I could now see what Cherry had meant about the medical wing of the factory as we passed it by. The roof had completely collapsed and the streams of water gushing down through the rubble and scrap didn't bode well for the building's structural strength either. More foreboding still was the fact we were being drawn deeper underground. Evidently back before the war, the research wing that was involved in cutting ponies up and sticking their brains in mechanized jars was the last thing they wanted on public display. Regardless of those facts, I was fighting to save some pony's life, rescue Star, save Cherry and if I was not dead after all of that, then solve the mystery that had followed me out from the labs.

Moving my mind back to current dangers, it seemed I was not the only one who thought ill of the idea regarding the theft of a pony's brain. The many rusted corpses of brain bots down here in the lower halls were all smashed open as if the living components had broken free and crawled away in spite of their transformation. What remained of the facility's active defenses was just as relentless as any other security system I was used to dealing with, however. The vast array of automated turrets swiftly began to eat through our ammunition as well as my spark grenades. I couldn't help but admit to myself, that after Overseer's deadly game, I was somewhat thankful for a security system that only wanted to shoot me.

I also had to thank the goddesses for Cherry's lockpicking skills ten times over as we passed several locked ammunition boxes and sealed doors. It appeared somepony had been stocking up on guns and bullets down here and the presence of spark cells led me to believe this was not a simple case of stockpiling simple firearms. Nevertheless, as we finally reached the bottom floor the waves of robotic corpses began to thin, as did the turrets.

"I think this is the research wing. The surgery room should be right through the holding pens, and down the elevator," Clip told us as he climbed atop a small box to my left. He peered through a dirty glass window into a darkened room filled with mounds of rusted scrap and filthy streams of water.

Deeper underground, yippee! I mentally groaned, yet the idea that our whole plan to get through Crimson Springs revolved around going underground, turned my previous apprehension into a slowly simmering frustration.

I still hadn't really considered how I was going to find the stable Star had been taken to. Nor what to do when I found out.

"Good, if I have to waste another shot on one of these stupid things, I swear I'm going to rip out my own feathers," Gina grumbled, shaking her wounded wings restlessly.

I couldn't help but agree with the griffin as I reloaded my saddle blaster, no matter how much I didn't like her. Clip pulled away from the windows and glanced back at us, grinning slightly. Despite everything, I was glad to see he was warming up to me, especially now I knew he was a good fighter. Not only that, but the colt seemed to have a skill for navigation or just a better eye for the signs down here in this rusted maze of scrapped junk and running water. Either way, we'd have quickly gotten lost without him. What was better still was that Cherry was getting far more confident with her new rifle as the stationary turrets provided a fair amount of target practice when she wasn't looting rooms and opening locked security doors.

"C'mon, before the brainbots find out we're here," Clip called a moment later, hopping down from the rusted crate and steadily trotting off down the corridor towards a door labeled, 'Holding Block A'. I motioned for Cherry to follow me as I followed Clip, Gina taking the rearguard. The sound of shambling metal hooves on the other side of the crumbling bricks made my ears twitch nervously as we reached another security door and Cherry set to work opening it. Above us, the roof had collapsed, leaving a jagged hole in what appeared to be another manufacturing platform. A rusted old conveyor belt and several piles of sharp scrap metal had fallen through and now gushed with torrents of sickly brown water that poured into a small pool at our hooves.

Somehow I didn't think the drainage system in here had been made to cope with almost two centuries of rainfall like this. My Pipbuck's clicking was the first kindly reminder that this water wasn't doing any of us any good either. That fact didn't change as the door opened and we finally entered the waterlogged room. Rows of empty cages flanked us on either side, their tops made of glass, as was the whole floor of the observation area above. The likes of which was half collapsed.

Large plates of gridded metal looked like strange brown waterfalls as liquid gushed down over them. Floating in the filth were several empty brain cases, bones, and sharp shards of broken glass that shimmered in the frothy filth like gems. Most of it was nothing new to me, but the several medical beds I saw brought back dark images of the Destiny labs, as did the long-dead ponies strapped tightly to them.

"How did anypony ever get away with this?" Cherry asked as we rounded one of the fallen roof segments and passed a medical bed covered by a bloody sheet.

At least half of my attention was focused on Clip as the water rose dangerously high on his smaller body.

"It's what you equines did, Zebras, Ponies, neither of you were any better than the other. All you did with dropping those bombs was spread your kind of crazy to the rest of us," Gina told her, not a hint of sympathy in her voice as it thrummed with a small amount of resentment.

Cherry, however, didn't seem to expect an answer from anyone other than me and stammered at the griffin's response.

"The whole world's always been fucked up," I corrected, and despite a sly glance, Gina said nothing more.

"And what about you? You got a plan for getting through Crimson? You ever been in there before?" Gina asked Clip, seeming to take the opportunity to make conversation over silence no matter the personal cost to the colt.

I grit my teeth again, yet this was an even worse place to start arguing with the griffin. Clip shivered slightly, then nodded. For some reason that made me feel more than a little sick, and I couldn't help but get the sensation his guilt for something that wasn't his fault was forcing him to speak to us. I thought to tell him otherwise, yet that wasteland-hardened part of me reminded my compassion that the lives of all five of us were riding on his supposed secret path. Maybe that was what Gina was digging for. It was an example of the frame of mind I should, and usually did, possess. Right now that analytical mind would know that I needed to know the full details of what we could expect to encounter sooner rather than later if we were going to make this work.

