I looked down at my PipBuck, toggling the time. ‘Two hours? Is that all?’ I groaned, rolling over on the bed to look at the door. Outside the frosted glass door of the bedroom Foxglove and I had been locked in, I could see the two Luna Guard standing... guard, while we waited for Fran and the others to return from their mission. Time was crawling by as I waited. Foxglove had settled down on a rather plush rug at the foot of the bed, reading a biology textbook she’d found on one of the bookshelves. It seemed to have been reclaimed from a school and given the ages printed on the side was well below her skill level, but she was diligently reading it all the same. I always forgot how young she was compared to the rest of the group, which I supposed was a good thing. She weathered the same storms as the rest of us and while I knew not all was right in her world, she was still here with us doing her part. Then again, it wasn't like the rest of us were better prepared, perhaps, in the long run, it might be an advantage.

Shaking that unusual train of thought, I cast my thoughts inwards, closing my eyes to think. Four weeks we’d been out of Stable Seventeen, and in that time we’d done things I’d never thought possible. I’d taken lives for one, something I’d never even considered, let alone having to do, before being thrust into the wasteland. It had been in self-defence, yes, but it still left me feeling cold inside, like part of me was stripped away with every life I extinguished. I was supposed to be a healer, a scientist, an explorer with a microscope… but now I could add killer to that list too.

And Fran…

Francium Actinium.

The love of my life. Pragmatic almost to a fault. Some of her choices were bad, I couldn’t deny that, but; knowing how her mind worked, she was always working toward that net positive good for the world. Yes, she’d taken life, even in anger, but I doubted the ponies of High Voltage would forget her actions to save them anytime soon. Nor those of Stable Twenty Five. Her assistance had ensured that the Slavers had not slaughtered Gracious Wings and the rest of her Stable, and has set up Stable 25 as a future trading post and town with defences to boot. And even now, I’m certain she had a plan for Appleloosa. That was something that still surprised me to this day. Her mind seemed to be always in the now: fix the problem, fix the next and the next. But it happened almost subconsciously, her mind would be looking ahead and solving problems she hadn’t even encountered yet. She was the brightest star in my sky, and even when the clouds came in, I knew she would still be there, shining bright, just waiting to make her grand return.

Fttt. Fttt. Thud.

My ears perked up. What was that?

I sat up in bed. Foxglove was still reading, seemingly undisturbed. My eyes shot around the room, hairs standing up on my neck. I couldn’t see anything. I glanced at the door, then leapt off the bed. The shadows of the two Luna Guard that had flanked the door were now crumpled on the floor, but the frosted glass stopped me from seeing anything more than indistinct outlines.

“Foxglove,” I whispered. “Foxglove. Something is wrong.”

“Huh?” She flicked her mane out of her eyes. “Sorry Helix?”

I held a hoof to my muzzle. “Shhhh… the guards outside the door are down.” She noticed the shadows, her eyes widening.

“What happened?” She whispered back, fear creeping into her voice.

I shook my head. “I heard something but it was over so quickly I don’t know what happened.” I pressed my ear to the door. “I can’t hear anything either... Oh, Goddesses.” I stumbled back from the pool of blood that was slowly seeping under the door. “They’re dead?” My heart started thumping a thousand beats a minute. Celestia, what was going on?

Foxglove cautiously approached me, pointedly ignoring the blood under the door. “What do we do?” She asked pleadingly. “Wait, do you think Seafire and the others are back? Is this them trying to free us?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Somepony would have unlocked the door by now. Or moved the bodies. And I really hope they’d have a better plan than shooting their way out.” I gave the glass a tentative tap. “We could try to break the door down? It’s only glass.”

“No…” Foxglove placed her hooves flat to the glass and closed her eyes. “There is magic in the door. I can feel it. It’s probably magically strengthened, maybe even sound dampened.”

“You can feel that? Just by touching the glass?”

Foxglove nodded slowly. “My hooves are very sensitive to magic. It flows through everything natural. It’s why I’m so good with plants, I can feel what they need just by touching them: water, food, light, minerals.” The young mare glanced at her cutie mark. “Seafire said it’s almost like this is my roots, reaching out to find what I need to survive, regardless of the harsh conditions. If this door really was just glass, I wouldn’t feel anything, but I do. I can’t tell you what it is, but I can tell you there is something there.”

I took a moment to file that information away under amazing and definitely worth investigating, but for now, I just nodded. “Okay, so no going through the door. And I don’t think either of us would want glass in our hooves anyway.” Foxglove nodded in wry agreement. “So where does that leave us?”

“Do we even want to be escaping?” Foxglove asked.

I bit my cheek. She had a point. Right now while we were stuck, we were relatively safe behind a locked door, but if Francium and the others really were here trying to free us then we needed to get out. Or something else could be going on, maybe a raider attack or perhaps the Enclave had followed Fran and the others back and were sneaking around the base. But the more I considered those options, none of them matched the evidence before me. Fran would have opened the door to find us, and both Raiders and Enclave would have opened a guarded door to loot or kill what they found inside.

“Helix?” Foxglove nudged me gently.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. There is something we are missing, as usual.”

“Wait…” Foxglove sat down and began to scroll through her Pipbuck. “Maybe we can find something out using our Pipbucks. Fran was able to find a radio signal in Stable Twenty Five. Maybe we can find something here.” I watched her scroll through the list of frequencies, the static from her Pipbuck shifting and shimmering as she did so, but nothing was appearing. “Can you make it scan for signals?” she asked. “I’m sure I saw Francium do that.”

“Yeah, I think you can.” I began tapping away on my own PipBuck. “Yes, here it is, Auto-Seek. ‘Do you want to list encrypted signals as well?’, yes.” I tapped Seek and watched as my Pipbuck began to scrub its way automatically through the bands.

Minutes passed.

My PipBuck occasionally found signals but they were too weak to understand or hear properly so I tagged them and let it move on to the next. Until, “-ove down to level three. Sirius, lock those scribes in their office and then mine the door. You’ve told them to stay put. If they ignore it, it’s their own damn fault.” I heard another pony chuckle. “Roger that. Also, why aren’t we killing those outsiders? Their no use to us.” I felt my heart clench. “Leverage.” A third pony replied. “If the others come back. And if they don’t, I call dibs on the green one. The other one is already pregnant, where is the fun in that.”

