“What are you smiling about?” Tungsten prodded me roughly. “You look like you’re high on morphine.”

“Oh, leave her alone. She can be happy if she wants,” Seafire said with a yawn.

“And where’s Helix?” Tungsten grumbled. “She should be down by now. We need to be leaving soon.”

“Tungsten, leave her be.”

I was only half paying attention. The plate of radroach kebabs in front of me was going cold, but I was too happy to care. Despite the chairs stiffness, my mind was resting in a bed of fluffy clouds, doing backstroke and looking up at the sun.

And that’s where my imagination failed me… “What does the sun look like?”

“It’s a giant lightbulb, Fran.” I ignored Tungstens sarcasm. “Surely you can imagine that.”

“It’s a big burning ball of gas, so it’ll be like a huge explosion, radiating heat and light and radiation and… stuff.” I smiled.

“Is she still not thinking straight?” My love’s beautiful voice brought me back to reality. Helix descended the wooden stairs carrying both our saddlebags over her back. She came over to me and gave me a gentle nuzzle. “I packed your bag for you. How are you feeling?”

I replied with a long kiss on her cheek and returned her affection with a nose rub.

“Hehe, that tickles.” I just smiled as she scratched her muzzle.

“What took you so long?” Tungsten asked accusingly. “The rest of us have been up for ages.”

“I was just tidying the room. It was lovely and clean when we found it, and that’s how we should leave it. Poor Tabitha’ll be clearing it up otherwise.”

Tungsten rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh of exasperation. “How much mess did you two make in eight hours?”

Helix glanced at me knowingly. “Enough.”

With an exasperated look at the pair of us, Tungsten went back to his food.

Helix sat down beside me. “Where are Mantis and Smoking?”

“They’ve already gone off to pick our final few supplies,” Seafire said through a mouthful of kebab. “Mainly food and medical stuff.”

“Fran,” Helix rested a hoof on my leg, “Do you need to get anything in particular?”

“I want to get some more energy cells. If we have time, I also want to make some modifications to my suit. Swarf should be able to help me easily enough.”

“So, a trip to Arcano is on the list.” Helix looked around. “Where’s Foxglove?”

“She went back to our room to pack up her things a while ago,” Seafire replied. “She should be back by now. I’ll go see what’s keeping her. The rest of you can head off to Arcano. I’ll catch Smoking and Mantis, and we can all meet up there.”

“Sure.” Helix prodded me. “Come on, up you get. We need to move.”

As we approached Arcano, I was surprised to see Fletch and Buckshot already waiting out front. It wasn’t even dawn yet: why were they up?

“Oh, it’s you lot again,” Buckshot grumbled. “Store isn’t open yet.”

“It’s alright, I just want to see Swarf.” I smiled, passing my bags to Tungsten and unclipping Jury. “How long til you open? I know its early but…”

“Just wait,” Buckshot cut in. He didn’t sound pleased.

I shrugged, confused. “Ok then.”

So we waited. And waited. Seafire showed up with the others and we were still waiting. Foxglove leaned against Seafire the entire time, the young mare seemed very content for some reason. Perhaps it was just a good nights sleep, or that Seafire was looking after her.

“What’s the hold up?” Smoking asked as they approached.

“It’s not open,” Tungsten muttered.

“How long til we can go in?”

“You can go in now,” Fletch called, taking his hoof away from his earpiece.

An eerily familiar wine caught my ears. I knew that sound, nearly identical to Stable Seventeen's giant turbines; though quite a bit higher pitched, it was muffled by the sloshing of water.

Peering curiously around the building’s side I barely caught sight of a twin hulled boat accelerating off into the minimal dawn light.

I prodded Tungsten. “Hey look.”

Tungsten did a double take. “A boat? Why would these guys have a boat?”

“No idea. Maybe it’s not theirs.”

“Then whose is it?” That was exactly what I was thinking.

With growing trepidation I watched the boat disappear, the whine it made swallowed up by the heavy mist resting on the lake. Something wasn’t right here, that was much was obvious. That I had no idea what it was scared me.

I hooved over Jury and my spare Blackhawk to the ever sullen mare behind the polycarbonate. It’d never occurred to me that ponies could have been using the lake to move around. That ability made the rapid attack on our stable far more plausible. It also might explain how Aramid had ended up in the lake. He thought they were flying, but I doubted it took much magic to give a boat a smooth ride if it had two hulls.

“That boat,” Tungsten whispered to me, “who do you think it belongs to?”

“Not sure,” I replied, closing my saddle bags and placing my sole remaining spark cell on the counter, “but I think I know how the raiders managed such a quick attack.” Tungsten clearly caught my drift, his eyes widening.

“I think you’re right.”

None of the workers were around as we all entered the building, still far to early, but there were raised voices coming from the office upstairs. They were muffled, but I could just make out the words, and they made me stop dead.

“We shouldn’t have agreed. I knew no good would come of it. And how are we supposed to come up with all of this. We haven’t got half the materials, let alone the marepower.” Cheque almost seemed to be talking to himself.

“Forget the list dad, aren't you fed up with living like this! Lying to every pony! Just to keep yourself safe?”

“If it keeps me and my family safe then that is a price I am willing to pay.”

“For Celestia’s sake Dad, look at what we did! We got them all killed!” Wait? What!

“Would you rather I stood back and watched all of Viewpoint burn to the ground?”

“But our decision killed what was left of their stable. Their family and friends!” I could feel my heartbeat beginning to accelerate. No, this couldn’t be.

“Don’t you think I realise that. Death would happen either way. And once they’d finished here they would’ve turned round and murdered them all anyway.”

“But it’s wrong! I know that you see it and yet we continue. They had no way of stopping them!” I could feel myself biting down tightly and knew I wasn’t the only one. Everypony was now looking up at the office with varying expressions of shock and disbelief.

“And we have no way of stopping them! What alternative do we have? With that… that thing they could level the whole town just to prove their point and there would be nothing we could do about it.”

“I… I don’t know.” I could just see Swarf turning away in sadness.

“If you can come up with a better solution I will be happy to listen. As far as I am concerned we chose the lesser of two evils. I never want to be confronted with this kind of choice again but if I am I will be saving my family, my friends, my town.”

With a roar of anger Swarf stormed out of the upstairs offices, slamming the door behind him. He stopped dead when he spotted us all looking up at him in shock.

“It was you?” Tungsten started slowly.

“Me?” Swarf gulped.

“You got our stable killed?” Tungsten advanced.

“Tungsten stop.” Smoking shouted but Tungsten ignored him.

“Wait no! I didn’t say that!”

“I haven’t heard of any other mass killings recently.” Tungsten continued up the stairs, the metal ringing with each stomp. “So you sold us out? You lead them to us?”

“No... you’ve, you’ve... got it all wrong.” He stammered helplessly.

“Tungsten!’ Smoking yelled again.

“Have I now?” Tungsten slowly pulled out his Blackhawk. “How can I get that…”

“Tungsten stop!” We all jumped. Helix had been standing right next to me when she screamed. Tungsten froze, mere feet from the terrified machinist, his pistol pointing right at his chest. “Stop and listen.”

“To what?” Her brother snapped back, still pointing the pistol at Swarf.

