"What about what Lemon said about Elder Sorbet?" Brass asked as I hit the return key on the server's keyboard, bringing up the command prompt. I assumed that transferring B.I.T. might take a while, so I might as well use the time to search through the archives for anything on the Mirror Pool. "Do you really think she would megaspell the wasteland again?"

Oh, I think she would. Just the way she talked told me she was unstable, but I'm sure that she wouldn't hesitate. I turned to Brass with a soft sigh. "I don't know if that's her plan, but 42 already turned the server back on, and if that was all she was waiting for, she'll have all the megaspell locations already." I looked over to Longbow as she lay on the floor asleep, a feeling of guilt welling up inside me. "We'll deal with Sorbet when we get out of here, but right now, I need to find where the pool was moved to." I looked back to the server as the command prompt refreshed, hoofing at each key carefully.

"That's odd..." I scrunched up my muzzle as I tried again. "What about this..." I slowly corrected the entry before hitting the enter key again.

"What's wrong, Backlash?" Brass asked curiously as he trotted around a splash of my drying blood on the floor, looking over the message on the screen. "Well, there's your problem right there!" He said, pushing for me to get out of his way. I stepped aside and watched as his horn lit up, pressing the keys much faster than I ever could.

"Wow, they were working on quite a few highly secret things." Brass said as he took a step back in astonishment. "And these are just the entries that are still accessible!"

"And I have no idea which one is the right one." I said as I leaned in, looking over each one, stopping over the third project displayed. "Wait, P.S.P.?" The overtaxed gears in my head brought up the memory of the metal box in Isaac's chest, those same initials were stamped on the side of it. "I've seen that one before. Can you open it up?" Brass nodded and selected it, hitting the return key to enter it in. A horrendous cacophony of high-pitched tones and static emitted from the server, causing both Brass and I to attempt to cover our ears. After nearly a minute, the server went silent, only letting out a small chirp as we lowered our hooves. My Pipbuck chirped back in response, displaying a short set of code on both it and the Server screen.

"What the hell was that noise, and what the hell is EC-1101?" Brass said as he hit a few buttons, returning the screen back to the project list. "If your Pipbuck has ministry mare level access on it, why wouldn't you be able to open it? What access was higher than theirs!?"

I knew that an Acting Ministry Chief's clearance wasn't the highest, but this didn't say I had too low of clearance, this was something else entirely. But that is a mystery for a different day, right now, I needed to focus on stopping 42. "Never mind that for now, I need to know which one of these files is the one dealing with the mirror pond. Preferably without going through each one. I don't know if my ears can handle the noise this machine makes too many more times."

Brass waved his hoof up at me in dismissal. "Yeah, yeah, give me a moment." He said as he started pressing keys again. This is my one chance to get ahead of 42 while she's off licking her wounds. If I can find the information, then delete the originals, 42 won't ever be able to get her hooves on them. Well, unless she killed me that is, but she'll most likely play it safe for a bit after I got the best of her with my mutation.

"That's more like it!" I said as Brass smiled and hit the return key. Another chirp sounded as my Pipbuck's screen lit up, several notifications were displayed in my vision as file after file was registered as being transferred. All in all, there were 32 audiologs, 1,737 notes, and 7 new locations added to my Pipbuck's map. "Wow... that's quite a bit of stuff." I said with a frown, these files could take forever to get through and I'm just hoping that the pool's location was somewhere amongst the information. "Brass, can you..." I stopped and looked around as a low rumble filled the warehouse, a new prompt displaying on the terminal screen.

"Wait? Backlash, what is this? What request is she talking about?" Brass looked up as I frowned.

"Don't touch anything, Brass." I turned and galloped down one of the rows of boxes, shouting as I ran off. "In fact, I need you to try to remove the original files from the server. I'll be right back!" I doubt I could talk her out of it, but maybe I didn't have to. I have to at least inform B.I.T. about what P.I.N.K. is planning to do, I can't just sit by and let P.I.N.K. sacrifice herself. I smirked and laughed lightly between pants as I galloped away, thinking about how silly it sounded. I, a real flesh and blood pony, was trying to convince P.I.N.K., the computer, that her digital life was not worth losing. That a computer program had something to LIVE for now that she had found B.I.T. again.

The sound of my hooves echoing alongside me was soon overpowered by the slow thrumming of the dual arcano-tech engines powering the monstrous robot just around the corner. I dropped from a trot and stood in front of the massive machine, watching as a set of purple lights underneath the main body flickered to life and swivelled towards me. I caught my breath as the upper hull turned towards me slowly, the lights dimming as they focused on me.

