"You open a closet, it’s just a closet. You can never find the monster that hides inside. Not until it jumps out at you."

Self-absorption.

I had gone so far, faced and lost so much, only for the world to take what little I had fought to achieve. Everything I had done, everything I had been through, was to help the ponies I cared about. But now they were all gone. The world couldn’t have cared less about how I felt or what I did. And now it was my time to do the same. It was my time to take what I wanted for myself!

I could feel my being slowly being devoured by the rage that coursed through me. At first it had been a numb sensation, then a quiet hum in the back of my brain. That hum had grown until it had become the blaring blast of balefire. Each moment more and more of me was consumed by the hate that had formed in me.

I had been told to survive in the wasteland I would need to find something to hold onto. Rage and angry could only drive me for so long. Once that was done and gone, I doubted there would be much of me left. Perhaps when Kamari was dead at my hooves I could crawl away into some abandoned hole in the ground and die, forgotten by the rest of the world.

The idea of ceasing to exist seemed so calming, but I couldn’t yet. Not until this was all done.

Until that time came however, to hell with the wasteland and to hell with reason. I was going to find Kamari and keep my friends safe, even if everypony told me otherwise and life itself threw its worst at me. An army of cyber alicorns weren’t going to get between me and my revenge!

And it’s not like my friends couldn’t survive without me, right? They would probably be better off, I only seemed to bring death to those I cared about anyway.

I sat up and looked around the small room we had set up camp in. The burning mannequins Pyre Blaze had lit aflame to keep us warm had long since gone out and a soft, ash filled breeze wafted through the shattered windows.

The sun was still yet to rise above the horizon, leaving the world wrapped in a silent and cold blanket. The air seemed a chilling blue, beautifully contrasting the occasional pop of a surviving spark from the remains of the fire. Despite the cold and eerie atmosphere, I couldn’t help but feel calmed by the stillness.

I looked from Brisk Spark to Xayah; both slept soundly on the floor around the charred models. They almost looked peaceful, but I knew that was a lie. Nothing was peaceful in the wasteland.

I silently pulled myself to my hooves and walked over to retrieve my saddle bag. The floorboards of the house creaked slightly as I slinked to my belongings, making me freeze. I glanced around at my slumbering friends; none of them seemed to have heard anything in there sleep. I bent down and placed my saddle bag over my back.

I turned and approached the Hellhound who had curled up in the corner. Despite the occasional twitch of its tail, and the constant rise and fall of it’s chest as it breathed, I could have sworn it was a statue.

“Come, we’re leaving,” I whispered, ordering the Hellhound to move. It obayed instinctively, almost robot like.

I glanced around the room one last time, taking in all of my friends. My gaze caught Pyres. She wasn’t asleep, but rather sitting back watching me. She seemed slightly disappointed, but made no effort to stop me or alert my friends of my leaving.

I gave her a small parting smile and crept from the building, my Hellhound trailing close behind me.

What did Pyre Blaze know anyway? My friends would be fine without me and I would be fine on my own. If they followed me down this path they would die, and I couldn’t let that happen to those that I carried about. Not again.

The sky outside was cast in dark clouds, which wasn't any different from the normal wasteland weather I suppose. Small beams of moonlight managed to pierce through the thick layer of clouds, illuminating the menacing city skyline with a ghastly light.

At this time of day the wasteland looked both beautiful and lonely, like a lost soul trapped between life and death.

I turned to the massive Hellhound and raised my right hoof for him to sniff. Much of Inferno’s blood still coated my tattered Stable barding. I didn’t know how much alike Crank and inferno’s blood smelt, but I hoped whatever black fluid flowed through them was similar enough for the Hellhound to trace. “Find him boy,” I muttered, as the Hellhound gave me a sniff and started scrambling along the broken street after something I couldn’t smell.

I pulled my saddlebag tighter around me and followed after the Hellhound into the early morning. As the Hellhound lead me around a corner I turned back to look at the ramshackled structure my friends slept inside. I let loose a long slow breath.

“Be safe, please,” I muttered, before turning away and marching into the ashes of Manehattan.

I followed the Hellhound for almost an hour. The sun was still yet to have risen. I must have left earlier than I thought. All for the best I suppose, I didn’t want my friends following after me.

The further we walked, the more bloodshed we seemed to pass. Ever turn lead us to a bloodier street filled with even more corpses than the one before. At first it was just a couple of squashed radroaches, then it was a raider camp. Finally we turned to a street where a whole squadron of Steel Rangers had been butchered.

I was thankful for the darkness of night as it hid many of the horrors I past from me, though even through the gloom I could tell that many of the corpses were a bloody messy.

Yup, we were definitely on Crank’s tail. No other pony could be this lethal.

The Hellhound paused and glanced around the empty street, it’s sharp claws fidgeting at its side in agitation. I glanced around not spotting anything out of the ordinary. The Hellhound crouched low and began slinking it’s way towards a large trash bin on the side of the road.

I glanced down at my EFS. A lone green bar popped up on my pipbuck. Something was in the trash bin, but it didn’t seem to be hostile.

Interest got the better of me and I stalked over and slowly raised the lid of the trash bin. Instantly my eyes met a matching pair of Amber eyes looking back at me innocently through the gloom. I pushed the lid up the rest of the way, revealing a small pink filly looking up at me.

If I hadn’t known better, I would have assumed it was a tiny version of me. The unicorn filly had a light pink coat with a curly pink and blue mane. Her amber eyes were strikingly similar to my own and she even had many of the same cuts and bruises that I had.

A small gasp escaped my lips as my eyes landed on her cutie mark. A red screwdriver… my cutie mark.

I swallowed, not sure how to handle the tiny me. “Uh, hi there little filly,” I stumbled, trying to find words. “What’s your name?”

The filly cocked their head and continued to look up at me silently, not bothering to answer the question. She began to reach out a hoof. Hesitantly, I slowly raised my hoof to reach hers.

Her eyes flashed blue and for a second I could have sworn her timid expression changed to one of amusement.

“Gah! What the fuck!” I yelped, jumping back in shock and landing heavily on my rump. I quickly pulled myself back to my hooves and pulled out Boneless, only to remember I was out of ammo.

“Amber?” A synthesized voice said from behind me.

I whirled around and raised my baton in the direction of the voice, still shaken by what I had seen. To my surprise I found a Sprite bot bobbing up and down in front of me. I squinted at it. “Watcher? Is that you?”

The sprite bot bobbed up and down faster as if it were nodding. “Yes, hello Amber.” I glanced behind me at the trash bin. The tiny filly had somehow disappeared into the cold night. “Are you alright Amber? You seem nervous?”

