Helix and I continued to follow the thin muddy track up the side of the ridge. We were sheltered from the worst of the rain by a forest of large, if rather sickly looking, trees which clung precariously to the rock. Our PipBuck’s clicked gently from the radiation emanating from the trees and the moss growing on rocks and boulders that littered the hillside; I was rather surprised that plants and animals could still grow whilst being flooded constantly with radiation.

Progress was slow. The side of the ridge was exceptionally steep, with no direct route to the summit, so the path meandered back and forth taking the path of least resistance up to the top. It was broken by what would have been streams at regular intervals, but they were now gushing torrents of water rushing down the mountainside. In several places it seemed that the water was spewing directly out of the rocks between different layers of sediment. It was fascinating to see something that we had been taught right in front of us, rather than just a diagram on a page, but the continuously falling rain tended to dampen our high spirits.

“I know I am probably going to jinx us by saying this.” Helix mused as she trotted along in front of me. “But things haven’t been as bad as I expected.” She must have caught my gasp as she quickly continued, “I know losing Ambrosia was… horrible is the only word, but considering everything that we were taught back in seventeen, I just had this vision of it being much worse.”

I pondered that for a minute; in a way she was right. The world above had always been painted as a blasted hell hole with virtually no life whatsoever and what little life did exist was vicious and mutated beyond recognition. We had experienced the mutated life aspect, and I didn’t like that one bit, but I could put down Ambrosia’s death to our inexperience rather than our incompetence. I didn’t like turning some ponies last moments in equestrian into simple logical problems, but given that we had been told that nothing could possibly live in the irradiated water we had simply not seen it coming. ‘But you should’ve,’ my little pony cut in, ‘you should’ve been more careful and observant, had your weapons out ready, gotten her away from the water more quickly.’ I sighed; and yet my inner pony had a very good point.

“What wrong?” Helix turned to look at me, concern all over her face. Then she saw it, “Ambrosia wasn’t your fault. We just weren’t ready or careful enough. It was your crazy weapon that forced it away. The normal bullets didn’t seem to be doing anything.” She stroked my mane looking into my eye. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. You can always think of what you could’ve done with hindsight, but that won’t bring her back. All you can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I nodded slowly and Helix gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. I smiled slightly.

“One final push, we aren’t far from the top now anyway.” She turned and continued walking. I stood there a moment, admiring her. She was beautiful, kind, clever; perfect. A wide smile spread across my face again and I trotted after her.

After another half an hour or so of walking we broke out the top of the tree line. From here we could just make out the top through the haze left behind by the rain which had moved off over the lake below. The ground was covered in a thin layer of grass that looked just as sickly as the trees below, but as our eyes scanned up the side of the ridge the colour slowly changed from the pale yellow to an almost healthy looking green. Crags of rocks jutted out of the grass providing cover for smaller trees and shrubs. A surprising amount of life.

“This place keeps throwing more and more weird things at us.” Helix was investigating a small plant on the edge of the path. Rather than having leaves it looked to be made up of flattened points of plant flesh with small spines along the edges to ward off any potential animals that might try to eat it. “A succulent, here.” She brought her Pipbuck close to it and its click began to double time. “We ought to be drinking Rad-away up here. Every plant has soaked it up.” She waved her foreleg at the hillside. “We might as well be a bath of irradiated water with all the moisture around here.”

I dug out two packs of the orange liquid and passed her one. “I can’t believe that there is so much life. It seems nothing here is willing to just give up and die.” I downed my Rad-away and my Rad indicator dropped back into the green. I can’t see what they were all going on about back in the stable. It all seems…”

I was knocked back by a splat of mud to my face. I thought for a moment that Helix had flung it at me but another hit me and another. My rad-metre was climbing rapidly again. I wiped the sludge away from my eyes and spotted half a dozen flying things, about the size of my head, hovering ten metres or so away firing at us. I flattened myself to the ground to get out of their sight. Helix did the same.

“What the heck are they?” I pulled out my brand new Blackhawk and loaded a magazine. The things were flying towards us, preparing to fire again. I stood up and dropped into SATS. On closer inspection they looked exactly like a pest we had been taught about back in the stable; a parasprite. The same wings and eyes and body structure but these were at least ten times the size. I set one shot onto each on the closest three creatures and dropped out of SATS. The first was turned into vapour by the oversized round, the same with the second, but the third managed to zip away fast enough to avoid the shot.

I dropped back down again and shuffled around to keep away from the flying sludge. I glanced down at my rad-metre and it had gone right back up to where it was before. ‘You stupid creatures cost me a rad-away.” I shouted at them. Maybe they would drop dead from guilt.

Helix and I swung up together. I targeted another two and turned them to vapour but Helix kept missing even though she had the same gun and the same SATS. She muttered in frustration. I took aim again and fired but the final two kept dodging the bullets. ‘How…’ my inner pony was thinking but that didn’t matter; guns were no good now, what else could I use?

Idea!

I stood up taking another hit of sludge and concentrated. The closest bloated parasprite suddenly exploded as I opened a repulsion field around it, the vacuum inside making the creature simply pop like a balloon. The last parasprite seemed to finally twig that it was going to lose this fight and made a break for it but was suddenly blown clean out of the air by a shot that reverberated off the sides of the valley. I looked round at Helix, but she had simply taken to cover. I scanned the area. A green buck with a shotgun suddenly popped out of the undergrowth just a few metres away making me jump. He was wearing a brown hat draped with the grass and moss from the hillside and wore a kind of pull over that was covered in green and brown string that made him blend in almost perfectly with the hillside. He was very lucky I had not shot him.

“It seems there are no alternatives with you two.” He slung his shotgun over his back and walked over to us. “They either get vaporised or they explode.” He picked up the remains of one of the creatures with his hoof. “Looks like bloatsprite is off the menu tonight then.” He shrugged and began to head back down the hill.

Menu?

“Wait.” The buck turned and looked at me with a level stare. “Ummm…” I didn’t know what to say. I settled for, “Who are you?”

“Who wants to know?”

I tilted my head. “We do.” I said simply. Who else?

He face hoofed. “No, I mean who do you work for, who are you, why should I trust you?” He continued to stare at me.

I paused again. “Well, my name is Francium. This is Helix.” She gave a little wave. “We don’t work for anyone and… well I can’t think of any reason for you not to trust us.” I gave him my best winning smile.

The green buck in the strange hat and coat stared at me for a moment more before a half smile curled across his lips. “You have a good point there Miss Francium.” He held out a hoof and I took it. “Name’s Mantis. I am the cook at Tabitha’s. Also your local exterminator; radroaches, parasprites, radigators all taken care of… for a fee of course.”

“Well, as I said I’m Francium and I am a welder and part of maintenance. I also do a little bit of computer programing and reprogramming in my spare time. And Helix is a Biologist and Chemist specialising in reproduction and birth control.”

“Wow.” Mantis looked both impressed and intrigued. “And where did you two lovely young ladies learn skills like that?”

“We…” I looked round at Helix, wondering if she wanted to keep our stable on the down low, but she just shrugged. “We learnt it back in our stable. It’s about fifteen miles down the lake. Or what is left of it anyway.”

