep everypony who wants to kill us busy?"

Beacon reloaded his rifle while Val did the same with her own weapons, shuffling anxiously and looking to the door out as she replied. "Takin' more of them assholes out is fine with me, yer computer pal able to do more than yap and make predictions spy?"

"Sure can! This place is a nice, confusing maze, with her tracking the intruders and guiding us with the whole see the future bit, we can split em up, get em to chase us, play one group against the other, divide and conquer right? We're just buyin' time!" Beacon replied and scooped up a pair of pink earblooms similar to my pip-buck's own accessory, hoofing one over to Val and squeezing the other in his own ear.

The eager, impatient look on Val's face made me worry and I trotted over to her, making her lean down and squeezing her feathery cheeks in my hooves, staring directly into her violet eyes. "You are not allowed to die out there Val, or get hurt, or... or anything ok? That's an order. No matter who you run into, we're taking them on together, right? No running off alone again, you're mine... m-my friend! I'm still worried about you. You do this, you promise you're just keeping them busy..."

I felt her squished cheeks warm under my hooves as she rolled her eyes and huffed, answering in a rushed whisper while she darted glances at the others. "Yeah, yeah boss, I-I'll be careful alright. Jeez overprotective much? Who's the bodyguard here shorty, yer gettin' things backwards again. Though it is sorta... nice ta know ya care... J-Just don't be such a pussy about it, not in front of blabbermouth spies and mindreaders anyway! Makin' us look bad here! Tell me that kinda stuff laters, in private... embarrassin'... Ergh! Come on asshole! Let's go fuck some shit up, make me feel better!"

She could put up with some embarrassment, I still didn't like leaving her and Beacon to go deal with the Gunners and worried for her, but I was the only one with the skills to do this. Her putting up with me showing I cared was the cost of letting her go. Ivy waved as the door slid up, her brow furrowed in thought as she called after them softly. "I will guard Fast for you Valkyrie, just be sure to do as ordered alright? It will give me a moment to sift through all the clutter that Clint called a mind, hurry back both of you."

I watched them go until the heavy door slid back into place, wiping a misty eye and rushing back to the small robotics lab. Get this done, quickly, then get out. I was still fighting panic over getting a real idea of what exactly was, without a doubt, coming for us now, warring with the desire to be out there killing alongside my Valkyrie. The sooner I got this done, the sooner I would be.

In my haste to just follow the blueprints and toss this thing together, I was ignoring a lot of questions about the design. This was a modified Assaultron / Brainbot, a rare Robronco model I had never encountered before. The life support systems for the biological components took up a lot of space and weren't things I was used to dealing with in robots, the spot waiting for the domed braincase was disturbing too.

All the advertisements said animal brains ran Brainbots, animals that died of natural deaths under the best of medical care, surrounded by their fuzzy families, who were more than willing to donate their brains to arcane science to fight the zebra menace. After meeting Dr. Dala / Moondancer, I was able to recognize a real pony brain in a bubble of biomed gel though... Were all of them made like this? Where did they get the brains...

The ponies of the old world, the Ministries... they wouldn't.... they couldn't have known, could they? No, definitely not... Mr. Horse of Robronco maybe, if so I wished I could get ahold of the long dead billionaire, ask a few questions... Maybe take Best Served and see how he liked having his head sliced open one inch at a time depending on the answers...

"Fast..." Ivy called behind me warningly, opening her eyes from her silent concentration, she was still watching alright. "I am begining to see your concerns. When we return I wish to take a thorough look in your mind, I fear part of it is close to breaking. At the very least you should not hide this from sister Jade and the others."

"Like what you're hiding?" I growled back, surprising myself and stuffing a hoof in my mouth, wheeling on the green alicorn apologetically, I didn't mean to say that! Let alone sound so gruff and mean when I did! "Sorry!"

Her green eyes were wide open and staring, a shocked look that flitted down to her cream dress covering her flanks before looking up guiltily. "You saw..."

My ears drooped and I cringed, turning back to my hurried work and whimpering back softly. "I've.... sorta been paying an inordinate amount of attention to your flanks Ivy... That dress doesn't cover it well enough, plus I was gonna see it eventually right? Unless you planned on er... you know... with it on. Though I guess that might be fun... ugh! Dammit! sorry.. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to... why are you hiding it though? Aren't you proud of your cutie mark?"