I shook the image of the filly out of my head and turned back to the Sprite Bot. “Y-yes, thanks Watcher. I’m fine. I think I’m just seeing things. That’s all.” As I couldn’t see Watchers face or even hear any inflection in his voice, it was hard to tell if he believed me or not. I sighed, hoping he took that answer. “How have you been Watcher?”

“Things have been… interesting, to say the least,” The Sprite bot hummed. “Seems like half the wasteland is at war with each other right now,” The Sprite Bot turned to look at the Hellhound. “Interesting friend you have here.”

I chuckled darkly. “Yeah, took him of some Enclave scientists.

Watcher went silent for a long moment. “What do you mean Amber?” Watcher finally said. It was hard to tell with the synthesizer on his voice, but he didn’t seem very pleased with my statement.

I took a step away from the hovering Sprite bot. “The uh- Well the Enclave kinda created these mind control devices- and well- I kinda stole one of there Hellhounds…”

The Sprite bot just continued to bob up and down for a few moments. I could tell something about that had rubbed Watcher the wrong way. “You would use mind control on somepony to get what you want?” Watcher grunted, his voice lower than normal.

“Somepony?” I scoffed, pointing a hoof at the Hellhound. “Maybe you didn’t notice, but that’s not a pony. This thing is a death machine and I need it!”

I could hear Watcher growl. It was a strange noise. It didn’t sound like any noise a pony would make. “That thing is sentient Amber. Just like any other pony!”

I glanced at the Hellhound. Could it talk? Comunicate? I could feel my magical grip on my baton tighten. It didn’t matter how smart it was, I needed it.

“Then I’ll let it go when I’m done using it! But I need it Watcher. Those cyber ponies I told you about, they killed my Stable. Everypony is dead. I’m not going to stop until those bastards and the ass hole that sent them are lying dead at my hooves!”

Watcher was silent again, trying to process what I was saying no doubt. “Where are you friends Amber?” Watcher cooed in a softer tone. I looked away from him, not wanting to look directly into the camera. “Amber, where are your friends?”

“I left them!” I finally yelled out at him. I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I was starting to realize just how much my friends had been keeping me together. I blinked the tears away quickly. Not yet. I couldn’t let myself break down yet. I still had work to do. “I didn’t want them to get hurt. They'll be safer without me,” I turned away and looked out at the Manehattan skyline. “It’s better this way. I don’t need friendship.”

Watcher was silent for a while. When he spoke up, his words were slow and somewhat pained. “What do you know about the Ministry Mares?” Watcher asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. Outside of science and math, history had been my favorite subject back in school. The history of Equestria and the war had fascinated me and I had spent countless hours reading and rereading my history textbook. Not sure what kind of response Watcher was looking for, I dug around in the back of my mind for a quick summary of the ministries. “Well- I know that they each ran their own ministry. The Ministry of Arcane Sciences, the Ministry of Wartime Technology, the Ministry of Image, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Morale and the Ministry of Awesome,” I thought for a second. “Though I don’t really know what the Ministry of Awesome did. If memory serves, I think Luna actually shut it down.”

“Indeed, these six ministries were run by the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. United, the six of them could overcome any obstacle that faced them,” Watcher said. “Their friendship alone was strong enough to defeat Nightmare Moon and return her to being Princess Luna.”

I glanced around at the bombed city. “Doesn’t look like it was strong enough to stop the war,” I grunted, gesturing around me.

Watcher sighed. “I think it was actually. The biggest mistake that was made during the war was to separate them. Divided, they were no match for the hatred that the war brewed, but together, they might have been able to prevent it.”

“You’re trying to tell me that if Princess Luna hadn’t created the Ministries, the war would have turned out differently?” I asked. The idea seemed ridiculous that six ponies could friendship away so much anger and hatred.

Watcher chuckled. “Without the Ministries, a lot would be different. Probably more than you or I could even begin to imagine. But I think that things would have turned out much better for everypony.”

“So what are you saying?” I should take my friends into danger? Even if they might die?” I asked. I felt a tight knot tighten in my stomach. The image of Brisk or Xayah being blown to pieces, their blood seeping across the floor made me feel sick.

“Friendship isn’t always easy Amber, but one thing is for certain...” Watcher began. “...Aside from being difficult, it is also very powerful. Together anything is possible, but without it… things can be a lot harder.”

I groaned. “You sound like one of those old Twilight Sparkle quotes I had to memorise back in school,” Watcher went quiet at that. I could hear some sort of shuffling through the synthesised noise. “Watcher?”

“Thank you Amber,” Watcher’s voice piped up. I don’t know how I could tell, but I knew he was crying. “That means more to me that you realise,” and with that, the sprite bot began playing its annoying tune and started bobbing back down the street.

I glanced at my Hellhound who was standing perfectly still in the middle of the road. I gave a sigh of defeat. “I guess that means we’re going back to get our friends, huh,” The Hellhound just stared back blankly. I groaned and holstered my baton. “Come on, lets go get them.”

By the time I returned to the abandoned structure my friends were in, it was already well into the morning. Even from afar I could hear their panicked voices as they packed up their bags.

“Where the fuck do you think she went!” I heard Brisk Spark ask worriedly.

“Where do you think. She took that Hellhound and went after Crank,” I heard Xayah’s panicked voice pipe up. “How could none of us have heard her leave? That Hellhound is huge!”

“Don’t look at me, I sleep like a rock,” I heard Pyre Blaze drawl.

I froze. Pyre Hadn’t told them what I was doing yet. Why? Did she know I was coming back? Did not telling them benefit her in some way? I took a deep breath and continued into the house.

Everypony froze as they spotted me in the doorway, their faces stricken with both shock and panic. Everypony except Pyre who greeted me with a wide smile.

“Well well well, you’re back soon,” She grinned at me, flicking her tail and slowly pulling herself into her dark power armour. I gave her an awkward wave.

Xayah stormed up to me, a strange look I didn’t recognize burned in her eyes. “What were you doing you foolish pony!” My zebra friend demanded, Pointing her striped hoof at me accusingly. “I was so worried, I thought that you… I thought that…”

I glanced at the Hellhound lumbering in the doorway. “I was just taking taking this thing out for a test run. I wanted to make sure I knew how to control it properly,” I lied. I cast a glance at Pyre Blaze who rolled her eyes and placed her heavy helmet over her scarred head.