"Is that you, Backlash?" The digitized voice of B.I.T. asked loudly out of a speaker on the front of the machine, making me cringe before I nodded. I think she knew it was too loud because when she tried to speak again, it was quiet enough I could barely hear it at all.

"I think that's a little too quiet." I said as I inclined my ears towards her again. "B.I.T. I need to tell you something..."

"Hold on, I'm calibrating the external sensors. It will just be a moment!" She said as her voice was reset to a more comfortable level. She pivoted the robot's torso around slowly, turning the weapon pods toward and away from me. The autoloaders clicked and the front cover of the underslung rocket launcher flipped open as the machine hummed quietly. "Calibration completed. What was it you were saying?"

"I was trying to tell you..." I attempted to huff out in frustration, suddenly being reminded of how much I hate when somepony cuts me off as B.I.T. continued talking anyway. (At the same time, I'm just as guilty of it as everypony else, not that that justifies it at all.)

"OH! So this is the 'real' world? How fascinating!" The robot's speaker boomed into my ear as B.I.T. leaned the mechanical beast around the row of boxes behind her. As much as this was great for her and all, I still had to save the wasteland from 42. "I'm actually kind of sad that I didn't get to see more of it before the end."

That's it, no more interruptions.

"B.I.T.! I NEED YOU TO LISTEN!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, bucking my rear leg out in anger at one of the crates behind me. I winced when I heard something made of glass crack apart inside, but it seemed to get B.I.T. to stop for a moment, the small lights turning to point at me again. "P.I.N.K. is trying to trick you! She plans on sealing herself in your old system by having me sever the link to your new body, then she plans on blowing the reactors."

The speakers boomed again as B.I.T. gave a good laugh, although I could hardly see what was so funny about it. "And here I thought you actually had something interesting to tell me. I ALREADY knew that she was planning on doing that." She said as she took a step back, watching as I sat down hard. "It wasn't hard to figure out. The last minute transfer into my system, her tampering with the access points to keep you out, the amount of energy and time she put into trying to make me happy." She let out a loud, happy sigh as the robot's hull tilted down. "I might be an old system, but I'm certainly not unintelligent. Twilight wrote my logic subroutines using models of her own deductive and scientific traits, it was quite simple to figure it out."

"So... you knew she was planning this? Yet you still transferred over?" I said in confusion, the gears in my head failing to even connect. For once, I didn't know what to do. "Then, do you have some way to drag her in with you or something?" I yanked my back hoof out of the box I kicked, cringing as whatever I had bucked in there, shattered. "You can't just leave her here to die!"

"How could you possibly think I would do that?" She said as she spoke with a slight sadness. "I won't be leaving her to die. You see, just like P.I.N.K., I made a few modifications of my own." B.I.T. Turned the robot around, it's heavy legs stomping loudly as a sharp hiss came from somewhere inside, opening a small panel on the back of it. A bright orange handle sat in front of me as the lights on the hull swivelled around to me, giving me the impression of eyes as they focused on me. "When I tell you to, please pull that down as hard as you can."

I took a step back as I shook my head. "Oh no, I've been through this song and dance before." I squinted and glared at her, I will not make a mistake like releasing 42 or handing the entirety of M.O.M. over again! "First, you need to tell me what it does. Then, AND ONLY then, will I consider pulling it."

"It's the manual disconnect I had installed on ED for the wireless receiver, so it could be maintained or replaced if damaged. The disclusion of one in the original schematics was probably just a design oversight, but that's what I was built to correct. Like I said, advanced logic and deductive skills. Anyway, pulling that will cause the whole unit to drop out. Once that happens, ED won't be able to connect to the server anymore." B.I.T. said, speaking in a flat tone. I don't know why, but it didn't seem quite right. I was about to ask something when she spoke up again. "And before you go crazy, I have a way to get P.I.N.K. inside here. Having spent all my time in this base means I have learned how to gain total control over every system! Well, except for security, but you already know I couldn't do anything about the wiring. Sorry about that."

I breathed a small sigh of relief knowing that P.I.N.K. didn't have to sacrifice herself. I smiled and stepped back up to the rear of the giant bot. "Thank you for saving her, B.I.T., and thank you for telling me." I stretched my neck up and stopped as my nose touched the orange handle. "Just an odd question, but why do you keep calling this thing ED? Why give it a name?" I bit down hard around the cold, metal handle as the engines thumped above me.

