I stood there flabbergasted, staring at the white filly staring back at me nervously. This was why I didn’t see her tag in the Crater, I didn’t think to look anywhere else. She was on her way to me, following MY tag. I turned my attention to Watcher and gave him my best murderous glare.

“Don’t look at me, I just happened to find her and when she told me about you… well, I thought I’d lend her my aid.”

I was forgiving enough to believe that Watcher didn’t put her up to this, which left…

“Aurora, What the hell are you doing!? Didn’t I tell you to stay in the Crater with Mother!?”

Immediately I saw her starting to tear up. I slightly relaxed my expression but I couldn’t falter on her being here.

“I…I just wanted to help…”

“I know Aurora but look around you.” I waved a hoof over the killing field of ranger and ghoul corpses. “This is no place for a filly, especially my daughter.”

“I...I don’t want to be left alone anymore…and I don’t want you to be alone Dad. The last time you were…”

She let the implication hang in the air. She didn’t need to say it, I knew what she was referring to. I had to concede she had a point but my thoughts weren’t going to change so easily.

“I’m not alone Aurora, I have Sunny with me.”

“Aunt Sunny would let you jump off a bridge if you asked her not to stop you!”

I turned to look at Sunny to which she responded with a non-committal shrug. Thinking on it, she had a really good point. Sunny herself was with me now because I asked her to help me, even though she objected to my vengeance.

“Aurora, I…I know how you feel…but I don’t-”

“I won’t let you leave me again! I…please don’t leave me daddy, I can’t…I can’t lose my family again.”

It couldn’t have been easy for her. She was by my side every day after the fall of Black Town and she had seen me at my worst. I remembered her crying eyes and panicky sobbing when she found me after I gave up the search for Chestnut. It was the lowest point of my life so far. I was, and in ways, still am depressed about not finding Chestnut. When I gave up my hunt for him I lost my will to live. Neither my Mother nor Aurora could stop me from deciding to put my gun in my mouth. As luck would have it that day, Aurora trotted into our home and found me before I pulled the trigger.

I didn’t want to talk about things after Black Town much but at this point it can’t be ignored, one of you was with me then anyways, I can’t hide it from all of you.

I remember sitting on the edge of my bed, looking at my hooves through tear blurred eyes. Every time I closed my eyes all I saw was her lifeless body plummeting to the ground below. That and the smiling face of Salted Chestnut. The rage in my heart would never be quenched until he faced my vengeance but lead after lead that was lost, turned my rage to despair, turning it loose on my own mind. When the inevitability of losing him dawned on me I saw no other recourse. I pulled out my gun and remembered to load it this time. There would be no repeat of the last time I sunk so low. I cried quietly through my teeth as I prayed to the goddesses to let me join Winter as I pressed the barrel in my mouth. In that moment as the tears rolled down my cheeks and I was ready to pull the trigger did my princess throw open my door and see what I was about to do. I don’t exactly remember what she was holding in her mouth but she dropped it as soon as she saw me, her smile turning to horror instantly. The look of shock on her face gave me pause in that moment, the gun falling a little in my magical grasp. Whether she planned what happened next or if it was purely accidental I couldn’t tell as a white blur covered the distance from the door to me in a flash. What came next was a small hoof hitting me in the cheek, causing the gun to fly from my mouth and grasp. Next thing I knew there were legs wrapped around me as Aurora sobbed into my chest, incoherently babbling as she hugged me like she would never hug me again. In a way she was right. A few seconds more and my life would have been lost. All at once life came crashing down on me as I finally saw the filly crying into my chest. She was just like me. We both lost her but she had lost more and I was about to add to her grief. It was then that I dedicated myself to her, her safety, her happiness. My life meant more to her than it did to me and if I had to live in pain to make sure she wouldn’t then that was the price I’d gladly pay.

Aurora stared me down, with conviction in her eyes. She wouldn’t leave me alone again, the image of the gun in my mouth etched into her greatest fear.

“Aurora…you…you are a very brave filly.”

“No more leaving me behind ok?! You’ll keep me safe…right?”

We were too far to take her back now, regardless of how much I was against her coming with us, she would just find a way like she did this time.

“With every fiber of my being princess.” I walked to her and gave her a gentle hug, nuzzling her softly. She returned the affection and wiped her tears away. A gesture she repeated on tears of my own. I turned to try and gauge Sunny’s reaction. All I noticed was that Freesia must have left during the spectacle. No matter, I would be seeing her again soon, her and her Elder.

“Good, that ranger left.” Watcher said, a bit of venom bleeding through the bots speaker.

“You don’t like the Steel Rangers?” Sunny asked with a raised brow.

“I don’t like the way they hoard technology, a perversion of what they used…never mind, it’s not important. What is important is what I need to say to you Sparks.”

“Oh? And what might that be?”

“I heard what happened from Grim. He told me everything. You were doing so well.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You were showing promise, making a name for yourself as a beacon of hope. You could have been one. Now…I’m not so sure.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? One of what?”

“Not important, not anymore. We will meet again Sparks. Try and find yourself in the meantime. You can still be a good pony. Don’t let the wasteland consume you. Be better, ponykind is something to be surpassed.”

With that final word a burst of static signaled that Watcher had abandoned the spritebot. Evidenced by the annoying music that started to play from its speakers as it aimlessly floated off. Just who was Watcher? His motivations seemed to include me in some way, as well as others as he made it sound. He was collecting ponies? Or using them? For what purpose? Suddenly I wasn’t convinced of his altruism. He wanted something and I didn’t know if it was a bad or good thing. He appeared as an ally every time we’ve met so perhaps he could still be trusted but that nagging feeling in the back of my head would linger for some time.

“Hard to trust somepony who never shows their face.” Sunny said, turning her back on the departing robot.

“Yup. Hey Aurora? Remember what we showed you?” I looked down at her expectantly.

She looked nervous but still pulled a knife out of the little backpack she was wearing.

“I hope you don’t have to use it and I’ll do everything to keep you out of danger but should the worst happen…”

“I know dad.” She said, returning the knife to her pack. “I’ll do my best with what you and aunt Sunny showed me.”

It wasn’t a process I enjoyed, training my daughter for the wasteland but it was something Sunny said we couldn’t ignore. We taught her basic gunplay as well but I didn’t know if I was ready to let her have a gun. Though if I had my way she would never need one.

We continued on towards the mark on my map. My PipBuck started ticking as we approached an enormously large fence made from scavenged metal paneling from vehicles or roofing or anything that would aid in keeping others out. From this distance it was hard to tell what exactly it was I saw through the small gaps in the fence. To my eyes there was nothing that warranted such a wall. It was clear this wall was put up after the war…but why? There was nothing here. Just a dilapidated warehouse and scattered, ratty tents. Even though there was nothing here worth protecting I grew suspicious of the two gun towers I spotted further down the fence at what I assumed was the entrance. As we turned to leave and get away from the radiation I swore out of the corner of my eye I saw a pony shaped figure flee from the fence line. Was somepony watching us? Even though I pushed that thought out of my mind I still picked up the pace away from the fence until it was barely noticeable in the distance. Just like the cruise ship in the bay that was a place to be dealt with later, or not at all.

