"Oh my Gawd lookit all this boss! We're gonna need Swany to haul all this loot out for us!" Val gleefully dove into another crate and beamed at me, ignoring the most recently dead and still unlooted Gunners in the storage room to let a rain of .50 shells pour over her head from her claws.

While the chance to resupply our dwindling ammo after the battle at the Ministry of Peace was welcome, I couldn't be quite as ecstatic as my bodyguard was about it. This was the third side room on the first level of Stable 75 that we had found like this, crammed with shiny weapons crates full to the brim with deadly ordinance.

Whatever else the Gunners were using this Stable for, they were getting a disturbing amount of brand new ammo and more from here. All of it was packed and ready to move out, shipping manifests and schedules kept neatly on clipboards and terminals in each room. Looking over the sheer bulk of it all, I got a better idea why the Gunners had widened the hidden entrance to the Stable. There was a lot leaving this place regularly, distributed to the army of mercenaries to leave a lot of misery in their wake.

"Take what we can carry for now Val, we're not leaving any behind when we leave so don't worry..." I muttered back and kept searching what had been the admittance areas of the Stable, trying to puzzle out what had been made of the place in the intervening centuries.

What had been offices, locker rooms for expeditions to the surface and a few guard rooms had all been mostly stripped and turned into space for shipments waiting to go out near the door. Not a lot of the original layout had survived intact in the grimy rooms, most of what we had found so far had been victims to military efficiency.

Floating a stack of rusting boxes from the corner and idly looking through the more mundane supplies tossed haphazardly inside, I paused and looked up to the faded poster hidden behind them. A medium grey griffoness was depicted there, older from what I could tell, but beaming with the smile of a young beauty.

She was wearing a blue Stable barding made to accommodate her feline form, identical to one of the shrink wrapped packages that came spilling out of the boxes in front of the poster, emblazoned with a bright yellow 75 in perfect condition under the cloudy plastic.

'Helping each other find a better way, together!' was printed above the Stable-Tec logo the subject had her darker wings spread over, her bright yellow claws wide in a hug that looked to be squeezing the life out of three familiar mares in their own Stable barding. The numbers on the bardings was obscured or left out, though the most famous of the three showed a simple '2' at her collar, nearly hidden by her curly silver mane.

Staring at the image of the founders of Stable-Tec in wonder, my eyes hung on their matching cutie marks, goggling at the griffon's muscular flank bearing a nearly identical mark. Hers had a trophy as the central image, but the tri-colored shield marked her as a member of an exclusive group alright. A griffon Crusader?

"Huh... So this place really was run by griffons boss? Ain't those some famous ponies with her? Even I know the singer there, Sweetie whosit?" Val joined me and squinted at the poster dubiously, not nearly as interested in it as she was in stuffing her pockets, but somewhat intrigued.

"Sweetie Belle, that's Scootaloo, the one from all the recordings, and the other is Apple Bloom Val. They didn't go posing for pictures with our Overmare though, it looks like they were friends with this griffon. Sure looks like your people were in charge anyway, look, they even had Stable suits that would fit you!"

Since we were waiting on Zed to return from pulling his ninja-zebra act and scouting ahead, I nodded and tore open the still sealed barding, shaking it loose and holding it up to Val to admire. A griffon tailored Stable barding... I'd never seen such a thing, the image of the attractive griffon wearing the familiar blue leather popped into my head and wouldn't leave. What would life have been like back in 111 if Val had been there with me? What would she look like wearing it...

Val fluttered her eyelashes and grinned, snatching the pristine clothing away in her claws and molding it against herself, standing on her hindlegs and turning this way and that to show off. Even over her bulky armor, I could picture enough to feel my face heat up, which only encouraged her... "Ohhhh.... Gettin' any ideas boss? Like it? Not my style, but maaaaaybe I'll model it fer ya sometime, hmmm? Would'ya like that bossy poo?"

Frowning at the simpering coo to her teasing and those twinkling bedroom eyes, I huffed and stammered back. Stable barding wasn't exactly made with fashion or sex appeal in mind anyway, it was just strange and exotic seeing it on a griffon. Considering I had come of age around fillies wearing just that outfit, I couldn't deny I did find it attractive though. Just like dreams I had had of Jade and her sisters in the form fitting outfit, it held a certain allure...

"C-Cut it out Val... It's just weird, t-thinking about griffons living in a Stable like I did, wearing that... you wearing that..."

'MINE...'

"Awww! Yer gettin' all worked up thinkin' about it now ain'tcha boss! I'm in yer head now shrimp!" Val stalked after me retreating, tucking the barding in her already stuffed packs with a wink when she caught me staring again.

"N-No! I was just thinking the same I had about Jade before. That I bet you'd look really pretty in it, that I wish you were there in my Stable with me, that we grew up together and were friends sooner... You know, s-stuff..."

Val's smoldering stare of teasing seduction faltered, giving way to an actual blush and much warmer smile. Of course true affection from the griffon usually involved being somewhat rougher than tender hugs and nuzzles she viewed as 'pony-sappiness', so I got a punch to the shoulder as she clucked happily in reply. "Yer bein' too cutesy for yer own good again boss... That's nice though ya'know? I might not'a minded bein' in one of these pits if it was with my nerdy pipsqueak boss. Would'a been a damn sight better than where I grew up. Hey, I could'a knocked around all them assholes ya said picked on ya! Fer a price of course..."

"You probably would have been one of the cool kids picking on me Val... I bet you'd have done even better than Grizz did getting them to leave me alone, maybe a little more lethally than he did though. When Jade's sisters made me have that dream about them in the Stable, I actually imagined you working for my mom in security. I bet you would have liked that a little anyway, still probably too boring though. I didn't get to see you in that dream either, so I'd like s-seeing what you'd look like wearing that, er... sometime, if you don't mind..."

I winced and beat a hasty retreat after spitting that much out, moving on to another room of storage to pillage to escape Val's wide, leering grin and swaying prowl behind me. "Oooooh boss, really turns yer crank don't it? Well now I hafta, orders are orders after all. If ya turn this red just thinkin' about it, I gotta see how bad I can mess with ya actually wearin' this goofy getup! Wanna help me get into it? Looks awwwwful tight... bet I'll need a helping hoof or two huh boss? Huh? Huh? Huuuuh?"

Giving a flat stare back, I only had to put up with her cackles of glee for a few minutes before she started rooting around in the crates of battlesaddle parts in this room. I groaned as they finally tapered off and I joined her inspection, scratching my itchy mane and trying to be somewhat serious with the flirty griffon.

"I do mean it Val, it would have been nice growing up with you in the Stable. I didn't have a lot of friends, so getting the chance to meet you earlier would have been really great. I don't know if we would have been friends, but I'd like to think so. You are my best friend out here after all."

Having her claws proceed to grab me in a headlock and roughly scratch my mane with noogies was the griffon's version of a tight hug, letting Val keep the misty eyed expression she got firmly out of my view as she stuck her beak up and chuckled. "Enough gettin' sappy just cause we're in a Stable boss, yer embarrassin' me... We're pals, no reason ta get all gooey about it. Knock it off before stripey gets back an..."

"Points out how happy you appear to be, despite your protests Valkyrie?" Zed's deep voice caught us both by surprise, appearing in the shadowy doorway and raising a sardonic eyebrow at the two of us.

Val squawked at getting caught, tossing me into a box of spark cells and ruffling her feathers in indignation. Whatever expression she had been hiding from me in her grip gave way to a bright blush as I dug my way free, glaring at the zebra smirking from the door. "S-Shaddup stripey! Got bored waitin' on you to come back is all, was just teasin' the boss an' makin' him feels better! I wasn't bein' all mushy, it was all him!"

"Mm-hmm... Of course, such a dedicated bodyguard to safeguard your employers feelings. Especially when you so obviously don't share them at all... my mistake." Zed chuckled and shrugged back to the fuming griffon, though their back and forth did make me feel better about being here.

Val really was keeping an eye on me and concerned, along with the sarcastic zebra making an effort at good natured ribbing and banter. Their joking helped put me at ease even in these familiar surroundings, turning to the deadly business at hoof Val gave voice to. "Har, har, har... yer hilarious Zed. You find me somethin' ta kill yet, or just come back with lame jokes?!"

In answer, Zed sat on the rusty steel floor and held his pip-buck wearing hindleg out, rolling his eyes as he allowed me to tap at the arcano-tech device he largely ignored. "I explored as far as I was able without being spotted. This place isn't as fully populated as it appears made for, but a sizable crew of Gunners are in residence. It appears some areas are locked by keycard, I was unable to acquire one of these however."

Checking over what his pip-buck had filled in of the map, it wasn't hard to find where he got stopped. He had made it to the Atrium, giving a good place to start exploring with both Stable Security and the Overmare... Overgriffon's? office nearby. He tapped a hoof on the screen when he caught me staring though, shaking his head against my unspoken hope of heading right there.

"That area is one of those under lock and key, so I don't believe we can be so straightforward. I could spot the pony in charge through the round window though. She and most of the Gunners present seem to wear the same symbol, I thought Valkyrie may know it?" Zed fished in his leather jacket a moment, pulling out a torn patch he had snagged from some unsuspecting Gunner apparently.

Val squinted at it and got a strange, somber expression, her claw tracing over the image of the Gunner's pony skull logo criss-crossed with bandoliers with a variety of pockets and pouches. "Supply Company Leatherflanks... Makes sense they're in charge around here with all this gear to pass out. Hey Zed, you said it was a mare in the fancy office? What she look like?"

