Time.

The indefinite, continued progress of existence. The past. The present. The future. Time is never a problem most of the… time? It just is. It’s there. It just happens, even more naturally than breathing. That is until you start running out of it.

We always knew that saving what remained of our Stable was set against a clock, we just didn’t know how long was had. So I pressed on as fast as I could, leaving High Voltage as soon as I was able to walk on my own hooves, making sure we were up every morning at first light to make the most progress every day. The wasteland, however, kept throwing up barriers at every turn, sapping more and more of what little time we had. I needed a solution. Something that would get us back on track and let us claw back the time we had lost. But, one problem at a time.

We knew things were very wrong. The eerie silence was one I’d learned to associate with trouble as I crept through the halls of the Luna Guard’s compound. We’d encountered no pony at the entrance to the facility, only a luke-warm mug of black coffee and a heavy security door left ajar. We had however found a first aid box which had been emptied in seconds. I’d drunk half of one healing potion and a few bandages in key places. The other half of the potion and a whole second one had been drunk by Fruit Wing, who was now carefully leading us through the hewn stone corridors, the fresh bandages on his neck standing out on his filthy armour, but he seemed to have been restored to a fit and fighting state. Xyalia had needed the third full potion to herself to fully fix her broken leg, which we could only hope had healed properly.

Smoking followed close behind Fruit Wing, the two communicating with hoof signals to cover off every corner and junction before moving forwards. He was using Twilight’s plasma rifle as it was much more powerful than his rifle and made less noise, but I got the sense it wasn’t something he was used too despite his training. I was next, my ASA suit having been fixed up to the best of my abilities in the five minutes I’d had, with fresh spark cells installed; I was as combat ready as I could be, even if that wasn’t that ready at all. The healing potion had dealt with the worst of the burns, but my skin still stung and felt taught under my suit, letting me know I damage was still present under my pelt.

Minor and Seafire were last, with Xyalia acting as an invisible rear guard in case some pony tried to follow us. However, after entering the main facility we’d encountered no pony on the entire top level; though given it was mainly storage I wasn’t ready to call the place abandoned just yet. Fruit Wing and Smoking stopped abruptly before a pair of sliding steel doors, and with a tap called the elevator to us. Smoking signalled to us ‘Weapons Ready’ and we all aimed towards the doors.

The elevator arrived with a gentle ‘bing’, which seemed to echo forever in the silent hall, and then slid open to, thankfully, reveal no pony. We all let out a collective breath before Fruit Wing, Smoking and myself slipped inside.

“We’ll check it out, listen to your PipBuck for the all clear, then follow us down.” He ordered to Seafire. She nodded and Smoking closed the doors.

With a short free moment, I had to voice my concerns. “What the hay is going on?” I whispered sharply. “There were dozens of ponies in the facility last time, now no one? Where have they all gone?”

“I think Maelstrom set the take over in motion while we were gone.” Fruit Wing replied. “With him away he figured that Mango Smoothie wouldn’t expect it to happen right now. Hopefully, it’s worked, I don’t like the idea infighting but needs must sometimes.”

The doors opened before I could respond revealing an empty corridor lined with more steel doors set into hewn stonework. Fruit Wing moved forwards slowly, watching the small glass panel beside each door to see if it was going to open. The immediate area clear, Smoking sent the elevator back up, which gave me time to recall my question.

“Fruit Wing, why did Maelstrom want to take over? What was the point.”

Fruit Wing surveyed me slowly. “The Luna Guard were there to protect and serve the ponies of Equestria from sunset to twilight. While not nearly as well known as the Steel Rangers, the Luna Guard assisted in many missions during the Great War. To my knowledge, High Lun-Gar is the last remaining operating base of the Luna Guard, and we’ve done our best to uphold the tenets and rules that Princess Luna set out for us all those years ago.”

My eyes widened. “You mean, you are descended from the original Luna Guard stationed here, two hundred years ago?” Fruit Wing nodded. “That's crazy. How did they survive?”

“With difficulty.” Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of our group. “I’ll tell you more later. Maybe.” Fruit Wing added before leading us forwards.

We’d only just rounded the next corner when Smoking thrust out his foreleg, stopping us all dead. I was about to ask why, when I followed his gaze. A frag mine was stuck to a door just a few meters ahead. Smoking waved a hoof and Seafire appeared next to us. “Think you can disarm it with your magic?” He asked quietly.

“Looks like an Iron Shod mark three.” She replied. “So yes, but I suggest we all get back around the corner.” We all backpedalled until only Seafire was looking around the corner. She took a deep breath. “Ready? On three. One. Two. Three.” There was a ping and a clatter, and then -

Boom!

My ears popped, the shockwave slamming down the corridor, the pressure change made my head ringing like a bell. For a long moment, I clung to my head, trying to stop the concrete walls from spinning. Seafire got her bearings first then looked back around the corner. “Damn it.” She sighed.

Once I’d got my eyes straight, I peered around the corner too. The frag had done little to the stone walls, but the lights were ripped out for several meters in both directions and the doors nearby were all bent inwards, but seemed more or less intact, if peppered with small shrapnel holes. Only the door the mine had been stuck too had been blasted off its hinges and into the room it guarded. My ears flicked round when they caught a new sound though.

“Shhhh,” I whispered. “Listen.”

Seafire and Smoking’s eyes hardened as we caught the sound of panicked voices from nearby. Fruit Wing dashed ahead, gun drawn, leaping over the wrecked door and into the room which had been mined. We rushed after him, weapons drawn but as we entered we quickly realised we didn’t need them.

The door had flown clear across the room, reducing half a dozen desks to splinters and sending the old Stable Tec computers smashing to the floor, scattering glass everywhere. But I was far more concerned for the Luna Guard scribes who had been caught in the blast. Maybe a dozen of them in total had been thrown to the floor, some clutching at their ears and others trying to use their robes to staunching bleeding from long splinters or shards of glass that had speared into them.

Fruit Wing beside the nearest scribe in a wingbeat, tearing fabric to tie around the mare’s leg. The rest of us leapt into action, doing what little we could to help. I did my best to wrap a stallions robe around his midriff where a piece of shrapnel had left a long slice into his belly. Looking around, it seemed between the lot of us we’d managed to stabilise everypony, even if most of them were still clutching at wounds or at their spinning heads. With nowhere to go in the room, the shockwave would’ve been far more focused, unlike in the corridor where it had space to dissipate.

Fruit Wing helped the mare he was with into a sitting position. Her indigo toned fur was speckled with white, with small lines on her face showing she was older than most in the room; ‘unless the speckling is a natural Thestral trait, it is rather star-like’ my inner pony wondered. Her robes were almost the same colour as her coat but had purple trimming and highlights which made her seem regal or scholarly, even if the blood now spattered across it had turned patches of it black. “Echo, what in Luna’s name is going on?”

“If I knew young one, I’d tell you.” the mare hissed clutching at her chest, her voice high pitched like Mango Smoothies. “Heard plasma fire down the corridor. Gloom and Jasmine over there charged in and shut the door behind them. Rest of us were just doing library and data archiving.”