Minutes turned to hours as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. The landscape around us was slowly turning more desert like which aided us in setting up a camp for the night against a rock wall. The fire before us danced in the wind, casting swaying shadows on the rock wall behind us. As I sat with Aurora at my side I realized I had a theory to test. I levitated Heart’s Promise out of my bags and held it in front of me curiously.

“Is…is that the knife that…?”

“That belonged to Fancy Pants? Err…the Lone Wolf? Yes, yes it is.” I finished for Aurora. It was her who gave it to me in the first place. Were I in her place, I think I’d still feel weird about seeing the knife that almost took my life.

“Why did you keep that?” Sunny asked, genuinely curious.

“It’s made from unicorn horn. I did something with it against that robot and Brass. I wanted to see if it was a fluke or not.”

“You fought a robot!?” Aurora asked, her expression a combination of worry and awe.

“Yep, a very special robot. You’ll get to see it when we go see the Steel Rangers later.” I floated the knife further away from the three of us and began channeling a spell into the connection between myself and the horn knife. A smile formed on my face. Just like before, the spell was cast from the knife as a ball of light appeared on the tip of the blade. I quickly dismissed the spell and brought the knife back to stow in my bag.

“Hope nopony saw that.” I said, over exaggerating a surprised expression. Aurora giggled at my display and rubbed her head wistfully.

“I wish I had a horn. Magic must make everything so easy.”

“For normal everyday stuff sure, but normal days are few and far between in the wasteland. I’ve used my magic for things I never thought I would like…hurting ponies and fighting. I was just a simple repairpony before I left the Stable.”

“You still are a repair pony daddy. Miss Circuit told me you have the magic touch when it comes to her fuse…box... oh jeez dad.”

Sunny spat out a mouthful of Sparkle-Cola she was drinking and looked at me with the funniest astonished expression I’d ever seen on her. Though that didn’t stop my cheeks from burning under my fur. Why would Circuit tell her that!?

“Sparks…did…did you?”

“Either I did or I didn’t.” My voice cracked for a split second, virtually announcing my guilt.

“So we’re not talking about work are we?” Aurora looked on at us, slightly confused though I could tell she had figured it out. I wasn’t proud of it either but when you are exploring options to keep a bullet out of your head you may find yourself in strange positions. All things considered it could have been worse.

I gently ruffled Aurora’s mane and gave her my best disarming smile.

I kept stealing glances at Sunny, trying to gauge her reaction. She huffed in what could have been amusement of annoyance. Like many of my problems, this one would be shelved for later. We took a moment to eat a small dinner of carefully rationed supplies, then we curled up against the rock wall to try and get some sleep. However my curse would continue to follow me.

I stood in the center of the all too familiar void. A small portion of the rock wall I’d been sleeping against behind me. I hadn’t been in one of these nightmares since Black Town. Suddenly I was very terrified of what was to come. To my surprise, I was alone for a fairly long amount of time. No Ribbon Dancer, no Slipknot and no voice in the void. Alone…

“You’re psyche…is very splintered my good sir.”

I looked to my side and saw the well-dressed white unicorn that was Fancy Pants, right out of one of the memory orbs.

“I see you’ve been experimenting with…my wife’s horn.”

“Another specter here to accost me? You’d think there were better things to do for a dead stallion.”

“This isn’t a dream my friend and I am no ghost…well I suppose I am, in a way, but here I am regardless. A piece of me at least.”

“What are you on about? Of course this is a dream. Every time I find myself in this…fucking void I am haunted by ghosts. You are no different.”

“Don’t you find it strange that you recognized it as soon as you arrived here? Unless you intend to claim this is a lucid dream? …I didn’t think so. You saw the memory orbs I left behind. Don’t try to deny it. I used what I learned over the last century to…to put a piece of myself inside her horn. Part of my soul will exist forever as a part of her. No doubt you find that strange…Love can make you do things you never thought you’d do. That’s why I’m here now. I know what you intend to do with your lover’s killer. Killing him won’t bring her back and she wouldn’t want you to dedicate your life to avenging her.”

I scoffed, even if what he was saying was true, his words held little weight. “Like I’m going to take advice on love from a foal killing psycho like you.”

“Hmph I thought you’d say something like that. I can’t blame you…I’m sorry.” He said those last words through a veil of sadness. I turned to look upon his face to see that he was no longer there. Instead of crumbling into the void, the rock wall simply faded away and light began to banish the darkness.

I awoke to the sound of birds flying overhead. It was strange, of all creatures to remain largely un-mutated, it was birds. I wasn’t the only one who heard the birds as Sunny and Aurora started stirring awake. We were about halfway in-between the ocean and the mountain range. If I thought the lack of activity in the Baltimare ruins was disturbing then this was borderline unnerving. I don’t remember the east coast of Equestria having a desert though. An effect from the war? Another day of travel passed before my curiosity demanded to be satiated.

“Hey Sunny? The maps I saw in the Stable didn’t show a desert in this area. Do you know anything about it?”

“Sand storms blow in from the Deadlands sometimes. They’ve been, over the centuries, slowly turning this area barren.”

“The Deadlands?” Aurora asked, peeking up at Sunny from behind her legs.

“The Deadlands are south of Baltimare. It’s a violent land that was torn apart by quakes, the landscape was violently reshaped by something. Most ponies avoid that place due to the quakes that make settling there extremely difficult and the dangerous radiation sand storms that often blow across the region.”

“Have you been there aunt Sunny?”

“No, I’ve only heard stories. Some ponies say there are monsters that live in dark tunnels that are themselves made of shadow.”

Aurora squeaked quietly and tried to hide behind Sunny’s legs. “I hope we never have to go there.”

“I can’t see any reason why we’d have to. Sounds to me like there’s nothing there.” I said, trying to comfort Aurora.

As the sun came to rest right above us I saw two pointed structures aiming towards the sky appear on the horizon. Other than that irradiated warehouse surrounded by the scrap metal fence, this was the only other location of note we’d seen. If I were a betting pony I’d say that was our destination as it lined up with the marker on my compass. I truly wished I understood how the device on my leg worked. How did it know where the space center was when neither Jack nor I did? I doubted I would ever get the answers I desired. I was thankful that I had one and was lucky enough to have some to give to others. Sunny would no doubt get her money’s worth with S.A.T.S alone.