“To what he has to say. Don’t make another decision you will regret.” Tungstens glare vanished in an instant, his eye wide with, well somewhere between shock, fear and sadness. Slowly the grey buck slowly holstered his weapon and took a step back from the terrified, and now bemused, Swarf.

“It’s… it’s complicated.” He spluttered still eyeing the pistol with fear. “But I can assure you that we were not responsible for the death of your stable.”

“I really hope you are telling the truth…” Foxglove was glaring at Swarf like she wanted to kill him, but her words sounded like she was begging. What was going through that young mare’s head. “I really, really do.” She whispered fearfully.

Swarf just stood there looking from one to the next. With a final fearful glance at me he lowered his head.

“We supply the Pinkstormers with weapons and in return they don’t kill every single pony in Viewpoint.”

I swallowed hard. Foxglove seemed to bite back a scream. Helix just looked dumbfounded.

“But that’s not all. The Pinkstormers get to pick from all the guns we make; the best, the most powerful, experimental designs. The same day you came in and bought all those weapons, they dropped by later to pick up some new weapons and were very… put-out that the pile was smaller than usual.

Seafire looked over at Foxglove who now looked torn, her eyes once again shining with tears. My own mind was just at a stand still. Part of me was still going ‘He betrayed us? He betrayed us? He betrayed us?’ but the rest seemed broken.

“Eventually we told them about you. We desperately needed the money. Even with the discount you haggled it was still huge. The Pinkstormers didn’t see it our way.”

“You didn’t say who we were did you?” Helix whispered in shock. The stallion shook his head. “Then how did they find us.”

“More than enough ponies in Viewpoint knew that a new stable had emerged. I am certain that they have some informants in the town. Willing or otherwise.”

“You mean the rest of the town have no idea?” my voice was dry and raspy. Swarf shook his head sadly.

“So you’re saying that by selling us the weapons you made us a target?” Smoking seemed incredulous. “Why would anypony go after a whole stable that had just got its hooves on brand new weapons?” That was a good point.

“You don’t know what they’re like. Any organised group is a threat to them. They have so many followers, both willing and unwilling that they would have no problem mustering a force to take down a stable double your size.”

“But we could have offered so much. Knowledge, skills, medicine, technology.” Helix was gesticulating wildly. “And they destroyed it all.”

“Your knowledge, skills, medicine and technology are the exact reason you were attacked.” My inner pony did a ‘Wha?!’ “Its taken me a long time to spot this but somehow the whole region is balanced. No one group, town or clan has much more power than another. The Pinkstormers don't turn our weapons on us because of their fight with the Quarrymen and the Stonethrowers. They are more trouble than we are.

“But when you lot popped up it was only a matter of time before you became a problem, a threat. You are a perfect example Fran. Your skills and knowledge alone could tip the balance of power on its head. Smoking, your tactical knowledge and weapons training would let you take out a whole squad of their men without breaking a sweat. Helix, your medical skills would let ponies return to the fight faster than they could ever hope to match.”

“So… they killed us because we are smarter than they are.” Foxglove muttered slowly.

Swarf gave a ‘sort of’ shrug.

“I still want to know why you told them who you had sold the weapons to.” Tungsten added cooly, still standing feet from Swarf on the stairs. “Surely you could have made up something about a few different ponies coming in. Calling it a busy day?”

“We did that once before when a group from Tenpony Tower came by. They were buying for their internal security or something. We sold them around twenty pistols. Two weeks later Knick Knack, the delivery pony round here, turned up with a box for us. When we opened it we found all the pistols we sold them and four eye balls.”

All seven of us gulped.

“That is nothing. They have done far worse to those who cross them.”

“Then why did they give you a warning?” Smoking noted.

“Because, like it or not, they need our co-operation.”

“But doesn’t that mean you have the advantage?” Seafire asked. “If they rely on you?”

“Thats all good until you have a knife to your throat or a live grenade in your mouth.” Swarf gave an involuntary shudder. “Its easier to give them what they want.”

Something was still getting at me. “Swarf. You said that they could level the whole of Viewpoint… dare I ask how?”

“Have you ever heard of a Vertibuck?” I shook my head but Smoking, Seafire and Tungsten looked like they had all just been slapped.

“They have a Vertibuck?” Seafire muttered, colour somehow managing to drain from her beautiful white muzzle and cheeks.

“They have two, going by the paint schemes. One is a light grey and the other seems to be a deep green.”

Seafire turned to Smoking. “This is a problem. We can’t take on that kind of firepower.”

“Depends on the type of Vertibuck. But we are still not finished here.” Smoking beckoned to Swarf who, with a raised eyebrow from Tungsten, slowly walked to the bottom of the stairs. “I just want to ask one thing. Did you know that the Pinkstormers would attack the stable if the found out about it?”

“I… I don’t know. They would have found out about your stable eventually. But if there is a reason they attacked it this time rather than trying to take it as their own or another reason, I don’t know.”

Smoking looked at the very apprehensive Swarf for a long while.

“Sir?” Seafire whispered cautiously.

“Tell Seafire and Tungsten here everything you know about the Vertibucks. Fran needs some time in the workshop and some more energy cells.” Swarf just nodded.

“What about Cheque?” Helix asked.

“I will go and talk to him.” Smoking began to make his way up the stairs when Swarf called out.

“This isn’t our fault. We didn’t have a choice.”

“You had a choice.”

“You mean the lives of over four hundred friends, our family and our homes against the lives of one hundred strangers.”

“Yes.” Smoking snapped.

Swarf bawlked. “That's not a choice. It would have been murder either way”

Smoking glanced back. “There was a choice there, but if I were in your position, I can’t say I would have done differently.”

With access to the right tools it wasn’t long before I was able to replace the prototype micro-cell holder with a much more secure and universal power source socket. Swarf picked me out a nice lump of engineering nylon used in pistol mouth grips. By the time I was done the unit interfaced perfectly with the old deconstruction talisman slot but now allowed me to use anything from three microcells right up to a full magic fusion cell. I had no idea what it was, but since the schematic was logged in Arcanos database it was safe to bet that I would find one eventually.

They also had a whole set of capacitors for testing new magical weapons. Despite all of their equipment, Arcano had been forced to stop production of magical weapons as some parts they simply couldn’t make so Swarf let me take what I needed to augment my EVA suit’s capacitors.

With the capacitors stacked along the spine of my EVA suit , I was able to triple the standing capacity and double the maximum current draw without any major modifications. After a tense five minutes where Seafire shot at me with a live 10mm pistol and then a Blackhawk I was confident that the suit could take at least one shot from everything short of an anti-machine rifle; the schematics for those looked terrifying.

But I had one other trick up my sleeve.

“What is this other socket down here Fran?” Swarf asked as he inserted the third microcell. “It looks like an pre-war mains socket.”

“Thats because it is,” I replied with a grin.

Swarf did a double take. “Wait? You want to link this thing up to the mains? The voltage is totally off. It would cook all the spell emitters in seconds.”

“That’s what I thought, so I fitted an old transformer between it and the suit. I think it was intended for a small computer of some kind, but it brings the voltage down to something sensible. That said it is still outside its recommended operating limit.”

