Stunned. That was the word that aptly described everypony’s reaction. Even though there was no longer only one gun in the gang, it seemed that nopony ever considered trying to dethrone Copper. Once she recovered from her stunned look, it turned into a smug grin and I remembered why.

“So be it. I call on my champion. BRICK!” she bellowed that last word as if she was playing up for the crowd. Sure enough an amount of cheering and stomping sounded from the gathered masses. The circle of emptiness that surrounded me grew even larger as the mountain of a pony dropped from the sky and hit the ground in front of me, kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust.

“I’m sorry it had to come to this. For what it’s worth I don’t take any joy in this.”

I was going to try and inform him of his safety but before I could even get a syllable out, he flapped his wings hard and shot at me faster than any pony his size had any right to and smashed his enormous hoof into my muzzle. Before I could even open my eyes I could taste the coppery flavor of blood. Thankfully, after a quick prodding, I felt that I still had all my teeth. Before I could feel any kind of happiness at that fact I saw Brick in the air above me, hoof held out to bring down on me. I rolled as fast as I could, narrowly avoiding his hoof caving my skull in. It was a struggle just to get to my hooves as he relentlessly pursued me. I finally managed to get back on all fours and remembered my one advantage, magic. I seized one of his wings in my telekinesis and stopped his next lunge dead, as he jumped forward and veered sharply to the left, face planting into the dirt. I didn’t think I’d have the time to cast any other spells, he was just too fast for a pony his size. If I kept on the move and was able to keep his ability of flight managed I may just have a chance. That is until he gave me zero options. He charged at me again and I was able to sidestep him, though instead of skidding forward a bit he stopped cold just behind me. Seeing no other recourse I pounced on Brick’s back and started hammering my hooves into whatever I could. Every now and then I felt the satisfying thwack of a hoof connecting with his muzzle. Unfortunately for me, my flailing attack caused me to lose focus on my spell, an effect Brick noticed immediately as he hovered in place and turned to face the sky, leaving me lined up horizontally to the ground. All at once he pulled his wings in and crushed me beneath him with all of his weight. I heard something crack and was filled with a burning pain from inside my barrel. I could still draw breath okay so I silently prayed my thanks that it hadn’t punctured a lung. As Brick rolled off of me I could see visible bone protruding from my body. At least two of my ribs had been broken by that body slam. Any attempt at trying to sit up only rewarded me with intense pain. My breathing quickened and my vision began to turn blurry. I tried to croak out any kind of words but I found it hard to draw enough breath to do so. Every breath becoming increasingly shallower as I tried to minimize the pain from my chest expanding. Brick reared back on his hind hooves ready to end it when I was able to get a word out.

“Bomb…” I managed to rasp out.

Brick stopped dead in his tracks. He went back down to all fours and leaned in close to me.

“What did you just say?” his voice was low and it carried a serious edge.

I coughed a few flecks of blood on his face as I tried to continue.

“Bomb…heart…*cough* No…more…I *cough* fix…”

“Are you certain?” He asked his eyes betraying the hope he was feeling. I mustered enough energy to nod and smile.

Brick stood to his full height and announced. “I concede!” Cries of protest immediately erupted from the crowd of onlookers, Copper especially.

“NO NO! You will kill him Brick! I command it!”

Brick smirked and turned to give his full attention to her. “You aren’t in control anymore Copper.”

I could see Copper about to literally pop a gasket as she shook in her fury.

“Aaaaah! Now you die!” She cried, hoofing her necklace with her good hoof. Brick’s smirk grew even more as Copper stood there dumbfounded. She continued to try and set off the bomb to no reward as I heard exactly what I’d hoped for.

“Copper Coil. I challenge you for leadership of the Rusty Hooks!”

After that I simply closed my eyes and let the rest of my plan play out. The crowd was starting to get excited at the spectacle that was about to come.

“Daddy!” Aurora cried, having escaped Sunny and trotted up to my side. She looked at me with terror etched onto her features as she stood in the dirt around me, quickly becoming damp with my blood. “Please…no…don’t die daddy.” She whimpered as a larger shadow fell over me.

“Thank goodness you aren’t dead, watch out Aurora he isn’t going to die today.” I couldn’t find the strength to react, my focus was all diverted to keeping my breathing from causing me more pain. I felt something pressed to my lips, to which I responded by opening my mouth, ready to receive its contents.

“I wish that damn bird was still here, I don’t like resorting to this.” I heard her whisper as I emptied the bottle. All at once my pain disappeared and I felt something moving in my barrel. I managed to sit up and open my eyes just in time to see my bone slink back inside me and presumably back into place. Along with the hole made by my broken rib, every other cut, scratch or scrape was healed within a minute.

“Holy shit, that was some good stuff. What was that?” I asked with a smile, happy to be healthy.

Sunny ignored my question, grabbing my head and forcing me to look around. Was she inspecting me?

“Ok good, no growths…at least where I can see.” Worry evident in her voice.

Growths? What was she talking about? I was about to voice my question when all of a sudden I was back to lying flat on the ground, an ecstatic filly on top of me. She nuzzled me for a good minute before her smile turned to a frown.

“Don’t ever do that to me again! I was so worried.” She squealed, followed by a light smack on the head.

“Ow! What was that for?” I half-joked. I got back up to my hooves only to see Sunny’s concerned expression.

“Sunny what was that? That medicine healed me almost immediately. What did you say about growths?”

Sunny sighed and pointed to the empty bottle at our hooves.

“It’s called Hydra. It increases cell growth, causing rapid regeneration of any injury that’s not fatal. That includes moving bones back into place.”

“That’s amazing! Do we have any more?”

“No and that’s probably for the best. The drug is very dangerous.”

“Dangerous? How?” Aurora asked.

“The rapid cell growth doesn’t always simply heal wounds. It can make them grow too fast and cause disfiguring growths or tumors. I didn’t want to use it at all but…”

But I would have died otherwise with no medical ponies to help me, is what she was going to say. Suddenly I was very worried. She said she didn’t see anything earlier but Luna knows what happened to my insides. A distraction. That’s what I needed to stop me from thinking about it. Fortunately my plan was still in action as I saw Brick and Copper still fighting. Brick was having a hard time landing any hits on Copper as she was devoting all her energy to dodging, trying to wear Brick out. However it wasn’t an effective strategy. Every now and then Brick managed to land a hit on her and Brick was not a weak pony. Every hit slowed her down more and more until she was sprawled out on the ground in front of a very angry mutant Pegasus.