Xayah narrowed her eyes. “You should tell somepony where you are going before you run off like that! What if you were attacked! Or, or, what if the Hellhound broke free of the mind control and attacked you! What if…”

“Oh hush up,” Pyre scoffed, waltzing up and placing a heavy hoof over Xayah’s shoulder. “What are you, her mom? Amber’s a grown mare, she can do what she wants.”

Xayah pushed Pyre’s hoof away and growled at her. “You be quiet. We are still not on speaking turns after what you did with the Alicorns you fiend!”

"Oh go back to your potions and star worship," Pyre countered, narrowing her eyes at Xayah.

Xayah gasped and was clearly resisting the urge to reach out and slap Pyre. "I do not worship the stars! Educate yourself on the Zebra tribes before you make such a comment again!"

Pyre rolled her eyes. "You zebra all look the same to me."

"I do not look like a Starkatteri!" Xayah snarled, crossing her hooves in front of her to help make her point.

I raised my hooves and tried to calm them both down. “Hey, it’s alright. I mean nothing bad happened, right?” Xayah huffed at my remark and marched over to pick up her saddle bags without saying another word. I glanced nervously at Pyre. “What’s up with Xayah? She doesn’t usually act like that?”

Pyre tried to suppress a chuckle. “She’s just worried as all. I’m sure she is fine,” the raider soothed. “I think we’re all a little on edge after what happened at Stable 25.”

You didn’t need to tell me that. I knew the emotional devastation of that better than anypony.

I turned to Brisk, who was eyeing my from across the room. “Hey, you ready to get going?” I asked, not liking the strange look he was giving me.

Brisk nodded, pulling the strap on his saddlebag tighter. He slowly approached me and looked me over. “How did testing out the Hellhound go?” he asked skeptically.

My ears folded back against my head. I didn’t like the suspicious tone in his voice. I gave him a fake smile that he could clearly see straight through. “Good, I think I know how to make him find Crank,” I said, my voice cracking a little.

Brisk raised his eyebrows and glanced down at my saddlebags. “You’re well stocked for a test with the Hellhound. Did you have a snack while you were out?”

I glanced down at my saddle bags to see the few days worth of food I had grabbed. I gave him a nervous chuckle. “Didn’t want to be stuck in the wasteland unprepared. Anything could happen.”

Brisk raised his eyebrows again, but didn’t push the issue any further.

The glow of sunlight from behind the cloudlayer was just beginning to rise above the skyscrapers when we stumbled out of the dilapidated structure. A sight that had looked somewhat beautiful by the eerie moonlight now looked as dead and bleak as the overcast sky cast the world into a depressing sea of grey and brown.

I raised my hoof for my Hellhound to sniff again. The Hellhound gave a long sniff of the stained cyber pony blood and started traveling back down the street. As I had predicted, it followed an almost identical path to the one it had traveled earlier that day.

I fell into step beside Pyre and leaned close so that our other companions couldn’t hear me. “You didn’t tell them?” I whispered, confused by Pyre’s earlier actions.

Pyre Blaze simply shrugged. “These are your issues Amber, not mine. Don’t expect me to try to intervene.”

The march that followed echoed my walk earlier in the morning. We passed the same carnage as before, though this time I could see the devastation Crank had reeked in the light of day. Ponies limbs had been torn apart from their bodies and many of their bodies had been ripped open, revealing the shattered rib cages inside. Blood and viscera had been splashed across the surfaces and I could see a few piles of ash where ponies had quite literally been disintegrated.

Brisk glanced around at all the corpses squeamishly. “Goddesses. And here I thought Inferno could be destructive.”

“We’re… going to fight the pony that did all of this?” Xayah asked with a shudder as she looked down at the body of a Steel Ranger who had had their spinal cord pulled out of their throat. “This seems…” She rolled her tongue around inside her mouth as she searched for the right words. “Daunting.”

I shook my head. “Not fight him. I doubt we would stand a chance. We are going to talk to him.”

“And if he says no and attacks you?” Brisk pushed, walking up next to me. “We don’t have a great track record of getting out of a situation without a fight.”

Pyre grinned from behind the visor of her helmet. “That’s why I love you ponies. You always find the exciting way to deal with stuff.”

I pulled out the Balefire Egg Launcher. “That’s why we have this, it seems to do a pretty good job at taking care of the things we can’t fight our way out of.”

“Except he survived the last time we shot him with it,” Brisk pointed out. “What makes you think he won’t survive it again or whatever?”

“I missed last time,” I assured him. “If it comes down to a fight with him again, I won’t miss.”

I spotted a Sprite bot watching me from a distance. I hoped Watcher could see that I listened to his advice and joined back up with my friends.

We followed the Hellhound around another corner and froze. We were in a large town square with massive skyscrapers looming up around us on every side. Not far away was the single largest tower I had seen while in the Wasteland. Unlike the rest of the structures, it seemed fairly intact, standing almost double the height of the tallest building. The large monorail that raced above our heads stretched towards it, creating a walkway of sorts into the building.

But what really made us freeze were the bodies. The area was filled with the corpses of slavers and alicorns alike. The mounds of bodies rose up to almost above our heads. Limbs were scattered everywhere and smashed skulls lined the sides of the street. Never before had I seen such graphic desolation.

I tried to take a deep breath to prevent myself from hyperventilating. There was so much blood. I didn’t even want to imagine how many dead ponies were in front of me. There might not have been as many corpses as there were in my Stable, but it was pretty close.

I put a hoof over my mouth to try and stop myself from vomiting as the stench of death filled my nostrils. I could see Brisk and Xayah’s faces go pale as they took in the ghastly sight.

“Oh, there’s Tenpony Tower,” Pyre laughed, pointing up at the massive tower and seemingly ignoring the sea of bodies. “It’s been ages since I was there. There is this super awesome cheese shop there, best cheese in the wasteland if I do say so myself.” We all stared at her in shock. She rolled her eyes at us. “Yeah yeah, the corpses are interesting too I suppose.”

“Crank was definitely here,” I muttered, looking around at all of the bodies.

“Inferno said Crank was meeting with Red Eye, do you suppose this is where they were supposed to meet?” Xayah stated, walking among the countless bodies. She flinched as her hoof accidentally brushed a severed pony leg.

“I fit is, it looks like that meeting didn’t go very well,” Brisk joked uncomfortably, slowly following after the zebra. “What do you think happened? Do you think Crank killed this Red Eye guy everypony keeps talking about?”

Pyre scoffed, poking at a severed pony head with a hoof. “I’d be surprised if Red Eye actually left Fillydelphia. I doubt he would be dumb enough to confront Crank personally, especially if he’s aware of what this cyber alicorn thing can do.”

