I woke up for what felt like the hundredth time since yesterday. Every time I had closed my eyes, every time I managed to fall asleep, I relived that same moment. I’d hear the thud, and as hard as I try, I can't stop myself from turning to see him laying there. As I opened my eyes, the haze from my mind was gone and the gears in my head been restored to their rightful working selves. I could see everything again with the clarity that I had lacked since the day I first met Brass at the bunker.

Longbow shifted in her sleep, pressing back into me warmly. Well, with what little warmth I could feel through the bandages that covered most of me. After we had come back inside, I collapsed on my mattress and just lay as Longbow held me, eventually falling asleep sometime in the night. But the question that kept running through my mind, was why? Why would she want to stay here when she knows I'll just get her killed. Why doesn't she hate me for what I did to Brass? Why doesn't she judge me?

The lighting in above the garage floor kicked off, and the hum of the generator below the floor came to a sputtering stop. I groaned and pulled myself to my hooves, feeling as Longbow hooked her forehoof around mine, yawning and opening her eyes slowly.

“And where are you going?” Through the weariness in her voice, I could hear her deep concern for me, as well as… love. It hurt to hear how much she liked me, knowing full well that I could never be the stallion that she deserves. I gave her a soft smile.

“Generator’s down, gotta change the spark battery.” I spoke softly, feeling as she tugged on my leg in response.

“Get Sky to do it and come back to bed.” She let go of me and turned over, burrowing herself down against the mattress with a deep, relaxed sigh.

“It will only take a minute, I promise.” I replied in a whisper, hoofing the edge of the mattress up to get to the hatch. I bit down and tugged it open, walking down the stairs slowly as my good eye drifted over to the spot where I had found the letter. It seemed like a lifetime ago that I had found it, a long forgotten era that I left too soon. I hoofed at the dead battery, hitting it a few times before it finally popped out of the mounting.

I dug through the scrap on the floor, finally coming up with one that had fifteen percent scrawled on it, popping it into the mounting with little resistance. The old generator sputtered back to life, quickly reaching it’s normal thrumming as I turned and trotted back up the stairs.

“Backlash, may we speak? Alone perhaps?” Isaac asked as he popped his head in from the kitchen. I looked over to Longbow, who had fallen back asleep on her own, before nodding to him. “Great, I will meet you on the roof.”

He left the door to the kitchen open, disappearing inside as I trot to the stairs. As much as my body had healed, it still hated me for wanting to pull myself up two sets of stairs. Each step was a challenge, not only to maintain my balance, but also to try ignoring the pain it caused as well. I reached the kitchen, spying Dr. Fitz sleeping next to Ripcord, who was looking decidedly better than when we left him.

Sky and Carlotta were nowhere to be seen, but I assumed that they had their reasons to be gone. If I was in a better mood, I would try to joke about scolding her about abandoning me this time, but I just didn’t have it in me. Everything has been tough on all of us, and the worse thing is that we’re not even done, not until we inform the Rangers of Sorbet.

I climbed the old staircase to the roof and into the dimly lit morning, being met with foggy air and a thick sheet of frost covering everything. I pushed the door closed behind me as softly as I could before striding over to Isaac, who was sitting on one of the collapsed sections of brick, staring off into the morning fog.

“The others, they tell me you were in Red Wing for a while.” He didn’t even break his gaze as he spoke, a mix of hope and dread filled his words. “Did you learn anything about me when you were there?”

“You still don’t remember what happened?” I took a seat next to him, actually happy the frosty floor was icing my wounds.

“I… I learned how to access my core operating system. I found a backup of my personality made before I was, as the system put it, ‘Damaged’.” He sighed, his feelings on having few biological parts clearly saddening him. He thought he was a monster, hating the fact that he wasn’t a ‘real’ zebra.

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” I asked, looking over to him again, waiting for a response. This time, he looked back.

“What if I am evil? What if the reason I was ‘damaged’ was because I hurt ponies?” His eyes turned back out to the endless grey fog as his ears went flat. “I do not want to become any more of a monster than I am.”

“Isaac, I’ve seen what monsters look like, and I can tell you aren’t a monster. You are a zebra, plain and simple.” I scooted a brick about with my hoof, nervously debating if I should tell him what I found out. He had been hurting ponies in his old life, and so had his sister, but doesn’t he deserve to know? “The answer to your original question is yes, I do know who you really are.”

He shuddered for a moment, taking in a deep breath before I continued.

“Your name is Xellos, and you had a sister named Xin. You two joined the program together, hiding out with a ghoul in the mine after the world ended. You and your sister were the mine’s foremans, forcing ponies to work in dangerous conditions.” His muzzle sank to a frown, a despondent look filling the rest of his expression. “It was an accident that caused you to forget and run off. Xin wanted to look for you, but couldn’t get permission to leave.”

“Then, it is true I was a monster before.” He looked over to me, the red glow inside his eyes was almost non existent. “So what of my sister, Xin. Does she still work at the mine?”

“I killed her.” Being blunt was the only way to deal with this. “She tried to kill me, I’m sorry.”

“I… see.” The disappointment in his voice was hollow. It was a cruel task for me to have to tell him he had a sister, a connection to his past that I myself had silenced forever. He got to his hooves and looked to the frost covered floor under them. “I guess I will take my leave and make my way to Friendship City. I will find a way to pay you back for your kindness in helping me.”

“No, you don’t owe me anything.” The caps I lost saving his life would be missed, but I don’t want anypony to get themselves killed over something they thought they owed me. I don’t want anypony else to die for me like Brass did. I gave Isaac a quick grin. “I’ll come and visit you when everything goes back to normal.”

“Until then. Take care, Backlash.” He sprung forward, flinging himself over the edge of the roof and down the three stories to the street in front of the garage. He gave a final nod up to me before galloping off into the fog, his quick hoofbeats echoing long after he had faded into the grey sheet. Yet another friend I’ve failed.

“You’ll do nothing but get them all killed.”

