Today's weather, excessively violent, with a chance of dismemberment. Tune in later for our five day forecast!

I awoke to the crude and discomforting, scratchy hissing of static, emanating from the radio to my left, on the table beside me.

I slammed my hoof down on the snooze without looking as I laid there for a few seconds, before moving the charcoal black mane away from my eyelids and opening my green eyes, facing the grey, steel ceiling above.

"Today's the big day..." I told myself, smiling.

This was something I've waited for my whole life, and it was finally here!

Sitting up, I stretched my hooves to the ceiling, groaning as I did so, with clenched teeth and winced eyes.

"Up n' at 'em, rookie!" A familiar voice I was expecting to wake up to burst into my room, intruding in my privacy, as it did every other morning.

I rolled my beige-coated body off the bed and stood up, looking at her as she trotted up to me with the heavy, metallic clanks of her hooves against the metal flooring beneath us. Her helmet rested on her back.

"Good morning to you, too." I replied. "And thanks for changing the station to something dead... Again. I totally love waking up to static..." I approached the new set of power armor that stood tall and proud before us, and I inspected its frame. It was the standard issue 'T-45' model. All the recruits were issued one.

"That's good morning to you, ma'am." She 'corrected.' "You might be a ranger now, but I'm still a higher rank." I looked over to see her cocky grin. Her dark grey coat matched well with her armor, and those purple eyes really stuck out from the rest. Her black mane hung down over the top of her eyes, swayed to her right. "And don't mention it on the radio deal, lil' bro. Always happy to help."

I rolled my eyes in reply. "Not happening, sis."

"Awww, why not?" She nudged my shoulder, and I pressed my hoof against the back of the suit of armor, watching as air hissed through the cracks that popped open just a little, and then open up before us entirely.

I looked at her with a wry smile. "Because you're only one rank higher than me."

I got some stink eye from that, and that only made my smile widen just a smidge.

"Well, you're still a rookie."

I shrugged before stepping into the armor. "Well, you gotta start somewhere, right?" The armor wrapped itself around me as I stood there, and I felt it tighten around my form, completely hiding the wrench and hammer that crossed each other, on both sides of my flank.

Oof...

Cozy. A lot cozier than the training armor. This would take some getting used to. And here I thought the sim training, as well as the physical training would have gotten me used to it.

The power gauge was at 100 percent, the armor integrity was as perfect as perfect could get, judging by the green, armored pony display on a small screen just below the visor's right eye, and the Eyes Forward Sparkle worked like a dream, as I saw hundreds of amber blips moving around the top of the visor, where the four directions of navigation were displayed. North, east, south, and west, with northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest in between.

I flicked the headlamp on my steel-clad head on and off a few times, blinding Firebright, who stood before me with minor irritation growing on her face, to moderate aggravation and impatience.

"You done playing with yourself, now?" She asked in a cold, harsh tone.

"Just about." I moved a hoof forward to take a step, and the armor responded to my muscle movement, as if the suit was my body. "You know that whole radio prank gets tiring, when you do it night after night for three years, seven months, and three days, right?"

"You counted all this time?" She asked in bafflement.

I nodded, to which she simply smiled. "Well, if you don't like it, lock your door."

"I do. You keep breaking and entering." I pointed an accusing hoof at her.

"Then you're not trying hard enough, lil' bro." Her smile brightened a little, before faltering completely. "Alright... Enough playing around. Lesson number one, rook. Pay attention, and listen closely, because I'm only going to say it once. Don't get cocky. Ever." She put her helmet on, and her voice was mildly altered by the respirator of her helmet. "Whenever you're outside, under no reason, should you remove your helmet. It'll be the last mistake you ever make. The built in respirators help us with radiation resistance, but that doesn't mean you should go frolicking in fields of nuclear waste. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. Another thing..." She regarded me. "You're strong. You're well protected. But you are most definitely not invincible. Don't fight something you can't handle. Your fight or flight response kicks in to flight? You better damn well listen to it. Stay out of contact with hellhounds. Diamond dogs are easier to handle, but keep your distance. See pink clouds on the surface? Avoid them completely. Even if you see something neat. Just... Avoid it. See grey trees? Avoid them."

I nodded. "Understood."

Huh... Even head movement worked great in this.

"Alright, lil' bro." She placed her hoof on my shoulder as we stared into each other's visors. "Let's get you to the armory and packed up for your very first mission on the surface."

After a few quick installations to my suit, which provided me with two laser rifles fused to both sides of my torso, aiming in front of me, and a decent supply of microfusion cells, we headed for the hangars, as the debriefing was just about to start.

We walked down the main bunker corridor of L-3, side by side as I kept retracting the two rifles into my armor, then 'equipping' them. Our heavy, steel hooves clanked against the cold, metal floor.

"I feel like a total badass, now." I said in excitement, grinning behind my visor.

"Eh. You'll get used to it, and it'll wear off." There was something off in her tone, and it had me concerned. She never sounded down, before.

I looked over to see she was looking away from me.

"Hey." I reached a hoof out, touching her shoulder, and she looked back.

"Yes, Charger?" She replied coolly.

"What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?"

"That." I said.

"What?"

"That." I tried pointing out the monotone in her voice.

After a few seconds of silence, she replied. "You have nothing to worry about, lil' bro. I'm fine. And you will be, too."

'You will be too?' What was that supposed to mean?

Ugh, who knew... She was all sorts of weird.

She looked ahead as we marched on through the corridor, just about to turn right, into the hangar, where three steel, grey Vertibucks sat before Elder Bristle, his guards, and a few dozen rangers. The Steel Ranger emblem was boldly painted in white, on the sides of each vessel, covering the majority of its surface; a sword pointing blade up, with three cog wheels behind it. These had been Enclave-issued, once. But after a few customizations to both their appearance, and how it flied, they may as well have been Steel Ranger-issued.

We didn't have any pegasi in our chapter, and we had very few unicorns, and even then, they weren't too advanced in magic. We mostly used them as grease monkeys. They helped build and repair weapons and vehicles.

From what I heard, they had been working on a prototype build for a few vehicles that they discovered on some schematics, but that could have just been rumors, seeing as that was 4 years ago that it started.

"Nothing to worry about, at all..." I heard Fire mutter.

My stomach rumbled. "No food?"

"No time." She replied in a normal tone. "I'll get something for you to eat, on the road."

We stopped in the back row, and Bristle started, as if he had been waiting on us.

I sure hoped not... That would have made an embarrassing first day on the job...

"There's a town that goes by the name of Saddle, a few hours flight north of us. Heavily wooded area, but the residents do good to keep the nature out, so none of you should have a problem up there, so long as you stay away from the treeline." He started pacing back and forth, slowly. "Now... It has come to my attention that two anomalies have occurred in Saddle. Both of which, are megaspell levels of energy output." There were a few murmurs from the other rangers. He stopped and looked at his rangers. "One..." He paused. "The inhabitants have stumbled upon what appears to be a megaspell generator, and have been using it to restore power to their civilization. But there have been side effects to using this. The results are random, as of right now. Shifts in the gravitational pull, drastic changes in temperature..." He froze, looking down at the floor before his hooves, to which he spoke in a softer, more inside voice. "And reports of... Otherworldly figures..." He looked back up, shaking his head as he spoke louder. "Things from nightmares. But they only occur within a certain radius. Saddle is the source."

I raised my hoof, and he looked at me.

"Yes?"

"If it can't happen outside of that radius, then why are we worrying about it?"

He smiled faintly. "Good question, Charger." He looked to the rest of his rangers. "The scouts have been studying this for some time, now, and they believe that the radius is... Expanding."

The rangers resumed murmuring to one another about this information.

I looked at Firebright, and she looked back at me. We both shrugged, then looked back at the elder.

"I believe that the longer that generator is active, the larger that radius will grow, and engulf all of Equestria as we know it, and then the world. So I want that generator brought back here, and I want it dismantled and salvaged for parts, so that its true intentions may never be used."

"Sir." My sister stood firm beside me.

"Yes, Firebright?"

"You said there were two anomalies." She stated matter-of-factly.

He nodded. "The second, we're not quite sure about. We have no idea what it looks like. All we know is that it's a megaspell, and that it's small and compact enough for somepony to carry it around without raising any suspicion. I want it found, and I want it brought here." With that, he stood firm and nodded. "You're all dismissed. Do me proud."

For the duration of most of the journey, Firebright kept to herself. I tried initiating conversation with her on several occasions, but she either gave me a fake laugh, and said nothing, or just stared ahead... and said nothing.

This experience was getting more boring than I had initially thought it would be, but that wasn't saying much, considering I saw this as a fun, action packed adventure on the merciless surface. I mean, fuck... This was going to be my first time on the surface ever. I only ever dreamed of this moment since I was a colt. I was always hearing stories of the dangers up here. The feral ghouls we fought. The Diamond Dogs, and their much more lethal relatives, the hellhounds. The stuff that could be found up here. The raiders we could fight...

