Deicide

“I am a pony, more sinned against than sinning.”

“You're joking right?” It was odd for me to say those words, because Mr. House never joked. And he certainly wouldn't bring me, Flare, and Serenity up to his irradiated office, just to tell a horrible joke. So he must have called us up to tell a horrible truth. When he had said a few days earlier he had a job he wanted me to do when I was healed, I was hoping it would involve sticking a spike through Dragonslayer's heart.

The plan, for lack of an appropriate term, was for me to somehow infiltrate The Clips and Clops Casino (home to Granny Dynamite, The Galicians, and about fifteen thousand ponitrons), sneak into their basement, and look for a computer that remotely controlled the ponitrons. Apparently the documents from Wallkirk's office I’d delivered to Mr. House indicated there was an extra electrical room in the basement, this one connected directly to the local power grid, and considering the hotel had been Wallkirk's base of operations before the war, it seemed to indicate some kind of network control. It seemed like a stretch to me, but Mr. House was convinced that the ponitrons had to be remotely controlled from somewhere, and up until that point nobody had any clue where.

“For once I agree with pea brain,” Flare said, standing closer to the door than the rest of us for fear House would notice we’d let an Enclave officer into a private meeting.

The ghoul snapped his eyes towards the blue pegasus, his glowing eyes narrowing, “You are here, pegasus, not because I like or trust you, but so I can tell you this directly: if any of this information is leaked to the Enclave, you won’t survive the night. Your opinions are of no concern.” Mr. House turned back to address me. “There is more, of course, and you needn't use the front door to access the room. Wallkirk created the tunnels, and he was nothing if not paranoid, so he created a back-door connected to his tunnel system.”

That made a certain amount of sense, as it seemed every one of the major hotels had some sort of emergency exit. It seemed odd to me how prepared the city was for the apocalypse. Not that it’d helped in the end. “What if the door is locked. Or blocked. Or can only be opened from inside?” I thought of the secret tunnel entrance Mayhem had showed me a while ago.

“That,” he looked back over at Flare, “is why I'm letting you take him.”

“No door can withstand my might,” Flare said in a self-amused tone.

I had to admit the existence of a back-door did make it more likely there was something important in that room, but that didn’t mean he was right about what that thing was. It was probably just a secret room like the one under The Moon... and Mr. House, like everypony else, needed something to cling to.

“If there is a computer there, how will that help?” It wasn't as if I knew how to hack, the best I could do was kick it, or hope Serenity was able to do something with it. Even though Serenity managed to wriggle her way into coming with me to the briefing, if only so she could see Platinum Haze afterward, but she was far too sick to come along. Besides, with the tunnels awash as they were, I would have insisted she stay in Dise anyway.

Mr. House walked back to his computer and started to type something, “If I'm right...” That was a pretty big if. “Then the computer would have to transmit and receive information wirelessly. Assuming it's a model of computer that is similar to the popular models before the war...” There we go again with the assuming. “I should be able to upload a program onto your pipbuck that you can transfer onto the computer so I can control it remotely.”

“And when it's no-” Flare started to snark, but was swiftly cut off.

“If it's not.” Mr. House dug into a drawer and removed a... crown. Actually, I think it was technically a tiara, with a black opal inlaid into it. “This is a recollector. It's incredibly valuable—virtually priceless. It will allow you record any memory so long as the device is on and active. I want you to wear this once you enter the room, and look very closely at everything inside. If the program doesn't work, I want to know as much about it as possible.” At least it was pretty... though after Platinum Haze's memory spell fuck up, I was nervous about using that thing.

“Why don't you just send Wishing Star.” If I remembered correctly, the impossibly advanced cyborg had like, camera eyes. And he could disguise himself, so he would’ve far better suited for this mission than I would.

“He is away on a mission,” Mr. House said in an almost bitter tone. “Most of the Hizai are. Only you, Starscream, and Tightlip's security detail are available, and the others I need.” He beckoned me with a hoof to his computer terminal, so I did what was asked. Serenity was lying down on my back, but I think she’d fallen asleep a while ago.

“Hoof.”

I lifted up my metal leg.

“Other hoof.” Oh, right, my pipbuck.

He plugged a wire into my pipbuck and connected it to his massive computer, but kept talking. “Do you know they blame me.” I didn't even get to ask 'who' before he answered, “The people. Somehow they found out I'm a ghoul, and they think I wanted this...” The radiation, because ghouls healed from it. “They're in the tunnels blaming me for what happened, accusing me of kicking out civilians to die while I horde rad-away for my Hizai and bask in the radiation. They think I wanted this!” He looked up at the window towards the raptor still looming high over the city. “I can't save everyone; I kept as many inside as possible, but I couldn't bring the entire city into my walls. So they blame me, and they're going to come for me. The longer the wait, the more the discontent in the tunnels grow, and eventually they will come for me. Tight Lip will do what she can, but I do not have as many guards as I would like, and if the city rises up to tear me down it won't be enough.” He closed his eyes as my pipbuck beeped that it was finished downloading the program.

“Who... who do you think did this then? Blow the megaspell, that is...” I knew it was Dragonslayer, but what I didn't know was who he was working for. I assumed it was the Steel Rangers, or at least the Steel Rangers controlled by Blackwater, that horrible bitch, but I wasn't sure and maybe Mr. House knew something.

He looked over at me, “Do I really need to answer.” He pointed a hoof towards the raptor hanging over the city like a black cloud. “Who had the most to gain from this chaos? And then that thing shows up on the same day. I don't believe in coincidence.”

Flare coughed politely into his armoured hoof, “The Enclave doesn't have the resources to manufacture regular megaspells, never mind fuse them with ponies.”

“Nopony asked your opinion, chicken.” Mr. House said with a sneer directed at Flare.

“Since you asked my opinion, I think it was the Minotaurs.” I almost laughed. The Minotaur King was at the Train Station when the bomb went off. “Who’s to say the guy they sent as their 'King' was anybody at all? Maybe he was just a good liar who'd die for the cause, and when the cause was wiping out the entirety of the NCA top brass and security personnel from every major gang, then it was worth the price.” If I hadn't travelled with the Minotaur King to the base in the tunnels I might have agreed with Flare.

“And still you continue.” Mr House hoofed over the crown-like device to me, “Be careful with this. If it gets broken, I'm taking it out of your pay.” I was going to have to thank Flare later for putting my boss in a bad mood. “I don't know why you put up with that Enclave bastard.”