"I was taken in a few months ago, I was traveling with a caravan with my parents when they took us. I used to hear slaves talking about secret tunnels under the city. One, they called the Screamer tunnel, leads right out on both ends to the city. But that's where the slavers apparently got their screams from, and no pony ever went down there..." He trailed off, seeming to take great interest in reloading his shotgun as a pose to explaining.

How did slavers get screams? Harvesting them? How did that work? I shuddered at the thought. Evidently, the doubt on my face must have been apparent as he soon corrected himself.

"But they also said about ponies using it to get out too, I heard about it from more than just one. Plus, some others say the slavers were just letting them out through the tunnels," he added with a naive hint of hope.

That doused my fear slightly if there was a tunnel full of monsters I could handle it, the cautious glance Cherry shot me, however, shifted my question.

"How'd you get out the first time?" I asked as if it would somehow present me with another idea.

Clip sniffed, finishing his reload. "They were gonna trade me out to the raiders. It's all part of the agreement they got, some slaves go to them along with some of the Rage cure and they sit and guard the outer ruins. I was at the gate with all the other slaves they were going to trade when it was attacked. I got out with Sky and Ochre, they were in one of the caravans coming in. That's when they chased us in here," he explained.

I merely sighed, so much for alternatives. I'd seen the gate to the city and there was certainly no way to get past it without being a slave or a slaver. Or dead. My mind added bluntly.

It was hard to believe that anypony would dare attack the river fortification, then again, they were at war with the rangers and if there were any ponies in the wasteland to underestimate slavers it was those Steel fiends.

"So you don't know who saved you?" Cherry asked skeptically as if she were somehow ashamed she hadn't been allowed the privilege.

He gave a slight shrug. "I didn't think anypony was out to save us, we're not saved. But if I had to guess I'd say it was the rangers trying to get a heavy hit on the Brazens," he told us.

I shied away, he was right, we weren't saved. This was the wasteland and being safe was a luxury it didn't bestow generously if it did at all. Simplicity didn't seem to be a virtue of the post-apocalyptic shit hole either as I learned a moment later.

"Hostile life signs detected, I predict a ninety-nine point nine percent chance they will be terminated immediately." Came a cool feminine voice, almost too much like a filly.

The tracked monster that rolled around the corner at the far end of the holding area was certainly no filly, nor were the bright beams it fired in our direction.

"Shit," I exclaimed in frustration as the thing rolled into range of my E.F.S.

Well, at least you can't blame obliviousness this time. My mind stated, reminding me that I really didn't know how to use the new layout in my vision.

"Up ahead, watch out!" The moment the words left my muzzle we all darted for cover behind the rusted debris strewn across the flooded room.

"Please don't hide, we only want to kill you because you're not supposed to be in here." Came the brainbot's tinny voice again.

That hatred for anything mechanical was growing in me at the sound of its stupid voice and metal hooves grinding in the water. Then the beams firing from its open muzzle momentarily stopped, and I laid into the robot with several sharp energy blasts. It fell into the water in a shower of sparks and steam, yet as soon as its hostile tag on my E.F.S blinked out, two more replaced it from the far end of the hall.

"Please, your cooperation will be rewarded. You will never have to worry about anything else again." That offer was almost tempting.

Looking across the room I saw Gina ducking down in one of the cages, yet there was no sign of Clip. My heart jumped at that realization, and I looked across the water in case the colt had fallen, our robotic attacker all but forgotten. The loud bang of Responsibility's shot rang out over my head as Cherry fired, smashing one of the brainbot’s glass craniums in a shower of shrapnel and sickly green liquid.

"Please come out, we only want to be your friends..." The last robot's words were cut off by a loud metal clang and a splash as the metal ventilation above it fell down, smashing its brain case to pieces.

All three of us peered up from our cover as the robot slumped into the water, to see Clip standing above us upon a severed length of roof ventilation, a screwdriver in his mouth.

"You just gotta get them in the head," he said innocently, nodding down to the fallen robots.

"Sorry I took it without asking" Clip apologized to Cherry as she slipped the screwdriver back into her bags, yet the pink mare looked impressed if nothing else.

"It’s fine, I'm just surprised at how quickly you were able to get it and get up there without any of us noticing," she said, and he looked at least a little proud of himself.

"You spend time in the slave pens and you learn how to get away from ponies. That and how to take the bigger pony's things without getting caught," he admitted, brushing one of his forehooves sheepishly along the grated floor at that latter part.

Cherry looked like she was admiring some adorable kitten as he did that. I just tried not to think about how much he reminded me of my brother. Gina merely huffed as the elevator gave a ‘shunting’ sound and began to descend.

"Don't see why those three weren't as smashed up as the rest of the robots down here," she grumbled, motioning in the direction we'd come from with a claw.

I could see her reason, yet the sight of the busted robots back in the halls didn't strike me as a reprieve. "Careful what you wish for," I warned, but the disgruntled griffin didn't respond.

