I woke up with a slight hangover but still feeling alright. I was in bed with Harmony. My head was below the covers and I was kind of glad. I could tell that the sun was already out and shining right into the room.

I let out a breath and turned away from the lightsource. I turned bumping my muzzle right into Harmony’s stomach.

“Morning Midnight. How are you feeling?” Harmony put a hoof down on my head.

“I’m feeling alright. A slight hangover but nothing that shouldn’t pass by here in a few hours.” I opened my eyes for half a second before closing them again.

“Do you remember last night?” Harmony shook me a little bit.

I shook my head. “Not all of it. Some parts are there and some aren’t. I just remember it was an amazing time.” I buried my face farther into Harmony’s stomach.

“Well it was a good time. Nothing sticks out in your mind though?” Harmony moved her hoof off my head.

I thought for a few seconds. “I remember something about a bottle and some plan you had. The details are still fuzzy.”

Harmony slid under the covers with me. “That was before we went to bed. Anyways I think we might have another day in this suite if we want it.”

I yawned. “I could go for some food. Do we have anything here that’s already cooked?”

Harmony light up under the sheets with her aura. “I think we’ve got a mini fridge or something next to the bed. There’s probably some fruit or something in there.”

I crawled out from underneath the sheets. There indeed was a mini fridge next to our bed. I opened the door and it was full of nothing but booze.

“Anything?” Harmony rolled around under the covers.

“Unless you want more of a hangover then no. The entire fridge is stocked with booze.” I was about to close the door when Harmony pulled her head above the covers.

“Anything good?” Harmony quickly looked over the room.

“Mostly just beer. A few bottles of” I looked at the battle. “Atomic cocktail. No idea what that is but it sounds good.”

“Let’s stay away from alcohol for the time being. I’ve got a hangover as it is and the last thing I want is to tempt fate even more.” Harmony slid out of bed.

Somepony knocked on the door. “Room service. Can I get you two something to eat?”

Harmony didn’t think twice. “Yeah just bring up some breakfast if you could.”

Whoever was behind the door simply trotted away.

“I wonder what breakfast is going to be.” I yawned and rolled to the edge of the bed.

“I’d be okay with anything. I’m hungry after eating nothing but you for the past twelve hours.” Harmony jumped back onto the bed.

“Have we not eaten in that long? You’d think we would have noticed by now.” I put a hoof around Harmony.

Harmony simply shrugged and laid her head on me. “Time flies when your muzzle is buried in a mares nether regions.”

I giggled. “Yeah I suppose it does. Especially when I’ve got mine buried in the most beautiful mares nether regions.”

Harmony kissed my thigh. “Keep those compliments up I might just have to plow you before breakfast.”

“Oooh. A bit more aggressive now are we?” I smiled and kissed Harmony’s horn.

“You know you like it when I take control.” Harmony pinned me to the bed.

I smiled and rolled so I had Harmony pinned. “I do, but I also like to be in control.”

A little elevator door opened in the wall next to the bed. “Food’s here.”

I looked at the little elevator. “That’s really cool. Is that some sort of prewar technology?”

Harmony nodded and pulled the food out. “Dumbwaiters were common before the war in places like this. Have you never seen one before?”

I shook my head. “No this is the first time I’ve even heard about them.”

Harmony put a little tray on the bed for me. “Well there is a few of those in the tower. We’re lucky enough to have gotten one of the rooms with a dumbwaiter. This floor and the floor above it are the only ones that get access to those.”

I shrugged and opened up the tray. Inside was a bunch of fruit, some toast, a cup of coffee, and a stack of pancakes. “They went all out with this.”

“PON3 set it up so we would be treated like queens after our wedding. Wouldn’t want anything to be less than perfect.” Harmony took a bite of her orange.

“Well I say no matter what this entire trip went perfectly. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.” I started to eat.

Another knock on the door. “Are you two busy at the moment?” Rose was outside.

“No we’re just eating breakfast. Come on in.” Harmony opened up the door.

Rose trotted in. “Wow he really did go all out for you two. So how did you two enjoy yesterday?”

I swallowed my mouthful of food. “I think we both thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Harmony spoke through a mouthful of pancakes. “It was amazing.”

“Well I’ve got some bad news for you two.” Rose stared out the window.

“What is it?” I set my food off to the side.

Rose sighed. “Well I know how much you two wanted to relax for an entire week but we’ve got to get back home. I got a message from Stone saying he wants us back there as soon as we can be.”

“Anything serious?” Harmony moved closer to me.

“No just says that we should return home quickly. Something about a trade caravan. I’m not sure. His writing was terrible.” Rose pulled up a chair.

“Well it’s the wasteland. What are you going to do?” I picked my food up again.

Rose shrugged. “Can’t do anything except hope that the wasteland plays nice.”

“So what did Silver do to his leg?” I stabbed my fork into a pancake.

Rose sighed. “He smashed into the ground from around one hundred feet. He does that to spread fear into the hearts of his enemies. I think it’s pretty dumb on his part.”

“So did he not drink a healing potion?” Harmony set her food aside.

“He did drink one but he had already messed his leg up and kept fighting on it so it didn’t heal. He has to have it in a splint for a few days before the magic fully restores that leg.” Rose stood up from her chair.

“How’s everypony else doing?” I set my tray back on the dumbwaiter.

“Silver’s been resting keeping all pressure off his hoof. I’m not sure about Demo and Onyx though. I haven’t talked to them since before the wedding.” Rose trotted towards the door.

“Well if you see them tell them we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.” Harmony tossed her tray away and sent the dumbwaiter back down.

Rose trotted out the door. “Alright. I’ll tell them when I see them.”

I closed the door as Rose trotted out. “So Harmony.”

Harmony didn’t let me finish and pinned me to the bed again. “Yes.”

The next morning.

Harmony and I had gotten up early and were preparing for our return trip to New Appleloosa. We had just gotten our armor on when a knock sounded at our door.

“Midnight. Are you awake?” Onyx was behind the door.

I opened the door up and let Onyx in. “Yeah we’re just getting ready for our trip home.”

Onyx trotted over. “Alright. I woke Demo up before I came up here. He’ll be ready soon.”

Even having worn this armor as long as I had I was still unused to it. Normally I was a bit shorter than Onyx when we stood side by side. In my armor however, I didn’t tower over him but I was a good eight inches taller. “Alright. Could you go and wake Rose and Silver? We’ll still need them to come with us.”

Onyx nodded looking up at me. “Yeah sure.” With that he trotted back out the door.

