"I don’t like killing, but when done righteously, it’s just a chore, like any other."

Dreams.

I was no stranger to dreams, particularly dreams of the nightmare variety. They were common back when I was living in the Stable, but once I had entered the wasteland they had become a constant. A certainty. From emotionally draining nightmares about how I had been treated in my Stable or my Stable’s horrific fate to being forced to relive the terrors of the wasteland again and again.

It wasn’t even all that uncommon for me to have a lucid dream. It had happened back in the Stable a few times and even once while I had been imprisoned by the Steel Rangers. I could always tell those dreams were fake. They were usually too good to be true.

But this dream… This dream was different.

Usually when I had a nightmare I was looking through my own eyes. I could feel my own emotions and thoughts. Not this time though. This time I wasn’t inhabiting a body at all. I was floating through the air as a casual observer of the scene that was unfolding before me. Almost as if I was a very slow moving fly or spec of dust slowly making its way to the ground.

I hadn’t remembered falling asleep either… how odd.

I could see the forms of two ponies curled up together in an abandoned house, their hooves tight around each other to share their warmth to fend off the cold winter night of the wasteland. One an earth pony stallion, the other a unicorn mare. The mare was asleep, her chest slowly rising and falling as she took what appeared to be pained breaths.

I recognised the mare almost immediately. Even covered in ash and marred by cuts and bruises, she was too beautiful to not recognise. I saw an auburn coat with a beautiful orange mane. She was the mare I had seen inside of Crank’s mind. Her amber eyes slowly drifted open, looking up at the strong stallion that had wrapped his large hooves around her protectively. Her eyes were almost identical to mine.

The Stallion was one of the largest stallions I had ever seen. He had a dark orange coat and a short brown mane. His cutie mark was a small glimmer of white, surrounded by an oncoming darkness. What that meant, I had no idea. I didn’t recognize him, but something about him seemed familiar.

“Hey,” The mare said, looking up at the stallion before placing a quick kiss on the tip of his muzzle.

“You should be asleep,” The earth pony stallion said in a deep voice. Had I been inhabiting a normal body, I would have frozen in place. The voice sounded younger and more alive, without the metallic rumble I had come to know, but it was definitely his voice. Crank’s voice. This was Crank from before he was a cyber alicorn.

The mare just gave him a small smile and kissed him again. “Like I can sleep when you’re around,” she tightened her grip on him and cuddled into him closer.

I could see Crank’s tense muscles relax as she curled up into his chest, but he shook his head anyway. “You need sleep,” He insisted, running his hoof down her tangled mane and doing his best to untangle many of the knots. “At least until we can find some Radaway for you.”

The mare just rolled her eyes and giggled. What she was giggling at I couldn't tell. “We could always stop at Tenpony, I’m sure we can get healed up there.”

Crank frowned at that. “You know full well we can’t afford Tenpony,” he grunted, his hoof stopping for a second before he continued stroking her mane. “But I’ll get you in. Don’t you worry. I’ll find a way.”

The mare pushed herself back a little and stared up at him, her eyes both wide and stern. “We will get both of us in,” She insisted, placing her hoof on Crank’s chest. “Not just me. Both of us.”

Crank gave a small sigh. “Of course. Both of us.”

The sound of pounding hooves on asphalt drew both of their attentions to the window outside. I heard a few yells as some group of ponies outside surrounded the building. Crank sprung to his hooves in seconds, clearly he was fast even before his cybernetic transformation.

“Raiders,” Crank snarled as he whipped out a large hunting rifle. It seemed strange to see him fight with a weapon that wasn’t his usual massive tesla cannons.

The mare whimpered and pulled out her own her own pistol with her glowing red magic. She tried to pull herself to her hooves only too collapse back down.

Five raiders marched in. The first four seemed no different than normal raiders if not a little bit rougher and better equipped. The fifth raider however was a huge, hulking earth pony wielding a massive sedgehammer in their mouth. I knew him too. Skull Crusher.

These were Las Pegasus raiders.

“Well well, look what we got here boys!” Skull Crusher chuckled, stomping one of his massive hooves on the ground. The raiders behind him cheered, clearly getting hyped up for the kill they would get to have soon.

The mare shivered as Crank protectively stepped in front of her. “Get lost, I’m not going to ask you twice,” Crank growled, levelling his rifle with Skull Crushers head.

The raiders sneered back at him, but I could feel a small sense of hesitation as the ferociousness of Crank’s growl. Skull Crusher seemed unamused and unfazed. His bloodshot eyes narrowed as he stared Crank down.

“Grab the mare,” Skull Crusher bellowed, seemingly ignoring Cranks threat. He took a step forwards, the ground cracked below his hoof. “Red eye’ll give us a pretty little price for a unicorn.”

With little warning save for a roar of rage, Crank surged forwards, his rifle firing off a few rounds in Skull Crushers direction. Faster than he had any right to move, Skull Crusher rolled away from the shots and slammed his sledgehammer down hard on Cranks back legs.

Crank fell, his legs broken and twisted in an awful way. But he refused to stay down. Crank pushed himself up on wobbly legs and began to fire again. His first shot took the head off a charging raider, sending their already twitchy body into a violent spasm before finally falling still. The three other raiders surged past him, one managed to get a knife into his foreleg while the other grappled into the mare, knocking her gun aside.

Cranks eyes burned with rage as he watched the raider strike the mare. He began to rush towards them, only to find Skull Crusher ram his chest with a devastating blow of the sledgehammer. Crank’s chest caved in with a vile sounding crunch.

Skull Crusher glared down at him with a sneer. “Never cross Las Pegasus raiders,” He smirked, raising his hammer up again and bringing it down hard on Crank’s forehoof. The hoof snapped, making Crank scream out in pain. I had never seen him so hurt.

The mare pushed past the raiders and limped in front of him, holding her hoof up above her head protectively. “Leave him alone!”

The hammer swung again, this time crashing into the mares side and sending her stumbling across the room. “You don't get a say in this!” Skull Crusher bellowed, stomping his hoof down on the ground. The tile floor cracked more below the force.

Crank glared up at him, a hatred in his eyes I had never seen before. When he spoke, his voice was low and filled with malice. “I will kill you,” It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.

Skull Crusher almost seemed startled by the cold and confident certainty of Cranks words. Finally a grin returned to his face, wiping away the shock. “Unlikely,” If only Skull Crusher knew what I did.

The hammer swung again, finally breaking Crank’s last usable leg. Crank screamed, coiling away from the hammer.

“I said leave him alone!” The mare yelled again, pushing herself back up. Her side was bleeding badly and I could have sworn I could see a few broken ribs.

A raider lashed out, knocking her back to the ground with a strike of his hoof. “Tie her up. We bring her to Red Eye.” Skull Crusher ordered, kicking Crank’s trembling and broken body aside with his hoof. The raiders grinned wickedly and advanced on the wounded mare, slowly dragging her from the building and away from Crank as he bled out on the floor in a disheveled and broken heap.

It took me a second to figure out where I was when I opened my eyes. For one horrifying moment, I feared I had gone blind. Then I saw a dull green light reflecting off of some jagged rocks a few feet above my head. A cave! I was still in the caves beneath the Hollow Shades.

I bolted up to my hooves, the blood quickly rushing to my head and making me dizzy from moving upwards so quickly. I stumbled, trying to remain upright as the world spun around me. I felt something warm and soft that had been curled up next to me jump at my sudden movement.

“A-Amber?” I heard Xayah squeak from beside me. “Are you alright?”

I blinked a couple times, trying to make sense of my surroundings. What the hell had just happened? I nodded a few times, hoping she could see me in the dim light of the cave. “I-I’m fine. I just… I thought I saw...” I glanced around, trying to get my bearings. “What’s going on?”

As my head began to clear, noises began filtering into my ears. A distant and haunting howl was echoing down the tunnel towards us, far off, but still very much there. The sound of a hammer was slamming against rocks and I could have sworn I heard sobbing amongst the darkness.

As my eyes began to adjust to the dim light, I began to make out the shapes of all my remaining companions. Boulder stood at the entrance to the tunnel we were in, his huge sledgehammer continuously crashing into the side of the cavern. To my right, Brisk and Pyre stood over the shaking body of Shade, making sure she didn’t run anywhere. Finally, Toffee, Chestnut and the two remaining security ponies stood in a lopsided circle while they discussed something. All four of them seemed to be crying.

“After Crank chased after Azar you just dropped,” Xayah explained with a hint of worry in her voice, returning to her spot by my side. Her warm presence making the vile and sick feeling cave feel a little less hopeless. Those strange ghoul creatures that Crank killed started rising from the water shortly afterwards. Pyre had to carry you as we ran.”

I listened quietly, trying to work out exactly what happened. I had just… dropped? I had had some sort of vision from Crank’s past? Why?

Before I had time to dwell on it, the top of the cavern entrance crashed down from the top as Boulder swung his sledgehammer into it with an exceptionally strong slam. With an ear shattering crash, the rocks tumbled down and blocked off the exit.

“There. Should hold them for now,” Boulder grunted in his deep voice, taking a step back as to not get crushed under the miniature avalanche himself. He silently looked over his work of blocking off the entrance with a sort of stoic pride.

Toffee trotted over, quickly wiping a tear from her eye and putting on a strong face. “Good, we should get goin’. I don’t want t’ be down here any longer than we ought to. We’ve all lost enough down here already,” she turned and caught my eye. Toffee’s face seemed to relax a little at the sight of me being awake, but she still looked stressed and distraught. “Glad yer awake. Can ya walk?”

I nodded, pushing aside some of the drowsiness from my mind. “I-I’ll be fine. Just a little dizzy.”

Toffee nodded solemnly before turning back to the rest of the group. “We’ll leave in five minutes. Everypony catch their breath. It shouldn’t be too much farther t’ the Stable.”

On shaky legs, Xayah and I pulled ourselves over to where Brisk and Pyre loomed over Shade. Now a little closer, I could make out the intimidating silhouette of my hellhound just behind them. His black fur blending into the shadows of the cave.

I bit of guilt flashed through me. That Hellhound was intelligent in some way, I knew that now. I had no right to be controlling it like I was. I was beginning to understand why Star Breeze had been so opposed to having the mind control devices wipe their memory completely. It was beyond immoral. I’d have to let this thing go somehow when all of this was done and through.

As we got closer I began to make out Brisk’s words, his tone a quite yet sharp hiss. “So what, You just thought you’d kill everypony!” Brisk snarled, his voice rising a little at the end.

Shade was in tears, cowering away from the seething green unicorn and the stoic raider. I had never seen Shade so scared, nor Brisk so angry. For that matter, I had never seen Pyre so stoic. She didn’t even attempt to slip in a witty or sarcastic remark as Brisk rounded on the cowering unicorn.

Shade’s eyes landed on me, her pupils wide with fear. She took a nervous and desperate step towards me, keeping her head low and eyes down. “I-I didn’t mean for everypony to die Amber. I really didn’t. You have to believe me. Azar told me to do it. He's responsible, not me.”

Rage flared up inside of me at her words. Pure and powerful rage. How dare she! I could almost see the pink ooze like cloud seeping from the Stable door as the ponies inside were melted alive. She had let the zebra's in and now dared to say she was innocent! My hoof lashed forwards on instinct, striking Shade across the face and sending her toppling backwards where her head smacked against the far wall with a thud.

My friends jumped back at my assault, clearly taken aback by the unexpected lash. I didn’t pay them any heed as I stomped forwards and sent another hoof into Shades face. Shade yelped as the hoof struck her, blackening her eye. She tried to push herself backwards and away from me, only to find herself already pushed up against the wall.

“Amber please. You’ve seen how screwed up the Stable was. You know how-”

I struck her again, her whole body was slammed downwards by the impact and her head cracked against the rock floor, bouncing slightly. Both Brisk and Xayah rushed forwards, pulling me away from Shade. I fought against them for a second, trying to get in another punch before simply going still and staring at Shade with loathing.

“You had better start explaining yourself,” I hissed, my voice low.

Shade slowly pulled herself back up, her hoof pressing against her temple to stop the bleeding that had accompanied my last attack. “Azar contacted me over the speakers in the generator room. He told me that if I opened up the Stable door for Inferno and those zebra’s that he would take me away from the Stable and somewhere safe in the Wasteland,” She said, scooting back a little as her panicked gaze met mine. “He just said that he was going to take something from the Stable, but things didn’t go as planned at first. I didn’t think he was going to kill everypony! I just thought Inferno was crazy or some shit.”

Well at least she was right about that last part. Inferno was crazy, who knew how of script he might have been from the original plan.

I pushed Brisk and Xayah off of me with a small shake of my shoulders and growled at her. “That was the first time you opened the door, what about the second?” I snarled. I started stomping towards her, but stopped when I saw Brisk and Xayah’s worried expressions. I took a deep breath. I had to keep my anger under control. I can’t let it consume me. “You knew Azar would just kill everypony, so why the fuck did you open it again.”

Shade began shaking. She wrapped her tail around her and curled up into as small a ball as she could before us. “I just- I don’t- I just wanted to get out of there. I couldn’t stand it any longer… please. I never wanted to kill anypony…”

I felt the rage inside me beginning to grow again. Higher and higher. I had to use all my energy to not simply strike out at her again. Slowly, I dropped to the ground in front of her. “Why couldn’t you have just talked to us. We could have helped you… you were…” I sniffed. I could feel the tears coming, but I managed to hold them back. Not yet. I wasn’t going to cry yet. “You were my friend. We could have helped you,” I finished softly. Were we friends? We used to be…

Shade shook her head. “You were gone when I opened up the door for the first time. I didn’t think you would ever come back… and the second time…” She paused, hesitating on how to continue. She lowered her head, not daring to look me in the eye. “I had gone too far by then. I had no other choice…”

“You always have a choice,” I retorted grimmly. I was still angry at her, and it was very apparent in both my eyes and tone, but I had calmed down enough that I wasn’t yelling anymore. Then my glare hardened again as a thought crossed through my mind. “Where is Kamari,” I rumbled, my eyes locking with hers again. “I know Azar was taking you to him.”

Shade shook her head sadly. “I don’t know… Azar just said that going through the tunnels was the safest way to get there. He never said where that was.”

Going underneath the Hollow Shades was the safest way? What other route could be more fucking dangerous than this one? And if Crank destroyed the only entrance… Shit, I really didn’t like what that implied.

“Why did you even want to leave the Stable in the first place or whatever,” Brisk asked from behind me, his voice was still sharp and hateful, though now slightly more hesitant.

Shade gave him an angry look. “Don’t you talk to me about wanting to leave the Stable Brisk Spark!” Shade snapped, narrowing her eyes at him. Her eyes shot wide again and she scooted back a little more against the wall as she realized she probably wasn’t in the right position to be scolding any of us right now. She glanced down at her hoof and drew a small circle on the rook with its tip. “You both know how screwed up it was in there. The security brutality, the blatant mind control,” Her voice sounded far away. Her eyes turned to once again face me. “Your father was actively involved in secret Stable-Tec sanctioned experiments on the residence,” She gave a small sad chuckle, but it felt forced. “And honestly, I don’t think I could stand another day listening to that Stable-Tec March song they kept playing.”

I let my head rest on the cold floor of the cavern. I could feel myself trembling. “They didn’t need to die,” I muttered, my voice sounding just as far away as it felt. “We could have found another way.”

I could feel Brisk shaking behind me, his eyes burning holes into Shade. Finally he grunted and marched off. “I need a fucking Buck,” He grumbled, struggling to pull the tin from his saddle to get at the chems.

“I hear them,” Boulder grunted from across the room, his ear pushed up against the wall that he had collapsed. “They are not far away.”

I was beginning to hear them as well. At first they simply seemed like an elongated and distant moan echoing through the cave, but the longer I listened the more I began to pick up on the individual grunts and shrieks that were coming from the darkness. Coming from and getting louder by the second.

“We need to get moving,” One of the security ponies that I now knew as Granite said flatly, picking themselves up from the ground. “If we get moving now we should be able to get to the Stable before they reach us, but we’ll need to hurry,” They turned to an exit tunnel a few feet down the cavern from us.

A loud crash from behind drew all our attentions to the wall Brisk had walked towards. Brisk stood seething next to the wall, one hoof grabbing onto the cold rockface for support. His now empty jar of Buck lay at his hooves where he had violently tossed it. He scrunched up his face and resisted the urge to scream. He did a bad job.

“Fucking shit!” Brisk hollered, picking up the empty jar just so he could throw it again. It toppled through the air and hit the far wall with a clang, rolling away into the gloom. “Celestia fucking hell!”

“Brisk? Are you alright?” I asked quickly, limping over to stand next to him. Xayah followed swiftly behind me.

Brisk’s head whipped over to look at me so fast I was surprised he didn’t get whiplash. To my surprise I found him in tears. “Do I look fucking alright Amber!”

I took a step back, unsure how to properly react to his sudden outburst. “What… what’s wrong?” I had to do my best to keep the worry out of my voice.

“I just… I just need some… You know what? Never mind Amber, it’s not important,” He grumbled, turning away from me and walking towards the tunnel. “Just need some Buck, that’s all.”

Everypony glanced around at each other as he stumbled past them, they all looked concerned. I glanced down at his fore hooves that had been injured so long ago. The scars that had once marred his coat had all but almost healed and he seemed to be limping more on some wound to his back leg than his front.

“I-I don’t think you do,” I muttered, slowly shifting my gaze to face Xayah beside me. Her face was grim as ever.

Brisk whirled around and slammed his hooves down on the ground in front of him, only confirming that his fore hooves were fine. “Yes I fucking do!” he shouted, his voice echoing around the small cavern. He blinked for a second before looking around, as if realizing how outrageous his outburst was for the first time. “Sorry, I-I don’t know why I did that…” He cast a nervous glance around at everypony, taking in their worried expressions. “Sorry, I’m sorry. Lets just keep going… I’ll get some Buck later or whatever. It’s all cool,” he turned from us and quickly continued walking down the tunnel.

Pyre Blaze walked up, stopping briefly beside me as I stared down the tunnel entrance after Brisk. “Now I’m all for experimenting with chems, hell it’s one of my favourite things to do, but that pony needs to see a doctor or some shit. That stuff is killing him,” Pyre grunted, following my gaze.

“I did warn you he had an addiction,” Xayah said quietly from beside me. She wasn’t bragging or boasting, simply stating facts in her blunt, zebra logic like manner. I figured when all of this was done, we would all need some help and a long, long rest.

In my saddle bags I could feel the light weight of the small jar of Buck I had found so long ago. Now probably wasn’t the best time to mention I still had some.