I looked around at all the bodies. I was impressed that the Hellhound had managed to pinpoint Crank’s sent through the stench of all the corpses. Crank was a lot more dangerous than I was expecting. I felt a shiver go down my spine. I raised my Balefire Egg Launcher and advanced forwards.

As I moved through the streets I began to notice a large collection of weapons that scattered the ground. I guessed Crank didn’t really have much need for scavenging. But we did.

I smirked as I picked up a double barrel shotgun and found two unfired shells inside. “Hey, we should probably stock up on anything we can find here,” I said, popping the shells into my own gun and moving onto the next body.

Brisk nodded as he picked up a large baseball bat. “Eh, I preferred the machete, but I suppose this will do for now.”

After scavenging through most of the bodies we found a lot less than I was hoping. It seemed that a bunch of scavengers had already picked most of the area clean before we got here. I did manage to find eighteen slugs for Boneless, and I saw both Brisk and Xayah collect five bullets each for their guns respectively.

I grunted as I rolled a slavers body over. “Seriously, not a single healing potion?” I kicked at the ground in annoyance. Was some medical supplies really so much to ask for.

“They were probably the first thing here to get scavenged,”Pyre replied lazily as she attached a new canister of flamer fuel to her battle saddle. “Bullets are a lot harder to find, so they are more likely to be left behind by ponies trying to get out of the area in a rush.”

“Why would they be in a rush?” I asked dumbly, looking up at my power armoured friend.

Pyre snorted. “Do you see where you’re standing? This many bodies would make even the bravest of raiders uneasy.”

“You seem pretty calm,” I pointed out, remembering how the first thing she had done after seeing the corpses was talking about a cheese shop she liked.

Pyre shrugged and continued combing through the bodies. “Las Pegasus raiders are a lot harder than most of the other raider gangs in the Equestrian Wasteland. We’ve seen a lot of shit.”

I thought crossed my mind. “Have you ever seen a pony that looks just like you? But a filly?” I asked, thinking back to the strange filly I had seen earlier that morning.

Pyre gave me a quizzical look. “What like a clone?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but as a filly version of yourself?”

"Do I even want to ask why?"

I shook my head, fully aware that the question I had asked was both unexpected and oddly specific. "I'm just wondering."

Pyre tapped her hoof against her chin for a second. “Well I ran into a synth that was impersonating a member of my gang once. Running into a synth isn’t very common, mostly because you can’t tell them apart from any other pony. They don’t usually take the form of a younger you though.”

“Those are the robots that the Institute makes? Right?” I asked, moving over to another body and searching through his pockets. To my delight, I found a large tin full of twenty bottle caps.

“Yup, that’s them,” Pyre confirmed with a nod. “I’m surprised you know about them. Not that many ponies have outside of the odd conspiracy theory here and there. If it weren’t for that one synth I just mentioned, I probably wouldn’t have heard of them myself. ”

I simply shrugged. “Crazy what kind of weird stuff you hear in Manehattan.”

“You can say that again,” Pyre said with a laugh. “It may not be the neighvada desert, but I’m seein’ just about as much crazy shit here.”

I turned back to searching through the bodies, only to find myself face to face with Brisk.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” He asked, his tone stoic.

This seemed serious. Why couldn’t I just have a friendly conversations with my friends for once. It always had to be so depressing with them all the time. “Yeah, sure,” I said, finding another bottle cap and sticking it into my saddlebags. “What do you want to talk about?”

Brisk cast a glance at Pyre Blaze who was digging through a pile of corpses a few feet away. “Can I talk to you alone?”

I glanced back at Pyre myself before nodding and following Brisk a few paces away.

“What’s the problem? I thought you had gotten over your issues with Pyre?” I stared, as he came to a stop next to a particularly damaged skyscraper.

“Gotten over my issues with her? Are you kidding?” Brisk blurted. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed Amber, but Pyre Blaze is not exactly like the rest of us. Or have you forgotten that we kill raiders?”

“She’s not like the other raiders,” I retorted, determined to defend Pyre’s name. “Besides, she’s useful in a fight. We’re going to need that kind of firepower where we’re going.”

Brisk groaned. “I’m not arguing that. Just don’t expect Xayah and I to get all buddy buddy with her like you have,” He took a quick second to regain his train of thought. “Anyway, I didn’t drag you over hear to debate how good of a pony Pyre Blaze is. I thought I should talk to you about Stable 25.”

I could feel my heart thud in my chest as he said that. I forced myself to chuckle. The chuckle had an uncomfortably heavy sound to it. “Wha- what about that could you possibly want to talk about,” I gulped, trying to hold myself together.

Brisk raised his eyebrow at me. “Please Amber, don’t lie to me. I know how much you’re hurting,” I could feel my legs getting weaker as he spoke. “I’m not going to pretend to have liked the ponies in Stable 25. Hell, some sick twisted part of me is glad they’re dead, and yet despite all that I’m still hurting. Far more than I should be. I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through.”

“I’m- I’m fine!” I shot back, letting my rage shield me. I wasn’t going to let his words break me. Not now. Not yet.

Brisk stomped his hoof stubbornly on the ground. “No you aren’t. You are not okay. I can see it and Xayah can see it!” He pushed, taking a step towards me. I cowered back at his approach. He took a deep breath and shifted to a softer tone. “You haven’t been acting like yourself ever since we left the Stable. This whole revenge thing you have going on is destroying you.”

I looked away from him, not able to meet his eye. “Everything will be okay once Kamari is dead,” I insisted. I had to keep believing that was true.

“Will it?” Brisk asked, holding his glare. “Because I have trouble believing when this is through that there is going to be anything left of the Amber that first emerged from that Stable.”

I shivered. “I- I’ll be fine.”

“You’re standing in a pool of blood Amber,” Brisk pointed out, pointing down at my hooves. Sure enough the bottom of my hooves were submerged in blood. I hadn’t even noticed. “The Amber Aura who left the Stable would probably have screamed if she stepped in blood.”

“I’ve just gotten used to the wasteland I guess,” I suggested, anxiously stepping out of the blood. “I think I’ve seen enough of it by now to have gotten over being squeamish of it.”

Brisk sighed and placed a hoof on my shoulder, making me return my gaze to him. “Xayah was worried when she woke up to find you gone this morning. I don’t think I’ve seen her that upset before, and we met her shortly after she witnessed her family getting slaughtered. You’re scaring her.”

“What’s going on with Xayah right now anyway?” I asked, glancing over at our zebra friend as she bickered back and forth with Pyre. “She isn’t usually this easy to upset.”