“I’ll see you in hell.” Brick sneered as he brought down all his mass on her chest. I could hear bones snap as blood shot out of her mouth in a thick spray, her insides turned to paste under Brick’s hooves. Brick stood triumphantly over Copper’s corpse, spitting on it as he turned to face the crowd.

“I am in command now! Things are going to change around here, so everypony take this day to celebrate and have fun, for tomorrow you will no longer be Rusty Hook’s! Report back here tomorrow for your new orders. Dismissed!”

As if needing no further encouragement, cheers arose from the crowd as they trotted back and forth ready to celebrate their new leader with gusto. Brick however had other plans as he slowly started making his way towards us.

“Good, you’re not dead. Sorry about before. If I knew the bomb was disarmed…” he trailed off, looking a bit guilty about his actions. Who knows just how much she forced him to do with the threat of death lingering over his head like a guillotine.

“You can apologize by helping me. I didn’t come here looking for a job or a home, I heard you ponies have had dealings with a grey unicorn mare, crimson mane, name was either Slash or Blood Orange.” I stated, hoping something would jog his memory.

“We can talk more about this inside.” He stepped to the side, beckoning us to go inside. I needed to check out the observation deck anyway so I nodded and made my way in. The elevator ride up was an uncomfortable one. Not only because I was standing next to a pony who nearly killed me not ten minutes ago, but also because between Sunny, myself and Brick there was little wiggle room forcing us shoulder to shoulder to fit. The elevator dinged and we might as well have exploded out like an overfilled balloon.

Brick however, unfazed by the situation picked up the conversation where we left it.

“I remember the name. Blood Orange. She was interested in recruiting the Hooks for something, Copper didn’t give me the details but she refused. Said she could be found at the old satellite relay station northeast of here if we changed our minds.”

As he said that, a new mark on my compass popped up in the direction he mentioned. I pulled up the map and saw the mark for the station a few miles away. I really needed to know how this thing actually worked one day.

“If I may ask, why are you seeking her out? If what you said is true then you aren’t the raider type.”

“You’re right about that. Her boss killed my marefriend and I’m going to track him down and-”

“I get the idea, looking for payback. I can understand that.”

“And what about you?” I chuckled. “You also don’t really seem the type.”

“I…I don’t know. Truth be told I can’t remember anything after waking up one day. I get flashes here and there of my life before, of who I was before I became…this.” He looked down at his own body in disgust. “I wasn’t a raider…I was…Arrgh I can’t remember!” he growled in frustration.

I took a step back at the sudden outburst. I could understand his frustration. I would be equally angry if I were in his place, if my only memories started after I left the Stable.

“Sorry, trying to recall my life from before hurts my head.”

I remembered something Sunny told me a long time ago.

“Brick…I was told that all the pegasi live above the clouds. Do you know anything about that? Does that jog any memories?”

“I…I don’t know. I think I knew a mare? …a very important mare… or a stallion? AAgh it hurts!”

I decided that questioning him any further about it would get me nowhere. Brick held his head between his hooves for a moment before he noticed something.

“I don’t remember this terminal being on.” He said, looking at the wall of screens I noticed the night before.

“That was another thing I wanted to talk to you about. When I boosted the reactors output I think I turned on more terminals, hopefully one with a link to the launch pad.”

“Well if you think that’s the case…go ahead and see what you can do. However I know you have no intention of staying with us. What would you ask as payment for opening the launch pad to us?”

“We’ll worry about that later, first let me see if this’ll even work.”

I trotted to one of the terminals and got to searching. The benefit to the terminals being in the observation deck meant they weren’t locked down. Nopony expected that anypony who wasn’t supposed to be up here would ever be up here. A foolish notion for sure but it saved me the effort of hacking government encryption. There were numerous reports of malfunctions and parts of the center that needed maintenance. Among the damage reports I managed to find a few personal journal entries. The scholar in me wanted to find out if the writer of the journal survived the Last Day or at the very least see if there was any pertinent information hidden inside. The first one was logged a few months before the Last Day:

Head technician, Blowtorch: Entry one

The next one was a few weeks later.

Head Technician, Blowtorch: Entry two.

The final one didn’t have a date log or stationary label.

That was the last log on the terminal. I never gave much thought on how most plant life died out. I assumed it was just radiation or the effect of the blasts. To learn that a radioactive black rain wiped out most life in days was haunting. So much so that a survivor here chose suicide. Disturbing survivors account aside I found what I was looking for. I found blueprints and plans for the space center. I downloaded them onto my PipBuck and gave them a closer look. Sunny and Aurora were peeking over my shoulder, interested in what I was staring at. Eventually I found the specific diagrams for the launch pad area and found a way in. The separate power generator keeping the turrets and bots online was underground beneath the launch pad in the Mission Control Room. A careful examination of various tunnels, fuel lines and water pipes showed me a tunnel that was built to vent launch exhaust away from the space center that led inside the launch pad area itself. Sunny seemed to follow what I was planning as she examined the map along with me. Aurora however was less attentive to the plans. I lowered my PipBuck and looked at Brick.

“I think I found my way to the launch pad.” I told him of the layouts I found and how we could get inside. I deliberately left out the journals of Blowtorch.

He insisted on joining us or sending a few ponies with us but I kept talking him out of it.

“I am the most qualified to work with the tech at the launch pad and mission control.” I informed. “Extra hooves are unnecessary. Sunny and I can get by just fine by ourselves, the fewer ponies to worry about the better in case there is something waiting for us in the tunnel.” I was uncertain if we would actually encounter something dangerous in the tunnel but the opening was beyond the installations perimeter and protective fencing. Goddesses know what could be in there now.

“What about me dad?” Aurora asked, wondering why I left her out of my list of ponies going in the tunnel.

“I want you to sit this one out Aurora. If there are any security measures in the tunnel…It’s too dangerous for you.”

“But you don’t know if there’s even anything in the tunnel!”

“Aurora it’s a safe bet that there is something inside. We can’t-”

“You promised you wouldn’t leave me behind again!” She cried.

“I’m not leaving you behind. I’m just-”

“I’m not a foal dad! I can help! You just have to give me a chance…” She practically whispered her last few words. I could see how let down she was, her eyes drifting to the floor and her ears hanging limply on her head. It was my responsibility as her surrogate father to keep her safe wasn’t it? Then why did she fight me every step of the way? I already had proof of how resourceful she could be when she managed to escape the Crater and make it all the way to the robotics factory. I didn’t want to push her away. A chance huh? …I thought I could give her that much.

I sighed, relenting to the eager filly’s request. “Ok you can come with us.”

Aurora’s expression brightened instantly and she actually hopped with joy for a few seconds.

“BUT.” I continued, stopping her in her tracks. “You do exactly what I or Sunny tell you to do.”