“Sizing yourself up compared to a pony not clad in armor?” Harmony took her place beside me.

“Yeah. These suits are weird. I’ve been shorter than Onyx my whole life but when I wear this.” I shook my head.

“Whole different story. The armor was designed to be big and intimidating.” Aurora appeared as a hologram in the room.

Even she seemed small. “Yeah. They are impressive.”

Aurora pulled up the map. “I’ve been getting readings from an area somewhere between here and New Appleloosa. I’m not sure but I believe another stable may have just opened up.”

Home flashed into my mind. “Another stable? That might be worth investigating.”

Aurora took a look at the map. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea. That area was a bad place before the war.”

“We passed over it but it seemed no different than the rest of the wasteland. What’s so bad about that area?” I tried to read the small print of the map.

“That was Everfree Forest before the war. A dark place that held nothing but danger. Also you were asleep for that part of the journey.” Aurora zoomed in on the forest.

“Is there still a forest there?” I inspected the large area.

Aurora shook her head. “When the bombs fell that area was wiped out instantly. The boars didn’t want anypony to hide from them. Everfree would have been the best place to defend if all major cities fell. So they bombed it off the map.”

“How much do you know about the war?” I pulled up the folder of prewar knowledge.

“I was alive before it all happened. I had just left college when I was recruited for a special project to save equestria. That’s how I ended up as a computer. That bitch Twilight transferred me over to a computer and left me like this.” Aurora was visibly pissed.

“I think I read about her from the files you showed me.” I looked through the folders until I found the one I was looking for.

Aurora took the file and deleted it. “Bitch deserves to be forgotten after what she did. After what they all did.”

“Aurora are you ok? What did they do to deserve this?” I closed out of our database.

Aurora sighed. “They were the ones to create Stable-tec. All of the horrible experiments that were the stables. Everything bad that happened they caused. The world is the way it is because they bucked the world sideways playing with forces they couldn’t control.”

“The stables were experiments?” Home hadn’t seemed like an experiment.

“Not all of them were experiments. Some of them were dedicated to helping ponies survive the war so that we would survive to live another day. More than ninety percent of them were experiments. You got lucky to be in one of the ones that wasn’t an experiment.” Aurora flashed out of existence.

I was a little uncomfortable. “We should probably go round up the others and leave. Rose did say we were needed back home.”

Harmony nodded and opened up the door. “Alright. Let’s go beautiful wife.”

“With pleasure.” I trotted behind Harmony as we headed for the elevator.

Nopony was around to tell us we couldn’t have armor on in the tower. We trotted up to the elevator and called it.

We all sat in silence waiting for the elevator to arrive. Apparently the elevator had been a floor or two down because it arrived quickly.

Onyx and Demo were waiting for us. “No offense but I’m not sure we can all fit in this elevator. You are wearing full suits of power armor.”

I wasn’t sure about the elevator. “Couldn’t you two just fly to the top floor?”

“We could do that. Onyx do you want to fly up?” Demo took a step out the door.

“Well they can’t fly and we can. I suppose we owe them that. Come on we’ll fly and they can take the elevator.” Onyx pulled Demo out with him.

Harmony trotted in and pulled me along. “We’ve got no time to waste. The wasteland waits for nopony.”

I slid into the elevator. “Do you get off from pulling me around? Because you do it a whole lot.”

Harmony looked into my eyes. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t. Leaving you guessing makes it more fun.”

I shrugged. “I guess it does. What do you think awaits us once we return home? Raiders? Adventure? Or maybe just some home improvements?”

Harmony glanced at the floor number. “Probably all of the above. Never know what the wasteland’s going to throw at us next.”

“All we can do is stay by each other's side and hope it all turns out well.” The elevator dinged and I took a step forward.

PON3 was waiting for us on the other side of the door. “I hope you two enjoyed your stay here. You’re welcome to return anytime you please. Keep an eye out though. Most ponies here don’t trust you after our little encounter with the raiders.”

I nodded and stepped out of the elevator. “Where’s everypony?”

PON3 turned towards a staircase. “Already on the roof getting things prepared for your journey home.”

We followed PON3 as he took us back through that poorly lit area we had entered from. I’m not sure how but he led us through there without having to use a light of any source.

When we got to the roof Silver was just hooking himself up to the chariot. His front leg was in a splint and he held it off the ground.

“Hi Silver. Did you kill all of the raiders that were around they tower?” I took a step towards him.

Silver shook his head. “No. I only cleared out enough of them so the tower guards could defend this place again.”

Demo and Onyx pulled our chariot over. “We would have killed them all if Silver had used my idea.”

“What was your idea Demo?” I turned to face him.

Demo put a hoof to the back of his head. “I suggested we blow them up with a balefire egg.”

I cocked my head to the right. “Are you bucking insane?”

Silver jumped in. “Right? That’s what I said.”

“Well I never said it was a good plan. I just said it would kill them all.” Demo sighed.

“You just want to see shit explode don’t you?” Harmony jumped into the chariot.

Demo nodded. “A little bit.”

I sighed and jumped in next to Harmony. “We’ll blow something up with that egg one day. For now I say we just keep it as a backup plan.”

Demo looked at the ground. “Alright.”

“Don’t be too sad. I’m sure we’ll have reason to blow shit up here soon enough.” Onyx gave Demo a kiss.

“You know just what to say.” Demo hugged Onyx.

I chuckled and levitated Rose my helmet. “Just in case we need to talk. Can’t hear much as far apart as we fly.”

Rose nodded. “Alright.”

“Aurora didn’t you say there was a stable somewhere between here and New Appleloosa?” Harmony set her helmet on the floor.

Aurora pulled the map up. “Somewhere about halfway between. This technology isn’t the best at pinpointing shit. So the best I can tell you is somewhere in this general area.”

A little ring flashed on the map. “How accurate is this map?” I watched as the ring kept flashing.

“Shit if I know. That circle might be a mile across or it could be a couple hundred feet. These stupid pieces of shit can’t track something like that easily.” Aurora disappeared along with the map.

“Well ok then. I guess if we see it we’ll go investigate.” I gave the signal.

Silver nodded and took off. “Tell them to follow close.”

“Got it. Go on Onyx and Demo let’s get this show on the road.” Harmony tapped on the chariot twice.

Onyx and Demo were in perfect sync as they jumped off the roof. For the first few seconds we free fell before they decide to pull out of the dive.

I really wanted to hit both of them. “Did you two really have to do that?”

