My mind flickered weakly into... something. It was far from my usual waking consciousness, more like the many weaving strands of my thoughts aligning into something that at least allowed me to feel, or lack thereof. The world I was plunged into was like a cold soup, with every breath I felt like I was drowning in my own mind until, finally, the feeling of real sensation slithered its way to my senses. There was an unusually, and equally, light mane brushing against my closed eyes.

Okay, I'm a mare, a unicorn. But this is not me. I opened my eyes to see a reflection in darkened glass.

A mint-coated unicorn mare, with lime green mane, wearing a white laboratory jacket looked back at me from the reflective surface. I recognized the mare I'd seen sitting next to Twilight during Moondancer's assassination attempt as my current host. She was looking considerably less crushed than the last time I'd seen her. Her breath was slow and calm as was every other part of her. Yet her muscles felt odd, wrong even. They were like liquid, heavy, incompressible yet very strong.

Nevertheless, they felt like they were not her own, like her insides were crawling under her skin, moving around to make her better, more efficient, stronger. I could feel almost every biological process in her body as it was carried out. Her breath, heartbeat, neurons firing, the shifting of blood, and even digestion as if micromanaging her insides. Yet where other ponies might scream at the sensation, I was surprised that, she actually seemed to think it felt good.

From her reflection, I could see she stared at the glass with a glare that could almost shatter it. I could feel the many thoughts she had flashing away in her mind, all directed to one sole purpose as she counted every millisecond. The only break in her stoicness was her twitching ears as the beeping monitors in the black-walled room around her chimed. Then her relentless stare was interrupted as she looked to her left at an array of clear blue screens. Two displayed the jagged line of what appeared to be a heart rate, and another pair boasted paragraphs of scientific gobbledygook that I couldn't dream of understanding even in a body as perfect as this one.

The room was as black as the dark glass at which she'd been staring, the screens and her reflection in the polished floor the only thing breaking the void's effect. Behind her, there was an equally dark door, and above, a slowly humming ventilation fan. To the right were more screens and as my host looked back her eyes fell upon a jet black unicorn mare with steel gray mane and a business suit.

Ebon Star looked almost indistinguishable from the darkness, were it not for the white and orange of her eyes she may have been able to blend right in. Beside her was a yellow coated earth pony buck with a light blue mane, doctors coat, and stethoscope cutie mark.

"Stellar Swirl, good to see you're looking well." My host swallowed as her eyes lingered on the black unicorn addressing her, the only pony who seemed to make all that perfection inside her squirm uneasily.

"Yes, mother, I'm feeling..." Stellar powered her mind through the memory of a heavy metal catwalk slamming down upon her.

Wait, so this was after she was supposed to be dead? But I'd seen her squashed to a bloody mess? How could anypony survive that? I thought as odd, blurred memories of pain and power came to my host.

I saw flashes of pale-masked ponies looming over her, heard the disembodied rappid bleep of another monitor. What other brief parts of her survival she could recall made me sick to my stomach.

"I feel different... But good, the procedure was a success, but was it really the best way to test it? Now everypony thinks I'm dead?" Stellar asked, the recollection of literally growing back together making me want to crawl my way out of her memory.

It was like Hayland all over again, only in reverse and with far more blood than ash. And by the goddesses, it made her feel good?

Ebon Star gave her a nod. "Unfortunate, I know. But we had to make Moondancer's efforts at least look like a convincing accident. The fact that my daughter died will serve to drive suspicions away for the time being."

Ebon Star placed a hoof on Steller's shoulder, smiling as my host's skin literally felt like it was crawling.

"Besides, I had no doubt that your work in the project would serve you well, and here you are, alive when anypony else would be dead," she added, and my host smiled, pride welling up within her chest.

"I had no doubts either, you know I would not have agreed otherwise. All that spying at the M.O.S, makes me want to drag Twilight down for what she's done as much as Moondancer does. But messing with the ministry, the bombing too... We can't hide this forever." My host grit her teeth and was it just me or did they sharpen a little at her anger?

"No, but we can hide it for a month or two, that's all we'll need," Ebon Star assured her as she took a step back and at my host's curious look she added. "I have sources better than anypony else, Stellar, don't you worry."

At that, she trotted forward and placed a hoof upon the glass surface. "How long until the procedure is complete?"

Her question summoned mixed responses from both my host and the other buck Ebon had entered with. The dark mare looked at him first and he squirmed a little under her intense gaze, then swallowed hard before trotting forward.

"It may still take a few hours, we had to improvise given the sudden circumstances. We still have no idea if it will work," he admitted sheepishly.

My host watched the stallion closely, a brain crammed with too many organized thoughts judging his every word. Ebon Star just stared into the glass tirelessly, then slowly turned to face him. She needed say nothing to make the buck look even more uneasy.

"Mam, you must understand that we were not ready, we had to stabilize what was basically a corpse... Brainwave function was failing, major organs ruptured..." He struggled to even pause for breath as he babbled.

"He's not even a pony and we had to work with what we could save that... In the plan he wasn't supposed to come in pieces," he finally forced out, stepping back as if she'd suddenly tear his head from his shoulders with her fiery eyes alone.

The buck glanced towards my host and in that brief moment, our gazes met, Stellar shook her head slowly. That didn't seem to make him feel any better. Nevertheless, Ebon Star's daughter stepped forward before he could say or gesture anything more.

"A more accurate and appropriate response would be to tell you that improvised method and fail-safes have been successful. The subject is stable and clear for the transplantation procedures," she assured her mother, all possibilities and outcomes of the words considered in her racing brain.

Even her voice was perfect for the explanation, smooth and fresh as mint. Okay, she may have felt like she was crawling with bugs from the inside out, but I had to admit hearing her talk with such confidence was kinda hot.

Now, Dragonfire, don't get too attached to mares in memories, remember the last one? I had a sudden flashback to the uncomfortable awkwardness of Lucky and her mother, and for once did not buck my mind in the face for offering such advice.

My host seemed to relish in the perfection that came so easily to her and embrace it. Or she simply dismissed it as a result of her genius. Given the look on his face, I assumed the buck opposite could sense he was in the company of two ponies that were far, far, above him in every way.

"Will he survive?" Ebon Star asked, lowering her hoof from the filtered glass and looking to Stellar Swirl.

My host nodded. "Yes, we were able to lay out a program to complete the process with all functioning organs intact and necessary synthetic replacements. He will be less organic than first designs, yet the Etherium frame will prove to be a more than an adequate replacement for the original limbs." Stellar explained, looking to the glass.

Ebon Star was silent for a few uneasy minutes, then she nodded. "I am glad to see that your adaptability is growing more considerable by the day, Stellar, " she said, looking to her daughter with a knowing glance.

That sense of pride in my host's chest grew. Only it literally felt like new parts of her body were growing along with it. Goddesses, is this what it feels like to become a Ghoul, or just die from taint exposure?

"It would seem you are lucky then that my daughter recovered in time to put your department back together," the black mare continued, slowly rounding upon the yellow buck.

The yellow earth pony backpedaled slightly, then froze, seeming to fight the words stuck in his throat as he raised a forehoof to point back at my host.

"But she was working for the Ministry only a month ago, your policies regarding the sharing of information with anypony outside of Oracle dictate that we shouldn't have let her do anything," he stammered as Ebon Star stepped towards him.

Stellar gave a cunning smile, subtly glancing away, only to peak like a foal that knew they were about to see an interesting confrontation in the schoolyard.

"Those policies are in place for ponies like you. Muttering foals who can't see potential, how dare you assume they apply to my daughter." She motioned at Stellar, and pride bubbled into something far more cocky in my host. "So, if you are quite done telling me what can't be done, I'd like to see what has been done. I want to see the patient."

I heard the buck's hoof tap the polished floor and a moment later he seemed to find his voice.

"Miss Ebon Star, we cannot simply break quarantine, you..." Something silently interrupted his words and my host's smile widened.

"I trust we will be obedient from now on?" Ebon Star stated as she pressed her horn to his chin.

There was a small shimmer of orange magic and Stellar looked in awe at her mother. I on the other hoof, felt my cold dread amplified. The stallion's eyes widened, then went cold and dead, only to flicker back to normality a second later. His once green irises were now tinted orange too. Ebon Star stepped back primly, looking up to the seemingly empty stallion.

"Shame, he overlooked my desires a little too much." She glanced back at Stellar

"I hope you can tell me if it is truly safe to see my patient?" My host nodded. "Good, now show me," she instructed the stallion.

The buck stood up straight and nodded without question. Trotting over to one side of the closed viewing screen he flicked a switch and an electrical buzz heralded the retreat of the glass cover into the ceiling. The room beyond was bright white, so much so, that the stark contrast stunned my host's sensitive eyes. The white, cylindrical walls were lined with yet more scientific screens, ponies dressed in similar white coats and muzzle masks trotted carefully around the room. Silver tables supported a whole range of sharp medical equipment, making me cringe within my host's mind.