“She cares about you a lot Amber. She just doesn’t want you to hurt yourself,” Brisk Informed me, removing his hoof from my shoulder and looking out at the zebra.

“We’re in the wasteland. If she thinks I’m not going to get hurt she should probably reassess what kind of stuff happens out here,” I grunted, turning back to Brisk.

“I don’t think you quite realize how much she loves you.”

I blinked at Brisk. “Wait- When you say Xayah loves me… You don’t mean that…”

Brisk’s eyes popped wide and he clapped his hoof over his mouth. “Damn it, I told her I was shit at keeping secrets.”

I gawked at him. “Wait! What? Are you trying to tell me…” My mind blanked as I tried to figure out exactly how to take this news. “Xayah has a crush… on me?”

Brisk grimaced. “Please don’t tell her I told you, I promised I’d keep it a secret. I don’t know how you and Xayah managed to keep your crush a secret from me for so long.”

“So… what do I do?” I stuttered, trying to think of how to approach the issue. It wasn’t something I had ever had to think about before. “Do I confront her about this or…”

Brisk shook his head. “No, I’d let her come out about it on her own terms. We don’t need any more awkwardness in this group. Besides, you aren’t supposed to know yet.”

“I guess so,” I grumbled, looking back at Xayah. I’d have to figure out how to address that for when it becomes more of an issue I guess. At least I had time to prepare how to respond unlike when I had sprung my feelings onto Brisk.

Brisk gave a small sigh. “The point I’m trying to make Amber is that we’re all hurting after what happened. You aren’t alone in this fight against Kamari. We’re going to trust you, but that means you’re going to need to trust us as well. That means no running off to hunt him down on your own,” I considered arguing with him and denying my intentions, but I knew better than to lie to Brisk. He simply knew me too well. “And try to take care of yourself, I still want my friend to be around once this is over.”

I gave him a small smile. “I’ll try. Thank you. I’m really glad we’re friends, even after all that lovey dovey stuff I sprung on you the other day.”

Brisk grinned back at me and gave me a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Don’t mention it. And honestly, can you blame yourself? I am pretty handsome,” He struck his best seductive pose.

Despite everything, I found myself laugh at his ridiculousness. I returned his playful punch and turned back to the rest of our friends. “I think annoying is a better word for it,” I joked as he started following me back towards the center of the square. “Besides, green on green is a pretty boring colour palette.”

“Right, like pink on pink is any better,” Brisk said with a smirk. “Face it, you’re the least intimidating pony in the wasteland.”

As I approached Xayah and Pyre, I spotted a pool of black fluid in the middle of the street and leaned down to investigate. It was definitely the same sludge I had seen coming out of the other cyber ponies. I touched the tip of my hoof to the black puddle. It was still wet. Furthermore, it was still warm.

I gulped and turned to the rest of my friends. “Stay alert. Crank can’t be far away.”

I could feel the whole group start to feel a little uncomfortable at that.

I pointed the Hellhound towards the pool of black slime. “Find him,” I ordered. The Hellhound obeyed, crouching down and taking a whiff of the cyber alicorn’s blood. Instantly, the Hellhound caught onto Crank’s sent and started moving along the streets away from Tenpony tower.

Pyre groaned as she watched the Hellhound walk away. “Damn, I was really hoping we would get to go to Tenpony tower. It’s been years and I want some cheese,” she moaned, following after us as we moved behind the Hellhound.

“We can go there once Kamari is dead,” I grunted, not bothering to look back at her.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Pyre smirked, trotting up beside me. “And I will never forget a promise.”

As we moved further and further away from the massacre, we began to see less and less bodies. The only bodies we ran across were just a bunch of raiders that had seemingly butchered each other over the carcass of a dead radroach.

“Watcher wasn’t wrong, seems like the whole wasteland is at war right now,” I muttered, looking at the slaughtered raiders.

Brisk’s ears perked up. “You saw Watcher again?”

I flushed and stumbled to figure out how to explain myself. “Uh… yeah. Ran into him while I was out with the Hellhound this morning,” I stammered. I mentally scolded myself for being so careless with my words.

Brisk turned back to look at the Hellhound. “He isn’t wrong. Everything seems to be getting worse.”

Pyre chuckled. “Oh you all just wait,” She said, practically dancing on the tips of her hooves. “This is only the calm before the storm my little ponies.”

“How do you know this?” Xayah muttered, casting Pyre a dirty glare.

Pyre gave her a dumb look. “Oh it’s not just me that knows. Everypony knows it. Things are happening all over the wasteland. Red Eye is burning down the Everfree, alicorns are all over the place. I don’t know if you three have been keeping up with DJ Pon3’s broadcasts, but your Stable ain’t the only one that got hit. A couple days ago the Steel Rangers did a raid on Stable 2 and out in the hoof I heard something about a Stable getting turned into a bunch or cannibalistic raiders.”

“What do you think all of that means?” Brisk asked Pyre, scratching the back of his neck. “Do you think it’s all connected?”

Pyre shrugged as we turned into a tight back alley. The walls of the skyscrapers around us rose high above our heads on both sides, blocking out most of the sky. “Fuck if I know, some of it might be. Point is that while some crazy fucked up shit is always going down in the wasteland, everything seems a little more crazy than normal.”

A bunch of red bars popped up on my EFS. I stopped in my tracks and silently signalled for my friends to halt as well. I couldn’t see what was causing the red bars on my EFS, but whatever they were, they were surrounding us from all sides.

Pyre spotted the bars on her EFS as well. She dropped her head and groaned. “Ah, shit.”

“What? What is it?” Xayah asked. Being the only one of us that didn’t have access to an EFS, she had little clue what was going on.

“Raiders,” Pyre grunted. “And I recognize this tactic. These are Las Pegasus raiders.”

I quickly tried to think of what Pyre had told me about this raider gang. Not much, only that they were a lot more hardened than you average raider. I remembered fighting against some when I had first encountered Pyre Blaze. They had been hard to kill back then, and that was with the unexpected intrusion of a Hellhound.

I glanced over at the massive black Hellhound beside me. That said, We had a Hellhound on our side this time too.

An earth pony raider came around the corner and approached us. I raised Boneless to face him, but hesitated. He didn’t seem to be attacking us, just slowly approaching us. I glanced at my EFS. his bar was green.

“Well look who it fucking is,” Pyre blurted as the raider closed in on us. “If it ain’t my old pal Skull Crusher.” I didn’t need to wonder what this raider had done to earn that title. “What the fuck do you all want?”