Mantis’s brow furrowed. “What’s left of it? What happened to it?”

“Long story.” I said rolling my eyes. “Anyway we were heading to the top to catch the view so we will see you around I guess.”

“I’ll be coming with you if you don’t mind. I need to catch something to serve tonight and you two look like you are in a position to help me.” He unslung his shotgun and gestured up the hill. “Come on. With guns like those you ought to be able to take out a radigator or even a terrorhawk.”

“Terror-hawk?” Helix asked apprehensively.

“Imagine an eagle with a two metre wingspan, claws that can slice clean through leather barding and eyes good enough to spot a bloatsprite from half a mile away.” Mantis pumped his shot gun. “Then you are getting the idea. They are also healed by radiation which is a right pain in the ass.”

Helix and I exchanged a nervous glance then set off again up the path once more after Mantis.

After another fifteen minutes or so I wished we had headed up without him. The earth buck just could not stop talking to us. It wasn’t that he was annoying, but it seemed that for every story we had he had one better. I had no idea how he stayed quiet when he was hunting.

“I was born in New Appleoosa; about a week’s trot from here in the plains at the base of the mountains.” He chatted to us as we plodded along behind him, keeping half an eye out for any ambitious bloatsprites. “Lived there with my father and older brother. Oh, it was a good life, but it did have a few problems. It’s hard enough hunting in the dusty, orange plains when you are copper like my brother or brown like my old man but when you are a rich green…” He flicked his mane. “…things are much more difficult. I had to be twice as cunning as my brother when we went hunting. My old man was one of the best shots in the wasteland, or so he claimed, and he wanted us to be just like him; great hunter-gatherers all for the greater good and all the stuff that DJ went on about. I made special mods to my rifle here to give me the edge over my brother. He copied me so I had to become stealthier and faster than him. Not too difficult given his bulk but it still was hard. If I had been orange like him with my skills I could have flattened him hooves down each time we went out, but if I had been orange I wouldn’t have been forced to get so good.”

He suddenly held up a hoof and we all stopped. Mantis brought his shotgun up silently scanning the hillside. He paused at a tuft of grass and then fired. There was a squeak and a grunt as something stumbled out of the long grass. Mantis drew a hunting knife and quickly stabbed the throat of the radroach then hung if off his pack and cleaned the knife off on the grass before stowing it away once more. Ok, maybe he was as good as he boasted.

“If you were born in New Appleloosa then how come you now live here in Viewpoint?” Helix asked. She seemed to be weathering his verbal onslaught much better than I was. “What made you move?”

“Ah, now that is an excellent question.” Mantis said with an air of importance. “About six years ago or so, New Appleloosa was attacked randomly by a bunch or raiders. At the time they didn’t have the defences they have now. All the bucks mounted a defence my brother and father included. With our rifles we could stay back and snipe from the town hall. We were doing well until…” His eyes suddenly dropped and he slowed his pace.

“Until what?” I prompted.

“One of the raiders figured out where our shots were coming from. He pulled out a missile launcher and blew the room we were in to pieces. I was blasted out the window into the street but my brother and father were fatally wounded. My brother bled out before I could reach him and my father died… my father died in my arms.” He was crying now but wiped them away forcefully.

I gave him a moment to compose himself then asked. “What happened next?”

“I went mad. The remains of the raiding party retreated and I followed. It took a week to get back to their camp. I’ve no idea why they came so far from their hideout but that’s history now. I came across them one night, in the cave they had made their base. I decided that I was going to kill them all for what they’d done. I tossed two smoke grenades into the cave and retreated. I shot them one by one as they ran out coughing and gasping. No mercy, no hesitation. Bolt, shot, Bolt, shot. Bolt, shot. By the time the smoke had cleared I had killed twelve ponies with eleven shots. Yes eleven…” He repeated as my mouth opened slightly. “Double headshot with a .308 round.”

He shook his head if trying to clear his thoughts. “But when I moved in to loot the bodies I discovered two foals at the back of the cave. The colt had been cut and slashed repeatedly and the filly had been abused in… I don’t even want to say it. I was so preoccupied that I didn’t notice the raider behind me. She had been smart enough to guess what was going on and had stayed in the back of the cave. She put this knife…” He pulled out the hunting knife. “… right through my left foreleg.” He lifted it up revealing a four inch long scar on either side just above his knee. “She was going to kill me with it but it was stuck. It then became a hoof to hoof wrestle in front of the two foals. I eventually managed to knock her out with a rock but I couldn’t kill her for some reason. So I took the two foals and ran.”

He paused at a fork in the track and headed right. “The colt died shortly afterwards, but the filly stayed alive. After a week in pursuit I had almost no supplies, not enough for one pony let alone two.” He sniffed but then a smile broke across his face. “And then we were saved by the most unlikely person imaginable. Back in New Appleloosa was a ghoul pegasus who ran a shop. She was flying over with her delivery waggon and spotted me below with the filly. She gave us a lift to where she was heading; Viewpoint. If it hadn’t been for dear old Ditzy I am certain we would have died out there.”

I smiled at him and he smiled back. “So a happy ending then.”

“Oh it gets better.” He was positively grinning now; wow big change of mood my little pony noted. “The filly had been taken from this very town. Her parents ran the local pub as it was back then. To say thank you for saving their daughter they offered me a place to live here in Viewpoint and a job that would utilise and allow me to hone my skills.”

“And I’m guessing you took it.” Helix was smiling now to.

“Yep.” Mantis beamed. “Now I live my life helping to feed others and help run a successful business. Tabitha has grown up into one heck of a mare if you ask me. Still a little on the young side to be dating but very, very beautiful.”

“Tabitha?” I asked. “As in Tabitha’s Treat’s?”

“Yep.”

“But it looks so… um… dubious.” I said carefully. I didn’t want to insult our new friends business but there was no other word for it.

Mantis frowned slightly. “It may delve into some rather interesting pleasures on occasion, but what the ponies want is what the ponies get. Besides, no one forces the mares; and even bucks, into performing. They get their kicks out of it and we get profit. Win, win.”

I looked at him for a moment before relaxing. He was right. It might not be a kind of right I was used to but still, he was right. ‘And you like delving into interesting pleasures yourself don’t you’ my little pony said in a sultry tone. Kick, buck and wrestle that thought into a deep hole.

“And besides if the lure of Tabitha’s isn’t for you…” He stopped and waved a hoof in the air. “This just might be.”

I looked up and felt my jaw drop.

The rain had lifted, the mist had cleared and the light from the sinking sun was catching the underside of the clouds turning them an infinite number of shades of pink and red. I could see Viewpoint at the foot of the ridgeline we were standing on, laid out like a miniature model set below. I could see Tabitha’s and Arcano weapons, the falling sun reflecting up off their roofs. But what stunned me the most was the lake. I could see all of it; well I thought I could. The gleaming water sparkled and gleamed as it disappeared into the distance where my eyes could no longer focus. The sides of the valley seemed to hug the mass of water like stone arms. I could see the tops of those ridges smattered with patches of trees like the ones below us. More torrents of water spewing out of the near vertical faces of rock, tumbling down into the lake below.

