“I can’t believe that people actually had to pay to see the doctor.”

Tired.

I was so very very tired. I had spent almost every day for the good half of a month constantly running and fighting for my life. I had hardly slept, I had eaten far less than I probably should have, both out of habit and the lack of food, and I had been forced to walk farther distances that I had ever known the world even contained.

After a while, I had just gotten really really tired.

But I was tired of something else as well. I was tired of hunting down the A.A.S.S, fighting against terrible odds, facing death over and over, only to have it taken away from me again and again.

How many times would I need to hunt it down? How many ponies would I need to kill before there would be no ponies left to take it from me. What would it take?

The easy answer, of course, would be to destroy the A.A.S.S once and for all like Brisk had suggested. But I couldn’t do that, not knowing that it might be able to save the whole wasteland.

So I’d just need to keep fighting. Fighting against the damned forces of the wasteland until every bastard that dared to take it back from me lay dead at my hooves. But what would that cost me? Would I still be Amber Aura? Or had I stopped being Amber Aura a long time ago?

It was time to take the fight to them. It was time to end this…

The Institute had done more than just make me focus my sights on them, they had given me a clear objective. Since the destruction of the MAS tower I had grown somewhat aimless, constantly being torn back and forth between multiple, seemingly unconnected endeavors. Not anymore. Now my path was clear.

Get into the Institute and stop the madness at the source.

Everything I had to do was finally falling into place. Hunt down the Friendship Express, get into the Institute, get back the A.A.S.S. and rescue Rubber Bands from their grasp. Maybe even find Mirra’s mother along the way. I had started to develop a suspicion that she was entangled in this long web of conflicts somehow.

The Institute had remained a secret for a long time, growing and festering somewhere in the ruins of Manehattan. I had started to notice the effects of their influence, but the interlocking strings of the great puppeteers had always been shrouded in secrecy, stopping even those that pursued them from uncovering their secrets. But they had finally made a very critical mistake.

They had crossed me. They had ignited the fires of their own downfall.

But not everything was crystal clear yet. Something was bothering me though… Well, a lot of things were bothering me actually, but one thing above the others. I hadn’t seen the synth appear.

And it wasn’t the use of non magical teleportation either that unsettled me, I had seen that done multiple times now. The cyber ponies had done it when they first broke into my Stable all those days ago and even Azar had done it to escape the MAS tower shortly before it exploded.

It was that the synth hadn’t shown up on my EFS. I hadn’t spotted it until I had turned and faced it directly. Perhaps I had simply been too distracted by Brisk to notice the synths bar pop up, but I usually pay close attention to my EFS in combat, it's one of the few things that gives me an edge over most of the wasteland.

No, it definitely hadn’t shown up on EFS, just like the creatures in the Hollow Shades. It had managed to disguise it somehow. Some sort of cloaking field perhaps? And that... that was concerning.

Xayah found Brisk and I on the roof a few moments later. She took one look at our broken and bleeding bodies before turning and calling down to somepony on the floor below. I couldn’t make out her words over the ringing in my ears.

Xayah rushed over to me, her hooves gingerly propping me up. “Amber! Amber what happened!” Her words sounded muffled and distant. I groaned and tried to say something, but the swelling in my jaw made it difficult.

Pyre rushed onto the roof a few moments later, Heartbeat quickly rushing up behind her. The nurse took one look at Brisk and I before breaking out into a full gallop. He rushed up to Brisk, clearly the more injured of the two of us. His horn started glowing and wrapped Brisk in a soft glow.

“Get Amber down and out of the storm!” Heartbeat shouted to Pyre, his focus still fixed on Brisk's heavily bleeding body. “Xayah, go get Reverie!”

I saw Xayah give a quick nod. She planned a kiss on my forehead before darting away into the building.

I was suddenly lifted up into the air, pulled aloft by Pyre Blaze’s strong hooves as she tossed me onto her back. I groaned as my broken ribs landed heavily on her tough armoured back. Pyre cast a glance back at me as she started hauling me back inside. “What the fuck happened Amber?”

I worked my jaw a little bit to try and get it to work. It hurt… a lot. “Brisk and I… got into a fight…”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Pyre scowled, finally pulling me back into the Fluttershy Medical Center and out of the howling winds. “You want to tell me why?”

“He… he was going to destroy it…” I said lamely, trying to let my body relax atop her back. With the amount of pain I was in, it was very difficult. “...I couldn’t let him do that…”

Pyre shook her head as she trotted down the hallway to what had once been Silver Ace’s office. “Why don’t you just destroy it Amber? It would save you a lot of trouble.”

I forced myself to shake my head, despite the pain it caused me. “I think there’s a chance it can fix the wasteland Pyre… I think it can fix everything.”

I bounced up and down a few times on Pyre’s back. It took me a second to realize she was chuckling. “I don’t think anything can fix the wasteland Amber. Even if you removed all the radiation and Taint, the wasteland will keep coming back. That's never fully going away.”

I sighed and let myself fall limp across her back. It was more comfortable that way somehow. “Doesn’t matter now I guess. The Institute took it…”

Pyre stalled for a second before continuing down the hallway. “I’m sorry, the Institute did what?”

I coughed, a wad of flem filled blood spraying from my mouth. “They sent a synth. It took the A.A.S.S.”

There was silence for a few moments. Finally, Pyre gave a long, low sigh. “I suppose we’re going after the Institute now then?” I gave a small nod. “You realize how crazy that sounds, right Amber? I mean, this is the fucking Institue you’re talking about. They're so damn secretive, most of the wasteland doesn’t even think they’re real, let alone know where they are.”

Pyre finally trotted into Silver Ace’s old office and laid me down on an old, stained medical bed. I winced once again as my body was forced to shift positions. I glanced up at Pyre, wiping a smear of blood from my face. “I think if we can find the Friendship Express… they might be able to help…”

Pyre just stared at me for a moment. “And do we know where they are?”

I had to think about that for a second. Did I know where the Friendship Express was? I had never been told. Not directly anyway. “Emissary mentioned that he was going to meet up with them in the Manehattan metro tunnels I think,” I finally said. I reached into my Stable barding and pulled out the talisman decorated with the image of a glowing lantern that Emissary had given me. “He gave me this and said to… uh.. Follow the friendship trail.”

