“Are we sure all of this is necessary? I mean.. I know we need a place to store all of this, but couldn’t we store it in the basement of city hall?”

“No. Putting it there would result in the worst outcome if we fall under attack.” Stone had chosen this building. Although he seemed a little perturbed that it wasn’t in a slightly different position. “All of my calculations say that this building will serve as the best and most efficient armory. It’s positioning allows all the guards and soldiers here to easily access it and defend the city. Anywhere else and we might not get defenses ready for several minutes after we fall under siege.”

“That’s a really nerdy way of explaining it, but alright.” I guess everything he said just made sense. I didn’t really care enough to pay much attention.

“Midnight.”

“Yes Rose?” I snapped to attention.

“What did the stallion at the gate say?”

“The one who came on behalf of Tri-Tear?”

“Yes.”

“He asked if we were the leaders and then remarked how few guards we had for this city. After that he ordered the two slack jawed morons he had with him to try and attack us.”

Stone looked intrigued. “An interesting strategy, but not one that doesn’t make sense. He most likely brought some prisoners or ponies that were ready to die.”

“He was testing us?” I looked at some of the new guns being delivered.

Among the weapons was a fifty caliber rifle. Can’t say that rifle didn’t make my marehood quiver for a second or two. It was everything that you could ask for in a rifle and then some.

“Surely. He’s planning to attack this place in the next few days. With what little time he spent here the forces must not be far away.” Stone started pacing. “How fast can we get the tank here?”

“A couple of hours. We just need to send word to the outpost that it’s sitting at. After that it’s just a matter of time until it arrives.” Silver already had the radio ready.

“I want that tank brought back and all of the soldiers as well minus the ones at the outposts less than five miles away.” Stone stopped and grabbed the fifty from the guard carrying it. “And stop staring at the rifle and take it.”

I caught the rifle with my magic as Stone tossed it over. It was a heavy rifle, but it had to be for the punch it packed. From what little amount I had used the fifty cal pistol I knew that they packed a punch. This however was on a whole new level of as kicking. “Do we have armor piercing rounds for it?”

One of the guards set down two boxes. “Forty shots of ap. After that you’ve got maybe fifty of standard rounds.”

I pulled the rifle up and sent one bullet skyward. “Forty nine.” Like I had expected the rifle kicked like a mule. “Gonna have to get use to that kind of kick.”

“Well get used to it when you’re shooting at enemies. We don’t have the ammo to waste on stupid bullshit like that.” Way to act like a dick Stone.

“Yeah ok.” I set the rifle down. “Do we have anything else we need to talk about?”

“Well If you want you can explore the armory once we’ve got everything moved in. Might do you some good to find some new equipment. Never know when you’ll need something out there.” Stone trotted into the armory.

I picked up my new rifle. “I’m going to go put this thing in the house.”

Harmony nodded. “Alright I’m going to see about getting us some more ammo for what guns we have and maybe see about some new ones as well.”

“Alright. I’ll see you at home.” I started to trot away. “Love you.”

Harmony smiled and called back. “Love you too.”

The walk home was short, but as always the bucking hill was the worst. Why oh why did we get the house on top of the hill? The one hill in town and we decide to live on top of it. Great.

I could hear noises from inside just as I stepped up to the door. “Oh great. Are those two bucking on the table again? They better not be.” I flung the door open.

“Perfect. You’re just in time to try this out.” Demo slid around from behind the door and presented me a box.

I set my rifle down on the counter and opened the box. “Why in the buck is there a dildo in this box?”

“Trust me. Walk outside and push the button on the end of it and hold it away from yourself.” Demo pushed me back outside.

“I’d rather not show the entire world a dildo. Especially not one that I’m holding.” I closed the box.

“Fine. But can you at least push the button and hover the box in the sky. I’ve worked hard to make that damn thing work. And I think I’ve finally perfected it.” He was waaaaaaaaay to excited about this dildo.

I looked for the button. Once I found it I pressed it and shut the box. “Fine.”

The box floated upwards and Demo began a countdown. “3. 2. 1.”

The box did not explode. “Well I guess you can try again.”

Demo’s eye twitched as he stared at the box. “I spent two hours trying to get that to work! Goddesses dammit! Fine bring the dumb box back down.”

I brought the box down and opened it.

Demo’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the open box. “It did work. I just couldn’t hear it.”

I looked in the box myself. To my surprise half the dildo was gone and the box itself was charred.

“It worked Onyx. It finally worked.” Demo trotted back inside. “You can dispose of that now.”

I threw the box over the wall and closed the door behind me.

Onyx was sitting in the living room with a pile of grenades sitting beside him. “Demo decided we didn’t have enough grenades. So I’ve been making them as he tinkers with the several dildos around the house in an effort to make them explode.”

I grabbed my rifle. “Yeah. I kind of guessed. Where’d he get those anyway?”

“I saw him take a few things from you room but other than that I don’t know.” Onyx shrugged and set another grenade down.