“But if it works does that mean…”

“Provided I have power, I can’t see anything being able to get through the repulsion field. If my calculations are right not even an anti-machine rifle could do it. There is, of course, a limit to the capacitors, but unless I got hit by like two grenades just fractions of a second before a 50-cal it won’t budge.”

“Where are you ever going to be in a situation where you will have access to mains power?”

“No idea, but it only took me twenty minutes to add it to the adaptor. It can also allow me to prime the capacitors without the need for an energy cell. So, I could take a few shots even if I didn’t have a cell in at the time.”

“How did you do the calculations?”

“Maximum acceleration of the bullet, weight of the round, material density, and duration of energy dissipation. With all that I can work out how much force is placed on the suit and over what time period. That translates into a nice calculation of the energy required for the field to stop that force.”

Swarf looked at me like I had just kissed him. “You’re mad, you know that right. Totally mad.”

“That’s our Fran. One Mad mad mare.” Tungsten wandered in his saddle bags now bulging slightly. “Fran, the rest of us are ready to go, so we are waiting on you.”

“I’m basically done. All the continuity tests check out, so I am done fine wiring wise. I just need to adjust the suits onboard systems to take into account the increase in power and capacity.”

“Well you can do that on the move. We need to get going. The sun is up now, even though we can’t see that damn thing. But there is a storm coming, and it doesn’t look good.”

“Does it ever?” Tungsten just nodded, looked coolly at Swarf for an instant and left.

“Thank you for your help, Swarf.” I gave him a quick hug.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t worry. We will solve this. All of it. With any luck when we get back our stable we will send Pinkstormers galloping and you wont have to worry about Viewpoint anymore.”

“Let’s hope you are lucky enough.”

I turned to go but stopped at a hoof on my shoulder.

“Francium. I am so sorry. I couldn’t see another way out of it. Me and my father, we almost singlehoofedly killed everyone left of your stable. I’m not foolish enough to ask for your forgiveness cos I know I wont get it, let alone deserve it. I just want to you to know, if I can do anything to help just ask me.”

I turned to face him. “Swarf, as far as I’m concerned, I’m the reason we’re out here in the first place. This whole thing has just been one horrible incident after another. Now we know what we’re doing and where we’re going… I’m not going to look back. And neither should you.”

“What about the others,” Swarf asked sadly. “I was certain Tungsten was going pull the trigger just because he would rather have to deal with that than hearing why I did it. And Foxglove, at moments that young mare looked like she could have snapped my neck, and at others she just wanted to kill herself to escape her torn feelings.”

I found myself smiling. “That sounds like Tungsten. As for Foxglove, she’s seen her mother murdered and knows her brothers and sisters have been taken by slavers. I will be honest, I have no idea how she is coping.”

“Just get them back. Then I wont feel quite so horrible.” Swarf grimaced.

“Don’t worry we will.”

I really was wondering if I had inadvertently upset every Pegasi in the Enclave. It was the only logical reason for the torrential downpour that we’d trudged though since leaving Viewpoint. Putting up the tents had been a horrible experience, and I hadn’t been doing anything. The instructions were easy enough to follow, but the wind was so strong that even the combined magic of Seafire Helix and Francium struggled to keep the rouge fabric in check. I had just cowered in my raincoat inside a thin crack in the overhanging rock face under which we were making camp.

An hour after we’d arrived at our campsite for the first evening, I followed Seafire, Francium, and Helix into our four mare tent and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh Celestia,” Seafire moaned. “We should’ve wiped of our hooves before we came in. Now our sleeping bags are going to be filthy.”

“I got it.” Helix gave a sudden flash of magic that made my hooves tingle.

I looked down and all the dirt was gone. In fact all the dirt on my coat, mane and hooves had vanished, even my tail was clean. Though there was still some twigs and other things sticking out of it.

“Wow where did you learn…” Francium began but Helix was panting heavily. “Helix?”

“I’m fine, it’s just a hard spell for me to perform at the best of times. And that’s usually just on me, not four ponies. I just need to lie down.”

“Why do you know a cleaning spell?”

“For scrubbing down. I got fed up of doing it the earth pony way so Cosmos offered to teach me. Its not a type of magic I have a natural affinity for but I can do it.

“Good to know.” Fran gave Helix a quick peck on the cheek before opening up their sleeping bags.

“Fran are you really going to sleep in your suit?” Helix lifted a disapproving eye brow.

“Why not?” Fran checked herself. “Its clean.”

“But I bet you aren't inside. Get it off and i will give it and you another pass with my magic. I am not going to bed with a mare that smells of plastic and sweat and I don’t think Foxglove and Seafire do either.”

Fran sighed. “Suppose your right.”

“She is.” Seafire and I said in unison making us all giggle.

“Hey!” Seafire jumped up with a look of glee on her face. “Since its just us girls, do you want to turn this into a kind of sleep-over? We can play games, tell stories… truth or dare.” Well, I was fine with the first two.

“I think we can have some fun for a hour or so.” Helix helped Fran slip her tail out of the EVA suit as she mused. “Can’t stay up too long but yeah, I’m up for that. I have always liked truth or dare.”

“Me too.” With a pop Francium pulled the suit from her hooved and passed it to Helix. A quick flash of magic and the smells of mare, sweat and plastic vanished.

“Can we do everything but truth or dare?” I looked hopefully at Seafire.

Seafire stroked my mane gently and I leant into her touch. “You don’t have to join in with that bit. We ought to have a moderator anyway. Keep us three in check.”

“Well where do you want to start?” I replied happily.

“Well I have a pack of cards somewhere in here.” Fran rolled over and searched through her saddle bags. “And I did grab a few bottles of cider before we left too so if anypony fancies a drink just say.”

Helix folded her hooves dramatically “Do you really think that drinking is such a good idea love?”

“Got to keep the spirits up.” Fran replied. “Got them.” She tossed two packs of playing cards over her shoulder. “And here is the cider.” She procured four bottles and set them aside. “For later.”

“Where should we start?” Seafire used her magic to shuffle one of the decks. “Go fish?’

“Yep, something nice and easy.” Fran curled up next to Helix. “Hey, fancy playing as pairs? You and Foxglove vs me and Helix?”

I glanced at Seafire with a smile. “Sure.”

After nine games of Go Fish, which Helix insisted used to be called Go Graze, Fran decided to open up the cider. I turned down the offer given my past experience with the strange drink, as nice as it tasted, and then had the amusing task of keeping play going as Francium, Helix and Seafire sucumbed to the rather high alcohol content.

“What game are we on now?” Fran asked slowly. “I thought we were doing best of nineteen?”

“I think we were, but I can’t remember either so it doesn’t matter anymore.” Seafire carefully shifted some cards round with her magic. “Francium, do you have any four’s?”

“Go Fish.”

Helix shifted to lay her head on Francium’s chest. “My turn. Seafire do you have any Princesses?”

“Oh you…” Seafire tossed her three Princesses at Helix with a grin. “I should have known it was you.”

I carefully switched my cards around in my hooves. Somepony had been particularly thoughtful to earth ponies and enchanted the cards so that they would gently adhere to a ponies hooves and other cards allowing earth ponies to hold their cards up so dramatically like Unicorns did and move them around with ease. I could only imagine that Pegasi used their wings with great dexterity to achieve the same result.