Having a few moments to adjust to the light, I recognized the room as a lab similar to the roof Chief had ambushed us in under the M.O.S hub. The idea that I was going to end up seeing what fucked up mess had been concocted in there made me want to crawl out of Stellar's mind even more, but I was trapped for the ride as she trotted at her mother's side. In the middle of the room were a pair of massive medical tables, atop both were open glass shields, and their bases were covered in more wires then I could count.

To the left of the tables were a set of large, silver machines. The likes of which beeped and flashed with a slew of scientific data as they fed a mixture of purple, blue, and even rainbow colored liquids down through clear tubes into what I could only describe as a vaguely pony-like bloody mess. It had four legs at least, and the presence of black feathers suggested it had once had wings too.

A pegasus, maybe even a griffin? I surmised, yet most of it just looked like bloody offal supported by ragged bones.

Above, a vast array of metal arms, saws, needles, torches, and crystal-tipped spears worked furiously to pick apart the gory mess with as much precision as Steller's thoughts the moment my host took one look at the ragged corpse. To the right of the first, the second bed was far cleaner, atop it what appeared to be a tarnished silver frame, made from the same odd metal I'd seen in the Destiny labs and in Moondancer's experiments. More gnawing sets of mechanical limbs worked on placing a well-cut section of the former mess into the metal, threading muscles, tendons and even veins around the silver skeleton.

Smaller, finger-like extensions popped out from the side of each metal talon, welding and sealing the metal into place as more claws issued injections before scorching away any excess bone and flesh. To the right of the bed was a rack of the same metal, only here it was formed into more limb-like shapes, similar to the exoskeleton display I'd seen wired up in the destiny laboratories and even more unnervingly akin to that angry thing I'd seen trapped in the glass. Beside it was something that, at first glance, would have made me throw up if this had been my real self. In fact, I was pretty sure I'd be waking up from this memory to find my last meal all over the place.

Goddesses, why do I have to see something like that again? I asked myself as Stellar directed her attention away from the table.

A wired tank, similar to that in which I'd seen that poor mare defiled in, held within its bubbling vat several clumps of discolored meat. Each was pinned with more wires and needles than a pin cushion. In fact, they may have even put Lucky Star's supposed fate to shame. The lighted panels and screens below flickered with yet more data as smaller arms coiled up from the pod's surface, shooting beams of light over the meaty masses inside every few minutes.

"Well, I must say I'm impressed with all of this, Stellar. I have a feeling that sending you to spy on the ministry may have been a waste of your talents if this is what you can accomplish after only a week of being back here," Ebon Star declared, the brainwashed buck standing next to her only earning a few odd glances from the scientists working around the room.

Even with the compliment, now it was my host's turn to feel slightly uneasy. Her overactive mind was just as busy reminding her of the million complicated things that could go wrong with her procedure any moment.

Hey, at least I wasn't the only one with a brain that hated them. I thought as Stellar Swirl smiled.

"Thank you, mother," she acknowledged with a little bow of her head.

"Leave us," Ebon Star instructed the mindless buck and he immediately trotted off as she directed her daughter to the clean table's side.

Anypony working within a few feet of us froze, their eyes locked upon the dark unicorn trotting by slowly. Ignoring the chill, my host swiftly followed, her brief glances setting the other doctors' wayward eyes back to work. The only thing to keep constantly working were the multitude of mechanical arms, the subtle hydraulic sounds of which buzzed and whirred as Stellar and her mother stopped beside the metal skeleton atop the table. Looking at it more closely, I saw only a torso, both legs were missing, as were its arms.

The shape was very inequine, the spine was long and curved upwards, the hip far more downward facing and the neck was almost perpendicular to the rest. Without the limbs, however, it was hard to tell what the thing was supposed to be. What I did notice was that, even here, the angry metal jabbed relentlessly at my host's mind. Each dire emotion forced its way into her hyperactive thoughts like a knife. What felt like a bone-chilling nightmare to me and Stellar, however, didn't seem to even bother her mother. Instead, Ebon Star's eyes were focused on the many slabs of twitching meat and organic tubes being slowly built into the skeletal form's open chest, kept alive by the constant zaps of eldritch electricity from talisman tipped limbs and the odd concoction of liquid pumping into it.

Finally, her eyes fell upon the uppermost part of the body, and she reached out a hoof, only to quickly draw it back. What I assumed to be the head of the construct being manufacture before us was no more than a metal frame that appeared to have been forced around the jagged and cleanly cut form of an in-equine skull. It looked almost reptilian.

What was left of the sheared muzzle had been replaced with a steel gray respirator, small pipes, and tubes that funnelled red liquid back over the thin sheet of flesh that was stretched across the bloody bone. Leading back to a large, empty socket in the back of the head, the likes of which crackled with spikes of electricity. So too did the eye sockets spark with electrical life as one metal arm slowly lowered a small mechanical ball into it, attaching several wires before welding the glowing sphere into a place where there had once been an organic orb. A similar arm mirrored the action opposite, before both sets welded in a lens and drew back to work on the rear of the skull.

"Magnificent isn't it, your potential?" Ebon Star asked.

I could feel that sense of pride raise then fall as Stellar looked at the jet black mare. There was a sense of achievement, admiration, and love. Yet her emotions felt like more than just feelings, it was as if they were physically changing her insides.

"It was not possible without you and... Well..." she stammered as a seemingly forbidden thought fought to get into her head.

All I got were glimpses of another lab, a flash of the Destiny logo across a terminal before she shoved the traitorous idea away. Ebon Star smiled, and once again I felt those accomplished ideas fill my host.

"This is as much your victory as it is mine, Stellar. No Ministry could achieve what we have done here, such a pinnacle of cybernetic engineering has never been reached before, and you should be rewarded," she explained, trotting around the table and kindly placing a hoof on my host's shoulder.

"Thank you, but I feel like this... My work on the evolution project... Well, the way I feel." Stellar pressed a hoof to her chest, rubbing her firm muscles. "I'm so strong, so alive when I should be dead. I think it's reward enough," she stammered, pressing her forehooves together as her insides crawled.

Goddesses, I really loved knowing that when my gut squirmed like that it was a foal, not whatever this is inside her.

"Well, in that case, I have a new project for you," Ebon Star finally stated.

I felt my host's pride fail and confusion swirl up in its place as she cocked her head.

"A new project, but I'm sure this will be a success? We can give it to ponies, with soldiers like this we could win this war and..." Ebon silenced her daughter as she pressed a hoof to her muzzle, then she smiled.

"What did I tell you? This is not about the war, this is about our prosperity as a species. I have entrusted you to embody our role of evolution and therefore you are to work on this new project," Ebon explained with a firm ambition.

Stellar seemed to ponder the thought for a long moment, then paused. Her mother looked back at her with encouragement, yet I knew there was a deep fear hiding within the back of my host's mind regardless of how invincible she felt. She'd seen what happened to the doctor, she'd admired that power. Yet her mother had been perfectly fine with letting her die, so if her own experiments did not pull through? Would she be perfectly fine doing what she'd done to him to her own daughter?

What the fuck did she even do to him? Was my far-flung contribution to the centuries-old mental dilemma in Stellar's head.

Then my host's mind fell silent as she lowered her hoof, a deep trust and admiration for the pony before her blocking out the doubts as she nodded.

Ebon Star smiled. "You always were my magnificent little filly, Stellar."

The hug she wrapped her daughter in was chilling at best. Stellar merely looked over the black mare's shoulder to the mechanical monster being manufactured on the operating table.

"Yes, magnificent... Isn't it?" she uttered coldly.

The memory orb slid from my hoof, rolling across the wooden floor as I lay spawned out on the mattress in Vertigo's dingy hotel room. As much as he apparently annoyed Sky and Flare's family he was still useful enough for them to give him a room at the Under-Toe just too keep him around. Or just to keep him out of their manes. Of course, it wasn't like any of that mattered now. The room was dark, long shadows cast by the dull light of the town outside coming in through a dirty window. I could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance and the wind rattled against the window blinds. I lay there in the gloom, staring at yet another slowly rotating ceiling fan as I sighed.

What is the point in making the mystery greater? Is adding to the whole 'Oracle is trying to rule the world thing' really worth staving off your boredom? To save me from my thoughts from wandering, right now, it seemed worth it.