My conscience echoed through the back of my mind as the cold finally nipped at my coat under my bandages. My body locked as the wind let out a soft howl and picked up, making me shiver as I turned away from the edge. What was I supposed to do? Everything asked of me the last month has been do ‘X’ thing, with zero explanation of how to get it done, or what exactly it entails. I’m so sick of it.

Once I was back in the kitchen, I turned and headed into the bathroom. It had been a while since I had been able to shower, and for being such a simple thing, I looked forward to it greatly. Unfortunately for me, for some reason Notepad was sleeping in the tub. Did they pick him up in Red Wing? No matter, I’ll deal with him later. I prodded him with my hoof.

“Just 5 more minutes, dear.” He groggily spoke as he curled up tighter.

“Notepad, get up, I need the shower.” I sighed, prodding him again. He frowned before turning his head to look at me with half lidded eyes. He nodded with a yawn, stretching out his hooves against the tub walls, finally standing up and stepping out from it.

“Sorry about that, Backlash.” He yawned as he walked towards the door, making his exit and shutting it behind him.

As it clicked shut, I hoofed at the hot water handle, listening as the century old pipes shook and groaned. I stuck my hoof into the tub, hoofing the drain plug in so I could soak if I chose to. The mildly radiation tainted water sprayed down into the tub, assaulting the old porcelain mercilessly before steam drifted from the basin. Sitting down, I hoofed at the bandages wrapping around the left half of my head, slowly removing them first before moving on to the wrappings around my body.

The most distressing thing I found was that even with the wrappings off my head, I couldn’t see out of my left eye. I stopped myself and raised a hoof up to my face, tracing around the socket. Nothing, the eye was just, gone. I did my best to ignore the knowledge of it, continuing to unwrap the bandages around me.

The moment the burns on my side touched the air, I cringed, feeling as if I was lit on fire all over again. The gears in my mind fed me the memory of just after Brass became a ghoul, Skyline’s exact warning about how burns felt on contact with the air. My mind didn’t stop there, as I remembered how he then got the better of Skyline when I took his helmet off. I couldn’t help but smile at the thoughts, remarking how much I wouldn’t give to be lost in them forever. As the rest of the bandages slipped away, so did the memory, leaving me to look my coat over.

“You stole his life.”

Whatever Dr. Fitz had given me, it hadn’t completely healed me. My entire left side was a mottled mix of charred black fur, twisted lumps of flesh, and deep red, open sores. Even my cutie mark hadn’t been spared, the skin on my flank had been stripped away, and a mess of scarred tissue ran almost all the way down my rear leg.

I winced as I climbed into the tub, the near scalding water pelting me while around my hoofs it felt like I had just jumped into a boiling pot of water. As I sat down, my forehoof slipped sending me splashing into the hot water and made my side explode in pain. The agony from my chest and the pooled water around my muzzle kicked the gears in my head to spin up again, throwing the memory of the first night we spent out from home. The only reason Sky and I could hide from the alicorns that night, was because Brass was there. Without him anchoring us in that basement, they would have found us.

“He trusted you to protect him.”

I pushed myself up from the water in the tub, letting the shower run over me again as the memory dripped away to the recesses in my mind. I took in several deep breaths, feeling my lungs draw in the steam from the air. It’s funny how the simple act of letting water run over you can calm and focus you. I mean, I know nothing about psychology or how the equine mind works, but something about it can make even the most wild of ponies stop and just relax.

I hoofed the shower off and listened as the water dropped to a trickle, dripping down into the bath below me. I closed my eyes and just sat, trying to clear my mind of everything. Even if I felt lost as to what to do, or where to go from here in my life, right here, right now? There was nothing. Outside this bathroom, there was nothing. No family or friends, no wasteland, no overbearing evil weighing down on all of pony kind. The only things that existed, were me, and the warmth I basked in.

The thumps of ponies on the roof tore me from my serene state, thrusting me back into the real world. With a heavy sigh, I stepped from the tub, dripping heavily as I walked to the mirror. The gears in my head whirled back to life yet again as the steam from the shower wafted about lazily, forcing the memory of the fire on the ship back to me. Brass had been willing to sacrifice his own well being to save everypony, without hesitation or even a second thought.

“And now because of you, he’ll never have another thought again.”

As I sat and wiped the mirror clean with my hoof, the memory was wiped from my current thoughts. I stared at the stallion in the mirror, looking at the stranger on the other side. His head had an almost comical split down the middle, with one half being pristine, the other, a charred mess of scars. The most striking feature of him was the dark socket where a matching, amber colored eye had more than likely once sat. His mane was a melted mess, hanging limply over the twisted shape of the half an ear the dark side of his head still held.

There was a knock on the door behind me, the sound piercing my mind and sending a throbbing pain into it. The door swung open as Carlotta strode in, stopping as she caught my reflection in the mirror.

“I… hope you don’t mind, but I was going to take a shower.” She forced herself to speak nervously, focusing on anything but the mirror with my face in it. The cold air from the kitchen made my head pounded again, my muscles tensing up as the cold hit my sides.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just give me a moment.” I spoke softly, reaching a hoof for the mirror, hoping we still had some generic form of aspirin or something for my headache. I opened the medicine cabinet, my one eye meeting with an object that sank my heart. I hoofed the red inhaler out in disbelief, shutting the cabinet with my other hoof. As the mirror shut with a click, in it I could see Skyline in the kitchen staring at me, guilt washing down her face as she rubbed her forehoof with her fetlock. I was about to say something when Carlotta snatched the drug from my hoof, stepping past me with her stone cold killer expression across her face.

“You. Me. Outside. NOW.” She instructed to Sky, who just nodded sadly, flapping her wings to effortlessly glide back up to the third floor. As Carlotta proceeded to lay into Skyline about how disappointed she was, Dr. Fitz walked his way over to me, floating his bag of tools along with him.

“I see you are looking a lot better today, Backlash.” He remarked as I stopped where I was, sitting onto the floor with a plop. There was little use in fighting it anymore, no amount of healing potions or hydra could make me look any less of a monster now.