“He's not so bad,” I replied as I carefully put the expensive device into my saddle bag, “if you can get past the talking. And he saved my life a few times.” My memory went back into to the time he took the gatling laser to the back to save me, and it burned so bad it melted part of his armour to slag. A crowning moment to my stupidity.

Mr. House lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Whatever your reasons, watch him. I don't trust him, and neither should you.”

---

But I did trust Flare. Which was weird to think about, because he hadn't always always honored that trust, but when it came right down to it, I knew he'd risk his life for me or Serenity, and that's what really mattered. So long as that didn't change, I would always trust Flare, idiot that he was.

“Mmmmmh...” I heard mumbling on my back right as we left House's office. “Is it over?” Serenity asked before smacking her lips and giving a tiny yawn.

“Yes, sweetie,” I said as I continued to walk towards the elevator.

“And you missed it!” Flare said with false enthusiasm that was slightly undermined by the almost robotic like voice his mask made him sound like. “There were balloons! And Cake! Then we got the awesomest mission ever. Shame you fell asleep.”

“Butt.” Serenity said, and I couldn't have been more proud of her. “What really happened? Where we goin' next?”

“You're going nowhere.” We entered the small elevator, and I quickly punched in the button to take us to Platinum Haze's floor. “Except to hang out with either Platinum Haze or Pearly.” I hadn't really asked, but I was sure one of them would be willing to watch Serenity for a bit. Though I was more hoping Pearly would agree because of the radiation issues.

“But moooo-”

“No 'but mom's. You're still sick, and you need to get better before I will even think about taking you on another dangerous adventure.” Hopefully I would never have to take her with me ever again, but even with my limited pattern recognition, that I knew that wasn’t likely.

“It's going to be boring anyway,” Flare said in an attempt to back me up, “just computer stuff.” It was a poor attempt.

“But I love computer stuff!” Serenity tugged on the back of my mane, “Mommy, you need to let me come now! How are you going to be able to do computery stuff, and what if I need to save your life again?”

“I'll be fine, honey.” Well, as fine as I ever was. “Flare will be there too, and he's saved my life plenty of times too, and the computer stuff is simple.” Probably.

“But what if I need to save his life too!” Serenity said as we walked out of the elevator towards the room.

“Then I guess we'll all die a horrible death as we cry out our stupidity for not bringing you along. It'll be sad and tragic, and you'll be secure in how right and awesome you are.” Flare said, his voice echoing from the mask. “You're still not coming with us.”

“Awww, but-” She let out a series of coughs that almost knocked her off. “I'm not too-” Cough. “Sick.”

“Sweetie.” I stopped in the middle of the hall and listened carefully to the ticking of my pipbuck. The radiation levels outside of safe zones hadn't gone down at all since last time. “Here, drink this.” I took out a rad-away, and before I could turn to hoof it to her I felt Serenity magic it away and start chugging. “You're probably too sick to be up here at all. I'm worried about you, which is why you can't go. You can't save anypony if you're puking your guts out.”

Serenity finished the rad-away, make an 'ick' sound, and put the empty potion into my pack before replying, “Yeah... alright... just this once.”

“Just this once.” I promised, opening the door to my old room.

The inside was just as I left it, including the blue alicorn lying across the couch floating a book in front of her. Platinum Haze's ears twitched and she turned to smile at us. “Ah, we were not expecting you back so soon.” She carefully bookmarked her page and set the book down on the coffee table. “We regret to inform you we are still slightly bleeding radiation, and it would dangerous for us to spend any excessive time in close contact with eac-”

“HAZE!” Serenity, not one for listening to warnings, charges forward and wrapped her forelegs around the alicorn's neck, “Hi!”

“Uh, hi.” Platinum Haze stretched out a wing and wrapped it around the filly hugging her close. “While we are glad to be seeing you again, we must repeat our previous statement about it being dangerous to have prolonged contact with us, due to our body’s affinity with magical radiation.”

“It's fine!” Serenity said with the type of confidence only a child could have. “I just had some of that icky rad-away, and I got much sicker the other day after saving Momma's life. But I had to do it; you know how she is, always getting' shot'n stuff. Most ponies would be dead by now, but they're not as tough as Momma.”

There were few enough ponies who were quite as tough as me, so I guess that was good. “Yeah, I'm a tough one,” I said stepping into the room as well, “and Serenity, that's enough hugging for now. You don't want to be sick for any longer than you have to.”

Serenity gave Haze's neck another squeeze but did reluctantly let go and walk back over to the other side of the room, “Stupid radiation...,” she muttered under her breath.

“We are sorry, young Serenity,” Platinum Haze said as she got up from the couch to stand at her full impressive height across the room from us. “But we heard you were very brave.”

Serenity's face lit back up at the talk about how brave she was and she nodded enthusiastically, “Yup! I saved Momma's life, and scared away the big bug when it tried to kill her. Silly things were weak to loud noises; I think it hurt him.” Huh, I hadn't actually thought about the spell that Serenity used. It must have been some sort of modification of her sound dispelling spell. “OH!” Serenity spun around quickly showing off her cutie-mark, “Look, look!”

Platinum Haze smiled softly, “It is quite lovely to be sure. What do you imagine it means Serenity?”

“It means I'm good with cybernetics and have a big heart, I think. Yeah, totally. Because I'm awesome, I'm going to make cybernetics when I'm older, Mr. House said he's going to train me, and stuff.” Serenity said with a huge smile. “Isn't it awesome?”

“Yes, we believe it is indeed something worthy of considerable praise. We have met many ponies, but we cannot recall meeting anypony with that particular special talent. Truly you are unique and special.” Serenity seemed to accept this compliment judging by her huge smile.

“Hey...” Serenity squinted her eyes at the alicorn, “How come you don't have a cutie-mark anyway? You're like, way old.”

“We are somewhere roughly between sixty and eighty years old.” Wait, what... there was no way she looked that old! “Though we cannot be completely certain, as, while it is true Mother only began increasing the demand for alicorns within the last ten to twenty years, she had been perfecting the creation of our sisters for much longer; and after studying what memories we have that we believe to be our own rather than a by-product of Unity, comparing them with more recent post-unity memories in regards to structures we have seen, and contrasting the relative age, that is the most accurate judgement we can make of our age. There is no way to properly confirm our suspicions, but given our altered state, age is no longer of much importance to us.” She seemed a bit perplexed at her own answer for a few seconds before realizing we were still staring at her. “We are sorry, what was the question?”