“Wow…” Helix said softly beside me. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah it is.” I leant my head on her shoulder and she reciprocated. It had been a hard day. A long day. So much had happened that I could barely remember it all. We’d set out at the crack of dawn to look for civilisation. We’d lost poor Ambrosia shortly afterwards. Then we’d been blasted with rain for hours on end before finding the entrance to Viewpoint. We’d helped an earth pony ghoul who had, in return, helped us get food for what survived of our stable. I’d found out about the strange gun that Arc had given me and lent it to Swarf and his dad in exchange for weapons and ammunition to help defend us in the wasteland. Watched Tungsten and Ripsaw get rapidly drunk and then collapse in a snoring heap. Forged on up the cliff side in the rain and ran into a stallion that had saved a defenceless filly from a band of raiders.

And now this.

I started crying. Silently at first but slowly the wall of emotion hit me and I broke down completely bawling into Helix’s shoulder. I cried until I ran out of tears and the sun had set, turning the scene into shadows and shades of grey. I cried for Ambrosia who had died so suddenly trying to help her fellow stable dwellers. I cried for Knick Knack who had been transformed into an undying ghoul by no fault of her own. I cried for Mantis’s brother and father who were cruelly taken from him and for the colt that had been tortured by raiders. And I finally cried with happiness for the filly that made it out alive and living long enough to see the sight before me.

“What’s wrong my love?” Helix held me tightly as my tears mixed with the moisture in her mane.

“Nothing’s wrong... it’s just... all this, and what’s happened and how quickly.” I sat up and wiped my eyes with a hoof trying to look at her without my vision being blurred. “Ten hours ago we were leaving the warehouse. Nine hours ago we lost Ambrosia. I watched somepony die today and it’s taken nine hours for me to realise it.”

“But you have realised it, come to terms with it; or at least begun to accept it.” Helix insisted. “You’re like that. You can push through in the moment, stay strong but eventually you have to have your moment of sorrow otherwise you would bottle it all up. And that’s never a good thing.”

“I...you’re right. You are always right.” I smiled at her and then blushed slightly as she kissed me. I caught Mantis out the corner of my eye looking both surprised and slightly disappointed. “Yes we are both taken.” I said to him. “Deal with it.”

“You do know you are probably making a whole bunch of bucks really unhappy keeping such beauty and grace between the two of you.” He shuffled awkwardly but with a nervous grin on his face.

“Yeah, and I don’t care. She’s mine.” I kissed her back wishing with all my heart that I had a camera to capture this moment. After a moment we turned to look back at the lake. “You know we best be getting back down. That path is just going to get harder to navigate in the dark.” I looked at my PipBuck. “This thing has to have a torch or something on here; it does almost everything else.” Suddenly the casing began to glow illuminating the ground around me. “I knew it.” I smiled at my PipBuck.

Helix copied me and the three of us turned to head down the mountain guided by the little pools of light.

“If you like that view there are plenty more like that around these parts. If you follow this ridge along you get to Forks peak. That’s an amazing view but I would go as a group; there are some small time gangs at the other end of the valley.”

“Gangs?”

“Surely you had gangs in your stable. It’s just like the norm among more unruly teen and younger kids these days.” Mantis looked surprised when I looked back at him nonplussed. “Um, ok, gangs. Groups of ponies that band together in ‘common cause’,” Why did he say it like it was a bad thing. “which can be pretty much anything, but its usually just for survival. But a gang gets violent most of the time or intimidates others just for the fun of it.”

“Intimidate ponies for fun.” Helix answered in shocked tones. “But why?”

“Cos they can. Some gangs form for protection as well, but that usually means you end up with two gangs in the same area. So they fight and get in other ponies ways. Those ponies then pick a side and the gangs grow and fight until the original meaning of the fight is lost and both side just have an irrational hatred of one another.”

“That’s just stupid on a whole new level.” This kind of thing would never have happened in a stable; well stable seventeen anyway.

“But is it?” Mantis stopped and we looked at him. “Example. In Hoofington there is a gang made up entirely of burn or explosion victims. And do you know what they use for weapons?” We shook our heads. “Flame throwers and rocket launchers. You would think after what they had been through that they would never touch those weapons again but, from what a trader told me; who probably got this information fifth hoof or something like that, they use them because if they can be strong enough to work with what almost killed them every day, then how can they be afraid of anything else. On their own they would be suicidal; easy pickings for another gang, but together they can help each other cope and have safety in numbers.” He looked at us. “Do you get it now?”

“So you are telling me that… every gang is made up of… suicidal, lonely ponies… that are just looking for a safe, quiet… life?” Helix and I filled in together.

“No. There are loads of gangs that are formed purely to kill and maim cos ponies want to. That’s what’s at the other end of the ridge. Except it’s not just one gang; its three.”

“So how come they haven’t killed each other?” I asked.

“Oh trust me, they have each been trying to wipe the other two out for decades. They just haven’t had any luck. There was a point about three years back when it looked like the Stonethrowers were going to win but then Slate, leader of the Quarrymen, convinced the Pinkstormers to do a joint attack. They almost wiped them out, but before the job was done they turned on each other.” Mantis shook his head. “That’s pointless. That’s stupid.”

“Are there lots of gangs around Equestria?” Helix asked.

“Was Celestia an Alicorn?” Mantis suddenly drew his knife and sliced two bloatsprites clean out of the air. It seemed they had been waiting to ambush the three of us. He picked them up and hung them next to the radroach and continued.

“Most of the wasteland is split up into areas controlled by groups of some form or another. Some are for good, others not so much. There’ve been problems all over since ponies started emerging from the stables as a stable provides a perfect hidden location for a gang to operate from. One month a route can be safe and the next it can be suicide.” He sighed and turned to look at us, a serious expression on his face. “You two have been lucky. Viewpoint is one of the best places in the wastelands to live. We’re isolated, but self-sustaining. Have good protection and defences. No real gangs around that threaten us and little radiation. What you saw on the top of that ridge is one of the few beautiful places in the wasteland. We all do our best to keep it this way. Anyone who threatens it has to go.”

He rubbed his face suddenly looking very tired then sighed again. “Come on, let’s get to the bottom.”

When we got back down into Viewpoint we headed with Mantis straight to Tabitha’s Treats. Mantis had killed another three bloatsprites and two more radroach’s on the way down. Helix and I had carried them for him but we were still surprised when he told us he was going to turn them into the evening’s menu. When we got to Tabitha’s, there was music filling the street outside, sounding out of the open windows and doors of the establishment. Mantis bid us a pleasant evening before disappearing round the back with his catches.

Helix and I stepped inside the very full building and looked around. To my surprise it was Clef and Stave standing on the small stage in the corner, accompanied by a drummer and vocalist. The young mare wasn’t the best singer, but everyone was enjoying her lyrics more than her tuning. Clef had gotten his hoofs on a double bass and was plucking out a meaty bass line while Stave was at the piano and was providing a funky melody and chord line. Just as I spotted our little group in the opposite corner the song ended resulting in a tumult of applause from the assembled ponies.