“Who put the mine on the door?”

“Somepony. No idea who. They yelled through the door to stay put or else. Didn’t realise they’d done that. But wasn’t like any of us wanted to go out there anyway. I figured it was coming, just no so soon.”

Fruit Wing ran a hoof through his mane agitatedly. “We need to keep moving. Will-”

“Moving where?” Echo looked around at all of us. “This isn’t our fight. It isn’t your fight.” She pointed at Seafire. “You outsiders ought to up’n’out out of here while you have a chance.”

“The elder still has two of our friends. We’re not leaving without them.” Seafire replied firmly. “It may not be our fight but we are caught up in it nonetheless.”

Echo sighed. “Have it your way young one. They could be anywhere on the base mind you. Finding them is going to be an issue.”

“How big is this place?” I asked tentatively.

“Extensive.” Echo replied shortly “We probably use maybe a tenth of the facility on a day to day basis.” I dragged a hoof down my face; I was getting very tired of labyrinthian underground structures.

Fruit Wing, however, was shaking his head. “No, I doubt they'd go off into the dark areas like that, and I doubt even further they’d send your friends off to some unknown location. They'd want to keep them close.”

“Why?”

“Leverage perhaps. Or maybe just to keep them safe.” Fruit Wing gazed around the room at his fellow thestrals. “Where do you all stand?” he called. “With our Founder and her Tenants, or with our ageing leader and her stubborn view that we shouldn’t lift a hoof to help others.”

Silence.

I surveyed those scattered around me, but my inner pony was suddenly leaping up and down like a crazed mare. ‘Woah Woah Woah, hold on a second. Mango Smoothie doesn’t want to help?’ I thought back, that was what Fruit Wing had just said, wasn’t it?

“Fruit Wing?” I asked. “You still haven’t told us, what did Maelstrom want and what does Mango Smoothie want? Why was Maelstrom trying to take over in the first place?”

“Maelstrom and Solar Decay were very much of the mind that we should be following the core reason for the Luna Guard to exist, or more specifically what we became. To help ponies. To defend and to severe the common mares and stallions of Equestria.”

“And what does Mango Smoothie want to do?” I asked, a horrible feeling building up in my gut.

“Survive. Wait until the wasteland either destroys itself or heals, and only then try to help. She believes we could try and help but that our efforts could be wasted or could cause more problems if we interfere.”

Fruit Wing stared at me, but my mind was elsewhere. Maelstrom and Solar, who had wanted to help the wasteland and those trapped in its awful clutches, had acted like monsters, and we’d killed them? And Mango Smoothie, who’d seemed at the very least amicable to our situation, she wanted to do nothing, let the wasteland tear itself apart? ‘We’ve been fighting for the wrong side?!’, my little pony practically screamed. ‘Then why the hell were Solar and Maelstrom so… so… brutal?’

“But they treated us like…” Seafire stammered. We shared a look, it seemed she was piecing together the same puzzle that I was. “They threatened us, treated us like filth, like raiders. If they wanted to help the wasteland, why did they treat us like dirt? Maelstrom tried to kill Francium. Kill all of us. Explain that!”

By the look on Fruit Wing’s muzzle, it was almost like he had no idea what we were talking about. “Maelstrom tried to kill you?” He asked incredulously. “Really?”

“He shot Fran at point-blank range with a Plasma Rifle.” Smoking snapped. “The only reason she isn't a pile of dust, is because her suit did something weird, and intercepted the shot.” He marched over and pulled back the neck of my ASA suit to reveal the raw burns underneath the healing potion hadn’t managed to fully fix. “Why did you think you shared that potion with her?”

By now, it wasn’t just Fruit Wing who was looking bemused and worried. Around the room, thestrals were sharing glances and looks which seemed to imply that we were the ones who were losing our minds.

Echo looked between Smoking and me incredulously. “Maelstrom Meringue is one of the best the Luna Guard have seen in decades. Dedicated, intelligent, honest and hardworking, and you expect us to believe he tried to kill you?”

‘Are we talking about the same bucking pony?’, my inner pony snapped back, but I kept my mouth shut.

Yet again, we were missing something. I was missing something. I hadn’t really been paying attention as we’d loaded up the two Vertibucks for the mission. The Luna Guard hadn’t really talked too us, they’d just followed their orders, and we’d kept to ourselves as not to risk Helix and Foxglove. Maelstrom had given me a look as he’d climbed into the back of the aircraft with Smoking and Xyalia, but it wasn’t until we’d touched down that he’d actually talked to us to confirm the plan. Could his aggression towards us been a ploy or done to keep us at hoofs length? It was possible, but that was all over-ridden by the fact he’d shot me, that’s not the kind of act you could mistake for anything else.

Oddly enough, it was Minor that broke everyone from their thoughts. “Everypony, I think we need to keep moving. Regardless, what happened has happened, and there are still threats out there.” He checked the machine gun he’d been given with practised ease. “We ought to continue on, but be prepared to engage in diplomacy first, and only use weapons as a last resort.” He cleared his throat. “Fruit Wing, where should we proceed next?”

Fruit Wing started to talk, but I ignored him. From what I’d heard. Helix and Foxglove would most likely be together locked up somewhere in the compound. Rather than blindly searching until we found them, or encountered a hostile force, I figured we should find out exactly where they were, and that should be relatively easy.

This hadn’t been what I was expecting. At all. I mean, what in Celestia’s name was going on? The steaming mug of tea before me didn’t answer but did indicate that I was either being lulled into a false sense of security, or I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes in the Luna Guard. Or it could also be both, which would make things even trickier. Foxglove stared out the window, her own swirling mug of hot chocolate in her hooves, at the tense but active Luna Guard in the room beyond. We’d been placed back in the room where we’d met Mango Smoothie, having been assured the thick glass was bullet and plasma proof, and simply asked to wait until we were needed.

I absentmindedly took another sip of tea and tried to decipher what was going on. On our march back I’d been trying to work out ways Foxglove and I could make a safe escape from the pony who’d captured us, but with the fight over, he’d been very concerned about the shot to my leg and had guided us safely back to the meeting room. On our arrival, I’d expected to be locked back up in the jail cell, or hoof-cuffed, or… something worse. Instead, an elderly looking thestral had immediately seen to our wounds; my back leg now bandaged with the scarred surface tissue removed and a small amount of healing potion injected directly into my leg to heal the internal muscle damage and then been offered food and drink before being guided into this room.

Thud!

My ears darted upwards, trying to locate the sound that resonated through the stone walls, and made the glass vibrate with the shockwave. What was that? Outside, ponies were suddenly moving, standing and readying weapons, before moving out in groups. I stood and moved to the glass, peering through. A stallion I vaguely recognised came swiftly to the door and pushed it open with a clang. “They’re back.” His high voice seemed both excited and worried.

“What was that sound?” I asked fervently. “That sounded like an explosion.”

“We don’t know we are going to look. Please stay here.”

