After regaining his wings and his initial jubilation, Steel Wing had been forced to face the grizzly scene he had created the previous night.

To the best of his non magical ability Steel Wing had helped clean up; clearing away the bodies while the unicorns cleaned the gore.

On the outside this task gave Steel Wing a grim face. The situation did little however to suppress the joy he felt from being a whole and complete pony once again. Even if he still couldn’t use them for flight his wings had always been a part of his life. They had also saved his life on numerous occasions.

After the cleanup Steel Wing had gone to apologize to the multitude of ponies he had scared with the sounds of his rampage. With Corona’s permission he offered them all Sky Fall as a safe haven; which it had been for the orphans of runaway slaves previously.

Before the return trip to Sky Fall could happen, Steel Wing was deadset on inspecting Armory and hopefully getting into the armory proper. The fact that the Enclave had supposedly left the weapon stockpile untouched filled his mind with an irritating worry.

It had taken only the mention of the mounds of unlooted weapons and other armaments to convince Corona to go. Autumn Heart had come only because she wasn’t yet convinced Steel Wing didn’t intend to enact his plan of leaving her in somepony else’s less capable hooves.

So the trio had set off to Armory in the early morning. They had left the six unicorns and a good deal of their own weapons with the ex-slaves. Even if they couldn’t get into the actual armory the expected there to be plenty of loot. That and the fact that there wasn’t anything that could stop the veteran griffon pegasus duo short of another hellhound attack.

On the topic of hellhounds, Corona who had taken to the air to be their lookout spotted a number of holes in their path to Armory.

Steel Wing cautiously approached the nearest hole, taking time in between each step to check for the telltale signs of a surprise attack. None came when he had reached the edge of one of the pits.

Tentatively he called, “Trapmaw? It’s me Steel Wing, and friends.” He added not wanting to leave them out of the non-enemy category. “If it still matters to you, I’d like us to continue not being enemies.” The first reply he received was a beastial growl followed by barking and moving earth. Steel Wing shifted nervously, but the sound was replaced by a somewhat more structured growling.

The new growling was quickly growing closer, but clarified into recognizable voice, “Steel Wing pony?” The voice had a tone of earnest curiosity and lacking in hostility. Steel Wing breathed a sigh of relief as Trapmaw’s head popped up from the hole before him.

“Trapmaw! You aren’t going to kill me.” He smiled intending it as a joke the hellhound was almost offended.

“Steel Wing pony make good promise. We not want to kill Steel Wing pony.”

“Right, of course I knew that. It was supposed to be a joke.”

“Pony humor never make sense.” Trapmaw shook his head and crawled all the way out of his hole. “Pony and bird friend come to say hi too?” He pointed a razor claw at his companions a ways off.

He motioned for them to come closer. Autumn Heart hesitated but Steel Wing’s approval was all Corona needed to land near the conversation.

Trapmaw smiled widely at the griffon’s arrival, “Bird lady has good aim for carrying pony and flying.” He extended his arm to show them a scorch mark that Corona had apparently made during their last encounter. It was right on the back of his hand and had likely made his aim very poor the rest of the fight.

“Name’s Corona.” She extended her hand in greeting and he his. They paused awkwardly seeing the potential danger of claws meeting talons in such a gesture. Eventually they resolved to shake very carefully.

He nodded respectfully once their hands parted. “Steel Wing pony’s wings not steel?”

“They fell off.” Steel Wing had gotten over the trauma of losing them just after he had tried to stomp a god to death.

“No. Pony still have wings.” Trapmaw countered logically.

“An alicorn regrew them for me.” Steel Wing amended.

Trapmaw snarled, “Alicorn are bad kind of pony. Alicorn like old time ponies, always trying to move us out of home.”

“This isn’t an alicorn from out around Manehattan. The one I know is- eh, from the moon.”

Trapmaw stiffened for a moment peering at Steel Wing through confused eyes. “Old princess pony nightmare sister?”

“Um sort of?” Steel Wing suspected he was referring to Nightmare Moon’s return with Princess Luna.

“Isn’t that even badder alicorn pony?” The hellhound’s offered no clues as to why Steel Wing was so calm about something worse than the alicorns he knew.

“Well she likes me, so she does what I say.” Steel Wing felt a stirring in his chest and quickly added. “Sort of.” The stirring ceased.

“So good pony Steel Wing is in charge of bad nightmare pony?” Steel Wing agreed not wanting to compromise the positive if slightly illogical train of thought. “So Steel Wing pony make nightmare pony do good?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Steel Wing was glad that the hellhound had come to the conclusion on his own.

The hellhound let lose a throaty “Hmmm...” and rubbed his chin in thought.

Autumn Heart had come up silently about the time Corona and Trapmaw had finished shaking hands. She saw the scorch mark on the hellhound’s hand but waited to say anything until they had finished talking.

Before the conversation had a chance to pick back up Autumn Heart asked, “Do you need healing supplies?”

Trapmaw regarded the green mare with absolute disbelief. “Steel Wing pony not our enemy, not friend either. Why you help us not your friend?”

“Well friends are a hard thing to come by out here. If we aren’t enemies shouldn’t we be friends?” Steel Wing once again silently praised Autumn Heart for her ability to make a neutral situation into an advantageous one.

The hellhound instantly recognized the logic in her words choosing to ignore what was potentially an attempt at harmless manipulation. “Green pony make sense.” Trapmaw put his head in the hole behind him and started barking. His two companions quickly emerged.