"Hmm, older... green with a violet and blue mane, a little on the plump side." Zed's shrug back and description made Val's pensive look deepen, tossing the patch aside and pawing the ground as she stood.

"Rapid Reload, that bitch is still around huh? Welp, let's go say hi boss. She ain't on my list of fuckers I really wanna kill, but wouldn't mind a chat with that old cunt. We doin' this the fun way, or the sneaky, borin' way you two prefer..." By the way Val's weapons hummed and clicked in readiness, it wasn't hard to tell which way she'd prefer.

I shared the map from Zed's pip-buck to my own and Val's, scrolling through what was visible and puzzling over the differences in layout. If possible I'd rather do things quiet as long as possible, but Zed's news of the keycards blocking access to certain areas made it much more likely things would get loud soon enough. The Gunners probably secured the Stable to make it a slog, we'd have to focus on getting one key and hope that led to others. My hopes of just slinking down to the reactor and overloading it were already just wishful thinking.

"Both probably Val, let's go find out. If they've got this much stuff here, there's a good chance there's an active teleporter to the Institute in here somewhere. Even if we have to tear this place apart room by room, I want to find it. We can't leave it for the Gunners to keep using."

"That's more like it mopey! Let's go have us some fun boss!" Val shook off her frown and padded off the way Zed had come, swishing her tail and making the ammo in her pockets jingle.

Attempts at stealth managed to last all the way to the atrium of Stable 75, but fell apart when we reached the cavernous chamber and I struggled to cope with how different it was. While the one back in 111 had been big enough for mom to stretch her wings from time to time, a Stable built around a sizable flying population had made some accommodations she would have loved.

It took up a similar amount of floorspace as back home, it was round instead of the rectangular room I was used to however, and the vertical measurement had to be double or more. The passage up to the entrance came out near the top of the vast room, far below our vantage was the dirty pink and green checkerboard tiles of the cafeteria in one corner. The walls between here and there were riddled with doors and perches to land on, ringed with catwalks and stairs for the pony residents to get around on.

A system of pulleys and cables allowed the ponies milling below to load up more crates to be hauled up here with us, along with a pair of open lifts that crawled on rails along opposite walls. As we watched, quite a few griffons flitted up and down the central shaft, entering and leaving sliding steel doors in the walls or landing to help the pony residents in their labors. Wherever they were getting all this gear, it came from somewhere deep inside the Stable and was sorted and hauled up to the exit.

Midway down the shaft was the familiar, circular window of the Overmare's office, behind which a heavyset pony could be seen sitting at the semi-circle desk, going through mountains of paperwork and tapping at a terminal. The middle aged, seafoam green mare had a curly blue and violet mane under her battered combat armor helmet, wearing patched military fatigues with lots of pockets, belts and pouches.

"Is that this Rapid Reload pony you were talking about Val? You know her?" I whispered over to the griffon flat on her belly next to me, peering through her cracked binoculars to take in the room and quickly refocusing them on the mare I pointed out.

Val's brows came together in a frown and she nodded, a tinge of sadness to her voice as she confirmed her guess. "Yup, that's her... Didn't personally drum me out of the Gunners like the fucks I really wanna find, but she was always kinda a bitch boss. Must'a got a promotion, used to just run a squad of Leatherflanks Company outta Gunner's Plaza. Always been in the rear with the gear like... S-She was my buddy's commanding officer..."

Buddy... oh... She must mean the pony she used to care about, the forbidden relationship that ended so horribly for her. I didn't want to make her feel worse or bring up old wounds here, so left it alone with a silent hoof to her trembling claw. Not that I had a lot of room to complain considering my own reckless, rage driven actions sometimes, but I didn't want her throwing herself into danger for revenge like with Gunter at Talon's Department Store and death trap emporium.

At least if she wasn't high on Val's revenge list, I wasn't too worried about her losing control. Taking a closer look at what I could see of her office and the basic layout of the Stable, I saw the most direct route there was secured by a fancy keycard reader at the door too. If possible I'd rather go right to the Overmare's office and see what kind of havoc I could wreak with the controls in there, it didn't look like it would be that easy however.

By the faded signs my sharp eyes could pick out, the Security rooms were probably in that general direction too. Close to the atrium if everything was open, but inaccessible from the flow of traffic I observed below us. We really needed a map, Stable 75 was just too different from 111, other than basics like maintenance being down low and the Overmare's office being up high, I couldn't accurately guess at where things were in here.

Spotting a set of heavy crates being hauled in from a hall on the bottom floor, my eyes hung on the bright yellow warnings showing danger and cartoon clouds of explosions, zooming in through the scope of the Last Minute to read closer and grinning at what they were. If we were going to have to do this loud like Val wanted, there were few better ways to give ourselves away...

"Zed, slip down and get ready, don't think we can do this sneaky, so we'll get their attention. Ready to make some noise Val?"

Enveloping her binoculars in my magic, I adjusted her view a bit and shared the hard smile she gave on spotting the crates. Val's 25mm grenade launcher gave a click as she rose to a crouch, impatiently waiting for Zed to roll his eyes and vault the railing. "Bet yer ass I am boss, glad we're doin' this one the fun way! Hey... you mind if I do the whole freak em out bit? Not that yer comic nonsense ain't a good touch sometimes, but I wanna turn ya know."

"I like my comic nonsense..." I pouted back, giving Zed time to sneak his way down unseen and groaning a sigh of surrender to Val. "Alright, alright... I guess they're not scared of the Shrouded Stallion anyway, can you at least say 'greetings evildoers'? I like being consistent and..."

"HEY! Head's up fuckers! Guess who's back ta take their severance pay!" Val whooped and ignored me, giving a bawdy yell that echoed down to the huge chamber, all of the Gunners freezing and staring up at her perched on the railing boldly.

Their dumbfounded gawking lasted only a moment, several collecting themselves and answering with shouts of 'TRAITOR!' before Val's grenade launcher thumped, arcing a tumbling explosive down the shaft and right on target. A few of the Gunner griffon's had managed to launch themselves up after her when it blew, barely taking off and instantly scattered to the winds when her grenade detonated against the crate of mines and more explosives.

A wave of heat caught my wings as I jumped off the catwalk, lofted up by the thermals battering all the griffons closer to the fireball that consumed most of the ground floor. Val streaked past me as I dove to follow, tucking my wings and unloading with the Terrible Shotgun towards any fliers who looked to be recovering fastest. The Gunners were so focused on us overhead, the ground bound ponies didn't see Zed slinking around with them, silently dispatching them one by one while Val and I kept their attention.

Most of the ponies bore the patch identifying them as the supply squadron under Rapid Reload banging her hooves against the thick glass of her window, the griffons flying up to meet us however were definitely more combat oriented. While the unicorns and earth ponies scattering from the drudgery of hauling more supplies in fired up at us, they weren't carrying much more than sidearms or rifles in their magic.

A bright blue and white griffon zooming up to catch me on the other hoof, unloaded with the rapid chatter of a light machinegun, the grey and rose wing griffon on her tail blazing away with a twin magical energy rifle battlesaddle. Val had her claws full with four more chasing her, their numbers at least working against them in the confined maneuvering room.

Chasing her through tight loops and turns, they kept running into each other in their haste to bring down the infamous traitor. I had time to see her ignite her Shishkebab sword and slash out at a canary yellow griffon that got too close in his excitement, both of his dark orange claws sliced off and tumbling to the floor along with his assault rifle.

Another series of machinegun rounds hammered my sides, sending me tumbling towards the curved wall and hissing at the oozing wounds under my armor. Summoning my lightning aura spell, my hooves made contact with the steel wall and I ran for it, staying just ahead of a stream of purple M.E.W. bolts by streaking along the wall in an electric flicker.

Running sideways on the wall was actually easier than trying to match the griffons in the air. I was faster than them like this and able to keep doing rapid loops around the atrium, keeping them towards the center and firing shotgun slugs and .45 rounds over my head at them. Adjusting my course left or right brought me higher or lower along the walls, dodging the catwalks ringing the room and slashing out with Best Served in my mouth, as I blurred by ponies clanging their way up the stairs after us.

The 'fwoosh!' of a trio of missiles made me abandon the wall, leaping back to the air ahead of a roaring series of explosions just ahead of my path. A large section of the stairs and walkways screeched and tore free under the assault, giving me more to dodge in the air while trying to track the griffon with the missile launcher hanging back and tracking me.

A chunk of railing knocked me aside, thumping me to the surface of a section of walkway tumbling through the air. Taking advantage of something solid under my hooves, I ran up the chunk of upside down stairs for speed and dove free before it crashed to the ground. The dark brown griffon was weighed down by his heavy weaponry just enough for me to overtake before he got another clear shot, rocketing into his armored chest and impaling him with my knife as his claws raked my neck.

He ended up pinned like a butterfly against the wall, the hilt of Best Served buried in his chest and the steel underneath. I bit down on the wooden handle and tugged, bracing my legs straddling the gurgling griffon and yanking my weapon desperately. I managed to tear it loose and let the corpse fall free, flapping to correct my tumble backwards and holding still too long. The crack of a high powered rifle sounded out, reaching my ears just after the blinding bolt of pain tearing through my ribs.

Lurching in the air and seeing spots, I didn't see the black and white griffoness diving on me from above. The thump and hiss of some kind of powerhoof like device worn on her clawed fists hammered into my chest, tossing me across the room to smash into the Overmare's window like a bug on a windshield. The shocked, pinprick lavender stare of Rapid Reload on the other side goggling back at me through the red smear on the glass, her mouth working furiously.

