"Are you sure about this, Star?" Hardballer asked me, having sobered up a little as everyone got the Smuggler ready.

"Look, you need your apprentices to work on those machines. Have them ready for when we return. Other than Longslide, I'm the only one who is both free, and I know how to defend myself. There's not really any better choice," I again explained to him.

"Fine, but ya better come back and with all ya limbs still attached." The old buzzard then looked passed me at Longslide. "That goes for you, too. All of you."

Longslide just saluted at his father, then returned to attaching a large gun onto the gunnery nest of the Smuggler. He called it the Bozar, a customized version of the 5.56mm LMGs they were selling to the NCR. It was his attempt at turning a Light Machine Gun into a sniper rifle. He had somehow made it work.

As for the rest of the team, Harp had to come, or the Smuggler would be going nowhere since she was its power source. Slowtrot was also coming, mainly to help move anything heavy, as the strength of two earth ponies was better than one.

Making sure we were extra safe, the Gunrunners offered us any spare guns we wanted to take. Harp turned this offer down since she already had her revolver and bolt launcher. Longslide also had his own guns, a 12.7mm pistol he called Li'l Devil, along with the Bozar attached to the Smuggler. Slowtrot only had his .45 auto pistol, so he picked up a service rifle from the Gunrunners stock.

As I was looking through their stock, a loud thud behind me nearly made me jump. Looking back, a griffin had dropped a gun case next to me, and Hardballer unlocked it. "You probably want something you're used to."

The gun case opened. Inside were two familiar weapons, a cutlass, and a SMG.

"Wait! Did you reforge them? I thought you hated the rust gun," I recalled.

"No, and I still think that SMG is a garbage gun. When Ashy had them destroyed after you nearly burnt down the town, I fingered it would piss her off if they were to return. Unfortunately, I never got around finishing them. I just left them to the side where Javelina found them," he explained. "I think she wanted to give you them as a gift. She does like a challenge."

I picked up my Blackwater Cutlass. The blade’s in far better condition than I ever remember it being, and slightly better balanced. The new rust gun also looked better than my old one, with clean black paint. It looked far better put together. Picking up a magazine, I found it loaded with 10mm ammo instead then the bigger .45.

"Why the smaller ammo?" I asked.

"Javelina thought having more bullets suited you better, as you tend to blind fire a lot." The old buzzard pointed out. "Still, I don't like how it loads from the side or how it moves the magazines, making it terrible for using on a battle saddle."

I just shrugged. "Mystery to me as well," was all I said on the matter as I took both weapons and six magazines.

After a few more minutes, the Smuggler was ready to go, having a small trailer attached to the back to carry any extra parts we might find.

There was just one thing left to do.

Trotting over to my grumpy looking filly, she pouted and looked away from me. "I want to go too," she huffed.

"I know, but you have to stay here. It's too dangerous out there for a young filly," I explained. "Anyways, grandpa Hardballer is going to need as much help as possible in the machine shop. That includes you."

"But mama, I want to go on an adventure too!" she whined.

Hardballer walked up to us, wiping grease off his talons. "Actually, Javelina is currently working on a gun right now. It’s nothing delicate, and she's more stable today. Maybe you could be her assistant. Let her show you how to make a gun by claw."

Bridget shuffled in place, clearly thinking about what to say. "Well, if auntie is feeling better, then I guess I can go see her. But I really do want to go on an adventure!"

"Like the Lightbringer?" I asked

She vigorously nodded. "Y… ya. I want to go on an adventure and help other creatures like the Lightbringer."

I smiled. "Then maybe you should get yourself ready for an adventure. Learn some skills and stuff. Wasn't the Lightbringer a skilled technician and safecracker before she left home?"

Bridget nodded again, but this time slower. "Ya. She was also a crack shot and powerful unicorn before she left the stable too!"

Hardballer chuckled. "Then it’s settled. If you want to go on an adventure, then you need some skills. How about you start with learning how a gun is put together from Javelina?" He then began leading her away, winking at me.

