"H-Hi everypony.. er good evening I mean.. This is- I'm Traveling Miles and that was Octavia at the Trotson Philharmonic... sounds even better knowing she played here huh? I mean... it always sounds good, n-nevermind. Anyway, bit of news tonight, rumors are going around about a new settlement up north, caravans say they've seen new lights up that way. There's some talk among the traders staying at the Dugout Inn about adding a leg to their next run out that way, so maybe we'll have more soon? If there is somepony out that way we hope they're not just some new band of raiders... friendly towns in the wasteland are- are few and far between right? So l-let's all hope for the best and that they're still around if they get company soon... too many ponies have tried to build something, just to have raiders knock it down. Here's Buck Crosby with 'Way Back Home' let's hope those ponies are...umm the happiest and not the crappiest as Buck would say."

I tackled Jade to the porch as more bullets dimpled the siding of the front of my house, one drew a searing line across my rump as we dove. Suddenly we were surrounded in a blue bubble and I could see more shots bouncing off it harmlessly. Jade winced at the wound in her shoulder, as her horn glowed and she stood to start retreating back into the house through the front door. The round shield moved with her, nudging me along as she backpedaled, she was making it?

Once we were back in the living room behind cover, the shield disappeared. She looked me over closely, checking for injuries as I frantically looked over E.F.S., maybe a dozen red marks were moving around. Cogsworth floated toward us from the open kitchen quickly, his weapons raised, "Sir! Are you and Miss Jade alright?! We seem to be..." he yelped while my eyes caught a flicker of red behind him.

In a flash, both of the 10mm pistols I had repaired before our shower misadventure were out of my saddlebags, pointed at the lavender raider jumping through the kitchen window behind him. The bedraggled mare with a spiky, reddish purple mane was holding a rusty double barreled shotgun in her mouth, her eyes widening when she found herself staring at both barrels of my pistols trained on her. She started to desperately swing her aim around in midair as I fired, the shots alternating from a soft 'pfft!' of the silenced pistol, to the loud blast of the unsilenced one. Four shots tore through her, blowing her half out the window she had been entering.

Cogsworth turned an eyestalk behind him and took in the twitching legs hanging off the window frame just behind him, "I say sir, excellent shooting. We appear to be under attack, what are your orders Master Fast?" the Mr. Handy floated in front of me, ready to defend his home.

More shots were still peppering the front of the house behind us, "Out the back Cogsworth! Take them out!" I shouted at him, turning to check on Jade and her wound. The suffocating fear I felt seeing her blood was allayed when I took in the wound that was knitting itself together, "A-Are you ok?!" I yelled above the racket of gunfire.

She nodded, her eyes set in a line of determination as she looked all around, seeing the same red marks on E.F.S. that I did now that she wore her own pip-buck. "My bags! I have to get them, potions! Stay here!" she said sternly and flew down the hall to her room. I had the feeling we'd definitely need the yellow medical box saddlebags and the healing supplies she always kept inside. I wasn't waiting here however.

I bolted to the garage door and my workshop, floating out 'Best Served' as I went. The long knife glittered under the fluorescent lights I had fixed as I grabbed it in my mouth and hovered the pistols along with me. Spinning on the spot, I bucked the small door to the side yard open and dashed out into the night, frantically searching through all the red marks for the friendly green ones.

A burst of flame from the back yard marked Cogsworth getting to work, one of two red marks disappeared as I glanced that direction. The bulk of the rest were in the direction of the front, along with two green marks I could make out, that's where I was heading then.

I sprinted out into the brightly lit front, zig-zagging for all I was worth as bullets sparked on the cracked asphalt all around me. The street lights we had spent time fixing to brighten the night, now served to reveal me to the attackers while they shot from the gloom beyond them.

I caught the muzzle flash of one of the attackers and fired five rounds at it from the unsilenced pistol. The red mark didn't go anywhere, but the shots from that direction stopped as I pressed on. I could see a blazing pink line of a magical energy weapon burn across the evening gloom ahead of me and heard shouts. Preston was up ahead behind the house he and Sturges had been staying in.

Rounding the corner, a series of small caliber pistol rounds stitched my side, slowed by my Stable barding enough to feel like being bucked repeatedly and I could feel blood ooze, but not gush at least. I fired three rounds from the silenced pistol blindly where the shots had come from, before a train ran me over.

Pain bloomed in my muzzle as I heard something crunch. The train in the shape of a huge, muscular stallion wearing heavy metal shoes on his forehooves rained blows down on me from where he landed after he slammed into me. I swung my head frantically as he brought down another blow meant to crush my throat. The wickedly sharp Saturnite knife whickered through the air and I heard a soft thump on the ground nearby as I was splashed with warm, wet liquid.

The stallion on top of me started screaming and I looked up through streaming eyes from the vicious blows. He was staring at a stump where his foreleg should be that was pouring blood. Hearty Fork's knife never disappointed. I swung my head back from the blind swipe that had taken his leg and punctured his chest to the hilt. With a gurgling groan the raider slumped to the ground, sliding off me.

As I pulled myself free of the bulky raider, I heard a yell and looked up to see another charging at me out of the darkness, a fire axe gripped in his mouth and a crazed look in his eye. I went to bring the floating pistols back up as a pink beam lanced out to my right and the raider turned to a cloud of pink ash.

Sturges ran from the back door of the house and bucked the raider the rest of the way off me, giving me a hoof up before spinning his head and firing two shots from his modified rifle into the night. We both dove back for cover behind the house and the fellow repair-pony gave me a nudge as he reloaded the rifle. "Gotta hand it to you Fast, these pip-bucks are damn handy in this kinda situation," good, I was guessing he figured out S.A.T.S..

Taking the opportunity to reload my pistols, I scanned all around us quickly, only a few more red marks remained but something was wrong. Doing a quick count I realized there were two green marks missing, terror gripped me, were two of my friends dead? Panicking, I charged towards the house Long Jump, Cloudy Sun and Short Stack had taken, chasing down two more red marks with a single green.

I skidded sideways into the open back door of the home the small family had made and saw Long Jump, backed into a corner by two raiders in their living room. The stallion swung a wooden bat in his magic back and forth desperately as one of the raiders slashed at him with a machete, the second stood aside with a pipe pistol, firing around his hooves and laughing, they were playing with him...

I slid into S.A.T.S.and I could feel the shadowy little pony in my head at the controls, I used up most of the spell charge and accepted my choice without a second thought. Both pistols started firing rapidly, eight shots, four knees on each pony... The sadistic raiders fell to the ground screaming as I ran to Long Jump.

The unicorn looked shaken and was bleeding from several shallow slashes, his green eyes shrunk to pinpricks, watching the raiders that had been tormenting him squeal and roll on the ground. I floated their weapons away from them and over to Long as I ran through to the front and the last green and red marks, let him decide what to do about them, I wasn't feeling merciful.

Bursting out the front door, my eyes locked on a yellow unicorn mare lying on the sidewalk in a pool of blood, a deep gash in her side. She crawled weakly away from the cackling raider mare wielding a long, jagged blade fashioned from a carriage bumper in a field of sickly green magic.

The weapon was raised and ready to strike, my heart sank as I took in my chances of stopping this. S.A.T.S. was still recharging, why had I used up so much of the spell for those two tormenting Long!? I was at the outside range of being precise with the pistols and risked hitting the bleeding Cloudy. Two shots rang out behind me, silencing the screaming raiders I left behind, please don't let Long Jump come out and see his wife die... I poured on every bit of speed I had, praying to Luna for help.