I'd failed to save a pony who needed it, whether she was crazy or not. I'd left Sky and Flare without a sister and Cherry hopeless, even if she'd assured me she was fine in that... 'No, I'm not really fine' kind of way. I glanced over to the bed at the far end of the narrow, rectangular hotel room. Of course, I'd given it to Cherry, I didn't deserve anything more than a grimy mattress to wallow on. In the dull quiet, I could almost hear her breath and things seemed relatively peaceful to the murmuring rabble outside, at least at first glance.

A small mutter from the pink mare curled up at the head of the bed and I sat up in a flash. Remainders of how fast I'd dashed to catch her when she fell from the elevator or how I'd felt my heart rent from my chest when she'd come tumbling down the stairs came running back to me as I steadied myself and stood up. Only the light of my Pipbuck still wrapped around my leg broke the still gloom as I trotted up to Cherry's bedside and sat down on a rickety old stool. It felt good to have the cool night air on my bear coat and to be free of my barding while not stuck in a clinic or some pony else's sex office. Cherry was the only pony I wanted to be with right now and yet I dared not wake her up. I didn't think she blamed me for anything that happened, even if part of me knew she should. Otherwise, only one thing was for sure, she was going to be kicking herself for it.

"No... D–don't make me... I–I don't want to go..." she stammered in her sleep, twitching and kicking as I placed a hoof on her head and rubbed her mane.

"Shussssh," I breathed, rubbing my belly as I stroked her neck. "It's okay, shusssh."

Things in my mind were once again creeping out from the shadows. I remembered my mother sitting next to me as I wept. I remembered Teal crying into my neck as I hugged him. I felt my belly squirm ever so slightly and imagined a new foal to comfort.

"No... Father... Tumbler... No–no, I won't leave you... Don't make me go..." Cherry stammered, tears rolling from her closed eyes as she wriggled.

Then, just like that, she fell silent and resumed her slow breaths. I slid back in the chair, both forehooves rubbing the small bump in my abdomen as I watched her.

Am I really doing the right thing? Am I really a good pony like she thinks I am? I sighed as I slumped some more.

What was there to do, I didn't feel like my magic had the strength to pry into any more memory orbs. Vertigo's radio was busted, not that I'd heard from Rapid back in churn for the past few days. Eventually, I looked at my Pipbuck, a set of recordings still un-listened to.

I'd failed to do anything to help Lucky Star too. No, I don't need this right now. I don't need to feel even more like shit. I declared. You've been at rock bottom before, Dragonfire. You know what wallowing in self-pity will get you. Now buck up and distract yourself!

Regardless, I was not about to endure another heart retching recording from the mare whose fate I suspected was more horrible than I could imagine. Oracle, Destiny, they were the same and with an unhealthy obsession with using ponies as pin cushions. I saw that bloody mess on the table being wired into the silver skeleton and shuddered. That, Ebon Star, and her daughter's insides chewing her up... They were all so wrong.

Even so, I didn't really feel like going out around town was the best idea. The less time I spent lingering around Crossroads the better. Vertigo was still out. It had only seen fitting that, as one of the three of us to actually live here sometimes, he was the one to help sort things out. I didn't think I could look Sky or Flare in the eyes right now, and to Cherry, it seemed like they were the last ponies she wanted to disappoint again.

They could take Pick-Me-Up and throw him into a pit to rot for all I cared. I'd not heard about Heatstroke since leaving her father's home with Vertigo. He'd left us here and I'd made it pretty clear how out of the way I was staying until he got back. That had been hours ago, and ever since getting Cherry to get some sleep, I'd been sitting here wallowing. One thing was for sure, I wasn't getting any sleep myself regardless of how tired I was. Carrying a foal was hard it seemed, but carrying the added baggage of a broken moral compass and a life in the wasteland made it all the more difficult. Still, I sat up from the bed and trotted back to my mattress, then peered through a door on the opposite side of the room from the bed.

The small, grimy kitchen beyond looked no more appealing in the gloom as I trotted in. Once white tiles were now yellowed and chipped. The oven looked more like an angry monster, its glass cracked and covered in dry mold. The stove above it was no better and each of the cupboard doors looked only a few inches from falling off their rusting hinges. Wallpaper was peeling and a distinct rattling came from a pair of small rusted pipes beside the door. I walked through the kitchen, tiles cracking under my hooves before I reached another door to the right of the first. It creaked open to reveal the bathroom. There was one toilet, sink with rusted faucet, and a shower bath. The pink and flowery, translucent curtain that covered the latter really did not seem like Vertigo's style. Even so, as I trotted over and pulled it aside I was met with the relativity clean bath and a wall of tiles with a tinted window just above.

I glanced back into the silence of the darkened kitchen. Cherry was still fast asleep and goddesses I hoped this place had water. My magic still refusing to spark up, I reached out with a hoof and turned the fosset. What small amount of trickling water that did come out was nothing like in Churn, but after a day in the desert heat, it was at least pleasant. The slow clicking of my Pipbuck suggested it was indeed rainwater. As the warm water liquid through my sweaty mane, down over my shoulders, back and flanks, I finally sat down. Water pooled around my butt as I leaned against the side of the bath and rubbed my stomach gently.

At least there's still one pony I can't fail. That was all that went through my mind as I watched the droplets slowly roll across the small bump. Damn it, this all feels so new and wrong at the same time.

Part of me still didn't think it could be real. Did I even deserve it after all that I'd done? I failed to save lives and yet I was finally allowed to bring one into the world?

Don't forget, it could still be a monster. My mind chirped, but I slammed a mental door in the face of the idea.

No way would I allow any foal of mine to be a monster, even if it killed me. But even now, when it was so small, it felt so strange. It was like that strength swelling inside of Stellar Swirl, only for all the right reasons. I wiped a strand of wet mane from my eyes, remembering what my mother had told me about caring for a foal all those years ago. Funny, back then I thought it would be the last thing I'd want to do.

"You really do know how to turn my life around, don't you, little guy?" I said with a small chuckle, rubbing my belly as my insides tickled.

"More like on its head, hur?" I added with a sigh as I lifted my head up into the water, closed my eyes and let it cascade over my face.

My stomach gave an anxious, little twitch, seemingly unsatisfied that my attention was directed anywhere but towards my foal. I looked back down and smiled.

"Don't worry, you'll have nothing to be afraid of because I'll never let anything happen to you now. No matter what you are," I assured the wriggling sensation.

Even if you come to regret it? My mind asked and as I went to slam another mental door in its face again I felt my thoughts catch. I know what's right, there's no way I can regret carrying this new life, right?

Water still cascading over me and one forehoof on the top of my tummy, I looked to the one distraction I had left and sighed, droplets flittering from my nostrils. My Pipbuck still sat idle on my leg, glowing as water trickled around it.

Another little miracle. I thought, lifting it up as I rubbed my midsection softly.

What really was going on, there had to be a reason for all this? Overseer, the monster ponies, my foal.

Part of me still dared not look as I once again found Lucky's sixth recording. Yet for the good of my foal, for the little guy's future. Wouldn't it be worth that if only to save me from self-pity? I took a deep breath, then sighed as I rested my foreleg and the device atop the small bump.

"We'll find out what we are now together, okay?" I stated, taking the little squirm that followed as an agreement as I reluctantly hit play.

Day 32:

Damn, and there's a time jump since the last? I thought, spying the date as the sound of the brainwashed mare's voice once again sprung from my Pipbuck.

"Hey, this is Lucky Star... Wow, you would not believe what the doctor let me do today! They let me out, I got to see the world outside my room for the first time... Their world and they let me go through the big tunnel thing, with lights and screens. They said it showed them what was inside me and everything, and I was super glad because I still feel sick and I really just want them to make me feel better.

But they said I was fine and that it was all a result of my accident. I don't know though, it feels like they treat me different, they never let me out of their sight and there were always these two ponies with weird sparky sticks with me. They never did anything, but they had funny masks and didn't talk... Stupid grumpy ponies. I saw doctor Band-Aid too, and it was just me and him in a room. He put some weird stuff on my tummy, then had this thing which was really cold... Then he put me to sleep! But he said it was all okay and that I should not worry. Asked me if my hooves were hurting, how hungry I was and how much I was being sick.

So I told him and he just nodded, but he didn't tell me how I'd get better, he just said there was a long way to go before I did, and that a lot of things were going to change. He seemed really interested in looking at me though, they wrapped this weird yellow tape with a number on it around me and then had me stand on this odd black thing that gave them a number too. I'd never seen numbers so big, but all they did was say that was okay too. Then there was the one time I asked what it was that was making me sick and if I could stay outside and they didn't even listen, just said they may need more orbs. I don't even know what orbs are! I think it was one of the rooms we passed on the way back to my world, but I don't know. It's not fair! All I want is to be better and now... Oooo, not now! I feel it coming again... No, no, I don't want to be sick... Please!"