Foxglove was shaking in fear before the stallion even finished speaking, silent tears streaming from her eyes. “No...” She sobbed, her plea barely audible.

I couldn’t decide if I should be scared or if I should be furious. After a moment, furious won out. I switched off the radio, stomping my hoof. “That monster will never get the chance.” I hissed, my eyes darting around the room looking for a solution. What we wanted was an air vent or duct, or maybe another door, but there was nothing. The ceiling was just a patchwork of panels but no vents. I started moving around the room, pulling back furniture, looking for a way out.

“Helix?” Foxgloves meek voice sounded behind me. “What are you doing?”

“We need to get out of here,” I replied firmly. “When they come back here, we can’t be here. They’ve already killed two ponies and I’m willing to be they have killed more.”

“But if they catch us…” Foxglove couldn’t finish.

“You are right, but if we stay here it will definitely happen. And I am not going to sit by and wait for that.” I stomped my hoof, having moved every piece of furniture and found nothing. “Damn it.” I looked up and started jabbing at the roof, to find that the panels were just foam, a suspended ceiling. In a minute I’d pulled down all the foam to reveal a network of pipes, ducts and cables that crisscrossed the true concrete ceiling above us. But not one of them was even remotely the size of a pony. “Celestia Damn It.” I cursed. There had to be something.

My blood ran cold as I heard a whining sound behind me, something spinning faster and faster. I looked round to see a horrifying shadow glowing against the glass. A floating sphere with something extending towards the door, which began to spark as whatever it was started trying to cut through the lock on the door.

Foxglove flung herself under the bed, whimpering in fear. I watched, my own fear climaxing as I blade appeared on our side sending a shower of orange sparks into the room. There was a barely audible tinkle as the deadbolt dropped from the door and then the saw shut off. I leapt behind the bed as the door begun to swing open to reveal,

“Hello! Is any pony home?” I instantly recognised the voice: Mr Squeaky. “I’ve come to set you free.”

Foxglove and I exchanged dubious glances. While I had my doubts, the door was now open, and that was a better situation than we had been in thirty seconds ago.

“I know you are there.” Mr Squeaky boomed again, in his fanfare like voice. “The state of the room says as much. My, you certainly won't be getting your deposit back.”

I steeled myself and wriggled out backwards from under the bed, keeping the bed between me and the robot; not that it would do much good, but it was something.

“Ah, hello!” The robot called. “Good to see you are still alive. Now, where is your companion? Paladin Smoothie was very insistent I find both of you.” Foxglove gingerly crawled out beside me, still shaking. “Great, the gang’s all here. Now, I’m afraid I have some bad news. You see some ponies have started a Coup, and while I’d like to report otherwise, they don’t hold your safety in high regard.”

“We heard,” I replied stoically, deciding to get to the point. “What does the Paladin want with us?”

“She wants your assistance in dealing with this coup. In return for which, you and all your friends will be free to leave.” the robot replied jovially. “Not only that she is willing to give you some of the food your friends are recovering.”

Yet again, something felt wrong, but I couldn’t see a short route to finding out exactly what Mr Squeaky wasn’t telling us. I took a long steadying breath and gave the robot a level stare. “Fine, but we will need our gear back. And I’ll also point out, I am a scientist, not a soldier.”

“Duly Noted.” The multi-limbed hover bot floated towards the door, then stopped. “I say, may I know your names for my Friend-or-foe systems?”

“I’m Helix, and this is Foxglove,” I replied irritably.

“If you are the scientist, is she your bodyguard?” Mr Squeaky asked.

“Her gardener.” the green mare replied.

“Interesting pair, but who am I to judge.” the robot turned and hovered out the door, turning so his flamethrowing arm was up first. “I shall lead on.”

Foxglove glanced up at me, her eyes glistening with tears. I gave a reassuring smile in return, then as quietly as I could, followed Mr Squeaky out of the room.

No pony moved for a good minute, a tense silence surrounding us broken only by the gentle sound of the wind and the scuff of nervous hooves on gravel. The pegasi before me was staring straight into my eyes as if daring me to make a move. Occasionally her eyes darted around, checking out my still smouldering fur, and Fruit Wing who was lying behind me, bandages around his neck. She wore a light suit of barding over her emerald coat, with a sturdy combat knife attached to her foreleg. Her battle saddle mounted magical energy rifle trained firmly at my chest, it’s vibrant green arcs of energy matching her eyes to a tee. A small visor peeked out from under her ivory mane, hanging off her ear, dropping over her right eye upon which I could see a limited HUD and probably included an ear bloom, perhaps even EFS. But if I was honest, this wasn’t the kind of armour and firepower I would have expected from a first response team.

A quick glance around confirmed that my companions were each being watched by other pegasi, wearing identical barding and weaponry. A pair of nearly identical twins guarded Seafire and Smoking, both the mare and stallion sporting vibrant orange manes and cerulean coats. Mantis glared back defiantly into the face of a stallion with the shade and stature of a stormcloud, while beside my guard, an agile looking mare with one blue and one red eye covered Minor and Fruit Wing from a short distance.

Movement behind her drew my attention, my eyes widening as I realised why. I’d seen this armour before but carved from wood, but this… this was the real deal. Enclave power armour. Glistening like the carapace of some great black insect, the armour shifted as the pegasi cautiously patrolled through the scene, a massive magical energy cannon mounted on his back; so there was the firepower. To my surprise, the ponies head was uncovered, revealing a very tightly cropped white mane and dappled blue fur, the same headpiece hanging from the ear.

“Report.” His voice sounded agitated as he surveyed the standoff.

“Seven hostiles, three wounded. Three additional dead.” Replied the thundercloud buck with a rumbling voice to match.

There was a long pause as the armoured pony assessed each of our group in turn. His eyes lingered on me for a while longer, taking in my burns and my ASA suit. He let out a huff, then set his gaze before approaching Seafire.

“Who do you work for?” He asked firmly.

“No pony,” Seafire replied, her voice quiet but unwavering.