That son of a bitch! “I’m gonna kill him!”

“Don’t worry. He left you enough money to go but another one.” Onyx cringed at the thought. “Nice rifle by the way.”

I forgot momentarily about Demo being an asshole. “Thanks. It was one of the new toys I picked up after you guys liberated them from the Enclave.”

Onyx fell backwards letting the last grenade roll away from him. “I’m done. That’s all of the parts that we brought back home.”

Demo peeked his head out of one of the rooms down the hall. “Good. That should be enough to supply us for a while.”

“I’d hope three hundred grenades would be enough to last us. IF it’s not, we need a better way to make them. I don’t want to have to do another three hundred by hoof.” Onyx stood up and trotted towards the stairs. “I’m gonna lay down.”

I let him by before bringing my rifle upstairs. The last room up here had been turned into our makeshift armory.

The door swung open and I could see clearly how much we actually had. Rifles and shotguns lined the walls while pistols had their place in boxes on the floor.

“I didn’t realize we had this many guns.” I set the rifle up in the one open spot left.

Aurora appeared on the floor. “It is an impressive collection. Minus the ammo.” Aurora swept a hoof around that somehow lit up only the ammo. “It averages out to just a few shots per weapon. After all this time I would have expected better from you.”

I closed the door. “Well we don’t make our own ammo here. We’ve only got what we scavenge or buy.”

“That might have just changed.” Harmony trotted past with saddlebags overflowing with ammo. “I managed to convince stone that we didn’t need so much ammo in the armory. So now we’ve got plenty of ammo for the guns we use and a few new toys to play with.”

I trotted back. “Like?”

“Like. A grenade launcher, a multiple shot grenade launcher. Including some incendiary grenades.” Harmony set up the new guns anr set the ammo in its place.

“Anything else of interest?” I retreated as she closed the door.

“Mostly just ammo. What other weapons they retrieved will be left in the armory for the guards to use.” Harmony grabbed my hoof. “Now come with me. I did promise you a little us time.”

I followed remembering about Demo. The frown on my face was met with a similar one after Harmony read Demo’s note. “That son of a bitch.”

“I did leave you money to go buy a new one.” Not helping you idiot.

I put a hoof up so Harmony couldn’t leave. “It’s fine. That’s the only one he took.”

Harmony sighed and flopped down onto the bed. “Yeah. It’s also the one I was hoping to use today.”

I shut the door and flopped down next to her. “Come on. We don’t need that to have a good time.” I kissed her.

She pushed me away just slightly. “You do know how to cheer me up.” With that she pulled me back into the kiss.

Why here? It had been years since I had last seen this place. But when I last saw it the beauty had been wiped away.

“Today.” I grabbed one of the nearby ponies. “What day is today?”

“It’s the thirty first.” he pushed my hooves to the ground. “I thought you out of all ponies would know that. After all the ceremony is today.”

No. No! NO NO NO!!! I’ve got to stop them. They’ll attack in less than an hour.

I broke into a gallop towards the barracks. Maybe Shining would know what to do. I had made it about twenty feet closer when the first explosion threw me to the ground.

“No.” I rolled over to see the next one hurtling towards the castle. I took to the sky but was dragged back down. “Let me go. She’s still up there.”

Luna dragged me back to the ground. “No she’s not. She wasn’t there the day they attacked us and she isn’t there now. Neither of us. You’re dreaming.”

The dream started to fade and I was in that familiar dreamscape once again. “But it was so real. Why? Why Luna? Why can I not forget about that day?” I fell to the floor in tears.

“So many emotions that made you operate. You were willing to valiantly give your life to protect us and for that I’m gratefully. But sister you must realize that we could not have saved them.” Luna opened a door. “Follow me.”

I begrudgingly got to my hooves and trotted through the door. “Why are we here?”

“You’ve forgotten who we are. And I must remind you the only way I can.” Luna unsheathed her sword. “Through our defense of our nation.” She tossed me over the Knight’s Bane.

I caught the sword. It felt good to have it back where it belonged. I felt the gun fly from it’s holster in response to my magic.

Luna beckoned for me. “Come on Celestia. We’ve got ourselves a battle to win.”

I galloped over. There below us, just like that day two hundred seventy years ago. Standing below us preparing to charge into battle with the last of our soldiers.

“But it was only us. They didn’t realize that.”

“And we rained death upon them like we were thousands. And at times I think we were.” Luna dived off the cliff sword at the ready.

I smiled slightly and dived after her. The air swished past. We were alive. And they were about to not be.

Our swords swung slicing through the boars like butter.

When we hit the ground the ground the boars surrounding us fell to pieces.

“You’ve bucked with the wrong nation.” I sliced three more in half. “And we’re here to make sure you do no more harm to our home.”

Luna tore into the next group of boars.

Without hesitation I galloped forward sword by my side. The next slice slit the throats of the boars in front of me.

