The sun set shortly after we ate, and the raging storm far overhead dropped the temperature fast. We all huddled up inside the remains of the service station and hooked up pairs of old toasters to spark batteries to keep warm. There was no way we could continue tonight to Red Wing, and 42 wasn’t expecting us until tomorrow at the earliest anyway, so we had to sit and bide our time. Longbow slept as much as she could in the night, but, I didn’t want to, I planned to use the night to enjoy holding her.

For some reason, the others had given Longbow and I the privilege of staying in the bathroom, and our own toaster to keep warm with. It wasn’t a large room, and it wasn’t comfortable, but it was separate. I'm sure they wanted us to sleep well in there, but Twain kept suggesting that we use it for something else entirely.

Though the thought had crossed my mind, I had a far different idea of how to spend the time. They say that an hour with a pretty mare seems like a minute, and that a minute with your hoof on a hot stove feels like an hour. I took this to its logical extreme with an idea that wasn’t my brightest moment but seemed to work. As I sat with Longbow in my hooves, every time my thoughts would begin to drift, I would forget to hold my rear leg up and it would slowly lower and touch the side of the heated toaster. I flinched every time it happened, and I quickly lifted my leg to refocus myself on the mare I loved.

Her mane wafted slowly across her muzzle as she slept, and she made the most adorable squeaks every time I adjusted my hooves around her. Why did I have to find a mare like her at this point in my life? She deserved more from me than I could give, but even if I were a king, it would still be true. I shut my eyes and ignored the world around this room for a moment, imagining how maybe one day soon we could go back to friendship city and use their chapel. Another day, maybe we’d be back at Tenpony for Dr. Fitz to give us the news on whether we’ll have a colt or a filly. Maybe even another day I’d get to hold my wife as we watch our young one take their first steps, or say their first words. When that day comes, I want…

“Bacon… yum.” Longbow muttered in her sleep, ripping me from my daydream as she licked her lips. The strong smell of burning flesh was coupled with pain in my rear leg as I yanked it away from the heat and sat myself up quickly. I whined softly; the coat on my leg now looked as black as the left half of my body.

Longbow stirred awake and looked at me groggily. “You alright Backlash?”

I smiled and flopped back down as quickly as I could, not wanting to worry her. “Perfectly fine, how did you sleep?” She let out a groan and turned herself over, pressing herself back against me. The back of my leg ebbed in pain, but it did help to slow down time, it helped me enjoy every second I had with her. “Go back to bed hun, we’ve still got some time to rest.” I glance at the clock in my vision, doing a double take as it read that it was now 6 AM. Had I really already spent all night just enjoying her company?

She sat back up and looked over at me, frowning after a moment. “Dear, you look exhausted. Was it nightmares again?” She rubbed at her eyes and let out a soft yawn. “Go back to sleep. The others will get us when they’re ready.” She lay back down and stretched her hooves out, nudging herself softly into me until I layed down with her. She was my one weakness, and I just couldn’t push myself to tell her no anymore. I want to stay with her forever. As I let out a yawn and wiggled myself close to her, it felt like maybe I’d get lucky enough that it would stay that way. I closed my eye and nuzzled into her neck, thinking that in just another minute, I’d pick my leg up and I’d start my process all over again.

A heavy knocking at the door startled me, and my eye shot wide open. I had fallen asleep at some point, but as I stretched, my rear leg reminded me that I probably shouldn’t ever fall asleep next to scalding metal again.

“Backlash, Longbow. Get out here NOW.” Carlotta was angry this morning and I had no idea why. I let out a deep yawn as Longbow pulled her head up from the floor, chewing on a few stands of her mane as they sat in her muzzle. My gaze drifted to the clock in my pipbuck vision and I noticed that it was…

“NOON? The fuck!” I jumped to my hooves and immediately regret the decision as the crispy section of my rear leg reminded me that this had indeed been one of my dumber ideas. Longbow jumped to her hooves as well, her magic twisting the deadbolt open and pulling the door out of our way. Carlotta moved aside as we poured out to find an empty room, not a single pony of the Resistance was here. “Where the fuck did they go!? Where’s Sky?”

“Sky sent the others ahead so you two lovebirds could get your beauty sleep. We’ll meet up with them just outside Red Wing and walk from there. That way the car is close by if we need it at some point, so I guess that makes up for having to walk the rest of the way through the snow.” Carlotta crossed her talons angrily. That was a relief, they hadn’t abandoned us, but it still didn’t leave us much leeway time to get there before the deadline if the Marauder went as slow as it did yesterday. It also didn’t explain where Skyline had run off to. “Sky and that asshole you hired are outside keeping Longbow’s unappreciative friends away.”

I blinked as I wasn’t sure what she meant.

“What… friends?” Longbow pushed her mane from her face and tweaked her ears to listen for anything. Before the gears in my head could even spin up, Longbow figured it out and charged the front door her magic nearly tearing it from it’s rusted hinges. Instinctively, my hooves carried me forward after her, and once outside, I could see three bright familiar faces in shining silver armor. Fruit Cup, Frosted Cakes, and Maple stood out next to the near dead bonfire, the three of them smiling at us brightly as Sky and Twain kept their guns on them.

Well, I should correct that it was three smiles until Longbow hit Maple. She clobbered him across the muzzle with a fantastic left hook that sent him sprawling to the snow. Fruit Cup quickly jumped over and pulled Longbow back, while Frosty helped Maple get to his hooves.

Maple rubbed his chin with a look of acceptance in his eyes. “I probably deserved that, seeing as you were right about Strudel.”

“Your deserved that before I was right about her. You want to see what I think you deserve for after?” She struggled against Fruit Cup’s hold and calmed herself when I came up and put a hoof on her shoulder. “The hell are you doing here Maple?”

“I meant what I said, you were right.” He let out a sigh, the idea of explaining why he was wrong about something sounded like it baffled him, but there was honesty in his words. “She put the base in lockdown and kept us confined to quarters, refusing to let us serve as defenders where we could do the most good. That’s when I knew you were right, so a plan was formulated and then I broke out with Fruit and Frosty.”

“Getting your whole squad court martialed because you suddenly want to play the hero? How the fuck did you even get out of a condition one lockdown?” Longbow finally shook Fruit Cup’s hold, the stallion who she had once called her best friend shyly took his place next to Maple and kept his gaze to the snow.

“Your mother is the answer to both of those.” He smirked and ran his hoof through his mane. “She kicked some well deserved sense into me during debriefing, and overrode the lockdown when she caught us trying to escape.”

“My mother!?” Longbow trembled with rage as I could see herself tense every muscle in an attempt not to murder him. “You moron! They’ll hang her for treason!” She snapped, but I acted just a half second faster and wrapped my forehooves around her to pull her close. She grunted and flailed her legs at Maple again, giving up faster this time.

Maple looked at his hoof boredly again, letting the arrogant side of himself show. “You forget I worked for the mare. The Elder can’t touch her as only she knows the other half of the codes needed to make the Nautilus's weapon systems work. The worst they will do is put her under house arrest until they see how all of this ends up.” I had to wonder, if he changed at all, or just wanted a chance to flaunt how ‘heroic’ he could be to us. “Sure, blame me, but first ask yourself this, what protection does Fruit Cup have? What do you think the punishment will be for him?”

“That’s on your head, asshole! You started this shit.” Longbow growled at him, tensing her legs to swing again before Fruit Cup stepped up to her.

“It was my plan, Longbow.” His words were soft, and I could tell how much he cared for her when he said it. “After you were transfered, it felt like there was a giant hole in my life. We had always been best friends, and then you were just gone. When you came back, I was happy to have you back in my life. I just couldn’t stand losing you again, so I had to break out. Maple asked if he could come along, knowing full well we’d all be labeled as deserters and hung. He gave up everything, just to help me see you again.”

“But… you didn’t have to do this for me.” Longbow sat as I released my grasp and took a step back. She was running everything through her head, trying to make sense if it all when something must have clicked into place. She dove forward and wrapped her hooves around Fruit Cup, who simply just pat her on the back and smiled. Longbow gave him a small kiss on the cheek and spoke softly. “Just… thank you for being here for me.”

“Well, I hate to break this up, but we’re going to be late if we don’t get going.” Carlotta’s annoyed voice chimed in as she trudged through the snow past us. “But hey, at least the dead weight we just added might give us a bit more traction!”

“Has anypony ever told you how lovely you are Carlotta?” Maple smiled and gave a quick glance to Frosted Cakes, giving her a small nod of approval which sent her rifling through her saddlebag. “Oh, and while we’re at it, do we have a plan, or are we just going in guns blazing?” Frosty ended up just turning the saddlebag over and dumping out the contents, which amounted to a very familiar set of power armor.

The four hours of driving was uneventful, but overall not unpleasant even with the cold around us. The inside of the Marauder was a much warmer atmosphere to boot as we passed the time exchanging stories of hilarious exploits and recalled embarrassing moments of the ones we loved. The best part of it all, was that Longbow was by my side for it. She looked more relaxed now that she was in her armor again, even if it didn’t mean she had been accepted back to her own family. She was part of ours, and if it was still something that brought a smile to her muzzle, it made me smile. Skyline was leaning up against Carlotta, who mostly stayed quiet, but I could tell that she loved to listen to the stories that I told about Sky. By the way the plumage around her eyes would brighten, she hadn’t heard some of the more embarrassing ones.

