She tried to follow as best as she could, but so far the meeting appeared to be almost entirely reliant on previously known material from missions and conditions of the Ordos Sanguinius in the past. She could follow a bit of the briefing but overall she just felt extremely out of place as Earl prattled on with the details. Not to mention, that she seemed to be abnormally distracted with every little detail of the library.

Earl stood up front and center with various papers and books open on his desk, talking about where they were at as far as supplies and what they would need when the Griffons went out again. She could spot Tyrin staring angrily down from a perch up high in the library, his one eye death glaring down below, it was almost physically painful for her to look up at him as he seemed to instantly know she were looking and she would catch his glare.

Oso stood beside her happily apparently listening and catching everything pouring out of Earl. Yin was there too, or so she thought. She could feel a strange discomfort whenever she looked around. She couldn't pinpoint it but something was keeping her from looking at something in the room. Other than that, Croce sat in the corner picking his talons with his new Susi knife which practically looked like a sword in his grip.

"So... Other than the minor supplies list, we will want to intercept the gangs looting that Flash Industries building. The gear will make for a good bribe for the ghouls." Earl flipped through a few more pages as Oso looked a little uncomfortable as he raised a Talon.

"Earl, I don't suppose we can try and trade instead?" The big bird already had a look on his face that showed he knew he would be shot down.

"Those cunts don't trade, raider gangs generally don't. Plus, I've heard some reliable stories about them... Mostly or all mares, and they tend to be a little aggressive to males. Lots of stories about them wearing stallions out before killing them. Even if we tried, we would not succeed." Tyrin muttered from his perch but then added with a tone that was just a touch sharper. "But you know that..."

Earl sighed and Oso grumbled. "Yeah, I know, I just don't like killing females."

Tyrin hopped down from his perch with a heavy thud. "...I noticed... But they're raiders.... It doesn't matter if their Stallions, Mares, Hermaphrodites, or whatever... We see them, we kill them..."

He glared into Oso's eyes and he nodded, not out of fear but something that looked like a reminder of duty. "Aye..."

"We don't have long, those mares work pretty fast and if the information is accurate they are heading to Hoofington as soon as they clear that crap out. We need it before then, or Tyrin will have a fit." Earl poked at the map. He seemed on point with his words but she just couldn't get over how his expression seemed to imply that he wanted to be literally anywhere else. The most uninterested Pony she had ever seen.

Croce raised an eyebrow. "Why not Hoofington?" Tyrin just shot him a glare and Croce did his best to just remain calm and avoid his eye.

"Now, there's a few other items, but I'm sure you can figure that out on the go as I neither know how to do it nor do I care." Earl dropped the last of the papers on a table and almost instantly picked up a book as he rolled back into a chair as if to shut out the world and get lost in his book.

Oso grumbled, picking up the papers he began to shuffle through them, but a single talon plunged through the papers and pinned them to the table, Tyrin's eye leveled with Oso. "I'm not foal sitting, if that thing needs to survive for our plans, I want it plated in steel or bubble wrap or something. I half expect her to die falling down the stairs or choking at the dinner table, I don't want to lose the progress we've made two minutes out of the castle.."

Oso looked from Tyrin to Lexicon before looking back at Tyrin. "Noted..." He yanked the papers letting Tyrin's talons cut through them like a knife through butter.

The one eye'd griffon did not walked but seemed to aggressively push through the room giving the death glare yet again at Lexi who instinctively cowered.

"Well shit... at least someone here has some sense...I'll get the bubble wrap... where do you guys keep that?" Croce chuckled poking about as if actively searching. Lexi gave him the stink eye but he just laughed at her. "What? Are you going to try and tell me he's wrong?"

The odd sensation of Yin's perception magic faded, Lexi had been trying to figure it out so much that she noticed the sudden lack of the magical feel. She figured he was simply uninterested now that the briefing was done. But his leaving sparked a little more activity in her and she carried on as if she hadn't noticed. "I don't want to be strapped with a ton of armor..."