“Ok dad, just you watch I’ll show you-”

“I need you to promise me Aurora. If I tell you to get down or hide you do it. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to leave me behind and save yourself... you do it. Understand?”

Her joyful expression melted away to be replaced by one of worry. She was coming to an understanding of what I was implying. It was no surprise she was unsettled by the concept of leaving me behind if I told her to but she was stronger than she looked. She steeled her expression into a look of reluctant understanding.

“I promise.” I could tell she was taking this as seriously as she could. That was good enough for me.

“Alright then. Let’s get our things together and head out.”

We returned to the hangar and gathered all our gear and equipment. I made sure to give copies of the maps and layouts to Aurora and Sunny, loading them up on their PipBucks while I explained the route we were taking. There was a maintenance corridor attached to the tunnel that led into the mission control center where, hopefully, I’d be able to turn off the security. I’m sure Brick wouldn’t mind me taking the robots with me once I reprogrammed them. We needed to hurry before Blood Orange learned of Copper’s death and returned to Chestnut. I couldn’t lose the trail now, I had come too far to lose them again. My resolve could not be shaken, I would get the robots for Jack and then find Blood Orange at the satellite relay station marked on my map.

We made our way back out through the parking structure and started searching for the entrance to the vent tunnel. If the map was accurate it should be about one hundred meters from the fence surrounding the space center. I looked up to the sky and was suddenly very thankful for the cloud cover. I don’t know how truly desert-like the area had become but it was hot enough without the sun beating down on us too.

“Why are we still bothering with the launch pad?” Sunny asked. “We have the location to find your mare. What’s to stop us from going there and then coming back?”

“Nothing honestly but I doubt she’s alone. I want to finish things here and snatch a few robots for back up.”

“Yeah I can’t wait to see you work dad.” Aurora chirped.

I couldn’t tell if she was genuinely interested in technology or if she was forcing it because I had the interest. I hoped it was the former, feeling a small amount of pride in her following in my hoofsteps. I wondered what kind of pony she’d grow up to be. Would she take after me or find her own path? I lost myself in those thoughts for a while when I heard something echo to my right. I stowed thoughts about the future away for now and finally saw where the sound came from. I could see the space center above us on a slight incline on the geography with the opening to the tunnel just in front of us. I admit I don’t know how to read blueprints very well and was surprised to see that the tunnel was maybe two and a half ponies tall and 4 wide. I guessed that it had to be big enough to not flood the rest of the complex with the rocket exhaust when they launched. Why didn’t they build the launch pad farther away from the rest of the buildings then? I suppose if this place was supposed to be a secret, they were forced to pack them together.

“Keep your ears on the swivel, we don’t know if anything is in there.” I got nods from Sunny and Aurora as we took our first tentative steps in the tunnel. I was unsure if we would encounter anything in here before when I thought it was smaller, now that I knew how big it truly was the likelihood was greater. I let Sunny take the lead this time. If worst came to worst, I wanted her battle saddle in front of me.

It didn’t take too long to walk most of the length of the tunnel but what we found near the end confirmed my fears. The door to the maintenance corridor was open, hanging crooked on one hinge with a pony skeleton at the bottom of the stairs leading inside. Somepony had tried to get out. Was it a survivor from after the bombs fell? Judging from the notes I read on the observation terminal it sounded like the space center was still livable after the Last Day. Something forced this pony through this door. I levitated Harbinger out of its holster and held it in front of me cautiously.

“What are the chances that there’s still something in there?” I whispered. I heard Aurora gasp when she saw the skeleton and felt her trembling when she put a hoof on my leg.

“…Lets not take any chances.” Was all I got out of Sunny as she kicked the loading lever on her battle saddle. She didn’t want to say in front of Aurora but I could tell she was expecting something.

“Stay close behind us Aurora.” I told her, placing a hoof on her head. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” I said hoping to reassure her, even though I was getting that sinking feeling in my chest. Deep down I knew it wouldn’t be so easy. It never was.

The stale, musty air lingering in the corridor was making it hard to breathe. A constant ticking from my PipBuck informed us that there was radiation here as well, adding to the eerie atmosphere. Every hoofstep echoed off the metal floor, forcing us to move at an unbearably slow pace. We went up some stairs wrapping around to the next floor, presumably putting us back inside the fence’s perimeter. The ticking from our PipBucks got louder and faster, putting the needle on the counter out of the green area and into the yellow one. I used the built in sorting spell to fish out some radiation medication and popped one of the bitter tablets into my mouth, causing the ticking to diminish in its intensity. I floated two out to Sunny and Aurora which they accepted in silence. Judging by how far we had walked I would say we were under the launch pad now. At the end of the hallway in front of us was an open door into a dark room beyond, a corpse laying at the threshold. It was curious to note that unlike the one in the exhaust tunnel, this body hadn’t rotted away. Did radiation have some kind of preserving effect on dead bodies? I chuckled inwardly at a sort of cruel joke, recalling that that was how somepony becomes a…ghoul. Oh shit! Before I could voice a warning, the corpse at the door got to its hooves with a quickness its gaunt body shouldn’t have allowed and let out a low-pitch growl.

“Ferals!” Sunny shouted, unloading a shot into its chest. Numerous red blips popped up on E.F.S as more growling came out of the darkness in the room ahead.

“Fall back!” I didn’t want to get swarmed by ghouls in such tight quarters. Aurora’s eyes had shrunk down in fear as she stared forward into the dark, paralyzed by terror. I gave her a shove back the way we came, forcing her flight instinct into a quick retreat. I fired a few rounds into the black, hearing them hit flesh and spill blood as a dozen zombies piled out of the room.

“Keep going Aurora! Don’t stop!” I could hear the sound of her hooves pounding the metal in front of me as Sunny and I kept firing into the sea of furless, discolored bodies relentlessly chasing us. A few lucky stray shots hit brain matter and bit by bit a few of the hostile markers blinked out. We came to a split in the hallway I hadn’t noticed before, following Aurora as she veered to the right.

