“Friendship is like a violin. Even if the music stops, you’ll still have the strings.”

Loss.

Throughout my time in the wastelands I had endured hardships. I had lost things, my home, my friends, my sense of self. But through it all, I had stayed strong. I had fought against the wasteland, and I had won. The death of Stable 25 had been a failure, a terrible blow that would never heal fully, but still I had fought on. I had hunted down its killers and avenged them. I had done all I could to right the grievous wrong that had occurred and in the end saved the wasteland from a second apocalypse.

But Viscera had broken us. She had shown us that we were not invulnerable, that we could fail.

Heartbeat was dead, there was no fixing that. And with his death came the tidal wave of emotions and sorrows that threatened to consume us and rip us apart. He had only been with us a few days, but his loss had hit me and my friends hard.

Xayah would forever be changed. She had been yet to wake fully from her fevered and nightmarish sleep, and I feared what the mental damage of no longer being fully zebra would do to her. Would she still be herself, or would the physical transformation come with terrible side effects. Pestilence's terminal had stated that all the patients that had undergone cybernetic augmentation without having their memory erased afterwards had committed suicided only moments after, unable to bear the horrific changes to their body. Would Xayah be the same?

The relationship between Brisk and myself had been wounded. Our situation had been dire and Brisk had told me to kill him, but the very act of me putting that gun to his forehead and preparing to fire would forever sit between us. I am, and always would be, the pony that tried to kill him. And I could never forgive myself for that.

But perhaps the most damaged of us was Pyre. She was hurting, that was nothing new, but I could see her hurt now. The horrors of her past wouldn’t leave her, physically hunting her down and threatening to drag her back into the blood and violence that had once been her life. She was breaking, the thin line she walked between who she was and who she is, was becoming harder and harder to see.

Even the loss of our weapons had left a devastating blow that would take time to heal. Losing my combat shotgun was no real loss, I had just replaced it with a better one in Braeburn's Liberator, but the loss of my shock baton was hitting hard. In a strange way, it had become a small part of Stable 25 to me, one last memento of a bygone age, now stripped away like the rest of it.

Viscera had beaten us, and now we were broken. Physically, and mentally.

Inferno stood over me, his metal hooves pressing my body down against the cold floor of Stable 25. His jagged and twisted muzzle oozed black slime, the vile liquid dripping down on me and mingling with my tears.

The insane cyber pony leaned his head down, his fang filled mouth only inches from my face. I could feel his hot and vile breath breathing down onto me in ragged bursts.

I pushed at him, trying to move the powerful cyber pony off of me, but he was too strong. I reached out with my magic to grab hold of my weapons, only to find they were gone.

Inferno’s eyes flickered up, taking in the room around us. “How did I get here,” He snarled, his leering face suddenly confused. He glared back down at me, his glowing eyes narrowing. “What is this place!?”

I gulped, once again trying to push him off of me. “I don’t know… Stable 25 I think…”

Inferno’s eyes continued to stare down at me accusingly, doubt flickering across his metallic features. “Stable 25 is dead,” He sneered, another glob of black ooze dripping from his maw. Small flames flickered to life on the end of Inferno’s flamers. “I killed the ponies there, myself!”

That was only partially true, but I supposed Inferno wouldn’t know about Azar’s role in the Stable’s final destruction. He had died before the strange zebra had filled the Stable with the that strange pink cloud.

I heard the loud clopping of heavy footsteps behind us. I tilted my head to see Crank slowly moving towards us from the gloom, his eyes narrowed at the cyber pony above me. “Get off of her Inferno,” Crank growled, his face as stoic as ever.

Inferno scowled at the large cyber alicorn and slowly took a step away from me, letting me scramble back to my hooves. “Crank? What is going on here?”

Crank didn’t answer him. Instead, he moved up to me and wrapped a wing around me protectively. “Are you alright?” he asked, his face only filled with mild concern.

I gave a timid nod. “I-I think so…”

Inferno stomped his hooves down on the ground, a large burst of steam billowing from his muzzle as he snorted. “Crank! Answer me damn it! What is going on here!” He glared at the metal wing that Crank had wrapped around me. His confusion shifted to disgust. “You’re growing soft!”

Crank spun, his bladed tail lashing out and throwing Inferno across the room. “Do not call me soft Inferno!” His eyes began to glow a darker crimson as he advanced towards the smaller cyber pony. “I am stronger than you will ever be!”

Inferno growled, pulling himself back up to his hooves. He shoved his muzzle into Crank’s face, staring the cyber alicorn down in an attempt to intimidate him. “You were always weak and soft! Always caring about your precious little Scarlet! You may have wings and a horn, but I will always be stronger than you are!”

Crank’s tail lashed out again, once more slamming Inferno against the wall. Inferno tried to rise, only for Crank’s hoof to press against his chest and pin him down. “Do not speak her name,” Crank monotone, his eyes blazing into Inferno. “You are nothing to me Inferno. You are a scared child, a foal! Lashing out at the world that hurt you to try and hide your own pain. You were the pony who failed. The pony who burned himself in an attempt to forget.”

Inferno’s jagged lip quivered. He knocked Crank’s hoof aside and took a few steps away from him. The fires on the end of his flamers grew. I could tell he was questioning if he should attack or retreat.

Finally, Inferno let his eyes drift back to me. Once more, his eyes narrowed. “Where are we?” He scowled. He took a step towards me, only to take a step back as Crank blocked his path.

I chewed at my lip for a second, trying to figure everything out in my head myself. “I… I think we’re in my head… or rather… your memories…”

Both Crank and Inferno looked at me, their own faces shocked and confused. After a few seconds, Inferno took a frightened step back. "No… nonononono!” His gaze focused in on me, his eyes wide. “Am I… did I... die…?”

I gulped. That wasn’t a question I had ever expected to need to answer for somepony. I gave a timid nod. “You… you killed yourself when I made you remember your past…”

There was a second of silence as both cyber ponies stared at me, awestruck. At last, Inferno reared up and roared. He slammed his metal hooves down against the Stable floor and charged me, his flamers spewing fire. “You Bitch! You killed me!”

He was knocked aside before he could land a blow on me, Crank’s wing shooting out and lashing him across the side. Inferno once more fell into a bloody heap on the floor, sobbing and oozing black sludge from the large mending hole in his side.

Crank moved back to me, once more standing protectively in front of me. “You will not touch her,” the large cyber alicorn stated flatly, his voice leaving no room for debate. He glowered at Inferno, his eyes threatening and imposing.

Inferno took an invasive step towards us, his face twisting into a threatening scowl. Crank flared his wings, making Inferno once more back away. “You can’t protect that cunt forever!” Inferno growled, his hooves scraping at the floor. “You’ll let your guard down eventually! And I’ll be waiting!”

Inferno turned, and stalked away down one of the many hallways, limping slightly as his body patched the wounds Crank had inflicted back together. One of my ears perked up as I listened to his heavy hoof steps slowly grow farther and farther away.

Crank turned back to me, his face as stoic as it had been since he entered the room. “Did he hurt you?” Crank asked, his voice coming out in a low rumble.

I shook my head. “Just pinned me down… That's becoming a common occurrence to me these days.”

Crank looked down at me for a moment, his eyes flickering over my body. When he finally spoke, his voice was strained and uncertain. “What did you mean that we are in your head… in our memories?” He sounded genuinely interested.