Onyx laughed. “Yeah. Had to make sure you two hadn’t completely forgotten about the wasteland.”

I sighed. “No. We haven’t forgotten.”

Onyx glanced back and smiled. “Just had to make sure.”

I shook my head. “Not exactly the way I wanted to return to the wastes.”

Harmony pulled me closer. “But you’ve got me here.”

I kissed her. “That I do. And I’m never letting go of you.”

Harmony smiled and tapped on her helmet. “Aurora how close do we need to be before our armor gets a better pinpoint on that signal?”

Aurora appeared as a little hologram. “If we get within a mile or so Midnight’s Pipbuck should start shrinking the circle. Basically if we fly anywhere in the direction we are we’ll find it.”

“How far out is it?” I pulled up my pipbuck.

“Four or five miles from here. At current speed we should be there in less than thirty minutes.” Aurora disappeared again.

“Did you hear that Onyx?” I leaned forward a bit.

“Most of it. I take it we’ll be landing if we find whatever it is that’s causing the signal.” Onyx’s voice was a bit hard to hear.

I nodded. “Yeah. Whatever it is might be important. Maybe somepony survived from that stable.”

Onyx didn’t say anything else and just simply nodded his head.

Harmony pulled me back to her. “So what do you want to do as the first thing after our honeymoon?”

I thought for a second before pulling up Harmony’s helmet. “Aurora que up something good.”

Aurora pulled a few videos over to my Pipbuck. “I’ve got a few ready for you. Just keep the noise down.”

I pressed the play button on my Pipbuck. “Alright.”

We had just finished the second or third video when Aurora interrupted. “We’re within a mile now. Keep your eyes peeled.”

I nodded. “Harmony radio over to Rose and tell them to keep going. We’ll meet them back home later.”

Harmony put her helmet on and started transmitting my message.

I looked at my Pipbuck to see if the circle had shrunk any. “Well it’s starting to become smaller. Onyx, Demo fly us lower to the ground and slow down.”

Onyx and Demo slowed the chariot down and started descending.

“Well I told them what we planned on doing. Rose said she’d send a recon squad out if we weren’t back before sunrise tomorrow.”

I nodded and looked back down to the ground. It took only a few seconds of scanning before I saw something down below. “There.”

Onyx nodded and turned the chariot slightly to the left and brought us down.

I hopped out of the chariot when we touched down.

Harmony followed shortly behind. “A hole in the ground?”

I checked my Pipbuck to make sure. “That’s what my Pipbuck says. It pinpointed the signal. And that signal leads right here.”

“But still a hole in the ground? I was expecting a stable or something.” Harmony took a few tentative steps towards the hole.

I shrugged and started descending into the hole. “Either way it’s a place to explore. Maybe we can find something cool down there.”

Harmony called to Onyx and Demo. “You two stay up here. Come looking for us if we aren’t back within an hour.”

I couldn’t see what they were doing but I guessed they had nodded as Harmony was at my side again. “Harmony would you please turn on your light.”

The light switched on and we trotted further into the depths. From what I could see we still had a ways to go before we reached level ground again.

The light of day started fading as we dived deeper. The walls were held up by pillars of what I guessed were steel. “Why would they need steel pillars to hold this place up?”

Aurora turned on my Pipbuck lamp. “Possibly a secret research lab. Something like that would have been protected and kept secret like this.”

“That still leaves a few unanswered questions. What were they doing here, and why did it need to be so secretly guarded?” Harmony looked around the room.

“Balefire bombs, MPA M12 maybe.” Aurora suggested. “Could be a number of things like that. Something we wouldn’t want our enemies getting ahold of.”

I looked down to the far end of the room. “Harmony shine your light down that way.”

Harmony fixed her light on where I was pointing. An open stable door greeted us.

“I don’t like the looks of this. Open door, no lights, and not a sound indicating the generators are running. Either the ponies inside are dead or they’ve been gone for a while.” I peeked my head inside.

Nothing inside that I could see screamed danger at me. I stepped inside never letting my eyes stop moving. My lamp light the room up with that puke green color that I hated.

The stable door hadn’t just been opened it had been completely blown off of it’s track. What little remained of it was scattered about in small pieces.

“Explosive entry. Designed the way it was nothing short of a balefire egg would have blown that door up like that.” Aurora took a look at the pieces. “Either well armed raiders looking for some new toys or, somepony trying to destroy this place.”

I moved away from the debris and towards the open door leading further into the stable. Inside looked only a tiny bit better. Burn marks covered the walls in black.

I examined the pattern closely. “Laser weapons?”

Harmony trotted up beside me. “Probably a laser gatling gun. As many burn marks as there are I wouldn’t expect them to have used anything less.”

“So well armed raiders looking for new toys.” I shuddered. “Let’s hope that’s not the case.”

What was left of a map lay on the floor burned in half. Harmony picked up what little remained. “What’s left of the map suggests if we want anything of value we need to continue on down.”

“How far?” I took a look at the small map fragment.

“All the important valuable things would be down on the bottom floor. Anything worth protecting this much would have been stored far away from the light of day.” Aurora pulled up a small map on my Pipbuck.

From what Aurora had constructed this place looked enormous. “That’s a lot of places to explore.”

Aurora put the map away. “Yes and we won’t be able to explore into the depths without power.”

“The generators would have supplied power to oxygen pumps so that those farthest down could breathe. If this one is designed the same as Stable 24 we should have one generator every five floors or so.” I looked at the little map piece we had. “Follow me.”

I took off down the hallway making note of what colors ran along the floor.

Harmony kept pace with me easily as we trotted along. “You know where the generator is?”

I shook and nodded my head. “I don’t know it’s exact location, but I do know if I follow the yellow line on the floor we should find it easily.”

“So all stables have a color based travel network?” Harmony looked down at the lines beneath our hooves.

“Stable 24 did. I saw the lines and gambled that maybe this place was designed the same.” I took a left turn.

“Let’s hope that gamble pays off.” Harmony kept her light focused on the lines at our hooves.

The yellow line kept us on a straight path to the end of this hallway. A door stood between us and what I hoped was the generator. “This should be the power room.”

Harmony reached out with her magic to open the door. “No good.”

I looked at the door for a few seconds. “The lock’s still intact, but that’s not our problem. Aurora how good are you at hacking into systems like this?”

I saw a little bolt of energy as Aurora transferred herself over. “Give me ten seconds and I’ll have the door open.”

I smiled. “Good. Sometimes growing up in a stable has it’s advantages. We have little to no power here but that doesn’t stop these terminals. They should have a battery that keeps them running for a couple hundred years.”