Serenity gave a slight giggle before answering, “I asked why you don't have a cutie-mark.”

“Oh! Yes, we are unsure.” I prepared myself for another long winded rant. “We are quite positive we possessed a cutie-mark before our induction to unity, but our lack of one following the dissolution is a bit concerning. It has come to our attention to none of our sisters seem to retain their cutie-marks, except in special circumstances, as some sort of result of Unity. Our belief is that the changes to our body and soul was enough to divorce us from our previous talent, and we must either remember and enact our old special talent, or discover a new one. This is of course, only a theory, since Mother is no longer with us, the exact nature of the changes are mostly a mystery.”

“So...” Serenity said slowly, content to ignore the explanation, “that makes me more mature than you. Right?”

Platinum Haze paused to think this over before giving the filly a warm smile. “We suppose it does, but we suspected you were more mature than us anyway.”

“So,” Flare piped in, reminding me he was still in the room, “what was your cutie-mark before, er, whatever happened to you happened?”

Platinum Haze stared at Flare with unblinking yellow eyes for longer than was comfortable before answering in a shocking quiet voice, “We do not remember.”

The quiet in the room was almost deafening in its intensity, with the only sound being the ticking of my pipbuck's radiation detector to break up the silence.

Eventually, much to everyone's delight, Platinum Haze spoke up, “Oh, we had meant to inquire as to the nature of your visit. While we are always thankful for company, we understand the intrinsic danger in visiting us in this state.”

That seemed like as good a distraction from the unnerving awkwardness of the previous topic as any. “Well. I wanted to ask you if you could watch Serenity, if the other pony I was going to ask isn't able. Me and Flare have a job to do, and after everything that’s happened, I really don't want to bring her into the tunnels with me.”

Platinum Haze nodded slowly. “We suppose we could, but it would be safer to house her with somepony else, given our current state. More radiation in her condition would be dangerous.”

“I know.” I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “It's a dumb thing to ask, and I'm really hoping Pearly can help. It's just I need someone to make sure she is okay, and safe. I can't leave her alone with everything going on, and if Pearly can't help, you're the only pony I can really trust. So it'd be either with you, or going with me, and there would be radiation either way.”

“You're the backup plan,” Flare said, “because apparently she comes up with those now. Most likely Pearly will just handle the brat.” Serenity stuck her tongue out at Flare for that, and I'm sure he would have returned the favour if not for the mask. “So it was mostly an excuse for Silver to make kissy faces with you.”

“Fuck off, Flare.” Came my obvious response.

Platinum Haze gave a slight smirk. “Ah, we see. Well we cannot disapprove of such a noble goal.” This almost had me blushing, almost. “Though you have piqued our interest in to what exactly your current mission entails.”

I quickly, and succinctly, explained our current mission. Well, I'd attempted to, but Flare kept correcting me on the details and I ended up letting him explain it all. It wasn't that I didn't understand the mission, I'm just not a detail-oriented pony.

Platinum Haze just nodded along to our description and waited for us to finish before speaking. “We see. We wish to make an odd request.” There was a lull in her speaking which made me realize she was asking me if she could ask a question. Which was odd, but I nodded anyway. “We request we assist you in this task. Given the explanation of the mission at hoof, it would not violate our non-aggression policies, and we believe our magic may be of some use. In addition, we must admit to being rather bored here alone, and we would very much enjoy being a beneficial partner.”

My answer was obvious, but I looked over to Flare to see what he thought. “There's going to plenty of radiation down there no matter what, so welcome aboard!”

“What!” Serenity said loudly. “Now I have to come with y’guys! C'mon. It ain't fair. Please, pretty please.” When nopony immediately answered her, she realized her fate was sealed and resorted to pouting. “This sucks.”

---

We arranged to meet Platinum Haze outside the BS, but with the understanding it might just be to escort Serenity back to the room on the off chance Pearly was unable to help. To that extent the three of us went down to the main floor of the BS to find it still in the same organized chaos as it was before. The makeshift tents and walls reminded me of a similar scene I saw back in Bridle Hope when it was being besieged by the Crimson Hoof, though the BS was a bit more organized. Or rather, it certainly appeared to be with the smattering of armed guards standing around to control movement through the floor, and the considerably larger amount of guards surrounding the pit in the centre of the room where the supplies were being stored.

“Now...” I said my eyes scanning through the mess of tents and ponies, “how to find Pearly.” That part looked like it was going to be more difficult than I'd hoped for. Until I remembered I had a secret weapon. “Flare?”

“Right, right.” He flapped his wings thrice before taking off into the air. He soared high above the din of the floor and circled around the room. I could see a few ponies stop to watch him nervously, and nearly all of the guards tensed up at the sight. I was starting to think maybe Mr. House didn't foster much trust for pegasus in his ranks.

It took him a few minutes, but eventually he came back down to us with a look of confidence on his face (which I could tell because he took his helmet off once we got down to the radiation free main room.) and told us, “I found her. Right this way; follow me. No staring at my ass on the way.” He walked away briskly and I had to wonder what he was talking about, because when I looked at his ass it was just metal plating like the rest of his armour. “Pervert.” Flare said turning his head slightly to catch me staring... which I wouldn't have been if he hadn't said anything.

Serenity snickered at me, though I don't think she really got the joke, and I went and followed the tricky pegasi anyway. He led us through the crowds of ponies (luckily most gave him a wide berth) until we found Pearly.

She wasn't alone, and it didn't look to be the good sort of not alone either. She was partially cornered by two ponies I didn't recognize. One was a sea green unicorn mare with a light blue mane, and light red unicorn stallion with a yellow mane. “Who else could have taken it!” I could hear the unicorn mare raise her voice as I closed in. “We saw you walking by away from our tent, the same night it went missing.”

“So?” Pearly asked nearly as loudly. “It don't mean Ah took yer damn food; Ah don't even know which tent is yers.”

“I'm sure you'll talk when we tell Mr. House-” The mare was cut off by Pearly.

“Tell'em what, pray? That’cha saw me near yer tent, an’ what? Ya don't think he got more ta deal with than paranoid delusions?” Pearly growled. “Ah ain't got time fer this, so ‘less ya gonna start making sense, y’all ken get outta my face.”

The mare shoved at Pearly with hoof.. “Listen up, you little bitch: if I catch you near my shit again, I’ll have you strung up by your fucking ears.” And for a split second I thought Pearly was going whip out her shotgun, but she seemed to catch sight of me walking up and stopped.