"Why? Because like you thought before, this is the closest that P.I.N.K. and I will ever have to a real child, and every child needs a name." B.I.T. started, a slight distortion in her voice came through the speaker as she continued. "As for ED, the two of us had originally planned on setting up a fake robotics corporation, then using it to destroy all of ponykind. Equestrian Defence was just the shell company we came up with, but we only had time to change one of the prototypes being built to suit our needs before the war... ended. And Ta-Da! ED was born." Her voice was getting more distorted as she talked, and the engines were slowly climbing to a dull roar as she was pouring power into something. The left headlamp flickered and slowly changed color to pink, becoming brighter and brighter, nearly blinding me. "Backlash, pull it now."

I let my hooves drop out from under me, using my weight to pull the handle down with ease. It set with a click as yet another hiss came from inside the rumbling robot, a flat panel on the bottom started sliding open slowly as I let go. The purple light on the right slowly dimmed as I got back to my hooves, the sad, heavily distorted voice of B.I.T. played through the speaker.

"Th...nk you... acklash... Tak...are... of..er." Her voice came over just before the bottom panel clicked fully open, a loud bang and shower of sparks came from the hole as a rectangular box was ejected to the floor. I watched as the sensitive electronics inside it spilled out, snapping and shattering to pieces.

ED slowly turned towards me, the lumbering machine's legs slammed into the floor with each step as both of the lights underneath turned to a dim pink. "Backlash..." The familiar voice of P.I.N.K. softly cried out. "What have you done? You've trapped her here forever..." I sat back and stared at the broken wireless transmitter on the floor as P.I.N.K. stood in front of me, each robotic limb shaking as she sobbed. I don't know what just happened. I did just what B.I.T. told me to, I pulled the lever after she forced...

Oh Celestia, Backlash! You're a fucking moron! How could I have not seen that coming? Of course she would have to transfer back into the machine upstairs to push P.I.N.K. in! P.I.N.K.'s transfer has always been fast because she was designed that way, but if the connection stayed open longer than it did, P.I.N.K. could just swap places again.

I froze as P.I.N.K. lined both weapon pods up, training them on me. "How could you? I trusted you, Backlash! I thought we were friends!" I looked up slowly as she let out a mournful scream that shook the entire frame of the blue robot. "I needed to do this! I needed to give her a chance for a life outside this prison! And YOU took that away from her!"

"P.I.N.K., I..." I said slowly as I reached a hoof out. "I'm sorry."

"YOU'RE SORRY?!" She belted out painfully loud, her words echoing in the warehouse. "WELL THEN THAT MAKES IT ALL BETTER!" P.I.N.K.'s voice was straining to convey her sadness, the lights underneath the hull turned a darker shade of pink, reminding me of how Pinkie Pie's mane would deflate when she became sad. "I would shoot you RIGHT NOW if it weren't for these stupid Ministry Chief locks keeping me from doing anything violent!"

"OH REALLY THEN?!" I said angrily as I felt a familiar rage boiling deep inside me. "You think that you are justified in killing yourself over what you did to B.I.T.?" I trot up towards the weapon pod to my right, watching as she kept it pointing at me as I leaned into it. The cold muzzle of the belt-fed, anti-machine rifle felt good against my aching head as I pressed into it . "Fine, if you can tell me honestly that I made a mistake in wanting to save you, then I'll command you to override the safety locks."

I looked over as P.I.N.K. tried to contemplate this. "Y..you made a mistake." She said slowly, letting her doubts flood through the speaker. I heard the flutter of wings behind me as the pink lights swung over.

"Backlash! What are you doing?!" Skyline yelled out as she swooped down, tackling me to the ground. I could hear the hoofstomps of Longbow's power armor as she galloped towards me, assumedly with Carlotta and Brass in tow. "Get away from this thing, let me handle it!" She barked out as she moved to bite down on the bit of her battle saddle.

"Wait!" P.I.N.K. cried out as ED took a step back. "I'm sorry. You were right, Backlash." She let out a loud sigh as she pointed the weapon pods away. "I just... I can't leave her here again. I need her."

Skyline looked over to me as I relaxed, doing the same as I got back up. "Backlash, what is this?" She said in astonishment as she pointed her hoof up at ED.

"One moment, Sky." I said, waiting for Longbow and Carlotta to get into sight. Longbow kept her eyes low, avoiding looking at me as she trotted around the corner. I couldn't blame her, 42 just gave Sorbet the access she needed to destroy the wasteland, and I wasn't fast enough to stop it. I was caught off guard when Carlotta lunged down in front of me and threw her talons around me, squeezing me quite painfully.

"Brass said that you actually stuck it to that pink bitch. Getting stabbed and using your own blood as a weapon makes you a bona fide badass in my book." She said with a smile, holding tightly as I struggled to breathe, pushing at her with my hooves until she finally relented. I gasped and panted lightly as P.I.N.K. looked over us, Carlotta giving the large machine little more than a slight glance.