"Hi... Open up..." I waved woozily and enunciated clearly, making sure she could read my lips and satisfied at the gulp she gave in return.

Of course the reflection of two glowing red, dragon slitted eyes glaring at her in the glass probably unnerved her. I never got to see my own eyes pull that little alicorn trick, so it still freaked me out when I caught myself in a mirror sometimes. Her gaze flicking behind me with a smirk gave me just enough warning to push off and fall backwards, looking up to the powerclaw wearing griffon smashing into the window with both weird weapons, barely cracking the reinforced glass and turning to dive after me.

I crashed to the cafeteria tables below, smashing through the steel and plastic benches with a clatter and barely managing to roll aside before the griffon came down like a bomb behind me. Vengeance wobbled up in my magic and boomed out at her, she was not only agile, she kept the bulk of her green combat armor between us. She barely winced at two .45 rounds impacting her breastplate as she charged forward and smashed my muzzle, knocking me over the railed counter to the dusty kitchen.

Scrambling back among the clatter of pots, pans, baking sheets, cafeteria trays and knives, my back ran into a heavy piece of kitchen equipment that gave a gurgling chug. A splatter of pink glop fell on my hat from above and I wheezed up at the familiar Fluffer Batter machine, hoping there weren't slime zombies running around somewhere in here with us and trying to reach my hooves before the griffon caught up. At least the chrome and pink machine looked like a more recent addition.

I tore my gaze away from the ominous dispenser in time to see my pursuer vaulting the counter, a crazed gleam in her brown eyes that were focused only on the bleeding pony in front of her. She raised both claws with a hiss and leapt, knocked off course from turning me to paste by a striped blur coming in hindlegs first in a flying buck. Zed landed nimbly on the rails of the counter, glancing at me for a moment and keeping a close eye on the griffon's flight, giving a satisfied whinny when she landed atop the burners of the stovetop and the bubbling pots of foul smelling stew up there.

She screeched and fell to the tiled floor, rolling in a puddle of boiling gruel that at least helped put out her singed feathers, clawfulls of which sloughed off her. A trio of ponies dodging through the cafeteria took Zed's attention away from finishing her, leaving the job to me with a curious look making sure I was able to stand again.

While I did manage to get back to my shaking hooves, moving around wasn't going to be pretty, let alone attacking. Leaning against the empty stainless steel chafer dishes at the counter, my eyes hung on all the gleaming kitchen knives scattered across the floor. I somehow doubted their cook had a starmetal chef's knife among all that, but it would still do in a pinch.

The blue glow of my telekinesis wrapped around every sharp kitchen instrument I could spot, lifting it all and sending it arrowing at the griffon just reaching her paws. The swirling storm of blades spun around her in a bloody cloud, carving her up like a turkey and zooming out of the kitchen when she fell in a heap, swarming after any more targets left on Eyes Forward Sparkle.

I stumbled out of the kitchen with a greenish-purple healing potion in my mouth, slugging it down and dizzily directing my flying hail of metal around the atrium, helping Val and Zed finish up the few Gunners that hadn't run for it. Finding the immediate area mostly clear, I sat with a pained sigh at one of the long tables, absently snatching a battered copy of Equestrian Army Today and catching my breath as my wounds healed.

Val landed on the table beside me, downing her own purple healing potion and keeping a wary guard up while I recovered, flicking her tail cheerily. She was quite happy with how things were going, despite the bleeding wounds darkening her feathers here and there. "That's how it's done boss! C'mon, hurry an' get up, they're gonna be fallin' back and gearin up for us now."

Proving her point, the Stable's PA system crackled to life, a furious yell sounding out in the smoking atrium as yellow warning lights lit up on the walls. "Oh you bastards! You're all supposed to be dead in the woods! I told them it wouldn't be so easy! What they get for listening to that Vega asshole sticking his snout in where it doesn't belong! You're going to pay for this traitor!"

The three of us looked up to the Overmare's window above, spotting the screaming mare Rapid Reload raging into a rusty microphone held in her teal magic. Val smirked back and reloaded her weapons unhurriedly, giving a mock salute to the high ranking Gunner. "Nice seein' you again too Rapid! Hang on, we'll be right with you! Unless ya wanna open up and let us take the short route? Promise ta make it quick!"

Rapid Reload's furious scowl changed to a sly, conniving look, looking behind her to tap at the terminal in there with her and chortling back. "Well, I do owe you for my current rank traitor, but I'm not quite that grateful. I would have turned you and Sgt. Surge in for free anyway, getting my promotion was just a bonus."

"What..." All of Val's good humor dried up, the pupils of her violet eyes turning into hard dots as she flapped up to the window to directly address the sneering mare.

I didn't like that satisfied look the Gunner was wearing, lurching my way up to follow Val and growing more concerned as she continued, and angry... Even without the growling of 'Be Dark...' rising up, the way she was goading Val and trying to hurt her was making me very, very angry...

"Ponies and griffons fraternizing, you both knew that was against the rules traitor. Don't blame me, you two just had to flaunt your sordid little affair after all. You were both going to pay for it, no reason I couldn't benefit. Turning you in to Graven landed me this cushy gig after all, got that griffon groper out of my way and scored me brownie points!" Rapid Reload cackled cruelly, shrugging innocently to the glass and mocking my friend and the pony she cared about once.

I took great satisfaction in watching her yelp and skitter back from the hard impact sending a spiderweb of cracks across the glass between her eyes, though even the Last Minute's 2mm slug couldn't penetrate the armored glass. Val followed up with a barrage of grenades and red beams of magic, scorching the blood smeared barrier in a rage of firepower as she screamed. "BITCH! Fucking CUNT!!! I'm gonna kill you slow dammit! Come outta there and get it over with!"

When the smoke cleared, the portly mare was peeking up from behind her desk, her worried look to the glass returning to her previous smirk as she trotted closer and tossed her mane. Val was already shaking with fury and I spotted the wet glimmer of tears at the corner of her eyes 'Awareness!', I didn't want to give the bitch another chance to upset her even more.

Val might not appreciate my usual comic theatrics, but they had their place. I slammed into the glass in a dark flicker of black lightning, cutting off Val's view and making the Gunner commander jump back in fright. It wasn't just my eyes glowing this time, my fangs extended and my hooves squeaked across the scorched window between us, a shadowy swirl of magic making my coat flap around me as the rumble of the Shrouded Stallion's voice came oozing out of my mouth.

"Thou hath admitted thine guilt, taken pride in your crime against MINE... My Princess' mercy is wasted on a foul pony like you and you will find none waiting... Await Luna's judgement there or try to flee, there will be no escape for you, only torments a pathetic mare like thou can only imagine. Speak another word and they shall double...

"I'm coming for you..."

Rapid's eyes shrank to tiny dots under the looming shadow I was casting stretching over her upturned face, she actually looked almost hypnotized by the strange patter to my speech, taking shaking steps backwards and squeaking when her tail ran into her desk. At least she took the advice and shut up, her startle at running into the obstacle seeming to break the spell and let her turn to run, galloping out of the Overmare's office and shouting down the hall.

Turning back to Val shaking in the air, I shook off the clink of chains in my head and moved to comfort her, noting the penetrating stare Zed had trained on me nearby. When my normal voice and soothing hoof reached out to Val, he shrugged and squinted, but left it at that and glided back down to the floor, letting me warily hug the trembling griffon and feel her stiffen in my hooves a moment.

Her voice was shaky and thick, but she clutched back firmly and buried her beak in my mane, wiping the damp spots on her cheek dry as she croaked. "T-Thanks boss... Bitch is mine though, she... she's gonna pay..."

"Yes, she will Val. Come on, before she gets brave again. I'd rather talk to her face to face next time, wouldn't you?" I nuzzled my friend clutching me and pulled back, nodding towards Zed's inspection of the floor hoping to give her something to focus on.

She sniffled, but wiped her beak forcefully and let me go, drifting down and giving a hard nod back. "Bet yer ass I do. Let's go find the bitch boss."

Continuing our exploration and dealing with increasingly hardened blockades of Gunners in our path, the main thing that kept sticking out for me was how different Stable 75 was from my home. It was just familiar enough to elicit that sense of nostalgia and homesickness that bothered me going in to these ancient bunkers, but it was different enough to severely bother me.

Most of the main hallways were much wider and taller than home for one, curved, modular sections of passages rusting and peeling the dark purple paint decorating the ones in this section. I could see why, they were just tall enough in the middle for a griffon to fly and get around, the shorter sections nearer the walls providing room for ponies or others walking along to stay out of the way.

Wrapping my hindleg and Val's flank in magical bandages in the residential section after dealing with the latest Gunner attack, we sheltered in one of the side rooms and the stark differences stood out again. So far we hadn't found many residential rooms for a single occupant or families like I lived in, instead they were mostly like the room were were in now, a barracks...

Dozens of rusting steel bunkbed frames and rotting mattresses were arranged in neat rows, hooflockers at the foot of each that turned up a few caps or other bits of junk. One contained a corroded holotape I slotted into my pip-buck while we recovered, letting the crackling voice play for my companions to hear while we each quietly explored and healed.

"Well, we're out of the tournament... Orange Squad took us out and moved up the ladder to the semifinals, we came so close too! One more win and we would have earned better bonuses and treats, at least getting this far gives us a little bump in pay and a Sparkle-Cola a day with grub, so not all bad. Sarge Brightplume is still ticked though, said we're doing extra training for the next two weeks!"