Suddenly the raider froze, the crude weapon clattered to the ground just before its wielder fell limply next to it. A shimmer behind where the raider had stood resolved into the blue form of Jade, her horn glowing. She leapt over the frozen raider mare and knelt before Cloudy Sun as she visibly paled and her ragged breathing weakened.

Long Jump and I slid to a halt in front of the pair, Jade's horn was blazing as she poured healing magic into Cloudy, she looked to the yellow mare's husband with fear in her eyes. "Bandages in my bags! Put pressure on the wound, give her a potion too! Oh she has lost a lot of blood... Fast! Watch that raider, she is only paralyzed!" The alicorn was clearly shaken, but was taking charge with a life hanging on her skills.

I looked down at the raider who had done this to Cloudy, the dirty red mare was rolling her eyes back and forth between us, but really couldn't move otherwise. Her terrified yellow gaze fixed on the gleaming knife I floated over her throat...

"Fast NO!" Jade's blue eyes bored into my red ones from beneath her shining horn. Her face was set in determination, she refused to allow me to finish the raider that had nearly killed the unicorn she was desperately trying to save.

I looked back to the raider, the knife was inches away from her throat and the vile mare still laid there like a lump. The dark little pony in my head raged against those blue eyes, this bitch deserved to die it, screamed at me. Now. A whispery voice floated up in my mind and joined the blue alicorn's plea, fighting against that shadowy little pony as I looked back to Jade, "Be Kind..."

"Please Fast, do not..." she begged before turning back to Cloudy's care.

That darkness was pushed back hearing her, it was simply no match for my princess. With a final roar of hate and fire in my head I raised 'Best Served' and brought it down in a flashing arc. The red unicorn raider's horn was neatly separated from her head and flew off into the street.

Tears welled up in the raiders eyes as she stared up at me, still frozen. I hoped she was just frozen and not numb, I wanted her to feel that. Though it was probably a medical spell to numb the body and keep her from feeling pain. I leaned into her gaze as a tear rolled down her muzzle, "You're alive because of her... remember it," I growled at her. That dark little pony in my head was going to have to be satisfied with that, Jade said not to kill her so I wasn't going to, she should know why. Frowning, I floated out a roll of duct tape from my tools and bound the mare tightly.

Cloudy Sun groaned and shuddered under Jade and her husband, "S-Short... t-t-took...Short... X-Xara..." she was staring at me, clinging to consciousness through sheer will, making me understand, begging me while the alicorn she hated saved her life. I felt my stomach drop, my eyes widened and I scrambled for my pip-buck, terrified.

Pulling up the locator tags for Short Stack and Mama Xara's pip-bucks, I shook making the map jitter on my leg, both tags were moving away rapidly. They were already nearly to Poncord and heading southwest, Cloudy was right, they were taken away... I wheeled on the raider as Cogsworth, Preston and Sturges joined us, each bearing their own wounds.

"You are going to answer some questions, mainly... WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS GOING!?" I roared down at her as she clenched her eyes shut.

"Fast.. we know where they're going..." Preston limped close and put a hoof on my shoulder, "These are the same group from Poncord, Thundega raiders.. They're taking them to their base, the old Thundega Assembly Plant."

My pip-buck chimed flashing text in front of my eyes and a map marker sprang up on my E.F.S. as I stared down at our captive;

Mission- Stolen Sight

Mission Objectives-
--Rescue Short Stack
--Rescue Mama Xara

Jade and Mama Xara had been busy alright, I floated half a dozen potions from the cabinets they had set up in their shared medical house and more remained.

"Fast it's crazy, you can't storm that place it's a fortress!" Preston followed my progress around the room from the seat he had been told to occupy. On getting no response, he tried to stand and go after me, his heavily bandaged hindleg giving out on him again, dumping him back to the chair. He had insisted Jade focus on Cloudy Sun first, so he was weak from blood loss and the vial of Med-X she had injected him with.

Speaking of which, I grabbed a few vials of the painkiller myself, along with a variety of other drugs. I didn't like using them, but I didn't have any illusions about holding on to personal distaste right now.

"You should listen to the pony Fast..." Sturges called from the doorway, he had volunteered to care for Cogsworth who had suffered his own wounds in the battle. The faithful Mr. Handy had fought bravely though, his mangled flamer arm was spread out on the floor under the fellow repair-pony. He watched me storm around the house with one of his eyestalks giving loud clicks and jerks, I felt bad about that. I remembered how happy he had been when I repaired it and he had three working again. I'd find a way to do something about that if Sturges couldn't.

Taking tight control of myself, I walked over to our guest. The red raider mare was strapped down to one of the medical beds from the Stable and glared at me. Her blackened, oil soaked leather armor sat beside it and I floated it up to me, pulling out 'Best Served', I started removing the emblem of a hammer with a thunderbolt for a handle that adorned it.

Her horn had been reattached by Jade's care and wrapped in bandages, she wouldn't be using her magic anytime soon, but she probably would again. If Fork's knife wasn't so disturbingly sharp, the injury wouldn't have been nearly so easy to mend. The blue alicorn's compassion was wasted on her as far as I was concerned, but I respected it.

Moving the knife deliberately to show how easily it separated the raider symbol from the armor, I scowled at her, "How many?" I could feel my eyes burning at her and got the desired result.

She might be staring back at me with equal loathing, but she didn't dare do anything but answer. "Thirty, more or less. You're going to die little pony..."

I shrugged out of my blue Stable barding and put the blackened armor on, it matched my hide and made me a pony shaped shadow standing in the bright room. "Maybe so. But so are a lot of your friends," I answered, matching her tone.

The raider snorted at that, "Friends? Ha! Don't think I care you little lunatic, what good are friends? We use each other, nothing more."

I had to pause at that, it got through the red rage pounding in my head for a moment. "Then I feel sorry for you. Those two you took are my friends, your gang is about to learn what friends are good for. You should consider it, since you get to keep your life thanks to another one of mine."

The door to the bedroom opened and the alicorn filly in question walked out. Her normally clean lab coat was stained with blood and she looked tired. Everyone but the raider turned to look at her expectantly. "She will recover... she is resting. Long Jump is caring for her," Jade sighed and walked to the still open cabinets, frowning a moment at the amount I had removed, before floating several out herself and stowing them in her yellow medical box saddlebags with the pink butterflies.

After grabbing another four or five purple healing potions and assorted supplies, she brought a small key out from her pocket and opened a locked drawer below the cabinet doors. From this she removed three more potions, these tinted green, along with a crude metal box she floated over to her desk in the corner. She sat behind the desk with its own glowing terminal and the crude placard I made for her reading 'Dr. Jade'. She opened the box on the desk before her, as soon as the lid was open my pip-buck began clicking steadily. She gave a little shudder of pleasure and spread her wings over the open box, absorbing all the radiation from it she could, blocking it from the rest of us.

She sat like that a moment, her eyes closed and a small smile on her beautiful face, giving a little whinny or shiver occasionally, before she finally looked up at me through lidded eyes. She already looked quite a bit better, energized by the radioactive metal we had found cleaning Sanctuary she had stowed in the lead box. "What are you doing Fast?" she asked, peering at me with those big blue eyes.

I had hoped to be on my way before she finished, she couldn't try to stop me if I was gone already. I had been worried about Cloudy however and was glad to at least know she was alright before I left. I stared back at her and consciously fought against being soothed by her gaze, I was not changing my mind. "I'm going after them."

Preston struggled in his chair again and yelped at her, "You have to stop him Miss! It's suicide! The buck's crazy, but he'll listen to you!"

Steeling myself for her disapproval, I looked to her and waited, she glanced at Preston curiously and back to me with a nod. "Of course you are, I meant what are you doing trying to leave without me?" That was unexpected...