That thought spun the gears in my head, bringing back the conversation Brass and I had when he thought that’s what he was. For as bad as things got, and for as much as he went through, he never sank so far from hope that he lost himself and couldn’t find his way back. I have to believe I can come back from this as well. If I can’t, then what will I have gotten him killed for? The memory flashed away as Dr. Fitz focused a bright light into my eye, making me squint and shy from it.

“Well, your body seems to be making a remarkable recovery for having been through what it has.” He levitated his tools back into his bag before putting a hoof onto my shoulder. “Though, no amount of work I do on your body can ever fix the pain your mind feels from what’s happened.” His words were soft and genuine, seeping through the cracks and deep into my mind. “Backlash, what you and your friends have done for the ponies in the last month is incredible. There have been reports of entire cities across the wasteland banding together to fight the gangs controlling them. The narcotics industry is crippled thanks to the destruction of the pool, and the Alicorns have all but disappeared from sight.”

“But was it worth the cost?” I looked into his eyes, watching as he did his best to keep his expression the same, but even with only one eye, he still couldn’t fool me. He couldn’t muster the strength to lie, as much as I could tell he wanted too. “That’s what I thought.” I hugged him lightly, surprising him with the action.

“Backlash, just remember, it wasn’t your fault.” He pat me on the back a few times before I stepped away from him. “None of what you’ve done has been for nothing. I’m just glad I could help you and the others.”

“You were supposed to help Brass get home.”

“I know.” I lied, giving him a small smirk. I turned and headed back toward the garage, stopping at the lip of the top step as the gears in my head spat out something that had slipped my mind. It was my turn to return the kindness and help him. My only hope was that this gesture could make up for a small fraction of the amount of trouble my actions have caused him.

“Oh, before I forget again, I need to tell you about this supply cache Brass and I stumbled upon.” I turned around, hoofing at the kitchen door to shut it. “You’re going to need a thermal lance, but does Tenpony have any room for a new Auto-Doc or two?”

I slid the new capacitor control board in, pressing it until it snapped back into its mounting with a click. Skyline was lucky that the ceramic mounting absorbed most of the energy that hit her rifle when she was fighting back at the pool two weeks ago. Somepony must have overcharged their laser rifle to do this kind of damage, not to mention they also had to be pretty damn lucky to have hit Sky at all.

I shut the access panel and and bit down on my allen wrench, tightening the screws down. Satisfied in my work, I rechecked that I had cleared the gun of ammo and turned it on. As expected, the capacitors whined to life, and the gun was once again ready for Sky’s saddle. If anything, I’m glad that my repair skills won’t go to waste with only one eye.

I looked up the stairs into the kitchen as a thought ran through my head. Carlotta’s been yelling at her for over an hour because of the Dash I found in the cabinet, and I was getting worried she might be laying into her too hard. I had so many questions I wanted her to answer. How long had she been using again? Was it because I used it back in the Pool? But the question I really wanted to know the answer to was, could I really blame her with all we’d been through?

“Liar, you said you were coming back to bed.” Longbow yawned out as she sat up.

“Sorry, I just… I needed something to keep me busy. It’s how I recovered from Sprocket.” I said as I spat the wrench out onto my workbench. “Can you do me a favor and grab my saddle bag for me?” I bit down on the barrel of Sky’s gun, setting it on the floor and out of the way. I heard a crash as the contents of my saddlebag were dumped onto the garage floor, one of the assorted bits inside slid noisily across the floor, coming to a rest against my hoof.

“Sorry, my magic’s a little wonky this morning.” She gave a light giggle, stopping suddenly as she joined me in looking at the object. It was the auto-repair module I had taken from Lemon’s armor. “Where did you get that?”

“I, umm… I took it from Lemon because you needed it.” I looked up at her, watching as she glared at me intensely. I noticed right off the bat that it wasn’t a mean glare, but one of pride.

“You realize you are a Goddess damned GENIUS!?” She rose to her hooves and hugged me, all in one fluid motion. My body locked up with both shock and pain, before she leaned back and kissed me quickly, making my cheeks burn red. “All I need to do is fit that in and WHAM! I’ve got my armor back!” She let go and galloped off to the door of the garage, flinging it open and taking a few steps out. “HEY GIRLS! BRING MY ARMOR OVER HERE!” She screamed loud enough that had the apocalypse not occurred, the neighbors might have complained. Well, that is if they could overlook the one story tall, artificial pony driven robot stomping around in the street.

I shook my head with a smirk as the wind sucked the door closed, leaving me alone again. I looked over to my strewn saddle bag contents, my eye stopping as it ran across the top of the Pipbuck. I was about to move on from it when I could have sworn I saw the damn thing flicker. Curious, I trot over to it and poked at it with my hoof, the screen and buttons flashing to life for a moment before fading away.

“How do you still work?” I asked to nopony in particular, leaning down and attempting to pick it up in my muzzle. I was quite shocked when the exposed wiring, well… shocked me! Reflexively I dropped it to the floor with a clatter. “Fucking Pinkie Pie, that’s how.” I grumbled, kicking it toward my workbench roughly. (It had survived more than a century and as much punishment as I could throw at it. I’m sure that if it was still working, a couple of kicks wouldn’t kill it.)

I sat in front of my workbench and used my forehooves to lift it up, slowly getting to work on the arcano tech device. After a few minutes, I had finally managed to pry the shredded outer casing off, gazing upon the most interesting configuration of wiring, spell component sets, and arcane spell matrices that I had ever seen. Somepony at Stable-Tec must have either been a genius or a moron for setting this up this specific way. It’s like they were planning on letting somepony like me work… on… this.

“Damnit Pinkie, don’t tell me you knew.” I struck my hoof on the bench in anger, ignoring the spike of pain that shot through my leg. There is no way that she could have set all this up. Pinkie weirdness or not, I refuse to believe it. If she had… “I swear to Celestia that if you knew what would happen to Brass, I will find a way to make you pay, Pinkie.”

“I… I’m sorry.” Willow spoke up from behind me sadly. “I’ll leave you alone.”