Her voice faded in a fit of retching and gagging as the recording went dead. I looked down at the Pipbuck, water dripping from my mane as my belly gargled.

Orbs? Scans? She was sick? What in the goddesses' name had they done to her? A lurch from my stomach stole my thoughts and I pressed a hoof to it as I heaved.

I was incredibly thankful that the toilet was right next to the bath as I rolled over the side and vomited into the bowl. A minute later, and I slipped back into the trough, sliding down into the shallow pool with a really bad taste burning my throat.

"Thanks, just what I needed," I groaned, patting my belly as it squirmed.

Still, as much as I'd seen countless things in the past few days that had made me sick, vomiting did little to cleanse it.

Seriously, I have to stop running out of distractions! I cursed, even if I really didn't feel like getting out of the bath just yet.

I lifted one foreleg over my face, the other on my stomach. The last pair of recordings from Lucky Star looked to be dated with a larger jump than the last two, a few weeks each. I looked down at my small bump.

"Another one can't hurt, right. What do you say, little guy?" I asked, ready to activate the seventh audio log.

Of course, that was when the wasteland answered my prayers in the utterly wrong way. Vertigo's head appeared from the open door, our eyes met, and just like that, I found it hard to think the water was the hottest thing in here as my ears burned and my cheeks went bright red.

Goddesses, why couldn't I have just heard him come in! I braced myself for some wisecrack, but instead, I just got a smile. A really, really handsome smile... .

"I see you found the shower, it's definitely one of the better perks of the room," he said, leaning against the door frame with his forelegs crossed.

"What... You... When did you..." I stammered rising for just a second before splashing my forehooves down in the water and slumping back again. "Yeah... Fine, what does it matter?"

Vertigo shrugged before trotting over and leaning on the bath side. For once, I was able to see that underneath that sarcastic witty stallion's facade, he actually looked like he cared. That, and he was more good-looking now than ever before. Who knew that less light could actually make some pony looked better, mysterious even.

"You don't have to be embarrassed that you're using my bath, you know? I mean goddesses know I don't use it," he said with a smirk.

"And here I wondered why you smelled so much," I retorted, more of his wit seeming to rub off on me.

"Ha, I'll have you know that I have a shower back at... well, headquarters," he responded, pressing a hoof to his chest.

"You mean you're friend's, headquarters," I added, and he gave a little nod. "We still heading out there tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yeah, Flare thought it best we get out of town sooner rather than later, she's going to try and pull this place together while Sky runs the clinic. She said to give her a week or two to try and get the robots working and she'll see what she can do about Crimson Springs," he explained, but even as I nodded only one question was on my mind.

"And her father?" I asked.

"Locked up," he added sharply.

"Good," I declared bluntly, slumping a little more.

"It wasn't your fault, you know? I thought everything was under control the moment I disarmed her, I didn't even catch sight of his weapon," he confessed, and despite his level tone, I saw regret in his eyes.

"I've been through a lifetime of ponies telling me things were not my fault, I've seen the same happened to others over and over. I think we both know we could have done something different, and I have a feeling you know as well as I that thinking about it now won't change anything." My head rolled over my shoulder as I leaned against the sleek tiles.

He at least seemed to admire my willingness to admit that as he sighed.

"How about your friend?" He motioned back to the bedroom.

"She's a different story, she's just focused on trying to make the world a better place. I filled her head with false hope and now this is going to eat her up," I admitted, and it almost felt good to tell somepony about those feelings.

"There are worse things to fill somepony's head with, at least while she's with you it doesn't seem like it will be bullets anytime soon," he said with a small chuckle, before adding. "But she trusts you, she still does. Trust me, I've seen a lot of ponies and I know how to read them."

"And what do you read about me?" I asked, fearing what he might say.

"Like I said when we met, you're a misfit." He brushed his chest armor with a hoof. "But at the end of the day, who isn't? I know you try to do the right thing, but you're way in over your head," he explained.

Wow, is it really that easy or is that his special talent? I've yet to see his cutie mark, so what do I know? I sighed, then laughed a little.

"You got that right. Took one job too many," I stated and he patted my shoulder.

"The same boat as me, not so good ponies on our tails and no idea why. But I promised I'd help you get out, and I keep promises," he assured me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, unless you're hungry, bored, or I'm stuck in a clinic bed for days," I retorted, and he raised a forehoof defensively.

"Hey, that first one's important. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent meal out here?" His shock drew another chuckle from me.

"You know if I were back in Churn and still had a life, I'd fuck a stallion like you in a heartbeat." Just like that, I'd discovered another pony who truly spoke my language.

"Who says we can't do it right now?" he asked with a smirk. "It's a great way to forget about all the shit we've caused."

"Because one of the only reasons I'm trying to bring the bad ponies down is because they kidnapped one of the few stallions I actually care about, and I've had enough awkward sexiness for one day," I admitted, yet I didn't even need to reinforce the rejection with a glare as Vertigo nodded and took a step back.

"Well, the offer still stands because quite frankly, you really are quite something underneath all that cocky shit you call a personality," he joked.

I waved a forehoof at him, sending a splash of water his way. "All that reading and you still don't judge a book by its cover?"

His mouth curled as another small chuckle escaped. "Not when I think the book’s worth reading."

Okay, so maybe he does know what to say to get me a little more interested, but right now I'll just take the shower.

"I guess I'll just leave you here then, sleeping isn't really my thing in this town anyway, not for too long," he said, backing out the door.

For a split second the thought of that offer resurfaced in my mind. We can share my mattress, can't we? If we have sex then maybe I'll be able to stop staring at his butt every time it's in front of me?

"Goodnight, Vertigo," I said, sinking down into the cooling water as I flicked the shower off with a hoof and the tub began to drain.

"Night, and don't let me come back to find out you drowned or something," he snickered as I shouted.

"For the love of Celestia, it's an inch deep. I'm not a goddesses damn filly!" It was amazing his laughter did not wake the whole hotel as he trotted off into the bedroom.

"Teal, you're barely three, what are you doing trying to drink that!" I shouted as I swept the bottle of whiskey back into the stash I kept in my foot-locker. "You know you're not supposed to go in there!"

"What does it matter how old I am, you drink it and I've heard so many ponies saying you're too young to be doing the things you do!" the colt shot back, and no matter what he'd done wrong, that stung.

"W–what... I don't care what anypony else says, I'm your mother and I say that you shouldn’t be drinking that stuff until you're a lot older!" I declared, jabbing a forehoof at the rusty locker as the rain thundered on the roof of our boxcar home.

Oh, sure you're his mother, how long has it taken for that lie to really sink in. My mind mused as I tried my best not to let his comment about my predicament get to me. He's just a colt, barely older than a foal. He doesn't know what he's saying.

"Why shouldn't I listen to them? I know you do, I heard you talk to Candi about them, you let them make you sad," Teal pressed, and I closed my eyes, counting to five.

Oh, doesn't this seem familiar, how many years ago was it that you were like him trying to justify sex with a colt when you were too young for it? I was reminded, gagging on the irony.

When I opened my eyes I found Teal looking a little unsure, apprehensive, even. He still scowled at me, little wings buzzing as they did now he'd just about learned to fly independently of his magical outbursts. Every time I saw him, I saw perfection, or at least thinking back on every time I saw him, at the moment perfection was hard to find. Especially when he was really getting under my fur.

"What I and Candi talk about when you're in bed is nothing to do with you, mommy's got issues with the ponies there too," I assured him.

"Funny coming from the pony who told me being different wasn't so bad," he retorted with a huff, slouching as he crossed his forelegs.

I winced and reached out to pat his wings, yet he scampered away. "Hey, I still don't think it's a bad thing, but some of the things they say about me are hard to deal with."

"Oh, and what do they really say? You've got a horn like most of them, so what's really strange about you?" he pressed and, I hesitated.

"Well, it's age... Like you said." I swallowed, unsure how far to go with my answer if he did not dig for it.

He's still so innocent, he's just mad. I love him, I can't really tell him. My mind raced with so many different answers to offer the colt.

"What are you too old, or too young? You drink that stuff all the time so why can't we all just do it?" he reasoned, jabbing a forehoof at the foot-locker.

"Because it's nothing to do with the drink, Teal!" I finally blurted, before rubbing my forelegs across my head. "I... I... They just judge me. Okay."

"But why? You don't tell me why they judge you. Then I guess I'm not too young to know things, mom," he countered, creeping towards my stash.

I shot him a dangerous look that saw he sat back down and frowned. "I'll tell you why when you're older, okay?"

Oh, Dragonfire, really? That's your response? My mind chastised as Teal snorted and I realized that what I'd said was really not the way out of this argument.