Oso gave a firm flick to the small still vanishing scar from her gunshot wound. Either he knew just how to hit it or it really didn't take much, but the same aching pain shot through her. "Yeah, I don't want you clanking around behind me either, but I don't want to risk losing you the moment I look the other way. Come on, we are going to the armory."

Croce's eyes snapped open and his attention sparked. "Armory? You guys got goodies in this place?"

Oso sighed and waved him over. "Follow me, we've been stocking up on supplies for a very long time, and this place was a military installation before the bombs dropped. We've got a lot of stuff, normally it's just for the Pegasi when they leave the castle. Don't want to send them off defenseless."

Lexi had already been terrorized by Croce's marksmanship lessons, she really didn't want any more to do with it. "Do we have to?"

Oso's response was short and very stern. "Yes."

"I mean, like, do we have to right now at this very moment?" She looked up at him as she followed at a short distance. She would do what she needed to, but she could certainly use a day or two off before she had to indulge in such unsavory duties.

"Yeah, we have to do it now. We are likely heading back out in a few hours." He pushed open a door and started down the hall.

"A few hours?! I thought we would be here for a few days, or weeks." Lexi slowed but got a nudge from behind as Croce apparently was very happy to get moving and didn't want her stalling.

"Yeah, normally we would spend a day or two unwinding, but as you should be intimately aware of, we just made a huge breakthrough on our project, we need to contact another group and let them know, and try and convince them to help." He smiled looking back at her with seriousness in his eyes. "I can't really even put into words how big of a deal it is that we got the Susi to join us."

They continued for a bit longer as Lexi pouted and fumbled. But finally, they reached a large door with several marks on it. Griffon talons had carved the old Ponish word for armament into the door.

She gulped and shook herself before stepping inside with the Griffons. "Goodness, I hope this is easier than the first time."

Sweat dripped off of her and she whimpered as her body bucked hard with every passing second.

"You want a turn?" Oso's voice called out down the hall just a little.

"Naw... I had my fill." Croce called back, his figure stretching just behind the corner.

"Back to it then..." The massive Griffon stepped forward again. Lexi always thought he was so kind and remembered how at ease she felt hearing his voice, she never knew he could be so rough. "Come on... up up... assume the position..."

She whimpered struggling to at the very least get her hind legs straight. Spreading them at least a little so the force of the buck didn't knock her over again. "Can we stop? It's so tight... it hurts... and I can barely feel my hips... They're shaking so much..."

He loomed over her. "Not a chance... now... let's try this again, maybe I can go to sleep tonight knowing the job has been done and done right..." He gave her a firm swat on the rear as he closed the distance.

His talons on her shoulder he leaned over her and smiled. "Now Lexi... lets do this... I know it hurts, but just bare with it... hold your breath if you must, focus... and lets get in there..."

She clenched her teeth and prepared for the shock, drenched in sweat, her hips shaking, she clenched her eyes waiting for that moment when it all began again.

"Now!" Oso pushed her forward and Lexi bolted forward almost clumsily into the little gallery they had set up. She instantly rounded the corner, the battle saddle biting into her sides as she tensed and bit onto the trigger.

A spray of .45 pocketed the sandstone in a rapid spray, It took about two seconds but finally the Sparkle Cola bottle broke and she whipped about activating SATS to put two semi auto rounds of 5.56 into the bottle on the far end. She queued five but hit the bottle on the second bullet. Then quickly turning about she heaved onto her forelegs and bucked as hard as she could.

The steel armor over her hind legs covered her hooves pretty well and despite her pathetic physical capability she knocked over the sandstone and did some rather severe damage to it as it came to pieces once it hit the ground.

Panting and whimpering Lexi's legs wanted nothing more to do with all this and all but gave out, but the armor's strength enhancing rotors took note of her excessive exhaustion through her Pipbuck and froze refusing to let her fall over.

"Much better... I'm honestly surprised, now if only you could do at least that good every time without freaking out." Oso smiled coming over and pulling the pin keeping her straps on. Almost instantly she simply fell out of the armor which continued to stand.