“These three are friends.” He explained to the other two. “Honest ponies and bird lady,” He looked back at the griffon a moment and corrected, “Corona. They can help and we can help.”

He smiled when they both nodded silently. Even the most vicious of the three was pacified by his leader’s proclamation.

Turning back to his new friends Trapmaw took on a grave tone. “Good pony stay good pony. Not betray hellhound trust please.”

“As long as I am sane I promise I won’t betray you.” Steel Wing kneeled on his forelegs. His wings unfolded gracefully in a proper bow of respect.

Trapmaw raised an eyebrow, “Steel Wing pony know pony can’t dig right?”

Steel Wing stood up and looked at the hellhound until the slightly sobering realization came to him, “You don’t know how somepony shows respect to someone else do you? That probably never happened to any of your ancestors.”

“Oh, pony show of respect? Hellhound respect probably cause pony pain.” Steel Wing shrugged.

-----

After the warning and new promise, whatever medical supplies weren’t left with the refugees were offered to the hellhounds. They didn’t take much but were grateful all the same.

When Steel Wing had advised that a few unicorns might be following and asked the hellhounds not to kill them, he received a ‘probably not.’ The ferocious looking beast had said it with a wide grin. It took Steel Wing some time to realize that the hellhound was grinning at the joke he just made. He was forced to congratulate Trapmaw.

With a guarantee that the unicorns would pass safely, they all parted ways.

--------------------------------------

Steel Wing was the first to lay a hoof inside the former slaver stronghold. Corona landed as Steel Wing entered still wary of any active AA turrets.

Looking around Steel Wing mentally confirmed that the damage done looked like an incredibly well coordinated Enclave attack. He had forgotten to ask if the Enclave had suffered any casualties, as far as the bodies of slaver ponies were concerned there hadn’t been.

“So try to find a map of the compound I guess?” Steel Wing did his best not to make it an order. When he was rewarded with a happy nod he felt a little proud of himself.

Autumn Heart started going through the buildings close to the gate.

Corona went off to find out where the monitor room for all of the cameras was hidden. She suspected such a room would also have the status of local turrets in it somewhere.

Steel Wing merely walked through the streets when he passed by a corpse that looked untouched he would look through its belongings taking whatever he deemed valuable enough to take. He was deep in thought and hardly noticed when he fished a golden banded key card out of somepony’s pocket and placed it in his bag. It was gold shiny and might be worth something, was the thought process that caused him to do so.

Steel Wing was stuck on a single issue: Why would the Enclave leave this place unscavanged? They always needed scrap metal to repair military equipment, but here were destroyed turrets that had literally been reduced to nothing but scrap metal and they hadn’t been disturbed.

So deep was he in thought that when he opened a random door and scanned the room he didn’t notice the two pairs of horrified eyes looking at him. Or the riot shotgun aimed at him. The eyes he did notice just after he felt the bite of lead spray hit his torso. He jumped back through the door uttering several kinds of profanity.

The gun in question was clearly in poor condition given that his unarmored hide had only been pierced in a few places. It still hurt.

“Who shot me!” He demanded just outside the open door.

“We don’t want any trouble please just walk away.” Came the desperate voice of a mare.

“I- are you slavers that survived or something?” He rubbed his chest trying to get the stinging to go away.

“What? No of course we’re not.” The mare was clearly offended by the accusation.

“Then, then you’re slaves. Ex-slaves?”

“Slaves. Yeah we are. The master told us not to leave here no matter what we heard.”

“Well I’m not a slaver or a raider or an Enclave soldier, anymore at least. I was on my way here to help the slaves until I heard about the Enclave attack.”

“The Enclave attacked?” The mare asked flatly. “Bullshit.”

“Milly! The foal.” A second mare said.

“She’s asleep and she watched some drunken ass rape her mother. There’s nothing I can do that will make her any worse off.”

“Milly I’m surprised at you.” The second mare chided. “I know you’re a better pony than this. Dear you need to sleep, I can see it’s killing you.”

A little peep came from the room and Steel Wing had had enough of being ignored. “How many of you are there?”

“There’s only thr-” The second mare was interrupted with a small yelp.

“Don’t tell him anything, he just wants to know how many of us he has to deal with.”

Corona landed outside the door across from Steel Wing. “Paranoid sleep deprived mare with a shot gun. At least another mare and a foal.”

“Slavers?”

“Ex-slaves.”

Corona paused briefly, “You know all of the slavers are dead right?”

“Well- I can’t take the risk that you’re lying. If my master finds out that I left without his permission he’d beat me, or the foal. Or kill us both.”

“Sounds like a real ass.” Corona offered trying to get on better terms with the crazed mare.

“He- yeah he is, but he still owns me and I’m not going to disobey him just because you say he’s dead.”

Corona grinned, “What does he look like?”

“He’s big, and orange, and- Wait why are you asking?”

“Look we can keep on with the questions which I’m sure are pissing you off as much as they are me so just answer me please.” Corona wasn’t at all unsympathetic to their situation but she’d done this before and knew when to seem impatient.

“He wears a red suit, and has a red hat with golden trim.”

“Okay you wait right there.” Corona took flight staying below the height of the tallest building.

After a few moments of searching she dove down into another street and quickly came back into view carrying an orange and red pony shaped mass with her.