The sights before us as the elevator opened confirmed this was the right place, as did the large operating room. Several medical beds were sat below grasping arms fitted with all kinds of gruesome arcane technology and large surgical lights. Thankfully only one of the bloodstained beds bore an actual pony, and that pony had long since rotted to naught but bones. Even if the clean hole bored into the skull made me wince.

"Keep an eye out for anything we can use," I instructed, as we entered the room and spread out.

The look on Cherry's face told me she didn't want to be too far apart from me, especially after what had happened the last time. But as I looked at her timid expression I couldn't help but think how cute she was. Sky's words about if we were an item repeated within my mind. But my stupid, sex-driven brain was simply trying to tail-chase the cute pink mare.

Goddesses damn me I wasn't doing that to her! In an attempt to draw my eyes away from her flanks, I moved to the far side of the room.

'Cerebral Reconfiguration' was down here and beyond that was a door marked 'Incineration' and 'Asset Assembly'. The sight of no more medical beds was a welcome relief, even if the x-rays on the walls still made me feel sick. Ultimately, it seemed my sense of direction had served me well as I glimpsed a door on the left labeled. 'Emergency-Medical'.

"Over here!" I called back to the others, and both Cherry and Clip were quick to appear in the doorway.

"Well, ain't you fast," Gina muttered as she approached the medical room last. I shot her a disapproving look as Cherry moved over to the medical room's door and began her work on its lock.

"It just means that we get to spend less time down here," I retorted, and I could see she was at least somewhat in agreement, even if the only response she gave was a disgruntled snort.

"Good, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to salvage some of this shit, who knows brains in jars may sell for something? It might make it worth the time we wasted coming down here," she responded snidely.

"Wouldn't count on it," Cherry muttered half-heartedly as she worked, only for her voice to soften as she realized what she'd so blindly said.

Almost instinctively I stepped between her and the griffin. Yet as bitter as Gina was, she didn't seem to want to use anything more than sour words.

"So she really has got a sharp tongue under all that stupidity. She's not completely hopeless then?" Gina stated.

I heard Cherry falter in her work, and that desire to resist an argument was running out as I locked eyes with the griffin.

"Just go and salvage your shit if you really think this is that much of a waste of time. You know where we are if you need help," I retorted bitterly, then she turned away with a flick of her tail.

"I'll keep that in mind," she added in an equally sarcastic tone.

The moment she disappeared into the chamber marked 'Incineration', I looked back to Cherry. The pink mare had stopped trying to open the door and was just sitting there while Clip glanced between us, his lack of confrontation management experience was quite visible.

"Don't listen to her. She's about the most honest talon I've met, and that still equates to nothing," I assured her, but I knew the moment I said it that it was not enough to disprove the griffin's words.

"She's right though, isn't she? And I know how you feel too. After last night I don't blame you," she admitted, and now I couldn't see the Cherry I was trying to save, but the small hopeless mare I'd rescued from the factory.

I shook my head, and every plan I had for such a situation failed me. What could I tell her? After what I'd said about how important she was compared to other ponies, and what I'd done to keep her away from harm, there was nothing I could do but admit that I didn't think she was ready for most of this. A glance at her missing ear all but confirmed that.

"Look, you're not useless, you're the only pony here who could open this," I assured her, tapping on the medical room's door. "And if we couldn't get in there, Ochre would die," I added, then winced at my own bluntness.

Clip was the only one that reminder seemed to sting however, Cherry was far too caught up on something else.

Goddesses if something like this was enough to bring her down, then maybe Gina was even more right. I redirected my thoughts from such negative thinking.

"I'm sure you'd have found a way in without me," she retorted, glancing at my weapons.

I turned so they were removed from her view, then sighed. "Wouldn't make me feel good about it though," I offered, my mind providing me with very little in the way of intelligent responses. As improvised as my words were, they at least seemed to make her think.

"She's right, I didn't really think anypony other than raiders would come to find us when Sky sent that broadcast. Let alone come down here to help us," Clip added, and I smiled appreciatively at the colt's support.

It looked as if he believed he were repaying me for what he'd done somewhat at that. Cherry straightened at his words then levitated her tools back up to the lock.

"You're the last pony I think is useless," I told her kindly as she went back to work. She smiled, and once again I could not ignore what Sky had said.

I had to shake such mental distractions off and stepped back. I needed another distraction, I needed to prove to Cherry she wasn't useless. The years of mercenary rivalry didn't help the struggle either as I looked at the door to the Incineration room.

"I'm going to have a word with our friend. Besides, she shouldn't wander off alone, no matter how tough she thinks she is," I stated, then trotted for the door.

"Neither should you," Cherry called back, and I paused.

"Don't worry, I'd have to be stupid to go too far from you again," I assured her with a slight smile.

Okay, so I could let a little of my more playful nature shine through. Even so, that was only because I was going out of sight within moments of saying that was a bad idea.

