We had gotten a considerable distance south and reached the ancient railroad embankment that was still used a caravan route. It was the safest and easiest route west towards Vanhoover. A city I ironically found myself walking towards instead of staying as far away from it as possible. And yet the horror and dread was little more than a bad memory.

My thoughts were however interrupted by the mare I had found myself travelling with.

"We're being followed."

To my surprise she continued walking forwards as if nothing had happened.

I turned on my E.F.S. and noticed the white bar she probably meant.

"You sure? Could be anything?"

"Enough fieldwork and you grow a sense for these sorts of things."

"So what do we do? Ask them what they want?"

I could practically hear her frown.

"Standard procedure is to break contact and then ambush them."

"Sounds fair. Still, I prefer my solution."

"How are you not dead yet?"

"No idea. Anyhow, you do your thing. I'll wing it."

"What? Hold on-"

Then I flapped my wings and took to the air. Even with my pale coat I was remarkably stealthy in the night sky, few ponies ever bothered to look upwards and there are all sorts of sounds during the night that make them jump at shadows. Oh. how I love being a pegasus.

As I glided around the air I noticed the white bar suddenly disappearing.

"Interesting..." I whispered to myself.

This was the wasteland, barely anypony knew anything about pipbucks. Even less their weaknesses. If somepony following us decided to suddenly hide. Not only did they know how to hide from the E.F.S... As I doubted anypony could have seen me in the air, maybe they had an E.F.S. of their own?

Did some steel ranger follow us? Enclave? Goldstar? Then I realized that the armour the Daughter's had probably also had advanced stable tech electronics. Aaand the list of possible stalkers had grown longer than I cared for.

I circled around the area a few times, partially relying on sight and partially trying to find somepony with the S.A.T.S. After failing to do so I noticed Tart sneaking around towards the direction the follower had been. Every now and then she looked upwards after me.

Whoever it was, they were really sneaky. Freakishly good at it.

Then it dawned on me.

Swooping back down I landed on a large rock.

"Xera, I know it is you. Stop playing around and show yourself."

A few meters to my side a striped shape clad in wartime armour rose from a ditch, a rifle at their back and a pipbuck at their leg. A slightly disappointed look on their face as the zebra walked up to me.

"Must say, you learn quickly."

"I am guessing it is just you then? The others stayed behind?"

This was something of a surprise, and my paranoia nagged a little.

"Yes, just me. Director asked me to follow you."

"And bring me back??"

"No. Asked to protect, not capture."

Raspberry Tart walked up to us and had a few opinions of her own on the matter.

"I call horse apples! This is too convenient, ARE YOU A SPY?"

"No. Not for legion, not for anyone." The tone suggested offense.

"Really? Windstriker, where did you pick up this thing??"

Thing?

"Hey, what is your problem all of a sudden?"

"I don't know where you picked up the zebra, but we can't trust it. Do you know how many infiltrations and false flag operations they pulled during the war? And since? In case you missed it, there are still zebrecian forces enslaving ponies in Equestria. And I am guessing, that is where you picked it up!"

"And I thought I was paranoid... Look, Xera isn't with the legion anymore."

"What guarantee do you have? Why are you so trusting?"

I paused at that and looked at Xera in confusion. Looking back, it was a spur of the moment thing. A frustrated act of defiance, and it was most definitely not rational. Reassessing my judgement, I sat there in silence looking at the zebra, and they waited patiently for my answer. First thing I was sure was that the whole 'zebra' part wasn't a problem, so compared to the ponies I had met thus far in my travels...

Xera was certainly more courteous than most, although I had ran into enough of backstabbing as it was. What mattered was one simple question that I needed an answer to.

"Why are you following me around?"

"... Where else can I go?"

"Anywhere, you can survive on your own and I doubt the legion could track you if you went east towards the Equestrian heartland. Vanhoover isn't exactly welcoming of zebras."

"I am alone. I have nothing... He... he talked how silly our war was. How it not solve anything. I did not believe him, ponies are vain, ponies are cruel, ponies hate and burn. You are not, you confuse me. Tell me, winged one, can you end war?"

At this point I was thoroughly confused. I wasn't prepared for such a question, nor the expectations that came with it. Just who did they think I was, the actual Stable Dweller?

"Hold on, I am just a restless idiot trying to help people. Are you asking me to fix the wasteland?"

"Is that not why you travel?"

"I... what? I don't know. Either way, are you still following me around because I am different from the ponies you met before? Even if you know I am going into Vanhoover?"

The zebra shrugged halfheartedly.

"I am already cursed. And as I said, I have nothing else."

I turned to the ranger and asked her:

"Good enough?"

Tart stood there for a long moment, gazing at the other. Her face contorted in a frown as if she trying to navigate conflicting emotions, until she reached an opinion.

"... No. I'll accept that the zebra might not be a spy, but I still don't think it should travel with us."

"Remind me again why your mother, and the elder I might add, hired me for this?"

"... Please tell me you're not serious."

"I am. They aren't legion anymore, and nobody expects a ranger to travel with a zebra. The more stripes we got with us the better, they even have a pipbuck so we can pass of them as one of my relatives."

"At least half of the ponies in the city would shoot the zebra on sight, and us soon after."

"Yeah, your half of the ponies in Vanhoover."

"..."¨

"Anyhow, they are with me. And this is now part of the plan."