"Still really disappointed so I actually don't mind, we gotta do better next quarter. Hotshot and I are ready to start a family, but we'll never get a pass unless we get to the finals. We should have taken the first opportunity back when things were different, lower ranked squads like us got a lot more chances still just five years ago. Nopony's sure why the rules seem to be changing or if the Overgriffon is even aware of it, she's getting old and her lieutenants have been handling more and more Stable business. She'll be there for the finals and awards though, maybe I can get a word with her and plead our case?"

"Definitely gotta try while she's still around, she was a card carrying Groverite up on the surface and nice to us ponies. If Lt. Squall takes over the job though... I have the feeling it'll only get tougher. His Gold Squad gets enough perks already and they're all jerks. All of us in Purple Squad get enough crap from them as it is, when he takes over the Stable though... At least Blue Squad holds up Stable Security and keeps the peace now, I really hope the Overgriffon picks Lt. Stormwing instead of Lt. Squall to take over."

"The Security griffon is a lot nicer and fair, she gets along with ponies a lot better, they even say she had pony friends back above ground! I'm not the only one wondering about it either, things have been getting a little tense lately. The whole Stable seems like it's dividing into two camps, each supporting a different candidate. Who knows what will happen when one or the other wins... Well, worry about it later I guess. The next round is starting, so off to cheer for Pink Squad and hope they knock out Orange!"

Checking some more of the lockers as the recording finished, I fished out a tattered old set of military fatigues for a pony, bearing purple patches on the sleeves. Looking up to the chipped, violet walls, one difference that had been bothering me about the Stable made sense. The halls and rooms in the Residential wing were painted different colors to match the squads bunking there.

The rest of the ancient message was puzzling to me though. They divided the Stable into groups competing with each other? They had pay? A power struggle to replace the Overmare... Overgriffon rather... One of the names niggled a memory deep down too, Lt. Stormwing... where had I heard that name before? The head of Security, apparently composed of Blue Squad, we hadn't found much in the blue hallways earlier though.

Of course so far the layout seemed to be a couple of large barracks rooms, by the rotting underwear found in hooflockers, it looked like they were gender specific too, unless a lot of bucks liked wearing frilly things... Beyond those two big rooms, there was a tiny, spartan single occupant room nearby for the squad's sergeant, then a few family style sections of housing for each squad, plus a large rec room, but no fancier room for the Lieutenant in charge of each squad. Maybe the higher ups lived somewhere else?

Val padded up behind me, flexing her dark claw to get the feeling back after a well placed whack with a security baton managed to disarm her in our last encounter. She read the confusion and curiosity on my face and shrugged, flopping to a squeaky mattress nearby and kindly explaining things for me.

"Griffons really were in charge, place was run like a regular aerie boss. Chain of command, competition for pecking order, the whole bit. See where the Gunners got a few of their funny ideas too, havin' ta earn permission to have a kid and what not. Really different from home, huh boss?" Val drummed her hindlegs and gave a sympathetic look while I scratched my head, Stormwing... Stormwing... where had I heard it?

"What's a... 'Groverite' Val? Do you know?" Since my griffon pal wasn't a green alicorn and therefore couldn't help me dig the memory loose, I focused on other parts of the message I didn't understand.

Val tossed her head, blowing her plumage from her face with a roll of her eyes and snort as she answered. "Groverites... It's a prewar thing boss, some silly group of griffons sayin' we should all get along with ponies, be like we were in the days of King Grover, have pride and kindness, yada, yada, yada. They even started tattooin' themselves cutie marks if ya can believe it! Started by some goofy griffon back in the day, the one on the poster upstairs, Gabby somethin' or other. Like a joke nowadays, even though there's still a few lil' cults still spreadin' the gospel out there. Pfft, griffons protestin' the war, refusin' merc work fer either side, tryin' ta convince other merc outfits ta stop helpin' you an the stripes killin' each other. Crazy, right?"

"It's too bad they weren't more successful, your kind made a tidy profit hiring yourselves out to either side." Zed's gruff voice called from across the room, making Val grumble but unable to refute the truth to what he said.

Since he trotted over bearing a dirty plastic keycard in his teeth, I refrained from trying to counter his point and accepted it gratefully. My pip-buck identified it as 'Training Sector Keycard', sorting it in my overstuffed inventory with a flash of text. Following the partially filled map the arcano-tech device had been building, we stepped over the rough barricades of crates and steel shipping containers in the hall, along with the bodies of quite a few Gunners. One of which had melted into a puddle of glowing goop, meaning there was an Institute presence here...

We passed through the red sector and on to a still bright and nearly nauseating orange section, the rust and age blending with the eye aching colors. On to the yellow section I presumed once housed 'Gold Squad' from the recording. Even decades later, I could see the differences compared to the other barracks. The beds were nicer, the blankets thicker and softer, still made and apparently slept in by the Gunners staying here.

There was even a buzzing Sparkle-Cola machine in the common room, a scratched and battered pool table with claw marks marring the worn felt at the edges, plus a couple of terminals I had to investigate, turning up a new holotape game I didn't have and immediately downloaded. 'Megaspell Command' looked to be a pretty war oriented game, shooting down digital balefire missiles before they hit the blocky Canterlot at the bottom. It would teach the control and technique needed to fire those big anti-air cannons and other weapons outside, even the recreation seemed oriented around training the residents.

Beyond the yellow Gold Squad section was the keycard door with the buzzing sign above that read; 'Training Section'. The card reader gave a warbling beep when I slid the key in, lighting up green and allowing us to pass the sliding steel door and be met by a lot of firepower waiting on us.

The Gunners were waiting for us again, digging in along the odd hallway ahead and sheltering in several stairwells to the sides, leading down to a lower level that was partially visible through the glass floors to the sides. Sheltering at the doorway, I peeked out from cover with the Last Minute, carefully selecting my shots and backing up Val and Zed dashing out into the long passage.

I was glad we managed to scrounge a few more 2mm EC rounds for the gauss rifle upstairs, though even among the plethora of ammo ready to be shipped, the rare ammo wasn't that plentiful. It gave me enough to work with though, picking off Gunners forgetting to take adequate cover with the temptation of the infamous traitor right in front of them.

A final flat crack blew the head off the shouting earth pony managing this group of Gunners, Zed's pounding hooves wiping up the last except for a pale pink mare Val pounced on at the end of the passage. I didn't hear her end the struggling mare though, instead the screams and grumbles of the two of them fighting continued and sent me galloping out to find what the problem was.

On my way I got a look down into the lower rooms through the glass floors / ceilings that gave a view of the strange spaces below. Again the vertical nature of the Stable messed with me, the halls and rooms went up and down all over the place, following the long vertical shaft of the Atrium. Six rooms of training equipment were underhoof, treadmills for running, weight benches, punching bags, odd conglomerations of weights and wires for flight and wing strength training. There was medical equipment in each space too, breathing masks dangling besides the exercise gear, heart rate and blood pressure monitors, webs of electronic leads with suction cup ends, what were they doing here?

Catching up to Val put those questions aside for the moment, she had the pale pink mare pinned under her and a very conflicted look on her face. The pony she caught was reacting strangely too, her red and pink mane sweaty and disheveled under her combat armor helmet, her pale blue eyes crazed and sobbing as she struggled and sneered up at Val. "Y-Your fault! All your fault you bitch! You had to take him away, t-traitor!!"

"Val?... Problem? Do you... know this pony?" I asked uncertainly, noting the damp shimmer to Val's hard gaze and the way her 12mm pistol shook in her claw, not pointing at her captive but nearby.

"I ain't the one that killed him now am I? A-Ain't my fault... T-They took him away from me too ya know..." Val was actually answering the screaming mare, a deep sadness to her voice and a helpless glance my way as she answered in a croak. "Full Clip boss... s-she was friends with... er...."

"I wanted to be more than friends! But you got Surge killed you bitch! W-We could have had a future if you'd just followed the fucking rules! You just had to be a pony player, didn't you! You got him killed, it's all YOUR FAULT! Why won't you just die already!!" Val's captive screeched and flopped under her grip uselessly, her furious words like a slap to the face that took the fight out of my griffon friend.

The impulse to just shoot her to shut her up rose up and I had to beat it back, 'Be Kind...'. Instead I put a gentle hoof on Val's shuddering shoulder, eyeing the angry mare biting her lip and crying furious tears. Even I could follow the gist of the conversation enough to get it, this mare liked the same pony Val had... blamed her for getting him killed. Val's guilt was clear and the likeliest reason she hadn't put a bullet in her brain yet.

"Hey... It's not her fault, you can't help who you care about. Could you? She's not the one who killed your friend, she suffered plenty for it too from the same assholes. If you really want revenge for him, you're on the wrong side..."

My weak attempt at winning the mare over fell flat, her struggles increased and her teary glare hardened as she screeched. "I'm no traitor! It's all her fault! She knew the rules and did it anyway! She..."

Zed had strolled up while she bucked and fought under Val, glancing at the furious mare and the sad look of indecision and hurt on Val's face. Taking in the situation, the zebra came closer and shot a foreleg out, pulling a punch I knew could knock the Gunner's head clean off if he wanted. Instead it hit with a thud of impact at her neck and knocked her out instantly.

As she slumped in Val's grip, my griffon friend gave him a grateful look, opening her beak to say something but cut off by Zed answering us both preemptively. "I doubt you'd convince her, even if we had the time to waste. She'll remain unconscious a few hours, enough time for us to be gone. Unless you'd like to take her with us and continue trying to sway her of course..."