I opened my mouth to ask more, but he dashed off into the crowded room. I watched him go with frustration, slumping back down into my chair irritably. Would it kill them to tell us what was going on? Since Fran and the others had left we’d been locked up by Mango Smoothie, been released by Mr Squeaky, attacked by two groups of ponies; the latter of whom had then taken us somewhere safe and left us alone.

“Helix?” Foxglove trotted around the table to my side, resting a hoof on my withers. “Are you alright?”

“My leg still burns but other than that I’m fine,” I replied, trying to keep my voice light. “Why, something wrong?”

“Oh, no. I just… you seem angry? I don’t know.” Foxglove scuffed the floor with a hoof. “I can’t blame you, it's been a horrible day… yet again. But we at least seem safe, and yet you seem more frustrated than ever.”

“I just…” I began, trying to corral my thoughts. “I don’t understand it. Mango locks us up, then frees us via Mr Squeaky, but now we’ve been captured by ponies who I can only assume are on the other side against Mango, and yet we’re being protected and given food and bucking hot chocolate!” I gestured to her mug. “I haven’t seen any of that since we left home. I just can’t work out, who’s side are these ponies on? Who did we overhear threatening us? The ponies that caught us in the storage room, whose side were they on? And when Mr Squeaky got destroyed, and we got captured, I didn’t expect to be sipping on Darjeeling. I mean, I’m not going to demand to be hoof cuffed again just to feel like I’ve been captured but I’d certainly like some consistency.”

Foxglove just nodded, gazing down like she usually did when she was unsure of worried. The poor earth pony had been doing it a lot recently.

‘Ping’

I looked around for the sourced of the noise, but Foxglove beat me to it. “Helix. Your Pipbuck.” She pointed. “It's flashing.” Sure enough, when I raised my hoof a small tab on the right side was pulsing gently. One I recognised: the message tab. I opened it and sure enough, there was an incoming file on Stable Seventeen’s gold frequency.

“It’s a text file.” I murmured. “One moment.” I opened up the file.

“It’s from Francium.” My heart swelled. “They really are back. There is no other way the signal could reach us.”

“But wouldn’t that mean that the explosion was probably because of them?” Foxglove countered. “We do tend to attract… incidents.” I winced; she was probably right. “And why is she using text. If they are that close why not use the radio?”

“This is safer I think. More discrete. Can you imagine if we were being interrogated and my Pipbuck starts barking?” Foxglove grimaced with understanding. I looked back at the message and pondered my answer before tapping it out.

I sent the message on its way; this was certainly a lot easier than recording audio tracks and from what I knew would mean we could talk much faster due to the smaller file sizes, I hoped.

“Helix?” Foxglove bit her lip as I watched her. “What are we going to do?”

“What do you mean?” I replied softly.

She gulped and looked away from me, her expression was hard to read but she looked guilty? “Now that the others are back, we need to… We can’t keep doing this. Getting delayed I mean. If we get caught up in this, it could be days before we can escape. It's already been so long…” Foxglove’s voice hitched. “It’s been weeks, and if we get there… and everypony is… gone… we need to get there as fast as we can. I know it sounds selfish and horrible and... but we have our own problems to solve. Else, everything we’ve gone through… it will be for nothing.”

I pulled Foxglove into a hug, my hoof stroking her matted mane, her breathing shuddering as she held back tears.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

I squeezed her gently. “What for?”

“For… for not wanting to help. For wanting to just run away.” She let out a little sob.

“Shhhh.” I rocked her gently like my mother used to do. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, the fact you feel guilty is proof that you do care, which is a lot more than most ponies. You’ve been so much. We all have. And while it feels rotten, I feel the same way. I’ll help if I can, I won’t ignore a pony in need. But you are right. We need to get to Appleloosa as swiftly as we can.” A wave of guilt crashed over me as I pushed on through. It felt wrong to want to run. But she was right, if we weren’t quick, there would be nothing left to salvage.

‘Ping’

Both of us looked up, wiping tears from our eyes together, and I opened the new message.

‘Whose side they are on’? That was a good question. If Mango Smoothie sent Mr Squeaky to get us, and then we were captured by those who destroyed Mr Squeaky, then that would mean it was the ponies who were enacting the coup. Though that did raise the question when we were locked in the room, why were the two guards killed only for us to be released by Mr Squeaky? Surely those ponies would have been on Mango’s side? Unless she didn’t anticipate it happening… but that didn’t seem to make sense either.

I jumped, the door banging open once more. Another thestral had appeared and was beckoning to us. “They’re back. You’re friends, they are at the door. Come.”

I leapt to my hooves and dashed out of the door, then realised I didn’t know where I was going. I sheepishly turned and waited for the guard to lead the way, where I followed on behind with Foxglove. We passed several choke points, hastily built with storage boxes and tables, Luna Guard knelt and stood in defensive positions as we wound our way through the corridors, until we reached a small open intersection.

A line of real barricades had been erected across the width of the room, separating it in two. Of the six doors, only two remained open, the rest had been sealed shut by an abandoned stick welder. Part of me found it amusing that Francium could not only have done that by herself but could also cut clean through the door with her magic if she felt so inclined. On our side of the barrier, six Luna Guard had their weapons trained on a single thestral standing in the opposing doorway: Fruit Wing. I immediately wanted to rush over and sort out the bandages on his neck, but I stopped myself, and instead tried to see behind him into the dark stone corridor.

“Release your battle saddle, and walk towards us slowly.” Ordered a dark amethyst mare huddled behind the barricade. Fruit Wing did as he was ordered, unclipping the mounted rifle which flopped to the ground with a thud, before walking forwards. The mare looked behind Fruit Wing and opened her mouth, only to pause. Next was Smoking, and behind him, I could see Seafires tall and slender horn protruding above her orange mane… where were the other Luna Guard?

The mare must have been thinking the same thing because she asked, with dread rising in her voice with every word, “Where are Maelstrom and Solar? Where are the rest of us?”

“Twilight is in the back of the Vertibuck.” Fruit Wing replied with a grimace. “ She needs urgent medical assistance. Her wing has been almost ripped off.”

I heard several gasps and even a stifled moan of anguish from the ponies around me.

“And, the others?” The mare asked, but I could hear the resignation behind her words. Fruit Wing just shook his head, his eyes downcast. The mare turned to the pony next to her and had a brief whispered conversation. I inched forwards trying to spot my love until an indistinct shout from down the corridor made everypony in the room ready their weapons. Smoking and Seafire turned, suddenly backing into the room. Beside me, Foxglove ducked down out of sight behind a stack of boxes, her eyes wide, and her breathing becoming shallow.

Looking back up, Seafire, Smoking, Francium, Minor and Finally Xyalia had backed fully into the room, weapons pointed into the corridor. Then I caught a glimpse of several armed Luna Guard advancing towards us, battle saddles casting a green glow in the dark narrow space. I looked to Francium, my Heart leaping with joy to see her but she couldn’t look back for me, not with Jury primed and aimed towards the other Luna Guard, who’d now taken up a three-wide stance in front of the doorway with another two ponies directly behind them, thoroughly blocking the corridor.