I saw one of Pyre’s eyebrows raise behind her visor. “You want to go into the Metro? Do you have any idea what’s down there? I’ve heard rumours it's one of the most dangerous places in all of Manehattan.”

I gave her a sly look. At least I hoped it looked like a sly look, it was hard to do anything with my face when one side of it was a puffy bulge and the rest was blackened with bruises. “Can't be any worse than the Glowing Sea or any of the other horrors we ran into in the Hollow Shades.”

Pyre gave a small chuckle at that. “You know what. Fair enough. I’ll let you win that one. Into the metro it is.”

The door burst open and Reverie marched in quickly, Xayah following closely behind her. The medic quickly placed a pair of spectacles on her muzzle and looked me over. She reached forwards and tapped a hoof against my chest. It was a light tap, but enough to make me flinch in pain. “Damn,” She muttered, turning her attention away from my chest and down to my leg. She pulled out some sort of metal plier-like tool. “You definitely have broken ribs. As that is Heartbeat’s specialty, I’ll let him deal with that once he is finished stabilizing your friend.”

I looked up at her. “You’ve met Nurse Heartbeat before?” I asked, fairly surprised at her knowledge of our companions expertise.

Reverie gave a nod. “He worked here with me a few years back, before he decided to settle in Tenpony Tower and train under Doctor Helping Hoof. He’s a good doctor… A good pony.”

“Is…” I coughed again, making my chest burst with a burning pain. “Is Brisk alright?”

Reverie gave me a quizzical look before looking back at my leg. “Oh I’m sure he’s fine. If what Heartbeat said is correct then you only shot him with a shotgun once and broke a fifth of the bones in his body. How very generous of you to not break all of them,” She scowled sarcastically. She turned to Xayah. “Hold her down please, this is about to hurt.”

Xayah grimaced, but quickly moved over to me. She looked down at me with wide eyes as she held me down with her forehooves. “What were you two thinking, you foolish ponies?”

I sighed, which was something that hurt far more than it should have. “I didn’t have a choice…”

“I don’t know what the hell this barding of yours is made of, but it stopped the bullet from completely penetrating your leg,” Reverie said, furrowing her brow as she looked over the bullet hole Brisk had punctured into me. “That said, it didn’t stop it from lodging itself halfway into your flesh. I’m going to need to remove it else you risk a severe infection.”

I gave her a pained nod. “That's fine. Just do it.”

For some reason, having the bullet pulled out of me was just as painful as having the bullet put into me. I flinched, as the pliers twisted and pulled out the chunk of lead with a pop. Xayah’s hooves tightened around me, as if expecting me to squirm and thrash. I gave her an amused look. “Xayah, I’ve had every bone in my body broken, been burned alive from the inside out and been trapped within the mind of a cyber pony as they had their flesh peeled and organs dissected. I can handle this.”

Reverie grunted. “I don’t even want to know how you ended up witnessing those last two.”

The door burst open again as Nurse Heartbeat stomped into the room, an angry scowl across his face. “Amber! Do you want to explain to me why my patient has buckshot lodged in his leg and a bunch of Amber Aura sized hoof print shaped bruises all over his body!”

I grimaced. “We got in a fight…”

“No shit!” Heartbeat growled. His horn glowed for a second, surrounding me in a field of his magic. There was a pop and my bones mended and snapped back into place. I gave a surprised yelp as his impressive healing magic did its work. Heartbeat slumped a little as the exertion of the spell washed over him. “How do you expect me to keep my patient alive and well if you’re going to go around beating him up!”

I let my head rest back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “It’s complicated. It won't happen again.”

“It better not,” Heartbeat scowled. He stomped his hoof and spun in a quick circle, trying to get out some of his rage. Finally he came to a stop and took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice had returned to his normal calm composure, though perhaps with a little sharper of an edge than usual. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be yelling at you like this. From what Brisk said, the fight wasn’t even your fault.”

“He’s awake?” I asked, pulling myself up a little. “How is he doing?”

“He should be fine after a good night's rest as long as he doesn’t do anything stupid. A healing potion dealt with most of the damage from your shotgun and my magic managed to fix his bones. He'll be travel ready by tomorrow, but I don’t want him up and walking about any sooner than that,” Heartbeat reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a healing potion before quick passing it to me. I quickly accepted it and downed its contents. “He was asking for you by the way.”

I stiffened. I was glad that he wasn’t severely hurt… but I don’t think I was ready to talk to him quite yet. Not after he had tried to destroy everything I had been trying to protect and shot me in the leg. I scrunched up my muzzle. “I don’t think I want to see him right now…” I said softly, but everypony could clearly hear the hurt tone in my voice. “Just… tell him I’m sleeping or something.”

Heartbeat raised his eyebrow. “I think Brisk is smart enough to know when he’s being lied to.”

I dropped my head and stared at my hoof as Reverie started bandaging it. “I know, I just… I’m not ready to talk to him just yet.”

The Nurse gave a quick nod before turning away and stalking from the room. “I’ll tell him you’re asleep, but you really should talk to him soon. For his sake and yours,” With that he turned the corner and moved out of sight.

Pyre stretched her forelegs forwards and gave a loud yawn. “Well, as fun as this has all been, I’ma gonna head out. Mirra and I will be outside if you need us.”

I glanced around the room. “Where is Mirra right now?”

Pyre straightened and gestured out the large doorway. “Talking to that robobrain you reprogrammed. What was her name? Dazzling Souvenir or something,” My raider friend rolled her shoulder, her bones making an uncomfortable popping noise. “That bot is starting to realize that her and her friends are a bunch of brains in jars… she isn’t taking it well.”

I sighed. “I’ll need to see what I can do to help them.”

Reverie held up a hoof. “Ah yes, the robobrains. After all my years of living here, I had begun to assume they were all inactive,” She said, giving me a sad look. “Don’t you worry about them. It might take some time, and it will definitely take a lot of therapy, but I think I might be able to repurpose them. If I can, we might be able to turn this place around into a fully functional hospital again.”