I furrowed my brows, trying to figure out the best way of explaining what was going on. “Well, I talked with Reverie,” I started, thinking that was good common ground to begin with. Crank tensed at the mention of his old therapist, but otherwise stayed silent. “And… well, we think that part of you and Inferno’s consciousness were copied into my mind when I went into your heads. Doing that left some sort of imprint of you… Like a memory orb or something.”

Crank nodded, clearly not sure how to take that. “So… I’m still alive?”

I had to think about that for a second. “I suppose so… just not in the normal sense. I don’t know. This is just as confusing to me...” Crank remained silent at that. I suppose learning that what was left of your mind had been copied into the head of a pony who had once been your enemy wasn’t the easiest thing to take in. A question crossed my mind. “Hey Crank… why do you keep protecting me? Even now that you know this is just in my head?”

Crank glanced down at me, his face softening. “I spent my life killing ponies. It is about time I tried to save them,” his face twisted and I could tell he was forcing himself to say what he was about to say next. “...And you remind me of her… you have her eyes…”

“Of Scarlet, you mean?” I asked, my own features softening at the mention of Crank’s past lover.

Crank nodded, his eyes reflecting his sadness despite being made of glass. He wrapped his wings around me again, shielding me from the evils that would try and hurt me. Inferno would be back, but when returned, Crank would be ready for him.

I slowly drifted awake, the memories of the strange dream already beginning to fade in my mind.

Inferno had been there. That was new. If my theories had been correct, he had been in my mind for days. Why had he only decided to show up now?

I was an emotional wreck, my mind spiralling into a state of depression from the vile atrocities Viscera had committed. The taste of pony flesh still lingered on my tongue and Heartbeat's final moments kept replaying in my mind. Had that been what let him in? Had the anger and pain that made up what was left of Inferno been awakened by my own? I doubted I would ever know for sure.

I became acutely aware of something hard and cold being pushed up against my chest. I glanced down to see Xayah’s metal hooves curled up against me as the zebra slept.

She was twitching and squirming in her sleep, still stuck in an endless nightmare. She had awoken a few times throughout the night, bolting upright and looking around. Once awake she would repeat the same thing over and over again. “Where’s Heartbeat? Where’s Heartbeat? Where’s Heartbeat?” she would stare down at her new mechanical legs in terror, tears welling in her eyes as she continued to sob and mutter. “Where’s Heartbeat? Where’s Heartbeat? Where’s Heartbeat?”

I didn’t have it in me to tell her he was gone forever. That he legs were gone and she was no longer fully zebra. Instead I just stoked her mane until she fell back asleep, once more twitching and turning as she once more became trapped within the horrors of her own mind.

Sighing, I pulled my gaze away from Xayah and looked around the dark room. The Friendship Express had set us up in their hospital. If you could call it that. It wasn’t the greatest hospital I had been in, even by wasteland standard, but it served its purpose well enough.

Brisk slept a few feet away from us on his own bed. He was mumbling something in his sleep, no doubt in a nightmare of his own. On the bed beside him sat Mirra. She was awake, her eyes staring down at her gnarled black hooves. Her bug-like ears had folded flat against her head and I could see her body shaking slightly as she silently sobbed in the darkness of the hospital.

Doing my best not to wake Xayah, I pulled myself up and trotted over to the small changeling. She cast me a quick glance as I approached, before quickly looking back down at her hooves in what appeared to be shame.

I sat down next to her. “Hey, how are you holding in there, kid?” I asked, knowing full well that that question was just as stupid as ever other time I had asked it.

Mirra dared herself to look up at me. “I’m… I’m sorry. I could have saved him and I didn’t…”

Her words rang hollow in my ears. I wrapped a hoof around the small Changelings shoulder and pulled her in tight. “Viscera killed Heartbeat, Mirra. There was nothing you could have done,” I said, trying my best to reassure her despite feeling guilty about his death myself.

I could feel Mirra trembling as she cuddled up against me. “But I was just sitting in the catwalks watching! I should have done something sooner! I should have thought to use my grenades right away instead of cowering like a filly…” She buried her face in my matted coat and sobbed. “Heartbeat and Xayah’s legs are all my fault…”

I just shook my head and held her tighter. “Don’t be silly. You saved us. If it wasn’t for you, I doubt any of us would have made it out of there alive.”

“B-but… I was so scared… If I had been brave like you then maybe I could have saved him…” Mirra moaned, her voice muffled by her mouth being pressed up against my side. “I could have… should have done better…”

A small laugh escaped my lips. It was not a happy laugh, but one soaked with pain and heartache. “I’m not brave Mirra. I’m scared. All the time. Sometimes I wonder how I’ve even made it this far. I’m no pony special.”

Mirra pulled herself away and looked up at me with her wide blue eyes. “But… you are somepony special? You defeated Kamari and walked away! You traveled all the way across Manehattan with nothing but your smarts to confront dangerous cyber ponies!” Her expression faltered. “All I’ve done is hide…”

“The only reason I walked away after defeating Kamari was because of you and you know it,” I said pointedly. “Well… you and whoever that friend of yours was. You shouldn’t sell yourself short on what you can do.”

Mirra gave me a grateful smile before nuzzling back up against me. A second later, I felt her body tense up again. “Amber… can I ask you something?”

“Of course…”

I could feel Mirra gulp. “Did… Did Pyre really murder her own mother?”

I froze. I hadn’t realised Mirra had been present for that part of our torture. She must have seen more than I thought she had. I suddenly felt even more sorry for the small changeling.

Of course if she had heard that, the fact would have been nagging at her. Mirra was lost, trying to find the mother she never knew. Since she had joined our group, Pyre had unofficially taken up the role off looking out for the small changeling. The idea that Pyre had destroyed from her life the very thing Mirra was hoping to bring into hers must have been eating away at her.

I gave a tentative nod. “I… I think so, but I’m not sure. Pyre hasn’t said anything about what she told us back in the MWT hub,” I glanced up and across the room. Pyre lay with her back to us on the far side of the hospital. She was out of her armor, giving me a clear view of where her cutie mark should have been. Only a burned patch of flesh remained there now. “But we don’t know the context. There might be more to that story than we know.”

I saw one of Pyre’s ears twitch. She wasn’t asleep. She was listening.

“Do… do you think th-that m-my mom is still alive?” Mirra croaked out, her voice almost inaudible. “O-or do y-you think she died too? Like your mom and Pyre’s mom?”

I grew quiet at the question. I had no idea if her mom was still alive or not. My gut told me she wasn’t, that the wasteland never allowed for nice things like that to happen. But I couldn’t just crush Mirra’s hopes like that. We had all been damaged enough over the past few hours, and there was still a chance that she was out there.

“I don’t know,” I finally said, deciding that it was both the kindest and most truthful answer I could give. “I simply have no way of knowing.”

I sat with Mirra for a few more minutes in silence until she finally drifted off to sleep. I was glad she could get some rest. We all had a big day ahead of us.

Once she was asleep and tucked under the stained grey blankets of her hospital bed, I pushed myself up to my hooves and quietly trotted over to where Pyre still lay on her side. One of Pyre’s ears lifted at my approach, signalling that she was in fact still awake. I sat down beside her and stared off at the shadow covered walls of the hospital, not knowing what to say.

After what felt like an eternity of sitting in silence, Pyre spoke. “What do you want Amber?”