She just lay there on the ground whimpering until Oso scraped her up and cradling her like a foal he held a healing potion to her lips. She desperately drank it down before just whimpering again. "I don't wanna go into that armor ever again!"

He chuckled slinging her onto his back. "That's too bad, we aren't going to risk you dying out there, and at least with this armor you can carry your share of gear."

"What about the other options?" She fussed on like a foal on his back but he just laughed and kept walking.

"Croce, you can continue, just don't use more than the ammo here, I'm taking the 'princess' back to the baths."

"A bath?" She wanted to say something, even if just to pretend she had some say in what she did and where she went, but she had to be honest, a bath sounded wonderful.

"Yeah, Yin mixes some of his stuff into the baths, it has a minor healing effect. You'll be up and ready to go after a quick soak." He moved along the halls carrying her. She couldn't help but to sit there, so tired her mind started to wander, it didn't help that the perception magic in the halls pushed her to space out even more.

She chewed her lip and caught herself smelling into Oso's fur, he didn't seem to notice but it just made her blush and curse her hormones. She pulled back in her head and allowed Logical and Common Decency Lexi duke it out with Horny, and impulsive Lexi.

What snapped her back to the present, was the shifting doors and the sudden sensation of steam hitting her. She curled up just a bit, the healing potion in her at the very least gave her some basic movement back, but having Oso and Croce running drills with her for two hours would have probably done some pretty serious damage to her muscles had they not given her healing potions twice during the practice. She really was happy to get a little more familiar with weapons and armor, but she had to be honest with herself, if she never saw that armor or a single bullet again it would still be far too soon.

Oso carefully placed her on the floor and she started to undo her hair, her saddle bags were still down with Croce, she hoped he remembered it when he came back up. She really didn't want to go back down there.

Her thoughts were distracted as Croce took something that gave off a soft glint of gold from under his armor and hid it in the box where he placed the rest of his armor. Lexi blinked but Oso didn't appear to notice her noticing. She would ask when she wasn't in terrible pain, for now she would just take a long hot bath.

She put her things into a box and this time she dropped her Pipbuck in the box as well. She felt comfortable and started limping towards the bath as Oso dropped one last item into the box, a small sack of something, it looked like small boxes of ammo. She remembered him grabbing a bunch of stuff from the armory before hoof but she didn't quite see everything before he strapped her into the armor.

They came out together back to the same tubs as last time. A small thought passed through her head as she looked up at the tall Griffon. "Hey... why are you here?" Her heartbeat quickened hoping she could detect any hint of romance.

To her dismay he just smiled at her and responded flatly. "So you don't drown in the bath."

Grumbling loudly she spouted off. "I'm not a foal! It's not too hard to take a bath!"

He chuckled and sat just outside of her tub. "Ok then... go in..."

It was a very short trip, just heaving her legs over one at a time and she could get in. But she slowed angrily as she kicked her leg out but couldn't get it over the ledge of the bath. "Wh...what? just... why wont you..."

She snapped back glaring as she heard Oso chuckle. But her head came back front as he scooped her up and helped her back into the tub.

The hot water soaked into her muscles ebbing away at the pain and soreness. She was in so much pain she had practically gone numb. But this was heaven to her destroyed body.

Oso sank into the tub next to her with a happy sigh closing his eyes and calmly breathing. She faced forward as lewd thoughts hit her brain. She chewed her lip before as casually she could she looked into his tub but she couldn't make out anything with the steam and lighting. She looked down at herself before clenching her eyes tightly, more lewd fantasies flooded into her head nearly trampling Logical Lexi who screamed at her, but she didn't want to stop.

Breathing in deep, her heart thundering she cringed and her lips parted as she put her urges forward. "O...Oso?"

"Hrmm?" He almost didn't register her words, but he certainly stirred. "Did you need something?"

"C...can I ask you something?" She looked over at him as he barely lifted his eyelids. He gave a soft nod and she shivered pushing her jitters back. "Um... I... I was wondering, and... It's ok if you don't want to, but... do you think... maybe me and you... c..can um.. we can..."