“Oh, Backlash! I know that we already modded the Marauder for you once, but Fruit and I had this idea for another upgrade.” She hooked her legs around the front seat and pulled herself closer from the back. “Get this... hover conversion.”

That was… different. “A what conversion?”

Fruit Cup leaned his head forward with a proud grin. “Well, you see, if we could get the levitation talismans of a skycar to work at the spark voltage of the marauder's engine, while also increasing their output to draw ratio, in theory you could make it hover over most obstacles. No more worrying about mud, crater filled roads, or unfriendly folk getting in the way! You could just skim over it all without losing speed.”

“And you really think that would work?” I scrunched up my muzzle as an odd thought hit me. Skyline might be alright with riding in it then, she always said she’d rather have a skycar! The excited nod I got from Fruit Cup forced a smile across my face. “Well as long as you can convert the car back if needed, I’d be fine with giving it a shot.”

“Fruit, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Longbow scooted herself around and looked at Fruit Cup’s leg. “How’s that prosthetic working out for you?”

“Oh it’s amazing!” He torqued his leg and the power armor hissed, sliding away in Longbow’s magic to reveal a skeletal robotic limb. Though I wanted to look at it in greater detail, I had to look away to make sure we weren't careening towards a tree, and in that time, Longbow reattached the armored hoof and I missed my chance. “Took a few hours to get used to, but the suspension on it makes it as smooth as silk. The torque buffers are amazingly quiet for their size, and quite efficient to boot! It’s got tons of room for upgrades and little tweaks I can do...”

“Fruit…” Frosty’s voice came across as annoyed. “Love, you’re boring them.”

“Wait, you two?” Longbow let out a gasp and put her hooves over her muzzle, covering the bright smile she wore. “Fruit, why didn’t you tell me!”

He blushed. “I’d hoped it was obvious that we’ve been together for months. I mean, we’re two of a kind.” He put his hoof around Frosty and pulled her closer. “Though, Maple isn’t quite sure if it’s a good idea. Says in might get in the way of unit cohesion.” He scoffed at that notion. “Eh, buck him. I love her.”

Twain pushed the two love birds apart and pointed toward a small opening in the snow covered rocks ahead. “That’s where we’re supposed to meet. Pull over.”

I turned us toward the small cave entrance, pulling up beside it and shutting the car off as I looked into it. After a minute with no movement, Railspike peeked his head out with a smile.

“Oh hey, the others were starting to think you slept in.” He nervously waved to Fruit Cup and Frosted Cakes. “Guess you were waiting for more friends?”

“Yeah, they’re buddies of mine.” I grunted and pulled myself out of the Marauder, actually making it out of the car without slipping on the windowsill this time. The gears in my head kicked up, as I glanced at the rusty shotgun Railspike had on his saddle and remembered that we’re going to be in the thick of it soon. Before I could forget, I lifted my pipbuck and bit down on the fuses, swapping them out so I could use both S.A.T.S. and the inventory functions. As I did, Railspike trotted out of the cave entrance and stood next to me. “Your group ready?” He looked back and waited for a moment, gazing into the darkness before turning back and nodding. “Double check all your gear, because we only get to try this once, if at all.”

We went through the bags of supplies we brought, taking what we could use from the ammo sack first. Next, for the weapons, Carlotta found an old, high caliber service rifle to attach to her saddle before distributing the remaining guns to the Resistance fighters who needed them. Since there was little time for cooking, the food that could be eaten without preparation was spread around, which meant that my box of Fancy buck cakes was expended fairly quickly.

All in all, we still had some troubling news. All the .308 rounds were split between Carlotta and Longbow, leaving both of them with not nearly enough to be comfortable, and there weren’t any Gauss rounds to be found. The few Sky had and the two in Longbow’s pistol were all we had, and we were going to need to make those shots count. Add to this we still didn’t have any medical supplies to our name past the Dash in my bags, but we were as ready as we were ever going to get.

In the few minutes it took for us to get moving, the sun started to set and the sky was darkening quickly. We left the Marauder behind and told Maple to hang back until the fighting started. Once it had, they would join and make their way to us to help clear the ponies we encountered. With all of this sorted, we walked across the snowy hills for another few minutes until the thick smell of burning wood filled my nose. I pushed myself to crest the largest of the hills before us, and from the top I could see a ruined Red Wing sitting before me.

The open field of battle that lead up to the gate was strewn with all manor of frozen corpses. Hundreds lay about just this side of the city, each pony growing more twisted and mutilated the closer to the wall you looked. Almost all of the mountain city was burnt or is still actively burning to the ground, and even from this far, I can see the bodies of both sides lining the frozen streets. There wasn’t a single part of the town that looked like it had been spared from the fighting, and I had a growing pit in my stomach from the thought that nopony could have lived through such a violent assault.

A loud bell rang from inside the town as we made our way down the hill. The scampering shapes of 42’s minions criss crossed the streets as we started across the short plain that lead to Red Wing’s tattered and charred gateway. Numerous unsavory characters kept their weapons trained at the five of us as we walked closer, holding their actions as we passed straight through the gate which, in my mind, served as the point of no return. An enormous, hooded Stallion statue with and extra large Pinkie mask stood in our way as we entered.

It moved. The head of the giant pony turned and looked in our direction, making me lock up as fear gripped me. “You. State your name.” The powerful, deep voice of a mare emanated from behind the mask. This mare was bigger than anypony I could even imagine. Though Harmony was impressive for a mare, this was just unthinkably large, towering around ten feet or so from hoof to head. She had to be the product of some wasteland accident, or at the very least some sort of killing joke. “I said, state. your. name.”

“Backlash.” I wasn’t sure if I did a good enough job in hiding the fact that I was just a tiny bit intimidated by her size, but when a ponies hoof is the size of your torso, I don’t think anypony would blame me.

“Not you.” She raised her enormous hoof and pointed it behind me. ”You, the Pinkie in front. Name.”

I looked back to see she was pointing at Railspike. Shit, how the hell could anypony recognize each other in these outfits? They all looked the same to me! Quick Backlash, think fast, force those gears to turn! I concentrated as hard as I could, and the wheels spat out something inspired by Myron of all ponies. That pipsqueak had been a thorn in my side, but maybe now he could save our flanks. It didn’t matter how big the pony around was, he always talked the same way.

“Hey, cunt. Are you deaf? I said my name is Backlash.” She snorted and stomped as she turned herself toward me, taking a single step forward and somehow managing to seem even bigger. I gave a nervous swallow and straightened my stance out. ”I’m here for 42. You know, that bitch who runs this place? She’s expecting me, so turn your sweet little flank around, and go tell her I’m here.”

“No need for dat.” The smooth voice of a stallion came from behind her, his voice oddly similar to one I’ve hated before. “Go on Linebreaker. Ya break ended ten minutes ago, get back ta watchin the west wall.” The enormous mare grunted and lumbered off, leaving me staring at the half charred form of a familiar pink coated stallion who’s one brown eye was opposite the one I was missing. “Wait, you assholes again? You’re who da boss is lookin for?” He smiled and I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what I looked like whenever I did. “Wowee. First, ya kill Bishop, den ya blow up tha pool and nearly yours truly. Now I get ta be the one ta turn ya in? Finally some fuckin justice in my life.”

I looked around, keeping my gaze anywhere but on his annoyingly contrasted face. Something inside me tugged at my anger when I looked at him, but I couldn’t afford to blow it now. I picked up on a surprising notion as I looked about. There were few raiders in my sight, only fifteen or so from where I stood, though there might be double that spread about elsewhere. Now all the bodies made sense as it looks like the towns ponies gave them hell defending the place. I bet Railspike waited just long enough, he could get the jump on them and sweep them clean with ease. All we needed to do was to free the towns ponies first.

The pink stallion hit his hoof on the snow in excitement. “Oh yea! The boss wanted me ta give ya somethin.” He put his hoof in his muzzle and whistled, waiting expectantly while a hooded pony was brought out from the general store. “She knew ya would love this surprise.”

I rolled my eyes and looked at the cloaked pony, immediately identifying him. “Hey, Gale. You alright?” Honestly, the least they could have done was cover up his cutie mark if it was going to be a ‘surprise’. Though I’m glad they didn’t have the forethought, because as long as Gale was alright, there was hope for the others to be as well. “Not much of a surprise when you only covered his head.” The stallion only snickered at my response.

They removed the hood, revealing an almost alien looking stubble laden stallion who squinted in the evening light. The most distressing addition to him wasn’t the dozen or so cuts and bruises on his face, but the blinking explosive collar secured far too tightly around his neck. The open wound that ran around the edge smelled terribly and looked almost green. I started to wonder how long had they kept it secured to him like that. He looked so bad it was almost as if they hadn’t given him any food or drink at all in the last few days.