The light above the door turned green. “Try it now.” Aurora transferred back over to my armor.

Harmony and I worked together and opened the door. “Now then we just need to start the generator again.”

“Do you know how to do that?” Harmony stepped in and looked at the massive generator before us.

“I don’t know that much about the generators. I did read a book on how they work for a presentation in one of my classes. All I know is they’re nuclear powered and can produce a massive amount of power.” I looked over the generator to see if I could figure out the problem.

A little terminal light up next to the generator. “Welcome. Generator inactive. Status intact. Missing one fuel rod.”

“Okay well that’s the problem, how do we solve it?” Harmony looked around for me. “Midnight where’d you go?”

“I’m over here. Just looking for a fuel rod.” I climbed over a fallen bookcase.

On the other side was a locker labeled radioactive. I pulled on the handle and to my surprise the door opened for me. Inside were fuel rods, although most of them looked depleted.

I searched around inside before I found one that had a slight glow to it. “I think I found one.”

“Then bring it back and let’s get this generator started.” Harmony’s voice was faint.

I turned around and started climbing over the debris that separated us. It was odd seeing this much debris scattered around the generator.

“I hope this stupid thing actually runs.” I muttered to myself as I jumped over the last hurdle. “Aurora.”

“Yes I know how it works. I did some interacting with the terminal to see what this powers.” Aurora opened a little hatch on the side of the generator.

“So what does it run?” I slid the fuel rod in and closed the door.

“Elevators, lights, vital systems. Pretty much everything you’d expect it to run. It also looks like this is one of two generators in this facility.” Aurora turned the generator on.

“Fuel rod inserted. Restarting generator.” The little robot voice faded away as the generator stirred.

“Oh and I’m disabling her from talking. I’m a bit tired of her sass.” Aurora shut the terminal down.

“Ok now that the generators working we should be able to explore the rest of this stable without any problems. We passed an elevator on the way here.” I trotted out the door as all the lights came back on.

Harmony turned off her flashlight. “Alright. Lead the way my wonderful wife.”

I blushed and trotted down the hall. The elevator was less than a fifty foot trot.

I pushed the call button and waited for the elevator. “How far down does this place go?”

Aurora responded quickly. “About seven hundred feet. We’ll be able to head straight for the bottom using this elevator.”

The elevator dinged. As the doors opened I heard a whirring noise start.

We jumped out of the way as a turret started firing at us. “What the buck. Aurora can you deal with that?” I put my Pipbuck close to the elevator terminal.

“It’s got a better encryption than the generator but I’ll try.” Aurora got to work hacking.

I pulled out my .44. “Well if you can’t shut it down I’ll just destroy it.”

Aurora kept quiet as she worked. After a few seconds she spoke. “Just blow it up.”

I put my gun around the corner and fired twice. The second shot exploded the little turret sending shrapnel into the hall.

Harmony peeked her head around the corner to make sure it was safe. “It’s gone. We can use the elevator now.”

I got back to my hooves. “Alright. Keep your guns at the ready. I have a feeling we might have to deal with more of those.”

The elevator panel had only two options. I pushed the button to take us to the bottom floor.

The doors didn’t close and a little terminal flipped out of the wall. “Access code.”

“Son of a bitch. Alright Aurora help me hack this stupid thing.” I trotted up to the terminal.

The boot phase was quick and soon enough I was staring at a lot of little symbols.

“Midnight you need to guess the correct password so we can continue onward. I can cross off a few of these because I tried them already.” Aurora sat on my shoulder.

I looked at the panel for a few seconds before Aurora’s changes took effect. “So did they have anything in common with the password?”

Aurora nodded. “A few letters were the same.”

I looked over the possible list before randomly guessing. “Did that work?”

“Access granted.” The terminal slid back into the wall and the doors slammed shut.

“I guess it did.” I waited for elevator music.

No music played. Not a single sound could be heard for the entire trip down except for the whir of the elevator.

When the doors opened again we were inside of a laboratory. “Ok so this is what we came here for. Now what is it?”

Aurora appeared as a hologram beside me. “It’s a prewar research lab.”

“Do you know what it was dedicated to?” I trotted further into the room.

“From what I got out of the computer we are dealing with a sort of weaponized virus of sorts. Something used to turn ponies into killing machines.” Aurora flipped on the lights.

The whole room light up. I looked around in horror. All around the lab were ponies bodies in test tubes. They were transforming and turning a sickly green color as they lost their fur.

I couldn’t help myself and threw up on the floor. “What the buck. Aurora what is this shit?”

Aurora sat in a stunned silence. “This is the remnants of the mutant experiments.”

I threw up again. “The what?”

“The mutant experiments. They turned ponies into the mutants that roam the wastelands. This is where that all began. They were trying to create soldiers far superior to even the most well trained pony wearing power armor. They failed and ended up with this mess.” Aurora trotted over to one of the consoles.

“What are you doing?” I got shakily back to my hooves.

Aurora turned to look at me. “I’m going to destroy this place. None of this technology can be recovered without doing further harm to this world.”

“How do you plan on destroying it?” Harmony took a step towards Aurora.

“I’m going to set up a nuclear detonation. That generator upstairs is going to explode and destroy this whole place. We’ve got twenty minutes to leave the area after I set the meltdown in progress.” Aurora trotted back to me.

Harmony surrounded me in her aura. “Come on then. We need to get out of this place.”

I tried my best to keep pace with Harmony as we trotted back into the elevator. “When are you going to activate the meltdown?”

“As soon as we leave this place. Once your hooves leave this elevator I’m triggering it.” Aurora closed the doors behind us.

I took a few steps to readjust myself. “Alright then. Once these door open we haul ass out of here.”

The trip back up was short. The doors opened and I bolted out of them galloping as fast as I could back to the exit.

Aurora started the meltdown. “We should have twenty minutes before this place explodes.”

The robot voice came on again. “Meltdown activated. Ten minutes until detonation.”

“Well buck me sideways I guess. Also run!” I didn’t have time to see what Aurora was doing.

I almost slammed into the wall as I made a quick turn towards the exit. The door was insight.

The voice sounded again. “Nine minutes until detonation.”

I paid no attention to it and galloped even faster as I approached the exit. I looked back to make sure Harmony was following me.

Harmony nodded at me and kept even pace.

I jumped through the two open doors leading to the outside world.

Onyx had just descended to come looking for us. “Why are you two running?”

I barreled past him. “Big explosions. Get your ass to the chariot and prepare to get us the buck out of here.”