My previous flattery only seemed to half-blind the pink mare, and the knowledge of my departure had brought her right back to full alert. Nevertheless, she was humbled for long enough for me to slip away. The room beyond was just as large as the surgical chamber, if not grander. It was also not broken into smaller segments like its neighbor. A wall full of shattered brain jars and one large smashed tank stretched high into the gloom. Each broken tube still dripped the strange green liquid. Sets of old pipes still feeding them the green sludge didn't appear to have quite gotten the message that the world had ended as they spat the viscous fluid across the metal walls.

To my left was the hot glow of a furnace, that was surprisingly still active. The flames coated the whole room in a hot, fiery glow as the inferno inside still raged. The same could not be said for the brain bots scattered all around the place. Just like the majority of the robots on the upper levels above us, the glass cases of the many constructs were also shattered. Piles of scrap had heaped up over the countless wreckages as if they had not moved in years. That stillness was betrayed by the fact that the factory still chugged, clanked, and rattled as if it were alive. I attributed that eerier fact to the storm hammering down far above as I made my way through the brainbot graveyard.

"There's no such thing as ghosts," I told myself, only to be reminded where that belief got me last time.

There was one break in the eerie-looking scene, however, a familiar silhouette standing before the almost blinding light of the ember-spitting furnace.

"Didn't know you had so much in common with a crow, hate to break it to you, but that thing's not some shiny trinket you can pick up and drag through Crimson with us," I muttered snidely as I approached, my harsh confidence back for a change now I was away from Cherry.

Gina's figure did not move, and my confident look turned to mild confusion at the lack of any smug response from the clearly agitated griffin.

"You're going to go blind if you keep staring into that thing you know?" I added, but still nothing.

She was like a ghost, as dead as the lifeless brainbots scattered amidst the scrap piles around us. "Gina?" I asked as I finally reached her, then froze.

She might as well have been blind. Her eyes were as cloudy as the wasteland's dreary sky and as wide as spotlights. Her expression was loose and lifeless, yet that was not what earned the sight of her my shocked gasp. Atop her head, beating like some crude heart and wrapping a wicked combination of mutated flesh and metal into her skull was a brain. A small disk upon the corrupted organ's surface bore a glowing eye, and immediately it snapped round to face me. I staggered back but the moment the thing made eye contact Gina struck out at me with her talons. Her sharp claws cut three distinct lines across my helmet, and once again I found a hate for those talons that arose most times I was attacked by one of her kind.

Gina didn't seem to care about anything as she turned stiffly, her limbs almost like a crude replacement of the mechanized brain's intended body as she began to shuffle forwards, that blank look still in her eyes. I backpedaled, trying really hard to think what the fuck was going on. I'd just run out of ideas for telling Cherry how great she was, now this?

Goddesses fuck you, wasteland.

My instant impulse was to shoot the brain off of her head as all of my targeting spells marked her as hostile, yet I had no idea what that would do. I had a feeling if I accidentally killed her the angry griffin would become a vengeful ghost and haunt me forever. With that in mind, backing away seemed like the best idea right now.

"Gina, this isn't you. As much as I know you probably want to singe my hide I don't think you'd go about it like this," I tried to reason, but the senseless griffin was unfazed as she mindlessly moved towards me.

I felt chunks of scrap and shattered glass bite at my hooves as my rump brushed against one of the walls. Strands of wires felt like snaking tentacles across my back as the room itself seem to come alive and reach out for me. From somewhere above came a buzzing sound, slowly growing in volume until it was as if the thunderstorm outside was just inches away. Through the static rumble, I could almost hear a voice. It was a deep tone, almost sounding as if it was spoken with an accent. It felt as if it wormed its way into my head, an almost angry sensation. The sight of a way more literal brain worm before me was enough in the way of imminent danger to keep those dark intrusions out, however.

Looking about in search of anything I could use to disable my opponent without killing her, my eyes came to rest on a set of old tools. Unfortunately for me, Gina didn't offer any more time and in my stupor, the griffin pounced, talons aimed directly at my face. Without thinking, I ducked, rolling to the side and instantly regretting it as my stomach churned. Gina struck the wall hard, several empty brain jars clattering around her as it shook. Yet she recovered in mere seconds as if the pain had not registered at all.

That sound boomed through the room again, the words trapped within it becoming more audible with the static beat of whatever hidden speakers it was surely coming from. Once again, I was not one to listen to the sound as I jumped into a gallop, fighting the knotting feeling in my gut as I reached the tools and encased a considerably large hammer in my magic.

Damn, I really wish I still had my knife or something! The moment I was armed with a slightly less deadly weapon than any of my guns, I spun back around only to find that the griffin was nowhere to be seen.

My eyes instinctively scanned the air, and I was almost relieved to see that not all of my wasteland experience had abandoned me, even if it failed to reveal the location of the danger. The voices booming down from above stopped as if waiting in eager anticipation for a killing blow. I pulled the blunt weapon close.

"Gina... Here, griffin, griffin, griffin," I called, in a faint attempt at mockery.

And you're the one who won't just shoot her? My mind stated, yet the idea that I was not as bad as the kind of mercenary she was, would not consider killing her just because she no longer controlled her own body. I was not a monster.

