Chapter 7: Out of the blue
“When the shit hits the fan, duck.”

"Balefire bomb?!" Sister shouted in my ear as she set me down on the roof of a tall building. "Shock have you gone insane?!"

I shielded my eyes from the falling ash with a hoof while I watched her land and fold her wings. Ripper landed next to Mudpie and tilted her head as she asked, "what about it?"

I smiled. "We can use it to make a crater to gather the lava and save Oakwood City for a while."

Ripper scratched the back of her head with a hoof. "I dunno. We're not exactly talking about dynamite here. The blast is kinda... big. It'll damage the city even if we put the bomb at the base of the mountain."

Sister nodded. "She's right. And do you really want to add more radiation to the world?"

I turned around and looked across the bay to where the two departing ships should be. I could not see beyond a hundred yards. Because ash was now falling like rain while the cloud blotted out the sky over the whole city of Oakwood making the night turn into a moonless pitch black night.

"Where is Rose, Comet, and Zakiya?” I shouted, “what about the Enclave?! They have five Raptors and could-"

"Enclave?" Sister asked, which caused me to turn my head to look a her. She walked over and looked at me like one does to a young foal. "Shock, we ran the Enclave off the island when we first arrived twenty years ago. Don't you remember?" I worked my mouth in an attempt to reply but came up short. Sister put her hoof on my shoulder as she continued, "they had five Raptors. We destroyed two of them and lost the other green in the process. The Enclave ended up retreating after losing a third Raptor."

"But Comet was real!" I shouted. "I... I left him on the Delight! He gave me a massage and others talked to him! Go there. They can confirm it."

Ripper flapped her wings into a hover. "I'll go check the Delight out."

Mudpie watched Ripper disappear before she looked back to me. "Sorry. I don't buy it." She turned her head as a syringe was levitated out of her saddlebags. As she looked at me I saw her pained expression and I began backing up.

"Shock, I'm sorry but I have to knock you out for a while."

I asked with a tilt of my head, "what's wrong with my plan?! It'll work!"

She shook her head. "No."

Mudpie teleported right next to me in a flash of light as the bubble came up and trapped her inside. The syringe pierced my neck and stung while I felt the liquid inject into my system. I dropped the useless shield spell and stepped back.

"What did you put in me?!" I asked as my eyelids grew heavy. My hind legs gave out, forcing me into a sitting position and refused to work. My forelegs slowly grew numb as well.

"A little poison from that barb you picked up mixed with two doses of Med-X. That hurt me more than it did you."

My forelegs gave out and I slumped to the roof. I tried to stay awake, to fight the drug, but in the end it was pointless without Dash. As my eyes shut I managed to say. "I don't... understand..."

*** ***

As I regained consciousness I was blinded by a bright spotlight that shone on my face. I blinked and tried to focus to no effect. All I saw was white. When I tried to move I found all four of my legs were bound. I glanced over to use my magic, but fire shot through my horn which caused me to flinch.

A dark shape walked in front of the light and dulled it through a long flowing mane that all alicorns have. She lifted up a hoof to hit something and the light clicked off noisily. A soft orange glow replaced it and my eyes adjusted slowly. I saw we were in some kind of metal twenty foot wide room.

Mudpie sighed. When she looked at me her eyes showed regret for what she did. "Shock. A month or two ago I had a dream about you. You were doing exactly as the dream played out. Even suggesting we use that bomb. Which we did in the dream. It killed thousands of ponies still in the city and saturated the island chain with its radiation, slowly killing many more. I had to stop you. Do you understand? I couldn't let it become reality."

My ears folded back against my head as she spoke. "You drugged me because of a dream?! It wasn't real!"

"It was!" She shouted. "I couldn't let you do that. It would have been madness to go through with it!"

"Madness?! No... I'm not insane!"

Mudpie nodded slowly. "I'm afraid you are. Tell me what this Enclave pegasus looked like. I remember all of their Raptor commanders."

"Slate grey. Gold eyes. A two-tone silver and blue mane. His name was Comet."

Her jaw dropped a little. "Oh... fuck. Um... okay. Maybe you're not as crazy as I thought." Mudpie took a deep breath and continued. "Okay! Moving on. I strapped you to this table to protect you from harming yourself or the city. Ripper is checking on things but...”

I nodded. “Yes. She is clearly insane.”

“Only in the daytime it seems. Did she try to get you to eat invisible food? Because I refused and she brought out a knife.” Mudpie's horn glowed and another syringe was brought out. "I'm sorry but I have to do this again."

"How come you can do magic and I can't?"

"Horn lock." She nodded towards me and I looked up at a metal device with wires encasing my horn. I watched as the needle came closer. "This'll only sting for a second."

"Wait! I'll be good. Please, Mudpie, I can help."

"I'm afraid talking isn't going to work." Mudpie looked at the syringe. "Now this is a more potent dose. You've only been out for three hours and this should knock you out for a day."

"Don't. Please don't."

I was powerless to stop her. The sharp sting of the needle buried itself into my neck and I quickly lost consciousness.

*** ***

My eyes snapped open. The room was empty and I was groggy and partly unfocused, but eventually it went away and was replaced with a strange calming feeling.

I looked left as Ripper walked in through the door with a tray of actual food and drink on her back. She walked around the device I was strapped to and set the tray down in front of me. She grabbed the sandwich in her hooves and hovered off the ground. Ripper tilted her head.

I raised an eyebrow in response. "Something on your mind?"

"Did... you ever have a weird dream? Like you were somepony you weren't but you were similar?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

She looked down at the sandwich as she said. "Well I had one where I was surrounded by alicorns and I was my old self. Then this unicorn randomly appears that sounds like you. She killed me and I woke up."

"Oh... um. Yes, that was me. Are you that hard to kill for real?"

"Would you like a bite to eat? It's a BLT."

"Sure. But first. Did you get to the Delight?" She nodded. "And?"

"They did see a pegasus with a bag of Enclave bits matching the description you gave."

"And the volcano?"

"Still going after two days. Most of Oakwood's residents fled to another island on the two ships and the lava seems to be cooling before it even gets remotely close to here. I did run across a pony you'd be happy to see."

"Who?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

"A small friend of yours." She looked over and I followed her gaze.

Rose stood in the doorway looking at me in confusion. "Why is Shock strapped up like that?" A fiendish grin formed on her face. "Did you two have kinky sex and I missed it?"

"No, that's... disgusting! She's a walking corpse, and an ugly one at that."

Ripper floated away and clamped down on the sandwich. It was crunchy and sounded good. She gulped it down without chewing. "For that remark you don't get any food." I stuck my tongue out at her because she doesn't know that I don't need it anyway.

Rose walked over and smiled at me as she spread a pair of small wings and hovered to my eye level. I grinned at her. "What?" she tilted her head.

"I knew you were a Dashite."

"Not really. It's complicated and I don't feel like telling you. Let's get you out of this silly thing."

Ripper swallowed another bite then said. "Did I mention she wanted to use my nuke to make a crater to gather the lava and the blast would have taken out half the city and we tied her up to stop it?"

Rose sighed as she looked me in the eye. "Is this true?"

I nodded. “Yes.”

"Well I commend you for trying to come up with a solution and I'm glad Mudpie stopped you from implementing it." Her eyes narrowed and she shouted in my face, "because that's a horrible idea! There's more than just ponies here! There's animals, gryphons and other things."