"I am seriously considering pulling rank on you."

"You can't, I'm a civilian. And I'm perfectly capable of handling this on my own. So either you accept it and we continue, or you go back and report that you neglected your duties. And screw up this whole alliance thing your superiors hope to build."

"Not fair..."

"Your point? If you can't stand the sight of stripes..."

I spread my wings wide as I stared into her eyes, daring her to comment. She said nothing, just looked away in a mix of irritation and shame. The discussion had come to an end, and we began walking west. One of my companions constantly glancing at the other, who in turn ignored it. This was going to be an interesting trip.

When reached the summit of a hill and saw the ancient city ruins in the distance. To my eyes it looked weird, no walls, no ditch, no guard towers, it just sprawled outwards towards us. It seemed idiotic to my mind to build a major city without any proper defenses against raiders or monsters, where they really that safe back then? In all honesty, it brought to mind the city growing organically outwards and not something designed or built.

That said, it was quite a distance away, and the view was distracted by a massive wartime construct that I struggled to wrap my head around. If somepony had told me that it was some kind of military fortress, I would believe them. It definitely looked like something the Steel Rangers would like. It had a central keep of sorts, an enormous block of bricks with the wall on our side having two giant pillars and a shattered glass window several stories tall. It had several smaller (still freaking huge) building blocks sticking out of its sides, they looked more like office buildings but still remarkably sturdy. And then there where the four grey chimneys that reached up into the cloud cover, which hinted at just how absurdly over sized the whole thing was.

"That... is impressive."

I didn't know what else to say.

"Yes, wartime architecture is something else. You should see Manehattan. The skyscrapers back home might be shattered and decayed but they still give this a run for its money. It is things like these that reminds me what we are fighting for..."

Even our zebra was stunned at the sight.

"How is it standing?"

The ranger seemed to have come to terms with Xera's presence.

"Ponies back then built things to last." She said flatly.

"200 years, pony. 200 years."

"..."

"Wait, is that too long??"

Xera turned to me and had that stranged confounded look again.

"House where no one live, falls in ten years."

Thinking back to various nearly intact buildings from the days of the Great War that I had visited, heck even the main building of the Institute was supposedly still standing and only needed some touch ups when we left the Stable.

"That can't be right."

"No, the zebra is right. Most towns are little more than rubble these days. Then again, ponies actually live in most of the buildings in Vanhoover. They could just have repaired them over the years."

We began trotting down the hill and towards the building in front of us, continuing the discussion as we went.

"So... is this ranger outpost?"

"No. Not anymore. We captured it when we first showed up, until the Administrator offered us an intact, unopened stable complete with supplies and everything. And with the ponies of Tall Tale helping out with patrolling the plains... it isn't worth much except as a fort these days."

I poked my forehead a few times as I tried to think, there was something about this I was missing. Which reminded me of the weird scar I have under my mane. Shaking my head a few times to clear it before I looked around, trying to refocus. A rolling hilly plain covered in grass and countless farms stretched out towards the south, with Flood Town in the far distance. To the north was some small village and the Unicorn Range we just left behind us. To the east was...

"Wait, you abandoned this place but you kept that makeshift fort near the Black Hoof?"

"Do I really need to explain that?"

The tone implied that it was obvious.

"You wanted to keep an eye on Goldstar?"

"Yes, and to work closer with the caravans."

"You rangers care about the caravans?"

"Why wouldn't we? If we are going to rebuild this city then their support will certainly help."

Somehow I doubted that would go as they wished. The caravans owed Goldstar a lot, and I was fairly sure they were the ones supplying the local gangs with arms, ammo and armour. Maybe they playing both sides? Why can't some smart zony figure this out for me??

My ears drooped the power plant loomed over me, it was covered in some dark green vines with glittering flowers that would have been a beautiful sight anywhere else. In Vanhoover it looked like a manifestation of corruption, the withered yellow colour seemed sickly, and poisonous. And the plants were all over the massive ruin, crawling in through broken windows as if reaching for the ponies inside.

There was a sniper scope and rifle on the third floor, aiming this way. Glancing at my E.F.S. I cursed at its blind spot, and true to tradition I decided to do something stupid. Wave my hoof and shout.

"HEY! Can we come in?!"

There was a tense pause before we got a response, and fortunately it didn't involve bullets.

"Why wouldn't you?!"

"Thanks!"

With a smile I turned to look at my two companions. Tart looked caught between surprise and offense that it worked, and Xera just shook their head in disbelief. I shrugged and walked in. Going through the giant gates that had been left slightly ajar, finding a stairwell several stories tall with doors in every direction. Trying to figure out the signs and where to go, I completely missed the beige earth pony buck sitting in a worn out armchair right beside us.

"The atrium, that's what you want."

I jumped a pony height in surprise before I took a long suspicious look at him. He took a sip from some bottle and looked amused at my... reflexes. Let's go with that.

"Stable ponies..."

"You ponies are freakishly good at this."

"Well yeah, we would be dead otherwise. Anyways, as I said, the main atrium. With the big round things and the catwalks. That's the place you want. Ask for Fafnir, the boss will want to talk to you."

"Because of the stripes?"

"You would think that but no. Since we're trying to be respectable, the boss wants to meet with ponies personally."

"Yeah, sure. We'll do that."