Preston threw his hooves up, "Of course! You're both crazy, you're perfect for each other!" he shouted in exasperation.

"Er... You can't, you have to help Cloudy!" I stammered, trying to adjust to this course of events. Honestly I didn't want her going period. Preston and the raider were right, it was probably suicide, she could get hurt or die. The shadowy pony in my head with his hooves waiting at the wheel also didn't want her there, it didn't want her to see the things it was planning, or to interfere...

Jade simply shook her head and closed the lead box in front of her with a click. "I have done all I can for her, her husband knows how to care for her now, the best thing for her recovery is getting her foal back. This place is some distance from here, yes Miss Blade? I assume you had assistance taking our friends away so quickly?" she glanced at the raider staring up at her from under her dirty pink mane.

Only Jade would take the time to learn the raiders name, Cleaving Blade stared at the alicorn with a mixture of fear and confusion. Even though she had just spent a great deal of magic fixing the damage done to Cloudy by the raider's namesake, she still regarded the raider kindly. It was thanks to her that she'd ever use magic again, if it was up to me she would stay a newly minted earth pony.

The raider's face screwed up in a complex expression before finally responding, "Yes... Crankcase hired a merc, Griffon bitch wouldn't help with the assault, said we didn't have enough. Charged a a ton of caps just for transporting that fucking zebra."

With that Jade stood and nodded like it settled everything, "There we are, if we wish to waste no more time we have to follow as quickly. I am the only one who can fly. Our friends may need medical attention. I see you appear to be planning on being stealthy Fast," she glanced down at the blackened armor on my bare hide, "As you have seen I can be equally sneaky when I choose to do so."

Watching her trot up and stare down at me, I had to give her that, I had no idea she could actually turn invisible like that before tonight. She was making all kinds of well reasoned, logical, strategic points I couldn't really argue with. I still didn't want her there. I looked up into her patient gaze and tried to think of something to keep her away. "B-but.." was all I came up with.

"I am not leaving you alone Fast. Preston is hurt too badly to make the trip, Cloudy and Long are not going anywhere, Sturges is helping Cogsworth who was hurt protecting us, I am going," she answered coolly, she wasn't going to budge on this.

Soaring through the air from between a pair beating wings on the back of a pony, was not a position I ever expected to be in again. Once I got too big for ponyback rides from mom, being up the skies was closed off to me, I hadn't realized how much I missed it.

It was pretty distracting clinging to the big blue alicorn's back as she pushed on confidently, feeling her breath puffing in and out, her feathers brushing me on each stroke, the smell of her blue-white mane fluttering in my face... Holding on to the anger I had for the ponies at our destination was hard.

Not impossible of course, but hard.

I really wished I could just enjoy it though, we were flying at the edge of the grey clouds that were building in the night sky, another fall storm was rumbling in the distance. Far below, I could see the wasteland laid out in front of us, the river was to our left with the great city of Trotson on the far shore. Skyscrapers of all kinds and shapes stretched up along the horizon, many shattered and leaning, but still making their own artificial mountain range in the distance.

Beyond the heart of the city, a huge white spire stretched up into the sky, far past the buildings around it. Craning my neck I could see its' mushroom shaped top partially obscured by clouds. Twinkling in the city itself, I could see lights of settlements large enough to make out even at this distance, there was civilization out here still hanging on.

Jade brought me back to the present, turning over her shoulder and nodding ahead, "Fast, I think that is it..." her voice rose above the wind.

I leaned around her graceful neck and looked where she indicated, yep that's where the arrow on my Eyes Forward Sparkle was pointing. I had asked if she had a similar marker guiding her, but she had told me she had gotten no message like I had from her new pip-buck. Apparently I really was the only one whose pip-buck had decided to take an active role in things. That was getting strange...

Preston had been right, the old Thundega Assembly Plant was a fortress, there just wasn't any other word that summed it up so perfectly. It was huge, a giant edifice of concrete and steel squatting on the river like a Ursa Major going fishing. It towered above the surrounding countryside, perched on a hill at the river's bank. Sub-levels with giant discharge pipes leaning over the water lead up to a rectangular main building several stories tall. Walkways and metal shacks festooned the outside of the facility, leading to upper floors and the roof where three dead smokestacks reached up into the sky.

A winding road led up the hill to the main entrance, concrete embankments, chain link fences, barricades, spot lights, sandbag firing positions... all said 'Go Away' loud and clear. If all that wasn't enough, the message was punctuated by grisly displays, pony heads on rusty spikes, flayed bodies nailed to the walls... I felt sick looking at it. Ponies patrolled the outside of the fortress watching for any intrusion, and circling the smokestacks a winged form glided through the skies with us.

Looking at it I bucked myself for being so naive, we had worked hard in Sanctuary, but I still hadn't really understood working lights and water were useless without a way to defend it. I had been focused on making things the way they were, making a home like I remembered life being like up here. If I had not been so stupid, the attack that took Short Stack and Mama Xara would have never met with the success it did.

As I spotted the griffon Jade suddenly faded away beneath me, leaving me flying through the air with nothing under me, wait I wasn't there either?! Ok, being invisible was reeeeally weird... I couldn't see myself or Jade, the landscape just flew by with no reference at all. My grip on her warm neck tightened and I was a little reassured, I could feel her under me at least.

"It is alright Fast! I am still here, I have you! We do not want to be spotted by that griffon up here!" I heard her voice call out in front of me and relaxed. I looked back to the smokestacks as the griffon in question perched on the shattered top of the middle one, yeah... I didn't want to get in a fight with a griffon in midair, whilst clinging to the alicorn beneath me.

Mom had a lot of griffon friends back before the Stable, they'd come visit and drink funny drinks while I played around them. They were nice as I remembered, pretty and very fierce. I never thought much of them at the time, since mom fit right in with them. Auntie Broom, one of my favorites I could recall, used to joke mom was part griffon. Being on the wrong side of one of them, was equal to being on the target of mom's worst glare as far as I was concerned, it wasn't something I ever wanted to experience personally.

Even invisible, Jade kept her distance and circled the facility, taking it all in. The front door was right out, even if we set up far away and I used Sturges' rifle he had given me for this mission, eventually even the silenced shots would draw a horde down on us. I'd rather avoid the roof as well, that griffon was more than ample discouragement, the large number of ponies patrolling the catwalks with their own heavy rifles was just a bonus.

We were sweeping over the river now and I looked down at the large discharge pipes over the water, rainbow colored goop drizzled down to the foul bank below. The pipes hung out quite far from the surface and the building, they didn't seem to be guarded. I pointed them out to Jade then face-hoofed, realizing my pointing was useless when we were both invisible, this was going to take some getting used to...

"The pipes!" I shouted ahead of me and was rewarded by a smooth, sharp bank towards the potential entrance. She stopped just below the largest, fluttering in the air and carefully moving into the dark cylinder, as we closed in I saw this must be a tight fit for her.

My head thumped on the top of the pipe a few times, as she navigated her way up past the bend pointing toward the river and landed on the horizontal surface. With a sigh we reappeared in the blackness and I turned on my pip-buck light, filling the tunnel with the dim glow. The pipe stretched forward ahead of us, I swung free from Jade's back and was stopped short, hovering in a field of her magic.

"Do not get down Fast, look at the bottom of the pipe," she spoke softly, below my floating hooves, a thin, goopy stream of rainbow colored liquid oozed in the pipe. Crusty dried layers of the sludge coated the bottom and I looked back at her, puzzled as she put me on her back again. "It is Taint, Fast... Flux, you should not touch it..." she answered my questioning look.