No pony moved. No pony even twitched. You could cut the tension with a knife. ‘Or a bullet’ my mind interjected, ‘but that would be far worse.’

Then it hit me. Hit me like a wave. The sheer insanity of the situation. The stupidity. The total disregard for life that someone how reigned over all other decisions. If one pony lost their nerve, it would be a bloodbath. No doubt there were other ponies behind the first five in the corridor, ready to charge forwards into the carnage that would inevitably follow. And what for? I knew I had no idea what was behind this coup, the reasons or the logic behind it. But I sincerely doubted that logic was sound or sane.

Clop.

That first step rang like a colossal bell through the room. Nearly everypony’s eyes swivelled to look at me, their expressions ranging from confusion to anger, surprise to concern, as I advanced forward to the centre of the room. I glanced around, catching Smoking, Seafire and finally Francium's gaze. Her eyes widened first with joy, then confusion, then fear as she realised I stood right in the middle of the room with only my barding to protect me, surrounded by guns and knives and other horrible weapons of war. But I had my own weapon, I just hoped it was more powerful than theirs.

“Don’t do this,” I spoke as loudly as I could without letting my voice break, or the fear coursing through me from making my words waver. “I don’t know why this started, or how this began, but you all could be the last remains of an entire race. You are descended from Princess Luna herself are you not?” I looked from pony to pony, making sure they knew I was talking to them all, every one of them. “You are all one under her name. The Luna Guard. Note the spelling, no ‘r’. You are named after her, Princess Luna, not the moon. You were her protectors, and then you became Equestria’s protectors. Even now you still-”

“Equestria doesn’t exist.”

I looked around. Like a black shadow, Paladin Mango Smoothie entered, flanked by two heavily armoured Luna Guard, while she herself wore an elegant battle dress, seemingly crafted from the pure night sky. Obsidian triangular plates covered a shimmering ultramarine dress that ran from her neck, across her back and wings, and then to her knees to meet four immaculate black greaves which were tipped with more obsidian. Along her spine ran an articulated brace of dark polished metal. This, in turn, ran up to a helmet made from the same dark polished metal, which was topped with a plume of white hair, replacing the mare’s own which seemed to be wrapped up out of sight.

“You should know this. You’ve been out there. You have suffered through what remains.” the paladin continued, her high pitched voice still managing to sound menacing, “Your friends have been taken, many of them killed, and you suffer even now while trying to save them.” She smirked, her vertical pupils narrowing to yellow slits, and her fanged teeth giving me the impression she was eyeing me as a meal. “The Luna Guard are a single shimmering star in a pitch black night… and these ponies,” She pointed an accusing hoof over my shoulder, “these ponies want to abandon the light and go stumbling around in the dark. We are safe here, we are secure, and here we will remain as the last standing bastion of true civilisation.”

A small part of me burst out laughing at the paladin's proclamation. But I kept that part back, laughing in her face at the ludicrous nature of her statements wasn’t going to help anypony. Given many of the expressions around me, it seemed I wasn’t the only one who thought the mare was rather missing the point.

“And killing your own is going to ensure your bastion endures?” I replied with a hint of anger. “Or how you just had to send us, “ I gestured to Francium and the others, who still stood, looking astonished, and in Fran's case, very worried, at my precarious position. “To get food to sustain you. How is that safe? How is that secure?”

Mango Smoothie waved her obsidian clad hoof dismissively. “I don’t expect some scavenger to understand the nuances of sustaining an underground civilisation.”

“I know more than you might suspect,” I replied, trying not to sound superior. “Our home was much like this, secluded, safe, cut off from the outside world. But even if we hadn’t been forced out, we couldn’t have stayed there forever.” ‘Even though I doubt I would ever have left Seventeen of my own free will had I been given the chance’, my inner self-added, not that Mango needed to know. “Just like you can’t stay here forever. Equestria is healing, slowly. Towns are being raised, new generations born, the old rebuilt, and you could help that and become that beacon you talk of.”

“And what happened to your home,” Mango replied with a sneer. “What happened when the wasteland touched it?” she stomped down hard, then ground her hoof against the stone floor, like crushing an insect. “From what we learnt when we interviewed you all, there isn’t much left to call home.”

Oddly enough, I wasn’t entirely sure of that. Fran had uncovered the evidence they had managed to restart some of the systems, and I knew only a portion of the stable was damaged. Even if it wasn’t all habitable it could still be repaired and restored to its former glory, and I was certain even now that my love still aimed to fix the damage she had inadvertently helped cause, even if I knew she wasn’t to blame for the incident.

Here and now, however, that information wasn’t going to help, and I didn’t want to put the idea that there was some abandoned stable, ripe for scavenging, into the paladin's mind.

“But that doesn’t mean we should give up. No pony would succeed in anything if they gave up at the first fence. We have suffered but we have also help, saved, created, fixed and assisted hundreds of ponies in the short time we have been out here. Between us we have cured a town of Pony Pox, helped defend another from raiders, helped defeat slavers and helped set another Stable of ponies back on the right path. All this achieved with just us.”

I didn’t even bother pointing, she knew who I mean, and what we were capable of, but I pressed on.

“Now imagine what could be achieved with every Luna Guard lending a hoof? Defeating Raiders, stopping slavers, protecting caravans, sharing the knowledge archived in your computers to those who need it and can help the lives of others. One of our group, Ripsaw, stayed in a town to help fix and maintain their water supply and help improve their energy generating systems. One pony raising a whole town a little higher from the ashes. And all of you can do the same.”

Mango’s slitted eyes bored into mine as if she were trying to burrow into my thoughts and extract exactly why I was trying to change her mind. I stared back, trying to convey every thought and feeling of just how we had changed the wasteland for the better and how we would continue to do so even without her help. But I knew it would be better if she joined us if she and the Luna Guard would help everypony rather than remain in their mountaintop seclusion.

“You raised a valid point.” the paladin replied slowly. “Ponies do need our help. And we… we could give them that,” She looked into space, thinking for a mere moment. A moment where I felt something change. “And more.”

Mango Smoothie tapped her obsidian clad fore hoof twice on the stone floor. Her guards snapped round and began to retreat. She herself looked me up and down, with a slight smile growing on her muzzle. “You are an interesting mare. A rare breed.” Her hoof extended towards me, lifted my chin until our eyes met again. My heart was hammering, my body tense, despite her seemingly kind gesture. After a moment where the world seemed to pause she removed her hoof and made towards the doorways, her hoofsteps the only sound to be heard.

The armoured mare stopped in the doorway, looking back over her shoulder. “Feel honoured. You shall be remembered among the Luna Guard. Revered even The one who showed us our true path.”

Watching the Paladin retreat, my mind raced trying to understand what I’d just given her. The plume of her helmet disappeared into the darkness, her guards pulling in and retreating, weapons raised. There was a shout behind me. Something flew over my head and clattered to the floor, sliding out of sight amongst the hooves of the retreating guard. I felt magic pull me to the ground before the world was consumed by light.