Turns out that the so called atrium was more a giant industrial thingy, with the ancient machinery mostly intact. Still, it was fitting to call it an atrium with all the tents and small shops that various ponies had set up. Looking up I noticed several ponies armed with rifles on the catwalks, looking over the main room. Ready to shoot the first pony who started trouble. For some unknown reason it didn't make me feel any safer.

I walked up to some rugged looking pony wearing metal armour and carrying a shotgun, assuming that she was with the local mercenaries. Whose name escaped me at the time.

"You with the whats-their-name-now??"

"The Chi-me-ras. You know like the big monster? And yes, I am. Why?"

"We were told to introduce ourselves to the boss, some buck called Fafnir?"

"He's busy with the Heartbeats right now, I'll tell him when he's done."

"Great, more waiting!" I glanced around the place. "Can we explore in the meantime?"

"Should be all right, just listen if some guard tells you to back off."

I made an amateurish attempt to a military salute.

"Will do!"

A frustrated groan was heard from Tart as I began trotting away. To my surprise she then willingly talked to Xera.

"Is she always like this?"

"Yes. Yes, she is."

In the end I was the only one who was actually interested in exploring. So the two of them just followed me around to make sure I didn't get into or start any trouble. Which felt a bit frustrating (and nostalgic in a way). After an hour of exploring the maze of concrete corridors and staircases I found what once was the head office. To my surprise it belonged to Amethyst Van Hoof himself, which peaked my curiosity.

Unfortunately, somepony (most likely the steel rangers) had already cleaned out the terminal, the hidden safe I found and whatever had been in the desk. The books on the shelves had all rotten away over the years and the covers were all that remained. Apart from the metal plaque with the name there was only a single thing suggesting that the stallion from the war had been using the office, a framed photo of the opening of the plant. With Amethyst standing on one side of a huge red ribbon in front of the main gates, and Icetear on the other. There was a genuine smile on his face, and even the cool mare seemed happy in that moment.

DAWN OF A NEW ERA was written on a plaque on the frame.

Sitting down I took a long look at the photo, the sunlit sky, the freshly built building, the cheery faces, and more colours than I have ever seen in a pony crowd before. Sure, there were colourful ponies here and there but this was a spectacle to behold.

"... You really care about the days before the war, don't you?"

As I turned to look at Tart she had a curious look on her face.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because it is dead, gone. All that is left is fragments of the old world, stable ponies, rangers and otherwise. Ninety nine of a hundred ponies in the wasteland live and die in the ruins without any care for the old days. You stable dwellers are mostly isolated, and we rangers do what we do because our duty is all that we have left."

Her voice was wavering, almost pleading.

"What happened? A few days ago you were practically boasting about how fantastic the rangers are."

"I have seen a lot of shit in the wasteland, Windstriker. Do you have any idea how many monsters we have put down? How many raider gangs we have wiped out? Slaver nests?"

I slowly shook my head.

"All the fucked up shit in the world and we still survived, we still stayed true. It doesn't matter what the wasteland throws at us, we will always prevail. Except... this time, it feels different. The caravans, the farmers, Tall Tale, even Goldstar... are we killing the ponies we are supposed to protect?"

Figuring out where she was going with it, I answered with the question she was reaching for.

"And if you are?"

"It would mean the end of the rangers. If Elder Stardust can't contain the ideological rift... I will do my duty, even if it means dying from the bullet of another ranger. We are the old guard, when we die, the old kingdom will finally die with us. And it will be up to the wastelanders to build a new country."

This... was not how the steel ranger presented themselves to the rest of us. They had a will of steel, with a strict sense of justice and they were the defenders of the innocent. Still, not sure how much I cared about the rangers as an organization. I did however care about the mare before me.

Before I could answer I felt my mane stand on end and a silent breeze blew through the room, and with it everything seemed to shake with a subtle rumble. I glanced at my companions who seemed to notice that something was wrong, then the bookshelf exploded.

The force was enough to throw both me and Xera of our hooves, Tart stood fast and covered her eyes with her foreleg. To my surprise I head no gunfire, there was no fire nor smoke, just countless splinters and pages of rotten paper. It hurt, and I got something in my eyes but otherwise I was (mostly) unharmed. Coughing I tried to get a grip on the situation.

"Wh- what's going on?"

"You two all right?!"

"Yeah, but what happened?"

Blinking I managed to clear most of the stuff out of my eyes.

"Was room trapped?"

Xera asked, equally confused.

"No, just an anomaly."

""What?""

"Neither of you have actually been to Vanhoover before? Have you?!"

I shook my head, still too stunned to notice if Xera did the same.

"Oh... sweet Applejack! A black ops mission and I am saddled with a teenager and a zebra!"

Trying to understand what pissed her off I was about to ask that very thing when she continued.

"EVERY major ruined site or city from the war has some shit going on. Canterlot has the pink cloud, Fillydelphia got the crater, Manehattan has the subway ghouls, Hoofington got the enervation, and Vanhoover-" She took a deep breath. "Vanhoover has whatever nonsense the Van Hoof's left here. Shit like this happens all the time. Most of it is just annoying like this thing, some of it is far far worse."

"Like what?"

I probably should have seen it coming, but it was still a total surprise.

She made a dramatic sigh as she began explaining.

"We have tried getting to the M.A.S. hub before, there was one team that decided to brute force their way there. One of the knights didn't wake up for his shift and when the medic checked him his eyes dripped black goo. No life signs. Later they got attacked by a pony in power armour, it was the same buck. Shit like that kept happening and they had to abort."