"Seriously, how old do I have to be? I've seen all that stuff you tell me not to. I saw them put done those raiders outside the walls last week, I see you and Candi sat there kissing and making all your cootie sounds!" he exclaimed, jumping up and flaring his wings as I could not help but blush, then scowl.

"Well, I'm sorry if you go ahead and just don't listen to me. I'm doing the best I can, it's not like I asked for this!" I declared and like that he fell to the floor and looked at me strangely.

"A–ask for what, mommy?" he asked, voice so naively curious it was almost unbearable.

"I–I... I... Don't worry, it's nothing," I improvised, finally realizing that peak my mother had reached all those years ago and found myself toppling over the other side where she'd stood proud upon the summit.

Teal looked at me, then at his forehoof. "You think I'm strange too, don't you?"

The question felt like it tore out my heart, and through the new hole, all of my heat, frustration, and anger poured out and was forgotten.

"No, I never said that. I love you, Teal, more than anypony in the world!" I insisted as I moved to hug him, but with a buzz of his wings, he darted away.

"That's why they think you're strange too because you're with me!" he added, flying up to the top of a cabinet and pointing a forehoof down at me. "You live with a pony who's strange!"

"No, they don't they... They think I..." I lost my words.

You're what, too young for this? Damn, right you are! I trotted over to the cabinet and reached up but he shied away from my forehoof.

"Come on, Teal, come down, we'll talk about this. I'll even try to get you so of those sugar bombs you like so much."

His ears perked, yet he didn't come any closer to me. Instead, our eyes met and the sense of fear that I'd leave him just because of his wings shot through me like a bullet.

"I–I... No, I don't want sugar bombs, I wanna be normal," he whimpered as he curled up against the back wall.

I crept up onto the cabinet, rear hooves on the lower shelf, the whole thing listed under my weight as I assure him. "You are normal, you are the most normal, best pony in the world."

He shook his head and cried. "You're just saying that. You don't even want me. Bet that's why you don't like it when I hear you and Candi, only normal ponies do what you do!"

Tears streaming from his eyes he darted past me and buzzed up to the rear of the train car, near one of the makeshift skylights. I almost toppled off of the cabinet as I stepped back and it rocked towards me.

"Teal, what are you doing. I've told you to stay away from there!" I called, but he shook his head as his tiny hooves fiddle with the latch.

"You just told me you don't want me, why should I care?" he whimpered, wiping his eyes with a sniff as the skylight flung open with a gust of stormy wind and rain streamed in.

"Teal, no, I never said that... Please don't!" Impulse took over and I bolted for him, only for the unsteady cabinet to come toppling down over my back. "No, goddesses fucking damn it!"

I cursed and squirmed under the weight, pain blooming in my hind legs. But I did not care, I did all I could to get free as long as I could still hear the buzzing of Teal's wings. I looked up, seeing him unsure before the last glance I got of the pony that meant more than anything in the world to me was Teal darting off into the rainy night.

"So tell me, you bought what again?" I asked Cherry as she trotted beside me.

The dry desert soil cracked under hoof and the heavy heat hung over us like a damp blanket. It was hardly anything out of the norm, the desert had gone back to being just that after last week's storm. My pink friend, on the other hoof, looked as if she was caring more than just the weight of the desert heat on her shoulders. Cherry had still failed to mention anything about Heatstroke's death or how she felt. I'd thought about asking her once or twice, but right now, it wasn't really something I wanted to think about either.

Even so, I'd kept good on my promise and she'd been the one who'd restock us up on ammo and medical supplies. Having finally experienced her bartering I'd come to realize just why she was so confident she could sell anything. The mixture of confidence and even sass I'd witnessed her employ when trying to sell off what was basically scrap did nothing to help me try to ignore my crush on her. Doing what she was good at practically turned her into a different pony, and it at least distracted her from what had transpired yesterday. Not only that, but she'd even managed to upgrade her barding. The new combination of stable jumpsuit and highway security officer, riot barding looked good on her. Definitely far better than me trudging around with the faulty battle saddle I was still forced to wear.

One thing I was at least thankful for, was that the black armor hid the curved shape of her body enough for me to ignore it, almost. It was hard to stare at her butt now, but her face was still unbearably cute. So too was her puzzle expressions as she levitated the ancient zebra tablet before her.

"I already told you. Plus, I sold almost every scrap of useless junk we had, except for this damn thing." She turned it left and right, and once again that odd, knowing sensation came over me as I looked at the stone carvings.

"I mean I had that rusty fork, it was far more useless than this and I manage to sell that just fine," she explained, seemingly to herself as much as me.

A fork, yeah... Damn it, Dragonfire, don't think about how hot she is trying to squeeze caps from a stone.

"Father taught me never to give up on something that's worth anything, I'll find this a home yet," Cherry declared proudly, levitating the stone tablet back into her new saddlebags.

Yeah, the sooner that thing was away from me the better. I thought, even as that odd desire to have it around came to me again.

"So, how's your magic?" She asked, looking back at me.

I gave a dissatisfied grunt. "Still useless" I groaned, putting a forehoof to my horn.

It gave a faint flicker as I focused, but that was all. Cherry gave me a half-hearted smile.

"And how's..." She gestured back at my stomach with a nod.

Wait, back there... My butt? My ears perked. Oh, the foal! Right!

"Fine, he's fine," I mumbled.

Cherry cocked her head as she looked at my midsection. My mind made the gesture out to be far more forthcoming, but I ignored it. She's not looking at me like that, damn it!

"He?" she questioned.

That reinforced my smile slightly. "Yeah, he's a he. I can feel it," I told her, shaking my midsection a little.

Cherry gave a slight giggle, an impossibly adorable giggle. Raising a forehoof to her muzzle as her eyes closed.

Great, all I really need to distract her from Heatstroke's death is be a cute mom. What perks does being knocked up not get me? I wondered.

"Whatever you say, but I remember Tumbler's foaling and she thought it was gonna be a filly right up until the moment my nephew popped out," she added with more of a cute giggle.

Her happiness was both unbearable and so pleasurable to watch. But I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Tumbler?" I asked, recalling the name, but not her being so open about the mare it belonged to

Cherry paused, lowering her forehoof. "Yeah, she was my oldest sister. Best of us with her hooves, but sometimes I think she was a little too good at getting ponies to like her."

Her ear folded as she made a motion with her hooves and blushed.

"The year after that was more than a little bit of a struggle, but we pulled through the pregnancy, got the cutest nephew I could ask for..." She sighed, gazing off into the distant hills.

"It was only a week after that that I lost them all, I hardly knew that colt and... He never had much of a life." Her head drooped as she sighed, eyes falling to the dirt at our hooves.

I moved in as close to her as I'd allow myself, placing a forehoof on her shoulder.

"Hey, if my foal grows up with a pony like you around, he'll have the best life in the wasteland," I told her kindly.

She glanced up at me with… Oh goddesses, not the humble look! Anything bit that utter adorableness!

"I know, he'll never go hungry, that's for sure! That one could bribe grass out of the desert," Vertigo called from ahead, nodding at Cherry as she scuffed a rock with a hoof.

The pair of us looked to the eavesdropping buck with disapproving scowls, but he only seemed to gorge himself on the amusement as he grinned.

So much for Mister Sensible and Handsome last night, huh? I thought with a sigh.

"How much further?" I asked bluntly, only now starting to notice the little added weight cradled between my legs.

Vertigo motioned ahead with a forehoof. "Just over the hill, you could see the damn thing from town, so you're asking me why?"

I just shook my head again. Damn casual weirdo.

Regardless, the massive frame of the ivory needle that had been visible on the hilly northern horizon the moment we were out from under the intersection had been where I was told our destination was located. The huge monument to wartime ponies' desires to go bigger stood defiant against the dusty gales of the desert, nestled between several small hills and rocky ridges. Along its vast surface was a large web of wires, pipes, dishes, and cameras that would have been visible as no more than a black sprawl b from the distance I usually observed these towers at.

As we passed over the ridge, I saw that the area around the tower's base was surrounded by a trampled chain-link fence, several large generators on the far side, and a smaller white building to the right of what appeared to be the monstrous structure's main entrance. Clumps of dead shrubs and brown grass clung to areas of the yard in mounds, and the odd tumbleweed bounced through. Then I noticed the robots.

There were at least half a dozen automated contraptions roaming around the dusty yard. Ranging from ponytrons, and mister handys to security sentinels and some of the Gyrotrons Heatstroke had been coveting. A part of me was both really glad she didn't know whoever had set this up, and another part glad that whoever this pony Vertigo worked for was, they did not seem to have an interest in the warehouse full of machines just a short walk away.

"Well, there it is, the real home sweet home," Vertigo declared happily, waving a hoof out towards the fortified sky tower.