“You think you can turn those robobrains back into hospital staff?” I asked, watching as Pyre slowly walked out of the room before returning my attention to Reverie and Xayah. It seemed almost too good to be true.

Reverie shrugged. “I don’t see why not. If what I’ve read in the terminals around here is to be believed, those brains once belonged to some of the greatest doctors and scientists in the Ministry of Peace. Not to mention that Dazzling Souvenir has already shown tremendous cognitive growth in the few hours she has had control over her body.”

“It was a good call,” Xayah said, nuzzling my cheek slightly. “Trying to save them instead of destroying them.”

I forced myself to grin. At least some of the things that had happened today didn’t suck.

“Many of the Outcasts scribes are well versed with MWT technology,” Reverie continued to explain. “With their help I should be able to reprogram the robobrains to not be hostile.”

“The Applejack Rangers are still here?” I asked. “I thought they would be heading back to Stable 29 now that they’ve rescued their scribes.”

“Some of them are,” Xayah said from beside me. “Crossroads for one was called away to deal with something going on back at the Stable. Something about a crusader mainframe I think... but many of the scribes and knights are remaining here.”

“But… Why?” I asked, still not fully understanding.

“Since the schism between the rangers, all sides have been spread thin, both in resources and numbers,” Reverie said, taking a small step away from the bed. “The Applejack rangers needed another base of operations in close proximity to Stable 29 as well as access to medical treatment. I was eager to offer my support.”

“So this is an Applejack Ranger outpost now?”

Reverie nodded. “It’s a good deal for both them and me. They’ll provide me with protection and scavenge for medical equipment, and I’ll provide them with an easily fortified outpost and medical treatment. I was always hesitant to help the Steel Rangers, but under Steelhooves command, I truly believe they have managed to turn themselves around.”

Reverie checked me over a few more times to make sure she hadn’t missed any wounds before finally deciding I was fit to be left alone.

“I know the wasteland is a terrible place Amber,” Reverie said as she started to turn to leave. “I know you must have seen and done terrible things. If you ever need somepony to talk to, I will always be here at the medical centre if you need me.”

I gave her a small nod, though I doubted I’d ever find the time to do such a thing. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Reverie walked out leaving me alone with Xayah. I winced a little as I tried to push myself up a little. My chest was probably going to be sore for the next few days. I looked up at the zebra. “I really need to stop hurting myself like this…”

Xayah just gave me a sad look. "Get some sleep Amber, you need it."

Falling asleep shouldn’t have been hard. I was so far beyond tired and Xayah’s comforting presence made me feel safer than I usually did in the wasteland. But I couldn’t sleep. I was too busy thinking about my fight with Brisk and the impossible task of trying to get inside the Institute.

Getting to Kamari had been one thing. It had been dangerous and grueling, but we had at least had leads. Finding the Institute was a whole different matter. As far as I knew, nopony had even the smallest inkling of where the Institute might be. Not even the Friendship Express knew, and they had been trying to locate it for who knows how long.

When sleep finally overtook me, it was filled with troubled dreams.

I was surrounded by darkness. It was closing in, suffocating me. Something foul laughed from the gloom, taking pleasure in my struggling as I clawed at my neck and gasped for air. I stumbled, collapsing to the ground as the darkness around me crushed me down. I could feel blood dripping down my face.

Figures began to emerge from the gloom. Hunched over cackling raiders, dressed in crude barding and drenched in the blood of ponies. They had vile, makeshift weapons, each one aimed at my throat.

I tried to pull myself away from them, but the darkness had pinned me down. There was no escape.

The raiders closed in. I could feel their vile hooves grasping at me, holding me down even more. A rusted knife drew close to my eye, the raider wielding it grinning as he slowly brought it closer.

The darkness was torn apart with a blinding flash of blue energy. Through the cracks in the darkness I could see the vast expanse of the wasteland.

The raiders reeled back, looking for the cause of the blinding flash. Another beam of energy struck out, striking the knife wielding raider in the chest. The raider howled as his front was torn open. He glowed a dazzling blue before dissolving into dust.

The remaining raiders turned away from me, their focus now on the new intruder. They screamed and charged forwards, facing the volley of blasts that shot towards them. Every blast of magical blue energy hit its mark, lancing through the raiders and turning them to dust.

I pulled myself up, the grip of the darkness around me weakening.

There, standing stoically in the pitch black, was Crank. The cyber alicorn stared at me, his glowing red eyes illuminating my way through the dark. His mouth twisted into a snarl and he turned to face in enclosing darkness.

His tesla cannons wrenched apart the gloom, blasting it away is if it had been nothing but a thick fog. The darkness seemed to scream as it was torn apart, wailing like a ghoul that had been blown into a hundred pieces and yet still found itself unable to die.

Then we were standing in the wasteland. I was sitting on an ash covered hilltop, looking out the jagged Manehattan skyline in the distance. Not far away I could see the Pony of Friendship Statue towering over the harbour.

Crank sat beside me, his stoic gaze locked on the distant horizon.

I glanced up at him, not really sure what to think. Finally, I cleared my throat. “I thought you were dead…” I said slowly, my voice so soft I hardly heard myself.

Crank tore his glowing eyes away from the horizon and looked down at me. Those glowing eyes which had once filled me with fear now seemed to give me a sort of strange comfort I had never felt before. “I did,” He grunted ommonusly, not bothering to elaborate any further on that. He once again looked away, his eyes shifting to the skyline.

“You saved me,” I stated, following his gaze. “From those raiders. From the darkness…”

“No. You are the one who saved me,” Crank monotoned, his gaze never shifting. “You showed me that I could be a better pony. That I could beat the wasteland.”

I slumped. “Lot of good that did you…” I sighed. “You might still be alive if it weren’t for me…”

A strange noise escaped Cranks lips. It took me a second to realise he was laughing. “Alive to what end, Amber? As a monster? To wander the wasteland for eternity, killing for my own gain? And what wasteland would I have to return to? Kamari’s vision of true desolation? His great plan passed down from the stars of wiping out pony kind? My death was the best thing that could have happened to me.”