His eyes locked onto me and he spread his cracked lips into a smile. “They're hidden in plain sight, just like you were! I got them out and stayed behind so Pariah…” He was cut off when a sharp crack filled the air and the ones closest to Gale were splattered with bits of blood and bone. His decapitated body dropped to the ground and the flame I held inside specifically for my hatred of 42 flared brighter than it ever had.

“Surprise!” The pink stallion declared, smiling brightly as he leaned closer to me. The gears in my mind locked as something primal inside snapped, and I tensed up to que S.A.T.S. feeling nothing but the urge to end his life. I thought about beating his skull in as much as possible and executed the spell, thinking I wanted to leave his corps as mutilated as Gale was. Time crawled forward in the way that S.A.T.S. does while my hoof swung across the air, catching his smiling face off guard and crumpling the teeth on that side in. As his head turned I threw every ounce of hate through the spell and into my strike as I could, focusing on the idea that I was going to spin his stupid smiling face right off his shoulders.

And I did.

I watched in fascinated horror as his head continued spinning, even after my hoof disconnected from it, and the skin around his neck warped and tore. Each muscle along it snapped in sequence as it torqued, and finally with a quick jiggle along the rest of his flesh, his spine gave way, so that it separated from his body. In the back of my mind, I could hear 42 laughing at him and calling out for me to kill more. With the target deceased, the spell ended and I was thrust into normal time again.

There was a moment when all was quiet, and even the raiders held their breath. The twisted and broken face of the annoying pink stallion lay on the dirt as his body slumped over at my hooves.

One of the raiders started to load his sniper rifle and yelled out. “That guy just killed Lucky!”

A pinprick eyed unicorn from the general store ran out, levitating a makeshift spear. “Fuck, he owed me money! Yer fuckin dead!” In a moment, the raider was forever silenced as one of Railspike’s ponies opened fire, and all hell broke lose. 42’s ponies came out of the burning woodwork and the allies I had brought spread out, firing in all directions as I struggled to pull out heartstopper. If only I hadn’t lost my temper, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation!

I finally found the box shaped shotgun and drew it out, quickly hoofing it into my muzzle as a screaming raider galloped towards me. In an instant, half his head was missing and his body tumbled through the snow as my ear rang with Railspike’s shotgun blast. I smiled up to him before he bolted off to find another target. Likewise, I pressed forward, needing to climb the hill to find the hostages. Gale said that they were hidden in plain sight, and I think that meant it was the hilltop shack where Pariah had kept Brass and I.

“Come on you son’s of bitches!” I could tell Twain was enjoying this a bit too much as he slowly made his way forward with me. Sky’s shadow passed overhead as she swooped in and let off one carefully placed shot at a time, turning each of the ponies in my way to giblets as I walked forward. The sharp, deliberate reports of both Carlotta and Longbow’s rifles trailed along with me amidst the chaos as we gathered again and traveled in a group up the street.

From the west side of town, there was a roar unlike any wasteland monstrosity that I’d ever heard. Our luck had just turned sour as the giant mare barreled towards us, just barely glancing a house with her body and splintering the wood with a sharp crack. The gears in my head spun to figure out how to bring her down quickly, but I was interrupted when Twain stepped up in front of me.

“Oh I love the fights you bring me to.” Twain laughed as the giant mare stopped and stared us down. “You all keep going, I’ve got a date tonight with one hell of a mare!” I didn’t care for the timing of his humor, but if he could keep that thing away from us, he could spout horrid one liners all day. He reached back to the special feed system on his back and hoofed a switch on it to connect all four of his ammo boxes to the feed chute. “Yo, She Bitch! Let’s go.” He let off a few shots at her, dotting her with small red holes that only made the mare howl in anger. He bolted off to the right, heading into one of the half burnt housed as the raging mare charged off toward backside of it.

A large blast rocked the wall behind us, and the excited shouting from her amplified voice gave away that at least Frosted Cakes had joined the fight. “Yeah that’s right, it’s boom time now, you...!” Her voice was overwritten by the hum of Fruit Cup’s two miniguns going off, spraying down the line of guards who had been managing to defend the wall. Free to continue, we turned around the first bend in the road, climbing the snow covered street as the battle below raged on. The few members of 42’s gang that poked their heads out, made sure to duck back out of sight before we could get a shot lined up.

The sharp feedback of a PA system filled the air and everyone groaned.

“Wow, Backlash, just… wow. Here I was, watching you on the closed circuit as he antagonized you, and BAM! You knocked his head clean off.” 42 clapped her hooves slowly, laughing to herself from her comfy position in what I figured to be the orchard. “That was some top tier execution of Pie family impossibility! Really learned how to channel that family line right through your hooves. You know what, I’m proud of you.” She sniffled with feigned joy. “The ones we teach always grow up so fast!”

I pressed on with the others and tried not to listen to what she was saying, but found myself hanging on her every word. My hatred for her was so strong already but I couldn’t pass up a chance to let her words fuel it even more. “So yeah, as you might have heard, I kinda lost your first gift when that stallion let them all escape. Sorry about that. Had this whole plan to scar you for life with their remains again, but honestly, I’m glad it didn’t work out. The joke was getting old anyway.”

A stallion burst out of one of the burning houses to my right, smashing into me and dragging me to the dirt. 42 continued to talk as I wrestled with him, finding myself in a losing battle as he flicked a butchers knife at me from his muzzle.

“You like the storm outside? I thought it was a pretty nifty idea, and I have no idea why they wouldn’t have kept up such an awesome project! I mean, yeah the shield spells they went with were ultimately easier to implement, but a windigo augmented shield projection spell? Doesn’t get much more awesome then that! Even though I’m pretty sure the enchantment will break soon, it wins hooves down just by the... COOL factor! Get it!? Yeah, fuck you too, Backlash. You’re probably too busy fighting for your life to even listen to your crazy great aunt anymore.”

I was doing my best keep my head and neck away from the jagged blade as we rolled through the snow. I torqued myself wrong and the stronger stallion pinned me down, standing on me and arching his neck to strike just before Carlotta shot a pair of rounds right through it. He stiffened and dropped to the side of me, twitching as I picked myself up. There was a crack like thunder that erupted from higher on the mountain, and the storm clouds above gradually started to slow down.

“Well look at that, enchantment dead. You know, that’s probably why they didn’t use it after all. Oh well!” Was she going to talk the entire walk up, or was it just her plan to get me so angry I would just blindly charge at her? If so, it was working.

“I almost forgot, it’s monologue time!” 42 cleared her throat and paused for a moment. “Look around you Backlash! This is the wasteland of your design, filled with pain and suffering, so… perfect! The drums of my empire are on the horizon, can’t you hear them? With my leadership, the strong in the wastes will be cleansed and a new era, my era, will be written in Equine history! One in which the weak will serve to make their goddess on earth pleased, sacrificing all they are in my name.”

Saying it was one thing, but I knew that as comic bookish as it sounded, she could do it if she wanted. I picked up the pace with her every word, the rage inside me boiling and spreading through my body. There was a click that could be heard over the PA system, and the muffled sounds of a patriotic marching band was being transmitted behind 42’s voice.

“Those who follow willingly will be the rewarded, and those who fight will be heralded as heroes for their valiant and misguided efforts. You are the first of these, Backlash! I shall construct entire monuments to your failure, and everypony will know the name of my greatest vanquished enemy. You will be my impossible standard, the pony to which no other could compare. You will be the face they will look to when they need someone to blame for the dark and terrifying reality I will force upon them in the coming days.”

I’d picked up speed trotting as I reached the second turn, not deterred by the increase in the incline, or the fact that there were three red blips on my compass waiting for me up ahead. The music stopped with another click and 42 came back over the system with a sigh. I had pushed my gait to a canter, surprising the first of her minions to emerge. He’d stepped out too far and I threw my shoulder into him, sending him to the ground as the rage inside me finally found an outlet. I reared up and focused all my weight onto my forehooves when I brought them down. The sickening snap of his skull pushed the rest of the world farther away.

“By the way Backlash, you should thank your steel ranger friends for the door knocker. It was really super kind of them to convert it to alcohol and leave it here when they fled. Maybe I’ll use it to knock at the front of Tenpony next. Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

My friends were calling out for me as the other two ponies showed themselves. A pair of earth ponies with power hooves stood between me and 42, it was that simple. I charged at them, watching their hooves as I got closer. My tail felt like it had caught on something, and I instinctively I ducked low, avoiding the high swing the first pony gave. I used my momentum to slam into him, skidding to a stop as he tumbled away. Without hesitation, I aimed and kicked out my rear hooves, connecting with the second pony’s side and casuing several of his ribs to snap. I enjoyed the feeling resonating through my legs.

With the threats taken care of for now and the rest of the world seeming fuzzy and unimportant, I burst immediately into a gallop. Intentional or not, I wasn’t going to slow down now, I wasn’t going to slow down until I tore 42 to pieces with my bare hooves. I flew up the hill, the blood in my veins boiling over as I zipped past Pariah’s cabin, pointing myself up the rocky path towards the orchard door. I knew my friends were shouting to me, but I couldn’t hear them anymore. One thought was overpowering everything else, and nothing was going to stop me now.

