The world was a blur.

The feminine voice on the intercom overhead, the faint screeching of the distant tram breaks, the subtle buzzing of a horn’s glow as said horn’s owner was levitating a scalding cup of coffee to their lips - all of those sounds seemed to mesh together now. It was impossible to pick one out from the other, but the mentally recovering stallion still tried.

He had no idea why, but at the same time, he did. The beep of the intercom could easily mask the boney, fleshy hoovesteps of something just around the corner. The hum of magic could have been used to grasp a sniper rifle - one that was fixed to his own head - rather than a simple and harmless cup of coffee.

Storm couldn’t place it. He had hated the sounds of the outside world - with the sole exception being his usually filtered breathing - but now that those sounds were gone and replaced by what a few might call ‘normal,’ he almost wished for them to return.

At least he was used to the old noises of the world.

He couldn’t win. The stallion knew that all too well, but he didn’t sulk in the tragic truth. He was a realist. He took things how they were, how they came, and moved on to whatever reared its head next. No matter how good or ugly. Nevertheless, he couldn’t shake the feeling.

It felt wrong.

The voices, the visions, the headaches - they were all gone.

But it still felt wrong.

The world was too quiet now. Too still. Too normal.

That wasn’t all either. The anger, the sorrow, the hatred - whatever else remained in his mind was fuzzy. Blurry, more like it. The feeling each emotion gave off still remained, but the exact reason for each respective emotion felt like it was being chipped away. Like a scratching against his brain that was somehow euphoric and agonizing all at once.

It felt wrong. So wrong.

He tried to think of something - anything - to try and fix it. The hospital group, his friends, Hell, the stallion’s mind went just about everywhere except for that place to try and get a response from his emotions.

Nothing. They were still absent.

And he didn’t feel anything. No hatred of the hospital group or it’s leader. No regret or guilt for his friend’s fates. Not even the creeping thoughts regarding a certain cyan pegasus’ arrival could evoke anything from him.

What the fuck did she do to my head?! Storm thought. Even his own inner voice didn’t sound angry. Just distressed if not curious at most.

Even with the knowledge that this ‘wall’ was up in his mind, the stallion was completely expecting the hospital leader to turn up any moment and blab on about how he could never escape from them or something normal to him. Subconsciously, the stallion looked around every once in a while for his ex-nemesis or a familiar bloody colt, but they never came. Everything in front of him was real. The squeaky clean white hallway, the medical equipment beeping softly to his right and left in the rooms, the conversations of others around him were all very much real.

So why did it feel wrong then?

The mare who had taken this treatment before him had said something about the ‘bad’ being gone with somepony he presumed was her husband. But she said that the memories themselves were gone. Storm’s, on the other hoof, were not gone. So why the different outcomes for two different ponies despite the same spell being used?

He didn’t want to think. It was confusing to think at the moment.

Just keep walking… the mentally deteriorating pegasus told himself. Get to the room and figure it out from there…

The electronic lock beeped upon one of its keycards being entered into the respective slot, opening the corresponding door to the small room. The armored stallion stepped inside only to be greeted with the same sight as earlier. Rainbow Dash was fast asleep on the top bunk of the two, snoring softly with a hoof over her eyes, to not be disturbed in case the lights were to be turned on - which they were. She grunted in her sleep and stirred slightly, but fell back to the embrace of slumber quickly as her last name suggested.

Normally, Storm would have been slightly agitated at the fact that he couldn’t mess with his equipment due to a sleeping inhabitant a few steps from his workbench, but he wasn’t. Instead, he decided to find some way to pass the time but first thing was first.

The stallion rubbed a hoof along his neck where the thick fabric choked at his collar. A piece of steel plating was practically digging into him after being messed up during the last encounter outside. Storm knew he couldn’t live inside the damn thing forever and needed to take it off, which was something he wouldn’t dare do on the first day - if at all - at any foreign place, but his head apparently removed the fear aspect of his mind too.

A pressurized hiss of air, a few strap unbucklings, and sliding of armor fabric later, the suit was completely off of his body and hanging on the rack adjacent to the workbench. Storm stretched his forehooves out, hoping to remove some of the soreness coursing through his battered body. He felt a brief sense of relief when parts harmlessly popped and settled along his muscles, but the relief was soon replaced by aches.

An interested, if not mocking whistle came from behind and slightly to the right of him, causing Storm to turn around and be met with Rainbow’s tired magenta eyes and a smug grin.

“Putting on a show are we now, Mr. Biceps.” She chuckled, confirming the mocking part of the whistle prior.

Storm ignored her and unfolded his right wing, reaching half-span, and stretching out each feather before storing the feathery appendage at his side once more.

“That's it?” Rainbow asked, raising a brow in serious puzzlement. “No eye roll, no witty reply or telling me to fuck off?” She asked, making her voice deeper in an attempt to sound like the target of her antics for the last part. Her only response was a slight shrug from the stallion. “Did… did something happen?” Rainbow paused, taking a more careful approach to the question.

“No.”

Rainbow’s confused expression now held a knowing look to it as if she was nonverbally calling bullshit. “Really? Where were you the past twenty minutes then?”

Storm sighed. “I was checking the place out. Not exactly a fan of cramped quarters.”

“I hear you there.” Dash agreed, hopping off of the top bunk and landing rather gracefully on all fours.

The stallion turned around to examine the workbench beside him in more detail, only to be met with a surprised gasp.

“Woah! What in Celestia’s name happened?!” Rainbow asked, her voice cracking slightly at the shock of the apparent situation.

Storm froze. His eyes widened, but thankfully, the freaking out mare couldn’t see that from behind him. He had completely forgotten about… those. Whether it was the recent ‘fucking’ with his mind or just how deep the memory was buried, he didn’t know.

“What?” He asked, trying to sound indifferent or unaware to the situation.

“What?” Rainbow repeated before stammering a response. “Y-you’ve got cuts all along your back and all you can say is ‘what’ to that?!”

Just as the mare had claimed, a string of uneven cuts and scars littered the stallion’s back - right in between his wings and nearly reaching the base of his neck. These scars were an off color grey, making themselves stand out to his rather dull coat. The pattern was random, but they were decently deep. Whatever had made them had intended for them to hurt.

“Oh, those…” Storm replied, trailing off before picking up as quickly as he could formulate a response. “Damned attack a few years back. They caught me without the suit on.”

“Really? I would have believed that but something about you - of all ponies - not being prepared after writing a whole book about them is off.” The mare retorted. She wasn’t angry, but rather concerned to the point where her tone was questioning if not stern in addition.

Fuck. She’s got me there…

“Okay, fine. They’re not from the Damned.”

Rainbow said nothing as if waiting for him to continue, but Storm never did and instead rolled back around to face the bench.

“Well, what are they from then?”

Even though she was facing his back, the mare could see his body lock up for a split second. It was as if his blood turned to ice then and there but was quickly melted under an unseen heat source.

With a sigh, the stallion wheeled the chair back to face her. His seemingly devoid purple eyes were locked on the floor rather than her own this time. His mouth opened, but nothing came out at first.

“How about we discuss something useful instead?” He finally asked, looking up to face her.

Rainbow didn’t know whether to feel concerned or insulted now after being blown off by like that. She had tried to talk to him so many times only to be met with the same brick wall. But for some reason, she kept slamming herself into it, hoping to one day crack it. Knowing that was to no avail at the moment, she decided to roll with it for now.

“Alright. Whatcha got?”

Storm rolled around to the bench again, but went past it this time and reached for a familiar bag next to Rainbow’s discarded suit. The stallion rifled through it for a moment until he pulled out the machine pistol with his tethered appendage. He then levitated a nearby folding chair to the bench’s side - which Dash plopped herself down on.

“If you’re going to be using this thing then you need to understand it.” Storm replied, removing the clip and racking the slide back to check the chamber.

“Understand it? It’s a gun. You point and you pull the trigger. What more to it is that?”

“A lot more actually,” He replied, lacking his usual short fuse with this type of attitude. “You can fire it. We’ve already established that. But what happens when it jams because it’s filled with so much mud and grime?”

“Uh… I clean it?” Dash replied, clearly unsure of her own answer.

“Clean it?” The look on Storm’s face resembled that of a questioning father who had just caught his daughter sneaking out and was waiting to hear her fabricated story, which annoyed the mare “In the middle of fighting? With bullets, bone-scythes, and other shit going on? You’re going to just sit down, throw down a picnic blanket spread, and-”

“Okay!” Rainbow exclaimed, throwing her hooves up in the air in frustration and being on the opposite end of the teasing stick. “I get it! Jeez!”

“Right. All equipment must be maintained at a safe place before and after going out - always.”

“Safe? Did you just call this place safe?” Rainbow asked, before switching to a more playful tone. “It’s starting to grow on you, huh?”

“Not the point.” The stallion replied, brushing off the question as quickly as possible. “Let’s actually get started. I’ll show you how to clean this one and you can practice on the next…”

Half an hour had gone by, resulting in both pegasi’s gear being brought up to functioning standards before the weapons and suits alike were placed on racks to their respective owners. Both suits were shined and clear of any blood. The firearms were cleaned - both inside and out - and tuned up where a worn spring or loose connection was discovered by the would-be engineer of the two. And last, but certainly not least, the blades were wiped and sharpened accordingly.