That was at least until the griffin finally made herself known. With a muffled shriek she fell down from the thicket of wires and pipes above me as if the wall had consumed her and spit her out exactly where she needed to be. I raised the hammer as fast as I could, forcing it between us as her talons slammed over me. I was pinned to the floor, my stomach twisting and forelimbs quivering as I fought to keep the shaft of the hammer between my helmet and her talons. I tried to kick up into her underside with my rear limbs, but every hit felt as if it were impacting lifeless flesh. The brain latched onto her head locked onto me with its lone eye, its wiry tendrils seeming to sink deeper into her skull with a fleshy whir. Then she began to force me forwards with her rear paws, sliding me along the sleek floor until the pair of us ended up directly in the center of the room.

It was at that moment I realized that the thing in possession of her mind was not trying to kill me. That voice above became a low whisper, its buzzing tone punctuated by several loud smashes. I looked to see some of the still intact brain cases shatter, their green liquid and augmented content falling onto the floor with a series of wet thuds. The newly released brains locked onto me with cold, red eyes. Before they all began to slither towards me with an unnatural speed that betrayed their sluggish-looking nature. Horror filled me as I realized exactly what it was Gina was pinning me here for, and the urge to just shoot the griffin was stronger than ever. Yet as if it were some kind of desperate race the horrors dashing toward me came closer.

"Goddesses damn me!" I cursed as my morality clashed with the will to survive, ultimately resulting in a surge of magic through my horn.

The blast of cyan fire erupted upwards into the griffin's face, forcing her back in a flurry of wing beats and scorched feathers. The dull droning above fell silent as I heard my attacker shriek in pain, only for her agony to fade as the horrible mechanized mindjacker tightened its grip. Before I could even look at her, however, I turned my pyrokinesis toward the approaching parasites. Each sick brain popped like a scalded Bloatsprite, their electronics crackling out as the fire consumed them. The moment they were gone I started to pant, adrenalin rushing through my body as I turned back to the griffin.

Gina's face was blackened, yet lacked any major burns. The thing latched onto her head seemed to have taken most of the flames. Yet it appeared that, with a living host for sustenance, they could regenerate far faster than when they were dashing about on the floor like slimy insects.

"Gina, stop!" I demanded, but the only look of recognition came from the glowing eye of the thing controlling her.

Once again she began to prowl toward me. Her scorched foreleg caused a limp she didn't seem to even recognize. Once again I was forced to back up, then something in my vision gave me an idea. My Pipbuck, it was working, and I knew what it could do. At that recollection, a set of patronizing hoofclaps when off in my mind, and in an instant I set up to target one specific part of my attacker with S.A.T.S. Failure to reason with Gina and my years' worth of instinct didn't give me much choice and I pointed my blaster right at her. Just like with the raider mare on the bridge time once again seemed to slow, almost like entering a memory orb. I felt myself stiffen, yet the same magical effect did not consume me, what it did change was my vision.

I lined up several shots with one of my plasma rifles and fired into the pulsing thing attached to her head as the spell was executed. My mind was demanding I get out of this warped time frame as fast as I could. Despite my doubt, the Pipbuck's newly functioning spell did not fail me as several bolts of magical, green energy flashed right across the mutated horror, scalding it to a mushy pulp upon the side of her head. I bit back my guilt as she fell to the floor, no way to block out her howls of pain as she went limp. With that, the whole room seemed to go silent, and naught but the orange light of the furnace passed over us. I looked at myself, plasma rifle suspended beside me within the cyan aura.

Did it work, or is she dead? Why didn't either of those things make me feel any better?

Tentatively, I approached, and after a few moments, I was glad to see she was still breathing. Even if the air seeping from her beak was raspy and saturated with bloody gargles. I stopped a hooves length away from her, retrieving the hammer I'd tried using first, and prodded the thing into her side like she was some trap I'd yet to set off. Using the tool to flip her head over revealed the bloody blister on the left side of her face, and the horrible burned wound. The brain thing had gnawed several inch-wide holes through her skull. Her eyes twitched as did the metal tendrils still sunk deep into her flesh and I jumped back as the thing began to regrow. Shooting it directly hadn't worked, I realized with horror as pulsating brain tissue began to crawl its way back out from her face, and the metal tendrils began to writhe.

"Dragonfire!" Came another panicked voice, and I spun around to see Cherry and Clip galloping toward me.

The moment I saw them I stepped in front of Gina. I knew it was nothing they needed to see, but ultimately there was a darker thought in my mind. Would Cherry think I'd done this? Worse still, did she think I'd do it because of what Gina had said to her? A series of hard cracks sounded as the griffin's skull twitched and stiffened. It was pressing me to think of something quick. All I knew now was that we needed to get out of here and back to Sky with the medical supplies before we all became mindless brain zombies. I'd save Gina if I could, but not over Cherry or any of the others.

What happened to saving ponies? My mind asked snidely, but instinct told me that if we couldn't get the thing off of her, we couldn't risk letting any of them attach themselves to us either.

Does that mean you'd kill her to save them? I guess that is the easiest way to save somepony from the wasteland, isn't it? My mind added.

I wasn't like that though, I'd never let anything happen to my friends. But what about those ponies who I didn't know, or even my enemies? Didn't everypony deserve a chance? I closed my eyes shaking my head.