“Split!” I yelled to Sunny, hoping we could split the remaining ghouls into manageable numbers to take out. I looked behind me to see that I had four ghouls left on my tail, the distant sound of gunfire signaling that Sunny had taken a few with her. The light from Aurora’s PipBuck ahead of me showed that I was approaching a dead end. I had to end it here and now or else…No! I couldn’t think like that. I had to succeed, I had to protect her. I turned and entered S.A.T.S, targeting the heads of the four ghouls. I let the spell carry out my actions, hitting two of my targets and only nicking the others. I levitated Hearts Promise out of the makeshift sheath on my right leg and magically threw it into the skull of the closest ghoul, piercing into its brain and causing it to crumple to the floor. It was too much to hope that the last one would be tripped up by the body of its brethren. It jumped into the air, my shot missing its mark and punched through its ear instead. Its body weight had enough force to throw me backwards where my back collided with the dead end wall. I heard Aurora scream out when she saw the zombie on top of me, savagely biting at me as I held it away from my face with my forelegs. I was losing ground to the monster as it seemed earth pony strength endured even the necromantic effects of radiation. My hold wavered and a flailing, jagged hoof caught me above my right eye, cutting roughly into my forehead. I couldn’t focus my magic long enough to manage a spell as its hooves continued to barrage me. It all came to a violent crescendo when it leaned down and bit into my shoulder. I cried out in pain as I felt rotten teeth tear the muscle beneath my skin. A new blast of adrenaline into my system gave me enough reprieve to lash out a few hits myself, forcing its mouth away from my body as an uppercut caught the underside of its jaw, knocking out several of its teeth in the process. My new strength was beginning to fade, the gnashing teeth of the ghoul creeping closer to my face.

“Run! Aurora run!” I closed my eyes bracing myself for the next, possibly fatal bite. Suddenly I felt its legs go limp and slack as its body flopped off of me to the side, a knife sticking out of its temple.

I was breathing heavily, looking at the dead body in confusion. I turned to see Aurora breathing just as heavily as I was, a stunned look on her face. Her whole body was trembling and she couldn’t take her eyes off the lifeless ghoul.

“I…I killed it.” She whispered, her voice cracking. I downed a healing potion and let out a heavy sigh as the warmth inside me began stitching my wound closed, leaving behind an ugly scar. I could see my blood staining the teeth of the dead ghoul, bits of my fur stuck in between them.

I stood up and took Aurora into a grateful hug. “Aurora…you saved me. I told you to run.”

“I couldn’t… I…I…” she stammered. Unexpectedly I thought back to when I did something similar to save Sunny from the Bloodwing. Suddenly I knew how she felt when she hit me. I hugged her even tighter as I felt something I hadn’t felt in some time. Happiness. She saved me. My foolish daughter had saved me. I released her and wiped a tear off her face.

“You did good Aurora.” Was all I had to say. Her mouth curled up into a smile as she looked at me through misty eyes. I heard the sound of hooves approaching and looked up to see Sunny trotting towards us.

“You guys alright?” She asked, lending me a hoof and helping me back up to all fours.

“Better.” I said, looking down at Aurora with a soft smile. I magically wrenched her knife from its resting place and returned it to her.

“You might want this.” I teased, guiding it back into her little backpack. “The way should be clear now.” I motioned for Sunny to lead the way onward, Aurora following after her. I took a moment to inspect the corpse of the zombie pony and managed to find a nametag on the tattered remains of its clothing. I guess he got his wish after all these years I thought solemnly. It read Blowtorch. I carefully returned it to where it belonged and then trotted to catch up to Sunny.

A quick climb up a small ladder later, we found ourselves in a darkly lit room, dust littering everything. Somewhere around here was mission control which hopefully contained the main security terminal. If it wasn’t here then I’d have no idea how to shut it down. We passed a set of stairs leading up, presumably to the launch pad based on the small turret mounted to the ceiling. We would have to get by it to explore the other side of the structure. The importance of this space center was shown by what kind of turret it was. Instead of looking down a gun barrel I was looking down a focusing lens with a side mounted gem pack. Suddenly I was remembering the building we found Paladin Sure Shot in. It had also had a compliment of defensive robots as well as magical energy turrets. Perhaps I had a few places to return to in the future.

“Sparks, think you could conjure up a shield for us?” Sunny asked, knowing I possessed the capability to do so.

“I should be able to.” I said with a bit of confidence. The white aura of my magic sparked to life around my horn as I focused the energy to cast the spell. In a flash, a white bubble shield had surrounded me. Ok now step two. I exerted a bit more magic to force the spell away from me, rolling the bubble shape into a flat wall that I could direct. I wiped a bead of sweat off my forehead as I smiled proudly. I wasn’t the most talented unicorn but after creating one accidentally, I slowly figured out how to do them at will. I could have done it much faster if I had a proper teacher but as it stood I was able to figure it out on my own. I maneuvered the wall of magic in front of us as we began crossing the turrets path. Aurora had jumped up on my back and wrapped her hooves around my neck, hanging on tight.

“Ok here we go!” We galloped into its sight, keeping the wall in between it and us. The turret snapped to attention and opened fire on us. Four pink laser blasts hit my shield, causing magical feedback to surge into my horn with every shot. As we made it to the other side, before I dismissed the spell, I saw that it had cracked in a few places but otherwise held up. Maybe I was more capable than I thought.

On the other side of the complex, through a door that had been bashed open, was a large room filled with rows of terminals on desks in front of a wall of display screens. A few of the terminals glowed a soft green, lighting the room with a sickly glow. I took a seat in an old chair in front of what I thought was the main terminal in the front row of desks. The screen was flashing with numerous warnings about being disconnected from certain functions and informing me that there was a security breach, forcing the launch pad to be locked down. I started searching through the code, looking for commands that would allow me to deactivate or reprogram the robots and turrets.

“Is this the right terminal?” Sunny asked, tapping the side of the terminal.

“I think so. Look at all these alerts.” I waved a hoof at the screen. “Why would they be sent to just this terminal otherwise?”

“Are we gonna take the robots?” Aurora asked, excitement evident in her voice.

“Please clear the area. This room is in lockdown.” A slow moving ponitron shambled into the room. “Repeat. Please clear the area. This unit is authorized to use lethal force. Violence will not be tolerated.” Its monotonous synthetic voice was a far cry from the mare sounding brain bots. Sunny trotted up to the bulky robot and put a load of buckshot through its head casing.

“Not that one.” I needed to hurry and find the security controls, the next robot that finds us might actually be a combat model. While I continued to dig through the terminal’s code I found an interesting command. It read; Signal MoA. From what I gleaned this was a joint project by the Ministry of Arcane Sciences and the Ministry of Wartime Technology. Why was the Ministry of Awesome involved? From what information was available in the Stable, I couldn’t exactly figure out why the ministry existed. Rainbow Dash fought on the front lines more often than not and often left her ministry to its own devices. Curiosity got the better of me and I activated the command.

…Nothing.