The Orchard’s cave entrance had been blasted open and large boulders lay strewn about the hillside. I was so close to vengeance, so close to ending this that my very soul ebbed with anticipation.

I hopped over the lip of the cave and dashed forward again, only to feel something grab my hoof and pull me to the ground, hard. I blacked out for half a second as I tumbled and rolled across the ground, coming to a rest facing the exit as my whole body took a moment to reorient itself before telling me how much that hurt. A quick snap and a spark from the entrance caught my attention,pulling it to a heap of grey metal scraps. The gears in my head worked to rebuild whatever lay before me, quickly reconstructing the towering form of a robot. One that I knew.

“P.I.N.K., B.I.T., are you alive?” I groaned out, shaking my head as I got to my hooves. The anger I felt was drifting away, becoming unimportant as I looked at what remained of the prewar marvel. The frantic sound of my friends filled my ears as they climbed the rock after me, quickly catching up and falling silent as I just stared and waited for a response.

“Hey Chief… nice to see you.” The sad sounding voice of P.I.N.K. came over a speaker that was buried in the pile, the light that normally sat under the main hull flickered on to a dim pink. “B.I.T.’s here as well, though she’s feeling a bit under the weather. How goes the good fight?”

“It… it’s almost done.” I stammered, not wanting to waste any more of the time they might have left for me to help them. “Tell me how to fix you.” I refused to lose any friends today. The ones who’d already been taken were toll enough to end 42.

“Sorry Chief. One of their shots got the repair talisman and we’re bleeding power fairly quickly. We only have a few minutes left.” She sounded oddly at peace with dying, but I couldn’t stand to see it. “It’s alright, we’ve had long lives.”

“Take mine.” Longbow quickly walked up, her horn glowing and removing her flank plate. “After today, I won’t need this armor, but you can still use my talisman to do good for others.” She levitated the old, tarnished talisman from her armor, spinning it in front of her muzzle. “It belonged to somepony I respected very much, so you need to respect it the same way, alright?” Giving it up hurt her almost as much as when I gave it to her, but I think she saw it as a way to finally move on from Lemon.

“We will. Thank you Paladin Longbow.” A plate on Ed’s leg slid out of place, and the shattered pieces of the previous gem were pushed forward out of the socket to make way for the new one. Longbow gently set Lemons talisman in the receptacle, and watched as it slowly was brought into place. Almost immediately, the sparking wires in the pile glowed with a faint aura and snaked back together, closing the severed connections between each of the piles as ED started to rebuild itself. “Energy levels stabilizing, generator output increasing, estimated reconstruction time is twenty two minutes and twenty eight seconds…. forty seconds… wait a minute, how is it going up!? Sorry Chief, but it looks like we’re going to miss the party on account of an annoyingly slow OS.”

Longbow chuckled at that. “Don’t worry. I’m just glad you are alright.” Her magic connected her armor together again, sealing it with a whine as she added her helmet. “If you two girls would like to excuse us, we have a mare to kill.”

“Oh quickly, Backlash, I wanted to tell you. Another one of our sisters is in this Orchard, if you can, just tell her that we’re still alive.” One of the piles fell over and slowly began untwisting itself.

“Wait, how many different kinds of facilities have one of you gals in it?” I scratched at my mane as I thought about it. Could there really be that many? I’ve scoured plenty of old military bases and warehouses without seeing anything more advanced than a protect-a-pony.

“They only made us with the purpose to oversee an Orchard, silly! And there were only seven orchards built across Equestria, so you’re lucky to have visited even three of them!” She stated in a joyful, matter-o-fact way. But I still had to question what the three were. There was the East orchard under Filly, and there was Orchard 7 in Red Wing. “B.I.T. was in charge of Dangerous Artifact Storage, and I maintained the M.o.M. central armory and the whole of the Pony of Interest preservation bank, home to only one occupant despite the misleading name.”

So, the bunker I found you in was an Orchard!?” I sat down as I tried to process it. “But… there was no giant door.”

“It’s at the bottom, Duh.” P.I.N.K. replied with a note of playful haughtiness. Great, just what I needed today was to be sassed at by a ten foot robot.

It was disturbing news though. There were four other orchards past these, and so far each one has been chock full of dangerous weapons just threatening to annihilate the rest of the wasteland! Here I was, just ready to hoof it over to the Steel Rangers like it was nothing. What if they found the other locations through this one? How much damage could be done by one of them accidentally releasing another pony like 42? I was pulled from my thoughts as the light on the hull glowed a bright pink, suddenly blinking out and shifting to purple.

“Hello again chief, B.I.T. here. Can you also ask the A.P. if she can forward copies to her research results to all the other servers? The fact that the other AP’s are still alive means that there’s experiments to run and research to be done!” Wow, she sounded a bit too happy to work on things, but she is modeled after Twilight Sparkle… I think.

“I can’t let that happen B.I.T. I’m sorry, but if there is any chance that the info sent could cause another 42 style accident, I can’t risk it. The war is over now, and the research needs to be dead along with the old world.” My harsh, but necessary words made the purple light dim slightly.

“That’s fine… I guess.” B.I.T. sounded more distraught than I might have imagined. “I’ll just find something else to do with my time. Completely ignoring my entire reason for existing.” She let a heavy sigh emit from the speaker.

The gears in my head spit out another idea. “Fine.” I rolled my eyes and tapped my hoof on the ground. “I’ll see if I can get her to release anything having to do with medical research. Projects from there can only help ponies out, right?”

The light on the hull brightened immensely. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” She sounded like that would be more than enough to keep her content for a while.

“Backlash!” The amplified voice of Maple called out from over the hill. He crested over the top of the entrance, trailing Fruit Cup and Frosted Cakes as the three of them looked no real worse for wear. “We found that the citizens had taken shelter in a cave just down the hill, their leader tells me he doesn’t need our help, so I came up here to ask if you require any assistance from us?”

I blinked, not even realizing that I ran past them in my anger. I shook my head as I mentally kicked myself. “No, you three get them somewhere safe, even if Pariah doesn’t think he needs your help. If this ends badly, at the very least you’ll have a head start.”

Maple nodded. “I... wanted to say thank you.” His voice was honest, but his eye’s told me he was ashamed. “I don’t think I can ever forgive you for getting my son killed, but I can see why he looked up to you as a friend. I wanted to thank you for showing me that I should have been a better father, and at least now I can try to be a better Ranger.”

“See you soon Backlash!” Frosted Cakes saluted as Maple turned and walked down the hill, looking over to Fruit Cup.

“Hey.” He spoke up and looked at me. “You take care of Longbow in there. You bring her back in one piece.” He jabbed his hoof at me, hesitation and fear bleeding from his words. “That and kick that bitches flank all the way to the moon.”

“I will if you get those folks to safety.” I smirked and mimicked his jabs. He nodded and pushed himself off, spinning and disappearing back down the slopes. I cupped my hooves and yelled to him. “Don’t worry, this shouldn’t take too long anyway!”

There was a crackle of static from across the room that startled me, making me look back into the rest of the cavern. Sitting beside canted atop the crushed remains of the old military portable, sat the caterpillar tracked piledriver, it’s heavy ram looking warped and smashed at the end. I looked over to where the weathered door once stood, the heavy steel cog looking out of place in the stark white of a small room. The now curved slab of metal lay just short of a teleportation pad, which seemed to be the source of the sound.

It crackled again before 42’s voice came from the room. “Crusaders... come out and play!” I tensed up instinctively, grinding my teeth as she repeated herself. “Crusaders... come out and plaaay!”

My rage bubbled up again as I took a step toward the room, but the flutter of wings filled my ears as Skyline dropped down in front of me. “We go, together.” Her voice helped me to fight my body, letting me relax as I focused on her words. Carlotta and Longbow advanced towards the room, and I waited for Skyline to turn before moving a hoof. As we climbed over the door and stood on the pad, I hoofed at the big yellow button that activated the transport and waited.

Nothing.

I looked down at the control panel that held the button, finding a small round button sat below what looked like a speaker that I had missed when I looked before. I hoofed it down. “Hello?” I waited for a moment before taking my hoof off of it. I glanced to the others with a shrug and hoofed the transport button sharply. I waited for the air to heat up and the whine to start, but it never came. I was about to hit the button again when a fairly shrill voiced mare came over the intercom.

“This is D.A.S.H., the administrator of this facility. I have locked this pad until you identify yourselves. You aren’t zebra spies, are you?” The digitized inflections in her voice gave away that it was the AP here. I hoofed down the intercom to answer.

“We are not spies. My name is Backlash, here from the Ministry of Moral. My friends and I need access to the facility.” I unclicked the button and rolled my eyes. Great, now we get to go through the whole song and dance about me being the chief of the M.o.M. There was a click from under the pad and the normal transport process began, building up to the flash that whisked us away. As the light bled off, I noticed a set of dark lines running from the floor to the roof, and as I blinked a few times, they refocused into bars. “What the fuck?” I looked around, finding that each one of us had been stripped of our gear and placed in separate cages.

