I tossed again, feeling the frustration building inside me. Next to me, Foxglove slept like newborn filly. I was glad that she’d managed to find some kind of peace in all of this chaos. She had spent most of the day with Shade. Neither of them said anything, but both seemed content, so I wasn’t going to interrupt.

Rolling onto my back, I tested sticking my legs straight up underneath the covers. Definitely not the most comfortable position, but I’d tried everything else.

I couldn’t believe it. It was just insane. If slavers had managed to get into the stable and take it as their own, well, it was bad news for everyone they could reach. That had to be what Swarf and Cheque were arguing about, and I couldn’t blame them for being sacred. Viewpoint was no match for that kind of fire-power. Even Highvoltage didn’t have any weapons capable to taking out such a machine. Maybe, by sheer volume of fire, they could, but, by the time they, did hundreds would be dead and the city would be in ruins.

Who thought it was a good idea to store one of those in a stable?

The only upside I could think of was that there were no logs of ammunition in the stable’s database. Having the vehicle was one thing, but actually being able to arm it was another. ‘But given how easy Swarf and Cheque were able to make weapons, I am sure it wouldn’t be hard for them to make missiles or rockets.

I shuddered at the thought.

Giving up, I slipped quietly from the bed. I tip-hoofed my way to the door and grabbed Jury on the way out. I knew I wasn’t going to need it, but somehow it made me feel more secure. The door slid open with far more noise than I would have liked. A glance over my shoulder confirmed that Foxglove was still deep in her sleep, muzzle and mane picked out in the shaft of light from the corridor.

My mane blew gently in the artificial breeze that flowed down from the air vent above my head. I breathed deeply, trying to clear my mind and relax my body, listening to my hooves echo against the plate metal floor. With nopony around and no tasks to perform, I could really appreciate the work that had gone into Stable Twenty Five.

The construction style was similar to Stable Seventeen. Modular sections, that I guessed were assembled on a production line and shipped to site, made up the majority of the corridors. Certain intersections seemed to be custom or modified to accept different angles or different volumes of utilities. I examined a few of the light fittings and noticed the same flow lines and stress concentrations in the plastic where it had cooled. The wall panels were a low grade pressed steel with interlocking features on each face, but given they didn’t see much wear and tear, that seemed sensible enough.

The floor was one thing I was puzzled about. Made up of heavy meter square panels of solid steel, each one must have weighed seventy or eighty kilograms. Why would you need such a heavy duty floor? ‘Perhaps they were expecting a very heavy hoof fall or wear as things were moved around, my inner pony suggested. Perhaps. It felt very stiff and unforgiving compared to the perforated stainless steel floor that lined most of Stable Seventeen. Large sections of the Core had carpet or vinyl laid down which had some give to it.

I sighed, writing it off as one of life’s little mysteries.

Deciding to try to burn some of my energy, I steered myself towards the Soft Room. I wasn’t sure why I felt so pent up but perhaps letting go a little might help. Perhaps I could try hoofball or practice my play wrestling skills for Helix. A silent grin spread across my face as the memory of my last night in Viewpoint drifted back.

The doors drifted open to an empty room. All of the balls were away, somewhere, revealing the padded blue floor of the Soft room. There were markings on the floor for a variety of games. I didn’t know what they were, but that didn’t matter right now. Laying Jury down in one corner, I took a deep steadying breath.

What should I do?

I broke into a sharp gallop, dodging this way and that at random, as though avoiding walls or posts, glancing away from them at the last instant. Reaching the far side of the room, I maintained momentum by using both my left legs to steer myself into a hard right and bouncing off the wall.

Pitching myself into an experimental sideways roll, I tried to see if I could continue my gallop without breaking stride. On the fourth attempt I nailed it, and just in time too as I almost barreled headlong into the wall. A quick flick of my hips and I landed all four hooves sideways on the wall before pressing off and continuing to barrel aimlessly around the room like a bouncy ball.

Knowing I was unlikely to get hurt, I was flinging myself harder and harder into crazy manoeuvres I would have never dared to try anywhere else. Full forward roll, followed by wall run, into four hoof slide. I was letting go of all my worries, bounding and free running wherever I wanted. My heart raced openly, not out of fear or panic but out of enjoyment and enthusiasm. If felt great to be free.

Panting hard, I skidded to a halt in the middle of the room. My legs collapsed from under me, and I dropped to the ground, rolling over to look up at the lights over head. I felt a happy irony wash over me as I realised they were the same type of fitting used in Stable Seventeen’s orchards.

A pinging sound caught my ear, emanating from my PipBuck. Looking down at the screen, I was surprised to read the words ‘Incoming Signal’. Perplexed, I opened up the details tab and had a quick look. The signal was a short audio file, just five seconds long. What I was most intrigued about was its starting date, it was only an hour old, and was being broadcast on a familiar wavelength, Stable Seventeen’s Gold frequency.

Accepting the file, I wondered what it could be? A distress signal from Stable Seventeen somehow? Helix sending me a message? Could it be somepony in Stable Twenty Five trying to talk to me? Or perhaps it was just another desperate soul who just happened to be broadcasting on the same frequency.

I pushed the button.

I hit replay, listening to it again as tears and laughter fell in equal measure. I rolled over and over, elation gripping every muscle in my body. She’d found me! My Helix was out there, close by, alive, and searching for me. I could only guess that everypony else was alright too, but the knowledge that she was still alive was all that really mattered.

I thought back to when I last saw her. The look of terror as I lunged away from the grenade. I don’t even remembered hitting the floor, or how Foxglove and I had ended up in the elevator shaft. She must have thought me dead, but she still held out a hope, and now I could let her know that it was not in vain.

Quickly checking the details of the signal, I set up my own new reply for her with my short audio response. If Helix had sent me that message so I would know it was her, then I would respond in kind. I tapped my hooves together to make my message and set it on its way.

I swear I saw the signal scattering through the air as it tried to make its way to my love. Everypony else who bothered to listen to the signal would get nothing from it. If we needed to talk to each other it would get trickier, but that was a problem for later.

I had to tell Foxglove right now! That we were not alone and that everything was going to be alright!

* * *

“Wait, let me listen to it again?”

I played it again for the eighth time as she paced slowly back and forth at the hoof of the bed.

She’d been so startled when I jumped onto her bed that she toppled off the far side in a tangle of cotton bedding. In hindsight, that probably hadn’t the best way of waking her, but I just felt so energetic! There was no way I was going to be sleeping tonight.

“It just sounds like a bunch of taps.” Foxglove was looking at me with a slightly worried expression. “It could be anything. Don’t take this the wrong way but, you’re sure you’re not clutching at straws?”

“It came in on Stable Seventeen’s gold frequency, and it was sent literally about ninety minutes ago.” I showed her the message details. “I am guessing that they’ve made it to the bottom of the mountain and are a short distance outside the cave, only they can’t get in. They must be in range of a PipBuck that can bounce the signal into the stable.”

“Like where?”

“Ah.” I’d deliberately not told her about the possible hoard of slavers and raiders that could be occupying a room full of advanced vehicles less than two hundred meters away. I knew I would have to at some point, but I wanted to wait until I knew for certain.

“Well, if there are any Pipbucks on the ground floor or in the areas we can’t get to that are nearer the door, then the signal should have been able to bounce from one to the next to make its way to me.”

“Does that mean that the signal is being sent to every PipBuck in range of Helix’s PipBuck, and then to everyone in range of those, and those, and the ones after that?”

“Yes. I suppose so.”

“And does that mean that everypony else can hear our messages.”

“Probably, but there is no way the could know what it means.”

“Yeah.” She stopped and looked at me curiously. “What does it mean exactly?”

“When we were fillies, Helix and I would occasionally sneak out to each other’s rooms or meet in the orchards. We had little signals that we used to make sure we weren’t caught and to tell if it was one of us hiding around the next corner. The one she sent was her identifier. I replied with mine.”

“There is nothing wrong with going to the orchards at night.”

“Tell that to our parents.” I flopped back onto the bed giggling to myself. “Helix is probably asleep now so we’ll have to wait until morning to see if we will get a reply.”

“And are you going to stay up all night?” She folded her forelegs dramatically. “Because I am still exhausted.” She suddenly yawned involuntarily as though to emphasise the point.

“I’m not sure. I just…” I sat up again to look at her. “My mind wouldn’t turn off earlier because I was worried about her and what we would all be facing when we left the stable. Now it won’t turn off because I know she is out there.”

“But there’s nothing you can do about it at the moment.” She clasped her hooves together. “Please, try to sleep. I’ll go on the sofa if you need the space, but just try and get some sleep. We all need you thinking straight and at your best if we are going to get back together so…” She dropped into pout mode, her ears sagging just to exaggerate the look.