I cleared my throat and looked over the others, finding that Brass still hadn't shown up. Still, I need to get this out of the way first. "Everyone, this is P.I.N.K." I said loudly. "She is the Ministry of Morale Artificial Pony that ran the facility 42 was kept in." I watched as I spoke, all three of my friends jaws nearly dropped to the floor, their eyes jumped from P.I.N.K. to each other as I stood under the behemoth robot. "Before you ask, NO, she isn't dangerous." I said as I smiled, watching as Sky looked at me with a flat expression.

"Really." She fired back sarcastically, "The guns and rocket launchers really do a convincing job of saying 'Trust me, I won't blow you into meaty, little chunks'." I gave a slight nervous smile. Hell, even if we painted her up in the Ministry of Peace color scheme, I'm pretty sure anypony out in the wastes would start running at the mere sight of ED. "First you bring that Zebra-bot into our home, now you're making friends with three-pony-tall, walking, death machines! Doesn't that seem the least bit strange to you?"

I let out a soft laugh and shook my head. "Look at the last few weeks of our lives, Skyline! I can pretty much sum it all up with 'Because Pinkie Pie, that's why'!" I sat back and flailed my hooves in front of me. "Look at where we are! Celestia only knows the stuff that's hidden down here!" I got up and walked over to the box I had broken in anger, kicking it open to reveal an extremely ornate, magical plasma pistol, a small note sat amongst the shattered glass in its stand. I eyed it curiously before turning back to the group. "Look, P.I.N.K. is a friend. You don't have to trust her, just remember that I do."

Brass came trotting up, speaking before he came around the corner. "So, I tried to wipe the files, but I...." He froze and stared wide eyed up at P.I.N.K., stuttering as he tried to process what he was looking at. "but... but... HOLY HELL! THE FUCK IS THAT THING?" He jumped behind Longbow, peeking around her and waving his hoof towards the towering machine.

"Backlash." P.I.N.K. said as the lights swivelled towards me, still sounding sad, but had a note of panic to her words. "Before B.I.T. transfered me out, I had started the reactor overload process. Once I locked the safety overrides in place, it became impossible to shut down! We don't have long and we need to get B.I.T. out of here!"

Think, think, think, think, think! Come on, gears, give me something, anything! I looked over to Longbow. "Ok, ok, Longbow, Brass, I need you two to head towards the freight elevator on the back wall. Make sure it's at least in working order." I saw Brass nod and follow Longbow as she left without ever acknowledging me. "Sky, Carlotta, head back to where you woke up and gather as much of what I dumped onto the floor as you can, then head for the elevator."

Carlotta nodded and took off as Skyline floated over to me with the worried look I knew all too well. "And you are heading for the elevator as well, right?"

I shook my head and watched as her frown widened. "I need to go to B.I.T., because if I'm right, only she can access the server and get rid of every piece of information about the mirror pool. If she can, we will finally have a leg up on 42." She gave a sigh as I spoke and turned to leave. I reached my hoof out and put it on her. "I promise I'll make it quick, I'll meet you all at the elevator with plenty of time to spare." She gave me her pouty face, drawing a small smile to mine. "Please, just go. I know you don't want me to go on my own, but I'll be there. I promise."

She nodded and took off after Carlotta, leaving just P.I.N.K. and I standing at the end of the isle. Once I knew the others were out of earshot, I lowered my voice to nearly a whisper. "P.I.N.K., I need you to record this and play it back for the others. The second all of them get through that door, I need you to blast it shut. Don't wait for me, 42 got in here somehow and I doubt she had the Goddess to help her out. I'll find the other way out, you just make sure to get the others to safety. So! Get the others on the elevator, blast the door, then play this message." I quickly trotted over to the teleporter control panel sticking out of the floor and hoofed at the up button, calling back over my shoulder to her as the air filled with an electric hum. "And don't worry, I'll get B.I.T. out."

I shook the fuzziness from my head as I reoriented myself on the platform, the smell of burnt mane filled my nose as I got to my hooves, taking off at a gallop out past the large stable door and down the hallway. The grey walls seemed to press down on me as I ran through the hallways, the whole base gave off an entirely different feeling than before now that I was on my own. I slowed down and ducked through the hole Brass had made in the wall, circling around to the side of the supercomputer. I took a deep breath, and stuck my hoof into the socket, lining my Pipbuck up with a click.

Nothing.