I should have known better than try and ping a ministry I knew was two hundred years defunct. I continued searching while Sunny and Aurora were attempting to build a barricade with desks from the room around the room. It would hold should another robot shamble by but if it was a Sentinel that found us? It would do little to protect us then. I knew better than to voice this thought though and let them continue. Eventually I found what I was looking for, the remote security override. I used the command and relaxed as the lights turned back on and the red ticks that were approaching on my compass disappeared. Alright, it was time to get topside and see how many bots were up there. We went back to the stairs with the turret that we passed earlier and ascended them to ground level. We walked outside right beneath the gantry holding up one of the rockets. Across the way, under the second rocket’s gantry, was a similar building that presumably led to another part of the underground complex.

“Might as well clear out the whole place right?” I said more for myself than anypony else. Neither Sunny nor Aurora protested so we descended down an identical set of stairs. The symmetrical layout helped in navigating and before long we found a similar room lined with terminals, albeit with more glowing screens and scattered paperwork rotting on the floor. There were old skeletons scattered around where the ponies here after the bombs fell succumbed to hunger or took their own lives. A particular skeleton slumped in a chair with an exit hole in the back of its skull being especially noticeable. Sights of tragedy like this would never get easier to see, every time I did they weighed heavy on my heart. Doubly so that I couldn’t do anything to prevent Aurora from seeing the truth of the world. Although, even for a filly, I think she knew better than most how the Wasteland worked.

With the lights on it was easier to see the full details of the room. On the three walls that made up the room were posters advertising for different ministries. The right wall displayed a grey mare wearing a yellow and pink nurse’s uniform, behind her walked a line of Steel Rangers marching. The poster read ‘You don’t need to be a Steel Ranger to be a hero! Join the Ministry of Peace today!’ On the left wall was another that showed the outline of Canterlot surrounded by a shield as missiles were impacting it, the equestrian flag in the background. In the foreground was the outline of a pony so it could be anypony with the text accompaniment reading ‘The state is a friend of a friend of the state. Support the war efforts’. The third and final bit of pre-war propaganda on the center wall in front of me depicted three pegasi flying towards a group of zebras, riding a wave of rainbow colored light that was clearing the inky cloud that surrounded the zebras to reveal the blue sky behind it. ‘Wipe the Stripes!’ it boldly declared. ‘Join the Equestrian Forces today!’ A secondary glance around the room showed that this was the mission control room, making the one we were just in the security room, which made sense given what I was able to do in it. At the center panel under the row of monitors was a large console with various switches with a terminal screen inlaid into it. There was hope here once. Surrounded by ministry propaganda in the heart of the space center. These ponies were working on something that they truly thought would end the war. Now the space stations they had constructed floated aimlessly in the skies above, still waiting for the equipment and crew they needed to bring them online.

Inside the terminal I found a list that surprised me. It was a current readout of the status of the rockets. Both gantries were still intact and power flowed to the elevator controls, both rockets were adequately fueled and had all their desired cargo on board. The launches had been delayed by a lack of resources and ponypower. The bare minimum maintenance crew couldn’t carry out the tasks that were required. Despite all that, a red alert on Star Swirl-13 showed that whether through time or sabotage that the docking clamp had malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. This discovery was a lot to take in. Floating in orbit were two weapons of mass destruction, I assumed, and the rockets to make them functional were ready to launch and had been for some time. Before I could find out what it would take to launch them or learn about their destinations, I was stopped by a black box on the screen asking for the access codes. I sighed and slumped a little in the chair in front of the mission control terminal. Something inside me was disappointed and relieved at the same time.

“You find something?” Sunny asked, noticing my slump.

“I’m not sure.” I said, looking for more information in the terminal. “These rockets are fully operational and are ready to launch.”

“We’re going to fly these rockets!?” Aurora squeaked in excitement, shooting off her hooves high enough to look me in the eye.

“Not without the access code we’re not.”

“You aren’t seriously going to try and fly one of those things are you?” Sunny was looking at me like I had finally lost it.

“Of course not but aren’t you the slightest bit curious about all this?” I knew she wasn’t always this stoic and I refused to believe that nothing interested her.

“What? About the space stations up in space?” She raised an eyebrow quizzically. So she had been reading everything over my shoulder. “I’m not about to destroy the world again. I doubt anypony alive could fly this thing anyway.” She said, trying to dismiss any more conversation. At least I had gotten my answer. Deny it as she will she had at least given it some thought. As I was about to log out, I found a command to unlock a safe somewhere in the room. A soft click sounded from the base of the console. Aurora also heard the lock disengage, searching the area where the sound had come from. She pried off a fake floor panel, revealing a rather large floor safe.

“Found it!” she called to us.

“Good job Aurora, now let’s see what’s inside.” I bent down and turned the handle on the safe, revealing its contents to us. Inside was a hefty stack of documents, a silenced small caliber pistol and the true treasure, a statuette of a blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane with a cocky look of victory on her face. I withdrew the one I already had from my bags and set them next to each other. They were clearly part of a set and guessing from the three I had seen that they would all be of the Ministry Mares. I had never seen Rainbow Dash without some kind of armor on but that mane was unmistakable. Just as before, when I picked it up in my magic, I felt a rush of energy flow through my body and come to rest in the back of my mind. I read the inscription on the base ‘Be Awesome!’ some unseen force reading it alongside me.

These statuettes…there is something special about them. Just what are they? I filed that train of thought away for now, wanting to take a look at the many documents inside the safe. Many of them detailed information that came from numerous research facilities and private companies; Maripony, Future-Tec, Silver-Mane Industries and The Dome. Of all those names, one got a reaction from my PipBuck. A map marker had been added, showing the location of The Dome far to the northwest of Baltimare. At the very least I could say I had no lack of things to do should I choose to pursue them. That was as close as I was going to get regarding the space center. It would always be here should I want to return. I stood up from the safe and started to leave.

“We should go let Brick know that we cleared the launch pad. Then we’re going to find Blood Orange.” The amount of hatred in my voice startled even me. It had to be done though, this burden on my heart was changing me and it needed to be freed before I changed forever.

We found Brick where we had left him a few hours ago on the observation deck where I told him everything that happened, well, almost everything.

“I want some of the robots.” I demanded.

“If that is the payment you desire then so be it. Thank you. I think, given a bit of time, that I can reorganize this place into a proper outfit.”

That was good to hear. Their location could provide a valuable stop on trade routes that crossed the mountains, perhaps it would even bring new settlements along with it. They certainly had enough resources to do a fair amount of trading on their own, Brick’s ambitions could become reality very easily.

“I wish you luck with that. If you think you can turn the ponies here then I look forward to returning.” I held out my hoof to him. He returned the gesture and bumped his hoof against mine.

“I won’t waste this opportunity. Thank you for giving me my freedom back. I hope you find the pony you’re looking for.”