"I guess I didn't think it through. I'm better now though. If you let me out I swear to The Goddess I'll be a better pony."

"I don't know... I think you should stay like that until you really mean what you say. It’s kinda cute."

"Ya wanna hear something awesome?" Ripper asked. Rose and I looked at her as she put a shot glass on her forehead to look like a mock horn. "I'm the Empress of ponies in another timeline and older than Celestia and Luna combined. Bow down before the Goddess of Greed!"

Rose looked into my eyes as I said. "At least I'm not like her."

"Good point." The small pegasus undid my hind legs then hovered up to undo my forelegs.

After I dropped to the floor I lowered my head so she could remove the annoying horn lock device thing. It fell to the floor with a metallic thunk. My legs felt stiff and sore but I lifted Rose up and hugged her tightly. She attempted to hug back but had a hard time due to her small size.

Mudpie walked in and her eyes widened. "What's going on in here?"

I set Rose down then glared at Mudpie. "How dare you! I thought you loved me and would never harm Us. Yet here you are stabbing Us with needles and forcing Us to sleep! And then you invade my dream where I should be safe from prying eyes?!"

"I had to knock you out. Because you weren't going to listen to me. I'm sorry about the dream thing. I know those are private but I was curious as to why you were mumbling. Ripper confirmed your story about the Enclave and I came to apologize for my actions."

"Ripper's right here." I pointed my hoof at the ghoul. "You're a little late to the party."

Mudpie nodded. "She was supposed to just feed you until I got the courage to face you again. Not let you go."

"What do you mean 'courage to face me'?"

"You scare the shit out of me, Shock. That's what I mean. Especially after you butchered that blue while she was alive. And because you share your head with another pony that is capable of taking alicorns over. I don't know if I'm talking to you, or her, or about to be stabbed by you again."

"Wait. What?" Rose asked in shock. "Shock did WHAT?!" She immediately hovered to my eye level with a stern expression. "You tricked me! How can you butcher a pony and stab your own sister?! What's this about sharing your head? I take it back, you're crazier than Ripper!"

Said ghoul finished off her sandwich with a grin. She picked up the bottle of water and took a sip.

"It's complicated. Yes I butchered a pony, but she's still alive." Rose arched an eyebrow. "Yes, I stabbed Mudpie with my horn and killed her, yet she's still alive. But all of that happened in a world created inside my head by this other mare that only recently manifested. She took over my body for the last three weeks and made me do things that I couldn't see. Please believe me, I would never ever butcher a real pony!"

"So wait... some other pony is in your head with you right now?" I nodded. "How is that possible?!"

"I don't know. I placed her in a mental prison and want her gone. But it's only a matter of time before she escapes."

*** ***

The ash cloud had thinned out enough to let in the daylight, yet it was still there as the volcano slowly erupted and warm sunlight bathed the rest of the island chain. The initial eruption was violent in that it was heard all the way in Oakwood City. Its residents knew of the coming eruption thanks to a purple alicorn that was a recent arrival and had recognized the signs.

The purple informed the locals just before she was taken over by the pony I now had locked away. What did they do upon hearing the warning? What any pony does when faced with a threat they can't kill, everypony panicked. Including Ripper and I.

The purple was standing nearby glaring at me. Where Mudpie or Ripper had found her I have no idea. The Pipbuck that had previously been on my leg was sitting between us. My stuff was behind me and I wore the zebra armor. Mudpie's cutie mark of two crossed revolvers had come back after she defended herself with her pistols against something yesterday. My own flank was blank as was this purple’s.

Purple's eye twitched. I knew the reason just as all the alicorns I was connected to knew who I was despite me having been a crystal unicorn in the dream. She pushed the Pipbuck over. "Put it on."

"Why?"

"Call it your punishment, Thief. You're a zebra sympathizer."

I lifted the Pipbuck in my magic and opened it as I looked on the inside. There was dried blood on the padding that should automatically fit your leg just fine and I saw the eight cut marks made by the blades in the padding. It was hovered over my leg and I wondered if I could still shoot lightning so I could hurt her and not have to worry about this any longer.

"I’m not a zebra sympathizer," I told her as I shook my head. "You must have me confused with another pony."

"Right. Forgive me if I don't believe the pony that ate my skin."

"It wasn't real!" I shouted with a glare.

She slammed her hoof down on the table. "Put the damn Pipbuck on!"

I placed it over the spot with a frown while wondering why I was doing what this alicorn was telling me to do. The Pipbuck was set down on the table and I shook my head. "No. It is a trick."

She looked over at Mudpie in the corner and nodded. "I see she learns quick."

"Yes. Nothing works twice on her." Mudpie replied.

The Pipbuck was invaluable to me despite it being a trap. I had initially wanted to take it off so I could pretend to be a unicorn and get close to Eclipse so I could capture her. But since RJ and Blue saw me in the zebra armor that was no longer an option. Now I could have the Pipbuck again. I lifted it in my magic and placed it over my left foreleg then closed the clasp to lock it. As it was booting up and fitting itself to my leg Mudpie groaned.

"Shock, you’re a moron." She facehoofed.

Quartz looked at me with wide eyes. The slowly went back to normal and I thought I saw a smile form on her face for a second. "Why would you do that knowing what it can do to you?"

I began to flip through its functions as I replied. "Because it is invaluable."

"It's broken! The EFS doesn't even work properly."

I held it up with a smile when I found everything was as I left it. All of the markers, notes, and radio station. It was even more comfortable than last time because it wasn’t trying to cut my leg off.

"It tells me where to go. If I try to take it off, then yes, it will hurt me. Until then it is fine."

The map told me that we were inside the Cloudchaser wreckage. Which meant that the balefire bomb was nearby. What I found odd was that I just noticed how heavily scratched and dented it was, but the dents and scratches looked very old. You could see the marks I had made as they were much less dirty. It was as if the previous owner had constantly hit it in an attempt to remove it.

I don't blame them.

"I will treat you better," I whispered to the device. The EFS flickered to life causing me to smile at the four blue bars. Then I frowned when I saw an orange one. I pointed my hoof at it, "hostile."

Mudpie stood up as she levitated out a pair of 10mm semi-automatic pistols. "I'll check it out."

I gripped the chainsword in magic and pulled it out as I followed Mudpie. She went through the door and looked left then right. I pointed towards the bar and she went left. I stepped out into the Cloudchaser's dark and heavily rusted passageway. The two of us followed it and it felt like it ran the length of the ship, which it most likely did, and ended with a compartment that was blocked by a shut hatch with a wheel.

When I looked back the purple was right behind me with the Buckmaster Automatic Rifle floating in front of her eyes. She had it aimed right at my head as if she were making sure I wasn't going to attack. I smiled at her and she raised an eyebrow.

Mudpie opened the hatch with a rusty squeal. She stepped inside and said. "So that’s where he went."

I followed her in and as my eyes adjusted to the light I saw a large pink pony tied to a chair with a gag. My eyes widened when I took in his dirty pink coat, blue eyes and solid yellow mane.

"Bucky?!" I shouted. "No... you're dead. I cut your head off!"