I waited for them to leave before letting out a long sigh. "Sometimes I worry she's just going to run off one day, trying to be like me, or that Lightbringer," I said to myself with worry.

There was a roar from the Smugglers engine. I quickly ran over and saw that Longslide was driving. The two ponies were in the seats behind him.

"We're about to go. Get in the gunner seat!" Longslide shouted to me.

Climbing up, I took my seat. It was just a flat spot with circles of metal pipes which formed a half cage to keep me from falling out.

With another rev from the engine, the garage doors opened. The light of the sun flooded in. We waited as the other griffons looked outside to make sure we were clear. When we were given the the okay sign, Longslide pulled a lever next to his seat.

"hold onto your flanks, ponies, because we're not stopping until we get to our destination!" he shouted, then lurched the Smuggler forward before speeding out into the light.

I watched as New Appleloosa grew smaller and smaller before it dipped below the horizon. Longslide kept at a steady speed as the Smuggler moved along the flat terrain. We passed a few critters along the way, radroaches and geckos mostly. Some attempted to follow us but quickly gave up as we left them in the dust. There was also a ruin in mid deconstruction. That we slowed for a moment as we passed in order to be careful to not hit any ponies scavenging the ruin for building materials to sell back in town.

In the distance, I saw a caravan moving towards town. Through the scope of my gun, I saw that it was a buffalo tribe. Many of them were hauling large saddlebags or were armed with crude weapons made from scrap.

We all got a scare when a hellhound popped out of the ground and began chasing us for a Celestia damned half an hour. I suggested shooting it, but Longslide told me to save the ammo as it was only keeping pace somehow. I swear that the more I watched it, the more it looked like it was just having fun chasing us, and not hunting.

"Alright, turn left onto the highway." Slowtrot directed.

"You mean on the broken road?" Longslide asked for clarification.

Slowtrot thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Ya. Just turn left onto a road soon."

After an hour had passed, the pipbuck told us that we were close. It was good timing since Harp was starting to look tired. "You holding up?" I asked Harp in concern.

She nodded as she said, "I'll manage. It's just pushing this much magic through me for this long is putting a strain on me. It's called magic toxification, something about negative magic being slow to leave our body. It builds up in us over time."

"Like radiation?" I asked.

Harp shrugged. "Not sure. It was something that only happened during the practice of slave generators. Those ponies were already ill-treated. I think the textbook said that common symptoms were a decrease in reasoning skills, ill-temper, and a lack of self-preservation, but that was only in severe cases. Most ponies document just become sick or fainted.

"Well, let me know if you're feeling unwell. We can take a break," I let her know.

Not too long after, we came to our destination. We drove through a rusted archway into the factory grounds. We found that the factory was half-sunken into the ground. Most of it was buried in dirt and dust. There also happened to be three other large buildings inside the wall that looked like warehouses with several large rusted through motor wagons in front of them, the yellow and blue Stable-Tec paint barely existing on them anymore.

Scanning the area, I didn't see signs of raiders or scavengers, but there were several smashed robots so rusted, they must have been like that for over a hundred years.

"What do you think, Star?" Longslide asked from the driver's seat.

"Can't say until we go inside, but it does look like it's untouched. Well, at least untouched by raiders." I informed him.

Longslide hopped out of the Smuggler. "Alright, let's split into two teams. Harp and I will stay here. She should rest, and I need to make sure the Smuggler is not going to die on us. Star, Slowtrot, you two take a look inside, but don't go too far in until we know what might be inside, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed as I hopped out. "Let's go, Slowtrot."

He carefully got out of the Smuggler, yet still slipped down onto the ground, falling onto his stomach. "Ya, give me a moment for my legs to wake up."

"Hey, Star!" Longslide yelled at me as he threw a small bag to me. "Just in case, use one and run."

Looking in the bag, I saw six apple grenades. "Ohh, nice!"

"Use only one. Got that, Star?" he shouted again.

I sighed. "Fine, fine. Use one and run."

Leaving the two outside, Slowtrot and I enter through the front doors of the factory. Inside was quiet. Too damn quiet for my liking.