What. The. Everloving. Fuck?

"THAT is what we are getting ourselves into?"

"I thought you knew. And yes, that it what we are getting ourselves into. Are you still in or not?"

If I say no, you're just going to go at it alone anyway...

"Yeah, I'm still in."

Soon after we returned to the atrium, a group of ponies with a whole bunch of junk waved us over. I hesitated a little when I realized that their bodyguards was a group of Daughters. The chimeras gave them a wide berth whenever they crossed paths, and as I walked closer I did notice Starlight's touch with the way they acted. The mares were organized, four of them stood guard as if they were surrounded by enemies, four of them walked around in pairs and the rest either slept or maintained their guns. Assault carbines, machine guns, combat shotguns, sniper rifles: all military grade. I could see some loose magazines, the bullet tips gleamed a bluish silver. AP rounds, and now I realized that the mares were eyeing me closely.

One hasty action and they wouldn't hesitate to kill me, their eyes made that very clear.

"I'm not looking for trouble."

"Good, let's keep it that way."

The earth pony mare who answered had been hidden behind some old machinery, and was aiming at me with two assault rifles. Had I miscounted? Weren't these mares supposed to be just ex-raiders with better gear?

I should probably give Whiskey Rose additional thanks whenever I meet her next.

"Sarge, don't scare off the customers."

The well dressed white earth mare had a purple mane and a smile on her face, she looked to be somewhere in her thirties (although it was difficult to gauge the age of wastelanders for me). When I introduced myself she vigorously shook my hoof and explained that she was one of the more influential wastelanders around.

"Lily Heartbeat, owner of the Heartbeat Caravans. Tell me, Windstriker. What are you doing out here? The Director looking for something special? Spark capacitators? A data spell matrix? Gems? Lunite crystals??"

"I don't suppose you have a safe route to the Ministry of Arcane Sciences hub?"

"Oooh. I wish. That would be almost as good as figuring out a way into the Van Hoof Tower. However... I might have something. Not entirely sure what though. You interested?"

"Hold on, what exactly is it?"

"Memory Orb."

My interest and my ears perked at that word. This could be useful, and if not then at least it would be fun.

"All right, I am interested. Have you had it checked?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Who does it belong to? Because that is important."

"As I said, no idea."

"Isn't it silly to sell an orb you don't know?"

"Hey, we don't exactly have unicorns to go around and we still have plenty of potential buyers. So you want it or not?"

I smirked, as I just had an idea.

"But a known one might attract a better price. So how about a deal? I get to look at it, tell you what it is and then keep my mouth shut about the whole thing? If its important then it will be worth more, and if not then you aren't loosing anything."

"Really? You think I was born yesterday? I'm not just going to let you bring it back to the Institute for free!"

"Don't have to."

I lifted my left leg and waved my pipbuck around.

"Since when can you watch orbs on a pipbuck? I'm not an idiot."

"Institute tech. Point is. I can watch it here, right in front of you if you want to. As long as you keep the Daughter's away from my stripes and my friends. Deal?"

She hummed in a strange way and looked very pleased. In fact, the way she looked at me made my ranger companion blush furiously. I might have missed some implications, but the tone was definitely flirty.

"Agreed. Hopefully we can make more deals later on."

It was slightly ironic that I was just getting used to memory orbs and the body weirdness that came with them. This time it was another crystal pony (weren't they supposed to be rare?), however this time there was one other major issue at hoof. The host, was a male. Was a pegasus mare too much to ask for? Because this felt... just wrong. All of it. Not just the lack of wings, not just the... dick. The proportions of everything else felt slightly off. Why was I interested in memory orbs again??

And then I began to notice where I was. The gigantic height of the rooms, the marble walls, the fine cloth and the stained glass window depicting the princesses and the ministers. It was night, or at least an evening and there was a full moon outside the window (it seemed absurdly large to my eyes). The pony buck that was my host was wearing a suit and carrying a suitcase, he was markedly nervous as he kept glancing at the royal guards before us. The guards however, had nerves of steel and didn't even glance at my host.

Part of me was ecstatic at being in the royal palace, part of me had flashbacks to my hyper-realistic nightmare. I really expected this to become the same freaky shit again without any warning. Fortunately (I guess) it was a memory orb and I had no control over my host what so ever. So no matter what my thoughts on the matter was, I was along on the ride.

Then the tall doors opened and a very loud fanfare blared. My host's heart rate increased as we walked into the throne room. In the far end of the room, on an elevated plateau lay three thrones. And in the middle one sat a dark blue pony.

I knew her, as did my host who seemed transfixed by her. As a result I got a good look at her, Princess Luna, the pony who ruled, the princess who failed, the real princess of Vanhoover.

Her coat had a slight grey tone to its blue in contrast to her mane that shimmered in black and a brighter blue as it waved in the still air. Within said mane were thousands of actual stars, not just glimmering points but I could see actual stars within it. Her eyes were a soft cyan colour, and oh they were the most beautiful thing I ever seen.

Needless to say, my interest in alicorn princesses was revived with full vigour.

And my host had a similar reaction considering his blushing, and other... things.

This before we were blown off our hooves by an extreme volume from a pony that I really didn't expect to shout.

"WELCOME TO CANTERLOT, MY DEAR DUKE. WE HAVE EAGERLY AWAITED YOUR ARRIVAL!"