The Revolving Sun lit up with my aurora as I readied the one shot I’d need to end this. “Take this you sons of bitches.” I pulled the trigger.

Luna pulled me from the dream. “Now do you remember who you are? What you once stood for?”

I had a smile on my face as I watched the memory of the bloodbath. “We stood upon the burnt remnants of an empire. All we had was each other and the hopes of finding Twilight. But that was all we needed.”

Luna put a wing over me. “I’m glad you remember. I’m always here for you when you need me.”

“Thank you Lulu.” I left the memory behind as Luna faded from sight.

“Another day will dawn soon, and I must be the one to keep the sun where it belongs.” I lit up my horn. “It’s time to raise the sun.”

“Well wastelander we have done it.” PON3 hadn’t been on the radio in a while. Must have something important to say. “Yes you heard right we’ve defeated the Enclave. Yesterday twelve of the best ships the Enclave had were blown to pieces by our very courageous wasteland mares and stallions. And thanks to them we can live our lives the way we want to again. But I do advise you to keep those guns ever ready in case of more raider attacks.”

“Word spreads fast Midnight. You have done well with this first task.” Celestia was standing over me.

I turned my head to look at her. “We aren’t the ones you should be thanking. Silver, Demo and Onyx got the job done. Harmony and I sat on the wall and watched for bandit or raider attacks.” I trotted a few steps away.

Celestia smiled. “You’ve done more than you know my little pony.”

I smiled awkwardly. “So what’s our next move? With the Enclave defeated we have just the local raider gangs and changelings to worry about.”

Her smile grew dim. “The changelings? Is Chrysalis leading them?”

I shook my head. “No. Thorax killed her and took control of the Hive.”

“Good. Although I fear under his rule things may take a dark turn.” She turned away. “I suppose we will see what happens in the next few days. Soon enough our course will be determined.” With that Celestia left.

I noticed Harmony when she bit my flank. “Morning sexy.”

I tried my best not to moan. “Morning my sweet. How are you doing?”

Harmony kissed me before speaking. “Well I’m doing fine. And I expect after that kiss you’re doing a bit better.”

“Such a naughty mare Harmony. I might have to do something about that.” I licked my lips for affect.

“Oh please do.” That voice was angelic.

“Oh please don’t!” That voice not so much.

“Goddesses dammit Onyx what do you want!?”

“”Bite my head off why don’t you?” Onyx stepped back as I threw my hoof at his face. “Ok that was uncalled for. I was just coming to get you.”

I let out a puff of breath from my nostrils. “For WHAT!?”

“Rose has something she wants to tell us.” Onyx peeked over my shoulder. “But it seems she couldn’t wait for us to come back to her office.”

Rose was downstairs sitting in the kitchen. “I wanted to make sure they were alright and you were taking forever to get back.”

I trotted downstairs. “How are you doing today?”

Rose smiled and motioned for me to come over to the living room. “I’ve been doing fine. Just been thinking about the foals.”

“Foals?” I sat down on the couch.

Rose nodded. “I went to the doctor for a checkup and he delivered the news I was having twins!”

I smiled. “That’s amazing. And how is Silver taking the news?”

“I think he might have snapped inside a little bit. He’s been really worried that he won’t make a good father and this has just thrown everything out of whack for him.” Rose relaxed in the comfy chair.

Harmony sat next to me. “I still don’t see why he thinks he won’t be a good father. He’s got all the qualities of a good one.”

“He’s afraid of giving the foals a bad example. Not being the best role model for them to look up too.” Rose sighed. “I’ll try to talk him out of this weirdness but I don’t know what will happen.”

“Any idea on when they’ll be born?” Onyx dropped down into the last chair available.

“Less than a month from what the doctor said. Might be as early as next week sometime.” Rose smiled happily looking to her belly.

“I would have thought another two months or so. But I guess that means we get to great the little ones sooner rather than later.” I smiled.

“So have you gotten any word from Celestia as too what she wants us to do next?” Onyx cast me a glance.

I shook my head. “No. She talked to me just a few minutes before you got here. But she only congratulated me and said our next course of action would be shown to us in the next few days.”

Rose sat back up covering her nether regions. “Well we do have a few local groups of bandits that we could start dealing with. Might want to stop them without killing them all. Hopefully ending their leaders lives will result in surrender and a more peaceful wasteland.”

“Crimson Skull and Tri-Tear?”

Rose nodded. “Those are the two. We haven’t had much contact with Crimson Skull, but Tri-Tear’s forces have tried many times to breach our walls.”

“They came in a small group when Silver and the others were gone. They were testing our response time.” Harmony Shifted slightly.

“No doubt they will come for us again and in greater force.” Rose got to her hooves. “Well I’ll leave you to your own devices.” She walked towards the door. “And I’d suggest you check your room in a few minutes. I think a new present may have been dropped off for the two of you.”