“Thank you everypony.” The vocalist called out and getting another cheer in response. “Thank you. We’ll be continuing in just a second, but first let’s give a big round for our two helping musicians, Clef and Stave!” Another cheer. “And of course our ever regular Offbeat,” The drummer raised his sticks with his magic getting a cheer with a few whoops. There was also a cry of ‘hit em’ harder’ to which Offbeat grinned and ran a quick fill on the toms and the snare drum. The mare smiled and then tapped her hoof four times. The band began again striking up another lively tune. I was no musician myself, but I knew a twelve bar blues when I heard one.

“Come ta enjoy the feshtivities.” Foxglove raised a glass of something brown with a white frothy top with a slight hiccup. “And git yourself a glass of... of whatever this is.” She glared at the brown stuff intently for a moment before hiccupping again. “It’s disssgusting.”

“Put it down before you drop it.” Ripsaw said soothingly. “I can’t believe you got drunk off a single pint of beer.”

“I’ve ne’er drunk ‘efore... so gimmie a... gimmie a break.” Foxglove dropped the glass which I caught with my magic before it spilled.

“So it seems you two have decided to do a role reversal.” I plonked myself down next to Seafire who was sipping on one of our Sparkle-colas. “I didn’t know you drank Foxglove.”

“I don’t think she’s ever had alcohol before.” Ripsaw was now trying to keep the poor young mare from slipping off her seat onto the floor; just like earlier. Foxglove simply shook her head. “Typical.” Ripsaw settled for leaning the drunken pony on Smoking shoulder, who just rolled his eyes and took a gulp of his own pint.

Tungsten was at the bar ordering another pint for himself. I wondered if we were going to have any caps left by the time we left Viewpoint. Seafire seemed to judge my expression.

“We have plenty of Caps left over from selling the Sparkle cola. We’ve already sold one of the Blackhawks. We need caps more than we do weapons at the moment.”

“What about your new shotgun?” I asked

Seafire’s face lit up as she went into gun-nut mode; something I didn’t think she had. “It’s amazing! I checked out everything. Bore is perfect and has been nitrided for greater reliability. The breech and bolt have been custom shaped to allow a fast ejection speed without compromising reliability or wasting energy. The block has been milled from a single piece for maximum strength.” She was practically glowing with excitement. “I have no idea where they got a large enough piece. If you had bought it, it would have cost hundreds of caps. Six hundred to be exact.”

“How do you know that?” I asked in surprise.

“My PipBuck told me.” she said opening up her inventory. “Look.”

She was right. The gun had a value in Caps, a weight, condition bar, how much ammunition you had for it and all the different types, a damage value... since when could a PipBuck tell you all that.

“Has it done it for anything else?” I asked opening my own inventory. “Has it catalogued everything?”

“Yes.” Seafire scrolled through the list. “The sparkle cola, the weapons, ammunition, food. Even my barding has a value.” She almost seemed wounded that her PipBuck had the nerve to suggest that she could sell it.

“If you did sell it I doubt you’d be able to find a replacement that would fit as well as that one does.” I scanned her unusual figure. “You’re not exactly normal pony proportions.”

“It’s not like that’s a bad thing.” She winked at me and I rolled my eyes.

I hadn’t really given it much thought back in that stable. Seafire wasn’t the only unusual pony but out here she might be one of a kind. She was a tall mare; a good two hoofs taller than me, but she was also more slender though the legs and neck, and her chest was more rounded and curvaceous. Her head wasn’t normal either with more slender ears and an oval profile rather than a rounded one. Her mouth and nose were also more pronounced, like a bucks, but still had a feminine shape to them. Perhaps that was why she had drawn so much attention back in the stable. The only time I had seen a shape like hers was on the cover of a hefty book in the stable library entitled ‘The Thousand Year Reign Of Princess Celestia; A Reference Guide”.

That was it. Seafire was like a shrunk down Alicorn, but without the wings. She even had bigger hoofs than I did. ‘I wonder what it would be like to get a massage from those’ my little pony piped up. Oh for the love of Celestia.

“What’s for the love of Celestia?” Helix asked. Oops.

“Umm, nothing.” I said quickly, returning to my Pipbuck. “Just my mind making inappropriate suggestions.”

“So perfectly normal then.” She replied laughing.

I groaned again. Changing the subject I asked, “Do we have a plan for where we are staying tonight. We could find an unused building and bunk down in that, so long as it has a roof.”

Helix laughed dryly. “Oh no, I want a proper bed like back in seventeen. They have them here upstairs. I’ve spent too many nights on a concrete floor; my back is killing me.”

“It’s been one night.” Smoking replied flatly.

“Yeah. One night too many.” Helix was rifling through her bags. “How much do you think a room is?”

“Forty caps a night or three nights for one hundred.” Tungsten carefully shuffled the three pint’s on his back onto the table, sat down and then drank half of it in one gulp.

“Have you not learned your lesson already about drinking too much?” I asked, eyeing him as he took another big gulp.

“No.” he replied simply. “Besides this stuff is far better than anything in Seventeen. Not entirely sure what it’s made of, but it’s still damn good.”

“It may be good but it’s still mildly radioactive. We will should probably take a swig Rad-away before the night is out.” Helix was holding her PipBuck to each glass in turn.

“Yes mum.” Tungsten rolled his eyes at a scowling Helix.

“Well somepony has to look after you don’t they.” She snapped back. “Fine you deal with your own health from now on.”

“Fine by me.”

Seafire looked at me curiously. “What’s got him by the tail?” She whispered.

“No idea exactly.” I looked at Tungsten as he finished his first pint and moved on to the second. “I still haven’t talked to him about what happened back in the stable. I know Helix has but… I don’t know what we can do… I know he’ll be beating himself black and blue inside, but unless he opens up we can’t help him. And I’m definitely the wrong pony to get him to speak his mind!”

We listened to the band play for another hour. I caught glimpses of Mantis popping in and out of the door to the kitchens delivering meals to guests. I couldn’t possibly see how those weird creatures could taste any good but the ponies didn’t seem to care at all as the wolfed down the food. Eventually the band wrapped up with an audience participation song; I didn’t have a clue of the words, but I got the gist of it after a while.

It was so strange. In the last three days I’d experienced so many emotions and gone through so much it was hard to think I could be happy again but yet, here and now, I was happy and, despite what had happened, I could honestly say to myself that I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I had Helix with me, Seafire, it was good that Tungsten was alive and still interacting with us; even after what he had done, and I had gained new friends to. Foxglove, Ripsaw, Smoking. And to top it all, I was sitting here watching two of my stable’s musicians, who had never had such an audience to perform for, making an entire room of strange ponies unite.

When the song finished everypony began to disperse, heading out the door and back to their homes. Some laughing loudly, some still singing, some weaving from side to side trying to reach the door without face planting. The singing mare leapt lightly off the stage and headed to the bar where she started to help clean up. Mantis came out and started pick up the plates and pint glasses, taking them back to the kitchen for washing. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves now.

“Let’s go and find ourselves an empty building.” Smoking said as enthusiastically as he could. “We need to rest up for our walk back tomorrow.”