My phrasing was literal by the way, we flew backwards by the force of the voice.

The princess covered her mouth with her hoof and looked surprise at our reaction.

"Oh, our apologies. We thought you would prefer a more traditional greeting, considering how long it has been since your family visited Canterlot. Perhaps it was a poor choice in retrospect."

"Ehrm... No worries your highness, I was just not expecting it."

"Irregardless, we are sorry. And terribly curious, what little we have heard from Vanhoover has all come from our agent and she is hardly impartial. Come closer, and tell me... Just how are your family faring, how is the city these days?"

"Thank you. My family... if you excuse my lack of manners, are grumpy and struggling to keep up with the modern world. As for the city, it is my home. I am not sure how it would look to outsiders, but you would be most welcome to see for yourself should you ever so decide. Your highness."

"It is tempting. And most frustrating that we didn't think to do so while our sister still reigned. It is difficult for us to find the free time, or the ability to travel without a small army of escorts. We are quite certain that our guards would object very strongly at the prospect. As we said, most frustrating."

If I had been there in person I would be too stupefied to be able to speak normally in her presence, my host however was far better at composing himself and handled it more smoothly than I thought possible.

"Then, perhaps after the war?"

"We would like that."

Did... did he just ask her out for a date?!

For a few moments they just looked at each other, with vague hopes for the future. I didn't understand the subtle rules and traditions at work here in the royal court, he however did and let her lead the discussion.

"Your letter mentioned that you would bring a gift, show us."

"Yes, your highness."

Then he opened his suitcase and picked out a dark purple box with black cloth draped around it as a birthday present. When the princess saw it she slowly levitated it towards herself. Her telekinetic grip carefully opening it and bringing out the object inside. A crystal in the shape of a crescent moon, by now I could recognize it as a lunite crystal. The princess too, did recognize it and was intrigued.

To my surprise she removed her black tiara and looked at it, then to the crystal moon.

"This is the same kind of gem as the one in our crown, we had forgotten what it was. We even invited jewelers into the palace and asked them, not one could identify it. So how come you know of its origin, dear Duke?"

Our heart skipped a beat.

"It is lunite, your highness. The crystalized form of lunium, more commonly known as a moon diamond."

She replaced her tiara and slowly turned the crystal in the air, letting the soft moonlight gleam through it. The ruler of Equestria seemed enchanted by the little object, and had a very nostalgic look on her face. My host, Amethyst, was equally entranced by the sight of the princess.

He would do everything in his power to aid her, he would die for her. For some reason a word came to mind as I took in the scene, Reverence. It was his virtue. No matter what his family was up to, no matter how murky the morals became during the course of the war. He would stay loyal to her, he would be a pony she could always count on.

And both of them knew it.

Then she finally broke from her pondering and looked to Amethyst as they came to a silent understanding.

"Now, you had a proposal. One you suggested could alter the course of the war?"

"Yes your highness. As an arcano-chemist I have noticed several potential applications of lunium, that I think the M.A.S. and M.W.T. would be very interested in."

"Apart from jewelry we assume?"

He blushed.

"Of course, the main one is fuel. I looked into the details on how our coal plants function and with some modifications we should be able to adapt them to use lunium dust instead. The element has remarkable similarities to carbon and albeit it burns at far higher intensity, the practical result is that we need less than a percent of lunium dust compared to coal for similar energy emissions."

"If it is so practical, then why haven't it been used that way before?"

"Lunium is only found in the Unicorn Range, my family owns all the mines in the area, and the dust is very unhealthy to breathe. Without modern protective gear it wouldn't be worth the effort. That shouldn't prove an obstacle with the technological advances of our age however, the ministry of wartime technology should be able to devise a suitable mining outfit without any difficulty."

"Do you know what you are saying?"

"Uhm... No, your highness? I'm not following?"

"If you had brought this to us before... before the war broke out, all of this could have been avoided. All the bloodshed, all the innocent lives lost. It is still useful technology, but these days Equestria has so many alternative power sources we don't actually need any coal anymore. It is ironic, the thing that started the war. We have grown beyond it, and yet we can't help but continue fighting."

"Your highness..."

"Please excuse our emotional tirade. What are the rest of your suggestions?"

"Ah, here. I compiled and wrote a thesis on the subject."

He pulled out a literal book, an actual book. None the less she gripped it in her magic, and opened it. She sat there patiently, reading a page, flipping to another section, reading it, and repeating the process for well over ten minutes while Amethyst sat equally patiently and waited for her to finish.

"We will give this a thorough read later, and assume that you are able to send copies to Twilight Sparkle and Applejack?"

"Most definitely, I intend to deliver them personally tomorrow."

"We will instruct them to give it a read and consider your proposals properly."

"Thank you, your highness."

"One more thing, have you talked with Icetear about these ideas?"

"Yes, several of them have been her suggestions. Most notably number 7."

"Good, we want you to start on proposals 3 and 7 as soon as you get back."

"Without the involvements of the ministries?"

"To start with at least. It will be under Icetear's authority and Starlight Glimmer will be informed that she is to aid you any way she can. We assume that you can provide the resources and facilities needed if you have royal approval?"

"Definitely, on my soul, it will be done."