Skull Crusher smirked at Pyre before scanning over the rest of us with his eyes. “Razor Blade asked me to come get you. He was hoping to have the personal pleasure of skinning you alive.”

“He didn’t want to come all the way out to see little ol’ me himself? I’m hurt,” Pyre mocked, holding a hoof to her Chest dramatically. “Tell me, does Jinx know about all of this?” I could see Skull Crusher wince at that comment.

I stomped a hoof in front Pyre defensively. “Pyre isn’t going anywhere with you,” I spat. I wasn’t afraid of these Las Pegasus raiders. I had killed plenty of Raiders, these would be no exception.

Pyre slapped a hoof across her forehead and gave a slight chuckle. “You might want to figure out how dire of a situation you’re in before you go around saying that kind of shit Amber,” Pyre soothed, pushing my hoof away. “You want to tell her Skully?”

Skull Crusher groaned. “Damn it Pyre, I told you not to call me that!” He grumbled to himself as he took another step forward and turned to address me directly. “You are surrounded by about twenty raiders. Eighteen of them are well trained snipers and the other two are armed with Balefire Egg Launchers.

I felt my stomach drop. I glanced around at the tall buildings around us. I could see the raiders on my EFS, but not with my eyes. I couldn’t fight that kind of firepower, especially if I couldn’t even see what I was shooting at.

I saw Xayah and Brisk look around the area nervously as well, they too were unable to spot the raiders.

I turned to Pyre. “Any idea how to get out of this sort of situation?” I asked timidly. I didn’t like the idea of two Balefire Egg Launchers being pointed at me. I didn’t know how trigger happy these raiders were. If my experience with raiders over the past few days had taught me anything, it was that they loved to shoot at things.

“A plan to get out of this situation? Fuck no. I knew we were screwed the second I saw those bars on our EFS,” Pyre grunted taking a step towards Skull Crusher.

“Then what do we do?” Xayah whispered, looking back and forth between us.

Pyre took another step so she was only a foot or so away from Skull Crusher. “The only logical thing to do…” She paused and took a breath. “Duck and cover.”

Pyre’s hooves lashed out slammed into Skull Crushers face. Skull Crusher stumbled back, falling flat on his back.

I dove to the sides as quickly as I could. Multiple rounds from a sniper whizzing past where my head had been less than a second before. I saw Brisk and Xayah dive away from me as well and shelter themselves under a collapsed nook in the side of the skyscraper, well out of the range of the snipers. The nook was small, just barely big enough for a pony, let alone two. That left just Pyre and myself open to their fire.

I learched to the side again as a second round of shots blasted towards me. These ones came much closer to making their mark. I felt a few bullets pass through my tail and a sharp pain as one bullet grazed the side of my foreleg.

I saw Skull Crusher pull himself back up and pounce at Pyre, knocking her backwards. He lashed at her with his hooves, bashing a chunk of her power armour’s metal off of the suit. My Hellhound bounded towards Skull Crusher, lashing at him with his razor sharp claws. Skull Crusher dove away from the lethal swing to slow, the massive claws cutting through his right foreleg, revealing bone.

I heard a heavy clunk up above me. The sound gave me flashbacks to my fight with Tripwire back at the train station. It was the sound of a Balefire Egg getting loaded into it’s launcher.

“Fuck,” I muttered, Darting across the street towards Brisk and Xayah. A few more shots from the snipers bounced around me, on shot embedding itself in my back. Pain raced through my body as I collapsed to the ground, a few inches away from the cover.

Xayah bolted out from the cover and wrapped her hooves around me tightly, hauling me closer to the side of the building.

Blam!

A bullet pierced one of Xayah’s legs, causing her to stumble, but she managed to keep moving.

I spotted Skull Crusher pull a large sledgehammer off his back and swing it at Pyre, who just barely managed to avoid having her head lopped off and sent flying across the street like a baseball. Before Skull Crusher could swing again, the Hellhound pounced at him, forcing him to stumble backwards.

I could hear a click from above as the Balefire Eggs were pulled into position. I screamed out for Pyre to get to safety as Xayah tossed me into the hole with her and Brisk. My body was pushed tightly up against Brisk’s body, followed shortly by Xayah’s form slamming into me from behind, her hooves wrapping around me as she did her best to both squeeze into the hole to save herself and shelter us from the impending detonation.

I saw Pyre Blaze look up at something above her. Spinning she bucked Skull Crusher in the face and dove for the corner of the street. Skull Crusher reeled back, before quickly lunging forwards and slamming his super sledge against her hide legs. Her back legs crumpled like a tin can under the impact of the hit. She spun onto her back and blasted Skull Crusher with a burst of flames, submerging him in a raging inferno.

The Hellhound began racing towards the end of the street as well, no doubt aware of the oncoming danger.

With the last bit of strength Pyre had, she pushed herself up and leapt for the edge of the street.

There was a whistling sound from above. I put my hooves over my face and shut my eyes as the two Balefire Eggs collided with the street.

My world was cast into a baleful green light. Fire flashed before my eyes and I could feel my coat sizzling under the intense heat. The walls around us cracked and began to crumble as the miniature Balefire blast sent a shockwave through the very foundation of the building.

My geiger counter ticked furiously as the radiation levels around me skyrocketed. Within seconds it started flashing warnings that I was taking over thirty rads a second.

The blinding light of the detonation slowly died down, allowing me to make out the shapes of my friends all pushed up against me.

I turned to look at Xayah. “Is everypony alright?” Xayah gave me a timid nod. from the steam coming off her back I doubted she was okay, but at least she was alive. I turned to Brisk. “Brisk, you alive?” Brisk’s face was red with embarrassment as I faced him. “Brisk?” It was only then that I noticed something hard was poking at my belly. I glanced down, my face turning just as red as Brisk’s. “Brisk! What the fuck!”

“I’m sorry, you’re rubbing up against it!” Brisk moaned in embarrassment.

I jumped back as fast as I could, trying to position myself in a less awkward position, only for my rear to end up getting pushed up against Xayah’s face. I could both hear and feel her gasp with surprise as her face collided with my plot.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry!” I blurted, my already flushed cheeks turning an even darker shade of red. I pulled myself upright into a slightly less promiscuous position. Xayah's face had turned an even dark shade of red than mine, her eyes wide with embarrassment.

“Think their dead?” I heard a raiders grunt from outside.

“I’m still picking up some ponies down there on my EFS,” Another hushed. “Just wait for them to come out of hiding. They can’t stay in there forever.”