This Bucky squirmed in his restraints while he struggled to remove the gag. Mudpie went over and looked at him. "Shock, is this that stallion that used you? Can I kill him for you?"

His eyes widened while he shook his head and mumbled something. Mudpie rolled her eyes and undid the gag. "That wasn’t me!" Bucky shouted. "Shock, remember when we broke into that gun shop and I had to take a piss?"

I shook my head. "No. It is a blank memory."

"Anyway. When I went into the back this freaky bug-pony thing knocked me out and I woke up in here."

"Are you a Steel Ranger?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

He shook his. "No! Those assholes are raiders with high-end technology. I'm just an idiot prospector whose got a thing for a fine looking alicorn."

I smiled and nodded. "Yes, you are Bucky. Mudpie, please untie him. His bar is blue."

She went around behind the chair and untied his restraints. There was a noise behind us and I turned around to see Ripper. She tilted her rotting pale gold head. "What are ya doing? He's supposta remain tied up."

"Why?" I asked. "Did you knock him out and tie him up?"

Ripper shook her head. "No. This guy was dropped off with specific instructions to be kept tied up and alive. The teal mare gave me five thousand caps as compensation and I didn't argue."

"Red mane in a large braid?" Ripper nodded. My face burned in anger. "Eclipse." I hissed through my teeth.

Bucky slowly looked around at his surroundings. I watched him curiously and noted he didn’t have any earrings or matted fur from where a Pipbuck would have been. In fact as I look back in Mudpie’s memory that I had access too... he didn’t wear a Pipbuck at the time.

"So then if this is Bucky, then who did I kill?"

"A changeling bounty hunter and my brother," a familiar voice said as the room was lit by a green glow from my side. I saw that instead of a purple alicorn holding Fallen Angel to my head, a black bodied blue eyed bug like pony with fangs held it in their hooves. It had translucent blue bug wings that held her off the ground.

It smiled at me. "You really are an idiot. I can't believe you even put the Pipbuck back on knowing it broadcasts your location to any bounty hunter with access to the frequency. Now let’s do this nice and-"

I charged her with my head lowered and speared the ugly thing with my horn. Foul smelling blood coated it as I tossed the lifeless thing away. I looked over at Mudpie and Bucky. The alicorn was smiling and Bucky looked shocked.

"Well she was going to kill us." I said. "Kill them first I always say."

As I looked forward Ripper blocked my path. "I can't let him go. But if I were to be asleep and he escaped then it's not my problem."

Fallen Angel came up and I pointed the .308 automatic rifle right between her eyes. She nodded. The trigger was magically pulled and the rifle barked twice. Two .308 slugs bored their way through her skull and struck the deck of the ship behind her. I watched as black blood leaked from the holes while she just stood there for a second like nothing happened.

Ripper's eyes shut as she fell sideways to the deck. From my past experience with her I assumed she was still alive.

I looked back at Bucky. "Come with us if you want to live."

*** ***

As the three of us exited the remains of the Cloudchaser I wondered if that alicorn was really the same one I encountered in my dream or if she had access to the memory, and where Rose was. A dense fog blanketed the area and made it hard to see beyond a hundred yards.

But I didn't have long to think as Bucky said. "So, you don't remember me telling you how pretty you looked?" He grinned.

"I do remember something like that before I began drinking. Why do you ask? Is it my mane? I changed it you know. Yours is nice.”

Mudpie rolled her eyes as she put away her weapons and spread her wings. "Stop flirting, start flying."

She flapped her wings and took flight. I attempted to do the same but my wings squirmed under the Zebra Legionnaire armor. My hoof began to undo the clasps so I could fly.

However my ears picked up the sounds of ponies, or those bug things, moving through the rubble. I grabbed Bucky's hoof and dragged him towards a gap in the red bars as I quietly said. "We're surrounded!"

Ahead of us lay a crumbled building which I roughly tossed Bucky towards. As I did so the strangest creature came walking out of a nearby building causing me to stare at it in shock. It looked like a ghoul pony but that is where the similarities ended. It had intelligent glowing green eyes, patches of glowing green under the skin and where there was a mostly missing mane was a white ship captains hat. Its clothing was a heavily tattered ship captains uniform.

I tossed the rifle to Bucky and brought out the chainsaw broadsword I had named Hyde. My magic squeezed the trigger which caused the weapon to roar to life. The glowing ghoul looked at it and smiled as two normal looking ghouls in tattered khaki uniforms stepped out.

"Give us the earth pony and you can walk away, freak." The glowing one said with a hoarse echoing voice. “You’re heavily outgunned by the remnants of the Equestrian Navy. Your Zebra magic can’t save you.”

I glanced around and noticed more coming out. Most had weapons like pistols or shotguns with a few rifles but the one thing they had in common was that they were all in matching uniforms. The captain came closer and my Pipbuck complained while I felt the warm glow of radiation flow from her. It made me almost run up and hug her to get more.

I sidestepped and looked at the captain while Hyde's teeth slowed to a stop. "What's he to you?"

"He has information about the whereabouts of a certain... artifact. The CV-23."

My mind worked over the designation. It was a ship designation I knew that much. Something told me it was the designation for the Steel Ranger's ship.

"It left Oakwood a couple days ago." I told her.

She shook her head. "Liar. That was the CV-21. 23's sister, Hoofington."

"Hey!" A pony that sounded suspiciously like Ripper shouted, "all y'all better get outta here before I kick your ass!"

Both the glowing ghoul and I looked at her as she stood atop the wreckage. She was wearing her tattered dress and necklace that glowed softly. Her weapon of choice was a rusty anti-material rifle that she was cradling in her hooves. The two holes I had put into her skull were healed with only a slight scar to show that they were there in the first place.

The glowing ghoul nodded. "Second Lieutenant Ripper, I heard you died. Now I see that was a lie."

Ripper nodded then aimed the rifle at the glowing ghoul but made no move to grab for the trigger. "I'm giving you one chance to leave before I shove a high explosive incendiary round up your ass. Your presence here has attracted them now leave before they get you."

"I thought these ghouls were 'them'?" I asked.

Ripper's eyes flicked upwards while she aimed the rifle. She grabbed the trigger and a ball of flame shot out of the barrel at the same time I was deafened by the report. Almost instantly there was an explosion above us and bits of flame trickled down trailing white smoke. As the ringing in my ears subsided I noticed movement on the rooftop of the building behind the Cloudchaser.

My EFS showed orange bars intermixed with blue. I turned around and jumped behind the rubble Bucky was using for cover. He looked at me in shock. "What the hell is going on?!"

"I don't know!" I replied as the sounds of their weapons opening fire filled the air.

"Aim for their heads!" The glowing ghoul shouted.

I sheathed Hyde while simultaneously undoing my armor. I slipped out of it, put it away as well as Angel and hauled Bucky onto my back. My wings propelled us into the air with a quick flap. I stole a glance down at what was attacking the ghouls but the low fog obscured my vision. I turned my attention back to the cloud filling sky and gained altitude.

*** ***

I lined up with an alleyway at least five miles away and came in on a glide. Just before my hooves scraped dirt I pulled up and collapsed them, the both of us dropped in a perfectly soft landing. I looked back at Bucky who had his forelegs wrapped around my neck. My smile slowly faded because I felt a hard Little Bucky between his legs on my back.

"Tell me you're not serious." I deadpanned.