“What? Oh, sorry Willow.” I spun around quickly, following her eyes as they darted from my mutilated face to the workbench behind me. The first thing I noticed was that she was darker in tone than when she was on the boat. No, not darker. More like, less there. “I was just… talking to myself. It wasn’t directed at you.” I did my best to present a comforting smile, unsure if I even could anymore with how I looked. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?”

“Yes, it is quite important.” She averted her gaze from around me completely, now looking off toward the door. “When I passed through the alicorn at the ship, I… I could hear her again. I was her again.” Her voice strained in horror, the experience obviously not one she ever wanted to partake in again. “As I could hear her, she looked into me. She... she could see the memory of me telling you my story. She knows who I am, she knows how much Tiger Lily means to me.” She sounded on the verge of tears. “I know she’s going to try to kill her. We have to do something.”

“And we will. I don’t know how we will, but we will.” I nodded as the gears in my head whirred to life, formulating exactly what I’d need to get the job done. “Please tell the others we’ll leave at noon.”

“Thank you, Backlash, but I need to tell you. I can’t go with you.” She looked at the floor, sinking into it slightly. “When the goddess passed through me, she didn’t just take my thoughts. She took part of me back. And now, I can feel the rest of me slipping away slowly, like an hourglass I can’t turn back over.”

“Then we will find a way to stop it.” I have no idea what exactly she was, or how to fix anything like what happened to her.

“Backlash, I’m sorry, but I can’t let her put anypony at risk any longer.” Her voice picked up, the force of her determination filling her words. “I must return to her. I can keep her from terrorizing the wasteland using your mothers song, but I do not know how long I will last.”

I moved to speak, but she raised her hoof to silence me.

“It… is a small way to atone for the pain and suffering I’ve caused as her pawn, but it is all I can offer. Please, tell Tiger that I am sorry for what I did. That I wish I could take it all back.” She gave me a soft smile as sorrow crept through her expression. “Can you do that for me, Backlash?”

I nodded to her, watching as she turned and floated off toward the kitchen, disappearing through the wall. Yet another pony I will never see again. I can’t fail her, not with what she is willing to sacrifice for the wasteland. I need to be ready, so I need to get back to the task at hoof. My first priority is to protect the ponies of Futura, and for that, I have to fix my Pipbuck. “Alright you bastard, let’s make you whole again.”

It took two and a half hours, one of my rusty leg braces, a single vacuum tube, four tubes of wonder glue, half a roll of duct tape, a spool and a half of solder, a few spare spell components, a Y-42 industrial fuse box, the only two Y-42 fuses I’ve ever found in my life, and a tube of epoxy, but I had done it. The torn up Pipbuck was a shadow of it’s former self, the dimly lit screen was now outshone by the vacuum tube sticking out of it, the exposed wiring on the side looped about messily before leading into the blocky fuse box jutting from the cracked casing.

I looked it over, doing my best to ignore the glaring flaws in my hasty repair work. The only thing I hadn’t managed to repair on the thing was the spell matrix controller, but I crafted a work around using the aforementioned fused box. Each fuse slot was spliced directly into a different spell catalogue, though, this meant that with me only having two of the ultra hard to find fuses, I could only access two functions at any given time.

I figured that until I could get used to remembering to change them, the default fuse placement should be S.A.T.S., and inventory management. I figure that a weapon or help with said weapon might be a bit more important than the administrative processes or the radio for when, not if, we ran into trouble. I looked up just as Longbow opened the garage door, striding in proudly wearing her silver power armor, levitating her helmet behind her. She came to a stop as she walked around the back of the Marauder, tossing her mane from her face as she flashed a smile.

For a brief moment, I was back with her at the pool when I felt my heart jump. Even in her power armor, she was the most beautiful I have ever known. Unfortunately, as they do, my thoughts started to drift. No, I will not let Longbow die. Nopony else dies! I smacked myself hard across my muzzle.

“Are you alright?” She asked, quickly trotting over to me and looking me over.

“Yes, just… fighting my own mind.” I sighed. “Just, what if…” I was silenced when Longbow put her hoof to my lips.

“No more what if questions!” She ordered me, standing up straight as if I were some recruit to the Steel Rangers. I nodded and she looked relieved. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Willow says Futura needs our help, so that’s what we are going to do.” I could feel my ear nub twitch as I heard voices in the kitchen, seeming like Carlotta and Sky had returned from their arguments. As I thought this, the door swung open as Sky streaked down, slamming into me and taking me down to the floor with a thud.

“OhCelestiaI’msosorrypleaseforgiveme!” She was nearly unintelligible as she pressed her face into my chest. I grunted as I lifted my head, looking up to Carlotta who had hope filled look in her eyes, giving me a small smirk that told me that there would be no more Dashing for Skyline. Sky looked up to me with teary eyes. “Please don’t hate me.”

“How could I?” I once again tried to give a reassuring smile. “Sis, I love you. Nothing you can do will ever drive me away from you.” I stroked my hoof through her mane softly, holding her close.

“Not to mention, with all the crap you’ve pulled…” Carlotta rolled her eyes as she jested playfully.

“Can it, Carlotta!” I fired back in a sing songy way, sticking my tongue out at her playfully. She sighed and shook her head.

“Really, Backlash? What are you, four?” She grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest while I chuckled. Skyline stepped back from me, looking past the scars and through my pain, seeing me for the pony I truly was. These were my friends, my family, and I wanted nothing more than just to see them happy. Which is what was making what I had to tell them that much harder to do.

“If Brass was family to you, why did you get him killed?”

“I’m sorry for what I’ve put you all through, and I know it’s been tough, but we aren’t done yet.” The weight my mind was putting on me over Brass felt like it was steadily chipping away at the already frail foundations of my mind. I just needed to keep myself together until I could stop the Goddess from murdering everypony at Futura, and get the Steel Rangers to stop Sorbet. “Willow informed me that the Goddess may attack the settlement of Futura soon, and we need to help them.”

“When do we leave?” Skyline and Carlotta spoke up at the same moment, smirking and leaning against each other lovingly. They knew that this was going to be jumping out of the proverbial frying pan, but they didn’t even hesitate.