The verdant beauty stood and dragged her hooves over, sighing and tugging her dress aside to show the splash of color on her flanks. Ivy had a cutie mark, I had been distracted taking in the flanks overall mostly, but eventually even my overeager brain managed to put together the glimpses I caught.

A curling spiral of, well, of ivy actually, now adorned those magnificent flanks. Getting a good look was instantly distracting me from the complicated work I was engaged in, but I managed to slap myself to her weak giggles and focused, A curl of ivy with pink, heart shaped leaves down the length, fitting and very pretty contrasted with her medium green fur, I had no idea why she'd hide it.

"Because, I received it caring for the little ones in my orphanage Fast... for doing what I did before..." Ivy slumped and looked down sadly as she sat beside me, covering the mark with her dress again.

"Ummm.... so? You're really good with them, why is that a problem Ivy?"

Flashes of the scenes I had gotten before went through my mind in answer, a classroom of foals, terrified and looking to her with balefire in their eyes as the world ended. (Does that mean I am still that pony Fast? That my talent, my soul is unchanged? Am I her, or am I someone new? She failed Fast... those children, all of them, one by one... A teacher from Old Olneigh, trying to lead a field trip of poor little ones dying of radiation sickness, away from the destruction that waited everywhere. Watching them all succumb one after the other until only she was left. I don't want to be that pony Fast, she died.)

The tools and busy robot workstation armatures paused and I turned to the shuddering mare beside me, tears dribbled down her muzzle slowly as she answered in a non-choked mental voice, still full of anguish. Cutie marks were supposed to make you happy when you got them, not sad!

I had never seen Ivy look so miserable, 'Be Kind...' whispered and I did the only thing I could think of, launching myself into a hug and stroking her mane as I nuzzled her neck, answering the same way.

I felt a shaky hoof tentatively touch my back and squeezed tighter, getting her to return the gesture and fold herself around me with an audible sob.

The pain carried with mental communication like this was too much, I loosened my hold and fluttered up to her level, holding her cheeks as I had Val and pushing her up so she wasn't peeking from under her mane, looking right in those shimmery green pools and speaking aloud. "You don't have anything to be ashamed about. Even if you have her memories, even if you have her talent, hell even if you had the exact same mark again, you are not her, you are Ivy. You're my friend, you're strong and smart, you've helped me and all those kids so much.

This is why I insist on the whole 'date' thing Ivy, I want to know who I'm gonna... to care about and trust them for more than just mating. You got that from Peri along with everything else didn't you? I don't know or believe in some long gone pony, I trust you, Ivy and only Ivy to have a foal with, to be a mother to it. That's my friend, that's who like, who I..."

Very rarely, my hormone driven impulses accidentally chose to volunteer the right course and I finished by lunging forward into a deep kiss, interrupting her snuffling with a surprised gasp, her thoughts turning from such sad emotions to decidedly warmer ones in a rush that just deepened the affection. I wiped her cheeks clear and pressed forward, all thoughts of where we were and what I was supposed to be doing evaporating in a fog, Ivy was important, Ivy was hurting, Ivy was my friend, Ivy was soft and warm and deliciously here, Ivy was 'MINE'.

Thankfully she had muuuuuch better self control than I did, a concerned look flashed across her face at the rumbling growl claiming her echoing in my head and those glowing green eyes popped open. Her grip tightened around my back, preventing me from scrambling away as she bore down, not breaking the warm connection, but furrowing her brow as she pressed into it.

I felt her dive into my head after that dark mutter, clutching after a thread of shadow returning to its cave in a hurry. Her frustration at being denied whatever she was chasing passing to me easily like this. Finally she broke the kiss with a gasp and stared at me closely, smoothing her rumpled dress out breathlessly as I skittered away and hid under my hooves in the corner, shamed at letting it take over again, forcing myself on...

"Wooooooo! Don't mind me! My body will wait, just keep going please!" I nearly sprained my neck wheeling on the voice coming from P.I.N.K.'s chamber, spotting that jagged line on the screen forming a heart as it called out in a syrupy digital voice.

Wincing from both the computer and Ivy holding a hoof to her pounding heart with a very rosy complexion, I thunked my head with my hoof and whined apologies. For all her teasing I got the impression she hadn't quite been prepared to follow through yet. From the thoughts in her head though, she was warming to the idea on the spot, a flood of tingly sensations transmitted directly from her brain to mine, just stirring me up more. She didn't look sad anymore at least...