I forced my eyes open, the flickering lights changing my world from flickering orange to burning white in an instant, over and over again. Focusing, I pulled my hooves out from under me and forced myself up, clutching at the low barrier as my world seemed to crumble around me. But I didn’t care. All I cared about was making it to the only pony in the room that mattered to me more than anything in this broken world.

I stumbled and tripped, but I made myself get back to my hooves. Nothing was going to keep me from her. Finally, I felt her body in my hooves, I’d made it to her. My eyes were unfocused, struggling to cope with the flashes and flicking lights around me. No, I had to check she was okay. I had to see and think straight. I hoofed myself in the side of the head. The pain was intense but it helped my mind focus on what was happening here and now. My eyes finally were able to lock on to my loves fallen form. Her slashed and burnt barding. The way her mane fell across her face, covering her eyes. The way her swollen chest heaved and fell beneath my hooves.

Her chest. Her rising and falling chest.

My heart soared like a pegasus, only to plummet as if its wings has vapourised in an instant.

Her foal. Our foal.

I pressed my head against her round belly. Begging and pleading to Luna and Celestia themselves. But I could hear nothing. I couldn’t tell what was coming from around me and what should have been coming from our child. I closed my eyes. Pressing my hoof over my ear, forcing my mind to focus on that one sense, that one point of contact with the outside world, until…

Kick.

I felt it, and much as I heard it, and then, just when I felt I’d imagined it.

Kick.

And now I had a new goal. To bring an end to this pointless conflict.

I stumbled after Mango, pushing aside her guards as they lay in their armoured suits; which seemed to have lost all power. The hall beyond was a haze of white, heat and flickering lights. I leapt over the guards still blinded and disorientated on the ground and galloped after her.

Steam and coolant gases filled the corridor, turning the balls of flying plasma into green glowing orbs, shooting past me down the narrow passageway as I crouched behind a narrow buttress. In my magic, my combat shotgun boomed twice then nearly dropped from my grasp as a plasma ball struck the stock, turning the tip to ash. My Blackhawk roared in response, spent shells ricocheting off the stone walls. My heightened senses were being assaulted constantly, nearly overwhelming me, as we fought against Mango Smoothies loyalists.

I kept trying to clear my head of what I’d seen, what I’d heard. Francium’s scream as she had lunged to protect Helix wrenched at my heart in a way that had torn at my own heart. Her pain. Her fear. Her desperation. Her scream of fury she’d unleashed as she charged after the Paladin. And then my guilt and loneliness as I wished that somepony felt like that about me. I bit down hard, smashing those horrible thoughts. I wouldn’t be like that. I wouldn’t think like that. Luckily, the fighting around me gave my mind something else to focus on.

Smoking, Fruit Wing and I had tried to follow after Fran, only to meet another group of Luna Guard who’d opened fire against us. We’d not seen her since and we’d been pinned here for at least fifteen minutes, exchanging fire and trying to push on to find her. However, In these tight corridors there was no easy way to make progress, and despite what had happened, I still didn’t want to kill if I could help it. I had no way of knowing if these ponies genuinely believed in what Mango Smoothie was striving for if they were just following orders.if they were being pressured into picking a side in some other way. Either way, if Helix had been right, if these really were the last group of thestrals in Equestria, I wouldn’t be responsible for genocide.

“Seafire!” Smoking yelled around the bit of his Blackhawk, hunkered down behind his own buttress. “We can’t keep this up forever. Can you take care of this?”

I gave him a pleading look. “It might not work at all. I might make it worse!”

“We’re running out of options!” Smoking went to reload his Blackhawk only to find his barding empty of any fresh magazines. “And bullets. We need to find Francium before she gets herself killed!”

I used my magic to give him one of my own magazines, leaving me with just one more, but it gave me time to think.

“You remember what happened last time?” I pleaded. My Blackhawk’s hammer fell on an empty chamber, forcing me to load my final magazine.

“Seafire! Please...” Smoking pleaded.

I gulped, dread spiking inside me. He was right though. I was on my last magazine and only ten more shotgun rounds. A minute more and we’d be out, and then we’d be dead. Mantis’s parting words would be true, it would all have been for nothing.

I closed my eyes, trying to block out any distractions; as best I could in the middle of a battle. I began to pool my magic, drawing on a stream that I almost never tapped into, but it didn’t feel tired or underused like it should. This felt fresh and strong like I used it every day, but that was part of the nature of my gift. My talent.

I remembered the first time it had happened on the best and worst day of my young life. I’d just wanted it to stop: the shouting, the screaming, the threats. No pony had believed me when I’d said they fought and argued until one evening she’d lashed out and he’d swung back. It hurt that I had to draw on that memory to make it work. I wished that anything else made it possible, but in the years I’d practised, nothing else had triggered it. I felt the fear in my heart, just I had as a filly, cowering under my bed until I’d heard that first crash, then the second. I hadn’t understood what was happening. I’d gone to investigate, only to find the blood splatters and the smashed furniture, and my parents…

My world turned white, my magic coursing through my body, up to my horn and then down the corridor in a wall of blue fire. I felt it crash of the buttresses, roll across the floor like a wave and descend down on the six wide-eyed Luna Guard only to go through them, inside them, and up into their minds.

It only took a moment, to feel their own fear, their own determination and animosity towards us, and a myriad of other small and complex emotions, before I felt my magic begin to soothe and calm them. Coaxing their anger to take a step back, encouraging their rage to come back from the brink of consuming their every thought, and lastly bolstering their hopes that they would make it through this day and live to see the next.

The spell cut off abruptly, my reserves drained, leaving me panting and shivering on the cold stone floor. But there were no more shots, no more bullets, no more shouts in our small corner of the world.

“Hold your fire.”

Cracking an eye open, two Luna Guard approached us, weapons drawn but they didn’t seem tense or ready on the trigger. They stopped a short distance away, confusion and fear in their slitted eyes, perhaps even concern at my prone form.

“What did you do?” one asked, her voice was calm enough, but I could detect the accusation behind it. I even recognised her, the mare who’d released Helix back in the cells, I was sure of it.

“We aren’t enemies.” I coughed, dragging myself to my hooves, giving me time to consider my words; I had to choose carefully. “We don’t want to fight, and I doubt you want to either. But we need to go stop our friend before she does something everypony will regret.”

“But what did you do to us?” Another spoke up, anger and confusion rising in his tone.

“My talent is calming, bringing peace, letting ponies see a better way.” I stumbled only for the mare before me to help keep me up. “None of us wants to die, I just helped us see how we could resolve this without fighting.”

The six of them exchanged disorientated looks as if they were still trying to understand why’d they’d stopped fighting. Two seemed to be ready to start shooting again but with their allies unwilling to fight, I doubted they’d break the herd mentality.

“Go.” The mare said, looking between Smoking, Fruit Wing and myself.