I felt wet tears sting my cheeks. I scooted myself closer, curling up against the large cyber alicorns side. To my surprise, he didn't coil away. He just sat there, unmoving. I was shaking, I didn’t know why. “But… I could have tried to help you more. I could have helped you try to find-”

“Scarlet was dead long before you left the Stable,” Crank said. He raised a metal clad hoof and stoked the back of my mane. His touch was cool, but soothing somehow. “There was nothing you could have done… I should have given up sooner. I was trying to save somepony that was beyond my reach.”

I shuddered, a new wave of tears washing over me. I looked up at him, our eyes locking for the first time. “This is just a dream… isn’t it.”

A forlorn expression crossed Crank’s metal face. “How perceptive of you.”

“So you aren’t really here.”

The cyber alicorn scoffed. “No. No, I’m quite dead.”

I continued weeping, curling closer against his metal form. “I wish you didn’t need to be. I wish I could have done better by you.”

Cranks hoof paused for a long moment before he continued stroking my mane. “You did.”

The two of us sat there for a long time in silence, staring out at the ruin of Manehattan.

When I awoke I was covered in a thick layer of sweat. I gently pushed the covers off of me, trying my best not to wake Xayah who had rested her head on the edge of my bed when she fell asleep.

The sun had set, casting the room into near darkness. The only light to see by being the pale beams of moonlight that shone through the many cracks in the walls. I considered turning on my pipbuck light, but I didn’t want to arouse Xayah with it.

I stretched a forehoof out, testing the pain. It was still sore, but I had dealt with worse. I tried stretching the leg Brisk had shot. I almost yelped with pain as the movement made it feel like a pike had been stabbed through my leg.

“Sorry about that…” A weary voice said from the darkness of the room. My head shot up, scanning the darkness.

My eyes landed on the form of Brisk, hunched over and leaning against the far wall for support. All four of his legs were heavily bandaged and his mane was a mess. His eyepatch had been removed to give room for a large wad of gauze that had been wrapped over where my final strike had landed, his missing eye giving his bruised and swollen face a gastly look. I had really done a number on him.

I crossed my forehooves and gave him a low growl. “What do you want, Brisk?”

Brisk waved a hoof at me, trying to signal that he wanted to have a calmer conversation. “To apologize. I shouldn’t have done what I did. I’m sorry.”

I scowled. “What? That’s it? You tried to destroy what we’ve all been risking our lives to protect, and you think it’ll all be okay with a simple sorry?”

Brisk’s gaze dropped to his hooves. “No… I didn’t. And the truth of the matter is that I don’t fully regret trying to destory the A.A.S.S… I was apologizing for attacking you.”

An angry yell of frustration almost escaped my lips. I had to stomp at the ground to help channel some of my anger. “So let me get this straight. You aren’t even sorry?”

Brisk shook his head. “Not about the A.A.S.S. no… I am sorry I hurt you though. Really.”

“Why are you even here?” I snarled, resisting the urge to yell again. “Shouldn’t you be in bed recovering? I thought Heartbeat said he didn’t want you walking about until your leg was better.”

“I needed to see you. Heartbeat said you were sleeping, but I knew you just didn’t want to see me. I knew this would be the only way I could get you to talk with me,” He sighed and looked back up. “I don’t really blame you for not wanting to. I don’t think I’d want to talk to myself right now, but I couldn’t just let this anger fester between us. I needed my sister back…”

I felt my animosity towards him melt away at those words. I pushed myself up off the bed and limped over to him. “Why did you do it?”

Brisk sighed. “I told you on the roof. I’m done watching the wasteland destroy you, Amber. You deserve better than all of this,” He gestured at the room around him, as if to show off the wastelands evils. “I thought if I destroyed the A.A.S.S. then you could finally settle down and be happy again.”

I gave him a sad shake of my head. “Brisk, you need to understand that no pony can be happy in the wasteland. The only way to make it so all of us can truly be happy is to fix the wasteland completely. If the A.A.S.S. has the power to do that, then we have to at least try, don't we?”

Brisk looked away and towards the cracked wall of the medical center. “Do you really think that it can fix the wasteland or do you just think that because you’re afraid of letting go the last part of Stable 25?”

His words slammed into me as if I had walked into a brick wall. I had never thought about it that way. Was I only pursuing the A.A.S.S. because it was the last part of my old life yet to be destroyed? Silver Ace had said that it was a part of something that could fix the wasteland, but I had been reluctant to destroy it even before I had heard that.

I took a shaky step back and looked away myself. “I don’t know. Maybe… but it's at the center of something big. Kamari wanted it, Red Eye wants it, and now we know that the Institute wanted it as well. I’ve kept hearing whispers about something called the Utopia Program all over the wasteland. It’s connected to the A.A.S.S. somehow.”

Brisk gave me a confused look. “The Utopia program? Why haven't you mentioned this before if you think it’s so important?”

I rubbed my forehead with a hoof. “Because I honestly know next to nothing about it. It was created by some earth pony magic expert named Silver Ace back during the war. Apparently he made it to fix the world if the war ended in annihilation like he feared.”

“Earth pony magic expert?”

I shrugged. “Don’t ask. I have no idea how that works.

“Great, even earth ponies are better at magic than me,” Brisk grunted glumbly. He sighed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Okay, so what? You want to find this Utopia Program or whatever?”

I nodded. “Right before Emissary died, he told me that the Institute had it. That he couldn’t stop it. I think the answers we’re looking for are inside of the Institute.”

“Wait… isn’t that good then?” Brisk said, his gaze raising a little. “I mean, if the Institute has the A.A.S.S. and this Utopia program, whatever it is, isn't that what we want? They might fix everything for us.”

I shook my head. “Maybe, but think about the megaspells. They were initially created as a mass healing spell… look where that took pony kind. If the Utopia program is anywhere near powerful enough to fix the wasteland, something like that in the hooves of the wrong ponies could be very dangerous. Do you want the Institute to be the one with that kind of power?”

Brisk’s head dropped. “I suppose you’re right, but that's assuming that it even has the potential to be dangerous. For all we know it might be completely harmless.”