He slid off and shrugged. "I couldn't help it. It just happened."

I nodded. "Tell me how did we get married?"

He scratched the back of his head with a pink hoof. "Well... I don't remember getting married and we weren't that drunk when I was knocked out. So I'm guessing that was with the bug-pony. Sucks to be you."

I gulped and couldn't believe I kissed something like one of those bug-pony things let alone had sex with it!

"We shall never speak of it again. Consider us not married."

"So we part ways then." He said as he spun on his hooves to go. I grabbed him and turned him around.

"Not so fast." I projected into his mind. "There are unfinished things we must discuss."

He smiled at me. "So you wanna do it now?"

I blinked in shock and shouted with my mouth. "What?! No I meant the ghouls! They wanted you because you knew something. What was it?"

"Oh. Yeah. I found some shipwreck on another island. A big one almost as big as the Steel Ranger ship with a flat top that ran aground and fell over.”

“Where?” I held out my Pipbuck.

He began to nose around the map and finally ended up marking somewhere off in the ocean. He called it CV-23. ”Should be there. Careful because it’s guarded by traps and freaks. Can I go now?"

I nodded my head. Then looked around. As I did so I caught sight of another bar on my EFS. My gaze went down the alleyway to where I saw a blue bar moving. A small forest green unicorn mare peered around the corner. Her face was dirty and she looked afraid.

I looked back as Bucky galloped away. He didn't matter anymore. I had gotten the information I needed. If a group of ghouls want to chase him that is fine with me. My gaze went back to the filly and I smiled.

"Hello little one. Don't be frightened."

I slowly made my way towards her as she stepped out fully. She wore padded leather barding that covered most of her body and something about her face was familiar. But I couldn't place it. On her hooves were sharpened metal spikes and I wondered why a unicorn wouldn't use a ranged weapon. Then I remembered that I don’t use many ranged weapons either.

She hesitantly walked forward while I brought out a drink. "Thirsty?"

"Yes, ma'am." she replied with a firm nod and an authoritative voice.

I tossed it over and she caught it in her own red magic field. Ruby red like her left eye, the right one was orange. Her mane was a dark tan color and kept in a way that resembled a stallion's mane cut. She drank from the bottle slowly while pocketing the cap. To me she looked between Rose and Comet in height, but closer to Comet.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"A pony sent by Zakiya. You have something of hers and you broke your word. She wants the armor back."

"So she sends a filly to do it?!"

She turned her flank towards me and pointed at her cutie mark. "See this? Means I ain't a foal." She set the hoof down and gave me a stern glare that was meant to intimidate but had no effect on me. "You have two options. Option A: You hand the Legionnaire armor over and I leave. Option B: I make you give it to me. Your pick."

"I pick Option C: I kick your ass and fly away."

She shook her head. "There is no Option C. It's A or B."

Hyde came out while I said. "There's always an Option C."

A red glow surrounded her horn as a pristine condition zebra officer sword was brought out. She smiled. "Oh look. I have a sword too! Seriously, why are you subjecting yourself to this? Just give me the armor and walk away."

"I choose C."

She shook her head in disappointment and charged. I stood my ground because it is foalish to be afraid of this mare. A smirk formed on my face as she got closer. Hyde roared to life and was brought down lengthwise on her as she brought up her sword to block it.

In a flash of red light both her and her sword vanished. A pair of hooves slammed into my side and sent me stumbling. Hyde tore along the ground as I brought it around in an arc. She vanished a second time before it got close and appeared in front of me. The mare reared up on her hind hooves while her forehooves came up. She quickly brought them down as I pulled back. A blade on her hoof sliced a line of red across my face and my eye socket instantly exploded in pain.

The vision in my right eye blurred red from the blood as it shut. I didn’t have time to worry about the loss of my binocular vision. My Pipbuck quickly came around to thump against her skull. She stumbled and vanished in a flash of red. Hyde was sent to my left where I assumed she’d go. I felt it hit ground before I was kicked from behind.

I spun around but she wasn't there. Her short tan tail slinked into my blind side. I growled as my wings propelled me into the air away from this little teleporting monster.

My half face burned in pain, I couldn't see very well and it was looking like she was right. I was going to lose because she could quickly teleport.

She was looking up at me and rolled her eyes.

The mare vanished again. I smiled because for a second I had thought she might have been an alicorn and able to fly.

The sound of a window shattering to my right caused me to look over just as the forest green unicorn was exiting the window. My eye widened. She slammed into me and sent the both of us flying against the brick wall.

As body slammed into it my head whipped back and struck the wall. I blacked out and felt my body fall towards the ground.

*** ***

"Hello, ma'am?" the annoyingly fast unicorn's voice echoed slightly as I felt her hoof tap my face a few times. "If you're alive just nod."

I groaned as I opened my left eye. My right one felt sore and throbbed in pain. There was just blackness on that side now. Her blurry face filled my vision and I could have sworn I saw two of her sitting side by side. The sound of a pounding surf reached my ears and I realized she had moved me to a beach on the coast. We were in some kind of room with grimy beige walls and a partially collapsed ceiling that was covered over by tree branches. Yet the rain still came in.

She brought out a healing potion and held it to my lips. "Why did you do this to yourself?" she asked.

I bit down on the end of the bottle, tilted my head back and drank it all before I said. "What do you mean? You did this to me. You cut me eye."

"No. I've been a professional about all of this. You made it difficult by going with Option B." Then her face took on a softer expression. "Can I get a favor from you?"

"Perhaps."

"I need a ride when it gets dark."

My eye narrowed at the very idea. "You attack me, and then you want me to give you a lift? No! Absolutely not! Go cry to your mother."

She stepped back and her jaw clenched shut. I sat up slowly and looked around with a frown. She had dragged me to some sort of shack. The wood floor had long ago turned grey. A dirty couch and an equally dirty sheet covered it. It took me awhile to realize that this was her home.

"You should have a look at your face. I’m sorry about your eye. I thought you’d have brought up your shield or jump inside the swing, or teleport away. Sometimes shit happens."

The mare stepped back more as she looked over at a pink and yellow box and it was engulfed in her magic. I watched as it was floated over with the top open. It revealed a mirror on the inside of the lid. A mirror that showed me a forest green alicorn with a bandage around the side of her head and a bloody gauze pad covering the eye. The face looked alien even though it was mine. My mind was telling me I should be a crystalline tan color.

I ignored it.

I looked at the unicorn as I said. "I look like hell, huh?" She nodded in response. "So what do I call you?"

"Athena. A name my mother liked very much. She's been dead for a very long time." She levitated the armor from my bags with a smile. Athena set it off to the side then looked at me. "You're free to go if you want. I'll find my own way back to the Delight."

*** ***

The rain drenched my mane, tail, and coat while I walked along the beach. To my left far out to sea was a severe storm. Spray blew in off the waves and that made my day even more miserable.

I had my flank kicked by a filly much much younger than me.

A filly that was familiar.

She said my eye should heal, which I'm hoping it does in time. Because having a big deadzone on my right was annoying. Thankfully the EFS mostly worked. To my right was thick jungle that obscured my view of anything important.

I watched as a small line of four tracers streaked up into the sky at a small target. Line after line went up toward the vehicle.