“Thank you.” I smiled and gave her a one-hoofed hug. “If you can, try to stop the fighting. We need to end this before it gets out of hoof.”

“Too late for that but I’ll try.” She smiled back nervously. “Now, go.”

With caution, I passed them all, Smoking and Fruit Wing close behind. We made it around the corner and through the door before I broke into a gallop, searching desperately for Francium.

“Six ponies!” I heard Smoking’s awed voice behind me.

“I still don’t have control.” I panted back. “I got lucky, they didn’t want to fight if they could help it.”

“Where are you going?” Fruit Wing interrupted. “We’ve no idea where she went?”

I slid to a halt at another intersection. “Well, where would Mango have gone? Fran will have chased her… and what did she mean? That Helix had shown her a better path? Mango seemed to have listened to her, and then she said she’d give them more? More of what?”

Fruit Wing bit his lip. “I don’t know. I’ve not agreed with half her orders for many years, but that was a pure stunt. She wanted to create conflict with that. She-”

“Fruit Wing, where will she have gone.” Smoking snapped, cutting across him. “Where will she be?”

Fruit Wing looked like he wanted to retort, but I silenced him with a gentle hoof on his shoulder. He stared down each branch of the corridor in turn, seemingly weighing up his options.

“She will have gone back to her loyalists. Tell them her new plan, whatever it is.”

“And where are they held up?” I prompted.

“The armoury and maintenance.” He responded. He checked his battle saddle, then galloped off down one of the paths. “Follow me!”

Another pair of Luna Guard fell unconscious as the air inside my repulsion spell ran out. I disconnected the triggers on their battle saddles with my magic as I passed, and pulled out the energy cells, packing them my saddlebags. As I reached the end of the passageway, one of them groaned at me, his eyes unfocused and bloodshot. I gave him a vicious stare that simply said ‘stay down’, which worked as he stopped trying to get to his hooves. I turned away and kept moving.

That bitch had gotten away from me, but I was confident I was on the right track as I kept being intercepted by small groups of guards. The first group had been the hardest to deal with, but I had been in no mood for games. Between Jury, my ASA suit, my repulsion spell and how my EFS gave me each groups exact positions before I even engaged them, I’d managed to disable everypony I’d met so far. While my entire vision was tinged red; both figuratively and literally, most of the guards I encountered had been yellow, and I was glad I had the presence of mind to not simply kill everypony I ran into. That coveted title was reserved for a single pony.

Reaching another junction, I read the signs bolted to the wall: Maintenance, Armoury and Orchard, or Archives, Water Processing and Reactor. I turned left towards the armoury; I doubted that mare wanted to look up a history textbook or go for a swim right now.

“Fran!” I turned to see Seafire galloping towards me, Fruit Wing and Smoking just behind her. “Fran, stop!”

“I’m not letting her get away.” I retorted fiercely as Seafire came to a sliding halt in front of me. “She nearly killed Helix. She’s wounded so many ponies with this stupid coup. She-”

“She didn’t start it!” Seafire snapped back at me. “Maelstrom did. And besides, what are you going to do?”

“Put an end to this. We can’t let her keep control.”

“You mean you were going to kill her?” Seafire still looked determined but I winced at the disappointment in her voice. “I thought you’d learnt that lesson Francium.”

“She nearly killed Helix!” I screamed, my voice shattering along with my composure. “She nearly killed Rubidium! She attacked a pregnant mare in a room filled with her own kind, who’d been loyal to her their entire lives and she just calmly drops a fucking grenade right in their midst. She deserves it. She’s lost it. She’s-” My hoof slammed into the wall, on it to stop dead on the hewn stone. I yelped at the pain and the shock up my foreleg. I bit my tongue as not to scream in frustration, trying to keep my cool.

“We could say the same about you.” Smoking added wryly. “But at least you seem willing to listen.”

I felt my ears drop, guilt building inside me. He was right, I’d lost it again. I used the wall to stop me dropping to the floor, but my knees still buckled like I’d shouldered yet another crushing weight. Helix deserved better, and for her, I needed to be better, to stop letting my anger get the better of me. ‘Even when her life is at risk?’ my inner pony asked. I shuddered and whimpered. I didn’t know any more. Nothing was clear, but now was not the time to try and sort my inner turmoil.

“So then,” I started, trying to slow my racing heart and control my breathing. “Do we actually have a plan?”

“Mango is up to something. Something new.” Fruit Wing replied, beginning to pace. “And Helix gave her the idea, whatever it was. She seems to have changed her mind, she now wants to be out there. But why?”

“Can we discuss this on the move?” Smoking added. “We can’t let her get too far ahead.”

Fruit Wing nodded and took off. “Sure. Follow me.”

We slowly trotted along behind Fruit Wing down the narrow stone passageways, keeping our eyes and ears open for anything, coming our way while Seafire and Smoking positioned themselves to cover any doors or any branching corridors that we passed.

“What was Helix trying to do?” Fruit Wing asked.

Smoking huffed. “Stop your ponies from infighting. Trying to convince you there were advantages to being out there and helping other ponies. She is right, whatever resources you were living off are clearly almost gone, you’ll have to come out sooner or later.”

“Resources weren’t enough to make her go out into the wasteland unless absolutely necessary, so it can’t be just that.” Seafire countered. “So what changed? What is more important than resources?”

That was a good question. Ponies needed things to live; water, food, shelter at the bare minimum. All three together were hard to come by in the wasteland unless you were part of a town or other settlement. Ponies would make or grow those things as best they could, and if they couldn’t they would either barter or exchange with those that did.

‘Or take it by force.’ My inner pony thought numbly.

I almost walked into Seafire as we stopped at a junction, but my mind was elsewhere. Mango had made us take food from the Enclave, effectively with force. But she seemed reluctant to use that tactic else she would have done it earlier, we just happened to present an opportunity that would keep her hooves clean. So if she wasn’t going to use force, how would she obtain what the Luna guard needed. That took us back to exchange or barter unless, but the Luna Guard had nothing that Viewpoint or High-Voltage or Stable Twenty Five might want, except...

“Power,” I muttered.

“What?” somepony replied.

“Power. Knowledge. Information. That's more important. No, that's not a very good way of putting it.”

Seafire lifted my head with a white hoof and made me look at the others. “Fran, explain. Quickly and quietly.” She added.

I took a steadying breath. “It’s just like Mantis said. Stable Seventeen is filled with Knowledge and Information. Information that could be used to upend the balance of power. We were a threat and some pony tried to take us all out.”

“They basically succeeded.” Smoking cut in dryly. ”But how does that relate to the Luna Guard?”

I did my best with my racing mind to put my thoughts out coherently. “It the same. All the knowledge in the archives, all the skills they have as warriors, all the tools that are probably stored here. Mango can use it all to tip the balance of power in her favour. Support and help towns, guard them against threats, help them grow… and in return, they can take a share of what they help create.”

“But, isn’t that what we want?” Seafire asked, sounding perplexed. “We want them out there helping others and helping themselves.”