A light whirring sound accompanied a small blue sphere as it slid through the wall along a track in the ceiling. It stopped with a click as the bar holding it dropped down and articulated around, a pair of rose colored eyes projected across the ball’s equator. They looked angry.

“Trying to sneak in under false credentials eh? Not under my watch!” The small blue ball split along the middle as she talked, opening and shutting like a mouth while looking across us with a gaze that was incredibly sincere, for a machine. “You all should all be ashamed of yourself for even trying to sneak in here. Especially you mister.” She spun herself around and glared at me. “What possessed you to sneak in when it’s your aunt Pinkie Pie’s first visit here in one hundred and twenty four years?”

“What? She’s not Pinkie, she’s an imposter!” I shouted and stepped forward, pressing my hooves against the bar. “You have to believe me, check your records for a subject 42!” The moment I said that, the gears in my head reminded me of the potential problem with that task. All the project files went up with the east orchard. Maybe she could still get them off my pipbuck? “Here, the information is on here!” I held my hoof out.

“Sorry, but accessing systems that haven’t been cleared is a security risk. Besides, she’s got a D.N.A. match to what’s on file at 96%! That’s well within acceptable parameters.” Her eyes looked up to the ceiling and squinted as if in thought. “Though... it is protocol to run a check for updated files upon any ministry related request, and for some reason, they didn’t tell me detainees couldn’t make the request, so why not?” Her eyes disappeared for a moment, displaying lines of text not unlike the ones on my pipbuck sometimes. “The log from Orchard 4 confirms that you were placed in charge of the MoM under temporary wartime succession rules. It also has on file that a mare from the cryostasis level of the facility attempted the murder of the acting head before leaving the facility, which corroborates your story. On top of that, her D.N.A. is an exact match to the one given to me by the mare claiming to be Pinkie. I apologize for not recognizing you earlier chief, what can I do for you?”

“Alright, Dash was it?” I gave her a smile as she blinked and the rose eyes came back. “How about letting my friends and I out first?” I’d barely finished the sentence when there was a loud clang and the bars around us descended into the floor. The eyes on the sphere flickered to a look of happiness that even as just a projection, held depth and emotion. This reminded me of what I had briefly forgotten. She wasn’t just a computer, but an intelligent being.

“I’m D.A.S.H., the Database for Advanced Secured Holdings. I was commissioned and constructed by the O.I.A. along with this facility to hold the most advanced weapon designs and project information available to equestria, and help to utilized them in the ongoing defence of equestria. In other words, I get to help make all the completely awesome stuff for the war!” She bobbed around on her track happily.

“Well it didn’t help, seeing as the war ended.” Carlotta scoffed as her and Longbow came over to me, seemingly entranced by the talking pair of eyes. I have to admit, D.A.S.H. was such an oddity, even I couldn’t help but stare.

“Oh no!” A look of horror accompanied the eyes and I could tell that this was actually news to the computer. It paused and looked back at Carlotta expectantly. “Wait, did we win?”

“No, everyone lost.” Skyline spoke up as she walked up to the ball curiously. “If this Orchard is anything like the one in Filly, do you have any robots that can go after 42?” Skyline looked over to me with a smirk. I just wanted to reach out and give her the tightest hug I could!

The shrill sound of the PA system coming online again sounded worse than Carlotta’s claws along the skycar. “That would be a nice thought Skyline, but I have diplomatic immunity.” 42 was listening the whole time? “By the way Backlash, I’ve been listening the whole time, so good luck trying to get the jump on me! Before I forget as well, I’m still waiting to give you your other gifts, that is if you want to come claim them.”

“She's right you know. My failsafe coding makes it pretty much impossible to target her seeing as she's related to Former Chief Pinkie Pie. It is the same with you, and the unicorn next to you.” She looked softly down at Longbow, giving her a look of sincere admiration. “Congratulations on the foals by the way Mrs. Backlash.”

“Foals? As in, more than one?” Longbow was quick to speak while my brain had been stuck on loop for the last few seconds. “How… do you know?”

“I have to do a medical scan with every transport of organic tissue, and your report came back as twins.” D.A.S.H.’s eyes darted about nervously. “I totally thought you knew! Sorry about ruining the surprise Mrs. B.”

The intercom cut in, and as 42 always has, she ruined the moment. “You know what would be a real surprise? You all actually getting here.” She let out a sigh and leaned back in whatever squeaky chair she occupied. “So boring just waiting. Let’s get to the shooting and the killing already! Is that really too much to ask?” The crackle of the intercom cut off, while a spike of pain shot through my head as the telltale sign of a coming headache. But in her words I’d heard something surprising. It was that frustration again, the same that I heard after the bridge, though now it seemed worse.

“D.A.S.H., can you lock her out of the system and keep her from hearing us?” I looked up to her as she, in return, looked to the ceiling. Her eyes disappeared and were replaced with the scrolling code once again. “And can you locate the machine I’m pretty sure she’s been working on? We need to get there as quickly as possible.”

“Done and… done!” D.A.S.H.’s eyes reappeared again, as well as a light flickering along the floor as a yellow line shot out along it, stopping at the door. “I know, I know. I am awesome, no need to thank me. Just one more thing before you go…” A loud zap preceded the return of our liberated equipment onto the floor of our cells. “Now, because you are a real pony, you are not restricted by the personal hostility ban, but lucky for you, I have to recite this super boring disclaimer about how violence in the workplace is wrong. So if you want, just tell me when you are ready to go and I’ll play some fun travel music over myself so you don’t have to hear it. Is that cool with you?”

“That would be nice, though I don’t like how you called me a real pony.” I spoke as I felt Longbow’s magic secure my saddlebags, watching as DASH actually displayed shame at the notion that she was a computer. “Out there, just fifty feet or so from your door is a couple of my good friends, and you may know them even. Do P.I.N.K. and B.I.T. ring any bells?”

Shocked, she looked up and angled herself closer to me. “Yes… but how did they get outside?” The look she wore was a new one, and it made me smile with every second she wore it. It was hope.

“They built a machine to carry themselves.” I sat down and hoofed at my pipbuck, checking that I still had everything in my inventory as the others got geared back up. “I wasn’t sure what to think of them at first, but you know what? They are as real as you and me. Yeah we may not have the same type of bodies, but that didn’t stop them from becoming my friends, so it shouldn’t stop you.”

“Thanks Chief, it means a lot to hear that.” She looked at me with pride as she panned across the group of us. “Looks like you’re ready, shall we get going?”

“Yes, D.A.S.H.,” I held my hoof toward the door, looking down the hallway as the yellow line shot ahead and took a sharp right. “Lead on.”

“Actually,” Longbow waved her hoof and spoke up. “While we walk, I wanted to go over a plan with all of you.” Longbow looked to me with a soft gaze, her eyes betraying the fear she had about the coming fight. I was scared too, but there is little 42 could do to keep me from trying to protect her. Longbow swung her gaze to the others and headed for the door. “Just stay close as we walk, I don’t want any chance of 42 hearing.” We all nodded and walked out the door with her, following along the line while D.A.S.H. was true to her word and played a song worthy of an adventure.

After a couple minutes of twisting, turning, and passing some really impressive looking machines, Longbow and I had resorted to looking into the rooms we passed. We were looking for anything that might come in use against 42, but so far all we could see laying around is assorted laboratory equipment. I turned and looked into the next room as we passed it, finding it was just as messy as half the others, with old papers thrown about and spilled chemicals leaking over the counters.

“Woah, hold on a minute.” Longbow whispered through her speaker. She turned and darted into the room across from mine and I quickly spun to follow her. This wasn’t just another research station like the others, it was the office of somepony important. All around sat arcane spell tomes, littering nearly every inch of the room that wasn’t the floor and the top of the large mahogany tinted desk. On top of it sat a small glass case with a glinting piece of metal in it. As the two of us approached it, we saw that it was nearly identical in size and shape to the one Twain now had in his possession.

“I don’t care what it is, grab it and let’s get caught up.” I broke the silence between us, watching as her magic gripped it and lifted it into her saddlebag. We both turned and worked ourselves up to a canter, following the yellow line around the corner that lay just ahead, only to literally run into Skyline and Carlotta. I took a step back and smiled nervously as Carlotta brushed herself off. “Sorry! We got distracted.”

A large two sectioned door sat before us with the words Flux Contamination Zone. printed boldly in yellow across it. A grinding noise preempted the door jarring to life without our consent. The two polished steel halves pulled away as a set of spinning caution lights flashed inside the next room, a warning meant for the old world, but oddly fitting for what was before us.

42 stood on a platform that stretched all the way to a small pink shield along the back wall, separating a small room off to the side that was most likely a teleportation chamber. She wore a sinister grin across her face as she stood defiantly in front of the enormous mass of tubes and gem covered boxes that ended in a single blue liquid tank much like the one I found her in. This was 42’s birthplace, inner sanctum, and now hopefully the site of her demise.