I wanted to be like the rangers.

I wanted to be a hero.

Now was my time to shine.

"Holding back five." The pilot spoke through the speaker overhead. "Prepare for deployment."

The rangers, along with my sister, all readied their weapons and put on their helmets.

Wait... This was a recovery mission... Right...?

I reluctantly followed their lead. Maybe it was just in case there was an ambush waiting for us.

Yeah, that had to be it.

I had noticed we were staying airborne, but had come to a halt. What we were waiting for, I had no idea.

Then, in the distance, through the whirring of the motor of the Vertibuck we were in, I heard gunfire. Not just one gunshot... A series of them. Laser rifles, as well as shotguns, pistols, normal rifles... Only way I could tell which shot belonged to which gun was because of the sim training. Everypony had been trained to study the different sounds of gunfire, so that they knew how to approach certain situations.

Explosions went off in the distance. Grenades, perhaps? Rockets? I couldn't tell... That... I didn't really have an ear for. That one was a lot harder to figure out.

I felt the vehicle move forward, and the walls on both sides of us slid open, revealing the outside. The two turrets inside with us slid out on a short rail system; the barrels pointing out at the horizons.

Two of the rangers operated them, while the rest stood at either opening, looking down at the scenery as we raced forward.

I stood beside Firebright, who remained as silent as ever.

We were flying over a city. This was no town...

Towers stood tall, despite the damage they've suffered. Some leaned against others for support, but over time, that support was wearing down. Many had fallen entirely, long ago.

The elder was right about one thing, though.

Looking down, I saw the streets completely covered in what some would call vegetation.

But I've seen pictures of what forests looked like in the pre-war times. Leaves weren't supposed to be grey. You couldn't fool me like that.

Something else caught my attention. A sound.

Looking further down - and having to lean over the ledge to do so - I found the source of the splintering crunches and stomps.

Trees weren't supposed to MOVE!

I knew that much about trees!

Sweet Celestia, the surface was a bizarre place...

Firebright stretched her hoof out in front of me, across my chest, as she looked over.

I looked back at her, and she spoke. "Trust me, lil' bro. You don't wanna go down there."

I leaned back, taking the warning to deep consideration.

We flew under a tower that leaned against another, and while under its shadow, I heard enough creaks and groans in its structure to believe that it was going to crash down on us, therefore killing us all.

When the sunlight came back, I took a deep breath of relief.

Firebright laughed softly. "Newbie..."

The sun shined bright. Not many clouds littered the sky. One or two, here and there, but it was pleasant out. At least, in terms of weather conditions.

The Vertibuck started its decent, and as I looked ahead - which meant peeking my head back out of the moving vehicle - I witnessed a full blown insurrection down below.

Okay, so Elder Bristle was right. It was a town... Inside a city. A bit weird, but okay.

I caught a glimpse of the sun's blinding reflection in the corner of my eye, and looking to my right, I saw the third Vertibuck closing in. The pony-operated turrets rained a hellfire of bullets down on the inhabitants below, without a second thought, once they got within range.

I started to feel a twinge of guilt about that... But I didn't know the full story. Who fired first, and all that stuff.

I watched as the Vertibuck moved to the eastern side of the town, and the rangers jumped out, one by one, from a relatively large drop off.

Wait... We weren't doing that too, right...?

We descended for the southern exit, just in front of a trail that cut through the disturbing forest, and one by one, the rangers started jumping out.

"You're up, rookie." Firebright said, looking at me.

"Wait... What's going o-" was all I could get out of me, before she pushed me out.

I flailed through the air, screaming, until my back struck the ground. If it weren't for the armor, I would have probably broke my spinal column. But oddly enough, I didn't feel so much as a bruise. The wind wasn't even knocked out of me! This armor was awesome!

I rolled over and stood up on all fours, while I saw the rangers open fire on...

What was this...?

Firebright dropped down beside me, causing the road beneath her to cave in a little, as she laughed hysterically. "Oh, that was priceless! Got it on video, too!"

I didn't care about my humiliation one bit. I didn't like what was happening before me.

Unarmed ponies ran to seek shelter from the gunfire. Gunfire that was targeted toward them.

Firebright stopped laughing as she watched the chaos unfold. She looked back at me and spoke in a more serious note, leaning in close to my helmet. "Now you know..." With that, she trotted forward, and her guns went off...

Something broke inside me... This wasn't right. Something inside me was screaming, with tears running down their cheeks, as they curled up in fetal position, laying on their side and stroking their hoof through their tail.

Elders, young, and any age in between laid dead in the streets, and the count was only adding up...

The leader of our squadron, Crimsonthunder, looked back at me with that cold, dark visor. "Don't be getting cold hooves now, rookie. Start shooting."

I looked around to see that, after this street was cleared, the rangers looked back at me. My sister included...

"This isn't going to be a problem, is it?"

Some of the rifles were pointing in my direction...

"N-No... Not at all..." I shook my head in fear for my own safety... I was a coward. "Let's... Let's do this."

"Good." He looked over and pointed at two houses to my right. "Firebright. Charger. Sweep those houses." He pointed to the buildings across the street from the ones we were assigned to. "Shadowmark. Darkspark. Sweep those two. Everypony else, on me." He spun around, and the group dispersed into three.

With no hesitation whatsoever, Firebright bucked the door to her designated house in, spun around, and proceeded to open fire on the ponies that resided within. I saw the three amber blips on my EFS disappear...

She walked in, in search for the remaining one that hid behind what were once safe walls.

I looked to the two houses across the street, only to see that Darkspark and Shadowmark did exactly what Fire did. Break in, shoot, and enter.

There was no mercy shown to these ponies... What did they do wrong...? Most of them weren't even fighting back! I mean... Back in the Vertibuck, I had seen some resistance, but not enough of it for us to do... THIS!

I looked back at my door, but instead of breaking it down like a yak on Yickslurbertfest, I opened it in a more civilized manner, then closed it behind me. Some pre-war author named Twilight Sparkle had gone into explicit details about the Yaks and their... Celebratory stompings...

I think she was a princess of something? I don't know... I was never really clear on the details about that.

There was one amber blip in here.

"Hey..." I spoke in a calm tone, hoping my voice could be heard through the screaming and gunfire outside. "Come on out. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

The blip didn't move, and whoever it belonged to, did great at staying quiet. It must have been quite the challenge to not break down in tears, let alone sob.

"Please. I'm not going to hurt you." I paused, then added, once I wasn't getting a response of any kind. "I know you're in here. My EFS is tracking you."

Quite suddenly, there was a flash in the far right corner of the living room I was facing, behind a couch, and the blip disappeared.

I carefully walked over to one end of the furniture, looking down.

... Only to find a yellow coated filly, cowering. Her dark, violet eyes looked up at my visor, and she whimpered, wincing them shut and hanging her head down as tears breached and slid down her face. Her messy, green mane covered her facial features like a curtain after a play.

I looked back at my EFS to see that, despite the fact she was in front of me, her blip ceased to be.

"How... How did you do that?" I asked in a hushed tone, hoping none of the other rangers would hear me talking to somepony that was to be killed.

She kept her head down, and her mane over her eyes, as she sat in fetal position; her back against the couch. "Do what...?" She sobbed.

"Well, the marker on my EFS... Your marker... It's just gone. Yet here you are." I was starting to think my 'soothing' voice wasn't really carrying through the respirator of my helmet.

"I was trying to teleport..." She murmured, and that's when I noticed a stubby, yellow little horn sticking out through her mane, pointing directly at me.

Well... Size didn't matter.

"What's your name?"

She didn't answer.

"Alright..." I nodded. "Just stay quiet, and don't move. Okay? If you get caught, you'll get shot." I realized how lame that sounded, once the words left my lips. But it was too late to go back, now. May as well embrace it. "Just don't get caught... Wait until the shooting stops, and everything goes quiet, okay?"

Finally, she looked back up at me with those fearful eyes.

I wanted to hold her right then and there... This wasn't fair... This whole... situation with Saddle. What we were doing... I didn't know the full story as to what led to this bloodbath, but I knew there was something wrong with the ponies I once called family.

"Promise me you won't move, until we leave. Promise me."

"I... I promise." She traced an 'x' over her heart with her hoof. "Cross my heart." She made a poor imitation of flying with both of her forehooves, next. "Hope to fly." She then proceeded to put a hoof over her eye. "Stick a cupcake in my eye."

... Um... I didn't know what that was all about, but okay. I guess... I'll take that as a yes.

I moved away from the couch and made my way to the exit. Just as I was about to open the door, Firebright beat me to it. Shadowmark and Darkspark stood on both sides, behind her.

"Anything?" She asked.

"Negative." I said quietly.

The three of them seemed to regard their EFS, but I knew not to worry... Unless the filly's spell wore off.