“Even still, our next stop was to get into the Institute anyway. We still need to rescue Rubber Band and right now the only lead we have on Mirra’s mother is that the Institute wiped Rubber Bands memory of something pertaining to her,” I said firmly. “If we get there and find out that Utopia is harmless, then we can leave it there with them, deal?”

Brisk hesitated for a second before giving an affirmative nod. “Deal.”

I gave him a sheepish grin. “And for the record, I’m sorry I shot you with a shotgun.”

Brisk waved off the remark as if it were nothing. “Don’t mention it, I’m sorry I shot you with a pistol.”

I paused for a second, thinking back to the day before. “Actually, now that I think about it… I think there actually is somepony we know that might know about the Utopia program…”

Brisk and I found the Robobrain of Dazzling Souvenir in the hallway outside, staring at her reflection in a cracked and dusty mirror. She slowly turned to face us at the sound of our approach.

“Ah, you are the pony that helped to free us from our bodies,” The robobrain said as he came to a stop in front of her. “Thank you for what you have done.”

“You were working on the Utopia program with Silver Ace back during the war, right?” I asked as we came to a stop in front of her. “You must have known what it was.”

The robobrain backed up a little from us. “Where did you hear about that?”

“I haven’t heard anything directly. I’ve just been seeing bits and pieces all over the wasteland,” I admitted. “But I think it has something too with everything that has been going on in the wasteland recently.”

Dazzling Souvenir was silent for a moment. It was hard to figure out what she was thinking when she didn’t have a face. “Utopia was Silver Ace’s life work. Everything he did connected back to it if you went far enough,” The robobrain finally said, its voice sounding somewhat confused for some reason. “It was his everything… He was obsessed with it.”

“But what exactly was it? What could it do?” Brisk butted in. “Is it dangerous?”

Dazzling Souvenir quieted again. “I-I do not remember…”

“You don’t remember?”

The robobrain twisted its body a little, as if suggesting a shake of their head. “To keep secrecy, all knowledge of the Utopia program was removed from our heads and destroyed. Silver Ace was determined to keep most of his projects a secret.”

I groaned. Why was that not surprising? “So you don’t remember anything?” I asked, feeling just a little dejected.

Dazzling Souvenir made a small, strange noise that I interpreted as her thinking. “I was allowed to keep certain parts of my memory pertaining to my work on the project, mostly involving memory orbs.”

“Memory orbs? What do they have to do with it?” Brisk questioned, his ears folding back slightly.

“I cannot remember exactly,” Dazzling Souvenir started, her clawed hand tapping the glass dome that her brain rested in. “But I believe they were involved in the initial concept of the program. Silver Ace wanted to see how much of a ponies memory could be stored inside of a memory orb. Then, by extension, he wanted to know if an orb that contained the consciousness of an entire pony could learn and adapt on its own.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “What, like an AI system or something?”

“An AI? The hell is that?” Brisk asked, his voice filled with confusion. His expression suddenly took on a bored look. “Wait, this isn’t another one of your boring nerd things is it?”

I scoffed. “AI stands for artificial intelligence. It’s like a robot that can think and make choices on its own. Also, it is not boring nerd stuff!”

“Sounds like boring nerd stuff,” Brisk said glumbly. He turned and gestured to Dazzling Souvenir. “And isn’t that like… all robots?”

“Not exactly,” Dazzling Souvenir said, rolling forwards slightly on her tracks. “Robots have no real free will. They can be programmed to have personalities and act on their own, but when it comes down to it, that’s just advanced programming. And I… well I’m complicated, but I’m still controlled by a pony brain. The theory that Silver Ace proposed was that memory orbs could become a thinking, sentient being on its own, without any form of programming whatsoever. Complete and total free will with a naturally created personality based off of a real pony.”

I thought about that for a second. “Do you have any memory about something called the Atmospheric Administering Sustenance System?”

“I… Do not think so… but as I said, I have little memory of what went on during my time working under Silver Ace,” Dazzling Souvenir’s tinny voice stammered. “Perhaps once Reverie has helped me rehabilitate the rest of my friends I can learn more from them. I know a few of them helped on the project as well.”

I gave her the most reassuring smile that I could. “Thank you. Tell me if you find anything,” I paused, thinking about all the robobrains that currently lay deactivated on the floor below. “And good luck rehabilitating all your friends. I truly hope you can save them.”

I pushed myself up from the medical bed. If I had thought it had been hard to fall asleep before, after Brisk and I had had our conversation with Dazzling Souvenir, it had gotten even harder. I had spent most of the night awake, and now I just felt tired.

Not that I ever didn’t feel tired these days. That was kind of just becoming routine for me.

I glanced down at the side of the medical bed. Xayah had left at some point before I had awoken. Who knew where she could be at now.

“Good to see that you’re up,” A voice said from across the room.

I glanced up to see a dark blue stallion with a short white mane standing on the other side of the room from me. He held a clipboard in one hoof and seemed to be taking inventory on all the medical supplies in the building.

It took me a moment to recognise him. His voice sounded very familiar, but I knew I had never seen him before. “Knight Blueberry?” I asked, trying to put a name to the voice.

Blueberry nodded, lifting up another healing potion before checking something off on his clipboard. That explained it, I hadn’t seen the knight without his power armour on before.

I noticed his chest had been expertly wrapped in bandages. No doubt either Heartbeat or Reveries work.

I stood up completely from the bed and approached him. I was glad to find that my wounds had all healed fairly well. “So, this place is an outcast outpost now, huh?” I asked, curious on the inner workings of the wasteland's newest faction.

Blueberry gave a proud nod. “It’ll give us an advantage over the Steel Ranger contingency in Manehattan. We aren’t large enough yet to properly spread out to places like Fillydelphia yet, but this place will give us the boost we need.”

I furrowed my brow at that. “Fillydelphia? I thought Red Eye owned that area?”

Blueberry gave a snort-like laugh. “Most of it, yeah, and probably more of it since the schism, but Filly is huge. The Steel Rangers have a large base of operations out there and control a decent chunk of the area around the outskirts of Red Eyes industrial nightmare. There is a big Stable-Tec headquarters out there the Steel Rangers have taken up residence in.”