“Backlash, I’m ashamed of you for yet again not doing as I asked.” She shook her head and waved a hoof as if to scold me. “You clearly don’t understand the idea of what a one on one fight is. Actually, I’m starting to think you don’t know anything that I’m saying. I tell you to bring the pond, and you bring your guns to kill me. I tell you to come alone, and you bring your friends to kill me. Did I hit you a little too hard in the head one of these times, is that’s what’s going on here?”

“Everypony, NOW!” Longbow yelled through her helmet.

I tensed up and slid smoothly into S.A.T.S. ignoring 42 in the target bracket and pulling up the inventory to look through my options. To my amazement, the party cannon showed it was equipable even with no durability. In a classic move of wrong words, the party cannon popped into my hoof with a flash and it brought me back out to the targeting menu. I focused on the machine behind her and the system retargeted, then for some reason it took the party cannon away with another flash.

If I could scream right now I would. Commanding the inventory open again, I found that the cannon was no longer in working condition. It was working a half second ago when I wanted to use it against 42! The moment I thought her name, it lit up, dimming again as soon as it left my mind. Could it really be as simple as needing me to think of 42 to work? The gears in my head shoved an odd idea into my brain and I told the targeting system to pull up 42 again. Once she was highlighted, I accessed the party cannon and pulled it out, then canceled S.A.T.S. altogether.

Time jerked forward, and the guns of my friends lit off in sequence, firing round after round across the room. 42 was amazing in her ability to move, dipping and spinning as the shots came in just late enough they missed her. When time resumed, I pulled the cannon in my hoof up, aimed straight, and thought of shooting 42 with it.

The cannon roared and recoiled harder than it ever had before in my hoof. The entire body of the cannon shattered like it was glass, falling away as the spherical cannon ball did what Longbow’s plan needed it to. When I opened my eyes, the loud clicks coming from everyone’s guns signalled that they were all out of ammo. Incredibly, there stood 42, panting heavily from further down the platform where she was completely untouched by the bullets.

“That… was the best… you could do? Couldn’t even… hit me once!” She laughed between gasps as Carlotta and Sky were busy trying to reload. 42 produced her revolver from goddess knows where and waved it at us. “Have to… show you how… to shoot when… I catch my breath! Geeze… what a work out!”

“Come on 42, you have to know we weren’t even aiming for you.” Longbow gave a laugh as I looked at her. 42 must have now noticed that Longbow hadn’t shifted her helmet’s gaze since the shooting stopped, following her eyes back to the cloning machine, which as if pausing for dramatic effect, collapsed inward on itself as 42 looked like she was about to go into shock.

“Nonononono!” She cried out, pure sorrow in her voice as her mane deflated in an instant, darkening along with her pallet as she looked back to me. She put her hoof to her chest as she hyperventilated, finding the air to laugh between every few breaths. “You… you didn’t ruin anything!” Her look grew distant and she raised her revolver. “I can fix this. I don’t need you or any of your friends to have fun anymore!” Something must have snapped inside, because the 42 I had been chasing was not the one I was looking at. “But first, you die!”

She turned and ran towards the pink shield, firing wildly with her revolver. The first few shots pinged off the floor and back wall, while one of them sparked off the top of Longbow’s helmet in a spectacular fashion as it ricochet off. The last shot though to my horror, found purchase in the side of Skylines neck, punching a hole through it. As 42 disappeared through the teleportation pad with a mad laugh, Skyline crumpled and blood drained from her neck to the floor.

“SKY!” Carlotta screamed out, dropping down next to her and putting pressure on her neck as I froze in fear as my brain looped to me that it was Reference Point all over again. Skyline gave a gurgling gasp as she looked over to me, tears forming in her eyes as I was powerless to help. “Fuck, go get a potion, something, ANYTHING!” Carlotta screamed and looked up at Longbow and I.

“There has to be a medkit around here somewhere!” Longbow shook her head and darted back into the hall, leaving me standing and watching the life slowly drain out of my sister. “Just keep pressure on the wound, Carlotta!”

As tears streamed from her eyes, she looked at me with slow breaths, gazing across the room then back to me. She repeated it a few times before the gears in my head fed me what she was doing. She was dying on the floor and even now, she was telling me to leave her to go stop 42. I looked up to the wall where the pink shield was, slowly turning back to her. She used what strength she had to nod ever so slightly, squeezing her eyes shut as Carlotta started to whisper to her. My body moved without my consent, carrying me away from helping Sky and slowly taking me after 42.

“Backlash, don’t you FUCKING leave her.” Carlotta growled out. “I will never forgive you if you go after her alone. Do you fucking hear me, Backlash?”

“Carlotta, save my sister and get out of here.” I spoke up, choking back tears. “None of you can help me through here anyway, so please, just go.” I stopped at the shield when I didn’t get a response from Carlotta. I looked back at her and found her sitting there looking at me, too afraid to leave Sky to make me stay. The light hiss of Longbow’s helmet preceded her running in, floating a yellow medical box in with her. She passed it to Carlotta before she froze where she saw me. “Longbow.” My voice pulled her out of her haze. “Please. Save her and wait for me.”

With nothing else to do, I stepped forward through the shield, and hoofed at the intercom. “42, I’m coming for you.” I jabbed the transmit button, unsure of what might lay on the other end and found myself enveloped in the warmth of the transport, flashing away in an ear popping snap. The air around my hooves changed to freezing, and I lifted my hooves with a recognizable crunch. “What? Snow on the pad?”

“You know what they say!” 42 called out as the world flashed into view around me, a set of bright, generator driven, lights beamed away the darkness as she stood not twenty five feet from me. “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” She tossed a large white box over, the large ribbon and bow adorning it meant it had to have something bad inside. “Happy Hearth's Warming. Your third gift, even though I know you didn’t bring mine.”

42 carried the look of a pony without morals now. She always had no morals, but she never showed it, not like this. Her toothy grin, pinprick eyes, and ragged looking flat mane and coat showed me that this was a whole different side of here I didn’t even know. I looked around, trying to gauge where we were, but we sat in what amounted to a crater, brown cliffs rose into the night in a circle a few hundred feet across at most. The other thing I was quick to notice, was that there were no clouds where we were, and that the sun had set far enough that the sky was a dark blue, and I could see the stars around the bright full moon.

I returned my gaze to the only reason I was here. “It’s over 42, there’s no where left to run.” I called out, the cold mountain wind lashed at my coat and made me shiver. “The game is over.”

“Oh, Backlash, don’t you get it? I can’t be the one running when I’m the one who set this whole month long adventure in motion.” She smiled and gave out an insane laugh. “Research Pointe? The East Orchard? The Ranger Bunker? Didn’t you ever take a guess as to why I was always one step ahead? It’s cause I’ve known all along about what you’d do!”

“I beat you at every turn, and now you’ll never get your hooves on the mirror pond!” I smiled and laughed at my own blatant lie while I tried to stall for time, the gears in my mind churning together a plan I could use to beat the most dangerous mare in the wastes. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that you set everything up, not even Pinkie could have pulled this off.”

“Oh but she could. I saw everything when I was about to pull off my fun prank against Twilight's assistant. My own Pinkie sense reached far beyond the scope of Pinkie’s, not just double or triple, but orders of magnitude greater.” She put her hooves to her cheeks and feigned sadness. “I’ve known where the pond was going to be even before that know-it-all bitch put them there. Clever to hide the containers right next to where the pond originally was. Just not clever enough as I’ve had them since I shot you at that dilapidated facility.” She did know. Dear Celestia she’s been telling the truth? I shook those thoughts from my head, focusing on breaking down her argument.

“Then why the hell did you keep asking me! What was the fucking point of everything? Why not just take it and be done with it?” I sneered at her. Well, everything’s just out the fucking window now. I’ve failed to do anything that Pinkie wanted and this whole thing was a set up from the get go.

“Why? WHY!?” Her mane darkened another shade as she let out a growl, her gaze burned with a thousand megaspells worth of balefire. “Because you’re what’s left of HER. Of all of those fucking self righteous mares believing they knew what was right for everypony! That day when I had my vision, I saw just how they would throw me away, how they would abandon all that they were to doom the whole of their failed nation.” She growled and grit her teeth, pausing as she took a deep breath and smiled again. “And when I saw how you would wake me, how I would destroy your life and make you suffer for everything they did to me. I knew then that the pond had to wait.”

She rolled her eyes with a deep laugh. “Tearing down everything you are, everything you’ve ever loved? It was just too good to risk passing up. I just had to play my part right to lead you here. To be honest, you finally did manage to catch me off guard down there, and I’m sorry if I… overreacted, but you see, I need that machine to live. I can feel it, every minute of every day, the magic of the pond seeps from my being, and without the machine to revitalized me, I could have months, days left even.” She waited until the moment the gears in my head put what she was saying together. “You see, now I am just as you are. Condemned to an early death of my choosing, or to one of suffering, sorrow, and loneliness.”

The gears in my head spun out a different thought as it continued to work on my ever evolving plan. “So, why tell me this if you are just going to kill me?” I watched as my words made her smirk, but her eyes flashed a different emotion for a second. It was an emotion in her that I hadn’t seen since she shot me in the elevator at Reference Pointe. “I mean, if it was about making me suffer, then I’ve already got nothing else to lose. You want to know what I think?”