"Wait..." Shadowmark said, looking over, towards the corner of the living room...

... Where the couch was...

Fuck... No... Please don't do this...

I turned around to see a red marker on my EFS, but it was moving across the room.

Firebright turned to Darkspark. "There's a cellar on the side of the building. Go check it out."

He nodded, then trotted away.

She looked back at me, and then at Shadowmark. "You two. In."

I moved back inside, and Shadowmark walked in, making the floorboards creak with each step. I didn't think the flooring could take much more weight than my own.

Firebright walked in after, and they dispersed around the house. Shadowmark investigated the kitchen, to which I saw him take a six pack of Sparkle Colas, and a few Fancy Buck cakes, while Firebright searched the bedrooms.

I stood next to the couch, pretending that I had searched behind it, once I saw Fire's blip coming back.

I looked up after staring down at the filly for a few seconds, to see my sister looking at me from the entrance of the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

"Clear." I said with a nod, walking away from the couch.

"I thought you had searched this place before we came here." She stated in a serious tone that had me spooked.

"Yeah, well it's best to be thorough." I replied, staring her in the visor. Eye contact certainly was a lot easier to make when telling lies behind a one-way visor.

She regarded me for a while before looking at Shadowmark. "Alright then..."

There was a flash of red in the cracks, between the floorboards, and the red blip vanished. Not long after, Darkspark came back.

"What was it?" Fire asked.

"Just a radroach." He replied. "Let's catch up with the rest. I still have ammo that needs spending, and I don't want to waste it on things like radroaches and radhogs... Those are easy pickings."

Firebright turned to me, and I had a pretty good feeling that she wasn't in her cheerful, yet snarky attitude anymore. I was seeing a completely new side to her I never knew existed. I knew she was an asshole from time to time... But she wasn't a murderer... At least, I didn't think she was...

It was clear I didn't have the best judge of character. I didn't even know her anymore...

"Yes." She said in a calm tone. "Let's."

Corpses and piles of ash stretched along the streets of Saddle. Houses were intentionally engulfed in flame after being looted for any valuables and food.

That's when my suspicions were proved correct.

We weren't Steel Rangers... We were just more sophisticated raiders.

... And it made me sick.

I walked beside Firebright as we made our way to what was once the town hall, before we started killing everypony... I had done it too... It was either be the firing squad, or be their targets...

The rangers had gotten the generator out of the building. Forcefully. A hole had been blasted into the side of the three story, brick structure. It made me wonder how the massive generator was inside, to begin with.

One Vertibuck hovered over the metal, mechanical box, while the rangers hooked cables up on the top of it, which dropped down from the bottom of the vehicle.

The other two circled the town like hawks, being the watchful eye in the sky, searching for more helpless prey.

All this death... And for what? A stupid generator that we were just going to end up taking apart.

I looked down at a colt's corpse as we passed by it. One eye dangled from its socket, soaking in a puddle of blood. As if that wasn't bad enough, a hole had been drilled into his skull from a laser shot, revealing that the brain had been chewed through. Only hints of it remained. It dug through from one ear, to the other...

I stopped. I couldn't anymore. I couldn't do it. Not anymore... I was shaking within the suit of armor.

I... helped...

I was just as bad as the rangers...

This armor made me a monster... I had wanted to wear one for as long as I could remember. I worked my way up to this day. To the opportunity of going to the surface.

I got my wish...

And I was paying the price of admission.

This wasn't at all what I had expected of us...

We were monsters...

Monsters in search for the neverending hunger of technology.

That's all it was ever about...

We were greed.

Firebright stopped and looked back at me as I removed my helmet. I dropped it on the ground with a loud, metal thud against the cracked asphalt, beside the dead colt. I just... couldn't...

I lived under a lie, and now that I was seeing the truth for the very first time... I... I didn't know what to do...

Something rose from my stomach, and I hurled, gagged, spat, and vomited my breakfast all over my helmet. I didn't care.

I didn't care about the fucking armor. I didn't care for the Steel Rangers. I didn't care for my own sister anymore. I didn't care for myself.

I just... didn't... care.

I couldn't even bear to look at her...

She sighed, then faced me directly. I kept my head down as more of the contents came spilling from my lips, and burning at my throat.

"There's something you need to realize about all this, lil' bro." She spoke in her calm voice, as if nothing had ever happened. That only made me more sick. I choked and cried; my tears mixing with the chunky mixture of undissolved, chewed up food, and stomach acid that pooled up around my helmet. I didn't cry for myself, but for the ones that were killed on this day. "They had a choice in all this." She continued. "They could have given us the generator, or they could have chosen to die for it." There was a brief pause, and when I glanced up at her, I saw she was looking at the dead colt, nudging her hoof against his head. "This is their fault. Not ours."

"Bullshit..." I muttered, spitting out some chunky bits that got caught in my mouth.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me..." I wanted to collapse right there...

"You must think I enjoyed this. Believe me, I don't. But ponies die every day out here."

"So it's okay for us to go and slaughter them!?" I shouted.

There was a momentary pause between us. "They killed themselves by not giving us the generator. They chose this path. I really need you to see that. Because, if you don't... I can't do anything to help you. I can't be held accountable for what Elder Bristle will do to you..." She started to sound desperate, and I looked up at her. "Please, Charger... Don't protest against it. Just... don't."

"Fuck you..." I said under my shaky breath. "AND FUCK THE STEEL RANGERS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Almost all the rangers looked over at me. I glared back at them, eager to kill them all...

Suddenly, the emotional burdens were mixed in with physical ones, when I felt the armor stiffen up and get harder to move.

"Well, enough of that, then." I heard Crimsonthunder say from behind as he walked into my peripherals, until coming to a complete stop right before me. He held my power core in his hoof, and Firebright hung her head down a little. "Have there been any signs of the other megaspell source?"

"Negative, sir." She quickly raised her head to look at him as she stood firm.

He sighed. "Damn it..." Turning to me, he continued. "Bristle isn't going to be too happy about another recruit turning against him." He clicked his tongue as he shook his head in disapproval. A compartment opened up in his chest, and he slipped the core inside. It sealed shut. "He had such high hopes for you, too." He spoke in an almost pitiful tone, but I knew sarcasm when I heard it. Firebright was my sister, damn it! Of course I knew sarcasm! "Your sim training was impeccable. And your physical training was... Let's go with moderate. Not the best, but I had seen much worse." He looked down at my bile-drenched helmet, then back up at me. "Was that really necessary?"

"Was this?" I asked in a hateful tone, glancing at the death around me.

"Sir." A ranger approached from behind, before he could respond to my question. He turned around and looked at the ranger.

"What is it?"

"HQ sent us a new scan. The other target is just... gone. They can't find it anywhere."

"What?" He asked in a snappy tone. "How does that even happen? We've been watching this place for three weeks, and each scan showed two anomalies! Two!"

"Maybe it was a glitch, sir."

"It wasn't a fucking glitch! It was there!" He sighed and shook his head. "It doesn't matter..." He spoke more calmly. "It'll turn up again, soon enough. You can't hide megaspell anomalies very easily." He looked at me, then Firebright, then the soldier. "Let's get back. The sooner we're out of here, the better."

"Yes, sir." The ranger saluted and trotted off.

Crimson looked back at me and spoke cruelly. "Start walking."

"Crimson..." Fire started, but he snapped a look at her.

"No." Turning back to me, he resumed, once a Vertibuck landed where we had deployed from. "Walk to the Vertibuck, get in, and wait there. Fire, you stay with him and watch him. It's time to put his training to the test..."

"Yes... sir." She saluted him, grabbed my helmet, slipped it over my head, and pointed to where the Vertibuck landed. "Go."

The energy gauge blinked red at me from within the helmet, and with it, came a beeping that grew more obnoxious, the more I heard it. My visor was dirty with the contents of my stomach. I found I couldn't get out of the suit. He had to have done something to it without my knowing, before he removed the core.

Sneaky bastard...

Either he was sneaky, or I wasn't very perceptive of things...

I put all my strength into lifting one hoof, but the suit didn't want me moving.

Turning around to face the other direction had already put a strain on my muscles... And the Vertibuck was at the edge of the town, while I was still in the center...

I'd have preferred death over this...

One step forward took about ten seconds for me to fulfill, but the more I went on, the longer it took to do. That wasn't including the breaks I took to catch my breath. At least my respirator was still working... And at least I couldn't smell the bile on my helmet.

Fire stayed behind me the entire time I fought to walk.

I had seen ponies walk without a core in their armor before. They showed little struggle doing so. Walked a lot slower, sure. But they made it look like they were choosing to walk at that pace.

I certainly wished I could have that strength, right about now...

I felt worse than a pack mule.

The good news was that the armor was built around a frame, which always stood, unless the wearer wanted to do otherwise. So, despite the heavy burden on my features, the frame supported most of that weight, keeping me up.