“Francium, do you have any nine’s.” I asked slowly so her brain could keep up.

“I got one for you. And another it seems.” She passed them to me with her magic.

“Thank you.” I slotted them in. “And that a set!” I snapped it down beside my others. “That’s now six to one in this set.”

“This isn’t fair. One of your players is lucid.” Fran moaned.

“Hey, it was your choice to start drinking.” I giggled. “Ok, we can switch to stories if you like.”

“I agree.” Seafire lazily dropped her cards. “I cant see you two winning anyway. you would have to win all the remaining games after this and we know thats not possible.”

“I want to skip stories and move straight to truth or dare.” Helix was eyeing up Seafire with a slight grin.

Why did that unnerve me slightly. Helix seemed to have gotten carried away with her bottle; well she had finished it, and was was now helping Fran with hers. She wasn’t herself anymore, it was almost scary the way she was looking at Seafire.

“Thats fine with me.” Seafire smiled. “But we all get to ask you first since you seem so keen.”

“Ask away.” Helix nuzzled into Fran wrapping her hooves around her, almost protectively.

“Youngest first.” Seafire smiled, turning to me.

“Ummmm… well, truth or dare Helix?” I said nervously.

“Truth.”

I pondered for a moment. Something easy and nice…. then again. “Have you had a relationship with anyone besides Fran?”

“Nope I haven’t.” Helix smiled proudly. “She is the only one for me.” A quick peck on the cheek from Fran had her blushing.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “Thats cute.” I smiled at the pair of them curled up together like a pair of caterpillars.

“I will go next.” Fran proclaimed dramatically. “Truth or dare.”

Helix thought for a moment. “I will accept a dare from you my love.”

“I dare you to go and bow before me and declare that you agree with Foxglove that you only loving me is the cutest thing in Equestria.”

“But I already agree.” Helix replied looking slightly confused.

“Then this will be easy.”

Helix squiggled forwards before Fran then bowed her head, not that it made much difference since they were both lying down anyway. “I declare,” Helix began. “That I agree with Foxglove that the fact that I love you and only you is the cutest thing in Equestria.” She squealed when Fran gave her a kiss on her horn that made her flop to the ground. “Awww that was evil.”

“But cute.”

Seafire giggled too. “Alright, my turn. Truth or dare Helix?”

“Truth.”

“Which would you rather have if you were pregnant, a filly or a colt?”

Helix’s eyes widened for a mere moment. It was so quick I wasn’t sure I had seen it at all but after I blinked she was pondering once more.

“It has to be a filly. After spending years with Tungsten I would rather know what they are going through than have to deal with all that colt stuff. They are noisy, messy, loud and silly.”

“Seems like things haven’t changed much.” Fran laughed.

“Too true.” Helix rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Ok my turn. Foxglove,” I took a deep breath. “Truth or dare?”

“Ummm… Truth.”

“I will be kind. What is the funniest moment you have ever had in your life?” Helix smiled at me expectantly.

Oh I knew this one, I found myself giggling already. “Alright, but its a little rude. Well it was a day that my brothers were feeling, well naughty. Some of the teenage mares were sunbathing in the summer section of the orchard so Thistle and Nettle decided they were going to peek on them.”

“Ah I think I remember this one.” Seafire snickered.

“They both climbed into one of the trees where they could get a good view of the mare’s sunning themselves. They were struggling to stay on the branches so they tied themselves to the branch. I spotted them, and asked what they were doing, but it was easy to figure out. So I decided to give the rope a little tug. The both fell out of the tree, still tied together. they both ended up hanging upside down from the branch, tangled in the rope with their… their… fully… umm.”

“Their grown stallionhoods on display?” Seafire prompted knowingly.

I just nodded as I doubled over laughing, “The looks of shock on their faces as every pony looked at them, and realised what they had been doing. Mum had them spend the the next month cleaning out the algae processors as a punishment.”

“Oooo, thats a bad one.” Fran waved her hoof in front of her muzzled. “They smell really bad even on the outside.”

I nodded “Well I think its my turn now. Seafire, Truth or dare.”

“Dare.”

I wasn’t sure why but I wanted to steer things to more interesting places, as naughty as it was, but then that was the thrill of it.

“Well, if its ok with Fran and Helix. I dare you to kiss one of them on the cheek.”

Seafire’s eyes widened with surprise. “Are you sure you want to go down this road?” She replied playfully. “We three have much more experience.”

“I want to have fun.” I blushed as my mind took a detour.

“You ok with this?” Seafire asked. Fran and Helix glanced at each other and then nodded together.

“Ok…” Seafire looked at the pair of them for a moment. Then leant in and kissed Helix gently on the cheek.

The purple mare blushed furiously and Fran laughed out loud. “Looks like I have competition.” She grinned.

“Ok now its my turn to have fun.” Seafire rounded on me. “Truth or dare.”

I stared her down with a grin. “Dare.”

“I dare you to let the rest of us tickle you for 1 minute and you can’t try and stop us.”

I bit my lip and nodded, feeling nervous, excited and wild all at the same time, and I hadn’t drunk anything.

“Ready?” Seafire asked.

I nodded… and then realised I was in a tent with three unicorns.

I squealed, yelled, squirmed, tossed, turned, gasped, moaned, jumped, twitched and finally collapsed on my back gasping for my breath.

“Celestia… damn you.” I was almost crying with laughter. “Thats… not funny.” Yeah, it was.

“I think we should leave it there.” Helix smiled down at me as I got my breath back.

“I agree.” I managed to pant out as I flopped out on my back. “We need to do that again some time. That was fun.”

“Oh I am sure we will.” Seafire nuzzled me.”Just be careful what you wish for.”

I stumbled and slipped on the slick rocks for what felt like the thousandth time, just catching my footing before I went face down into the ooze. Everyone, even Mantis, was struggling as we made our way up the winding path, ascending into the clouds and even worse weather. Back in Viewpoint, when Mantis said he could feel a storm coming I didn’t think he meant quite like this. It had been going on for four days straight!

On a scale of one to ten, the amount of rain coming down was about an eight, but the gusts of wind were recalibrating their own scale with every passing minute. For me, it was even worse. I was being thrown this way and that in the violent storm. The others at least had weight on their side, but as the youngest with the lightest bags I was at the storms mercy.

It had crossed my mind how it could take five days to do just five thousand feet of ascent, but at the rate we were going it was going to take us twice that. The weather coupled with the uneven path and pathetic visibility meant we’d only made it eight hundred feet up in five hours.

The low visibility also meant that when the path split we couldn’t tell which route to take. More than once we had to backtrack due to a landslide or rockfall and take a path that dropped us down one hundred feet before climbing steeply back up to the original path.

“Hold up!” I barely caught Mantis’s voice through the howling gale.

Helix appeared at my side making me jump. “What’s going on,” she yelled, water whipping across her face and dripping down her muzzle.

“No idea,” I yelled back.

“What’s going on?” I heard Seafire call from behind.

“No idea,” we both shouted back.

“Everyone come forward, but be careful.” I heard Mantis call.

The three of us cautiously approached, keeping an eye on our footing. Francium was pinning herself up against the rock face on our left while Smoking, Tungsten, and Mantis were peering cautiously down at something.