“I am sure,” I said, making my presence known, “that Mr. House. Would like to know about this. Accusations like this. They are very serious.” The two unknown ponies turned to look at me, their eyes falling quickly on my cybernetic foreleg. “However. He hates to have his time wasted.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” The mare asked, her eyes still on my leg.

“Hired Gun.” The mare scoffed for a second until I finished, “Designation: Starmare. Of the Hizai.”

That caught her haughty voice in her throat for a good few seconds. “Oh... Well... I... we.” She looked over to the stallion, who did nothing but glower at me. “We wouldn't want to waste his... time.”

“Then I guess. You have nothing to do here. Unless you have evidence.” I raised an eyebrow at her, trying to look inquisitive, but she shook her head.

“No... not yet. I'll, we'll be back though.” She huffed and turned around, and when the stallion didn't immediately follow, she grabbed his mane with her magic to help him along. The two of them trotted off at a brisk pace away from us.

“Yeah, you better run!” Serenity decided it was a good idea to shout at them, and oddly enough it really did make them start running faster.

“Thanks, hun.” I turned back to Pearly when she started talking, her hoof rubbing her forehead in annoyance. “Them two...” She sighed and turned towards a tent that was made by draping a blanket over rows of slot machines, with a second working as a door. She started to lift the blanket as if to invite us in, but turned to look again, “Actually, Ah’d thought t’be polite an' invite ya folk inside, but Ah'm 'fraid there won’t be 'nough room. We good to talk out here, hun?”

“Uh, sure.” My eyes glanced over to where the two ponies went. “What was that all about?”

“Nothin' ya wanna get all worked up 'bout, Ah assure you,” she said emphatically. “Well, them two just think Ah went outta mah way ta go'n steal their food. Ah don't really blame'em, t’be honest. There's some folk what’re riled up 'cause folks like them what work at the powerplant been gettin' more food rations, and some have taken to stealin' from'em ta ‘make it fair,’ ‘r someshit. Ah didn't do it, but Ah musta wandered by their tent at the wrong time, and since Ah'm the new girl 'round an’ nopony trusts me, it falls t’me.” She sighed. “Not that Ah ain't grateful Ah'm here; much better’n starvin’ in the tunnels,”

“Mr. House still has the power plant running?” Flare asked walking up beside me.

“You betcher feathers he does.” Pearly smirked. “Ya see these lights?” She pointed up to the lights hanging from the ceiling, “They don't run on friendship, Ah’ll tell ya that. Somepony has to go into the radiation to make sure it's running, so they get extra food for their efforts.”

“I'm sure he's charging extra to the other gangs,” Flare said with some confidence.

“Beats me hun, nopony really keeps me up to date with his policies...” She looked between the three of us. “But somethin' gives me tha feelin' there's more to this visit than food crises an' power politics. What can Ah help ya with, hun?”

“I was hoping for a favour,” I said.

“Well, ain't nothin' Ah wouldn't do for my favourite overly chaste mare.” My cheeks flushed slightly. “And ya did get me inta here right 'fore everything went bad, so Ah owe ya pretty big.”

“The thing is. Flare and I have something of an important job to do. And well. Serenity is still recovering from radiation sickness. We don't want her to risk coming with us.”

“Not another word.” Pearly raised a hoof. “Ya need me ta watch the little tyke to make sure nothin' happens to her, that right, hun?”

“Yeah. Basically that. The mission isn’t supposed to be dangerous,” I admitted. “But. Knowing my luck.”

“Knowing your luck, you'll be missin' another body part by the time it's over?” Her eyes fell on my new robotic hind-leg, “Like that one right there; ah'm gunna guess there's a story behind that.”

“Yeah!” Serenity perked up. “There were scorpions, and I saved momma's life!”

Pearly's gaze softened when she looked at the small filly. “Oh I'm sure you did, sweetie.” Pearly moved her hoof to brush aside the blanket that acted as the door to her tent. “Why don't you come inside and tell me all about it.”

Serenity nodded but turned to me first. The little filly stared up at me with her big grey eyes, and it wasn't until she whined, “Moooom,” that I thought to lean down. She wrapped her hooves around my neck as soon as it was in range, and I carefully put my foreleg around her shoulders. “If ya lose another body part, or like, die'er somethin', then I'll never ever ever forgive you, okay?”

“Okay...” I answered softly, releasing the embrace, “You be safe too, and make sure to listen to Pearly.” As much as she listened to anypony, anyway. “I promise I'll be back as soon as possible, and you'll be able to come with next time, and... I love you.”

Serenity loosened her hold on my neck. “Love you too, Momma,” she said as she let go completely and turned to walk into Pearly's little... shack thing. She stopped halfway in to turn around at me and narrowed her eyes. “Never ever forgive you.” She repeated one last time before vanishing.

Pearly rested a hoof on my shoulder. “Nothin'll happen to her—I'd risk my life to keep the little darlin' safe.”

“I know...” My eyes were still on the entrance to the tent. “I just worry...”

“Good!” Pearly said, leaning over to plant a quick kiss on my cheek. “You're suppose to worry, and I think you of all ponies could stand to worry a little more about the consequences of your actions.” I really couldn't argue with that. While it was true I probably spent too much time looking back at my failures, I seemed to fail consistently with seeing the results of my actions before I perform them. “So, just be quick, and come back safe.” With that Pearly too vanished inside her makeshift tent leaving me and Flare alone.

With no more pressing matters the two of us made our way through the throngs of ponies in the casino towards the exit which was still heavily guarded under Tight Lips’ watchful eye.

The mare smiled and waved at us when she saw us walking towards her, “Hey!” she yelled over. “Heard you two were coming. I'll open the door lickity-split—don't want to keep Mr. House’s mission waiting.”

“Uh...” I said walking over to the always-excitable head of security. “Thanks.”

“I see that little darling of a filly isn't with you, I hope she feels better soon.” The mare gave me an overlarge smile. “I'd hate for anything to happen to her—she's such a sweet filly. Probably best she's left behind though, what with all the radiation,” Tight Lips said in her usual chatty manner as she moved to unlock the door, “And of course it's safer inside here, much safer.”

The doors cracked open enough to let the harsh sun from outside shine through the cracks. My pipbuck started ticking immediately, though it was a slow steady tick. Without another word Flare and I stepped once more outside, ready to face the radiation once more.