“The reason is that you have a choice to make, Backlash.” She raised her hooves up. “Did you come up here to lay down and let me offer you a quick death, or did you want to suffer for it first?”

“I think you’re scared.” I watched as my words hit her like a freight train, wiping her smirk into a grimace. “I think you didn’t ACTUALLY see quite this far. I saw you run to that pad, I could hear the anger and fear in your voice. You are afraid of dying and all you’re doing now is trying to stall for time to make me weak and slow.”

“Well, well. Looks like you are still playing the game after all. You’re right, I don’t know for sure if I’ll win, but hey, why ruin the surprise?” Her smile returned as she glanced down at the gift box at my hooves. “Either way, it’s going to be a blast! Go ahead and open it. I promise it won’t explode. Well, not yet anyway.”

I was sceptical, but at this point, blowing me up didn’t seem like it was her end game. I picked up the package in my hooves, feeling that it was quite heavy. The gears in my head threw out that it would be best to open it, as it might stall for a bit more time. I bit down on the ribbon and tugged, surprised to find that the ribbon easily slid of the box. I set it down, taking the lid off to see what looked like a brand new briefcase.

“Oh, right. You’ll have to open that as well.” She yawned, sitting back and looking at her wrist as if it had a watch on it. “Before you suggest it, this box has the same promise as the other one… as in won’t explode on you yet either, not that it’s just going to explode.” For the first time, I saw 42 scrunch up her muzzle. “Just open the damn case, Backlash.”

I hoofed at the latches, which sprung up with a crisp click, allowing me to open the case. What was inside was something I had never in my life expected to have seen. It was a complex set of spell matrixes that ran through a collection of circuits. These were connected to both a digital timer and a small, familiar looking prism with a gaseous, swirling green center. The timer was ticking down, just having past ten minutes left on it.

“I did love the Ministry of Wartime Technology.” 42 shook her head with a smile. “Tactical Megaspells that were both full strength AND portable enough to be smuggled into the zebra lands? Pure Genius. What will they think of next?” She laughed and knocked her head with her hoof. “Oh yeah, nothing, cause they’re all dead!”

“You’re insane.” I dropped the case on the ground as the gears in my head finally threw out what was to be either the plan that will probably end up working but killing me, or the shortest attempt at something stupid that gets me killed just that much sooner. Either way it was going to be my best option, and I was most likely going to die from it.

“It only sounds insane because you’re not destined to win. But that’s enough talk for now, let’s do what you REALLY came up here for.” 42 stood on her hind legs, using her forehooves to balance herself as she got into a stance not unlike what the zebra outside Tenpony had used. She held a forehoof out to me, beckoning me to come at her while her other forehoof drew out her revolver. “It's endgame, Backlash, and as much as I'd love to continue vying across the wastes to see who will be the winner, there can be only one.”

I took that as the signal to enter S.A.T.S., pulling up my inventory screen once the world slowed to a crawl. Seeing how fast she was before, I switched the tabs with my mind over to the aid tab and selected the fifteen vials of Dash I had bought last minute in Friendship City. The options for it popped up as I selected them and I dropped it down to the ‘Use All’ selection. As they popped off the screen, I suddenly felt an odd pressure welling out from me, like I was overfilled and that my entire body was about to burst open.

Doing my best to ignore the feeling, I switched tabs again to my weapons, first selecting Heartstopper. As it flashed into my muzzle, the targeting spell told me that I still only had a two percent chance to hit her, but a two percent chance, is still a chance. I found that Dash helped extend the time dilation of S.A.T.S., seeing as I could fire every shot in the gun without even taking a quarter of the total spell power. I smiled and confirmed every shot at 42’s head, because if I was going to get lucky with a shot, it might as well be the one that ends the fight.

The spell did it’s thing with starting to crawl time forward, but as tired and ragged as she looked, 42 moved faster that I thought even possible. The first shot trailed just behind her as she dove out of the way, then the second shot missed, then the third. The fourth came close, but instead went too far ahead of her, passing by her muzzle with only meer inches needed for a hit. As the last two remaining shots also resolved without a hit, and S.A.T.S. ended, 42 sent a single shot at me from her revolver, striking Heartstopper in the receiver and gumming up the action on her. With all the haste the drug gave me, I tensed myself up again, immediately sending myself back into the spell.

As the broken heartstopper flashed away, the inventory came back up and I selected the Twins. In repeating the targeting process I thought to myself that one of these shots will have to get lucky. The spell executed and moved my aim after 42, who was now jumping onto one of the large boulders strewn about the snowy mountain top. The first burst I sent chipped at the rock under her chin, the second cut right through her mane as she climbed, but missed her skull, and the last two traveled high. As the smile 42 wore seemed to mock me she fired her gun again without aiming and the round struck the pistol in my muzzle. It ricocheted off of the barrel and tore into my face, only stopping as it struck my cheekbone with a snap. With no time to care about how much it hurt, I dropped the Twin as the spell ended, and pulled S.A.T.S. back up yet again.

I was running out of options for what to use, and now the energy to use it with as the Twins took me down to half a bar. But even if I had to resort to hoof to hoof combat, I would go down swinging. I pulled out Longbow’s gauss pistol, finding that I could just barely use the last two shots in it before S.A.T.S. no longer had any energy left anyway. The weapon flashed into my muzzle and the targeting screen came back up. 42 was mid flip now as she tossed herself from the rock, slowly sailing through the air as I tagged her head twice and executed the spell.

The first shot sailed wide to the right, punching through the generator that was directly behind her and killing it’s lights. The second though nicked at her ear, the force of the hit tearing the muscle and all from the side of her head as the spell ended and time resumed its normal pace. She screamed and flopped into the snow, quickly getting up and hoofing at her bleeding and exposed skull as I dropped the empty weapon from my muzzle. That was it, I didn’t have anything left to kill her with.

“Shit that was some quick shooting. How the fuck did you manage to pull that off?” She winced and smiled as she lowered her bloody hoof, staring at it with a look of morbid fascination. “I almost broke a sweat dodging there!” She groaned and laughed through her bloody face. “Jeez this hurts like a bitch! How the hell do you even stand getting shot? Fuck.”

The gears in my head spun as I realized that I didn't have the minute S.A.T.S. needed to recharge. I had to pull out the something I could use as a weapon the second my hoof touched it if I was to come out of this alive at all. My hoof clinked against the small jar I had forgotten was in there, and as I pulled it out I wasn’t able to contain my smile as I looked at it. The all too familiar click of 42’s revolver made me shift my gaze back to her.

“Sorry, was just readying my next weapon, but to answer your question about my shooting, I had the help of about fifteen vials of Dash.” My heart pounded against my chest as the pressure inside my body increased. The small glass jar I brought out in my hoof was the only thing capable of stopping her now. “This pipbuck you gave me has really helped a ton with doing stuff as well, you know that?”

“Fifteen? That’s suicide. Your heart will explode before you get a chance to give me whatever... that is you think will save you. What, are you going to do with that jar anyway, season me to death?” 42’s previous sorrow was gone, and she genuinely sounded impressed at my complete and utter, seemingly random action. But it’s about time somepony pulled a prank on her.

“I’m not giving you seasoning.” I hefted the jar high and used all my might to throw it above her. The report of her revolver preceded the explosion of flakey contents from the container, the light blue flakes shimmering in the bright lights like a million stars as they covered her. “I’m assaulting you with it.” I groaned, pressing a hoof into my chest as my heart felt like it stopped for a moment, picking up again at an erratic pace as I felt my strength leave me.

“Is… is this a joke? That was the best you could do? All this time and you end our fight by throwing potpourri at me before dying of a heart attack?” Her tone shifted to disappointment. “I really did expect more from you Backlash. This is no where near as satisfying as I imagined it would be, and with having to wait over a century to know, I am so underwhelmed.”

So I was right, she hadn’t seen the end of the fight, which is good cause she wouldn’t see this coming. “Wait for…” I gasped out, finding my breathing was getting harder to control. “...the punchline.” I smiled and looked up at her as she seemed puzzled for a moment, looking down at herself as she finally pieced together what blue fragrant flower she was actually covered with. She dropped her gun and hoofed at the flakes on her, letting out the first genuinely sad laugh that she’s probably ever give.

“Heh, good one.” She looked at me with her fearful, teary eyes. “Guess you could say, the jokes on me?”

There was a brilliant flash of light as the now re-hydrated flakes of killing joke Isaac had given me altered her, her body shriveling up and wasting away as it dropped into the snow and became nothing more than a curled up skeleton. I grunted, taking gasping breaths as I pushed myself to my hooves, staggering towards 42 to make sure the job was done, but staying just far enough that a single flake of the killing joke wouldn’t get on me.

42, the pink menace, had been reduced to nothing more than a curled up skeleton with her hooves close to her heart. The wind picked up, shifting the bones slightly and revealing an odd sight. A small statuette of a purple colored unicorn lay in her ribcage, looking similar in design to the Pinkie Statue that I had seen in Friendship City, only with the words Be Smart written on the base.