“I don’t think Mango’s goal is just to strike that happy balance.“ I stared at the three of them. “I think Helix gave her the idea to take control of the region. To lead and guide everypony under the rule of the Luna Guard. The wartime Luna Guard were only a few steps below the Princesses themselves in terms of power and authority, probably on the same level as the Ministries. Mango Smoothie would know that, and with the Ministries and the Princesses gone… I get the feeling Helix inspired her to take up the mantle once again.”

I waited for somepony to say something, but nothing seemed forthcoming. Seafire looked thoughtful yet worried, Fruit Wing surprised, and Smoking seemed to be simply resigned.

“Well?” I prompted, looking them each in the eye. “Do you think I am right?”

Smoking started and then stopped himself, mouth half open. “For now, let's just find her.” He concluded eventually. “If we are lucky, we might be able to talk her into telling us what she is thinking, or maybe changing her mind again.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it would take her months to implement something like that anyway.” I checked Jury and the spark batteries on my ASA suit. “So, which way now?” I asked at a whisper.

Fruit Wing pointed with a hoof. “This way. We can cut through the old orchard.”

I stumbled. “What, you guys have an orchard? Then why did we need to get all that food!” I snapped, feeling anger rising.

“I said old orchard.” Fruit Wing hissed back, trying to keep his voice low. “Whatever, you’ll see in a minute.”

Keeping quiet, I followed up at the back of the group, Fruit Wing leading us forwards until we reached a large pair of sliding double doors, with the word ‘Orchard’ above them on a broken light fitting. My eyes, however, were drawn to the large no entry symbol that had been hurriedly painted in red across both doors, the tin of paint in question abandoned nearby along with a ruined paint brush.

“Keep watch.” Fruit Wing whispered, beginning to tap away on the console by the door. I turned and pointed Jury back down the corridor we'd come down. Listening to what Fruit Wing was doing over my shoulder.

“Seafire,” I whispered. “I’m sorry I ran off.” I sighed. “I just saw Helix and-”

“It's fine. We can talk about it later?” She shot back. “Just keep your eyes peeled.”

I nodded, taking steadying breaths.

“What happened after I ran off?” I asked, trying not to disturb the silence.

“We forced back Mango’s Guard.” the white unicorn replied curtly.

“What happened to Helix?”

“You mean you didn’t check?”

I gulped. I’d been seeing so much red that beyond checking she and our foal were okay, I’d done nothing to help. I inwardly kicked myself, adding that failing to the rapidly growing list of failings.

“I was too busy trying not to get shot to notice.” Seafire continued. “But the others…” the unicorn went oddly silent.

“Seafire? What’s wrong?”

“Got it.” I jumped at the sound of the doors opening and Fruit Wings miniature celebration. “Come on, this way. I’ll shut the door behind us.” I backed into the Orchard, keeping Jury pointing back the way we’d come until IU cleared the threshold. Fruit Wing tapped on the console beside the door, and the doors slid shut with a hiss and a shudder. I turned and my blood ran cold.

Black.

Every tree was black. Husk-like skeletons reaching up to a hard stone sky, from which dangled shattered and empty light fittings. No leaves dotted the ground, only a similarly dark earth that was cracked and dry like a riverbed. It was like somepony had drained the life out of every living creature and abandoned it to rot. A sickening thought crossed my mind, would this be how I would find Stable Seventeen’s orchards should we ever return? Ahead of me, Fruit Wing waved to get my attention back on track. I shook off those dark thoughts and snuck forwards to meet him. Seeing Seafire and Smoking, it seemed they too had also been haunted by the sight.

We were about halfway across the room when the opposite pair of doors slid open showing us the rears of three large ponies in black armour; more Luna Guard. Smoking, Seafire and Fruit Wing all slipped quietly behind a tree to hide, leaving me scrambling to find my own hiding place as the ponies backed into the room. Knelt in the black dust, I checked Jury’s power level, while I perked my ears, listening intently. two yellow marks, four red, and a lone green mark clustered on my EFS. I recognised Mango’s voice immediately, which identified at least one red mark.

“You three, guard this door. You two, the far door. And you, you will tell me how to fix this.”

“Please…” a young voice begged, her panicked sobs making her words barely audible. “Please, let me go.”

I felt my blood run cold. I knew that voice, and so did Seafire. The unicorn's expression was an unnerving blend of fury, anxiety and loathing, her shotgun shaking in her magical grip. Smoking and Fruit Wing only exchanged resolute, if worried, glances as listened.

“Tell me how to fix this!” There was a harsh thud and the young voice cried out in pain. “You want to make a difference? Help fix the wasteland? You can start by fixing this.”

Between the trees, I could just see Foxglove now lying muzzle down in the dirt, one hoof clutching at a fresh cut to the side of her head, Mango Smoothie standing over her in her black armour with her obsidian clad hoof raised to strike again. I could feel my blood boiling.

“I… I can’t… They’re all dead… There is nothing left to be fixed.” Stammered, cowering on the floor.

“You’d better…”

Blam! Blam!

Two Luna Guard dropped hard as they rushed past our position, Seafire unloading two shells into their sides slamming them into the nearest tree. Their heavy armour kept them pinned long enough for my magic to cut through the power lines leading to the energy weapons mounted on their sides. Simultaneously, Smoking and Fruit Wing leapt up, rushing forwards, and sending bolts of energy zipping across the orchard straight into the side of Mango Smoothie. I followed suit and leapt out of cover, slipping into VATS and sending a barrage of shots across the room right at the paladins head. Behind her, her three remaining guards caught up on the situation and began firing back, forcing us all to take cover behind the trees, but with the out in the open, they immediately began retreating into the alcove around the door.

Mango turned her back to the gunfire, her armour somehow absorbing and blocking every bolt of green that struck its surface. Jury’s own blue bolts were having more effect, causing her to stumble and she tried to stand her ground. Hatches on either side of her armour swung open, revealing twin plasma rifles. She turned and unleashed, forcing Smoking and Fruit Wing to dive for cover. A few feet away, Foxglove had curled up in a fetal position in a last ditch effort to protect herself, but when she saw Seafire dashing towards her between the trees, the young mare’s eyes lit with hope and she started to crawl towards the white mare, keeping below the barrage of fire that zipped lethally through the air above her.

My head slammed against the tree, my magic winking out and Jury tumbling out of sight. I looked around getting a hoof to my muzzle for my trouble. Blood dripped from my nose, one of weaponless Luna Guard punching and kicking me into the trunk of the tree. I tried to manifest my magic again but he would keep headbutting me. My ASA suit was taking something out of the blows but that didn’t stop me from doubling over as he turned and double bucked me right in the gut. I collapsed to the floor, seeing his hoof raised over my head. I kicked out with a hoof, sending me upwards, and as his hoof descended my horn deflected up into a gap in his armour under his foreleg, while his hoof came down on my chest. The buck screamed, stumbling away and falling to the floor, his leg now useless. I rolled over and coughed blood onto the earth, feeling something move as it really shouldn’t in my chest. I scanned around desperately for Jury, finding her lodged in a tangle of roots and yanking her up.