---

“New day, same radiation-blasted hell-hole, but hey, it's home.” The voice of New Haygas boomed from my pipbuck as Flare, Platinum Haze, and I made our way to a tunnel entrance. It had been a while since I’d listened to the radio, and it was about time I checked in on the news. I knew it would be bad, but I had to know how bad. “Now folks, you know how I hate to be a downer, but I don't have a lot of good news for you this lovely day, so let’s try to speed through this quickly so you can listen to soothing tunes.”

“Update on the warfront, first of all. The NCA has found a series of secret bases in the old train tunnels outside of the city. NCA officials admitted the bases were troublesome with how close they were to the city, and how far away they were from Minotaur land, but stressed that they cleared all the bases of minotaurs and they were confident no further bases remain. Meanwhile, the battle over the west canyon bridge is still locked in a stalemate. NCA officials declined to comment on the state of the battle.

“In sad news it has been confirmed that a body found in the aftermath of the Train Station Disaster was in fact that of local hero, Pinprick, A.K.A. The Hero of Wending. Not much is known about the enigmatic pony, and by all accounts she appeared out of nowhere with a filly by her side just in time to save the town of Wending in the north from destruction. Her heroic deeds seemed to spread across the northern villages culminating in a climactic defence of the trading town of Bridle Hope from raiders where she saved most of the population by organizing an escape. She soon found her way to Dise proper where she teamed up with local wackjob 'The Batmare' to take down an illegal drug dealing gang in Parasite Mound. Nopony knows for sure what she was doing at the train station, what exactly killed her, or where her filly sidekick is, but it can be assured she was doing her best to stop the tragedy. She was a great pony who gave her life to save others, and she will be sorely missed. The Watchers have stated plans to hold a funeral for the mare, but gave no more information.”

It really stung how little New Haygas seemed to know about Pinprick. The way he was talking about made her out to be some goddess-like figure that was too good for this rotten world, and I knew Pinprick would have hated to be thought of like that. Pinprick was a good pony by the end, but she was more than that. She was a flawed and troubled mare who was trying to make up for an unsavoury past. She deserved to be remembered for what she was, because knowing where she came from made her sacrifice mean more.

And where was The Batmare's eulogy? She did just as much as Pinprick if not more, and The Batmare's sacrifice actually saved hundreds of lives, but she got nothing. It seemed unfair.

“Speaking of the Watchers, they are still giving out free Rad-away at stations throughout the tunnels. If you have foals, they ask you bring them with you so they know you're not lying. Clean Cutt, leader of the Watchers has stated emphatically that he understands how desperate everypony is, but if you try to push to the front of the line, you will not be given any rad-away. So please, everypony, be patient; you'll get your rad-away so long as you just stay calm.” The radio pony coughed sharply into the microphone for a second before cutting a sound away. A few seconds later he was back, “Sorry about that everypony. Well that's your news for this hour, time for some music to take your mind away.”

Platinum Haze looked over at me when music I didn't recognize started to play through my pipbuck, “If we are not mistaken, this Pinprick was a friend of yours, correct? Once we are done here, we will see if we can ascertain details on the planned funeral.”

We made our way east of the central water fountain into the former slums. They were always confusing: a mishmash of broken buildings and hastily repaired shacks all climbing over each other. It almost reminded me of Marefort, at least it had when it was full of ponies. Now that it was empty, it just creeped me out.

“No,” I said softly, “she wasn't a friend. Well. She was. It's complicated.” I sighed, my eyes scanning the empty hovels and broken grey streets. “I was there when she died, you know.” I closed my eyes, the memories coming back to me. “She was trying to save my life when Dragonslayer killed her. She said... that I saved her. I think she meant like. I saved her from herself. Because who she was before was... unpleasant.” I opened my eyes and looked over to Platinum Haze. “I don't want to go to her funeral. It's not for me. It's for ponies who've heard of her on the radio, ponies who want a martyr. It's not for ponies who knew her.”

“Wow, Hired,” Flare said from my other side. “That sounded almost deep. Who knew you had it in you? And where did you learn the word “martyr”? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just a bit surprising coming from you.”

I shoved Flare's side lightly with a hoof. “Fuck off, Flare.” The pegasus dramatically stumbled into a nearby wall.

“We find your relationship odd,” Platinum Haze said as she waited for Flare to get back in line. “If we did not know any better, we would assume that you two did not get along.”

“Oh we don't!” Flare said brushing off his armour. “We actually hate each other. I can't stand this insufferable bitch, and she's ugly as sin.”

“Flare is an idiotic pretty-stallion who is not nearly as funny as he thinks he is. It's a blessing from Celestia I haven't crushed his annoying skull beneath a hoof,” was my reply.

“See...” Haze's melodic voice was tinged with confusion, “We are unsure if we are supposed to laugh at this interaction, or if we are to pull you two apart. It is confusing to us.”

“There's the trick!” Flare said. “Our friendship is based on abusive behaviour and mutual hate. It's not that complicated.”

“Really though,” I said as we came upon one of the entrances to the tunnels, “you're not as funny as you think you are.”

The three of us went into the entrance and down into the abyss. As soon as we came out of the entrance into the tunnels proper I could feel my shoulder begin to burn; Platinum Haze had turned invisible behind us. I knew it was for the best, but sometimes it was difficult to get used to the burning sensation. It didn't help that most of my hind-leg was cybernetic too, now.

The tunnels had not changed much from when Flare took me through them a few days before. But the ponies in the tunnels seemed to. Maybe it was just my mind comparing them to the healthy ponies in the BS but the crowds of ponies looked pale and unnaturally skinny. They walked around with their heads hung low as if they were being pushed down by some unseen weight.

There were no crazy ponies on soapboxes calling for armed insurrection this time, but it really wouldn't have surprised me if there were. We didn't stay in the populated parts of the run down tunnels for long, because our route took us down to the lower levels of the tunnels that were less populated, and because Platinum Haze would have a really difficult time dodging ponies while invisible.

After shoving our way past sick looking ponies that gave us dirty looks, presumably for my cybernetics and Flare's armour, we made our way into an unused side passage that led to a stairwell. On the wall to our right I saw something newly scribbled on the wall: 'The Shufflers Wanted This'.

“Shufflers?” I asked nopony in particular.

Flare was the one who chose to answer, as he often did when it let him flex his knowledge. “It's a derogatory word for ghouls.” My mind went back to the two ghouls I actually knew. Mr. House seemed to be paranoid that the tunnel dwellers blamed him, and the only other ghoul I knew was Lucky, and I wasn't even sure if he was still alive. “There used to be some living in the tunnels before... they weren't really allowed in the city proper before.”