With the sudden drama out of the way, everypony began making their way down the tunnel exit. The tunnel didn’t seem any different from any of the other tunnels below the Hollow Shades. Dark jagged rocks made up the long twisting passage and every surface seemed to drip with a foul green slime. Like before, we walked in near darkness using only the rare and dim light of the occasional Flammulina Velutipes. We didn’t dare use the light of our pipbucks in fear of attracting more attention to ourselves in the depths. To my relief, the tunnel seemed to be going up at a steady state.

I found myself walking alongside Toffee as the two security ponies led the way up the tunnel. As we passed one of the few glowing mushrooms in the cave, I spotted the green light glisten of silent shining tears racing down her cheeks. I took a few awkward steps towards her, trying not to trip and stumble in the darkness.

“You alright?” I asked in a low whisper, trying to keep our conversation just between the two of us in the confined space.

Toffee glanced over at me, trying to make out my features in the gloom. “I-I’m fine. Just thinkin’ ‘bout Salt Water. He was a good pony. One of the best. I’ve lost a lot of friends in the last few hours Amber, I guess it’s all just catchin’ up t’ me now.”

I nodded. “I know what you mean. It’s never easy,” I did know what she meant. It had only been four days since I had watched Stable 25 get slaughtered and my mind was still reeling from that loss. I wouldn’t be surprised if some part of me would always feel broken and empty.

Toffee simply nodded. “I’m sorry yer friend betrayed you back there. I’ve gone through my fare share of betrayals myself. Always stings a bit after.”

I shook my head. “I’ll figure out how to deal with Shade later. I don’t really want to think about her right now.”

Toffee raised her eyebrows and gave me a quizzical look. “I was referrin’ to the Cyber alicorn. It’s gonna be a mighty lot harder takin’ out those Slavers now that he’s not on our side. Was really startin’ t’ appreciate havin’ that death machine around. Made fights a whole lot easier than they would have been.”

I gulped. Right, we still had to deal with a whole army of slavers to deal with once we got out of this. The horrors and hardships of today just never seemed to end.

A loud echoing bang bellowed up at us from down the tunnel. We all froze as the sound reverberated around us. For a few seconds after there was silence, then the screaming began. Long drawn out wails of fear and pain rose from the darkness of the tunnel, making my body start shaking all over again.

“I suppose they broke down that barrier of yours,” Chestnut grimaced, glancing over to an ever stoic Boulder. He just gave her a small grunt in return, whether he was agreeing with her or simply acknowledging that her heard her I had no idea.

“Then we should pick up the pace and get out of here,” One of the security ponies said from in front of us, though I couldn’t tell if it was Cherry or Granite. “The last thing we want is to be swarmed by a bunch of unkillable ghouls in this confined space. And we can’t risk letting them get into the Stable either.”

If that wasn’t a terrifying thought, I don’t know what was.

We all began moving quicker down the passage. At first we began going at a quick trot, but we soon found ourselves galloping at full tilt as the haunting sounds of the horde of ghouls grew louder behind us. They sounded like they were moving fast. Very fast.

“Are you sure this heads up to the Stable?” Pyre asked, rushing past me and up to the front with the two security ponies. Her heavy power armour making loud thunking noises as her metal hooves pounded into the ground.

Cherry tapped her pipbuck with a hoof before motioning ahead. “My pipbuck map says there should be an old elevator down here that accesses a long abandoned part of the Stable,” She replied between breathes as we raced onwards. “If we can get into that we should be safe.

The howling of the strange immortal ghouls seemed to be getting closer with every step. I couldn’t see much in the darkness, but it felt as though they were right behind us, breathings down our necks as they swarmed in for the kill.

Fuck I hated these caves.

But as we raced forwards it wasn’t just ghouls we had to worry about. Our clatter was beginning to attract other things from below. Out of the corners of my eyes, I began to see dark and almost ethereal shapes bolting from shadow to shadow around us. once again, the feeling of being watched overcame me. I knew something was there, waiting in the shadows just beyond my line of sight.

“They’re coming!” I heard Shade shriek from somewhere behind me. The clamor of the ghouls had increased. I dared myself to look behind me.

Pale yellow eyes stared at me from the darkness. A vile stench attacked my senses, making me want to retch and vomit. It was the smell of rot and death. They were almost upon us!

Turning back to face ahead of me, I began running as fast as I could. My whole body screamed in protest as I pushed forward. I could feel some of my wounds begin to reopen as I overexerted every part of me that I could get to work.

“The elevator! Up ahead!” I heard Granite shout. I glanced up, not daring to slow my pace. Sure enough, a small, almost ramshackle looking elevator sat in the dim and flickering lights of some LED fixtures built into the stalactite covered ceiling of the cavern. We were almost there. We just had to run a little farther.

Cherry reached the elevator first, quickly activating it with her pipbuck and swiftly stepping inside as the steel and glass double doors of the shaft jerked open. “Come on, everypony in! Now!”

We began quickly shoving our way into the elevator. It clearly had been designed for a smaller group of ponies, but so far, we didn’t seem to be having too much trouble all fitting in.

Then I heard Xayah scream.

Goddesses no!

I turned to see two of the gnarled and puss covered ghouls lung forwards and wrap their twisted hooves around Xayah, dragging her to the ground. She batted at them with her hooves, her well aimed punches did little against the creatures as they clawed at her and tried to drag her back toward the oncoming mass.

Without thinking, I lunged from the safety of the elevator. Boneless was raised in an instant, swiveling up to face the two ghouls.

“Amber! What are you doing!” I heard Pyre shout after me as I rushed forwards. I didn’t listen to her.

Blam! Blam!

Boneless’ explosive buckshot ripped into the ghouls. Both ghouls heads burst open in a shower of foul puss, their bodies dropping to the floor. I knew that wouldn’t hold them off for long, already I could see their heads beginning to pull themselves back together. What the fuck had the Hollow Shades been through to make these goddess damned things?!

I rushed forwards and pulled Xayah back to her hooves. She stumbled, her legs bleeding from multiple nasty bite wounds on her fetlock and a few around her neck. She let out a sharp yelp as she tumbled back to the ground.

More ghouls were spilling in all around us, and not just from down the tunnel either. The foul creatures began scuttling out of smaller tunnels higher up around us, crawling out of the walls and surging down the side of the rock face like the rotting ooze that coated it.

Another ghoul rushed forwards, its jaw open and revealing rows of jagged fangs as it went to bite into me. I swung my baton out and cracked it against the ghouls leg, breaking the bone just below the joint. It didn’t even slow as it continued its mad and deranged rush forwards.

I swung at it again, missing by inches as it dove below my attack and sunk its jagged maw into my fore hoof. I screamed, trying to shake the ghoul off and swatting at it helplessly with my free hoof. The more I struggled, the deeper its fangs seemed to sink into my flesh.

Using what little strength she had left, Xayah leapt forwards. Her back hoof slashed at the ghouls throat, tearing it out and sending a waterfall of oozing bile and blood to spill down its front. The ghoul tumbled backwards, ripping out a large chunk of flesh from my fore hoof as it went. A second strike flew through its face, sending brain matter flying across the room.

Note to self, don’t let Xayah try to punch me.

More ghouls were rushing towards us now, their mutilated limbs reaching for our throats as they prepared for their attack.

I pushed myself back up despite my bleeding legs protest, my side brushing against Xayah as we slowly began pushing our way back to the elevator. But there were simply too many ghouls. With each step they grew closer, their pale and hollow eyes burning into us with an unprecedented desire to… no, need to tear us apart. Another ghoul made an attempt, slashing at us with their hooves.

The attack never landed as a blast of purple energy flashed out from behind us and shot a hole through the ghouls chest, dropping it to the ground.

I glanced back to the elevator, picking out Shade's glowing horn as she almost dropped to the ground from the exertion caused by the spell. She had… saved me?

Pyre leapt in front of us as ten more ghouls charged forward, her two huge flamers flaring to life and sending waves of fire into the oncoming creatures. The ghouls backed up slightly as the front line of ghouls were turned to ash. But their charge didn’t hold for long. These things were without fear.

“Get back! Get back now!” Chestnut shouted over the chaos. A few ghouls darted past Pyre Blaze and made a rush for the open elevator.

I could hear the ponies behind me screaming and open fire as Xayah and I slowly pushed ourselves back towards the elevator one small step at a time. Over the booming noise of Cherry and Granite’s assault Rifles, I could make out the distinct sound of Brisk’s 10mm pistol and the occasional crack of Toffee’s shotgun.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Boulder take a brave step forwards, the minigun strapped to his battle saddle whirring to life and sending round after round into the hoard of ghouls. Even my Hellhound lurched into the oncoming wave, its massive claws tearing them open as they began to pile atop him.

I pulled Xayah into the elevator, both are bodies falling limp to the ground with exhaustion as we stumbled in. Brisk and Toffee quickly went to work administering healing potions to both of us, slowly making the bite wounds dissipate. The large chunk of missing flesh on my fore hoof doing little more than clotting over slightly.

“They’re clear! Get back into the elevator, now!” Cherry shouted from beside me, her assault rifle firing a few more times into the ghouls as she covered for Granite as he messed around with a small terminal next to the door.

Boulder began quickly backpedaling, his minigun tearing apart any ghoul that go to close to him. Pyre began moving back as well, but she was much closer to the waves of ghouls than Boulder or even Xayah and I had been. Each step she took gave the ghouls a little more room to advance in on us.

“Come on! Get in!” I shrieked, helping Xayah back to her hooves and firing Boneless’ last shot out the door, blasting the head off another ghoul. I quickly began to reload, popping three more shells into the gun.

At my command, my Hellhound threw the ghouls off of him and began tearing its way back through the ghouls to get to the elevator. The Hellhounds relentless assault on the ghouls gave Pyre a little more leeway in her retreat.

Xayah’s sniper was out, nearly defining me as she fired carefully aimed shots into the ghouls. She fired five shots into the swarm before she needed stop and reload herself.

I could see Brisk needing to reload as well, our stream of fire at the ghouls temporarily slowing. The ghouls saw their chance and took it.

They swarmed forwards, ignoring the wall of fire Pyre had created and surged over her. Pyre Blaze was overcome by the ghouls, her whole body submerged under the wriggling mass. I could see small bursts of flame shoot out as Pyre tried to escape the deadly onslaught.

“Pyre!” I screamed, horror racing through me. I couldn't let her die! Not like this! I once again rushing forwards and emptying Boneless into the ghouls atop my friend as I tried to get them off of her.

Boneless clicked empty, but I had caught the ghouls attention now. A few of them removed themselves from Pyre and scrambled towards me on broken limbs.

With no time to reload, I whipped out my baton and began slamming it into the ghouls, breaking limbs and heads as they lunged at me. But despite my best efforts, nothing was slowing them down. There were simply too many and those that fell refused to stay down.

My attack did however lessen the amount of ghouls on Pyre, giving her a chance to escape. With an almost monstrous roar of rage, Pyre Blaze burst from beneath the mound of ghouls, her flamers blasting jets of fire and her intense force throwing ghouls in all directions.

She rushed past me, her metal clad hooves ripping into the ghouls around me as she slung me over her back and leapt a full four feet through the air. She landed inside the elevator with a thump, nearly crushing Chestnut below her hooves and sending a massive shock through my whole body as I fell from atop her back.

The second we were inside the small elevator, Granite hit a button and the reinforced steel doors slammed shut behind us.

“Granite, get us out of here!” Cherry cried as the wave of ghouls began crashing into the side of the elevator. Through the glass, I could see hundreds of pale eyes staring at us with seething hatred. Twisted hooves battered at the bulletproof glass with a strength such frail and rotten hooves had no right to possess and I could see jagged and foaming maws.

“I’m trying!” Granite shrieked back, typing furiously at the terminal with his bleeding hooves. “This elevator hasn’t been used since the Stable was being built, my security pass code doesn’t work on it!”

“What!” I heard Chestnut yelled from beside me, her gun aimed at the ghouls as they tried to bash down the door of the elevator, her eyes wide with fear and her pupils dilated to pinpricks. “What do you mean you secur-”

She was cut off as a ghoul’s hoof smashed through the glass of the door and began trying to reach for us. Xayah shrieked, pushing herself away from the door and as far away from the hoof as she could as it tried to grab at her.

Brisk sent a shot out, the bullet piercing the gnarled hoof and making the ghoul retract its limb from the window. But it wasn’t the only ghoul that we had to worry about. Multiple hooves began smashing through the glass, sending sharp shards of glass spraying across us as more than half off the window shattered.

I quickly pushed Granite aside and began typing furiously at the terminal, pulling up its coding. Shit, it was a hard password. Who the fuck makes the password to an elevator nine letters?

“What the fuck are you doing?” Granite yelped, firing a shot out the window at the ghouls. I heard a howl of pain as his shot landed and blew the head off a ghoul.

“Hacking the terminal!” I shouted back, slightly aggravated I was needing to explain myself in such a stressful situation. “We don’t have time for anything else right now!” I didn’t hear Granite respond, so I assumed he agreed with my sentiments.

“Shit! More of those things coming!” I heard Toffee frantically shout over the sound of gunfire. At first I assumed she meant more ghouls, but as I dared to glance over the top of the terminal I felt a wave of fear wash over me.

Larger shapes were beginning to emerge from the darkness beyond the ghouls. Hulking non pony forms covered in a slithering mass of fleshy tendrils. They weren’t quite as large as whatever we had fought in the cistern, but they were still huge… and there were lots of them.

A blood curdling howl echoed down the tunnel as they approached, their lumbering bodies slowly picking up speed as they surged towards us.

I heard multiple ponies screaming as one of the massive abominations smashed into the elevator, shaking the whole structure and threatening to bash in the door. The rest of the already broken glass shattered, leaving a large gap in the door.

Ghouls began squeezing in to get us, their twisted hooves and dagger filled maws reaching out to ripp us limb for limb.

I looked down at the terminal as I began trying to hack it with renewed desperation. I was trembling, my whole body shaking as I tried to stay somewhat calm and get us out of here.

My hoof slipped, clicking the wrong word. Damn it! No letters were correct! I only had one shot left!

“Help me!” A desperate wail echoed around us, emanating from the howling mouths of one of the hulking creatures. I felt a shiver raced down my spine. Fear gripped at my chest and threatened to lock up my whole body. It was Salt Water’s voice! “Please! Toffee! Help me!”

Toffee’s eyes went wide as the voice reached her, her whole body started shaking and her eyes welled with tears. Her shotgun fired again and again as she tried pushing her way past the ghouls and back into the tunnel beyond. “Salt Water! I’m coming!” She screamed, her hooves lashing out and batting a ghoul aside as it rushed at her.

I saw Chestnut reach out and throw her back into the elevator. Like Toffee, her eyes were wet from tears. “He’s dead Toffee! It’s not real!”

More ghouls began trying to push their way in, their gnashing teeth clamping tight around Granite’s forehooves. With a sudden tug, the ghouls pulled him from the elevator. His blood curdling screams echoed around us as the ghouls tore into him.

“Granite! Damn it!” I heard Cherry scream, her assault rifle firing into the ghouls that were tearing him apart. “No more! I won't lose another one!” Before anyone could stop her, she rushed from the elevator to fight off the ghouls around Granite.

A ghoul rushed into the elevator, its maw latching onto Pyre’s leg as it tried to bite it’s way through her armour. Before it could do any real damage, my Hellhound blasted it apart with a shot from its energy weapon.

“How’s the terminal going!” I heard Pyre shout as she crushed a ghoul below her hoof and tossed its slowly regenerating corpse from the elevator. It’s body crashed into two more ghouls as they tried to claw their way in. There was no sarcasm in her voice, only fear.

Before I could answer, the elevator was rammed by another one of the massive monsters. The whole thing shook and a shower of sparks began erupting from the already flickering light. The lights shorted out, sending us into complete darkness for a second before it flashed back to life and began flickering faster, plunging us into blackness every couple of seconds before re-illuminating the elevator shaft.

“There’s too much happening! I can’t concentrate!” I screamed, squinting my eyes and trying to make out the terminal scream through the strobing light as I searched desperately for the right Password. I only had one shot!

I could see Shade cowering in the corner as ghouls continued trying to pour in, all her energy already spent on that one blast that had saved my life. Brisk and Xayah stood back to back, keeping a constant stream of fire on the broken glass entrance to the elevator, keeping the ghouls from completely overpowering us as Pyre and Boulder tried to keep the massive abominations at bay.

We were running out of time! I had to think fast!

To my surprise, Cherry stumbled back into the elevator. She was bleeding all over from numerous cuts and bite marks and she carried a near dead Granite on her back. Her Assault rifle fired behind her as she sprayed the ghouls with lead as they tried to claw at her.

“Please! It hurts me!” I heard the haunting scream of the grey security pony I had never gotten the name of come from the vile mouths of the abominations.

“Amber! We need to get this elevator moving now!” Pyre urged, her flamers turning from the abominations and to the mass of ghouls as they began to overpower our defences. “We are all going to die here!”

My eyes darted back and forth between the coding of the terminal. “Come on! What is it!” I screamed at myself, slamming my hoof down on the floor of the elevator. Pain shot up me at the contact.

I needed more time! There was just so much, I couldn’t concentrate! I needed to slow everything down!

An idea shot through me head. Flicking my hoof to my pipbuck I quickly activated SATS. Instantly the whole world quieted. To my horror I could still see the ghouls and mass of tentacles moving in towards us in the magically induced stillness, though they were dramatically slowed.

In the slowed state of SATS, I stared down at the terminal. Password… password. Come on, I was good at this! Hell it was my special fucking talent!

My eyes popped open as I finally figured it out.

I quickly deactivated SATS, returning me to the hectic reality. Ghouls shrieked and pounded against the doors, trying to push past us. I stumbled a little and almost lost my train of thought as the banging sounds and rapid, jarring motion abruptly assaulted my senses. Trying to stay on task, I pushed myself towards the terminal and typed 'stabletec'.

There was a second of delay, then the elevator began to shake and move upwards. I could have screamed with relief, but I was simply was too exhausted to do much more than drop to my stomach as we began our assent back up to the Stable.

I looked around the elevator as we moved away from the screaming hoard of nightmares below. We weren't looking well. Xayah and I had received numerous cuts from the first ghoul attack and Pyre’s power armour was so damaged it looked about ready to fall off of her. Toffee and Chestnut lay in a disheveled heap, tight in each other's embrace as they wept openly for their lost friend. Cherry and Granite were a bloody mess, now looking more like ghouls themselves due to their shocking amount of gashes and missing chunks of flesh and fur. Granite lay unconscious in Cherry’s hooves, the only indication he was alive being the slow and unsteady rise and fall of his chest.

It had been hell, but we had made it. We had travelled into the depths of the Hollow Shades and made it out alive.

I cast a sad glance at the two weeping groups of ponies that now lay almost still on the elevator floor, too tired and emotionally devastated to do anymore. Well… some of us had made it out alive at least. My group had been lucky this time, but others had not.