“I’ll ask again.” He responded after a pause. “Who do you work for?”

“No p-”

“Bullshit.” He shot back, raising his voice. “Two stolen vertibucks, stolen armour, and even stolen plasma weapons.” He spat. “Who do you work for?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Seafire responded clearly. “We don’t work for anypony.”

Faster than I could see; probably accelerated by the suit, the pegasus pressed his wing against Seafire’s throat. Seafire’s eye shrunk with surprise as the blade-like edge of the armoured wing pressed against her skin.

“So I am to assume this is all your own doing?” He gestured with his free wing as the rest of us. “All this equipment, all our food?”

“We don’t-”

Seafire shrieked, the blade cutting into her neck. Smoking and Mantis started forwards anger and rage in their eyes. I sat up, ignoring the barrel pressed against my chest only to be slammed down again as all three of us receiving a strike to the chest to quell our movements. Seafire stumbled back, her hoof against her throat, only to take it away revealing a long but shallow cut. Her breath, Seafire’s pinprick eyes looked on in fear at the pegasi leader. He stepped forwards and stared her down until Seafire dropped onto her rump in the dirt.

“Don’t play games with me filly.” He warned, his voice still calm and level. “So, who do you work for.”

“We…” Seafire Stammered. Never before had I seen the strong and intelligent mare even so much as scared, but right now, Seafire looked terrified. “We don’t work for anypony…” She whispered. “We’re not part of a gang or a group or a faction. We’re stable ponies. We just… we just…”

“You just?”

“We just want to go home.” Seafire sobbed.

The pegasi leader regarded the weeping mare for a moment longer before turning away and looking around the rest of our group, an angered almost confused expression on his face. The mare before me glanced back over her shoulder at her squad leader, an equally conflicted expression on her face. Something about this engagement wasn’t going to plan, but I clueless as to what it might be. But an idea did occur to me, something that might help support what Seafire had said.

I dragged myself into a sitting position, the mare snapping background to look at me, and pressing her gun against my chest once more. “Hey…” I called as loudly as my battered body would allow. “I have something you might like to read.”

Making his way over, the buck eyed me with suspicion. “And what might that be.”

I loaded up the message on my Pipbuck and held out my hoof. “This is a message we intercepted from the group of Raiders that attacked our Stable.” He roughly grabbed my hoof and twisted my leg a little too far so he could read it, ignoring my yelp of pain. “We’re trying to get them back.” I continued. “That’s all we want. We just want to go home.”

“And what does this,” He kicked the food containers, glaring into my eyes. “Have to do with it all then? You stole from us. You’ve killed my fellow soldiers. Burned an entire building to the ground. All so you could go home?”

I opened my mouth, but I had no reply. I had been wrong. I knew it was wrong. I’d killed innocent ponies to save the mare I loved. What did that make me? In the old world would have this been Mareslaughter? Or would my actions have been judged as dozens of counts of murder? Perhaps I should have tried harder? Could we have fought against the Luna Guard? Could we have escaped without the need to kill anypony? But perhaps…

“We were contacted by a mare named Madame.” I stuttered, hoping my half-truths would stand up. “She blackmailed us into stealing food for her army. The weapons, armour and one of the vertibucks were the tools we were given to complete the task. In return, she wouldn’t kill the rest of our stable, or sell them into slavery.”

“And where is this mare?”

“In a town, on the other side of the mountain range.” I coughed. “We think it's called Appleloosa.”

I’d hit a marker, I could tell. The stallion’s gaze bore into me, but either he believed me or he couldn’t see through my pain to the lies beneath. But he didn’t seem to be focusing on that point any more. “And yet you have still killed and maimed. How are you any better than this mare?”

I swallowed. Was I any better? I certainly wasn’t any worse but… how many had I killed in the last few weeks? I couldn’t even begin to count.

After a minute of silence, broken only by Seafire quiet tears, he turned away. “Thought so.” He muttered bitterly. Returning to the centre of the group, he turned to look at us all. “In the name of the Grand Pegasus Enclave,” He called out, “You are hereby charged with theft, arson, and multiple counts of murder. The crime for such actions is Death.” At his last word, every pegasus readied their weapons. I felt the cold steel press against the side of my head, the mare before me staring down at my broken and battered form. I had cheated death once today, I doubted it would happen a second time.

A long moment passed, the wind whistling through the broken cabin of the Vertibuck. The mare before me held my gaze, and for a moment I swore I could almost see pity in her eyes. Did she have a special somepony? Did she have a pony who’d she would kill for? Perhaps she already had killed for them? Perhaps my death would be to defend the ones she loved?

So many questions. No time at all.

The pause continued.

And continued.

“Sir?” The mare before me called. “Sir?”

The stallion let out a strained wheeze. “Hold... your fire.” I looked over the mare’s shoulder. The officer had his head tilted up, his eyes looking around wildly while the rest of him was stone still. It clicked. Xyalia. I’d been so focused on those I could see in danger that I’d completely forgotten about out stealthy zebra companion, and with a jolt, I realised that the orange-twin mare was now minus her combat knife.

“Lower your weapons.” The officer continued his voice hitching.

The mare before me hesitated then did as she was ordered, only to spin round her weapon drawn. “Deactivate the Stealthbuck or I will open fire.” She ordered to thin air.

“Airpony, stand down.” The officer hissed. “That’s an order.”

A dot appeared on my EFS. A red dot. Then a second. And a third.

“Everypony…” I croaked. “Eyes forward! Eyes forward!” Five, ten, twenty, the dots kept coming, and not just in one direction, but from all around us. “Something is coming…” And I wasn’t the only pony to have noticed. Smoking and Seafire spun around, ignoring the guns pointed at them, recovering their secondary weapons and pointing them into the mist. Ignoring the blade at his throat, the officer activated his energy cannon, spinning it around to point into the clogging mist. “Defensive positions!” He barked. “Now!”

My entire EFS was now red. In every direction, so many bars filled the bottom of my screen that it was impossible to distinguish between them. The mare before me looked around wildly, panic in her eyes. “What is out there sir?” I heard her ask.