Even with the deed being done, the workbench still was in use by Storm, who was muzzle deep in a little arts and crafts project of his own. The stallion had discovered a dark blue leather bound journal - which was barely bigger than his pocket sketchbook - in the bottom drawer of the bench. Seeing no initials on the journal, and taking Twilight’s ‘what's mine is yours policy,’ he was in the process of carefully tearing out his smaller sketchbook and Damned catalog to be taped into the new, stronger, larger journal. But it wasn’t the size of said journal that interested him, but rather the internal slot it had for loose papers, writing utensils, and anything he could fit into the slot; way more convenient than a duct taped pencil holder that was for sure.

On the other end of the room, Rainbow Dash was lost in her own world - one also made of pages - as well. The mare was leaned back in the folding chair with a hindleg crossed and slouched backwards for maximum comfort. In her hooves sat a Daring Do book, which she already must have read at least a hundred times prior. Nevertheless, nopony could argue about enjoying a story about some light hearted action especially when the real and very violent deal was within a walk outside the front door.

Only two sounds made themselves known in the small quarters: the first was the soft and occasional swiping of a page being turned, torn, or taped. The other was much more prominent as it was a shuffled playlist playing from the stallion’s earpiece, which had just so happened to pick a slower and more methodical song for the room’s ambience. Rainbow tapped her good wing softly in rhythm with the beat of said song despite - clearly recognizing it well - despite not being the one who selected it in the first place.

Beep!

Suddenly, a brief but annoying chirp emitted from the closed doorway, causing the stallion to turn on a swivel and nearly jump up, while the mare just looked up from her book. To the right of the door, about at eye level, was a small grey box with small holes and two colored buttons - a red and a blue. Storm and Rainbow shared brief glances before the stallion got up from his chair and arrived at the box. Now, he could see that the blue button served as both a ‘call’ and ‘accept’ option while the red button was labeled ‘decline’ and ‘end call’ respectively. Storm pressed the blue button, only to be assaulted by the static-laced voice of Twilight Sparkle.

“Hello? Storm, Rainbow?” She asked.

“Yeah, whats up?” Storm replied.

“Oh, good.” The mare sighed slightly. “Glad that thing somehow still works. Need to get ‘P’ on that later. Anyway, we tracked the signal to Fillydelphia. We’ll be landing in over an hour, so you might want to get something in you before then.”

“Thank Celestia!” Rainbow joined in, tossing her book to the bench before joining at the stallion’s side. “I could eat a barn right about now - that's for sure.”

Twilight chuckled - a sound that made Storm cringe with how much it added to the dysfunctional intercom speaker. “Glad to hear it. Head to the tram station and take the grand staircase. It will lead you straight into the mess hall. I’ll be waiting by the entrance.”

“Got it.”

“See ya in a bit, Twi.”

With that decided, Storm levitated his keycard to open the door. After both Rainbow and himself were through, he swiped to shut it before storing the item behind his ear and in his mane; out of sight from everyone else. Rainbow made her way to Planning Period’s door where she wrapped a hoof on it until the grey unicorn stuck her head out. Dash explained their new destination, invited her along, and soon the three were right behind Storm as they walked.

Planning’s eyes suddenly widened slightly. While continuing on the journey, she leaned over to Rainbow before whispering: “Do you see the scars on his back?”

Rainbow responded with a silent look that clearly read ‘not now’ but apparently neither mare was discreet enough because Storm’s wings folded over his back entirely not a moment after Planning’s question.

A short walk later and the trio had arrived at the crew deck’s tram station, where an open and desaturated staircase was placed. It fit Twilight’s description of grand if shape was the only factor as the color was dull grey and bronze, but the branching paths still matched a typical staircase of the same class.

“Wow…” Planning thought aloud, “This place reminds me of that fancy city I heard about from Miss Rarity…”

Rainbow’s eyebrow rose. “Canterlot?” She asked, meanwhile the group began to ascend the staircase. “Are you kidding? This place doesn’t even compare!”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Because Canterlot is a hole in the ground.” Storm interjected.

Rainbow scoffed playfully. “Jeez, I know a lot of the ponies there were snobby, but isn’t that a little extreme, dude?”

“No, I mean literally.”

“Oh, right…” Rainbow replied, remembering the brief story about the royal city’s fate.

That reminder smacked the conversation in the face momentarily as the three made it up the stairs before it resumed a few steps past. Now the trio found themselves in a two lane hallway - one for entering and one for exiting - which forced them to walk side by side as a relatively large line stood before them.

“What was it like?” Planning finally asked, breaking the short-lived silence, and looking from the other mare to the stallion.

“Don’t look at me,” Storm replied calmly, scanning the crowd. “Never been there before it was blown to Hell.” The grey unicorn turned to Rainbow.

“Me? Uhhh…” Dash replied, trying to find a way to describe it. “It looked nice… I guess. At least Rarity thought so. The ponies there can’t take a joke or prank, so there's that!” The blue pegasus snickered to herself remembering a few of her own hijinks in the mentioned city.

“Is that it? I heard it was the most extravagant place in all of Equestria before… ya know…” Planning added. “It would have been nice to visit it back then…”

Just like the line of ponies in front of the group, the conversation died down as they arrived at the double sliding doors to what was appropriately labeled as the ‘Mess Hall.’ Upon opening the doors, Storm was greeted to what most would have considered to be a miracle, but for him, it was a nightmare.

Ponies.

Ponies everywhere.

More than the ship’s topside deck. More than the tram station. The medical deck, the science deck, even the crew quarters. In what looked like an oversized high school cafeteria, a sea of ponies - in addition to a few other civilized creatures - milled about. Some were in an even longer, more single-file line which led into the kitchen. Others were already seated, chatting and munching away in groups of rounded tables.

Besides the sheer amount of ponies in the room, the stallion did notice one other prominent detail: not a single pony had on a uniform of any kind. No suits, no coats, not even rags. It was impossible to distinguish by occupation as everyone was in deep comradery with one another. The stoick, tired faces and serious attitudes of the tram station and its respective destinations were completely absent.

Though he hadn’t realized it until now, Storm had stopped dead in his tracks, and only noticed so when a certain cyan pegasus nudged him from the side. He also didn’t notice that his heart was going twice it’s normal rate and that in addition, he was staring into the room as if looking for something.

“Over here!” A familiar female voice called out to the trio’s right.

Standing by a decorative pillar with built in trash bins, was the lavender unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. She was lacking her usual labcoat and was cheerfully waving a forehoof in their direction.

With a less than subtle shove from Rainbow Dash, Storm led the trio towards Twilight. Once they arrived, Twilight levitated small cards to each pony. Planning held hers in her magic, Rainbow, in between two feathers of her good wing, and Storm looked over his twice - as if searching for something. When he either came up empty or found whatever he was looking for, the card was held by his tethered appendage at his side.

“Those are ration cards.” Twilight explained. “They’ll be good for two meals each day - one in the morning and one in the evening. Our system will scan them when you pass through the line so that nopony can abuse them, get seconds, and make those… in more need of them go hungry.” With the last part, the unicorn glanced in the direction of a family eating together at one of the tables. Then her attention returned to those in front. “Right, uh - my table is over there…” She pointed to a round table in the center-ish of the room where a pink alicorn, a yellow pegasus, and a few others were sitting. “We’ve got plenty of spare seats, but feel free to sit wherever!”

“Awesome! Let’s get some grub now!” Rainbow declared before taking off to the end of the line - which was significantly shorter now - with the others, minus Twilight, in tow.

The line went by fairly swifty - a sign that the last of the ship’s crew were in it - so it wasn’t long before Rainbow was standing before a young mare with a laptop-like device.

“Card please.” The mare asked, in what sounded like a light Canterlot voice.

“Gotcha.” With that, Dash passed her card to the mare, who swiped in underneath a thin object attached to the laptop. An electronic chime came from the device before her card was returned.

Rainbow was about to move into the buffet-style row of food when she noticed that Storm - who was second to her in line - had just politely refused getting any food and told the card mare he was just checking the place out. Dash let out a huff of air before returning to the line next to the stallion. In one swift motion, she swiped his ration card and gave it to the card mare.

“Here.” She offered, a little more forcefully than she probably should have. “He will have something to eat.” With more emphasis on the ‘will’ part while offering a glare at Storm - who didn’t seem mad; Just slightly agitated.

“Um… o-okay.” The card mare replied after a moment of hesitation before swiping the other card and returning it to Rainbow.

As the two moved along towards the food racks, Dash handed Storm his card back. “Am I going to have to follow you around everyday so that you’ll eat?” She asked seriously.

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

Rainbow scoffed. “Yeah, right back at ya. I guess we’re both going to have to breathe down each other’s necks then, huh?” With that, Dash levitated a tray before lightly slamming it into his chest, earning an eye roll.

“I don’t prefer food that I can’t see prepared.”

“It’s safe, Storm! There are kids eating this stuff too! You think they would poison it knowing that?” When Rainbow got no response, she let out an audible groan before continuing. “I swear, I’ll shove that spoon down your throat if I have to.” Whether or not Dash had meant for it to sound like a more playful threat or not was unknown to the stallion, who was now focused on the contents of the glass-lidded slots before him.

Inside the glass buffet-like counters were food which Storm hadn’t seen for decades. Fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, a whole bin of hay - presumidly for hay fries of hayburgers, and much more. At the further counters were also various meats, likely from small critters previously hunted in the wasteland.

That was one of the many deprived changes to Equestrian ‘society’ - if it could even still be labeled as that - was the practice of carnivorism. Equines weren’t biologically built for eating meat, but for most, it sure as hell beat starvation. Storm had seen worse takes on the new diet such as grilled flesh of a dead partner or straggling survivor that was caught with their weapon down.

“Are you just gonna stare at it?” The cyan pegasus asked from his side. “C’mon dude, dig in!”