"Dragonfire... Dragon-!" Came Cherry's voice, then she paused with a weak stutter. "What happened?" she asked weakly, fear shining in her eyes.

I looked at her, right into those teal spheres as they shimmered in the orange glow of the furnace. Does she think this is me? Does she think I've done this? What kind of pony does she think I am right now?

Before I could even think, however, my rear hooves were dragged out from under me. I screamed as Gina's talons sought out and cut through the weaker gaps in my scaled armor, and wrenched me back toward her. The unnatural force of her claws was like a metal vice. It almost felt as if she could rip my leg right off as I kicked out, my insides feeling as if they'd turned to jelly. The griffin's expressionless face looked at me coldly, and just like that, reason died. Whether it was pain, fear, or anger at myself, morality became nothing but a dream as I pointed my horn right at her. She wasn't a monster, but she definitely wasn't Gina anymore. Magic flared, and the cyan glow around it grew brighter and brighter. A sudden crack echoed through the air seconds before the fire could escape me. Gina's grip went limp as her grasping forelimb exploded in a bloody shower and she flared her wings to jump back.

Clip levitated his shotgun directly at her other talon as the first began to rapidly regrow. I felt the urge to cry out overcome my anger. But the fiery glow faded from my horn in the same instant, and then I wanted to tell him to stop. A hoof pulled me back from the griffin before I could do any of those things, however.

"Oh goddesses, what's wrong with her? Here take this," Cherry stuttered in a panic as she regarded my bloodied leg and pushed a healing potion to my mouth.

I had no choice but to down the whole thing as her shivering hooves refused to relieve me, only when my strength came back to me was I finally able to push it away.

"I have no idea. I came in here and that thing was stuck to her face, now she keeps trying to kill everypony!" As if on cue the sound of shattering glass heralded the wet thuds of more augmented brains hitting the floor.

"We have to get out of here!" I stated urgently, as I brought up my weapon and began to fire upon the approaching abominations.

Cherry didn't even question my armed aggression as she began to blast the things with Zap, Zap. I looked back to see the way we'd entered as several more brain jars shattered beside it.

"Clip, come on!" Cherry called, and I glanced back to see the colt's eyes fixed upon Gina as she rose again and again from the scattershot of his weapon.

"Come on, kid!" I called too, yet the moment I'd turned away from the oncoming mass of brains I felt several cold tendrils coil around my helmet.

A fear the likes of which I'd never endured filled me at its touch, the sound of metal teeth biting through even the dragon scales only doubling that dread. I dropped my weapon and reached up with my forelegs as blackness threatened to consume my vision and sharp spines found their way to my coat. All of a sudden that fire that had burned within my horn flared forth. Fear overwhelmed me as I let the magic flow through my horn without end until the foul creature eventually burst into ichor and flame.

"We need to go!" I screamed in panic, as I desperately searched for my weapon and ran for the door.

A sharp cry behind me stopped me in my tracks and I turned back to see Clip swatted off his hooves by Gina's claws. Cherry cried the colt's name as some of the slithering horrors turned and rushed right toward him. Gina pressed forwards, pinning him down under her talons as the first of the creatures coiled its metal barbs around his legs and another battled for space atop his head. I saw nothing, not fear, anger, or emotion of any kind as I pointed my blaster right at the griffin's head. S.A.T.S assisted shots melted it from her shoulders as two more blasts disintegrated the horrors tearing at the colt.

Gina's limp corpse fell to the floor twitching and bubbling. There were several bright flashes as Cherry opened fire on the rest of the attacking mutants. I had no love for any of them as I bolted to Clip's side, sweeping him up in my magic and placing him across my back, blood trailing from the coiling wounds in his legs.

"Cherry, we need to go now!" I called, but looking back I saw the pink mare backpedal to my side as a swarm of hungry brains clawed their way toward us.

"They're still coming..." she stuttered, unrelenting in her defense as more brains toppled down from high up on the walls above us.

Looking at the door through which we'd entered, I realized just how right she was as I saw it almost covered with the things. Then my mind began to spin as I urgently searched for another escape. The deep sounds echoing from the speakers boomed as I found it, that accented voice beneath the static almost recognizable. Not that I had any time to think about where I'd heard it before.

"There, that security door!" I shouted, before darting towards the small exit opposite the one through which we'd entered.

Cherry galloped after me, the flashes of Zap, Zap ceasing as the swarm grew. Like mines sensing our presence, more of the jars above shattered, their contents falling down on us with ravenous hunger. I batted one aside with my blaster as we reached the door and darted through it, slamming the heavy metal closed behind us.

"Can you lock it?" I asked the moment the metal sat between us and the horrific swarm.

Cherry looked up at me, panting hard. Then she looked at the thick, metal door.

"It's a magnetic seal, there has to be a manual way to seal it," she told me, and instantly I set about finding such a thing.

The deep sound of static and the slithering of foul things opposite the door did more than persuade me to hurry. Then like a living wall, they began to slam against the door, tendrils snaking through and drilling at its weaker edges. Cherry threw her magic around the slab, holding it closed as I finally found a terminal.