With an irritating realization, the clock on the megaspell was still steadily ticking down. I didn’t know how powerful the spell was, or even where the opening was on the mountain. Eight minutes was not enough time to get everypony clear, and even if we managed to be out of the blast zone, the radiation could kill hundreds for miles around. There had to be a way to fix this, and as I looked to the snow covered teleport pad, I had an idea.

I gasped and struggled to make my way back to the teleport pad, straining as my heart beat out of control against my chest, pressing so hard with each beat that I was certain I would hear a crack and it would break through any moment. I hit the return button, listening as it whirred up and flashed me back inside the mountain to where Longbow was waiting. The moment I came back, I heard her gasp happily.

“There isn’t the time to explain. 42 is dead, she has a megaspell on a timer, and I need you to pull two geometrical containers from the machine. She had the pond all along and I have to destroy it.” I winced and whined, my rear legs giving out as I flopped to the ground. “Longbow, I need to send the pond up so it can go with the megaspell, hoof them through the barrier and go.” She opened her muzzle to complain, but I waved my hoof through the pink light. “Go. I can handle the strain of my injuries and you can’t help me from there.”

She worked quickly to locate and rip the containers from the sorted bits of metal, which were miraculously as pristine as they could be. She passed me the containers, wiping her watering eyes as I stuffed them into my saddlebags. “Don’t lie to me Backlash, I’ll be waiting for you right here. Promise me you’ll send them away and come back to me.” I trotted to the pad again, doing my best to keep my breathing steady as my head felt like it was trying to pop off my neck. “Promise me!”

I hit the button, opening my muzzle to tell her, but instead found myself collapsing to the floor as the world became a spinning mass of colors before a white flash dumped me into the snow again. As my heart struggled to find a normal rythm, I pushed myself across the snow and hooked my forehoof around the handle of the small leather case, dragging the megaspell onto the teleportation pad next to the pond containers. I prayed to Celestia and Luna that I at least had the strength to do this one last thing, slowly making my way to the backside of the control pedestal.

With 42 dead, the only thing left was to destroy the mirror pond once and for all. The gears in my head reminded me that with a little modification, these teleporters could go further than just between pads, and if B.I.T. could change the coordinates, there had to be a way for me to do it. If I could, then there would be no danger of the Megaspell hurting anypony by accident. I pulled open the back and, with great effort, hoofed my makeshift connector cable out of my saddlebags and spliced the pipbuck into the control wiring. I changed the fuses over to the administrative and map section, and as I had hoped, the auto override brought up all of the console commands for the teleport system. I got to work on rerouting the pad, silently thanking the engineers at Friendship City for pointing this function out.

On instinct, I pulled up my map function and I selected the map marker that read Eeee, without hesitation. I chuckled to myself through my gasping breaths as I just couldn’t get over how clever that was, or how insane it had been that nopony else had even figured that out besides 42 and I. There was a beep as a notification popped up on the pipbuck’s screen.

“Well... shit.” I forced myself to speak even those two words, not sure what to do. What do I put? If it’s not far enough down, it might not hit the pond, and if it’s too far down, the blast definitely won’t hit the pond. The gears in my head sputtered and spun, spinning one last idea out before they locked up and shot a stabbing pain through my head and down my neck. I screamed in both pain and frustration. “Of course... it’s 42!” I hoofed the coordinates in and pulled myself up against the backside of the control pedestal, hoofing at the Teleport button and holding it down to make sure I didn’t screw this up.

I hoofed in the answer with my other hoof before bracing against the panel, my heart most likely only still working out of sheer want to finish this. The Padd whined far louder than it had when I had left the East Orchard, reaching levels I didn’t think possible of both brightness and noise. Even the air seemed to charge, sending arcs of electricity across the briefcase and the pond containers, running all the way up the console and into my hoof. In feeling the air heat up, I pushed myself back as the spell went off, hearing as the air split with a deafening crack and a unique pinching pain consumed my left foreleg. As I stumbled back into the snow behind me, I looked at my foreleg, finding it ended halfway down where it should, smoking black splits in my muscle sizzled with magical energy as my last original leg was cauterized when the magic that took it bled off.

Well, I guess that’s why there were safety settings. About time something took that limb, although it’s too bad Carlotta’s not around so I can brag that her family’s curse has got nothing on me. Then again, that might be just a tad in poor taste.

As I pushed myself up and hobbled over to the pad, using my good leg to hold myself steady against the control panel. The will to continue fighting for my life drifted away with the wind, as only a small curved glass crater sat where the pad had been, the wires and tubes that had once fed it power sheared off with the curvature. The charge to send something that far must have been too much to accurately contain, so the system sent the pad itself, along with my forehoof and pipbuck, only leaving the control panel for me to lean on. That was it then. I was stuck here.

The panel crackled to life, the small speaker inside it giving off static for a moment. “Backlash? Are you there?” Longbow’s voice came over crisply, helping to distract me from the pain. “The shield here went down, but it won't let me come to you.” There was another pause. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

I looked down and struggled to hoof at the button with my nubbed leg. “Hey... the pad here, it’s... destroyed.” I had to force the words between the laborious breaths, each syllable making my lungs scream. “Somepony... will have to come around... the long way.” I took another look around, still not even sure what this place was. “Wherever… I am.”

“But that will take too long and you could freeze to death by then!” I already knew this would be a one way trip, but my life traded for the safety of the others was a good rate of exchange. “Maybe I can tell Carlotta to get you.”

“She still can’t... fly on those wings... how... how's Sky?” My back legs started to shake, and I could feel them weakening by the second. “Did she…” They gave out, dropping me into the snow and sending a sharp stab of pain to my chest. I pressed my good hoof close and let out a dull whine as the intercom crackled again.

“I... I don't know, but I'll be right back.” If I were to die, I wanted to die hearing her voice. I didn’t want to die alone up here, and as long as she was there talking, I never would be. “Just... hang on up there, I’ll only be a minute.”

A minute. If that’s all, I could fight that much longer. I rolled onto my back and watched the drifting clouds as they crossed the sky, amazed at how the night had cleared up. I have never been able to see more stars than now, and I can’t imagine why the pegasi would keep such a beautiful view from us?

“Backlash, Sky's alright. But… she’s not strong enough yet to come to you. So you have to hold on, you hear me? Do not die, Backlash.” The speaker crackled as she stopped talking, and a long moment passed before it crackled again. “Backlash, please… please answer me.” I wanted to so badly, but I couldn’t convince my hind legs to even move me anywhere anymore, and everything in my sight started to fuzz as if out of focus. I could hear Longbow’s soft sobs over the wind, and with mercy that I didn’t deserve, they quelled the pain in my chest. “Oh Goddesses, please don't leave me…”

I let out a sigh as my heart finally started to calm down in my chest. I directed my gaze up into the night sky, where all the stars out tonight were dwarfed in brilliance of the full moon that hung over me, bathing me in its light. It was funny, really, how much my dreams had mirrored this moment. I spent my life looking up to Luna, praying for her to show herself to me. But she didn’t come in the form I’d thought she would, and now as I found my peace with her, I had to leave it all behind. I raised my remaining forehoof to the sky as darkness filled my vision, hoping and praying that the wasteland and it’s inhabitants would stay safe from now on. Softly in the distance, I could hear my mother singing to me, taking all my worries, fear, and sadness away, leaving only the thoughts of my family. I used the last of my strength to whisper a message for the wind to bring back to them.

“I love you...”

Author's Notes:

So.

After an incredible 8 months, 26 chapters, and 340k words later, we've finally reached the conclusion of the story. I know some of you might have a few questions about things, and a few of you more than likely might be unhappy with how I chose to end it, and I expect as much. I need you to tell me your thoughts, put them down and send them to me either in the form of a comment, or in a note. I would love your feedback. This story has been a hell of a lot of fun to write, and there is more FoE to come from me in the future. Be it in the form of Better Days, The Long Winter, or another one shot I happen to think up, this is only the first complete step for me, In fact, for those of you who look close enough, I left a fun hint in the epilogue for you. Maybe I made it too obvious, but still, I hope you enjoy reading it all the same.

As per the norm, a huge thanks goes out to Kkat, Somber, Mimezinga, and No one. Without your fic's to give me the inspiration to write, these 8 months wouldn't have been as amazing as they were. The same can be said for Stonershy, John Colt, Hnetu, Xjuan, Tinker, Bad Pun, and Delvius. You guys have given me a ton of inspiration from your stories as well, and I can't even begin to tell you how much that meant to me.

I'd like to give a special thanks to my editors through the run of the story, both to Bad Pun and to Sawyer. Plus extra special thanks to Cloud Reader for her help in getting these last chapters out. It's been a long journey, and I'm so glad you were there to help me along.

Another special round of shout outs goes to Regolit, Dude2976, and RevelRomp. You all have been posting your thoughts throughout the story, and it's meant more to me than you could possibly know. Thank you all for your steadfast dedication to my story.

Another round of shout outs goes to all those in the IRC who are there to talk, even if it is all just random posts. Xavi, PWNY, Spiffy, and a whole host of others have been such great companions, thanks for putting up with my short stints and being all around great ponies.