No one spoke as we slowly moved towards the surface. It had been a long day, and no one had the strength to do any more than lie on their side and cry. When we finally reach the surface we passed two healing potions to each one of us that had sustained injuries in the fight and began shakily crawling and limping our way through the abandoned parts of the Stable.

Cherry had been right, the elevator led up to a broken down and closed off part of the Stable I doubted anypony had been in for a long time. Dust coated every surface and a thick layer of grim seemed to be slathered across the cracked floor.

“Why was this part of the Stable abandoned?” I asked, breaking the silence as we painfully limped up a small flight of metal stairs. The lights in this part of the Stable had long since gone out and we had to rely on our Pipbuck light to see any more than an inch in front of our face, giving the abandoned metal halls into an eerie and haunting look.

Cherry shook her head as her eyes darted around the gloom, no doubt still expecting a ghoul to launch themselves at us at any second. We were all very shaken by the attack. “This area has been closed off since long before we were born,” She said, as she cast a worried glance to Granite, who now hung limp from Pyre’s back. “My best guess? Something from below got in.”

I shivered at that. The idea of a Stable turned nightmare was still all to real in my memory. I could still very clearly remember the blood soaked halls of Stable 25.

I didn’t remember walking through the abandoned parts of the Stable. One minute we were all limping and stumbling through the dark and eerily empty corridors, the next we were flopping to the ground inside the brightly illuminated and very much populated hallway of Stable 44. In my hazy and darkening vision I could see a few medics rushing towards us, picking up the most heavily wounded first and rushing them off to medical.

I saw them try to help Pyre, only for her to shake them off and stomp down the hallway after Brisk and Xayah.

Hooves slowly picked me up from the ground and rest me down on a stretcher before beginning to whisk me away to what I assumed was medical as well.

I could feel myself slowly falling into unconsciousness from overexertion and blood loss. Then the word went black.

I was floating again. A silent, bodiless observer watching over the scene below. Below me I could see the wounded and heavily bandaged form of Crank as he hid behind a large broken down factory wall. Once again, it was him before he was the cybernetic monster he is today. His mud and ash coated coat still revealing a little bit of his scarred orange hide and brown mane.

The air around us was red and smogy. In the distance I could see large metal smokestacks pumping out large billowing clouds of red and black smoke. Far above hot air balloons made to look like the smiling face of Pinkie pie leered down and teams of griffons darted through the sky.

The screams of slaves and the crack of whips echoes around the city like a never ending drum.

It was the second time I had seen a memory of somepony in this cursed place. Fillydelphia.

Five slavers clad in heavy combat armour rushed past the crumbling wall Crank hid behind. “Come on! I think he went this way!” One of them yelled, darting past and down an adjacent street.

As soon as the squadron of slavers passed, Crank limped from behind his hiding spot and began rushing towards a tower not to far away from where he currently was. He had to duck back into hiding or simply crouch low in the shadows and smoke filled air a couple of times as slavers or griffins passed by.

The large tower he was approaching was surrounded by a large barbed wire topped wall. The only entrance leading through being a heavily guarded iron gate. Two turrets sat atop the wall, looking down and slowly scanning the area below for any possible intruders. I didn’t know what was inside, but from the amount of security I could make pretty damn good guess.

This must be where Red Eye himself resided.

Taking a second to console himself, Crank took a deep breath and slowly approached the gate. All of the guards raised their weapons up and aimed at him as they spotted him.

“Stop right there!” A large brown griffon demanded, taking a step forwards and leveling her anti-material rifle with Crank’s head. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“I have an appointment with Red Eye,” Crank stated bluntly, keeping his steady gaze locked with the griffon. “Let me through.”

The griffon scoffed... Or rather squacked... It was a strange noise. “With that many firearms? I don’t think so,” The griffon spat sharply. I began to realize that Crank was armed to the teeth with guns and weapons. A few grenades hung from his battle saddle and I could see something large inside his saddlebag. “We would have needed proof of your meeting arrangements and for you to hand over your weapons. But it doesn’t matter now. Red Eye is on lockdown. Somepony just breached the wall and was seen heading here. No one goes in or out now.”

Crank gave off the deep and annoyed sounding grunt that I had come to associate with him. “Well, it was worth a shot I suppose.”

Before the griffon had time to react, Crank had a combat shotgun in his mouth and fired three shots into her head. The griffon’s head was pulped, spraying the rest of the stunned guards with blood and viscera.

The turrets sprang to action before the guards did, spraying a rain of fire down at Crank’s position. Crank reacted fast, dodging to the side and rolling out of the way of the automated machine gun fire. He ducked behind one of the recovering guards and used him as a living shield as the turrets ripped into him.

The guard fell, bleeding from multiple bullet hole in his legs, chest and head. But the other guards were beginning to recover from the initial shock now as well. They turned, spraying Crank with bullets from their own weapons.

There was a loud pop followed by a sudden rush of wind as a rocket shot out from behind the dead guards body and rushed towards the five other guards.

BOOM!

The rocket impacted, blasting them apart as Crank pushed the corpse aside and stepped out with a huge rocket launcher over his shoulder He quickly dropped it down where it almost magically clicked into his battle saddle and fired up at one of the turrets.

The turret got one shot out before the massive missile collided with it and blew it half to hell. Metal shrapnel rained down from where the missile had detonated.

“Shit! At the gate! At the gate!” A slaver yelled as a group of ten or so slavers rounded the corner of the wall and began charging toward Crank, their weapons already out and firing upon his position.

Crank leapt back to avoid the attack of the remaining turret and turned to face the huge entryway. Once again, his rocket launcher blasted forwards and sent a missile into the gate. Impressively, the door held, but part of the top blew slightly apart under the explosive hit.

A slaver rushed at him, a large whip cracking down towards the earth pony. Before the blow could land, Crank whipped out a machete and dove to the side, slicing the blade through the tendons in the back of the slavers legs.

As a pony that had had that happen to them before, I can say from experience that that hurts a lot.

The slaver screamed and dropped to the ground. Crank dove forwards, driving the point of the machete into his neck and completely severing the slavers head from his body.

Not daring to wait for the rest of the slavers to catch us, Crank fired a second rocket at the door. Again, it collided and did little more than dent and blacken the metal.

I could see Crank grit his teeth together and hiss. “Fuckin’ damn it. Just open!”

The turret fired again, forcing Crank to dive to the side while he tried to load another missile into his launcher. The slavers didn’t let him finish as one lunged into his side and knocked him over.

With a roar of rage, Crank threw his machete at the slaver, skewering him through the chest with the huge serrated blade. The Slaver fell, his torso ripped open by the brutal attack.

Two more slavers began firing at him with assault rifles forcing him to backpedal as he tried to load the rocket. Between steps he would bite down on the trigger of his saddle to fire off a shot from his combat shotgun. One of the slavers legs were blown out from under them from the near rapid fire buckshot.

Having a few seconds to reload, the turret swiveled to face him. Crank gave a loud grunt of pain around the trigger of the battle saddle as the turret sent a bullet through his already injured hoof.

He turned and fired his combat shotgun at the turret, finally blasting it to bits. Unfortunately for him, that left him open to the slavers as they charged forwards. Firing upon their now open opponent. Two more bullets made their mark, sinking deep into Crank’s side and making him stumble back in pain.

Crank growled and bucked a slaver in the face as he neared, the force of the attack strong enough to send the slaver sprawling back a few feet and collapse to his side. Not waiting another second and with his rocket launcher now properly loaded, Crank spun to face the wall and fired off a third and final rocket into it.

With a loud crash, the gate was blasted apart, leaving a smoking hole into the grounds around the tower.

Shots pinged around him as Crank lunged forwards on shaky legs and began rushing as fast as he could through the opening and towards the tower. Adrenaline pushing him far past his physical limit as the slavers already within the wall began rushing forwards and firing at him.

More slavers were beginning to pilling through the gateway after him, calling for him to stop or even keep running if they were sadistic enough and wanted the hunt. From up above I could see groups of Griffons begin diving down towards him in tight formation and even a few mighty alicorns protected by their annoyingly powerful shields.

And yet Crank kept going, determination, fear, adrenaline and desperation surging through him and keeping him from collapsing as he continued pushing forwards. His combat shotgun blasted apart any slaver that dared to get within range and the occasional swing of his machete promptly severed the head of anypony that managed to get within swinging distance.

Up ahead a doorway into the massive tower loomed before him. Not daring to slow down, Crank fired his rocket launcher, blasting open the doorway with one mighty explosion. Seconds later he was speeding through the door, his body already bleeding from the numerous bullet wounds he had received.

Slavers were massing behind him now as they tried to squeeze themselves through the small entryway into the tower.

Somehow that I will never be able to properly understand, Crank managed to swing the tides of the battle to his favor. His ferocious and seemingly unstoppable combat skill using the door he had just run through as a choke point against the slavers as they tried to pile in after him. Both his combat shotgun and rocket launcher fired, blasting apart the first five rows of slavers that managed to get through the door.

One by one they fell. Within seconds, Crank had somehow turned his own seemingly hopeless situation in a massacre. For one astonishing second, I thought Crank might actually win.

But then the slavers from within the tower began to spill down the stairway from the floor above. Their guns ringing out as they fired upon the lone earth pony.

Crank faltered, his stream of fire switching to his new attackers as he had to dodge with all he was worth to avoid the onslaught that was coming at him from all sides. And yet despite everything, he managed to hold his own for a few moments, trapped between practically endless waves of slavers.

Both his shotgun and rocket launcher clicked empty. There was a quick silent moment where no one fired. Horror crossed Crank’s face as he began quickly rummaging through his saddlebags for ammo.

Slavers were grinning as they advanced upon him, certain their victory was at hoof. Guns were lowered and whips were raised as numerous slavers went in to claim their new prize.

Then Crank threw something from his saddlebag. The strange shape flew through the air and landed on the stairs where a large group of slavers blocked his path to the higher floors. The slavers stared at it in shock for a second before a wave of panic washed over them.

Crank dove to the side and under the closest table he could find as word of what had been thrown went out. “Balefire Egg!”

The stairs were hit with a massive explosion rivalled only by the detonation of a full balefire bomb. Slavers were sent flying, bloodied limbs and bits of gore splattered against the walls or sailing over the remaining slavers head as they all dove for cover. Eardrums burst and the air was filled with a loud ringing sound that deafened anypony that was too close to the explosion.

Quickly pulling themselves to their brutalised hooves, Crank charged past the wounded and disoriented slavers and bolted up the stairs, his two primary guns once again fully loaded. One blast of his shotgun bursting one of the few standing slavers into gore as he tore past him.

“Don’t let him get away!” one of the Slavers shouted from below as Crank raced up the steps.

The exertion of his single pony siege on the tower was beginning to take its toll on him. His already wounded legs began to slow as the exhaustion and pain of his newly inflicted gunshots wounds began to hit him at full force. But he never stopped running. He screamed as he pushed himself, forcing himself to go beyond what any living pony should have been able to bear.

Bullets whizzed past him as the slavers gave chase. A few griffons began soaring into the building behind him, their shots ripping chunks out of the walls as they fired at the intruder.

But he kept going. Nothing could stop him now! He had come too far. Rage had consumed him so much. Even from my bodiless, birds eye perspective on the firefight below, I could feel his raw rage flowing through him and pushing him onwards. He had a score to settle, and no pony would stop him.

At last he reached a large doorway with two griffons standing guard outside. The front of the door had a large red symbol of a red eye engraved into it.

This was it!

Crank’s shotgun fired, killing both griffons before they even had a chance to properly acknowledge his presence.

Not waiting for his pursuers to catch up, Crank burst through the door into the office beyond, quickly turning and locking the door behind him. I could hear the slavers yelling and banging on the door as they tried to get through. Many of the screams were that of rage, but I could pick out a few fearful ones as well. No doubt they feared for Red Eyes life… or for their own after what Red Eye might do as punishment for their failure.

Turning around, Crank let his eyes take in the room. Almost instantly, his eyes landed on the red and black stallion that sat behind a desk close to the centre of the room.

Red Eye sat in the center of the room. He looked almost exactly the same to how I had seen him when I had gone into Chestnut’s memories, though he did appear to be a few years younger. His glowing red cybernetic eye looked over Crank, almost as if interested in who this newcomer might be. I had noted before that Red Eye’s eye had looked similar to Crank’s eyes, but now as I looked him over, I realized it wasn’t just similar, but exactly the same.

What caught me most off guard about Red Eye however was the strange calm that his face seemed to suggest. His organic eye seemed to hold an intense curiosity and his eyebrows were raised in a way one might while looking down upon a child as they told a ridiculous tale.

If I had had a body I would have shivered as I looked upon the great slave master. His very presence made me feel strangely comfortable and at peace regardless of my constantly growing hatred for him.

Red Eye looked over Crank for a few more seconds before allowing his mouth to grow into a small yet oddly warm and charismatic smile. “May I help you?”

Crank growled and stomped his hoof on the ground before him, readying his rocket launcher to fire upon Red Eye at any moment. A part of me wished he would fire and blow that likeable smile off of Red Eyes face, only I had enough foresight to know that Red Eye was still very much alive to this day.

“Where is Scarlet Dusk?!” Crank demanded, slamming his hoof down on the floor again. His booming voice drowning out the pounding of the slavers outside. “Tell me where she is or I will bast you apart here and now!”

Red Eye raised his eyebrows a little higher at the remark. His hoof raised slightly as if gesturing for Crank to calm down. Red Eye’s charm may have been uncomfortably effective on me, but Crank was having none of it. “The new unicorn? Auburn coat, orange mane?”

Even Crank was visibly taken aback by Red Eye’s knowledge of all the slaves that worked under him. I questioned if he knew every single one of his slaves names or if Scarlet was simply more well known. Judging by Red Eyes expression, I guessed it was the former.

Crank snarled, flourishing his rocket launcher in an attempt to intimidate the cybernetic earth pony. “Where is she?! Take me to her!” Crank demanded, taking a step forward.

Red Eye simply continued to stare Crank down, his smile never fading. “I’m afraid I cannot do that. I am sorry, but every pony must play their part in restoring Equestria if we are ever to have unity.”

“I don’t need you to find her! I can’t find her myself! Don’t make me need to do this the hard way you son of a bitch!” Crank roared, clearly going into some for of hystarics at Red Eye’s refusal to cooperate with his demands. I doubted this was how Crank had expected this confrontation to go down. “I don’t need you! Tell me or you’re dead!”

Red Eye simply gave Crank a sad smile and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

There was a loud pop of air as the rocket burst forth from Crank’s rocket launcher and hurtled towards Red Eye at an alarming speed. The rocket detonated, the huge explosion sending furniture flying around the room or simply blasting it apart.

As the smoke cleared, I found Red Eye still sitting behind his desk, the warm and now almost sorrowful smile still very much present on his face. Both him and his desk remained completely unharmed by the explosion. Now that I looked a little closer, I could see the faint glimmer of a magical shield around him. He must have alicorns hidden somewhere casting a shield spell to protect him, of course Red Eye wouldn’t be so foolish as to let all this happen without some form of failsafe.

Crank’s eyes widened as he took Red Eye in. His fatigue and wounds quickly caught up with him and he promptly toppled over before Red Eye’s desk. Victory had been so close, only to be stripped away.

The doors burst open and the large group of Slavers, griffons and alicorns rushed into the room, surrounding Crank and dropping their guns down to face the defeated earth pony. Even a large cybernetic dog bounded into the room and snarled down at Crank’s trembling and nearly unconscious bloody form. The same large black griffon I had seen in Chestnut’s memory swooped in and landed before Crank, one talon pressed down upon his chest and her large Anti-Machine Rifle swinging down to press against Crank’s forehead. The griffon’s talon quickly tightened around the trigger of the rifle.

“Wait for a moment Stern,” Red Eye’s smooth voice said calmly from behind his desk. His voice was quiet, not coming even close to as loud as the rest of the hubbub in the room, yet despite that everypony froze and took a small step back from Crank.

The large griffon I could now Identify as Stern glanced back at Red Eye, her head tilting to the side in that weird way that griffons do. “Are you sure?”

Red Eye simply nodded. Begrudgingly, Stern complied, removing herself and rifle from Crank. Red Eye took a few steps around his desk and approached Crank, though I noticed he didn’t leave the safety of his magical shield.

For a brief moment he loomed above Crank, his two different coloured eyes looking over every part of his being. Then, to my surprise, Red Eye knelt down to be at Crank’s level.

“Getting to me here was quite impressive,” Red Eye’s voice was low and even. He almost spoke in a whisper that I doubted anypony except Crank could hear. “Not just anypony can fight their way all the way through Fillydelphia, not to mention on already broken limbs.”

He was right, the longer I looked at Crank, the more I realized that his limbs weren’t just injured, they were broken in the same places I had seen Skull Crusher break them. He hadn’t gone to a doctor or waited to heal his wounds. He had come right to Fillydelphia in a desperate rush to get his mare back. From the dark bags under his eyes, I doubted he had slept at all either.

Crank slowly tilted his head up to look at Red Eye. His strength betrayed him and his head dropped back down to look at the floor. “Please…” Crank’s voice was weak and almost inaudible. A stark contrast of the powerful booming tone he had had only moments before. With hope had gone his strength and will. “I need to save her… Please…”

Crank moved forwards slightly and wrapped his fore hooves around Red Eye. whether it was a weak and pathetic attempt to make an attack or a desperate act of begging I couldn’t tell.

Every slaver in the room raised their guns as Crank touched their leader, but Red Eye waved them all off with a hoof, clearly not concerned about what Crank might do.

“Perhaps you will be happy to learn that Scarlet has signed up Stable duty at the mall. If she can survive the next two years, she will be granted freedom from Fillydelphia,” Red Eye soothed, not reacting to Crank’s desperate pleas.

“No! I-I need to get her out… She cant… I can't ...” Crank was in tears now. Hot streaks of tears were rolling down his face, cleaning away the ash and grim that had coated his hide.

Thoughtfully, Red Eye stood back up, Crank’s weak grip on him faltering and making the whimpering earth pony fall back to the ground. “Then perhaps we can make a deal. I have an associate that has been looking for a pony like you for quite some time,” Red Eye began, slowly walking back around his desk and taking a seat. “Perhaps if you would volunteer yourself to work for him in his little… how do I put this… Crusade… we can shorten your mares sentence quite dramatically.”

Crank looked back up to Red Eye, a new found hope glimmering in her tear filled eyes. “Yes… YES! If it will get her free. I-I’ll do it!”

Red Eye raised his hoof again, making Crank go silent. “Be warned, this will not be easy on you. My associate is less generous than I am. I cannot guarantee your safety there. Not for your body, and not for your mind.”

“But you can guarantee hers?” Crank asked, slowly pulling his damaged and beaten body from the floor to stand proudly before Red Eye and the rest of the Slavers. “You can keep her safe and get her out of Fillydelphia?”