And so she did just that. Using her Tethertech, Rainbow grabbed a tray from a nearby stack and began piling on hay - for both fries and the inside of her burger - then buns, an apple, and some daffodils. When the mare got to the meat section, she paused and stared in disgust briefly before mentally shrugging it off and moving on.

Storm on the other hoof wasn’t so eager to ‘dig in’ as his female counterpart had called it. But now that his card had been scanned, he felt obligated to use his portion so that somepony else could abuse the system and make some other family go hungry. Even if the possibility seemed small, the cynical thought never got past his head.

He must have looked over the counters two or three times before finally deciding on what would be the hardest to… alter. He levitated some lettuce, carrot slices, tomato slices, then he was done with the newly crafted salad. Just as Planning Period reached the buffet, the stallion was gone and off to find a place to sit.

Not knowing anypony else besides Dash and Twilight, he decided to sit with them, but didn’t interrupt the two mare’s apparently long overdue catching up. Storm did, however, listen to the conversation. He had found that one could learn more from listening rather than speaking a long time ago. Now, he didn’t detect anything of malicious intent from the conversation - more on Twilight’s part than anything - but he still decided to listen nonetheless. It helped him get his mind off of… others things, all the while getting to know a bit more about each pony.

As he listened, it occurred to the grey pegasus of just how… innocent Rainbow really was. Both she and Twilight reminisced on old memories - happy ones - while catching up on less than happy developments like the fate of someone they knew known as Spike or the purple unicorn’s late brother, Shining. Storm found it strange how carefree she was. There was almost always a smile on her face now, her slightly scratchy laugh overpowered the other dull conversations around their table, and so on.

In a way, her innocence reminded him of Raine and Snow. Clearly, Dash was nowhere near as young or helpless as a foal, but she had the spunky spirit of one that was so excited after learning how to walk. Storm wasn’t sure if he admired or was afraid of this ‘spunk’ and ambition of her character. Something like this was both a blessing and a curse - depending on the side of things she would be on. Those were two traits that were taken from him, which served to make him more cautious - or dangerous as others would put it - but at the same time he suffered from having those traits removed. At least, socially he did. Instead of joining in on the current topic, which was some sort of magic-assisted sporting event held on the ship, Storm sat and picked at his salad. Every lift of the fork or bite made his heart ‘jump’ before the realization that the current bite was safe, allowing him to lower the leaping organ.

Eventually, he had finished the salad long after everyone else had finished their respective meals. Storm had long since stopped eavesdropping on the conversation next to him - as it was deemed safe for now - and started to scan the room around him. The mess hall was on the bigger side of the decks as he guessed it was meant to accommodate every single crew member at once or at least in shifts. The shape of the room was mainly rectangular, with the ceiling being the only exception. Right above where the kitchen line’s entrance, loomed a part of the ceiling that was slanted upwards. This slant gave the big, blocky lettering of ‘MESS HALL’ above a three-dimensional appearance. His search moved on from the ceiling to the ground level, where segmented support pillars - the same doubled functioning ones with trash cans - reached for the ceiling. The bottom of said pillars housed four trash bins each, but the mid-section had something else in it. Or rather on it.

Small engravings of words littered the colossal supports in a seemingly random pattern. Some were up high, like a grown pony’s height, while others barely reached above the stallion’s own fetlocks. With his proximity to these pillars, he was able to make out exactly what was written on these engravings…

Names.

A questioning expression must have been stuck on his face, because the next thing he knew, Twilight Sparkle had addressed him. “They’re… memorials for those we’ve lost along the way…” She elaborated without even having to be asked.

“Graves.” Storm thought aloud. “Just without the bodies.”

Twilight nodded. “We don’t keep the bodies. Not anymore…”

“Well, that's an ominous and vague statement.”

“No! What I mean is we burn them to prevent what is left from being turned…”

“Smart…” He commented but trailed off, realizing that the really low writings must have been made by fillies and colts. Children that had lost their parents…

The table was quiet for a moment, until Rainbow, who sensed the blanket of dread, decided to excuse herself to return both her own and Storm’s trays. Twilight waited until the cyan pegasus was out of earshot to continue.

“We keep the names in here because a lot of ponies like to think that our loved ones are still with us, somehow. I have never seen anything - either scientific or magical - to prove that, but the thought is what allows many of them to get to sleep at night and get up the next day.” When she finished the thought, Storm had begun to subconsciously scan through the mess hall’s inhabitants or rather their expressions and actions.

They all seemed to be at least content, a few were genuinely happy, and only a slim picking of frowns filled the crowds. In his search, he even saw that young beige mare from the engine room rubbing one of the higher names on a far way pillar. A knot began to tighten in the stallion’s chest. He couldn’t explain it, but for some reason, he felt included to get up and make his way to her.

“I’ll be back…” Was all he said to Twilight and Rainbow - who had just returned to the table - before getting up and leaving.

Dash’s magenta eyes held a slightly concerned expression as she watched the stallion walk away. She sighed and was about to stand up when a purple hoof stopped her. Rainbow looked to Twilight quizzically, only to receive a: “He’ll be fine.”

In the time he had gotten halfway across the crowded mess hall, dodging tables and such, Storm had noticed that the mare had gone back to a nearly empty table with herself being the only inhabitant. Once he got within fifteen steps or so, he confirmed that the mare was in fact the one everypony called ‘P.’ Her mane was still done up it that bun, albeit a bit more messy now. Her blue eyes were glued to some notebook - which took the priority of her barely touched tray.

It took Storm a moment to realize he had been watching her - no, examining her. He often found himself doing this very same thing to anypony he met in the wasteland; Examining them for traces of malice, bloodlust, basically all of the terrible shit that stained the land, but he was doing the same for this seemingly innocent mare - one who put even Planning’s shyness and awkwardness to shame tenfold. Storm could tell a whole lot about anyone from their body language, way of speaking, or the look in their eyes on occasion. He felt no traces of any of that in this mare.

Whatever she was reading must have been really interesting or at least important. The beige mare was holding her chin up by a forehoof, giving her the appearance of a bored high school student who was lost in a mountain of unfinished homework. She exalted in a stressed manner before turning the page. He guessed that the page alone wasn’t what stressed her after seeing the subtle gesture at the ‘pillar tombs.’

“Hey-” He began to say only to be cut off by a flurry of pages and a feminine scream.

“EEP!” The mare shrieked, scattering a few loose pages and flipping the notebook - which happened to be more of a binder - over. She stared in his direction, clearly terrified at the massive stallion’s sudden entrance.

Both Storm and P looked around to see that the sudden outburst had earned them an unwanted audience - something both of them resented. A few of the onlookers noticed who caused the scene. Some sighed, others shook their heads, and a couple cursed out the mare before returning back to their own conversations.

Okay… Storm thought, drawing out the word in his head. Let’s try this again…

“Shit, my bad.” He started again. “Here let me help.” Then he began tethering the loose pages into a neat pile before trying to sort them for her.

The mare didn’t respond for a moment. Her small chest was pounding as if she was just seconds from death and the adrenaline had worn off. But eventually, she swallowed and choked out a shaky response.

“O-oh, thanks.”

“No problem.” Storm’s eyes didn’t meet her own as he was focused on the sorting act. When the deed was done, he placed the stack in front of the beige mare. “You mind?” He asked dryly, motioning to the seat across from her.

Her eyes widened for a second, and she was silent as if processing the question before emitting a shaky response. “Y-you don’t have to sit with me - if you don’t w-want to…”

Storm’s gaze hardened in question, making the mare try to sink behind the binder cover slightly. “What?” He asked, clearly not understanding the purpose of that statement.

“I-I mean you don’t have to sit here because you feel b-bad…”

“No, it’s fine.” Storm replied, finally finishing with the papers and handing them over. “You looked… lost. And I wanted to help.” The stallion couldn’t even believe the words coming out of his own mouth, but they were his.

“T-thanks…” P said, her uneasy expression still fixed on him. After a moment, the mare was able to break free of her trace and place the pages back in her binder. The table was silent, only the others around it gave the room any ambience save for the sound of pages being slid into their respective slots.

In that time, Storm slid into the seat adjacent to her.

“Name’s Storm.” Then he remembered the gesture Twilight Sparkle had reminded him of back in Los Pegasus, so he extended a forehoof slowly towards the mare. She flinched slightly, but once she realized the hoof meant no harm, she carefully took it in her own.

“P-p-p-p-Persephone.” She stammered in response.

Huh, ironic… He thought as this reclusive mare shared the same name as a definition involving being well liked by all despite what he had seen so far from her ‘crewmates.’

“So, uh… what are you looking at?” He asked.

It took Persephone a minute to process the question before she blinked twice and responded. “O-oh, that…” She fumbled with the binder before sliding it to his side of the table. “These are just a collection of some notes for engineering work…”

Storm had subconsciously started to slowly tune her out while he was examining the notes for himself. A couple blueprints of ship decks, schematics of individual items such as buffet counters, weapon racks, suit repairs, ammunition types, and much more. For each blueprint, there were about five pages of hoof-written notes with certain areas highlighted, others scribbled out and so on. The stallion only had time to skim through the huge binder before his attention was redirected to the mare’s voice.

“Where did you get all of this?” He asked, suddenly seeing the beige mare’s face drop.

She swallowed. “M-my dad. He… he made this binder for me to take over on the ship repairs when he couldn’t... do it anymore...”

Storm immedient knew what she was referring to. For fucks sake, can’t we go ten minutes without death or suffering? He thought bitterly. “You don’t have to… continue with that - I mean.”