I looked up for the others and stopped.

Mango stood over Foxglove, the young mare pinned by a black hoof placed against her vulnerable neck. Seafire’s shotgun Barrel rested against the side of the paladin’s helmet, with one of the paladins rifles aimed at Seafire’s chest, the other towards Smoking and Fruit Wing who stood over the unconscious form of the other disarmed Luna Guard. I could see the three remaining Luna Guard still in the doorway but they seemed to have no desire to join in.

Inching forward, Jury aimed at Mango once more, I tried to work out how this had happened. It looked like Foxglove had almost made it to Seafire, only for the Paladin to move in and pin her down. However, she’d either forgotten she was fighting a unicorn or had not expected Seafire to move in once she threatened Foxglove. I wasn’t sure if Mango could stomp hard enough to kill Foxglove then and there, but I didn’t dare risk it. Either way, Seafire and Mango now stood glaring at one another, Mango looking worn out but smug, and Seafire as if she wanted nothing more than to beat Mango to a pulp with her bare hooves.

Sobbing broke the silence.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Foxglove whimpered from the floor, silent tears pouring from her fearful blue eyes “Seafire, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“Shhhh, It will be okay Foxglove. It will be okay.” Seafire cooed in a motherly tone. “Just stay still.”

“It’s all my fault…” the young mare whept. “I got scared, so scared…”

“Foxglove, I’m right here,” Seafire replied reassuringly. “We will get through this.”

“But I’m… I’m useless… I can’t do anything… I can’t even...”

“Foxglove!” Seafire’s tone sounded like she’d caught Foxglove with her hoof in the cookie jar high up on the top shelf; more worried and scared than actually angry. “Please, just stay still and be quiet. I promise you will be alright.”

Nodding, Foxglove gazed up desperately at Seafire as she stared Mango down.

“What do you want,” Seafire asked Mango after a long silence, her tone ide cold. “You got your food, and by luck your two main rivals are dead. What do you hope to gain by threatening a child, or trying to blow up an expectant mother!”

“Your continued cooperation,” Mango replied imperiously. “Agree to help us and I will let you all go.”

“You said that about the food!” Seafire spat back. “But here we are, in even deeper than we started.”

“You failed to bring back what was needed to sustain us. And from what I’ve been told, you barely escaped the Enclave who are now aware of our existence.”

“Because you murdered them!” Seafire screamed. “You had us go in and murder them by the dozen! And now your stupid decisions have resulted in the deaths of your own kind!”

“Helix already said as much. I am not blind. But if we are to rise as she suggested, we must be cleared of those who would hold us back.”

Seafire’s eyes shot wide and I felt my own mouth drop.

“Helix convinced you,” Seafire muttered. Mango Smoothie merely grinned manically in response. “Francium was right, Helix did convince you to stop hiding, only you…” Seafire didn’t seem to know how to put Mango’s mad idea into words.

“We will restore the Luna Guard to the strength and position that Princess Luna entrusted to us all those years ago.” Mango’s voice reverberated off the stone walls. “And you are going to assist us.”

“You… you nearly killed Helix.” I tried to keep my voice level but the anger and hatred rose with every word. “You nearly killed all of us and you just expect us to forgive and forget, just like that?”

“Yes,” Mango replied simply.

“And why in Luna’s name would we do that?” Smoking asked, astonished.

“Because like it or not, the Luna Guard represent your best chance of seeing the rest of your Stable again.”

Mango’s echoes died away, leaving a very tense silence in their wake. No pony moved, and I could practically hear the cogs turning in everypony’s heads as they tried to wrap their heads around what was happening, and what Mango was offering.

“Let me make it clearer.” Mango’s tone was suddenly diplomatic and comforting, but I could hear a ripple of irritation as she spoke. “We, the Luna Guard, will assist in rescuing the rest of your Stable. In return, you will help introduce us to the various local settlements and factions that you have encountered, and you will convince them that we would be of benefit to them, through trade of skills, resources, arms, you know what I mean.”

“And if we say no?” Seafire hissed.

I felt a wave of disgust as the Paladin glanced casually down at Foxglove, her armoured hoof still resting her neck. It seemed that Seafire was equally repulsed by the paladin's casual response, as she pressed the Shotgun hard against Mango’s armoured skull.

Seafire looked like she might snap at any moment. “Let her go. Then we will talk.”

“And what assurance do I have that you won’t kill me?” Mango asked like she was talking to a lying child.

Seafire bit her lip, taking a deep breath. “Because… because… because we really could use the help.” She spat out as if the words tasted as bad as they felt.

Mango examined Seafire for a long moment, her eyes occasionally flitting across to check if Smoking, Fruit Wing or myself would make a move. I heard Foxglove gasp as Mango removed her hoof and took a step back, though her guns turned and aimed at Seafire, who’s shotgun still floated beside her head. Foxglove stumbled to her hooves, and wrapped her forelegs around Seafire’s neck, only to be shoved off by Seafire’s magic.

“Get behind me.” I heard the white unicorn hiss. “Please, get behind me.”

“I believe it’s now your turn.” Mango interrupted. “Lower your weapon, and I will do the same.”

“And you will help us get the rest of our Stable back?” Seafire asked her tone a strange mix of sadness and resignation.

“So long as you promise to help raise the Luna Guard from the ashes,” Mango responded, curtly. “We helped Princess Luna rule Equestria all those years ago, it’s only fitting that we resume our place and return the Wasteland to a safe and prosperous civilisation.”

Seafire snorted as if trying to suppress a laugh. “Do you really think a mare who threatens children and mothers-to-be has any place in such a safe and civilised society?”

“From what you’ve told me, you have faced similar threats repeatedly out there, and worse. And, it’s not like you have been much better, killing many ponies who stand in your path.”

I felt another wave of guilt crash over me, only to meet another rolling wall of anger that threatened to burst out of my chest. I glared at Mango but that was only because I couldn’t think of a response. Was this to be my state of existence now? Constantly plagued by guilt, anger and fear of both myself and others? Trying to balance my own feelings against what I felt was right and wrong? I loathed Mango. Part of me wanted to to nothing more than to blow her skull apart with Jury, or suffocate her with my Magic. Yet I knew I could never live with myself if I did, being no better than the raiders and slavers I’d killed. And that bitch knew it too. She’d almost killed Helix, had effectively ordered the deaths of dozens of innocent Enclave soldiers, killed her own kind… and yet she knew I couldn’t do it. It make me sick to my stomach in a way I could barely comprehend.

It seemed nopony else had an answer either.

Seafire seemed to be matching my own internal fight, blow for blow, while Foxglove hid behind her, while Smoking looked grim, even resigned. Only Fruit Wing seemed to not have a storm raging in his head, perhaps because he was used to this kind of behaviour from Mango, or perhaps he even agreed with her to an extent, but he still kept his rifle pointed at her.

“So.” Mango Smoothie prompted. “What is it going to be?”