"You have given us some much appreciated hope in these dark times, young Duke. You are a bringer of light in the darkness, hence Proposal 3 will be named Project: Lightbringer, and Proposal 7 will be named Project: Aurora after our mutual friend."

"I'm honoured."

"And hopefully you are right. Minister Twilight is working on a project that is most promising, but far too ambitious or so we thought. It will be our shield, your's will be the lance. If Icetear is successful, then that little visit to Vanhoover would arrive ever so quickly."

This time I noticed her clever choice of words, he would do everything in his power to make that day a reality.

Unfortunately for both of them, he had failed.

Whatever nonsense miss Heartbeat was doing, she stopped when I mentioned the two ponies it involved. There was a satisfactory wave of surprise when I explained, the Daughters were of course wholly unimpressed. Raspberry Tart looked like she was about to explode in a tirade how wastelanders don't deserve something like that memory orb.

Which she did as soon as we were far away for the ex raider mares to not shoot us for being irritating.

"Why... you?! Do you have any idea how valuable something like that is?? And not just for the cultural and historical circumstances?? There could be all sorts of subtle nods to whatever projects the government was working on around here! Do you know what could happen if something like that found its ways into the wrong hooves? If Goldstar figures something out before we do??"

"Tart."

"I mean, seriously? Do you ever think things through before you do them?"

"TART!"

She looked indignantly at me but shut up.

"I have it recorded."

"You what? How? You can't just copy a memory orb like that."

"As I said, Institute tech. This add-on adapts the memory magic to the pipbuck, I have a file that I can copy to any data spell matrix. Whether in another pipbuck or maneframe or otherwise. Besides, it takes a while for her to get back to the Black Hoof and she will try to get the best price possible. Which means she will bide her time, contact Starlight, my grandfather, your Elder, the Administrator and who else with an interest in history. I suspect that she will arrange an auction just to make a spectacle out of it to drive the price up further. We have an enormous head start, so relax."

"Huh, but I- WHAT?! You- HOW?"

One ranger utterly flabbergasted, I was honestly feeling proud of myself over that one.

"Did I do good?"

"You, but you are an irresponsible hyperactive idiot?!"

"And I finally remember that I got medicine for that."

"Chems don't do that! You planned that from the start, didn't you? Are you some sort of super secret M.O.A black ops agents and you didn't tell me?? Because that would be kind of important!"

"Would it improve my chances if I was?"

"For survival? Definitely."

"Not the mission, silly."

"What else?"

"And here I thought that I was the clueless one in the group?"

"What is that supposed to mean? Hey, wait up!"

I ignored the big doofus as I instead began to look for this leader of the raider/mercenary ponies that wanted to talk to us, only slightly distracted by the contents of the memory orb. Specifically the part about Luna personally ordering the beginning of two projects. Lightbringer I knew, kind of. Realizing that I hadn't been told the details I decided that I would have to try convince Tart to spill what she knew. Aurora... now where had I heard that name before? The wording, a lance to Twilight Sparkle's shield... Some sort of doomsday weapon? Didn't they have enough of those already?

One of the white bars in my vision turned red, I reacted with S.A.T.S. and began toggling through possible targets to figure out who decided to start trouble. To my surprise it was Tart, who looked utterly terrified and about to bite her trigger bridle. The thing she intended to shoot, was one of those dragon things. It was the size of a large pony, with dark green scales. It looked a lot less scary than the one I had brawled with, in fact it was walking alongside a pony and talking peacefully. It was a monster, but it definitely didn't act in a monstrous fashion.

Quickly coming to a decision I queued a few actions.

Time started and I quickly tackled the ranger, knocking her to the floor and smacked my hoof down on her face to keep her mouth away from the trigger. Hopefully she didn't break anything.

"THE STARS ARE YOU DOING?!"

She looked shocked at my actions and was too stunned to answer properly.

"Wha-"

"You're the one who told me to not start any trouble! Don't just start shooting people out of nowhere!"

"I..."

She looked ashamed and still surprised.

"No shooting! You got that?"

I didn't know what had gotten over her. Some form of trauma or training to shoot those things on sight? It made sense, but we really didn't need a firefight here and now. Fortunately, she was a soldier and had been raised to follow orders.

"Yes, ma'am."

I carefully lifted my hoof, she stayed there. Laying still and looking at me with conflicted emotions. Maybe she would hate me, but if I hadn't stopped her we would be dead. Why the heck did I have to keep a watch on my own companions, they were supposed to be military types! Weren't they all about discipline and all that?

Either way, I reached out my hoof to help her up.

Reluctantly she accepted it.

"Sorry."

"Just don't do it again."

I closed my eyes, thanking Luna that nopony was shooting at us. Opening them again I looked at the dragon, who looked somewhere between surprised and impressed. He noticed me looking at him and nodded slowly.

"Xera, watch Tart and stop her if she flips out again."

"As you say."

Chimeras, Fafnir, it finally clicked in my mind. Their boss wasn't a pony. And I just saved his life, albeit from one of my own companions. I still think it has to count for something, so I began trotting up to him hoping that an apology would be enough.

"Don't worry about it kid."

Fafnir lifted a cigarrette and lighted it with a fiery breath. He was far more understanding than he had any right to be. And fortunately, my ranger companion didn't start any more trouble. She was sitting where I left her and looked grumpy, well grumpy and depressed. I would have to do something about that when I was done here.

"We have no problems with the rangers, and I can understand the mix up."