I continued to look forwards, my eyes transfixed on the brick wall. I opened my mouth and let a heavy sigh escape my lips. “I want to know what you’ve been hiding from me, Pyre,” I said, my voice low enough that I didn’t wake the others. “We’re all friends, and friends don’t hide things from each other.”

“Like how you just lied to Mirra about her mom being alive,” Pyre shot back, her voice never raising. “Or do you genuinely believe the wasteland is kind enough to give that back to her?”

I winced, her words cutting through me like a knife. “We don’t know what happened to Mirra’s mom,” I said defensively. “And that is what I said. Maybe she’s alive, and maybe she isn’t. Time will tell.”

Pyre was silent at that for a long moment. Finally she rolled onto her back and looked up at me. “Why am I still with you, Amber?”

I was momentarily taken aback by the question. “Uh… because we're friends?”

Pyre let a hollow chuckle escape her mouth. “Is that what we are? Could have fooled me,” She looked over at where Brisk, Xayah and Mirra were sleeping. “Those are your friends, Amber. I’m here because I need you and you need me… or at least… that’s what I thought…”

Her voice trailed off, her face deep with thought. I cleared my throat, drawing Pyre’s attention back to me. “What do you mean by that Pyre?” I didn’t think I liked where this conversation was headed.

“I joined your little group because I needed protection from the Las pegasus raiders. You let me tag along so that I could help protect you from ponies hunting you down,” Pyre started, rolling her eyes at me a little. “Yesterday proved that you ponies can’t protect me from Viscera and that you are all in more danger being around me. Me being in this group doesn't benefit you, it damages you. We no longer have a mutual benefit. So I ask again, why am I still with you?”

I didn’t even need to think about that answer. “Because it was never about mutual benefit. Not to me at least. You are with us because we’re friends, practically family. We try our best to protect each other, and when things get bad, we do our damnedest to try and lighten each eachothers burdens.”

“I’m going to get all of you killed,” Pyre snarled, pulling herself up to her hooves and towering over me. “Viscera might be gone for right now, but for how long? How long until one of the gang leaders sends somepony else to take us out? Somepony worse…”

The idea that Las pegasus had raiders worse than Viscera was frightening. I quickly pushed the idea from my mind. “Then we’ll fight against them together. But I won’t let you go against these ponies alone. You deserve better than that.”

“Do I though?” Pyre scolded. Her legs wobbled slightly and she slowly lowered herself back down to the bed. “You heard my cutie mark story… I don’t deserve anything…”

I bit my lower lip. “What… what exactly is your cutie mark story,” I asked, knowing full well I was going to dread the answer. “I mean, I heard what you said back with Viscera and all, but…”

Pyre stared at me worriedly. “You heard what I said, and still want to know?”

I nodded grimly. “We’re friends. Friends listen, even when they know they don’t want to.”

Pyre stared at me for a long second, weighing her options. At long last, she gave a low sigh. “You really are something, Amber. You really are something,” Pyre looked away, contemplating something in her mind for a moment. “I’ve told you about my father… he was a terrible pony. Beat me, raped me… he did other things too, I don’t really remember all of it. Mom just sat back and watched. I don’t blame her now, she would have just been beaten too, but it hurt as a filly. She was supposed to be strong and protect me, but all she did was watch.”

I grew cold as she spoke. Pyre had told me this much before, but the thought was still awful. I had had plenty of issues with my own father, but they all seemed small and insignificant compared to what Pyre had gone through.

Pyre rolled back onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. “One day I just got tired of it all. So… So I burned her. I don’t know what I expected to have happen... Hurt her like I had been hurt I suppose. I got carried away…” She looked back at her rump, where a burn mark was still very visible through her coat. “I got my cutie mark after that… It was the first thing I ever did that dad was proud of me for…”

“That’s awful,” I said, my voice soft and uncertain.

Pyre just scoffed. “Yeah. It was… a part of me was always thankful the Viscera made me burn it off myself. I don’t want to be reminded of what I did every time I look back or in the mirror.”

I sat there beside her, not sure what to do with myself. Finally I scooted a little closer to her. “Pyre, I know you aren’t much for sappy stuff, but…” I paused, not sure how to proceed. “Can I give you a hug? I think you need one.”

Pyre looked up from her hooves in surprise. her face flickered with confusion, then conflicting. Finally, she just sighed. “Just one. And if anyone asks, it never happened.”

I let the faintest of smiles touch my lips as I moved forwards and wrapped my hooves around Pyre as tightly as I could. The two of us sat their for a moment, unmoving. Then, to my surprise, Pyre started trembling in my embrace. I felt a few tears drip onto my shoulder as Pyre began to cry.

"Why are you still letting me be a part of this group?" She asked, her hushed voice bordering a moan. "Why do you put up with me? I'm just a raider... I'm a fucking raider that always gets it wrong..."

"Because getting it wrong at least means you're trying," I said, my own voice cracking slightly. "Raiders don't try to make better ponies out of themselves, but you do. You'll get it right Pyre, and when you do, I'll be right here with you."

Pyre's body shook as she let out a loud sob, breaking the near silence of the room. "Th- thank you, Amber. You're the best friend I could ask for..."

I took a deep breath, hugging the larger pony tighter. “For what it's worth Pyre, I’ll always be your friend, no matter how much of a psychotic bitch you can be sometimes.”

Pyre actually laughed at that, but her tears didn’t subside. “For what it’s worth, you’re still the most adorable badass in the wasteland,” I didn’t bother arguing with her on that.

When we finally pulled away, Pyre glanced down at her hooves, looking almost ashamed that she had cried in front of me like that. Glanced back up, she said, “I know I have no right to ask this of you after all that has happened, and I know we’re busy with the Institute and the A.A.S.S. and Red Eye and all, but I wanted to know if I could make a request?”

“Of course you can,” I said, lightening up a bit. “We don’t just go where I want. If you ever need us to do something, just ask.”

Pyre glanced away, trying to word her thoughts. “I was hoping we could make a stop at the Manehattan gardens at some point in our journeys. Last time I checked, which admittedly was a long time ago, that’s where my father still lives. I think I’ve been putting off that reunion for far too long.”

I furrowed my brow slightly. Pyre had just told me what and aweful pony her father had been, and now she wanted to see him? That probably wasn’t good, but who was I to stand in the way of what Pyre needed.

“If you think you need to confront him, then of course. We’ll go there the first opportunity we get.”

Pyre gave me a gratuitous smile, the scars that raced down her face twisting into hideous patterns as her lips curled upwards. “Thank you, Amber. For being there for me, even when I don’t deserve it,” She glanced back at where Xayah was sleeping. “Now go and get some sleep. We’re off to find the Institute soon as the sun is up. We need our rest.”

I nodded in agreement and pulled myself over to where Xayah was still muttering to herself in her sleep. I curled up around her and let my eyes drift closed. We had been broken, yes… but we could also heal.

“I’m sorry, that thing does what?!” Brisk blurted, his mouth dropping open.

We had all gathered around Sprocket’s desk as the small, yellow mare explained to us how exactly the teleportation devices she had made worked. She had worked throughout the whole night and well into the morning to create them.

“They disassemble your body at a molecular level and transport you across the wasteland via radio signals to a designated location,” Sprocket said again, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “What part of that didn't you get? It’s really not that complicated.”

Brisk leaned over a little and whispered to Freedom who was standing beside him with a stern look on her face. “Is she always like this?” Freedom gave a stifled laugh in response that seemed to come more out of politeness than actual humour.