I never heard the response, all I heard was a guttural scream from the officer as a bright green tendril wrapped itself around his neck and began choking the life out of him. His cannon fired off a stream of green bolts as his body was hoisted high into the air and out of sight. Seafire, Smoking and Mantis all scrambled for cover, grabbing their main weapons and opening fire in every direction. The vertibuck rocked as something slammed into it. A second later I was yanked from the vehicle by my hoof and flung upwards into the air.

The cacti were alive.

As far as I could see through the fog was a swarm of green tendrils whipping into the air from the mouths of the now open cacti, and snatching at anything that got near them. I fell from the sky and landed flat on my back, my body screaming in pain. A pair of tendrils snapped towards me which I tried to deflect with my repulsion spell. It seemingly worked, the vines thudding against an invisible barrier before me. I tried to crawl back to the Vertibuck but my muscles wouldn’t cooperate. Around me, the others fired back to back with the enclave soldiers into the swarm of tendrils. The Enclave officer was nowhere to be seen.

I spotted Smoking though, lying unconscious on top of a crushed cactus, from which a set of wounded tendrils was slowly trying to wrap themselves around him. I lashed out with my magic, burning and cutting at the base of the tendrils to halt their advance, while still trying to avoid Smoking’s unconscious form; how had he been thrown so far across the battlefield. The tendrils clearly didn’t like what I was doing and decided to come after me instead. I panicked, sending a scorching wave of red hot plasma slicing through the air as I tried to cut the tendrils in half with one of my heating spells. The tendrils burst into flames on contact, a high pitched shriek accompanying their last death throes. ‘Well that was effective’ my inner pony noted, and so did I.

An anguished cry drew my attention to see the orange Enclave mare being hoisted high into the air by more than a dozen angry tendrils. Thirty feet up she continued to scream as tendril wrapped itself around her neck and began to constrict like some gigantic green snake. One of her comrades successfully turned the offending stalk to dust with a well-placed rifle shot, but the vines kept coming. High above, the mare was slowly pulled in different directions until with a sickening, tearing noise she was ripped limb from limb. Each hungry plant with a piece suddenly retracted its tendrils, claiming its prize, while fending off other plants that tried to steal it from them.

Carnivorous Cacti.

Never wanting to see that horrific death ever again, I focused my magic at the tip of my horn then unleashed it in a scythe-like arc towards the plants. Some managed to weather the storm but I set more than a dozen of the cacti a flame, their tendrils crumbling to ash.

“Francium. Let me help you.”

A voice emanated from behind me. I turned to see but there was no pony there, then I realised,

“Xyalia?” I called out. “How? What about your leg?”

“I set it while you were interrogated. It will do for now.” The invisible mare replied, gritting her teeth against the pain as she worked to drag me back inside.

I continued to send out blasts of searing magic, defending anypony that was being attacked from behind or that needed that extra bit of help finishing off a suborn tendril. It looked like we were now gaining the upper hoof but I could also see how tired my friends were getting. Seafire had numerous cuts across her beautiful face and neck where the tendrils had sliced at her exposed skin. Mantis and Smoking had suffered similarly but it seemed the vines near them were more interested in grabbing their legs than strangling them, leaving them with bleeding fetlocks and calves.

“Everypony, back into the Vertibuck!” I yelled as I Xyalia dragged me inside. Smoking motioned and they began to fall back. The Enclave soldiers realised what was happening and tried to follow but now we had been separated the tendrils were able to encircle them.

“No!” I screamed. I wasn’t going to let anypony else die today. Too many had already lost their lives on this stupid mission. I scrambled around for Jury, finding the gun stuffed in one of my saddlebags. I forced myself up into a sitting position and dropped into SATS.

In the serenity, I targeted every vine that was descending on the three remaining Enclave soldiers, then released and let fly a hail of fire that sent tendrils scattering, burning and writhing. It worked, the vines parted allowing enough space for everypony to fall back, but the only place for us to go was into the Vertibuck. The spell snapped off abruptly, my horn sparking sporadically. ‘Too much magic, too quickly’ my little pony gasped. Damn it, I wasn’t used to using my horn for combat. I couldn’t keep this up.

“Just get in there!” I heard Mantis yell before the Enclave soldiers launched themselves inside, Smoking, Seafire and Mantis just behind them. The rear door began to close with a groan, vines trying to latch onto the inside, which were swiftly cut down by gunfire or blade. The bolts on the door slid home. Silence fell around us. Jury dropped to the ground, my body following suit. I was spent.

I finished clipping my barding around my middle then helped Foxglove don her own armoured barding. My growing foal was making it harder and harder to do up the clasps, in a week or so I wouldn’t be able to wear it at all. I caressed my stomach with a hoof. I shouldn’t be fighting, I should be resting and healing, but I didn’t see an alternative. I did also realise, that as bad as losing my child would be, I could have another. If Fran died, I could never replace her. My loves pragmatic logic was rubbing off on me it seemed; it was cruel, but I’d take her over my unborn foal any day. A tear dropped from my eye, as I realised the decision I had just so casually made. I just hope I didn’t come to regret it.

“So what is it you want us to do?” I asked Mr Squeaky, as he guarded the door to the locker room where our equipment had been stored. There were crates filled with what I would have considered scrap, but the remnants of many tools and machines were neatly organised on metal shelves, seemingly waiting for restoration. “You don’t expect us to fight do you?”

“It may be necessary, but for now the Paladin wants you both in the Clinic, tending to any of our wounded. However, getting you there will be difficult as the traitors have cut the base in two. Loyalist groups are scattered throughout the complex, whereas the usurpers have gathered together in the centre of the compound. We believe the plan to move out as a team, sealing doors behind them and pushing their way around the complex until they have either trapped or killed those who support Mango Smoothie. There are those who have sealed themselves away already, mainly scribes and healers who do not share a side in this civil war.”

“Why are you telling us all this?” Foxglove asked.

“The Paladin gave me instruction to keep you informed, so long as the information does not compromise the security of the compound.” The robot turned to look at us both. “She is aware of the events at Stable Twenty Five and, that while it’s not the method she would have chosen herself, your actions are those of good ponies who can be trusted.”