"How often does that happen Fast? I believe you were right, we need to look into it. Though, thank you for that, a-all of it. I hadn't realized how much it was weighing on my mind." Ivy recovered and tried to wipe her damp muzzle and bloodshot eyes in a ladylike fashion, smiling and coaxing me back out with a kind but scrutinizing look.

"Umm.... it happens m-more and more lately, it's worse when I'm all charged up like this. S-Sorry... Not the time for... stupid... Let's get this done and go, I'd still like to talk when I'm not horny as a schoolbuck and can actually think straight, we need to get out of here. Er... we can do a little quid pro quo of fucked up mental problems and secrets if you want, still have my own questions about your mark. Alright you peeking computer, almost done here, just the head is left now. Are Val and Beacon still alright?"

Relieved to get control over myself again with Ivy's telepathic help, I wandered back out to the main room and the wall of equipment making up the precognitive computer, taking a careful look over all the connections to the braincase glowing pink with each of P.I.N.K.'s words in response. "Okie dokie lokie! Already called them back, they're fine! There's one itsy bitsy thing I maaaaaaay not have mentioned yet though..."

Glaring at jagged lines on the screen and giving a worried stare to the map, I somehow knew this had gone too well. At least the 2 green dots representing Val and Beacon were right outside, the heavy door sliding open to let them in, while the swarms of blue dots were being diminished by all the red, the Gunners were going to win, then they'd be free to move and chase us.

"What... What have you not mentioned? And is it going to get us all killed?"

"Oh only a 41% chance of allllll of you getting killed... More an inconvenience really! See, you don't have security clearance to be here, neither does anypony else of course, I can convince the place not to go crazy about it though. The problem is... well.... I'm sorta big parts of a Ministry Mare's brain copied, not really something that could be allowed to be stolen by nasty zebras right? Sooooo.... when you disconnect my noodle without proper clearance, this place is gonna blow..." The Pinkie Pie computer chirped, Val and Beacon entered as I stammered at the brain under glass incredulously.

"Blow!?! As in blow UP?! Like self destruct!?!? You couldn't tell me this earlier!?!" My stunned stare kept flying between the computer and Beacon catching his breath with a guilty look.

Val had a few fresh wounds and scorches, but was still safe and sound as promised. More than willing to shoot a dark claw out and grab the Railroad spy by the throat, lifting him up and shaking him like a rag doll. "Fucking really!?! Not somethin' you could'a shared before now asshole!? What if boss had..."

"Gak! S-Sorry! She would warn before... h-had to! Promised..." Beacon wheezed from her grip, sucking in a great whoop of air when I waved her off to stomp over and scowl at him.

"Explain..."

He had the good sense to look ashamed, but with Beacon anything could be a convincing act. "Sorry, really. That's why Des and the others didn't look in to freeing her, couldn't blow up the base to save just one artificial pony. When the Switchboard fell, we were too rushed just trying to escape, but it's why I hoped she'd still be here and safe. Sucks to lose such an intact facility, but it's kinda swarming with Gunners at the moment. Plus if they got ahold of her... PINK doesn't really have much leeway in who she makes predictions for Fast, you really want her falling into their hooves?"

Dammit... No, I didn't. I saw his point, she couldn't be left here for the Gunners to find. Blowing this place up with all of them swarming in would deny them both her and the facility to stage their attack on Castle Equinox from, it all made sense. Still though... "You should have told me Beacon. Hiding the truth is not good for anypony..."

The irony of that statement wasn't lost on me considering both Ivy and myself were hiding things, making me reconsider and I hoped she was doing the same. Hypocritical or not though, I didn't like having it done to me, if I had gone ahead and disconnected that brain...

It was a good thing his apology sounded sincere anyway, anger was smoldering behind my eyes as I glared and listened. "Hiding the truth is what we're all about though Fast, only way we've survived and managed to do what little we have against the Institute! I'm sorry, I promise from now on I'll tell you nothing but the truth, er... take some getting used to of course... but I promise! Please help her, umm sooner would be best..."

His hoof pointing at the map and all the red dots for Gunners decided me. Whether he planned it or not, going with this would eliminate a loooot of Gunners in one fell swoop. "How long will we have?"

PINK answered immediately, a course lighting up on the map and code flashing by rapidly. "Five minutes, Itchy back, pinchy knee and twitchy tail says that's plenty! I can set it for silent alarm too, so those bad ponies from group designated 'Gunners' won't know what hit em!"