“To activate them is easy,” Sprocket continued, holding up the two small devices. “You just wrap them in your magic and activate a teleportation spell. Just make sure you are absolutely sure you're ready when you cast the spell. These things only have two charges, once you use them up, that’s that. And if what you told me you learned back in the MWT hub is true, making more of these is not going to be an option.”

“And we can just activate them here and be in the Institute just like that?” Pyre said, her eyes looking over the devices suspiciously through her helmet. “Seems awfully easy.”

Sprocket gave her an annoyed stare. “No dummy, have you been listening to nothing? First you need to have them lock onto a synths tag and wait for them to teleport back to the Institute. Then you can use them. Activating them before that just uses up one of your two uses.”

I glanced over at Xayah beside me. It was clear she was trying to do her best to stay focused on the conversation, but her eyes kept glancing down at her new metal legs, as if checking to see if her old legs had returned. Every time she checked, she was disappointed.

“And how are we going to find a synth to get the tag of? They aren’t exactly the easiest thing in the wasteland to find,” I asked as I turned back to face Sprocket, reminding all of them on the scarcity of synths, or even traces of the Institute in general.

“With this,” Flask said, taking a step forward and offering me a small plugin device for my Pipbuck. Up until this moment, Flask had been so quiet that I hadn’t even noticed he had been present for the conversation.

I took the device and clicked it into my pipbuck. “And what exactly is this thing?” I asked, looking the new installation to my pipbuck over.

“We have been trying to get into the Institute for years,” Flask said. “But more than that, we have been trying to protect and shelter synths from the Institute's vile grasp. A lot of our work has been going towards efficiently finding synths locations so we can retrieve them and bring them to safety.”

I glanced back down at the device. “And this will help us do that? How?”

“The Institute tends to use a very specific radio frequency to communicate with its synths. We’ve been unable to locate the origin of this signal, but we have been able to intercept and study it,” Freedom said, gesturing to my pipbuck. “That device should give you the ability to see Synth frequencies in your radio. Following them should lead you to any deployed synths in Manehattan.”

I nodded, slightly awestruck by the genius of the contraption.

“Y'all really have this whole getting into the Institute thing planned out, huh,” Brisk said with a smirk. Picking up one of the teleportation devices and rolling it around in his hooves.

“We have been trying to get there for several years,” Freedom said, a hint of pride in her voice. She gave us all an accusing look. “We are trusting you ponies a lot here. Normally we would be sending our own operatives on this mission, but you ponies have proven yourselves to us. The fact you are going in to try and rescue a synth is reason enough for us to trust you...”

I felt a ‘but’ coming on. “But what?” I asked, one of my eyebrows arching slightly.

“...But, we have demands of you once you are inside,” Freedom declared, her statement surprising no pony. “The Institute is known for its surveillance, that’s how they manage to stay so far ahead of everypony all the time. There should be a terminal inside that has a comprehensive list of all the names and locations off every synth they have sent into the wasteland. We want that list.”

“Sounds easy enough, what’s the catch?” I asked, knowing full well that there would be one.

“The catch is that is all we have to tell you,” Flask pitched in, catching me by surprise. “We know next to nothing about what you’ll find inside the Institute. We don’t know where these records are or how you can access them.”

“It should be as easy as downloading it to you pipbuck,” Sprocket chimed, passing the second device over to us. “But let's be honest, we both know it’s not going to be that easy.”

“There is one more thing,” Freedom said, holding up one of her dusty brown hooves. “You ponies have honestly done more for the Friendship Express in the past two days than most ponies have done in a month. While we have been trying to get into the Institute for years, you all managed to find a way in a matter of hours. Soooo,” She glanced over at Flask who gave her a reassuring nod. Freedom returned her attention to us. “So, normal procedure aside, I’d like to offer you all the official titles of Friendship Express operatives.”

I let my mouth open and close a couple of times as I tried to process that.

“Does this mean that I get a secret layer?” Brisk asked with a grin, clearly less surprised by the proposition. “Because I really want a secret layer!”

Freedom gave a small smile, the first real signs of happiness I had seen on her. “This um… secret layer… is ours, and as one of us, it would also be yours.”

Brisk bounced up and down slightly and pumped his hoof in the air with excitement. “Yes! I love secret layers!”

Mirra fluttered her wings happily beside him. I noticed she wasn’t on Pyre’s back like normal, but as far from the power armor clad raider as she could get. “Would it also be mine? I want a layer too?”

Freedom jumped a little at the small changeling's voice, still clearly off put by a changeling being present. “Um… of course.”

Flask pointed to Emissary’s Friendship Talisman that still hung around my neck. I was thankful that Viscera hadn’t taken that from me like the rest of my supplies. “And feel free to keep Emissary’s Friendship Talisman. You’ve earned it. Besides, I’m pretty sure Emissary would have wanted you to have it anyway.”

Freedom glanced down at our sides, taking in our lack of weapons. “Though perhaps we should re-equip you all with something to fight with. This is our only chance of getting into the Institute, we can’t risk the success of that.”

Only Mirra and I had any weapons, the rest of them having been confiscated by Viscera and her hellhounds. And between Mirra and myself, I was the only one with ammo. That ammo of course only consisted of a single shotgun shell for Braeburn’s Liberator.

I could almost feel Pyre smirking under her helmet. “You don’t happen to have flamers by any chance, no?”

Freedom frowned. “Not usually the Friendship Expresses style of fighting, but I believe we have a twin set for you.”

Flask gestured for us to follow him. “Come on, our armoury is just down here.”

My friends started following after him as he started leading us towards a side hall. Xayah took a slow step after him, only for her legs to lock up and send her tumbling to the ground.

I was at her side in a second, quickly helping her back to her hooves. “You alright?” I asked, glancing worriedly at her new legs.

Xayah gave me a flat look. “What do you think, Amber?”

Point taken. I continued to help her steady herself as she planted her metal forehooves back onto the ground. I felt a pang of guilt shoot through me as I thought about how to say what I had to say next. “Xayah, I’ve been thinking, and I think that maybe you should sit this adventure out for a bit.”

Xayah’s head shot up, quickly looking from her hooves to me in alarm. “Wh-what do you mean?” Xayah asked, her eyes wide. “You cannot think to leave me behind here?”

I grimaced. That wasn’t how I had hoped she would take that. “Xayah, you’ve been through a lot. I think it would just be best if you took a bit of time to recover from your injuries,” I gestured to the metal legs that shook slightly as she tried to hold herself up. “Take a day or two to get used to your new legs. You’ll be safe here. Practice walking and all that. We won’t be gone long. I’ll come right back here for you, I promise.”

Xayah looked at me sceptically for a moment. She took a step forward, stumbled on her forehooves and almost collapsed back to the ground before I caught her. She was noticeably heavier now that the front half of her body was half made of metal.

Xayah sighed, once again trying to straighten herself. “You are correct, Amber. I’m sorry,” She glanced up at me nervously, her eyes darting around my features. She leaned in and planted a quick kiss on the tip of my muzzle. “Just make sure to come back to me quickly, understand.”

I nodded, feeling a lump form in my throat. Despite knowing she would be safer here, I hated the idea of being without her for a few days.

“I promise. It’ll only be a day if everything goes well. And we’ll come right back afterwards.”

Xayah nuzzled my cheek quickly before pulling away. “And Amber… Thank you for saving my life back at the MWT hub. Knowing the foolish pony you are, I know you are beating yourself up over all this. I do not blame you for what you had to do.”