His talons smoothed over her head, softer than she ever thought possible. She near instinctively moved into it, savoring the physical touch. His other talons came to the back of her neck, but just as her jitters began to turn from fear and uncertainty to excitement.

That excitement died right there as his talons came down to rest on her shoulders softly pushing her back. "I'm sorry little one... no..."

She looked up at his very serious eyes and a small touch of shame hit her as she spotted the fringes of tears in his eyes. She opened her mouth, ready to speak, ready to say anything, ready to plead with him to change his mind, ready to apologize, ready to say she was joking, anything. But a talon came to her lips.

"I'm sorry, you're plenty beautiful, and I'm thankful for everything you've done, but... I'd hurt you..." A flare of naughty excitement started to bubble in her but didn't go anywhere other than more shame. "And... I'm... I'm sorry I just can't."

The rude awakening was like the coldest of cold showers, she felt rejected, but she understood at least for the most part he had let her down a little easier. Than Croce or Tyrin, despite the latter being something she didn't even go along with.

A spark of pain shot into her as Oso stood up from his bath and slowly made his way out. "If you need help, just call for Yin."

He started out and she trembled, she felt guilty. Looking at him leaving, she watched him open the door and something hit her. The golden glint, she vaguely recalled seeing it before back on their trip up north. Suddenly, as Logical Lexi began making theories she didn't feel as rejected. The thoughts poured through her and she seized one that didn't make her feel bad. It was possible that it was a locket of sorts, perhaps an old lover or something to represent a promise he made.

Her mind went into overdrive trying to focus on the possibilities, anything to cloud up the shame and rejection. But watching him leave, Logical Lexi's voice went silent as Impulsive and Horny Lexi spoke up. 'Hey, you're alone....'

The evening trudged along surprisingly slow, and despite Oso's warning that they would likely be leaving in just a few hours, the hours passed and day turned to night. The bath and events during left Lexi feeling rather guilty and tired, but very relaxed. The moment the sun touched the horizon Lexi found a relatively good spot in the library to lay down. She figured that Earl had something to do with it as there were blankets and pillows nearby.

Her wide yawn marked the beginning of her night's rest. She would have loved to have a cup of tea, but not sleeping outside was a good step in the right direction, but the thing that sealed the deal was the old smell of books. Before the war, she had fallen asleep in the library at least three times a week growing up. Even her mother's house smelled like nothing but books, the little house in Canterlot was surely dust or something by now, but it was the birthplace of great memories and some perhaps not so great ones.

She loved her mother so much, Lexi always saw her as so powerful, so smart, so capable. But the older she got the more she realized that her mother was dangerously introverted and angry at the world, most likely because of her father. Still, she was Lexi's mother and that to Lexi made her a good mother, even with the difficulties growing up.

Lexi sighed, breathing in the sweet scent of the musty books. As her eyes fluttered closed, she saw Earl sleeping happily at his desk, a book draped over his face. She smiled wondering what kind of a pony he was once he opened up. Fading into sleep she barely took notice of a small feature, she couldn't really tell if she was just seeing things but she could have sworn he had no cutie mark.

She hummed happily but something forcefully shot her eyes open wide. She blinked and stood upright confused. "Oh goodness... Either I'm dreaming or... Yin has some repairs to his spell to do..."

She took a single step forward and looked back to see a blurred image of herself following in a stream of movement. A long sad howl touched her ears, something that confused her but she swore it was the sound of Yin, he was weeping. She licked her lips, her eyes darting to and fro unsure what to do. The sorrowful cries seemed to seep into her very soul, pained and all but surrendered to a fate he wanted nothing to do with.

She sneakily moved through the library, taking notice that Earl was gone she peaked at his desk. Scrawled in ink over and over the bold near angrily written words. 'Order to the chaos, I am the resilience.' She dug through the papers when another voice touched her ears.