Something nagged at the back of my memory. It was of my conversation with Crank while we were on the train to the Hollow Shades. “One of Stable-Tec’s headquarters is located in Fillydelphia. Take control of the headquarters and you suddenly have access to a lot of the Stables around the Wasteland,” he had told me.

A wave of uncertainty washed over me. “I thought that Red Eye controlled that?”

Blueberry lowered his clipboard and gave me a funny look. “I just said that he didn’t own all the outer areas of Filly. There are areas around it that-”

“No, not that!” I said, cutting him off. “The Stable-Tec headquarters in Fillydelphia. I thought Red Eye controlled it?”

Now it was Knight Blueberry’s turn to look confused. “Wha-what? That’s the Steel Rangers main base in Filly. Why would you think that...”

“There was a cyber alicorn named Crank that was working with Red Eye. He told me Red Eye had control over the Stable-Tec headquarters there,” I explained. “He said that was how Red Eye was getting access to all the Stables.”

Knight Blueberry was beginning to look worried. “That’s what he said? That Red Eye had control over it?”

I bit my lower lip and thought about that for a second. “Well… no. Not exactly. He said it was somepony working for Red Eye,” Blueberry cast a nervous glance at his clipboard. I slowly moved closer to him. “But if Red Eye has somehow infiltrated the Steel Rangers, that can't be good news for anypony… What should we do about it?” The last thing I needed right now was a trip to Fillydelphia, but I'd do it if it meant slowing down Red Eye's plans... whatever those were.

Blueberry looked back up at me, this time a lot calmer than before. “Nothing.”

I took a step back, surprised. “Wha- nothing? What do you mean nothing?”

“I mean we aren’t going to do anything about it,” Blueberry said sternly. “I’ll inform Crossroads, or even Steelhooves if he can spare a minute, but the truth of the matter is that we don't know what that cyber alicorn ment, and even if we did, the Fillydelphia contingency of Steel Rangers was weakened the most by the schism. Their presence in Filly is falling and its likely Red Eye will be taking over the Stable-Tec HQ soon anyway. Furthermore, we aren’t allied with the Steel Rangers any more. If they have a large security leak, then that's not our problem.”

I didn’t like the idea of Red Eye gaining more territory because of the Steel Rangers schism. Positive I didn’t want to know the answer, I asked. “How many rangers are left defending the Fillydelphia area?”

Blueberry’s expression turned very grim. “Practically nothing. Elder Blueberry Saber, along with over half the contingency is dead. Star Paladin Crossroads, along with most of the surviving Rangers, myself included, are here in Manehattan joining up with the Outcasts,” Blueberry took a deep breath. “That leaves about fifty rangers between Red Eye and the rest of Fillydelphia.”

The world suddenly felt very, very heavy. Fifty rangers would be a force to be reckoned with if it was up against most groups, but I had seen first hoof how large Red Eye’s armies could be. Red Eye would take control of the surrounding areas fast. There was no stopping that.

It almost seemed like a tactical error on the Steel Rangers part, but I knew there was more to it than that. The Outcasts couldn’t take the Stable-Tec HQ without losing a considerable amount of ponies in the process and the Steel Rangers couldn’t reinforce it without leaving their other outposts vulnerable to the Outcasts attacks. It was a lose lose situation for everypony except Red Eye. I wondered if Red Eye had somehow orchestrated the schism somehow, even if he was doing it indirectly. Knowing how cunning Red Eye could be, probably.

Reverie took that moment to walk in, a saddlebag full of healing supplies thrown across her back. “Morning Amber, glad to see that you’re up,” She gave me a kind smile before turning her attention to Blueberry. “Well?”

Blueberry glanced down at his clipboard. “Everything is accounted for here. I need to give a few more rooms a sweep through though,” He turned and to my surprise gave me a quick salute before marching back out the door.

Reverie watched him go for a second before turning back to me with a sigh. “Poor buck. He insisted on getting back to Stable 29 to help with some issues they’re having over there, but I insisted he stay here and take it easy for a few days. Nasty wound he took to the chest.”

I nodded, remembering Stern’s anti-material rifle blast straight through Blueberry’s armour and into his chest. The buck was lucky to even be alive. I remembered my dream about Crank, and my face fell. Blueberry was luckier than most.

Reverie clearly saw the distress across my face. She sat down in a large chair and looked up at me. “You look troubled, what’s on your mind?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” I lied, stretching my fore hooves and looking around for my Stable barding. I didn’t remember taking it off, so Heartbeat, or one of my other friends must have taken it off for me at some point.

The therapist gave me a skeptical look. “I’ve seen enough traumas in my day to know when somepony is very much not okay,” She said flatly. “And you, Amber Aura, are about as far from okay as it gets.”

I sighed, still looking around for my stable barding. “Fine, the wasteland is grueling, stressful and constantly trying to kill me. Other than that, I’m fine. Really,” I finally spotted my barding and began slipping it over my head. I glanced back to see Reverie still staring at me, her left eyebrow raised. I sighed. “Okay… maybe I’m not okay.”

Reverie gestured to a chair across from her. “Want to talk about it?”

I sighed. “I had this weird dream last night… it was about Crank…” I paced back and forth as I talked, not bothering to sit in the aforementioned seat. “It was really, really weird…”

“What happened in it?” Reverie asked. I saw her face flicker with something, guilt perhaps. I reminded myself that she had known Crank too, perhaps better than anyone. If there was anypony to talk to about this, it was her.

“Well… he saved me…” I started, trying to remember the dream. It had started to fade from my memory the moment I had awoken, leaving most of the details vague and faded. “Then we sat on a hillside. I think he was comforting me as I cried.”

I could see that the contents of the dream pained Reverie somewhat, but she managed to keep a relatively straight face. “What about that was so weird?”

I just stared at her for a second. “Uh… Because it was Crank. Violent, killing machine, probably sociopathic Crank. He wasn’t exactly the kind of pony who would sit and comfort you if you needed a cry.”

I immediately knew that that wasn’t true. I had seen Crank do that exact thing with Scarlet in his memories. From Reverie's smug expression, I could tell that she knew that wasn’t true as well.

But that memory of him and Scarlet had been different, hadn’t it. I mentally tried to reason with myself. He had loved Scarlet, and that had been before the Wasteland had warped and twisted him into a monster.