Onyx looked at me and then flew straight out of the hole.

Harmony and I cleared the ground between us and the chariot quickly. Onyx and Demo were ready to take off when we hopped into the chariot.

I panted. “Aurora how long before meltdown.”

“Seven minutes. We need to leave right now to escape the explosion.” That tone off urgence was impossible to miss.

Onyx and Demo took no time after we jumped in to take off and start flying. It took less than a minute to get up to full speed.

“Do we need the full seven minutes to escape that explosion?” I looked back at the disappearing hole.

Aurora pulled up a map. “The explosion will kill anything within a mile radius. We’ll be in the radiation danger zone after that seven minutes pass. We’ll still need another minute to get out of that so we don’t take on a deadly amount of radiation.”

“Aurora can you give us a countdown?” I looked back.

A small timer was projected before us. “It’s the best I can do.”

The seconds kept on ticking away as we flew as fast as we possibly could.

Silver’s POV

Rose had been listening to what the others were doing through Midnight’s helmet. “Silver take us down.”

I turned my head so I could see Rose. “Are you sure?”

Rose’s face was deadly serious. She didn’t have to speak and I brought the chariot down.

I spoke when my hooves hit the ground. “What’s wrong?”

“Go back and get them.” Rose’s face never conveyed this type of seriousness.

“Why? Is something wrong?” I unhooked myself from the chariot.

Rose tossed the helmet over. “Listen for yourself.”

I held the helmet up so I could hear what was happening.

“Shit. One of the harnesses broke. The chariot’s going to go down. Hold on you two I’ll try to make this landing as survivable as possible.” Onyx was the one talking.

“Buck. Alright. Come on Midnight stay close. This armor’s designed for impact but this might be pushing it.” Harmony’s voice was the loudest.

I heard a loud snap. “Son of a bitch. Hold on.”

I heard what little remained of their chariot crash into the ground. I looked at Rose.

Aurora talked directly to me. “Get your ass back here. These two are going to need you. Bring that helmet and be prepared for a shit storm when you get here.”

Rose nodded. “Go they need you more than I do. Just leave me a gun and I’ll be fine.”

I tossed her a pistol and bolted back towards where my friends were.

Midnight’s POV

I didn’t remember much after we hit the ground. I did remember the chariot had broke midflight sending us hurtling towards the ground.

“Hang in there Midnight. Aurora status report.” Harmony’s voice sounded really funny.

“She’s not in great shape. That fall no doubt broke half of her ribs and both her front legs. We’ll need some time to fix it but she should survive. Just keep her awake. Silver’s on his way back.” Aurora’s voice was faint.

Harmony finally came into view. “Come on Midnight stay with me. We just need to wait for Silver to get here and then we’ll get you fixed up. Stay with me.”

My vision started to fade. “Harmony.”

“Save your strength. You’re going to need it after this is all said and done.” Harmony leaned down and kissed me.

I coughed a few times. “You’ve made me the happiest mare ever. I love you.”

“Midnight? Midnight! Aurora do something!” Harmony was the last thing I saw before my vision fully faded.

It was a weird feeling. I no longer felt my body but I could see it. I watched Harmony trying to revive me.

I felt a little sad that I was doing this to her. The tears in her eyes were what sent me over the edge. “No. NO! I’m not going to leave her.”

I tried fighting my way back to my body but I couldn’t move. “No. Come on. I need to get back to her.”

A thunderous voice stopped my movement. “Enough!”

“No. I’m not letting you take me now. I still have a wife who needs me. Let me go now!” I could finally feel my limbs again.

“Calm down and let me speak. I’m going to let you return to her. The wasteland still needs you. Your journey is far from over my little pony. When the time comes we will meet face to face.” The voice took on a sympathetic tone.

“I don’t care. Just let me return to her side. I can’t let this be her last memory of me.” I took a step towards where the voice was.

“If you accept my deal you’re going to have to help me to achieve my goal.” The voice turned serious. “Deal.”

I looked back at Harmony cradling my body. “Anything. I’m not leaving Harmony.”

“Very well. You may now return to your body. We will meet soon enough. Until then continue on living for yourself.” The voice faded.

The lights around me dimmed. “I’m coming Harmony.”

My world was spinning and my ears ringing. I tried to speak but couldn’t.

“Wait vital signs returning. It worked. Just keep her there.” Aurora’s voice returned louder than ever.

I looked at Harmony as she looked back to me. “Harmony.”

“I’m here Midnight. Just hang in there.” Harmony’s face was stained with tears.

“I’m not leaving you. I’m never leaving you.” I tried to smile.

Harmony hugged me. “I know you’re not. Aurora how long until Silver gets here?”

“Less than one minute. We’re going to have to move her to somewhere safer before we even try to fix this.” Aurora leaned over me.

“How long until the generator explodes?” Harmony looked into my eyes.

“Less than two minutes. We made it just out of the deadly area. Now we just have to worry about the radiation.” Aurora looked into my eyes.

“How bad?” I coughed a few times.

“You’ll be fine. We just need to get you out of here. The potion Aurora gave you should heal your broken bones and repair any damage they may have caused. Now please don’t scare me again. I thought.” Harmony started to cry again. “I thought I had lost you. I wasn’t prepared for that.”

I would have put my hoof up to her face if my legs weren’t broken. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise.”

“I love you.” Harmony kissed me.

“Harmony can you hear me?” Silver’s voice sounded through Harmony’s helmet.

“Yeah I can hear you.” Harmony picked her helmet up off the ground.

“Is Midnight still alive?” I had never heard so much worry in Silver’s voice.

“Yeah I’m still here. My current situation hurts like a bitch, but I’ll live.” I tried to move my legs again.

“Thank the goddesses. I can see you two. I’ll be there in ten seconds.” Silver came down towards the ground.

My legs felt a little like jello but felt like they were back to being normal. I rolled over and put my legs underneath me. The pain in that nearly made me blackout. “Shit, buck, dammit, son of a bitch that hurt.”

“You just broke most of your ribs and both of your front legs. Of course it’s going to hurt rolling over so soon after that kind of injury.” Aurora was standing over me.

I fought through the pain and pushed myself to my hooves. “Buck you.”

Harmony kept close to me. “Are you sure you can stand?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It hurts a little bit but nothing I can’t handle.” I was lying. The pain was absolutely excruciating.

“I don’t believe you. Now take a seat before you hurt yourself.” Silver landed next to us.