Red Eye gave Crank a small, sympathetic smile. “I can, if this is truly the road you want to take. Again, let me remind you that you-”

“I’ll do it!” Crank insisted urgently, stomping his hoof on the ground with more determination than ever. He didn’t even wince as the hope was once again restored to his body. There was no sadness or fear in his eyes for his future or well-being, only the desire to do what he must for the one he loves. “For her, I’ll do it!”

My eyes fluttered open. The sudden brightness of the room blinded me temporarily as I tried to make out what was around me. As my eyes began to focus, I could make out the roof of the medical bay of Stable 44. I could recognize the dull, slightly rounded roof of a Stable anywhere.

My whole body felt sore and the places that I had been bitten by those strange ghouls still ached like hell. That said, much of the pain from before had subsided and I could feel that odd itchy feeling that lingered a few minutes after taking a healing potion. Some of the larger wounds I had received that were beyond the help of a simple healing potion had been wrapped up in now bloody bandages.

Upon hearing the soft sound of breathing, I turned my head to the side a little to look over at the shape of Xayah sleeping next to the medical bed. Her head and fore hooves resting on the lip of the bed while her bandaged back hooves lay curled up beneath her on the floor.

It was a small comfort to know she was still there. I needed comfort after everything I had seen in the ghastly depths of the Hollow Shades.

Not wanting to wake her, I lay still and silent for a few seconds, trying to make sense of the strange vision of Crank’s past I had once again witnessed. What the fuck was happening to me? Did it have some connection to something that had happened when I was inside of Crank’s head? If so, why was this happening to me and not Brisk? He had gone in there too.

I remembered being stuck between the glowing light of the mare I now knew to be Scarlet Dusk and the blazing blue light of Crank’s own mental canon blasts. Something had happened then. Crank’s whole life had flashed before me. Crank had seen it to, it’s what gave him the strength to fight back against whatever that strange monster had been.

Had I somehow gotten some of his memories transferred into me? The idea was terrifying. How often would I have these strange memories that didn’t belong to me? Would it only happen when I sleep? Or could I simply fall unconscious at any moment like the first vision seemed to suggest.

A horrifying idea crossed over me. What if I started having difficulty separating his memories from my own?!

“It’s okay Amber,” I said quietly to myself in a failed attempt to calm myself down. I didn’t even know if that was what had happened yet, it was only speculation at this point. Though deep down, I knew that I was right… at least to some extent.

Not being able to bear sitting still any longer, I slowly crawled out from under the covers, doing my best to not wake Xayah as I pulled myself up. I had only gotten one hoof onto the floor when-

I slipped and tumbled out of bed, smacking the bottom of my jaw on the cold floor of the medical bay with a small yelp.

Luna fucking damn me! Can I not get out of bed once without falling over! I mean seriously! Just once would be nice!

My yelp of surprise prompt jolted Xayah from her sleep. Her eyes widened as she saw me struggling on the floor as I tried to untangle my hooves from the dull blue blankets that had somehow tied themselves around me. She quickly rushed over and gently pulled me out from under the blankets.

“Amber, are you alright?” She asked, shocked by my sudden fall.

“I seem to get asked that a lot,” I grumbled, standing up proper and giving my bed the stink eye. One day, one day I will arise from my sleep trip free! I turned back to face Xayah, a small blush across my face. “How long was I out?”

“But a few hours or so,” Xayah said, the worry slowly draining from her face and her tone returning to that soothing and melodious rhythm that zebra’s seemed to have. She picked up a glass of water from the table beside us and gave it to me. “Here, you should drink. Return your strength.”

I took the glass in my magic and looked it over quietly. “I’m taking it that we successfully fixed the water issue then,” I said with a grin, levitating the glass to my lips and taking a quick sip. I don’t think I had ever drank something so refreshing. I tried to remember the last time I had drunk something so clean. Did that one bottle of wild pegasus I shared with Shade back in the Stable count.

My eyes narrowed at the once relieving and almost happy memory, now soured by the current events.

Xayah nodded and hopped up onto the bed, sitting with her hooves dangling off and her back straight up. It was a weird looking way to sit. “Yes, Purity was most pleased at our success,” Xayah said, almost gleefully, though there was a melancholy tone in her voice. “Though she was rather upset by the losses.”

“And everypony that did make it out? Are they all okay?” I asked, praying to the goddesses that they were.

Xayah gave another small nod. “Everypony from our party came out with only a few minor injuries. Nothing a healing potion can’t fix. I haven’t seen Toffee and her crew, though they seemed most fine when we got back.”

I gulped. “And Cherry and Granite?”

Xayah hesitated at that. “They will… um.. Cherry will make it for sure, though she is going to be out likely for the next few days. Granite is alive... but they do not know for how long. Perhaps they can save him, with the right luck.”

I gave a pensive nod. That was the best I could hope for at least. I slowly trotted forwards and hopped up onto the bed next to her, resting in a much more comfortable position than the one she had taken. “And yourself? How are you doing?”

“My wounds will heal,” Xayah said nervously, clearly understanding that it wasn’t talking about her injuries. “It will perhaps take me a while to not jump at shadows after what we saw down there, but I will recover.”

I rest my hoof over hers. “I’m not talking about your wounds. I saw what happened to you when I was in your mind. I- Well… I wanted to make sure you were okay. And I mean really okay,” I said softly, scooting a little closer to her. “You’ve somehow managed to stay stronger than any of us through this whole thing, but I know you’ve been through bad stuff, even before we met. This group of ours has been hiding enough of our own issues from one another for too long.”

I could feel her left hoof slightly trembling beneath my hoof. A terrible and constant reminder of what had happened to her in New Appleoosa. Glancing up, I could see her eyes wide and fearful, her pupils darting back and forth as they tried to figure out how to approach my question.

Slowly, she withdrew her hoof from mine and tucked it beneath her body as she leaned into me. “I will be fine. You do not need to fret about my well being.”

I knew that was a lie, but I simply didn’t know how else to respond. So instead of pushing her on the subject more, I wrapped my hooves around her and hugged her tight.

That was how Brisk found us a few minutes later as he marched in with a power armourless Pyre Blaze behind him. He raised his eyebrow at me as he looked the two of us over. I gave him a simple shrug before pulling myself away from Xayah and walking over to give him a big hug as well.

“What? I don’t get a hug?” Pyre smirked sarcastically, walking past me and sticking a packet of Party-time Mint-als that were lying on one of the tables into her saddlebag, clearly having no real interest in actually getting a hug. To her surprise, I reached out and pulled her into my hug as well, simply happy that they were both alive. To stunned to actual move away from my embrace, Pyre simply grumbled and awkwardly stood there, not rejecting the hug, but not quite returning it either.

As we pulled apart I looked between the three of them, noticing one very key pony that was missing. “Where’s Shade?” I asked, doing my best not to growl at the mere mention of the pony.

“Under the watch of Security,” Brisk replied quickly, stepping around me and sitting into one of the rather uncomfortable metal chairs in the corner of the room. “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to let her out of any ponies sight for a while.”

“And how were the negotiations going?” Xayah asked, looking over to Brisk as he closed his one remaining eye and tried to get a little bit of rest right there and then.

“They’re going boring!” Brisk complained in a whiny tone, not bothering to open up his eye. “They spent the first hour just talking about what qualifies as good scrap to bring in from the wasteland!”

“To answer your question, it’s going well. Stable 44 has decided to help fight off Red Eye’s forces,” Pyre said flatly. “We left shortly after they started doing a plan of attack. They said they’d debrief us when you were a wake,” She directed that last line at me.

It was good to hear that everything was coming together. All that was left to deal with was the battle with the slavers. After what we had just gone through below the surface, I had faith we could deal with a couple of armed ponies. I could feel a smug look crossing my face. An amused looking glare from Pyre made me suddenly want to rethink that thought.

“What?” I asked, meeting her stare.

“Feeling confident are you?” Pyre asked mockingly, taking a small step towards me and looking down at me. Damn it, why did she have to be so much bigger than me even without her armour.

“I-I mean… with everything that happened down there I figured that… well, I thought…” I stumbled with my words as I tried to figure out what to say. Gosh darn it Pyre, stop calling me out on stuff like that. “I mean we’ve fought Red Eye slavers before. We can do it again, right?”

“I seem to remember us running from Red Eye’s slaver a lot,” Brisk muttered, his eyes still closed. I shot him a grumpy look that he couldn’t see.

“This isn’t just a simply every day skirmish Amber,” Pyre Blaze grunted, her usually sarcastic tone dropping into something much more serious than I had ever seen on her. “This is a war. Two big groups battling it out. There’s strategy and intrigue involved now. Ponies die in war. It doesn’t matter who you are.”

At some point during her miniature speech I had started shaking. I quickly stopped myself. “I don’t think this is quite a war yet. I mean, it’s just one fight. Nothing on the scale of the great war or anything.”

Pyre Blaze scoffed. “You got that right, it's not anywhere near that big. But that don’t make it not a war. Bloodshed is coming, you can be assured of that.”

There was an awkward silence after that, none of us really knowing how to follow up the conversation. After a few minutes, a security pony came in and told us that Purity wanted to see all of us.

The security pony began leading us down the long hallways to what I could only imagine was the Overmare’s office. Having lived in a Stable my whole life and with the shocking similarities this one had to my own, I probably could have gotten there by myself, but I took the opportunity to ask the guard if they had heard any news on Cherry and Granites state. Unfortunately they hadn’t seemed to have heard anything.

As we walked down the halls, I saw ponies getting into Stable security barding and loading up as many assault rifles as they could. It still surprised me how much military weaponry this Stable had access to. I guessed that since this Stable had connections with the ministries more so than the others, they had gotten access to more stuff.

As we entered the Overmare’s office we found a group of twenty ponies crowding around the horseshoe shaped desk. Purity sat in her seat, looking over a map of the Hollow shades. Toffee, Boulder and Chestnut stood to her side, the initial rags we had met them in now replaced with dark blue combat armour bearing the Stable-Tec logo. The rest of the gathering consisted of Stable security and a couple of doctors and scientists.

Purity and Toffee looked up as the five of us walked in and gave us a quick nod each before returning their attention to the map.

As I got closer I could make out a bunch of bottle caps located across the map that I assumed indicated the location of different troops. Pyre had been right, they weren’t treating this like any other battle. This was something new.

“I want to be there in the front lines!” Chestnut spat, pointing to a small collection of caps positioned at the front gate. “I’m going to give those slaving bastards what’s coming to them!” Clearly the horrors of the deep had done little to diffuse her hatred of the slavers.

Toffee shook her head. “I assure ya, there’ll be plenty of slavers to kill in there, but we need ya in the extraction team. Those ponies in there need to see some familiar faces. They need t’ know they can trust us.”

“Then send Boulder!” Chestnut growled, her hoof shifting to point up at the large, quiet stallion with the mini gun and sledgehammer. “They’ll all recognize him!”

Again, Toffee shook her head. “We need ponies that can get the slaves out quietly and discreetly. And let's be honest here, regardless of his personality, Boulder’s fightin’ style ain’t exactly quiet or discrete,” she glanced up at Boulder to make sure she hadn’t offended him. He simply gave her a small nod of acknowledgement in return. “Besides, we’ll need him on the front lines. That’ll be where the main action is.”

Chestnut grumbled and crossed her hooves, but didn’t speak up again.

“I guess that puts me on the front lines to then,” Pyre said casually, her seriousness from our previous talk once again gone.

“If ya think you can carry those big flamers of yers without that fancy suit of power armour,” Toffee agreed.

“Ha! You think I need the power armour for those? I’ve been using those babies since I was a little filly!” Pyre grinned, bouncing up and down a little on her hooves.

I cast Pyre a quizzical glance. “Why won’t you have your armour?” I didn’t like the idea of her going into battle unprotected. I had seen Pyre rely on her armour to get her out of tight spots before, and if this coming fight was as bad as everypony seemed to thing, then I wanted her to to be at her prime.

“Got broken pretty bad by those ghouls in the caves. It’s getting repaired now, but it won’t be ready till after the battle,” Pyre shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t you go worrying ‘bout me cutie. This ain’t my first rodeo.”

I huffed. “I’m not cute…”

“Alright, so the plan is settled then,” Purity said, looking over the map with harsh skepticism. “Chestnut will lead a group of ponies into the Hollow Shade here and here,” She started, pointing to two locations on the map that had been marked with an X. “Once inside you will split into two groups. Chestnut will lead one to get the slaves out of there and to safety. Once outside we can supply the slaves with guns and armour if they wish to aid us in our fight while the rest get to shelter in the Stable. A medical team will be on standby outside for the surviving slaves when they get out. The second group will sneak to the main gate and open it up for the rest of us outside.”

“And how do we plan on getting these groups past the wall in the first place?” One of the security ponies I didn’t recognise asked, looking over the battle plan. “As far as I know there is no other entrance to the settlement.”

Purity glanced over at me, as if expecting me to answer the question. What was that look for? I didn’t know the plan yet? Finally, Purity sighed. “Amber, do you think you can get that Hellhound of yours to dig two tunnels into the settlement?” All the eyes at the table turned to face me.

“Oh uh… Yeah. I don’t see why not,” I responded quickly. The security pony nodded at that, clearly satisfied with the answer. Everypony turned back to address the plan.

“Once the slaves are clear and the door is open we’re going to launch a full fledged attack at the front gates. Toffee, Pyre and Boulder will lead the charge, backed by as many security ponies as we can spare. The previous infiltration team will re enter the Hollow Shade through the Hellhound tunnels and flank the slavers from behind. Meanwhile, a smaller group of ponies will launch an attack on the opposite side of the wall. I doubt that attack will be able to do little more than annoy the slavers, but if we can spread out their forces enough we might stand a shot at this.”

“And what do you want us to do?” I asked, looking back and forth between Brisk, Xayah and myself.

Purity looked us over thoughtfully for a moment. “Amber, We could use you in the extraction team with Chestnut. Brisk and Xayah, I’ll need you two to lead the team in opening the gates. That is if you three still think you can fight?”

I nodded eagerly. The Hollow Shades might have beaten us down, but we were far from out.

“Alright then,” Purity said grimly, returning her gaze to the map. “We are outnumbered, gunned and are going to have to fight our way through a chokepoint to get in, but I think we can do this. You’re all dismissed. Meet up at the Stable door in two hours,” She turned to face the few doctors that stood around the table with her. “You three stay with me, I want to go over your placement in all this. There is no room for error here.”

“Have you ever in an all out battle before?” Chestnut asked as she loaded three explosive shells into a newly acquired combat shotgun before throwing a few more into her saddle bag.

I shook my head. “I’ve been in fights before, but I don’t think they’ve been this big yet,” I pulled on one of the straps on my new combat armour as I tried to tighten it. No matter how much I tugged on it, the whole set of armour still seemed loose. All the reinforced plates seemed to dangle off of me as if I wear a little filly trying to wear something clearly made for a fully grown stallion. I probably could have stuck my whole hoof between my body and armour if I tried. “You?”

We were standing in the Stable’s armoury. Most of the gear had already been taken by ponies when the call to arms had first gone out. Xayah had been looking through it with me for a few minutes before picking up a silenced sniper rifle and joining Brisk outside. Now the boxy metal room felt almost empty as the two of us searched for equipment to fight with.

“Fights? Sure, probably same as you,” she grunted, tightening her own suit of armour up with ease. “I had to fight for my life when my husband and I escaped Filly. Hardest damn fight of my life,” She looked off at the wall longingly. “But that wasn’t a war. That was an escape. A desperate run for freedom against impossible odds. This is different.” She glanced at me trying to pull myself into my armour. “You want some help getting into that?” I nodded quickly. She walked over and started tightening all the different straps.

As she began pulling straps tighter, I flipped the channels on my pipbuck to the radio. It had been a long time since I had had a moment to simply sit and listen to DJ Pon3.

“-Loud and proud!” The Voice of the DJ said over the radio as I finally found the right channel. I must have just missed the beginning of the news. “Now you all might be wonderin’, how does the great and powerful DJ Pon3 know that I can hear him all the way out in Vanhoover or other less favorable places like Fillydelphia? It’s ‘cause of that wonderful Stable dweller, that's how! That crazy mare snuck into Filly, right under Red Eyes nose and back out again safe and sound. And now thanks t’ her, I’m broadcasting all across the wastes for all t’ hear, Yeehaw! Can’t stop the signal baby! Can’t stop the good fight! And now, some music,” Slowly, one of Sweetie Belle's songs began to play over the radio.

I caught Chestnut looking almost longingly at my pipbuck as the radio switched to music. All this talk about Fillydelphia must have been getting to her, “What was it like? Fillydelphia, I mean?” I asked, unsure if this was something I really should be asking.

Chestnut cast me a weary glance, telling me I was already treading on thin ice with this topic, but she didn’t seem to be as opposed to talking about it like I had expected. “Filly was like hell,” She started bluntly, adjusting the large shoulder piece that I had somehow put on backwards. “They say no pony escapes Filly. It's just an endless nightmare with no feasible escape.”

“But you escaped it, right? And the DJ just said that stable dweller got out,” I pointed out, hoping to brighten up the somber mood in the room.

Chestnut smile a little at that, though it seemed sad. “I don’t know if I really ever escaped. I still have nightmares about the things that happened in that place. All the pain I had to go through… the things they made me do…” Her eyes looked distant as she finished tightening the last strap. She stood back up and looked me over, making sure everything was in place. “I don’t think I’ll ever truly be free of it. There are some wounds that even time can't heal.”

“Well you’re out now, they cannot hurt you any more,” I stated flatly, still trying to lighten her mood just a little. “We’ll get them you know. Red Eye and all his slavers. We won’t let them keep doing what their doing. Somepony will stop him, I just know it.”

Chestnut simply looked pained by the comment. “They have my child in that place again Amber… I- Well... I think I’m going to be going back there sooner or later. You can’t escape Filly. Not forever,” She turned to go before stopping and looking back at me. “How old are you again?”

I was a little taken aback by the question. “I’m uh… twenty. Brisk and Xayah are too I think. We never really talked about it much. Why?”

“You just seem so-” Chestnut stopped and hesitated, quickly looking at the exit of the armoury as if questioning if she should just drop the train of thought altogether and get ready for the battle. “You just all seem so young,” She finally said, not daring to look me in the eye. “The wasteland is cruel. Ponies like you don’t deserve to be stuck in it like this.”

With that, she turned from me completely and sulked out of the room to join the gathering of ponies at the Stable door. I let her words sink into me a little bit before shaking them from my head and following her out. It didn’t matter if I deserved this or not, I was in it now, and there was no going back.

We spent hardly any time at the Stable door. Purity and Toffee said a few words before we broke into our designated groups and moved out towards the settlement of the Hollow Shades.