Seeing a Sparkle-Cola vending machine, I decided to test my luck and check it for loot.

"Wow! It really does feel like over two hundred years have passed here," Slowtrot spoke, breaking the silence. "I guess everything is like this now, ravaged by time."

"That's about right, if it's not torn down or in a crater, it's just falling apart."

Jackpot! The machine had a bottle loose inside, a cherry-flavored one. Bridget is going to squeal when I give her this.

"I guessed as much." He sighed as he went behind a corner. After that, I heard a loud gasp. "Star, I found something." His voice quivered.

Bagging the Sparkle-Cola cherry, I trotted over. Behind the counter, I saw two blackened pony skeletons with the area around them also scorched black. "Looks like they were set on fire. Nasty way to go." Looking closer, I found a destroyed 10mm pistol, a broken spear, and several ruined cans of food along with a lot of burnt junk. "Must have been scavengers. Maybe they caught unaware."

"What killed them?" Slowtrot asked.

"Fire," I said flatly before taking it more seriously. "Not sure actually, as fire means raiders, but they had their weapons and supplies on them. Raiders may be dumb, but not dumb enough to not rob a pony of their things before burning the bodies.”

“Actually, most ponies would take the stuff before setting them on fire. Also, that vending machine still had a Sparkle-Cola in it for the taking. It would be gone if other ponies were here." I added.

Looking back at Slowtrot, his eyes were wide and pointing at something behind me. "Loo… look out." he whispered.

Tensing up, I saw a red marker in my E.F.S in the form of a triangle pointing to my right. Slowly turned my head, in the corner of my vision, I could see the glint from a black chitin stinger. Like a spring, I jumped to the side, dogging a strike from a radscorpions stinger. I pulled out my sword. The monster was the size of an adult pony. it was readying itself for another stinger attack. I also got ready, the cutlass in my mouth. I stayed low to the ground. When it jabbed at me again, I sidestepped and dashed forward. With a turn of my head and body, my cutlass severed the radscorpions stinger. It stumbled back, making a screeching sound as it thrashed.

The sound of many little legs came from down a hallway. Five more smaller radscorpions came into view. Putting my sword away, both Slowtrot and I pulled out our guns and fired. We first put down the bug near us, then we fired down the hallway. We managed to slow one down, but three others kept on coming only to then be joined by three more.

"Fuck! Run!" I shouted as I took out an apple grenade. Pulling the pin, I tossed it into the hallway and booked it out of the building. Pushing Slowtrot to go faster, we ran back to the Smuggler. We saw that Longslide was already in the gunnery nest, aiming the Bozar at the factory entrance. "Radscorpions!" I shouted. Hee motioned for us to get out of the line of fire.

Dashing to the side and out of the firing line, Longslide opened fire. With height, range, and good firepower, the radscorpions were torn to bits as soon as they stepped into the light. The bullets tore into them, practically popping their shells with not a single shot missing. When the shooting stopped, Longslide left seven mutilated radscorpion bodies near the entrance.

We waited a few minutes, guns pointed at the entrance, but nothing further came out. Taking a deep breath, I put my gun away and drew my sword as I trotted over to the entrance. I stepped over the bodies and looked inside. Everything was quiet. Sticking my sword into the dead bug, I looked back to Longslide. "Looks like you got ‘em all, and what fucking kind of ammo did you use?" I shouted over at him.

"They’re armor-piercing magnum round, my own personal stock for the Bozar," he replied as he loaded another extended magazine into the rifle. "Never leave home without them."

"I can see why that Redeye fella wanted your clan on his side," I muttered before taking my sword, wiping the bug ichor off and reattaching it to my saddlebag. "Alright, I'm going back inside!"

The smell of the explosive was still fresh in the air with the hallway splattered with scorpion ichor and burnt marks. Following me was Slowtrot who tried, and failed, to avoid stepping on the dead bug.

"I want to say that this is the worst thing I've seen, but it's not even close," he said, shaking off a bit of ichor from his hoof.

"Same," Harp added as she followed us in. "The islands have their share of big bugs. Not sure what's worse, the giant centipedes, or the paradise dragons?"