"Why..." I started, panting. "Why are you letting this happen...?"

"I have my orders." She spoke softly. "I'm loyal to my job."

"What about to your family?" I said behind clenched teeth, trying to move my hindleg forward. My muscles were protesting like crazy, and I hadn't even walked a full block yet.

There was a brief pause between us, before she responded.

"I took an oath, lil' bro. The safety of the rangers comes first, no matter the cost. Family comes second."

"Safety..." I laughed under my breath, and I found I was barely able to even do that, now. My lungs were strained from all the heaving. I felt like my heart was about to fail me. "Do you even hear yourself when you speak?"

"Well, I didn't say your safety. Now, did I?" There was a coldness in her voice. "No one at home knows about what we really do, and it's going to stay that way. We can't afford to crumble. If the truth got out there..." She didn't bother finishing her statement.

I heard the Vertibucks growing closer behind me, but I couldn't look back. Even the veins in my neck were screaming at me to stop this. My body was getting ready to shut down.

The vehicle ahead stayed on the ground, I noticed. I couldn't see it, seeing as it was on the other side of several other buildings, but I didn't see it take off, either.

The other two Vertibucks flew side by side, overhead; one of them hauling the megaspell generator with them, as they flew over the grey forest, to the south; their destination; Vanhoover.

Home.

Or... At least, I once thought it was.

Now, I wasn't too sure.

"Firebright, please... Just give me a core..." I spoke in a raspy voice. I was dying for some water... "I'm asking as your brother..."

"Sorry. Not gonna happen."

"Please!" I begged. "My body feels like it's going to shatter! My heart can't take much more..."

"I believe in ya, kiddo. Just gotta have a heart as strong as horses." She said in a snarky tone.

"Fire, please..."

"No!" She snapped. "Quit asking and get moving! Otherwise, I'm ordered to shoot you."

That was it. I had enough.

I stopped.

"What are you doing?" She asked harshly. "I mean it, Charger. I don't want to shoot you, but I will if I have to."

I stood there, staring straight ahead. In my view, was a street covered in the blood and corpses of innocent ponies. Spent cells littered the ground. I imagined they came from the rangers.

Pillars of smoke rose in the sky from nearby buildings.

There was a storm rolling in from the east, but the sun was still bright in the blue, almost empty sky.

I heard her laser rifles ready up.

"You have three seconds to keep moving, or I'm going to shoot you."

I stood there, looking up at the sky. The beautiful sky...

"One..."

The sun's light flowed through the visor of my helmet, caressing my face with it's warm comfort. I had never felt the sun before... Had never even seen it. Nor the sky. Nor a tree.

Despite how wonderful it was, it hurt to stare at. Even through the darkened visor.

"Two..."

I closed my eyes, waiting for it all to end...

Something I found quite odd, however, was that she was using her laser rifles on me, while I was still wearing the armor. Wasn't power armor resistant to ener-

I heard the blast of two rifles go off, and a sharp pain grew in my backside. Two shots became four, and four became six. Six became eight, and the sun went off like a light, and with it, the agonizing pain in my entire body.

I thought she said on three.

I awoke to the whirring of a Vertibuck, as I laid on my side. The beeping within my helmet was still there, as was the red flashing.

Each muscle was sore, and there was a burning sensation to my flank. Sleep sounded wonderful, right now.

I was staring at the metal floor of the vessel, and at the top of my visor, I caught a glimpse of the outside. The side doors were left open.

My EFS told me we were heading south, back to Vanhoover.

I heard Firebright's voice.

"So, what are we going to do with him?"

"What we did with everypony else." Crimson replied. "Wanna be in the firing squad, this time?"

She sighed. "He's still my brother..."

"And now he's labelled a traitor." He snapped. "He's a liability. You do want to protect the Steel Rangers, don't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"No buts!" He barked. "No exceptions! That's the elder's orders. The system is there for a reason."

"Your system is fucked..." I muttered.

There was a pause, and I felt all eyes on me.

"Well, look who finally decided to wake up." Crimson walked around me, and I saw his steel hooves in front of my visor. I didn't bother looking up. I didn't have the strength to do anything, right now. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Charger. Fortunately, for the safety and well-being of the Steel Rangers, your stay will be short lived."

"If you're gonna kill me, just get it over with and spare me the drama..."

He chuckled, and my sight shifted closer to the ledge. "You got it." My head dropped down over the drop off, and I got a pretty good view of the forest below. The forest where the grey trees moved.

"Sir." Fire spoke up. "We're not supposed to. He's supposed to be delivered to Elder Bristle, first..."

Crimson sighed, and I stopped sliding off the ledge. "Yeah, yeah... Take the fun out of everything... I was really set on seeing him fly, though..."

My body stayed where it was, unfortunately. I was getting pretty sick from seeing how far up we were from the ground. But it was just something I had to put up with. This view was going to be all I saw for the duration of the trip back to what would be the death of me.

Still... Perhaps this wasn't entirely a bad thing. At the very least, there was a silver lining to all this. I always wanted to know what the surface was like. If anything, I considered this a final wish being fulfilled, even if it he wasn't satisfying my curiosity intentionally.

Quite suddenly, there was a jolt in our flight. I slid back inside the vessel just a little bit. My head was elevated with the floor now, so that was pleasant. I think I had a bit of vertigo...

I started feeling horrible... Not that I didn't already, with what happened in Saddle. But I felt worse. As if somepony set the dial of my emotions all the way to maximum.

... Was it just me, or did I hear other rangers crying? What the Hell...? Even Crimson seemed distraught!

"Damn it..." One of the rangers said behind a sob. "I hate being in the fucking air..."

The Vertibuck jolted again; this time, a lot more violent than the first.

Once Crimson regained his posture, he pressed a hoof down on the intercom. "What's going on?" His voice was shaking.

"Just... Just hit a bit of turbulence..." The pilot replied. "Damn it, my tear ducts are acting up... Sorry about that, everypony... We should be okay from here on ou-"

Then the Vertibuck jolted abruptly, sending us all airborne. Two of the rangers had fallen out and plummeted down to the forest below, screaming.

"We just lost two!" Fire shouted.

"Go down there and-" Crimson started, but another jolt sent everypony falling over. "SEAL THE EXITS!" He shouted out of frustration from being gravity's doormat.

The two miniguns on both sides slid within the confines of the vessel, and the doors started to close. They were moving a lot slower than I had remembered, though.

There was a scream in the air as the gap grew thinner between the doors and the walls. Over time, I thought it had been the wind from our high elevation. But as it grew louder and more distinct, I was having second thoughts. This sounded more like... A cry. A cry of anger. A cry of trauma. A cry of grief.

I found myself crying with it.

"Sy...tems..." Chhk! "A... ing!" The intercom buzzed, and the scream appeared on the system for a few seconds, raising the volume to earsplitting levels, until the speakers couldn't take much more, and blew up.

Yep, that's pretty much how my ear drums felt right now... I felt a warm substance leaking from both of them.

The scream resumed in the distance, and looking up, I saw Firebright and Crimsonthunder were completely clueless as to what was going on. In their defense, I was too.

"What the Hell is tha-" Fire started to ask, before we were all sent bouncing around inside the Vertibuck, crashing into the walls, floor, ceiling, and each other.

The doors were about a quarter away from sealing us in, before they stopped completely, and the whirring of the vehicle's motors started to die. Everypony stiffened up and ceased movement.

Anything audible outside of my helmet became next to mute. The red blinking of the light and the consistent beeping that was so set on informing me that I had no power in my suit ceased to be. The statistics of my armor on the tiny screen, and the conditions of it stopped glowing, and a much darker, non-lit pony armor diagram took its place.

All I could hear was the screaming outside, and the sobbing of my own, shaky voice.

My EFS compass was spinning around in circles faster and faster. It set off my vertigo just watching it. I struggled to turn my head so that I could look through the gap to the outside, and saw we were spinning out of control...

... And descending to the forest below...

Okay, nope. Vertigo going crazy. Closing my eyes now.

As we crashed through the trees, I was thrown across the inside of the Vertibuck, against the rear. One of the rangers landed on top of me, but I still had a pretty good view of the majority of the inside of the vessel. Firebright and Crimsonthunder were side by side, towards the front. Some of the other rangers were with them, while others were with me.

The screaming had come to an end.

For the better part of an hour, we all laid there, motionless. I had calmed down, but tears stained my face. I couldn't just wipe them away. I'd have to deal with it later... Not that it really mattered anymore. I was dead anyways.

I couldn't tell if the others were out cold, or were just unable to move.

Everything was still.

Everything was quiet.

Everything felt wrong.

The red light flickered back on, resumed its blinking, and with it, the audible, obnoxious beeping that gave me the needless reminder that I didn't have a core in my armor.

Sigh...

Sound became much more clearer for me, outside of the suit of armor. Everypony else's armor seemed to be rebooting as well.