Eventually one of them struck something vital and it partially exploded underneath. The object began to fall towards me trailing fire. As it came closer I recognized it to be a cargo sky wagon complete with a chrome yellow pegasus with a short black mane still attached to the harness to pull it.

She was struggling to keep it aloft but it was hopeless and gravity eventually won. With a large splash the sky wagon slammed into the ocean. The water put out some of the flames while the wagon bobbed on the surface. I watched the pegasus struggle to keep her head above the waves as the machine dragged her down.

I couldn't let any pony die like that. My wings propelled me into the air and quickly closed the distance as Hyde was unsheathed. Around her neck was an active slave collar and on her flank was a thunder cloud and lightning bolt brand. The mark of a Dashite.

Her aqua blue eyes widened at the sight of me. "Don't kill me!" I ignored her complaint and severed the harness from her body. She pointed her hoof at the wagon and coughed. "Save him too!"

I nodded and gripped the trigger. Hyde roared to life and cut a hole in the side in a spray of sparks. As the metal fell in I peered over. There was a bone white unicorn inside with a greying white mane and a nice body floating in the water that was filling the compartment. I gripped all of his stuff. and him, in magic and hauled them out of the hole.

I looked over at the pegasus mare and noticed she was hovering nearby. I took flight towards the beach with all of the things and she followed close behind. The beach wasn't far. In fact only the mare had been in danger of drowning. The sky wagon settled on the bottom with at least two feet sticking out of the waves.

I set the stallion down and looked at his steadily breathing chest with my one green eye. The mare immediately blocked my view while she nudged him with her hooves. I noticed the bottom of them were tipped black.

"Ivory wake up!" she nudged him harder. "Come on, don't die on me!"

I grabbed her with my hooves and pulled her away. "He's not dying. Just knocked out. Are you two close?"

"Sort of. If he dies my collar goes boom. He's my master and I'm his slave, Tiger Moth. Who are you?"

"Shell Shock. Perhaps I can get him to remove your collar?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't bother me one bit. I fly Ivory around and keep him happy so he keeps the Enclave away. Better deal than some ponies get."

I looked down at the pony she called Ivory as he rolled onto his belly. I smiled at him. "Hello."

His red eyes widened as he scrambled back. "Get away from me you monster!"

Tiger Moth went to his side and put a black tipped hoof on his shoulder. "Ivory. She saved your ass and lost an eye in the process. Show some fucking respect."

He looked at her with suspicion for a second before nodding. Ivory looked at me as my smile returned. Ivory scratched the back of his head with a hoof. "Thanks. I guess I owe you one."

I shut my eye as I gave a head bow. "The Goddess saw fit to lead me here at the right time. Thank her, not me."

“Where are we?” Ivory asked Moth. "I don’t remember so much... green in the wasteland.”

She looked around and shrugged. “No idea we c-”

“Perhaps I can help.” I said while holding out my Pipbuck and they looked at the map. “You are on the main island of the Oakwood island chain. It is inhabited by Steel Rangers, Enclave, regular wastelanders, my sisters and I, and other beings. Though I don’t know how you don’t know how you got here. We are at least four hundred miles off the coast.”

Ivory glared at Moth and his hoof came around. I caught it in magic before it even got close to her face. She stood up and backed away slowly. Moth shouted, “it had to have been that storm we ran into! I ain’t seen nothing like it.”

He tried to pull his hoof away but I squeezed it tightly causing him to squirm and grimace.

“Let me make myself clear...” I began with my mind and squeezed it tighter to get his full attention. “I don’t care about slavers. What I do care about is how they treat their property. There will be no more beating of Tiger Moth while I’m around. If I ever see you strike her again, your punishment will be ten fold of hers. Do I make myself clear?”

I released the pressure and he gasped in relief.

“Crystal,” Ivory nodded and clutched the hoof. I saw a ghost of a smile cross Moth’s face. Then he looked at the sunken sky wagon as he asked, “so how do we get out of here now?”

I looked towards the area where the guns had shot from as a small plan formed in my head. Then I looked at Ivory. "We say hello to the neighbors."

*** ***

The EFS showed about seven bars scattered about the camp. On the back of a steam truck was a quad machine gun turret. Two ponies were sitting by a fire cooking fish. One worked on the gun while another worked on ammo. One was walking a patrol while two others stood watch.

The steam truck had a boiler at the front along with a large pipe for the exhaust. These ponies didn't look like Steel Rangers and neither were they hostile. I looked to my left at Ivory and Moth crouched low behind some branches while I blended in much easier.

I still had the Buckmaster and brought it out. Moth smiled at it but it was gripped in Ivory's red magic field. He brought it close, checked the ammo and asked. "Any more clips?"

I nodded and gave him the two extras that Ripper had filled up.

"Why can't I have a gun?" Moth quietly whined. Ivory looked at her with an arched brow. She pointed at her collar. "It's not like I'm gonna commit suicide by explosive collar!"

I nodded at her logic because it was sound. If she wanted to stay alive she couldn't kill Ivory. A 9mm pistol was brought out and two magazines. Moth gripped it in her teeth.

My gaze then went to the camp while I whispered. "Wait here. Only shoot if they shoot first."

They nodded in unison and I began trotting forward with my magic gripping Hyde's handle ready to draw him at the slightest threat. The ponies looked mostly bored but the two by the fire were talking excitedly. I made sure to step around leaves and branches that would give me away too early.

The closest thing to me was the steam truck. The pony’s head was buried deep in the mechanism and it gave me a nice view of his flank. I smiled at the nice curves and approached it as I asked with my mouth. "Um, hello, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm fixing a gun!" the mare replied without looking at me and my eyes widened. I quickly looked at something else as a blush formed on my face. "Damn thing jammed on us. Talk to Sarge if you want more." She flicked her tail at one of the ponies by the fire. "The small one."

I walked over while wondering why I hadn't been attacked yet. The two ponies at the fire stopped talking at my approach and I laid down to match eye level with them so as to not appear threatening. It was then that I noticed they wore old Equestrian Army uniforms and were ghouls.

"Excuse me, but I'm looking for a pony named Sarge."

The smaller of the two, who was blue, raised a hoof. "That's me.” His voice was hoarse. “What do you need?"

I looked back at Ivory and Moth then looked Sarge in the eyes and glared. "You launched an unprovoked attack on a civilian aerial vessel. They require compensation for you nearly killing them."

He smiled and it slowly turned into a chuckle. "Yeah? Well you're just one alicorn and those forties can punch through your shield like paper. Besides you ain't got no authority over me."

I thought back, then smiled at his corporal uniform. "Yeah?" He nodded. I inhaled and Canterlot shouted in his face. "SNAP TO ATTENTION SOLDIER!" Their eyes widened and they obeyed instantly with a sharp salute. My voice softened back to normal as I continued. "That's no way to talk to your superiors. I am Master Sergeant Lilium Bell. Serial number six, zed, two, seven, five, one."

I returned the salute and they relaxed. Their eyes narrowed and Sarge said. "You could have found a pony named that in a memory orb. I need more proof before I believe you."

I gave a roll of my eye. "At the end of the war the company I was with was trapped on a zebra hill facing a legion. We used our tank destroyers and punched through before making our way to a stable that had already sealed. Regardless of what we did the door wouldn't open. So we parted ways. My nickname was Dog."