“I’ve been having these weird visions of Crank’s past ever since I went digging around in his head,” I admitted, clearly surprising Reverie. “They’ve been getting less and less frequent, but I never know when they’re going to happen.”

Reverie’s jaw dropped open. “Wait, what! When did this happen?”

I scratched the back of my neck, ruffling my mane. How long had it been? I counted the nights quickly in my head. “Four days ago, why?”

Reverie still looked shell shocked. “Amber, do you know how a cyber ponies brain works?”

I didn’t and said as much. “I assumed they were simply like pony brains. They still have some organs, don’t they?”

“Well… sort of,” Reverie said, giving a slow nod. “I don’t understand it fully, and my digging around it Cranks head was very minimal and limited to what he would allow me, but from what I gathered, their brains were augmented with memory orbs.”

I recalled my conversation with Dazzling Souvenir. It might be a coincidence, or… or maybe that was connected somehow. Though I was currently too tired to draw and real connections in my head.

Warily, I nodded my head. “Okay… so, what does that have to do with…”

“I found this out when Crank shared a few memories of his past with me,” Reverie confessed. “A cyber ponies' memories are more than just visions of the past, they are part of the construct that makes up who they are, like computer data, or in their case, a virus. Too much exposure to their memories could very well make a duplicate of their consciousness within your own brain based of those memories.”

I staggered back, reeling at the news. Crank’s consciousness had duplicated itself within my mind! That's why I had been reliving his past. Suddenly that dream felt a lot more real than it should have.

A second realization washed over me. “I… I was in Inferno’s head as well… I was in it a lot longer than I was in Cranks…” I remembered the final memory I had witnessed inside of Inferno’s head. My mind had fused with him somehow, making me see and feel what he had seen and felt instead of viewing it from my own eyes. I recalled how I had momentarily referred to his memories as ‘ours’ when I had first emerged from them.

Goddesses, don't tell me that that flamer wielding rapist was still alive somewhere inside of my head.

Clearly able to see my distress, Reverie gave me a few moments to calm down. When I finally did, she motioned for me to sit down in the chair. This time I obeyed, feeling oddly heavy.

“What memories of Cranks did you have?” Reverie questioned, her steady voice calming me somewhat.

I thought about that for a second. “They were all about Scarlet,” I finally said, certain that that was the connection between them all. “About how he lost her…”I remembered being stuck between the glowing lights of Cranks Tesla cannons and the brilliant glow of Scarlet's form. That's when the memories started showing up. I told Reverie as much.

Reverie gave a thoughtful nod at that. “It’s possible that the part of Crank that got recreated in your mind was the part of him that loved Scarlet. The good parts of him…”

I grimaced. “So what does this all mean for me down the road. Am I going to have two cyber ponies having arguments in the back of my head all the time?”

“Truthfully, I have no idea. This is all completely hypothetical as of right now,” From her expression and my experiences over the past few days since the death of my Stable, I was almost certain it was a little more than hypothetical at this point. “But I figure since that hasn’t started happening to you yet, it won't. Best case is that they’ll just pop into your dreams every once and awhile. Worst case is that they start affecting your memories and giving you ones that you never had.”

Great… hopefully I would get the best casinario, but I doubted it. I was never that lucky in the wasteland.

The idea that the Crank in my dreams had been more than just my mind and an actual piece of his consciousness living on within me felt weird. I don’t know if I should feel relieved that he is technically still alive to some extent, sad that he is trapped within my head, or scared that he might end up meddling with my memories. I decided to go with the latter.

Sighing, Reverie pulled herself up from her seat. “I think that's enough surprising epiphanies for today,” She said, turning back to face the door. “Your friends are waiting for you downstairs. You should go see them, so long as there's nothing else you want to talk to me about?”

I shook my head. “Yeah… I think this has given me more than enough to think about as of right now.”

Reverie nodded and started to walk out.

Another memory pulled at the back of my brian. “Reverie wait… There is actually one more thing,” Reverie paused looking back at me. “You said that Crank was looking for a way to stop being a cyber pony. That there was a pony out in Las Pegasus that could regrow limbs. Is there anything You can tell me about that?”

Reverie paused for a second, thinking over the request. “Crank never told me much about that, only that he planned to get treatment from him. There isn’t much I can tell you that I haven't already,” She finally said.
I could believe that. Crank had never seemed like one for talking. I could easily imagine him making a brief, grunt-like statement on the topic before refusing to say any more. He had done that to me dozens of times, and I had only traveled with him for a short time.

But I knew somepony that might now. Pyre had been to Las Pegasus. She had probably spent more time there than she had in Manehattan. If anypony were to know, it was her.

I followed Reverie out with my eyes until she had turned the corner and was out of sight.

Despite the shocking revelation that I might have a cyber pony, maybe even two, inside of my brain, I felt oddly relaxed. It felt good to finally get something off my chest, even if it was only a small fraction of my problems. And while the idea that Inferno was inside my head was concerning, Cranks presence wasn’t bothering me as much as it should.

I thought back to him in my dream, silently watching over me and defending me from the darkness of the wasteland that threatened to swarm in and corrupt my very soul. In a strange way, he had become my own personal guardian. My silent sentinel in the Wasteland.

My friends were waiting for me downstairs just like Reverie had said. They had gathered around a small fire while Xayah cooked us up something. It looked like the zebra was trying to teach the rest of them how to cook, but none of them seemed to be any good at it.

“Just give up Xayah, we’re hopeless,” Brisk huffed in exasperation, tossing down the wooden spoon he had been using to stir whatever was inside of the pot they had over the fire. “It all just looks like food to me.”

Brisk was looking a lot better. A lot of the puffiness in his face had dissipated and he seemed to be moving around without much pain. He was still covered in bruises though. Both of us would probably be covered in those for the next few days.

“I think I got it!” Pyre exclaimed joyously. She was out of her power armour and had a stick in her mouth that was roasting some sort of meat over the fire.

Brisk scoffed. “Pyre, she’s teaching us how to make a stew. A stew doesn’t involve roasting meat on a stick.”