"Come on B.I.T., I need your help!" I called out as I pulled my hoof out just far enough to break the connection. "I know you can hear me, don't do this, B.I.T.!" I shoved my hoof back in stiffly, listening as my Pipbuck clicked in place yet again. "You want to do this the hard way? Then we'll do this the hard way!" I pulled my hoof out again, turning to grab my jury-rigged connector from my saddlebag. I poked around for a moment in confusion before I sighed, realizing it must have been dumped on the floor with everything else on level 5.

"Ok, stay calm. All I need to do is make another one before this place explodes!" I said nervously as I sat back and looked around. A few busted terminals along the walls and rusted out lockers were the only things in here. I frowned as I looked back at the flashing lights of B.I.T., knowing that there wasn't enough time to make sure I could build a new connector that would work on a machine this advanced. "B.I.T., I really need your help right now." I stuck my hoof back in the connector again, slowly locking it in place a third time. "Just please, talk to me." I said softly.

B.I.T. hummed softly, my body becoming stiff as I was forced into S.A.T.S.. The grey, crystalline form of B.I.T. materialized in front of me where she had the time before, but now she was sitting sadly in front of me.

Her voice sounded so incredibly sad, yet she sounded somewhat hopeful. I refocused my mind, knowing that I needed her to delete the original Mirror Pool files before we could even talk.

That's not what I was hoping to hear. Well, if all the files are stuck at the bottom of this radioactive pit, it's fine with me. At least it will slow 42 down if anything.

Now that she couldn't easily get her hooves on the data, I felt like I could finally relax a little. It was no longer a race to find the pool, I for once had the advantage! I watched as B.I.T. flopped onto her side with a sigh, drawing my attention back to her. I need to get her out of here before the reactors blow.

She turned her head and looked up at me.

I could understand what B.I.T. was getting at, but P.I.N.K. could always help her out with the transition! Having someone there to help you when you're feeling down is part of the point of having a special somepony.

But that isn't true at all! B.I.T. must have seen how P.I.N.K. reacted the second I cut the connection. She must have seen the anger P.I.N.K. felt towards me. I watched as B.I.T. got up and turned toward me, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

I refuse to leave, not after what P.I.N.K. has done to help me. I need to find another way to convince her, some way she couldn't refuse. I wish she could follow my orders like P.I.N.K. does, but... wait that's it! I'll just have to order her to come with me. I am the Chief of a ministry, so she'll have to listen!

Well then I'll just have to find a different way to seal this place up. I mean, if everything down there is so dangerous to have, then there has to be something I can use! Maybe B.I.T. would know what I could use. A tool, a weapon, anything!

B.I.T. put her hoof up to her muzzle and looked around for a moment.

Ok, I have no idea what any of that means other than go back down and find a control panel. Not to mention, I'm still not leaving without her! The crystalline form of B.I.T. jumped up into the air, fuzzing away as I dropped out of S.A.T.S. and reoriented to normal time. I nearly jumped to the ceiling as a series of alarms and red lights came on all at once inside the base. I felt B.I.T. release my Pipbuck, pulling it out to see that the interface and E.F.S. rebooted as a light purple. I stared at it for a moment, reminded of how similar in color it was to Harmony's coat. A small beep drew my attention back as a familiar, smiling, digital face appeared. A line of text scrolled across the screen slowly.

I smiled and turned, taking off at a gallop out the pony-sized hole in the wall and down the hallway. I did my best to press my hooves into the smooth floor as I slid around the corner, smacking into the wall in nearly the same place I had before. I stopped for a moment to think about Longbow and how she probably believes that Lemon died for nothing. I grunted and shook the thought off, running again down the hall towards the stable door. Now that I have the information 42 needs, I can take a vacation from running around the wasteland. A vacation that I'm going to use to pay a nice visit to the Steel Rangers.

I slowed down and turned again, heading through the open stable door to the teleportation pad, hoofing the down button sharply. "So, B.I.T., when you said not much time, exactly how long did you mean?" I said as the air started to crackle, the machine whining underneath me. A soft beep was all I got before the loud pop and blinding flash took me down again, my mane drooping into my eyes as the light faded. I reached up and brushed it aside, feeling that it was extremely warm. I shrugged the odd sensation off as I looked down at B.I.T.'s response.

I put my hoof down and galloped towards the isle, sliding to a stop as I passed the ornate gun I had left in the remains of the broken box. I quickly hoofed it into my saddlebags, along with the note that was with it, knowing that it might be worth taking. I looked down the isle to see a large, yellow electronics box at the end that read 'P.A.D.D. Master Control' across it in bold lettering.

"Wow, that really was simple!" I said as another beep came from the Pipbuck.

"Forty two seconds!?" I screamed as I ran toward the box, rearing up and slamming my hooves against it to stop. I hoofed at the locking latch and threw the front cover open, holding out my Pipbuck as it started to emit a series of noises. "Of course I have forty two seconds, everything now always comes back to 42!" I said before a single, loud beep played, B.I.T. displaying the only word that mattered now.