She turned to see Croce, whispering to himself softly rocking back and forth. She closed the distance and touched his shoulder, but recoiled as he was near painfully cold to the touch. "Afraid, I'm so afraid. But not weak, please tell me I'm not weak, I will be strong. I must be strong! I HAVE to be strong. Mother was weak, she didn't hide the fear, mother... mother...."

Lexi inched closer before she noticed something, she wasn't in the library anymore. This was the shooting range where Oso had trained with her earlier. "You shouldn't be here, you don't belong."

She whipped about to see Oso facing away from her. Opening her mouth to speak she found herself unable to. She came closer and reached out to him, but his painfully cold talons wrapped over her foreleg like a vice grip. When he turned to her, she saw his rotting face, his feathers only vaguely attached, his bones poking through his skin. "You don't belong here.... hell, none of us do."

Her mouth opened in a silent scream and she yanked her hoof back, tumbling and hitting her head on the ground before getting up and bolting down the halls. The sorrow filled voice cried out again, making even less sense. "She's gone, she's gone. Why won't you wake up?" The very halls felt like they were slithering as she ran for her life down them, the images before her blurring to such a degree that she couldn't tell in the slightest where she really was until certain aspects of her surroundings would snap at the focus before vanishing into the blur once again.

The screams of the fillies and colts resounded alongside her, screaming for their mothers and fathers, screaming that it was scary, that they felt so alone, so scared. Above the cries she could hear Cherry whimpering, see the poor girl sitting right there in front of her as Lexi ran as fast as she could. "He doesn't love me, he doesn't love anything but his books. He knows, but he refuses to speak to me. I don't want to go, I don't want to leave, it's safe here, I know here, I don't want to go."

As if the floor itself was yanked out from under her she tumbled down into a pit filled with slick slimy roots and almost instantly, the sweet sticky scent of mashed berries hit her nose. Her heart thundering in her chest she didn't want to know what was next. She tried to cry out again, but again, nothing.

"Damn... it's taking so damned long." Lexi slowly turned to see an old earth pony. She blinked and looked closer and corrected herself. This pony was downright ancient. He looked like he was 90% wrinkles, but she recognized the voice despite how much aged wheeze it included. Earl grumbled in his absolutely ancient age as his eyes leveled at her. "You're too noisy!"

She would have let out a yip if she could make any sound at all. Backpedaling quickly she found herself in free fall. Landing as a pile of scared purple pony, the shrill sounds of screams and gun fire chased her upright and forward once again. She continued as fast as she could, the path ahead was nothing but constant dead underbrush she blasted through until she spotted a pony. Shivering with a pistol in her mouth. Lexi slowed, blinking as she stared at the pony with the little ten millimeter pistol in her mouth. But she heard it loud and clear. "I don't belong here, I don't belong anywhere..."

Another pony rushed in and she could see the panic in both of their faces. The crack of the shotgun and flawless shot of the 10mm going off. The shotgun slug impacted the mare's forehead with a sickening crunch, but the slug clearly bounced off as what looked to be a magical reverberation echoed across her body. Both ponies fell to the ground having clearly shot each other right between the eyes.

Coming closer, horrified she looked at the filthy mare and her level of horror doubled. It was her.

Almost the very second she realized it she could hear Croce chiming in as if it was nothing at all to him, the way he always regarded her. "Oh... I shot him."

Mixed feelings shot through her, she knew it had to be a dream, but why would her own mind be showing her this. It was painful, all of it. She just wanted it to stop, and so she desperately tried waking up. But something seized her shoulders and she found herself staring into a single hateful eye.

Her hooves fuzed to the floor and the single eye practically engulfed the room as he gripped her violently. "You don't belong here pony! I don't care what they said. You DON'T belong here..." Tyrin's talons dug into her and her mouth opened in a silent scream.

But in one sudden jarring moment, Tyrin's face twisted with confusion and surprise as he was torn away and quite suddenly she felt oddly tense. She felt extremely confused as she was in an office, an office that looked vaguely familiar. But a whole new horror was laid out before her as she was nearly nose to nose with the Ministry Mare of the Ministry of Morale.