“Can you tell us who started this coup and why?” I asked, pulling out one of our spare Blackhawks and holstering it. “This is all very sudden. Smoothie couldn’t have known we were coming.”

“Crusader Maelstrom and Crusader Decay are believed to be the ring-leaders, along with Knight Brandy. The Paladin has been aware of their dissent for some time, believing she is not sticking to the tenants of the Luna Guard. However, the world is not what it once was and times have changed, so says the Paladin. She is is focusing on the preservation of the Luna Guard, until such a time as we are able to enact out tenants without fear of total destruction.”

“What are-” I began only to be cut off by a yell from down the hall.

“It's that damn robot. Mr Squeaky, Shutdown code Seven-Nine-Seven-One-Four.” The voice echoed down the hall. My blood turned to ice as Mr Squeaky’s limbs went limp, his eye stalks retracting into his head. “Awesome! Now, what was he doing down here?”

I floated the Blackhawk before me but somehow I doubted it would be enough. Beside me Foxglove raised her own Blackhawk, tears now streaming freely down her face. Celestia… was this going to be it?

A shimmering blue Bat Pony stuck his head around the door, pulling it back just as I pulled the trigger. Not that it mattered as my shot went wide and embedded itself in the wall of the corridor. “It’s the outsiders.” The buck called. “Robot must have set them free.”

“Perfect, I am sure we have time for some fun.” I recognised that voice, and so did Foxglove. A midnight black stallion entered the room, heavy steel armour clanking around him. “Hello, ladies.” He grinned. “Things are about to heat up in here, so why down you put down those guns and strip?”

“Heat up indeed!”

Mr Squeaky's flamethrower sputtered to life, igniting the jet of jellied petroleum right before catching the stallion in the side of the head. He screamed as his mane and muzzle caught fire. Turning to his next target, the robot's saw spun up in an instant and slashed at the blue bat pony, the blade cutting his ear off in a spray of blood and cartilage. The black buck toppled to the floor, his flesh sloughing away to reveal white bone beneath as the jelly substance stuck and continued to burn. I slipped into SATs and took aim at the blue one. The shot missed his chest as I had targeted but went low and the massive round made his knee explode in a shower of gore.

Mr Squeaky retreated into the room as plasma fire shimmered across his armoured body. There was still another pony outside. I moved up to the door, trying not to stand on the blue pony who was quickly bleeding out and activated my EFS. I could see the marker moving quickly towards me. I swung out and opened fire catching this stallion square in the face with three bullets. He was dead long before his mutilated body slid to a stop at my hooves.

I dropped the gun, panting heavily. I looked around at the splattered blood and bits of pony scattered across the hallway. It was over so quickly, easily less than a minute, and yet the effects were... horrific… brutal… sickening. Behind me, the black stallion was still alive, but barely. The flammable paste inside Mr Squeaky's flamer has burned half his face into an unrecognisable horror mask of melted flesh and barbequed muscle, the fire now working its way down his neck and into his mane. I turned to open my saddlebags, pulling out a healing potion and a rag to quell the flames.

Bang!

The single round sprayed the floor with the stallions brains. Foxglove was stood, the Blackhawk in her teeth, and smoke rising from the barrel. Her eyes were both shocked and defiant, her chest heaving. She dropped the pistol, to the floor, looking up at me. “He deserved that, right?” She asked her conviction of moments before fading. “He deserved to die?”

I didn’t have an answer for her.

No pony seemed to know what to do. Outside we could hear the screech of the vines and their vain attempts to attack the aircraft, while inside a tense standoff seemed to be taking place. The three remaining enclave soldiers backed themselves into a corner, their weapons drawn. Their barding was shredded, all three of their headpieces smashed, and all three looked well out of their depth. The green mare who had kept me pinned had deep cuts across her face, her blood dripping to the floor. The stallions both seemed relatively unharmed though the storm like one seemed to have twisted his ankle. My stomach dived when looked at the orange stallion and remembered... the orange mare, ripped apart… that was his sister. He’d watched… helpless. I then realised just how cramped it was. There were now ten of us squeezed into the small aircraft. If a fight broke out it would be near impossible to avoid friendly fire.

“Stay back.” the largest snapped, his crystal white eyes looked aggressive, but his pistol shook ever so slightly in his grasp. “No pony move.”

Mantis let out a dry laugh. “Don’t you get it? We are all in this together so just put that damn thing down so we can figure a way out of this.” He checked himself over then clambered past the three Pegasi to the cockpit. “Right, how do you fly this thing?”

Minor dragged himself to his hooves and began strapping himself in. “I can fly it on my own, it will just be a lot slower.” He stopped, looking back at us all. “Twilight… she was in the other Vertibuck.”

We all grimaced.

“Do you think she is still alive?” Seafire asked slowly. “What had happened to her?”

“Her wing almost got ripped off during our crash.” Smoking replied grimly; the enclave ponies winced behind him. “But if she shut the door she might still be alive.” He tried to peer out of one of the windows. “Damn, can’t see.”

“Leave her.” Mantis snapped. “It’s her, or all of us. It’s shitty but I just can’t see the point, especially if she can’t fly anymore.”

Seafire rounded on him. “A point? What the hell is wrong with you! She is innocent in all this and you want to just abandon her. Did you see what those vines did? They ripped that poor mare apart! Limb from limb. And you’re just going to let that happen to her?”

Mantis looked like he wanted to respond. Instead, he turned around, picked up his rifle and sat down in the opposite corner, pulling out a cleaning rag from his barding, pointedly ignoring everypony else.

Seafire turned to the enclave soldiers who’d been watching the exchange with anxious and overwhelmed expressions. “Is it just the three of you left?” She asked, an open and honest tone to her voice. Two didn’t move but the storm air pony shook his head. “Our pilot is still in our craft. I can hear him calling us on our coms.”

“Talk to him,” Seafire reassured him. “You three can still make it home. Just help us rescue our friend first.”

“You killed our fellow soldiers.” He hissed back. “For food.”

“Because if we hadn’t all us, and our stable would have been slaughtered.” Seafire countered. “I know it’s not right. Our hooves were tied, quite literally. But right here, right now, we want to help you. We want to save our friend. Please…” She begged, her guilt almost cut into her expression. “Please, no more death today. Not if it can be avoided.”