I didn’t think twice. The shock of falling back like that hurt but not as much as standing. “Yeah you’re right. Aurora how long until.”

The generator exploded in the distance. “Silver put up a shield now!” Harmony threw herself between the explosion and me.

The shield went up just as a gust of wind hit us.

My Geiger counter started losing its shit. “Well I guess that still works.” I looked down to my Pipbuck to see that the screen was cracked. “Well shit.”

“You’re worried about that little trinket. We just survived a nuclear explosion. How can you be focused on something like that?” Silver looked into my helmet.

“I don’t know. I guess this thing is more important to me than some stupid explosion.” I realized now how much I actually appreciated my Pipbuck.

“Well either way we need to get out of here. My shield will only protect from radiation for so long. Now I know you can’t walk so let me carry you.” Silver lifted me with his magic.

“Ok but we stay on the ground so I can be with Harmony.” I held a hoof out to her.

Silver nodded and set me down on his back. “No problem. How far do we need to go before we’re out of the radiation zone?”

Aurora pulled up my map again. “Less than a mile at most. The area will be mostly clear of radiation by then.”

I brought my head up to look at Harmony. “Wait. Harmony are you alright? You’re armor had to have sustained similar damage right?”

Harmony shook her head. “My armor is a Mark 5 set. It gave me just enough extra cushion so I didn’t injure anything. Maybe a sprain of some sort but nothing a little bit of time won’t heal.”

I sighed in relief. “Good.” As long as Harmony was fine I could have cared less about my current state.

“So what did you give her to fix all of that?” Silver adjusted where I was sitting.

“It was a mixture of a few things Midnight had on her. A healing potion mixed with an atomic cocktail and some hydra.” Aurora pulled up a few files in my helmet.

I looked over what she had given me. The only thing that really worried me was the hydra. “Where did I get hydra?”

“Don’t know. Best just to keep it that way.” The files disappeared.

We kept a fast pace as we trotted. About twenty minutes had passed before my geiger counter stopped clicking. “Sounds like we’re out of the radiation zone.”

“We’re still a ways off from where I landed. Rose will be waiting for us there.” Silver stopped only momentarily.

“Can you set me on the ground? I think I can walk now.” I moved my forelegs slowly.

“Mmmm. Aurora what do you think?” Harmony looked at me.

“I’m not sure what to think. Most ponies even in armor would have died in that kind of accident. Seeing as Midnight came back.” Aurora paused for a few seconds. “If she can keep up let her walk.”

Silver set me gently down onto the ground. “Whatever you want.”

I slid to the ground and waited for a few seconds. I slowly put the weight back onto my forelegs. “My legs still feel a little like jello, but I’ll be fine.”

“Well they aren’t going to be working as well after an injury like that. Oh and you might walk with a limp for the rest of your life.” Aurora flashed a few lights on my hud.

“Well that’s just bucking perfect. A limp for the rest of my life.” I hung my head.

“Might. Might is the key word there. If you let your legs heal properly you might walk with a limp for a few weeks. If you strain yourself you’ll walk with a limp forever.” The little lights stopped flashing.

“Well buck walking then. Silver do you mind carrying me?” I took a seat.

Silver lifted me again. “I don’t mind. You're not that heavy.”

I simply accepted this. “Thanks.”

Silver shrugged and started trotting again. “Like I said. I don’t mind. You’re alive and that’s what matters.”

“Anypony want to listen to the radio?” I started flipping through the four radio stations we could access.

“Why not. Might as well have something to help pass the time.” Silver didn’t look back.

I flipped through the channels before settling to listening to DJ-PON3. “With any luck we won’t catch a news broadcast.”

“Hello wastelanders.” PON3 was on.

“Son of a bitch.” I considered turning the radio off.

“As you may have heard Tenpony is no longer under threat of destruction. Thanks to a couple of crazy mares and their one stallion army. And now we’ve got an even larger group of ponies who can listen in. If you see the mares responsible consider buying them a drink. I know I would. That does it for the news. Now time for some music.” Music began playing.

I enjoyed this song but I turned the radio off. “Looks like somepony changed their mind.”

“I don’t have a doubt in my mind that he still hates us. We just so happen to be useful to him. Under any other circumstances he would probably leave us to the hooves of raiders.” Harmony avoided eye contact.

“Nopony said we had to like him. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t help us out.” I turned my head to the ground.

Harmony sighed. “Yeah you’re right. Whatever though. We’ve got more important things to worry about now.”

I thought for a few seconds about what I had heard when I was dead. “I think we might be heading towards something big.”

“What do you mean?” Silver stopped almost sending me to the ground.

“I mean when I was dead I talked with somepony. I’m not sure if it was Celestia or not, but she said she required our help. Something about us meeting face to face soon.” The details were a bit fuzzy in my mind.

Silver lost all expression. “Then it must be important. Did you agree to this?”

I nodded. “It was the only way she was going to let me return to Harmony. I had no other choice.”

Silver sighed. “Then I guess whoever you talked to has plans for us.”

I readjusted how I was laying down. “Whatever. For now just get us home. My everything hurts.”

Harmony shook her head at me. “Well we’ll do what we can to make the trip comfortable. No promises though.”

I let my body go limp. “Just don’t throw me around too much.”

“I wouldn’t sleep if I was you. You might still be in shock from your injuries, and we barely brought you back.” Aurora played some music in my ears.

The music was loud enough to deter me from sleeping. “Fine. I’l avoid taking a nap. If I’m going to be awake anyways why don’t you play something good.”

“Alright. Let me see if I can find a good radio station out here.” Aurora’s voice was dripping in sarcasm.

“Yeah well buck you too. Just play some music.” I lifted my head up a few inches.

Aurora tuned into PON3’s channel. “It’s the best I can do.”

I sighed. “I guess something’s better than nothing.”

“Welcome back my wastelanders.” His voice was starting to get annoying.

“How many bucking times are we going to tune into this dumbass talking? All I wanted was music. Not this horse shit.” I dropped my head back down.

“I’ve just gotten news of a detonation. Not just a small explosion folks. We’re talking a big one. I could feel the shockwave off this one.” The radio turned off.

“Sorry I just couldn’t listen to another word without tearing my own ears off. I bucking hate him.” I let the glow from my horn fade.

“Credit where credit’s due though. He keeps the wasteland informed.” Harmony put a hoof on me.

“I know. That doesn’t change the goddesses damned fact that I hate him.” I would have been up if it weren’t for the pain I was in.

Harmony sighed. “Midnight, focus on something else. We’ll never have to go back there unless we truly want to. Now we’ve got a bright future out here for ourselves.”