The door closed behind her and we got to our hooves. “I swear to Celestia if it’s another exploding one I’m going to kill Demo.”

Demo turned tail and walked away from the stairs. “I promise it’s not one. I just don’t want to be near you for a little while. Things are already awkward as is.”

“It better not be.” I whispered under my breath. “Or you’re one dead stallion.”

Harmony brushed my face lightly with her tail. “Come on then. I want to see what Rose was talking about.”

I followed Harmony upstairs and into our room, where to my surprise a box the same size as the last box was sitting on the floor with a note attached to it.

I grabbed the note and read it. “Demo wants you to know he is sorry. He just felt it might be awkward and a little bit off if he were the one to buy this for you. I hope it’s not overstepping my boundaries but I went ahead and found something a little better than your last one. Signed Rose.”

“Weird, but ok. I guess if it got replaced then there’s no problem.” Harmony opened the box. “She wasn’t lying about this being an upgrade. Midnight get in bed I think I want to try this thing out.”

I slammed the door and jumped onto the bed. “As you wish.”

Harmony smiled deviously. “This is gonna be fun.”

“So are we just going to leave them alone for the next day or two?” I looked out the window. “I mean It certainly is possible for them to go that long. They’ve done it before they’ll probably do it again.”

Demo tap on my shoulder. “Just let them have their fun. They’ve earned it after all.”

“And what about us? What have we earned?” I brought my gaze away from the window.

“Well you’ve earned this.” Demo kissed me. “And if you’ll head up to our room I’ve got a better surprise than that waiting for you.”

My cheeks turned bright red. “Do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.” Demo smiled seductively. “Now let’s go buck until the sun rises on a new day.”

“Good enough for me.”

“So where are we going today?” The gate opened as Demo asked his question.

“Rose has a few places that we might want to check out. A local Stable has opened up but nopony has been seen entering or exiting the facility. Other than that there might be a few small raider camps scattered about the nearby wastes.” I put away the map.

“So it’s either go explore some random probably dusty old stable and hope we find something interesting or go kill some raiders?”

“That’s about the gist of it Onyx.” I waved at the guards to close the gate after we had all crossed through.

“Well shit.” He looked between us and the other stallions. “Let’s go kill some raiders. Sounds more exciting than exploring a dumb stable in my opinion.”

“With more of a chance of death.” Way to be super optimistic there Silver.

“She did say we are supposed to eliminate the raiders and explore the stable.” Harmony kept pace with me as we gained a slight lead on our friends. “So either way we’ll have to go to the stable at some point. And who knows. Maybe some of the raiders are calling that place home now.”

“Or maybe we’ll find a million caps so we can be rich off our plots for the rest of our lives.” The sarcasm had and edge to it just like his blades.

“Ha ha. Real funny Silver.” I laughed. “But let’s not bother arguing to much. We’ll take out the small camps along the way to the stable and clean up the rest after we get done exploring.”

Everypony seemed happy with that. “Lead the way.”

There we stood about a quarter mile from the first camp.

“You really think you can do that?” Harmony was looking through binoculars at the raiders.

“500 caps says you can’t do it.” Silver smiled as he looked at me.

I had been watching for five minutes waiting for the bastards to line themselves up and my chance was coming. “Watch me.”

The rifle rang out and three raiders fell to the ground. “Bucking told you.” I dropped the mag and loaded another bullet.

Silver smiled. “Well then.”

Shots rang out coming back towards us.

“You mind.” Silver dropped the shield so I could return fire.

And return fire I did. “Two more down.”

“Three to go.” Harmony fired. “Make that two.”

I slid the fifty back and grabbed the boar rifle.

Harmony and I fired simultaneously and both raiders fell.

I stood up and stretched. “Let’s go see what they had.”

We trotted forward weapons drawn. All but one raider was completely dead.

“You buckers.” She coughed up some blood. “You’ll pay for this. Tri-tear doesn’t deal with raider scum like you.”

“First time I’ve heard that one.” I drew out my knife and slit the mare’s throat. “Now shut up and die.”

Silver tapped my flank. A grin was plastered on his face. “Pay up.”

“What are you?” I looked down at the raiders I had stepped over to kill that mare. “Son of a bitch.” I sighed. “To be fair she would have died after a couple minutes.”

“Doesn’t matter you killed her with a knife not the bullet.” He held his hoof out. “Now pay up.”

I tossed over a small bag of caps. “Now can we get back to looting them?”

Silver nodded and went to work on the nearest corpse.

After a few minutes I had the armor stripped off of the three raiders I had shot with the first shot. “Most of their armor was shredded by the fifty. We might be able to reuse the metal parts for other things.”

Silver eyed the little scraps of iron that were scattered about the armor. “Perhaps we could see about something. But so little iron will make for a very small object. Nothing really worth much without an enchantment.”

I tore the scraps free. “What if we made a shield out of it?”