My eyes were fixed on the army of shambling robots scurrying around like ants below. I had to suppress my newfound hatred I had for their existence, otherwise, I might try and dismantle every one of them before one inevitably tried to shoot me.

"Great, your housemates look just wonderful?" I pointed a hoof at a Mister Handy as it hovered to the edge of the fenced yard, extended its eyes to look around, then back moved towards the tower again.

Vertigo squinted as if they were nothing but real ants to him.

"What the 'bots? They don't bite unless they're told," he stated simply, pointing a forehoof at a rocket armed sentry bot as it rolled casually out of the office building.

Oh, because he loves robots any more than I do! I cursed inwardly, recalling just how close he'd come to being blown up under Oracle too.

Nevertheless, before I could argue, Vertigo hoped from the ridge, trotting eagerly towards the tower and the awaiting metal death squad.

"I hope you aren't planning to do that," Cherry asked softly, looking at the trail of dust kicked up by the rushing buck, then at my midsection with a worried expression.

Goddesses, is she really thinking more about my foal's wellbeing then I am again?

"No, I'll be careful. But keep your eyes on those robots." I suggested, and she levitated out Responsibility.

Damn it, I really wished you'd hurry up and get back here magic! I inwardly cursed at her casual use of telekinesis

"Whoa, come on you two, we ain't got all day," Vertigo called up as he reached the bottom of the ridge, shaking the dust from his coat with a violent ruffle of his mane.

"Have I ever asked how exactly you found a pony so strange?" Cherry asked as we regarded him.

I opened a mental file of all the bucks I'd fucked in the wasteland. Half of my memories had timed out, some others felt like they were corrupted or encrypted. Unbeknownst to Cherry, Vertigo fell into the file of 'I haven't fucked him yet'.

Oh, but you'd like to. You know you would. My mind snickered, recalling what we'd said to one another last night. Okay, so I definitely will at some point.

"I have no idea why some of the oddest ponies around are attracted to me. I'm just glad I have you to offer at least some sensibility," I responded, and despite what she'd told me, I had to run from her cute humbled look before I accidentally kissed her!

"Dragonfire, you said you'd be careful!" she called after me as I zigzagged my way down the ridge, careful not to fall.

"I am, don't worry!" I retorted, but myself shouting was abruptly silenced as a sharp pop filled the air, followed by a soft wiz as a bolt of green energy struck the ground to my left.

Fucking robots! I swear I almost shouted as I reached the base of the ridge and bolted for cover behind a nearby rock.

Cherry followed me with equal haste, a bolt of plasma skimming her rump and exerting an eep from the mare as she dove into cover beside me. Goddesses, am I glad she had that new armor!

"Die, zebra scum!" The over prejudice, tinny voice of the spider bot blurted as it hovered forward.

"Don't get me wrong, I really know why you hate these things," Cherry panted, levitating up Responsibility. "You still okay with the saddle?" she asked.

I looked at the weapons strapped to my side. Damn it, horn, I'm not an earth pony, give me my magic back!

"No, no, no. Wait, stop!" Vertigo cried, forehooves flailing.

Cautiously the pair of us peeked around the rock to see the buck running towards the Mister Gutsy. The robot paused, peered at him strangely, then finally hovered back. Vertigo fell flat on his face, sprawling in the dust where the robot had just been hovering. I exchanged a glance with Cherry as the robot's tinny voice gave a static crackle and a new voice replaced it.

"Vertigo?" The voice was that of a mare. "What are you doing back here so soon, and why were you followed?"

Okay, maybe that's a hint of scorn too.

Vertigo coughed, wiping the dust from his muzzle and patting down his mane as several more robots trudged over to help him up.

"One, I come back here any time I like." He lifted a forehoof. "Two, I have friends other than you, and three, please don't shoot my other friends!" he exclaimed, pointing at the pair of us.

Before either of us could react one of the Gyrotrons sped up behind us, scattering dust as it deployed its clawed legs and side mounted plasma cannons.

Oh come on, what in the goddesses' name am I supposed to do against that? I thought as its stalked eyes extended towards us.

"Hi," I offered tentatively, waving a forehoof.

Cherry sank down a little, paling even as I knew her magical grip on the golden rifle tightened.

"This is the one I was telling you about, she got into that stupid Destiny tower you're always going on about," Vertigo explained.

The Mister Gutsy beside him paused, seeming to think. Damn it, why is a robot thinking again!

Overseer flashbacks ran through my head as the robot extended one of its eyestalks towards us. The Gyrotron behind us gave a rev of its lone wheel as it also pointed its eyes on long stalks at us.

"You accessed Destiny Crop. tower five?" The rolling robot asked in a far deeper and menacing version of that mare's voice.

I nodded slowly as its eyes came in closer, and looked me over, lingering on my saddle bags for a long moment before redrawing back into the robot's frame. Then it sighed. A robot sighed!

"Very well, but only because I trust you, Vertigo, you oversized radroach." Both robots growled in union.

"You won't shoot us then?" Cherry asked, perking up a little.

"No, Vertigo and Stg ML3 will escort you up to me," the wheeled robot added, retracting its array of energy weapons before rolling away like nothing had happened.

I took a deep breath. Those things with that, speed, all those guns and me with no magic? My mind asked. It's a very good thing that Heatstroke did not get an army of them.

Vertigo gave us a weak apologetic smile as I stood up and frowned at him. Clearly, he had not got everything as planned out as he'd like me to believe.

"Come on, let's go see this backup of yours," I told him with a snort, trotting up to the Mister Gutsy.

"Stg ML3, I'm guessing?" I asked the hovering spider bot as it rotated to look at me.

"Yes, ma'am, at your service, ma'am." Oh, how I had not missed that irritating voice.

"You alright?" Vertigo asked Cherry and I looked back to see her more shaken then I'd seen in days.

You know how hard she's hitting herself for what happened yesterday, you're going to have to bring it up at some point. My mind reminded me, but I shook off the inevitable idea.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," she responded, and from the way he nodded, it was pretty clear he was just as against thinking about bringing it up as I was.

"Okay, let's just get inside, " he stated, trotting forward towards the door of the tower, St ML3 following him closely.

I nodded to Cherry who gave a nervous smile as we both totted after them. Vertigo pressed a button in the tower's base, entering a code before the robot confirmed his access and a large door in the vast mechanical wall whined and ground open.

"Your friend sure has a weird way of saying hello," I grumbled to Vertigo as we stepped onto a large elevator platform within the newly opened space.

Goddesses, how I love these stupid things. I internally hissed as we began to rise into the mechanical gloom.

"Well, you can't be too careful, the transcendent have ponies everywhere. They're not like raiders or slavers. They're organized and coordinated," the purple buck said simply.

I shook my head, glancing up to the hovering spider bot at my side. "Doesn't seem like enough to stop somepony like Carnage or a flock of augmented griffins," I observed, tapping a hoof against one of the robot's arms.

Vertigo glanced up at the silent mister gutsy. "Well, the trick is not letting them on to who's fucking with them, so they don't know where to send the monsters" he added, somewhat proudly.

I cocked my head. "And how exactly do you do that so well?" I asked in an equally suspicious tone.

Vertigo shrugged as the elevator rattled to a loud halt. The whole thing gave a shudder as a large metal door ahead opened with just as much noise and jets of hissing steam from either side. Stg ML3 was the first to exit, then Vertigo.

"Just please, please don't shoot anything," the buck asked, looking back at us with seemingly the best pleading expression he could muster.

Cherry seemed less reluctant to disagree as she nodded. I, on the other hoof, was not about to be accosted by any more robots anytime soon, no matter what he asked. The room beyond the elevator was a massive mesh of wires, pipes and terminal screens. It was almost identical to home, minus the moisture. That, and the corridor here was huge, it looked as if something even as large as an ultra sentinel could roll down the great rectangular shaft with no issue.

The buzz of generators sounded deep below and flickering lights illuminated the long hallways stretching off either side of us as we trotted down towards another bulkhead at the far end. Stg ML3 hovered over to a small panel in the wall to the left of the door, tapping several buttons with a metallic limb before turning back to us.

"It has been a pleasure, commanders, now I am afraid I must return to my duties," the mechanical spider buzzed before flying off back down the hall and into the elevator.

Vertigo shook his head as the door before us slowly opened, alarms and spinning red lights signaling its retreat into the roof.

Goddesses, what does he have in here? A mechanical monster pony of his own? My stomach gave a nervous twitch as I imagined something with a mass of mechanical legs, grinding tendrils, black claws and a fiery mane like Carnage.

Regardless, Vertigo trotted into the new room nonchalantly. Cherry appeared beside me and I offered her a cautious glance before following after the stallion.

"Honey, I'm home!" Vertigo called out into the vast new chamber.