When she landed she heaved the dead slaver through the door and shouted, “Is this him?” She started laughing as the body went through the air. A scream and a gunshot cut off her laughter.

“Y-yeah that is him.” Milly said. Corona resumed her laughter.

“Oh that was too good. You don’t have any idea how hilarious that sound you made was.” Steel Wing rolled his eyes.

Corona was laying on laying on the ground laughing. She didn’t notice the double barreled shotgun being levitated inches from her face. A pink unicorn mare stepped out. She had a disheveled light pink mane and dark bruises covering her body.

Steel Wing could tell by looking that the mare, likely Milly, wasn’t very experienced with firearms in the least. Since it was a double barreled shotgun, meaning only two shots, Steel Wing was ninety-nine percent sure Milly had forgotten to reload.

Corona opened her eyes and gulped audibly when the gun tapped her beak. Both triggers clicked on spent shells causing Corona to flinch violently.

Now Steel Wing burst out laughing, which startled the pink mare. Clearly she had forgotten that there had been two voices outside the door.

She panicked and opened the breach. The extreme exhaustion present in her every move was causing her to continuously drop some very unique looking slugs on the ground. While at the same time trying to magically eject the two spent shells. Several times she almost dropped the gun itself. After dropping eleven slugs she simply gave up and broke down. The pink mare collapsed on to the prone griffon’s armored body and wept. She was attempting to cry into Corona’s breast in vain.

A teal coated mare with a green and teal mane rushed out and scooped up crying friend. She was followed by a sleepy looking magenta filly who yawned widely. Taking in the scene of the hysterical Molly being held tight by her other friend, gun and ammo scattered on the ground, a power armored griffon and an enormous pegasus, with bizarrely colored wings painted a picture of a serious problem.

The filly quickly and without any wasted movement ejected the spent shells and loaded two new slugs in. Steel Wing wanted to appreciate the deftness earth ponies seemed to develop so easily. The itching in his chest reminded him that these slugs were a special type of ammunition. Before the fast filly could snap the breach shut Steel Wing swatted it out of her grasp and away.

“Look, we-” He began but stopped when the filly was already at the discarded gun ten feet away.

Now she snapped the breach shut and leveled it at him. If it weren’t for the fact that the mouth grip was slightly larger than she could comfortably fit in her mouth she could have gotten a shot off. Steel Wing quickly and carefully removed the gun from determined filly and put her under one foreleg trying to put the shotgun in a saddlebag with his other. The agile filly easily wiggled free and snatched the shotgun away.

“Quit trying to shoot me I’m on your side!” Steel Wing yelled in frustration. Being outplayed by something less than half his size was working on Steel Wing’s nerves.

“Quickie stop please.” The teal coated mare commanded causing Steel Wing to take his eyes off the filly. She had gotten Milly to stop crying and now she had gotten the filly to stop her relentless attack. Hooray for mothers? Steel Wing thought to himself.

When Steel Wing relocated the magenta blur he found her behind him. A phantom pain shot through his left hind leg when he saw the shotgun pressed against it. He now owed the teal mare for saving him from several worlds full of pain.

After the longest seven seconds Steel Wing had ever gone through Quickie lowered the gun and spat it out. She quickly moved by her friends. Milly had been pacified by suckling on her teal friend’s foreleg it didn’t take long for her to pass out.

“I’m sorry about that.” The yet unnamed mare apologized. “After everything we’ve been through, yesterday with all the fighting outside; she hadn’t slept for days before anyways. Quickie and I tried to tell her we could leave but she had a gun and she was too out of it to realize everypony else was either dead or gone.” She watched her friend sleep with a motherly gaze. “Did anypony survive?”

“The Enclave came and killed all the slavers then they freed the slaves. A few hundred made it out to a half complete stable where we met them. We’ll be taking the group to Sky Fall and you’re welcome to come along.” Steel Wing was careful to keep his voice low lest he wake the unconscious mare.

The teal mare fought back tears of her own at hearing the offer. She leaned in close to Milly and whispered. “We have a real home to go to!” Even as quiet as she said it the excitement was clear in her voice.

Corona still had a leg stuck under Milly’s sleeping form. She glared with annoyance at how careful she had to be in freeing her leg. “So,” The griffon chimed up trying to distract herself from her rising irritation. “What kind of name is Quickie for a filly. I get that she’s fast but still, unless you’re a pegasus with weaponized wings I thought your names were supposed to be something about a flower.” It seemed nearly impossible to Steel Wing that something with wings could trigger so many landmines. He knew she was smarter than to not pick up on this trio’s role in the slave camp, clearly she hadn’t thought about it at all.

“Because my special talent is “being quick.” She used hoof quotes and grimaced as she was forced to contemplate the meaning of her own name.

“Yeah I get that but,” The griffon grew quiet as the meaning of a quickie she had always known revealed itself to her. “Oh... I fucking hate slavers.”

“Ditto.” Quickie said staring menacingly at the orange and red corpse of her former master. Corona and Steel Wing both could see her imagination going through all the horrible things the filly wished she could have done to him.

“Thanks for getting us out of there I guess.” The filly said at length. “We owe you now or something?” She asked her voice thick with reluctant acceptance. Steel Wing knew exactly what she was talking about and felt a scowl suddenly dominate his face.

I really really hate slavers. “No I’m helping you because I should help you. Just try to forget your old- Uh, habits if you can. You don’t have to do that kind of thing any longer.”