Silver looked over the scraps that I hadn’t deposited. “A couple of different shields could be made.” Silver tapped a hoof to one piece of iron. “Could make an old fashioned one like knights used to use. Or might make a deployable one that you can stick a rifle through so you can shoot without having that armor on or the fear of death.”

I shrugged and shoved the rest of the scraps into the bottom of my saddlebag. “We’ll make use of it.”

Harmony frowned as she looked over the pitiful collection of weapons. “A few 10 millimeter pistols and some worn out hunting rifles. Other than that about one hundred bullets.”

Silver grabbed one of the rifles. “I’m taking this one. Might do me some good to do a bit more than just stand around and shield you two.” He opened the bolt and loaded the rifle to full.

Harmony nodded and separated out the last couple of .308’s from the pile. “Only about twenty left. Should be able to find more of them though. These raiders always have a few of these around.”

Silver nodded and deposited the bullets in a small bag on his flank. “I’ll be sure to be on the lookout for more.”

“We have two more camps along the way. With any luck they’ll have some better weapons on them.” I put my rifle back in my bag and drew my revolver. “The next camp probably heard the gunfire. Be ready.”

Harmony took two steps forward before stopping. “Silver do you think you’d be a good shot from the air?”

Silver aimed down the sights of the rifle. “These sights are pretty shit but if I was high enough in the sky I could probably get off a couple of shots without trouble.”

Harmony nodded. “Take to the air. We’ve got raiders inbound, and a lot of ‘em.”

I slid the Revolving sun back into its holster and pulled out the boar rifle.

Silver jumped into the air. He went up three hundred or better feet before stopping to take aim.

The first shot gave me time to ready my own rifle. “You ready for this Harmony?”

Harmony gave a slight nod. “As ready as I can be, but just wait for the raiders to get closer. Silver might.”

A shot rang out from above us, followed by another and another. Three raiders fell to the ground dead. “Guess not.”

I slung lead down range striking one raider hard enough to flip him backwards onto another one. After another shot I had killed three raiders. “Their numbers are thinning out.”

A shot hit my armor and bounced off. While it did stop the bullet from penetrating it didn’t stop it from stinging. “Eat shit you assholes.” I fired three times in rapid succession. This ended the last of the raiders who had chosen to stay and fight.

The raiders laid scattered about the battlefield. Only a few still managing to draw breath.

What little armor and weapons that had that were worthwhile got stuffed into our saddlebags. The encounter left Silver with twenty more bullets and Harmony and I with twenty less.

“The last outpost is a quarter mile from the stable. We might want to watch out for some raiders that might have gone inside.” Harmony holstered her rifle and trotted north towards our meeting point.

Silver looked to his back. “Hey Midnight?”

“Yes Silver?” I trotted in the same direction as Harmony.

“Do you have an extra saddlebag at home? I kinda don’t have one to store my weapons in.” Silver awkwardly held onto his rifle.

I smiled and managed a little laugh. “I’m sure we can work something out when we get back home. I would suggest one of these raiders bags, but they are kinda shitty.”

Silver scooped up one of the more intact bags and set it on his back. “I guess this will do for now. Least until we get back and can get me a proper one.”

“Hey why don’t we slow down for a few minutes? We’re ahead of schedule after all.” I dived towards the ground looking for the best spot to land.

Onyx wasn’t too far behind me. “I guess we can stop for a couple of minutes. No harm in going a little slower.”

I touched down underneath a small clearing of trees. “This looks like a good enough spot. What do you think?”

He landed and immediately took a seat. “As good a place as any until the sun moves our shade.”

I sat down next to him and laid my head down. I kept quiet as Onyx went to work with the sand and sticks at our hooves.

After a few minutes a portrait of me was drawn in the ground. For what he had to work with it looked amazing. Guess that’s why he had a paintbrush as his cutie mark.

He looked quickly between me and the portrait. “What do you think? Personally I think I could’ve done better. Too many details are wrong.” Onyx quickly went to work on the art again.

“I think it looked perfect just the way it was. Just like all of the art you make.” I smiled and laid my head on his lap.

Onyx stopped and set the stick down. “Thanks Demo. Sometimes I need that. Somepony telling me I’m good enough for them. Not what everypony else used to say.” His smile turned into a frown.

I hugged him. “It doesn’t matter what they said or what anypony else says. I love your art and you just the way you are.”

Onyx smiled and gave me a kiss. “Thank you.”

I laid my head back down. The shade was nice and I wouldn’t have minded taking a nap. Nature had other plans as the sun slowly started to take away the shade.

Onyx sighed. “I guess we should get a move on.”

I got up and stretched. “Probably ought to. Midnight’s probably worried about us.”

Onyx shot upright and took to the sky. “Shit I forgot she was waiting for us! She’s gonna kill me for this.”

I got a running start before jumping into the air. It was going to take a bit of work to catch up but I knew I could before we reached our destination.

I tapped my hoof on the ground and looked at my pipbuck. “They should have been here an hour ago. What do you think happened to them?”