Wiping her beak against her foreleg, Val smirked and punched the zebra's shoulder, something I was quite sure Zed could avoid if he wanted, but he held still and bore as she sniffled and replied. "N-Never liked her that much anyway, always throwin' herself at... m-my buddy... Thought about killin' her when she cornered him in just her undies once... but just don't feel like it no more. Er... thanks stripey..."

Answering absently over his shoulder as he trotted away, Zed's gruff voice held a note of warmth as he knelt to start looking over the corpses for another keycard. "Even I don't care for some pony insulting my friends. Whatever she was upset about, I doubt it was your fault."

I hugged Val still crouched over the unconscious Gunner, checking that she was ok as I watched Zed wandering off. I felt a rush of gratitude and even affection for the dour zebra. It might be hard to tell, but he really had come a long way since meeting him in Hexington. Traveling with us had apparently done just what his grandfather Zin had hoped for, Zed had friends... was our friend.

Val nipped my neck with her beak and shoved me back, shaking off her short bout of uncertainty and depression to ruffle her feathers and stick her beak up. "E-Enough lovey dovey pony sweetness boss... Stripes is right, o-other stuff ta do, right?"

"Right Val, just... if you want to talk, you know you can. Er... later though, I get it. Come on, still have to find that bitch and get to the bottom of things here, mission-y type stuff and all..."

I left Val to loot her former comrades and collect herself, trotting down the steel steps leading to one of the monitored exercise rooms below. She'd share if she felt like it, so long as she knew she did have friends to lean on and listen. Giving her space was the best option for now, and the strange setup in here was tickling my curiosity.

Walking past a trio of rusty treadmills with rotting rubber belts, I patched into a glowing terminal on a simple work counter cluttered with clipboards and medical equipment, finding a few lonely tabs of Buck rattling around in a glass jar. The computer didn't offer a lot of information, mainly holding records of physical tests for ponies and griffons from 200 years ago forward. A few short notes as the years ticked by did catch my interest however, thoughts of a Stable doctor running these tests long ago.

Entry #291

"Ten year anniversary cake still fresh on my tongue and everyone is still healthy and in peak physical condition, though everyone's having to do a little extra training to work off all that sugar. I had my doubts initially, but the griffon / pony Stable is turning out well. We're making progress and gaining a lot of important data on aggression and violent tendencies, sorting the squads out and trying to find the key factors involved. Our first fledglings and foals are old enough to be sorted into squads too, so we'll see how things go. Focus is on Pink, Blue and Purple squads, with Gold, Orange and Red hopefully gaining the least new members."

Entry# 1228

"Something's screwy around here and I don't like it one bit... Our physical numbers keep going up, couple generations of training and exercise are bound to do that. The violence index keeps going up too though. Those who do best in the shooting simulator or sparring end up getting bonuses and breeding passes, while those I recommend for them don't seem to receive them. It's been slow over these last forty some odd years, and the crop of youngsters taking over think doddering old Doc Stitch doesn't notice, but I do dammit! Going over the data in my office and comparing to the numbers here for a closer look over the long term, but something's up."

When I came back up to the upper level, Val and Zed had finished their inspection of the bodies and hadn't turned up anything, gesturing to the next door out while I muttered to myself in thought. Seeing that I was mulling things over and tapping my chin, Val prowled off down another set of stairs to another training room, spotting something that caught her eye and clucking happily.

I kept glancing through the glass to the training rooms below, following her looting as I thought, they tested the ponies and griffons here for violent tendencies... Griffons were in charge and the ponies followed their way of doing things, going through regular training and exercise, but it sounded like they were trying to sort out the least aggressive and reward that behavior. How did they end up as the army of military mercenaries that turned into the Gunners?

If they were doing medical monitoring and had sparring and shooting training here, I was hopeful the Stable's medical ward was somewhere nearby for injuries and monitoring. Beyond the always welcome chance to loot medical supplies for Jade, I was interested in the conclusions this Dr. Stitch came up with and anything else I could find. Though I really wished Jade was here to help sort out the medical information I was lost going over.

Val came back up bearing a strange set of heavy looking belts and pads, festooned with a lot of pockets all stuffed with identical, brick like weights. She shook the heavy load as she came back grinning, that gleam in her eye the same as when she was whacking me with her 'incentive' stick during her grueling flight training.

"Proper weights boss! Now we can step up yer trainin' when we get outta here!" Val beamed and shoved the dusty weights under my muzzle.

That appraising look of gleeful anticipation made me shudder, putting aside my woolgathering to join Zed at the door out in a hurry. "G-Great Val... just what I need..."

Another wide, arched hallway waited outside, leading to a four way intersection and several more training oriented rooms with a few Gunner stragglers. One of the four directions had a keycard door reading; 'Administration' that our pilfered 'Training' keycard wouldn't open.

That left the other two passages to explore, setting out a few mines at the blocked door just in case Gunners sheltering further within decided to come charging in as reinforcements. A huge room labeled 'Sparring' opened out on a set of rickety stairs, going down to the same level as the exercise rooms behind us and creating a big, two story room to fly around in.

Vaulting the railing and gliding down, once the lone Gunner hiding in here had been turned into a cloud of sparkly ash by Val zooming right in, I took a look around with interest, still putting things together in my head. Most of the floor and walls were covered in rotting mats for padding, a lot of dried blood stains spattered here and there. There were cracked leather bucking bags hanging from chains and odd training dummies made of wood with several pins sticking out at odd angles and bearing a lot of claw marks.

Trotting over to a set of benches against the wall turned up a couple books to add to my collection, a later edition of 'Martial Arts of the Zebras' that Zed scooped up, along with a dogeared copy of something called 'Gilda's Guide to Aerial Combat'. Val grinned at it with that same look of training to come in her eye when she snagged it from me. While watching her eagerly flipping through the dusty tome made me nervous, it did at least make her happy and keep her from brooding, so I was willing to accept all the suffering to come.

Another room across the hall from the sparring room revealed a firing range and a trio of heavily armed Gunners waiting on us, the long room not offering much cover, but allowing them to take advantage of the assault rifles they were bearing. They were zeroed in on the door and started laying down fire as soon as it opened, forcing us back from the hail of rounds pinging off the door frame.

When it finally slackened, Val pounced and lobbed a rain of 25mm grenades down range, incinerating the meager resistance and only taking a few fleshwounds to her scarred flanks, making me focus on the numbers scratched out there as the wounds sealed back up, thanks to a freshly brewed Ministry of Peace healing potion. Those numbers and the odd barcode above them had always confused me, like a very clinical and cold cutie mark.

After seeing the grey griffoness on the poster with the Crusaders, bearing her own, normal looking cutie mark, it was sticking in my head again. Why did the Gunners do that? Why did even the dead ponies Zed and I hurriedly looted while she rested have them too? Barcodes and numbers clashed under the normal, if violence oriented, cutie marks on their flanks... Weapons and other symbols of bloodshed were the prevailing trend on all the pony's flanks, but each had that weird code stamped under them too. Val said Groverites tattooed cutie marks as part of their efforts to get along with ponies... Was that where they originated?

Putting another piece of the mystery of the Gunner's origins aside, I was more cautious opening the door labeled 'Combat Simulation Room', letting it slide open and ducking behind the door frame. I was glad I was more on guard this time, instantly catching the motion of a pair of grenades bouncing their way out as soon as the door opened, 'Awareness!'.

I snatched both up in my magic and flung them back the way they came, charging in the room behind Val and Zed at their pushy insistence they burst into the unseen room first. When I ran in I was momentarily taken aback at what Eyes Forward Sparkle was reporting, the sheer number of red dashes overrode even my confusion over the cavernous room I found myself in.

It really was just that too, cavernous... as in a rough, unfinished cavern, instead of the carefully manufactured Stable-Tec walls and floors, there was only rough stone. Beyond that oddity, there was the surreal reality of running through a Stable door and finding myself in what looked like bomb blasted ruins from the surface.

There was a cracked and faded roadway just beyond the grating at my hooves, an intersection of ruined buildings ahead, open windows and broken walls offering plenty of firing positions. A rust covered clock was on an old fashioned pole at the corner of the sidewalk, while several corroded and battered chariots and carts were parked on the street.

Standing just outside the door and goggling at it all made me a tempting target, a variety of weapons fire all focused on me gaping on the small section of metal flooring just outside the door. Just a glancing shot from a .50 caliber round of an anti-materiel rifle sighted from above blew a ragged chunk of meat off my shoulder and ribs, tearing through my magical Shrouded Stallion armor and tossing me back.

Val screeched and engulfed the weird diorama of ruins in a storm of fire from her grenade launcher, offering Zed cover to dash forward and get up close. Ever the bodyguard, Val dove at me from above and tackled me before it all focused on me weakly flopping on the ground and bleeding.

Shoving me behind a metal desk bearing a battered old terminal, the loyal griffon propped me up worriedly and inspected the deep wound. "Aw sonofabitch! C'mon boss, stay with me! Fix it!"

Groaning and shaking from the rapid blood loss, I was just able to float my one remaining balefire apple I had taken from the MoP hub. The glowing green, oblong hunk of crystal vaguely shaped like strange fruit started soothing me as soon as it was out of my packs and unwrapped from its lead lined apron. Val got the idea I was trying to grunt across and snatched it up from my wobbly magic, slapping it against my wound directly and prancing on her paws as the surge of rads started regenerating the muscle and sinew under my self repairing trenchcoat.