I nodded to him, a small smile on my face. Before I knew it I had reprogrammed two robots and we were back outside, wind blowing across the arid landscape, heading to where Brick said Blood Orange was. It was finally time. My vengeance was getting closer to fruition. Aurora couldn’t hide her happiness as she rode on the back of a Sentinel, its wheeled legs not bothered at all by the terrain. Sentinels were built primarily for combat and therefore didn’t speak much. The other robot also had no problem with the terrain, its mounted thruster keeping it aloft above the ground. Of all the robots I knew about the Mr. Series was the oddest looking. They had round bodies with three long eyestalks protruding from the middle of its body, beneath them were three mechanical appendages, two of which were tipped with a different weapon while the third was a basic pincher claw for grabbing things. This particular Mr. Gutsy had a dark green paint scheme with the symbol of Equestria on its front, along with its name painted on the side of its body.

“I can’t wait to wipe those stripes Commander.” It cheerfully said in a slightly gruff voice of a military drill sergeant.

“You don’t have to call me commander Cerberus.” I said, wishing it would use the designation I programmed.

“Nonsense sir! It is only proper that I address you as such, you are my commanding officer of this team and that makes you the Commander!” Why was there programming for identifying individuals if it could just ignore them and call you whatever it wanted?

“Sentinel, please tell me your programming isn’t the same.” I asked the bulky robot.

“OF COURSE NOT, COMMANDER.”

I sighed in defeat, I guess I’d just have to accept it as a glitch in their programming. Aurora on the other hoof was getting way to into it.

“Onward my loyal Sentinel! For the Commander!” She cried, pointing forward in the direction we were walking like she was commanding a vehicle. Something inside her head made her frown for a second.

“Hey dad? If you’re a commander, what does that make me?”

“The commander’s daughter.” I said flatly.

“Aww C’mon! I want a title like you!” She whined.

“Fine…you can be the Lieutenant.” I said, having fully given up arguing the point.

“Lou…tenant?” She questioned, her understanding of the new word lacking.

“Congratulations on the promotion Lieutenant.” Cerberus said, one of its eyestalks rotating to affix her with a recognizing stare.

Aurora pumped her hoof in the air in celebration, having understood all she needed to know about the rank from Cerberus’ acknowledgement. I had given Sunny and Aurora administrator access to command the robots the same as I, the only caveat was they couldn’t be against my own, lest Sunny try and stop me from using them for my revenge.

“And Aunt Sunny you get to be the Captain!” Aurora clopped her hooves together, thrilled by the titles being thrown around. Sunny looked up at her from under her hat.

“Cool.” Was all she needed to say to get another round of celebration from the excited filly riding a death machine. Now that I thought about it, the image of a happy filly riding the death dealing metal monster that was a Sentinel was kinda off-putting. At least this one was on my side.

Minutes became hours as we neared the array of three large towers topped with damaged satellite dishes. Even from this distance I could see the rope bridges between the three dishes, connecting them to each other. I could see dark pony shapes walk across every few minutes. I turned my head to the cloud cover above, noticing the edge of the sky alight as if the horizon itself was aflame. We couldn’t risk a camp this close to the satellite towers. We would have to make do with a twilight attack. Thankfully the robots possessed built in E.F.S systems so the dark wouldn’t affect them at all. I unslung my sniper rifle from my back and looked through the scope. It was clear that this was a raider haven, although it couldn’t have been there long judging by the lack of desecrated pony remains as decorations. Or maybe Blood Orange was more subdued than the average raider. She didn’t look the type to enjoy stuff like that. Perhaps she was only an ally to Chestnut, not to his raider army. No! Stop thinking like that! I admonished myself. I couldn’t think that she could be reasoned with. I was going to kill her, only after I got what I needed from her. There wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened at Requari.

“Cerberus, Sentinel, listen up.” I beckoned them closer, it was time for the plan. “Your jobs are simple. We are here for a pony named Blood Orange, she has a grey coat and a deep crimson mane. I need you two to patrol the perimeter and make sure she doesn’t escape. Kill anypony else.” I could hardly believe the words coming out of my mouth. I knew it was what I had to do. What I wanted to do. But now? Now that I was here and I had to act… Sunny had no objections. Whether she admitted it or not she wanted to be here. If she wanted to be here to help me or for a reason of her own I didn’t know, though I hoped it was the former. Aurora…she had to learn sooner or later. There was a reason I didn’t bring her in the first place. She looked apprehensive, scared even.

“Sunny and I are going inside, we need to find her or chase her to you two before she can charge up a teleport.”

“W-what about me dad?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Stay where you are. The robots will protect you no matter what.” I pointed at Cerberus and glared at the floating robot. “Understood?”

“Yes Commander!” The robot did a salute with his pincer arm.

“YES COMMANDER.” The sentinel made no attempt at a gesture but I knew it was sincere either way.

“Consider that order as important as the capture of the target. Listen to what she says unless they impair the mission.”

“You mean I get to tell them what to do?” Aurora asked, a spark of emotion flaring past her fear.

“You named yourself Lieutenant didn’t you?” I smirked, pointing at her jokingly. “Do you think you’re up to it?”

She gave a determined expression that made me proud, smirking back at me, giving me her own salute.

“Yes Commander.”

I brought up my PipBuck and used it to help me find and levitate out the pistol I took from the safe in the space center. It was silenced so if she had to use it… I wished I could give her a normal life. A life where you didn’t have to learn to kill before you got your cutie mark. A life where death came at the end of a long, happy existence. I clutched a hoof to my chest, gently touching the 63 embroidered on my armor. I missed my life in the stable...my thoughts drifted to what could have been. Those thoughts started to make me angry. The Wasteland had taken my life from me, my partner from me…I wondered if she would’ve had a filly or a colt…

“Don’t hesitate to use this.” I floated the pistol over to her. “They took Winter from us…and they’re going to pay their debt in full.”

She knew how to use it, I just thought I’d have more time before she needed to.

“Sunny? Do you have anything to add?” Her help was invaluable to me. I wouldn’t be anywhere without her. I just hoped she didn’t think less of me for my decision.

“Don’t lose yourself. Keep your head and remember why you’re here. Remember what’s at stake for you AND me.” She leaned in close and whispered the last one into my ear. “And remember whose watching.”

Sunny walked past me to get a look for herself. Leaving me to face my daughter. I understood what she meant. She was worried I’d lose control, let my anger get the better of me, let the Wasteland control me. I didn’t know if I had the strength to resist when we found her.

Be Strong!

Be Awesome!