Silver set down the binoculars. “They had a longer distance to travel. Might have not been given enough time to take out the outposts and get here at the designated time.”

I sighed and sat down. “They better get here soon or they won’t hear the end of this.”

Harmony giggled and sat beside me. “They’ll be here. It’s a possibility they took some time for themselves. Everypony does need some time ‘alone’.”

I nodded. “You’re probably right. I suppose we can wait. Besides, it’s a nice day, might as well enjoy it.”

Harmony nodded. “Looks like we won’t get to sit here and enjoy it for long though.” She pointed to the east.

Onyx hit the ground fast. Fast enough to skid his hooves on the ground for twenty plus feet before going face first into the dirt and rolling to a stop at my hooves. “Might have been a bit fast.”

Demo landed and helped Onyx to his hooves. “I told him to slow down. He just thought it was a better idea to get here as fast as possible to avoid your wrath. He knows you don’t like him being late.”

I got to my hooves bringin Harmony with me. “I don’t like him being late for things. But it’s better he be a little late rather than injured in some way.”

Onyx avoided eye contact. “Sorry. I got caught up in the moment with Demo.”

I smiled and put a hoof to his shoulder. “It’s fine, Onyx. I understand entirely. I’m just glad you got here in one piece and.” I looked him over for any scrapes from that landing. “More or less uninjured.”

Onyx dared a look at me. He quickly realized I wasn’t mad. “Thanks Midnight.”

I nodded. “No problem. Now let’s get a move one. We’ve still got some work to do.”

I trotted over to the ridge. “Anything else we should be aware of Silver?”

Silver shook his head as he scanned the area one final time. “I just watched the last pony retreat into the stable. Seems like they only use the camp for supply deliveries and not much more.”

Harmony trotted over. “Anything we might want?”

Silver shrugged. “I’m not sure. Most of what had been delivered was taken into the stable. The crates didn’t look that heavy, so I’m going to guess they got some food and maybe a couple of guns.”

I thought for a second. “So not much of great use to us.”

“With the way the armory looks, I’d say not. But whatever we get ahold of might be able to provide us some sort of value. It’s always nice to have spare parts to fix up something or to make a new weapon need be.” Silver put the binoculars into his saddlebags.

“Anyway we can get down there without being noticed?” I sat down and watched the stable below.

“The best way would be a stelathbuck, but we might be able to sneak down there if the guards aren’t watching us?” Silver began his trot down the hill. “Now come on. We ain’t got all day.”

I got to my hooves and galloped to catch up.

Harmony stayed right by my side. She readied her shotgun for combat.

We closed the distance quickly and without detection. Luckily there was a low wall right outside the camp to hide behind.

Silver peeked his head over to see what was left in the camp. “One lone guard standing by the door.” He looked around for a few more seconds. “The turrets on the walls are destroyed.”

I nodded. “Anypony have a silenced gun?”

Everyone shook their heads. “Nothing. Shit.”

“Fine.” I pulled out the Revolving Sun. “I’ll deal with this.”

One shot was all it took to send the raider to the ground. He crumpled with a bullet hole right between his eyes.

I jumped over the wall. “It’s safe. Let’s see if we can’t get in there.”

The rest of the small camp was deserted. A few small crates were lying about with the lids ripped off.

I looked inside to see if they had left anything. “Nothing but a few scraps of paper. They must’ve already taken anything of value inside.” I trotted towards the door. To my surprise there was no terminal or any means of security to keep us from walking right inside.

Silver scanned the scene before us. “It’s likely they have a few more guards inside that are on alert after that gunshot.” He drew his pistol. “Just be ready for anything.”

I pushed the small door open.

Nopony immediately opened fire on us, so that was a good sign. The ground was devoid of any traps as were the walls.

We trotted inside closing the door behind us. The entry hall was bare. All the windows to the room had been blacked out. The doors minus the one on the far side had been barricaded with the heavier supply crates.

“Wonder what they’ve got trapped inside?” My gaze shifted back and forth between the windows as I eased my way through the room.

“Prisons, weapons, mutants. Who's to say. Could be they just didn’t want anypony sneaking off into those rooms.” Silver put a hoof to the only door that we could go through. “3. 2. 1.”

The door flew open and we charged through, weapons drawn and ready to fire.

Nothing. This room was empty as well, but instead of the far door being unbarricaded it was the door ten feet to our right.

“Are they leading us through a maze? What kinda bullshit is this?” I walked over to the door. When I pushed on it nothing happened. “Locked.”

A small terminal sprung to life to the right of the door. “Looks like we’ll need to hack our way through.”

I saw the flicker as Aurora jumped from my armor to the terminal. “Give me a second. And, done.” She jumped back as the door opened.

Behind was another room that seemed to be leading us further and further into this labyrinth of madness. However, a whirring noise sounded as a set one hoof into the room.

I held the Revolving Sun close until I got a look around the room. “What in the bucking name of Celestia?”