Slowtrot stopped, looking visibly disturbed. "Big centipedes? Now that's nightmare fuel, but dragons as well?"

"Well there's not actually dragons, it's just what we call them," she explained as she trotted over to the Sparkle-Cola cola machine. The vending machine then turned on with a clunk and dispensed another cola bottle. "Not sure what they are, but they're some sort of feathery lizard with big claws that like to ambush ponies. We just call them dragons because of how dangerous they are. As for the common ponies, they might as well be actual dragons."

"Alright. Enough chit chat. Let's investigate. Keep your guns ready. There can always be more bugs," I told the two. They nodded in confirmation.

Trotting further in, we entered into a large room filled with neatly organized smaller three walled rooms, each with its own terminal. There were scorch marks all over as though some pony had galloped around throwing motives. It is likely the one who killed the scavengers.

"Odd. This looks a lot like a slave shop room, but it has no shackles or place for guards to keep an eye out." I openly pondered.

A sigh came from Slowtrot before he said, "I don't know about how things work out here. With that whole slavery thing everypony keeps talking about, but back in my time, let’s just say they had something far more effective than chains to get a pony to work themselves to death."

"You mean bomb colors?" I responded.

"I think he means corporal punishment," Harp added.

Slowtrot cocked an eyebrow at us both. "No… that's horrible... They just held the opportunity of better pay over a pony and the threat of losing their job if they didn't work off the clock."

I chuckled. "Then why stay if it was like that?"

"Rent or living above your means. I knew a few ponies that worked that hard to feed their chem habit too," he explains.

"Ohh." Both Harp and I utter out loud.

Moving on, we made our way to where the factory floor should be, passing more scorch marks as we got deeper inside. Blocking our path was a blast door. It was covered in scratches. A pile of pony skeletons in front of it. Above was a barely functioning red flashing light that had the word "Lockdown" illuminated by it. Along the hallway was more scorch marks, and along the ground were a few holes filled in with rubble.

Harp trotted to a wall-mounted terminal. It was doing nothing when she pressed a power button on it.

"I'll provide it with some power and have a look," Harp said as she turned it on with her magic, then plugged her pipbuck to it. "Looks like the lockdown activated because of elevated radiation levels outside, like really high levels that only subsided a few years ago."

"Makes sense," I spoke up. "This area was still highly irradiated before the radiation was cleared up. It would answer why it's been barely touched. Radiation tends to keep ponies away. Add radscorpions, then even ghouls would avoid coming here.”

“Now, can you open it?" I asked.

"Administrative access required," Harp said as she tapped at the doors terminal. "I could have attempted to hack into it with Order, or maybe an overmare pipbuck could unlock it?"

I shrugged and traded places with Harp, plugging my pipbuck into the terminal. After a moment, my pipbuck flashed "Access Granted". The door clicked and hissed, then began to open. A wave of heat hit us like there was some sort of blast furnace still on in here. But worse was the sudden ticking from our pipbucks, warning us of the radiation inside. It was nothing major from what I knew about radiation, but I know we didn't pack any radaway onto the Smuggler. There was supposed to be no more radiation after all.

Stepping over the dead to get inside, we entered the factory floor and found the air suffocating hot.

"Fucking seriously? What’s going on i here?" I complained.

"Ya. It's like a boiler room in here," Slowtrot added. "Maybe we should go back for now."

I shook my head. "Let's first look around. Maybe we can turn off whatever is making this heat. After that, we can get Longslide and find the parts."

We all nodded as we stepped down the stairs to the factory floor.

The place was a maze of heavy machinery. Unfortunately, a lot of it looked damaged. Some of them had parts ripped out. Others looked blackened and warped as though partially melted. Stranger yet, there was soot everywhere. We ended up knocking the stuff up with each step, forcing us to cover our faces with rages to prevent us from breathing it in.

As for what was being built here, I couldn't quite put my hoof on it. It was all a bunch of rusting parts, but with all the faded warning signs all about, it had to be something dangerous.