“Just tell me what you need me to do.” I felt as Longbow put her armored hoof on my shoulder. I gave her a slight frown, watching as her muzzle slowly mirrored mine.

“I need you and ED out there to get to the Manehattan Steel Rangers and tell them about Sorbet. It could take them days to get out to her bunker on hoof.” She wasn’t happy with what I was saying, but I could tell she was holding her tongue in the knowledge that this was too important to argue over. “Once we’ve dealt with Futura, we’ll meet you at her bunker.” I looked up to the kitchen as I heard a rustling from within, seeing Ripcord push his way past Sky and Carlotta.

“Ah, Backlash my good friend! Off on another… dear Celestia, what happened to you!” He stopped as he reached the bottom of the stairway, taking a few moments to look over the various scars and injuries that I’d acquired during his recovery period. “You look positively dreadful!”

“At least you’re still alive, which is more than Brass has.”

“I can assure you Rip, I only feel half as bad as I look.” I caught Carlotta gesturing to make a remark, so I glared as best as I could at her with my injuries. Surprisingly, she stopped as a look of discomfort washed over her.

“Well I have just the thing to help with that eye of yours. Got it way back in the day before I came down from the enclave.” He said with a note of delight in his voice, mercifully oblivious to everything that’s gone on. He twisted about and patted his rump as if not sure if it was real. “Drat. I am terribly sorry, but you must forgive me. It does seem that I have left my bags back at the Red Lantern. No matter, I shall retrieve it for you and return with it shortly!”

“I’m sorry Rip, but the Pool, the Red Lantern, hell the whole mountainside. It’s gone. Blown to smithereens.” After losing Brass, there wasn’t any way I could muster up the feelings I should have had for what Ripcord lost. That was his livelihood, but even so, it wasn’t just the Pool that was gone, it was everypony who worked there, innocent or not. The most important among them though, had been Pallet Jack. I promised to get her to safety, and I had failed. I failed them all.

“Oh, I see. Well, even without my possessions, at the very least I still have my health!” He remarked in a surprisingly genuine, cheery tone. How could he have that level of optimism even though he had just lost his entire livelihood? The gears in my mind turned but failed to find anything to help. “Now it may seem like quite the odd request, but do you know anypony who would be looking to hire somepony like me?”

“You know what, Rip, I want you to work for me.” I spat out without thinking, catching as Skyline looked about as stiff as a statue. A wide grin split his face as he squeed happily. “Although, currently, you need to rest up before you start.” Skyline’s eyelids twitched in agitation. Our business to her was exactly that, OUR business. But Ripcord was our friend, and somepony whose life I was responsible for ruining, so if anypony would be considered to work under us, he was my first choice.

“I… I’m not sure quite what to say past I would be delighted to work for you!” He trotted over to me and held out his hoof. I hoof bumped him and returned the smile with my own.

With that all sorted out, the next hour was spent by everypony getting things ready. Sky was giving Rip her own rendition of a ‘new employee orientation’, while Carlotta was organizing the weapons and ammo we would be bringing with us. Longbow was busy cleaning out and maintaining her power armor, while I tinkered around with the Marauder. I had just finished replacing the dead spark batteries with the last of my supply when Dr. Fits came over to see me.

“You know, there was a point last month when you told me you were done getting into these types of situations. Now it’s almost as if you keep finding excuses to throw yourself into harms way, just to spite me.” He gave half a chuckle as he spoke, the weariness from everything sounding as if it was finally getting to him.

“Sorry, Doc. Safety of the Wasteland and all being on the line kinda overwrites what I said.” I sighed out, checking the seal the capacitor gaskets had with my hoof. There was a clunk beside me as something was set into the engine compartment. I turned my head to look at it, finding a pair of machine pistols in holsters. One of them was a plain matte black, while the other was a dull gray. The one thing they shared in common though, was that both pistols had matching silver engravings along the slides that boldly wrote out N2O.

“The twins were a gift from a very special somepony. They kept me safe when I was a wandering physician before I got the job at Tenpony. They should be more than adequate enough to help keep you alive.” He looked up at the ceiling as he spoke, having to force the words as these guns were something he didn’t want to part with. “Before you say anything, no, you can’t refuse, and yes, I want them back.”

“Thank you.” I pushed myself out of the hoof, turning and throwing my hooves around him as he stiffened up, not ready for a hug. I let go and took the holster in my mouth, turning and placing them into my saddlebag with great care. “They will be given back without a single scratch. I promise.” I leaned back into the hood to continue my work.

“BACKLASH!” Skyline shouted from behind me.

I screamed and jumped from the sudden voice, slamming my head on the raised hood and bracing myself for the worst case of deja vu I’d ever experienced. I relaxed myself as the hood didn’t slam down on my head, instead, it was being held up by Dr. Fitz magical grasp. I pulled my head from the car and took a step back, wincing as he let the hood go and let it slam shut.

“Yes, Skyline?” My irritation from the sudden spook clear as I spun around, only to be met with something heavy being draped over my head. I pulled it off with my hoof, looking down at the heavy fabric of an old, light blue, customized Robronco jumpsuit. “No.” I didn’t care if I came off as a bastard, but there was no way she expected me to wear this. “You know I can’t use this.”

“You can, and you will.” She growled back. “I know you haven’t worn it since you were with Sprocket, but I can’t have you getting shot up out there anymore, and we don’t have anything else that could protect you as well as this.”

I grumbled at that, the gears in my head reminding me of the three reasons I was going to wear it. One, was I knew full well that we in fact didn’t have anything else, because with as heavy as it is, barding was not something I normally traded with. Two, was that the plates that were sewn in here were of some of the best equestrian steel that caps could buy. And Three, was that I truly did not want to get shot anymore.

I slipped the old outfit on with Skyline’s help, having to call over Dr. Fitz when I realized that I had gained enough weight since then that the zipper couldn’t close anymore. After a few moments of using his fabric alteration spell, it gave a satisfying zip and wrapped me snugly in it’s protection.

“Brass could have learned to do that if you didn't take him with you.”