“Ok, ok,” I said before she could lay it on any thicker. “I will try.” Rolling back over to my side of the bed, Foxglove grabbed herself a glass of water before clambering up beside me and sliding under the covers. “Night, Foxglove.”

“Night, Fran.” She rolled over with her back to me and switched off the lights.

Within fifteen minutes Foxglove was asleep again. I just stared up at the strangely familiar ceiling unable to settle my mind. I wasn’t thinking about anything specific, just quick bursts of ideas and memories racing across my mind faster than I could really process them. I could feel my eyes droop, settling closed, but still my mind raced. The blackened memory orbs, the ghouls chasing me under the closing door, the last piece of camera footage, the sensation of falling as Minor Wings carried me about the stable.

My ears pricked up at a rushing sound. Looking around the room I saw nothing. Foxglove continued to snooze beside me peacefully. Wait, there it was again.

Was it wind? Could the air-con be on the fritz? Was just it water? I slipped out of bed again and moved quietly to the door to press me ear to the cold steel. It was like it was just outside.... I opened the door.

Water crashed down on me, sweeping me away through the corridors. My body slammed hard into walls and pipes like a ragdoll as the vicious torrent whipped me away through the corridors. I fought my way to the surface, only to be forced down again by the undercurrents, leaving me coughing and spluttering, desperate for air.

All the noise stopped as I was pinned hard against a door, the water spewed through an inch wide gap into the corridor beyond.

I couldn’t get anymore air. The whole tunnel was filling up with water and my tiny bubble was going, going… gone.

I couldn’t believe it. This was how I was going to die. I would never see my daughter again. The excruciating pain of her loss overpowered the agony in my lungs as they flooded with water. The pain in my chest was horrific, but nothing compared to the sensation I felt as my heartbeat began to slow. Each thump weaker than the last.

My vision turned to grey, my lungs stopped hurting, my heart stopped beating.

~ ~ ~

I screamed.

I screamed to know I was alive. To know that my lungs weren’t flooded with water. That I wasn’t drowning.

I rolled over and slammed into the floor coughing and spluttering, emptying my lungs of everything before sucking in fresh air. But somehow I was still screaming.

No, that wasn’t me.

Her voice was breaking. Her cry: horrific. Her fear and grief: total. Foxglove’s scream gouged into my mind. I couldn’t even begin to describe how it was burrowing inside me. I forced myself up from the floor to Foxglove’s side.

“Foxglove! Foxglove!” I yanked her hooves away from her eyes. “Look at me!”

“They killed her... So much blood… everywhere! Get it off me… monsters! They Killed her. Too much blood… get-it-off-get-it-off-get-it-off!”

She wasn’t with me. She was in shock. Was she even awake?

“Everywhere, they got her everywhere, and not just her but all of us! So much blood get it off!” Foxglove began to scream louder, reaching a fever pitch.

Foxglove snapped to as I splashed her glass of water across her face. Her eyes shot open darting around the room, her breathing heavy and rapid.

“Foxglove!”

“Fran. What...?” She gasped fearfully.

“Shush.” I clutched her to me, feeling her ragged breathing ease. “It was just a bad dream. It’s alright. You’re not the only one. It’s alright.”

“What?” Foxglove muttered.

“I was having one too.”

Foxglove squeezed me tighter. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

“It was just so sudden. We were all asleep, then… then all I remember is blood, and gunfire, and… and…” She whimpered. “She’s dead isn’t she, my mum?”

I just nodded slowly.

“And our stable?”

I shook my head. “Most, but not all.” Slowly her breath began to ease as she clung to me. “Do you remember what you were doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were screaming and yelling. I had to use your glass of water to snap you out of it.” Foxglove just shook her head sadly, her wet mane clinging to her muzzle.

“Good job I woke you up, else it might have lasted longer.”

Foxglove looked up at me tentatively. “What was your nightmare about?”

“I… I was just walking around Stable Twenty Five.” Hazy images drifted to the fore of my mind. “Then water. A torrent of water, and it was like I was back in Seventeen.”

“What happened?”

“I drowned and then I woke up.”

“I died too” I felt her shudder. “It’s strange.”

“How do you mean?”

“We both were having a normal dream, then die at the same time.”

“And we were both dreaming about our mums,” I added thoughtfully.

“It was terrible,” she said with a shiver, “seeing it through her eyes.”

“How do you mean?”

Foxglove seemed to stop. She sat up and looked out of the fake windows to the moonlit meadow.

“In my dream, I was my mum.” She bit her bottom lip tentatively. “I could see her hooves, her mane in front of her face and… and everything that happened after that.” She looked back at me. “I felt everything as if I were her. Everypony has had vivid dreams but this was, something else.”

“Foxglove, do you think…” I hesitated. I didn’t want to accuse her, but I couldn’t help but to suspect her. “Do you think Shade could have done this?”

Foxglove made to argue back, but like me, she stopped. She didn’t like the idea either, but she clearly knew that nopony else was capable.

“But why would she?” Foxglove eventually replied. “And, she hasn’t hurt us as such… just really, really scared,” she finished dryly.

I sighed and then yawned. “Do you think you can sleep? It’s five AM and it’s not like we’ve had a good night.”

“Yeah…” Foxglove nodded nervously. “I think I can.”

The both of us slipped back under the covers, back to back. I don’t know how long I lay awake just reliving the remaining flashes of the dream in my mind, but eventually my sleepless night got the better of me. My last memory was of the panic in my mum’s mind before we both left the waking world.

* * *

Bang, bang, bang.

“Woah, what.” I rolled over groggily, groping for the light switch.

Bang, bang, bang.

“Francium. Foxglove.” Yeah, yeah I am getting there, as soon as my brain wakes up.

I caught the light switch and immediately regretted it. Fumbling around, half blind from the sudden burst of light, I managed to get to my hooves and meander to the door.

Bang, bang.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” The door slid open to reveal a very concerned looking Indicia. “What up?”

“It’s Shade. She won’t open her door,” Indicia clamoured. She looked over my shoulder. “I need you and Foxglove to come with me, right now.”

“Ok.” Leaving Indicia pacing in the doorway I roused Foxglove, giving her a gentle shake. “Hey, get up.”

“Wait, what?” She looked at me confused, her mane all a tangle.

“Shade needs you.”

Foxglove looked taken aback. “What? Why?” She flipped herself out of bed and was at the door in moments, far more coordinated than I was with an early morning wake up.

“She’s locked herself in her room and won’t come out, aaaargh.” Indicia stumbled sideways, clutching at her head. I managing to grab her before she toppled to the floor.

I helped her back to her hooves. “You okay? What was that?” ‘Yeah, what was that?!’

Indicia steadied herself on the door frame, her brow furrowed in pain “Yes, I’m alright. And that, we are pretty sure, was Shade.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Foxglove asked cautiously. “She is hurting you with her mind?”

“Its not just me, its everypony.” Indicia strained, rubbing her brow. “Let’s just get up there. I’ll explain it all on the way.”

I grabbed Jury and we bolted out the door. A group of pegasi gave us a lift down a floor before we clattered on long towards the earth pony sleeping section.

Occasionally Indicia would stumble as if suddenly she had no control over her body. I found myself tensing when it happened, expecting Foxglove and myself to go tumbling to the ground but thankfully it never happened.

“Why isn’t it happening to us?” Foxglove asked, clearing thinking the same thing as we passed a group of ponies lying against a wall all seeming unable to stand. “Why… why would she do this…”

“I don’t know.” I couldn’t think of anything comforting. “But I the sooner we get there the sooner we will find out.”

We arrived at Shade’s room. Apparently, she had small room just off a cluster of family rooms so that they could keep an eye on her. Ponies were standing around the door as a couple of maintenance ponies tried to get the door open. A plasma cutter lay abandoned nearby.

“Clear the way,” Indicia called as we rushed up.

“What’s going on?” I asked the gathered ponies.

“We have no idea, but occasionally everypony in the stable keeps getting these flashes,” one of them replied. She had a yellow box adorned with a pink butterfly strapped to her side. Her grey coat and light pink air was an odd combination, but it kind of worked.

“Flashes?” I asked. “Of what? Foxglove and I haven’t been hit… yet.”

“The worst memory of your life.” I exchanged a very worried glance with Foxglove. “It varies in intensity from pony to pony but some have been intense enough to knock ponies out cold.”

I gulped. “And you think this is coming from Shade?”

“Who else could it be?” another pony shot back from his place on the floor.

I didn’t have another answer, reluctantly I just nodded. “What do you need me for?”