She fixed him with a serious ‘you’re full of shit’ look, “Please, I may have been born here but I know plenty about the wasteland. It’s only a matter of time before I’m caught by somepony else and raped. Or if Celestia deigns to grant me mercy, they might just kill me.”

Steel Wing felt sick, Corona clearly did too remembering a certain foal with a similar world view.

They all sat in awkward silence for a while until Steel Wing remembered the other reason they’d come here. “Find anything like a monitor station?” He turned to Corona.

“Yeah sorta, I actually found a turret management panel, but eh,”

“Eh?” Steel Wing mimicked.

“I don’t know anything about hacking.” The griffon confessed.

“I can probably take a look at it.” Steel Wing said. A hoof came to his chin as he was struck by brilliance. “Do any of you know where the weapon storage is? The actual armory I mean.”

The two conscious ex-slaves both shook their heads, Milly mumbled in her sleep.

Steel Wing thought carefully, he was not to be deterred by one negative response. “Did the slavers ever tell you about a building you were never supposed to go into?”

“Yeah, some big shed they said we weren’t allowed in. Almost nopony ever went in there though. Cept the slave master. The overpony so to speak.”

“Show me-” Steel Wing stopped himself cleared his throat and began again, “Could you please show me where this shed is?”

Corona nodded slightly at Steel Wing for his effort. Quickie looked over at her still yet to be named teal coated friend. She was still cradling Milly in her forelegs. With a sigh she motioned for Steel Wing and Corona to follow and started trotting off.

Not two minutes later both pegasus and griffon realized they were minus a green mare.

“Uh, where is Autumn Heart?” Corona asked.

“Last I knew she’d gone into that house, then I wondered off and found Quickie and friends.”

“Somepony missing?” Quickie looked back at them.

“Yeah a green mare with a bulls eye and letter cutie mark don’t suppose you saw her or anything?” Steel Wing already knew the answer and was preparing to turn and gallop back to the town’s front gate.

“No I haven’t, but we’re almost there.” She pointed a hoof to a small structure that looked out of place among the scorched mark buildings and cratered ground around it. It was mostly untouched save for some obvious shrapnel damage.

“Great I know where it is.” Steel Wing had turned tail and was half way back up the road. “Thank you!” He shouted over his shoulder.

As he sped back towards the last house he’d seen her in Steel Wing was already preparing for the worst. He was already anticipating some sort of horrible standoff with a slaver holding the trigger for a bomb collar while smiling like a maniac. The house was in sight now and Steel Wing increased his speed planning to hit the door and be half way into the building to take full advantage of the element of surprise it would afford him.

The door was slightly ajar so Steel Wing has hardly hindered entering the house. A dining table and chairs drew suddenly closer as he sped right into the middle of the room. By reflex he drew his wings in front of his body ducking his head down. When his wings connected with the edge of the table he spread his wings wide to his sides flinging table and chairs through the room. He quickly scanned the room planning to use his momentum on the first of his combatants. Instead he found Autumn Heart surrounded by a dozen spark batteries kneeling next to a suit of Enclave Power armor.

Having nowhere to place his momentum Steel Wing tumbled head over hooves into a wall which almost yielded to his mass. Instead it formed cracks and stopped his motion. Steel Wing felt the pain from the impact and just lie on the floor waiting for his head to stop spinning.

“Oh thank goodness you’re here.” Autumn Heart cried quickly trotting over to his still form. “Steel Wing?” He grunted in response. “You have to help, there’s a pegasus trapped in his armor!”

The urgency in her voice motivated Steel Wing to shrug off the pain and move. He followed behind her over to the immobilized pegasus.

“Can he speak?” He asked looking at the pile of spark batteries.

“Yes I can.” Came the muffled response of a trapped buck.

“Rank, squad and operation.” It was clearly an order one that Steel Wing was relieved to be able to give. Autumn Heart still gave him a disapproving look but she’d asked for his help so it was time to do things his way.

The buck was silent a long while. “Stand in front of me?” The authority with which Steel Wing had addressed him made him think that there might actually be an Enclave technician present. Steel Wing did so without complaint. The somewhat desperate Enclave soldier readily believed that this was one of their own technicians.

“Well?” Steel Wing said tapping a hoof impatiently.

“Second Lieutenant Crossfield, I am part of Operation- er. Sorry sir that part is classified.”

“Right fair enough.” Steel Wing redirected the conversation, “Second Lieutenant under who?”

“Commander Brightcloud, sir.”

Steel Wing was very sure his heart stopped beating for a few moments, as a wave of dizziness washed over him. Autumn Heart saw him wobble for a moment, when he recovered he continued to stare into space.

“Chief-” Steel Wing’s voice was unsteady and nearly gone as the taste of desert air dominated his mouth, “Chief medical officer?” He began to tremble as the words left his mouth.

“Um, Doctor Snow I believe. I think somepony called her Snow Wing, when he went in for a bullet removal he ended up paralyzed in an unfortunate accident of some kind. Word is she hates that name.”

Steel Wing fainted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The eyes those beautiful burnt-orange eyes. Her pure white mane and magnificent light grey coat. Everything that was a part of the only mare Steel Wing had ever loved.

And those eyes! The last time he saw them outside of his dreams. They had begged and pleaded for him to stay, the mare behind them was scared of being without her stallion. “Stay!” They pleaded, “Stay here and we can be together forever peacefully.”