Catching Val's eager grin, I nodded along with her. Worth it, if they already knew we had the castle and were moving in to attack, this ought to buy us more time. I ran back to the waiting robot body to double check everything, putting the head on this thing would eat into our five minutes, had to be ready to move.

"Alright... walk me through this PINK, let's get you out of here." I nodded in determination at the text flashing in my vision and moved to get to work.

Mission Updated: Trotson Calling

Objective--------
---Meet Beacon near Pony Joe's (failed)
---Investigate the Switchboard
---Assemble P.I.N.K.'s robotic body
---Transfer P.I.N.K.
---Escape the Switchboard before self destruct

Mission Completed!: Trotson Calling

"Wow! So this is the outside! Gravity feels weeeeird! I like it! So where we goin' now Bea...." The bright pink robot crawling out of the outflow pipe to the muddy shores of the river chattered happily, making all of us wince at the noise I heard over the fanfare of horns in my ear, staring back at the Pony Joe's worriedly.

The modified Assautron had AssaultJack's feminine frame, but was chunkier and a great deal slower, the timer on my pip-buck only left us less than half a minute to spare and she was sightseeing. Beacon quickly hushed her and dove to the weedy bank, peering over it at the skeleton crew of Gunners left on the surface and waiting.

Val was wiggling in the mud gleefully, staring through her binoculars in anticipation. "How long boss?"

"Ummm... 8... 7... 6... 5...."

Taking up the count cheerily, PINK and Val both eagerly waited for the show, eyes widening at '1' and waiting in disappointment at the silence. I stuck my head up a bit more and stared closely, whispering to the others. "Maybe it's too old? You sure that..."

A roaring detonation sent a pillar of fire high into the night sky, the blast wave of hot air sending me sailing back into the brackish water with a splash, while the others huddled at the shore and Ivy's green shield flickered to life, offering a little more cover. I could barely hear Val whooping in joy even as she pressed into the mud tighter, cheering maniacally at dozens of her former comrades being vaporized.

As the noise died down, PINK's frizzy false tail started twitching and the robotic voice piped up, "We should like, totally move now... Twitchy tail, look out for falling..."

The huge chunk of concrete donut smashing into the river punctuated her point, more debris whistling down from the sky in flaming chunks, a heavy, painful rain of deadly hail we ran from as fast as we could, diving and turning away from more obstacles smashing craters into the ground in our path.

A smoking corpse splattered in front of me, making me skid to avoid it before Val grabbed my tail and yanked me along with her, giggling crazily at all the destruction. "Oh my Gawd I love you boss! That goes on my top ten explosions!"

Ivy floated me back to facing forward and running, dodging a battered mailbox crumpling like a tin can as it fell to the ground. "W-Wonderful you are happy Val, let's enjoy it from a safer distance though please!"

The dangerous debris storm was tapering off this far away, risking a glance over to Beacon dashing away and the pink robot at his side, I panted over and stretched my wings. "Are you alright from here Beacon? Sure you want to walk back?"

A glow of his yellow magic and a bit of green from under his shirt answered, his dark mane turning purple and his coat changing to a pale lavender as he answered. "Sure thing! We'll be fine, no worries! Gotta get PINK back to the Railroad, get her settled in and tell the others, we'll be in touch I promise!"

The weird Assaultron/Brainbot actually bounced along behind him, all four metal limbs together and covering an appreciable distance with each hop. PINK turned the mostly armored dome of her head, still showing an uncomfortable amount of grey matter through the crystal dome and staring with a single blue eye as she called back to us. "Goodbye unknown variable Fast! I would say I hope to see you again, but I will, itchy back and tingly tongue! Oh, I know you know I know, but your probability of success against group designated 'Gunners' goes up by a minimum of 20% if you get help. Groups designated 'The Brotherhood', 'Dreadnot', 'Arcano-Cats', would be good places to start! Everypony always needs more friends and an invite to a party!"

Good enough, the robot was right, we had things to do and not much time. I wanted to get back, get home and back to Jade. My radiation meter was still wavering between yellow and orange, so I still had energy to burn. After wiping out that many Gunners at once, the dark grumble I was beginning to think was consciously hiding from Ivy was grudgingly satisfied, my thoughts turning towards much more enjoyable ways to get rid of all this excess energy.

Val, Ivy and I all flew up and headed east as fast as we could, still throwing terrified glances up at each screaming chunk of the ruined town coming down near us, leaving behind the smoking crater that was all that was left. I lagged behind with two experienced fliers leading the way, but the last, far flung chunks were crashing down behind us, we were clear and on our way.