Persephone nodded and then sniffled. “N-now I only have these notes a-and I can’t even understand half of it! Do you know w-what it’s like to have to ask others for help on everything you do - even when it should be your job alone? Everypony here thinks I’m just some burden, but I just want to help out!” Something in her changed. Like a dam broke inside the mare, allowing her true colors to flow freely.

“There’s got to be someone on this ship who could have helped you with those, right?”

“I-I don’t know. Nopony else offered to help and those I asked just shooed me away.”

Sons of bitches… Storm thought. Whether it was just time itself or the new mood, his familiar cynical and angry side was finally showing itself.

“I can.” The stallion said. “I’ll help.”

“R-really?” Persephone asked, sounding as if she suspected this was some cruel joke.

“Sure. My grandfather was an engineer in the guard. I picked up a few things from him and a lot more from books over the years.” With that, the grey pegasus began snapping pictures of each page within the binder using his earpiece. “I’ll look over these with you when I get back. And if you ever have a question about any of this stuff, then just ask.”

“T-thank you…” She practically whispered. Storm could see a faint smile on the mare’s face now.

“No problem-” Storm stopped suddenly.

In the back of the binder was a page which caught his attention almost instantly. It was an ATS suit schematic as confirmed by the sleek bold title and gutted suit diagram - which took up a majority of the page - but there was one very noticeable difference to the suit itself: The helmet. More specifically the visor.

His visor…

The purple color - or any color besides the seafoam green of the background and white outline of the suit and title - was absent, but Storm knew without a doubt that this was his suit. The segmented ‘x’ shaped followed by the two extra slits in between each side was unmistakable. He then scanned the rest of the schematics to notice that, for the most part, this suit mirrored his own. The only differences were the changes that he had made over the years, but this was the same exact layout that his grandfather had-

F. B.

The stallion was broken out of his examination of the schematic when his search led him to the very bottom of the page, where initials were written in permanent ink in very familiar penmanship.

His brow must have furrowed or his expression changed in some way because the skittish mare sitting across from him flinched ever so slightly before speaking up.

“W-what?” She barely got out, not liking the expression on his face.

Storm didn’t hear her. He turned the page to find another schematic of the same exact suit but this one was less polished and had multiple sketches drawn either on or next to the outline. A hoof-mounted retractable blade, a shoulder-mounted stunning device, low powered, self-recharging thrusters, it was all there. That and more. Even the signature from the previous page also ended this one. He then flipped to the backside, only to discover a scrap of paper that was stuck to the page with an adhesive material.

There was a brief note followed by some numbers.

Sergeant,

Things have been… crazy lately. I never thought life outside the guard could ever get any better, but it did! My wife and I just had a foal - a beautiful filly - who looks like she’ll be just as tough as her daddy one of these days. Just hope she doesn’t follow my drinking habits. Anyway, Rye reminded me about a stash that I had during my time on the Solstice, and it occurred to me that I never cleaned it out. There are just a couple of papers, medals, and experimental stuff that those headstrong bastards in HQ never bothered to hear me out about in the stash. I gave up all my clearance and am too old to sit through the security process for entering, so would you mind picking up my stuff and mailing it to my address? The safe is protected by magic, but the code will disable it.

The code is the date of my baby girl’s birthday - 10/14/73

Thanks, again.

- Ex-Lieutenant Beryl.

“Y-you found that note.” Persephone said, making it both sound like a comment and a question at the same time. “Twilight Sparkle actually found these along with the safe when she began work on the ship, but we can’t figure out the code.”

“I know it.” Was all he replied dryly.

“W-wait… how?”

“The note’s from my grandfather. So are the suit sketches. He served on this ship during the Griffon war before everything.”

“O-oh…”

“Do you mind if I take these? The ones from my grandfather - I mean.” He asked. “There are a couple of mods on here that might come in handy later…”

Persephone nodded and slid the four pages over to the stallion. He quickly folded them into fourths with his tethered appendage. Storm nodded in thanks before getting up from his seat, forgetting about his salad, and headed to one of the trash pillars furthest away from the table.

Once he arrived, the stallion did a one-over by checking to see if Persephone was watching him. Thankfully she wasn’t and was back to being buried in her studies. With the coast clear, Storm unfolded the papers, found the note stuck to the back of the fourth page, and separated the two. Then he crumpled the note up and threw it in the trash.

Whether it was out of instinct or paranoia, he checked in Persephone’s direction only to look eyes with Rainbow Dash - who was a few tables down with Twilight and the others. She had a quizzical expression plastered on her face as if she saw something but not all of it. Using her head, the mare motioned for him to head over.

And so he did just that. Storm sat down next to Planning and Cadence - who had joined sometime in his absence, which was across from Dash, who was next to Twilight and a yellow pegasus stallion. The other four were engaged in a conversation, giving the two some temporary privacy.

“What was that about?” Rainbow asked, lowering her voice to not attract the attention of the others.

“This.” Storm replied, sliding the papers of his suit and weapon schematics over to Dash. “That Persephone over there is apparently the last real engineer on this ship, so she has all of the blueprints to just about everything.”

“Persephone? The one everypony calls P?” Rainbow asked while looking over the schematics.

“Yeah, though I doubt she ever preferred that nickname.”

“Why’s that?”

“Just a hunch.”

“Okay… uh - I thought you’ve never been here before, so how did you get these?” Dash asked, changing the subject.

“I haven’t, but my grandfather has. My suit is a combined effort of both our work, but I guess he was planning on making one even before the world went to shit.”

“So… what did you do then? Interrogate that shy mare until she told you everything?” The question almost sounded like a joke, but the stallion didn’t find it humorous at all.

“No. I accidentally… scared her and helped pick up some scattered papers. I saw what she was working on and decided to help.”

Rainbow just stared at him. Puzzled. “Why?”

Storm’s expression displayed slight confusion. “Why not? You think I want us to die in my sleep when this thing gets grounded because nopony knows how to keep an engine maintained?”

Dash nodded, then gave the papers back. “Good point… I guess.”

Suddenly, Twilight Sparkle turned away from the four way conversation, and was now facing the new arrival. “How’d it go?”

“It went.” Was all he said before sitting down.

“Everything okay?” Twilight asked with a furrowed brow. “Was the food not good or something? We grow it ourselves in the Hydroponics Deck, so there shouldn’t be any lack of quality or chance or pois-”

“Yeah, I got it.” Storm interjected, halting the mare’s self-worrying rant in it’s tracks. “The food is… fine. It’s something else.” By now, both Twilight and Rainbow’s attentions were solely on him. Luckily, nopony else’s attention was. “Apparently, my grandfather left some sort of stash with personal belongings and such on this ship. In a safe protected by magic.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about. We still haven’t been able to crack it. Whatever spell is on the damn thing is extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I have the code.” Storm announced. “For the safe. I don’t know about you, but I’m curious to see what he left.”

Both Twilight, then Dash agreed. “Let’s go find out! We’re headed to the armory next anyway, so go get geared up and meet me there!” The purple unicorn excitedly announced, getting up and motioning for the other two to follow.

At the quarters, two pegasi stepped off and made their way to the shared barracks within. A keycard swipe later, and the duo were putting on their respective suits.

Storm already slid his own suit on - a practice that he had mastered years ago - and was checking his shotgun before slinging it over his back. Then the grey pegasus grabbed his Sweeper, unfolded the slab-like barrel to check the weapon, before retracting the slab-plates and doing the same. He quickly unsheathed the hoof-blade and resheathed it.

Meanwhile, Rainbow had just finished with the pesky midsection straps of her suit. It annoyed her to no end that equipping a suit was one of the few things she could be bested in - speedwise. But this annoyance was more at herself than her would-be competitor. And to top it all off, she wasn’t even done. The wing holes on the back were deflated as the mare was in the process of fitting her feathery appendages through said holes and into the grey cloth. One went through fine, but the injured one wouldn’t move more than an inch before brushing up against the steel rim of the hole and sending a shockwave of pain through her body. The injury had evolved from numbness to straightforward pain after a couple of days. Dash winced while softly hissing through her teeth at the feeling.

The stallion a few steps away noticed the noise in the nearly silent room. He was in the process of loading a machine pistol when he heard it. The mare wasn’t facing him, but he could tell by her body language that it wasn’t a picnic to try and put her suit back on. He set down the weapon before closing the short distance and gently putting a hoof on the metallic ring, making her jump.

Rainbow whipped her head around as if to scold him for either scaring the shit out of her or touching her without warning - or maybe both, but she said nothing and instead accepted the assistance. He kept the suit steady and helped guide her wing through while she pushed until the bandaged limb was folded into the fabric covering. When the deed was done, Storm levitated the machine pistol and machine gun to Dash, which she stored on her back as well.

A heavy weight hung in the room’s silence, as if both of them wanted to say something but neither could. After a few moments, it was Storm who broke the silence.

“You sure you don’t want to sit this one out?” He asked.

“No, no, I’m fine…” Rainbow replied.

“Dash-”

“I said I’m fine!”

The stallion put his wings up slightly, in a half mock surrender to the conversation which said ‘okay’ in a nonverbal way. “Alright. But stay by my side. I don’t trust putting either of our lives in any of these asshole’s hooves.”

“You mean the ones like that Trail Hunter? Please,” Rainbow laughed. “He’s all bark and no bite.”

“That’s what worries me. Those like him are dangerous to everyone else around them.”

“Oh yeah? I’ll show him danger if he ever trie-” Rainbow continued, only to be suddenly cut off.

“That's got to stop.” Storm interrupted. He didn’t sound annoyed or ever angry.

Rainbow’s expression held a mixture of confusion and annoyance on the other hoof. “What’s got to stop?”