“We are incredulous. Are you seriously proposing that there are those who blame ghouls for the radiation?” Platinum Haze (who else would use the word incredulous?) said.

“Desperate ponies will believe stupid things if it gives them someone to blame.” Flare sighed as we started down the staircase. “It's just the way ponies get.”

“We shall concede to you that point as we can find no inaccuracy in it, however it still strikes us as implausible that ghouls are being blamed. As previously stated, they had no power, and it seemed most did not know any had been living in this area. Unless someone is purposely spreading rumours of the atrocity being caused by ghouls, it is unlikely such a belief would spring up.”

“Maybe one guy got paranoid and started spreading it, but that's what the word is down here. Or so I've heard.” We continued our way down the winding staircase further than I'd actually thought the tunnels went. It seemed odd to me to go down so far, but that's what the map told me.

“We suppose so, but we are still highly suspicious,” Platinum Haze finished as we reached the bottom.

I knew that it was the bottom of the tunnels because apart from the landing in the stairs everything was... unfinished. The walls were complete, but the ceiling was still bare stone with jagged rocks jutting out oddly, as if it were a natural cave, The floor was bare stone and packed dirt and nothing else. The whole place smelled stale and stagnant, like nothing had been touched in years. There were no lights anywhere, apart from the landing, and the darkness of the tunnel was way too close, as if it were actually eating what paltry light was left.

“Brings back memories...” Flare said quietly beside me. Platinum Haze looked confused at the remark, and looked over at me to answer, but the answers were ones I didn't want to give.

“Yeah...” I sucked in a deep breath and listened carefully to the silence. We were so far down the radiation hadn't penetrated yet, and I wasn't close to Haze, so my pipbuck wasn't ticking. The only sound was breathing, our breathing. When I was confident I couldn't hear the sound of wind I stepped away from the stairs towards the darkness.

---

The amber glow of my pipbuck did little to help penetrate the darkness, but combined with the glow from Platinum Haze's horn and the headlamp on Flare's mask (which I hadn’t known he had) we managed to see somewhat in the gloom. At first nopony said anything, but eventually Flare started talking to break the overwhelming tension that filled the air.

“... so I ended having to mop all the floors in the building as punishment!” Flare ended his story with a barking laugh, and even Platinum Haze gave a diminutive chuckle. I cracked a smile, but I was too nervous to laugh.

“We are surprised that someone as mischievous as yourself managed to ascend to the ranks of captain in an organization renown for their strict policy.” I don't think Platinum Haze meant that as an insult, but I was worried Flare would take it as one.

“Well they did kick me out, you know.” Flare gave another short laugh before continuing. “Actually, I used to be a good soldier. Well, decent. Pretty good for me. I worked hard for my rank, though I mostly did it to keep my mind focused and off... other things.”

“Other things,” I said slowly, turning my gaze to the pegasus. “So this happened right after that mercenary of yours disappeared.” I remembered the story Flare told before of an old colt-friend of his vanishing while going to fight rad-scorpions.

“Bingo. It was upsetting, and the brass was on my back about it. I needed an outlet for my frustrations so I spent the next several years working my ass off.” Flare sighed a little. “For all the good it did. It just put me in charge at Bitter Steel, and I wasn't ready... not for that.”

“We are confused,” Platinum Haze said slowly, her voice echoing through the cavernous hallway. “We do not appear to have enough relevant information to understand this conversation.”

“That's for the best,” Flare said sadly. “It's not a good story, neither of them. You're better off not knowing. See, the the truth of why me and Hired here are friends is because we really have no choice. We've been through so much, and know so much about each other, we're destined to either be best friends, or mortal enemies. Since I like living, I decided on the friends option.”

“Oh, we suppose that is a suitable reason. We have heard some stories about what you have done, and your hypothesis seems acceptable.”

“I'm a story pony, ask my cutie-mark.” Flare said as he flapped his way over some rubble that blocked the path. “But some stories don't do justice to the truth. I could tell a thousand ponies what I saw... what we saw in that celestia-forsaken mountain, but nopony would truly understand.”

Platinum Haze flew over the rubble as well, and lifted me rather suddenly with her magic, almost giving me a heart attack. “We did not mean to imply we understood exactly, only that the concept seemed plausible.”

“I know, I just have a flair for the dramatic.”

When Platinum Haze put me down and my heart stopped racing I looked over at Flare, “That'd explain the name I suppose.”

“Pony parents do have a thing for prophetic naming don't they?” Flare seemed amused at the idea as we continued through the dark. “I've already figured yours out, Silver.” I raised an eyebrow in his direction giving him permission to continue with whatever silly thing he was going to say. “Your coat is silver, and everywhere you go looks like a storm has just pass through! It's a perfect name.” Once again it wasn't funny enough to coax a laugh out of me, but I did smile. “You, though,” he pointed a wing at Platinum Haze, “I don't know why you're named that.”

“Oh, we know why.” The alicorn smiled. “We have named ourselves Platinum Haze.” I guess if I could name myself Hired Gun, she could name herself whatever she wanted. “The reason for naming ourselves that is that we can recall that before unity the word 'Platinum' was present in our name, but we cannot remember the rest, thus 'Haze'.”

“You can't remember your old name?” Flare asked carefully, he was probably worried about it being a more sensitive matter than Haze was letting on.

“There is much about our former life we cannot remember clearly. Our name not the least of all,” Platinum Haze said in an almost wistful tone. “Oh, we have a problem,” she said as the three of us stopped. She was right about that last part. Before us the tunnel split in three separate ways. What was worse when I checked my pipbuck map there was only supposed to be one tunnel. Whoever was building the deep tunnels was apparently not following instructions.

“Which way?” Flare asked, and it was a really good question, but I didn't really know the answer.

“We believe it is this way.” Platinum Haze pointed towards the rightmost tunnel. “We can feel wind, which would indicate that an exit lies this direction.”

“Yeah... sure.” It was as good an answer as any, so we headed down that tunnel. For some reason my shoulder was hurting more than usual, but between Platinum Haze's magic and the fact it had been painfully long since I had a Med-X, it meant nothing.

Quickly though I got the feeling we’d made the wrong choice. While it was true I could hear wind as we went further and further down the tunnel, I couldn't actually feel it. Also, the tunnel seemed even more unfinished. I was no tunnel expert but it seemed like the latest to be built, as the only thing marking it as something other than a naturally-made tunnel was the wooden support beams attached to the plain rock walls.