“What, we're going back tomorrow?” Ripsaw said sadly. “We have only just got here. There’s so much more we could make use of.”

“The task was to go out and find civilisation. I would say we found it.” Smoking looked at her with a stern expression. “We need to get the supplies we’ve bought back to everypony else. After we’ve done that, then we can consider what to do next. If it means coming back here, then that’s what we’ll do.”

Ripsaw gave a sort of grunt of understanding, but still looked disappointed. Clef and Stave wandered over from the stage grinning.

“Did you enjoy it?” Stave asked ecstatically. “I’ve never played like that before. Soooo much fun!” He just couldn’t get the grin off his face.

“It was brilliant!” Seafire put a hoof around his neck and gave it a quick squeeze, much to the buck’s delight. “I’ve never heard you two play like that back in the stable, or did I come to the wrong concerts?”

“Nope, we didn’t have anything like that back in seventeen.” Clef was just as excited as Stave and seemed even more ecstatic when Seafire gave him a quick squeeze as well. “Everything was based off what was in the archives. That was mainly music by Octavia. Then Chord pretty much indoctrinated the stable when he was born with more classical music. There were some books on Jazz and Blues as well as a few recordings but they were slower, even somber. It’s so much livelier than I had thought it was and more fun. You can just mess around with the chord positions, accidentals and rhythm so long as you stick to main chord structure.” He beamed again. “Like Stave says, soooo much fun!” He glanced over at the singing mare. “Tabitha there said that, if the rest of the staff agree with it, we might be able to take up performing here as a full time job!”

“That still doesn’t solve our sleeping problem.” Foxglove groaned up from the table. “Why not just stay here?”

“We can’t afford to waste the caps.” Smoking replied grimly. “As nice as it would be…” He muttered to himself.

“Can I help you?” A voice called over from the bar. It was Tabitha. Then it clicked.

“You’re Tabitha!” I exclaimed. “Tabitha!”

“Yes, I am.” She looked slightly shocked. Then her brow furrowed “What’s it to you?”

“Mantis saved you… It’s you… the one he saved…”

Tabitha suddenly looked shocked. “No… I’m…”

“It’s alright Tabby.” Mantis strolled through the door from the kitchen with calming expression on his face. “I told them. It’s all good.”

Tabitha turned to gawk at Mantis. “You told them all?”

“No, just these two.” He indicated Helix and I. Tabitha didn’t look impressed “They helped me get the food for this evening. We were just swapping stories and it just came out.” Ummm, no it didn’t.

Tabitha eyed Mantis looking slightly annoyed. “And why might I ask?”

“Because they needed to know what the rest of the wastelands can be like.” He replied simply. “Not just our little safe-ish bubble.” She seemed to accept that as reason but looked put out.

“So you lot must be the new stable dwellers.” She gave us all a quick look over. “Hey.” She pointed at Clef and Stave. “You never said you were from a stable.”

“You never asked.” Stave replied.

Tabitha just rolled her eyes. “Well, what it is it you want?”

“We were just wondering where we can spend the night.” I said.

“We were thinking of just going and finding one of the dryer buildings on the edge of town and settling down in there.” Smoking said, over riding my hint of ‘can we stay here for free?’.

“Security will kick you out I’m afraid.” Tabitha said. “We would offer you rooms here but we’re full.” she glanced at Mantis who nodded. “You might be able to find someone else to stay with but besides that you’d have to move outside the town and find a cave or something.” She shuddered slightly. I couldn’t tell if it was the idea of sleeping in a cave that caused it, or the memories of she experienced in one.

“I’ll do you a deal.” Mantis said suddenly. “You can sleep in here tonight. But you’ll have to help us in the morning.”

“Doing what?” Tungsten asked cautiously.

“Preparing breakfast, bring in supplies, cleaning toilets, floors and windows, emptying bins… get the idea?”

“Sure, I could do that.” I glanced at Helix who nodded approvingly. “What about the rest of you.” There was a general consensus.

“Excellent.” Mantis grinned. He clapped his hooves together in a business like way. “I guess we’ll see you in the morning then. Nice and early, so don’t stay up too late.” He and Tabitha turned and made for the door in the kitchens. As they left Tabitha went quickly over to the bar and tapped on the terminal behind the counter. There was a sudden hum and a blue light began to glow from all the objects behind the bar. “Security field.” Mantis said, spotting our bemused expression. “Touch it and you’ll end up getting a serious jolt. You can never be too careful.” He smiled and they both left.

“Well this is turning out much better than I’d anticipated.” Smoking said to the room. “Why do I get the impression that things are suddenly going to go downhill.”

“Just because you have a run of good luck doesn’t mean you have to balance it out with a spell of bad.” Ripsaw said knowledgeably.

“You say that like it’s a fact.” Tungsten said, with an expression that suggested he had just bitten into a mouldy apple. “You’d be surprised how often the good is followed by the bad.” Why did he look at me when he said that?

“Meah, so what. Enjoy it while it lasts.” Ripsaw pulled her blanket out and laid it on top of a cluster of cushions she’d arranged on the floor.

The rest of us began to follow suit. Helix and I snuggled next to each other on our own bed of cushions; the others on their own little piles around the room.

“Goodnight Helix.” I said happily, nuzzling close to her and enjoying the smell of her coat.

“Goodnight Fran.” She replied, with a quick peck on the top of my head.

Curled up close to Helix; warm next to her body under the blanket, it wasn’t long before I drifted off to sleep.

To begin with it was confusing and strange and completely real. Ponies I knew and ponies I didn’t. We were all in the atrium of stable seventeen enjoying some ponies cutecinera though it wasn’t clear who’s it was. I wandered past clustered groups, catching brief snatches of conversation. Nothing important. What they had been doing at work, who was dating who, new clothes they had made for themselves, if somepony wanted to go and play tennis the next morning.

Suddenly Tungsten was next to me wearing a black business suit with highly polished black shoes, his mane scraped back with wax looking very much like the boss of some Fillydelphian pony gang. How I knew this I didn’t know. We were looking out of a window into a city, the same city I had seen in Scootaloo’s memory’s; well it had the same buildings at least.

Tungsten turned to look at me, dropped to his knee and asked me to marry him. I accepted, a beautiful diamond studded ring being slipped over the end of my horn, and before I knew it we were making love on our honeymoon, outside on a beach beneath a full moon. Then we were in a hospital and I was having twins. Two beautiful fillies.

We watched as our children played outside our house, under a huge dome that protected us from the contaminated water above. I lay on a bench, my head in Tungstens lap, eyes closed listening to my children laughing and squealing with delight.

But their voices changed, they cried out for me. I sat up just in time to see the dome collapsing as a huge steel pipe shattered that glass. The water tore through the hole ripping and rending the structure apart. I screamed as I saw my daughters lost in the deluge of radioactive water, Tungsten holding me back.

But then they came, pulling themselves out of the torrent towards me. I called out and broke free of Tungstens grip. I was so happy that they were alive! But I stopped as I neared them as I saw what the water had turned them into...

Ghouls.

I just stood there and wept as the dome disintegrated around me, my world turning to black.