Heavy hoofsteps from the other side of the Marauder announced Longbow as she trot up, stopping to look over me, her cheeks flushing lightly as I gave her a nervous smile.

“You look… handsome in that.” She squeaked out, her cheeks brightening up as I felt mine do the same. Her horn glowed as she levitated something purple over to me, tying it around my head to cover my empty eye socket. “I hope you don’t mind Skyline, but I think that the velvet dress you loaned me isn’t ever going to be worn again after Bishops place. This at least makes use of part of it.” Skyline fluttered and hovered over me, putting a hoof to her chin before nodding.

“You know. I think you’re right.” She canted her head as she smirked, a small bit of hope in her voice. “He hasn’t looked this respectable in years.”

I had barding to protect me, a pair of guns to defend me, my family to support me, the Marauder to carry me, and innocent ponies in need of me. As much as I didn’t want to be, and as much as I wish I had a choice, we were ready to leave. Just this one fight to get through, and I can sit down and start to pay for all of my sins.

Simple as that.

It’s so funny how wrong I can be. Instead of being able to just zoom past ambushes like I had intended the Marauder to do, it turns out that in the narrow Manehatten streets, the only thing the pre-war vehicle managed to do was deliver us to them faster than ever! Knock down a few street lamps when you see me coming, and bam, instant roadblock. They had only managed to get a few potshots off at us though before Skyline and Carlotta outflanked them, so now it was just an all out firefight.

I had myself pressed against the open door for cover as somepony unloaded their submachine gun against it. I had one of the guns Dr. Fitz gave me in my muzzle, while the other lay on the dirt just past the door. For some reason, they were both listed as one item in the Pipbuck, and equipping it had brought both out, dropping the other just out of my reach. I looked across the bench seat over to Longbow, who was standing out in the open and taking her time to pick off attackers while their rounds pinged harmlessly off her cheater armor.

“Brass could have still had his, had you not wrecked it.”

I don’t need this shit right now. I growled and poked my head up over the door and let loose a rapid chatter of 9mm rounds at nopony in particular. Even with a gun, I still wasn’t helping do anything more than hopefully keeping them pinned down. As the mag emptied, I dropped back down behind the door just before the renewed thudding of more submachine gun fire slammed against it. I spit the empty gun onto the floor of the Marauder, trying to think of a way to get to the other one.

Longbow let off one of her anti machine rifle shots, silencing the fire against my door permanently. The reports from Carlotta’s battle saddle down the way we had come, worried me. I guess we weren’t the only ones who thought to outflank, but at least she might be able to stall them long enough that Longbow could use that cheat suit to clear the roadblock.

“Longbow!” I screamed out between her shots, finally grabbing her attention. “Company from behind! Move the block and let’s go!” She bolted forward and towards the metal poles, firing a few more shots from her sniper rifle as she did. I spun and hoofed the other twin pistol back behind the door, being rewarded for my haste when a rifle round struck the dirt where it had been. I chomped down on the bit and climbed into the Marauder, shutting my door behind me as I did my best to squish under the dashboard in order to avoid fire.

I pressed the accelerator down slowly, looking out Longbow’s still open door to judge distance and speed, but I can’t remember how far ahead the block was. Was it twenty five feet? Or thirty? A quick knock on the hood before Longbow strode around the door, made me stop.

“Good to go, put the pedal down and I’ll steer!” Her helmet boomed, winning out over the soft ringing the gunfire had produced. I slammed the pedal down and listened as the tires peeled the dirt off the roadway, screeching as they gripped the old pavement underneath. The engine roared as we took off down the road, the dings and slaps of potshots sounded off the old steel, mercifully stopping after a minute of driving or so. There was a hiss from above me as Longbow removed her helmet.

“Are you alright, Backlash?” She asked as she scooted herself back to the passenger side. I pulled myself up from the floor and dropped the gun from my muzzle.

“Yeah, though I think I need to remember to stay outside the city while driving.” I sat down on the bench seat, looking out through the hole the windshield used to sit in. Well, at least my barding would keep me warmer in the wind than wearing nothing. I really should have thought ahead that the windshield would get shot out or damaged. Maybe I could get Tiger Lily to find me a new one, assuming we all aren’t horribly murdered by the Alicorns when we got there. Calotta and Skyline flared their wings as they flew down to us, gliding alongside my window as we continued down the street.

Longbow leaned forward and clicked on the radio, giving me a smile as she sat back in the seat. I’m glad to see that she had adapted to riding in a car so quickly.

“-the news! Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, I’ll start today’s segment with a recap of the handiwork of the wasteland crusaders. Reports of the monumental explosion that ripped the Pool asunder as still coming in, as it both caused the demise of the Pink Mare, and sadly claimed the life of one of the Crusaders.”

“The price Brass paid for 42’s death was too high.”

“Now, my little ponies, for more current affairs. Even though the scourge of the Pink Mare ended with the pool, there is still trouble in her wake. From Manehatten to Baltimare, reports of gang violence have risen, with infighting breaking out among the groups as they are left without guidance. More troubling is the news that small groups of Steel Rangers have been spotted overrunning areas on, or near old supply bunkers. My advice, is that if you see the iron ponies heading your way, to drop what you have, and get your flanks out of there. Nothing they can take from you is worth your life.”

I hoofed the radio off, sitting back with a sigh.

“Turn left up ahead.” Longbow pointed her hoof toward a twisted sign so covered in graffiti that I swear the weight of the paint was what finally bent it over. I knew this sign well, as it used to be the only real sign pointing towards porthole. I liked to do trade with them, they always dredged up the most interesting things from the river, but that was before an exceptionally violent gang massacred everypony living there. This gang was so hostile, that they used to leave body parts, or entrails as a ward to keep others away from their settlement.

“You sure?” I asked, slowing down to a crawl as we approached the turn. “Nopony has entered there in years, not since the porthole massacre.”

“Why do you think the Rangers haven’t cleaned up the mess?” She smiled and pointed down the long abandoned road. “One of Equestria’s best kept secrets is down that road, so I know that you’ll trust me when I tell you I have to blindfold you from here on out.”