Flux, I knew that word, Ditzy Doo's wonderful book she gave me called it Taint too though. She was right, it was very dangerous, I looked over her side with alarm, seeing her hooves covered in the stuff. "I shouldn't? You're wading in it! Quick get out! This is a bad idea!" I rambled in fear at her, my voice rising.

My alicorn princess shook her head and smiled, shushing me with a wing, "I told you Fast, it does not affect me. This is what created us, I could roll around in it and be fine. You on the other hoof, should avoid even minimal contact, it is... unpredictable... on normal ponies." She explained softly as she walked forward into the darkness. That's right, she did tell me the flux in Hydra didn't hurt her. That idea still hadn't sunk in very well, this stuff could mutate a pony into a pile of tentacles or some other abomination, seeing her casually strolling through it was jarring.

Ahead of us, light filtered into the pipe from a large break in the surface, I turned off my light as we approached straining my ears for any noise. We peeked around the jagged edge together and saw a small dusty room, barrels lined the walls, some leaking flux on the floor. Across the room a stairwell led up to the rest of the building, dim light filtered down and I could hear voices up there faintly.

Jade floated me off her back and into the room, before squeezing out of the opening and landing in the layer of what she called taint that coated the floor. Looking around cautiously, she set me down on the lowest of the stairs, safe from any contact with the rainbow goop.

E.F.S. showed three red marks, one basically right in front of us so probably up the stairs, the other two were off to the sides. As I looked around and floated out the silenced pistol and 'Best Served', Jade gave a little whinny for attention. "Fast... You should know while I can use that invisibility spell it is draining, especially for both of us. If there were a significant source of radiation around for me to absorb awhile I could use it freely, though that would present.... other problems... in terms of being sneaky. As it is, we can use it in limited spurts, much longer if it is only me, but if you were thinking of simply walking about invisible and dealing with these raiders, I am afraid that will not work."

She shuffled a bit and looked disappointed at her inability to let us just totally cheat our way through this. Ok, maybe I had entertained the thought of slipping through this place like a ghost and slashing these raiders to ribbons, but it was already going better than I had planned. We were inside and they didn't know it after all.

I idly wondered about letting her absorb lots of radiation like she said, she looked embarrassed at the thought for some reason, I wondered what she meant by 'other problems'. From what I had seen, it seemed like exposure to radiation felt really good to her. I thought back to that small smile and the little shivers of pleasure when she had her lead lined box open in front of her. How it healed and restored her easily. What could be so bad about that?

"It's ok Jade, we'll figure out another way, you've already done plenty," I whispered back to her and started climbing the stairs slowly, approaching the sounds above. The blue alicorn fluttered silently behind me and we turned the corner, creeping forward, I could stick my head above the top step and look out the doorway, to the pony humming in the room beyond.

My eyes widened while my stomach revolted, it was a.... kitchen... An old break room for the workers of the factory, counters, a sink, an oven with a fire burning in it with rusty pots and pans on the surface. Smoke clouded the room from the small fire below a large cauldron that bubbled slowly.

Through the haze I could see the back of a large unicorn pony with angry burn scars on his dirty orange hide, he had a heavy leather apron tied at his waist and was humming a tune poorly, as a corroded cleaver floated beside him. The dull instrument came down to the table with a heavy thunk, floating back up again in a field of dingy purple magic with a spray of blood.

I crouched in the stairwell, staring at the charnel house before me, paralyzed.

(thunk!)

The heavyset cook blocked most of the scarred wood table he worked at, not enough of it though. I was looking right into the dead eyes of a bruised white filly, lank silver hair soaked in blood fell around her head limply.

(thunk!)

As I watched a fly landed on her empty gaze, crawling across the pink eye that stared at me, through me...

(thunk!)

Every time that cleaver came down, her little body shuddered. The cook paused and floated...meat... over to the pot, still humming to himself. A voice called from the left, past the door where a red mark showed on E.F.S. "Hey Cookie! How long before soup's on?"

I heard a soft gasp behind me... Jade touched my shoulder gently as I shook. I flinched from the normally welcome touch.

(thunk!)

That noise broke something in me. The shadowy pony in my head leapt at its chance and grabbed the controls. There wasn't any burning this time, everything was just cold and clear as I stood up, stealth was forgotten. I walked forward unhurriedly, a pistol and my knife floated out by my side, it was the silenced one at least.

(thunk!)

I heard Jade start to move as I crossed the threshold, my magic reached out and grabbed the heavy steel door, slamming it behind me in front of her frightened blue eyes. The cook turned around, his sickly yellow-green eyes started to widen. Hearty Fork's long shimmering blade floated ahead of me and started to spin horizontally.

(thunk!)
The cleaver was floating in the cook's grip, but I heard that noise anyway.

The spinning blade shot forward low across the tiled floor, with barely a whisper it went through all four of the fat cook's legs, leaving him a torso falling to the floor in a spray of gore and floating back to my side. I felt disgusted dirtying the knife of a real cook on this pathetic thing in front of me. It started to screech as the first inkling of what happened reached his brain. The first sounds cut off quickly as I glanced at an ugly, bruised apple and grabbed it in my magic, shoving it down his throat.

Muffled screams came from the thing rolling around on the floor, motion showed up to my left as the two ponies nearby reacted to the door and strange sounds. A green mark on the compass behind me jittered frantically behind the door. I snapped the pistol towards the open door as the first raider thumped down the stairs and froze, taking in the fat cook rolling around in a pool of his own blood.

Three rounds traced their way up his neck with a soft 'pfft!' through the silencer, throwing the raider back out the door. The one behind him fired a shotgun blindly as he charged past the first, buckshot dug into the leather armor I wore and my neck, but I barely felt it. Four more soft 'pfft!' sounds dropped that one to a heap in the doorway. The metal door behind me thumped in its' frame... not much time left.. My weapons floated back to me and were stowed away, I didn't need them. I turned back to the cook.

He was drifting away, losing too much blood, only had a few seconds left. I turned to the cauldron of pony soup, lining up facing away from it. The metal door thumped again, the frame buckling. The shadowy pony in my head knew it was running out of time, but that was ok, just had to do one more thing.

I bucked the cauldron off its' stand, dumping the boiling soup in a flood on his head. He might have been close to peacefully slipping away, but not anymore, he was going to spend his last seconds in agony. Good... The door burst open and that dark pony in my head retreated again.

Jade stood filling the doorway, her eyes widened in shock as she looked at the room, it had been bad before, now... The scalded thing at my hooves rolled around, splashing in the horrible soup as the puddle spread to the doorway and stopped. My hooves burned a little, my neck stung too, I looked up at the alicorn as tears welled in her eyes looking down at me. I wobbled, looking back with a sickly smile, my face felt wet for some reason, everything was spinning...

"I-I-I'm s-sorry..." I croaked. Sounds were drifting from upstairs, that shotgun had drawn some attention.

Jade shook her head and furrowed her brow, she ran forward, grabbing me in her magic, depositing me on her back again and disappearing. We ran out up the stairs and through darkened hallways invisible, gracefully dodging raider ponies making their way towards the kitchen in the tight quarters.

Things blurred away, it was nice being carried away from that horror.

"Fast! Fast! Please Fast, snap out of it! C-come back to me please!" Jade's gentle voice drifted in and I did as she asked, I'd do whatever she asked.

We were in a dark room, there were lots of desks and broken terminals, an office? I was wedged under one of the old metal desks, staring at two deep blue pools looking at me in concern. I went somewhere there for awhile, I wondered what happened? I tried to remember and a series of images flashed in my head, my stomach lurched and I bolted past the alicorn taking up my vision, vomiting as quietly as I could.