A blender was sitting in the center of the room blending up nothing. I took my hoof off of the plate that it was attached to.

“Pressure activated, blender? Is this whole place just meant to buck with us?” Silver trotted forward. “No, there’s got to be a better reason than that.” He seemed lost in thought as he opened the next door.

Yet another room filled with nothing but a small appliance in the center. This time it was a toaster with the numbers 3 4 5 next to it.

Silver’s eyes lit up as he saw the terminal on the next unblocked door. “It’s a code. Not a very cleverly hidden one but a code nonetheless.” He stepped up to the terminal and punched in a short five digit code.

The door swung open revealing a tunnel. “Odd. Why would they have a tunnel leading away from the stable? With one this close to the surface getting rid of waste would have been easy.”

“Maybe they needed more room.” Harmony trotted through the open door.

Onyx and Demo followed close behind. “Maybe they didn’t finish construction of the stable before the bombs fell.” Onyx looked thoughtfully at the tunnel walls. “Seems they had good tools to make a tunnel like this. Look at it like this. It doesn’t matter why it’s like this. We know that whatever they were storing in this stable is going to be down this way.”

Onyx was right. Whatever they had of worth had to be stored this way. All the other doors we had seen had been blocked off and almost surely were unable to be opened. “Let’s go then.”

I took to a light trot to catch up with Harmony. She wasn’t far ahead so it took no time at all to catch up.

Harmony was quiet. An unnatural quiet for her. She could have been lost in thought or just talking to Aurora.

I didn’t know which one was the more preferable option but I knew something was wrong. “Harmony?”

Harmony looked over at me. “Yes Midnight?”

“You’ve been quiet. Is something wrong?” I scooted a little closer.

“Nothing’s wrong right now. I’m a little tired and a little creeped out by this stable. Something seems wrong about what’s going on with it. All the barricaded doors and random clues that led us to this corridor seem like they could be a trap. So I’ve been having Aurora keep track of all movement that goes on in this stable to make sure we aren’t being led into a trap of some sort.” With that she turned her head from me and was silent once again as she and Aurora continued their discussion.

This corridor felt wrong. Not the fact that it was stone all the way down, or the bodies that were on the floor occasionally. Something about the atmosphere felt off. I could feel it through my armor. It was incredibly warm in here.

The further we continued the more the walls become scorched. Like a great fire had burned here once, and might still be burning deep down.

For once in my life I managed to notice everypony stop. I stopped just shy so nopony would have to stop me. “It just ends?” I edged closer to the giant hole in the ground. “Where are all the raiders at?” I kicked a small gemstone into the pit.

It tumbled downwards for what felt like an eternity hitting the walls along the way. When I finally stopped hearing it the ground shook for a moment.

I looked around for anything that might have caused that. All I could find were drawings lining the walls of an Alicorn. Nothing else, no machine that might have caused it, nopony around to set off some explosives.

A burst of smoke trailed up from the depths of the pit. Closely behind it followed a bright green trail of flame.

A purple dragon poked its head up to look at us. A single large eye careful scanned us carefully, making some sort of judgement. He stared intently at us. But it seemed he was waiting for us to do something, say something, anything at all really.

I was about to speak when the dragon shook his head. A single trail of flame shot towards a small lever.

I looked at in and then pointed to myself.

The dragon nodded. He wanted me to pull the lever.

Surprisingly the dragon made no effort to kill us. I believed if he put forth even a small amount of effort he could end us before we got the chance to react. When I reached the switch I looked back to the dragon before grabbing it.

He nodded. His eyes looked tired. Like he’d been here for hundreds of years waiting for someone to kill him. Waiting for his service to be over.

I grabbed the switch and pulled it down with all my might. It had rusted for years but it gave way and flipped.

The dragon breathed a sigh of relief and spoke. “Thank you. My time on this world has come to an end. But she’s still out there.” A few tears rolled down the dragon’s face. “I’d near forgotten her name after all these years. She’s been on her quest for far too long. If you find her, please I beg you, tell her that her number one assistant is waiting for her.” With that the dragon let out a puff of fire and lit the entire hole he was in on fire.

No screams of pain. No sense that he wasn’t ready. Just silence as his enormous body shrunk before falling into the depths below. The fall no doubt would kill him.

I couldn’t help but feel sad for the dragon. His eyes betrayed his size. I kindness was behind them that no dragon of his size should have had for anypony.

Silver grabbed me. “We’ve got to go!”

The cave started to crumble around us. I broke into a gallop back towards the door.

The cavern lit up a purple behind us as we ran for the one exit that might give us a chance to survive whatever was coming to kill us.

The door at the end of the tunnel was open. I put forth what more energy I could to get through that door before the fire got to us.

I slid around the corner from the tunnel and was immediately greeted by a wall of raiders. “Silver, Shield NOW!!!” I called out waiting.