To our left and right, raised platforms supported a vast array of flickering terminal screens and control counsels. Pipes and wires hummed under hoof, a griddled floor holding us about a foot above the vibrating surface. The shadows of fans marked the walls as they slowly rotated and hisses of steam accompanied sparks here and there. Vertigo's voice echoed as I peered up on to the massive shaft starching far into the misty gloom above, its walls lined with yet more tec and crossed by many steel catwalks as I resisted the onset of vertigo it summoned.

Directly ahead was a small groove into the domed wall in which was a large array of flickering screens, all seeming to display numerous places all over the wasteland. I could see towns, villages and ruins, some as far away as Manehatten. I could even see the area outside as Stg ML3 exited the elevator through the front of the tower. Below the screens was a massive control console of flickering lights, levers, and twitching dials. Several more had been pulled up on metal trolleys behind it, all bearing smaller terminals and keyboards. If it were not for the sparking wires that snaked up from the floor and over the trolley beside it, then I'd have struggled to distinguish what was detached from the rest of the machine mass.

Yet more of the wires and buzzing cables snaked around my hooves, all leading to various places around the overly technological chamber. The image of some sort of robotic abomination emerging from the mess to swallow us whole played out in my mind as my eyes struggled to comprehend the sheer amount of metal.

"What in Equestria is all of this for?" I asked Vertigo in a hushed tone.

The buck looked back at me and gave a subtle smile, nodding towards the mixture of terminals growing from the far wall. "Well, don't ask me, they're not mine."

All of a sudden, there was a rattling amidst the terminals and the head of a small earth pony mare emerged from beyond the foremost trolley. Wires and cables draped across her mane as she spat out a wretch and straightened a pencil behind her left ear. She was at least half the size of me. In fact, it was hard not to think she wasn't a filly as she stood up and pushed the trolleys aside with…

Wait, she's definitely an earth pony so what are those?

She wore a tight-fitting, black harness that was crisscrossed by small wires and bore a chest plate of flashing buttons. My attention was swiftly directed to where the vast majority of the wires led to, however. Protruding from her back were four metal arms, like those of one of the spider bots outside each was tipped with a dextrous set of claws that twitched like a perfect extension of their wearer.

Speaking of which, from what I could see of her uncovered head, tail and mane, her coat was a steel gray, her mane a dull green with lighter highlights, almost the same color to a terminal screen. Her eyes were green too, only just visible behind a set of large welding goggles. My eyes widened as she trotted out from the terminals, a great many larger wires dragging behind her as she did so.

Goddesses, she's like my nightmares about surgical machines turned into a mare! I thought as she flicked the cables from her scruffy tail.

"So, you two must be the ponies that have my..." She rolled a forehoof in the air. "Emissary, all wound up?"

Her voice was surprisingly light, prim almost. A betrayal of her partly mechanical appearance, more so as a mechanical arm took a screwdriver from the table beside her and placed it in a pouch on her strange barding. She glanced to Vertigo casually, her expression both a scowl and sly smile. He mirrored the expression blushing slightly at her narrowed gaze as one of her metal arms pushed the goggles down to hang around her neck.

I just nodded slowly. "You must be the friend' he keeps talking about then?" I responded, trying not to be too sour about the events that had just taken place outside.

"Is that what he's calling me these days?" She offered the buck a crooked smile, then waved a forehoof. "Nah, the name's Binary, and I think we got off to a bad start."

I looked at the mechanical limbs she was holding out in a friendly gesture like it was about to come alive and rip my leg off. I'd be reluctant to shake her hoof, never mind her creepy claws, which probably could do more things than a multi-purpose tool.

"I'm Cherry Pin, this is Dragonfire, and I think we can forgive and forget," the pink mare beside me suddenly introduced, taking the metallic limbs and shaking it politely.

Binary smiled. "Nice to meet you, even if it's unexpected." She glanced at Vertigo again.

He offered another awkward smirk, and Binary shook her head before she turned back to the terminals.

"Now, I understand that you gained entry to a place nopony should be able to enter," she asked, glancing over her shoulder.

Her metal arms swerved with her eyes as if they had a mind of their own. The whole thing caused a shudder to bolt down my spine.

Great, straight to the point, I hated long waits. Even if she looks like she has a set of metal snakes on her back. My mind noted wearily, as did it seem my tummy was unsure as it gave another tickling flutter.

This is still a bad idea, I have no idea who this mare is or what she wants. She could be a transcendent spy for all I know I stepped forward, glancing at Vertigo for reassurance.

He gave me a confused look, seeming to be in another place within that silly head of his. Well, so much for his seal of approval. I sighed mentally.

"I might have, but first I wanna know who you are and what you want with that information because somepony was willing to pay a lot for it. Not to mention, your friend here dragged me into a whole other nightmare just to try and get more of it." I nodded at Vertigo, regretting going into the Oracle building just a little bit more as I rubbed a hoof over my Pipbuck.

Binary sighed, her claws drooping with her head as her ears fell, then rose sharply. "You really know how to pick them, don't you," she grumbled her eyes and claws now fixed on Vertigo. "Well, I suppose I could just kill you if info gets out so..." she added with a sly grin.

Great, she is only a little more serious than him. I grumbled inwardly, catching her smirk. Only she had an army of robots to kill us with

"In answer to your question, I'm a pony who's been after those bastards ever since they ransacked my home, and I'll need every piece of information I can get to bring them down," she explained.

I was wary, but she didn't seem like a liar. I'd seen enough treachery in the wasteland to know when somepony was trying to trick me.

"Your home, where's that?" Cherry asked as I considered things.

Binary glanced away, metallic limbs looking back at her like sympathetic pets. Goddesses, I've really had enough of emotionally distressed robots!

"I'm from Stable Fifty," she told us, gesturing to her forehoof where I saw an incredibly slim Pipbuck, so much so it merely looked like an exertion of her barding.

The exact same stable where they took Star. I thought bitterly.

"The whole thing was some kind of experiment by Stable-tec, to overfill the place with terminals and lab equipment, but then the M.A.S decided to have the vast majority of their scientist stationed there to study what they found under the city. So when the bombs came down they were locked away with a virtual cornucopia of knowledge and technology," she explained.

Just like Sweetie Belle and Babs Seed talked about. I recalled, trying not to think about the fate of one of those mares as Binary went on.

"The Transcendent seemed to find that appealing, the temptation was too much to resist to keep them from taking over the place." She looked at my Pipbuck hopefully.

Great, another pony that had lost her family, her home? Goddesses, I really am a magnet for this. I flicked the faulty latch and pulled the Pipbuck off my leg, E.F.S and my vitals vanishing from my view as I set it down on one of the trolleys beside me.

"Can't say I know much about terminals, but everything on there came from Hayland's private terminal. Plus, whatever Vertigo got for Oracle. Most of the stuff’s encrypted but..." She cut me off with a casual wave of her forehoof, dismissing the fact with a soft whistle.

"Encryption, that's nothing. I eat those for breakfast," she declared grabbing the Pipbuck in her metal claws and looking over it carefully.

"The other files are from the Oracle hub in Crimson Springs. Whatever program she has on there stripped the place of everything," Vertigo assured, but Binary seemed far more interested in me as she pranced like a school filly.

"So you really did get in there then?" she asked eagerly.

I nodded, rising a forehoof before she could explode with questions. "Don't ask me how, I've no idea. All I know is the Transcendent sent a monster in after me to get something and I'm sure I left with it instead," I told her, feeling a squirming in my belly.

Among some other things you left with. My thoughts reminded me as I gently nudged my gut with a hind hoof.

Binary nodded, looking over the Pipbuck like a foal with her first ever toy. "Locking mechanism’s trashed, E.F.S seems glitchy, but it's working. I can probably fix everything on here with about a day tops," she boasted with another excited burst as she reached her wall of terminals.

"Oh, thank you! This is really everything that Destiny had on Oracle? All the stuff they tried to hide from everypony? The Apoptosis program, what’s under Crimson Springs. Oooo, you have no idea how much this means!" she counted giddily, setting the Pipbuck down on the foremost trolley before attaching a whole range of wires to it.

I glanced back to see Cherry smiling a little at the thought she'd done a small thing to help somepony. Vertigo just looked about as if this were the most awkward situation of his life. I looked back to Binary as she bounced about like a giddy school filly.

"So what were they up to, you know, making monster ponies?" I asked cautiously, really thinking that the least she owed me was telling me what was trying to kill me.

That seemed to reel the small mare in slightly, but she didn't seem half as reluctant to address the fact as her companion did in the field.

"Ever heard of the Apotheosis Project?" she asked as if I should know.