I grimaced. I didn’t know if I deserved thanks for turning her into a cyber pony. I gave her a sollom nod. “I wish I could have done more…” Feeling guilty, and not knowing what else to say, I leaned in myself and gave her a quick kiss of my own. “I’ll see you soon. Love you…”

“I love you too…”

The radio device that Flask had given me didn’t seem to be taking us far. Shortly after leaving the metro tunnel that housed the Friendship Express, my pipbuck had notified me of one of the Synths radio frequencies. My pipbuck map told me it was coming from a structure called the Manehattan Public Library.

The idea that Manehattan had a library was beyond exciting. No doubt they had more books there than either Stable 25 and Stable 44 combined.

“We aren’t going there to nerd out to books,” Brisk reminded me as I giddily hopped down the street, knowing what I was thinking even without me saying it. “We’re going there to find some synths and get into the Institute. We can look for books later.”

I scowled at him. Sure, he was always in a happy and bouncy mood, but when something good was happening to me, he had to get all sour.

Brisk had strapped another machete across his back, once again completing his ragged wastelander look. A new 10mm pistol had been holstered to his right fore hoof.

Flask had hastily restocked our supply of ammunition and healing potions, giving thirty shots to us each and a healthy supply of ten healing potions. I was still without a melee weapon, but I’m sure I would be able to find one eventually.

“I guess I should ask this question now and before we get there...” Pyre started, adjusting the two flamers that had been attached to the sides of her armour. “But which ones of us are going to be going into the Institute? We only have two teleportation thingies and I can’t cast a teleportation spell, so I guess it’s down to two of you three.”

Brisk tapped the tip of his horn grumpily. “Nope, it’s down to Amber and Mirra this time. I can’t do magic at all, so I’m about as useless as you are in this situation Pyre.”

Mirra froze and looked up at us. “Wait… you want me to go into the Institute?” Clearly the fact that she was the only one of us aside from me that could use the teleportation device hadn’t crossed her mind yet.

I gave her a quick nod. “Only if you want to. We aren’t going to force you to do anything.”

Mirra gave me a smug grin. “No no, I’ll do it. I just thought Brisk would be going with you is all,” She glanced at Brisk, her expression devious. “Can you really not do magic at all?”

Brisk scowled. “No, I can't. Thank you for rubbing it in.”

Up ahead, the large structure of the Manehattan library came into view. It was a large, cube-like building surrounded by large spiral pillars that supported an overhanging roof. The large, wood ornate doors had begun to rot and sag, giving the once beautiful entranceway a decrepit and unwelcoming look.

As we drew near, red bars popped up on my EFS compass. Lots of them. I crouched down, pulling out Braebrun’s Liberator. Pyre and Brisk quickie did the same, spotting the red bars on their own EFS.

“Synths?” Brisk asked, glancing over at me. I shrugged, having no way of telling myself.

Pyre shook her head. “Nope, I’m getting them on my EFS too, and I don’t have an anti-cloaking device. Those red bars are something else,” Pyre glanced over at Mirra. “Your nose telling you anything kid?”

Mirra sniffed the air, scrunching her muzzle up as the radioactive air wafted into her nostrils. Her eyes widened. “Wait, that smells like…”

An alicorn burst from the building, steaming from a shot from some magic energy weapon. The alicorn pulled itself back up to its hooves, its horn flaring as it dove back into the building.

“Great, only one of the most deadly things in the wasteland,” I groaned. “Why couldn’t it just be synths?”

We crept over to the large, broken doorway into the Manehattan library and peeked inside. The first thing I saw was books. Lots and lots of books. Huge shelves towered up around the inside of the library, each one filled with hundreds of books. Smaller shelves lined the floors in a large circular pattern. I wanted to cry just by looking at it; all of the books were burned beyond repair.

In the center of the room was a large forcefield like bubble, kept up by four alicorns that stood around it stoically, their expressions blank in concentration. six other alicorns circled around the room, blasting lasers in multiple directions at a bunch of fleeing targets.

Within the bubble stood what we had come for. Three synths stood within the magical bubble, their magical energy weapons drawn and ready to fire the moment the alicorn’s dropped their shields. The shield seemed to have been erected with the purpose of keeping the synths from teleporting away in mind. Not that that was much of a concern, they seemed to have no desire to flee. Around the shield, five other synths were darting about, trying their best to take out the alicorns that were pursuing them. The synths were badly losing.

Pyre glanced over at me. “We shouldn’t be here,” she warned me flatly. “I’ve seen alicorns use this tactic before. They’re keeping them in the shield until reinforcements can arrive.”

I glanced out at the battle raging within the library. From how things were looking, it didn’t look like the alicorns would need reinforcements. The synths were impressive machines and they were well equipped, but they didn’t stand a chance against a group of alicorns.

I shook my head. “Running into synths is rare. We’re lucky we found these ones so easily. We can’t risk losing this opportunity and not being able to find more synths in time.”

“In time for what?” Brisk asked, bringing up the question I had hoped he wouldn’t ask.

I shrugged. “No idea. Whatever that Utopia thing is I suppose,” I glanced back to Pyre and Mirra. “And idea how to handle this?”

“Yes, don’t die,” Pyre snarked back, the end of her flamer flickering to life. “Do we need a better plan than that?”

“Go for the Alicorns not casting the shield spell, as their the biggest threat,” Mirra said flatly, giving Pyre a playful nudge. “The other ones won’t be able to attack us until after their concentration is lost.”

I saw Brisk give a nod from beside me. “Alright, that's only six alicorns. We can deal with that.”

After waiting a few more seconds, the four of us sprung out from our cover behind the door. I raised my new quad barrel shotgun into the air with my magic, wincing a little as the crack Viscera had put down the center of my horn flared with pain. Braeburn's Liberator fired a shot of explosive buckshot at the nearest alicorn, catching it off guard. The alicorn spun to face me in surprise, its attention drawn from the synth it was chasing.

The alicorn’s eyes narrowed as it spotted me. “You!” Oh that’s right, I had almost forgotten about the whole creepy hive mind thing the alicorns had.

I jumped to the side as the alicorn blasted down at me with a bolt of magical energy. I landed behind a crooked bookshelf, the alicorn’s magical blast disintegrating one of the few books in the building that still looked somewhat intact.

I saw Brisk dart across the room and engage into combat with a dark green alicorn while Pyre and Mirra took on another alicorn off to my right.

I scampered back as the alicorn I had attacked blasted through the bookshelf, sending burned and tattered books flying across the room and raining down on me. The alicorn swooped forwards, her horn blazing with light as she created a shield around herself.

Two of the still free synths fired up at the alicorn as it swooped at me, their blue lasers bouncing harmlessly off of the alicorn's shield.

I swung Braeburn’s Liberator up, this time slamming the stock of the gun against the alicorn’s shield near its head. The shield didn’t even flicker as the impressive gun slammed against it.

One of the synths dropped to the ground, its head a smoldering pile of ash as one of the alicorns blasted at it. The alicorns were killing the synths too fast. We needed to keep at least one of the synths alive.

Brisk rolled past me, his machete in his mouth as he swung it at a hovering alicorn. The alicorn stayed in the air, just out of his reach. The magical force field around her would flare to life if Brisk’s swings managed to get too close, but otherwise she kept the shield down and focused on using her destructive magics to stay on the offensive.