She looked just as horrifying as usual, but oddly she looked a touch younger than the last unfortunate time she saw her. "Do you know why you're here?"

She felt herself about to speak, about to answer the question, but the nightmareish pink mare raised a hoof. "You're here... because you gone done...." She took in a deep breath with a happy smile before it all turned to rage. "BUCKED UP TOO MANY TIMES!!!"

She felt the absolute horror flooded through her as she leaned back in her chair, but then something hit her. She felt the chair tightly around her midsection. The odd feeling of her hide gliding about over plump features. She tried to look down but couldn't move in any way other than what felt like a predetermined set of actions.

"I tried! I'm sorry, I thought I could get him to talk by being nice!" She wanted to blink, those words came from her own mouth, but they sounded oddly uncomfortable and alien.

"Yeah, but you know what happens when you try to play good cop ALONE with a confirmed spy?" Pinkie Pie leaned uncomfortably close.

She felt herself gulp and lean back trying desperately to put some distance between them. "They... ahem... they kill thems.."

"THEY KILL THEMSELVES WITH THE GLASS OF WATER YOU BRING IN!!" Pinkie Pie was absolutely furious and the moment a soft knock on the door sounded, she shot a glare back that Lexi was honestly surprised didn't knock the door off it's hinges.

She felt herself look back at the door as it creaked open, the mirror on the back of the door flashed her an image of what should have been an eggplant colored earth pony instead showed a fat light brown middle aged earth pony stallion. The brief glimpse filled her with more horror, but what came through the door practically brought her to orgasm.

An unnaturally tall pale stallion, his eyes were the very textbook definition of 'come hither' His horn was long and curved, he walked with a near absolute authority of inconceivable physical attraction. It was like Luna herself dug through every steamy romance novel she had ever dreamed about and hoof crafted the perfect stallion for her and her alone.

"Pinkamena darling... I just needed the slightest touch of your time. Lexi nearly squee'ed herself, even his vague body language was too much. She could even feel a strong emotional flare coming from the Stallion she was at the moment, even he was attracted.

"NO! I don't have the time, and I am damned busy! And I know your tricks!" She threw an accusing hoof at him and he seemed simply aghast, but in an overly dramatic and playful way which seemed to just add to how fabulous he was.

"Pinkie... such slander! And you didn't even follow it up with any teasing... you can't just wind me up and leave me here like this..." He seemed to nearly throw himself against the wall in an overly dramatic fashion.

"I SAID NOT NOW YOU FFFF…” Nearly hissing through her teeth, her head jerked to the side and she glared at Lexi. “TICKER!" She slowed and very aggravatedly cleared her throat. "Ticker... go home... and come back in the morning... we will finish this later..."

She felt the fat stallion she was quickly get up and waddle right out the door fuming with relief, pain, and fear, just looking back for a moment but getting an odd almost knowing and seductive smile from the tall fabulous white pony.

Slowly making her way out, she felt the chubby pony move along at a slow and steady pace, but the very moment she exited the building she picked up the pace, almost nonchalantly she came to an alleyway and the very moment she stepped inside she bolted forward galloping as fast as she could, which was pitifully even slower than she could outside of this strange dream.

She felt herself horribly out of breath, sweating profusely as her heart thundered dangerously in her chest. Her body hurt, her heart felt like it was caught in a vice, but the thing that caught her attention was the irregular details of this odd dream. This was canterlot.

She watched as she bolted through the back allies until she could just barely see the train station, she felt her body redouble in effort as she bolted forward. But then pain erupted through her body as she was tackled and plowed into the ground. She instantly identified the M.o.M. badge on the shoulder of the pony who tackled her.