“Mighty Wings said that you cut through the door at the bottom of the shaft in order to enter the stable.” One of the maintenance ponies piped up. “As you can see we’ve tried and failed.” He indicated the abandoned plasma cutter. “We want you to use your magic to cut through the door.”

“The alloys that stable tech use are excellent thermal conductors, making them highly resistant to fire and thermal cutting methods. We had to use cold saws when we need to cut things back in my stable.” I placed my hooves experimentally against the door. The cutter had heated the door up significantly but there was no way they would be cutting through it any time soon. “Wait, don’t you want me to try overriding the controls first?”

“They’re burnt out. I have no idea how. We were going to start trying a rewire and replacement board.” He stepped aside to let me examine the controls. “Yeah, exactly my reaction.” He added as I took one look at the board and promptly abandoned it.

“Ok, turn your backs.” I said preparing my horn. “How thick are these doors?”

“No more than two inches of alloy but there is an insulation gap between them.”

“No problem.” I covered my eyes with the filter spell and got to work.

* * *

“On three. One. Two. Three.”

With a heave, the impromptu waterpipe-battering ram lurched forwards, driving the cut out section to the floor. The ponies carrying it promptly dropped it and peeled the rest back to let us all look inside.

The room looked normal. A chest of drawers, a few toys scattered on the floor next to a open chest, a mirror in one corner and the usual fake window to the luscious meadow.

“You go first,” Indicia said to Foxglove quietly. “You get along better with her than anypony else.”

Foxglove just nodded. “Shade? It’s me, Foxglove.” She took a step forwards. “Where are you.”

Indicia and I cautiously followed a few lengths behind, glancing around with every step. Shade was nowhere to be seen. Now that I could see the whole room, I noticed bedcovers tossed to the floor along with several boxes of crayons and pencils, most of which were reduced to stubs.

“Shade?” Foxglove called again. “Please come out.”

We all jumped as Shade appeared calmly from her bathroom. “I’m sorry everypony,.” She whispered. “I’m so sorry, but I had to finish. She kept trying to stop me.”

Indicia gasped. “She spoke…”

“Finish what?” Foxglove asked, going to her and taking her hoof.

Shade pointed behind us. “That.”

We all turned together, and I took an involuntary step back.

The mural was huge, covering the whole wall from ceiling to floor, and near photorealistic if not for the limited range of colours. The accuracy to depth perception was incredible. But that was only half the story. I had no idea where this place was, but, wherever it was, it was huge.

The whole cavernous room seemed to glisten and shine, as if it were made from coloured glass. Vibrant veins of amethyst purple and blood red were scattered through the off white crystal walls. But the walls were not walls. The crystal wrapped its way round is one unbroken sphere of refracting light. The light in question only seemed to be coming from a few focal points before being scattered.

The foreground of the image was obscured by some kind of rim, but it was still part of the image, as if it been taken from inside a box. There was a sturdy hinge bottom-centre and a set of indicator lights. Outside of this enclosure, the left was occupied by a tall bank of monitors, flat screens though, not the usual CRT’s. The right showed thick tubes leading away and down, out of sight.

“What is this thing?” I heard the grey and pink mare ask in awe.

“It’s a geode. It’s a gigantic geode,” Foxglove muttered, taking a step towards the mural. “A Celestine geode. There are a few impurity veins at various points but, its still incedible” Touching her hoof to the wall, she smiled slightly. ”And I said that Thistle’s love of rocks would never wear off on me.”

“What is the structure down the centre?” Indicia asked.

I followed her hoof. I hadn’t been looking before but she was right. The monitors and the pipes and the thing the image seemed to be looking out of, were all on a giant platform that was linked to a pair of doors at the far end by walkway.

“Looks like some kind of bridge.” I stepped back further, trying to get a better overview. “There’s a pair of doors at the other end. So it’s only a few meters wide if those doors are of a standard size. But that would mean this geode is a good,” I roughed the maths. “One hundred metres in diameter. Possibly one-twenty.”

“But where are we looking from?” The pink mare asked again.

“Shade, why did you draw this?” Foxglove went back to her side. “Why did you lock us out?”

“They were projecting out, so I moved in,” she replied slowly. “This is what I saw.”

“Who was ‘projecting out’?”

Shade rubbed her hooves together nervously. “I… I don’t know.”

Wait? “You mean there is another mindreading pony. Another Seer,” I asked in confusion.

Shade nodded slowly. “They are powerful. Very powerful. But it doesn’t feel natural to me.”

I didn’t know how to reply to that. ‘Who the hell would?’ my inner pony added, just as stumped.

Indicia came to her senses first, calling out, “Aria.”. A moment later the grey mare from earlier stepped into the room. “I think we ought to move Shade into the medical area so we can monitor her. Has anyone else had a flash since we started cutting down the door?” Aria just shook her head as she guided Shade out of the hole in the door. “Right then, panic over. For now at any rate.” She turned back to me. “Fran, see how she locked the door? She shouldn't have been able to do that.”

Everypony began wandering away, some still looking very shocked and confused, leaving Foxglove and I standing alone in Shade’s room. Foxglove was still examining the mural, touching the crayon marks and following its patterns.

“There’s more to this than we can see,” she remarked, stepping back to my side. “I don’t just mean in the mural.”

“Do you remember what Aramid said just before he died?” I replied. Foxglove shook her head. “It’s all a lie. Don’t trust her. She gets inside your head. Makes your forget. At the time I didn’t know what to make of it. Now, I still don’t know what to make of it, but this, “I flicked my hoof absentmindedly at the mural, “this is something else.”

“Fran. I’m scared.” Foxglove was staring at the wall, her eyes wide, expression neutral. “Not a ‘scream out loud’ scared, a ‘I have no idea what I’m facing and I have no idea how to stop it’ scared, and that is much, much more frightening.”

I looked down at the young mare beside me. “You know what?” I asked.

“What?”

“So am I, but…”

Foxglove glanced at me. “But what?”

“I have a plan.”

* * *

Four hours later I was back in the security office with the banks of void-black memory orbs. Minor Wings watched me work furiously, bringing me cups of tea as I tore the main server apart. He’d seemed content enough to sit back and watch, until I had told him what I planned to do next.

“You want to what?”

The muscular pegasi gave me a weird look, like he thought I was joking. Ignoring that, I pressed on.“I just need, like, three ponies to watch my back while I work.” I stuck my head back inside the server cabinet and continued with the rewiring.

“You have seen what ghouls do to the ponies they catch, haven’t you?” His tone went from confused to shocked. He finally understood I was serious.

“Yes. Yes, I have.” I tossed aside a burnt out APU crystal array and bridged the gap with a PipBuck interface so I could access the system directly.

Minors level of incredulity took on a new level. “And that doesn’t put you off.”

“If this works the way I hope, then we’ll be hitting two nails with one hammer.”

He gave me a disbelieving look. “Just wait and see.” I pushed myself upright and closed the cabinet “So, will you give me a lift?”

Minor dragged a hoof down his face. “It’d be brilliant if you could get the lifts working again, but going down there is suicide.”

“That’s nothing in comparison to what I have planned next.”

Minor stopped at my manic grin. “What do you mean?” He asked cautiously.

“Even if I get the lifts to unlock and the doors open, they still have no power. I need to go down to the reactor and reboot the system.” I got the exact ‘what the hell’ look I was expecting. “Once that’s done I can redistribute power to the right parts of the stable and get the doors open.”

“And what will getting the doors open allow us to do?”

“It’ll allow us to get rid of this lot.” I punched the return key on the computer beside me and watched as the bank of screens sprang into life.

Minor Wings was lost for words.

“How… you got it all working. How did you do that?” He peered closer to the monitors. “That’s the mess hall, and the soft room. They’re all working. You fixed them all? How?”

“They were never broken.” He looked puzzled. “Just being over-ridden.” I opened up the nearest orb bank for him to look inside. “You remember how these were all black?”

“And somehow you have made them all white…” He added nonplussed.

“They’d been filled with a memory, a false memory, of pure blackness.” He still looked confused. “All I needed to do was to find the end of the loop. It couldn’t go on forever, so I told the system to search for a pattern inside the incoming video signal. The darkness isn't perfect, it’s a clip lasting around four seconds.”

“So how did you stop it looping?”

“Good question. And honestly, I wasn’t sure that it was going to work at all.” I opened the stable’s database and navigated to the section they had on memory orbs. “The system is based on memory orb technology, which has a few fundamental principles to it, on of which is the ending of a memory. Specifically how to make the memory end and let a viewer exit.