As we stuck together to look about, we saw something odd, that being a hole in the ground with smoke coming out of it. The heat got worse as we got closer to it.

"I've heard of something like this back on the Islands," Harp spoke up, "On the big island, some lava vents would form in a tunnel, turning the place into a hotbox."

"This doesn't come off as volcano territory though," Slowtrot added. "Maybe there's a reactor meltdown under this place?"

I held my pipbuck closer to the venting hole. The clicking didn't change its rate.

"Don't think that's it," I said, picking up some random rusty metal part then tossing it in. "Well, let's go back. If this is the cause, then the heat is all we need to worry about."

As I turned to trot away, the hole made a whooshing sound. A blast of heat came out. Looking back, a yellow marker appeared in my E.F.S the triangle pointing downwards. I saw two sticks like things poke out from the hole, then bend at a joint, feeling the area. What followed was a big red spiky bug. It had two large mandibles, but nothing as threatening as a radscorpions claws.

"Alright, what's that?" I ask fearfully.

"A big ant," Slowtrot said as he scratched his chin. "Red, spikes, and came out of a scolding hot vent. Must be a dragon ant, but why is it here and so huge?"

"Like I care what it's called or why it's here. Can you tell me if it's dangerous?" I huffed as I kept an eye on the bug.

"Say Slowtrot, why do you know about this ant? Not to be rude, but you don't seem like the bug type," Harp observed.

"Oh, I'm not.” he answered. “It's just that there was a huge panic over them a few years back, like military levels of extermination to get rid of them."

His eyes went wide as we heard a bubbling sound come from the ant. Slowtrot then grabbed us both and pulled us behind one of the machines just as a gout of fire shot out from the ant. The flames stuck to everything and didn't go out quickly.

"So ya . . . they breathe fire," Slowtrot noted with an oddly calm voice.

Sounds of fire being roared out all around us. My E.F.S. lit up with a solid red bar, meaning that there was a metric shit ton of ants about and they were angry.

We backed up as the first dragon crawled into view. I aimed my rust gun at it and I opened fire. The ant went down quite easily, only to then explode, sending out globs of flaming ichor that stuck to everything near its corps.

"Oh fucking kay, they exploded too," I muttered in annoyance.

We attempted to make our way back from where we came but quickly found it blocked by several of the dragon ants, so I tossed a grenade at them to clear the way. The exploding ants covered our exit in fiery globs too thick to run through and it was slow to dissipate.

"We got more coming this way!" Harp yelled as I saw six more closing in, one shooting fire at us but, luckily, we were still out of its range. Harp fired her bolt launcher. The ant didn't explode, but instead just shot a jet of fire out of the hole in its body before falling over.

With more closing in and our way out blocked, we galloped in the only open direction which took us to another section of the factory, this one filled with smaller machines.

Slowtrot and Harp slammed the doors shut behind us as I shoved a big table into it. We stepped back and watched as the door began to glow, part of it slowly melting. I knew I wouldn't take long for the bugs to get in.

"Hey, I think I found out where the ants came from," Slowtrot spoke up.

Behind him was a broken glass display. In big bold letters above it was, "Danger; do not touch Dragon Ant Farm." The thing looked like it was modeled after a stable with little cartoon ants in stable barding.

"Whos fucking bright Idea was this?" I huffed.

Harp trotted over to a plack next to the large ant farm, then said, "’Remember, just as this Stable-Tec ant farm keeps these ants safe, and you safe from them, we do the same for the ponies of Equestria.’ - Scootalloo." Harp read. "I'm not going to speak ill of the dead, but it sounded like she didn't like the ponies Stable-Tec was going to save?"

Slowtrot scratched his goatee as he recalled, "I do remember watching this video back in the R&D stable, it…"

I shoved a hoof in his mouth to shut him up as I demanded, "Focus, ponies. We're about to get barbecued by a bunch of exploding bugs if we stay here. Is there anything here we can use to get us out of here?"