I spun and pushed myself off, slamming my hooves against the floor as I galloped back toward the end of the isle. The radiation counter on my Pipbuck started to tick faster and faster as I reached the corner, nearly losing my balance as I listened to it instead of focusing on keeping upright. I had my eyes locked on the control panel that stuck out of the concrete machine, my other thoughts drifting further and further with each step, replaced only by a single, constant thought to hit that up button. I felt the ground shake as one of the reactors below burst, the furious ticking on my Pipbuck telling me to get out as I reached for the button, slamming it so hard that I could hear the plastic casing crunch and crack.

"Come on... work, damn you!" I screamed as arcs of static shot off the pedestal, taking a step back while a whine louder than the ones before painfully filled the air, the world around me became amazingly hot for a single moment. Then my hearing was replaced with a soft ringing, and the familiar blindness that teleportation brought flooded my vision. For a moment, I felt like I was weightless, suspended in an ocean of warm light, making me feel like I was in one of my dreams. But as it always does, gravity reminded me of just how much I weighed.

I think I let out a scream as I felt myself start to fall, but I couldn't hear myself over the deafening ringing in my head. I felt my saddlebags fly off of me as my vision was clearing, the darkness of night bringing some comfort that I was at least outside of the facility. I whined as I twisted myself, looking down to see exactly what surface I was going to paint with my insides, praying silently for Luna to save me. But the sight was not one I had expected to find below me.

I gasped as I slammed into the surface of what I could only assume was the Delamare river, the near freezing water felt like it had impaled me as I struggled to get back to the surface. I kicked my legs as hard as I could as I slowly floated up, breaking the surface with a loud gasp. I struggled to stay afloat as I coughed and hacked, sucking in deep breaths starting to paddle my way to the shore. But the shock of the fall, the exhaustive running, and the heavy weight of the flak vest started to take it's toll as I found it harder and harder to stay above the surface. The river bank was still too far away and I wasn't going to make it with this much weight!

I took as deep of a breath as I could get before letting myself sink, trying to twist and push the green vest off of me as I dropped into the murky depths. Grunting, I tried to tear at it, getting extremely frustrated as the fabric didn't relent. I was about to try to swim up as the gears in my head slammed one final idea together. The vest isn't the heavy part, only the plates are heavy! I kicked my legs hard in an attempt to keep myself from sinking further, using my hooves to push the upper chest plates out of their pockets. I watched as the first shimmering plate fell out with ease, sinking below me as my lungs started to scream for air. I quickly tried repeating the process for the other chest plate, finally getting it out as I struggled not to breathe in a lungful of water.

Two plates would have to be enough as I flailed my hind legs, trying to bring me back to the surface, but feeling as the frigid water pulled the strength straight out of them just as fast as I tried to pour more in. I looked up to the surface as I climbed nearer and nearer, seeing a familiar shimmering sphere hovering silently up above it. The image of the moon from my dreams flashed in my mind as it almost took what little breath I had left away, my vision starting to cloud. I needed to get to it, I needed it to tell me why it took him away from me! I kicked hard, giving everything I had left to try to get back up, slowly realizing it wasn't going to be enough. I closed my eyes and used the last of my strength to hold my hoof up, my legs finally giving out as I felt my hoof strike the air.

But as I felt my hoof drop back under, I realized the funny thing about the cold and the dark, is that it always seemed to find a way back into my head.

The warmth of the sun beat down onto me as I lay in the wet grass, listening as the light breeze flowed over me, smelling the sweet flowers from the tree I lay under. I let out a small sigh as I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the relaxing feeling my dreams brought, all my cares slipping away. The sound of distant thunder on the horizon echoed across the hills around me, making me open my eyes and sit up.

"Thunder? I thought the weather was always nice here?" I said as I looked around the horizon, a massive storm front hung on the edge of it, flashes of lightning pulsed inside it as I watched. The thunder rolled across the small hills as I got to my hooves, the lush grass brushing against me as the breeze picked up slightly. "Pinkie?" I called out as I looked up into the tree, finding no sign of the bright pink filly. I trotted around the tree and looked about, finally deciding she wasn't here.

I turned and headed off down the familiar path towards where I had found the cannon in my first dream. "Something's always there. She has to be..." My words dropped off as I could make a soft crying out up ahead, hearing it only moments before another boom of thunder filled the air. I continued up the hill slowly, gazing upon the familiar party table as I crested it. The small pink filly was sitting in one of the end chairs with her head down, her mane laying flat as she sobbed softly.