The shield formed as the inferno tore into the vault. The air superheated and anything outside the shield burnt to a crisp in an instant.

I reached out with my magic and slammed the door in an attempt to stop this fire. To my pleasure the door held the flames at bay for the time being. “How you all holding up?”

Silver let the shield fall and panted. “Pretty good now that I don’t have a wall of fire trying to kill me.”

Harmony looked between us and the door. “Well you might not want to speak so soon.”

The center of the door was starting to melt. The rest was glowing a bright red. “Let’s not wait for that door to fail.”

Onyx and Demo were already almost out of the room. “Don’t need to tell us twice.”

I gave the door one good luck before trotting out of the room and closing the door behind all of us.

Silver trotted on by looking a little lost in thought. He waved a wing for us to come along.

Harmony and I stayed a ways back avoiding breaking his concentration. Luckily we could communicate through the armor without being too loud. “Any idea what that was all about?”

“Not a clue. I’m not sure who he was talking about before you fulfilled his wish. Maybe Celestia knows something about it.”

Aurora flickered into our view. “She knows quite a bit about who he was talking about. As do I.” With that she went silent.

“Who is it?” Silence. “Dammit Aurora.”

“Let her be honey. We’ll ask Celestia when we get back and she can shed some light on who exactly he was talking about.”

I nodded. “Alright. For now let’s just get out of this death trap. I’ve had enough fire for today.”

Silver stopped in the doorway in front of us. “How?”

I cocked my head to the right. “What do you mean?”

He spun around and pointed one wing towards one of the barricaded doors. “Where did they go? How did we miss them as we came in here? There was no possible place to hide from us. Everywhere but the path we took was blocked off. And not a single one of them was left outside or anywhere we wouldn’t have seen them. There’s no way that any of them should have stopped us on the way out.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. “I don’t know. Maybe those that we followed in were killed by the dragon and that group that just got incinerated followed us in here.”

Silver looked displeased with that. “It seems to convenient.” He shrugged and trotted through the door. “But it’s the explanation I have to deal with.”

Harmony waved for me to follow as she trotted behind Silver. I did as I was commanded. Not like I really wanted to stay in a room that could turn into an incinerator at any moment.

The rest of the stable was silent. It was an eerie silence, almost unnaturally so. Our footsteps echoed for a while before finally stopping. Lucky we had reached the outer doors to the stable.

Unluckily the door had caved in on itself blocking our path. “Silver can you lift away the rubble? Or do we need to find some other way out?”

Silver looked at the rubble for a few seconds before moving a small chunk of the door away. Seeming satisfied with that he lit his horn up and shifted most of the pile towards us and then flattened it out into a walkway. “I think that’ll be good enough for now. Let’s go finish off those last camps.” He trotted along the new path out the door.

“I wonder why they keep building camps so near to New Appleloosa? After as many times as we’ve kicked their asses into the ground, you’d think they’d shift to a different location for this.” I looked back to make sure everypony had gotten out, and indeed they had.

“Strategic advantage? That’s what Stone said at least. Something about how this area is full of resources and valuable equipment that all the big raider bosses want a piece of it for themselves so they can win control over the wasteland.” Onyx had to gallop to reach us.

I shrugged. “I suppose that makes a fair amount of sense. They should have brought in better forces by now if they wanted to take over. So it still seems odd that they come here.”

“Maybe they’ve been training better soldiers. Using what little gear they could get due to our harassment of these camps. They could have soldiers, actual soldiers on the way to take over.” Harmony chimed in.

Silver nodded as he hovered above the ground. “Likely what they’ve been planning to do. Either way we should all be prepared for more well armed opponents in the future. Whether it’s just raiders or militaristic groups, we’ll need whatever we can get.”

“Maybe I’ll be able to put the fifty cal to use. More effectively than trying to line up a triple kill with one bullet that is.” A thought back to our armory. “Maybe we’ll employ some of those explosive weapons we just got. A few grenades from Demo and Onyx as well as that grenade launcher might help to chew through some more heavily armored targets.”

A little static sounded as the small radio on my armor came to life. “Silver if you’re hearing this respond.” It was a stallion’s voice calling.

Silver hit the ground and trotted over. “What is it you need soldier?”

The radio responded quickly. “You are requested back at New Appleloosa Sir. Mayor Rose has asked for you to return a little early.”

Silver’s eyes widened. “Is she alright? What’s happened?”

“Nothing sir. She requested you come back. A few raiders were seen outside, but nothing came of them.” The voice sounded reassuring.

Silver sighed. “I’ll be back in a few hours time.”

I turned off the radio as no new noise came from it. “Go on Silver. We’ll handle the last of the raiders on our way back.”

Silver said nothing as he shot off back home. At that speed he must have thought something big was about to happen.

I turned to my friends. “You guys ready to kill the remaining raiders?”

They all nodded. “Let’s.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry for late upload, pulled an allnighter for fun and didn't have much time to think about uploading.