”Hey, that wasn’t the plan!” Carlotta slammed her talons on the doorframe and leaned in. “You were supposed to be dropped off, and we could continue on our merry way to save some innocent ponies.” She had truly amazed me with those words. Just a month ago, she told me that she didn’t care about anything outside her contract, and now, her genuine concern for the safety of innocents filled me with a feeling of hope that I had long forgotten about having.

“Longbow, I refuse to be split up again. Either he doesn’t go, or we all go.” Skyline huffed from beside Carlotta. “Not to mention, you’ve noticed how perceptive Backlash is, do you really think blindfolding him would do any good?”

“Fine, drop your saddles somewhere safe and get in.” She sighed and scooted over towards me, motioning for me to open the door and get out. She was tense and a jittery nervousness flowed through her like nothing I had ever see. Bullets flying all around her? Steadfast and Strong. Going to HQ? As nervous as a filly meeting DJ-Pon3 for the first time. Or, well, as nervous as I had been. She prodded me with her armored hoof as I realized I should probably do as she asked. “Just, relax and let me do the talking.”

Skyline and Carlotta climbed into the back seat, Sky shutting the door behind her with a slam. So much for never riding in the Marauder. She tensed up as we started to turn, pulling off the old main road and onto the decrepit path toward the old shipyards. I gave her a quick smile, trying to tell her I was proud of her, but all she did was glare at me until we bounced through a pair of pot holes, making her cling to Carlotta for dear life.

“Come on, it ain’t so bad, Sky!” Carlotta cooed cooly down at the terrified mare burrowing into her side. “Though, I’m thinking we should do this more often, seeing as I love having you this close.” She wrapped her wing around Sky, giving me a small wink and a smirk. With an old warehouse in front of us, we turned right, now driving down the single lane road that used to have the main gates to porthole. The gates had been torn out or otherwise removed, but the brown-orange stains the rusty fence left on the off white walls of the buildings to either side, remained.

“Bam, freeze, restrain, relax.” Longbow whispered to herself, almost low enough I couldn’t hear her through my fucked up ear. “Bam, freeze, restrain, relax.” She repeated it as she put her helmet back on, doing so as if to ward away some evil spirit nearby. Why was she saying that? We reached the end of the road, now turning left to enter what used to be the town square. Rather unexpectedly, there wasn’t a pony in sight. Crates of Prewar goods sat open and stacked neatly on our left, while there was a makeshift firing range and obstacle course to our right. Before us was a line of old military tents of various sizes, the old canvas flapping in the wind. Longbow drove us another ten feet or so before turning the car off, still chanting softly to herself.

There was a thud on the hood, drawing my attention to a small, black cylinder. All too late did I recognize it for what it was when the Crash-Bang grenade went off, blinding me and turning my hearing into an all too familiar whine. I felt a stabbing pain hit me in the side, dropping me down into the seat before I felt it get tugged out from under me. No wait, I was being drug from the car! As I regained feeling in my extremities, I felt somepony tieing my hooves together with duct tape. The gears in my head spun, putting the event to what Longbow was muttering.

My vision returned before my hearing, revealing the outline of a huge pony holding a stick to my face. The more my sight improved, that assumption changed from huge pony, to power armor, and from a stick, to the barrel of a grenade machine gun. Deja Vu yet again. Maybe one of these days I can be introduced to the rangers without being pulled out of the marauder at gunpoint. To be honest though, I’m kind of mad that I didn’t see this coming. The armored pony standing above me looked up, standing still for a moment before nodding and stripping the tape off my hooves. I was quite confused when he finished and just stood there holding a hoof down to me.

I held my hoof out, feeling as he hooked around it and pulled me up with little effort, giving me a pat on the shoulder and pointing me over towards where Longbow was standing. She smiled to me in a ‘I’m sorry I didn’t give you a heads up, please forgive me.’ kinda way, before turning to greet a unicorn who looked like he was maybe a few years older than me. The strangest thing about him was his extremely ornate power armor. Every single armor I’d ever seen in my life was the exact same flat silver color, but his had all sorts of fancy gold ivy that looked like it was growing over his suit, almost shimmering in the midday light in contrast to the dull palette around him. The ringing in my head dropped off fairly quickly, letting me hear again by the time I had made my way over to them.

“And you say this wastelander can vouch for you?” The stallion spoke in a very authoritative yet arrogant tone, his very words seeming to prop Longbow up at attention. He brushed his curly, light green mane from his face, letting both of his eyes look over to me, cringing slightly as he passed over my injuries. I don’t know why, but I’d seen those amber eyes before somewhere. “And who is this primitive?”

“You listen to the radio, buddy?” I asked, already knowing that this conversation was going to aggravate the shit out of me. He nodded, generally passing off the statement as nothing important. “Good, cause I’m the pony you keep hearing about. You know, the one who took down the Pink Mare?”

“Backlash, I know he’s not very polite, but please don’t go off on him.” Longbow pleaded from behind me. No, we don’t have time to play nice. We were behind schedule as it is, so I took the liberty of ignoring what she just asked.

“You are the Crusader? Hardly believable.” He scoffed, making my blood boil. He looked over to Longbow and shook his head. “I expected more from a paladin of your merit. Detain this primitive and relieve them of their gear.”

“You aren’t Steel Rangers, you are sad excuses for ponies, hiding amongst the ghosts of the old world in an attempt to save yourselves.” I stamped at the ground in anger, listening as the heavy steps of power armored ponies drew close behind me. “You want to know why I can say that? Because I’ve met a real Steel Ranger. To say that he was twice the unicorn you are would be too much of a kindness to you. He died having done more good for Equestria than your fucking Rangers have in the last century.”

“Oh, is that so?” The first tone other than boredom came from the stallion’s muzzle, sounding to me like he enjoyed me chastising him, which was probably due to the fact that being a superior officer, meant nopony dared to do it. “I would love to meet this stallion, what did you say his name was? Provided he IS in fact real, maybe I’ll have him barred from duty for helping a pony like you.” He was so full of himself, I couldn’t be sure how he fit all the hot air inside a body his size. I was going to rip him to shreds.