I shook my head in a way that made clear I wasn't the kind of pony that should know those things. She looked slightly puzzled by that, as if in her clearly superior brain this didn't add up, then she rolled her eyes

"Why, the Apotheosis Project is Hayland's fourth failed attempt to save Equestria, putting it simply," she added, waving a forehoof.

Using monster ponies to save Equestria, there are my feelings regarding pre-war ponies dropping to new lows? Carnage, a rage-filled daemon, pyromancer was designed to save Equestria? What about Vertigo's story of the mare with the swarm of flesh-eating death? My look of confusion must have been blatantly obvious as Binary continued to explain while she worked on the Pipbuck.

"Four different projects, all designated to perfect our biology. Radiation immunity, disease immunity, strength, endurance boosts. That was the basics, then they started to go a little mad. Mental control over mechanical nanosprites with the intention of creating matter was one such occasion. Then there was another to bio infuse a pony with IMP evolved viruses and bacteria. Most of the stuff they stole from the M.O.S," she explained, glancing over at Vertigo for the latter part.

The buck, shook his head. "I'll eat my tail if I see that crazy bitch create anything," he said sourly, scuffing a forehoof against the metal.

"IMP?" I asked, cocking my head?

"Yeah, we knew a lot about it in the stable, out here you'd call it taint. It was created by Twilight Sparkle at the end of the war, was supposed to create Alicorns, but I don't think it worked out," she elaborated, yet from what I heard, Alicorns were far from a myth.

"But they're just two examples. I thought most of the experiments were dead, but I now know at least two are still alive Locust and..." She waved a hoof at me.

"Carnage, who is a big fiery daemon pony," I finished for her swiftly.

"Yeah, him," she acknowledged, nodding as she looked back to my Pipbuck.

My mind reeled with the idea of at least two more of the monster ponies unaccounted for. Still, that didn't explain everything.

"What about this Barron?" I interjected.

Binary's ears rose tall, metal arms shivering like frightened hounds as she looked back over her shoulder at me.

"No, that was strictly an Oracle Project... Some sort of biomechanical, cyborg made from a unique metal ..." She trailed off looking at the screens emptily for a moment.

"The Barron's the one who took Stable Fifty from us," she sighed looking back at herself.

"I remember it like it was yesterday, the Stable door didn't stop them, security couldn't stop an army of radicalized idiots and captured raiders..." She swallowed, then sniffed. "That was the day I got my cutie mark for wiping the stable mainframe, the day I saw my mother murdered in front of me," she added, her sad expression growing firm as she thumped a hoof on the floor.

I felt my heart sink until it was almost as if it dropped out of my chest.

"If she hadn't been overmare I'd have never have made it out, but by the goddesses, I made a promise I'd get the metal bastard one day," she growled, her metal claws clenching.

I swallowed hard, another pony who had lost her family, the very day she had seen her destiny appear on her flank. I looked back to where my own cutie mark sat under my barding. That hadn't been me, that had been somepony else, some pony who died years ago.

"I'm sorry." It was the best I could say, the second most pointless gesture of compassion in the wasteland after it's not your fault'.

Binary shook her head. "Don't be, that was a long time ago, revenge is a good motivator, keeps my focus on the day I can rip that metal monster's brain out," she stated, claws tightening. "Then, as long as we put an end to whatever and whoever the Sigel is doing I'll be happy. I just wish I knew what any of that was."

She trailed off again, plugging another wire into the Pipbuck, then looked over at the screens, many of them still displaying places displayed in the wasteland.

"So you don't know who this Sigel is they keep going on about?" I asked as I saw a trade caravan pass a dinner on one of the screens.

Binary shrugged with all of her arms. "Beats me. Nopony but Barron seems to know. He's kinda' the right-hand buck being Lord Inquisitor and all. But I'd take a guess and say Parsec also knows, Twilight, and maybe some of the Apotheosis," she explained, rubbing her chin with a claw.

Wait no, that just gives me more questions. my mind hissed. Now there are just more names in the mix.

"You don't mean the real Twilight, do you? She's dead," Cherry interjected

"And who's Parsec?" I added skeptically.

Binary once again looked at us as if she thought we should already know.

"No, the Twilight I've heard about wears a mask, an inquisitor that thinks they're the second coming of the ministry mare or something." She waved another fore hoof dismissively.

"Parsec is the head of the Alicanto. It's a rogue faction of pegasi that follows the teaching of the Sigel. Though I don't think there's many of them anymore."

Okay, I'm just gonna stop asking questions now, I didn't want to know if they had an army of Hellhounds or Alicorns too

Binary shook her head. "You know, for some pony who got into a locked down Destiny tower you don't seem to know much." I'd no idea whether that was an insult or a compliment, but I tried to take it as the latter.

"I have no idea, somepony just paid us to get in there and when we arrived the place was open and defenseless since something called Overseer let us in," I explained, leaving out the part about my experimental impregnation for now as my stomach gave a faint twitch.

Really, she's the one pony who can help you? My thoughts stated reasonably. I didn't need help, I could have a foal, not a monster.

Binary shrugged. "Can't say I know what that is, probably some interactive security system," she told me as she looked over the Pipbuck, then she sighed.

"Well, this is gonna take some time to decrypt everything so I suggest we all leave the questions for when I have more answers." She nodded at the Pipbuck and the mangled mess of wires that had formed around it.

As much as I'd like to know more, I was prepared to give the mare a break if I had to. The last thing I wanted was her wallowing in the pain of her past when I needed information. With that decision, I swiftly turned back to the others to see Vertigo leaning casually against a squat wall of screens. Cherry's eyes were seemingly fighting to keep away from all the shiny equipment she could undoubtedly make caps from. Vertigo glanced to Binary the first chance he got and gave a dry cough, catching the small gray mare's attention.

"So, I think you owe me something," he asked bluntly, admiring a raised forehoof.

Binary rolled her eyes, giving a dry sigh. "Yes, okay! I'm sorry, and thank you," she retorted with an equal lack of enthusiasm.

Vertigo smiled. "Thank you," he responded with a little bow of his head.

"Yeah, well you're lucky I lost that bug zapper," she grumbled as he trotted to the far side of the room and opened his saddlebags, removing his equipment carefully.

As I looked around, Cherry appeared beside me. "Find any more deals?" I asked her with a wry smile.

She shook her head. "Hardly, everything in her looks like it's wired up to something else. I can't even tell if she's a part of it or not," she replied, pointing a hoof at the wires dragging across the floor behind Binary's scraggy tail.

My smile grew slightly at Cherry's puzzled expression. It was like she was part of the Apotheoses, and her enhancement was sheer adorableness. Now that was something I would like to see save Equestria.

"So you got a plan now?" she asked, but I shook my head.

"No, we'll stay here and see what we can find out from that Pipbuck," I said reasonably.

Cherry nodded, but then frown. "So you think your friends still alive out there?" she asked.

There was that good pony again. But I couldn't give her an honest answer. I believed Star could survive anything, I believed he wasn't dead. But that faith was slowly fading. Then something crossed my mind and an idea soon followed. I looked at Binary as she tended to another set of flickering screens. This was not something I really wanted to ask, but I was done beating around the bush.

"Say... how did you get out of Stable fifty?" I inquired tentatively.

The mare's ears rose and she looked back at me, both pride and dread in her expression.

"There's a secret passage to the overmare's office by the main door. I hacked it and got out through there into the desert..." She seemed to think deeply on that for a moment, then pointed a hoof at Vertigo and added. "Would have died out there and then if she hadn't found me."

My eyes were on the stallion in a second, as were Cherry's. "She?" we both stated in blunt union.

Vertigo coughed and gave an awkward smile. Binary looked to us in surprise then to the purple pony with smug confidence.

"Oh, she hasn't told you has she?" the small earth pony asked, waving a hoof at Vertigo. "Well, come on Vertigo, I gave up my secrets, now it's your turn," she pressed.

Vertigo stood and sighed. "Fine, it's no fun anymore anyway," he added in a mildly frustrated tone before the room was illuminated by a bright green flash.

Vertigo was gone, consumed by green flame and what stood in his place was... My jaw dropped as Cherry looked like she could faint. The strange, black, bug, pony... thing turned to face us. His hooves were like rods of cheese as was his horn, spiked mane, and tail. His ears had become sharp and pointed, and on his back were a pair of thin, insect-like wings encased in a sapphire blue elytra. His peculiar gray armor had also changed to that of a strange purple hide, like a saddle across his back and an old helmet, almost like that of those old world guards. The bright blue eyes beneath narrowed and his fanged mouth broke with a sly smile.

"Well, you caught me. Surprise!" He, she... it, said in a reverberating voice that was not that of the teasing buck I knew.

The Vertigo I thought I knew wasn’t the same Vertigo which stood before me. Vertigo wasn’t Vertigo at all!

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