We quickly began to look around, but I still couldn't make mane or tails of what I was looking at other than some old tools, a few skeletons, and a lot of scrap metal. If we were not trying to get the fuck out of here, this place would have at least been a good payday in salvage, just if for the tools alone.

"Found something!" Harp shouted. We trotted over as she wiped dust off some wall-mounted map of the factory. "So that's what they were making here." She then pointed to a spot on the map. "Spark Reactor assembly and disassembly, those things are what powers a stable."

"And how's that going to help us?" I asked.

"They tend to be volatile if not properly maintained, such as sparkling deadly amounts of magical energy. The rooms that hold them tend to be the most well shielded. Maybe it's safe there." She pointed from the assembly to a loading dock, then into a cafeteria, then down a hallway to where we were, the spark reactor shielding assembly.

There was a loud pop. A dragon ant popped its head out through a melted hole of the door. With a few loud bangs, Slowtrot clumsily shot it until the fucker exploded, followed by a few more explosions that blew oped the fucking doors.

"That was not my intention!" he exclaimed in shock.

As soon as more ants stepped through the fire, we fucking galloped for it down a very scorched hallway. In the cafeteria, there were a few more ants, but they had not seen us yet, so we kept low, only to find two ants blocking our way.

"There's a way around through the kitchen." Harp directed us, taking the long way around to avoid the bugs. We crawled into a kitchen just large enough for the three of us to fit comfortably.

On the other end of the kitchen was another blast door, so no big worry. As I trotted over I heard a click and a sigh from two dumbass ponies. Both Slowtrot and Harp had stopped in front of a metal door and opened it. As I trotted over, the air became cooler. Inside I saw boxes of food.

"Okay, maybe some scavenging is required." I said.

Slowtrot pointed at one of the boxes. It was labelled as Barnyard Bargains Nature Bars.

"Take those,” Slowtrot suggested. “Those last quite a while despite not having much preservatives. They are made to be nutritious and filling, though the taste is a bit bland. I lived off them whenever my budget was tight."

Shrugging, I grabbed what I could reasonably fit in my saddlebag and had the other two do the same.

Closing the fridge, the heat returned.

I quickly scanned the kitchen for anything else I could take. Unsurprisingly everything in sight was burnt and damaged. Truthfully, it was odd that the fridge still worked.

One thing that did catch my eyes was a box that had several relay sharp-looking knives with one sticking out of a cutting board. With a closer look, I saw that it had cut through the wooden board and into the metal counter!?

*Bang, clang, clang*

Harp and I looked back at Slowtrot who somehow got snagged on a pot, knocking it over. No words were exchanged as we heard the sound of many small tapping legs coming our way. Luckily this kitchen had a few hiding spots, with Harp and I ducking into a large stove as Slowtrot hid inside a closet.

One ant came into the kitchen. It's antennas touched everything as it searched for us, even climbing onto the counter.

"Ahchoo!" A sneeze loudly came from the closet. I would have facehoofed if I had the room to do it. The ant whipped around to look at the closet. In doing so, one of its legs hit the knife sticking out of the cutting board, cutting the leg off like it was nothing. We were all caught by surprise by this, most of all the ant. It panicked, stepping on the box of knives before falling off the counter. The knives flew out of the box. Three of them came down onto the ant. The knives stuck right into it, right down to the handle. Next thing we saw was three streams of fire jetting out of the ant from where the knives stuck inside it, but it, fortunately, it didn't explode.

After a moment, no other ants came into the kitchen, so we all left our hiding spots. I checked the small box where the knives came from. It had the label of the M.o.A.S. on it. Go figure it was a Ministry product.

The three knives that were stuck in the ant were glowing white with heat, yet the handle was still cool to the touch, so I threw them in the box along with two other knives stuck in metal and shoved it in my saddlebag. Like fuck was I going to just leave those babies behind!

Again Harp powered the terminal. I unlocked the door. We trotted to the loading docks. We were expecting more ants, but to our horror, we found ourselves in some sort of cocoon room. The place was caked in hardened dirt all over the floor and walls, making the place look like some underground cave rather than inside a factory, all with the only light coming from burning cocoons being tended to by the ants. Luckily none had detected us. They were all on the other end of the room, but unfortunately we were standing in some sticky mold like substance that smelled like burnt shit. There were several radroaches scurried about, chewing on the ant shit, their markers fortunately yellow.