All at once I felt my nerves calm, my resolve cemented, my body and mind ready for what I was about to face.

Aurora was holding the pistol pretty clumsily in her mouth, looking at me with piercing eyes. She put up a strong face but I could see through her. She was worried. Worried about me. She was right to be.

“Attack the perimeter.” I ordered the robots. “Sunny, we’re going in.”

The raiders barely had time to react as a missile launched from my sentinel hit one of the suspended catwalks wrapping around the outside of the dish towers, sending an unlucky mare plummeting to her death below. Two more were killed by headshots from my S.A.T.S assisted aim while Sunny and I made our gallop to the entrance of one of the towers. In the periphery of my vision I could see blip after red blip disappear on my E.F.S, the roar of the sentinel’s minigun signaling their deaths. The robots had cleared us a path to the doors that Sunny and I promptly crashed through. There were cabinets and tables all around the circular room. In the center of the room was a tall metal staircase that wrapped around itself to the top where I assumed the controls and exit to the dish were. As we crashed in we saw the staircase was loaded with raiders, half going outside to combat my robots from a distance while the rest looked at us with angry and unsure expressions, wondering if they should continue outside or combat the new threats that burst it. The sound of gunfire signaled that they decided to fight us first, forcing us to rush into cover behind a nearby table, flipping it over to use as a shield. Only a few scarce bullets pierced the table, their poorly repaired weapons lacking the power. On the first wrap of the stairs were three raiders firing on us from behind a piece of sheet metal they’d dragged from somewhere. Further up above were more peppering us with potshots from many angles. We wouldn’t last much longer there under their assault. Then I got an idea.

I wrapped our cover in the white aura of my magic and situated it in front of Sunny with me at the rear to shield her from shots from behind. She picked up on my plan as we started up the stairs. I felt several bullets impact my armor, hitting hard enough to leave bruises but not enough to punch through. As we neared the three I threw the table with all my strength, knocking two of them off to the concrete floor. The third was taken aback, the table disappearing to reveal an angry orange mare with two shotguns. That raider hardly managed a scream before one shot blew his jaw from his head and the other blew a bloody clump out of his chest. We were halfway up the stairs when we faced at least five raiders at the top, all of them bearing down on us. I couldn’t let them pin us down again. I conjured a white wall of protection in front of us as we continued our ascent. Just as we rounded the final turn of the stairs, a missile struck the outside wall behind the raiders, shredding two of them with hard concrete shrapnel and a third was blown over the edge by the blast. The remaining two recoiled from the explosion, leaving them wide open. Sunny put three shots into one, leaving her missing a leg and head. I fired a lightning bolt at the other, causing his muscles to convulse harshly and painfully. While he was incapacitated I simply picked him up with my magic and cast him out of the hole in the wall to the ground below.

I spared a moment to look outside through the hole. Several raiders were still trying to destroy my metal companions from up on the metal walkways and a few from up on the satellite dishes themselves. I had every confidence they would be ok, even with how many hits the sentinel was taking to protect Aurora.

“C’mon Sparks, we can’t let her get away!” Sunny pulled me away from the hole, leading me up to the ladder that led outside. Once we threw open the hatch, we were greeted by the backs of two raiders that were taking cover from the robots. Sunny and I turned and gave them both a hard buck, sending them off the tower. To our left was the smallest of the three towers that had taken an absolute beating from the sentinel’s missile launcher. Several of the walkways had been blasted off, separating the raiders over there from the other two, leaving them easy pickings for the robots. As if on cue a green bolt of magical fire atomized one of the raiders, turning her into a steaming pile of goo.

To our right was the tallest of the three towers with a strange looking effigy made of scrap metal on top of its dish. It was the only place we had to go. We crossed the rope bridge to the other tower, throwing open its hatch to the inside. This one was similar in layout to the one we came in through. However there were no raiders in here. From down below I could hear the sound of frantic typing at a terminal. Behind the glow of the screen was her. Blood Orange. As far as she knew she was under attack by robots so I doubted she knew we were there. I put a hoof to my lips, telling Sunny to move stealthily as I unslung my sniper rifle once again. I carefully braced the rifle on a guardrail and took aim at Blood Orange. Through the scope I could see what she was trying to do with the terminal. If what I read was accurate, she was trying to call in a mortar strike from a nearby pre-war military base. The text on screen read ‘Moving into position’ meaning that the strike was almost ready to fire. Those mortars would destroy my robots and kill…and kill…No I had to stop it now! I moved my crosshairs to the base of her horn and fired. Blood Orange’s horn exploded into shards in a crimson colored explosion. Her blood curdling shriek of pain brought a smile to my face. I slowly made my way down the stairs to the bottom where Blood Orange lay in a heap, poking at her shattered horn.

“Remember me?” I said cruelly, rushing up into her face so she could see. She looked at me like she couldn’t believe what I had done.

“You…you destroyed my horn…

“You killed my love, now stay down. I’ll deal with you in a moment.” As much as I wanted to deliver her a beating now that she was powerless, I had a mortar strike to call off. I stood in front of the terminal and started looking for a ceasefire command or something similar. I could hear Sunny making her way down the stairs to me. Suddenly I heard a primal scream and felt somepony’s hooves grab either side of my head and smash it into the screen. From the corner of my eye I could see the livid form of Blood Orange doing anything she could to hurt me, lost in the frenzy of losing her horn. Sunny came to my rescue and tackled her so hard they both flew into the nearby wall, crushing Blood Orange under Sunny’s weight. Despite the threat of the mortars, I gave in to my anger and abandoned the terminal, galloping to Blood Orange and releasing my grief. She had just opened her eyes in time to see my hoof smash her head against the wall. Blood started running from her nose as I hit her three more times, breaking and splitting her muzzle in the process. Once I felt the sting of bone against my hoof, teeth started flying from her mouth and I switched targets. I pivoted on my hooves and delivered a powerful buck to her underbelly. She gagged hard at the pain, a pink froth spilling from her mouth. Before I could continue, Sunny wrapped her hooves around me and started pulling me away.

“That’s enough Sparks! We need her alive!”

I was breathing so hard, adrenaline blasting through my veins as I looked upon one of the objects of my vengeance. Even though Sunny had stopped me, in a way I was glad. I still had a mortar strike to stop. I wasn’t about to lose my family again. Sunny released her hold on me and I returned to the terminal. As I searched I realized that the sound of gunfire outside had stopped. The robots must have finished clearing out the rest. After realizing that fact I found the order I was looking for and stopped the mortars from firing. Once that was stopped, I fired three rounds from Harbinger into the terminal, blowing bits of glass and parts out the back. Then I got to return my attention to Blood Orange. Sunny stood by her watching passively as I levitated out a healing potion and forced it down her muzzle.