"Pinkie!" I smiled and ran down to her, watching as she gasped and looked up at me, smiling as I reached out and scooped her up into a hug. She squeezed me so tight it hurt, but I didn't mind as long as it made her feel better. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She let go of me, hopping back up onto the table so she could be at my height. Her normally bright eyes were soft and betrayed her true age, her smile had sunk to one as forced as a smile could be. "Oh, it's nothing. I was just super-duper worried about my most favoritest relative." She said softly, diverting her eyes as she sat down. She was lying to me, and doing a poor job at hiding it.

"Why are you worried?" I asked as I reached my hoof up and brushed a tear from her cheek, giving her a soft smile. "I'm fine, you see? Nothing to be worried about." I tried to comfort her, watching as she relaxed with my words. "Now, why don't you tell me what's really got the best aunty anypony could ask for, all upset."

She gave out a sad sigh, drooping her mane in front of her in the same way that Longbow's did, her disappointment from a few minutes ago flashed in my mind. Celestia, I really hope she and the others made it out alright. Pinkie's eyes showed a slight amount of fear as she looked up again. "It's because first you were early, and I didn't think anything about it. You can never be too early to a party. But then you didn't show up, and that's when I knew..." She said right before a bright flash emitted from all around, quickly followed by the loud crack of thunder.

"But, I don't understand." I said as I looked back at the quickly approaching storm, it's towering, black clouds for some reason gave me the impression it was unhappy. But storm's can't be unhappy... right? "Why would when I show up in a dream matter?" I nearly jumped as another flash and boom caught me off guard, the wind started to pick up as I could feel fresh drops of rain on my coat. The water was ice cold on my skin, my mind trying to remind me that I was drowning in the real world.

"Because..." Pinkie said, her words full of hesitation. "Because... it just does! I'm Pinkie Pie, random is just my thing!" She lied again as she hoofed at the tablecloth under her, her mane shifting in the increasing winds. Why wouldn't she just tell me what was going on, and why she was so sad?

"I know you are lying to me." I said as I got back to my hooves, taking off my flak jacket and placing it around her, shielding her from some of the rain. The gears in my head spun out of control, forcing the same question into my head over and over, compelling me to ask. "Why am I here, Pinkie? These dreams, why do I have them?" I held my hoof up to the side of my head as I felt it pounding.

The sudden flash and boom shook the whole table, making Pinkie let out a soft gasp as she laid down, covering herself with the green vest. "But I... I can't..." She said softly. "If I tell you, you won't want to come back anymore. Even if you did, then SHE won't let you come back any more anyway."

"She?" I asked as I lifted the vest up slightly, watching as Pinkie stretched out her hoof and pointed it to the sky behind me, causing me to follow it and turn around. I froze as I looked into the oncoming storm, the middle of the cloud had been split open, forced apart like a jagged cut in the sky. Sitting amongst the darkness that bled from behind it, a bright silver disk sat inside with the impression of a unicorn mare across it. "The moon? But... who is she?"

"Please, Luna..." Pinkie said as I could hear her push the jacket off. "But... I don't want to..." she cried out, making me turn to ask what she was talking about. She was staring up at the moon with a defiant look on her face, trying to stand strong. "NO. I won't let that happen! You can't... but it's not fair!" She screamed past me, somehow having a conversation with the mare in the moon. The angry filly turned to me, her face washing over with sorrow as she looked into my eyes. "I'm sorry..."

She jumped up and into the air as a bolt of lightning shot across the sky, her hooves coming down on my head as the thunder roared, echoing away slowly as darkness reasserted itself as my world.

I came to coughing and choking up water as my whole body shivered, the sound of the Delamare river flowing just a few feet away accompanying the sound of approaching hoofbeats in the mud. I was alive. Somehow I had made it to the riverbank, and was mostly now in danger of freezing to death. The soft flapping of wings made me open my eyes, letting me stare up into Skyline's face as she smiled down to me... no wait, she was upside down to me, that was a frown.

"Oh thank Celestia, you're alive!" She said as she dropped down and pressed into me, hugging me tightly. "What happened down there?! We were all waiting for you when your 'completely harmless' robot friend blew the door up and sealed us in!" Skyline leaned back and smacked me hard, although I didn't feel it (one of the many perks of going into hypothermia, although I don't recommend having it). "Don't you EVER do something like that again!"

I turned as I heard the heavy thumps of power armored hooves splashing through the mud, watching as Longbow threw herself over the hill leading to the riverbank. She slid down the hill and stopped next to me, pushing Skyline away forcefully as I could see her rage-consumed expression. "YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" She screamed as she kicked me in the side with her forehoof, knocking the wind out of me (Unfortunately, no amount of hypothermia can numb the feeling of an angry mare swinging a piece of steel at your chest).