The two structures I saw slowly came into better view as we approached, revealing them as rockets. Its remote location must have protected it from scavengers for a long time. The prospect of an un-scavenged installation like this made my heart start beating in excitement as well as dread. Jack’s friend, Sid, and his crew were most likely the first ponies to discover this place and I feared that they weren’t treating it with the care a place like this needed. As we neared the chain link fence surrounding the facility my PipBuck labeled the location ‘Bloomberg Space Center’. There were unoccupied guard towers at regular intervals behind the fence. We followed the fence until we found the way onto the grounds. I made sure to keep Aurora behind me, just in case anything happened. The complex was very large. The fence ended at an entrance to an old partially crumbled parking structure. We would need to get through it first to get to the space center itself. Sunny and I both had our guards up as we started up the concrete ramp to the parking structure. A few lights here and there inlaid into the ceiling flickered dimly in the dusty air. All around us were old sky carriages and other vehicles left to rot in their parking spots. Did the bombs kill all the ponies here when they hit? Couldn’t have, as far as I knew the closest detonation site was Baltimare. So why were they still here? Did nopony try to go for help? Or did something happen before the bombs hit? Maybe I was thinking too hard on such a simple matter. As I foolishly pondered the nature of the old vehicles I failed to see a trap on the floor. A loud snap sounded as metal teeth bit into my right leg. I yelped in pain as well as surprise as I looked down to see that I had stepped in a bear trap. I used my magic to wrench open the spring trap and throw it across the floor. I didn’t think we’d have to be on the lookout for traps. Jack sure knew how to pick his friends. Were the ponies here expecting trouble? Or were they just protective of their home? Questions for later, first we had to make it through the structure. I carefully wrapped a roll of magical bandages around my leg and steeled myself for what may come.

“Aurora, on my back, I don’t want you to get caught in one of these things.” Without any more encouragement she trotted to my side where I lifted her on my back.

“Are you ok daddy?” She asked, wrapping her hooves around my neck.

“Stings a little…ok it stings a lot but I should be fine. It’ll remind me to be on the lookout for other dangers.”

“Hopefully that pain will keep you alert, the next one might not be as minor as a bear trap.” Sunny said, moving ahead of us, using her refined survival experience to create a path for us.

Now that I was paying attention I was able to avoid most of the more dangerous traps, stopping every so often to levitate a mine out of our path. The way the traps were set up made it look like they weren’t meant to stop a small group like us, rather they appeared to be a defense against a large group of invaders. Just how paranoid were these ponies? Although I couldn’t say that, had I the numbers and ruthlessness, wouldn’t want this place for myself. The combined talents of Sunny and I made the rest of our trip through the trap laden maze go by quickly. In less than twenty minutes we had arrived at the security gate to let us on to the grounds proper. Standing in our way were two armed guards on either side of the gate.

“Hold it right there!” One of them shouted, drawing their weapon on us. “I know you’re not traders, otherwise you wouldn’t have come through this structure. Why are you here?”

I shook my head at Sunny as I saw her about to kick the loader for her battle saddle. “We aren’t looking for trouble. I’m looking…for a friend of mine, his name’s Sid.”

The name drop seemed to put the guards at ease. “You a friend of his? He must be looking for help. Hope you’re better with tech than that lazy bastard. Go on in, you’ll meet with Brick on the main walkway, he’ll let you know the rules of this place. Oh and word of advice, keep your weapons where they are. Sid doesn’t have very many friends after all.” The guard giggled dryly.

With that he motioned us through the gate with his gun, silencing me for now. I would save my questions for Brick anyway. Once through the gate we didn’t walk along the path long before we were stopped by an absolute mountain of a pony. This stallion was easily the size of a Steel Ranger in power armor. Other than his mottled green coat and lack of a cutie mark, it was most interesting to see that this stallion was a Pegasus.

“Who are you? How did you get pass the guards?” His voice was deep and commanding but also calm and reserved. He didn’t move for any weapons, showing that he didn’t view us as threats…yet.

“We’re here to see Sid. A friend of mine said he needed a hoof getting things running here.” I lied through my teeth. I couldn’t help but feel that Jack hadn’t told me enough about the set-up here to know what to say. Rather I decided to keep up the story the guards assumed I was a part of. To ‘play the part’ of a repair pony as it were.

“Hmph good, maybe finally get this place online. Sid is in the workshop, the rocket assembly building.” He pointed to a tall and wide white hangar. “If you need anything or want to do more around here, find either myself or the boss in the homestead.” He said, pointing to a large building just behind him.

“I understand. Umm…do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Perhaps once you’ve done something around here, until then, you are a barely tolerated intruder. You know where I’ll be if you need help with anything.” His wings started flapping and incredibly they began to lift his bulk, carrying him to the homestead as he called it.

Sunny started looking around suspiciously, her expression turning sour.

“The ponies here are raiders.”

“How can you tell? They might just be a budding settlement.”

“Don’t be so naïve, look around you Sparks. None of the land around the fence has been converted to farmland, no animals and I’m willing to be there isn’t much food to be salvaged at a space center long enough to sustain many ponies for long.”

I looked around to see for myself. As we made our way to the workshop I put everything I saw under scrutiny. I came to the same conclusion as Sunny, the ponies who were hanging around or moving between the buildings wore rag-tag armor and had the crazed look and manestyles that I’d associated with their ilk. In hindsight I shouldn’t have been surprised. Jack did say that they had dealings with Chestnut’s crew.

“We should just play our part for now. If all we do is help fix something we can get what we need from the bosses and get the hell out of here.”

“I refuse to believe you’re still so naïve Sparks. We can’t help them if they will go on to hurt more ponies!”

“I know Sunny I know. We can’t just take this whole place down ourselves. We’re inside so let’s take advantage of that and see if we can’t get in with Brick or the boss and go from there.”

Sunny, ever sensing my intent, relented for now. “Don’t let your quest for vengeance make you forget who the bad ponies are.”

I knew how it must have looked to her, staying my hoof on taking these raiders down because otherwise I’d lose my lead on Chestnut. I thought back on what Watcher had said as well, to be better. I couldn’t be better, not yet, not while Chestnut’s crime squatted on my brain, dominating my actions.

As we walked in through the huge hangar doors to the workshop, a nearby sign labeled it rocket assembly, we saw a rather meek looking brown griffin taking a nap at a desk next to a pile of salvage and tools. There were several large lightly rusted metal tubes, each one maybe twenty-five feet in length and fifteen feet high and wide. Each one was slightly curved and hollow. It looked like there were just enough that, if they were all linked together, would make a perfect circle. A strange design for a rocket I thought. We approached the desk where the sleeping griffin was sitting. Hopefully this was Sid, Jack did say he was also a griffin.

I tried to nudge him awake to no avail for a minute or so before somepony lost their patience. Aurora hopped off my back and onto Sid’s desk and started jumping, shaking everything that was laid out on it.

“Hey jerkbird! Wake up! My dad’s trying to talk to you!”

Sid yelled as he jumped awake, tumbling out of his chair and into the nearby pile of junk with a loud crash. Aurora smiled smugly with a little giggle.

“He’s awake now dad.”

“Good work Aurora.” I smiled back, taking an amount of amusement from the scene.

“What the hell’s wrong with you!?” He screeched, popping out of the junk pile. “As if I don’t have enough to worry about, now I gotta worry about little brats scaring me the fuck awake. Who are you? Why are you bothering me?” Almost as soon as he asked his eyes shrunk in fear, coming to his own conclusion.

“Oh shit, she’s finally lost it. P-please don’t kill me! I-I have caps, chems whatever you want!” Before I could say anything he threw himself at my hooves and began fumbling through his bag, throwing out about eight caps and an empty inhaler of Dash.

“Oh fuck, I-I can get more! I’m worth more alive I swear, just please don’t kill me!”

“Easy easy, Sid right? You expecting trouble? If I was here to kill you I wouldn’t have woke you up.”