“Don’t go dying on me now, we aren’t done.”

Blood Orange coughed up a mouthful of blood as she regained consciousness. Her body was racked with a coughing fit for a moment as she cleared her lungs of fluid.

“Listen carefully, where can I find your boss? Where can I find Chestnut!?” I screamed in her face, punctuating the question with a slap across her face.

“You won’t kill me…” she rasped. “You hero types are all the same…you don’t have the stomach for it.” She grinned sinisterly at me, another mouthful of blood leaking through her teeth, creating a disturbing image. Every now and then sparks would fly from where her horn used to be as she continued tying to cast spells. That gave me an idea. I pulled Hearts Promise from its sheath on my leg and plunged it into her belly. She cried out in pain again, her tortured wails like music to my ears.

“Here’s the thing about that.” It was my turn to smile sinisterly, my voice an angry whisper. “I never claimed to be a hero.” With that I focused a lightning spell into the horn knife, electrocuting her from the inside out. I purposefully withheld some power from the spell so I didn’t accidentally kill her in the process.

“I’m going to ask again. Where is Chestnut?!” I gave her another shock, her agonized screams muffling themselves through what remained of her teeth, clenched shut by the spell. When I stopped her flesh was starting to burn in a few places, causing sickly sweet smelling trails of smoke to pervade my senses. She wouldn’t last much longer at this rate.

“Think about this.” I lifted her by the chin, forcing her to look at me. “Do you really want to die for him?”

I pulled Hearts Promise out of her and plunged it in again just above the first stab. I sent a stronger blast of lightning through her, contorting her body into a tight ball. Blood flowed pretty steadily from her mouth. Probably bit her tongue during the shock.

“I wonder how many more you can take before your muscles rip themselves apart.”

“Sparks that’s enough.” I felt a hoof on my shoulder.

“No…if she won’t talk she will suffer.”

“Remember what I said.” Sunny’s voice had gotten a little louder.

“Oh? Do you want a turn with her?” I turned around to face her smiling wickedly. Sunny scowled in return and pulled me so close that our muzzles almost touched.

“I told you not to lose yourself!” Her voice came out as a deadly whisper.

Where was this coming from? She watched the whole thing at my side. If she wanted me to stop she could…have… Then I realized what she meant. Behind Sunny, up at the top of the stairs, was the horrified face of Aurora Dawn…my daughter. ‘Remember whose watching’ she had said. I had went too far. No! No she deserved every bit of what I was putting her through! I didn’t want her to see this but I couldn’t stop either. I hoped she would one day forgive me.

“Go back outside Aurora.” I said calmly, a bit of shaking in my voice.

“W-what are you going to do to her?”

“What I have to. Go. Back Outside.”

“B-but daddy I-”

“Go Outside!” I yelled. She jumped at my raised voice and retreated back outside, tears forming in her eyes.

“This is what I was afraid of. You-”

“Shut up Sunny.” I cut her off with a stomp. “You had every opportunity to stop me. Don’t stand there and pretend like you don’t want this as much as I do!” Sunny looked taken aback by my outburst, her expression souring slightly.

“It’s not for me to decide what kind of pony you are.” She said, leveling me with a disapproving glance as she took a step back. “Only you can choose your destiny. I will help you along the way but I cannot, will not interfere.”

“One decision doesn’t decide my fate.” I countered, too angry to see the wisdom in her words.

“No but it makes decisions like this easier down the road. For every piece of yourself you sacrifice the Wasteland will be there to fill in the gaps until nothing of you remains. What then Sparks? Is that the pony you want to be?”

Sunny’s life of wasteland experience told me that she had seen ponies fall victim to the wasteland, becoming a part of it instead of fighting it. She didn’t want to see it happen to me too. She wanted to see me be better, better than Blood Orange, better than her. Maybe I could have had I listened to her instead of merely hearing her.

“I’m doing what needs to be done.” I turned to give my attention back to Blood Orange. “You know how to make this stop.” I had to do this, I had to for her. I was doing the right thing…I…I was still a good pony.

I grabbed the handle of Hearts Promise with magic and began to pull it upward, centimeter by centimeter, cutting a red line up her belly.

“Be Strong! Be Strong!” I heard ringing in my head, causing me to hesitate for a second.

Goddessdammit I am being strong! Get out of my head! She has to pay! I gave the part of my brain trying to stop me a mental buck to the face and continued pulling up.

“Only so far I can go before your rotten guts spill all over the floor.” I informed her. “Did you know a pony can survive a few minutes after disembowelment?”

“STOP! Stop! I’ll tell you…I don’t wanna die.” Blood Orange was crying heavily, a combination of pain and fear reaching its peak. I levitated out my last healing potion and held it in front of her.

“Good, now where is he?”

“He’s at the Eclipse Complex. It’s…an underground fort in north Baltimare.”

“How do I get there?”

“There’s…an elevator he uses to get to the surface. You won’t be able to use it but there’s another way in. There’s a train that can take you there, you need to go through Moletown to get there.” She motioned her head towards the other end of the room. “In my bag, there’s a keycard. You’ll need it or the train won’t move.”

I trotted over to where her bags were laying and retrieved the card. It was a dark midnight blue with a symbol of a waxing moon with a starburst on it.

I had what I needed. Now to finish it.

“Thank you Blood Orange.” I pulled Hearts Promise out of her and floated the potion over to her where she greedily snatched it out of the air and downed it. She smiled in relief as her wounds started stitching themselves back together.

“What are you going to do with me?” She asked fearfully, trying to push as much of herself as she could against the wall.

“I thought the potion made it obvious.” I put on my best charming smile. She sighed in relief and smiled.

“I thought for sure you were going to kil-”

*BLAM*

Her body slumped down on the wall, her head hanging limply to the side, her eyes frozen in a wide expression of shock as blood started to leak out of the hole below her broken horn. I put Harbinger back in its holster and turned my back on her dead body.

“It was so I could give you a painless death.” I had what I came here for. I knew where he was now. I looked over the corpse of Blood Orange one last time. Chestnut would not get the same luxury. I barely made it one step up the stairs before I wavered and emptied my stomach all over the floor.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Toughness – Your hide has toughened from the repeated beatings the wasteland has put you through, you receive 10% general damage resistance.

Quest Perk: Be Awesome! – You have found another small statuette, this one imbuing you with the agility of Equestria’s finest flier - Permanent + 1 to Agility!

Next Chapter: Chapter Fourteen: Rekindling the Flame Estimated time remaining: 23 Hours, 22 Minutes