The alicorn pursuing me dropped her shield for a second and dove at me, her horn blasting a volley of smaller blasts in my direction. I jumped backwards, the blasts searing off the front layer of hair on my fore hooves.

Thinking fast, I wrapped as many of the ruined books around me as I could in my magic. Screaming from pain that shot through my horn, I lifted them all up into the air and flung them at the approaching alicorn.

The alicorn's eyes widened as she was swept up in a miniature tornado of flying pages and covers. Her shield burst back to life, protecting her from the volley of slashing pages. That was fine. I hadn’t expected the papers to hurt her.

With the alicorn temporarily blinded by the whirlwind of books, I scampered away and ducked behind another book shelf. I let more horn drop the spell, panting for breath as the pain in my forehead dulled to a small hum.

The alicorn glanced around, trying to spot where I had darted off to in her confusion. A few more synths fired up at her, diverging her attention from me even more.

The alicorn dropped her shield and sent a bolt of energy lashing towards the synths who promptly scattered. Perfect.

With the alicorn not knowing where I was and with her shield temporarily down, I pushed myself out from hiding behind her and swung Braeburn’s Liberator up towards her head. The alicorn's eyes shot wide as she felt all four barrels press against the back of her head. Her horn burst with light and a shield began to form around her.

Blam!

An explosive shot from Braeburn’s Liberator ripped through the alicorn’s skull. The still forming shield and the magic around her horn exploded with a quick pop as her head burst open. Fire burst from the wound as the fire talismans in Braeburn’s Liberator took effect. The alicorn dropped to the ground, blood oozing from the stump that had once been her neck.

I took a step back as the alicorn collapsed in front of me, looking over the bleeding corpse. Braeburn’s Liberator had some powerful kick to it. I had been so surprised by the damage of my gun that I had missed the other alicorn flying in and slashing at me with her horn. The long bone slashed through my side, opening up a gaping wound that poured hot blood.

I skidded across the ground, my hooves flying to my side in an attempt to stop the bleeding. My magical grip on Braeburn’s Liberator was lost as the pain flaring through my side mingled with the already agonizing throb of my horn.

The alicorn reared up, her horn blazing with light as she prepared to blast me apart.

Blam!

A bullet lodged itself between her eyes, the shot aimed with impossible accuracy. I looked behind me to see a tall beige stallion with a long brown coat and wide brimmed fedora atop his head. The mysterious stranger had a revolver in his mouth that wafted smoke from its long barrel.

“You again!” I gasped, blinking at him in surprise. I shouldn’t have blinked, he had disappeared.

Not far away, Pyre slammed against one of the alicorn’s shields, her powerful force sending the alicorn stumbling backwards. The shield flickered, but didn’t relent under her attack. The alicorn scowled, her horn glowing as she dropped the shield and blasted at Pyre with a beam of purple energy.

Pyre dodged, her hooves skidding slightly on the floor as she narrowly avoided being turned to ash.

A bullet lodged itself in the alicorns forehoof. The alicorn yelped, spinning around to face Mirra who was trying her best to stay away from the deadly lasers that were blasting around the room. “Sorry,” Mirra squeaked, as the alicorn turned to face her, the purple alicorn’s expression twisting into a sneer.

Pyre’s flamers burst to life before the alicorn could even dare lay a hoof on the small changeling. The alicorn’s body went up in a burst of flame. The alicorn screamed, stumbling backwards. It's shield flared up around it, but that only seemed to speed up her painful death as the smoke of the flames filled the inside of the shield and suffocated her.

I moved over to help Brisk, who was currently being cornered by the green alicorn he had been assailing. The alicorn had managed to fight him into a corner, her horn glowing as she blasted beam after beam of light at him. He was managing to dodge, but he could only last for so long.

The synths not trapped by the alicorn’s shield had turned their fire from the attacking alicorns, to the alicorns holding up the shield in the middle of the room, no doubt trying to free their imprisoned comrades.

Not wanting to risk the synths escaping before we could get our teleporting devices to lock onto them, I pointed the devices towards them with my magic and began targeting them. To my surprise, all of their tags popped up on my EFS a few seconds later.

Satisfied, I turned back to where the green alicorn had cornered Brisk. The alicorn had managed to land a shot on him in the few seconds I had taken to lock onto the synths. I felt a pang of culpability for not helping Brisk first and foremost.

I lunged forwards, my hooves lashing at the back of the alicorn’s head as they charged up for a final strike against Brisk. The alicorn staggered, having not expected somepony to lunge into her from behind.

She swung around, her magic reaching out and wrapping around my throat. She leered in my face, her expression not even remotely befitting a goddess in the slightest. “The Goddess is unpleased with you! She will enjoy flaying off your skin!”

A scary statement, sure, but it felt almost laughable after some of Viscera's threats of turning my severed head into a toilet.

Brisk’s machete slashed forwards, slicing into the back of the alicorn's leg before thudding to an abrupt halt halfway through her fetlock. The alicorn screamed, reeling up and bucking backwards. Her hooves crashed into Brisk’s chest, sending him stumbling back and crashing into a bookshelf. Ruined books rained down on him, one slamming down heavily upon his head and getting impaled on his horn.

I wiggled around so that the grip of Baeburn’s Liberator was tight in my mouth and raised it to aim directly between the alicorn’s eyes. Seeing the gun raise, the alicorn tossed me away, ducking down as the explosive round of buckshot tore through the air where her head had been moments before.

One of the alicorns holding up the shield in the centre of the room fell to the ground, slowly dissolving into glowing blue ash as the synth powerful magical energy weapons tore through them. They broke concentration on the spell just long enough to scream in pain before fizzling away.

Two more synths fell, the only attacking alicorn that my friends and I weren’t attacking swooping in and blasting at them with powerful shots of their horn. Both synths collapsed, their metallic, skeletal bodies warped and twisted from the intense heat of the blast.

I pulled myself up as the alicorn lunged at me again. I barely managed to raise Baeburn’s Liberator in time as the alicorns horn shot a beam of light towards me. The shot slashed against the side of the weapon, deflecting outwards and blasting through a window. Almost instantly, the warped metal where the blast had struck my gun began to pop back into place.

The terminal back in the Ironshod Firearms building had said that Braeburn’s Liberator was equipped with a regeneration talisman, but I had been so focused on other things over the past few hours that I had never stopped to think about what that might entail. Apparently it could fix itself if damaged. I wondered exactly how far that could go. How much could be destroyed until it couldn’t repair itself anymore?

My thoughts were interrupted as the alicorn lashed at me again with a glowing beam of light. I rolled to the side, ducking under one of the bookshelves to escape the attack. The alicorn followed, her eyes murderous as she lunged towards me.

Blam!

A shot from Brisk’s pistol dropped the alicorn to the ground, the 10mm bullet tearing through her right wing. Howling, the alicorn spun around to face him, only to find Pyre suddenly on her right, barreling into her and smothering her in a wave of fire.

I glanced over to where Pyre and Mirra had been fighting, only to see the charred remains of an alicorn curled up in a pile of burning books, their hooves now twitching and sticking out at awkward angles.

The final alicorn holding up the shield in the middle of the room fell, torn asunder by the synths weaponry. The shield exploded, bursting like a glass dome that had just had a large rock thrown through it.

The synths inside quickly burst out, their guns swiveling to face me and my friends. “Target acquired. Eliminate threat, Amber Aura,” One of the newly freed synths monotoned, turning its icy glare to face us. “Damaged units consider tactical retreat.”