Firebright moved her head around slowly, looking at the others. "Everypony alright?"

"Define 'alright.'" I muttered in reply.

The other rangers either nodded, or verbally acknowledged that they were.

She turned to Crimson. "Commander?"

"Yeah..." He said in a deep, slightly irritated tone. "Yeah, I'm fine... Can anypony move?"

The crashed Vertibuck was filled with a lot of 'negatives' or 'no, sir.'

"Alright..." He spoke in a low volume. "Let's just wait here for a little bit and let our cores wake up. Then we'll-"

There was that same crunch that I heard when we were going to Saddle. Only, now it was right outside the crashed Vertibuck. As if entire limbs were being torn from the trees.

"Shit..." The ranger on top of me whispered in a panicked tone. "Shit, shit, shit!" He started raising his voice. "It's gonna kill us! It's gonna-"

"Shut up." Crimson hissed behind what I imagined were clenched teeth, doing well to keep his voice low.

The ranger whimpered. "We're all gonna die... We're all gonna die!"

"Somepony shut him up!" Fire whispered in desperation. "We're all gonna die if you keep moving your lips!"

I heard the ground being dug through, and something tunneled underneath the earth, cracking the asphalt, before the Vertibuck was bumped and scraped.

The ranger let out a panicked cry.

I had no idea what was out there, with the exception of moving trees and deserted buildings. I didn't know what the trees did apart from move, and I didn't know what that thing outside did, but judging by this guy's reaction, I wasn't too keen on finding out.

There was a metallic groan towards the front of the vehicle, before we all heard the pilot's frantic cries and muffled screams for help, as he was dragged away to the unknown. His armor didn't seem to have the same luck as everypony else's.

The ranger on top of me had a hard time calming himself, and the moment the doors protested as they were being torn open, he screamed.

"Fuck..." I heard Crimson mutter.

I watched as one door was ripped entirely from the rest of the vehicle, letting out a metallic scream as it was, as if the Vertibuck itself was alive and capable of feeling pain. The other was forced to the side.

A series of grey, veiny, dirt-covered, raggedy tentacles came into view, following the source of the ranger's screams with ease. I felt him struggled to move off of me, but his effort was futile.

The appendages wrapped around his steel form and hauled him off of me, dragging his still body outside to join the same fate as the pilot.

More of them came in for the all-you-can-eat buffet as his screams faded within the depths of the forest. They felt around until coming across other rangers. As one was dragged off to join the other two, the other stood up and gave the tentacles both lasers. His core and his weapons seemed to be online just in time.

They dropped the ranger, recoiling and writhing from the burning pain that was inflicted on them. The ranger with the active armor grabbed his friend by her outstretched hoof in attempts to pull her back inside.

The tentacles came back; this time, with a much more aggressive nature to their being.

They wrapped around her waist in a firm grasp, tugging at her. Her friend almost fell out with her, but he refused to let go. She screamed out of fear of what was going to happen to her. That part remained a mystery to me.

"Hang on! I'm not losing you!" He shouted, trying his best to pull her back in.

More tentacles came in from behind, wrapping around his hindleg and pulling him the opposite direction from where the others pulled her.

He fired three shots at the appendages before the ones from behind ripped the guns off his body. Sparks flew from both sides of him, where the rifles once were, and the tentacles tightened around the dismantled weapons; first denting the frame, and then turning it into nothing more than two un-salvagable scraps of technology. They made it look as easy as crumpling up a candy wrapper! I most certainly didn't want to tussle with them...

They tightened around her waist, and her fearful screams for her own life turned into screams filled with pure, unadulterated agony. Her armor started to cave in around where the tentacles were.

"I got you! Just don't let-" was all he could say, before she was torn in two. He hung onto her upper half; his hoof still locked with hers, staring down at the still form that gushed blood. Her innards sprawled along the flooring, leading to the right ledge of the Vertibuck. The lower half was dragged away.

Everything seemed to be almost completely drained of color, here. There was still red, but it was very faint.

I'd probably have puked from that, but my breakfast had already come back up, staring at a dead colt with his head blown out from a laser rifle, earlier that day. I didn't think there was anything left inside me to bring up.

Still... I got a rancid taste in my mouth, just seeing that.

The stallion sat down on his haunches, looking down at her armored head.

"River..." He muttered under his shaky, broken, tear-ridden voice, still holding her limp hoof in his, to which he put to the side of his armored face, as if seeking comfort. In the meantime, the tentacles wrapped around his form, but he didn't seem to care.

It was that moment I knew...

He lost hope.

He was pulled away, and with him, came the upper half of his friend, River.

The hostilities were coming back for more. This time, it was a three course meal. Firebright, Crimsonthunder, and I. They weren't inside yet, but I could most definitely hear them making their way here.

... If that's indeed what they were taking us for. I had no idea. But I had some wild theories, some of which went to lewd thoughts.

I most certainly didn't want to find out for sure...

Crimson stood up on all fours, finally able to move. "We're leaving." He held out a hoof to my sister, and Fire took it. He lifted her up.

Fire looked down at me. "What about him?"

"Forget about him." He snapped. "He'll only slow us down, and I intend to make it out of here alive..."

"He's still my brother..."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, in that case..." He looked at her as his chest compartment opened up, and he pulled my power core out, handing it over. She took it and looked back at him. "Good luck, Firebright. Don't get killed." With that, he jumped out and cantered off.

She peeked outside, watching as he hoofed it through the hellish forest. She sighed and looked back at me, shortly after.

"You're on your own, lil' bro... Don't come back home..." She slid the core back home, and I felt power get restored to my armor. The power gauge went up to 83 percent.

Fire turned around, walked to the exit, and looked back at me one final time...

And I at her...

"Good luck, Charger..." She spoke softly. "See you in another life..."

And then she was gone...

I stood up on all fours, and Celestia's royal genitalia, did my muscles ache!

There was no time to rest, though... I needed to get out of here.

I jumped out of the vessel, and ran the other direction that I saw her go. Vanhoover wasn't an option for me, anymore...

My closest bet, for the time being, was Saddle.

The town... Not the city. Man, they really should have picked their own name...

The sun's light just barely poured through the grey leaves in pale beams of gold. Even the color from the light was altered.

I didn't remember this being in picture books...

Trees had grown right through the streets of this large city. Not just the streets... Buildings too! Though, it was less likely to happen than it did for the asphalt. Just what happened here!?

I heard the asphalt cracking and shifting beneath me as I stormed through the merciless forest. I dared not look back, for if I did, it would have been the end of me.

Then I saw it...

Straight ahead.

The source of the appendages that swept up nearly everypony in the Vertibuck...

The tentacles came from the trees... Fuck me sideways, the trees were the source; the tentacles their roots!

Sweet Celestia, the surface was bizarre!

And terrifying!

If the roots were what I had to worry about...

... Then I was surrounded...

I heard something speak next to me, in a soft, hissing, serpent-like voice.

"Yessssss..."

I looked around frantically as I ran for my life, and to my right, one of the trees jumped out from the ground; it's roots lunging at me as dirt and chunks of road were thrown in the air. I swerved left, bolting through the entrance of what I believed was once a coffee shop.

I always heard about there being remains of ponies from before the bombs fell. Skeletons and such.

I know I haven't been on the surface long, but I didn't see so much as a single bone out here, yet. For a city, I found that rather odd.

The roots slid in through the broken, windowless window frames, darting towards me as I ran through the building, while the dirty, black and white tiled flooring behind me was flung up to the ceiling, bringing up dirt and rusty pipes with it.

Okay! Running! Running! Running! Running! No time for sightseeing! I get it!

I reached the end of the building and made a right turn, up a flight of wooden stairs.

Halfway up, the stair under my hindleg gave out from the massive weight of my armor. I didn't stop. I had to keep going. If I got caught, I got... Well.. killed, I guess. Not really shot.

With each quick, careless step I took, the more broken the stairs became.

The roots sprouted from below the staircase, knocking me down on my stomach. My forelegs rested on the platform that led to a much shorter staircase, to my right.

The snapping and creaking of wood started growing beneath me.

... Oh no...

I lunged forward just as the stairs gave up on supporting my weight, and the roots lunged at me in attempts to grab me. I rammed my shoulder against the wall, trying to turn and go up the next set. Instead, I ended up leaving a pretty gnarly hole in the structure.

I jumped up the short set just before the roots could get to me, and burst through a metal door that read in a rusted, beat up sign, 'Authorized Personnel Only.'

Consider me authorized personnel, because that sign wasn't going to stop me.

I stood there, on the second story rooftop, looking down at the streets below, as they were torn apart by hundreds of thrashing roots, sowing through the earth and asphalt as if they were making a dress. A very crude, unfashionable dress.

Fortunately, my EFS picked up on them as hostile entities.

Unfortunately, looking around in every direction, my EFS was covered in red. There was no room for empty gaps anywhere.