Okay, now there's no time for messing up Dragonfire! I told myself as I connected the Pipbuck to the machine.

Each failed attempt was one second more Cherry had to hold the door, one step closer to having somepony else's mutated brain try and get through my skull to turn me into a mindless zombie.

"Dragonfire... Please, hurry!" Came Cherry's strained voice, her face contorting as she fought to keep the creatures out.

Seeing her like that didn't do anything to aid my concentration, and at the next failure, I realized just how doomed we were. So much for saving ponies, so much for saving her.

"Fuck you, wasteland," I muttered to myself as I stared emptily at the screen that had secured our fate, then all of a sudden the silky green glow lit up with one message.

'Foreign Program Accepted. Equestrian Robotics Service Code 24/9 Overruled, access granted. Security Door 234 Sealed. Have a Nice Day.'

There was a loud shunt as the door sealed, cutting off several of the metal tendrils reaching through and leaving them to wriggle on the floor for a second before going limp. Then a sigh of relief from Cherry as she collapsed against the wall opposite the door. I meanwhile, stared at the screen.

"What?" I stuttered, then coughed a laugh.

I had no idea what was happening, but we were alive. My stupidity had not killed us, yet it had not saved us either. The screen had died to naught but a cold blackness, and I looked down at my Pipbuck, pulling it away from the terminal and rotating my foreleg. Something was definitely wrong with it unless I didn't know all there was to know about Pipbucks, one thing was for sure, this one seemed very keen to keep us alive.

"You okay?" I asked Cherry, and through the weight of her exasperation, she nodded.

"I was never taught how to keep a door shut as well as I was taught how to open one," she panted, the relief clear in her tone.

Yet that mild joy was overwhelmed as I looked over my shoulder at Clip. The little colt was curled up over my back, blood still trailing from his wounded legs. Immediately my horn glowed and retrieved a set of healing bandages.

"Cherry, give me a healing potion, quickly!" I called, bandaging his wounds.

He looked up at me, then shivered as he tried to raise his head. "Hey, woah, woah... Don't try to sit up," I instructed as Cherry offered me a healing potion.

Before Clip could say anything I pressed it to his muzzle. Cherry watched me silently, then her eyes fell nervously upon the door.

"Gina?" she began, then stopped. I stiffened, the image of the griffin's head melting away in the gruesomely slow motion of S.A.T.S flashing through my mind.

"That wasn't Gina. I think she was already dead when I found her," I lied. Surely if I'd tried I could have saved her, right?

The sight of her face bloody and broken while that thing had been more focused on regenerating than controlling her suggested otherwise, but still my doubts persisted.

"She... She was going to let them do the same to me..." Clip's timid voice stuttered as I moved the potion aside.

I turned to look at the colt. "She was going to do nothing to you. That thing on her face was after us all," I told him firmly, then my expression softened.

"Besides, if not for you I'd have been no better off," I added, knowing that if I'd been possessed by one of the brains, my stupid morals would have ensured I'd have regretted not burning Gina to a crisp.

Was that any better than blasting her head off? My mind asked, but the idea of her hurting Clip had possessed me far more than any foul, brain abomination ever could.

"What the hell were they?" Cherry asked with a clear desire to change the subject from the dead griffin.

"Never seen anything like them, thought brainbots were bad enough as they usually are," I told her, looking back at the door.

The rumbling of that static voice was still audible through the thick metal, as was the slowly growing grinding sound of a hundred metal teeth trying to gnaw their way through.

"They can't get through, can they?" Clip asked, as the wounds on his legs slowly began to close into bloody seems.

The sounds on the other side were more than enough to persuade me that putting their abilities to the test was not a good idea.

"I don't know, but we're not waiting here to find out. Come on we still need to get back to the others. Please tell me you got all the healing supplies you could," I said and Cherry nodded back to her full saddle bags.

"There wasn't an awful lot, but I got all I could, there was even a pair of medical braces," she told me, her confidence returning a little.

I nodded, but as the gnawing of tiny metal mouths continued to eat away at the door behind us, we began deeper into the industrial labyrinth.

The tight pipelined tunnels and steamy walkways were almost homely, right down to the dull red hue. It was so close to perfect it hurt, but the scuttling amidst the machinery always had me on edge.

So close to perfect, it even has its own swarm of ravenous brains that want to eat your mind. Passing through the open conveyor belts and assembly stations of an area of the factory marked 'Brainbot Assembly' made that edge all the sharper, yet it seemed that all the brains were still alive and able to feed were behind us.

"You have any idea how to get out of here?" Cherry asked, and though I had a million explanations as to how I would save her from this, my mind demanded the real reason.

"No, but we got to the holding blocks through the emergency stairwell for the primary supply shaft. So the primary supply lift must be around here somewhere," I offered hopefully.

I could see the questions on her lips. She was waiting to ask me what I'd do if one of many possibilities obstructed that plan.

"She's right, there's a cargo elevator to the main warehouse. I saw the top of it while looking through the ruins upstairs," Clip added, glancing between us from his perch upon my back.

That seemed to soften Cherry's worry slightly, but I was still very much on edge. If not for the monsters crawling through the mass of mangled factories around us, then the thing that had saved us by closing the door. As grateful as I was that none of us were mindless zombies, I didn't like the idea of somepony messing with me for reasons other than my own. Especially after Overseer's actions.