Upon my request, Shade accompanied me and Chestnut as we lead a group under the wall to rescue the slaves. She was half the reason I was in this mess right now and I’d be damned if I didn’t make her at least try to help fix it. To my surprise, Shade seemed fairly determined to help when she was told. Despite all my hatred and resentment towards my old friend at the moment, it was becoming very clear to me that she regretted what she had done. My caps were on her hoping she could make up what she had done to me somehow.

Chestnut, Brisk, Xayah and Shade all pulled up next to me behind a small jagged rock formation overlooking the Hollow Shades. A small group of ten security ponies crouched in anticipation a few feet behind us, five for each team. Several medics waited a few feet down the hill, awaiting for when we managed to get the slaves back out.

I pulled out a pair of binoculars Purity had given me and began to survey the area below us. Off to the right, I could see Pyre and Toffee organising a much larger group of armed ponies just out of view of the settlement gates. Surprisingly, I couldn’t see Boulder among them, considering his large size, but I knew he was down there somewhere. Even farther off in the distance I could see a small group of twenty or so ponies moving around to flank the slavers from behind when the battle broke out in full.

Shifting my gaze to the Hollow Shades itself I could see groups of slavers patrolling the walls. They were well organised, at no point leaving any area around the settlement undefended. Red Eye never left things to chance and always tried to stay a few steps ahead of everypony, that much I had learned from my strange vision of Crank’s past. Within the walls I could see even more slavers, probably upwards of one hundred or so. They were just going about their normal business at the moment, cooking meals, setting up tents. I did spot a few adding additional fortifications around the perimeter of the settlement.

beyond even that, I saw the dark monolith like tower of the Ministry of Arcane Science Building looming in the background. a radioactive green glow seemed to emanate from around it and seep into the already overcast sky. The tower stood as a silent observer of the hell that was to break loose in the valley below.

Brisk squatted down beside me, trying to make out what I was looking at with his one eye. “It’s crazy to think we’ve come all this way, huh.”

I looked down from the binoculars and over to him. “What do you mean?”

He gave a small roll of his eyes. “I mean it seems like only yesterday we were running from the Stable and into the great unknown. Getting in near death situations with small bands of raiders and ghouls or whatever,” He said, his eye still fixed on the scene down below. “Never woulda thought we’d be involved in a war or anything.”

I gave a small nervous chuckle. “Guess were some super awesome wasteland hero’s now or something,” I joked, before realizing I was only half joking. Wasn’t that a weird thought.

Brisk just grinned, seeming to like the idea more than I did. “I guess we are, huh. Bet that’s a bit of a confidence boost, eh. You’ve come a long way since the Stable.”

I gave him a small nudge with the side of my hoof. “You’re a little less annoying than you used to be yourself,” I gave him a grin, it was somewhat real.

Brisk’s face grew a little serious for a moment as he averted his gaze from the settlement below and looked over at me. “Amber, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Mh-hmm?”

He scratched the back of his head nervously and blushed slightly. “Well, I don’t know if this’ll be weird or whatever… After that whole crush thing you went through with me and all, but…” He hesitated, but he had my full attention now. “When you told me, I said it would be weird because after you saved me I started viewing you kinda like a little sister and stuff… and well I thought… uh… well...” He paused again, making sure he wasn’t doing something he would regret.

“Do… do you want to be siblings?” I asked, trying to fully understand what he was saying.

Brisk looked at me nervously for a moment before nodding. “I mean if you’d have me… it’s just- you know... After security killed my parents, I never really had someone I could consider a friend, let alone family. Then you just kinda popped into my life and well- I’d love if we could like… I don’t know. Be siblings or-or some shit,” He finally wrapped up lamely, realizing he was starting to ramble. "I don't know. maybe I'm just being dumb or some shit. Those caves were just kinda getting to my head and all."

"I don't think you're being dumb," I said, almost defensively. I looked at him for a moment, trying to judge if this was some kind of weird Brisk joke or if he was genuine. From the nervous and almost scared look in his eyes, I could tell he was being serious. I bit my lower lip for a second before I let my lips twist into a warm smile. “I'd like to be siblings too bro.”

I pulled him up close with a hoof and held him in a tight embrace. Not knowing what to say, he just accepted the hug with a growing blush. "Uh... Thank you sis."

“Brisk, we need you to go over the plans of getting to the gate,” One of the security ponies said, marching up and interrupting our little moment.

Brisk groaned and pulled himself up and away from me. “Fine fine. Just please let it be less boring than the first battle meeting we had,” He swiftly followed after the security pony. My eyes followed him a bit until my gaze landed upon Shade watching me from a few feet away. Our gaze locked for a moment before she looked away.

“Are we all ready?” Chestnut asked a few minutes later. Her whole body looked like it had gone tight with anticipation for the coming fight. Her eyes had taken to an eager and violent look.

I turned to look at my Hellhound waiting silently behind me before glancing over to my friends. “We’re ready. Let's do this.”

I had never seen a Hellhound burrow quite like this before. I had seen them rip apart the surface of the earth and had even seen them dig with an almost uncanny precision as I tried to open up the Stable door of Stable 44, but now as I stood behind my massive Hellhound and watched it dig, I saw just how fast they could be. Rock didn’t slow the hellhound down in the slightest. It dug and clawed its way through solid rock at a slow jogging speed as we descended down into the earth. After a few minutes of digging, I felt the large tunnel it was creating for us start to slowly arch and angle upwards as we began a slightly slower assent up towards what I could assume was behind the large wall.

We all huddled close as we slowly moved upwards. I was beginning to make out the muffled sound of hoofsteps and talking above us. We were under the slavers. From the way it sounded, I doubted we could have been any less than a foot below them.

I quickly waved for my Hellhound to stop. It obayed mechanically, a twang of guilt pasting through me as it did. I really needed to free this thing at some point, but it was just so useful.

Chestnut glanced back down the tunnel, trying to gauge exactly how far we had gone. She quietly counted for a few seconds before looking back at all of us. “This is it. We should be directly under the jail where they’re keeping the slaves,” She whispered in a hushed voice, making sure she wasn’t loud enough for us to get heards. “The Hellhound can let us in here, then take the rest of you to a location closer to the gate. Stay quiet and try not to draw attention to yourselves until all of the prisoners are clear.”

I nodded, pushing the side of my head up against the roof of the tunnel and listening to the voices on the other side.

“She’s fucking what!” The muffled voice of a slaver blurted out, the small layer of rock and dirt between us making it fairly difficult to make his words out. “Why the fucking hell is Stern coming all the way out to the Hollow Shades!”

“Beats me. To be honest, I don’t even know why Red Eye is so interested in this location,” A second slaver grunted. I could hear the muffled patter of his hooves as he paced back and forth. “I mean I know this place has been on his radar for a while, but it's out in the middle of nowhere Equestria and their ain’t all that many resources here anyhow. We lost some good ponies securing this spot.”

Before I could scoff at the idea of a slaver being a good pony, a third slaver spoke up. “The point is, Stern’s coming. I don’t know why, but it is crucial that we don’t fuck it up when she gets here. I’ve heard she’s pretty pissed off right now about that stable dwellers friends ransoming her to Red Eye.”

“Ransomed back to- Where the fuck did you hear that?” the first slaver that spoke said.

“Everyponies’ talkin’ about it,” The slaver responded, his voice rising slightly and making it a little easier to hear him. “I don’t think Red Eye want’s anyone to know, but words spreading pretty damn quickly 'bout it.”

I turned back to the ponies waiting patiently behind me in the tunnel. “There are three slavers up there,” I informed them as quietly as possible. I turned to face Xayah directly. “Do you think you can take them out quietly?”

Xayah gave a quick nod of confirmation before I signaled for my Hellhound to continue. In one fluid motion, the Hellhound burst from the ground, it’s massive paw tearing one of the slavers in half at the same time. A large cloud of dust, ash and rock billowed into the air around the Hellhound, obscuring the remaining slavers view. Before the other two slavers could make heads or tails out of what was going on and raise the alarm, Xayah lifted her newly acquired silenced sniper over the lip of the hole and fired two shots.

Both slavers fell dead, a bullet hole in the center of each of their foreheads. Save for the quick smashing sounds of my Hellhound ripping open the floor, we had taken out the slavers almost silently. And even then, my Hellhound had been shockingly quiet.

I could hear the slaves in the cells beside us whimpering as the Hellhound loomed over them.

The room was fairly small. Twelve or so cages lined two of the wall and a round, now toppled table lay in the middle. Dozens of scared and wounded ponies had been thrown into the cells or chained to the floor. Most of the cells were only made to fit a few ponies, making most of the prisoners need to squeeze together awkwardly as they tried to fit into the cramped space.

The slaves had all seen better days. Dressed in little more than chains and the occasional rag, they all looked tired and beaten. I could see bloody gash marks across many of their backs where the slavers bull whips has lashed against their hide. One mare in the corner of the room had a broken leg.

Chestnut quickly climbed from the hole and approached the cells, making sure all of the prisoners could see her clearly. She took in the state of the slaves, trying her best not to cry at the sight. She quickly turned back to Brisk and the five security ponies that had gathered around him. “Start getting to the gate. Stay low. We’ll join in on the attack when Toffee gives the signal,” She ordered quietly, quickly turning back to face the prisoners.

I hadn’t heard anything about a signal, but Brisk seemed to understand. He motioned for Xayah to join them as the Hellhound began digging another tunnel into the earth. Brisk cast me a quick glance before he moved further into the tunnel. “I’ll see you on the other side lil’ sis.”

Xayah cast us an odd lock at the remark and began to follow after him into the hole. She paused for a second as she passed me. “Make it out of this alive alright,” She said quietly, turning to look at me with the corners of her emerald green eyes.

“I’ll be fine. And you better come out of this okay too, got it?” I said quickly, trying my best to smile despite the dire circumstances.

Xayah nodded quickly, returning my smile. She hesitated for a second, before leaning in and giving me a small kiss on the cheek. Before she could see my reaction, she dropped into the hole after Brisk and began to move away into position.

I could feel my face heat up from my growing blush. That had been nice… still didn’t know how to take all of this crush stuff though.

“We are here to get you all out of here. Stay calm and keep quiet,” Chestnut informed the prisoners as she started looking around for a key. I found it first, picking it up off one of the fallen slavers and tossing it over to her. She caught it in her magic and quickly began unlocking cages.

“Everypony into the tunnel,” I ordered quietly, pointing down towards the hole as the panicked ponies began emerging from the cells. “There are doctors waiting on the other side with medical supplies.”

I saw a few security ponies help up the mare with the broken leg and start carrying her down the tunnel. Even Shade started tending to some of the more minor wounds and leading ponies towards the escape.

One of the ex-slaves nervously trotted up to Chestnut, her eyes wide and fearful. “Chestnut, did… did Salt Water make it out okay?” The mare asked, a small glimmer of hope in her near lifeless eyes.

Both Golden Chestnut and I visibly flinched at the question. Chestnut reached forwards and wrapped her hooves around the shaking mare. Her voice was low. “He was very brave Ruby. He was very brave.”

One by one, the security ponies and I helped to escort the slaves into the tunnel, gently helping them down the short drop into the hole. There were a few more ponies with broken limbs than we had initially thought that needed additional help getting down the Hellhound made passage.

“Where are all the foals?” Chestnut asked, looking around as some of the last few slaves started climbing through the hole. “Surely they weren’t all sent to Filly?”

“The slavers took them to the town hall,” One of the slaves said, pointing out the window to the largest building in the settlement. “They wanted to keep a close watch on them to ensure we didn’t try to run.”

Chestnut froze at the comment. The muscles in her neck clenched as she resisted the urge to not scream and blow our cover. “Fucking slaver cunts,” She rumbled, trying to contain some of her rage. She pointed over to the last security pony that was with us. “Get the rest of them to safety, and inform Brisk and Xayah to hold off on opening the gate as long as they can if you’re able. Amber, Shade, you two with me. We’re going to get those foals out of here.”

“Would it not be more practical to wait until after the battle once the slavers are gone? How do you hope to get a group of foals all the way from that building to the tunnel undetected?” The security pony argued, helping the final pony into the hole.

“Those slavers took the foals to keep the slaves from trying to escape. If we start a full out attack, they might take it as an escape attempt and kill the foals. We need to get them out of their before the attack begins,” Chestnut growled, stomping her hoof and turning to the door. Her eyes locked on the town hall on the other side of the settlement.

“Should we maybe get that useful Hellhound to dig its way there and get the foals out without needing to go into the open?” Shade suggested, speaking up for the first time since the caves. She glanced out the window and took in the slavers that stood between us and the foals. “That’s a lot of slavers we need to get through.”

I shook my head, the levity of the situation coming down upon me with full force. “This whole operation is counting on Brisk and Xayah getting the gate open. We can’t jeopardize that or we risk everything,” I could feel my body going cold as I realised what had to be done. “We’re on our own.”

The second the coast was clear, we slipped out of the prison and began creeping around the edges of the camp that the slavers had set up in the middle of the town. The sun was still high in the sky, washing out almost all of the shadows and making hiding spots near impossible to find. It felt like every few steps the three of us had to duck behind cover as slavers walked past. We were making slow progress.

I attempted to quicken my pace as I remembered the slavers might kill the foals if we didn’t get them out before the battle started. We were racing against our own side to save them. We had no way of knowing if news of out attempt to save the foals had reached Brisk and Xayah’s ears.

A formation of three griffons soared above us, keeping a birds eye view of the area and keeping a lookout for intruders and escaped slaves. I shivered as I thought I saw one of their eagle like eyes pass over me, but they simply continued on, unsuspecting of us for the moment.

As we drew closer to the town hall, Chestnut motioned for us to follow her around back as she spotted two slavers standing guard outside the doorway. “There is another entrance at the back. Hopefully it is less guarded.”

We began moving around the building. We were halfway around the building when we froze. The loud booming sound of a horn echoed over the town, causing most of the slavers to look up from what they were doing and direct their attention towards the gate. To my horror, I saw the huge gate creak, and then swing open!

No! Not yet! We weren’t ready!

But the slavers didn’t seem to be panicking. From my limited field of view I could make out the shapes of Slavers pulling the large gates upon.

The slavers were opening the gates themselves?

Our small army of ponies were not the ones standing on the other side like I had been expecting. Instead I could see the vile shapes of about a dozen raiders, each one better equipped than your average wasteland psycho. At the front of the group stood a blood soaked mare, grinning at all the slavers with a wide, unsettling grin.

The slavers backed away and let the crazed group of raiders in, flinching whenever the deranged looking mare got too close to them. To my horror they seemed to be walking towards the town hall. Towards us!

“We need to move. Now,” I urged, pushing Chestnut along as she stared off at the new raiders. Both her and Shade quickly agreed and began scurrying along the side of the building.

Chestnut pulled up beside a small door on the back of the building. To my relief, there didn’t appear to be any guards. Pulling out a key, Chestnut quickly unlocked the door and ushered us inside. As we piled in, she slipped the key back into her pocket. “Toffee gave me that key ages ago, never thought I’d actually need it,” She grumbled, more to herself than Shade or I.

The sound of hoofsteps drew our attention to the stairway to the second floor. We could see the shadows of a particularly large looking slaver slowly marching his way down the steps, every second step stalling slightly as the large slaver limped forwards.

Chestnut froze, her eyes wide. She recognized that rhythm of that walk, I could tell she did.

“Hide,” Shade hissed, pulling the two of us back. We stumbled backwards, doing our best to hide behind a large, dirty looking sofa as the slaver entered the room.

The slaver was huge. Perhaps not as big as Crank or Boulder, but he definitely would have towered over Pyre or even Skull Crusher if he were still alive. Like many of Red Eye’s slavers, he was dressed in a full suit of heavy combat armour, his painted a dark black with the crimson insignia of Red Eye engraved onto the front. His coat was a dirty grey and he seemed to emit a foul musk.

“What the fuck is happening out there!” The slaver roared, his heavy limping step thudding onto the floor from the stairs. I could see Chestnut tremble more as his booming words reached her ears. “Somepony answer me! NOW!”

“Raiders, sir,” A slaver that I had not heard enter said, his voice sounding almost as scared of the massive slaver as Chestnut was. “But they aren’t here to fight us… they… they want to make an alliance.”

I gulped. Shit! We didn’t need more ponies to fight, we were outnumbered enough here as it is. Shade and I exchanged a worried look, our frightening situation allowing me to put aside me resentment towards her for the moment.

The huge slave master stood in stunned silence for a moment before chuckling to himself. “Good, we could use the help dealing with those ponies and their foolish rebellion attempt.”

My blood ran cold. They knew. The battle hadn’t even started yet and they were a step ahead of us. I should have known this would happen with somepony like Red Eye calling the shots. I glanced back at the door, wondering if I would be able to sneak back out and warn everypony before this turned into a massacre. But the huge slaver was blocking my path and if we left now, we would be leaving the foals at the mercy of slavers.

And now raiders as well, I added to myself grimly.

There was a loud, yet playful sounding knock at the door. Before either of the slavers could move to open the door, it swung open, a sharpened and gnawed on looking bone jammed into the lock. A crude and literal skeleton key. Standing on the other side of the door stood the psychotic looking unicorn raider mare.

Now up close I was able to make out her features. She had an oddly beautiful cream coloured coat with a light pink mane that slowly fade to a light blue around the tips. Her dazzling blue eyes had a scarily alert yet insane look to them as they scanned over the room as if inspecting every inch of it. Like most raiders, her body was covered in long crisscrossing silver scars and her hooves had been tied to deadly sharp bone blades. I recognized the blades immediately as Hellhound claws.

Her very presence seemed to fill the room with a stilted uncertainty. Even the huge slave master took a step back at her sudden intrusion.

Not bothering to wait for either of the slaver to invite her in, the mare waltz into the room, wiggling her rump in the air slightly as she moved and dancing to a song than none of the rest of us could hear. Her Hellhound claws scraped across the floor every few seconds, making me want to cover my ears and beg for the noise to go away.

Leaping into the air, the raider mare flopped onto the couch across from us and struck a seductive pose that would make any mare or stallion that wasn’t currently fearing for their life swoon. She raised one of her hind legs up into the air and began to lick her coat, as if she were a cat trying to groom herself.

The huge slaver cleared his throat and took a small step forwards. “Excuse me, may we help you?” Even while nervous, his loud and commanding voice sent shivers down my spine. I could see Chestnut cowering behind me more with every word.

Not bothering to lower her leg, the raider lazily glanced over at him, her tongue still dangling from her mouth. “Well duh. You think I came all the way here from Las Fucking Pegasus just for kicks?” So these were Las Pegasus raiders. shit. Her voice reflected exactly how she looked. That being completely insane and strangely seductive. “Me and the boys want to make a deal. You interested.”

The slaver simply grunted, not daring to let his gaze drift away from the raider as she went back to licking herself. “Very. what is this deal of yours?”