“Stop there,” Smoking barked. “Don’t come any closer.”

“What’s up?”

“Another landslip. A huge one. There was a small stream you had to jump in about 30 metres. I think that stream has finally become a waterfall.” Mantis stepped back from the edge, flicked his saddle bags off his back and began searching.

“Where do we go from here? Backwards?” Seafire yelled over the gusting wind, pulling her bedraggled mane from her eyes.

“Not backwards. Up.” Mantis stood up with a massive reel of rope in his mouth. “We’ve got to go up that.”

I turned to look and bawlked. The cliff rose up, up and out of sight and vanished into the thick clouds. What little I could see was jagged and riddled with cracks, tufts of grass and moss sprouting out of the gaps. It also seemed to be a waterfall in itself with spray shooting off every sharp point and running down what flat faces there were.

“Listen up. We’re going to have to ascend up this face. Do any of you know how to belay?” Mantis looked at our blank and confused expressions. “None of you?”

I hesitated before raising my hoof. “I did it when we cut down parts of trees in the stable. I would belay for my Mum and my brothers.”

Mantis dug into his bag and pulled out another length of rope. “That’ll do. I’m afraid you’ll need to strip off.”

I reluctantly pulled off my coat and bags, letting the rain soak me to the skin in moments. Seafire bundled it away before helping Mantis tie a makeshift harness around my small frame.

“I need another one of you to act as an anchor,” the buck added as he checked his knots. “She’s too light to belay me on her own.”

Tungsten pulled off his saddle bags and coat. “I’ll do it.” Helix gathered up his things for him and slung them over her back.

“I’ll climb first, putting in protection as I go up. When I get to the top I’ll lower a rope down and you’ll all climb up. The last one up takes the protection out as they go. Foxglove, do you know how to tie a chest harness?”

“Yeah. I remember. We had proper ones in the stable but we were taught it for emergencies.”

“Good. When I drop the rope down, you’ll need to tie it onto each of them before they go up. When it’s just you and Tungsten left, separate yourselves, tie a harness on him and then I’ll belay you both from the top.”

Fran appeared at my side. “Foxglove. Did you ever use your Pipbuck’s radio?” she shouted over the howling gale.

“Occasionally.” I yelled back.

“Here.” Fran took my hoof and prodded a few keys of my Pipbuck. “Now, just raise your hoof to your mouth and speak, and you will be able to talk to us. I‘ve turned the speaker to maximum so you should be able to hear us over all,” she gestured around, “this.”

I just nodded in response. I could already feel myself shivering in the cold, and it was only going to get worse. Mantis tied a harness on himself, over the top of all his equipment. He adjusted the position of the rifle slung over his back and nodded to me.

This was going to be a long afternoon.

Three hours later we were battling our way into the wind towards an cave that Mantis assured all of us would keep us dry so we we could continue in the morning. The climb hadn’t been as difficult as I’d expected and I was glad that none of us had been hurt. That said, it had taken such a long time that night had fallen and our view of the skinny hoofpath was illuminated only by our Pipbucks. Francium was doing her best to keep us all dry, but it was slowly taking its toll on her. Occasionally, we would get a face of ice cold water as her spell faltered.

“Hold up everyone.” Smokings voice crackled from my PipBuck. “Mantis says we’re here. He and I are going to check it out.”

I moved up to huddle with the others under Francium’s repulsion spell. “Is everyone ok?”

“Cold, but I think we’re all ok.” Seafire laughed as best she could. The others just nodded.

I jumped as all our PipBucks burst into life. “All clear. Watch your heads as you enter.”

The storms violence was lost as we slowly entered the cave. A short distance in was a rough wooden door barely hanging on to the damp rock faces. The metal door was rusted to the point there were holes clean through the metal.

I ducked my head down below a small cave-in; the rocks had jammed themselves up so there was no danger of collapse. There was quite a lot of rusted tools, buckets and chains hanging from the walls and propped up against ancient box’s. I looked up to see a series of safety signs bolted to the bare rock face. Most were rusted beyond recognition but I could make out ‘Head and hoof protection beyond this point’ and ‘No Smoking or Naked flames’.

“Keep moving, we’re going to sleep in the main chamber.” Mantis beckoned me past. “Watch your step.”

I picked my way over the stones, slipped round outcrops and ducked under roots that had managed to span the gap. At least there was little chance of somepony finding us by accident.

I ducked under another beam and looked up to see the vast main chamber spreading before me. It had to be about half the size of the Orchard in Stable Seventeen, even with the lower ceiling. I recognised the limestone on the wall and awed at the massive stalactites, stalagmites, and columns that stretched the whole height of the chasm.

Towards the back were a trio of tunnels that lead deeper into the mine, each with two miniature railway tracks descending into the darkness. A few wrecked carts sat in a siding filled with rubble and debris. On the left hand side a pair of temporary offices had been erected. They were surprisingly intact, I could only assume from being protected against the elements for two hundred years, but the moisture that hung in the cave had the wooden walls sagging and the steel steps up to them reduced to a rusted skeleton.

“Every pony over here.” Smoking beckoned to the right side of the chamber between two vast columns around a metre thick. “Pick yourself a spot and settle down. Now, we can't light a fire in here for obvious reasons, so keep your barding on and add any extra layers that you can.”

“Great, I have the perfect excuse to not let go of you all night.” Fran gave Helix a tight squeeze and a kiss on the back of the neck making me squirm. I was still struggling to remove Frans moans of ecstasy from my mind. Clearly neither of them new that Seafire and I had been able to distinguish every orgasm they had both had at Tabitha’s; even through the floor and two duvets.

“Do you want to play truth or dare again?” I asked the mares. “We have more space to play with this time.”

“Another night Foxglove.” Seafire unrolled a large ground sheet for us all to lie on. “Aren't you tired?”

“I am I just wanted some more fun.”

“I would save your energy for tomorrow.” Mantis cut in, unrolling his sleeping bag with a flick of his hoof. “Its the last day and the path will be at its steepest. There is nowhere else to stay until we reach the top so we have to make it and I would prefer we made it in the light.”

I shrugged, pulling out my own bag. “Alright. We can get another good nights sleep in.”

“Mantis?” Tungsten called. “Have you ever checked out what is in these offices.”

“No I haven’t. And you shouldn’t either. I know this side of the cavern is stable so can we stick over here.”

“Oh come on, if it can take the weight of these buildings I am not going to make any difference.” With a short run up Tungsten jumped up onto the remains of the steps. They creaked but held his weight.

“Come back over here Tungsten.” Helix called sternly. She and Fran looked nervous.

“I’m just having a peek.” Tungsten slowly pushed the door to the office open. “There is a safe on the opposite wall, a desk, some chairs, a few cabinets in the far corner and for some reason a rusted lunchbox filled with caps.”

“Tungsten, don’t move a muscle!” Mantis galloped over to the office. “Can you see any kind of wires coming from it?”

“Um yeah, its is attached… to a device behind the door.” I could hear his tone drop as he realised what it was.

Mantis leapt up onto the steps and carefully entered behind Tungsten. I watched him crouch down for a moment before standing up and staring at Tungsten.