“Fran! Fran! Get up dam it!”

“No!” I shouted opening my eyes. Tungsten was shaking me awake. I could hear shouts and commanding calls around me.

“Come on, Get up! We are under attack!” He grasped me firmly.

“No! They’re dead and I couldn’t save them! Let me go back!”

“Fran!”

My eyes snapped open.

Something was clearly wrong. Through the open doorway I could see ponies all rushing in the same direction, almost all of them carrying weapons of some kind. Tungsten had a determined look on his face that was tinged with worry.

“What’s going on?” I pulled myself gingerly to my feet.

“Viewpoint is under attack from one of the local gangs. Virtually every resident is going to the walls to defend the town. Mantis wants us on it as well.”

“Did he say which gang it was?” I asked pulling a Blackhawk out of my saddlebags

“The Stonethrowers, now come on.”

They all dashed outside, all except Helix.

“What were you dreaming. You were twitching in your sleep? Do you remember what you shouted when Tungsten tried to wake you up?”

“No...” I said slowly. I was twitching? The dream was fading fast from my mind; I could recall a great sense of shock and fear, but not much else. Helix just looked at me with concern. “Shouldn’t we be going to help?”

“Yes. Good point.”

We sprinted to the western wall, the same one we had entered in the previous day. I could tell it was yesterday as I could just see light beginning to bloom against the sky in the west, back lighting the ridge in that direction. As we got closer to the wall we had to start dodging flying stones the size of my hoof; It seemed the Stonethrowers lived up to their name. I had to leap aside as a rock the size of my head came hurtling over the town’s defensive wall.

I hadn’t seen them when we had arrived due to the thick fog but I was rather surprised at quite how substantial the town’s fortifications were. They seemed to be made of large barrels filled with dirt, stacked one on top of the other like tins of beans and overlapping like bricks. Three barrels deep at the base the wall was about two metres high to the walkway and then another single wall of barrels with bags of dirt packed in the gaps formed a wall at the top which clusters of ponies were firing over and reloading behind. The wall ran on the near side of the river that ran into the lake on the east side of the town and went from ten metres into the lake right along to the cliff edge that Helix and I had been to the top of yesterday evening. I spotted Smoking and Tungsten huddled together, reloading their weapons before they each swung up in unison firing down at our rock flinging enemies.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Called a voice. I turned to see Knick Knack sticking her head out of her waggon which she had parked in a rack of other waggons and trailers. “Can’t you keep it down? I’m trying to sleep.”

“For Celestia’s sake girl.” Mantis ran over to her as he pulled out a fresh magazine for a scoped rifle that was slung over his back. “Get over to Tabby’s and stay there.”

“Are we under attack?” Knick Knack said scratching her flaking ear absentmindedly.

“Yes now move!”

“Ooo, ooo, I can help!” She dove back inside her waggon and emerged a moment later with a sack in her mouth. “Use these!” She put her head in the bag and drew out a metal ball. “Gwemades!” she said around the silvery object.

“Wait. You had grenades and you didn’t sell them to us?” Mantis said incredulously.

“I can get a better price for them in High-voltage.” She replied matter-of-factly.

“Whatever it is we will match it.” Mantis grabbed the bag and ran back to the wall.

“We best get up there and help them.” Seafire pulled out her shotgun, looked at it for a moment, then shook her head stowing it away again. “Ah that’s better.” She had drawn out two of our remaining Blackhawks. “Dual-wield!” She spun them with her magic and loaded each of the revolvers cylinders.

“You lot! Get up here!” I turned to see Smoking ducking to avoid the largest rock that had been flung yet; a lump the size of a pony. Ok, scratch that. They were now tossing boulders. The boulder in question landed with a heavy thump right in the middle of the street, embedding a third of itself into the earth.

We didn’t argue. We made our way up one of the ramps to the top of the wall keeping low; they were shooting as well as tossing boulders, just not as much. I pulled out my own Blackhawk and checked the load.

“Hey check out what Mantis gave me.” I had scrunched down next to Ripsaw. She was bouncing one of the grenades with a hoof. “Grenades!”

“You know how to use those right?” Seafire asked dubiously.

“Yeah, pull the pin and throw it.”

“You throw the ball not the pin, remember.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ripsaw took a quick peek over the wall. “There is a group of them trying to get something up to the gate. Mantis said a battering ram and told me to take it out.”

“Well get on with it then.” Seafire swung up over the wall and began to lay down fire with her dual Blackhawks.

Ripsaw took out three grenades and placed them before her, took a deep breath and then swung up over the wall. I watched her as, with the help of SATS, she tossed all three grenades at her target in under five seconds before dropping down again out of the line of fire. There were three heavy cracking sounds that cut through the rest of the battle din. I took my first peek over the wall. There were maybe three dozen ponies on the far side of the narrow river; only ten metres or so across, but it was very fast flowing. The ponies were clustered in groups behind mine carts that they had presumably brought with them. They contained rocks and boulders and were using them as cover. The ponies seemed to be mainly unicorns who were telekinetically tossing the rocks and boulders out of the carts at us. The small number of earth ponies were armed with a selection of bolt action rifles but one had a mini-gun; very much like the one that was in Arcano Technologies and looked to be getting ready to fire.

“Get down!” I heard Smoking yell, along with several other ponies along the wall.

The minigunner opened fire. Now I understood why you might need that much fire power. Bullets zinged and whizzed over our heads, they pinged of the metal barrels and sent clouds of dust blooming out of the barrels and sandbags when bullets made it through. I heard a few cries of pain and curses as ponies got hit through the wall. The barrage of bullets lasted about ten seconds before I heard the belt feed run dry.

“Openfire!” I heard Mantis’s voice call and every pony swung up over the wall.

I dropped into SATs and targeted one of the advancing earth ponies who had taken advantage of the covering fire to advance much closer to our defences. His brains splattered out the far side of his head. I shot another pony that had swung up with 10mm SMG. Her chest was cratered by two of the Blackhawks massive rounds. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the mini-gunner getting ready to fire again. But before he could pull the trigger his right leg was torn clean off by a massive shot of blue light that left an after image in my vision it was so bright. Another shot from the mysterious blue weapon tore him in half and melted the solid block of metal that was the minigun’s firing chamber.

The other attacking ponies scrambled for cover. The blue bolt fired again and turned one of the mine carts that a group of ponies were hiding behind into a wall of shrapnel and flying rubble. Many of the ponies cried out as their hides were savaged by the flying metal and debris. They began to retreat, not even bothering to fire back in the face of this new and vicious weapon.

But something else was happening. I could hear a bell sounding behind us from the far side of the town.

“Bastards.” I heard Mantis yell again. “You five with me!” He pointed at some of the security guards. One was Buck Shot that we had encountered earlier at Arcano. They leapt off the wall and began to gallop, full pelt, down the street.

The rest of us continued to take shots at the retreating Stonethrowers. When they had all left our range, Helix stood up and looked around. There were several ponies on the walkway that were bleeding or groaning from gunshot wounds but Helix jumped down to an amber mare who had fallen off the wall after taking a shot right in her eye; with a slight twist in my stomach I recognised her from the bar last night.