The raider gave him a warm smile. “As I’m sure you are aware, there is a group of ponies waiting just outside your walls. Me and my boys can help defend your little outpost from them,” She finally lowered her leg and sprawled across the couch lazily. “They have a pretty solid plan at the moment, and a lot of guns. As it stands, they have a pretty good shot at winning this fight.”

The slaver kept looking her over as if trying to make sure she wasn’t secretly a bomb about to explode at any moment. “I know you raider type. What do you want in return?”

The mares grin widened, showing off a set of sharpened white fangs. “A few things. Mostly the life of one of the ponies helping them. There’s a traitor from our gang named Pyre Blaze. I want her dead after what she did to Skull Crusher!” her grizzly smile morphed into a snarl and his hoof claw flew out, slashing at the couch she lay on and ripped it in two. Unsatisfied with the result she continued slashing at the couch, ripping out chunk after chunk of fluff. “Skull Crusher might have been dense, but he was good at givin’ a hard fucking when I told him to. Really knew how to make lady feel special, you know?”

This was bad. Really, really bad. I had to find a way to warn Pyre. I mentally threw that onto the list of things I had to do before this fight.

As she ripped more and more into the couch, the two slavers stepped back, afraid to get caught in her wrath. After a few seconds the large slaver cleared his throat again. “I’m sure that can be arranged. What are your other demands?”

The raider whipped around and gave the slavers and innocent smile, all traces of anger and violence had disappeared from her face. “We want free slaves. Now don’t get me wrong, the winged rats up in Las Pegasus are fine and do their job well, but Jinx says I can't fuck a single one of them! Apparently they’re under her protection or some shit! Do you know how hard it is to not fuck those flying cunts? I sure do! And I really really want to fuck some cunts!” She began waltzing around the room again, doing her weird butt wiggle dance walk. “So I want some personal slaves, free of charge! Us raiders ain’t huge fans of paying for things, don’t you know,” She bat her eyes at the slaver. She might have looked cute had her face not been matted with blood.

“Absolutely not!” The large slaver bellowed, his hoof stomping down hard on the floor and almost making me squeal with surprise as the shockwave made me bump slightly into the air. “Red Eye would never allow it. Everypony must play their part in uni-”

The slave was stopped abruptly as the mare flew into him, her hind hooves wrapped around the front of his face and her two front hooves pressed tight against his throat as she dangled from his head upside down. From behind the couch, I could see her Hellhound claws digging a little into his flesh, just going deep enough to draw a little bit of blood. “I might have called this a deal, but I have no intention of negotiating,” She snarled, her eyes narrowing as her hoof claws tightened around his throat. “You will give us what I want or I swear I will rip off your dick and face fuck you with it so hard that you-” She froze, her eyes drifting around the room. “Do you smell that?”

The large slaver was actually shaking as he slowly shook his head. “No, I don-”

“It is!” The raider yelled gleefully, hopping off of him and taking a deep sniff of the air. “I smell fear!” She held the vowels in the word fear for a few seconds longer than she should have. “There are some little ponies in here that don’t belong!” She sang out in a singsong voice as she started slowly stalking around the room, her hoof claws tossing aside every piece of furniture that could be used to hide behind, and even some that couldn’t. “Come out, come out wherever you are my little ponies! I'll only fuck you a little bit!”

Shade and Chestnut began trembling beside me as the crazed raider sang out. Had I not been so frozen with fear I probably would have been shaking too. I could hear her getting closer, each step followed by a crash as she threw aside a new piece of furniture.

I could hear the sound of the mare licking her lips as she approached the couch, her large hoof claws causing ear piercing scraping noises to ring out with each step as she dragged them across the floor. “I’m gonna find you! Yes I am! Yes I am!” She called out playfully, her voice in a childish and almost mocking tone.

Snapping out of the fear that had grasped me, I pulled out Boneless and readied myself. Both Chestnut and Shade quickly followed suit with their own weapons.

The raider was practically standing over top of the couch now. I could feel her hot breath as she began clawing at the ground. I heard her sniff a couple times in our direction. “Oh? What have we here?”

The door to the town hall burst open again, drawing the attention of both the slavers and the insane raider. A smaller slaver walked in, clad in little more than some light leather barding. He was riddled with gunshot wounds and was bleeding all over the floor. “Sir, we’re under attack! The wall has already been breached, they’re attacking us from all sides!” with that, he dropped to the floor, dead.

Looks like our time was up. Brisk and Xayah had opened the gate.

The large slave scowled. “Alright raider. You have a deal. You and your raiders kill these ponies, you get some slaves. Seems like a fair trade to me.”

The raider mare squealed with delight, completely forgetting about looking for us and bounded over to the large slaver, wrapping him up in a bag hug. The large slaver stiffened at the contact. “Oh I knew you were reasonable you big cute. Just remember, Pyre Blaze is mine!” She didn’t sound at all angry anymore, simply like a little filly on hearts warming eve. She clapped her hooves together happily. “Oh I’m going to fuck that bitch so fucking hard! Look out Pyre, I'ma comin’!” And with that she bounded out of the door.

I was starting to be able to hear the sounds of gunfire echoing in from outside. The sounds of screaming laced with the occasional explosion was slowly becoming overpowering, even from this distance.

The large slaver turned back to look at the only other slaver in the room. “They are no doubt here to free the slaves. I won't allow this,” He paused, glancing out the door at the firefight I couldn’t see yet. “Red Eye is going to hate this…” He took a deep breath, before a look of grim determination crossed over him. “Kill the foals.” Not waiting for the smaller slaver to acknowledge his demand, the large brute of a slaver marched from the building, a large shotgun raised in his mouth.

My mouth dropped. He was willing to murder the foals… Just to spite us! How dare he!

Clearly, Chestnut had very much the same reaction. She leapt over the couch and rammed her shotgun into the remaining slavers face. The slaver fell back, clutching his broken muzzle with a hoof. Chestnuts levitated her combat shotgun over his head and fired, bursting his head open like a gore filled balloon.

“Come on, we don’t have much time!” Chestnut shouted as she started racing up the stairs. Shade and I leapt from behind our cover and started racing after her as fast as we could. Already I could hear a few slavers on the top floor racing down to see what the shots were.

“How the fuck did they get in already!” I heard a slaver shout as they raced down the steps and rounded the corner to meet us. Boneless was up and firing before he managed to get a shot in. One of his legs were blown out from under him, making him topple down the stairs and lie in a bloody heap.

Two more slavers came bounding around the corner, hunting rifles raised in their magical grip. We dove to the side as they opened fire upon our position, blowing holes in the walls and ripping up the dirty carpet that covered the floor. I pushed Shade behind a wall as she was almost blasted apart by the lethal fire.

Chestnut dove from cover, her combat shotgun firing off six rounds of buckshot before she had to jump back behind cover and quickly reload her shotgun.

I could hear three more slavers start rushing down the stairs towards us, the loud cracks of their rifles joining the orchestra that bombarded us with fire. There was a small click from somewhere above me followed by the sound of something small bouncing down the stairs towards us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a grenade roll to a stop by our hooves.

My eyes shot wide with alarm. “Grenade!” I screamed, pushing Shade out of cover with me and back down the steps. I saw Chestnut dive after us, followed a second later by the ear ringing boom of the grenade going off. Chunks of shrapnel flew over us, a few cutting into my coat and ripping hole in my Stable barding.

Through the smoke, I saw the five slavers advancing, rifles drawn and ready to shoot at anything that moved.

Reaching out with my magic I unlatched the magazine on one of the slavers guns, making it drop to the floor with a loud clatter. The slaver looked down, realising his predicament. “What the fuck!”

The group of slavers surprise and hold of fire was long enough for us to turn the tables. Chestnut and I both fired up with our shotguns, each one of us blowing the heads off of two slavers. Their bodies fell limp onto the stairs, making the others slavers stumble as they tried to reorganize themselves.

I moved back behind the corner of the wall, quickly reloading three shells into Boneless. One of the slavers spotted me and rushed forwards, swinging his rifle around the corner to get at me.

Bang!

The slaver dropped dead, a well aimed shot from Shades gun tearing out his neck. The precision suggested she had used SATS to line up her shot. I glanced over at her, taking in her mortified, wide eyed expression.

“I just killed somepony,” She uttered softly, a small tear rolling down her dark, lavender cheek. “Goddesses, I just kill somepony.”

The last slaver looked at his fallen comrades, before looking up at the three of us slowly closing in on him. Wisely, he turned tail and started bolting back up the stairs as fast as he could. He didn’t get far before Chestnut’s shotgun blasted out his back two legs, sending him flopping to the ground and smacking his head on the stairs. Upon impact, he went very still.

Without a word, we raced up the rest of the stairs. At the top, several fillies and colts huddled up together in a large cage in the corner of the room. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be hurt. A slaver that had remained behind to stand guard over the foals fired at us as we made it onto the floor, already awaiting our arrival.

The three of us scattered. A trail of bullets pounded into the wall behind me as the slaver chased after me with his fire. The foals screamed and tried to push themselves away from the booming sound of the gunfire.

I swung my baton out with my magic, knocking the slavers gun away and sending it spinning across the floor. He dove away as Chestnut shot at him with her shotgun, the buckshot missing completely and instead blasting a hole into the wall and out into the raging battle beyond.

The slaver rushed for his gun, knocking Shade aside as she tried to jump into his path. His mouth clamped around the grip of the gun and swung it up just in time to see my baton as it once again rammed into him, this time sending him flying across the room and crashing into a wall.

Chestnut’s combat shotgun roared as he tried to pull himself back to his hooves, pulping his head and making his now bloody body slump over. She quickly turned back to the foals in the cage and knelt down to their level.

“Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay. We’ll get you out of here,” She turned back to look at us. “Shade, come with me!” She looked at me directly. “We’ll hold down this position and give you time! You get to picking the lock on that cage!”

I flushed at that. “Might be a bad time to mention this, but I can’t pick locks.”

Chestnut just gave me a flat stare before eyeing my cutie mark. “You’re telling me that you don’t have a lockpicking cutie mark?”

I felt my blush growing. “NO! Why does everybody think that! Does no pony know what screwdrivers are actually for? And surely ponies sometimes pick locks with a screwdriver that isn’t red!”

Chestnut groaned and walked over to the cage. “Fine! You two hold the position, I’ll see what I can do,” she bent down and started working away at the lock. Her hooves were shaking a little and I could tell she didn’t have nearly as much skill with lock lockpicking as Brisk did.

I gestured for Shade to follow me as I went to go stand at the top of the stairs. If the slavers tried to break in, this would work as a good choke point. Without hesitation, Shade scrambled forwards and stood next to me, her weapon drawn as we awaited any unwanted guests.

I could hear the sounds of battle picking up outside. Gunfire mixed with pained howls and panicked screams. Somewhere off in the distance I could hear a loud booming noise as some sort of heavy artillery gun fired at charging ponies, mowing them down on the spot. Soon, the wild whoops of raiders began drowning out even the sound of gunfire as they surged in for the kill. I prayed Pyre Blaze was going to be okay with that psycho out to get her.

After a few seconds of listening to the battle, I began to make out the sound of Shade trying to catch my attention. The fighting below was simply so loud I hadn’t been able to hear her from right beside me.

“What!” I snapped at her, not bothering myself enough to look her direction. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to her at the moment.

Shade gulped, taking a small step away from me. “I just wanted to say I truly am sorry. For what I did. I don’t know what I could ever do to earn you trust again bu-”

“You already tried apologizing,” I growled, swinging my head around to face her at last. “Saying sorry isn’t going to get you off the hook for what you did! I saw you look all shocked that you killed that slaver back there, but the truth is Shade, you’ve killed a lot more than just him!”

“Amber, I’m trying to-”

I snorted and stomped my hoof. “I don’t give a damn! Stable 25 is on you Shade! I trusted you! You- we were friends! And you fucked it up! Now you need to live with it!” I could see Chestnut cast me a worried glance as she heard me yelling over the gunfire. I lowered my voice and turned away. “You can’t fix what you have done.”

Shade was silent for a moment, simply staring at me with sad old eyes that betrayed her age. At last she too looked away and down the stairs to the floor below. “I know I can’t fix it… I just… Maybe I can do a little good before this is all done and through.”

I heard a loud smash from down below followed by the sounds of angry shouts as a group of slavers burst through the door. I could hear their surprised yells as they found the bloody corpses of the slavers we had killed. “Shit! Mother Fucker! There already in here!” A slaver yelled. I heard them all start running for the stairs as a unit.

“You want to do some good? Then help end this,” I grunted, readying Boneless for the incoming slavers. Shade gave me a small nod and readied her own gun, a 10mm pistol with the Stable-Tec logo engraved on it.

The first group of slavers turned the corner. We fired upon them, sending them into hysterics as the ones leading the charge were blown apart by Boneless’ explosive fire.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Reload.

Another round of slavers began rushing forwards, their assault rifles firing as they tried to fight their way through the chokepoint.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Reload.

They were beginning to put a pattern to my attacks, leaping out from behind the cover we had initially used whenever I would reload. Shade’s pistol cracked off a few shots, most missing their target, but two finding their home in a slavers legs as they rushed towards us. The slaver fell, collapsing in front of two other slaver that were trying to rush up the steps and making them stumble.

A few shots whizzed past me, causing me to duck back and fire blindly from behind my cover. I heard a slaver yell in pain as the buckshot blew into him, but I didn’t know if he died or not. More shots pinged off the walls around me, spraying me with rock, dust and plaster.

Shade screamed as a bullet tore through her forehoof. She tumbled backwards and fell, clutching her bleeding hoof.

“Damn it,” I grunted, swinging out my baton and bashing a slaver that had reached the top of the stairs across the head. They stumbled back, their head crumpled in from the heavy blow. “Chestnut, how’s the lock going!” I shouted at her frantically, taking another blind shot down the stairs.

“Give me a few more seconds!” She cried out, her concentration entirely directed towards getting the lock to the cage open. “I haven’t needed to do this since Filly!”

More shots lanced out at me, making me duck back as I tried to aim up a shot. To my surprise, Shade had pulled herself up through the pain and was making potshots down at the slavers below us. A second shot rang out, tearing through Shade’s already injured hoof. Again she collapsed to the ground with a scream, this time unable to pull herself back up proper.

Two slavers made it to the top of the stairs, their guns firing at the first pony they could find. A shot blasted out Chestnuts back leg, sending her falling away from the cage. Foals cried out as they watched her fall, reaching out as if hoping that by grabbing onto her, they could save themselves.

Chestnut growled in pain and spun her shotgun around to face the slaver that shot her. Four rounds went straight into his face, reducing his head to little more than a bloody blob.

The second slaver spun around to face me, his rifle firing a round straight into my chest. The heavy impact of the blow knocked me from my hooves and sent me falling backwards, the heavy plating of the combat armour Chestnut had helped me into being the only thing that kept the bullet from penetrating my heart.

Shade fired two shots from her pistol at the slaver, one of the two embedding itself in his side. Howling with pain, the slaver reared up and bucked shade across the face. Shade’s head was slammed into the ground from the impact.

Boneless fired again, ripping the coat and flesh off of the slavers torso and sending him limp to the ground.

Trying my best to ignore the pain, I pushed myself back to my hooves and took a defensive position at the top of the stairs again, facing off against the twelve slavers still on their way up. Behind me, I spotted Chestnut pull herself over to the cage and continue trying to pick the lock open, but her hooves were now shakier than ever before.

I could see five more slavers rush around the corner and make a mad rush up the stairs towards me. There were just too many! We couldn’t hold them all off!

Blam!

A bullet ripped into my fetlock. I yelled as the throbbing, burning pain raced up my body. I fired two more shots into the slavers below, only managing to stagger one before I once again ducked behind cover and collapsed, trying to reloaded my weapon with trembling hooves.

There was a click and I saw Chestnut swing the cage door open. The foals rushed from the cage and cowered behind any cover that they could, their hooves raised above their heads defensively as they whimpered. “They’re out!” Chestnut shouted, pulling herself up and quickly limping over to me to hide behind the cover, her combat shotgun out and ready to fire. “We need to get them out of here!”

Thanks for stating the obvious.

I heard Shade fire off three more shots from where she lay on the ground before her gun ran empty. I heard her curse and roll behind the wall, still unable to pull herself to a standing position with her wounded leg.

“Everypony down!” I heard one of the slavers shout. I peaked around the edge of my cover to see what he had been yelling about. What I saw made me stop dead in my tracks.

At the bottom of the stairs sat a massive artillery machine gun that the slavers had wheeled into the building. A slaver stood behind it, aiming it up the hallway at us.

Well fuck me! I quickly ducked back behind my cover. "Get down!"

The massive gun fired. My eardrums exploded as the rapidfire gunshots blared through the building. Massive hoof sized bullets whirred past me and tore open everything they came in contact with. The walls, the furantre, the roof. Bullets ricochet around us, threatening to slash open our throats and burst open out heads. A massive hole was ripped open in the sky as the artillery gun roared, giving us a clear view of the dark cloud filled sky. Even the dim glow of the sun couldn’t seem to seep through the thick layer of black smoke that had consumed the air around the Hollow Shades.

“The roof! Get them to the roof!” Chestnut yelled, levitating her combat shotgun around the corner the second the huge gun ceased firing and firing off a few shots herself.

I turned to the foals and began helping them each up to the roof. I wrapped a field of telekinesis around as many of them as I could and began trying to lift them up and out onto the crumbling ceiling. I screamed from the effort it required to levitate them up. I saw a few bullets from the battle outside fly over the rooftops from the large hole the slavers artillery had made.

“Keep your heads low!” I ordered as the first foals began scrambling onto the roof. A few foals gave a horrified squeak of acknowledgement as they wriggled themselves up onto the somewhat sturdy roof of the building. I saw a filly duck as a bullet flew past their head.

“The roof! They’re going to the roof! Cut them off!” I slaver started yelling. Seconds later, Chestnut’s combat shotgun silenced them. But the word had already gotten out. Slavers were beginning to break off from the main group and head in a different direction.

Chestnut’s yell of alarm and the spinning of the large artillery was all the warning that I got. “Move aside! Move aside now!” I yelled frantically to the foals as I myself took cover behind the wall. The foals scattered as the heavy artillery once again open fired.

I heard a colt scream as he was torn apart by the extensive explosive fire. The loud booming of the gun and massive wave of air drowning out my screams and forcing my eyes to go painfully dry as I watched the colt fall, his body now a broken and bloody mess.

Damn them!

The slavers that hadn’t broken off were pushing forwards, using the large guns devastating fire to keep us at bay while they advanced. I could hear them firing off shots, a few of the rounds coming dangerously close to many of the foals.

Chestnut jumped forwards, taking the bullet for one of the foals as a slaver fired upon them. She fell back onto the crying foal, a large gun wound in her side.