The Enclave soldiers looked between one another. Right now, they were just like we’d been after we’d returned to the warehouse. Numb, confused, shocked, frightened. They exchanged a few glances but none seemed to be willing to say anything. The storm buck gritted his teeth and after letting out a long sigh activated his microphone.

“Cirrus, come in Cirrus. This is Stratus. Good to hear your voice too. Uh, we’re in the enemy Vertibuck. No, they are all in here with us.” He paused, either listening or thinking how to respond. It was nerve-wracking just hearing one side of their conversation. “Alto is dead, so is the captain, and…. And Alberio too. Yeah, I am sure. I heard his neck snap when he was yanked into the air. Alberio, she… nevermind. It’s just… you know what, fuck the code names… its just Arora, Immelmann, and myself. Not an option. I don’t know…” He looked around. “What are the vines doing now?” We all turned to peer out the windows.

Most of the cacti still had their vines out, either sifting through the dirt or openly attacking other cacti, seemingly trying to eat one another; I guess that's how they survive when there is no food around, I noted. However this still meant no clear path to rescue Twilight, or for the Enclave to return to their own craft.

“Could we just shoot a path?” I suggested with a shrug. “Between us all, we must be able to kill enough of them to leave a clear gap between us and the other craft. Once we’ve got Twilight, we can take off and land somewhere safe so you three can return home.” From the looks on everypony's faces, no one could think if a better alternative. “If we take off, we can also get closer to the other craft so we don’t have to shoot so many vines.”

“Not too close though.” Smoking countered. “Else we will have a very narrow field of fire. We need to be able to shoot without worrying about friendly fire.” I nodded in agreement. “So the next question, who is going over to get her.”

There was a rather long silence. I knew I wasn’t an option, I could barely stand let alone walk. Fruit Wing was just as injured as I was, if not more so. Minor was needed in the cockpit for a quick takeoff, I doubted any of the Enclave would want to risk their lives after all that had happened today, and Mantis… well, he’d made his position quite clear. Smoking and Seafire looked at one another. “Together?” Seafire offered. “Yeah, probably a good idea.” Smoking agreed, unslinging his rifle and checking the magazine. “Minor, get us in the air. Everyone else, weapons check.”

The floor began to vibrate as I checked Jury over, only for me to pause. Would I be better off focusing on my magic? It seemed to be very effective against the plants, perhaps even more so than Jury might be, and I wouldn’t have to reload. ‘Or you could burn yourself out completely’, my inner pony replied. What about both, I thought back. I could manage six spells at the same time, surely I could cope with this? And it wouldn’t need to be for long, It wasn’t like Smoking and Seafire were planning to spend long out there. ‘Dual wield it is’ my inner pony grinned ‘just don’t go crazy’.

Everypony who could, gathered at the rear of the aircraft, while the rest peered out the side windows. “Door is shut.” Called Smoking. “We’ll have to go in through the side door, I’ll give you a signal via Pipbuck when we are ready to head out the back and return here. Shut the door once we are inside and we’ll open together.”

“What about the food?” Mantis asked irritably. “Are we just going to leave it?”

Smoking just shook his head. “If Mango Smoothie wants it, she can come to get it herself. It’s not like its going anywhere.” Oddly enough Mantis seemed to agree with that statement.

“I think I’ve got a better idea,” Seafire called out. “Drop us on the roof. We can use the emergency hatch to get inside. Keeps us off the ground.” Smoking nodded in agreement.

We took position over the hatch. Vines continued to attack the craft, and now we were airborne they could rock us, Minor having to fight changes in pitch and yaw. Seafire swung open the side door and after taking a few shots leapt out of sight. Smoking took several more choice shots before following her and we pulled away.

“We’re inside.” I head Smoking over my PipBuck. “Twilight is still alive. Goddesses… her wing is almost severed. Give us a few minutes to get her ready, stay in the air out of the reach of the vines.”

Pulling away I looked out the window as we gained height. The cacti went as far as I could see into the mist, with little to nothing else in view. I tried to decide how they were surviving out here, with no regular food supply, or maybe there was one but I couldn’t see it. My horn still throbbed painfully, and I wasn’t even lifting Jury yet. I’d need to let Helix have a good look at me after all this. I was certain she would cry when she saw all my burns, but it was a damn sight better than being dead. That said, I was also pretty sure that I’d been worse when emerging from the lake. I hadn’t been poisoned or stabbed and probably didn’t need to spend a week recovering in bed.

More to the point, I couldn’t.

A wave of guilt crashed over me as I realised that at times I completely forgot why we were out here in the first place: to save our Stable. Every day we lost there was another day where Lavender, Jib, Boom… Lillypad… could die or be sold or be harmed in some unique and horrific way that only the wasteland could conjure up. But we would see it through, and once we’d done that I would head straight back to Stable Seventeen and repair the damage I’d caused. Maybe Arc and the rest of the stable had managed to survive? Maybe they were still alive down there?

But things kept landing in our path, blocking our way, or sapping precious time. I wasn’t going to blame Minor or Gracious for getting them to help us defeat Storm and his Slavers, or Typhoon for insisting I stay in bed and rest; even if I had eventually ignored her, but it still filled me with anguish. What if we missed them by just one day? Could I cope with knowing I could have gone faster or just skipped one thing to save them? What if…

“Three, two, one…”

My mind snapped back to the present at Smoking’s voice emanating from my PipBuck. The hiss of the descending door was lost in the dense fog that flooded the cabin as we all aimed our weapons out into the dense moist air. A short distance away, the other Vertibuck’s door descended in unison to show Twilight strapped to Seafire’s back, the white mare hovering her combat shotgun before her, with Smoking now holding what must have been Twilights Plasma Rifle. It took a moment, but a fraction after the doors hit the dirt, cacti snapped open vines shooting into the sky. Smoking opened fire, and we all followed suit. Seafire charged, emptying the entire magazine of shells as she ran. My horn screamed at the speed I let fly with my spells, making the shots from both Jury and the Blackhawk go wild but the air was so dense with green they still found a target. Smoking began his own dash, closing the door to the other vertibuck behind him. Seafire finished her charge, leaping clean over me and into the relative safety of our vertibuck. Smoking lunged the last few avoiding one vine that had managed to slip through our hail of fire. My magic slammed the override button as Smoking yelled to take off. I continued to fire at the snapping vines until the door closed tight and the entire cabin let out a collective sigh of relief.