He fell back into his chair, looking utterly exhausted. A moment or so later and his breathing returned to normal.

“S-sorry about that. I haven’t been the most popular guy around here as of late and your friend there in the hat has a merc look to her. Thought it was finally my time.”

“Who? You said she? Are you expecting somepony to kill you?”

“Yeah…well no…maybe? I don’t know. The boss said I was the Hooks mechanic after our real one was killed in a raid. I barely got the power on when we found this place and the boss has been puttin’ loads of pressure on me to do something or make something useful…or else.”

“I’ve heard about the boss here a few times now. Who is she?”

“Ain’t nobody told you? Then it ain’t gonna be me, I don’t need any more attention from them right now.”

I wasn’t exactly thrilled by Sid’s lack of cooperation but I’d learn about the boss sooner or later, so for now it would be best to start making myself useful.

“I think we got off on the wrong hoof. My name is Sparks. I was sent by…a mutual friend. That big guy at the gate, Brick, thought I would be able to help you. I’m quite the repair pony myself.” I said with a small air of pride. In another life I would have only ever been a repair pony. I wondered what my life could have been If I had never left the stable. But it didn’t do me any good to fantasize about things that were almost a lifetime ago.

“Yeah? Y-you good with machines? Think you could help me with a pet project of mine?”

“That’s why I’m here.” I lied. “What kind of machine is it?”

“It’s a weapon. One I hope will be able to repel a large invasion by itself. We have no intention of letting this place go.”

“How did you find this place?” Aurora asked from behind my legs.

“What’s with the filly? Oh, I get it, you like ‘em young dontcha pal? If you don’t mind sharin’ I have some-”

I refused to let him finish as I threw out a hoof and cracked him in the head. He went down hard back into the pile of junk next to his desk. I could feel rage build up in the back of my mind. I could feel my magic going for my gun when that phantom voice stopped me. ‘Be Strong’ it said, quickly afterwards the fire in my eyes started to fade away. Sunny had dropped into a fighting stance, ready to back me up. I tried to relax my demeanor once I saw the fear in both Sid’s and Aurora’s eyes.

“Don’t you ever talk about my daughter like that again.” My voice came out low and threatening, my body trembling holding back barely restrained violence.

“S-sorry sorry! I just assumed- I mean you don’t look- Please don’t kill me!” Sid’s wings snapped to his body and he was sweating bullets. If Aurora hadn’t been here I might not have been able to hold back, even with the pacifying voice in my head. I waved Sunny down, we wouldn’t be killing anypony today. Jack sure knew how to make friends I thought dismissively.

“You don’t make many friends do you Sid?” I let out a ragged sigh as I tried to let all my feelings go.

“You got that right, I’m used to no one even knowing my name and that was how I liked it. All this pressure is stressing me right the fuck out.”

“He never answered my question dad.” Aurora said, sneering at Sid.

“Answer the girl Sid.” I said with a glare. I was supposed to be a bringer of hope, like both Watcher and I wanted but I had to remember that I was in a den of raiders and so far Sid hadn’t made the best impression.

“Dumb luck mostly, we was just wandering one day and saw the rockets pointing towards the sky. The place was easy to settle into after I managed to get the sub reactor working.”

“Have any of you checked out the rockets on the launch pad?”

“No, no one has tried since the last incident. When I turned the power on I also accidently reactivated some of the security measures. I haven’t been able to figure out how to turn them off without also shutting down the whole grid. Turrets on high mounts and heavy duty robots have kept the rockets pretty protected so we gave up checking them out after the last two who tried were killed.”

“Maybe I can check out the reactor after you show me your project.”

“If that’s what you want man be my guest. Maybe the boss will try and get you to be the new mechanic and I can go back to being unnoticed.”

Sid made it sound like his whole existence within this group was as a nameless body who went by unseen and was content to be a face in the crowd. Now he was pushed into a role where he was expected to contribute in a meaningful way and he didn’t like it. I couldn’t help but feel he was hiding something but what could it be? What kind of secret could an on edge, cowardly griffin be keeping?

He took us all to the far end of the hangar to a detached rocket engine hooked to a fuel canister mounted into the bed of a cargo carriage. Mounted onto the fuel canister were rudimentary controls for the weapon.

“Not bad eh? I call it the Mega-Flamer!” Sid briefly had an air of pride about his words but was quickly brought back to his apprehensive self. “A good concept I thought, but turns out it’s harder to get these things to work.”

Being the professionally trained repair pony that I was, I could see where, in the hooves of an amateur, certain parts were inhibiting the device instead of adding to it.

“If you’re going to help this guy, you mind if I go check some other things out? I won’t be gone long. Promise.” Sunny said, she knew that I knew she wouldn’t be much help with tech.

“Sure, don’t get into any trouble alright?” She could sense my worry, nodding to me with an assuring expression. Hopefully she understood where I was coming from with our discussion from before. I wasn’t much happier than she was about this whole situation. Knowing her though, she was just going to go have a look around and gather some information.

“How long have you been working on this Sid?”

“About a month, maybe. I have a lot of projects I’m working on.”

“Oh? Finish any?”

“…Not exactly. I’m not the best with this kind of stuff but nobody else knows as much as I do. Even if I don’t know much myself. I’m better fixing ponies than machines.”

“So you’d rather be the doctor around here?”

“No not at all. I want to go back to being a nobody in the crowd. Responsibility is no good for a guy like me.”

I could hear it in his voice again. He was definitely hiding something. As much as he protested about contributing to his group, he was feeling guilty about something. Prying now wouldn’t get me anywhere, I would have to be patient.

“Well let me take a look at it.” I tried to steer the conversation back to the flamer under the guise of sympathy.

It didn’t take long to find the weapon's weak spots. Aurora was doing anything she could to make herself useful, running tools back and forth to me and retrieving parts I needed from the pile by the entrance. Sid watched over my shoulder, trying to learn what he could through observation. Although without explanation all he was seeing was me removing and reconnecting parts. I removed a fair amount of redundant parts that drew too much power away from the engine’s ignition and jury rigged some spare wires to strengthen the control’s connection to the power source. I hooked my PipBuck into the control panel and saw that the weapon was reading eighty-seven percent efficiency. That was about as good as it was gonna get without starting all over again. The simple repair pony in my head tried to tell me to test it to see if it was working properly but if I did I would have torched the three of us as well as a portion of the hangar. If what I saw on the launch pad was accurate, three of these engines were supposed to propel a rocket to space. This one would be an absolutely devastating weapon no doubt.

“There, that should do it. You put it together well enough but you installed a lot of unnecessary junk that hampered the startup.”

“So…so it should work now?” Sid’s eyes lit up like I just told him he won the lottery.

“In theory sure, I’d like to test it but I don’t think that’s an option for obvious reasons.”

“Was I helpful dad? Huh? Was I? I told you I could help you if I came.” Aurora beamed at me, smirking at me with the ‘I told you so’ look on her face.

“I still wish you were back home where I know you’d be safe but you sure did make fixing this thing go much faster.”

“Hehe told ya so.”

“Alright, alright don’t get carried away princess. C’mon lets go find Brick and tell him we’ve made some progress.”