Sarge nodded. "Yeah, I remember you now. You guys picked us up on your way to the stable. Except you were tan and had a metal leg. Not... this green thing in front of us."

I shrugged. "I was dying of radiation poisoning but I am a better pony now." They glared at me and I grinned sheepishly. "Well there's nothing wrong with being a ghoul. I chose a different path. So what brings you to Oakwood?"

"Caps." Sarge replied.

"Caps and entertainment." the other one said.

"What if I told you the entire Crystal Empire treasury was lost at the end of the war and there’s a pony on this island chain that might know where it is?"

"They use caps now, Do... Master Sergeant."

"Dog is fine. What is wrong with gold? We can start anew with it! Build a new army and take over."

He scratched his chin. “I don’t know. It’s a lot to think about. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

I looked over at Ivory and Moth as I shouted. “Come on over, they won’t hurt you!” My gaze went back to the ghouls. “You won’t, right?”

He shrugged and shook his head. “Not if they’re friends of yours.”

"Good," I nodded. "They require food and a place to sleep."

*** ***

My ears picked up a pony moving through the camp under the cover of a drizzle. I slowly opened my eyes as a black ghoul approached me. His grey mane was mostly gone but the cutie mark on his flank was unmistakable. I sat up while my jaw hit the floor.

He stopped short and looked at me as his eyes slowly narrowed. "I heard you call yourself Lilium Bell. You better clear out before I snap your neck."

"Midnight?" I tilted my head.

He nodded slowly. “You have five seconds to prove to me that you are who you say you are.”

“There was a snowstorm one winter about thirty years after the world ended. I went out in search of food while you stayed behind. You said the alicorns weren’t friendly and I wouldn’t come back. I ended up losing my way in the blizzard. A green alicorn found me and took me to shelter.”

"I waited," his voice was shaky, "I waited for days for you to come back. I searched for weeks and came up empty. I got sick, worried, and thought you died! Why didn't you visit me? Show me a sign that you were alive? Anything would have been fine!"

I brushed his rotting black cheek with a hoof while I said. "I tried, but The Goddess punished me if I did so."

"Well you look... good, Lily. Better than me at least."

My watery eye looked into his orange eyes. I did the only thing I could think of. I hugged Synth tight. His horn softly rubbed against mine while he returned the hug.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "I was an idiot and should have listened to you. You were right. I was wrong. I never came back..."

"So what'd you bring me to eat? I’ve been waiting for a long time." He said in his rough voice. I was glad for the subject change and knew a game he was hinting at.

I pulled back slightly and smiled. "Warm apricot pie."

"Oh?" he tilted his head. "And where is this mystical apricot pie? I see a green apple pie in front of me and I'm very hungry."

I mentally scolded myself for forgetting my color change. My smile turned into a grin as I pulled him right up against my body. "Yeah? Well too bad, mister. The kitchen is closed." His ears drooped in disappointment while I pulled away.

"It's because I'm a ghoul, isn't it?" Synth asked.

"No. We've been separated for a very long time and I've had a recent bad relationship. Let's take it slow.” It was a lie. He looked hideous and I was in no way going to let him get even close.

He cocked his head 45 degrees. "Define bad relationship."

I touched my horn to his to show him everything from me attacking the Steel Rangers by myself to this point. I left no detail out. He knew of everything, even bug-pony Bucky's drunken pleasure romp. When it was over I hadn't realized that I was crying until he wiped the tear off my muzzle. The sun was coming up by then and bathed the clouds in an orange glow as it tried to penetrate.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "I won't tell anyone here about the bounty. I had many mares, and one stallion, that didn't even come close to filling the wound you left."

"Coltcuddler." I smiled at him.

"He almost replaced you. He was that good." Synth winked.

I feigned a hurt expression and put my hoof to my chest. "But Synthie, your mother wouldn't approve! If she found out she would call me and say 'Lilium, what is my son doing with another stallion? Go get him back this instant'! Then I'd have to kick his ass."

"True." He nodded then smiled. "So where's this blue alicorn?”

"She comes and goes." I looked down between his legs and forced a smile at the ugly flesh. It wasn't a pretty sight. "Does that even work?"

"Reconsidering your denial?" he asked as he spread his legs a little wider.

I almost touched it to see if it would fall off. Instead I tore my gaze away and landed on the steam truck.

"No. Only curious." I said quietly and made a mental note to find some brain bleach in the form of moonshine.

He got closer and whispered in my ear. "Even with that bad eye you're as beautiful as Celestia now."

I pushed him away in anger with a snarl, Synth fell over into the mud with a plop. "And what was I before, a fat cow and convenient warm fuck on those cold winter nights?!" I shouted. My joints were stiff and protested as I stood up to my full height to glare down at him.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said as he rolled to his hooves. He looked up at me with his big orange eyes in an attempt to do an eye trick to get me to change my mind. “I meant you’re even better looking now than before!”

It didn't work.

"You meant exactly what you said. You thought I was ugly and... and, and fat!" My eye narrowed and I tracked him with my head while he walked in a circle checking me out. "What?" I asked snidely.

"Nothing. Just trying to figure out how you managed to become this alicorn. I mean it's obviously a new body because you have four legs and are a different color."

I shut my eye while I slowly shook my head. His words caused me to wonder whether or not I should tell him or simply show him what happened. I settled on telling him. "Synth. I am the same pony with a reformed body. The green took me to Maripony and only then did they tell me the truth. I would be turned into one of them. Instead of running away, I took off my cyber leg and jumped over the railing into the vat of I.M.P."

The air behind Synth shimmered and revealed Mudpie with her head tilted. "You jumped into that shit?!" Synth recoiled in shock at the sight of the blue alicorn. "I was scared shitless!"

I smiled at her. “Yes, it was like a warm bath.” Then a thought struck me. "Why didn't you help against Athena?!" I shouted.

"I did," she replied with a shrug. "After you fell to the ground I teleported the both of you away. Those... things were closing in."

My ears drooped because I realized Mudpie watched me fight the filly without lending a hoof. Though with how fast the filly was teleporting and moving I doubt she had a shot. I nodded and pulled Synth against my body with a wing. He smiled and Mudpie's face darkened as a scowl started forming. It quickly softened and she forced a fake smile.

I looked over and nuzzled behind Synth's ear just to make her more jealous, then I looked at her and said. "This is Midnight Bell. I call him Synthie. I rescued his flank a few weeks after the balefire bombs fell and we were very happy together."

"Right..." She rolled her eyes. "Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm. I'm happy you two found each other again. But don't you find it the least bit suspicious? Look around you."

I let go of Synth and turned a full circle. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The others were asleep. Ivory was using Moth as a makeshift pillow to get away from the mud. She had a smile on her face and apparently didn’t mind being mostly covered in mud, or being used as a pillow. I suspect there’s more to their relationship than master and slave. The mechanic was passed out by the steam truck indicating that she worked well into the night.

"Nope. Everything is perfect here." There was movement near my blindside, so I turned my head. The Goddess was standing inside a group of trees watching us. She nodded slowly.

"That's not what I meant." Mudpie said. I looked at her and hugged Synth again with my wing.

"Then what did you mean?" he asked.

"She showed you everything, right?" Synth nodded. "Okay, then answer me this: Where is Rose? Each time Shell Shock is alone after she leaves, a random pony tries to kill her."