Seriously! We just saved them and now they were going to attack us?!

The synths that had been fighting the alicorns gave a quick nod. I noticed that they were all significantly worse for wear than the synths that had been safely tucked away from the fighting from within the alicorn’s shield.

Blue beams of light shot out of seemingly nowhere around the remaining synths that hadn’t been within the forcefield. A blink of the eye later, and they were gone as they teleported away. I let my eyes quickly dart down to the teleportation devices. They were still successfully locked onto their targets.

The three synths turned to face us proper, the ends of their magical energy weapons beginning to glow a dangerous blue. It reminded me a little of tiny versions of Crank’s massive tesla cannons.

“Amber Aura, you are Institute threat level high. You will be eliminated,” One of the synths said, taking a step forward.

I slapped my face with a forehoof. “Of course the Institute wants me dead. Can I catch a break just once please?”

The synths didn’t reply with words. Instead, their magical energy weapons opened fire. We scattered, ducking behind the bookshelves as the area we had just stood was blasted apart with a hail of blue lasers.

“Do we need to take them out without killing them so we can follow them back to the Institute?” Mirra asked, scooting up beside me as one of the synths lasers blasted at her tail.

I shook my head. “Nope, I already locked onto the ones that teleported away, we can just kill these ones.”

“Well we had better do that quickly!” Pyre shouted over the gunfire, ducking down herself as a laser blasted out a bunch of books above her head. “You remember when I said these alicorns had been waiting for reinforcements?”

A knot formed in my throat at her words. “Yeah…”

Pyre pointed towards the doorway, leading my attention towards it. Far off in the distance, I could see a large swarm of black dots flying towards us. Alicorns. Lots and lots of alicorns. I gulped. There was no fighting that many. We needed to be out of here before they arrived.

I spun around, looking to Brisk who was taking shelter off to my left. “Brisk, sneak around behind them, take them out from behind…” Brisk gave me a quick salute. I turned back to Pyre. “Pyre, you think you can charge them and pull their attention away from us?”

“Ha! I thought you’d never ask.”

I turned to look at Mirra, who was holding her revolver shakily in her magic. “You ready kid?”

Mirra glanced up at me worriedly. “What? What do I need to be ready for?” her eyes widened as she understood what I was saying. “Wait… are we going in now!?”

I glanced back up and exchanged a look with Brisk and Pyre. “Will you two be safe without us?”

Brisk waved me off with a hoof. “You two go. We’ll deal with these synths and get out of here before the Alicorns show up. We’ll meet back up with you at the Friendship Express.”

I opened my mouth to say something else, but Pyre cut me off. “And yes, we’ll make sure Xayah’s safe. Now go!” She snapped at me quickly before jumping out of hiding and spewing flames towards the synths. Flames were effective against most creatures in the wasteland, but robots weren’t among them.

I glanced down to Mirra and handed her one of the teleportation devices. “Whenever you're ready, kid.”

Mirra pulled out the chunk of white metal with the altered Stable-Tec logo on it. She looked back up to me, worry crossing her face. “Do you think we’re going to find my mom inside there?” She asked, her voice trembling a little bit.

I shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.”

One of the synths moved around the side of the bookshelf, its magical energy weapon aimed at us. Before it could fire, Pyre came crashing back towards us, her hooves pummeling the synth into the ground. She glared over at the two of us. “Well, what are you waiting for, get out of here!”

I nodded and wrapped the teleportation device in my magic. I could see Mirra doing the same beside me. It was time to face the puppet masters.

Channeling as much magic as I could into my horn, I cast a teleportation spell. My horn flared with pain as magic shot up the large crack. The world around me spun and I suddenly felt significantly lighter. Blue light flashed around me, then tore me apart.

As it turns out, having your body disassembled at a molecular level and teleported across the wasteland to a designated location via radio waves before getting put back together was not very fun. Who would have thought.

My whole body split apart in ways I never thought was possible. One minute I was whole, the next I was scattered amongst the wasteland in tiny little fragments. The terrifying thought that a single gust of wind might blow into me and scatter my particles across the planet suddenly flashed through my mind.

I would have flailed my hooves around in fear, had I been able to.

Despite being ripped apart, the whole experience felt more like being shoved through a hole the size of a nail. I was suddenly beginning to feel very claustrophobic.

How long was this supposed to take? Teleportation was instantaneous, right? Shouldn’t I be in the Institute by now? Did the device even work?

I was suddenly reminded that these had never been tested before. There was a good chance I had just disassembled my molecules permanently.

Just when I was about to panic… okay, I was already panicking… My body rematerialized and I dropped panting to the floor.

My vision spinning, I lifted my head up to look around. Mirra lay a few feet away from me, rubbing the side of her head with a gnarled hoof as she tried to remove some of the dizziness.

The room we were in was small, probably some sort of storage closet. The walls were made out of a smooth, grey metal that seemed to shine despite there being no bright lights in the room. The room was filled with metal crates that didn’t seem to have a lid, I had no clue how to open them, and a sliding metal door sat on the far side of the room leading out into the structure beyond. Despite being the most boring room ever, it was the cleanest looking room I had ever seen both in the Wasteland and in the Stable.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself for what was to come. What lay before us wasn't that hard. All we had to do was rescue Rubber Band from captivity, learn what the Utopia Program was, steal back the A.A.S.S. and download a bunch of files onto my pipbuck despite having no idea where they are or how to find them.

Never mind... this was going to be hell to pull off.

“Th-this is the Institute?” Mirra asked, her voice hazy from the teleportation. She scratched the back of her head, flopping over from dizziness. “Whoa… let's never do that again…”

I gave her a sly smile. “We’ll need to do that at least one more time to get out of this place, I think,” I said, tucking the device back into my saddlebags. “And yes… I think this is the Institute. Or at least a room in it anyway.”

I glanced down at my pipbuck map, hoping it would give me some idea of where we were. I took a sharp breath as I saw where our tags were.

We were in Tenpony Tower, or at least below it.

The Institute of Arcane Sciences. The Institute was an extension of the MAS, a secret branch of scientists working alongside the other ministries under the control of Twilight Sparkle and Silver Ace. Where else would they build a secret base of operations where no pony would get suspicious beside directly below their own ministry.

Mirra pulled herself up and fluttered up onto one of the boxes. "You think our friends will be alright?"

I felt a touch of warmth at the question. even after being teleported half way across the city and dumped into what very well might be one of the most dangerous places we've ever been in, Mirra's first thoughts were of our friends.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," I said, doing my best to put on a reassuring face. "Brisk is a survivor, and Pyre is near unkillable. If there were ever two ponies that can get out of their safely, it's them."

Mirra glanced nervously at the door. “What do you expect we'll find out there?” She asked, one of her hooves tapping on the metal surface of the box.

I shrugged. “No idea. Synths I guess. That’s really all I know about the Institute. Hopefully answers,” Goddesses, wouldn’t it be nice to finally get some answers.

Mirra gave me a nervous smile. “Well, like you said. Only one way to find out.”

I slowly moved towards the door. We didn’t need to do anything upon approaching it, it simply slid open on its own accord once we had gotten close enough. Mirra yelped and jumped behind my leg quickly, shaking like a leaf. I was feeling a little startled myself. We were in the lion's den, and honestly, we had no idea what we were supposed to do or what to expect.