"How did you know she is a ranger?"

"With a gun like that? Loaded entirely with AP rounds?"

"Fair enough. But you wanted to talk to me, or well.. us."

"Yep, I did."

He paused and looked me over with a curious, but friendly look.

"You're a crossbreed as well, I have heard the rumours about your Institute, how people fear you. Irregardless, your tribe seem to be doing pretty well for yourselves. And according to the radio you left that to pick fights with anyone and everyone, and somehow people still root for you."

"Wait, I'm on the radio??"

"You didn't know?"

"Since when??"

He began laughing loudly and shook his head.

"Evidently it wasn't just all talk. Care to tell me why?"

"Huh? Why what?"

"Why are you risking life and limb out here when you have a home and a tribe? Out to prove something?"

"Honestly? Maybe originally. These days? I don't get along with the zonies back home, and they might actually shoot me if I show up unannounced now that I think about it. Guess I don't have place to return to... There is a certain mare that pissed me off big time though, oh and I owe the ranger my life. Other than that, not really sure anymore."

"So just a stray out for revenge?"

"Not revenge, justice. If somepony doesn't stop her, things might get ugly."

The dragon I was talking to chuckled at that.

"I can respect that."

He stretched his back and leaned on the wall, looking out through the window. Westwards, to the city ruins. It wasn't as much that he ignored me as he seemed to take in and enjoy the moment while it lasted. It was the same weird feeling that all wastelanders seemed to give off, like they didn't care if they woke up the next day or not. And were somehow content about the whole thing.

"And you, what's your story?"

"Pretty much the same thing actually... the Preserve is... was... decent enough to live in. Then grandmother decided that we shouldn't just live in some old ruins, and began talking about how we should conquer Equestria instead. Talked some brahmin shit about how she was owed it and how the old government had screwed her over."

"Let me guess, you didn't like it and ran away?"

"What? No, I was young and did something stupid. Then I ran away."

"Then what?"

"I ran to the forest, you know the one. Lived as an animal for a few years, the ponies in Flood Town hunted me and I ended up in the city ruins. Winter fell, I survived by hunting ponies just to have something to eat. Telling myself that it was technically not cannibalism."

Hearing that made me second guess my decision to stop him from getting shot, just a little.

"Got shot, crawled to some hideout I stumbled on to and passed out."

His voice sounded pained and he had a nostalgic look in his eyes as he talked.

"Woke up covered in bandages and with some mare sleeping in the same room."

Again, he gave a slight chuckle.

"Darn it was awkward in the beginning, I hadn't talked to anyone in years. I didn't know what to think, the way she acted was strange and freaky in my eyes. Most ponies just shot at me. She was some scavenger from Flood Town... a darn good one as well."

"So you two..."

"Not at first. She left soon after and I thought it was the end of that, then she returned months later and was surprised to see that I stuck around. I think it was about then I actually answered her for the first time. Heh... the look on her face when she realized that I could talk. I had nothing better to do so I followed her around the city, protected her. Then she insisted that I travel with her and not behind her."

He put out the cigarette and finally looked at me.

"After a few years we had a kid, and she couldn't return back to her hometown. We made it work, for the most part. Then there was a bad day and I almost lost them, got pissed and hunted down some ponies and scared up a whole shitload more of them. Ended up making some friends and formed a gang. You've met them already."

"And now you're what? A raider? A mercenary?"

"The fuck do I know? Listen, then the Daughters appeared. First we thought they were just some other rivaling gang, playing at being better than the rest of us... sigh She thought differently, and she was right in the end. Hellfire, even her old boss recognizes us now. She can even go back if she wants to, she doesn't even care."

I rotated my head in that weird zebra way, now realizing it signaled confusion.

"You telling everypony you meet your life story?"

"Not all of it, but you asked. Point is, there is something she has pestered me with all these years and I am actually starting to believe the shit. Some old world crap."

"What?"

"Do better."

When I woke up my companions were gone, as was the caravan and the chimeras. Looking around I noticed that the room looked different, dirtier. Stuff was in different places as well. There were ponies, but they didn't pay any attention to me at all. Looking down at my legs and yep, I was naked.

"Again?? Care to explain what the point of all this is?"

I shouted towards nopony in particular, and nopony answered. Still not 100% sure what was going on or why, but I had began developing a few theories. And decided to play along for now, hopefully the rules were the same.

As such I began walking around, getting a good look at the place. It was definitely postwar, and the ponies were scruffy looking and most likely raiders. They were a pathetic sight, scrawny, clothes that could barely qualify as armour, and not enough guns to go around between them. I was used to armed groups of ponies having somewhat uniform equipment, or at least standardized calibers for their guns.

Seriously, they didn't look like fierce outlaws or rabid cannibals. Several of them were clearly not fighters, and as a result the group looked more like a family of desperate survivors than anything else.

"If this is supposed to be a moral lesson then good job. I get it already, it isn't as simple as good or bad ponies. I realized that a while ago so can we get this over with??"

Again, no response.

Deciding that I might as well make the most of the situation I made my way through the corridors and stairways, aiming for Amethyst's old office. Maybe this time I can find something worth a damn in that place.

"OK, I'll admit. This could be a useful thing, but can I please get a warning next time?"

Silence, figures.

The office was indeed in a better shape, and there was a pony with a rifle by the window. Looking outwards from the way we had entered the building. He looked nervous, like he was expected trouble. I had half an idea to ask him what, but he wouldn't answer even if I did. And I got an answer pretty quickly either way.