The buck, the scrawny blue coated coward who forced them apart. Pointing a gun not at him but at his beloved and precious Snow. The pain in her eyes was mirrored in his heart, eating away at his very soul. For her sake he refused her plea, she would find somepony else to make her happy. A chance at happiness was the last thing he could give to his love, and he was willing to suffer to see that she got it.

The blindfold, the weights, the final cruel and mocking goodbye. The falling away when he could still feel those sorrowful eyes upon him as his form sank away from them.

The struggle, the rage -- the feeling of defeat, the acceptance of death. All of these before the will to fight against it, the hope of a new beginning and a potential future.

The ground rising to meet him quicker by the second. Wings finally outstretched the last five feet, the thundering BOOM the bright colors, the crash and agony, finally darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A mare’s voice came to him softly gently calling his name, “Steel Wing. Steel Wing. Wake up, please?” A gentle hoof was placed on his shoulder, slowly prodding him.

“Snow?” Steel Wing’s present position and the pounding in his head reminded him where he was. Slowly the deep green mare’s face swam into his vision. A tear came to his eye when there wasn’t a white maned pegasus there.

“Are you alright?” He continued to stare sadly at her for a while before nodding in confirmation.

“How is Crossfield holding up?” He asked remembering what he was doing last.

“About as well as when I found him, now he thinks you’re a narcoleptic.”

“Fantastic.” Steel Wing got back up on his hooves and walked back over to the unmoved soldier.

“Right Second Lieutenant Crossfield, how’d you end up like this?”

“I was flying over the compound, as part of a maneuver I detached from my squad and began herding the enemy with an explosive shower. There was a bright blue flash in front of me and my armor shut down. I landed here through the roof.”

“Uh huh, and you were airborne when you were hit by the pulse weapon.”

“Yes sir.” A slight shifting sound from the helmet showed that the buck had also tried to nod.

“Sounds like a damn lucky toss of a magical energy grenade to me.” Steel Wing summarized walking around to the armor’s exterior access panel. The spark pulse batteries are a risky option, I could use them to jumpstart your armor but really all that’s going to do is let you move. Without an external StableTec interface none of the ‘combat systems will come back online.”

“On the other hoof, if anypony around here was wearing a Pip-Buck we might be able to use one.” He tried to remember if he’d seen one before the image of a colt missing a foreleg laying in the road crying. “Well,” he said dourly “Spark batteries it is. Or...” He facehoofed. A certain avian friend of his was wearing a suit of prototype power armor. As long as it was designed by StableTec it would work for this.

“Or, sir?”

“I know someone with their own power armor. I shall return.”

Steel Wing was quickly back outside calling the griffon’s name. Until she came from over a roof top and swooped down to land by him.

“What’s up?” She asked casually.

“I need to use your power armor to jumpstart somepony else’s.”

“Whose?” She inquired reasonably.

“Some Enclave soldier.”

“Hold up a second featherbrain.” She put herself in front of him. “You do recall that the Enclave kicked you out right?”

“No one son of a mule did, I can’t blame the whole Enclave for his actions.”

“Uh yes you can and you should. If they let scum like him be a ranking officer it is their fault.”

“Well a pony is still a pony and they did help the slaves here. I’m returning the favor.”

“Alright fair enough, but when he finds out you’re down here and not a dashite he’s going to start asking questions. I mean look at you there’s no way he’s going to believe you were born down here. You’re an army buck and you know it.”

“You think too far ahead sometimes you know that?” Steel Wing was nudging her through the door. Over to Autumn Heart.

“I do no- Wow where’d you find all these spark batteries?”

“Around.” Autumn Heart said sheepishly.

“Well nice going.” Corona complimented, “So how does this work exactly is there a chord or wire or something?”

“Yeah,” Steel Wing said, “Just sit down and keep your right flank near his access panel.” Corona shrugged and promptly sat down on the suit of power armor containing a now annoyed pegasus.

“Hey I’m doing you a favor right now.” The smarmy griffon tapped the visor with a talon.

“A griffon!” The Enclave pegasus yelled in alarm.

“Nope, hellhound.” Corona corrected.

“Yes she’s a griffon.” Steel Wing admitted. “Not that it should matter just be thankful this one is willing to help you. Now if you could both keep it down, please and thank you.”

“Sorry sir.”

“Yeah fine.”

Steel Wing was now at his first hitch in this plan. Corona had activated armor which meant her panel could be opened with a blink of an eye. The pegasus power armor was powered down and locked up, he’d have to find a way to force open the panel.

He started out poking it with a hoof, hoping against hope that it was that simple. Next bit down on the latch and tried to wrench it open with his teeth. This caused his gums to bleed. He swished the blood around thoughtfully in his mouth.

Hoof rubbing against his head deep in thought, if I found something sharp enough to cut it open. He had to double facehoof at this point. Two of the sharpest things know to ponykind, at least since he’d last checked, were on his back. They no longer had enchanted plates, but if they were regrown as strong as the plates had been they should be able to cut through the armor fairly smoothly.

Slowly and carefully he stretched his wing in front of him and guided it with his hooves to the downed pegasus’ armored flank. Gently he pushed the tip of his wing under the latch, and then pushed harder. There was some resistance but the feathers stayed resilient and sharp as they slid through the armor.