Creeping out of the small room, I found myself faced with the large expanse that was the Institute. The second I saw it, my mouth dropped open.

The Institute was huge, far bigger than my mind was letting me comprehend. It appeared to be a gigantic dome-like structure comprised out of nearly blinding white metal. Despite finding myself on a balcony half way up the inside of the huge structure, the towering ceiling lay so far above me that I wouldn’t have been surprised if I could fit a few Tenpony towers within the walls. The walls of the Institute were covered in ramp-like pathways that twisted up to reach higher levels and numerous tunnel-like structures led to what I could only imagine was even more rooms.

The floor of the Institute was crawling with life. Ponies in white lab coats rushed about or stood talking. But it wasn’t just ponies. To my surprise I spotted quite a few changelings rushing about, many of them dressed in similar looking lab coats.

The floor of the Institute had more than just pony and changeling life however. Much of the floor had been transformed into a massive inside botanical garden. For the first time in my life I saw greenery with my very own eyes. Trees, grass and flowers of many colours were growing up from the Institute floor in beautiful patterns. Even small birds and butterflies seemed to have sprung to life, fluttering around the trees and giving the otherwise clinical looking expanse feel alive and friendly.

The center of the Institute held what I could only assume was the massive Crusader mainframe Scootaloo had mentioned in one of Twilights memories that I had seen in the MAS tower. It was a massive spire of white metal that rose high into the air, nearly touching the top of the dome structures ceiling. Parts of the mainframe had been made from glass, giving me a look at the advanced machinery that worked within. Even with my rather extensive knowledge of machines, I could tell it might take me years to properly understand the workings of that device.

I heard Mirra give a loud gasp. I followed her gaze up to the huge maneframe. Imprinted onto the side of the Crusader mainframe in a bold black was a symbol. A horseshoe with three lines protruding from each side and surrounding a circle bearing the image of the mare in the moon. An altered version of the Stable-Tec logo. The very same symbol that resided on Mirra’s only memento of her mother.

“We’ll meet again… mom,” Mirra whispered under her breath, resighting the rather short note on the back of the jagged metal slab she was holding tightly in her hoof. “We’ll meet again…”

My eyes caught on something moving down below. A speck of black amongst the nearly blinding white of the Institute. My eyes widened when I realized what I was looking at.

I ducked down lower, pulling Mirra down with me. “We’ve got a problem,” I said urgently, my voice reflecting the fear that I felt. “We have a really, really big problem.”

Mirra shuddered, my words quickly working the small filly up into a panic. “W-what? What is it?”

I peered over the edge of the balcony again, looking down at the Institute below. There, talking to one of the scientists, was someone I had never expected to see again.

Azar. The only thing in the entire wasteland that could have stood up against Crank. The zebra that had been hit point blank with a balefire bomb and apparently walked out unscathed. I supposed he had the right to claim he had done that twice now. And he was here, in the Institute.

The dark grey and violet zebra glanced around, as if sensing that something was off, before turning back to the scientist pony he was talking to.

I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him. I had seen him teleport out of the MAS tower right before it had exploded. I should have figured it was all connected.

Mirra peeked over the edge with me, her eyes landing on the dark zebra. She raised an eyebrow at me. “Is that the zebra that killed everypony in your Stable and was helping Kamari?”

I gave her a grim nod. “Yup, that’s the one.”

Mirra wrinkled her muzzle and took a small sniff of the air in his general direction. “Huh… he doesn’t smell like a zebra… but he is pretty far away and there are a lot of changelings between me and…” She trailed off, her eyes widening. She took another sniff, then another. “Wait… I smell… I…”

I tightened my grip on Braeburn’s Liberator. “What? What is it?!”

Mirra’s eyes were wide with excitement. “Amber, I smell her! She’s here!”

“What? Who’s here?!” Mirra didn’t answer me. Instead, she spun on her hooves and started rushing down the ramp towards the lower sections of the Institute. I reached a hoof out, trying to stop her. “Mirra, wait! It could be dangerous!”

My warning was met with deaf ears.

I pulled myself up and started rushing after her. Mirra was small, and a lot faster than I was. I was needing to use all my strength just to keep up.

Ahead, Mirra rounded one of the corners that lead away from the main room and into one of the side structures. I pushed myself forwards, rounding the corner and skidding into the room beyond. Mirra was already halfway across the room and heading down a set of stairs on the far side.

She was not alone in the room. A pony and a changeling, both dressed in lab coats and holding clipboards, were looking at both of us in surprise as we rounded the corner and rushed past them. I heard yells of alarm ring out across the room and quickly into the rest of the Institute.

This infiltration mission was going swimmingly. It hadn’t even been five minutes, and the entire Institute was probably already aware we were here.

The blue lights that lined the tops of the walls began to flash red and a siren rang out. “Intruders detected in the west quadrant!”

Well fuck.

I heard more yells from behind me as I chased after Mirra. Though these yells didn’t sound pony, by rather synthesised and metallic. I dared myself to glance behind me as I spotted what was chasing us.

I had expected synths. I was only half right. Besides a large squadron of synths, a group of several black coated ponies in dark trench coats were racing towards us, dangerous looking magical energy weapons aimed and ready to fire.

We were being chased by Coursers! Because of fucking course we were!

I gulped. That was bad. Very, very bad. I turned looking back at Mirra who was still running a few paces ahead of me. “Ignore my first request!” I yelled to her, forcing myself to pick up speed. “Keep running! Run really really fast!”

Mirra turned one of the corners ahead of me, once again ducking out of sight. A good thing took, because less than a second later, the Courser’s behind us started shooting. A few of the shots flew past me, blasting at the spot Mirra had stood only seconds prior.

One of the shots blasted through one of my hind hooves. I screamed in pain, stumbling as I felt the wound get ripped open, only to cauterize immediately afterwards from the scorching heat of the blast.

I fell to the ground with a thud, my hind leg giving out from under me. I pushed myself back up as quickly as possible, doing my best to ignore the pain, and kept running. The synths were gaining on me, the distance between us growing shorter at an alarming rate. A few more of the Coursers blue lasers shot past me, but by then, it was too late.

I swung around the corner Mirra had rushed around and skidded to a stop.

Mirra stood frozen in front of me, her blue eyes transfixed on a pony standing a few meters away from us. Mirra’s eyes were wide and her mouth was slack.

I stood there, staring at Mirra for a few seconds, panting and out of breath. Slowly, I lifted my gaze to look at the mare before us. The moment my eyes landed on her, I felt my knees go week and give out from under me. I dropped to the floor, my mouth hanging open as I stared at a mare that should have been dead a long time ago.

It was her! It had to be! Even after all this time, I knew that face…

Her coat was a light pink and her mane a light pastel blue, both colours almost identical to mine if not a little darker. She had a pair of reading glasses over her eyes as she peered down at a clipboard she held aloft in her magic. But my eyes were drawn to her cutie mark.

It was the Stable-Tec logo. The same one as my father, and his father before him. the cutie mark I had failed to inherit. Our families famous, hereditary cutie mark.

I felt my mouth go dry as I uttered the only four words that I could possibly say. “M-mom? Is that you?”

Footnote: Three quarters of the way to next level

Author's Notes:

When I first started this story, I was trying to figure out how to turn Coursers into a horse pun. As it turns out, a Courser is a type of horse. Bethesda is making my job too easy.

Also, four chapters in one month. This is the gift of quarantine folks.