I smiled raising my head a tiny bit. “That’s something I can look forward to.”

We both giggled. That tiny little giggle made my day a million times better. “Silver when are we going to be back at the chariot? I think Midnight would appreciate a better seat.”

Silver shrugged moving me around. “Shouldn’t be too far away. This looks somewhat familiar.”

I closed my eyes. “Let’s not take too long. I really want to take a nap.”

“No. No naps. Not until we get some time to make sure you’re better.” Harmony reached out to me with her magic.

“Then we should hurry it up.” I yawned. “Silver could we pick up the pace?”

“Only if we had another pegasus to carry Harmony. Otherwise she’d have to walk back alone.” Silver trotted ever so slightly faster.

“Not happening. I’m not leaving her side.” Harmony sped up to keep pace.

“I thought so. So we’ll just have to move fast on our hooves.” Silver broke into a light gallop.

The sudden change in speed threw me around for a few seconds. I kept quiet and tried to focus on something other than the sharp pain everywhere. No such thoughts helped me.

“Silver why are we galloping?” Harmony kept pace easily.

“I just remembered I left Rose alone. I’m a bucking moron. I shouldn’t have left her alone.” With each word his pace only increased.

I wrapped my hooves around Silver. It took most of my might not to get thrown off. “Could you slow down a little bit?”

Silver didn’t respond to me. I had to readjust my grip as he jumped into the air and started flying.

The higher we got the farther away Harmony got. “Silver slow the buck down. At least bring Midnight back down to the ground.”

Silver paid no attention to Harmony and kept flying at breakneck speed.

I think I heard Silver curse a few times underneath his breath but couldn’t quite catch what he had said. The pain started to subside as I was hit by another wave of adrenaline.

I didn’t think it possible but Silver put on a little more speed and began diving towards the ground.

Onyx and Demo were on the ground with Rose. They were fighting a few raiders.

I pulled out my magnum and shot blindly at the raiders. I got lucky and struck one in the skull killing him instantly.

Silver smashed into the ground tossing me to the side. The whistle of his wing met the crunch of bone.

My vision darkened as I lay there on the ground. I could hear both Harmony and Aurora’s voices ringing in my head. The message seemed urgent even though I couldn’t understand shit.

Harmony eventually was at my side and sat me up. “Midnight?” Her voice started to get louder the longer I sat. “Midnight? Midnight are you ok? Silver I swear I’m going to break your neck for this.”

“I had a feeling that Rose needed me so I had to get back here. Look I’m sorry about that but I had already left them alone for longer than I should have.” Silver looked into my eyes.

“You’re lucky she’s not any worse for wear. Be more careful. I almost lost her once I’m not going through that again.” Harmony enveloped me in a hug.

I mustered a little laugh. “Don’t beat him up too much. You’ve got me to fix up for the time being.”

Rose trotted over after hugging Silver. “Midnight are you alright?”

I nodded wincing as the adrenaline started to wear off. “It hurts a lot, but I’ll live. I would appreciate some painkillers or something.”

“Unfortunately we’ve got nothing traditional for painkillers.” Silver put a hoof to his head.

“So you’ve got something that might work?” I scooched closer sending jolts of pains up my legs.

“What are you suggesting?” Harmony took my helmet off.

“You’ve got alcohol right? Why not just let her drink that?” Silver put his right wing over Rose.

“I don’t approve of that idea but it might actually help. Since you’re the one suggesting it, how about you cough up some alcohol.” Harmony knelt down next to me.

Silver shook his head. “I don’t carry any alcohol on me. I don’t find that I have a reason to most of the time.”

“You don’t drink? Well then, luckily I brought some of the alcohol we got from the tower.” Harmony uncapped a bottle.

I reached out and grabbed it with my magic. “Thank you.” I tipped the bottle back and drank about half.

“No problem. I can’t do anything else about this. So I might as well try to make you feel better.” I heard a subtle hint of guilt in her voice.

I set the alcohol aside and hugged Harmony. “I’ll feel better as long as I’m here with you.” I grabbed the bottle and drank the rest.

Harmony giggled at me. “Yeah I know. Do you want another?”

I nodded my head frantically. “Yes I would. If it helps me to stop being in this much pain.”

Harmony pulled out a second atomic cocktail. “It’s all we’ve got. So here you go.” She held the bottle out to me.

I graciously accepted the bottle. The cap got tossed aside as I took a large swig of the drink in my magic. “Well the pain is a little bit less noticeable now.”

“Well that settles it. Hook up that bottle with a nipple and let Midnight have it for the ride home.” Onyx smirked at me.

“While I would enjoy more alcohol there's only one ni.” I hiccuped.

“Yeah alright. Let’s get her in the chariot and head for home.” Silver levitated me onto the floor of the chariot.

“Wait all I was going to say was.” Hiccup.

“We know, we know. Just sit back and relax. And don’t get too wasted. I don’t want to deal with your drunk ass.” Silver strapped himself to the chariot.

“But if you’d just.” I shut up as Harmony shoved the bottle in my mouth.

“I know Midnight. Just take a few more drinks. Soon enough we’ll be home and you can take a nap.” Harmony sat on the floor with me.

Rose sat on the seat watching over us. “Harmony let me know if you want to sit up here at anytime. Onyx, Demo, go ahead we’ll be home shortly.”

They took off and disappeared.

“Alright Silver. Take it a tiny bit slower than usual. I’ll make sure Midnight stays put.” Harmony put a hoof over me.

“Can’t I just take a nap.” Hiccup. “Please.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her and alert you if she needs to woken.” Aurora appeared on my Pipbuck.

I didn’t wait two seconds before closing my eyes. “Thanks Aurora. I’m going to enjoy this.”
______________________________________________________________________________

I was standing there in my dream. Every time I entered this place something was different.

Mom was there drinking tea waiting for me. “Hi sweetie. It’s been awhile since we last spoke.”

I smile and galloped over to mom. “Hi mom. How have you been?”

Mom set her tea down. “I’ve been doing just fine. The goddesses have blessed me so that I may watch you live your life. I’m very proud of you. Oh and please, as much as I want to spend time with you, don’t get yourself killed again.” Tears rolled down her face.

I hugged her. “It’s a dangerous life I live mom. I can’t promise you that we won’t be meeting face to face soon. I’ll try my best to live my life to the fullest.”

“I understand Midnight. I wish I could protect you and do more for you but I can’t. I love you, I have very little time left here I must leave. I will talk to you soon.” Mom started to fade from my dream.