“You, thinking you can handle anything and anyone.”

Dash’s mouth was open for a brief moment of being stunned at his words before the expression changed, as if she was about to tear him a new one for doubting her awesomeness.

But before she could protest, Storm swifty continued. “You aren’t invincible. Especially out there. Thinking that way gets you killed. So stop it.”

The cyan pegasus had just about enough of her ‘second father’ and his unwanted advice by this point. “Do you get off at being a jerk to everypony?” She snarked with a lowered brow.

“No,” He replied calmly. “But I don’t exactly ‘get off’ at watching everypony around me torn to shreds either. I’d rather you be alive and be mad than be dead and not able to think at all.”

Rainbow’s head hurt. She had been trying to figure this guy out for almost three days now. No matter what she brought up or observed from afar, she couldn’t make any sense of him. One minute, he was blaming her as if she caused his friends to die. Then the next, he was ready to put a bullet in a stranger’s head just to save her. The mare didn’t know how much longer she could take this strange world and it’s even stranger inhabitants, but she had to hold her head up high regardless of the hidden strain.

“Right...” She responded, seeming to trail off briefly while trying to come back from her conscious thoughts to the land of the living. “And… you’re right. I’m… I’m not invincible. This isn’t as easy as I thought…” That part came out strained, as it was something she didn’t like to admit. “But it does me no good to lay down and cry about it. I don’t plan on backing down anytime soon. So, don’t ever count me out!” She added with a spurt of confidence.

Storm eyed her for a moment - not giving off any thoughts with his indifferent expression - before nodding in response. “Okay…” He too, trailed off as if there was more to say, but instead all that came out was: “Just… be careful out there. What you saw back in Ponyville isn’t normal. I’d argue that the ‘normal’ is worse and soon you’ll find out why.”

“I will.” Rainbow replied. Then with a renewed smirk, she added. “You ever have anything happy or funny to say?”

“Nah, I’m just the jerk who only says what is necessary.”

Rainbow couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. The tone was… well, dry as typical ‘Storm fashion’ but the contents of his response could be taken either way. She didn’t know whether to laugh or just remain silent, so she chose the latter as the two exited - and locked their barracks.

As much as Equestria’s fastest and most brave pegasus would hate to admit it, she wasn’t looking forward to what her stallion companion was dreading in the coming hour. It was like getting a shot when she was a filly. The anticipation was the real killer while the actual shot only took a few seconds then she was back on her hooves - or up in the air with her wings rather - being her usual spunky self.

Another ten minutes and getting suited up later, Storm found himself - along with Rainbow, Twilight, and Planning Period - in the neighboring deck, known as the Armory Deck. This deck was on the more grimey side of things as faint stains of mud, water, or even blood littered the floor due to the traffic of ponies heading to what Storm considered to be the most important place in any base.

The entrance to the armory was the same as all of the other decks: a long hallway with branching paths and doors to places such as a shooting range, security checkout, an ammo forge, and the main armory itself. That is where the group was currently standing; waiting as a suited pony was giving some kind of briefing on how the ATS suits worked to a crowd of about five or six. Storm couldn’t see the actual pony inside said suit as the helmet was up and the voice was muffled slightly. He could, however, tell that she was female and had a similar, if not rougher voice than the cyan pegasus standing beside him.

The suited pony’s presentation ended. The others walked off and she began to store some equipment and weapons, which had also been a part of the demonstration, while her helmet was still up. Twilight led the remaining trio over to her workspace before addressing the suited pony, who turned around and deactivated her helmet.

With the helmet gone, Storm could now see the mare in her entirety. She had a bright yellow coat, yellowish-orange mane that was slicked back to form a flame-like shape, and her eyes matched the same ember shade as her mane. A dual set of scars ran across her nearly middle-aged muzzle in addition. Her expression was an indifferent one which might have rivaled Storm’s own on a good day.

“Ma’am.” The yellow mare addressed Twilight in return.

Then the lavender unicorn turned to the three behind herself. With a giggle, she looked directly at Rainbow - whose eyes had widened both in excitement and possibly fangirl horror - before speaking. “Now I know one of you already knows who this is, but I’d like you all to meet the Runner Captain, Spitfire!”

The yellow mare, Spitfire, gave a brief nod in their direction to her name being called. Her indifferent smile softened slightly upon seeing the rainbow-maned pegasus in the middle. Twilight pointed to each pony as she introduced them, like an elementary teacher introducing a group of shy soon-to-be friends to one another.

Once introductions were finished, Planning Period finally spoke up. Her rushed tone sounded as if she had been holding in a question for a while. “What exactly is a Runner?”

“Glad you asked-” Twilight replied, straightening her glasses, only to be cut off by Spitfire.

“We are the bravest of the brave, the most loyal of loyal, and the backbone of this whole operation!” She boasted in what Rainbow knew as ‘typical Spitfire’ fashion. When Planning’s confused expression was the only answer in the silent circle, the yellow mare elaborated further, in an albeit more dull tone. “Being a Runner is exactly what it sounds like. We go outside the safety of this ship to look for supplies, survivors, but most importantly, the seals. It’s not easy work, but it is necessary for our survival-”

“-And success!” Twilight interjected, receiving a brief glare from the Runner Captain.

“Anywho,” Spitfire continued, pointing a fore hoof at a nearby rack of weapons and suits. “We make runs for whatever or whoever needs them. And now, the Research Staff has located another seal, correct?” She turned to Twilight, who nodded excitedly.

“Any idea what we are facing this time?” Storm asked, budding into the two mare’s conversation.

“Sadly, no…” Twilight replied with a hung head. “The tracker can’t determine which Element of Harmony the seal has corrupted.”

Great. Going in blind it is then...

“My seal - Magic, is broken. The seal of Generosity is also broken. And Rainbow’s doesn’t appear to be a threat or even making itself known at the moment, so we know it is either Honesty, Laughter, or Kindness. Only time will tell.”

“What do we know about it then?” Storm asked, not sharing the mare’s optimism at all.

“Wait until the rest get here. I’ll explain it then.” Spitfire answered for the would-be princess.

“Rest?”

“Princess Twilight didn’t tell you? You’ll be joined by some of my own Runner groups to make this along faster and without casualty… hopefully.” Spitfire explained.

Fucking great. More egotistical jerks.

As if on cue, the electronically locked doors to this portion of the armory slide open, revealing a little less than a dozen mares and stallions with Trail Hunter being amongst them. Almost all of them had short cut manes, stern looks in their eyes, and even a few scars on some. They were all decently built. Even the mares looked like they could put up a fight given the chance.

Hunter had his typical smug look plastered on his muzzle until he locked eyes with Storm’s electric purple ones. Then his expression changed to one of half confusion and half irritation.

“The fuck is this asshole doing here?” He asked aloud.

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me… Storm mentally replied.

Spitfire inhaled deeply as if holding back irritation. “Get in formation, Hunter.” she demanded in a very serious and commanding tone.

“W-”

“GET IN FORMATION!” She roared, startling Planning and Twilight.

The shamed stallion grumbled to his spot alongside a single crew-cut mare while the other newcomers joined in groups of four. They stood behind Storm, Rainbow, Planning, and Twilight - which was something that made Storm uncomfortable as he didn’t like having his back turned to strangers - before Spitfire addressed all of them.

“Good timing, everypony.” She began, levitating a clipboard to her face with an earpiece. “Now, I know some of group D is missing after the last… expedition.” Her muzzle was pointed in the direction of a sulking Hunter and the other mare. “So, we have found two newbies to take their place for this mission. You two, go join group D.” Spitfire pointed a hoof at Storm and then Rainbow, who both walked over to complete the quad. “Now, everypony has their groups. Here is what you have all been waiting for: the assignment…”

With Twilight’s help, a holographic screen lit up the previously barron back wall of the deck. This screen was a top down view of the city of Fillydelphia, more specifically a map to show the routes and main attractions. This map was almost a mirror image of the seal tracker that Storm had seen in the research chamber as it shared the same color scheme with a pulsing dot representing the signal. The map feed was sped up considerably, revealing that the signal never stayed in one place for more than a couple of hours - at most. It frequently jumped from the shopping districts - located in the center - to the harbor by the sea, then to the residential sector, and again to the industrial area as if it were a hyperactive animal trying to decide on which owner to play with.

“As you can all see, this signal tends to ‘jump’ quite often as opposed to the others we have encountered so far. There is no pattern or constants in it’s path, meaning there is no surefire way to track it down…” The Runner Captain continued. “However, thanks to the combined efforts of Princess Twilight and yours truly, we have a plan to corner it instead. We’ll split up into the four-pony groups which you are already in at the moment. Group C takes the residential, Group D takes the shopping centers, and Group E takes the harbor. This way we can narrow down escape options for whoever - or whatever is emitting the signal and funnel them into our custody. Keep your comms channels open, each other safe, and don’t be a hero. Nothing good ever comes from that... “ Then the mare turned back to a desk with multiple gadgets and weapons on it. “All of you will have signal-tracking technology installed on your ATS suit’s before hoof in addition. Stop by the Kiosk Chamber on your way out the door and don’t let it smack you in the flank. Clear?”

The crew cut ponies and Hunter all nodded plainly, Rainbow Dash energetically, and then most of the gathered crowd was off to do what their commander had asked. Twilight waved Rainbow Dash over to reconnect with Spitfire, which Storm noticed and decided not to impede on. It wasn’t his business, so he’d leave it be.

The grey pegasus turned to follow the others to this ‘Kiosk Chamber’ only to be stopped by a rather firm grip of a hoof on his shoulder. His head swung around and his hoof was milliseconds from swinging at a much faster rate in addition until he noticed the same ego-dramatic stallion from the tram station.