“You are ridiculously lucky. If that had gone off when you opened the door you would have been shredded.” He picked the box up in his teeth and carried it back over to the group. Tungsten followed.

“What is it?” Tungsten asked slowly as Mantis laid it on the ground before us.

“Its called a Bottlecap mine and they are basically homemade landmines.”

With a knife, mantis prised open the lunch box to reveal the fifty or so bottle caps, the rusted remains of the box’s lid, a smaller metal box and, right at the bottom, a small ball of scrunched up plastic.

“Damn, who ever made this wanted to make sure you were dead.” Mantis gently tipped out all the caps to reveal the other internal parts more clearly. “This is a very good lesson right here. This little box here is a sensor module, contains a variety of different sensors for various applications. That is, or was in this case, wired to this ball of explosives. I have seen ponies just use cherry bombs but this one has been customised with the contents of maybe three cherry bombs packed into this plastic bag.”

I couldn’t help but feel the very cold shiver running down my spine. It was making what I was looking at horribly real.

“When the sensor, in list case the electromagnetic field and accelerometer, is disturbed by the box being moved that triggers the explosives. Also, the manual switch on the sensor has been attached to the inside of the lid. If anypony tried to open it once it was armed it would go off and you would get a muzzle full of shrapnel.”

“Why didn’t it go off when Tungsten opened the door?” Seafire muttered.

“Because the box had rusted through and one of the wires to the explosives had rusted through. In fact, “Mantis carefully pulled the other wire from the explosives and set them aside.”The sensor module is still active. Listen.”

He lifted up the box then tilted it gently. Tungsten flinched hard at the minute click which could easily have killed him only minutes before.

“Now, next time are you going to listen to me?” Mantis glared at Tungsten who just nodded slowly, still in shock.

“Good. Now lets get some sleep. One last push and a week of hard walking will be over.”

When the path crested, yet again, I was prepared to be disappointed. I looked up expecting to see another steep cliff or impossible path, but instead I dropped down on my haunches in awe.

The sun.

Well, almost.

Just dipping behind the clouds that we had spent the last three hours walking through, it was turning them into a sea of colour. It looked like a lake in a way, but frozen in time. The tops of the clouds rolling like the crests of waves. The innumerable lumps and bumps like the swell on the surface. And all of this was a stunning mix of purples, reds, yellows, and whites.

“Now isn’t that something.” I turned to see Helix rest her head on Francium’s shoulder.

I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Yes, it had been a hard day, but nothing had gone wrong. No one had been hurt, and we’d made it to the top. I was another step closer to finding my brothers and sisters. That was worth all the effort no matter how I viewed it.

“Good, it’s still intact.” I heard Mantis mutter, more to himself than the rest of us. “Follow me everyone. Looks like we do have somewhere to stay tonight.”

I watched the rim of the sun disappear before turning to look, and then wished I had my own tent. The building was far from something I wanted to stay in. The roof on the second story looked intact but every inch of the walls were covered in graffiti. I decided not to check the red scrawls to closely. The stone walls looked sturdy enough, but it just looked like it had been abandoned for a reason.

“We’re staying in that?” I asked, hoping for an alternative as I approached.

“The tents we have won’t survive the winds this high up. You’d find yourself down in the valley very quickly if you slept outside.” Mantis prepped his rifle. With a quick kick the double wooden doors slammed open, and he entered.

“Clear.” He called after a moment.

The others entered after him leaving me standing out in the closing darkness looking up at the scary building. ‘Come on, Foxglove. It’s fine.’

I reluctantly followed the others inside the wind worn structure. The gusts whistling through the pass were cut off as I stepped over the threshold. Mantis was carefully prodding the floorboards in front of him with the tip of his rifle. Occasionally the plank would give way under the pressure.

“Mind your step. Not all of this floor is stable,” He called.

I decided to stick to the edge of the room as the rest of the group began to fan out. The building seemed to have been a hostel of some kind. The first room was large, containing tables and chairs in various states of collapse. In the far corner was a set of stone stairs leading up and around to the top floor. To the left was a pair of doors to something that looked like a living room. I could see the remains of sofas, chairs, a coffee table, and even an old television through the broken windows set into the door.

“Got a body over here.” Smoking was standing behind a counter positioned next to the stairs. “Looks like she got shot in the face by something.” Ok, there was no way I was going to look at that.

“Hey, Foxglove.” I jumped at my name. “You want to come and check out the kitchen with me?” Helix beckoned from across the room.

“Um, yeah. sure.” I picked my way across the room and followed Helix through the door. The kitchen was a total mess, the roof had collapsed in the far corner letting rain and wind destroy the wall paper. The only two things that looked alright were a pair of huge fridge-freezers. I went over to them, took a deep breath, and pulled.

The scream I let out was horrific. The body flopped out knocking me over and pinning me to the floor. I scrambled to get it off as its tongue lolled and its popping eyes stared at me. I scrambled backwards into the cupboards as blue magic tossed the body away, landing with a heavy thud.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the body until Seafire dropped down right in front of me.

“Foxglove, look at me.” I dragged my eyes to her’s. “Good girl. Keep looking at me, keep breathing. Slowly. That’s it.” Seafire didn’t let me stand until my heart beat was back to normal. Why wasn’t I able to control myself like the others. It just made me look more like a child than I already did; why did I have to be so young.

Smoking and Tungsten were examining the body when I looked up again. I think we’d all noticed the extra appendages that could only have been wings once upon a time, but now it was all rotted flesh with not a single feather to be seen.

Tungsten moved round and inspected its flank. “Hey Mantis? What happened to her Cutie mark? Is this normal?” he pointed to the black mark on her flank in the shape of a cloud unleashing a lightning bolt.

The green buck glanced back from emptying the shelves. “She’s a Dashite. Poor thing was probably abandoned down here with nothing. I’d say she climbed into the fridge to escape the cold.” He plonked a few cans on the table top. “Got some extra food here if any pony is interested. And we’re in luck too: four cans of sticky toffee pudding.”

“A Dashite?” I asked. “What’s that?”

“Depends who you ask.” Mantis piled his finds up on the work surfaces in the middle of the room. “Ask ‘The Grand Pegasus Enclave’,” why did he say that with such sarcasm? “and they’ll tell you that a dashite is a traitor to the Pegasi race. Ask a Dashite and it varies. I met one a long time ago, he came by New Apploosa when I was just a colt.”

“Why are they traitors?” Helix asked, surprised. “Typhoon told me all about the Enclave, but she didn’t mention this.”

“That’s cos it’s complicated. I don’t know the origins of the term. All I know is that three days after that Dashite visited, a load of Pegasi in armour turned up intent on killing him.”

“And did they?”

“I don’t know.”

After exploring the upper floors of the building, and finding enough intact beds for all of us, along with a room filled with dead Radroaches, the seven of us gathered in the living room. We lit a fire in the huge hearth using some of the old sofas and chairs as kindling and bolstering it with some coal that Mantis discovered in the tiny basement. We also used the cupboard doors to plug up the holes left by the broken windows. By the time darkness fell, the room was very warm, and I could almost forget about the raging storm outside.