She didn't flinch or look disgusted as I finished, she just grabbed me tightly and wrapped her wings around me. "Sssh, it is alright... please be ok Fast, talk to me please."

I shuddered in her grip and sobbed, "I-I'm sorry... I'm so s-s-sorry... He-He was... that f-filly...and... oh Luna... I-I did...I..."

Jade cooed and soothed, sitting me back up and wiping my mouth and tears, "It is ok Fast. I know, It is ok. Thank goodness, I was so s-scared. You were just out of it, I healed you and... and you were not coming back... D-Do not do that again!"

I looked back at her pathetically. She saw... saw what I did to that pony, but she wasn't scared or mad, just worried. "J-Jade... I'm sorry, really. I-I lost it, it's like... like there's a bad, shadowy pony in my head and... when I saw that room...what he did.. it just took over."

Her gaze steadied and she looked down at me seriously, "Fast... The wasteland corrupts things, twists ponies, even virtues. You have not been part of it long and it is already working on you, it will tear you down, break you if it can. There are even worse things out there you will see I am sure, you cannot let it win. You just cannot, I have been afraid for you for awhile, that look you get... I can see it wearing you down. That shadowy pony in your head as you call it, that is how ponies end up like... these..."

"How do you think the ponies of the world you knew before the war wound up this way? That the war started to begin with? Everypony has one Fast, you can control it, or let it control you. What you did back there.. that was letting it control you. The goddess, my kind.. let it control us, that is why I do not want to hurt anyone anymore, I am trying to make up for letting it win. You cannot let it. You can control it, even use it to do good things... but I cannot stand to see the good in you get twisted like that, ok? Please.. please stay with me, do not change..."

She folded me back into an embrace and nuzzled me gently, that dark.. me... hiding in the shadowy parts of my mind faded slowly in her grip. Slowly, my breathing calmed and I felt like myself again. Jade leaned down and kissed a tear from my cheek and the last bits of that horrible part of me were silenced as I stiffened.

She sniffled and smiled, pulling back and looking me over carefully. "There... that is better. I will simply have to- to take care of you, make sure the good in you stays safe."

I nodded up to her and wiped my nose, looking around in the dusty office she had brought me to. Broken windows were on the long walls to the left and right, the ones on the left let rain blow in as it drummed against the remaining frosted glass and thunder rumbled outside.

The windows to the right seemed to look out into a big room beyond, I couldn't see from my hiding spot under the desk, but E.F.S. showed a lot of ponies that way. Red marks moved about with purpose and a clump of green was that direction as well. "Where are we Jade?" I asked, taking in our situation and feeling guilty leaving her to deal with what had happened.

"I found an office that seems unused, the floor outside in the hall fell in, so you would have to fly to get in here. It was the best I could think of to hide in, it has not been long, but I was getting worried. I stuck you under there just in case someone came and.. if you had not come back soon, I wanted you somewhere safe so I could go out and figure out what to do," she brought me up to speed quickly, without a hint of blame in her voice.

Wincing on my freshly healed burned hooves, I pulled myself out from under the heavy desk and crept closer to the interior windows, wiping a grimy pane with my hoof and peering out towards all the marks on my compass. The office Jade had found was perched above the factory floor, below was a vast room full of conveyor belts, huge machines with rusting arms ending with claws and other strange attachments.

Hulks of sky carriages in various states of assembly were on a large track towards one end, smaller parts of all types littered the belts snaking their way around the room elsewhere. Cylinder shaped booths lined the walls here and there, recharging stations for dark ponitrons that sat silently behind the metal and glass enclosures.

Raiders roamed all over the room, obviously on guard and checking around them carefully, travelling in pairs. Hoofsteps rang out on the metal catwalk above my smudged viewpoint, holding my breath, I listened to their tense conversation;

"...turned him into a pony sausage... I mean did you see?" a buck asked in a shaky voice.

"Shut up Fender, I saw it same as you, we're gonna find whoever did it and pay 'em back like Crankcase said," a mare beside him answered as they paused overhead.

"But... I mean someone just got in and took 'em out like that, like... like a ghost... What if it's what that colt was saying the other day?" the stallion asked.

"Oh come on, you're scared by that foal's story?! Yeah sure... the Shrouded Stallion is coming for us, woooooo...." she replied, snorting derisively.

"You didn't see him Spark! That colt was freaked right the fuck out, heard he ran away that night. What if... what if it's true? Somepony that could just slip in, do that and vanish?" the first asked nervously.

"Sure, some foal's stuff comic book character from before the war is hiding in the shadows, come to bring punishment to all us bad ponies. Get your shit together and come on, we're getting that bonus for finding the nut who did that and they ain't no Shroud." The two continued on their way without another word.

That was interesting, the colt from the museum in Poncord told the story, better yet he left this place. I hoped he decided not to be a raider like this anymore, maybe I had managed something good. I turned back to the factory floor and kept trying to take in the impossible task in front of us. Dead turrets were in the corners of the room, their barrels pointing down, at least we didn't have to worry about them.

On the opposite side of the factory from us, another office was perched above the factory floor, the glass facing the assembly floor was cleaner and lights glowed from within. A dirty blue-green mare with a ratty yellow mane sat behind a desk facing out at us, as I watched she leaned forward and grabbed something in her yellow magic. A piercing whine of feedback echoed through the building and a voice rang out from speakers scattered about, one in the office with us.

"Keep looking you twats! Crankcase wants that pony found! If the 200 caps isn't enough incentive maybe hungry bellies will be, no more Cookie so don't count on much to eat tonight!" the mouth of the mare in the office moved, matching the words screeching out of the PA system.

Looking away from her, my eyes caught on a large roll up door below that office, metal sheets and sky carriage parts were stacked forming walls to narrow the entrance down to one pony wide. Bars had been welded between the more solid metal bits and a chain link gate was hung at the small entrance. Through the gaps I could see a huddled mass of dirty, miserable ponies that matched the clump of green marks on E.F.S.. Prisoners...

I couldn't make out enough to tell if Mama Xara and Short Stack were there, but I had to find a way to get there regardless. Looking at them down there and thinking of the kitchen below, knowing what at least some of them were used for... a shadowy whisper floated up in my head.

I slumped away from the window, shaking my head and holding my temples in my hooves, no! I had to deal with this before doing anything or I couldn't trust myself, not after what that dark part of me had done so easily. Jade was right, I had to... had to find a way to control it, use it to save those ponies but not let it control me. The alicorn noticed my distress and was sitting in front of me on the floor, watching carefully.

I closed my eyes and imagined that part of myself, not some outsider like the kind little voice that spoke up sometimes felt like, I had to admit that this was me. I could picture it, a dark, rippling, shadowy pony shape with burning red eyes, flames burned behind it but didn't illuminate it and it glared in hatred. How could I use something like that?

If only it was better, thinking back to the raiders on the catwalk outside and their conversation I thought of the Shrouded Stallion figure I carried with me. Yeah, something like the Shroud... he was dark and scary but only to bad guys. He did things that would be considered bad. The police ponies in the Shroud stories were always after him along with the bad guys, because he was a vigilante, he broke the law and hurt ponies...

Concentrating on the toy Shroud in my bags, I could see that angry dark shape in my head ripple and change. Yeah... the Shroud could be bad, but he had rules... he did bad things for the right reasons and didn't break his code. The shadowy pony in my head took on the Shroud's appearance, his long black cloak unfurling and flapping around its hooves. Those red eyes burned still, but from under the brim of the Shroud's hat, less with hate and more with justice. This was something I could use.