“At the end of a memory, the orb waits for an electrical signal, if it doesn’t get one it loops. Now, unicorn magic does this subconsciously, you can’t exit at will, but as the memory begins to fade, a unicorn subconsciously sends this signal out, similar to the kind that lets you know you are in a dream and allows you to force yourself awake.”

“You mean you went into every single one of these orbs and sent this signal?” I knew Minor wasn't keeping up, nor was I really, but the key bit that I understood was up next.

“Nope. Didn’t need to. Thanks to this.” I scrolled down to let him see.

“A Recolector.” He read aloud. “A device worn on a ponies head which simulates the magic used by Unicorn to allow the viewing of memory orbs. Created by Stable-Tec in…” He mumbled to himself as he finished the paragraph. “So, you used one of these?”

“In essence, yes. The database contains the draft magic and electro-magical coding used in the recolector. I took the part of the code that simulated the ending signal and sent it as a control signal to all the cameras. The cameras then relayed this to their respective orbs and hey-presto, they all ended the memory and went back to showing the signal from the cameras.”

I beamed at the utterly stunned pegasus. “Now you can see what is going on everywhere in the stable.”

“Bring up the vault door camera, now,” Minor barked, taking me by surprise. “I want to know exactly what’s happening on the other side of that door.” I quickly button mashed and brought up the video feed. I spread it across nine of the monitors.

“There.” I studied the image for a moment, confused. “There doesn’t seem to be any change from the last clip I had seen from the camera.” For the sake of comparison and to sate my curiosity, I brought up the original video beside it. “Huh, it looks exactly the same.” I was certain that there would have been something different from any slaver activity or raiders, but it looked identical, like they hadn’t even bothered to try and get in.

“Wait.” Minor barked again making me jump. “Look there.”

Something was moving. Something heavy. Somthing metal. Something that was getting bigger with every moment. It seemed to be sliding— or perhaps rolling across the rough floor of the tunnel, grinding along at an agonizingly slow pace. As far as I could see, the front of the object was a wedge of metal with a pair of lights on either side.

“How is that thing moving?” Minor asked. “Is it being pushed?”

“I am more concerned about what it is.” I mashed on the keyboard again, starting a visual analysis on the oncoming feed, letting the computer analyse the object and search through its vast database. “Look.” I pointed at the space above it. “It’s slung from the ceiling, not rolling. You can see the straps.”

“Still haven’t seen any pony yet,” Minor muttered nervously.

It continued to creep further into view, a sloped glass window at the prow slowly revealing the machine’s interior. A pair harnesses and bank consoles swept across the cockpit.

“It’s got guns.” Minor pointed out a multi-barreled gun sliding into view, mounted on its side. As soon as the magazine and breach came into view one of the monitors changed. “And we have a match on the weapon. An Iron-Shod 10mm Long barreled Minigun - Pent Pattern.”

“And we have a vehicle class match.” I pointed at another screen. “A Vertibuck, but it hasn’t identified the type.”

“Ponies,” Minor called. A line of ponies was hauling on a line that was looped around the leading wing of the aircraft. “Wow, they look so small in comparison.”

“Minimum width for a Vertibuck fuselage is three meters but this one is… Oh shit.”

“Whats wr…” Minors voice just stopped.

We both examined the read out on the screen.

“Can you get this footage onto something so we can show the others?” Minor asked after a long silence. I nodded. “Good. Meet me in the meeting room in twenty minutes. I’ll gather up the council, and bring that datasheet with you.”

* * *

In the time it took me to find a projector and return to copy the footage, the Vertibuck completed its journey into the hanger.

Everypony was silent as the footage played, all eyes locked on the fully functional Vertibuck.The recording ended, and the silence followed on its heels.

Foxglove and I shrunk back from the round table in the meeting room as the whole room began to shout louder and louder. And I hadn’t even told them what I planned to do next.

“We can’t fight. They’ll kill us all!”

“They’ll come through the door sooner or later, let’s attack while they aren’t expecting it.”

“We shouldn’t be going out there at all! The stables were closed for a reason!”

“But we could get everything working again! Go find what we need to fix the stable.”

“You can’t fix all the damage. We need to find a new place to live, away from these raiders and free from mutants.”

“Hey! Those mutants were us, remember.”

“We need too…”

The distinct sound of a door opening drew my eye toward the entrance, a wave of silence falling as everypony took notice. Gracious Wings stepped inside, escorted by her son. Taking her seat, she looked around the room with her milky eyes. She may not have been able to hold eye contact but her strength of will was clear.

“We now stand at a crossroads. And I fear that they all lead to the same destination.” She paused, considering her next words with care. “After hearing of what awaits us on the other side of the door, I am just as afraid as anypony else, perhaps even more so.

“Ultimately, we must leave this stable. It is unlikely that they will leave us alone forever and if they ever need more resources, they have them right on their doorstep. If they wanted to take this stable, I doubt we could stop them.”

“But if we go out there we’ll…” A pony blurted out, but Gracious silenced him with a wave of her hoof.

“We all die sooner or later, we may only choose the manner of our departure.If we stay here, we will be trapped by those ponies until we die. We are better than that. We have a chance to eliminate these killers, these murderers. If I am to choose how I depart this world, I would see it done standing for a cause, not cowering in a hole.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” Indicia rose to her hooves, throwing her glare around the table. “As grand and noble as you make that sound, the fact is that we will lose. Even if we have the advantage in numbers, we have neither the weapons, nor the training to face down any hardened wasteland killers.”

“Which is why we won’t, at least not initially.”

Indicia crossed her hooves expectantly. “How?”

“We open the doors and let them in,” she replied simply.

“What kind of plan is that!” Indicia scoffed.

“Tell me Indicia, what prevents us going down to the lower levels?”

“The radiation,” Indicia began, “and the mutants.”

“Exactly.”

“Of course!” I shouted, more to myself than the others but everypony was looking at me. “If we open all the doors on the bottom level we can use the mutants to clear out the slavers and raiders. Let our enemies kill each other!”

Gracious nodded.

“Hold on just a minute. You want to use the ghouls as cannon fodder?” Indicia gasped. “That’s… that’s, horrible!”

“Honestly, Indicia, I don’t like the idea much either but, hey are not ponies any more. They eat each other alive. They ate our friends and family! They are no longer Equine. They need to be put down, and if this way they at least serve some purpose.”

Indicia continued to glare across the table for few seconds before letting out a disgruntled whinny and dropping back to her seat.

“Ummm, can I say something?” Foxglove stood up, glancing nervously around the circle. “Why don’t we just leave? There are plenty of pegasi in this stable. Why not just lift everypony out? You could walk down to Viewpoint and settle there. You could take some of the equipment with you, and you needn’t abandon the stable entirely. You can keep it secret but still use it to grow food, repair things and build things.”

There was a general consensus around the table.

“See Gracious.” Indicia pointed firmly at Foxglove. “She is right. There’s no need to fight.”

“And when those raiders decide to expand and discover all the stable has to offer? You would have us flee, only to grant them unimpeeded access to all of this?.” Gracious sighed heavily. “It’s not an easy decision, but we can’t miss this opportunity, not only for ourselves, but for the wasteland too.”

“We will now hold a vote,” Minor called out. “Connect your PipBucks into the system and vote. Yes is in favour of acting to take out the aggressors on our doorstep and use the ghouls below us to help us do that. No is in favour of finding an alternate solution that either involves no combat or another way of taking out the aggressors. Abstaining will reduce the number in the final calculation. A seventy five percent majority is required to win in either direction. Voting will continue until a decision is reached. There will be ten minute discussions between votes.”

A projector flickered into life, beaming an image onto the wall behind Gracious at the far end of the table. Three empty columns labeled ‘Yes’, ‘No’ and ‘Abstain’ flickered on the wall. Foxglove and I watched as the twenty six ponies of the council cast their vote. My heart sank slightly.

“Ten yes, ten no, six abstain.” Minor called out. “First discussion, please raise your hoof to issue a point.”

Foxglove tapped me on the shoulder. “Do you want to leave them to it. This’ll probably take a while.”

I nodded. “Yeah, and after what you said, I have some packing to do.”

* * *

“Fran, what are you doing?”

I ignored Foxglove as I moved round the room, gathering up all of my things. Only when she got in my way did I answer. Stepping around her, I said, “Packing. What does it look like?”

“But why?”

I dropped everythings on the bed and started stuffing my saddlebags. “Because I can get out of here. We can get out of here.”

“What do you mean?”

Part way through trying to jam all my equipment back into my bag, I realised it wasn't going to fit in like that. Reluctantly, I upended my saddlebags and began to neatly fold everything again.

“Fran!”

“What?” I snapped back, trying to decide if I ought to pack my healing potions on the outside for easy access, or on the inside to protect them.