“Uh, let me know if you feel a slight stabbing pain.” Steel Wing warned.

“Ow fuck me with the sun!” Was an almost immediate reply from Crossfield.

Steel Wing withdrew his wing slightly and began to cut around the panel. Without the repair talisman active this only took a few moments before he had cut completely around it. The panel hung on by a single but of metal as it was bent backwards allowing Steel Wing access to the interface port underneath.

“Okay, Corona could you please open yours now.” The griffon didn’t respond. “Corona?”

“Huh, what?” The griffon shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Did you say something?”

“You fell asleep?”

“Yeah I’m pretty damn tired, I’ve been up since yesterday and after the shit you pulled you bet your ass I fell asleep.” She pointed, “Look at Autumn Heart she’s been passed out since we got in here.”

The green mare was in fact sleeping peacefully, unaware that she was being talked about.

“Aren’t you tired?”

No he wasn’t, Steel Wing hadn’t realized how long he’d gone without proper sleep. Going after the Nightmare had taken all of an hour. He hadn’t slept and he wasn’t tired. He should have been concerned about it, instead he shrugged at her question.

“Well yeah I guess we could probably go for some sleep after this. For now could you open your interface port?”

“Yeah sure.” After a few moments a panel on the griffon’s power armor opened up. Steel Wing took the chords and connected them.

“Holy hell!” Corona said as a dozen prompts appeared on her visor. “Right so it’s me from here on out?”

“Yeah, just follow do the yeses and noes until it asks

----

Some frustrated sighs from the griffon later there was a beep and a whirring sound. The pegasus’ power armor was back online.

The once again mobile soldier struggled under the griffon who had turned him into a chair.

“Easy.” Corona said as he began to kick around. She got off and the pegasus was up instantly, looking over his saviors.

Mild panic mixed with amazement passed over him as he realized just how massive the other pegasus buck was.

“Dayum. Nice to uh- finally meet you sir.” He remembered who he thought this pegasus was and went to attention saluting Steel Wing. “Ahem. Sorry sir. Second Lieutenant Crossfield awaiting further orders until such time as I am reunited with my own squad.” He was once again a professional soldier pony.

“At ease.” Steel Wing smiled, it was nice to be able to say it again even if he lacked any real authority to do so.

“Thank you sir.” As per the ‘orders’ given the Enclave pegasus visibly relaxed. “May I speak freely sir?” Crossfield requested.

“Shoot.”

“What are you doing with a griffon and a muck dweller?”

“The proper term is earth pony lieutenant.” Steel Wing corrected.

“Uh, right sorry sir? May I still ask why sir?”

“Couldn’t do much harm I suppose.” Steel Wing sat down with mild amusement. He was about to burst this poor pony’s bubble. “Well let’s start about three years back...”

Steel Wing told the Enclave soldier about everything he’d experienced in the last three years. Leaving out the names of his sister and a certain pony who had actually forced him down into the wasteland in the first place. When he was finished with his story the pony inside the power armor was silent. If it weren’t for the slow audible breathing, it could very well have been empty.

“Is all that true sir? Somepony made you leave the Enclave just to protect their position?”

“Yes, it is. I’d still be up there helping if it weren’t for ‘somepony’.” Steel Wing said bitterly that somepony’s name at the front of his thoughts.

“Who sir?” The Enclave soldier was honestly interested.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you and it’s best you don’t know. Lest you be found guilty of treason and banished from the Enclave yourself.”

Steel Wing grinned wickedly as the Enclave solider pushed on, “But sir anypony who would do that doesn’t deserve to be a part of the Enclave at all.”

“Oh if I told you, it’d be you me and maybe one other pony against Brightcloud. Scrawny bastard.” Steel Wing shook away his grin after intentionally letting it slip that the traitor pony in question was none other than this soldier’s commanding officer.

The black armor fell silent again this time the breathing was almost nonexistent. “You’re saying Storm Commander Brightcloud forced you out of the Enclave to secure his position?”

“Yes I am- Storm Commander what!?” Steel Wing bolted up and moved closer to the startled buck.

“Yes sir- I mean uh, what do you mean sir?”

“What operation are you a part of?” Steel Wing said angrily, Corona and the now awake Autumn Heart were at a loss for the sudden urgency in Steel Wing’s voice.

“I- it’s classified sir.”

Steel Wing gouged the floor next to him with a quick motion of his wing. “I don’t want to hurt you but if you give me that classified bullshit one more time things are going to start falling off of you.” He drew himself up to his full height so he could look down upon the pegasus.

Because it was clear to all that it wasn’t a bluff the Enclave soldier couldn’t bring himself to even target Steel Wing with his weapons. “Operation: Black Thunder. Sir.” The soldier pony reluctantly divulged.

Steel Wing sat back on his haunches the anger giving way to extreme puzzlement. “What would the Enclave be doing running a storm operation of any kind way out on the backside of Equestria?” The sheer impracticality of it showed on his face, making Corona all the more interested in what it was.

“What’s a storm operation?” The griffon interrupted the fear based interrogation.

Steel Wing looked over at Corona even more confused about the fact that she wasn’t as confused as he was. When he processed the question in his head the extra confusion went away.