Synth bobbed his head around while he thought over her question. He nodded. "True. But it seems like coincidence. If Rose was a changeling then that means what she mimics must be her size. She probably has bad luck and it seeps over to Lily."

"Fair enough," Mudpie nodded. "But you listen here, ghoulie, you better not betray her. Otherwise you won't see me coming."

"You must have me confused with a pony that's dead. I would never sell her out like that." Almost as an afterthought he added. "Even if she did disappear for over a hundred and seventy years."

I smiled at his rotting visage. Mudpie nodded and hovered off the ground. She looked at the both of us. "I'm going to go see if there is anything nearby."

Before she could turn to fly away I grabbed Synth's mouth and kissed him on the lips. It was awkward having to lean down to do it but it had the effect I was going for. Mudpie's face turned a deep shade of purple as her face reddened in anger and the scowl formed fully. Synth didn't notice. He was too absorbed in the kiss and had his eyes shut with his forelegs around my neck. I decided to break it off before he tried to tongue me with whatever it was he called a tongue.

When I looked around Mudpie was gone.

So I felt around with my mind and connected to her. "Now perhaps you will stop coming onto me," I projected and broke the connection.

He glared back. "So, let me get this straight. She loves you, you reject her and break her heart like that? What the fuck is wrong with you?! Go apologize!"

I sighed and took flight.

*** ***

Athena's shack was small and rundown from the outside. It sat well out of range from the high tide and close to the treeline. A low misty fog had rolled in from the sea and made everything grey. I swooped down and landed softly at the door. My hoof came up to knock but I hesitated.

I wondered what if Mudpie had taken her to the Delight, but it was daytime and there was a single blue bar. I shrugged and knocked on the door three times. It took a few seconds before it was opened by a sweat covered Athena levitating one of Mudpie's semi-automatics. I found her two different color eyes disturbing.

She smiled as she lowered the weapon. "Hello, ma'am. I take it you're here to see Muddy?" I nodded and the door opened all the way. "Come in. I'll make some tea."

I walked inside and noticed that a sweaty Mudpie was on the couch glaring at me. "What are you doing here?" she asked as Athena shut the door. "Don't you have some zombie to cuddle with?"

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know what they were up to. I shook my head. "I came to apologize. What-"

"You could have told me about him sooner!" she shouted. “You knew about my feelings and teased me, yet all this time you had him?! That... that is just-”

"Now now. Let her explain." Athena said from the fireplace.

"Fine," Mudpie grumbled as she crossed her forelegs across her chest.

I nodded. "I didn't know he was alive and you knew I liked stallions. So me liking one shouldn’t make you rage like that. I'm sorry I made you upset. I had no idea you would react like that."

"Except this one's different! I don't like him. Something's off with the whole thing. He just happens to randomly appear after Rose goes missing again?"

I watched as Athena set three cups of tea down. I lifted mine in magic then looked at it funny while wondering if it was poison, but Mudpie took a sip of hers. Athena scooted close and wrapped a foreleg around Mudpie.

"You two look cute," I said and smiled. Then took a sip of tea and noticed it tasted like sweet pineapples, so I drank some more.

"Well Muddy came here severely upset over what you did. I comforted her and it escalated rather quickly. So yeah. You don't have to worry about her anymore."

I nodded and drank the whole cup. It took me awhile to notice a certain effect. I was getting warmer across my whole body and felt like talking all day. Mudpie smiled at me as she set her cup down.

"Do you know what you just drank?"

I nodded. "Good tea that tasted like pineapple."

Athena grinned. "There was a truth serum injected into the tea. Will you answer Muddy’s questions honestly?"

"Yup!" I exclaimed and held out my cup. "Can I have more? I liked it very much."

"Sure," Athena replied as she filled it with magic. I lifted the cup and sipped it. "It's more of that serum though. I wasn't sure if you'd swap cups so I spiked the pot. In other words... we’re all drugged."

"First question: What's your name?" Mudpie asked.

"Which one?"

"Your real name."

I shrugged. "Dunno. The only pony name I know of is Lilium Bell and it doesn't sound like my name. It was given to me in my earliest memory."

"Why don't you know?"

I drank half of my cup before I responded. "They said it would be bad if I knew my real name. I didn’t question. There's also a biiig gap in my memories. It's where another pony is being locked away currently. She likes to insert herself in the place of another pony in a memory in an attempt to take control. I wish I could have thumped her over the head with a stick instead of a rocket up the ass..."

Mudpie scratched her chin with a wing for a few moments before she nodded. "Okay. Do you love Midnight Bell?"

I shrugged. “It’s doubtful now.”

"Alright, have you ever had sex with a mare?"

"No!"

"Why not?" she tilted her head. "Why don't you like mares?"

"Because two mares can't make a foal and I want a foal! And we're so needy and emotional." I held up my hoof and pointed at it. "I mean really, have you ever seen such a bad looking hoof? I want a hooficure and grooming, and mud bath, but I don't know where to get one! I want armor, but I can't fit into any. Well there was one, except a familiar looking green unicorn stole it from me. Want, want, want! Could I live with another pony who's also like that? Ugh, no way. Not even as a roommate."

Mudpie glanced over at Athena, then looked at me and nodded. "Sounds like your logic alright. Would you ever have sex with me? Say if you were drunk?"

I shook my head. "Not unless you turned into a stallion. Then I'd totally have your foal right now. Synth is, well, he's a ghoul and... fucking hideous now."

"Okay that was the creepiest answer yet." Mudpie looked at Athena. "Are you sure this didn't make her crazier too? She's normally more subdued and less vocal."

"Nope. Just your standard MoM truth serum."

Mudpie shrugged. "Moving on. Are you going to be a better pony?" I nodded. "Will you help the wasteland and not try to take it over?"

"I only wanted to help from the start. They don't like us and it forces me to use drastic measures, like guided missile." I stood up and set my tea down. As I turned around my EFS lit up with orange bars. "Hostiles." I grumbled.

“Shit they must have seen you,” Athena laid down and made herself as small as possible as she whispered, “get low, don’t make a sound and pray to your Goddess they don’t come in. They can rip limbs off as easily as you levitate an object "

Sister and I obeyed without question. I laid on the floor with my face turned to the side to avoid my long, exquisite, horn from protruding up. My face itched under the bandages but I made no move to fix it. I just grit my teeth and glanced around with my eye.

What sounded like wet thumps slammed into the walls as if a pony was walking on them and they followed the bars as they moved to the roof.

"The door's locked, right?" Mudpie whispered.

"They don't use doors," Athena replied as she covered us with the sheet. The room was filled with diffuse light when whatever it was removed the sticks covering the hole in the roof.

A pony shape stuck its head in before it dropped down with a plop. The orange bar moved over to the fire Athena had going and stayed there. All that could be heard was the crackle of flames and a strange whistling sound like a pony whistling a tune.

Soon another bar moved in next to it followed by another. I glanced at Athena, who had her eyes shut, and wondered if the three of us could take them down. Except if she was afraid of them then that meant they were very dangerous.

There was a crash and orange flames licked at the couch as they knocked over what Athena used as a fireplace. The whistling increased to a slight howl as the other two joined in.