His head shattered in gory mess as the sound of a rifle echoed from the outside.

BLAAAM

It was disgusting, yes, repulsive and I was sickened at the sight. And yes, I puked up my dinner.

By the time I got out of the office the place had erupted in a headache inducing chaos of gunfire and screams of panic, pain and death. There was an unarmed pony rushing along a catwalk and she got promptly shot with a high caliber bullet. The whole thing was a massacre.

I had a scenic view over the atrium as I stood at the top of the highest catwalk, and it wasn't difficult to figure out who was attacking. Wartime armour, dust cloaks, some of them with helmets, machine guns, combat shotguns, assault carbines, sniper rifles, all military grade. The Daughters of Luna, a name that fit poorly in my eyes.

A tight group of them entered the atrium, a mare wearing a helmet covering her entire face took in the scene for a moment before giving orders. In a voice that sounded familiar despite the voice modulator.

"Squad One and Two, form fire teams and spread out. Remember, no foals or mothers."

Several groups of four disappeared through doorways and up through stairs.

In the distance I could hear occasional shouts or gunfire.

My eyes were drawn to a pony I had previously thought dead, the poor buck were crawling away from the armed mercenaries. One of them noticed and trotted up to him, and drew a knife.

"Oh no no no..."

Then her boss noticed and levitated up a sniper rifle in a golden magical field, aimed and fired. Her subordinate dropped dead as her head splattered across the wall. The wounded buck she had been harassing was freaking out, before the scene was repeated and he died as well.

"This is Starlight to all Daughters, keep your hobbies out of it. That is an ORDER."

I flapped my wings and landed among the armoured ponies. Not one of them were surprised by her actions, one even muttered something about stupid rookies. THIS was what I had a run in with at Goldstar, and I guessed this was the mare my mother was infatuated with.

"Hey, princess. This is your doing, isn't it?"

At first there was no reaction, then I felt that freaky shiver in the air again and she turned around. It was becoming very obvious how she could boss ruthless killers around as she stood there looking at me. Covered in antique infantry armour rivaling a steel ranger, the grey duster moving slowly in the fake wind. Despite the helmet covering her entire face I could still see her eyes through the orange visor. She definitely recognized me, and was gauging me silently.

"No."

"What?"

"I most certainly did not invite you here, as I do not want you walking around inside of my mind."

"Then who?"

I got the distinct impression that she had suspicions but she refused to tell me.

"And what now? You going to kill me?"

"Tssch, and have your mother detonate a star bomb in my castle? Tempting, but no."

I was definitely intimidated, but stood firm.

"A deadlock then. I might as well make the use of the opportunity."

"And do what exactly? You are unarmed, in my dreamscape."

"Try to convince you to do better."

"By quoting Fluttershy? You do realize that she was the one who armed the zebrecians with mega spells and killed everyone? That is the reality of your do better, grow up Windstriker."

That statement felt like a kick to my soul, and my spirit seriously wavered. It could of course be a blatant lie, but she had no need to keep up the theatrics when there wasn't any witnesses around. And It hurt far too much to hear to be a bluff.

"I have. And worse, I have started to pay attention."

"Congratulations."

"Honestly, I have no idea how or why you survived the war, or what your goals are. I doubt, however, that the plan was to reenact the balefire apocalypse with the rangers. Because that is the direction things are going right now."

"What does a sheltered stable dweller know of the Last Day?"

"I have seen the consequences."

"No, Windstriker, you haven't."

"There has to be a better way."

She actually began laughing at the statement, I tried gauging if she was considering me naive or if she was just insane. It felt like my blood froze when I realized that it was neither of the options.

"You really are Blackhorn's daughter. Fine, I'll tell you something."

She removed her helmet and stepped closer, I fell to the floor as I tried backing away.

"See, Windstriker. I have already found one."

Her voice was sweet and melodic, which was more than a bit disturbing as I could still smell the smoke and gore within the room from the reenacted massacre. This, was what she dreamed of at night?

The morning was certainly... emotional. Raspberry Tart needed emotional support, which was slightly exhausting as so did I to be honest. Xera was off talking with Fafnir and his family, probably having a similar discussion as I had the day before. The dragon... colt was remarkably adorable and very fascinated by the presence of the zebra. I guessed his mother had taught him some history of the great war and he had only heard about zebras in legends.

The scene was something to behold, the morning light shining into the atrium like it was some ruined cathedral. Rusted machinery, makeshift furniture and all sorts of pointless junk. And there they were, a pony, a zebra and two pony-dragon things, talking peacefully in the broken remains of the old world. There was probably some poetic about the whole thing.

"Hey, Tart?"

"Yeah?"

I motioned to them.

"Are you thinking the same thing as I am?"

"Maybe, and you're right. The world is changing again, and we need to find another way forward."

"Any idea where to start?"

"By not shooting somepo... someone for just being the same species as an enemy?"

"Wha- Oh, that thing. Probably a good idea."

"Shall we get going?"

"Yep, let's see just how bad this city could be."

Level Up

Skill Note: Barter - 75%

Perk Added: Super Slam!

Your unarmed and melee attacks have an unusual amount of force behind them, striking an opponent now involves a 15% chance knocking them down. 30% if you use two hooves for the maneuver.