“It’s like a, well a storm. When it builds it builds quietly. I suppose something like the attack here could be called the clouds gathering. This kind of operation is incredibly small scale and incredibly relentless. Once it’s started it is either completed or if the commanding officer mismanages the limited resources given to him it fails. The ‘cloudburst’ could literally be the calling in of the raptor Cloudburst .” Steel Wing looked at his temporary captive. “This operation hasn’t been given a raptor has it?”

Crossfield nodded reluctantly.

“Well what the hell are you doing with so much force in the middle of nowhere?” Steel Wing’s frustration was growing.

“We, are...” A long sigh came from the suit of power armor. “I’m sorry but I can’t, I don’t think you have any reason to lie to me about Brightcloud. I have my own family to think about.”

“I, very much understand the role of family in all of this. Just a yes or no please. Is Mexicolt City a target?”

“Yes.”

Steel Wing nodded grimly.

“How long?”

“A month.”

“Thank you, Ste- I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Steel Wing, why?”

“As in the late Captain Steel Wing. I know you!” He grinned sheepishly at his uncharacteristically fanfilly like behavior. “I mean I know of you. You died, by a griffon strike team caught you. You were posthumously promoted to Colonel with honors.”

Steel Wing let loose with riotous laugh. “So after he tries to save his position by getting rid of me I suddenly outranked him!?” The irony in his words was a tangible force of smiles and giggles. Even though Autumn Heart hadn’t the faintest how rankings worked in the Enclave she still understood the hilarity of the situation.

“And that means your sister is our medical officer Snow, right?” Steel Wing instantly came down from his good mood.

“Yes, and I can’t get near that bastard or he’ll kill her. Like I said I know how family plays into this sort of thing.” He sighed sadly.

“What if I told her where you were?” Steel Wing’s ears shot up at the proposal. “With the two of you together you could go back to the Council and bring Brightcloud to justice.”

“No.” Steel Wing said with absolute finality. “I’m sure Brightcloud brought her along to keep an eye on her. If he left her at home there would be little stopping her from going to the Council herself. I’m sure he’s watching her like a hawk at this very moment. Thanks for the offer though.”

“I wish there was some way I can help.” Behind the visor Steel Wing imagined the look in the soldier’s eyes said I’d even help you move your stuff if you needed me to.

Steel Wing’s eye twitched as he was struck by an idea. “You can help me.” A devilish grin spread across his muzzle. “I know Brightcloud is an effective leader but he’s an ass and I’m sure he has enemies. He’s watching my sister but he can’t possibly watch everypony else. Inform the troops under his command that something is amiss. Don’t go around like a lunatic saying ‘Colonel Steel Wing is alive!’ but get them ready for something to change. Then maybe, just maybe it will change.”

“That uh- that’s a bold plan sir.”

“You’re right, and if you don’t want to risk it I understand. Unfortunately I can’t be a direct part of this because of Brightcloud. If you’re willing to try I’d thank you.”

“I’ll, think about it sir.”

“Fair enough.” Looking out at midafternoon light coming through the clouds he shook is head of all his rebellious schemes. “You should probably get back before they think you caught some horrible ‘surface disease.’ I know how they like to spook the pegasai who don’t know better.”

“There aren’t any surface diseases?” Crossfield asked suddenly remembering the warning’s his squad had received.

“I’m alive aren’t I?”

“Just tell them some Steel Ranger techie came by and accidentally repowered your armor trying to get it off of you. That ought to get you a medal or something.” Steel Wing meant it as a joke but it very well could happen.

“I might do that sir. Again I’m sorry I can’t do more for you.” The Enclave soldier walked to the door working his stiff wings. Before he took off he turned back to the ‘deceased’ colonel and gave him a strong Enclave salute.

Steel Wing returned the gesture and with that he was off.

“Wow you Enclave featherbrains really know how to make something overly complicated, evil. And something unnecessary a big deal.” Corona said jokingly.

“Are you saying the lengths I go to, to ensure the safety of somepony I haven’t seen in three years whom I still love more than life itself, is unnecessary?” Steel Wing retorted, wanting this discussion to be over.

“I don’t- No that’s not what I meant, sorry.”

“It’s fine I just- I think I do need to take a nap.”

“Thunderbeak’s hammer, thank you!” The exhausted griffon said in exasperation.

“Thunderbeak, hammer?” Steel Wing said curiously.

“Nope, sleep time. Story sometime after never.” Corona ascended the stairs looking for a bed.

Turning to Autumn Heart who was staring around the room sleepily Steel Wing said, “I’m going to go find the filly and mare’s Corona and I met earlier and bring them here.” She gave him a blank stare in return. “You’re mostly asleep already aren’t you?” The green mare nodded with a wide yawn. “Go find a bed I guess, I’ll see you when you wake up.”

Autumn Heart began climbing the stairs after Corona. Quite literally climbing; Steel Wing face hoofed instead of laughing out loud watching her extreme exhaustion turn a flight of stairs into a mountain. Before long the green mare gave up and began sliding back down. Hands wrapped delicately around her forelegs and Corona pulled her up the stairs.

“A day and a half of resting didn’t make up for that running we did before the hellhounds. You go find those other three this mare is going to be unconscious for at least three days.” Corona gave a weak yawn of her own as she carried Autumn Heart into a bedroom she’d found.

Steel Wing nodded to where Corona had been standing and left through the doorframe.

--------------------------------------

It didn’t take long to find the ex-slave trio as Milly was still being cradled by her friend in the middle of the street. The sleeping mare had ceased suckling on her friend’s foreleg. Leaving it chaffed and wet.