"Seriously boss, that was worth all the bullshit! Oh they're gonna be so pissed! That'll buy us another couple days at the least! Put a big dent in their..." Whatever she was going to say was cut off by a thunderous crack above us, a high caliber round tearing through Val's left wing and sending her careening down.

The screeching, furious voice following it dried up all my cautious relief at getting out of here, "TRAITOR!!!" The choked squawk came from above, a hulking shape rocketing down at us from above, big wings and lots of metal...

Ivy dove for Val, helping to straighten her lurching course and surrounding the both of them with her bright shield. A good thing too, it was seconds ahead of a stream of pink beams blasting out of a gatling magical energy weapon, mounted to a lot of griffon. A power armored griffon no less...

Not a full suit like Steel Ranger armor but thick and heavy like one on what was there; a broad chestplate, scowling, pointed helmet, heavy battlesaddle housing on the flanks, made more menacing by the blackened, smoking green paintjob and singed brown griffon wearing it. No pegasus could fly in something like that, but the griffon pulled it off and was basically a flying tank, a fast flying tank.

S.A.T.S. let me freeze time and get a good look for a moment, but the odds of actually hitting him were abysmal with all of my weapons. I could manage flying so-so now, but getting in an aerial battle with a griffon? One skilled enough to haul all that hardware up here and still remain agile? Nooooooo, no, no, no.

I shouted to Ivy silently as time resumed, no reason to even waste the spell charge trying to hit our enemy. Already he was diving after the retreating pair, making me scramble to even try to get in the way.

I threw off his aim with that massive anti-materiel rifle, booming out just as I crossed into his sights, I could feel the wind try to blow my hat back, but it didn't blow my head off and missed Ivy's descending shield. Blue Moon clicked out at my side and I fired weak single shots frantically, my stomach sinking as the griffon dodged every pale blue white beam easily. Out of half a dozen desperate shots, one grazed the dense metal of the power armor, slowing him not at all.

A searing line of claws tore through my armor as he rocketed past, sending me spinning and clutching my side, relying on Val's training to straighten up and spot him streaking after Val and Ivy. My coat stitched itself back together as I dove after them, my hide beneath still soaking it with blood but very slowly doing the same thanks to all the radiation I still had in my system. The needle dipped down to yellow while I struggled to keep up, at least he was being kept busy by Ivy's magic and Val launching a stream of grenades.

Hard as I tried, they were pulling away, down towards the crumbling smokestacks and skeletal factories below, more obstacles for him to dive around, but the ground not far behind. Watching the bastard just put me behind him and chase after Val was pissing me off, on multiple levels... lightning flickered around my limbs and I pushed faster, chasing them for all I was worth.

Even dodging and diving as he was, he wasn't dodging me, I floated the powerful gauss rifle the Last Minute out and tried to line up a shot. Not an easy proposition with the wind whistling in my face and his crazy maneuvers, but he crossed into my sights and I fired on reflex. The blurring 2mm cartridge crossed the distance between us instantly, slamming into his armored back and knocking him off course at least.

The bubble of Ivy's shield darted into a gaping hole in a large concrete factory, rather than follow into the tight quarters, our pursuer finally turned around, narrowly avoiding another gauss rifle round to the chest. Dammit that bastard was slippery! With his attention back on me, I dove for the cover of a rusting water tower atop another part of the industrial building, trying my best to dodge the rain of pink beams chasing me.

The heavily armored griffon cut me off, forcing me back up to dodge away from the boom of his rifle and screaming at the rake of claws blurring past me. He was playing with me! More gashes opened up as I lurched from one hit to another, flapping and pushing through the air like a slug, I couldn't match this. Even more infuriating was the hoarse voice shouting at each pass, booming from the scorched helmet loud enough to catch single words like; "TRAITOR!" and "DEAD" along with "ALL" and "PRINCESS BITCH".

'Be Dark...' woke up all the way, surging to the surface and filling in the blanks for me with Ivy out of the way. He was threatening not only Val, but Jade and everyone else too, gloating over their planned attack. Even with the surge of hate helping me draw Best Served and slash at the next pass. I couldn't keep up with him up here, just make him a little more cautious about getting close, which wasn't something he needed to do to end me.