I opened my eyes to see Jade inches away, eyes wide in concern and waiting, "Are you alright Fast?" she asked softly.

I nodded and sat back up, touching her cheek before turning back to the window. "Yeah.. sorry about that, just following your advice princess. Ok, lemme think..."

I had a few vague, plan like ideas rattling around now and felt in control. Looking more closely this time I started giving the room a repair-pony's appraisal, following lines from the control room across from us as they snaked around the factory floor.

I still had a pretty incomplete picture of things though, I knew what I needed, but didn't like the idea. "Jade... you said you can stay invisible a long time by yourself right?" I asked, turning back to her.

The blue alicorn filly nodded with a determined expression, "Yes, if it is just me it takes a lot less. What do you need Fast?"

I frowned at the thought of sending her in harms way, but she had handled this fiasco better than I had so far. "Information mostly. I need to know the entrances to the factory below us, where raiders will come from if they think something's happening in there. How to get into that control room. How to get those prisoners free and somewhere to take them to get out. If Mama Xara and Short are down there... Anything else we can use, can you... I don't like asking but can you scout around?"

Jade smiled broadly and gave a crushing alicorn hug as she faded away around me. "Of course! Stay here and be safe, I will be right back!" the warm nothing around me went away and her voice receded toward the door out of the office and the rotten floor around it.

Left alone in the dark office, I looked around, one of the terminals in the room was still operational somehow. With nothing else to do while I waited, I crept over and worked on unlocking it.

Entry 1-
I don't know if I recognize this place anymore, things were so much better when we were still Thundercloud motors. I moved out of Fillydelphia to get away from the war, now it's followed us here. Mr. Thundercloud keeps talking about how great it is having all the money coming in from military contracts, saying his new partner Mr. Vega and his little "interns" are saving the company, but at what cost? Maybe I should start looking for another job? But where would I go? The Crystal Empire? Caledonia? It doesn't seem like there's anywhere far enough to escape the war, damn stripes won't stop till every pony is dead.

Entry 2-
Another round of layoffs. They keep bringing in more and more of those creepy robots to take real ponies' jobs. We used to build things here by hoof with care and love, now those mechanical monsters and clanking machines on the line work all day and night. At least they haven't come up with robots that can do advertising work, unless they figure out a way to stick a brain in one of those tin cans my job is safe I guess. Still, I had a lot of friends who are getting their last paychecks this week. Mr. Thundercloud says not to worry, there's plenty of work out there, there's a war on after all he says. Yeah, like we didn't notice. That sounds like another gem from Mr. Vega.

Entry 3-
More security measures in this month's company meeting. For just being a "minor military contractor" this place is becoming like a fortress. They added auto turrets the other day, not just outside in case of attack by the zebras, but in here with us! They keep telling us it's for our safety, that they won't do anything to anyone authorized, perfectly ok, no worries. Yeah right. Even those damn Ponitrons down there on the floor are packing! I had no idea, was just looking out the window thinking, when one of them wheels around after dropping off a load of parts in storage and blasts a rat that ran out to dust. Why do assembly robots need magic energy weapons? Standard equipment my ass. I do know I'm not going anywhere without my ID, that company memo was one thing, but seeing what they can do if you get on their bad side is another.

I read over the the terminal slowly, I had to keep re-reading the same sentences over again, looking up every few seconds hoping Jade was back, or sure I heard some sound that meant she was in trouble out there. Finally, I felt a soft gust and snapped my head to the door as she reappeared and trotted over to me at the desk. I shot up from the chair and looked her over carefully, making sure she was still alright, while she raised an eye at my examination and smirked.

"I am fine Fast, I told you I can be sneaky if I want," she laughed quietly as I frowned and settled down. I didn't like sending her out in a death fortress of cannibal raider ponies alone, so kill me.

Still smiling, she looked around and floated a poster off the wall nearby, a picture of a zebra in a trenchcoat and a hat tucked low mostly hid the stripes and sneering expression it wore, "See something? Say Something! Stripe Espionage Affects Everypony!" it proclaimed. She floated the dusty propaganda to the desk and put it face down, pulling a pencil from one of the open drawers and scratching on the blank surface.

It took some back filling and checking her pip-buck map frequently. She'd wrinkle her nose and look up to the ceiling cutely as she filled in details at my questioning, but before long we had a fairly detailed map sitting before us. I stared down at it and thought carefully, my plan becoming more... plan like... sort of... It still relied on a great many assumptions, but she had supported everything I had explained so far. Looking over the map yet again, something caught my eye.

"What's the little room with the... seven?" I asked, puzzling out the odd glyph, she had put little doodles here and there to mark things she found of interest.

"It's a little gun Fast!" she huffed, her dubious artistic skills insulted.

I squinted at it, ok... I could see it. "The gun then, what's that room?"

"Their armory, they have quite a stockpile in there," she answered with a frown, obviously she hadn't liked what she saw in there. The idea piqued my interest though, it wasn't too far from the control room I wanted to get to first, and I only had a limited number of rounds for my pistols and Sturges' rifle.

"Alright, we'll take a look on our way then. If nothing else, finding a way to take it away from them can't hurt if we can," I replied and stood up, this was as close to a plan as we were going to get here.

Xara and Short weren't with the other prisoners and everything beyond a stairway marked 'Executive Offices' was a mystery. The guards stationed at the door had made a roadblock she couldn't sneak around. So some important bits were just up in the air for right now, but we'd have to deal with that after what was in front of us. With any luck there was going to be a lot less raiders to deal with anyway.

We carefully snuck over to the broken floor of the hallway exiting the office and peered over the edge, nopony was below us in the gloom and that put us close to where we needed to go. It was the riskier but shorter path and I needed to get a closer look at a few things down on the assembly floor on our way. With a glow, I was picked up in alicorn magic and we both drifted down to the lower floor.

Once safely down, Jade turned over her shoulder to look at me expectantly and flicked her tail in my face. This was a rather nerve wracking part of the plan, but I couldn't ride on her back and inspect what I needed to. With a gulp, I reached out and took her swishing tail in my mouth as we both vanished, 'she tastes like strawberries...' I thought randomly. With a slight pull, she was moving and I started following the invisible tail I held as we made our way out to the factory.

Making our way across the huge industrial building was painstakingly slow, the patrols followed a basic pattern and we managed to stay out of the way, but there were a few close calls. We passed by one of the larger assembly machines, a forest of giant versions of Cogsworth's limbs stuck out at crazy angles.

Once we reached the dimly glowing console on the side of it, I gave a gentle tug on her tail and we stopped. I glanced around furtively and risked using a burst of magic to tap my way through a few menus, reading fast. Satisfied, I gave two quick tugs and we set off again to the next, so far so good.

The next stop was a series of welders on large independent arms, stationed above the large looping track that led to the partially assembled carriages across the room. The console controlling the line reported what I hoped for the most part, but a series of alerts meant stopping at a few of the individual arms for minor repairs. Trying to fix things while you can't see your own hooves, let alone your tools, was a challenge, made more difficult by having to keep in contact with Jade or risk losing her position.

I managed, but it involved a lot of fumbling around, feeling out with a hoof to touch her when I had to stretch and manipulate something with my mouth. I nearly poked myself in the eye several times, trying to grasp invisible screwdrivers and pliers.

From the varied reports I got from my hooves and responding whinnies and gasps I heard groping around for an invisible filly, I was glad I couldn't see what I was up to. This was quite difficult enough already, imagining what shapes I was coming into contact with on the gorgeous alicorn wasn't helping things. Finally we had worked our way through the last of the repairs in here without getting caught and headed for the exit once I had her tail again.