Sid stretched out his wings and blocked my path. “You’ll tell them that I helped right? That I had you assist me, not do it for me, right?”

“Sure Sid, I don’t know that I’d want the credit for this thing anyway.” I pushed my way past the amateur mechanic and made my way outside. The path back to the homestead from the workshop was a quick one. Ponies milled about the grounds, not doing a whole lot of anything save for siting around a barrel fire and bullshitting between themselves. At least that was all I saw, I didn’t want to imagine what else was going on behind closed doors in this den of debauchery. Aurora and I made it to the door to the homestead where Aurora cocked her head and read the sign next to the door aloud.

“Operations and Communications Building?” Aurora looked back at me with a puzzled look on her face. I looked towards the launch pads where the two huge rockets stood then back to the homestead. Above us, facing the launch pad, was an observation deck.

“I assume this is where they monitored and observed the rockets before they would launch.” I said with a degree of certainty. Maybe once we were inside I could find out what was happening with the launch pad’s security. We walked inside the homestead, Aurora sticking very close to me, as many eyes turned on us. I didn’t want anypony to get ideas in their heads about us like what Sid thought. So I put on my best intimidating look and swept my eyes over everypony in the room.

“The fuck ya’ll lookin’ at?” All wanting eyes in the room returned to whatever they were doing before as I moved further in unobstructed. Eventually my path led us to an elevator guarded by two ponies in fairly heavy armor with equally heavy guns. As soon as they noticed my approach they stepped forward and blocked us.

“What business do you have with The Hook?” a rough looking mare asked.

“Brick told me to report any good news to him or the boss and I don’t see him anywhere. I just thought they’d like to hear it in person.”

“And what kind of good news is it?”

“I helped Sid get the Mega-Flamer into working condition.”

“Holy shit, Sid actually got something done? Fuck…I guess I owe Bolt ten caps. Go on up and tell it to the boss, she’ll be just as surprised.” The two guards returned to their posts and allowed me access to the elevator. Aurora and I walked inside and the doors closed with a ding. The elevator only had one button on the inside panel, presumably to the observation deck. Aurora shuffled in place anxiously, looking at me with those puppy eyes of hers.

“Can I push the button?” her eagerness got a chuckle out of me as I nodded.

“Sure princess, go ahead.”

She happily bounded forward, jumped in the air, and hit the button with a flourish using her tail. The elevator shook slightly as we began our ascent. It was comforting to see that she didn’t seem too bothered by this place, or perhaps by being so close to me she thought she had nothing to worry about. The doors opened with another ding, revealing the lounge-like observation deck. It was obvious that this floor had been decorated recently by the ponies here. It was one of the most luxurious rooms I had set hoof in in a long time. The carpet on the floor was very well preserved as were a number of amenities that were in the room before it was occupied. Even so a nice, relatively clean bed and several couches had been brought up to make the room more livable only added to the atmosphere. Brick was mid conversation with a brown earth pony mare with blonde mane, who I assumed was the boss, when he broke it off and looked over his shoulder to us emerging from the elevator.

“Ah…it’s you. Do you need something?”

“Who is this? Did you let some stranger in Brick?” the brown mare asked standing up from her seat. When she stood up it became clear to me why the guards called her The Hook. Her left hoof was missing and in its place was a sharpened meat hook. She also had a heavy caliber pistol in a holster on her right shoulder. She took a few steps towards me with an air of smug confidence.

“So to whom do I owe the pleasure of welcoming to my coniferous little haven?”

Coniferous? “Um…my name is Sparks, I…I uh heard there was work to be found here so I thought-”

“Well think again horn head. We don’t need any more lazy ponies gumming up the works here in my magnanimous set up.”

“Hey! Don’t talk to my dad like that!” Aurora barked from beside me.

“Aurora don’t-”

“Well well, don’t we have a bravacious little filly.”

Aurora held her ground and even stuck her tongue out at her.

“Do you have something to say to me? If so then hurry up, I have a raiding party to organize.”

Brick huffed through his nose and left down the elevator. The mare held up her hook as if she were inspecting it.

“Well Brick gave me the go ahead to help out around here. I’m a repair pony by trade and I-”

“Stop right there you rapacious repair pony. I’ve already got a type like you and I don’t need another.”

“I think you do. I helped Sid get his weapon working and then I was hoping to-” She held up her hook to silence me, her eyes widening in surprise.

“The…fuck did he call it? The Mega-Flamer? He’s been working on that thing for weeks. You helped him finish it?”

I nodded, Aurora nodded with me, taking the credit she deserved as well.

“Well why didn’t you say so? That’s the best news I’ve heard since we got the power turned on. Forgive me, where are my manners? I am the leader of this covetous crew, Name’s Copper Coil but you can call me The Hook. Welcome to the Rusty Hooks Sparks.”

The implication made something in the pit of my stomach sink. “Wait a second!” I protested, my eyes widening at the thought. “I didn’t come here to join up!”

“Well maybe you should have thought about that before waltzing into my humble abroad and proving your value. Now you can accept your new role or I can send you on your way.” She had her gun out and in my face before I could say anything in protest. I scowled angrily and backed down.

“That’s a good boy.” She cooed, slipping her gun back into its leg holster. “Your new job is to figure out how to clear the launch pad. There’s a lot of pure alpha over there and I need the security knocked down.” Copper turned her back on me and walked to stand in front of the pane glass window overlooking the distant rockets on their pads. “Report back to me when you have something to show. Don’t make me wait long.” She turned back to me to punctuate the warning with a threatening glare.

I growled through my teeth and retrained myself from pulling my own gun out and killing her where she stood. “Sure boss.” I spat the word out like a mouthful of blood. “I’ll be back.” I counter glared to no avail. I got back in the elevator with Aurora and set out to find Sunny. I was absolutely fuming in the elevator, I was so angry I was trembling. I could hear the mantra of ‘Be Strong’ over and over in my head. Every time I imagined Copper in a state of pain or death the mantra would prevent me from escalating. Goddessdammit I didn’t want to ‘Be strong’ I wanted to take these raiders out of commission! Despite my every protest I had no choice but to play along. Even if I ignored the warnings of my psyche, killing her would have surely resulted in my own death and more importantly, Aurora’s death. I would play the lap dog for now, it seemed all I was fucking good at was pretending.

I felt a comforting hoof pat me on the barrel. I broke through the haze of rage to see Aurora sitting in front of me, looking up into my eyes with a concerned look.

“Are you ok dad?” The look in her own eyes told me everything.

“Maybe having you here isn’t so bad.” I said with a smile, gently patting her on the head. I sighed deeply and relaxed slightly. I had to walk through the devils den in a few seconds and I had to get myself under control before then.

The dinging bell sounded our arrival back to the ground floor. Just as before nopony gave us the time of day, even Brick who was waiting by the entrance only nodded to me and grunted roughly. Once we were back outside I was reminded just how bleak things looked. The oasis of the space center in the middle of nowhere. For the time being, my goals and Copper’s aligned. I was here for info on Chestnut and robots for Jack. I had to be patient, make myself so valuable that no secret would be kept from me. It would pay off, I kept telling myself. I was still a good pony…a good pony.