Faster... had to go faster, lightning walking worked on the ground and the spell surrounded my wings, actually surged to flowing all over my body at the driving pulse to kill this bastard, had to make it work in the air somehow, go faster! I struggled against the rain of attacks to remember that feeling of ultimate speed, of teleporting and crossing distance instantly, make a you shaped hole... then move through it...

I wove my way around bent and torn catwalks going from one section of the factory to another, trying to make that feeling happen again, clenching my eyes as my horn sparked and sputtered, come on dammit! Coming to the end of this bit of cover, I dove out and was met by a stream of pink M.E.W. fire slamming into my side, scorching feathers to send me into a spin as the griffon soared past, heading towards the factory, disregarding me completely and going after the others.

Red beams lanced out of the hole in the building as I fell, absorbed by the steel armor and matched by his pink ones pouring into the gap. 'NO. YOU. DON'T!' roared out in the Shroud's voice and I focused all that anger on my spell, take me to him NOW!

My ears popped and I seemed to do it! I was zooming right at him with a dark, lightning tinged contrail streaking behind me anyway, slamming into his armored back with all the force I could muster. We crashed through the torn gap in the pale yellow stone walls in a tangle, the unarmored sections of the half suit of griffon power armor left plenty of places for fangs to sink in, letting me snap at him crazily as we fell, teary bloody hunks of meat and feathers free in a spray.

His claws caught me more than once, but I held tight by a particularly good chomp to his throat dragging me with him, letting me empty Blue Moon's remaining shots into the smoking armor at close range. Magical energy weapons were generally meant to be ranged weapons, but I sucked with them, I could admit that, so long as I got to hit him with it... Once the last Micro Flux Cell was emptied, the reloader clicked into action, giving me a full clip of 6 MFC rounds, enough to fire the high powered setting...

Before I could blast him to ash, we crashed against a tilted conveyor belt still hanging out over the vast room, bouncing off it and separating as we both fell into more industrial equipment, careening to the cluttered floor below. I didn't see where he went but I heard it, just before clanging against the rusty hulk of a multi armed monstrosity, frozen in the process of putting together weird looking toys scattered around the conveyor belt leading through it.

I ended up groaning on the floor in a heap of the odd little things, pale yellow, tiny little robot looking dolls, but with two legs? strange manipulator claw looking things at the ends of what should be forlegs and a disturbingly upright posture, how could any creature move around like that? The flash of text in my vision gave me something less bizarre to focus on as my vision cleared, reading; Discovered Location: Whistlin' Arcano-Toys.

A furious sounding Val yelled from the catwalks above, screeching down to me and launching more 25mm grenades towards the opposite corner of the factory floor, sheltering behind Ivy's green shield below her. "Move it boss! Gabe's up already! Keepin' him pinned ya silly fuck, so do somethin'!"

Scrambling back to my hooves, E.F.S. pointed out where he was basically, as if all the pink beams firing towards Val above weren't enough. Between the ruined equipment, fallen catwalks and mountains of concrete that had fallen into the building, the place was a maze. There was no easy path to find him, too much cover for him to hide behind. I'd have to hunt him down to rip his throat out....

Ivy's soothing mental voice broke me out of the low crouch I was already in, my ears laid back and fangs out, stalking after prey... The mental picture I got was what she was seeing above me, I could see and this Gabe couldn't!

Her brilliant help got me to focus and move as directed, taking cover behind the heaviest hulk of metal equipment near where she directed. I planted my hooves and switched Blue Moon over from 'Pew-Pew' to 'Ka-Boom!', watching with two sets of eyes and waiting with the Last Minute floating beside me.

Gabe was a good enough sniper with that anti-materiel rifle, but he didn't have unity on his side, he was right there... Just behind a rusty injection molding machine with a mountain of unfinished figures below it, come on... keep stomping after Val just like that... move past that hunk of junk and behind the pile of rotting crates, that's plenty of cover... go on....

Ivy called out and I was already firing, the blazing horizontal beam of moonlight from Blue Moon streaked across the narrow window threaded through the ruined factory, torching the insignificant barrier between us and melting the griffon power armor's breastplate. Depending on the repair and healing talismans built into suits like that, he might still get up, but I had the Last Minute ready to prevent that.

With no cheerily painted crates in the way, I took a breath and lined up a shot on the wounded mercenary struggling on the ground. The gauss rifle gave its high pitched whine as that blackened helmet came into the scope, a crack and a blurring 2mm round ripped a tear through the side, narrowly missing the panicked yellow eye now visible underneath while I hissed and recharged.