Pyre raised her eyebrows in mock alarm. “It doesn’t? I never would have thought!” the meat on a stick fell from her mouth as she spoke, dropping her food into the fire. Pyre glared at the burning meat glumly for a second before shrugging. “Eh, I like my food burnt anyway.”

Xayah was trying her best not to burst out laughing.

Heartbeat looked up as I approached them, a wide smile on his face. “Ah, Amber. You’re awake. Are you feeling better?”

I gave him a grateful nod. “Yeah. My ribs are a bit sore, but I’ve had worse,” Brisk winced at that comment.

I sat down between Brisk and Xayah and looked at the stew Xayah was teaching them to make. Somehow, Brisk had managed to burn and char the stew.

Brisk scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Heh… sorry, breakfast isn’t going to be as tasty as usual. I think we can all agree that we should leave Xayah and Xayah alone in charge of baking.”

“And if I am gone from the group for a bit?” Xayah asked, one eyebrow raising.

Brisk looked down and continued stirring the stew, not sure how to respond. His stew was chunky enough that it took genuine work to stir it.

Mirra fluttered over and dipped a hoof into the stew, taking a small sip. “For what it's worth, Brisk, I think it tastes good.”

Brisk seemed to perk up a little at that. “Really?”

Mirra nodded, a devious looking grin across her face. “Yeah, changelings don’t really like the taste of pony food. This tastes so different from food that I find it to be quite appetizing.”

Brisk expression dropped again. “So what you’re saying is it doesn’t actually taste good…” He slapped his face with a hoof. “That’s it! I’m not cooking ever again.”

Chuckling, I turned to face Pyre Blaze who had fished her burned meat out of the fire and was gnawing on the charred husk. “Hey Pyre, I was wondering if I could ask you something about Las Pegasus?”

Pyre dropped the meat again before swiftly picking it up. She did her best to hide it, but something about that simple question had spooked her. Before I could ask if she was okay, she forced a grin onto her face and spoke. “Yeah sure, what is it?”

I hesitated, wondering if I should push on where uncharacteristic jumpiness. I decided against it. “Have you ever heard of a pony out that way that could regrow limbs?”

Pyre’s face scrunched up for a second in disgust. “Yeah. Pestilence.”

Pestilence. That wasn’t a very pleasant sounding name at all. “What can you tell me about them?”

“They’re a ghoul pony. Some scientist from before the war and one of the first Las pegasus Raiders,” Pyre said grimly. She glanced behind her and out a window as if expecting somepony to be standing behind her. “He likes to change and cybernetically augment ponies. Got my own augmentations from him.”

All of us balked at her. “Wait wait wait. You’ve been cybernetically augmented?” I sputtered, looking at our raider friend with alarm.

Pyre nodded. She raised a hoof and pushed back her mane to reveal the back of her neck. A small collection of metal plates and thin wires raced down her neck. “Augmented brain and spine. My spine is like titanium and my brain had a built in SATS.”

I continued to stare at her. She had a built-in SATS? I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. Brisk spoke up for me. “Doesn’t your armour have SATS built into it already?”

Pyre scowled at him. “Well I didn’t used to have my power armour, now did I. Besides, I wasn’t augmented by choice. Viscera forced me into it.”

“Is she augmented as well?” I asked, recalling the crazed Raider we had encountered in the Hollow Shades. That psycho was lethal enough that I would have been far from surprised if she had enhanced her body somehow.

Pyre laughed. It was a hollow, mirthless laugh. “Same implants as me, and then some,” Pyre growled, her face twisting up. “Viscera was more interested in enhancing her body. Most of her changes were more biological than mechanical.”

“Biological?” I asked, not fully gasping what that entailed.

“In short, she’s more hellhound now than pony,” Pyre grunted, once again glancing behind her worriedly. “Enhanced senses, enhanced speed. The bitch can practically smell you from all the way across Manehattan,” her voice shuddered as she spoke.

My curiosity peaked. “Pyre, are you alright? You seem more jumpy than normal.”

Pyre glared at me for a second before glancing around at the rest of our friends. I noticed her gaze lingered longest on Mirra. “I’ll tell you later Amber, don’t worry about it.”

Brisk began pouring the stew into some small wooden bowls that he had managed to scavenge from the surrounding area. I tried not to turn up my nose in disgust at the gloopy, chunky fluid.

Pyre didn’t bother hiding her disgust. “Brisk, I’ve literally ripped ponies hearts out with my bare hooves, and even I don’t want to put that in my mouth.”

Brisk slumped, passing her the bowl anyway and giving Xayah a scowl. “Never again…”

Xayah only chuckled to herself, taking a bowl from him and taking a sip. She immediately gagged. Grimacing, she said. “I will make us some more stew. This simply will not do.”

Pyre raised her eyebrows. “Did you just make a fuckin’ rhyme?” she grinned across the fire at Xayah mockingly. "Don't tell me you're going to start rhyming all your sentences!"

Xayah just rolled her eyes, unamused.

Mirra, still happily drinking Brisk’s sad excuse of a stew, trotted over to me. “So what exactly is the plan for today?” everypony turned to look at me, interested in the answer themselves. “Pyre said we were going into the metro?”

I gave a small nod. “We need to find the Friendship Express. They’re the only ponies that might have any idea where the Institute is.”

“And these ponies are hiding in the Metro?” Heartbeat pushed skeptically. “If half the things I have heard about the Manehattan metro are true, then that doesn’t seem like the safest hiding spot.”

“Not the safest, but definitely one of the most well guarded,” Pyre smirked back, taking another bite out of her burned meat. “You’d have to be incredibly desperate or an absolute idiot to go down there.”

I gulped. “Well, we don’t really know if they’re in the metro per se, but it's the only lead we have.”

Brisk’s expression was dark, but determined. “We’ve found more with less,” he glanced over at me. “You do know what this Friendship Trail we’re supposed to follow is, right?”

I screwed up my muzzle. “I don’t have the faintest idea.”

“So what you're saying is that we don’t actually have a plan,” Mirra cooed, sitting down and slurping down a little bit more of the stew.

I winced. “Yeah. We don’t really have a plan.”

Footnote: Half way to next level.