“Bye mom.” I let a few tears roll down my cheeks. “I love you.”

Mom left behind a book. It was the book she had read me last time we had talked. I picked the book up and held it close.

I stayed like that for awhile before I dared to open the book. Inside the pages were blank.

A note had fallen to the floor when the book opened. “Midnight, I’m leaving you this book. When we meet again I want this book filled with your life. Everything that has happened I want to know. Just make sure you don’t return to quickly.”

“I won’t mom.” I spun the book around. This time the cover had changed to a simple leather one.

The dream fade with a gentle shake.

“Midnight. Wake up. We’re home.” Harmony had a hoof on my back.

“Huh yeah yeah. I’m awake.” I yawned. “How long was I out?”

“A few hours time. I was laying here with you.” Harmony pulled me to my hooves. “Another dream about your mom?”

I nodded. “Yeah. She’s in a lot of my dreams lately.”

“I know. You talk in your sleep, so I got a bit of your conversation.” Harmony guided me down off the chariot.

“I still miss her. I’ve started to get over her death, but it still doesn’t feel right. So many years and she always knew everything.” A few tears rolled down my cheeks. “Why did I ever push her away? She was the one pony who loved me.”

Harmony kept a hoof on me as we trotted home. “It’s going to be ok. Your mom said she was proud of who you are. Do you remember that?”

I nodded still crying. “Yeah, but I still shouldn’t have pushed her away. She only wanted to help me grow.”

Harmony stopped me to look into my eyes. “Look at me. Your mother loved you. She let you walk your own road. That’s a damn lot in this world. It’s because of her that you are where you are today. I never knew your mother but from what you’ve told me she would have wanted you to move on. I’m sure she’s still watching over you. You’ll have a chance to make amends, but for now you need to focus on your life. She doesn’t want to see you again so soon.”

I sniffed a few times before meeting Harmony’s gaze. “You’re right. I know you’re right, and I know I need to move on. I just need some time.” I lowered my voice to a barely audible whisper. “I’m sorry mom. I love you.”

We kept trotting towards home. Once we hit the little hill at the one which our house sat I had to stop.

Harmony didn’t stop and lifted me with her magic. “Come on. We’re getting you a place to lay down. I want to make sure everything is healing properly.”

I relaxed as I flew through the air. “Alright. Don’t set me down too fast.”

Harmony pushed the door open and pulled me through. “No problem. Help me out with your armor.”

I slipped off a few pieces of my armor as Harmony held me there. “Well that’s most of it. Can you set me down now?”

Harmony kept me in the air until she had opened the door to our room. “Now I can.”

I landed softly on the bed. Nothing really stung from the impact. “Well nothing feels broken anymore.”

Harmony shed her armor and jumped on the bed. She began inspecting me looking for the tiniest sign of injury. After a few minutes she seemed satisfied. “Well everything looks like it healed correctly. We won’t know until tomorrow whether it all healed well though.”

I laid my head down on a pillow. “Alright. I’m going back to sleep.”

Harmony nodded and hopped down off the bed. “I’m going to go talk with everypony and see what’s next.”

Silver’s POV

Stone was sitting in his little office working on a plan of some sort. “What kept you?”

Rose took a seat in the main office chair. “A nuclear explosion, some raiders, a few unexpected injuries. You know, the usual.”

“Nuclear explosion huh. Let me guess, Demo?” Stone set down his plans.

Rose shook her head. “No Midnight and Harmony. Blew up some sort of prewar complex.”

Stone looked around. “So where are they?”

“Probably resting. It’s been a long couple of days for them. So what happened here in my absence?” Rose spun her chair to face Stone.

“A new caravan has started moving throughout the wasteland. They offered to trade with us. I brought them in and the locals have been trading. Other than that not much.” Stone trotted out and took a seat.

“I saw that the cannon finally got fixed to the roof.” Rose offered me a chair.

I took the seat. “Is that a laser cannon or something?”

“Plasma cannon actually. It’s short ranged but it does a shit ton of damage. I had to do some bartering to get the parts to fix it up.” Stone took a seat opposite Rose.

Harmony trotted in. “Hi everypony.” Her smile was a bit contagious.

“Hello Harmony. Take a seat and we can talk about what we’re doing next.” Stone pointed a hoof to a chair.

Harmony trotted over and sat down.

“Alright now that a fair amount of us are here we can discuss plans.” Stone pulled out a folder.

“So what are we trying to accomplish now?” I looked over at Stone’s notes.

“Well I’ve been looking to put up new defenses around town. Turrets on the walls, barbed wire to top the wall, and fields of landmines on our weakest areas.” Stone rolled out a building plan.

“That would make this place more defendable. Long term that’ll be helpful to defend from attacks, but we’re going to need to train our soldiers to use them.” I looked over the plan. “What about the rear area?”

“Minefield. I don’t think we’ll have enough resources to put turrets up back there. We’ll also have minefields in a few other areas.” Stone pointed to a few other locations.

“So has the zebra mare made anything useful since I spared her life.” I looked around.

Stone shrugged. “She’s made some swords and a few other weapons. We haven’t given her anything particular to do so she doesn’t really have a goal.”

I nodded. “Tell her to produce swords, knives, spears, some plating to reinforce weak spots. Anything that might help us she needs to be making.”

Rose put a hoof on me. “We’ll make sure she gets right to work. In the meantime we need to decide what we’ll be doing.”

“Well New Appleloosa has been threatened by the Enclave, Tri-Tear, The Skulls, and just raiders in general.” Stone brought out another set of papers.

“What do they want?” I scooched my chair closer.

“Everything we own. What all raiders want. I don’t think they’ll go through with it if we have the turrets up.” Stone tossed a packet of papers to Rose.

Rose started reading. “Well, we’ve got plenty of workers around here that can put the turrets up. As for the raiders. Midnight might be out of commission for a while. Harmony you’ll no doubt stay by her side.”

Harmony nodded. “Yeah we’ll both be taking a break until Midnight is fully healed. But the process is going quickly. She’ll be back to normal in two days time.”

Stone looked pleased. “So our best soldiers won’t be out of commission for too long. Rose sound the message out and get the workers here so they can begin construction.”

Rose pushed a button on her desk. “Attention workers of New Appleloosa. We’ve got a new project for you. Report to the town hall for your orders.”

“So that’s that taken care of. Now I suppose we just wait and hope all goes well.” I stood up.

“Let’s get to work then.” Stone picked up his plans and trotted out the door.