A rain of Val's red M.E.W. made him lurch away on a bent wing, diving for the narrow cover of a manager's office behind him. A flimsy construct of half glass and half board walls, offering little more than getting mostly out of sight. With Ivy's help I still had a really good damn idea exactly where he was hunkered down, firing the penetrating Last Minute and blowing a hole through the faded teal wooden lower half, the red mark on E.F.S. winking out in the silence that followed.

Cautiously, I peeked out and flapped up to join the others, looking down into the office and the cooked chicken inside, his brains blown out and painting the glass on the other side. Assured it was over for the moment, I weakly flapped down to land by Val and Ivy, panting and shaking at the surge of adrenaline. I was a little uncomfortable under Ivy's bright green eyes watching me closely, I could feel her digging after that dark voice that was more than happy to come out to deal with Gabe, but slinking away again under her gaze.

Hoping for a little distraction from that penetrating stare, I shrugged up to the two ladies and waved a hoof out to the ruined factory. "Soooo... Whistlin' Arcano-Toys... Er, you guys mind if I go take a look around before we leave, since we're here anyway? Umm... toys!"

Ivy kept watching closely, but Val snorted and rolled her eyes. Her bloody wing was getting wrapped clumsily in magical bandages as she sucked a healing potion down, giving an indulgent sigh. "Ugh... fine boss, go dig around fer junk. Goin' down ta strip what I can off that armor while I wait ta be airworthy again. Keep an eye on him Ives, boss has a tendency to go a little nutty for silly crap like this."

The green alicorn nodded and trotted along behind me down the catwalks, narrowing her green eyes as she answered. "Oh I am keeping a careful watch, not to worry..."

I wasn't sure if it was just the sight of her cute, worried frown and billowing dress, or some kind of mental defense that dark Shroud in my head threw up, but a surge of very lewd thoughts cut her off with a blush. Her distraction let me skitter down the stairs and start looking around in a rush.

Hoping my apology and answer would appease her, I dashed off. This place had been absoluely wrecked for the most part, but it was a big complex, surely there had to be surviving toys somewhere. That would make me feel better and was all me, not my body or some worrisome voice demanding things. We could take a minute to catch our breath, the little things were important.

Floating another haul in with me, I dumped the pile of treasure on one of the battered cafeteria tables in the large breakroom of Whistlin' Arcano-Toys, going over my collection gleefully. Pretty battered toys for the most part, though I found a several additions to my Macintosh's Marauders collection.

My real prize was a nearly mint stuffed Spitfire doll in somepony's locker though, mom used to say she saw the heroic pegasus once way back in Wonderbolts Academy I had hoped to come up with one and all the searching had been worth it. I still held out hope of showing it to her someday after all.

Ivy collected all the doubles, agreeing with my idea of bringing toys home for her herd of orphans, so long as I got first pick, Wicket could suck it... Along with the heaping pile of fun stuff, I had salvaged lots of parts and equipment we could use in the castle from the factory. Actually, even with Ivy's gracious help and strong back carrying all the loot, we'd have to leave some of it behind for Minutemare salvage teams to collect, but at least I could personally dismantle what was important.

I sat with a weary sigh besides Val, picking at her salvaged power armor parts, sized for a griffon, thus putting her in hog heaven. There was little point for her to 'waste' alcohol on me anymore, so she contented herself with tossing over a glowing red bottle of Sparkle Cola Rad she had looted from the flickering machine in the corner. The radiation helped to heal my remaining burns and wounds just a bit and tingled pleasantly all the way down.

Floating out the green power armor helmet from Clint, I prodded at the interesting bits and bobs on the inside, hoofing over my glowing drink to Ivy and raising an eyebrow curiously. "You said you couldn't read his mind while he was wearing this Ivy?"

"No, not that there was much to read anyway, but he was completely immune to my efforts with that on. Very disturbing, psionic defenses are exceedingly rare, hardly any use for them prewar and nopony smart enough postwar, practically designed against my kind or other powerful telepaths." Ivy shook her head, grimacing at the green helmet and band of blinking gems inside.

Playing a hunch, I took my screwdriver out and scratched at the rough Gunner green paintjob, finding gleaming white underneath. The ugly camo job came off easily, while the white under it was molecularly bonded to the metal, leaving it intact as I scraped away at it. My wire brush sped things up, revealing the spread eagle pony emblem of the Institute on the forehead of the helmet.