Gritting my teeth I lifted the last few foals onto the roof. As soon as the last one scrambled up, my magic popped and I staggered backwards, exhaustion quickly overtaking me. Chestnut pushed herself up and helped haul me to my hooves. “Come on Amber, we aren’t out of this yet!”

Adrenaline racing through me, I rushed over and threw an almost unconscious Shade over my back. She was loosing a lot of blood. We were all loosing a lot of blood actually. I could feel my head grow lighter every second as the blood poured from my body.

Shade wasn’t very heavy, but I wasn’t a very strong pony. I struggled to maintain my balance with the new weight on my back and began trying to climb my way to the roof. Bullets slapped into the rubble around me as I darted upwards and latched my hoof around the edge of the hole. Four fillies quickly rushed to my aid and helped pull me up with them.

Now outside and on the roof, I had a clear view of the massive battle raging all around us. Hundreds of ponies charged and fired at each other while other lashed and cut with knives and blades. Fires raged around the darkening landscape, filling the air with a dark black and red smoke. Ponies were dying left and right, some dropping on the spot as a stray bullet blew out their brains while others lay screaming on the ground with broken limbs before someone finally put them out of their misery.

The artillery in the town hall wasn’t the only one either. Slavers wheeled large guns around and placed them at the end of long rows of buildings to prevent ponies from making a charge.

Off in the distance I could see large jets of fire spewing over large groups of Slavers as Pyre, Toffee and Boulder let a large group of ponies in a direct attack against the slavers.

It was chaos. That was the only word to properly describe it. I felt myself shaking more as I stared down at the endless bloodshed. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason, simply a desperate attempt to kill as many ponies as you could.

Chestnut began racing across the room towards the hole. As she neared she jumped into the air, her hoof extending for the lip of the roof. Another bullet shot through her hind leg. She fell short, collapsing to the ground with a scream of pain.

“NO!” I scream, dropping Shade onto the roof and jumping back down to the floor below. Slavers shot at me as I wrapped my trembling hooves around Chestnut’s waist and began hauling her up the rubble. I felt her helping to crawl forwards on her aching limbs as we slowly made our way back up to the roof.

As soon as we had reached the roof I rolled off of her and tried to catch my breath. It was all to much.

“There they are! Get them!” A slaver yelled. A hatch farther down the roof slammed open as four slavers began pulling themselves up onto the roof with us. Still in a battle, no time to rest.

Feeling too weak to use my magic, I raised Boneless into the air with my mouth and fired. The shot ripped apart a slavers foreleg, sending him falling off of the roof and tumbling down where he hit the ground with a solid thunk.

“Next roof! Go! Go!” Chestnut urged, finally pulling herself up completely and ushering the foals towards a nearby roof they could jump to. I was amazed she still found the strength to stand after all of her injuries.

The foals began rushing towards the edge of the roof, leaping off at the last moment and landing heavily on the lower roof opposite them.

Following in Chestnut’s example, I pulled myself up and slung Shade over my back. I fired another shot at the slavers clamoring towards us. The targeted slaver jumped aside, avoiding the shot, but it gave Chestnut and I enough time retreat backwards and hop to the next roof as well.

The slavers baulked and started firing after us, their shots ripping holes in the adjacent buildings roof and shattering two hundred year old shingles.

“Keep going! Don’t stop!” Chestnut instructed, rushing the foals along the roof and onto the next. Slavers from down below were beginning to look up at the commotion and spot us, turning their weapons skywards and peppering us with fire.

I skidded across the roof as I tried to avoid a bullet, only to find myself slipping down the sharp incline, Shade's added weight dragging me down faster. My hooves clawed at the roof desperately as I felt myself start sliding down and losing my hoofing. Finally I managed to snag my hoof on a broken chunk of the roof and steady myself before rushing back across the roof after Chestnut and the foals. I could hear Shade trying to mumble something from my back, but either due to the blaring noises of the gunfight, or that she was simply too weak to speak coherently, I was unable to make out any of it.

Ponies on our side of the fight we starting to spot us as well, shifting their efforts to keeping the slavers off of us as we made a mad rush for the town prison. The gunfire around us lessened, but it didn’t let up entirely.

As I jumped the gap of a building after the foals I made out the shape prison. It seemed untouched so far compared to the wreck the battle had left most buildings in. It didn’t look like the battle had managed to make it there yet.

We were going to make it!

The roof behind us was blown apart as a slaver with a rocket launcher began firing up at us. I was almost knocked off my hooves at the roof started to collapse below me.

“Run!” I screamed, thrashing my back hooves and rushing forwards with a small burst of fear induced speed. As if telling them to run was going to make them run faster.

A second rocket slammed into the roof between me and the foals, separating me from the group. Chestnut turned back, holding out her hooves as if suggesting she’d catch me if I jumped. I waved her off. “Keep going! Get the foals to safety!”

Regardless of if she heard me over the battle, she seemed to understand what I was saying. I saw her yell something to me that I didn’t catch before darting after the foals to the prison. I hoped they could get into the Hellhound tunnel and out of the settlement safely. I glanced back at the limp form of Shade and my own bleeding body. Hell, I hoped I could get there safely, neither of us were in any condition to fight as we are now. We needed healing pronto.

The slaver with the rocket launcher fell to a bullet between the eyes, pulling the trigger of his huge weapon in his last seconds. A rocket flashed out towards us. I dropped through the broken hole in the roof from his previous attack and rolled over Shade to protect her with my body as the rocket detonated above our heads, sending debris raining down upon us. A large chunk of wood crashed down onto the back of my head, threatening to throw me into unconsciousness.

I pushed the debris aside and pulled myself to my unsteady hooves. With a groan of pain, I once again slung Shade over my back and pushed my way through the collapsing building. Each step sent a new wave of agonizing pain shooting through me.

Finally, I managed to stumble to the door and out into the street. A group of slavers rounded the corner of the street, yelling frantically and firing behind them as they rushed in my direction. One of the slavers spotted us, his gun spinning around to face me.

I yelped and started running towards the prison as fast as I could, which in my state wasn’t very fast. A felt the rapid whooshing of air as bullets flew past me as the slavers gave pursuit. Up ahead another group of slavers came running around the corner, guns raised and aimed at the two of us.

“Oh come on! Give me a break!” I screamed in frustration, dashing forwards and trying to make it to the prison before the slavers in front of me blocked it off. “Can I just have one thing go my way for once! JUST ONE!”

Something went my way. From behind the slavers emerged a large group of security ponies, their assault rifles cracking down on the slavers moving in to block my path. The slavers turned returning fire upon the greater threat as the security ponies gave me the opening I needed to escape. Slavers and Security ponies were dying everywhere, each second leading to a new pony to drop dead to the ground. It was all to much. Just to much...

I never saw who won that skirmish as I darted into the prison with Shade still limply draped over my back. As I bolted in, I saw Chestnut directing the last foal into the hole that led to the Hellhound tunnel below.

Chestnut looked up as I burst in her eyes going wide as she spotted something behind me. “Amber, down!” I dropped as her combat shotgun flew out, blasting the head off a slaver that had chased me in. She quickly gestured for me to get into the hole. “Come on!”

I rushed past her and dove into the hole, landing harshly on the rough rock tunnel floor. Picking myself up with a great deal of effort, I began my slow descent down the tunnel. I could sense Chestnut limping a few inches behind me, but my world was spinning so much I was having trouble staying awake.

“A-Amber,” I heard Shades weak voice stutter from atop my back. Her voice was frail and shaky. “W-Why?”

It took me a few seconds to clear my head enough to properly answer, or even fully comprehend the simple question. Why was I saving her after everything? everything would probably be easier for me if I had just left her to the mercy of the slavers back there. “Because you’re trying,” I finally grunted, almost falling over as the effort of talking almost made me loose my hoofing. “I don’t forgive you, I probably never will... but at least you’re trying.”

I could hear Shade gasp for breath a little as she tried to make her mouth form words. “Th…” She choughed, blood dripping from her mouth. “Thank you,” With that, she went limp on my back.

By the time I hauled Shade from the tunnel and into the embrace of the medical team on standby that immediately went to work on our wounds, I was so far beyond tired that I simply fell limp to the ground With Chestnut. I felt the doctors pick Shade up and whisk her off, mostly likely for some more serious treatment.

A medic in a Stable-Tec lab coat bent over me and pushed a healing potion to my lips. I felt the magical fluid drizzle down my throat and heal over most of my bleeding wounds. Beside me, I could see another doctor doing the same for Chestnut.

“F-Foals…” I groaned, trying to sit back up. The whole world seemed to be spinning and I was seeing double of everything.

“Yes, the foals are alright,” The medic said, gently pushing me back down. “They are safe now. So are you.”

Chestnut bolted upright, pushing herself into a sitting position. Her hooves lashed out and grabbed the doctor tending to her by the collar. “How’s the battle going! Are we winning!”

The doctor hesitated at her question. “Things are… not looking good. A gang of raiders we weren’t expecting joined the fight. I don’t know if anypony else is going to make it out of there alive.”

I suddenly felt very much awake, the drowsiness that had consumed me quickly getting washed away with fear. Brisk and Xayah were still in there! And that psycho was going after Pyre! By Chestnut’s widening eyes, I could tell similar fears were racing through her mind as well. “Give me another healing potion, and some chems if you have any,” Chestnut demanded, crawling to her hooves and raising her combat shotgun in her magic.

I pushed myself up, ignoring every scream my body made at the sheer effort of doing so. “I’m coming with you. I’ve got my own friends in there,” I said, putting on a brave face and trying not to show my fear.

The doctor shook their head, urgently trying to get us to sit back down. “There is no way I’m letting either of you run in there in your state. You hardly made it out as it is! You’d die if you went back in like this!,” They said, placing a hoof on Chestnut’s shoulder. She pushed the hoof aside. “I took an oath to do everything I could to keep ponies alive! I simply cannot let you do this!”

“Well I’m going in regardless!” Chestnut snapped, the strong, determined look I had come to know her for returning to her pale face. “My friends and family are down there… and so is Bomb Collar. I think I’ve been trying to escape from that monsters for long enough. If you want to keep to your oath, you’ll give us the healing I asked for to help us stay alive the best we can.”

I gave a strong nod in agreement. The doctor looked back and forth between the two of us, before sighing and pulling out medical supplies from their bag.

Chestnut and I raced down the Hellhound tunnel. Each step bringing us closer and closer to the raging battle ahead. As we drew closer, my senses were once again assaulted by the overload of sound and smells. Gunfire, screaming, explosions, the crackle of a dozen large fire. My nostrils filled with the rancid stench of rot and smoke.

I could still feel the tingling sensation of the three healing potions I had downed. Much of the aching and shooting pains in my hooves and chest were beginning to dissipate. The potions however had done little to remove the growing fatigue in my mind. For that we had each taken a tablet of Buck and a small dose of some other chem I hadn’t of heard before called Dash.

For the strangest reason, I felt great! Like I could take on the whole army of slavers by myself. Was this what Buck did? Was this how Brisk felt all the time? I could see why it was addicting. Granted, this could all be the Dash talking. I had no idea.

“Who was that slaver back in the town hall?” I asked as we raced along, finding running a lot easier than it should have been in my injured state. “You recognized him, didn’t you?”

Chestnut nodded, he pace not slowing. “Bomb Collar. He was my old slave master back in Filly. One of the old school Slavers from before Red Eye. Worked for a real monster I often heard about named Shackles.”

Sounded like somepony that needed to be stopped. For some weird reason, I found myself grinning from ear to ear. “Then let’s go and end that fucker!”

Chestnut gave me a grim, almost loopy smile in return. Yup, we were on way to many drugs.

We crawled our way out of the hole in the prison and made our way to the door. To my growing pleasure, I found that the fight I had left behind in my desperate run for the prison had been won by the security ponies, who now stood guard around the prison to ensure no slavers could get through the Hellhound tunnel and make it to the escaping slaves.

One of the security ponies turned to us, quickly giving us a one over before pointing towards a small barrier of sandbags they had set up. “There’s another group of slavers coming this way! Take that position and hold it. We need to last this out!” he ordered, raising his large assault carbine and preparing for the slavers to round the corner. The two of us quickly ducked behind the designated location. “If we can’t wait this one out we should be free to advance further into the settlement. It should take a few minutes before the Slavers will be able to launch a third-”

The first slaver rounded the corner before he could finish. In an instant, all the guns were up and firing at him as he sped towards us. Bullets ripped apart him limbs long before he had a chance to defend himselves.

“Steady! Here they come!” Another security pony yelled out. There was a tense moment of stillness while we waited for their approach. I could have sworn my heart almost stop several times in the span of a minute. Waiting in war seemed almost as deadly as the war itself.

Then the slavers burst from around the corner, their guns spewing a constant fire upon us as they charged. Our side returned fire, our shots tearing into them just as much as theirs tore into us. There was no dodging or diving for cover here. Simply a desperate rush and hope that you don’t get shot.

With my horn still suffering from the exertion of lifting the foals onto the roof, I fired shot after shot at a the slavers with Boneless clamped tight in my mouth. Twice I thought I had been shot, only to find that the blood splashing across my face belonged to somepony else.

Within a minute all the slavers lay dead, their broken and bloody bodies scattered across the street and soaking the scorched ground red. More than half of our platoon had been decimated, only the few that had been lucky enough to be at the back had survived. Chestnut placed her hoof over a a bullet wound on her shoulder that poured blood and applied pressure.

“Where are most of the slavers gathering!?” Chestnut called out, keeping her eyes fixed on the corner in case more slavers decided to ambush us.

The security pony we had first talked to now lay dead at my hooves, so another pony stepped forwards to answer. “Most ponies are gathering at the front gate! The diversion at the back wall failed. They had been waiting for us! The charge at the front is doing all they can to keep from falling back at the moment!” They yelled over the din of battle. Half of their words were completely drowned out by a sudden explosion in the distance, making me need to fill in a couple of the words with my mind.

“That’s where he’ll be!” Chestnut shouted to me, vaulting over the sandbags and starting moving towards the gate. “He’ll want to be leading the charge!”

Not bothering to question her, I rushed behind her to keep up as we raced through the war torn streets. Up ahead, a small group of slavers and security ponies shot at each other from the cover of two broken houses. We raced forwards, doing our best to evade being shot by either side as we pushed towards the main gate. I could see it up ahead. A large swarm of slavers and raiders pushed back against the slightly smaller group of ponies trying to force their way through the chokepoint. I could see the burst of flame as Pyre send anypony that got within range ablaze.

As we got closer a rain of fire started firing down on us from above. Chestnut and I ducked to the side, getting under cover as a squad of talon merc flew above us, their large anti-material rifles picking off anypony that seemed to be a threat. I even saw one griffon shoot one of their own slavers. I suppose in war you didn’t have time to take chances.

We pushed forward again, just barely dodging the massive explosion of a grenade as it detonated behind us, filling the air with dust and smoke. The sudden blast nearly knocked me off my hooves as I was sent sprawling forwards a few feet.

I skidded to a stop in front of a surprised raider, swinging my baton out and sending him crashing to the ground. I saw Chestnut do something similar, her combat shotgun already drawn and sending buckshot into two raiders from behind.

“Well well! Look who decided to join the party!” I head Pyre shout over the madness around us. Despite what she said, her face and tone of voice were as serious as ever. “Welcome to the real fight Amber!”

Pyre jumped to the side as a raider plowed towards her. Her hind hoof lashed out, catching the raider across the face and throwing them with a strength I didn’t realize Pyre possessed outside of her power armour back into the oncoming slavers. Her flamers roared and set another slaver on fire as he tried to shoot down a weaponless security pony.

Beside her stood Boulder, his face as stoic and grim as ever. His massive battle saddle mounted mini gun let loose a constant fire upon the slavers and raiders. Any that dared to get close to him were met with a powerful swing of his sledgehammer. Somewhere behind them, Toffee blasted at slavers and raiders alike with her shotgun while she organized the troops into some form of attack.

A raider leapt at me, a massive serrated machete clenched in it’s mouth and swinging for my neck. The near silent shot of Xayah’s sniper somewhere above us shot a bullet straight through the raiders brain, making him fall short and collapse at my hooves.

I looked up, I spotting Xayah, Brisk and one other pony as they tried to secure one of the tower walls around the settlement as a wave of slavers rushed towards them.

Even through all of this, Xayah was looking out for me. I could find an odd comfort in that.

We were being surrounded on all sides, overpowered at every move. We were outnumbered, out gunned and our attack plan was failing. We needed to end this! We needed to cut the head of the snake!

“Push then back!” I heard the booming voice of Bomb Collar ring out over the chaos. From the way Chestnut locked up, I could tell she heard him too.

I gave her a quick nod. “Let's finish this!”

We rushed through the violence towards the commanding sound of his voice. Every few seconds we were needing to backtrack and take a new route as the one we were currently taking either collapsed into rubble or was consumed by never ending violence.

At last we saw him. The massive slaver towered over most of the combatants on the battlefield, his thick combat armour deflecting a majority of the bullets that came his way. Every few seconds his shotgun would fire off a round, more often than not hitting his targets with a deadly accuracy a shotgun shouldn’t possess. Five slavers surrounded him protectively, making sure he had cover from all sides as he commanded the small slaver army in the attack.

I could see a rage building up in Chestnut as she strode towards him. Her shotgun raised and leveled with the huge slavers head. “Bomb Collar!” She yelled out, drawing his attention to her.

The moment his eyes landed on the smaller pony, Bomb Collar's face broke into a huge grin. “Well if it ain’t the little slave gal that thought she could get away from Fillydelphia! How’s that working out for you!” He bellowed, gesturing to the violence around us. He seemed to be relishing every second of the mayhem. “I told you back when you were my slave that you could never escape. Everypony ends up back in Fillydelphia somehow!” he gestured for his guards to advance and pointed a hoof at Chestnut. “Bring her to me! I want that one in chains!”

I rushed to go help her, only for five raiders to slam into me from the side, each one of them welding a jagged and rusty knife in either their mouth or magic. I rolled to the side as they swung their blades at me.

A shot from Xayah up above sent one of the raiders flying backwards, their chest spewing blood from the brutal gunshot wound.

The rest of the raiders pounced, lashing at me with hooves and blades. I rolled aside again and jumped to my hooves, the effects of the Buck and Dash allowing me to move far faster than I ever had before. But these raiders were merciless and relentless, these were las Pegasus raiders. When fighting them, you don’t get time to rest. Each and every second seemed to be marked by another attack, as they pushed in on me.

Boneless fired two shots, emptying the gun into one of the raiders head. I popped my gun open and backpedaled trying to give myself time to reload as the raiders moved in. I was starting to run low on ammo too, only ten shots left before I had to rely only on my baton alone. And in a firefight of this scale, I didn’t like the idea of that.

I had better make these shots count.