“What do you mean ‘you can get out of here’?”

“I mean that you’re right. There’s a way out of here.”

“The lift?” Foxglove stomped a hoof. “That was just a last resort, I didn’t mean ‘go now’. If they decide to launch this attack then they’re going to need us here to make it happen. You can’t leave them now.”

“I’m not abandoning them. I will come back.” Buckling my bags closed, I cinched them tight around my waist. “But if we’re going to do this, then we are going to need some help.”

“What do you mean?” I was yanked round to face Foxglove. “Please,” She begged desperately. “What’re you thinking? What’s going on?”

“I’m going to join up with the others. I considered it before, but I doubted I could convince them without evidence. Now I am certain somepony will be willing to take me to where Helix and the others are outside the stable. We are going to need a distraction so we can cut through the doors. With the number of ghouls in the reactor room there is no way I can get in and fix it, even temporarily.”

Foxglove still looked bewildered, but I knew what I was doing.

“Trust me, this is going to work. Now, just let me set something up on your PipBuck.” Reluctantly, Foxglove obliged. “I’m setting up an encrypted signal between our PipBucks so we can communicate freely. When I’m outside, I’ll be able to let you know so you can tell the others.”

“But this is all assuming that they vote to attack in the first place.”

“They will, even if I have to make them. I am not going to let this chance to do so much good slip through my hooves.”

Foxglove stopped. “What do you mean ‘make them’?”

“Rig the vote.”

“No.” Foxglove backed away. “Just no.”

“Huh?” I looked at her confused. “If they won't, then we have to make them.”

“No.” She repeated angrily. “I won’t let you.”

“But look at what we achieve! Viewpoint, High-Voltage, even Seventeen would be safe. If we take them out then we will never have to worry again.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about,” Foxglove muttered a little too loudly.

I stopped. “What do you mean?”

“You, I’m worried about you.”

I stared at her surprised. “Why are you worried about me? I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not!” I flinched at the stomp of her hoof and the anger in her eyes, but her expression, was she afraid of me? “You… you’re taking risks, doing things you’d never have done before. Helix was worried about you and rightly so.”

I glared at her. “How do you know how she feels? How do you know she’s worried about me?” Since when did Foxglove take an interest in my relationships? Since when did Helix start confiding in her?

“What do you mean? Can’t you see it! Every time she glanced at you on the way up that mountain or when we slept in the tent at night!” Foxglove cried incredulously. “You tore her apart when you dragged yourself out of lake Eternity, bleeding and stabbed and scarred. And when you shot that Raider at point blank range! What about you forcing yourself out of bed to go and look for that PipBuck?”

I stared back at her, lost for words.

“She’s afraid. She’s afraid she’s losing you. We all are. I’m not saying I knew what you were like before we left the stable, but what I do know is that you’re no longer the Francium I knew from Stable Seventeen.”

I glanced back at Foxglove, my brain only capable of one thing...

“I’m sorry!” I wailed, my anger gone, my eyes flooded with tears as I bawled like a baby. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I rubbed my face into the carpet, trying to stem the flood from my eyes. I vaguely noted that at some point I decided to collapse to the floor, but that wasn’t important right now. I had to let Foxglove know I was never, ever going to be that stupid or rash or blatantly idiotic ever again.

By the time I ran out of tears, it seemed that it had been long enough for me to become extremely hungry. At a carpet muffled plea, Foxglove left my side and went into the kitchen to make us a snack. Dragging myself into the bed, I couldn’t help but think about Helix and how I’d been breaking her heart without even realising it.

“Hey.” Foxglove muttered as she placed a bowl of soup on the dresser next to me. “Eat it, you’ll feel better.”

Pulling myself up, I leant back against the wall. I hiccupped occasionally as I slowly sipped on the warm liquid. Foxglove had done a good job—not too thin, but with a rich flavour despite the sub standard ingredients.

“We ought to let you cook more often.” I chuckled lightly, thinking of some of the bad meals Mantis had concocted. “Mantis’ food may have met all dietary requirements, but it left the taste buds…”

“...a little worse for wear?” Foxglove offered with a smile.

I snickered and accidently sent soup running down my chin. Cursing, I mopped myself with a spare towel I hadn’t packed yet. “You can’t take me anywhere nice can you.”

“Fran?” Foxglove inquired cautiously. “Did you really mean it?”

“Mean what?” I asked apprehensively.

“That you’d rig the vote?”

I sighed and glanced at Foxglove, her look light yet firm. It wasn’t only me who had changed in the last few weeks. I needed them to fight. It put us one step closer to saving our stable. It put me one step closer to redeeming myself, in my own eyes and in the eyes of every other pony I had ever known.

“Fran?”

“Honestly? Yes, but now, I don’t know.” I shrugged. “If they don’t fight then I’ll just get Minor to give us both a lift to the top of the shaft. Perhaps to the bottom of the cliff if we’re lucky.”

Foxglove didn’t look satisfied. “Did we even have a plan of action for when we arrived at the Stable?”

“Not really.” I shrugged again. “My plan was to find the next PipBuck in the chain, but with the information from Mantis and Swarf, we could just slide on by and head straight for Apploosa.”

“But we can’t now, can we?” Foxglove mumbled, shaking her head. “The slavers and raiders based here would kill us all when we came back… if we came back,” She corrected herself.

“If they fight it’s not only better for them in the long run but good for us too… and the wasteland in general,” I replied firmly. “I think Gracious has already made up her mind. That’ll probably sway the others eventually. She is their leader after all.”

Foxglove leant against me, grabbing my leg for comfort. “As much as I don’t want to be in a battle… I hope they decide to fight.”

* * *

A knock at the door snapped me out of my dream. It’d been a weird mix of pink unicorns, rainbows, and dancing, so I wasn't sad to see it go. The knocking continued, becoming more urgent with each strike. Dragging myself out of Foxgloves grip, still clinging to my arm, I ambled to the door. A rather unceremonious thunk of my hoof on the button later and the slide of the door revealed a haggard and stressed Minor Wings.

“We’re fighting.”

“That’s great news!” I beamed at him.

“Let me elaborate on that.” He looked at me for a moment, nervously. “We are fighting. You, Foxglove, and the rest of your group, are not.”

“What!” I gaped. “Why?”

“Some of the Council thought it would make the attack… personal. They wanted to leave that element out of the equation. They think that you might want to take revenge somehow, make a rash decision that could put the attack at risk.” Minor shrugged sympathetically. “I don’t agree, it’s personnel already so far as I can see. They could well be responsible for the reactor failure.” Minor scratched his neck shaking his head. “I’m not entirely sure why, but this doesn’t seem fair on you two.”

I beckoned him inside and we sat down on the sofa. Yawning, Foxglove joined us and offered Minor the last of the soup which he took gratefully. With a wry smile, I noticed that we sat in exactly the same configuration as when Helix and I told Tungsten about our relationship. Everything was the same, right down to the sofa layout and the mass produced table between us.

“Why would it be unfair?” I asked. “This is your stable after all.”

“Well maybe unfair is the wrong word but, if it weren't for your Fran, we would have never got the cameras working again.” Minor set his bowl down and flopped back on the sofa. “And given your knowledge, I am sure you’ll be able to fix the lifts soon enough. In fact, you’ll have to if our plan is to work.

“And if it weren’t for you, we would never have been able to get into Shade’s room. Well, no where near as quickly.” He looked over at me curiously. “How do you do that anyway? We had our most powerful torch on it for thirty minutes and it did nothing.”

“The stable alloys are great at transferring heat, one of the extra little fire safety things to prevent structural damage but spreading the heat out. Not that there is much to burn in a Stable. As an example, the carpet we had in Seventeen was self extinguishing.”

“But how do you cut through them?” Minor sat up, he seemed surprisingly keen.

“I use a repulsion spell to prevent the heat from spreading. Its not perfect but there becomes a point where the alloy liquefies then I can put a field between the solid and liquid metal. After that its like driving a molten pool like you might in welding, but I use the field to prevent the alloy for joining back together behind me.” I cocked my head. “Was that too much detail?”

“No, I get it… I think. Not that it matters too much. You can do it and thats the main point.” Minor got to his hooves, pacing before us. “There are details to be sorted out, but we do have a plan. I’d like you both to be involved. I know you don’t know much about the Slavers, but you know more than us.”

“Anything we can do,” I replied happily. “This is going to be a step towards saving our own stable as well as yours. Though how they are going to stop us from being in the fight I have no idea.”

“They want you both out of the stable.” Ah. “We’re going to give you a lift to the top of the shaft once you’ve fixed the lifts and cut through the door to the hanger.”

“Then what?”