Slowly, we made our way to the other end of the loading docks while we stayed close to the wall, doing our best to not upset the radroaches. We just had to open another blast door to get to the assembly room, but knowing how loud they were, we prepared to jump through.

Once more Harp turned the damaged terminal on. It clicks and beeps seemingly louder than they should be. When I used my administrator’s access, it hissed louder than I had ever heard a door hiss. After that, it clunked like it was trying to call the ants to it, all before it opened with an ear-piercing screech. Of course, the ants heard at least that last part. As a result, they all looked our way.

I tossed a grenade before jumping through, followed by Slowtrot and Harp who both opened fired on the ants as I accessed the inside terminal to shut the door. As the door closed, we saw as ants popped out from everywhere, a sheer army of pissed off ants.

"Hello there!" A gravelly voice spoke up. We all screamed, then he screamed, then we screamed again. After that, he said, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack, youngins?!" A glowing ghoul in burnt stable barding shouted. There was barely a pony there, No main, tail, or fur. Just greenish-yellow glowing leathery skin and bones.

"Geeze, are you trying to give us a heart attack?!" Slowtrot reflected in a huff. "Sir, it's the attack of the pony-sized ants out there, so we're a bit jumpy."

The glowing ghoul cocked an non existent eyebrow. "The attack of what? Do you even work here? This is a restricted area you know, and during a lockdown. Show me your security cards!"

"Great!, A confused ghoul," I quietly sighed. "Listen here, ya old fart. It has been over-"

"Will my pipbuck be enough?" Slowtrot spoke up as he trotted over to the ghoul, presenting his pipbuck. It was clicking more than doubling.

The ghoul looked at him for a moment, then nodded, pulling out a boxy-like device that looked like a pipbuck but a bit cruder.

"Alright, it says you're a Stable-Tec courier,” the glowing ghoul noted in a convinced tone. “That at least proves your employment, but far from giving you access here." He then trotted over to Harp, who cringed as her pipbuck clicked faster. "A V.I.P. How nice, but still not allowed here." He then turned to me. I lifted my pipbuck. It clicked faster as he got close. "Now I know you don't belong here miss… Overmare! My apology! Is there anything I can do for you? Also, if it's not so much trouble, can you tell me why we're on lockdown?"

"Just give me a moment," I told the ghoul as I finally took a look around. The room was large, but not as large as the loading docks. It was still big enough for a large shack sized box-like thing to fit inside. It was placed on rails that led to an even bigger blast door that it could fit through. The rest of the room was clean and white with just as clean tools placed on a wall that had several burnt looking papers. The most interesting thing in this room was two securitrons sitting on the other end of the room.

"What are those for?" I asked.

"You mean Besty and Ross? They’re our anti-zebra security bots. You know, in case of zebra invasion." The ghoul explained, and an idea formed in my head.

Motioning the other two over, I then whispered. "Let’s send the killbots after the ants!"

"Sounds like a plan to me, but that's a lot of ants," Slowtrot partially agreed.

"Too many ants," Harp added, "Even if we get away, there's no salvaging the parts if the ants are still swarming this place."

"That's true. As long as those fuckers are here, we're still screwed." I agreed. "But it's not like we have some sort of super ant killing tool."

"That would be a lot of bug spray," Slowtrot agreed with a sigh.

"How about we have the reactor overload?" Harp pondered. "Not as in an explosion, but sending an electrical pulse out. Everything inside the building would get fried, both living and electronic, but everything else should be fine."

"Is that even possible?" Slowtrot asked.

"Only if you do the wrong thing the right way," The ghoul informed us, causing us to jump back. "Now will you tell me what in Tartarus is going on now?"

I looked over at Harp. She nodded back at me before she turned to the ghoul as she said, "Well, we're under Zebra attack, and the rest of the factory is lost." The ghoul gasped as Harp continued. "We need to escape, but we also need to preserve the factory while keeping it out of Zebra hooves. You understand?"