I had my eyes up, following the power and communication lines and didn't notice the burly raiders that came out of the blind intersection before the door ahead of us. I was just suddenly stopped by something soft and round in my face, barely hearing a tiny "eep!" in front of me. The scarred grey raider stallion just a few feet away froze and narrowed his eyes.

"You hear somethin'?" he asked the smaller buck next to him, craning his head around, staring right at us. I didn't dare move.

"What? Whatcha hear Spikes? There's nothin' there," the smaller tan raider asked excitedly.

I tried to hold my breath, it was puffing against the warm tail and invisible springiness I was buried in, that I had no problem figuring out. Very slowly, I leaned my head back, I was going to pass out if this kept up.

"Guess it was nothin'" the larger raider grunted and stared at us, unconvinced as they finally moved on, continuing their patrol down the aisle.

We didn't move for a moment as I took a careful step back and mumbled around Jade's tail in my mouth with a whisper, "Mmmssrry..." There was a little shiver I felt through the the tail I held, followed by a gentle pull leading me forward again. That wasn't my fault, really... I started mentally preparing for when we could actually speak again.

She led me to the right down the hallway, off the far side of the factory, cracked tiles and concrete walls led toward a doorway with 'Employee Locker Area' stenciled above it. We slipped in the room beyond carefully and my jaw dropped, nearly losing the fluffy invisible tail. Half of the room was divided by a chain link cage, a grizzled, older pink pony with a patchy white mane sat behind a square opening at a counter. Behind him, locked in the cage, was more guns than I had ever seen.

It was like the toy aisle in Fallon's department store, a veritable wonderland of firearms. The selection was a bit limited, but there were a lot... A dozen 10mm pistols, too many crude pipe weapons to count, shotguns, both double barreled and pump action, hunting rifles, some even with scopes, three or four battle saddles in various states of repair, boxes on boxes of ammo. A tarp so stained with oil and blood it was nearly black, covered an oil drum full of melee weapons and two large boxes, one full of grenades and the other of metal discs.

I could feel Jade's tail getting soaked with drool...

A light orange mare was shrugging into leather barding at one of the lockers to the right. Carefully, I let go of Jade's tail and brushed by her on the left, heading toward the cage and letting her know which side I was going to deal with. I got a gentle nudge in return and felt her move away as I dug the silenced pistol from my bags in my mouth. I wasn't as good at using guns like an earth pony, but point blank range was doable.

I paused aiming up at the bored looking stallion in the cage, I felt a little bad just shooting him like this, when you put a gun right in a pony's face, they should react. A flash of the horrible kitchen made me forget my reservations though, I unloaded two rounds in his head.

Almost as the shots sounded out, there was a flash of magic and the mare at the locker keeled over in a lump, that anesthetic spell of Jade's was as good as my knife at taking care of ponies quietly. It left the uncomfortable question of what to do with the numb victims it left behind, but I didn't think that was going to be an issue. Judging by the raider mare back in Sanctuary, it would last more than long enough.

With the armory cleared, the heavy door swung shut behind me and the lock clicked as we both reappeared. Sweat stood out on Jade's brow and she puffed quietly, making it this far had taken quite a bit out of her to keep us both invisible. "You ok?" I whispered over to her. She gave a tired little nod and sat in front of the door, inspecting her tail with a wry, flushed smile. Yeah, I was going to hear about that eventually...

I coughed nervously and turned to the gate, a large lock stared back at me and I blanched, looking over to the dead stallion behind it. I assumed he must have the key on him somewhere, rummaging through his bags from here and floating it out would take awhile though. This would be much easier if I could just pick the lock.

Looking over the chain link that made up the cage, I floated out 'Best Served'. The crazy blade had no problem slicing through flesh and bone with frightening ease, why not? I floated it up and brought it down in a vertical flash, the metal wire parted like butter in a long line to my relief. Two more quick horizontal slashes and I made my own little gate into the cage.

It was Hearth Warming day, I started unwrapping my gifts with glee, going through all the weaponry and throwing everything I could carry in my bags. However saddlebags were able to stretch and take whatever you tossed in them, I was reaching my own meager limits of weight capacity. I floated over a green military bag in the corner and started stashing more in there, Jade was a lot stronger than I was, she could carry some I hoped.

Now rounds for my pistols and Sturges' rifle weren't going to be a problem anytime soon. I also kept a pump action shotgun I pulled off the armory attendant my pip-buck labeled as "The Terrible Shotgun", unlike the other weapons of identical make for some reason, along with plenty of shells for it. I dumped all the grenades in my inventory and floated one of the metal discs up to my face curiously. As I turned it over and inspected it, I heard Jade give a little cough.

"It is a mine Fast," she whispered and mimicked putting a hoof down to the floor, followed by an explosion of hooves spread up to the ceiling.

Reeeeeally... checking over the device, I could see how it was meant to be armed, now that I had an idea what it was I could see the small proximity sensor. This would work very well... I put a couple in the cage then dragged the old stallion's corpse over to the gate as I backed out, arming a third mine and sliding it under him carefully.

There were enough weapons left behind in the armory for bait, whoever came running in here looking to arm themselves was in for a surprise. On a whim, I floated the blackened tarp to myself and over my shoulders, a little theatrics would help for the rest of this plan.

Trotting back to Jade at the door, I looked her over carefully, passing over the bag of weapons. She gazed back wearily but stood, lifting the bag to her back with a nod, ready to continue. I checked E.F.S. and it looked fairly clear, "Save it Jade, it's not far right? I think we're ok," I told her quietly and unlocked the door slipping back into the empty hall.

She followed silently and we remained visible, the stairwell to the upstairs hallway was just to the right, before we headed to it I floated several mines out. Arming them all, I started setting them out, first at the door to the factory then spread through the hall. I wanted any raider coming this way to be very discouraged from following us.

More mines were set out on the stairs as we climbed, plus more out to either side of the upper hallway we crossed to the door with 'Main Control Room' stenciled above it. The door was cracked open and the PA system crackled to life just as I reached it and peered inside cautiously, watching the blue-green mare who screeched into the microphone before her.

"Dammit you Celestia damned cunts, find them! I'm not going up to Crankcase and telling him some fucking ghost came in here and killed Cookie! You know how pissed he is already?! That fucking zebra has been a royal pain in the ass, the assault team STILL isn't back, that feather brained griffon is still here waiting on her pay, and I'm not adding on top of this world of shit!" she slammed a hoof down on the button glowing on the panel in front of her and the PA cut out.

I nudged the door open as she finished and sent the knife flying at her, skewering her through the ratty wheeled chair she sat on. Moving quickly, I ran in and stood aside for Jade to follow me into the cramped room. I slid the knife free carefully, leaving her propped up in the chair and sat down on the floor behind the panel, glancing around at all the equipment as I jacked my pip-buck into the main console. This was the first real unknown and I was filled with relief watching the data flash up on the screen as I was granted access to the facility.

The raider in the chair beside me had apparently figured out enough to make the PA work, which was simple enough, but that didn't make her any kind of computer whiz pony. I had assumed if these raiders knew half of what they had at their hooves, this whole adventure would have been infinitely more difficult. I had gambled on most systems actually being operational and the current tenants just being too ignorant to use them. Flicking through the systems I now had control over, I smiled and turned to the keyboard behind me on the panel, my magic enveloped the keys and started tapping away rapidly.

This was going to take a little creative coding, but the pip-buck helped speed the process. I tied the security system to my E.F.S. with ease, now whatever showed up as hostile for me was hostile for it, ponies I deemed friendly were treated likewise. That made sure both Jade and the prisoners would be safe at least, the next system required more direct instruction. I was telling it to do things it was most definitely not designed to do, unlike the security system.