“Gracious was hoping you would get your friends to make some kind of distraction to draw them away from the door. We cut through, release the ghouls and watch the massacre unfold…” All three of us squirmed at the thought.

“This is going to be messy.” Foxglove shook her head sadly.

* * *

The lifts were even easier to fix than I’d anticipated. A quick poke around in the software revealed a bios based timer that was set to scramble the port configurations on the timing chip. Once that happened the system would fall over, and with no way of re-syncing all the systems, it would never start up again… unless you reset the clock.

“I just set the timer to zero.” I snapped the panel over the computer shut and turned back to Minor and Chip, the stables resident tech-buff. “It’ll die again in fifty years, but all you have to do is reflash it from the other Bios chip and you’re good to go again.”

“I can’t believe it was that simple!” Chip said, his poofy brown mane shaking like a bowl of jelly; in fact the young stallion looked very much like a chocolate chip, with his dappled brown and black coat. “If I’d known, we could’ve been zippin’ up and down years ago.”

I laughed as he waved his fore hooves up and down exuberantly. “The only reason I found it was because my PipBuck can get root access. You guys were doomed from the start, unless you manually replaced the chip that is, but I best nopony would have thought of that.”

“Fran, you ready to move straight onto the door?” Minor looked at his PipBuck. “My mother’s just sent through the schedule for this plan. It’s rapid.”

“How rapid?” I joined him on the balcony outside the electronics room, avoiding the large puddles of rusty water.

“Door gets blown in just under eightteen hours.”

Wow, that was quick. “Do you think you’ll all be ready in time?” I asked, pulling myself on to his back. “What do you need to get ready?”

“Quite a lot, but I think my mother wants to get this over with. And, I pointed out that while that vertibuck is still underground it’s not going to be very effective. Taking that out of the equation makes our lives much easier.”

I gripped Minor Wings flanks with my rear legs and put my hooves round his neck. A pause, then we were spiraling down to the bottom floor. Getting off, I could see just how quickly things could change when you have eight hundred ponies working together.

The doors to the other areas of the stable had been tacked shut with small welds so that the ponies down there could work safely. Even so, there were around two dozen guards armed with a mixture of shotguns and high calibre pistols. A trio of hefty barricades on casters were being welded together from scrap. With two firing levels, forward facing spikes and a fixed, early era machine gun each, there were serious pieces of kit.

“These’ll be at the sides when we release the ghouls. Once we’ve released them, we’ll roll them forward and lock them down. This will be our first line of defence in case things go wrong and the slavers start fighting back.”

Minor went over and inspected one of the early machine guns. It was nothing like the ones I’d seen at Arcano. With eight barrels and a hoof crank, it looked like something out an old Western-Equestrian film, harking back to the rougher days on the edges of Celestial territory.

“It’s a shame these should see war again after so many years.” Minor stroked the barrels affectionately. He caught my bemused expression. “Yeah, I am stroking it. I spent my entire life looking after and maintaining so many of the items in this stable that I developed a few favorites.”

I gave him a reassuring smile “Don’t worry. I understand. It’s the same with my EVA suit.”

“Indicia assures me it’s called an ASA Suit.”

“I guess it doesn't matter. Though I’d always wondered since an EVA suit was the name for what the first Celanaughts wore in our few decades of space exploration.”

Minor did a double take. “We were sending ponies into space?”

Ok, apparently that wasn’t common knowledge.

I told Minor I’d fill him in later, so he showed me to the door. The plan was to cut most of the way through the door and then use a concussive charge to break the remaining material and ‘open’ it. The blast was also intended to get the ghouls attention.

Three hours of careful cutting later and the door was only held in place by a thin wall of material on the far side. I went as close as I dared. I didn't want the cut showing through on the other side, but neither did I want it so thick that the concussive charge wouldn’t easily break down the door. I had also made sure that the bottom of the door would break clean so that the moveable barricades wouldn’t be hindered by scrap, allowing them to advance their position.

Now that the lifts were working again, the next few hours were taken up by creating strategic defensive points and barricades all over the balconies in the Core. More old guns and devices were being pulled out of their glass cases to make all manner of offensive and defensive weapons. There was one rather nasty looking device that shot a net made of razorwire, intended to capture a flying pegasus, and another that shot spiked stars of metal that could cut a ponies hoof clean off.

This was going to be messy one way or another.

With the timer I’d set on my PipBuck reading six hours to go, I dragged my dirty, sweaty body into the shower. Foxglove was packing the last few things into her saddle bags, getting ready for the big lift. Minor and another pegasus, Soaring Sparks, would lift us both up to the top of the shaft then, weather permitting, would drop us off at the bottom of the cliff. In the remaining four hours or so, I’d have to convince the others to create some kind of distraction, and then implement it on cue. This was not going to be an easy night.

“Why are we doing—“ Foxglove yawned widely, “doing this so late at night? I mean, fighting at two a.m. can’t be good for you.”

“The council seems to be banking on the raiders being both tired from being woken up and confused by the distraction. Minor has concocted a load of different attack methods. I knew it was his job to study the machines, but I didn't realise he also studied the tactics of their use.” I turned off the shower and began to pat myself dry. “With any luck, between the ghouls and the distraction, we should be able to do this with minimum casualties on our side.”

“There’s one good thing though.”

I peered around the bathroom door as I combed my mane. “What is that?”

“The look Helix is going to have on her face when she sees you.”

* * *

Three hours later I was standing with Foxglove, Minor and the new addition Sparks in the core ready to depart, saying our goodbyes to the small gathering beside us.

Even though we were not leaving them for long, or even going very far away, I couldn’t help but cry into Gracious’ mane. I didn’t even know anypony very well, besides Minor, but leaving just hours before a fight left me feeling hollow and sad. I realised then that I may never see some of them again. If they died, that would be it.

“You all stay safe now, you hear?” My voice was muffled by the Overmare’s long grey mane. “I want to be able to thank you all when I get back.”

“You will dear,” Gracious replied earnestly, stroking my mane.

I released Gracious and found Indicia next in line. She was surprisingly tearful too. I gave her a bleary smile and a quick hug.

“Bring that suit back, I still want to examine it some more.” She gave my black coated chest a playful prod. “Wouldn’t mind giving it a try some time too. I‘m pretty sure I can get into shape by the time you guys come back from saving your Stable.”

“If you’re good, I’m sure we can arrange something.” I poked her back.

After Foxglove finished her silent goodbye with Shade, she and I stepped onto the platform and mounted our respective carriers. Minor for me, Sparks for Foxglove. I clipped myself to the harness Minor was wearing and readied myself. A last look over my shoulder at the gathered farewell party before Minor took to the air, spiralled down to the rusty floor below. I expected them both to stop but Minor just leveled out, yelling at me to ‘Hold on tight.’ before rolling into the lift and spiraling upwards. Behind me, Foxglove shrieked as Sparks did the same.

Up we soared, our path lit by my Pipbuck and the occasional functional wall light. I quickly reset the altimeter on my PipBuck, I was curious to know just how far we had dropped. Beneath me I could feel Minor’s wings working furiously. Every muscle movement, every correction, I felt as we climbed.

“What should I expect at the top?” Minor yelled at me over the wind noise. “Do you think there could be hostiles? Do you think your friends will still be around.”

“Both are unlikely, but I guess anything’s possible. We didn’t exactly plan on falling down the shaft.” Minor chuckled at my response.

Minor spurred himself on. We passed three thousand foot and kept climbing. Behind us I could hear the occasional ‘woop’ of enjoyment from Foxglove, followed the the occasional ‘eeep’ as we dodged protrusions from the side of the tunnel.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be using this lift again,” Minor called back to me. “Hey, look up. Daylight.”

He was right. A tiny dot was growing larger and larger above us. I quickly glanced at my Pipbuck. “Damn, it’s been almost six thousand feet!”

Minor turned round and yelled down to his fellow pegasus, while still climbing. “Sparks, hang back a little. We have no idea what we will find up there.”

“Roger.” Sparks began to ease off as Minor and I began to accelerate.

“How far do you think we have above the hole?” Minor asked, the opening now only a few hundred feet away.

“Sixteen feet perhaps? Twenty max,” I yelled back.

“Should be able to make it then.”

I hesitated. “Make what?” I asked, my hoof over my eyes for the rich orange light reflecting down the shaft.

“This.”

We shot out of the elevator shaft, and I screamed. Minor pitched hard into an upside down roll, ducking under a fallen beam and crashing through the remains of the rear doors. With one final squeal as I narrowly avoided the sofa, we soared up into the light.