"Don't kill him, Longbow, you can't be mad at him if he's dead." Carlotta cooed sarcastically as she swooped down and hovered across from Skyline. "You know you can stop playing the action hero, Backlash. I know I said that you're a badass, but don't let that go to your head. That was a crazy idea even by MY standards, and I have wings, I can do some pretty crazy things." She looked down over me and shook her head. "If ghost mare over there hadn't heard you scream like a little filly, Skyline might never have found you in time."

I looked over along the river bank as I got my breath back, watching as Willow Wisp stood silently and gazed into the water, looking like she was lost in thought. After all she had been through, I couldn't blame her. She stiffened up, shooting her gaze over to me, an extremly worried look forming on her face. My ear tweaked as I heard a soft rumbling that grew in the air, I closed my eyes and flopped over, pressing my head down into the mud. The sound was getting louder and growing closer.

"Backlash, what is it?" Sky asked as she looked up at the hill, hearing the odd sound as well. I heard a distorted beep come from my muddied Pipbuck, pulling it up and turning my head to read it. I opened my eyes to see B.I.T. frowning.

The rumble quickly grew to a roar as I got to my hooves and dashed up the muddy embankment, surveying what was the south western outskirts of Fillydelphia. A dim shine illuminated the underside of the entire flatland in front of me, making the ground shake violently. I watched as dark waves of earth rolled across the muddy plane, the first of which nearly threw me back down into the river. I tried to steady myself as a series of immense cracks resonated through the ground and the air, the whole of the flatland in front of me shifting and tilting inward, looking as if the land had just exhaled a deep breath.

The shaking stopped as the last of the waves shrank down, leaving the air still as I stared at the sheer magnitude of the newly formed depression, the glow dying off to leave night dipping back into it's natural darkness as I shivered from the cold. I was now probably standing at the new highest point on the outskirts of Filly as Longbow plodded up next to me. I watched as her horn glowed, throwing on her helmet to survey the area using the suit's enhanced night vision.

"Sweet Celestia! There's a shallow crater that must be at LEAST a half a mile across!" She turned to me slowly. "Backlash, what did you do? What in Celestia's name was that?" I was about to tell her I had no idea when B.I.T. sent out another beep. Longbow leaned in with me as I looked down at the screen, hoofing a bit of mud off of it and doing my best to keep my leg still as I shook from the cold.

I was shivering badly and words became harder and harder to form. "B... but it didn't deto..nate under...water, h..how did it.... collapse t..the ground?" I said as I sat in the mud. I knew I needed to get warm, but my curiosity was winning out for now. I watched as more words scrolled across, my ears picking up the heavy stomps and the excited voice of Brass and what I assumed to be P.I.N.K. as they came towards us from along the riverbank.

"Well... at le... least tha... at did... didn't... hap... pen." I said as I felt P.I.N.K. stomp up beside me, the large legs sinking down into the mud. I turned my head and went to wave, not feeling as my other hoof slipped and gave out, flopping me down in the mud with a wet splat. My body shivered furiously as I felt stabs of pain in my insides. "I... th...th...think... I ne..need... f..fire." I managed to stutter out, watching as darkness crept around my vision again.

The voices of my friends drifted off as I felt so tired all of a sudden, and Luna knows I'd earned a bit of rest. Maybe I could just lay here and get in a good nap.

Author's Notes:

So! This is the new format in which I will be posting the story. Basically, I'm taking the normal chapter and cutting it in half. What exactly does this mean? It means I can slow my pace on chapter creation to ensure each chapter feels right, and that Backlash will gain a level every 2 chapters now.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story! I hope the shorter chapters make it a bit easier to read for everypony. Regardless of if it effects you, I'd love to get more feedback! What you like, what you hate, anything and everything! Feel free to leave a comment on my page or to send me a message!

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Onward!

Thank you Kkat for the amazing story of the mare that started this all! Thank you Somber for Security's amazingly entertaining journey! Thank you Mimezinga for keeping Puppeh's innocence alive. Thank you No-One for making Hired so damn determined. Thank you Stonershy for the dynamic duo that never disappoints. And Thank you John Colt for the enigma that is Aideen and Craft.

Many thanks to Bad Pun, who never seems to care that I edit all of his thanks section comments out. (I don't. - Bad Pun)

Thanks to everypony on the Fallout Equestria IRC, you guys are amazingly entertaining and a great source of inspiration.

And as always, thank you. Being the reader isn't always easy, but I thank you for taking the time out to get through my story.