The rest of that day passed in a flash. Sunny found us hours later as I was investigating the perimeter of the launch pad. She hadn’t learned as much as she’d have liked to and was just as angry as I was at our new predicament. Day after day passed with nothing to show for it. The launch pad’s security was just too tight to get in physically. After questioning Sid, he led me to the sub reactor he fixed when the Rusty Hooks first arrived. The half-assed job showed that it was only running at thirty-five percent efficiency. I was able to convince Copper to postpone her raiding party for a few more days, telling her that what we could get from the launch pad would be worth the wait. Another day or two passed as I acquired the necessary parts to get the reactor’s efficiency as high as I could only to learn that when the power was first turned on, the security kicked on and started running on a separate power grid that I couldn’t get to. According to Sid there were countless lines out there buried under Equestria that still had power, you just needed to know where to look. I was fumbling with a terminal in the basement one day when Sid came to find me.

“Hey can I talk to you for a second?”

“I’m kinda busy Sid.”

Sid twiddled his claws together, looking rather apprehensive. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to thank you for helping me with the flamer that day. Some of the ponies around here have been showing me a bit more respect. I even took some time to look over what you did and learned from it.”

“Glad I could help your self-esteem but look what it got me. I’m stuck in this hell hole working for a lunatic.”

“It’s not going to last forever dad.” Aurora assured me from her corner, her head buried in a technical manual trying to find something to help.

“I feel you Sparks. I didn’t exactly join willingly either. Back when we were the Broken Skulls we were a strange kind of gang. The old boss had the only gun in the camp. One night after a big celebration the old boss turned up dead with Copper waving the gun in everyone’s faces. She declared herself leader and any who disagreed would be killed. I didn’t have the balls to walk out on her then and I’ve been stuck with them ever since.”

“Seriously? Only one gun? What kind of raider gang is that?”

“It worked didn’t it?”

“Yeah I guess so. What happened after that? It doesn’t sound like her grab for power was popular. What stopped everypony from ganging up and removing her?”

“Back then we were always on the move. When Copper found this place, the loyalty of the group was cemented. Then…then Brick came along.”

“Brick? What about him?” Now this was getting interesting. I was getting nowhere with this basic maintenance terminal and was now giving Sid my full attention. I wondered if it would be difficult to stage a coup, especially now when there was more than one gun amongst the rest of the Rusty Hooks.

“Brick…we found him out on a raid one day. He was alone, we thought he’d be easy pickins but that bastard took everything we could dish out and then some before we knocked him out. Copper ordered we take him back here, while I checked him out I saw that he is not a normal pony. His body is…is tougher and he healed his bullet wounds in just a few days. He’s like a…mutant.”

“I’ve never encounter a mutant like him before. I thought balefire radiation just turned ponies into ghouls.” Was this like the Bleeder mystery? Back in the Mortuary we learned that they were not natural monsters. Or did it go deeper? Once I thought about it in more detail, I recalled the encounter with the extremely mutated alicorns. Brick’s body type was similar to theirs. Was there just some mad pony or ponies releasing monsters into the wastes?

“His mutations aren’t a result of radiation exposure. Hell I have no clue what made him. He’s some kind of…super mutant.”

Aurora giggled at the silly name, returning to my side, also interested in what Sid had to say.

“Just what exactly did you do to him when you brought him back? I didn’t immediately think mutant when I first met him. How did you figure that out?”

Sid was starting to sweat nervously, carefully looking around the room before continuing.

“You ever wonder why Brick is so loyal to Copper? He could kill her with his bare hooves as easily as you and I breathe. Copper knew having a slave like him would strengthen her rule through a powerful enforcer.”

I was starting to grow concerned. “Sid…what did you do to Brick?”

“I…I uh…remember how I said I was a better medic than mechanic? Or did you see that strange necklace Copper wears?”

I didn’t really take notice of her jewelry before but I did remember seeing it the last time we spoke. What did it have to do with Brick though?

“What have you done Sid? What did you do to him?” Aurora joined me in staring down the neurotic griffin. We could see him visually breaking down before he confessed his crime.

“I…I put a bomb in him…next to his heart. Copper’s necklace is the trigger. She has complete control over him…because of me.”

For a moment Sid looked truly guilty for what he had done but thanks to his confession I think I finally had a plan.

“Sid…how can I disable that bomb?” I imagined Brick wouldn’t be hard to convince to join us if I freed him from Copper. It would still be a hard fight but Sid said that Brick enforced the rules around here. Brick might as well have been the real boss around here except in name. Maybe some of the Rusty Hooks would follow him if I helped him take Copper out. I was getting ahead of myself as I eagerly awaited Sid’s answer.

“You’d have to get inside and disable the bomb manually. Do you have experience with bombs?”

“…No, no I don’t. Couldn’t you do it if I brought him to you?”

“In theory sure but Copper would never allow that. She deliberately keeps us from interacting, she doesn’t trust me to not say anything.”

“Damn…maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way.” I thought aloud. “We don’t need to disable the bomb if I can get the trigger away from Copper.”

“Are you crazy dad? If that necklace is so important she’ll never let you get that close.” Aurora looked at me like I had just sprouted wings.

“I agree with the kid. It’s a possibility sure but you wouldn’t be able to get near her, she’s too paranoid.”

“We have to do something Sid and you’re going to help me.”

“Whoa slow down a second wouldja? I just found my place around here, I aint helpin’ you take out the boss.”

“Yes you are Sid, you’d still be rotting in obscurity without me and guess what? You told me you’re secret. You’re an accomplice whether you help me or not.”

“Ah fuck…I knew it was a mistake to come down here.”

I took that as a concession and started thinking out a plan. The three of us left the basement and returned topside. Sid and I went our separate ways for now, telling him I’d find him when I had something for him. I had my way out, it was time to take this place. Aurora and I found Sunny where she had felt most useful without being involved too much, on guard duty.

“Hey Boss.” She nodded as we approached. “Anything new to report?”

“Actually yes, I’m going to need my associate for a moment.” I told the other guard she was stationed with. He grunted his acknowledgement and let us steal her away.

“Sunny it’s time. I found a way to stop Copper.”

“Funny you mention that because so did I.”

“Really?” Aurora and I asked simultaneously, equally surprised.

“Sorta, I learned from one of the older members that any of the Rusty Hooks can challenge the leader for the right to rule. It’s a straight hoof to hoof fight, no guns, no weapons, only what you were born with. Here’s the worst part, Copper is allowed to choose a ‘champion’ to fight in her place and if somepony challenged her…”

“She’d no doubt choose Brick.” Hoof to hoof combat against that hulk was a definite no. Still that information helped me with my own plan. Brick was just as much a prisoner here as I was. If I could get that bomb out of his chest then maybe he would want to challenge Copper. It was all starting to come together. I told Sunny about what Sid told me and the options we now had to get out of here. We spent the rest of the day in the workshop figuring out our plan of attack. Right now the concern was that there was no way to get close to Copper without being seen. So the focus now was a distraction.

“Even if we cause some distraction, wouldn’t the guards get Copper anyway?” I asked.