First day on the surface, I watched a settlement get slaughtered for a fucking generator, and now I had to deal with an army of pissed off trees trying to kill me.

I'm starting to have a strong distaste for the surface...

I looked for my options of escape, and only found one possibility.

I didn't have much time. I could hear the roots destroying everything below; both in and out of the building I was on.

Looking back at the door, I saw the roots coming up.

Nope.

I backed up from the ledge, next to a five story building. Between that and the one I was on, was a small alleyway. So even if I failed this jump, I could still make it out of here... Maybe.

I made a running leap for the window ahead. To my surprise, the suit of armor didn't come crashing down immediately. The unicorns back hom... er... back at the bunkers... They must have done something to it. Magically altered its weight when airborne or something...

I didn't get how magic worked... It was all alien to me.

I crashed through the brick wall of the building, shattering the glass window with it, and sliding along the wooden flooring on four hooves, before coming to a halt.

"OH YEAH!" I shouted in one loud cheer.

... Then the wood creaked and groaned, and I looked down...

"Oh no..." I let out in a tiny, pathetic whimper.

Before I could move, the flooring gave out, sending me down to the first floor of the building. I crashed down on a table, immediately flattening it, and with it, the terminal that rested atop its surface.

I really wished I could get out of this damned armor...

"Yesssssss..."

I got up and looked through the window to my left to see the roots slithering down the alleyway, hissing that one word.

One of them tapped on the glass pane, as if they were knocking and requesting entry.

I cocked my head to the side, wondering why it was doing tha-

It slammed through, striking the wall next to me, as I had ducked just in time. It whipped around the room in a vicious frenzy, knocking down framed pictures, filing cabinets, and even going as far as ripping open a closet door and tearing it to shreds.

I got up after crawling out from under it's limb and made a run for the door opposite the closet... And made a lot of noise doing so.

The root wrapped around my form, hugging my chest tight.

It's mistake was not hugging my waist.

I fired as many rounds as I could into the appendage, and it instantly recoiled and swung around the room again in a violent manner. I turned around to face it and kept firing, and that was where I made my own mistake.

I could have run for it. I could have just opened the door and booked it. But I got cocky and just wanted to see that thing in pain.

Because of that, it struck me in the chest with one swing, knocking me through the door to the other room. My back struck a wooden counter, and knowing me, I tore through it like scissors to paper.

I slid on the dirty, what was once a shiny, fancy wooden flooring, before coming to a halt and quickly recovering on all fours, getting in a defensive stance. I imagined this place was filled with beautiful colors, once... It looked like a five-star inn at one point.

My chestplate had absorbed a lot of the damage from that hit, but now the chest of the pony diagram within my helmet was bright red. Another hit in that region could very well kill me. I needed to be more careful.

More roots were coming in through the window.

I heard a bang on the tall, double mahogany doors behind me, and the crevice between it and the floor revealed their shadows.

I took a look at my surroundings.

To my right was a victorian-style staircase. That wasn't an option... I officially hated stairs.

Let's see... Window? Nope. Creepy, pissed off tente-roots about to get in through there. Other window? Nope. Same deal...

The elevator looked busted, and even though fixing things was what my cutiemark said I did, I lacked two vital instruments; my toolbox, and time.

Crap... Fuck it! Stairs it is!

I ran up the stairs, doing my best to ignore their protests as I ascended. I didn't have time to hear their bitchy complaints or worry about their structural integrity! I had to go!

To my fortune, I made it to the top of the stairs, back to the second floor. I look a left; this time, being more careful not to stomp down.

About a quarter way across the corridor, the roots sprung out from the hole I had made, way on the other side. The appendages that were once making their way to the roof of the coffee shop had gone through the hole I inflicted on the wall.

The stairs that led up were beside them, to their left.

Damn it...

Wait...

I froze dead in my tracks and studied their movements. They were sliding along the ground, tapping the floor, walls, and ceiling on occasion, as they gradually and carefully made their way down the corridor, toward me.

I grinned behind my helmet, realizing what this was all about, and took very slow, cautious steps back, doing my best to not make any noise.

"Yessssss..."

I wasn't sure if they knew, but them talking actually worked in my favor. From their hissings, I could determine how far they were away from me, if I wasn't able to see them.

"Yesssssss!"

I froze. That was...

I turned around to see more roots coming from the stairs.

... Again, I'm not sure if they knew, but them talking helped me out. A lot. I didn't know what they were 'yessing' about, but hey... if it gave me a signal to find, then I wasn't gonna question it.

Okay... Options! Time to brainstorm!

Options, options, options...

... I only had one option...

I gently pushed open the door to my right, which was left ajar for 200-something years. The hinges did not like that one bit.

Oops...

The roots went belligerent and bolted towards the sound, which meant they were bolting towards me.

I guess they didn't like it either... Finally there was something we could all agree on.

I swung the door open, ran in, and slammed it shut behind me, hearing the lock click once the latch caught.

I backed up a little bit, facing the door, just hoping that the lock would actually prove useful.

It didn't.

One second, there was a door. The next, I was blasted with thousands of tiny, wooden shards.

The roots went back to tapping the walls, floor, and ceiling in a calm manner, once their obstacle was destroyed.

I looked at the window, then back at them, then to the window again. Okay, this was extremely risky... But I couldn't just stand here forever... They'd catch me sooner or later...

I only had one shot at this...

I ran for the window as fast as I possibly could, and I heard the roots get violent again, chasing after me.

I punched my hoof through the glass and ducked below the window, next to the heater, bringing my arm down with me. Just in time, too. The roots followed the sound of broken glass, going through the window frame.

Ha! It worked! They thought I jumped out! Morons...

Okay, now all I had to do was wait here quietly for their search to end.

Just wait...

Waiting...

Waiting...

... Waiting...

I snapped awake, jumping to my hooves, aiming around my surroundings in a panic; an explosion outside putting me on edge.

The roots were gone, which was a relief, to say in the least. If I had jumped up while they were still there, I'd have been caught for sure.

My EFS was clear in all directions.

The explosion must have been out of my range...

I turned to the window, but I didn't see any fire or detonations. I couldn't see the sun anymore, either, making it exceptionally dark out.

I did, however, see water falling from the sky. If I remembered correctly, books referred to this as rain.

It was coming down pretty hard.

The sky lit up in white, shining down on tree tops, and the city beyond, for just a split second, and another heart-pounding explosion roared through the sky.

Oh... Right. Lightning. Forgot that was a thing on the surface.

I always thought that was a myth, until now.

Well, the heavy downpour and the thunder would drown out the sound of me walking, so at least I had that to my advantage. For now...

I turned my headlamp on and flashed it around the room.

This wasn't an inn. These were apartments.

... I... read a lot about the surface and the pre-war days, back in the bunkers.

I was kind of an egghead.

As a colt, I had asked the rangers to bring back catalogues for houses and apartments for me, just so I could know what things were like back then, and imagine myself living in the neatest house I saw in the booklets.

Firebright and I would be neighbors, and have jobs from way back when, before the bombs fell. We'd go to parties that consisted of teddy bears and dolls.

We even kept at it with the fantasies, during our teens years. Though, it was a bit more mature than it had initially been, once Firebright snagged a few bottles of Wild Pegasus in from a scavenger run made by the rangers.

I didn't handle it well. Ended up spending my entire evening in front of a toilet, with the constant threat of releasing the contents in my stomach... And doing so more times than I care to remember.

Fun times...

The living room to this unit was untouched, for the most part. A thick layer of dust coated the surface of pretty much anything and everything here; sitting here, building up, for over 200 years.

I noticed my power gauge was at 70 percent. Running in this suit seemed to eat up power like crazy. I needed to keep that in mind. After all, I was still stuck in this armor, and I definitely didn't want to end up straining my muscles any more than I already had. They were still sore as all hell, but they were still grateful for the little break I had taken. So was I.

My flank still burnt, though. I needed to get that checked out...

I walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge once I started focusing on the empty feeling I had in my gut. I needed to refuel.

Oh... but... If I had to... er... defecate or discharge... Oh boy...

Ugh... I wish there was something built into this suit that could take care of such problems!

I wanted to punch the remains of whoever decided it'd be a good idea to not put a waste disposal unit in their creations...

I dug through the contents within the fridge, looking for anything that was considered 'good.'

Hm... Fancy Bucks cakes. Not exactly the best thing to eat right now, but I'd take a few for the road. Sparkle Cola? Yes please, thank you very much!

"I'd give my left hoof for a steak right about now..." I muttered, turning off the light on my head. I took the helmet off and put it on the counter, beside a Fancy Buck cake. I put my hoof down on one tiny corner of it, and bit down on the other end of the wrapper, tearing it apart.

I didn't want sweets right now. I needed protein. Proper energy. Not junk food. I needed meat.