Once she was sure I wasn't going to simply pass out, she left holding the hunk of condensed balefire to me, stepping back and slugging a packet of Rad-Away with a face scrunched up in distaste. Watching my rainbow colored rad meter climb up from blue to green and inch towards yellow, I put the lifesaving produce from the 'Great Tree' away and chugged a healing potion as soon as she turned to blaze away with her pistol above the desk. I was definitely glad I had such a potent source of radiation handy now, but I needed to stay in control, which became a good deal more difficult the closer I got to the lethal purple end of the dial.

"Snap outta it boss! Get yer head in the game doofus!" Her screech in my ear helped me focus, peering over the sturdy desk with her. It was denting with bullets and heating up uncomfortably against my back from the blazing magical energy weapons scorching it.

"S-Sorry Val, I'm alright! All this just surprised me and there's so many in here that..." I muttered back, drawing the Last Minute from my packs and scanning through the forest of red dashes at the bottom of my vision.

I was just catching up to what Val had figured out on first glance, finding a glowing, pony shaped, field of pale blue magic in the windows of the brick storefront that had no business being in a Stable. Val huffed as I panned over to another flickering silhouette matching the red indicator on E.F.S.. "Ain't that many boss, bunch'a them are fakes! Ya trust that Eye Sparkly business too much!"

She took the opportunity offered when my gauss rifle finally found a real target and fired, launching herself out from behind our meager cover and back into the fray. I had to accept she had a point too, I froze for a second on seeing E.F.S. absolutely filled with targets, relying on it more than my own heightened senses to tell me the truth.

A glance over to the terminal beside my propped up rifle filled in the rest, a list of high scores and a waiting prompt reading; 'Begin Target Practice Scenario Alpha? -- Y/N'. It was a training room... All the glowing targets were somehow read as hostiles on E.F.S., probably to practice using the system in the safety of the Stable. With them all lit up and active in what read as standby mode, they offered a good deal of camouflage for the small number of real Gunners in here with us. Not enough to fool eyes, ears and nose, but against an opponent like me that used the Eyes Forward Sparkle system like it was second nature at this point, it was a clever ruse.

The burly griffon wearing a half suit of bulky green power armor, peeking from behind the ragged brick wall on the roof of the fake Sugarcube Diner storefront, was definitely real however. Dodging out and unloading with his missile launcher battle saddle, a string of explosions traced their way closer to my shelter, the last impacting against the desk and sending it and me flipping out into the air.

I rolled with the tumble I found myself in, ending up upside down but moving under my own beating wings rather gracefully, 'Be Awesome!'. The terminal controlling this strange setup sparked and fizzled under me, even pretty much taking a direct hit from a high explosive missile, Stable-Tec terminals were built to last and this one wasn't completely disabled. The throng of red dashes started flickering as if the Y key had been hit in all that, most of them disappearing then selectively reappearing here and there.

The ones that didn't blink in and out were the real targets, I ignored all the distracting flashes and focused on them instead, absently noting the rusty clock on the false street corner coming up with a timer reading 5:00 and steadily counting down, the corroded hands of the clock above the digital readout moving from noon to 12:05 and spinning slowly backwards. Go for the best score you could get in five minutes... in that case I was fine with playing along, crazily shouting out as I went on the attack.

Boom! "100 points!" I yelled as the Terrible Shotgun blasted a pale Gunner pony off his hooves and through the broken floor of the second story of his bit of cover. "100 more points!" Vengeance caught a bright yellow mare diving for a ruined yellow cab carriage below me. "150 points!" A rich ocher stallion got smashed by the dumpster he was sheltering behind when my magic grabbed the whole thing and slammed it against the wall.

A tattered billboard across the street didn't quite hide the long barrel of the anti-materiel rifle that hit me, poking out from the orange Sparkle Cola bottle a faded Fluttershy was happily drinking. I spotted it while diving for the broken windows of the second floor of the diner, feeling the wind of it passing straight through the brick wall as I crashed through a target blooming to life in the window ahead of my course.

Thankfully I passed directly through the target, meeting no resistance and rolling to my hooves after a lot of practice with crash landings. The surprised stallion rooting through a pair of ammo boxes behind the counter of the ruined kitchenette on this floor never had a chance to react, Best Served flashed out and cut off his yell before he voiced it, leaving my insane shout of "200 points!" clearly audible.

Half of the wall facing the billboard and the sniper outside was broken away, giving me a clear view to surround the whole battered construct in a glowing blue field of my telekinesis and yank with all the force I could muster, 'Be Strong!'. It tore away from the false storefronts it was attached to with a screech, smashing to the street outside with the dark grey earth pony mare wielding the anti-materiel rifle tangled up in the bent and broken supports.

"Bonus! 500 points!"

Zed was on her before she could hope to pull herself free, flipping out from the diner below me and landing on the small of her back with a sickening crunch. Vengeance spun in my magic towards a light pink mare galloping up the stairs, a trio of .45 rounds tossing her back the way she came as I raced to the windows and the furious aerial battle flashing by.

Val and the power armored griffon were engaged in a dodging, looping dogfight in the huge space outside, plenty of room for a griffon or three to zoom around and practice in the bizarre combat simulation. I perched at the nearest window frame, rolling that around as I watched their acrobatics. So far this Stable seemed designed to create the Gunners as they were now, how could Stable-Tec have put something this insane into motion?

I knew my friends told me all kinds of horror stories about Stables in general, but would the Crusaders have really done all this? It didn't make any sense, that kind voice on the recordings to Stable Overmares and residents I had heard wouldn't have set all this up, would she? Scootaloo and the others wanted to help, to make things better! How could it have gone this wrong?

Putting that worrisome thought aside, I kept tracking the last dash on E.F.S. that stayed steady, watching the strange suit of griffon power armor and analyzing it as I waited for a shot. Even as a half suit, the sheer weight of the thing should prevent the pilot from flying around that fast, it was as heavy and bulky looking as a Steel Ranger suit for Celestia's sake!

There had to be flight systems to assist the pilot, gravity spells woven into the spell matrix maybe... I had read of magic like that in my simple primers from Diamond City, but those books were too basic to teach magic like that, even if I might have a shot at learning it now. What little experience I had with Institute made advanced power armor proved they could reboot from having their spell matrix crashed, but that would take time... In the interval...

"Val move!" I shouted as they passed close by my vantage point, a crackle of electricity building at my horn and my crimson stare locked on the approaching griffon.

KRAKA-THOOOM!

"1000 points!"

I whooped at Val immediately dodging out of the line of fire, trusting me implicitly and avoiding the barrage of lightning magic blasting her pursuer. My vague theory was born out too, the dark brown griffon jittered and danced in midair, the smell of singed feathers reaching my sensitive nose as the armor shut down. He fell like a stone, struggling with strong flaps from his wide wings to slow his fall, but unable to bear all that weight without the armor helping.

Already I could hear beeps and hums coming from it as he smashed into a rusty delivery wagon in the street below. It was rebooting and he wasn't totally immobilized with it shut down since it was a half suit, but he was down and my friends were on him. A rain of red beams from Val's M.E.W. poured down from above, topped off with a few grenades before she swooped off her attack and let Zed dive in from the ground.

The zebra was ready and waiting, leaping at the wincing griffon the second Val's attack ended. Those thundering hooves of his found everywhere the armor wasn't, pounding into the exposed griffon flesh with reverberating strikes that kept him off balance and made him cough up blood.

Trying to deal with the deadly zebra also distracted him, the Gunner only glanced up at Val diving on him because she squawked out a vicious war cry, her Shiskebab igniting on the way down and piercing right through the dense armor between his wings. Rivulets of melted metal streamed down from the white hot blade, sealing back over the spurt of blood as she yanked it free and landed on the smashed wagon in front of him.

"Hellooooo Auggie... Remember me?" Val purred as she hefted her flaming sword above her head, not waiting for his grunt of a reply before bringing it down in a blazing arc, neatly parting his head from his shoulders to go rolling off down the false street.

She stood there on her hindlegs as I drifted down behind her, taking long, slow breaths in the silence that followed and dousing her sword. Her voice was soft and subdued when I raised a tentative hoof to her flank, murmuring back to me as she thumped back to all fours and started rummaging through the Gunner's belongings. "That's one more off'a the list boss... Thanks..."

I knew the list she meant, the list of those that hurt her... I knew coming here was making her face those that had done... things I was probably better off not knowing about in detail... While I was concerned for her and what she was going through, that mutter of 'Be Dark...' rose up as soon as she confirmed it, disappointed this one was already dead and couldn't be made to suffer more.

"Val... I'm umm... h-happy to help I guess. But if this is hurting you, being here I mean... you don't have to..."

I shoved that annoying growl back down and sat beside her in the brief reprieve, checking over Zed tending his few wounds with magical bandages and waiting for her to stop her looting and talk to me. When she gave a pleased snort on pulling out another keycard, she turned and wiped her eyes, putting on a determined expression that didn't entirely mask her sadness.

"Ya ain't sending me away boss, this don't hurt me none, not compared ta... y-you know... I'm gettin' me some payback dammit, an' ya know how I am 'bout gettin' my pay, right shorty? C'mon, I'll be all touchy feely with ya laters if'n ya want, right now we're wipin' these fuckers out, right?" Val sniffled and mussed my mane, ruffling her feathers as she tossed the plastic card my way.