“Storm, was it?” Trail Hunter asked, his tone not eliciting a care in the world. Then he would have continued without waiting for a reply, but Storm stopped that.

“Remove that hoof.” He said coldly, looking the other stallion straight in the eye, despite said stallion being half a head shorter than himself.

Hunter chuckled and did what was asked - no demanded from the other. “I know you’re new here and don’t quite get how things work just yet, so I’ll forgive and forget… all that jazz. Anywho, just wanted to make sure everything is clear before we get out there. Got to know who is in charge to avoid trouble after all.” The stallion sounded like a bully of an older brother with his manner of speaking.

Storm eyed him for a moment. Hunter returned the glare. Both were engaged in what would be considered a more primitive display of male dominance for something along the likes of a mate or territory. Trail raised an eyebrow slightly before picking up where he left off. “I don’t think we are ever gonna be best buds or go out for a drink together. Ya know, shoot the breeze, check out the ladies. That sort of thing… are we?” The question was clearly rhetorical as shown by his mockingly, slightly higher pitched tone. When Storm didn’t reply and only glared on, Hunter let out a fake sigh before picking up again. “Welp. Guess not. Just stay in line and you’ll be fine out there.” Trail went to give a ‘buddy pat’ on the other stallion’s shoulder only to notice his stance slightly change to a combat-ready one - something only ponies like the two would notice. So instead, Hunter shrugged it off and turned to walk away towards the kiosks.

Normally, Storm would have kept his cool when dealing with others egos - hell, he lived with a griffon sporting one and was currently chaperoning a mare with one to rival - but this was more than a matter of pride. This was a matter of survival. He hated the way ponies like Hunter thought. How they acted. How they spoke. Not because they were annoying, at least not solely. But more because they were dangerous. Arguably more dangerous than the very things their race was supposed to be banding together to survive against. Ego’s meant pride. Pride meant poor choices, and poor choices meant death.

For them, for him, for Dash.

For anyone involved.

“You want to keep flaunting your dick around, then fine.” Storm calmly spoke to Hunter’s back, causing the stallion’s ears to point his direction. Whether it was the crude challenge or slight growl that was always present in the grey pegasus’ tone, Trail Hunter turned around to meet it. “Just don’t expect any sympathy when someone or something cuts it clean off.”

Hunter frowned. One eye twitched. His face had a slight shade of red, likely formed by the blow to his pride and addition of his anger. He began to slowly approach Storm, who stood his ground, not moving an inch but mentally preparing for a well deserved smackdown.

“Enough!” A familiar, assertive female voice demanded. Spitfire now stood in the small space in between both stallions. She held one hoof towards the approaching one’s chest before roughly shoving him back. “To the kiosks! Both of you!”

Trail growled before turning and heading to the mentioned destination. Storm watched him leave. No grin of pride or satisfaction on his own muzzle. Just indifference. As always. From slightly below his height, he heard a brief sigh.

“I see you’ve met Trail Hunter then.” Spitfire commented, joining the stallion in watching the would-be fiend leave. “Mind yourself around him. He’s the definition of hothead. And that’s coming from somepony who has the name, appearance, and personality of one.”

“Got it.” Storm replied, barely registering the question. Scenarios of possible outcomes surrounding Hunter’s ‘personality’ and ending in the demise of the few he cared about filled Storm’s head.

Spitfire, satisfied with the brief talk, left him alone and returned to Twilight at the demonstration table. Rainbow had finished catching up with Spitfire and was at Storm's side once more. The mare had a small smile on her face at meeting up with her idol until she noticed Storm's look in the direction of the chamber.

"Hey," She said, following his gaze. "Making friends I see.” The comment was sarcastically playful, but the sarcasm wasn’t directed at him, but rather the retreating stallion.

“No comment.” Storm huffed before joining the now-gathering line to the Kiosk Chamber.

Just as the title had entailed, the Kiosk Chamber was filled with Royal Guard and recolored purple ATS suits for the security force on the ship. The dozen or so crewcut ponies inside were getting into the faded yellow suits and grabbing a small chip-like device - which Storm assumed was the signal tracker - off of a desk. He tethered two chips over, passed one to Dash, then led the two out of the door, where a couple crew cut stallions were leaning against the wall and chatting away loudly.

Storm noticed Twilight waving the duo over, causing him to subconsciously stop and allow Dash to get ahead of him. By the time Storm was moving again, Rainbow was past the stallions, who also noticed her position. One of them whistled, causing a few snickers and follow-up whistles.

Rainbow flinched then rolled her eyes while walking past. “Colts…” She muttered under her breath. As the mare walked away, she was obvious to the sneaking glance the stallions stole at her flank, before a sudden and blinding flash of white dominated their visions. The stallions swore and winced, rubbing their eyes desperately. When their vision returned - albeit with slight splotches - they were met with the cold glare of Storm’s piercing eyes.

Most understood the unspoken warning. A few growled, even fewer swore, and one mouthed something, which Storm didn’t care to keep in his sight for much longer. The grey pegasus turned around upon hearing Rainbow’s slightly distant and very impatient “You coming?” at the armory’s exit.

The two arrived at the lavender unicorn’s side, which was at the opening to a smaller room at the entrance of the deck labeled ‘storage.’ Twilight stepped aside to allow the duo inside. Rainbow stood at the side of the room while Storm approached the object of attention - a small stone safe located at the bottom of a nearly picked clean shelf. A padlock with three sections was held in place at the front.

WARNING: MAGICAL INFLUENCE DETECTED!

His Tethertech displayed a tiny, purple holograph before he mentally closed the box. Now that his earpiece mentioned it, a faint hum of magic was emitting from the safe as well.

“Go ahead.” Twilight said from the back of the room. “It won’t bite. It is just impossible to break the lock or move that safe. That’s all.”

With that in mind, the stallion leaned down slightly to enter in his mother’s birthdate. As soon as the digits had been entered, the faint hum faded, and the lock unlatched. Behind him, Rainbow stood with her head turned slightly to see over his broad back and shoulders. Twilight, on the other hoof, was practically leaning excitedly over his shoulder in anticipation.

Meanwhile, the stallion swung open the door, turned on his earpiece flashlight, and began scanning the safe’s contents.

“Well - what is it?” The curious unicorn poked from behind.

Storm ignored her. Not purposely, but subconsciously due to the fact that he was deep in the various pages and photographs stored in the safe. What he found wasn’t too impressive. Paperwork for joining the guard, promotional plaques and medals, a guide to newcomers, and so on. He shifted through these until reaching the very back of the safe where a vanilla folder was wedged into a crack.

This folder had no label, but was clearly housing something inside. Grabbing the folder, Storm spread it open to reveal even more blueprints. This time, they were weapon modifications. Just like their suit-attachment counterparts, these blueprints had sketched additions on the side along with footnotes explaining each modification. There must have been over two dozen of these schematics.

Bullhound rifle, Stinger SMG, Cerberus shotgun- Storm read off mentally until a particular page caught his attention.

This schematic showed a hoof-held nail gun known as an ART - Airship Repair Tool - which was also the same base for Storm’s own primary. That was when he realized it…

This was a Sweeper.

Not his own, but definitely one. This version had a more rectangular and compact frame, which had two Tethertech-link grips, which struck the stallion as odd because most firearms only had one grip and trigger location, but this one had two. This Sweeper also had a more compact slab-barrel, which looked like it’s parts could fold out or ‘extend’ to his Sweeper’s own full length.

So that’s where you gave me the idea, huh? The grey pegasus thought, remembering his grandfather’s assistance - or now influence - in creating his current primary weapon.

“Are you gonna share with the class?” Rainbow lightheartedly asked from behind.

“Right. Uh, it’s more schematics.” Storm finally answered, snapping out of it. “Weapons this time.”

“Well, that explains why they are in the armory.” Twilight commented, taking a look at a few of the designs. “This was the work of your grandfather?”

Storm nodded. “He served practically his whole life before my mother was born.”

“I would have loved to meet him! Look at these designs. They are practically military-grade! I wonder why the guard never took advantage of these?” The quizzical unicorn wondered aloud.

“Something about the guard and him towards the end of his career.” Storm replied hesitantly. “Maybe he didn’t like the new management or knew something we didn't. Either way, he was smart not to let these get into the wrong hooves.”

Twilight was quiet for a moment as she shifted through the rest of the designs. Each one made her eyes go slightly wide, a smile appear, or an audible praise to the inner workings. Storm had enough of the apparent praise around the ninth schematic or so and looked at Rainbow, who mouthed the word ‘egghead’ in response.

Eventually, the mare was done with show and tell, so she placed the blueprints into their respective folder and levitated it to the owner. “I know it’s a lot to ask of you - ya know joining us out there and all - but do you think making some of these weapons for our Runners wouldn’t be too hard?” She asked hopefully.

Great. Making my grandfather’s work for a bunch of assholes? No problem there. Storm thought before replying with his version of a filter. “We’ll see. Let’s get this trip over with first - assuming we survive.”

“Gee, there’s that enthusiasm we love so much.” Rainbow poked.

“The way I see it, you’ve got to expect the worst and prepare for the worst. The best went out the door twenty-some years ago.”

“I’ll be back.” Twilight assured. “It has to. We will make sure the best does come back.”

Storm huffed. “You might be able to pull it off - crazy as it sounds, but you still can’t bring everyone back.”

Twilight looked confused. “W-well, yeah, I know that death is perm-”

“I wasn’t talking about those we lost. I’m talking about the ones who are still here. You can’t cram a whole ship of hardened survivors into this peaceful past.” He interjected.