Quickie was there too sitting beside a very extensive pile of loot. They were only organized by category: weapons, armor, ammo, and medical supplies including any chems and drugs the filly had come across. When Steel Wing arrived, Quickie was poking a pile of grenades with extreme lack of enthusiasm. An entire day of having no ‘duties’ to perform left the filly extremely lacking in activities.

“Did you find the weapons vault?” Steel Wing asked quietly.

“Maybe.” Quickie replied. It wasn’t an ‘I know something you don’t,’ answer she was genuinely unsure.

“What did you find?”

“Well this stuff was in the shed so I took it.” Steel Wing whimpered a little bit at the severe lack of a great armory. “But!” She looked at him sternly, “Let me finish alright?” Steel Wing nodded for her to continue. “But I found this door in the floor. It led down some stairs and there’s this other heavy door that says ‘EERFMSD: 2’ but I couldn’t open it. It needs a card or something.”

Steel Wing pondered the meaning of the acronym. He immediately assumed the ‘E’ stood for Equestria, as most things around the time of the war did.

“Eh.” He intoned with a shrug. It was a start at least and he’d look at it tomorrow. Steel Wing invited the three to come stay closer to him and his friends for the night, just in case.

Moving them there he was charged with the duty of carrying the still asleep Milly. Both Quickie and the teal mare were amazed at how gently such a large pony could move, while watching Steel Wing carefully climb the stairs up to the sleeping area. He found an unoccupied bed and slid Milly onto it while her friends watched quietly from the door.

As he passed them going through the door he whispered, “Have a nice sleep.” He meant it and at that moment neither of the two had any reason to do otherwise.

“Well?” Came a tired yet enthusiastic voice behind Steel Wing.

“Well, what?” He asked turning to face Corona. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“I was, and then I started talking to that green psycho in there.” She pointed a thumb into the room she’d come from.

“What did she say?”

“Uh, she’d be upset if I told you I’m pretty sure.” She closed the door to her room. “I’m not worried about her trying to kill me or anything. Just, what she said made me think about some stuff. I’ll manage to get back to sleep I’m sure.”

“Right, anyways Quickie found some sort of secured door that was an original part of the base. If the weapons storage is anywhere it’s probably behind the door.”

“Well like I said I’m no good with hacking so unless you’re feeling lucky we’re pretty much screwed.”

“Quickie seemed to think it needed some sort of key card. I’ll probably go look at it in a second.” So much for tomorrow.

“Are you seriously not tired?” She complained feeling her own sleep deprivation returning.

No he wasn’t, in fact he was feeling more awake than when he’d been talking with the Enclave soldier.

“Can’t say that I am. Weird, huh?”

“Away from average, I don’t like to count anything I see in the Equestria Wasteland weird anymore. That notion went away a while ago. Having a friendly chat with some hellhounds today, hunted that notion down to the far ends of the world and killed it.” She smiled at her own use of imagery.

“Fair enough, good night.”

“It’s six in the afternoon.” She retorted

“It sure is.” Steel Wing called already at the bottom of the stairs. His body was energetic, and his legs were almost leaving him behind as he started off towards the weapons shed.

-----

Getting to the shed Steel Wing had been humming some tune that he shouldn’t rightly have known. He smiled about it nonetheless.

The inside of the shed had racks and stands for weapons and armor. Large crates tipped over to allow a certain filly access to its contents. There were several locked boxes around which bobypins lay broken in submission to the superiorly crafted lock; or rather, the filly using them hadn’t had much experience with locks and had probably missed the part about needing a screwdriver.

Steel Wing simply smashed the lock off one of the boxes to assert is dominance over the rest, and opened it to find: More ammunition. The other locked boxes quickly lost their appeal, they could be opened later.

Steel Wing searched for a while and found the trap door Quickie had spoken of. It was heavy and Steel Wing was surprised the agile but delicate little filly could have opened it. Descending the stairs Steel Wing saw that the pony made tunnel had been completely untouched by time and the slavers for the most part. The place was immaculate if a little musty smelling.

Down at the other end Steel Wing could see the sealed door Quickie had found, it looked a lot like a Stable door across it was written: EERFMSD: 2. Steel Wing still hadn’t a clue what it stood for, but approached it nonetheless in hopes that this was the weapons storage facility.

When he was next to the door he noticed a panel on the wall next to it. It was just a small installation for a key card to be swiped through. The pessimistic pegasus tapped the door with a hoof. A dampened [i thud was all it produced. It was as thick as a Stable door too.

Damn

Foot Note Quest Perk Added:

Steel Wing -

Nightmare’s Influence - Receiving the blessing of the Nightmare has affected your body in several ways. You Gain the following Perks: Night Pony, Tireless Night Hunter.

Night Pony - You are simply better when the moon is over the Equestrian Wasteland. You gain an additional 2 points to Perception and Intelligence.

Tireless Night Hunter - Because of the Nightmare’s influence you no longer need to sleep or eat so long as you change location at least once during the night. In addition your Endurance is increased by 1 point during your night travels.

Autumn Heart -

Intense Training (2) - Your recent over exertion has pushed you beyond and stretched your physical limitations. Both Strength and Endurance are increased by 1. (Unique)

Corona (Griff) -

I’ve Got an Idea - You are good at making bad plans that will have good results. Special dialogue options may appear when you are planning with your allies.