We didn't have to travel that far for my suspicions to be confirmed, as we soon reached the end of the tunnel. It wasn't just a bare wall though, at the very end of the tunnel was a giant drill like machine pointed at the uncut wall. It was actually really impressive looking and the sort of thing I am sure Serenity would have loved to see.

“I guess this is the wrong way,” Flare said wandering over to the giant drill. “Kind of a waste of time.”

“But...” Platinum Haze stood back looking confused, “We are sure there was wind this direction. Certain of it.”

“Hmm.” I could hear wind too, so it had to be coming from somewhere. Since the route in front of us was just a solid block of stone and had now answered, I looked up. This proved one of the smarter things I did that day as I found the answer. Above of the ceiling seemed to very... cracked and worn, and through one of the larger cracks I could see a hint of metal and some light. “I think. We're under another floor.” I pointed up.

My two companions looked up. “Ah,” Flare said. “That makes sense, it looks unstable up there. They probably shut down tunnelling out of concern of a cave in.” I guess that made sense.

Platinum Haze frowned deeply as she stared up at the cracks, “We... suppose. We are sorry for the mistake...” There looked to be something bothering her, but I didn't ask. Instead I walked over to where Flare was to check out the giant drill.

“Yup,” Flare chirped. “Guess we'll try the next two. So much fun.” His voice dripped sarcasm.

“Lets just rest a minute here,” I said taking a deep breath.

“Rest? C'mon you can't be tired already, if we need to stop to get our bearings it should be at the crossroads anyway, not here,” Flare said, but didn't actually move to start back down the tunnel.

“Yeah yeah.” To be completely honest, I was just stopping to try and think of an excuse to use some Med-X. I was starting to crave the stuff, but I didn't want Haze to know about... that. Maybe if I pretended to stub my hoof or something. As I tried to think of a good excuse I casually leaned onto the back panel of the giant drill, an act which was incredibly stupid.

With the sound like a dragon roaring, the machine sparked into life.

“What, shit!” I stood straight up as the world started to shake. Slowly the drill started to spin, and as it did tiny rocks rained from the ceiling onto my head.

“Hired... Hired, make it stop!” Flare said looking around in panic.

“I'm trying!” The panel didn't make any sense. There was so many buttons I didn't even know which one I accidentally pressed. I tried pushing some at random but it didn't seem to help.

A giant boulder crashed into the ground behind me.

“Just book it!” Flare sped away towards the exit to the tunnel.

“Silver! We advise immediate withdrawal for your own safety!” Right... right Haze. I turned to run towards her, but that's when everything came crashing down.

I heard them before they came, and my eyes shot up. The entire ceiling was falling. I kept running, but I knew it was too late. My natural luck and incredibly tough body wouldn't be able to survive this one. I didn't give up though, I kept moving against the odds.

And against the odds, nothing hit me. Not because I was too fast (I wasn't) but instead they bounced off a glimmering purple shield. My gaze shot back over to Haze, whose horn was shimmering purple. I kept running until I reached the end of the shield, and when Haze lowered it I ran over to her to give her a hug.

“Thank you,” I said breathlessly, “You saved my life.” And she was cute too, so I kissed her on the cheek for thanks. My shoulder was burning even more as I hugged her, but I figured that was due to being so close to Haze's horn.

“Hired...” Even through the mask I could tell there was something troubled in Flare's voice. “Hired...” I glanced over from haze to him to see him staring at something on the floor. Behind me. “Hired... w-we need to fucking go. Now!”

I let go of Haze and turned to see what scared Flare so much.

And I saw Wildfire. She was standing on top of a rubble pile that was half rock, half ruins from the tunnel above us, and right in front of her was a glowing orb. “Did you forget me?” Wildfire asked as blood seeped from her lips.

“No... no no no...” My eyes went wide and I turned around in panic, only to run into Pinprick, a dagger still jutting out of her neck.

“You... were suppose to save me...” Pinprick said.

“You're dead!” I just had to remember that, I couldn't let them get to me, and I couldn't close my eyes. I remembered the orb. If I closed my eyes memories would come back, memories that were impossible to escape. I couldn't go back there. Fuck. How did it end up here. I should have noticed. We buried the orb, but not far enough.

I ran through the ghost of Pinprick, her body dissipating in my wake.

“W-what.” Haze stuttered, “We do not understand, what is that, why...”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Flare grab onto her neck and turn her around to help her along, “When we say run, fucking run!”

We ran.

I should’ve realized. I should’ve noticed. I should’ve remembered. I should’ve seen it. I should’ve... fuck....

Images flashed past: vague memories, sounds, images. It was like before. The orb, it made memories come back. Words from my past haunting me. It wasn't as powerful as Simple Heart himself, granting your wishes in dreams, just memories, but they were enough. I had to keep my eyes open. I couldn't fall into the trap again.

“Don't close your eyes,” I yelled over to Haze.

“W-what? We... we will not, but why!” She yelled back, though it seemed unnatural coming from her. “It feels right, we feel tired...”

“NO!” Me and Flare shouted in unison.

“We... we do not see the harm.” We turned into the four way intersection. “We...”

“Haze!” I stopped to turn towards her pressing a hoof against her, “You have to promise me you won’t close your eyes. It’s dangerous; it’s... Haze...” Shit. She slowed to a stop as a my hoof pressed against her, and I could see her eyes drooping. “Haze... Fuck! HAZE!” I shook her with my fore-hooves.

It was too late. She stood stark still with her eyes completely closed, the spell of the orb wrapped around her, holding her. Like others we saw in the tunnel so long ago she could be stuck in that memory for as long as she lived. I had to stop that from happening! I had too...

“She's gone, isn't she?” Flare said, looking over at Haze, but something caught his eyes and he turned slightly to face it. “Go away.” I heard him hiss, but I pretended not to notice.

“She's gone...” I grit my teeth in annoyance. There had to be something... “Help me with her, I need to get her lying down.” Sleeping standing up really wasn't that hard, especially with the spell helping her, so I had to press against the backs of her legs to get them to fold. With Flare's help we were able lower her to the ground.

“What are you planning?” Flare asked me as I stared down at the poor alicorn.

“Do you think it works the same as Simple Heart?” I didn't look over at Flare. “The magic is similar... but different. I could enter your dreams, in the mountain. Do you think that was on purpose?”