“Oh, right.” Then she smiled. “Not to worry. Cadence and I have a plan for that as well. We would use various clinics and rehabilitation centers - in towns like Ponyville or big cities like Fillydelphia - to help everyone adjust to their new lives.”

“What about the ones that are too far gone?”

“I never say anypony is too far gone. With enough positive influence and encouragement, anyone can be brought back.”

“You and I clearly have seen different sides of the world.”

Twilight chuckled. “If you want to be a glass half empty, then you bet I’m half full. Just trust me that it will work out.”

“Trust you?” Storm scoffed, the slight growl in his voice coming out. “You put a sign that says ‘Damned resort’ on my front door, spout some half-baked bullshit about time travel, and want me to go on some bounty hunting field trip, and now I’m supposed to trust you? Just like that?”

“W-well I-” Twilight stammered, put back by the sudden - yet somehow calm - hostility. “I just expected you to understand, you know being the mar-”

“I’m not one to hit a mare, but I swear to whatever bastard God is overhead, you better stop calling me that.” His tone was very threatening despite never having to raise his voice. “I’m not this Marked One, some prophet or anyone special. Period. I’m a tired, pissed off guy in a suit of armor and nothing more. Capiche?”

Twilight’s expression looked like she was torn between engaging in this soon-to-be shouting fest or between retreating out of fear. She never got to decide as Rainbow stepped in between the two.

“Okay! Enough! Save it for the monsters, you two!”

Without a word more, the mentioned stallion stored the folder in his suit inventory and removed himself from the room, leaving Twilight and Rainbow alone. The cyan pegasus sighed. “Sorry, Twi. He means well - I know it. He’s just an asshole sometimes”

“I don’t blame him.” Twilight replied, closing the safe. “I mean, look at this from his - or anypony who is new to this place’s - perspective. We are asking a lot and I can tell there is something bearing its weight on his shoulders already.”

Rainbow looked to the now empty doorway. “I know, it’s just…” she paused, as if not sure how to put the next part into words. “I just wish we could help him in some way. I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for him.”

“We’ll find something. I promise.” Then the lavender unicorn snickered after the serious response. “I can’t believe you actually admitted how much you needed him to get here.”

Dash blushed out of embarrassment before rubbing the back of her neck. ‘Heh, yeah… just don’t go around telling everypony I need some stallion to protect me. Then I won’t be laughing.”

Both mares shared a brief chuckle at that. Apparently, it was a strange sight as a small group passing by the room’s open entrance stopped and glanced inside with confused looks on their muzzles. Then they moved on.

“Oh! Almost forgot!” Twilight suddenly added. “Planning Period was also given a job. She will be in the Communications Tower and is assigned to your Runner Group D as a controlmare. She’ll be monitoring your group’s progress and helping anyway she can from here.”

“Great, now we’ve got three eggheads on the team.”

“Hey!” Twilight shot back upon realizing she counted as one.

Everyone went their own ways after that. Twilight and Planning retreated to the Communications Deck at the very back - and top - of the Solstice, while Storm and Rainbow joined their group on the surface deck. Hostilities were tense between a certain duo of stallions, who were less than happy about being paired together.

The ship was now setting down at the edge of Fillydelphia - on the harbor and leading into the industrial sector. The ramp slammed down, ponies activated helmets, loaded weapons, and trotted off single file all the while their captain was finishing shouting some inspirational speech that Storm ignored for now his mind was in survival mode.

As he stared at the broken city, the faint rays of the cloud-blocked sun combined with the raindrops and low setting fog, gave off an almost angelic visual to the whole scene, but the stallion knew what was waiting inside the literal death maze was anything but angelic. There was no doubt in his mind that something was already watching them and waiting by this point. There was no doubt that it would strike.

Now the only question was what would strike?

Things had started to get weird. The… attitude of the Damned. Their massive march on one small town that could have been torn to shreds decades ago. Storm knew they were intelligent - to a point - but now it was like they were moving as one. A few seemed to follow the brute of flesh - which the stallion had promptly labeled as ‘the Commander’ in his new jornal - so that thing was a possibility. Some kind of leader perhaps? It was the second biggest variant he had ever seen, with it being the biggest if sea-bound Damned didn’t count.

The other two Runner groups split off to their respective assignments and were headed to the last known location of the signal, leaving Group D to form their own plan.

“Alright, everypony.” Trail Hunter addressed from his position at the front of the four equine team. “We’re taking the shopping centers in the middle of the city. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to make it back in time for dessert, so let’s get this over with quick. Let’s locate the fastest route and get this shit over with.”

Nopony could read each other’s expressions as their ATS helmets covered everything but a faint outline of their pupils, but the reluctance of two of the group to follow - those two being Storm and Rainbow - the tension was clear. The blue armored stallion put a hoof to his earpiece.

“Planning, It’s Storm.” He said.

A few seconds of connection static later and the mentioned mare’s voice came through. “I read you, Storm. I’ve got visuals from everyone’s suits.”

“Great. Find us all available routes to the city’s shopping district. Us satellite from the most recent, cloudless day.”

“Got it. Be back in a flash.” The mare hung up, presumably to do just that.

Storm could feel the look of burning hatred directed his way from Hunter despite not being able to see his face.

“Okay, I found a few routes to the shopping center - which is called ‘the Hub’ by the way.” Planning returned, images of three routes popping up in everypony’s respective HUDs. “Most of them are blocked off by fallen debris, but there are three main options unless you prefer going underground. The first is through a couple of back alleys and service streets. It is kind of a maze, but it’s hard to be seen in it. The second is through the city’s grand library, which is connected to a community center. It’s a straight shot to the Hub, but I can’t offer any assistance once you are inside. The roof of both buildings are completely intact. And the last way is through the main road. It is wide open, most likely debris and chariot-filled, so probably not easy to traverse.”

“Thanks. We’ll go from there and be in touch.” Storm then hung up the call before turning to the others. “Those alleys are our best options. Lots of cover and secondary escape routes if things get hairy.”

“That’ll take forever.” Hunter spat. “She said it’s like a maze down there and I’m not great with puzzles or mazes or whatever.”

“Imagine that.” Rainbow muttered from the side, causing Hunter to spin around. He was about to say something to the spunky-witted pegasus before an even larger pegasus made a motion, clearly stating anything further would not end well.

Hunter bit his tongue for the moment before responding, shaking his growing annoying off. “We’re taking the library. It’s a clean, straight shot and isn’t a confusing waste of time for the possibility of safety.”

“We need to stay outdoors. Planning can’t see what is coming after this storm passes if we don’t.” Storm replied.

“I’ve been doing this for eight years, man. And I don’t need no mare behind a computer screen to survive.” Hunter retorted. “We’re taking the library and that’s final.”

That’s it...

“You want a lesson in leadership?” Storm asked, his tone showing his visible breaking point with this arrogant stallion. “You don’t risk the lives of three others just to get home in time to sit around with your dick in one hoof and bottle in the other. If you want to get this over with faster, then there’s the ramp.” He pointed to the docked airship behind the group.

The other mare - a crew cut pony named Snare Trap - snickered at her would-be superior getting it straight up the metaphorical ass. The sound would have been easier to hide if it wasn’t electronically filtered and enhanced through her helmet, so Hunter clearly heard it. “I already like the new guy, Hunt. Maybe you should take a few lessons from him.”

Trail snorted. “I don’t need a survival guide from any old man.” Then he began walking.

“Dude, where are you going?!” Rainbow Dash called out to the slowly retreating stallion.

“The library. To get this bullshit over with. If you want to waste time with ‘Mr. Right’ over there, then feel free, but I’ll have you charged with desertion and fired!” Hunter replied over his shoulder.

Snare laughed before roughly smacking a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “He’s not serious. We don’t even have a desertion penalty system. Besides, this whole thing is recorded on our suits. Just show Princess Twilight what happened and the captain will have her way with him.”

Storm sighed. “No, we have to go with him.”

“What?” Both Rainbow and Snare asked in unison.

“He won’t make it on his own. He may be an asshole, but it's my job to keep everyone alive - asshole or not.”

Snare let go of Rainbow and sauntered over to Storm, who hadn’t noticed her while looking at the rooftops for any sign of well, anything.

“You don’t give up on others do you, stud?” She asked, causing him to look down in her direction. The mare was dangerously close, but Storm’s mind was on more important things. “How about you show me some of that relentless ‘stamina’ when this is all over?” She purred, tracing a ring on his helmet’s chinplate.

Storm could sense the eye roll from the other mare watching this whole thing unfold. He gently grabbed the hoof touching him and set it down on the ground. “How about we focus on keeping our heads attached to our necks.”

She giggled. “Alright. I’ll check back later.” Then she trotted to catch up with Hunter - the only sign of said stallion ahead being the glowing ring on his back and flashlight beam of his rifle.

Rainbow and Storm shared a brief wordless-look from behind their helmets, ending with the stallion making a trigger pull motion towards his head with one of his wings. Rainbow snickered, then the duo joined up with the rest of the group.

The brief moment of lightheartedness was short-lived as the returning dread of where exactly he was set upon Storm. He was back out here. Back into the place where decisions had to be lightning quick and death was even quicker. He knew that against all odds, he had to be faster than the very thing that lurked around every corner.

And he would be.

As they walked, Storm kept glancing from window to window, roof to roof, and alley to alley, where he swore a set of bright blue orbs were right before they were swiftly yanked out of sight.

The stallion’s muscles tensed.

His teeth strained as they grinded against one another.

His gaze sharpened.