I pulled out my sleeping bag from my pack and laid it down next to Seafire, who was was tucking into her portion of Sticky Toffee Pudding. She nudged over my portion with her magic. The smell was surprisingly appertising, given that the stuff looked like a bowl of mud.

“Try it.” Seafire lifted it into my hooves. “Its great.”

“Clearly.” I laughed as she finished hers and proceeded to carefully lick up the sauce from the bowl’s bottom with her tongue.

I lifted the bowl to my muzzle and gave it another sniff. It was sickly, like all the canned pre-war food we’d encountered, but there was something about it that I found familiar. Maybe it was the smooth scent of sponge cake hidden under the mound of sticky sauce. I’d never had toffee before, but by the way Seafire had scoffed hers down, I was sure I was going to like it.

As I slowly savoured the delicious pudding, I listened to Mantis explaining where he had positioned a series of tripwires and traps; just incase we were interrupted during the night. By the sounds of it, anypony attempting to enter the building was going to receive either a grenade or shotgun blast as an unwelcome present.

“The final line is a series of shotgun shells that I’ve embedded into every other step on the stairs. I’ll cover them up as we head up for bed and then pick them up in the morning before we head down.” That sounded nasty.

“I was going to put a rake at the top of the stairs,” Tungsten added.

Smoking and Mantis looked at him. “Rake?”

“Yeah, it always worked in the cartoons. Stand on the forks and get a rake in the muzzle. I was going to tie a knife to it at face height just to make sure it did some damage.”

“I am not sure if I should be impressed or worried.” Mantis and Smoking exchanged slightly amused glances.

Seafire looked down at me as I sighed deeply. “What’s up? Don’t like the pudding?” I could tell she knew it wasn’t that.

“I was just thinking. All these traps. Grenades. Shot guns. Even the rake. I just wish it wasn’t necessary.”

Seafire pulled me close to her. “I feel the same way. I’ve never liked the idea of fighting.”

“But then why did you join Stable Security?” I asked confused.

“That was a different kind of of protection and fighting. Everything was precautionary. The worst thing I ever had to deal with back in the stable were hoof fights. Once a pony hit her brother over the head with a metal bar, but they were only teenagers.”

“It wasn’t Tungsten was it?” I asked laughing.

“Ha, no it wasn’t.” Seafire grinned as the image flashed through her mind. “But we were enclosed, safe and had no problems. I knew I may be called to fight, but it was so remote. Other thing is my size. I’ve always been larger than everypony else. I often found myself keeping the peace. I guess it just stuck. When I got my cutie mark that pretty much sealed my position.”

I glanced down at the golden eagle on her flank, its beak open expelling blue flames. Far more interesting than my solitary Digitalis purpurea: the most common of all Foxgloves.

“What does it mean?” I pointed. “Your cutie mark?”

Seafire paused, looking at her own flank. “Well, I see it like this. The eagle is something that is graceful and powerful. It looks after its own without fear or doubt and can be very dangerous when threatened. The fire, that’s different. Fire is usually red which is indicates danger but mine is blue suggesting cooling, calm or cold. I don’t think ponies see me as cold, so I would say it’s my ability to spread calm as I protect.”

Seafire giggled and I realised my mouth was hanging slightly open.

“What about yours? Your Digitalis purpurea?”

“You know its name?” I smiled excitedly. She just nodded gracefully. “Well… um… I’m not that sure. I guess it means I’m like the plant.” I looked at my light green coat and light purple mane and tail which faded to light pink at the tips. “Yeah… I look like a Foxglove.”

“You don’t believe it goes deeper than that?” Seafire prompted.

“Well. I’m good with plants.”

“Anything else?”

I paused. “I don’t know.”

“Would you mind if I gave you my interpretation?” I shrugged. “Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but a Foxglove is quite a hardy plant. It’s found in many places, from forests and moorland to rocky mountain slopes. It likes to be out of the sunlight, adding vibrant colour to those damp and murky places. It can even emerge from the ashes of burnt vegetation. Lastly, it’s stem may be thin but it goes tall and strong regardless.”

I could feel my jaw hanging again. I abruptly brought it up as I tried to think of a response. “So. What does all that mean?”

“Well, you, Foxglove, are hardier than you believe yourself to be. Think of everything you’ve been through recently. Most ponies would have crumbled and given up a long time ago, but not you. You’ve weathered it. Perhaps not as well as you would have liked, but you’re still standing. You also don’t seek the spotlight like many ponies. You’re happy to do your part, keeping out the way, and letting your actions speak for themselves. And lastly,” Seafire looked right into my eyes. “You are a beautiful young mare, adding vibrant colour and personality even in the dark and murky places of the wasteland.”

I couldn’t take it. I flung my fore hooves around Seafire’s neck, squeezing her as tightly as I could. I buried my muzzle into her beautifully soft mane, and let tears of happiness dampen my cheeks and the unicorns silky coat.

“Thank you,” I whispered through her orange mane. “Thank you so much.” I squeezed her again. “I don’t know… just… thank you.”

Seafire let me hold onto her until the others decided to call it a night. With her magic, the beautiful mare slid me onto her back and carried me up stairs. All I remember was the glow of her magic as she tucked me inside my sleeping bag on the squeaky mattress.

“Sleep well, my hardy Foxglove.” I felt her soft lips kiss me on the forehead before she climbed into the bed beside me.

“Seafire?”

“Hmmm?”

“I’m sorry. About this morning. I don’t know why I kept thinking about her. I knew it would only lead to tears.”

“No worries. That’s what we’re all here for. Now get some sleep, we have an early start tomorrow.”

Between the warmth from the fire rising up from the room below and the knowledge that I had one of the most loving and caring ponies in the whole wasteland nearby, it wasn't long before the darkness enveloped me, and I drifted off to sleep.

The first explosion didn’t register fully; I was too deep in my sleep.

With the second, my eyes snapped open looking around.

The scream and flying shrapnel caused by the shotgun shells in the stairs, blowing bits of the adjoining wall into my face, finally forced the connection. We were under attack.

Seafire was already pulling out her Blackhawk and stuffing her sleeping bag roughly into her bags with her magic. Another series of explosions and harrowing screams on the other side of the building made me jump as I pulled myself out of bed.

“Take this.” Seafire tossed me a pistol. “Its mine from the stable and its loaded with live rounds. Remember what I taught you?” I nodded nervously. “Good. Armour on as quick as you can then follow me.”

I clearly took too long as Seafire attached my neck guard and foreleg guards while I was still wrestling with the zip up my tummy. Seafire held up her pistol, flicking out the mouth grip with her magic. I bit down on it, tasting the warm rubber and feeling the cool steel trigger against my tongue. I was so not ready for this.

Seafire whipped open the door checking left and right, before proceeding down the stairs. The covering piece of wood on every other step had been blasted apart. I glanced down at the bodies of two raiders impaled with huge splinters, the skin on the underside of their muzzle pockmarked with bloody holes. Two more ponies near the door– well, I think it was two– indicated who had set off the grenade bouquet above the main door.

Bursts of automatic gunfire sounded from the far side of the building. Seafire dragged me behind the counter and forced me down below the rudimentary cover. “Seafire to Security. In cover with Foxglove. What is your situation.”