"Oh Ticker... why did it have to be this way?" She felt her hooves forcefully wrench back until there was a wet pop and she screamed along with the fat pony she was inside. They had just broke his right front leg at the shoulder, popping it clean out of it’s socket and wrenching it even further away from it’s point of origin.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!! I'M NOT A TRAITOR! I'M JUST TERRIBLE AT MY JOB! THAT CRAZY BITCH WILL NEVER BELIEVE ME, YOU HAVE TO LET ME GO!!!!" She felt the fat pony start to blubber and whimper as the pony with the ministry armor hefted what she was pretty sure was a high voltage taser.

"Doesn't matter, it was a test, and you failed.... goodnight Ticker..." She saw the taser swing at her face.

She woke up screaming but almost instantly a rolled up newspaper stuffed in her mouth and another repetitively swatted over her head. "Goodness gracious shut up!!"

She coughed, sputtered, and finally spat out the newspaper. "Wh.. what?!?! What is going on?"

Earl swatted her again over the head. "You were screaming in your sleep so I put you in a memory orb... but you kept screaming... holy shit you are noisy..."

Earl rubbed the bridge of his nose and she looked about, Oso was there, and so was Croce, but Croce looked almost like he had fallen down the stairs.

Despite how he held his left arm at the shoulder he still smiled and laughed. "I've been telling her that for a while, I don't think she can help but be annoying."

"Oh goodness, shut up." Earl's magic popped something off the back of Lexi's head, it almost felt like a band aid. He dropped it in front of her with a grumble. "Here, I had it in storage, and it works with all that junk attached to your pipbuck, keep it for now."

Lexi blinked looking at a small cable leading from her pipbuck to a small metal box then off to several electrode looking contact points. "Wha?"

Earl didn't even look back as he spoke. "It's a recollector... it lets you use memory orbs. Kinda a compact one, Not the most reliable, but hey, it's portable." He went through a door and closed it firmly.

She looked to Oso and Croce. "D...did I seriously... did... did all that really happen?"

Oso looked at her a little unsure of what to say, and his feathers fluffed up on his neck. The last time he did that he was playing dumb to try and direct the attention away from Yin. But Croce stepped in still rubbing and holding his shoulder. "Yeah... basically. But don't think about it, it was time for you to get up anyway. We're heading out."

Lexi blinked, looking up for the window on the far side of the library, but she couldn’t see any light. “What time is it?”

Croce shrugged and Oso chimed softly. “Morning… the sun should be up soon. Come on, we have some things to work out and we have to get you set up.”

Lexi shivered at the thought of ‘getting ready’ and her fears were realized as she followed them down into the cobblestone circle room. The armor was there waiting for her.

“Can we go without the armor?” She tried her best most charming ‘please don’t make me’ smile.

But her answer was surprisingly Tyrin’s talons swatting her over the head. “No! You’re lucky I didn’t have you actually bubbled wrapped.” He passed her taking a long pull off a bottle. She was surprised to see the smell coming off of him was so strong that it almost hurt. He smelled like rubbing alcohol.

The slightest touch of sensation on her mind told her that Yin was here somewhere. But to her relative surprise, cherry and two slightly younger pegasi were present as well helping with supplies and boxes as well as some mild cleaning.

Her attention was wrenched away when Oso held up the harness. But she could see a few changes. “Ok little one, I reshaped it here and there before setting up padding all the parts that dug in. Now it should be much more comfortable, but still you'll need to wear this suit." He hefted a small patched up onesy. "It works as mild barding but it’s mostly just stuff to keep the suit from rubbing or scratching uncomfortably. And we adjusted a few things. Here.. let’s put you in it.”

She really didn’t want to get back into the harness but she didn’t see any way out of it. That and Croce seemed very happy to see her using any armor at all. To her surprise, the barding fit extremely well and the harness went on just as if not then even easier. It still felt hard to move and she was clumsy even just walking.

“Aye, now let me turn this thing on…” Oso fiddled with the harness, she did notice it was slightly heavier and clunkier. But with a soft click her eyes opened wide as the harness seemed to stand for her all on it's own. She could basically relax entirely and the harness would hold her up.