I looked around, my eyes adjusting to the bright, orange, ambient light from the setting sun as it scattered through the clouds. Minor circled to watch Sparks and Foxglove make a far more sensible exit from the tunnel and glide up to join us in the sky.

Nopony said anything as we circled above the hostel in the darkening twilight, Minor and Sparks taking in the world around them. From above, I could see the bodies of the dead raiders that had attacked us, and the path we’d ascended to reach the saddle in the mountain range.

“So, this is what the wasteland looks like,” Minor stated simply. “Well, I can’t say I was expecting this. I thought there would be more, death, more destruction.”

“Sadly, it’s out there.” I sighed. “That path over there is where we came up, so turn right and let’s see if we can’t pick up the road that Mantis was going to lead us down.”

“Can you reach into that side pocket with your magic?” Minor asked as we scythed through the darkening sky. “Pass me what you find in there.”

I obliged, opening up the pouch and pulling out a pair of black goggles. It looked like a pair of binoculars with a head strap. Minor pulled the things over his head and flicked a switch on the side.

“Brilliant, they are working better than I’d expected.” He looked around with the goggles on.

“What are they?”

“Night-vision goggles. Prototype ones. They contain light amplification crystals and also highlight sources of infrared.” He banked left as we spotted the road beneath us. “Between the two you can see in more detail than you can in daylight. Though they don’t like clouds for some reason. Everything just goes fuzzy. I was going to just follow the road down, unless you had a better plan.”

I pulled up the area map on my PipBuck. “We can do that but it will take a while. We should be safe just dropping down the cliff face until we hit the road at the bottom, though I hope not literally.”

“Ok, you tell me where to go, just keep your PipBuck light off. Let’s try to keep this as stealthy as possible. Give me a tap every five hundred feet so I know when to ease off. I don’t fancy hitting the road either so the more information the better.”

The four of us swooped over the edge of the road, leaving the trail of rusted vehicles behind us, and spiraled slowly downwards. Minor and Sparks barely flapped their wings, riding thermals that were forced up by the steep incline beside us. Four ponies gliding silently through the night.

At five hundred feet to go before we got down to the same level as Stable Twenty Five, I gave Minor the tap and switched on my EFS. I wanted to spot any hostiles long before they spotted us, and keep an eye out for any friendly, yellow dots.

My head slammed into Minor’s neck, his wings snapping out to their fullest. I heard Minor cry out and I caught a uncomfortably close glimpse at the side of a lorry as Minor heaved back up into the air. Minor finally stopped cursing long enough to shout at me.

“I said five hundred not one hundred.” He didn’t sound that upset, more shocked. “Damn that was close. It’s a good job I got Sparks to hang back, I didn’t realise that cloud could get that low. I thought there was nothing there and then it just appeared in front of us.” He continued to jabber insults at his seemingly pointless goggles, all I caught was something about them definitely being prototypes.

Suddenly we dropped. I could feel Minor’s wings straining underneath me. No longer the smooth rhythm I was used to but shuddering and forceful lunges at the air.

“Are you alright? Did you sprain something?”

“No, I’m just getting tired.” I felt us wobble. “I have never flown this far before. And pulling maneuvers like that with your weight on my back doesn’t help matters.”

“Are you saying I’m fat?” I asked with a stern tone.

“Maybe.” Minor laughed. “No, like I said I have never flown this far. I have carried more weight but only for short runs.”

“Set us down. I reckon we are going to need you soon enough so lets rest.” I patted his shoulder reassuringly.

With the clatter of hooves, Minor and Sparks touched down beside an overturned military truck. I strapped myself and then went to help Foxglove who was struggling to find all the clips. Casting my eye around through the gloom, the wasteland looked exactly how I remembered it. The same gloomy light, the same perishing relics of machines and pre-war life, the same smell of decay and rust.

“So, which way do you think they went?” Foxglove asked, peering around through the darkness. “Why did we have to do this at night, we can’t see anything. We might have been able to track them if it were daylight.”

By the map, we were about three miles short of Stable Twenty Five’s entrance. “Let’s try this first.” I activated my PipBuck’s short range radio. “Francium to Helix, Francum to Helix, over.” Static. “Francium to Tungsten, Francium to Tungsten, over.” More static. “I don’t think we are close enough yet. If we just head back towards the Stable we I should be able to contact them eventually.”

“What is the range on your PipBuck?” Sparks asked curiously. “Ours aren’t capable of independent transmission.”

“They can do up to a mile if there’s nothing in the way. Ours are C class Three Thousand series, you guys just have A class.” I lifted up Sparks PipBuck leg and had a quick poke through the system. “Yeah, EFS is a little slower to react, older HUD version, less storage space, only basic signal decryption… well, that’s annoying.”

“What’s annoying?”

“I could have encrypted the signals I was sending to Helix from inside the stable and it would have taken months for the PipBucks they relayed off to decrypt the signal. We could have arranged this whole thing without leaving the stable.” I rolled my eyes. “Oh well, at least we know now.”

“So, who wants to take point?” Minor asked, rather tentatively.

I whipped out Jury, slapping home a new cell as I did so. “I got it. Minor Youre back and left of me, Foxglove go behind me and Sparks can you take the rear?” The electric blue pegasus nodded cautiously. “Come on guys. The EFS is clear, you can relax. There might be a lot of bad stuff in the wastes, but thankfully it tends to sleep like the rest of us.” I knew that wasn’t very comforting, but it was better than nothing.

With one final check on Jury, I lead us off into the night.

* * *

I held up my hoof firmly, dropping to my knees as I motioned for the others to do the same. “I got myself a yellow.” I looked round. “You all got the same?” Foxglove nodded, but Minor and Sparks shook their heads. I put it down to the PipBuck model, less range on the older versions.

“Do you want to try the radio again?” Foxglove whispered. “They can’t be so far away.”

“Francium to Helix over.” I waited. “Francium to Tungsten over?” Still nothing.

Foxglove looked worried. “They could be asleep?”

I just shrugged.

“Let’s advance a little further.” Minor began to crawl forward. “I wonder what…”

The branch snapped like a gunshot. I had to bite my hoof to stop myself yelling at Minor for not being careful, but that meant I couldn’t yell out as the flashbang came flying through the air.

Stumbling around, my ears ringing and eyes burning, I fell over onto my back. When I eyes cleared, I was staring bleary eyed down the very shiny barrel of a scoped rifle. I tried to yell ‘Don’t shoot’, but all that came out was ‘Do-bluragh-yooot’ as I sneezed, almost poking my own eye out on the muzzle. But it seemed I’d got the point across.

“Fran?”

Mantis slung his rifle back over his shoulder, holding out his hoof to pull me back up. He examined me, almost like he didn’t quite believe that I was in front of him. He turned to look at Foxglove who was cowering with her hooves over her ears.

“How did you...” Mantis started, but his rifle was back out in an instant as Minor and Sparks landed. It seemed they managed to gain enough altitude to avoid most of the flashbangs concussive blast.

“Fran?” Mantis swung his rifle back and forth between the two pegasi, eyeing them cautiously. “What’re you doing with two Dashites?”

“They're not… bleaugh, Dashites,” I managed to splutter. “They’re stable dwellers.”

Mantis’s eyes widened. “You mean, they’re from Stable Twenty Five?”

I just nodded, pulling Foxglove to her hooves. Damn those flashbangs had some bite. “Mantis, meet Minor Wings and Soaring Sparks of Stable Twenty Five.” I pointed. “Minor, Sparks, this is Mantis from Viewpoint. A small town on the other side of this mountain range..”

“Pleasure.” Minor held out his hoof. Mantis hesitated but shook it with a firm hoof. “Fran has mentioned you quite frequently since we met. I hear you’re a crack shot with that rifle. That’ll be useful in the coming hours.”

For a moment I wondered where the fairly relaxed and casual Minor had disappeared to, then I remembered that the Overmare’s son was going to be well versed in diplomatic conversation, even if he didn’t always show it.

“Yeah, I am.” Mantis grinned. “But first, I think we ought to have a reunion. This will be something to watch.”

* * *

Helix and Seafire were lying peacefully next to a zebra, which threw me for a moment despite a cryptic warning from Mantis, when I quietly unzipped the tent. She looked just as beautiful as the last time I had seen her, and so cute, curled in her sleeping bag, ears twitching occasionally.

So that’s where I started. Helix shifted in her sleep, stretching her hooves out and nuzzling into her pillow as I gently worked her ear between my teeth. I stepped it up by kissing her forehead, then her nose, before engaging in an upside down kiss.

Slowly, Helix raised her head, chasing my lips with her own. The moment mine left her own her eyes fluttered open and I looked into her beautiful eyes.

“Fran?” She whispered, confused.

I responded with another passionate kiss.