I took one big bite from the cake, and that's all it took for it to vanish off the counter. It's cherry-filling goodness and my taste buds got along great, and I washed it down with the carrot taste of a Sparkle Cola; chugging the contents of the entire bottle. I was probably going to pay for that, later. And I didn't need it. I would have preferred other things... Like meat. But I was taking what was given to me.

I caught a stench in the air that made me wrinkle my nose. I'm sure there were much worse scents out there, but this still wasn't too pleasant to have around.

I stuck my nose up in the air and sniffed for the source like a hound.

Figured... It led to my helmet.

I grabbed it with a stretched hoof, as if it were contaminated, and made my way to the back porch, opening the glass door. I stepped out and set the helmet down on the flat, wooden surface of the railing. It was too heavy for the wind to push, so I didn't have to worry about losing it. Not unless the entire porch decided to collapse.

... I didn't usually have such a pessimistic nature, but considering everything that happened today, nopony could really blame me.

I stood beside the piece of armor, resting one hoof on the railing; my emerald eyes staring out into the darkness. My dark mane was soaked within a span of a few seconds in contact with the rain, as it blew to my left, with the strong current of the wind.

The rain on my face... The wind in my mane.

I had to admit, it felt nice. It was refreshing for me.

I closed my eyes, taking in the feeling of it all.

Then, through my eyelids, everything grew bright, and the building shook at the blast of thunder, making me jump back and run inside.

I looked back, panting from the cruel surprise.

Well... Hopefully the rain will have washed off the scent of my vomit by the time the sun came back up.

I approached the couch and put my hoof down on the cushion, to which I heard the springs within the furniture squeak, groan, and then pop.

"Oh, I can't wait to get out of this frickin' suit..."

I took my hoof away from the cushion, then bit down on the corner, taking it away from the rest of the couch and tossing it down on the floor, where I woke up from the thunder. I laid back down on my side and rested my head on the soft, comfy reminder of what my pillow was like, back... back at the bunker...

Waking up, I realized I had to take a major piss...

Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do about that... except... let it happen.

Here goes...

I felt the liquid trickle down my leg, to the bottom of my hoof, making me shudder in revulsion.

I'd... I'd just have to wash up later... whenever I got out of this thing. If I ever got out of it, that is.

Knowing my recent luck, I'd be stuck in this flawed piece of hardware until I died of some infection or something.

I got up and awkwardly made my way over to the back porch, embarrassed that I had wet myself, even though no one knew but me... I hadn't done that since I was a colt. I shook my hindleg a little, in desperate hopes that maybe, just maybe, the urine would leak out of the armor. At the moment, I was cursing whoever decided to make the power armor airtight...

I was still cursing them out in my head for not adding waste disposal units...

At least my helmet didn't smell bad now.

I slipped it over my head and looked out into the open, blue, beautiful sky. The trees were as grey as ever. I didn't recall ever reading about grey trees, or even leaves, for that matter.

Wait...

I looked more carefully at a patch of green in the distance...

Were those... palm trees?

No... That couldn't be. My mind must have been playing tricks on me. There was no green in this place. It wasn't possible. It was just an illusion.

I shook my head and turned around. The storm had passed. It was time to hit the road.

I grabbed the two remaining Fancy cakes and put them in a small compartment in my shoulder. At least this piece of shit had pockets...

I calmly walked out of the apartment unit and made my way down the stairs, which, as I expected, threatened to give out underneath me and send me plummeting to the first floor. Still, I kept my calm and continued on my way, and oddly enough, my expectations had been for nothing. I made it down safely, without destroying anything and making any noise.

The front doors had been caved in, and the roots had moved on sometime yesterday, so I was free to leave without any real troubles.

The land was as dim and depressing as it had been, the other day. I didn't know how far this forest went, but I certainly didn't want to get used to the faded colors. I didn't know a lot of things, apparently.

Funny. I once thought of myself as knowing more than anypony, due to all those books I read in my free time, when I wasn't fixing radios or other machines.

Right... Don't make a sound. Don't rush. Just keep walking. Don't touch the trees. I knew that much.

I had taken note that the ground was completely dry. The how was beyond my understanding, but I wasn't going to stand around trying to solve one of the many mysteries of this place.

A gentle breeze blew past, and litter washed through the streets with the wind.

As I walked, I spotted a half-crumpled piece of paper trailing towards me, and I could have sworn, I caught the glimpse of a pony's face on it. With my curiosity peaked, I put my hoof down on it as it passed by, stopping it in its path. I unraveled the piece of paper to discover that the top right corner was scorched away to ash, long ago. This sheet of paper had gone through a journey of its own.

I was right about there being a face, though. One eye was covered by a rusty, raggedy black mane. His coat was dirty, but I couldn't tell if that was from the distance the paper traveled, or if that was actually how he looked. He glared at me behind that one visible eye, and the malicious grin on his face didn't help convince me he was a good pony.

He wore a black overcoat, and underneath it, was a crimson shirt.

At least... I thought it was crimson. It was kind of faded down here in this... place...

There were three words at the bottom of the wrinkly sheet, followed by a five digit number; one of the texts in big, black, bold letters, and the other two under it in a text half the size as the former.

The top of the page had less than half of a name. The scorched part had burnt the rest of it away.

A 15,000 cap prize for his head... He sure knew how to make enemies, whoever he was... The fact somepony was willing to part with 15k just to have this guy killed had to mean something. Who did he piss off? How strong was this pony?

I raised my hoof and watched as the wanted poster flew down the road, through the city, continuing on its journey until it couldn't anymore.

Just like me...

About two hours into my walk, my ear twitched as I heard the most least expected thing to be in these parts.

A radio.

A functioning radio... playing music, no less. Quite loud, in fact, considering I heard it from where I was, pretty clearly. I was maybe a block or two away from the source.

I see carrots of orange, red apples too

I see them grow for me and you

And I think to myself, "what a wonderful trot"

I see butterflies of blue and bees of yellow

The Celestia blessed day, and the dark Lunar night

And I think to myself, "what a wonderful trot"

I followed the source. This was most uncanny.

Surely, nopony could be arou-

My jaw dropped, behind my visor. This... wasn't possible! My eyes had to have been deceiving me!

A white coated earth pony with a brown mane and tail laid back in a hammock; both ends tied to two of those horrendous, monstrous trees. Despite his close proximity to them, they seemed to ignore him entirely, as he rocked from one side, to the other. His forehooves rested behind his head as his rears crossed each other. His eyes were closed, as he sucked a red and black candy cane. He was smiling! Fucking smiling, right there, in the middle of probably the most deadly forest in the wasteland! Blaring music! How... WHAT!?

Then I spotted the two rangers that fell out of the Vertibuck when the EMP hit... There they were... Their armor torn open... The roots digging into their bodies as their muffled voices whimpered from underneath the helmets.

It was more than obvious that it was an EMP that hit. It was all in the details. I'd sure like to meet the pony that was behind it's activation, though...

Their hooves were spread apart and bound by other roots, which tightened their hold at my approach.

I wanted to help them... They were evil bastards, but damn it, I wanted to help them! They didn't deserve this! Nopony did!

I spotted a HAM radio housed in a satchel, with a microphone connected to it, hanging off a tree branch above the strange stallion, right next to a dead pony, who hung by the neck, via the branch that had a firm grip on him.

The casing of the radio was severely damaged, and I could see a faint, blue glow within.

Beside him was a small, metal cage, with a mechanical rabbit that sat there behind the bars, not really doing anything of interest...

A red flannel, along with a brown, multi-pocketed vest, hung on the same branch, near his head. Beside the apparel, was a straw hat.

The land of Equestria, so pretty and vast

As the ponies passing me by, smiles on their faces

I see ponies bumping hooves, saying "way to go"

They're really saying "I love you"

I hear foals crying, I watch them grow

They'll have so much more fun than I'll ever know

And I think to myself, "what a wonderful trot"

Yes, I think to myself, "what a wonderful trot"

His golden eyes opened and met mine as he kept his smile. He waved a hoof at me in a friendly manner, then went back to the original position I caught him in.

I had a lot of questions for him, but I was afraid to speak, in fear that the roots would react to my voice.

I walked up to him warily, keeping my rifles locked on him, in case this was some sort of trick.

He opened one eye, looking back at me, as I stared down at him behind my black visor.

"Hello." He spoke in a friendly, cheerful tone. "How are you, this lovely morning?"

I opened my mouth both out of shock that he was still alive and talking... And still living, even after, but also to say something. However, I heard nothing come out, out of fear of making any auditory actions. I looked at his radio, then at the trees around us, reminding myself that this guy was out here, blasting music like an idiot, but that somehow... the trees didn't pay any mind to his presence, or his voice, or his music.

I turned back to him; my heart pounding as I opened my mouth again. "There's nothing lovely about this..." I spoke as softly as I could. To my surprise, nothing tried killing me or dragging me away.