“No.” Sid shook his head fervently. “Copper doesn’t get directly involved with stuff like that. That’s what Brick is for.”

“So if we draw the guards away from the elevator then we should be in the clear right?” Sunny tried to affirm.

“It would take one helluva distraction to get those guards to leave their posts.”

We all sat in a circle pondering how severe a distraction we would need. We might have to kill somepony to get that kind of attention. I was about to voice my thought when I heard a tarp crumple to the floor.

“What about this?” Aurora was standing next to the Mega-Flamer, looking at us questioningly. “This would make a big scene.” She stated factually.

“You haven’t tested it yet have you Sid?” I hoped that that was not the case. As effective a distraction it would be if it worked, think of how intense it would be if it didn’t. It was the first time I wanted a repair of mine to fail. Perhaps we could sabotage it first to ensure it explodes.

“Not yet but I know what you’re thinkin’. I’d rather if we didn’t blow it up. Once Copper is deposed we’ll still need a way to defend ourselves.”

“Then we’ll use it as is.” Sunny said, waving to the flamer, liking the idea of using it against the Rusty Hooks.

“Ok then, I think we have our plan. We’ll wait till night and proceed. Sunny, you’re in with the guards, you rally them to investigate when we set the flamer off. Sid, you and I will move the flamer to where it will cause the most chaos. Then you’ll turn it on as I sneak my way into the observation deck to get that necklace.”

“What about me dad? I can help.” She practically pranced in place, eager to prove her usefulness to me. I didn’t want her anywhere near my plan but if I told her to stay put she’d just find a way to try and be helpful anyway. In this case it might actually be safer for her if she participates.

“Ok Aurora, you can help sell the ruse. Sid, can I trust you with my daughter?” I lit the fire behind my eyes as I asked the question.

“Don’t worry she’ll be ok with me, I might not have much but I promise on my honor.”

I knew enough about griffin honor to know that he would keep it to the best of his ability.

“Ok then, you’ll stay with Sid while he sets off the flamer. Having you there will make it look more like an accident, cementing the deception. Once you secure the area Sunny, bring Aurora back here.”

Everyone nodded, understanding their part in the questionable plan we’d cobbled together.

“Alright we don’t have much time, let’s get everything we might need and meet back here a few hours after dark.” Sunny said, getting up and making her way out of the workshop.

“Ok there’s no going back now. C’mon Sid let’s give the Mega-Flamer another look over before we move it.” I pulled out my tools and led Sid and Aurora to the weapon.

Checking my PipBuck a while later showed it was almost midnight, time to put the plan into action. Sid and I started pushing the wagon the flamer was attached to out of the hangar while Sunny went ahead of us to the homestead. Hopefully this was going to work and she would be able to rally enough of the guards to investigate. We decided that a guard tower would be the best place to start the flamer, that way the collateral wouldn’t be so strong. Once it was in position, I told Sid to wait about five minutes before setting it off, gave Aurora a hug, and started making my own way to the homestead. I was lurking in the dark near the main entrance waiting for my cue. A high pitched whirring started ringing in my ears before a roaring flame glowing in the night started blasting flames onto the legs of a nearby guard tower. It didn’t take long for the metal supports to glow a bright orange and start to bend. I could see that a few heads were being stuck out of doors and windows. Not a minute later the guard tower’s supports fully melted and it fell to the ground with a heavy crash and soon enough, like a kicked beehive, ponies started pouring out of the homestead to investigate with Sunny spearheading the group. Now was my chance. I slipped in behind the last guard and crept through the dark hallways to the elevator. I hoped beyond hope that Copper was sleeping alone. It was amazing to me that, after the doors opened, that she had slept through all that noise. However an empty bottle near where she was laying gave me a good idea why.

I noticed a glow that wasn’t there the last time I was on the observation deck. The panel of terminals just in front of the windows were now flickering with life. I remembered that panel from before but the terminals were powered down. By boosting the reactor’s efficiency I may have brought a few more systems online. This building was for monitoring the launch pad so perhaps these new terminals held the answers I desired for shutting down the security measures. One step at a time I thought as I approached the sleeping form of Copper Coil. She was snoring lightly, legs splayed all over the place, with necklace wrapped tightly around her neck. She snorted loudly and rolled onto her side, facing me directly. I felt my heart jump into my throat and prayed with all my being that she didn’t wake up. I carefully reached out with my magic, daintily pulling the necklace off her neck. Luck is an equal benevolent and cruel mistress. Halfway through removing the necklace the chain got caught in her mane. I tried to shift and shimmy my hold on it to no avail. I swore under my breath, hoping to avoid plan B as it involved more risk but this was my only shot and I had to take it.

I would need to take the utmost care as I levitated a few tools out of my bags. If I couldn’t get the trigger away from her then only one course of action was left, disabling it. This was more in my realm of comfort as opposed to diffusing a bomb. I had to work fast and careful. If I made one mistake I could just as easily set the bomb off or if she woke with me over her with tools I would be caught red hoofed. I was beginning to sweat as I opened the little device’s casing and got a look at its insides. It was a remarkably simple design that wouldn’t take much to disarm. However it was one thing to work on something in front of you on a work bench or countertop, it another entirely to work on something strapped to a sleeping homicidal nut case. Everything about the situation added to the difficulty, every twitch, and every breath or the chance she would just roll over or wake up. All of it was wreaking havoc on my nerves. The adrenaline in my blood wasn’t making matters any easier, causing my own heartbeat and breathing to quicken. I was nearing the climax as I found the trigger’s battery. If I could just…get…to it. YES! I did it! I expertly pulled the tiny battery out of its slot and placed it in my bags. Now all I had to do was get the fuck out of there. I let out a relieved sigh as I made it to the elevator, then I heard hooves hit the floor.

“Is somepony there?” I heard her ask, followed shortly by the sound of a gun cylinder spinning. The inevitable ding of the doors opening sounded as I dashed inside and began mashing the button down. I tried to push as much of myself into the corner, hoping that she wouldn’t recognize me. The elevator doors began closing but not before a bullet whizzed in imbedded itself in the back of the elevator, inches from my head. As the doors closed and the pulleys kicked in I immediately tore the panel off the button control and cut a wire so Copper couldn’t call it back. I heard her screaming angrily from above as the elevator ignored her commands. I wouldn’t have much time when these doors opened again. It wouldn’t have taken long for the guards to figure out what happened and return. When the doors opened I ran to the main entrance but before I could throw the door open, it was opened for me by the guards returning. I swiftly ducked behind the door as they poured in. They mumbled amongst themselves about the flamer and how much damage it did to the tower, as well as how much damage it could do to others.

“Fuckin’ Sid, that was my tower.”

“Hey at least it works, don’t you want to see it in action?”

“Yeah we could torch a whole mess of ponies with that beast.”

The muffled sounds of agreement resonated with the collective. When the last pony trotted in I retreated from behind the door and galloped out into the darkness. Overall the plan worked, unfortunately Copper had caught me. It was unlikely she saw who I was but she was undoubtedly going to take some kind of action, against all of us if she thought it necessary. Now that the commotion was beginning to die down I made my way to the Mega-Flamer and the still glowing pile of slag. I could feel the heat radiating off the nearby molten steel and saw what was left of the guard tower. Sid must have returned to the workshop with Aurora, or at least he better had or there’d be hell to pay. When I walked through the hangar doors I was pounced on by a white blur. Aurora was dangling around my neck by her hooves as she giggled.