We followed close behind the multi-limbed robot, stopping regularly as red marks came and went on our EFS. I’d activated that and the rest of the HUD on my Pipbuck, the many icons appearing in my vision. I usually kept it turned off unless we were trying to be stealthy or we were in active combat as I found it very distracting and unnatural. I understood the magic and science behind how the HUD worked, but I much prefer to go without the little health bar and now prominent bullet counter in my vision if at all possible. I supposed that Seafire, Smoking and my brother had all become accustomed to having it permanently in their sight.

EFS was proving useful, but with no way to tell what level a marker was on, we also got a lot of false positives, which was playing havoc with my senses. Every hiss or click had my ears swivelling trying furiously to locate its source, while my eyes flitted around trying to track the many targets on my EFS and still being aware of where I was putting my hooves. I didn’t think I’d ever been so high-strung in my life.

The few encounters we did have didn’t help matters. Mr Squeaky successfully bluffed his way past two teams of the Luna Guard who were hunting us down, while we hid inside the room he was supposedly searching. But the third had resulted in us having to quickly clean up all the blood the robot had splattered all over the walls when he had sliced through one guard's neck, and I’d taken six shots to successfully kill his companion while shooting through the desk I had been crouched behind.

Foxglove was still struggling with the situation. Despite her previous fights, the confined and very personal nature of each encounter was really getting to her. It wasn’t like the raiders, or the slavers, or the Stone Throwers. Here we could see the whites of our enemies eyes, be deafened by the cracks of our guns, and watch as the life drained from their bodies before us.

That was something else that was proving a problem. While very effective, the noise of the Blackhawks seemed to be drawing ponies to our position more regularly now as we neared the clinic. We were also passing around the back of the area Mr Squeaky knew to be locked down by the rebelling Luna Guard. We could tell which doors were open and which had been jammed from the other side by the small screen next to each door, but in some cases, we only had a few inches of concrete between us and ponies who wanted to kill us… or worse.

“Hide,” I whispered quickly as I suddenly matched three more dots on my EFS to some quiet hoofsteps echoing down the corridor before us. Foxglove and I dived to the nearest door; which was marked as Training Room Three and pulled it open. Or tried too. I span round and tried Training Room Two on the other side of the corridor, but that was locked fast too. All three of us moved back to Training Room One to try -

“Hold It! Don’t move a fucking muscle.” Oh shit. Three armoured Luna Guard advanced towards us, one sporting a plasma rifle battle saddle, two with regular 10mm Pistols in their mouths. “You. Robot!” barked the one with the battle saddle. “Back away from the Outsiders.”

“I cannot comply, traitorous scum!” The robot replied, spinning his torso around, bringing his weapons to bear.

“Shutdown code Seven-Nine-Seven-One-Four.” The stallion yelled, but this time Mr Squeaky ignored him, charging forward with a metallic battlecry. ”Shutdown code Seven-Nine-Seven-One-Four. Shutdown code Seven-Nine-Seven-One-Four oh-fuckit!” All three opened fire, bullets and plasma fire filled the air as the shots ricocheted off Mr Squeaky’s armoured torso, ripping holes in the concrete walls and blasting chunks from the ceiling. I seized the moment to blast the lock off the Training Room door and push Foxglove inside. My ankle exploded with pain, then my jaw as I toppled face first to the floor. Glancing back, my purple coat was on fire around a warped and blackened patch of skin. Foxglove came to her senses quickest, smothering the fire with her hooves but the damage was more than skin deep. It felt like somepony had speared a white-hot poker through my metatarsus. My hoof was shaking erratically. I couldn’t stop it. My muscles and synapses would have taken damage I couldn’t see, but I had to fix soon lest it be permanent.

I rolled away from something that barreled towards me from the doorway to hear the crunch of metal on concrete behind me. Rolling over, two Luna Guard stood blocking the doorway silhouetted by the hall lights behind them and by the burning husk of Mr Squeaky that lay before us, his chromed armour shattered and melted with his many limbs limp and useless. Looking up, both Luna Guard had their weapons trained on Foxglove and I as we cowered together. I wanted to fight back, I wanted to defend myself, defend Foxglove, defend my foal… but my mind knew it would only bring more harm and death to fight them now.

My gun clattered to the floor. Behind me, Foxglove still bit down on her Blackhawk, until I lay a reassuring hoof on her leg and the heavy weapon dropped beside mine.

“This is Black Fire, Vanta is dead. Got the robot though, and the Outsiders.” I gripped Foxglove’s hoof tight. “Yeah, I’ll bring them in.” He levelled his plasma rifle at us. “Move.”

Collapsed on the Shezlong in the back of our Vertibuck, I listened to the hum of the storm engines outside, the whistle of the air rushing past us and the silence in the cabin. No pony had said a word since the three Enclave soldiers had taken off into the mist to rejoin their own craft some thirty minutes ago. Everypony was exhausted, mentally and physically. My own eyes kept drooping but I didn’t want to sleep, my body was still pumped and prepared for a fight, even if I could barely lift my hoof.

Seafire was curled up in the corner near the rear door, gently hugging her tail and gazing out the rear window with unfocused eyes. Xyalia was laid along the curving sofa, her broken leg resting on one of the ruined pillows, with an unconscious Twilight taking up the other half. The severely wounded mare had taken the last of our bandages to finally staunch the bleeding but with no other medical supplies left we had done our best to make her comfortable, hoping only that she would receive the attention she needed back at the base. Fruit Wing was sat up, and looking around, but the gash in his neck was still turning the bandage a deeper shade of red.

“How far away are we from the base?” Smoking asked impatiently, stood up front with Minor, answering my next thought.

“Only five, maybe ten minutes left” Minor replied, his breathing laboured. “That's assuming the tracking and map on this thing are accurate.”