"Oh, why sure it is!" He sat up, smiling as he swayed back and forth a bit on his hammock, from his movement. "The sun is out, the sky is bright! Life is wonderful, and I'm wall to wall, treetops tall over here!" He beamed at me. "The signal is as strong as ever, around these parts."

Huh... He knew his radio slang... How about that...

I looked over at the two rangers, backing away from the clearly delusional stallion. "Did you have anything to do with those two?"

He looked at them, sucking on the candy cane after readjusting it to the other corner of his mouth. "Those robots were there when I got here."

"Robots?" I looked back at him. "They're not robots. They're ponies!"

He shrugged. "If ya say so, robot."

"I'm not a robot." I pointed my hoof at the rabbit in the cage. "That's a robot."

He frowned at me, shifting the cane to the other side of his lips again, then looked down at what was very clearly his pet. "I think you need your sensors fixed, robot. That's very clearly a healthy, happy, living bunny rabbit."

I felt my eye twitch, and an aggravated burning annoyance grew in my chest. He wasn't serious... was he?

"What's your handle?" He asked, regarding me as he resumed sucking the flavor from the candy hanging from his lips like a cigar.

"Charger. And yours?" Good thing I knew radio talk.

"My name is Para." He put a hoof to his chest, closing his eyes and smiling. Then he pointed that same hoof at me, his eyes locked with my visor. "What do you charge?"

"... Uh, what?"

"You're a robot that charges. What do you charge, and how do you charge it?"

I sighed and put my hoof to my visor. I couldn't believe I was actually having this conversation...

"Para. I. Am. A. Pony." There was no convincing him... Unless...

I looked around. The roots still ignored us, as if we weren't even here... Weird, but okay.

I removed my helmet, and his eyes got big.

"See? I'm a pony."

"You're a pony!" He balked, dropping the candy cane from his mouth. In mid drop, he caught it with both hooves, and slid it back in his mouth; this time chewing on it.

"I... yes, I just said that..." Really...?

"How are you fitting inside that robot, what with all their circuits and wiring getting in the way?" Judging from his facial expression, he was still astonished by this.

I was astonished by his question... Dumbfounded, was a more appropriate word, actually.

I shook my head. "That's not important. Can you tell me where you came from?"

"Well, I just left from a town called Saddle, yesterday morning. As for where I'm from... I don't... rightly know..." He put his hoof to his chin in thought, knitting his brows.

I had to admit... For a wastelander, this guy - as crazy as he was - was very well groomed. Smooth coat. Healthy figure. Strong. His impossibly bright, shiny, white teeth... I couldn't find a scratch on him! Not even a speck of dirt! How was that even possible?

I didn't really roll that way, but... he was kinda cute.

At least... I didn't think I rolled that way. Now, I wasn't too sure.

"Are you crazy?" I asked.

"Hm?" He snapped back into 'reality,' or, at least, the closest thing to it, for him. "Oh. I can't, in all fairness, answer that. Crazy ponies don't think they're crazy. They think they're getting saner."

... Okay, good point. He had me beat, there.

I looked around his little resting site, and noticed something was off with this whole thing... As if it wasn't 'off' before... It was only getting weirder and weirder.

I looked back up at him with a raised eyebrow. "You don't have any weapons. How are you even alive?"

"Pfft..." He waved a dismissive hoof at me. "Weapons are for chumps. Killing is for the weak."

"You've never killed anyone?" I cocked my head to the side a little.

"Nope." He shook his head after swallowing the chunks of candy cane in his mouth, smiling at me. "Never hurt a soul in my life!

I highly doubted that... But I wished I could say the same for myself...

"Aren't you... you know..." I paused and looked around at our scenery. "Afraid of the trees...?"

"Trees?" He looked up at them with curiosity. "Why would I be afraid of trees? They provide photosynthesis."

"Photo... what-esis?" I frowned.

He looked at me as if I had just asked what two plus two equaled. "Oxygen? Good ol' H2O? The number one reason any of us are alive? Come on, this is basic knowledge!"

"I know what oxygen is." I stated matter-of-factly. "Just never heard the word... Photo-what's-it-what." It sounded more scientific... And I only read little foal books on trees. Never the big, more adult ones!

I suddenly felt very stupid...

Now when I say 'read,' I mean more like looking through the pictures.

I was little, okay!? Reading didn't sound fun at the time!

"Oh, it's okay." Para smiled, patting me on the head with his hoof. I then realized I was sulking. "You don't have to feel bad."

I looked on at him, my sulking face gradually forming to a more frustrated one as he continued.

Eventually, he stopped. "Well..." He hopped out of his hammock and stood up on his hindlegs, using the trunk of the tree at the foot of his swinging fabric to support himself from falling down, as he reached for his radio, taking it down, and the satchel with it. During that time, I saw a black rabbit foot for a cutiemark on his flank. His nice, firm... Stop it, Charger!

"I suppose it's time to hit the road." He looked back at me, biting on the strap of his satchel and smiling. "Wanna come with?"

"Sure... I guess." I said, looking away in desperate attempts to hide my blushing. I glanced back at him once more as he turned his back to me, and I froze at the sight of two stumps sticking out through a white bandage wrapped around his torso. I don't know how I didn't notice it before... But I knew then that he wasn't an earth pony.

He was a pegasus with his wings ripped off...

The bandages weren't bloody, so that meant that they were removed long ago.

He seemed a bit too happy for a pony that lost a special part of them...

... I envied that.

He put his flannel, vest, and straw hat on, then lifted the cage onto his back, making sure not to squish the stumps with the container. The bunny let out a mechanical squeak.

"Oh, you're hungry again, aren't you?" He reached into one of the many pockets of his vest and pulled out a carrot, sliding it between the bars, to which his pet devoured with a rotary blade, once the mouth opened.

He beamed at it, then at me, before grabbing his satchel, putting the strap around his waist, and tightening it so that it hugged him tight.

I slipped my helmet back on, and found that my core had 4 percent power left before I was back to struggling with achieving basic pony functions.

I really didn't want to do this, but... I had no choice... I needed to continue on...

"I need your help, Para."

"Hm?" He cocked his head at me, smiling patiently. One of Sapphire Shores' greatest hit singles started playing on his radio.

I regarded the rangers before us. "I need you to take their power cores. It's in their back. Look at mine, if you need to."

Their muffled cries were amplified as they couldn't believe what I was saying. I couldn't believe what I was saying! These were ponies I had grown up with! And now I was sparing them, only to have them suffer, and taking their equipment.

I was a monster.

They were done for anyways... There was nothing I could do for them, without agitating the trees and killing us all...

It was their life or mine... And I chose mine.

Para looked at them, and then at me, before going to my back and examining the filled slot. "So I just pull them out?"

"Yeah. It's pretty straight-forward."

"Consider it done!" He spoke in that cheerful tone. I didn't know how he could... I felt horrible just asking him to do this for me...

He went behind them with no hesitation whatsoever, ejected both their cores, and handed them to me, still smiling.

The roots didn't care one bit... That astonished me greatly.

I handed one back, and he raised an eyebrow, looking down at it.

"Mine is nearly depleted." I stated. "Can you put a new one in?"

He smiled, then nodded, looking back at my visor. "Of course." He went back to my side, ejected the core, put it in another one of his vest pockets, and slid the new one home. My gauge went up to 97 percent. I guess they didn't get very far with those cores...

I hated to think it, but...

Lucky for me.

I mentally slapped a hoof upside the back of my head for just hearing those words in my inner voice.

"Hold on to the other two, will you?" I asked, stretching my hoof out. He took the core and put it in the same pocket as the other one, which now reached its occupancy.

Para grabbed his hammock after untying it, folding it up, and putting it neatly in an interior pocket of his vest.

He nodded at me with that careless, almost ignorant smile of his, and we walked off into the forest, blasting Sapphire Shores on the radio.

He had a slight dance to his movement, oddly enough. Even walking, he seemed to have a little dance behind it.

As weird as it was, he was my best chance of survival...

For now.

Sweet Celestia, the surface was bizarre...

Author's Notes:

I give special thanks to Kkat for starting Fallout; Equestria, Somber for making the wonderful story known as Project Horizons, and Pines...

The one that made this entire story possible. Sure, I'm the one writing it, but I wouldn't have, if it weren't for his idea to make a collaboration project with me, and giving ideas for the main story, after I kept making FoE references to him for months. He doesn't read the series. XD

Credit for the lyrics goes to Pines.

Future chapters may take time making, respectively. Here, at MMBT studios, we believe in quality over quantity. We're thorough with our work (now). But we hope, that with each chapter, it satisfies our audience incredibly.

Here is the start of what could very well be a fantastic story. I hope you enjoyed it. We hope you enjoyed it.

Pines: Stay tuned fellow readers. Will Charger get out of his god awful power suit? Will Para stop blaring music in a deadly biome? Find out next time! My Partner and I will bring you more of the tale of Charger. Please tell us your thoughts. We love feedback!