So one of them had an EFS. That either meant they had a pipbuck or power armour. Both of those were bad news for us.

“Do you see Pyre?” I asked Xayah, trying to twist my head at an angle that I could see the street. I wasn’t picking her or the Hellhound up on my EFS.

Xayah scanned what little of the street she could see, glad to be able to hide her flushed face from the rest of us. “I don’t see her?”

I grimaced. Goddesses, please don’t be dead.

“Okay, so… what’s the plan?” Brisk asked, his face still red with embarrassment from what had just happened. “Do we just… sit tight and hope for a miracle?”

I glanced at my three companions. I had no idea how to get out of this one. Not that I ever really had any idea how to get out of anything.

“What the fuck is that thing!” I heard a raider shriek from above us. His screams were quickly followed by a chain of loud booms. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end after each boom as a wave of static electricity pulsed through the building.

I cast a glance at Brisk. “I guess we just got a miracle or something.”

Brisk grunted, crossing his forehooves. “Or something.”

The body of a raider fell from above us and landed with a thump on the street, sparking with blue energy. It’s body had been blasted apart by some form of massive energy weapon. A few seconds after the corpse had collided with the ground, it faded away into ash.

I gulped. I could recognize that weapon damage anywhere. Hell, I had been following it all day.

“It’s Crank, isn’t it,” Xayah muttered as she looked at the steaming pile of ash a few inches away from us, the last bits of hope draining from her face. “I don’t know if I should be glad or horrified.”

I followed that sentiment.

There was another boom of a Balefire Egg Launcher, followed by a blinding flash of light somewhere up above us. Then another raider fell to their death. Then another, and another.

Then after a few minutes of screaming, everything went silent.

“Do you think he’s still out there?” Xayah muttered, trying to peer out onto the street.

There was a loud thud, followed by the sound of metal on metal. “Amber! Come out here!” I heard Crank demand from somewhere beyond my line of sight in his deep, booming voice.

I shuddered. Not only was he here, but he knew I was here as well.

I took a breath and tried to steady my breathing. I focused on all the rage I had been storing up since the massacre at Stable 25. I couldn’t waver now.

I pushed at Xayah and slowly pulled myself out of the hole.

Crank was standing in the center of the alley, his metal coat coated in a thick layer of blood. His blade like wings were fanned out at his sides, giving him an imposing and almost godlike appearance. His red, mechanical eyes bore into me with a burning anger. He had one hoof buried deep in Skull Crushers crushed skull and his other placed firmly on top of Pyre’s chest who to my relief was still very much alive.

My Hellhound stood a bit behind the cyber alicorn, awaiting instruction. Much of the Hellhounds fur had been burned away by the Balefire Egg, but he seemed mostly unharmed.

“Get off me you fucking metal Bitch!” Pyre ordered, trying to push Crank off of her. He held his ground, unmoving under even Pyre’s force.

Crank snarled down at Pyre. “You should be lucky I am even letting you live,” He snapped, pushing down harder on her with his hoof. I saw Pyre’s metal power armour dent under the pressure.

I raised my Balefire Egg Launcher and aimed it at Crank. “You are going to listen to my demands Crank or I will end you,” I growled, tightening my grip on the trigger of my weapon.

Crank stared at me dumbfounded for a long moment, taking in me and my friends. Finally, he raised his head and laughed. His laugh sent unsettling chills down my spine. This was not how I had expected him to react. “You really think you have any chance against me!” Crank scoffed between laughs. “I don’t think you are in any position to be making demands with me girl!”

I gritted my teeth and waved the Balefire Egg Launcher at him with more vigor. “Oh really? You’re outnumbered and outgunned, I think this is the perfect time to be making demands.”

Crank gave me a smug grin. “Surely you saw the piles of corpses back there,” Crank soothed. “Surely you don’t think that not a single Slaver was in possession of such a weapon as the one you wield now? Furthermore, this would not be the first time you have used that Balefire Egg Launcher on me. I didn’t die then, why would you think I would die now?”

I could feel my confidence faltering at his words. I had just witnessed him take out twenty raiders in less than a minute, and they had been in possession of two Balefire Egg Launchers. I held my head high and pretended to have more confidence than I really had.

Crank rolled his eyes. “And even if by some miracle you do manage to kill me, you would only kill your friend here in the process,” He pushed harder down on Pyre, causing her armour to cave in even more. “And don’t think that your Hellhound there is going to help you much either. I’ve killed hundreds of Hellhounds.”

“I have a pretty good track record with killing cyber ponies,” I insisted, taking a step towards him. I wasn’t going to look weak, not in front of him. “Hell, killing assholes like you is practically becoming routine for me.”

Crank scoffed. “Please, I practically killed Steelblade for you, and killing that idiot Tripwire was nothing special. He always was the weakest of the four of us,” Crank mocked, his tesla canons crackling with blue energy. “You’ve managed to get lucky with two cyber ponies, but you have no idea how much power you are really facing.”

“Three,” I blurted, catching him off guard.

Everypony went silent. “Excuse me?” Crank said, looking at me with minor confusion.

“Three cyber ponies,” I corrected him. “Inferno is dead. I killed him myself.”

For the first time since I had met him, Crank seemed genuinely taken aback. He looked at me with something other than just hatred. Was it respect I saw in his glass eyes? “Inferno is dead?” Crank muttered, seemingly unable to believe the words he was uttering. He began looking me over a little more closely, his smug expression replaced with interest.

I nodded, trying my best to look as intimidating as possible. “If you don’t listen to my demands I’ll make sure my cyber pony kill count reaches four.”

Crank pondered the new news in his head for a second before finally folding back his bladed wings against his side and lifting his hoof off of Pyre, allowing her to scramble away from him. Crank still didn’t look scared or intimidated by me, but he definitely seemed interested. “Well, it’s about time somepony gave that vile child rapist what he deserved. Perhaps you are more interesting than I thought.”

“I know you know where Kamari is,” I demanded as Pyre pulled up next to me, shaking her hoof at Crank. “I want you to take me to him.”

Crank cocked his head. “You want me to…” he gave me a cruel grin as he pieced together what I was asking of him. “You want me to take you to Kamari? You think I would do that for you just because?” He chuckled, trying his best to suppress a second laugh. He crouched into an attack stance. “How about I just take the A.A.S.S from you and return to Kamari myself?”

Brisk and Xayah took a step back as Cranks tesla canons and jagged metal horn began to glow a brilliant blue.

I rolled my eyes, holding my position as I stared down the cybernetic fiend. “We don’t have the A.A.S.S anymore. Otherwise I’d be back at my Stable.”