He scratched his boney chin. "I knew this day would come! I just knew it!" The ghoul then saluted Harp, then at me. "I'm at your service. If you need me to start up the securitrons, have the reactor do an electro feedback pulse, I can do it."

"If you can, you will do Equestria proud," Harp added.

"Alright, but you might want to get out of here. I know how this all works and how to not to be turned to dust. I'll send Betsy and Ross out to clear the way, I'll just need the loading doors unlocked," the ghoul told us as he trotted over to the terminal. "The day has finally come! They finally made the push!" We watched as he began tapping at a terminal.

I trotted over to the larger blast doors. I hooked my pipbuck into the connecting terminal which promptly unlocked it. A loud clunk and a deep booming voice announced the activation of the robots, "Anti-Zebra programming activated," both robots bellowed as they began to move. The two bots got in place in front of the large blast door which I selected to open, then they quickly got out of the way as a wave of heat entered the room. "Hostiles detected. Beginning elimination protocol. For Equestria!" The robots bellowed before rolling out of the room and opened fire with beams and rockets.

The sounds of ants exploding sounded a lot like fireworks. Peeking out, the loading docks had become an inferno. Ants and fire were everywhere. The robots fired wildly. A stray rocket flew out and hit a patch of flaming cocoons. The batch exploded, causing the dirt to crumble. A new opening hole led to the outside.

The ants were now entirely focused on the rampaging robots who were killing them rapidly, but the ants were just as quickly replenishing their numbers. It was now, or never since those two robots were going to be quickly overwhelmed.

"Alright. Follow me, and don't fall behind!" I shouted.

Jumping out, I galloped along the edge of the wall to avoid the flames while shooting at any ant that looked at me the wrong way. Because of all the exploding ants, the smoke in the air had grown thicker, making it both hard to breathe and see, but I pushed on. The way out was still ahead. We had to climb a bit, but the strange dirt-caked ground helped us get a strong hoof hold as we climbed.

A loud whine and pop caught my attention. I looked back in time to see one of the robots have one of its arms melted off. "I die for the princesses, for Equestria!" A robot bellowed before it exploded, sending a shockwave out, along with robot parts. The explosion also helped push more of the smoke out, giving us a bit more room to breathe.

Doubling my efforts, I finally made it to the opening only to see an ant had gotten behind me, blocking off the other two. Thinking fast, I drew my sword and charged, stabbing the ant in its midsection. The bug let out a cry before fire erupted from its wound. I fell back, the hilt of my sword still in my mouth, but without most of the blade. What was left now melted to slag. Harp and Slowtrot didn't let my loss go to vain. They quickly rushed out through the hole passed me just as the second robot suddenly stopped. Its back opened up to reveal two white hot coils.

"Death is preferable to capture by the Zebra menace!" With another powerful explosion, the army of angry ants went flying, some exploding in mid-air.

Unfortunately, more ants came out of their hole. Lots more, and now their attention was on us.

Putting the hilt away, I muttered, "Fuck one and run." I took out the grenade bag, pulling on the rings of all three remaining apple grenades before tossing it at the incoming bugs then got my flank out of there.

Cool fresh air never tasted so good as we galloped. We put as much distance between us and the ants.

Turning a corner, we saw Longslide with his Li'l Devil out and several flaming craters around the Smuggler. "Fuck! You're alive! Now let’s get on before more come out!" he shouted frantically.

Just then, the air tasted odd. There was a crackling sound. Looking back, electricity sparked through the building. I watched as an ant crawled out through the front door only for it to then explode as a bolt of electricity hit it.

I laughed in loud triumph as I cried out in victory. "We did it! That should kill all those fucking ants."

The ground then shook. A gout of fire burst from the front door. The heat of it was intense and didn't stop. I watched as the factory not only was engulfed in flames, but then began to sink into the ground, falling apart as it fell. When it was over, there was nothing but a massive burning pile of rubble.

"Right…” I note dryly. “They explode."