“Ok now, you have enough batteries for about a week. But if you need a boost, it’s this little switch on the trigger bit.” He tapped the bit in front of her and she took note of a few new switches and buttons. “Just be careful, activating it makes you burn out batteries pretty quick. The power draw is pretty high, and the battery casing I had to weld onto the harness isn’t meant to handle power at that level. I’d give it ten minutes of being overloaded like that before it burns out, so don’t do it unless it’s a very real emergency.”

She nodded, much happier with this setup despite how much she didn’t like the armor. Croce poked in and flipped a switch which popped a small metal hood over her head, a bit like a folding helet, but it didn’t look too durable.

“Cool… He can I get one?” Croce circled her admiring the armor.

“Sure, if you can find one for Griffons. I had to weld together Enclave, raider, and Ranger armor with a bunch of old skycart pieces. So yeah, if you can get all the pieces then I’ll get something up and running.” Oso happily explained as he double checked the dimensions.

Croce grumbled and Lexi happily pinged the button over and over again feeling the hood pop and slide back and forth rapidly. But to her fright, a nearly empty bottle shattered over the hood, glass shards even pinged off of her glasses.

She let out a squeak and fumbled about before falling over. There was a soft whirl as the joints of the armor popped loose allowing her more flexibility so she could stand up. But the moment she did, the armor popped back securely. It was a neat feature, but she was a little more concerned with the flying bottle. She looked up to see Tryin clearly gesturing for the room’s attention.

“If you’re done, we have shit to do.” He held up a map and indicated three red circles. This right here is where the Ghouls live, and we have go here to this location and ambush the flash gang for one of their shipments so we can bring it back to the Ghouls. Now, this third location is to be our basecamp. I’ll be heading there first to clear it out and set the mines, approach ONLY from the ground and from the southeast. All other entries points will be very VERY heavily trapped. You all will be securing the gear, stop by base and then all together, we will head off to the Ghouls.”

Croce leaned to Oso and whispered. “Why do you need a bribe? Do you not have contact with them?”

Croce ducked fast as a rock flew through the air where his head just was, there was no reaction from Oso as Tyring growled. “NO! We need a bribe because they are stuck up miserable cunts who refuse to listen to reason!”

Lexi marked the reasoning for the bribe as ‘Nopony likes Tyrin’.

The old gray bird grumbled as he cleared his throat and continued. “That’s our mission for now, keep this dumb bitch alive so the Susi will stay doing business with us and get the shit for the ghouls.”

Croce nodded and Lexi still felt a little unsure, but Oso gave a soft nudge. She smiled back at him hoping that he had already forgotten all about the last time they spoke, he seemed very friendly and didn’t seem to have anything to say on the subject, so she figured she was in the clear.

“Hey!” Lexi turned about as Earl floated a bag to Oso and he poked in, popping a berry into his mouth from the bag. He smiled and gestured a thank you to the pony. Lexi chewed her lip and leaned just a bit to try and inspect Earl’s flank. To her surprise it really was blank, but she didn’t get the chance to say anything before Earl’s hooves closed on either side of her head and near forcefully pulled her to look into his eyes. “Listen… very carefully. If you find very specifically a red scarf out there… bring it back. It’s mine.”

Lexi’s face scrunched up in confusion. But before she could speak a word, Earl stepped back and a bright green flash consumed her vision. Instantly, she couldn’t see anything but the vague shapes of three griffons vanishing into the bright lights as the ground beneath her gave way.

Footnote: Level 6 Achieved.

Perk added: Intensive training: Being run through the ringer, healed and run through again with a crash course on combat has given you +1 to strength and endurance as well as +5 to guns and armor skills.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat, Fallout Equestria Pink Eyes by Mimezinga and Fallout Equestria Project Horizons by Somber; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

Author - Sanguine Eyes

Chapter editor - Currently N/A

Earl: Concept artist, Proof reader.

Nick Valentine: Artist

Author's Notes:

I'm trying to make better progress on these, unfortunately I'm working with a wonky keyboard and I'm writing while I really should be sleeping.

No worries though, anything I missed I'll fixerupper right away.