More automatic gunfire followed, then three booming thuds from a Blackhawk. “North side. Three raiders down here. No more con-” Automatic fire then a single round snapped from the PipBuck’s small speaker. “Four raiders down and no more contacts.” Tungsten finished.

“Smoking? Francium? Helix? Anypony else.”

“I am upstairs with Fran,” Helix replied, panting. “Fran just took out three raiders on the west side of the building from our window.” She sounded very proud for some reason.

I was showered with splinters as a cacophony of small arms fire blasted the top of the counter apart. Seafire waited for a pause before swinging up with her Blackhawk and firing four deafening shots. It wasn't enough. A massive buck slammed into Seafire, crushing her against the wall. He slashed at her armoured chest with clawed hoof guards, tearing at the fabric and scratching against the new titanium-ceramic plates.

“Foxglove!” Seafire yelled. “Shoot!”

I aimed roughly at the pair of them and pulled the trigger. The bullet impacted the pony in the calf, dropping him to the floor. Seafire stomped down on his head with her forehooves. There was a sickening crunch and the pony went limp.

“You didn’t do as I told you!” Seafire snapped. “Use SATs.” She examined her armour. There were also shallow cuts along her forelegs and even on her muzzle. “Run upstairs and find Fran and Helix. I’ll go meet with Tungsten. Mantis and Smoking’ll be fine on their own for now.”

I just nodded before sprinting up the stairs. Helix was already holding the door open for me, and I slithered inside. Fran was still covering the window with her gun, Jury. I glanced up to where the ceiling had been blasted apart by more bullets.

“What is going on down there?” Fran asked.

I spat the gun out onto the floor. “It looks like all the traps Mantis set up have been triggered. There were four dead ponies in the main room alone.” I continued to gulp down as much air as equinely possible. “Seafire got attacked by a Raider with big claws on his hooves. I shot him in the leg.”

“Where are the others?” Helix asked worriedly.

“Umm, Seafire went to join Tungsten. I’ve heard nothing from the other two.”

Helix just nodded in response. “They’ll know how to handle themselves.”

“What should we do?”

“Wait here. We have a good vantage point from here, and there is only one way into the room.” Fran turned and looked around the room. “Jam that chest of draws in front of the door. If somepony tries to come for us we don't want it to be easy.”

“Francium. Helix.” It was Smoking. “We have movement on EFS to the west. Can you confirm?”

“Yes. Count fourteen marks. Where are you?”

“With Mantis up in the rocks behind the hostel. Good sniping point. We will try and take out as many as we can from here, but you will need to finish them off if there are any left. Seafire, Tungsten did you get that?”

“Roger that. We are on the bottom floor in the kitchen.”

“Ok, let’s take first pick. We will signal you when its time to clean up.”

“Helix? How do you use EFS?” I asked.

“This hotkey button here.” Helix gave it a tap and instantly I had a series of readouts appear in my vision. “Bottom left is your EFS.” I nodded, watching all the little red markers at the bottom of my vision.

A marker suddenly disappeared on my EFS, then another and another. The marks began to scatter. A fourth marker vanished and a fifth.

I jumped at as Smoking’s angry voice sounded again. “Crap. They picked up on our position far quicker than I anticipated.” I could hear ricochets in the background. “Two seem to be focused on us, that leaves you with seven incoming.”

“Roger that,” Tungsten replied. “Fran, hold your fire. When I say so, start firing. And stop when I say so. We are going to make them keep changing their target.”

“Understood.” Fran stepped back from the window.

“How’s your EVA suit coping Fran?” Helix asked cautiously.

“It’s fine. The microcell has enough energy left in it for around thirty 10mm shots I’d say. Let’s just hope they don’t have assault rifles.”

I heard Seafire and Tungsten open fire for a moment, but it didn’t last long.

“Minigun!” Tungsten’s yell distorted in the tiny speaker. “Get down!”

Fran flung herself away from the window. Helix slammed me to the ground. The walls exploded. I covered my eyes as I was pelted with wood, stone, and glass. The roof over our heads creaked ominously and the floor beneath us groaned as bullets tore holes in support beams.

“Minigun reloading. Fire now Fran.”

Fran was up in an instant. She floated up Jury and opened fire. Two marks went out on my EFS; down to five.

“Tungsten. One managed to get right up against the wall. I cant get a shot at... Oh Fuck.”

Fran turned and sprinted across the room as a pair of grenades came through the open window. The double explosion tossed Fran up into the air, showering her with tiny splinters of metal. Helix tossed the bed up in an attempt to block the explosion. The metal fragments shredded the mattress and the wood. I cried out as I felt superheated shards of steel ricochet off my forehooves guards as I covered my eyes.

The floor lurched. Helix and I began to slide. I heard the cracking of floorboards and beams as the floor gave way. Fran had no chance. The floor underneath her unconscious form disappeared in a plume of dust and debris. I scrambled desperately, trying in vain to get purchase on the tilting floor, but it was no good. I disappeared into the hole.

I landed with a hard crunch right on the coffee table in the middle of the living room, the weak wood barely cushioning my fall. Fran was still laying next to me, but I could feel the floor shifting again. The minigunner had torn up the floor while trying to kill Seafire and Tungsten. Between the fractured beams and the extra weight of debris and two ponies it was going the same way as the room above.

I grabbed Fran’s tail in my teeth and began to pull her across the room, trying to get her away from the collapsing floor. My rear legs disappeared from under me. The floorboard snapped, and with sickening rending sound, the beams gave way once more.

I coughed and spluttered through the thick dust, blinking it frantically out of my eyes. I scanned rapidly around the room looking for the way out but there wasn't a single door to be seen. I could still hear the fire fight going on above me. There were a pair of dead computers on one side and a console sticking up from the floor a few feet away with a few glowing buttons.

“Fran! Foxglove!” I looked up. “Helix was dangling by her barding from a beam sticking out from the top floor. “Are you all right?”

I looked down at Francium. “I am. I think Fran is unconscious.”

“Oh, there you are, you little shit.” I watched in horror. A buck approached the helpless Helix carrying a rusty hunting knife in his magical grip. “I'm going to enjoy dissecting you.” He pressed the blade to Helix’s armour and began to cut.

I didn't know how I found Jury amongst the rubble. Nor how I hit the raider in the head with a shot of blue energy. But I did know Helix was still alive. The buck stumbled backwards and fell down into the hole beside me. I was sprayed with blood as his own neck was impaled on a shaft of wood sticking up from the rubble.

I looked up at Helix who was trying desperately to swing herself free from the beam. “Just stay there.” She called wincing and rubbing her throat. “We’ll come and get-”

My stomach lurched, I screamed and the floor disappeared.

Footnote: Francium - Level up: Unfortunately, your choice of perk will have to wait until you regain consciousness.

Foxglove - Under her guidance: Seafire has taken you under her metaphorical wing. You gain +5 skill points for Small Guns and +5 to speech when talking to friends or neutral ponies.

Author's Notes:

Out a little later that I wanted but we are finally beginning to make our way out of Eternity Valley. For 8 chapters you haven't travelled more than thirty miles from Stable Seventeen, though the wind, rain and fog.
I hope you have enjoyed it so far. This time I have Honey Mead and Kippershy to thank for the pre-reading, even though both are very busy with their own novels and I thank them for that!