Val whistled peering over my shoulder at the find, taking a swig from her whiskey bottle and flexing her wing. "So that's where they got that? We always had the best gear, but wondered how Clint rated such a fancy suit, real asshole..."

Ivy groaned and rubbed her temples beside me, floating up the radioactive soda to sip from as she nodded her agreement. "Believe me, I know... I don't like doing that little trick, especially trying to sift through it for anything useful. Much harder without the Goddess and full unity to help process all the information. So much random nonsense, hate, sadism, cruelty... Just for a few gems of worth, you never said you Gunners came from a Stable as well Val."

"What..."

"Do what now?" Val and I spoke over each other, both jumping up and crowding the surprised green alicorn waving us off.

"Did... neither of you know that? Stable 75? At the edge of the Glowing Sea? I can see Fast doesn't, but you didn't either Valkyrie?" Ivy questioned us and tilted her head quizzically at our blank looks.

I had never heard of 75, obviously Val hadn't either, but how could that be if Gunners came from there? Dumbfounded stares weren't enough for her to elaborate, but Val ignored subtlety completely. "Ain't never heard of no Stable! I'm not from one of those crazy bunker hellholes! Er... no offense boss, but I ain't! Honest!"

Ivy closed her eyes a moment and spoke softly, sorting through the thoughts she had ripped out of Clint's head and furrowing her brow in concentration. "Stable 75, it is ruined and mostly abandoned, even more so with the threat from the Glowing Sea spreading out. Ah, I see, only for the upper echelon to know... That Clint was no student of history, I don't think he had even the barest spark of curiosity at all so that is all I can see. He went there, it is still fortified and held in secret, all he knew was that the origins of the Gunners lie there. Curious..."

"Hey Ives... could you like, point out where exactly this place is at then? If it's only for the top brass ta know about, then I actually wanna know more about it myself fer once." Val's claws raked gouges down the dirty wooden table and her tail lashed behind her as she asked eagerly.

I had the same thought myself, beyond just the mystery of another Stable and their hidden connections to the Institute. If the leadership of the Gunners held it secret, kept it as some kind of base or fall back, hell just the fact they had it at all was enough, I wanted it... I wanted to take it from them and make as many of them suffer as possible while I did it, blow it up like the Switchboard if I had to, I knew enough about Stables to cause all kinds of mischief... Maybe cause a reactor failure, flood the whole Stable with radiation and just stroll through, getting stronger and more ready to... celebrate... as they got sicker and died, laugh at all their stupid, weak faces and...

"P-Perhaps I'll be able to piece it together Val, this is a jumble of idiocy though... don't hold out much hope..." Ivy answered cautiously, glancing between us both and hedging her bets, giving me a lingering look as I stamped back down on those horrible / wonderful morbid fantasies.

I wasn't so sure as my griffon friend, tossing her claws to the air with a groan and pouting. She didn't have the benefit of being able to get feelings and thoughts out of Ivy, the green alicorn beauty was better than that... She could probably take us there right now if she wanted, holding out on us so we wouldn't....

Ivy's thoughts tickled my own playfully, but had a stern note underneath. If I pushed or tried to force this issue, it'd go badly for me. A soft nicker and nibble to my ear obliterated any remaining attempts at weaseling the information out of her. I trusted her, maybe she was right, besides, I was getting exceedingly pent up and still overcharged, with two attractive females I cared about, alone... together...

My wings stiffened straight up and I fell back to the floor to both of their amusement, scrambling back up and hiding my red face behind my pile of junk as I stammered. "R-Right! Back to the castle! O-Other stuff to do... l-lots of other stuff... Going! Let's get rather! Dammit.... let's get going I mean. Sorry.."

The two of the giggling and whispering to themselves behind me just made my embarrassment worse, but lightened the mood effectively and we flew together into the night, back to the east and Castle Equinox, back home.

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

Penetrator-----------------------------
---There's no place to hide! In S.A.T.S. you can target an enemy's body parts that are blocked by cover, with a decrease in accuracy.

Quest Perk Added!------------------------------------

Stuffed Spitfire Doll---------
---Bet you think you're Wonderbolt material, don't cha? The noble pegasus war hero grants you a bonus of +10 to the flight skill. Every little bit helps since you most definitely aren't!

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

The Railroad - Accepted------------
---After that misadventure and helping them retrieve a powerful old world A.I., you've moved up in the ranks of the Railroad. Maybe next time you visit, they'll be a little more forthcoming!