I absently read the stark lettering reading; 'Administration' on the key and nodded, giving her a friendly shove to get her to stop scratching my already itchy mane. A few pushes and punches back and forth got her to come sit down beside Zed, putting the decapitated Gunner at our back as we leaned against the rusty wagon and took a short breather together.

I was pretty sure griffons were rough and tumble when it came to affection at this point, or at least Val was, so a few nudges and shoves was her form of flirting apparently, 'Be Kind...'. While I found it a little confusing, that frisky growl woken from absorbing rads navigated mating dances a lot better, regardless of species. It got her to crack a grin anyway, so I'd accept a little help from 'Be Dark...', even if it was mostly unwelcome and being kept locked up.

"Right Val, we're gonna make them pay alright. Just putting it out there, if you can't deal with somebody like that mare... or if you can and want them for yourself like this asshole, even if you just want to humor a sappy pony and talk... I'm here. I'll listen and help however I can, even if that's just staying out of the way. I'm here for you."

"We are here Valkyrie. You're not facing this trial alone, even if I share your disdain for typical pony sweetness. Fast has that area well covered anyway and you seem to enjoy it. In limited doses of course..." Zed grunted from the sidewalk, tying off the last bandage to his outstretched hindleg and cracking his neck with a smirk.

"S-Shove it Stripey... but er... thanks. Now b-both of ya quit yer frettin' over me an lemme enjoy my revenge dammit! G-Go be all sneaky and find me more of these assholes ta waste." Val crossed her forelegs over her chest and huffed, shaking the sweaty plumage from her violet eyes with a forced scowl.

I gave my zebra friend a grateful nod at his deep chuckle as he stood first, trotting off to more carefully explore this weird simulation room and give us a moment together. Zed really was my.... our friend, he was subdued about it and still a little rough around the edges, some of which was just Zed being Zed, but he did care and was able to show it now.

He also knew when to give Val her space, providing a little privacy for me to lean over and hug her tightly, nuzzling the dense feathers at her chest despite her unconvincing squawk of protest. "H-Hey! I told'ya ta save all that mushy crap for later boss! Y-Yer ruinin' the afterglow for me here! Was just gonna go play a little buckball with that prick's head."

"Hush Val, you can put up with a little mushiness, don't make me order you to let me give you a hug. I love you, this is how ponies show it and I want you to know it. Zed's right, you're not facing all this alone. We're right here and we care, I care... a lot. Ok?"

Even though she muttered and grumbled, her posture relaxed and her claws ran through my mane as she returned the affection, squeezing me tight and nipping my ear with her sharp beak. "Yeah, yeah... me too boss. The er... l-love an' what not... Gawd yer annoyin' about that stuff! Dunno how I wound up with such a softy fer a boss. G-Glad I did though... really glad.."

"Me too Val, me too..."

The fiercest opposition yet waited behind the 'Administration' door, forcing me to put aside worries for Val and curiosity about this Stable as we slogged our way through it. A green Sentry-bot led the attack right off, waiting in front of a sturdy set of barricades the Gunners had set up.

"TERMINATING TARGET!' boomed out from the small, recessed, pony shaped head atop the bulky robot as its minigun opened up, forcing us to dodge back from the hail of weapons fire joining it from behind.

Two suits of green Steel Ranger armor were adding to the destruction from the rear, their explosives and scorching beams of magic cut off by the Sentry-bot zooming after us on its four treaded wheels. Val tossed several mines at the doorway during our hasty retreat, yanking me behind her as the Sentry folded in on itself tightly, the four bulky limbs adjusting to the smallest hoofprint possible to squeeze its way through the door.

The mines slowed it down a little at least, blowing one limb partially away to clatter behind it by the remaining weak connection to the rest of the robot. It didn't stop however, plowing through the fiery cloud and moving to reengage its weapons that had clicked down to provide enough room to get through.

My friends knew me well and moved without saying anything, as soon as it came through the tight doorway, Zed charged forward from the other side of the door. The zebra's hooves slammed into the dense armor with reverberating clangs, seeking out the weak spots exposed from Val's mines.

While even Zed wasn't able to deal a great amount of damage with his bare hooves, he did effectively capture its attention as the highest priority target, getting the hulking robot to turn his direction and expose his back to Val and I on the other side of the door. Taking the opportunity he gave us, I ran past Val's protective guard and launched myself at its back with a strong flap.

The Sentry-bot barely noticed me scrambling to hold on, lurching and launching a string of missiles at Zed, who flipped gracefully head over tail repeatedly, just ahead of the storm of destruction. Val carefully blasting away with her magical energy weapon on the other side redirected its deadly focus, the distraction giving me time to patch into the Sentry-bot hurriedly.

While hacking the deadly robot and keeping it around was tempting, given the amount of firepower streaming through the now clear doorway, I found a more useful option. Initiating the self destruct command and reassigning its targeting system while riding it like a bucking rodeo pony wasn't easy, but well worth the effort as it clicked and whirred when I dove away.

Now seeing all the Gunners as valid targets, the Sentry bot spun and squeezed back through the door, unleashing its firepower on the dug in group of mercenaries. I watched it rolling its way back towards the barricade with a grin, spotting its power supply housing glowing orange and beginning to vent multicolored steam.

Hearing the angry and panicked shouts of the Gunners dealing with the new threat, we stayed huddled to either side of the doorway, letting the berserk robot plow right into their fortifications and get close. I heard a lot of explosions and weapons fire concentrated on it, but Sentry-bots didn't go down easy, especially ones that had been turned into a rolling bomb with a programmed imperative to destroy.

I risked a quick peek, holding my hoof up to the others to wait as the Sentry really started smoking. With its rear half now glowing like a log on a roaring fire, it tore off after the remaining suit of power armor, raising its armored forelegs to grapple with it as sparks shot out of its power supply.

Dodging back from my enjoyable view just in time, the Sentry-bot detonated in a cacophonous blast that blew my mane back even taking cover away from the doorway. Val moved in as soon as the smoke cleared, using her big 12mm pistol to put down the few groaning Gunners who survived. She also tore the helmet away from the power armored Gunner's corpse that was still intact enough to identify, squinting at the bloody face and unloading several rounds into his head, leaving his neck a bloody stump.

She didn't say anything about it, her glance my way and frown at being worried over enough for me to not ask. Another from her list I assumed... I left her to cheer herself up by looting the corpses, trotting towards the flickering sign for the Medical Ward that was close to the training sector, as I hoped.

The Gunner's medic was a grizzled old pale lavender unicorn stallion, hiding beside the door and nearly catching me off guard. The buzz of his miniature chainsaw like ripper alerting me just in time to roll aside, dodging several spells I didn't want to know the purpose of by the way they lacerated and burst the covered corpse on one of the exam tables.

Vengeance snapped up in my telekinesis as I activated S.A.T.S. mid roll, targeting the floating ripper still chasing me first, and his head second. He might have surprised me, but doing so put him too close for the targeting spell to miss. The first shot turned his ripper into a pile of junk, the next two did the same to him.

Val burst into the room at the shots, but quickly took in the corpse and scanned the room for any other threat, not finding any as I took a shaky breath and spotted a glowing terminal. "Bah... careful boss, no wanderin' off. We'll cover for ya while ya tappity-tap away ya big nerd."

Making my way towards the terminal, I joined her rushed looting of the room before she returned to the wide hallway outside. The medical ward was well stocked, lots of potions, magical bandages and even a rusty auto-doc in the corner, drawers full of drugs of all kinds, Med-X, Rad-Away and Rad-X, a few vials of Hydra, plenty of Buck, even a couple tins of Mint-als I guessed were the medic's private stock. The cabinet full of round, multi vialed injectors of X-Cell disturbed me, though I had seen the effects of the mutagen on plenty of Gunners already.

There was also an odd contraption in the corner, next to a matching empty space that looked like it held another previously. It was a kind of upside down U shape, big enough to walk in and cover a body from the neck back. The pale pink housing had a number of clear jars of paint of varying levels and colors, along with a glowing terminal screen that fizzled with static and kept displaying various images. Inside were several armatures ending in needles that buzzed when I tinkered with it, moving in complex patterns and dripping colorful ink.

This one was malfunctioning and broken, but enough worked for me to patch into the 'Cutie Color 1000' to figure it out. A tattoo machine... Patching into the blinking interface of the machine with my pip-buck, I found corrupted data files containing thousands of simple images of all kinds and a simple program to alter or make more. Cutie marks, it was a machine that applied cutie marks... The most recent files were all the stark barcodes stamped on the flanks of every Gunner too, so this was where they came from.

Unable to really piddle around with the odd machine, let alone repair it, I frowned at the defaced Ministry of Peace poster on the wall beside the terminal at the head medic's desk. Actually I was a little glad Jade wasn't here to see Fluttershy marred with drawn on horns, a mustache, and a variety of knives and guns shooting crudely drawn bullets at her smiling face. Let alone the vulgar limericks and insults directed at the kind mare. I could practically hear Jade's whinny of displeasure just looking at it as I patched into the terminal of Doctor Stitch and his successors.

Entry #1----------

Well, here we are... We really mucked things up and I guess this is home for the rest of my life. I suppose it's not so bad, Groverites and their wacky ideas may have griffons running this Stable, but they still need a horn head for healing. Most of the griffons in charge aren't so bad either, the Overgriffon was good friends with that Gabby on all the posters even. If the Crusaders vouch for this crazy scheme, it's worth a shot anyway. Griffons do definitely have violent tendencies, but they managed to not blow themselves up like we did... Making the best of this and giving it a real go, maybe we really will find a better way to manage those impulses ponies are so new at. We made a real mess of our first war, I shudder to think of the damage if we had another.