The bullet seemed to have come through at such an oblique angle that it had blown out her ear rather than her brains. The poor unicorn was panting and gasping for breath, her rifle abandoned at her side. Helix immediately pulled out one of our medical kits and wrapped one of the magically enhanced bandages around her head in an attempt to staunch the blood flow.

But my eyes were drawn along the top of the walkway to where Swarf stood holding Jury. He was gazing at the weapon in awe. As I approached I could see he was holding it gingerly and then I noticed that I could see heat radiating away from the barrel of the weapon.

“So that’s what my gun does.” He looked up at me with a mixture of surprise and amazement.

“I had read the stats but I didn’t believe it. It seemed impossible that you could get that much power out of such a small weapon. I guess I was wrong.” He passed me Jury and I took it in my magical grasp. Dam it was hot.

“It didn’t fire like that earlier.” I said looking closely at the Arcano weapon.

“Ah, that’s cos you didn’t have this.” He lifted his leg to reveal a PipBuck now attached to it.

“Hello… got one here.” I said lifting my own.

“Oh, no, no.” He waved a hoof dismissively. “This has a piece of custom software loaded on it that interfaces with a PipBucks SATS spell. When you get the gun it comes with an Instruction manual and while you are watching it, it loads the spell onto your PipBuck. It means you can only use all the guns features after you have seen the safety information.”

“Wait orb?” I pulled out the black case from Arc and opened it. “Like this?” I showed him the memory orb set into the padded lining of the box.

Swarf’s eyes went wide. “Yes!”

“I need some help over here!” Helix shouted. The mare was still bleeding but she seemed to have realised what had happened to her and was panicking, trying to push Helix away. Swarf passed me Jury, we abandoned our conversation and ran over.

“Hold her down.” Helix commanded. I pinned the mare’s front legs and Helix pulled out another healing potion. But rather than her pouring it down her throat, Helix dunked a fresh healing bandage into it and then, when the bandage was sodden, pressed it against the hole in the mares head. She then took a second bandage and pinned the first in place, blocking the hole. Within a minute the blood flow had stopped and the mares breathing had eased slightly but Helix still looked very worried.

“We need to find a proper doctor or better yet a trauma specialist.” She said incinerating the discarded, blood soaked bandages with a flash of her magic.

“This is the wasteland. You will be hard pressed to find a decent plumber, let alone a doctor.” Helix looked at Swarf sternly. “Um, I don’t know. Stitches left for High-voltage a few weeks back to help deal with an outbreak of pony-pox but she hasn’t returned.”

“Does she have an office or a clinic or something. Somewhere with supplies?” Helix asked desperately. “The more stuff we have the better chance I have of being able to save her.”

“She worked out of the first-aid point at the old Gem Mine. But it’s all locked up.”

“With a key or a terminal.” I asked.

“Terminal. Why?” Swarf looked at me for a moment and then his eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh…”

The mare would make it. Helix had been able to remove the small fragments of bullet and skull that had been left behind and then plugged the gap with some sterilised putty-like stuff. Her head was a mass of bandages that were holding her brains in and the putty against her head as the magic worked to bridge the gap. She rested on a trolley in the mine’s first aid centre, sleeping off the anaesthetic that Helix had given her. Helix was still cross with herself despite the fact that her first field patient was going to survive.

“If I had gotten to her sooner the healing potion would have been able to repair her whole head.” She moaned. “I have seen it before in training videos. If you know what you are doing you can heal pretty much anything.”

“But you were not trained as a doctor or a surgeon. You were taught biology and gene-manipulation.” I insisted. “You used what you knew to the best of your abilities.”

“I know but still…” She looked sadly over at the sleeping unicorn. “I am not even sure she will still have her magic. The hole is right where the neurological link is on the side of the head and it’s all gone. She still has the other side but with no link to half her brain…” She muttered herself into silence then asked, “What did you find out from the terminal? Anything useful?”

“Haven’t had a good look yet.” I moved across and logged into the terminal.

To get into the mine, I had hacked into the terminal at the entrance. One I had finished helping Helix patch up her patient; I had gone back and worked my way into the mines systems. Security and systems control were still not unlocked but I did have access to all the staff and maintenance logs, shipping manifests and a map of the mine. I scrolled through the maintenance logs and picked one at random.

M-12077-63-17:45

Spent all day trying to clear the cutting head of TBM-3, no luck. The whole thing is stuck fast. I don’t want to suggest it to the boss but we might have to blast it out. This is one of the richest seams we have found so far and we can’t waste it because one of the machines gets stuck but we wouldn’t have enough money to replace the machine if we did. Facet is convinced we can free it given a couple more days but she has always been an optimist, I would say a week at least. But the boss only gave us two. Urgh, this is not going to end well.

M-12078-63-17:43
Another day’s slog and a little bit of progress. The cutting head is being pinned from the top by something. We broke two of the magic drills trying to free the upper plate to see what was going on but no success. We will have to take out the internal supports to have a look. It will be dangerous but if we take the right precautions then we should be fine. One day left on the bosses deadline though!

M-12079-63-20:32
As you can see from the time I have worked after hours but not without reason. It’s free! With help from Facet we managed to get what was stopping the head from spinning out. And no wonder it couldn’t turn, it’s the biggest Fire Ruby I have ever seen! Completely flawless too. Then another amazing thing, Facet was so excited about the Ruby, or maybe it was freeing the TBM I don’t know, that she full on kissed me! Me! It was great! She looked slightly embarrassed afterwards but the way she was looking at me. Like she has been waiting to do it… I know this is a maintenance log, but I don’t care. I have to type this somewhere!

I found myself smiling. Lucky buck, or mare; the log didn’t say which, I thought. It seems you found something you weren't quite expecting down that hole. I scrolled on a bit and selected another log.

M-12182-63-17:13
Nothing spectacular to report, TBM-2 and TBM-4 have been fitted with the new prototype cutting heads. Magically reinforced by MAS so we should only have to replace them once a fortnight rather than once a week. (Means I can spend more time with Facet. That mare is amazing.) TBM-1 needs a new belt for the conveyor, will get on with that first thing tomorrow.

M-12193-63-17:19
Still waiting on that dam belt, been almost a fortnight since we mailed Stable-Tec that we needed a new one and we have not had a response. If they want this thing finished on time then they need to provide us with the dam equipment.

Wait? They were building a stable here? I quickly moved over to the schematics of the mining procedure. It looked nothing like stable seventeen; three distinct layers with a large double height tunnel leading into the cliff side. ‘Well, it has been built underground, not underwater’ my little pony pointed out. Good point. I dug a little deeper and found the first shipping manifest of stable parts.

S-13213-A-08:34
Phase:01 Shipment:001
Parts- Stable ‘Cog’ Door - 1

Stable Door Mount Lower - 1

Stable Door Mount Upper - 1

Stable Door Retractor Mechanism - 1

Temporary power generator - 1

Stable Door Control Unit V3 - 1

The list went on over several more pages, covering smaller parts, electrical components lighting and the first set of support beams for the entry tunnel. Hmmm.