“Fran?” She muttered in exactly the same hazy tone.

I kissed her again.

“Is that you?”

Ok, clearly being subtle wasn’t working.

I lept on her, twisting round so that I could grab her tightly in my hooves whilst kissing and licking and nibbling every part of her head I could reach. Helix squealed in the most adorable tone I’d ever heard, fighting my loving assault at first before launching into a passionate counter attack.

Her moaning and gasping was electrifying. Neither of us could stop. Helix shoved her way out of her sleeping bag and rolled me forcefully onto my back.

“FRAN!” Helix yelled, squealed, and jabbered, all in the same word. “Celestia, you’re, you’re, squeee!”

At that point her extravagant squealing was interrupted by a rather disgruntled white unicorn.

“Helix, what in Celestia’s name is going?” Seafire spotted me lying next to her with Helix pinning me to the ground. “Oh,” Seafire deadpanned. “Well, I can’t say I shouldn’t have seen this coming.” For the briefest of moments her stern face held, but it was too much. “Oh go on. I think you have been apart long enough, although Xyalia seems to be looking a little worse for ware.”

“Who?” I asked. Seafire pointed.

Helix’s sleeping bag was dangling off the head off the very surprised looking zebra. The mare shook the bag off her head and after examining Helix and I for a moment, turned to Seafire.

“I take it this is alright?” She pointed at me. I was still trying to wrap my brain around her weird name when I spotted that what I’d assumed earlier were two PipBucks were actually a pair of sheathed blades attached to the backside of each foreleg.

“Oh, yeah, it’s cool.” Helix grinned.

Xyalia looked confused. “Is the temperature relevant?” Helix, Seafire, and I all exchanged ‘did she really just say that?’ looks. “That was a joke,” she added. Ok, zebra humour is… weird.

“I didn’t know you had a sense of humour?” Tungsten said as he stuck his head into the tent. “You two done being marefriends yet?” He smirked at me. Tungsten regretted the quip when Helix and I tackled him to the ground in a twin flying tackle. The three of us rolled in the dirt and dust. “Great to have you back Fran.” He grinned, ruffling my mane.

I sat up and gazed around. Smoking and Mantis were watching all of this unfold with great amusement. Seafire and Foxglove were clinging to each other, crying their eyes out. Minor and Sparks were hovering nervously on the edge of the camp, I beckoned them in and sat myself down on one of the logs that had been arranged around the small firepit in the centre.

With Helix on my left and Minor on my right, Foxglove and I began to regale our detour to the group. It turned out that we weren’t the only ones who’d had an interesting time. Xyalia was the first zebra any of us had ever met. Minor and Sparks took to her well, so did Foxglove. Personally, I was glad that we had somepony… some-zebra, I corrected myself, with her amazing skills on our side. We were going to need them.

“As amazing as all this is guys…” I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. “I’m afraid that our return comes with a catch.”

Everypony stopped.

“What do you mean?” My love asked. Damn, it felt so good to hear her voice, but her worried tone very much marred that sensation.

“Four hours from now at two in the morning, Stable Twenty Five is going to launch an attack from inside the Stable. In order for the plan to work effectively we must create a large enough distraction about five minutes to the hour.” I looked firmly around the group. “I assured their Overmare that we would be able to do that. We are preparing for a fight. A fight that may very well change the whole region.”

“What kind of diversion?” Smoking asked.

I found myself chuckling slightly. ”Something big. The bigger, the better.”

Mantis and Smoking exchanged glances, Mantis grinning slyly. “I am sure we can arrange that.”

“From inside the stable we guessed there were around one hundred slavers in the hanger. We didn’t know how many outside.” Foxglove shuffled nervously next to Seafire.

“Hmmm.” More glances as Mantis schemed. “We’ve not seen a hanger from the outside but there must be tenting for at least another hundred ponies outside. So, assuming no overlap, that makes two hundred tangos. What kind of numbers and weapons are we talking on the Stable side?”

Mantis, Smoking, Seafire and Tungsten payed close attention as Minor and I filled them in on the plans and formations that we'd left behind. Judging by their expressions, it wasn't good, but I sensed that Mantis was cooking up something that might just even the odds.

“When do you reckon they were moving the Vertibuck?” Mantis inquired, breaking the silence that had descended over the group.

“Not sure, early afternoon,” Minor replied. “Why?”

“There’s another large something in their base. A vertibuck might fit its profile. But that one hasn’t moved all day. We’ve been keeping an eye on their comings and goings. Believe it or not, at one point we were considering breaking in to try and find those two.” He gestured to Foxglove and myself. “Good job we didn’t, but that would indicate that they have at least two vehicles.” Mantis relaxed for a moment, prodding at the fire with a stick. “I have some ideas, but they all involve trusting her.” He pointed roughly at Xyalia. “As much as I don’t like the idea, she is the only one who can really pull this off.”

I ignored the very dark and aggressive tones Mantis was directing towards the zebra, who pointedly ignored his comments, and decided to focus on the task at hoof.

“So. What is the plan?” Smoking sat forward intently. “I have a few ideas of my own.”

* * *

The plan was simple enough. Simple and yet insane. No doubt this was going to significantly even the odds if everything went to plan. With help from Mantis, I jury-rigged together four energy cells in a recycling loop. I theorised it back in Seventeen, and Mantis assured me from personal experience, that this would make one heck of an explosion. Add on what we were planning to do with it and the effect was going to be catastrophic to anything that got in the way.

“Right. Now whatever you do, do not pull out this tab.” Mantis glared at Xyalia as he strapped the device to her back. “If you do, you will be incinerated. Fix the device as close as you can to the main tank and attach the end of the string to this blasting cap. In fact…”

Mantis took out another blasting cap and wired its terminals across the speaker terminals inside an old electo-magical clock that he’d scavenged. Setting the alarm to time plus one minute, he placed the device on a nearby rock. Less than a minute later Mantis had a satisfied grin on his muzzle as the blasting cap detonated on cue.

“Perfect.”

“Is that it. Is everything ready?” Xyalia asked patiently.

“Just set the clock and you’re good to go,” Mantis replied happily, only for his expression and tone to turn dark. “But back-stab us and I’ll detonate that collar myself.”

I waited until Xyalia was out of earshot before rounding on Mantis. “What the hay is your problem with her?” I barked at him. “Why do you treat her like dirt? The war is long on over you know.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” He shot back cooly. “Ask Helix, or any of the others. They all know.”

“Right then. I will.” I stormed off to find Helix, leaving Mantis to begin cleaning and preparing his rifle.

I didn’t find Helix, but I did find Foxglove and Seafire packing up our tents with Xyalia sitting patiently on one of the logs near the fire. If everything went to plan, we’d be leaving the moment the battle ended with help from some of Stable Twenty Fives pegasi, giving us a lift across the valley to the mouth of the Platinum Tunnel.

“Hey, Seafire, can I ask you something?” I whispered to her so Xyalia wouldn’t hear..

“Sure,” she replied lightly as she held a pole bag open for Foxglove.

“Why is Mantis so horrible to Xyalia?”

Her expression faltered as she explained their history.

“Oh,” was all I could think to say.

“Hey, are you all ready?” Smoking and Tungsten appeared out of the gloom, returning from spying on the slaver base. “We need to be moving out soon.”

“Yeah. We’re good to go,” Seafire replied as Foxglove tucked the last folds of tent into her saddle bags. “Helix is good to go, I think. She popped off for a moment. Probably the little fillies room.”

Smoking just nodded. “The pegasi have shot back off to the Stable. We’re all packed up. Once we are all here, I think we are all ready to go.”

A few minutes later, Mantis trotted out of the darkness and joined us in the light of the sole remaining lamp set on the remains of the extinguished fire. I kept tapping my hooves as I waited for Helix, but she didn't appear.

Tungsten rolled his eyes. “How long does it take that mare to go?”

“Do you think she’s ok?” Foxglove asked tentatively. “Should we go look?”

Tungsten waved a hoof dismissively “We would have heard if there was a problem, she’s loud when she wants to be.”

Almost on cue there was the crunching of gravel and Helix stumbled out of the gloom.

“Sorry every pony.” Helix shook herself down with a grimace on her face. “Something I ate.”

“You alright?” I asked her, concerned.

Helix smiled back at me, glowing like every picture of the sun I had ever seen. “Yeah, I’m good.”

‘Yeah,’ I said to myself even though I knew what was coming, ‘today is a good day.’

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: “Until death do us part” - Your time away from Helix and subsequent return has shown just how much you need her. In her presence you gain +1 Intelligence and +1 Luck. If you actively know she is in danger you suffer -1 to Charisma and -1 to Perception.