“Backlash, stop.” Longbow commanded, fury growing in her own voice. “You don’t want to do this!”

“His name was Brass Tacks.” I spat at him, trembling as I was three seconds from trying to rip the smugness from his muzzle with my bare hooves. The mention of Brass’s name flushed the color from his face, his back legs giving out as his expression went blank.

“He… he was alive?” He trembled, overwhelming guilt struck his eyes as he turned away from us slowly. There was a long pause where no pony said a thing, even the light breeze had died down to nothing. He turned his head back as his voice choked back extreme sorrow. “Paladin Longbow, please escort your friend to see the elder down in the dry dock. Tell her that I am sorry for the hold up, and that I shall be there shortly.”

“Yes sir.” Longbow’s response was hesitant, her voice carrying great concern for him as she prodded my side roughly. “Come on, lets go.”

I followed her across the open yard, heading toward a squat looking building maybe the size of a shack, with no more than just enough room to hold two ponies. As we approached, the door swung open on it’s own, a mechanical arm pushing it to reveal a brightly lit staircase leading down. The door started to swing shut as I took a step inside, rushing me through before it closed and sealed with a hiss. Longbow stopped and looked over her shoulder at me, the anger in her eyes fading.

“Backlash, I’m sorry I yelled at you, and I realize that you had no idea, but Maple Syrup was Brass’s father.” Her words felt like they punched a hole in my chest and wrapped around my heart. “He and Paper Clip never got the consent to marry. He thought he was untouchable being the elder’s son, but when they discovered Paper Clip was two months pregnant, the elder signed the transfer orders himself. He’s been stationed in Filly ever since. Everypony was to keep his identity from Brass until he was older, to keep the other foals from treating him differently.”

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t know…” I can’t do anything anymore without destroying somepony’s life. He had probably already buried Brass when he failed to return from the M.o.M., but I had just destroyed his life all over again.

“I know. Just, these aren’t normal wasteland ponies here. When you live on a Steel Ranger base, everypony is family. The loss of a Ranger is felt by all, but it’s harder for those in command. You weren't the only one hurt when....” Longbow choked up for a second, turned herself to face me, looking up to me with a painful, pleading look. “Please promise me that while we’re here, you’ll listen to my advice. I know things aren’t going as planned, but if you want the Ranger’s help in stopping Sorbet, then we need to do this my way.”

Brass deserved to know his father, but you stole that from him.

I nodded. We both took a minute to compose ourselves, trying to push the pain we felt to the back of my mind. I followed her down, thinking to myself. After a few flights, I could feel warm air rushing up from below us, the sounds of metalwork and heavy machinery echoed up as well. We reached the bottom of the eighth flight, stopping in front of a set of heavy double doors. The air that whistled through the gap under it carried with it the smells of melting metal and putrid oils. I tried to put my hoof out to push it open when Longbow put her own hoof out and stopped me.

“What you are about to see is the closest guarded secret that the Manehatten rangers have. What you see in here does not get mentioned outside of this base, got that?” She prodded my chest again for emphasis. “Not to mention, my mother is in charge of her, so don’t think it wouldn’t hurt me if you did say something.” She didn’t even wait for me to respond before pushing open the set of doors.

The room beyond was massive, towering nearly sixty feet up, as well as stretching nearly a thousand feet long. The centerpiece of the cavern was an enormous, sleek black tube sitting on struts, it’s shape was that of a cigar, and only something I had seen once before in a single photo from before the war. Bright white letters were emblazoned across a monolith that jutted from the middle of the object, giving it a name.

There were a myriad of ponies busily working along the outside of the craft, some scraping barnacles and other sea junk off of it, while others were welding and hammering out the dents and divots that lined the hull.

“Yup, she was the first submarine of her kind. Powered by one of the first generation of spark reactors ever developed, the Nautilus could cruise below the waves for more than four months at a time back in her prime.” Longbow trot toward the ship, her voice trailing off as in my awe, I had forgotten to leave the stairwell. I hurriedly cantered over to her as to not miss anything else about the incredible machine.

“Normally crewed by a hundred, we had managed to retrofit her with several spell matrix circuits, allowing us to require only a crew of thirty five. The rangers found her sitting here fifty or so years ago, wrapped up and sealed. The records stated that she was obsolete and was to be decommissioned, but it looks like the world ended before they could do it.” She was masking the sorry she was feeling by hiding behind this facade of enthusiasm, the words sounding more like a lecture she had been taught and was just idly repeating for the sake of repeating it.

“Their mistake was our gain. She’s served me well the last two years.” The voice of an older mare yelled out from above us. A small crane was lowering a basket from the rafters, dropping the fancily dressed mare next to us. She had a light blue coat, with a ghostly white mane. Crows feet adorned the corners of her lavender eyes, when with the combination of the navy formal wear she wore, gave her the look of a seasoned admiral from the old days. “It’s good to see you again, Longbow. I had no idea you were in the area. Did you have business to attend to, or just want to stop by and spend some time with your dear, old mother?”

Longbow looked at me with apprehension in her eyes. “Business, Mom. We have to talk about Lemon.”

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Kkat for thinking up this amazing world for others to use. To the big three: Somber, Mimezinga, and No_One for their epic journeys! To Stonershy, for keeping me invested in the bad guys. To John Colt, for helping push me along when I needed it. Thanks to Hetnu, for not giving up on the sisters I adore so much. Thanks to Xjuan, for constantly surprising me with how resourceful and hard working this community can be. Thank you to Vocal, for believing in yourself, and carrying on no matter the challenge. To Tinker, and Bad Pun for their inspiration and support in the writing of this fic (and an apology to Tinker for killing his favorite character). And thanks to Sawyer, who keeps me light on my feet, making me keep watch for rouge ideas that may come out of nowhere and smack me in the face.

Shout out to Regolit, Deathpony, and Retl for their feedback! I really do love to hear what you all think!

And lastly, thank you. Without you, the story might as well not exist. Thanks for sticking with it, it means the world to me.