Jade watched patiently as I tapped away, finally the naughty program was ready to run and I nodded up to her and back to the factory. She looked back with concern, but bowed her head with a frown and faded away again. "Be careful Fast" whispered down to me and I felt an invisible kiss light on my horn with a shudder, before the door opened and shut again. She hadn't liked this part of the... plan like thing... but those prisoners would need help and this was the best idea I had to do so.

I gave her a moment to get in position and pulled Sturges' rifle, bracing it on the console and looking down on the factory floor for the raider Jade had described through the windows. It took a moment, but I found the pony I wanted, the one she knew held a key to the makeshift prison below me.

Just like picking off cans down in Stable 111, a silenced shot through a broken windowpane took the raider's head off and I hoofed the transmit button on console beside me. I floated the microphone up with me as I jumped on top of the console before the windows, kicking the previous user out of her chair on the way.

"Greetings evil doers..." I growled through the PA system, hearing my best Shroud impression echo through the building around me.

Already I could hear shouts below, "Your cook has been judged by Luna. You have all earned her holy wrath for the vile deeds you have committed, one who would slaughter and cook the innocent simply earned special attention. None of those who would consume such fare are deserving of mercy from the Shrouded Stallion however..."

"OH WHAT THE FUCK!?" a raider patrolling on one of the catwalks in front of me screamed, the mare I heard earlier who gave me this idea.

The stallion beside her didn't share her look of fury at me as I stood on the console glaring at them, the blackened tarp I wore around my shoulders fluttered behind me. It wasn't the Shroud's coat and hat, but it seemed to be giving the right impression from a distance with the black armor and my own colors. As I watched I saw him mouth "I knew it.." silently.

I went into S.A.T.S. and queued up 2 shots to the head, she dropped as a blast from her shotgun sent cracks across the glass in front of me when time resumed. The buck next to her was still frozen, I wanted him alive still, he was reacting helpfully so far. I turned back to the microphone as I watched red marks on E.F.S. going crazy around me, converging on the factory, they knew where this was coming from.

"I gave you time for my message to be received, I had hoped some of you pitiful ponies would reconsider your actions in this den of evil and flee. You have the child of the goddess herself to thank for this mercy, I offer it for the final time, against my better judgement. Take your miserable hides and escape this place with the lives my princess has granted you. Those that remain, that serve this villain Crankcase whose fate is sealed already, are all going to die... YOU HAVE SINNED AGAINST LUNA, FACE THE SHROUD AND BEG FORGIVENESS IN THE AFTERLIFE!"

My speech boomed through the speakers scattered around the facility. As I watched, one across the large room below me exploded in a shower of sparks, unable to handle the volume. That was a nice touch I thought, as ponies began pouring into the room from the entrances Jade had pointed out. Bullets started flying, shattering the glass as I jumped off the console and crouched behind the console. The lower half was heavy gauge steel, so the electronics I needed and my own hide were safe for the moment at least.

Shouts were floating up to me, punctuated by the first explosions below as the fastest thinkers were running into mines waiting on the path to reach this room. The swarm of red marks was concentrating in the factory nicely.

"Get him! He's in Stormy's booth!"

"It's him, it's the fucking Shrouded Stallion! I told you!"

"It's a nutty pony in a rag trapped in a glass room!"

BOOM!

"Mines! He's trapped the way up!"

"Get to the armory! Tell Jack to give over every fucking grenade in there! We'll blast the little bastard out!!"

KA-BOOM!

"What the fuck was that!?"

"Celestia stick me on her horn and spin, I think that was the fucking armory!!!"

"Who in the everliving fuck is that!?"

"The Shroud! It's the SHROUD!"

"Somepony shut Fender up, he's losing it! Get in here and take that little shit out!!!"

Ok, there was a good amount of chaos now, any of them nearby were coming down on this part of the plant in force. I hoped Jade was ok and watching out for the prisoners below me. Gulping nervously, I hoofed the waiting command on my pip-buck and waited as the complex program ran.

I could look up toward the ceiling outside without getting my head blown off by the stream of bullets pouring in. I smiled as the turrets I could see suddenly sprang to life and raised their barrels, waggling a moment in the incredibly target rich environment, before opening up in a series of ripping noises.

"Those fucking things work!?! Down everypo- gah!" a scream drifted up and was cut short by the rain of fire the turrets were laying down.

A notification flashed on the pip-buck as the next command to the security system was accepted. I could barely hear it above the din, as 15 recharging stations opened and the Ponitrons contained inside activated and were taken over by security protocols. They were armed after all, as the advertising pony writing in the office terminal had been surprised to learn. Flashes of magic energy weapons joined the madness below as toneless robot voices echoed out,

"INTRUDERS DETECTED! INITIATING SECURITY ACTION!"

The amount of gunfire pouring in the windows suddenly slacked off considerably, the screams from the raiders were too chaotic to make out individually as they panicked at the new threat clanking out toward them. A horde of green marks on my compass indicated my Ponitron army as it attacked the rapidly diminishing red marks. The final stage of the program ran next, the bit I had to cobble together. I peeked over the console down into the floor below, I had to see if this part worked, professional curiosity...

The assembly line hummed to life, the industrial machines lighting up as lights flashed red, painting the room below in dancing shadows. The automated machines were not assembling sky carriages though. Each of the giant arms and tools were reaching for the nearest hostile marked pony and.. disassembling them.

I stood back up on the console and stared down into the room below, it had been turned into hell. Fires burned from searing energy weapons, Ponitrons stomped through the smoke and incinerated targets, not bothered by the lack of visibility. Monstrous looking robotic arms ending in claws and welding torches ripped ponies to pieces. Turrets sketched bright lines of tracers down from the ceiling into the haze below, explosions rang out beneath me and screams wailed up.

That shadowy Shroud part of me was satisfied, but I hadn't lost myself to it, though it did insist on laughing maniacally into the microphone, adding to the horror for the raiders. "MWAHAHAHA! This is Luna's punishment for eating other ponies fools! THIS IS THE PRICE YOU PAY!" the Shroud's voice boomed through the building. Still, Jade was right, I could control it, use it to help others and not be controlled by it.

I risked leaning out to look below me and saw a shimmering blue shield in the holding cell before a line of fire seared my neck, I leapt back from the stray bullets and ran out of the room. Both pistols floated alongside me as I ran for the stairwell and Jade below. With my robotic minions regarding me and everything I found friendly as off limits, it was as safe as it was going to get. The thought of her down there protecting those prisoners spurred me down the halls as fast as my legs could take me.

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

Bloody Mess--
--Your dark side is disturbingly creative coming up with gruesome ways to punish ponies that deserve it... +5% overall damage and chance for spectacular deaths to your foes, fun! Just don't let it get away from you.

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

Shadowy Shroud--
--You've found a way to control the shadowy pony in your head. Your alter ego's sense of theatrics functions like the Terrifying Presence! perk, allowing unique dialogue that can intimidate foes and send them running. These speech checks are only available when speaking as the Shroud, and only against evildoers with with negative reputation and knowledge of the Shrouded Stallion.

Companion Perk Added!---------------

Stealth Filly--
--Alicorn invisibility is almost cheating! Jade is practically a Stealth-buck on demand, your relationship allows you to take advantage of her powers, as well as doubling stealth-buck duration and granting sneak attack criticals +10% damage

Author's Notes:

Thanks as always to Kkat for Fallout Equestria. Rare for something to captivate me and instill the desire to make my own contribution, especially when so many others have made so much great work. Happy to pay back my enjoyment and glad for anyone who likes my addition to this wonderful niche.