I connected to Mudpie and fed her my magic as I said in her mind. "Get us out of here."

She pulled more of my my magic at the same time I felt her wrap us in a teleportation spell. The wood floor was ripped away and was slowly replaced with jungle and rain.

In a blue flash we lay somewhere in the jungle on the island. Judging by the fatigue I was feeling we had teleported far away from the shack.

"Well Shock," Mudpie panted. "Welcome to Stable 384."

I sat up and looked around. All I saw was thick jungle hillside and it took me almost a minute to spot the shape of an overgrown concrete bunker with a still sealed door. I got up and left the two lovers while Athena complained about her place burning down.

*** ***

Stable 384 was clean and rusty at the same time if such a thing were possible. The floors and half of the walls were spotless. But the ceiling and top half of the walls were rusted into disarray. Mudpie was right. It felt as if no pony had set a hoof inside here in the last two hundred years.

To further spur that feeling there was nothing. No beds, no machines in the cafeteria, no terminals, no bones anywhere, but the air filtration system worked just fine, which was quite… odd to say the least. We had made our way down to the deepest level of maintenance to a room that was massive and spotless all over. I was forced to cut the door open with Hyde to get in because the terminal required a special card to access and none of us had it. How convenient.

The room was unlike any I had seen before. In the center was an octagonal glass room with an open door and ten metal disks inside. Around the outside was a metal catwalk. Mudpie and Athena stood at a console of sorts on the wall while they fiddled with the dials and buttons trying to turn it on.

I was standing at the threshold of the glass door and stepped inside the room. Metal grating echoed beneath my hooves as I headed for one of the discs. My gaze went to the ceiling where I saw pipes and vents for who knows what. All in all I was quite curious as to what the machine did, but it was quite silly to me. The room felt like it served no point. They had built it here for some kind of reason, yet it never activated? Who builds such a thing?!

My heavy saddlebags reminded me that the body snatcher was still in my head, or so I thought. She had filled them with food, ammo, cloth and a few RadAways. Clinging tightly to my form was a suit of stable barding I had found in the complex, my wings poked through a pair of slits I had cut in the fabric. I felt like it would at least protect me against a knife and I would be able to use my wings should I care to do so.

As I lowered my gaze to the others, I saw Mudpie push a red button on the console. After a few seconds went by, she frowned and flexed her azure blue wings. “Huh. Guess this thing is broken.”

I nodded at her logic, because it made sense since that would be one reason for ponies not using it. Athena was sitting near the blue alicorn with a blue book floating in her green colored aura. She flipped the page as her eyes moved back and forth. “This says here that they were working on a device to get ponies from one side of Equestria to the other in less time than it took for a skywagon or train.”

I stepped over to one of the metal discs and tapped it with my hoof, receiving a glass like clink instead which caused me to frown. “Makes sense, but this doesn’t seem that good.”

“What do you mean?” Mudpie asked, drawing my attention back to her.

“If it worked, then why was it not made bigger?” I tilted my head as I unfolded my wings and refolded them. “They clearly were onto a good idea. You could transport more ponies to other areas in the blink of an eye.” Then, I looked down at the disc. “But only ten?”

“Shock, what on this island makes sense?”

“Good point,” I muttered under my breath.

“Aha!” Athena shouted. “It says here that we need to have the door closed to go through the pathway.”

With a nod, I turned my head towards the door and engulfed it in magic. As I pulled it closed, Mudpie shouted, “Shock, wait! We don’t-”

Immediately, the glass room was encased in darkness as the lights dimmed, but was quickly replaced by a faint glow coming from the floor. As Mudpie rushed over to the glass door and failed to pull it open, a faint humming emanated from the walls around me. A tingle in the air caused all of my fur to stand on end as if I were about to be struck by lightning. I backed away from the glowing disc, thinking it were the source of the tingle.

Mudpie uselessly banged her hoof against the door. “Use your sword! I can’t teleport inside!” she shouted, her voice muffled by the glass. I nodded at her idea and concentrated on finding the weapon, which was easier said than done as ice shot through my horn when I attempted to grab it with magic.

Stumbling back and falling on my flank, I cried out in pain as I hit the metal grate below. The ice receded when I stopped trying to use magic. My shaky hoof brushed my long, exquisite, horn as if doing so could make it feel better.

"I can't," I whispered. Mudpie and Athena could not hope to hear it through the glass. The blue's ears folded back when she saw my predicament. I was stuck in some kind of chamber that we had no idea what it did other than a theory.

"Shock!" Mudpie slammed her hoof against the glass again. "Wake the fuck up!"

I looked over at Athena, who had moved into my blind spot. The forest green unicorn was busy adjusting dials for a reason unknown to me. Her face was buried in the book and a feeling of dread washed over me.

I quickly shook it off and charged at the door, heading right for Mudpie. My body weight slammed into it, the force reverberating through my side and up into my jaw. Mudpie grabbed the door handle with her hooves and tried to pull it open as I jumped into it a second time. Only to have the same result greet me. The glass didn't even crack or shudder. As I backed up to get another running start, I finally noticed the glass was at least as thick as my hoof.

My hoof touched something and I felt electricity and fire shoot up my leg, causing my wings to pop out as I screamed in pain. The burning sensation was followed by the feeling of my leg being ripped apart one molecule at a time. As I reared up and flapped my wings in a futile attempt to escape the pain, I could feel my other leg rip apart under the onslaught of whatever the machine was doing. The sensation quickly moved into my empty stomach where I felt nothing. I didn't have time to even open my eyes before the burning and ripping sensation shot up to my lungs, then engulfed me completely.

Through the pain I felt like I was floating on the air; however, the pain suddenly vanished and I felt myself falling through a strange blue and purple vortex. All manner of sights, sounds, and emotions ran through me as I tumbled down the rabbit hole. My bodily feelings slowly returned and vanished again a few times.

I saw a familiar blue alicorn's face float by. As I reached out to touch Mudpie, she vanished just as quickly as she had appeared. I looked around and saw that they were all my memories, strangely connected to each other. There was Mudpie, Blue, RJ, and other alicorns including The Goddess herself. She radiated perfection everywhere she appeared even if she did not physically show herself. Even the mere memory of The Goddess was perfect in its own way.

But, I felt the memories slip away and I soon tumbled out of their sight. There was the Destroyer, that little shit who killed the Goddess. My hoof reached for the memory, but I stopped and stared at the silver metal as the swirling light glinted off it. I brought up my other hoof and saw my tan hide sparkle in the light as if the Crystal Heart was on full blast. A warm feeling in my chest swelled up as I smiled at the sparkling hooves.

I was whole. Whatever magic they built into the machine gave me my original body back, but the effect did not last. As I tumbled towards a spot below, I felt my insides catch fire again. I watched with wide eyes as my crystal coat caught fire and burn to a crisp before a purple light blinded me.

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Shell Shock: Level up!

New perk - Thick skull. +10% damage resistance against attacks to your head.

Quest complete - Escape from Oakwood.

Side quest accepted - Voices in your head. Get the other pony out of your skull before it drives you to madness. The clock is ticking.

Side quest failed - Where's my money?! Reason: some other pony completed it before your slow ass did.

Side quest failed - The Box. Reason: You failed to retrieve it from Ripper before leaving Oakwood. You're a nublet for forgetting that.