His Sweeper was telekinetically gripped tighter in anticipation. The weapon’s flashlight beam danced off of raindrop-soaked structures and pierced the darker spots in the foggy city.

A couple of debris shards fell from the roof directly to his right, prompting the grey pegasus to aim directly up only to find…

Nothing.

As if the fog obscuring his vision wasn’t enough, the stallion also had to squint to see through the slits of his visor. Even with the limited visibility, he wouldn’t dare lower the helmet out here.

“Ughh!” Rainbow groaned to his left, sounding mildly like a frustrated robot with the helmet filter. “This is impossible! I can’t see my own hooves in front of me!”

“Shh!” Storm hissed. He hadn’t meant for it to come out as harsh, but his verbal and mental filter were off now that ‘survival mode’ had taken over his mind. “Something has our trail.”

The armored mare didn’t argue or even retort. “Know what it is?” She whispered back, shining her weapon’s beam in addition.

“No… But it’s more than one. That’s all I know.”

“Great…”

Suddenly, a strained gurgling sound came from behind, prompting both pegasi to swing around with weapons raised high. Storm could feel his eyes straining with how quick and hard he analyzed the immediate area, but these features were both drowned out by his heart ravaging against his chest. To their left, a chipped flowerpot was flung off of a window, indicating that something had just escaped the duo’s line of sight.

A couple scratchy ‘chirps’ and cackles resounded from all around now. They almost sounded like a demonic version of laughter - if these things were even capable of humor. Rainbow swung her light around frantically while Storm remained calm. He continued to whip his head in the general direction of the cackling, but more scuffling of clawed hooves and knocked over items told him that these things were on the move again.

Clever bastards... He thought upon realizing what they were dealing with.

“Hunters.” The grey pegasus whispered to his companion. “At least five. Maybe more.”

“Big deal,” Rainbow replied, still scanning the opposite side. “We dealt with like twenty back in Ponyville! This is n-”

“On our terms.” Storm corrected. “They have the advantage. The rain muffles their quieter sounds and the fog hides them. In case you were wondering, these fuckers have near perfect vision.”

“Of course they do…” Rainbow groaned. The mare was starting to miss when a villain could be defeated with something as simple as a buck to the face or her friend’s rainbow power.

Storm and Rainbow had regrouped with Hunter and Snare a few seconds later by the entrance to the city library. They found that the other half of their rag-tag squad was also doing the same thing now by sweeping the rooftops and windows.

“Hear that?” Hunter asked, sounding serious for the first time. “That’s them. Sounds like just one though.”

“It’s multiple. Count the paces in between each set of scraping.” Storm corrected. “It’s five or so. They aren’t going to attack until they have a clean shot and full advanta-”

“Which is why the library is an awesome choice.” Hunter interrupted, patting himself on the back.

“Sure, if you prefer getting torn to shreds by something you can’t even see in tight spaces where you can’t fight.”

“Put away the ruler you two!” Rainbow demanded, swiftly ending the debate.

Storm placed himself on one side of the grand double doors while Rainbow positioned herself on the opposite door. He locked eyes with the mare through the visor’s slits and nodded. Then in almost perfect unison, the duo flung open the doors and swept each corner of the entrance before leading the rest inside.

The library was pitch black. The electricity had burnt out years ago and the candles had long since been taken by any survivors passing through, leaving only the helmet glow and weapon flashlights of the group to light the way. An endless sea of perfectly aligned bookshelves - or at least the ones which were still standing - surrounded a half-circle of a desk where a librarian would have sat.

“Anyone want to tell ghost stories?” Snare asked cheerfully.

“Yeah, I’ll go first,” Hunter replied, clearly agitated. “Once upon a time, there was this butch bitch who shut the fuck up. The end.”

“Oh, flattery! I like i-”

By this point, Storm had drowned out the conversation between his other two ‘companions’ in favor of retreating into his own thoughts. This is who I might die beside? He found himself thinking bitterly.

His thoughts were short-lived as checking behind each bookshelf row was now on the top of the priority chart. He took the right side while Hunter - who was still in a half-assed argument with Snare - checked the left. Rainbow took up the rear.

A couple seconds that felt like years passed, and the exit, or rather entrance to the linked community center was now in sight. Only a couple more steps and-

CRASH!

A shower of splinters and support beams fell alongside a few shelves, which landed directly in the exit. Storm swung his flashlight upwards just in time to catch the spiked tail of the guessed variant escaping through a shattered window on the second story.

“Shit…” He muttered, before switching into an authoritative demand. “Form a circle!”

The two mares did just that, but the other stallion remained unphased, albeit pissed off.

“When did you start giving me orders?” He asked, almost oblivious to the choir of demonic sounds around them.

“Since you don’t have a fucking plan!”

“Oh, yeah, and standing around like live bait is so mu-” Hunter never finished his sentence before something unseen knocked him clear across the room and into a pile of bookshelves.

“Fuck!” Storm swore before unloading into the direction in which his would-be rival was assaulted from. His Sweeper’s rivets connected as a pained yelp overpowered the other noises and the outline of a bony body started to ‘flash’ in front of the stallion.

The Hunter’s form seemed to phase in and out, like a glitching television screen before the camouflage fully gave out and the reason why was revealed. One rivet had pierced the creature’s horn, disabling it’s magical abilities. But the lucky shot was not what had Storm’s attention.

It was the creature itself. It was… different.

Normally, only the extended jaws, sharpened fetlocks, and tails of a Hunter were made of that strange bone-like biomatter, but this was not the case. The creature’s entire face seemed to have a cluster of sharpened bone matter, resembling a spider’s web on cocaine. Most of the pointed ends were facing straight ahead, while a few of the ‘bone nest’ faced the sides. A couple were long enough to impale a small foal or petite mare, but now these spikes were coated in suit fabric and a bit of blood.

Trail’s blood.

Speaking of which, a series of groans and curses from a fallen bookshelf, let the group know their headstrong companion was still in the land of the living. Snare had run over to help him, while Storm and Rainbow unloaded on the now approaching monster.

His rivets and her bullets only served to bounce off the bone matter all the while deafening everything in the room. It was then that he saw it...

Storm noticed one major problem with this ‘new’ Hunter…

It had no blue spots!

No Plexers meant no way to kill it!

But all Damned had those little blue fuckers, so where were these ones? The eyes of the creature’s host were covered in that bony mess of spiked webbing so, those couldn’t be it...

Shit, shit, shit! He mentally swore as the creature charged the duo. Thinking fast, Storm moved his weapon down to the creature’s unarmored forehooves, where he fired rivets into the joints of the hooves, sending the creature tumbling to the floor.

But he knew it wasn’t finished.

“Down!” He ordered, prompting both himself and Rainbow to duck just before the Hunter’s tail swung upward like a lightning bolt and fired not one - but three bone projectiles over their heads. The projectiles rocked a bookshelf nearby when they connected, showing a clear increase in their velocity.

Storm made quick work of the downed beast’s tail by severing it with his hoof-blade, causing a spurt of blood and blue liquids. The creature thrashed, but the stallion wasn’t done yet.

He stamped a hoof down on its hindleg. The snapping of the bone would have made anypony cringe if they could hear it over the sound of gunfire coming from Rainbow - who was attacking two newcomers from the windows above. Then Storm moved to the other leg, disabling the creature finally.

Regardless of its physical disability, the Hunter still attempted to swipe at the stallion pinning it with it’s bony face and severed tail. It wailed, causing the other two in front of Rainbow to change gears and quickly knocked the mare out of the way with one tail swipe before they too charged Storm.

Both creatures had the same biological ‘upgrades’ as their would-be doomed brother, which Storm could see clearly now that he was next on their hit list. Out of the corner of his eye, the grey pegasus surveyed the dire situation at sound-barrier-breaking-speed. Snare was attempting to pry a bookshelf off of the bruised Hunter, Rainbow was barely to her hooves after a blow to the head, and he now had two, no wait - three! No four, no fi- They just kept coming!

Nearly a dozen were in the windows above, barging through the front doors, or coming out of the shadows deeper within the shelved deathtrap. The situation was looking hopeless, but Storm knew only one thing about it.

It was the same thing that kept him alive to this point and would keep him so until his last blood-choked breath.

It was all he knew.

It was all he would ever know.

He knew he had to fight…

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes:

I'm back!

This story isn't going away anytime soon, so no worries! Just like my last note said, life, school, and searching for college and a job are getting in the way of writing. In all fairness, they should because those are real priorities and this is more of a passion project. With that being said, I still plan to try and add a new chapter every month and now that we are getting into the juicy bits of the plot (with more answers to come, I promise) things are rolling smoothly. Just be patient with the plot and enjoy the ride!

I don't usually like to do this because it annoys the Hell out of me, but now that I'm on the other side of things, here we go: I'd like to ask that any of you still invested in this fic if you could share it with your friends. The views on it are kind of plateauing at the moment and I'd like to share this with as many people as possible to get feedback so I can improve myself as a writer and improve the story for all of you. I understand if there is nobody to ask or if you hate bothering people about this kind of stuff, but if you still want a way to help me out tremendously, then these always help for feedback:

Telling me what your favorite chapter is and why. Telling me who your favorite character is and why. Telling me one thing you really like and one thing you really dislike about the fic as a whole. Or even telling me your predictions for future events.

And one more thing. (Yes, I know this is long winded.) Chapter 18 is going to be very different, but also very similar for those who have been here since the beginning in that the dreadful and suspenseful tone of the first three chapters will be back and (hopefully) be better than ever. Until next time, and I can't thank each and everyone of you enough for giving me the opportunity to create something like this!