“Something interesting?” Helix appeared beside me. I saw her eyes widen as she scanned over the manifest. “A stable? Here? But the sign said it was a mine?”

“It may well have been; mine out gems and cut out a stable at the same time. Save yourself some time and effort.” I went back to the maintenance log.

M-12196-63-17:12
Been exactly a fortnight and finally the belt has turned up. Too late. Boss ordered us to dismantle TBM-1 and put TBM-3 in its place this morning so Stable-Tec can have there dammed belt back. But I really don’t care. My third date with Facet is tonight. Can’t wait!

I moved to the next one but the terminal flashed me an error message. The same with the next three. I looked at the data storage systems and the drive that held those messages was not responding. The next file I could read was over a year later.

M-13211-63-09:32
I have only been in work half an hour and I am already hiding. Everyone seems to know. How? I only asked her last night and suddenly every pony keeps coming up to me and saying congratulations. Facet is probably getting the same treatment, with any luck she is coping better than I am. Wait this is the maintenance log isn’t it. We have finally finished cutting out the profile of the stable and are beginning to move out the TBMs to make way for the first parts of the superstructure. Most of the miners are moving off to other sites but I have been asked to stay and oversee the mounting of the shock plates.Stable-Tec is worried that the tectonic instability at the bottom of the lake will cause earth tremors so the shock plates will stop the forces being transmitted to the stable. They weigh a good ten tons each! Its going to be a job to get them all fitted let alone though the stable door. For some stupid reason, that is going in first.

The next few were about the fitting of the door and then new version of the door control console. But a entry about two weeks later caught my eye. It had a different employee identification number. I checked, number sixty three didn’t appear at all after this entry. I opened it and I could swear I felt my heart curl up in my chest.

M-13226-78-10:30
To all maintenance staff, this is acting head of mine maintenance 78. I am taking over indefinitely for worker 63 after the incident involving worker 103. The funeral for worker 103 or ‘Facet’ is to take place this Wednesday at 1300 hours. Because of this incident, these new safety measures have been put in place.
-All loads to be chain lifted must be fitted with 50% more support cables, bringing the factor of safety to 2.5.
-All loads to be chain lifted must be additionally supported by at least two class two telekinetic unicorns or one class three. If unsure contact a member of health and safety who will advise you on what action must be taken.
-A siren must be sounded at all times during the lift.
In addition, any pony who wishes to talk to a counsellor about this incident may sign up at the entrance.

I felt a tear run down my cheek. I couldn’t understand why I felt so hopelessly sad. These ponies had probably been dead for nearly two hundred years but seeing their relationship played out in just a few minutes rather than a year and understanding what had happened made it feel like it had happened to me. What If I lost Helix? If she had been killed instead of Ambrosia; ‘she almost was’ my little pony said, or been killed back in seventeen. Was this what it would feel like? No, it would be so much worse, I knew that but my chest hurt and ached nonetheless.

Helix gasped beside me as she read. “That’s... that’s... horrible... oh Celestia.” She stared at the screen. I knew she was feeling the same knot build up inside her, the same sorrow. She turned and looked at me. “I don’t know what I would do...” But she stopped.

“If what?” But part of me knew.

“If I lost you...” She flung her forelegs around me and squeezed me with all her strength.

“You won’t lose me.” I hugged her back. “I know I can’t promise, that would be foalish, but I can say that I will never stop loving you.” We looked into each other’s eyes and then we kissed. She made me so, so happy.

“Having fun?” A voice chuckled followed by a hacking cough and a groan. The mare was awake.

“Don’t move.” Helix moved across and examined her head. “Wow, that was fast.” She exclaimed.

“What was.” The mare coughed again.

“Umm, do you remember what happened to you?” Helix asked tentatively.

“I got shot. In the head I think.” She seemed rather calm about it.

“Yes.” Helix gulped. The mare groaned and rolled her one eye.

“Just tell me already.” She muttered. “I can tell that its permanent. The look on your face says so.”

“You have lost your right eye and ear. The synapses and neural connections to your horn have also been heavily damaged. The bullet went through at an angle damaging the side of your skull. The bandages and potions have allowed the bone to re-grow quite rapidly. I don’t know what It looks like though.” Helix gulped again. “I can take off the bandages if you want. They will have to go back on for a few days but at least you will be able to see the damage.”

“Do it.” She replied calmly.

“Are you sure it’s such a good idea?” I muttered to Helix. “She might flip out.”

“Hey I may have lost one ear but my other works fine.” She scowled up at me as best she could. “I will be alright.”

Helix took a deep breath and then removed the pin holding the bandages in place. Slowly she unwrapped the mares head revealing the partially healed wound. The magic had done its job and her head had grown back in the correct shape but the skin was warped and raw in colour. Her eye was now just her eyelid over an empty socket. Her ear was partly restored but it was never going to be the same again.

“Mirror?” Asked the amber mare. Helix helped her sit up and turned the bed she was on so she could look at the mirror that was mounted on the wall. She jumped at her own reflection, her eye widening in shock. She lifted a hoof and prodded the area around the wound gently then made a sharp gasp.

“Is so unnerving, I can feel it. Like my eye is still there but I can’t see anything...” she sounded mildly surprised. “Oh Amber, you used to be so beautiful, now look at yourself.”

“Amber? Is that your name?” I asked. She looked sad rather than shocked at her new appearance.

“Yeah. Amber. Really imaginative of my mother wasn’t it.” she said scanning her hide. “No other scars or injuries?”

‘No, just your eye. Well your back is a little bruised from the fall but that will heal. You ought to spend a week doing nothing and letting everything heal.” Helix pulled out another bandage and a bottle of cleansing fluid. “We best get this wrapped up again. Lie down and let me clean it, this might sting a little.”

Suddenly the door banged open and three ponies piled in. A black buck carrying a grey filly on his back and a teal mare all turned and looked wildly around. When they spotted Amber the mare jumped back in shock.

“For the love of the princesses... Amber what happened!” She exclaimed approaching the three of us cautiously. “Oh no... your eye."

“Teal... calm down... its alright.” Amber started but Teal cut across.

“Its not alright! You have lost half of your head!” Teal exclaimed. “Your eye... oh sis.” She went to hug Amber but Helix grabbed her and pulled her away.

“I need to put the bandages back on. Ten minutes and then you can hug her. Alright.” She looked sternly at Teal who just nodded and backed away.

“Come on you three. Lets leave them to it.” I ushered them out and left Helix to patch up Amber once more. But I had other reasons. I wanted to find that stable.

If it was still functional, if there were still ponies in it then perhaps they would have the parts to get stable seventeen back up and running. The idea filled me with hope and excitement but first I had to get inside and that meant cracking the security systems to lift the lock down. I moved round the corner away from the trio, who had taken a seat outside first aid, and sat down behind the security desk. I popped the cover off the front of the terminal and had a look inside. I smiled, this was going to be a real challenge.

Footnote: Level Up
New Quest Perk: The LAW (1) - You are in possession of the ‘Jury’ Class weapon prototype manufactured by Arcano Technologies. Make sure you stock up on Spark batteries...