Entry #320-------

Getting a lot of good data over the last decade, too bad there's nopony to hoof it over to out there. It's been a major adjustment, but I think things are going well overall. We still have to keep some things quiet from the squads, but Pink Squad has been showing all the signs we hoped for. Lower aggression levels overall, least aptitude in the advanced simulation while showing positive results on the physical training. It's not that those ponies can't pull the trigger, it's that they're less likely to when the targets are showing a non-zebra face.

It may take a generation or two to get over some ingrained hostility towards the stripes thanks to all that propaganda on the surface, but I really think we'll get there. Our griffon friends might be a little grumpy and crude, but respect is earned and flows both ways, up and down the chain of command. Making my first set of recommendations for breeding passes, Pink is the focus by far, but granting a few requests from couples in each squad wanting to start families. Everypony deserves a little time out of the barracks housing to raise a little one after all.

Entry #1021-----

The Overgriffon is sick... I hate giving bad news, even more so when it's the old gal in charge of all of us. Degenerative brain disease has got to be one of the worst diagnosis' to give too. Overgriffon Sharpbeak has a few years left with full faculties, so long as she follows my treatment plan anyway, after that...

I'm a little worried about after that.

A few decades has been a good, long run, but unintentional hitches to the program have been popping up. The more violent squads are getting restless, they notice the difference in treatment and don't like it at all. Lt. Squall has been the most forceful, no coincidence Gold Squad has the highest violence index. His swaggering bullies are disciplined soldiers though, they don't get up to shenanigans where Lt. Stormwing's security can catch them.

Doctor patient confidentiality still takes precedence for now, but eventually the Overgriffon's lieutenants are going to have to be told. I asked her about succession of power and how that worked in griffon society, but her tense chuckle of 'not to worry about it' wasn't very reassuring.

Entry #1294 -----

Something is definitely going on... Been running checks after noticing how the numbers don't match up from training to my recommendations. I was worried the Overgriffon was being taken advantage of by Lt. Squall and his toadies from Red and Orange, Celestia knows it wasn't too hard to convince her to let me go over her terminal. The poor dear is trying and has good days, but her condition is getting harder to cover for.

What I found has me a lot more worried than Heinrich Squall whispering in her ear though... Somewhere between my office and hers, everything is being tampered with. The numbers don't match, my glowing recommendations for Pink, Purple and Blue Squad breeding passes are being rewritten for Gold, Orange and Red... though the control squad Green is left alone at least. Squall doesn't have the skills for this level of hacking either... maybe somepony or griffon in one of his bloc of squads, but that's doubtful too.

The day I sealed myself in this crazy tomb I promised myself I'd stay neutral, maintain my oath as a doctor and not get involved in politics, give Scootaloo's plea to try to find a better way a chance... I think I'm going to have to break that promise though. Taking this to security, Lt. Stormwing is firm but fair, she's even friendly and we've cultivated a good relationship over the years and a drink here and there from 'confiscated contraband'.

If it's between the two of them, I'd much rather see Brunhilde take the top spot. Hopefully she'll help me get to the bottom of this.

Entry #1302

It's all come to a head and I didn't see it coming... Poor Overgriffon Sharpbeak... no, Elizabeth... Liz, my friend... she's gone. She was having a bad day, didn't know where she was or who I am, made keeping her confined to her office too hard and she wandered off in one of her increasing fugue states. Lt. Squall was just waiting in the wings for the chance too... bastard.

He caught her out in the atrium and starts reporting to her loud and clear, making sure he got everyone's attention and going fast. Her condition was pretty clear when she started squawking about putting up the Hearth's Warming stock in the toy department and getting ready for the holiday rush. Remembering her days managing Talon's and making it clear to everyone she wasn't right in the head.

Lt. Stormwing tried to help and get her out of there, but Squall just kept right on pushing. Yelling about her being unfit to serve, demanding the right of challenge, backing her in a corner with some weird griffon tradition and practically begging for a fight. The poor dear couldn't take the stress, might not have known where she was, but she still wouldn't back down from a fight. Her heart rate and all the adrenaline was too much, had a seizure right by the mess hall.

Squall wouldn't let me get to her, shoved me aside and started making some speech about taking over, new leadership for a new age. Bunch of hyper macho blather while the Overgriffon's having a medical emergency, trying to step over her corpse while it was still warm and take the crown.

Lt. Stormwing... Brunhilde, she tried, thought we were making progress tracking down the weird things going on, outside interference... She was right there, socked that big asshole right in the beak and let me get to the Overgriffon, but it was already too late.

Lt. Squall, I guess Overgriffon Squall now... he was ready for her too. Took her 'unprovoked attack and insubordination' as an opportunity and challenge to his ascension, Hilde was by my side helping with Liz and he attacked her from behind. Hilde's one tough old bird, only way he could win was hamstringing her wing and making it an aerial fight. He won, but at least everypony wasn't willing to see her killed right in front of them.

Exile... that's the best the son of a bitch could get, if he killed her half the Stable would have rose up against him and we'd have a full on civil war down here. So much for finding a better way... Brunhilde and her biggest supporters, good chunks of the fledglings and biggest threats from Pink and Blue Squads, all being sent outside to 'establish forward operation posts and beach heads' on the surface for our eventual return. Worse, he promised to 'cull the weak from the strong' from now on, continue with regular exiles of those that didn't meet the new Overgriffon's expectations.

Not sure what to do now, he can't force me out, my apprentice is a good buck, but nowhere near ready to take over. It's my choice apparently, do I stick with my friend and go back out to whatever's left of the world outside? Or do I stay and tend to ponies and griffons that need my help, that I've cared for over the last 47 years, helped hatch or deliver as foals, watched grow up, even the bad eggs...

Celestia... Luna... if you really are still out there somewhere, goddesses watching over the husk of the world that's left, please... help me.

"Boss? Hey, boss... you alright? Say somethin', ya got that weird squinty look. Yer wastin' time goin' over all that old junk, who cares why they're assholes, they are an' that's all that matters. Right? Boss?" Val shook me out of the shocked look I was wearing seated at the head medic's desk, spinning me in the chair to face her and not liking the stunned expression I could feel on my face.

"A-Auntie Broom..." Was all I managed to croak out, gulping at my suddenly dry throat and trying to absorb what I read.

The Institute interfered here... After Fancy told me they managed to talk to her inside Stable 114, I had no doubt they could do the same thing here. They took what was supposed to filter out aggression and twisted it into encouraging it, helped what I guessed was their agent inside, the long dead Lt. Squall, in his successful coup and took over the Stable. After that... they created the Gunners. Raised their own private army in the safety of the Stable. A mint in box army of toy soldiers, ready to open up at their leisure and use on the surface.

The part that bothered me enough to account for the warm, wet tears spilling down my cheeks was Doctor Stitch providing the full name I couldn't recall from just Lt. Stormwing. Lt. Brunhilde Stormwing... Auntie Broom... my mom's friend, the steely griffoness I could remember so vividly playing with me, drinking with mom, teasing dad... The griffon that taught me the oath that bound my worried merc shaking me now and myself together centuries later. Auntie Broom had been here...

Taking advantage of the pain in my heart, the grief at hearing part of what happened to her, 'Be Dark...' rose up. It was an inky, roiling shadow oozing up in my mind, past the strengthened defense of the Ministry Mares that had been keeping it back. Auntie Broom had been here, right here... fun old Auntie Broom, my Aunt Brunhilde...

'Mine...'

She was here and was hurt, the ancestor of the Gunners as they were now cheated and fought her...

'Betrayer...'

She had been exiled to die on the surface...

'Murderer...'

Sent out to the wasteland by the bastard that worked with the Institute to take over...

Revenge... Let me...'

"Security..." The Shroud's voice growled out of my mouth around my lengthening fangs, forcing me to swallow it back and clench my eyes under Val's worried stare, unable to stop it from leaking back in as I continued. "Security, I need to go to security. Lt. Stormwing... her room, her office, anything. I need to know.... and to kill any Gunners in my way... right now..."

I stood on shaking hooves and reloaded my weapons in a swirl of magic, flipping the cylinder of Vengeance closed and stalking out of the room. I was pissed enough at the Gunners for all they had done already, for the torments they had made Val suffer, their cruel rule over the ponies unfortunate enough to fall under their hoof here in the south, their constant attacks and cooperation with the Institute. Knowing it had all started so long ago with a crime against my Auntie Broom was the final straw.

Normally I'd fight that angry hiss in my head harder, lean on the soft whispers of 'Be Kind...' and 'Be Unwavering!' being drowned out as my pace quickened. Their beautiful song becoming discordant as 'Be Awesome!' was torn between their melody and the tempting mutter promising revenge for my friend. At the moment, I was willing to loosen those chains keeping 'Be Dark...' back, give it a little slack to spread it's soothing influence and furious, simmering anger.

This wasn't about doing what was best to protect the Commonwealth from the threat the Gunners posed anymore, no matter what I had told Jade before embarking on this mission. No, now it was nothing but personal. For Val and for Auntie Broom, every Gunner in this terrible pit was going to die... But before they did, they were going to pay...

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

Commando-Pony-----
---Combat with the Equestrian Army styled Gunners and their rigorous training methods has improved your skills with all 'long gun' style weapons. You now do +20% damage with any firearm requiring two hooves (or claws), or a battle saddle/telekinesis to operate.