With Boneless now loaded to full capacity, I jumped into SATS and targeted each of the three remaining raiders head. The SATS spell ended and Boneless roared forth. The first two raiders were blasted open, the third ducked to the side, having a few seconds to realize what was happening.

The dodge saved him from my attack, but it didn’t save him.

A tall beige stallion with a long brown coat and wide brimmed fedora atop his head fired a shot from his .44 revolver beside me. The last raiders head was blown open as the stranger shot him down with terrifying accuracy.

I turned in shock to the strange appearance of the mysterious figure. “You again! How did you-” He gave me a small wink and tip of his wide brimmed hat and he was gone. I blinked, not sure what the hell had just happened.

Turning back, I saw Chestnut engaged in a bloody hoof to hoof combat with Bomb Collar, three of his guards laying broken and brutalized on the ground. I couldn't tell what happened to the other two through all the chaos. Both of their shotguns lay a few feet away where they had dropped them, either knocked away during combat or simply tossed aside to engage themselves in the much more personal fight. Regardless of Chestnuts determination and will to kill the one who had hurt her, she was constantly being beaten down by his sheer size and power and he pummelled into her. One massive Amber Aura sized hoof raised up and slammed down on Chestnut’s head, sending her sprawling to the ground before the great slaver.

I screamed and rushed forwards, shoving my horn upwards, it’s sharp tip jabbing into Bomb Collars underbelly. The force of the attack sent a shock shooting through my body as my horn threatened to get rammed into my skull from the impact. Bomb Collar roared and slammed me across the chest with one of his huge hooves, sending me flying back and crashing into a group of security ponies.

I hauled myself back up, my hooves feeling heavy as I tried to rush the slaver again. Clearly the effects of the Buck and Dash were wearing off. Glancing down at my body, I realized it was less the decline in effect of the chems and more how broken my body truly was. I was bleeding everywhere from a multitude of wounds I didn’t even know I had received. If anything the chems were the only thing still keeping me from collapsing on the spot.

Bomb Collar turned to face me, his grin still etched across his face as his eyes rolled over the desolation around us. He raised his shotgun and prepared for my charge.

Chestnut beat me to it, pulling herself from the ground and flying at the huge slaver with a flurry of hooves. Bomb Collar whirled with surprise, batting her attacks aside with his hooves as she tried to pummel him into the ground.

I charged again, using all of my strength to swing my baton at his head. The black shock baton collided with his noggin, sending a bolt of electricity pulsing through his body. His whole form went rigid for a moment, before he shook himself out of the shock and sent the back of his hoof crashing into my chest.

I was flung back, my whole body spinning end over end as all the air was thrown from my lungs. My head smashed into the thick stone wall of a collapsing structure and all went dark.

The world I woke up in wasn’t much better than the one I had just left. I found myself in a small enclosed metal chamber, with the only exit being a rusted yet sturdy looking barred door leading further into whatever building this was. Even inside, the air was tinged a crimson red.

Below me I could see the forms of Crank and Scarlet tight in each others embrace, each one of them wrapped in bandages from the numerous wounds they received from Red Eye’s slavers. I could relate with them with that.

“What are they going to do?” Scarlet asked, her voice betraying much of the worry that she felt. “I can stay in here for the two years, find a different way out. This can’t be the only way!” her worry was slowly turning into panic.

Crank raised his hoof and ran it down her long matted mane. “It’s going to be alright, you’ll be safe.”

Scarlet pushed him back a little. “It’s not supposed to just be me! It’s supposed to be both of us! We are supposed to do everything together!” she protested. “Stop just trying to protect me and think about yourself for once. Just once! Please…”

Crank simply shook his head and continued running a hoof down her mane as she shivered and cried into his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay,” He repeated in his deep voice. “I’ll do what they need me for, and when I’m done, I’ll come and find you. I’ll get you through this.”

He sobs were becoming uncontrollable. “But I need you! I- I can’t do this without you…”

Crank simply nodded and lifted her chin before gently placing a kiss upon her lips. For a short, near magical moment, Scarlets sobbing subsided.

Heavy hoofsteps echoed down the hall towards their cell. The both looked up as a group of twenty slavers approached them. Red Eye was taking no chances here. “It’s time,” One of the slavers grunted, pulling aside the door and gesturing for Crank to follow them.

Crank stood, standing protectively over Scarlet for a moment before taking a shaky step forwards. He was scared. More scared than he had been in his whole life. And yet he still walked forwards. Scarlet wailed and threw her hooves around his as he moved towards the slavers. “No! I won’t let you take him!”

“Scarlet, please,” Crank soothed, his hoof lifting up her chin once again. “Be strong for me. It will all be alright in the end. I promise.”

Scarlet sniffed, taking a small step back and nodding. “You come back to me you hear. Please goddesses come back to me.”

Crank nodded, giving her a warm smile. “I will... I love you.”

Then he walked away to join the slavers, glancing back only once as they pulled him away towards a fate he could never properly comprehend.

I was violently thrown back into the waking world as a grenade detonated a few feet from me, showering me in shrapnel and sending my near limp body flying across the battleground.

I pushed myself up, spitting out the ash and dust that had accumulated in my mouth and quickly jumped aside as the body of a security pony fell dead next to me. I looked around trying to make sense of the world around me. Everything seemed to be spinning and a loud ringing noise attacked my ears.

Pyre Blaze rushed past me, her flamers spewing fire as she tried to buck three raiders that had leapt onto he off. I saw a stray bullet pierce Boulders thick armour, the large stallion dropping dead to the ground without so much as a final word to join the building pile of corpses. Something fell from above me, a griffon’s body perhaps? I didn't have time to check as it was covered by more blood and corpses.

Another explosion launched me into the air, sending my already turned around sense of direction into even more disarray. I slammed against a slaver, knocking him down as I landed. Ponies were dying all around me. I couldn’t even tell who was who any more. They all just seemed to be moving blobs in a fuzzy world.

But I could make out one shape. The large form of a slaver looming over everypony else as they bashed his hooves down against a small unicorn again and again. the mare cried out, her face bloody and broken almost beyond recognition. Bomb Collar!

Pushing through my dizziness with the last bit of strength I had I rushed at him, my horn glowing with amber light as the last bit of magic I had left in me went into raising Boneless and firing. The buckshot ricochet off of his armour and staggered the huge slaver, but doing little more than that. He glared up at me, hatred in his eyes.

That was all the time Chestnut needed. With her own last bout of magic, she raised her combat shotgun and placed it against the huge slavers chin. Bomb Collars eyes went wide as he felt the cold end of the gun barrel press against his head. “I’m never being your slave again!” Chestnut roared defiantly, her combat shotgun firing all seven rounds into the slavers head.

Bomb Collar exploded much like his name suggests he should. His head burst open in a shower of blood and guts as the seven explosive rounds ripped through his coat, flesh, skull and brain. His huge body stayed up right for a moment, swaying slightly as if some part of him was still struggling to keep fighting, even after death before crashing unceremoniously to the ground.

The whole slavers army paused for a second as they watched their leader fall, a sudden wave of panic washed over them as they realized they were without command. Pyre’s vicious onslaught against them never slowed, even as they did. She charged forwards, taking advantage of the temporary shock and completely flipping the tides of the battle.

Under Pyre and Toffee’s charge, our forces pushed forward against the slavers. Where once the slavers had been pushing them back and wearing them down, they were now being pushed back themselves farther and farther into the center of the city.

From my spot on the ground, I lay and watch the battle begin to change in our favour. I was far too tired and broken to move or contribute. I simply lay and watched with blurry and slowly darkening eyes, my part in this battle was over.

As I watched, a massive yell of rage bellowed out from behind the slavers lines. Bursting from the doors of the prison, the freed slaves charged forth, now fully healed and armed to the teeth with weapons. they had come to join the fight, either to protect those they loved or for simply revenge.

Up above, I heard a massive cheer as Brisk and Xayah took complete control of the cities outer wall. security ponies and Hollow Shades citizens alike swarmed across the length of the wall, sending a rain of fire down upon the remaining slavers.

The slavers panicked as angry ponies flooded towards them from all sides. We had gone from being out gunned to outgunning them.

Pyre’s flames wrecked massive damage amongst the slavers as they tried to get away. Every attempt to shoot down the flaming raider failed as she proved too fast without being slowed by her normal heavy armour.

As long as Pyre stood leading the charge, we couldn't fall. we kept advancing forwards, each and every step bringing a look of hope and victory to the faces of our forces… and then the impossible happened.

Pyre fell.

A whirlwind of cream, pink and blue slammed into her, sending Pyre flying back and crashing straight through the wall of a crumbling building.

From all around us, bloody raiders surged in. They had never joined up with the slavers proper. They had been waiting behind walls and in buildings while they waited for their leader to make the first real move of the battle. With Bomb Collar now dead and the slaves now freed, the raiders had little use left for the slavers as they closed in on and slaughtered both armies alike.

Just like that, we were outnumbered again. But this time, it was by more than a few. the raiders outnumbered all of us by the hundreds. The amount of raiders spilling into the city were beyond that of either of our armies put together. They had planned this from the beginning, and they had played us all for fools.

The deranged raider mare rose from where she had landed, waltzing around Pyre as she tried to slowly climb back to her hooves as well. Pyre never got the chance to stand as the mare kicked her across the chest and sent my friend stumbling back to the ground.

The raider mare laughed, circling Pyre again and placing her hoof over her throat. I wanted to scream as I saw the razor sharp Hellhound claws digging into Pyre’s flesh. without her armour, those Hellhound claws could easily rip her apart! “Did you really think you could actually escape us Blazy?” The mare cooed resting her chin on her hoof as she pushed down on Pyre’s throat more. “You don’t get to leave the Las Pegasus raiders! Nono! Well you can’t run anymore now, can you!”

She raised her hoof again and lashed Pyre across the side, three large gouge marks being ripped open on her coat from the attack.

Xayah shot down at the raider, but somehow the mare reacted with more than enough time to easily step away. She glared up at Xayah with hatred. “This is between me and this traitor! Stay out of this!”

She turned and launched onto Pyre again both her hoof claws extended to rip Pyre open. Pyre rolled away with just enough time to avoid getting raked in two, but not enough to completely dodge the attack as three deep cuts were ripped open across her back.

Painfully, Pyre pulled herself to her hooves, thick hot blood pouring over her body. Both her flamers had fallen off of her, leaving her completely defenceless. “Fucking hell Viscera! This has gotta be the single worst fucking time!” Pyre groaned, taking a small step away from the bloody raider. “Can we do this some other time please?”

Viscera hissed at her, her long Hellhound claws scraping large grooves into the ground. I thought she was going to lunge again, but instead her eyes widened as if she were actually seeing Pyre standing in front of her for the first time. She stared at her for a moment, her mouth slightly a gape before leaning her head back and roaring at the sky. “Cunts!” It wasn’t directed at anypony in particular, simply a curse to the goddesses above. “Pussy fucking damn fucking shit! Fuck me hard! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” She screamed, stomping up and down like a filly having a tantrum. Her hoof claws started flailing around her madly and ripping up anything she could, the ground, the walls, an unfortunate raider that was too close. She turned back and glared at Pyre with loothful eyes. “Where is your fucking clit fucking armour you bitch fucking cum guzzling slut!”

Everypony took a nervous step back at the stream of expletives that were bursting from her mouth. Even Pyre’s mouth dropped open at the excessive profanities spewing towards her. “Uh… it’s broken. I was getting it… um… repaired…” I had never seen Pyre so lost for words. A smug look quickly crossed her face as she stared Viscera down. "Ha! I bet that fucks up your plan a bit, huh?"

Viscera glared at her for a moment, before righening herself and giving off a warm smile. “Okay! That’s fine! I can work with this. I CAN! It’s all okay,” She trotted over, once again dancing to a song I was beginning to guess was some sort of voice in her head and wiggling her rump. She approached Pyre slowly, her tail running along Pyre’s chin and flicking her cheek. “It’s all good, really! I should have told you I was coming! Honestly, what kind of guest am I? I’ll come back when you’re all your best, I want this to be a fight for the ages!” she turned to look at the rest of her raiders that had gathered around and gave them all a sweet smile. “Let’s make this fight a little funky, what do you all think? Kill the rest of the slavers would you dears? We’ll let Pyre and her friends off this time.”

The raiders looked around at each other, clearly confused, but they weren’t going to miss the opportunity to rip into pony flesh. They swarmed in on the slavers, ripping the remains of their forces to shreds with their teeth and blades. The security ponies stumbled back to evade the attack, but the raiders kept true to their orders and only tore into the slavers.

Viscera turned back to Pyre giving her a warm smile before launching herself forward and pinning Pyre to the ground, her hoof pushing down on her head. Viscera’s kind tone and mannerisms reverted to an animalistic snarl. “But I’ll be coming back for you Blazy, and this time you’ve had your warning to prepare!” Viscera sneered, her hoof claws digging into the flesh on Pyre’s scalp, making her yelp. “Until then I’m going to be leaving you with a little gift, to make sure you don’t forget where you came from and who's coming after you you whore!”

Viscera’s hoof claws slashed down Pyre’s face tearing three massive claw marks down her front and ripping out large chunks of her mane. Pyre screamed, her hooves flailing as Viscera stepped over her and waltzed back towards the gate, her hoof lashing out one last time and slicing the throat of a cowering security pony.

With the slavers now in bloody tatters around the city, the raider scurried after her, their coats and mouths soaked in the blood of their kills.

Pyre struggled to pull herself up before collapsing back to the ground, blood spilling across her mutilated face. she lay their limp, her chest barely moving as she blacked out.

I looked around through hazy vision at the scene around me. We had taken the city, freed the slaves and beaten the slavers. This had been a victory… so why did it feel like we lost...

The day that followed was about as dreary and miserable as one might have expected. Many of the survivors spent the day pulling the broken bodies of their loved ones from the rubble and carrying them out to be buried in the cemetery outside the city walls. The corpses of the slavers and raiders were unceremoniously tossed into a pile and set aflame. There was no mourning or final rights for them.

The wounded, myself included, were rushed to the broken down remains of the hospital. Medics both from Stable 44 and the survivors of the Hollow Shade massacre as it was coming to be known worked tirelessly over the bleeding and crying ponies.

It wasn’t until much later in the day when the sun had almost dropped below the skyline that I was allowed to leave the hospital. I had been beaten pretty bad in the fight, but I had been among the lucky ones. Save for severe blood loss and a minor concussion, I had come out relatively alright. One of the doctors confessed to wanting to keep me longer, but there were more dire patents that needed attention. The hospital was overcrowded as it was anyway, I was more than happy to give up my bed to someone more deserving. I really didn't deserve the healing as it was, not after all that I had done.

Upon release from the hospital, a massive worry that had been building up over the course of the day was extinguished. I found Brisk and Xayah alive and well. They were waiting for me outside the hospital anxiously as I limped my way out. I rushed forwards and wrapped them both in a tight hug, wishing I never had to let go of them again. These past few days had been far more than I could handle.

"Glad to see you're alright sis," Brisk said with a short and pained laugh. His right fore hoof had been wrapped in a thick wad of bandages. Xayah gave a grateful nod of agreement, pulling tighter into our embrace

Even Pyre and my Hellhound seemed to have come out relatively okay. Pyre had received three huge blistering scars down the front of her face from Viscera’s last attack. She seemed quieter and more reserved than she normally did, only responding in short and quick answers when addressed, otherwise she was silent.

Even Chestnut and Shade seemed to be recovering slowly, but the doctors insisted they keep Shade in the hospital at least until tomorrow morning for a full recovery.

Not an hour after I had left the hospital, a messenger found us and told us Toffee wished to see us all in the town hall.

The town hall had been cleaned up a little. The bloody bodies of the slavers Chestnut and I had killed had been removed and a small memorial had been erected where the young colt had been torn apart by the slavers heavy artillery gun. Most of the rubble and debris remained scattered across the floor, making the structure look like nothing more than a collapsing and gutted structure like every other in the wasteland.

Toffee stood in the middle of the room, her back turned to us as she surveyed the numerous bullet holes that peppered the walls.

“I’m sorry Boulder didn’t make it out of the fight,” I said cautiously as the four of us walked in to meet her. “He was a good pony.”

Toffee sniffed. “A lot of good ponies died today, many of them were close friends of mine. Boulder was only one of the many that I lost,” She said sadly, whipping a tear away and turning to face us. “But I didn’t call ya'll here t' mourn those we lost. There will be plenty of time for that in the days to come. You four have helped us here at the Hollow Shades far more than I could have expected. I really lucked out running in t' you ponies,” she reached into her saddle bag and pulled out a large stash of caps and hoofed it over to me.

I took the cap stash. It was much heavier than I had expected. “How-how much is this?” I asked, trying to weigh the amount. it was more than I currently had, that much was for sure.

“Two Hundred caps,” Toffee said flatly.

My mouth dropped. “Two- two hundred caps!” I exclaimed, unsure whether I was really worthy of taking such a large reward. “We didn’t do this for caps!”

Toffee nodded. “I know, but I’m givin' them t' ya anyway. The wasteland needs more ponies like you. Maybe these will help ya live a little longer out there fer the rest of us.”

I blushed at the compliment. I could see Brisk and Pyre staring at the cap stash in awe. “Thank you… I don’t know what to say.”

Toffee waved my thanks off. “Hold yer horses, I got more for ya,” She reached back into her saddle bag and pulled out a large leather tome. My heart skipped a beat. A Big Book of Science! I had always wanted to read it! “Purity saw your interest in this book back in the Stable, she wanted to give it t' you as a thanks.”

I greedily snatched the book up and hugged it tightly. Perhaps some good might actually come out of this horrid day. "Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Toffee face softened for a second. Then her expression stiffened, her face growing more grim. “There is one more thing as well. Don’t you go thinkin' I went and forgot about our original agreement,” I was suddenly very, very interested. I looked up from the book to meet her steady gaze. “I went askin’ ‘round about this Kamari bloke ya’ll were looking for. Just kept running into a bunch of dead ends at first. But then I found somepony that spotted a group of zebra’s passing through the Hollow Shades 'bout five days back. Said they overheard them mention this Kamari figure.”

That was it! Those must have been the zebra’s Kamari had sent to attack Stable 25 with Inferno! “Where! What did they say?” I demanded, my grip tightening on the Big Book of Science.

Toffee gulped and looked me dead in the eye. “They said they had just come from over the area that we here refer to as the Glowin’ Sea,” Toffee paused, looking around at the four of us. “Said they came from the Ministry of Arcane Science.”

Footnote: level up.
New perk: Fast Metabolism -- +20% hit points restored with healing potions

Author's Notes:

Holy, this chapter took forever to write! Constant combat like that can be tricky. Sorry it took so long, hopefully it was worth the wait and that the next one will be out sooner! Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Fallout: Equestria belongs to Kkat