Well, it's good to see that at least one part of your sense has survived. My mind snickered, but once again I suppressed the mental distraction. Now is not the time for distractions, Brain!

Moments later, that emotional dictatorship was softened slightly by the sight of a sign labeling the area we were entering, 'East Warehouse Cargo Elevator'. The room beyond was a large opened chamber. Catwalks crisscrossed its midsections and above tracks, and limp crane bore claws and empty metal carts. Piles of junk littered most of the floor, and water dripped down from the gloomy sight above. 'Cerebral Command. Crusader Mainframe, Model Alpha 4' was written upon a large wall of machinery before me.

"Here!" Came Clip's voice as he jumped up and ran over to a large metal door on the far side of the room.

"The elevator's at the top, but we can call it down if it's still working" he began, ushering Cherry towards him with a wave of his forehoof.

I took a step in the opposite direction, my eyes fixed on the wall of machinery. Before it was a table, similar to that of the operating tables only far more advanced and intricate.

As if the other torture tables hadn't been enough. I thought bluntly.

One thing that wasn't different was the skeleton that lay upon the table before me, skull cut cleanly open. It was an earth pony's body, and strangest of all was the Pipbuck loosely wrapped about the bones of its right foreleg. I glanced up at the machine, then back at the device on the skeleton.

Goddesses damn my curiosity! I cursed myself as my horn flared and I slipped the device free.

My limited knowledge and tools were enough to access some of it, yet without a user, most of it was beyond my reach. All but a set of emergency recordings. One was a recorded message, the rest were a series taken in short succession.

"Dragonfire, we need your Pipbuck," I heard Cherry call as I pulled out my ear bloom and activated the first message.

"Hey, Babs, it's Apple Bloom."

The voice that came from the message was that of an accented mare, even if she sounded as if she were trying to hide that with a more formal tone. Even so, it was far from the pessimistic stuff I was usually subjected to.

"Sorry ah couldn't come see ya' in person, but it's been really busy here over in Fillydelphia, what with the war getting as bad as it is an' all. Part of me's just glad ah' ain't the only one who misses how it used ta be when we were still younger. Anyway, ah shouldn't be fillin' this message will all that kinda' stuff, this is 'bout the Crusader Mainframe.

The Prototype we built under the factory is to be decommissioned. Personally, ah thought it was fine, but Scootaloo's pushing for the mark five now, says we need the absolute best. But with all that she's describin' for this version, we're only gonna be able to make one, maybe two at most. Sometimes ah get the feelin' she don't think mah work is the absolute best no more, not that it really matters anyway.

Ah also got news about the new stable being set up 'cross the river from ya, but I think it best lettin' Sweetie Belle talk to ya about that when she comes down next week."

Apple Bloom gave a tired groan, then there was a sound like the scattering of papers as she almost seemed to growl in tired frustration.

"Ya' know, ah really wanted it to be me that come ta see ya'. Feels like the whole Apple family is not a family no more, even me and Applejack don't talk half as much as we used to, especially after Big Mac..."

There was another thudding sound, as Apple Bloom hit her head on what I assumed was a wooden desk.

"You know what, keep that mainframe runnin', it ain't gonna' be doin' anything it's not supposed to down there an' I don't want to feel like all that time we spent on it was wasted. So keep it cous', ya' know how it works, an' Scootaloo don't need to know. It can be an Apple family secret, just like the good ol' days, before all of this..."

At that, Apple Bloom's static voice faded and the message stopped. I reached the others with a slightly sadder expression. It was hard to think of ponies before the war struggling when we had to battle to survive every day, yet for some reason as I glanced back at that skeleton on the table, I felt a slight chip in my stoic view of the old world.

"Are you alright?" Cherry asked, and I snapped back to see them both looking at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled, slipping the Pipbuck I'd found on the skeleton into my bag and connecting my own to the elevator terminal.

Once again the wall of gibberish appeared before me, yet without a swarm of hungry brains after me, I was far better equipped to break through. Even if I was still wearily anticipating somepony else doing it for me. 'Access Denied' was all I received for my efforts.

"Well, well, you three ah' a bunch of bullin' troublemakers ain't ya'?" Came a deep, static voice.

It was the voice of the speakers again, the now clear voice of some kind of robot. I really hated robots. Yet the shocked look upon the faces of my friends told me otherwise and I looked back to the mainframe to see all of its screens had come to life. Including a large one right above the table, and a red brain jar that had lit up in the vast wall of machinery. Now I knew why I recognized that voice. I recognized the face of the earth pony on the screens. Babs Seed looked as if she'd been plucked right from my memory.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk Added: Exterminator Level Three - When it comes to the wasteland's irritating vermin you're undoubtedly, without question, the absolute best pony for the job, even if those vermin happen to be almost two centuries old. Gain + 30 damage against all creatures when they're below 30% maximum health.

Companion Lost: Gina - Don't blame yourself, some rivals just aren't cut out for the tough life. All related companion perks lost.

Updated artwork kindly provided by: Rainbowsurvior