“Did you see the fireworks dad? Huh did ya? It was so much fun! I got to press the button!” She gushed, swinging around me giddily.

“Did you get it?” Sid asked, putting a stop to the moment Aurora and I were having.

“Yeah dad, did you get it?” Aurora released her hold on me and plopped to the floor, looking at me expectantly.

“Not exactly. I couldn’t get it without waking her up but I was able to disable it. She won’t be blowing up anything with it now.”

“That’s some pretty delicate work to perform on a sleeping person.”

“Yeah…about that.”

“What? What happened? Did she see you!?” Sid’s eyes shrunk in fear as his wings twitched unconsciously.

“Not exactly, she did wake up as I was leaving but I don’t think she saw who I was.”

“Oh boy, we’re in the shit now. She’s gonna flip her lid on the lot of us.”

“Don’t worry, we have what we need. She doesn’t have a hold of Brick’s leash anymore. He should be easy to recruit to our cause.” Now that I knew there was a terminal in the observation deck that would likely aid my attempts to open the launch pad I had even more incentive to get back in there. Preferably with Brick as the boss.

Sunny sauntered her way through the hangar doors and joined us.

“Well? How’d it go Sparks?”

“I had to go to plan B. I don’t have the trigger but it’s no longer a factor. I disabled it.”

“So what’s next? When do we take our shot at Copper?” Her eyes lit up with determination.

“Tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll be able to approach Brick tonight. Once he knows he’s free of Copper’s bomb he should join us wholeheartedly.”

Everypony in our little group agreed on our course of action when a loud yawn stopped the conversation.

“Tired Princess?” I asked, ruffling her mane slightly.

Aurora nodded sleepily through half-lidded eyes.

“That should be our cue, everypony get some rest. We put an end to this tomorrow.”

Sunny and Sid nodded and retreated to their beds. I had made my own bed here in the workshop. I carried the almost asleep form of Aurora in the white aura of my magic to the corner where I had placed our sleeping bags with whatever pillows I could find or make. I had almost fallen asleep when Aurora rolled over from her bag and snuggled up next to me. I smiled and gently gave her a kiss on the forehead, wrapping my hooves around her. She helped me remember why I was doing this. I’d do it all again, all of it, for her. She looked at me to be her father and for the first time since Winter died, I truly felt like I was filling the role rather than just taking its name. I teared up at those thoughts, brushing a lock of her mane off her sleeping face.

“I love you Aurora Dawn, my little princess.” I closed my eyes holding my daughter, and quickly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

I was ripped out of my sleep by an ear piercing siren. I jumped up to my hooves, scared out of my mind with my weapon drawn. The siren played once more then ceased but was followed by Copper’s voice booming over the Space Center’s P.A. system.

“ATTENTION, EVERYPONY GATHER IN FRONT OF THE HOMESTEAD. I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!”

Feedback bled through the P.A. speakers as the broadcast was terminated.

“What’s going on dad?” Aurora asked, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

“It’s time to finish things.” I said a tad cryptically. I knew what this was about. She was going to try and root me out. I wouldn’t be able to find and tell Brick about the bomb. I cursed myself for the sloppy plan and the way it was executed. I had to improvise. I went to meet Sid to go to the gathering together but he was nowhere to be found. He must have already been awake when the broadcast woke me up. It didn’t matter too much though. He was only helping me because I held the leash on the secret that was no longer a factor. Things were going to come to a head today, for better or worse.

The gathering outside the homestead was slowly filling up as other hooks made their way here from their posts. In less than ten minutes everypony was now in attendance. All thirty plus members of the Rusty Hooks now stood in front of the homestead, waiting for the announcement. There were whisperings amongst the gathering about the reason for the announcement. Many others were talking about the Mega-Flamer incident, thinking that was maybe the reason and in a way it was.

A moment later the door to the homestead was thrown open by Copper, dragging a large black sack behind her.

“Mares and gentlecolts. There is a traitor amongst us. In the chaos caused by the Mega-Flamer somepony snuck onto the observation deck. I almost caught them as they made their daring escape but I do not know what they were after.” Copper drew her pistol with a flourish.

“So I ask, to whomever is guilty of this horridious crime, speak up! Give yourself up and I will make it quick!” she seethed at the crowd. Everypony shifted uneasily, murmuring back and forth about what she was talking about. Losing her patience Copper fired a round into the air, silencing the lot of us.

“Will nopony step forward!?” She was losing all her composure now, screaming and shaking with anger. She screamed in frustration and fired twice into the crowd. Hitting somepony with each shot. I put myself between her and Aurora should a stray shot come our way. I noticed Sunny standing over a mare who was hit in the chest with one of Copper’s bullets. Sunny was holding her hoof as the life left her eyes. She scowled at Copper, unseen from the crowd but her intentions speaking louder above all.

“Fine. I didn’t want to resort to this but you have forced my hoof.” Copper opened the sack and pulled out a badly beaten Sid. One of his eyes was swollen shut and blood ran down his beak and head.

“Now tell me Sid, what happened with that flamer last night? Who put you up to it? I know you don’t have the spine to stand against me. So…who was it!?”

Sid surprisingly held his ground against her, even though he was clearly fighting intense pain as I noticed his wings broken at harsh angles. Copper hissed through her teeth and pistol whipped Sid twice across the face followed by a kick to one of his broken wings. Sid screeched in agony, toppling to the ground on the verge of blacking out. Copper sat him back up and shoved her gun up against his beak.

“You don’t want to die here do you Sid? C’mon tell me what I want and it all stops. Understand?”

Sid closed his eyes and started crying. “I’m sorry.” He said, pointing a claw into the crowd, directly at me.

“I should have known as much, you couldn’t get that thing running yourself after all. Thank you Sid.” Copper showed her appreciation by promptly putting a bullet through his head. His body slumped lifelessly to the ground, Copper grinning while spinning her pistol on her hoof. I felt that flame in my heart ignite with full force. For the first time the ‘Be Strong’ in my head wasn’t trying to stop me, rather it was encouraging me. I gave Aurora a shove towards Sunny as I took a few steps forward. All the ponies close to me spread out leaving me alone in the crowd. I had still yet to see Brick anywhere but my hoof had been forced.

“So Sparks…you dare to-”

“Copper Coil!” I interrupted. Everypony, including Copper seemed surprised by my outburst. “I challenge you for control of the Rusty Hooks!”

Footnote: Level Up!
Skills note: Repair has reached 100%
New Perk: Jury Rigging – You were always handy with a wrench but your time as the Rusty Hooks mechanic has taught you how to work with the bare minimum. You now possess the ability to repair any item with a roughly similar one. Fix a flamer with a blowtorch, a turret with a pistol, or even a spark generator with a battery. How did you acquire this knowledge? Only you know.

Next Chapter: Chapter Thirteen: The Lengths We Go Estimated time remaining: 24 Hours, 11 Minutes