Crank froze, his eyes narrowing at me. I could see his muscles tensing through the few spots on his metal plating that revealed the scarred orange coat underneath. “Who has it!” Crank boomed. I found myself taking a few steps away from the cyber alicorn despite myself.

“Some zebra with purple stripes and a mare named Shade from my Stable,” I confessed, refusing to lower my weapon. “They stole the A.A.S.S from the Stable and are currently taking it to Kamari.”

I could see one of Crank’s glass eyes twitch ever so slightly. He snarled and stopped a hoof on Skull Crushers corpse, collapsing his rib cage. “Azar…” He growled, his metal jaw twisting in rage.

Xayah’s body went stiff as she heard the name. “You do not mean… Azar the Unbeatable… do you?” Xayah stammered, her eyes widening in a mix of both shock and absolute terror.

Crank gave her a cruel sneer. “You think there is another zebra with purple stripes running around the wasteland?”

Xayah took a meek step back. “That… that’s not possible, Azar died almost ten years ago! How can what you say truly be so?”

“Does somepony mind filling the rest of us in on who this Azar character is?” Brisk said, raising his hoof into the air awkwardly as if he were asking a question in a classroom.

Xayah cleared her throat and turned to face him. “Azar was a very powerful zebra warrior. He was known as the Unbeatable, as he never lost a single combat,” Xayah explained pointedly in her mesmerizing voice. “Azar was one of the few remaining zebras who practiced the art of Dragon slaying. He was... a very powerful and ferocious combatant.”

I vaguely remembered talking to Xayah shortly after I met her about zebra’s the practiced Dragon slaying. “You said he died ten years ago?” I started, trying my best to make any sense out of this new information. “If he never lost, how did he die?”

“He was in the center of a balefire bomb blast,” Xayah said simply. “Or so I have heard. I suppose if he didn’t die in the explosion, he still holds the title of Unbeatable,” she cast a worried look at Crank, whom had started to develop a worried look himself. “Are you sure this zebra is Azar? How can he still be alive?”

Crank clenched his jaw. “Hell if I know. I haven’t met Kamari or Azar face to face, and my interactions with them both have been minimal. Azar is, let's just say... not my favourite zebra,” Crank cast a thoughtful glance at me. He gritted his teeth for a second before rightingin himself into a more friendly demeanor. “Fine, I will take you to Kamari.”

I felt a wave of relief pass through me and my friends at his words. All things considered, this confrontation was going far better than I had expected.

“You will?” Pyre Blaze blurted, clearly surprised by the cyber alicorns decision. She scratched the back of her head awkwardly as the rest of us cast her an angry glare. She waved her hoof in front of her innocently. “What? I’m just surprised we didn’t have to kill anypony ourselves.”

Crank slowly took a few steps towards us. His movements were less threatening than they had been, but his presence alone still made me feel uneasy. “I will take you to Kamari,” Crank repeated as he stopped in front of me. He looked down at me with his glowing red glass eyes. “On one condition.”

I slapped my face with my hoof. Of course there was a condition. There always was. I faked a smile that even the most oblivious pony could see through. “And what is that?”

“When this is done, I want the A.A.S.S.”

I snarled. “Not likely,” I retorted, crouching my legs into a more battle ready stance. “I don’t know what you or your clients want with it, but whatever it is, I won’t let them you metal freak!”

Crank was on top of me faster than I could comprehend. His hooves slammed into my chest and knocked me prone on my back before the full weight of his body pushing down on me and pinned me to the ground. I let out a ragged gasp for air as all the wind was pushed out of my lungs.

I heard a startled cry from my friends as they launched themselves at my attacker in the hopes to get him away from me. Before they could reach us, Crank’s tesla cannons fired at their hooves, the massive shock wave of the blast sending them all flying into the wall of the alley.

My Hellhound rushed Crank, claws extended to tear him apart. In one swift movement, Crank’s blade like tile shot into the air, wrapped around the Hellhounds neck and slammed it face first into the ground. The Hellhound tried to rise, but Crank’s tail only tightened around its neck, causing the Hellhound to gasp and sputter, flopping around on the ground like a fish out of water.

I tried to raise my Balefire Egg Launcher, only to find it had been ripped from my telekinetic grasp and had landed far out of my reach.

Before we had even gotten a chance to retaliate, the battle was over.

Crank’s eyes peered down at me with a clear loathing. He took a slow breath and allowed himself a smug grin. “I enjoy that you are still under the impression that we are negotiating,” Crank growled, pushing his hoof down tighter on my chest. “I will take you to Kamari and I will get the A.A.S.S.”

I tried to push against his strength, but I was no match for his raw power. I clenched my teeth together and resisted the urge to spit at him. “I won’t let you!” I yelled back. The pressure on my chest began to increase until I feared Crank’s hoof would crash straight through my ribcage and crush me flat.

Crank raised a metal eyebrow. “And why not? Your Stable is dead and gone. It is of no use to you now. why keep fighting against me?”

I stopped struggling at that. He wasn’t wrong, I had no reason to keep pursuing the A.A.S.S. It was no longer of any value to me other than a clunky, black, oblong device. But still, I couldn’t allow monsters like Kamari or Red Eye to get ahold of it. Who knew what they needed it for. Probably not something very good, that was for sure. But then again, was keeping it from the hooves my enemies out of spite more important than my revenge?

I allowed myself to relax a little, or at least relax as much as somepony can relax while they are being pinned to the ground by a walking death machine. “Fine. You help us, we’ll let you have the A.A.S.S.”

Crank scoffed and removed his hooves from my chest, allowing me to stand. “Let me have it?” He shook his head and made a noise that was half way between a grunt and a laugh. “You have yourself a deal Amber.” The cyber alicorn turned and marched off down the alley. He turned back to look at us. “Well, don’t just stand there. Kamari isn’t going to wait for you to come kill him.”

I cast a nervous glance at my friends. I was met by three wide, fear filled eyes. I gave them a shaky smile. “Well, you heard him. Let's get going.”

Brisk glanced worriedly at the Cyber alicorn making his way down the street. “We are so going to die, aren’t we?”

Pyre gave him a playful shove and started following behind me with a laugh. “Oh yeah, we’re so fucked.”

Footnote: level up.
New perk: Nerd Rage! -- +50% DR and Strength increases to 10 whenever health is 20% or lower

Author's Notes:

Fallout: Equestria belongs to Kkat.
Please feel free to give your thoughts and feedback.
With all that said, I hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter and have a good day.