A short pause before, “What are we going to do? We have only half the food we were supposed too. Four Luna Guard are dead, two severely injured. What are we going to tell the Paladin?” I could hear the undertone of fear in Seafire’s usually calm and collected voice.

“We did the job. Things went bad. Keeping it simple is probably our best bet.” Smoking seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as the rest of us.

There was a derisive snort from near the minibar. “If you really think it’s going to be that easy, you still haven’t learned just how fucked up this world is. Has today taught you nothing?”

I glared at Mantis. Ever since the three Enclave Soldiers had taken flight into the clouds, the green buck had been slouched the armchair set up next to the minibar, methodically checking his rifle and pointedly ignoring the rest of us. No pony else seemed to care; or have the energy to show any kind of emotion, except Seafire who shot him dirty looks from time to time, but at this last outburst, it seemed something had snapped.

“Fucked up?” Seafire spat venomously. “Fucked up! You shot Solar Decay! You murdered him. It’s probably because of you that Malstrom decided to try and kill us! Francium could be scarred for life because of you! She is lucky to be alive! And you… you… you just sit there like it’s not your problem! And you know what? It’s not your problem. And do you want to know why? Because you ARE the problem!”

No pony spoke. Tears streamed down Seafires muzzle, but the anger in her eyes was something that I never thought her capable of. She hated Mantis. My mind was still processing the fact that the green buck had seemingly shot Solar; which would explain the gory state in which we had found his body, but somehow that no longer mattered. It was history and we would have to deal with the consequences.

After a long moment, Mantis seemed to come to a decision. We all watched on silently as he stared Seafire down, reassembling his rifle without even needing to look at it. I saw Smoking glance at his Blackhawk, just I was checking where Jury was at my side, but on its completion Mantis slung his gun over his neck on its sling and turned to his saddlebags, beginning to shuffle and reorganise them.

“The wasteland is one problem after another. You want your Stable to live, just like I want Viewpoint to live. That means making difficult decisions. Impossible decisions. I told you when we started this that there are fates worse than death and slavery in this world.” He looked around at us all, catching everypony’s eye. “This is one of them. You can still save your Stable, but can you live with the decisions you make to see it through to the end?” He looked up from his sorting, staring at Seafire directly. “If you give up, then all the death was for nothing. All the pain you caused, all the suffering you created becomes meaningless. But, if you continue, see it through to the end, can you live with the pony you become?” Mantis snapped and buckled his bags closed with a final-sounding click. “Yeah, I am part of the problem.” He stood until he was muzzle to muzzle with Seafire. “But you know what? So. Are. You.”

CRACK!

Mantis’s head slammed against the bulkhead, blood spraying across the faux leather in a fountain, Seafire’s hoof smashing into the side of his head. He stumbled and fell to the floor, his jaw dangling unnaturally. Smoking had lunged to stop the blow but not reacted fast enough. He’s flying tackle took both him and Seafire tumbling on top of me and knocking us all the floor, Smoking doing his best to pin Seafire down, but her naturally larger frame meant she was winning despite Smoking’s greater strength.

The craft lurched down several feet. “What in the name of Celestia is going on back there?!” I heard Minor shout from the cockpit, but I was too stunned to respond. Seafire kicked up, trying to dislodge Smoking, only for him to slam into the underside of the wooden table, knocking the air from his lungs but keeping him on top of Seafire. He countered by jabbing hard to her chest, trying to do the same to her, while using his legs to try and pin her down. I tried to roll away, but there was nowhere for me to go within the confinement of the Vertibuck. I looked around to get the others to help but it dawned on me that there was no pony else able to help. Fruit Wing, Xyalia, Twilight, and I were all down for the count. Only Minor was free, and he was stopping us falling from the sky. Beside me Mantis stumbled to his hooves, blood dripping from his muzzle and his clearly dislocated jaw. He prodded it gingerly, then screamed as he punched himself in the chin, his jaw popping back into place with a gut-wrenching pop. This yell snapped both Seafire and Smoking from their brawl, to have Smoking leap to his hooves.

“Stay back.” Smoking warned, adopting a combat stance and readying himself to fight, but Mantis was focused on the blood smeared on his hoof like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Not bad.” Mantis cracked his jaw again, spitting blood onto the metal floor. “Not bad, not bad at all.” The buck grabbed his hat and planted it firmly on his head. “It’s been a pleasure, but I’m out.”

“What do you mean, out?” Smoking retorted. “Were flying through the sky, where the hell can you go?” On cue I felt us slowing, Minor vectoring the Vertibuck’s storm engines to bring us into land. He wouldn’t?

“Back to Viewpoint,” Mantis replied calmly. “I’m going to go home and leave you to your mission. Try not to get yourselves killed.” I felt the thud as we touched down and the whine as the storm engines spooled down before going silent, but I wasn’t really thinking.

He was leaving?

Smoking stared at Mantis, mouth agape. After several attempts at words, he settled for just glaring at Mantis with a mixture of anger and confusion. Behind him, Seafire looked back almost triumphantly, but her eyes still shone with tears, her chest hitching with sobs that she was trying her best to suppress. I simply stared in numb disbelief at everything before me. Seafire had hit Mantis? Mantis was now abandoning us? There was almost no pony left standing, literally, and now is the moment when he decided he’s had enough? I could see it, the whys, the reasons. We had done things that I bet he had never had in mind when he joined us but…

“If you are going to go, go now.” Smoking hit the rear door override, letting the winds and fog that soured the top of the mountain range set a gentle breeze through the cabin. “We’ll say you died on the mission, along with Solar and Maelstrom.” Our head of security took a deep, steadying breath, seeming to savour the fresh and cool mountain air. “Stay safe out there.”

If Mantis was surprised at the kind parting words, he hid it completely. He looked at us each in turn, as if saying goodbye in his own mind or perhaps remembering our faces in case he never saw us again. When he looked down at me, his gaze lingered. I stared back into his eyes, as he stared down at my battered form. I couldn’t see any anger in his face, just a hint of sadness, in an otherwise calm and muted expression. He gave a final nod in my direction, leapt down from the vertibuck and after a moment vanished into the fog.

I looked round. No pony moved except Seafire, who collapsed into a fetal ball, sobbing uncontrollably.