“Well,” Flare said, “I told you how I'd planned to be a psychologist, a long time ago right? When I was a colt.” That sounded vaguely familiar. “Well I got the idea in my head by reading a novel about a doctor who used a spell to make ponies relive traumatic events, and then he'd go into the dream to watch them and use what he saw to help them recover. You said Simple Heart was a psychologist before he went all... crazy, right?” I nodded again. “Maybe it's the same sort of idea.”

“So...?”

“So if it worked in the mountain, it might work here... and what other choice do we have?” None.... None whatsoever. “I'll watch over the two of you; I can handle the orb. I've done it before... just... please, don't be too long.”

“Yeah.” I lowered my head, pressing my forehead against Platinum Haze's, “I promise.”

The world swirled around me.

---

Is Celestia A Goddess?



The question was scrawled in bright red over the entrance of a burning building; a single-story shack, half pre-war, half scrap, sitting alone in an arid brown field. I hesitated to enter through the fire, but when I approached, I found that the fire gave no heat and my hoof passed through the flame with nothing but the warming sensation of direct sunlight. I looked up at the message and felt like it was asking me directly.

“Yes.” I answered the question, though nopony was around to hear me. It seemed important.

The door opened with an echoing creak. I stuck my head inside to look around. It seemed to be larger on the inside. There was a single bed in the room, but instead of a wooden type like you might see in Marefort, it was a stable bed, only, unlike the ones I've seen, brand new. It was the only thing of stable-make in the room. There was a dining room table, and a fridge, but they both looked like they actually belonged in the wasteland. Importantly, the inside of the house was not on fire.

“Some memory...” I mumbled to myself, stepping inside the building to take a closer look. There didn't seem to be another exit to the house, but Haze wasn't in it. She had to be somewhere, it was her dream after all. Something flickered in the corner of my eyes, and when I turned, I saw a staircase.

Though I was certain it had not been there previously, I walked up to it. The stairs led nowhere, just ending abruptly at the ceiling. They were cracked and bowed, definitely not able to hold my weight, even if they had lead somewhere. The oddest thing about the staircase was, the longer I stared at them, the more blurry they got, until the stairs vanished altogether as if they were never there. Which was the most likely option as they didn't actually go anywhere.

So the answers wouldn't be found up the non-existent stairs, so I moved over to the bed to try and figure out why it didn't fit. Maybe this house (which I assumed to be Platinum Haze's old house before that 'Unity' thing) was near a stable and they stole a bed from it? It was the only answer I could think of when I studied the bed. Out of curiosity, I lifted the covers to see if anything underneath.

Oh. There’s a pony-sized bloodstain, and not an old one either; it’s bright red, rust-smelling, and wet. If this was a memory, it wasn't like the ones the Orb brought me to last time. Those were happy memories, and this... the thought occurred to me that this might actually constitute as a happy memory to Haze and that was more unnerving still.

With nothing left to study about the bed I turned my way towards the table; perhaps it had some clue to where Haze was. It didn't, not really, but it had... other clues. Lying on the table was piece of paper that looked like it was been ripped out of a book and re-purposed as a canvass for an artistic kid. Drawn over faded words with crayon with a rather impressive picture (especially since it was clear it was a child’s drawing) of three ponies: one was an older male, one a colt, and the third a filly. Their shapes were the only consistent things about the images, as the colours of the ponies changed every time I blinked. The only thing that was static was the silvery colour of the filly’s mane.

“This is pointless,” I said, to dispel the unnerving fear that was gripping me. “Pointless.” I pushed the picture away from me and closed my eyes, trying to concentrate. Haze had to be in this mess somewhere, and I had to find her if I wanted to get out. I needed to rescue her from her dreams, but more and more it seemed I needed to rescue myself as well.

When I opened my eyes, the answer lay before me. A door. This wasn't the same door as before though. The first door was a rickety thing made of sheet metal, and this one was a thick oaken door with a window at head height. When I lowered my head to look through the window, all I saw was my reflection. Groaning in annoyance I looked around the door and saw words above it, in haunting red.

If So, Why Were You Taken?



Taken...? From what? To where? I reached out and turned the knob of the door. There was only one way to find out. I looked over my shoulder to make sure there wasn't anything else around, but the room had been engulfed in flame. “Forward then...”

The door opened and I fell through.

Fell is an appropriate word because as soon as I opened the door I dropped at least a meter through the air, landing on my rump in the middle of a caravan.

At least, it had all the makings of a caravan. There were waggons filled with what looked to be goods, and harnesses hooked up to the waggons for ponies or brahmin to pull. But there were no ponies, just emptiness, and silence.

The waggons looked to be as good a place as any for Haze to be hiding in a memory so I walked over to the first one and climbed up to peek my head inside. There was (for the first time so far in this dream) nothing of note. Stacks of bottled water, bags of canned food. A few empty Sparkle~Cola bottles, and not much of anything else. It was a nice change from... whatever was going on at that house.

After being confident that there was no Haze in that waggon I moved up to check the second of three. As I peeked into the interior of the cart something caught in my throat. It was full of chains. Just filled completely up with all assortments of chains. Some long and thick, others short and thin. More chains than I'd ever seen in my life. I backed off the second cart, and felt my back-hoof clank against something.

Looking down at the ground I saw more chains, but these were different. There were two rows of chains running beside each other down the length of the caravan. Interspersed through the chains were small shackles in groups of four. Nervously I walked over to the shackles and put my hoof over one shackle. Now, I was big even for an adult, but seeing how much my hoof dwarfed the shackle confirmed the only pony they would have fit were foals...

“Fuck...” I said under my breath. I was nervous, nervous enough to whisper even though nothing was nearby. It felt like something was watching me though, and that it was going to make its presence known any second. Still, there was one last wagon to check, and I had to. I don't know why I had to, but I did.

Creeping my way over there I slowly and carefully peered into the final cart.

If So, Why Were You Beaten And Broken?



Red words looked up at me, mocking me. I hated the words. I tried to slam my cybernetic hoof through them, but it only bounced off. With a quiet growl I backed away from the cart, and ignored the ever growing row of chains on the ground. I still had no answers, and no Haze.

There was only one thing I could think of to do, and that was to follow the rows of chains. They seemed to extend now far past the frozen caravan into the distance. I gritted my teeth and started walking beside the rows of chains. As I walked I could hear voices, whispers. There were giggles, sobs, and cries for help all mixed together into a cacophony of sound at the edges of my perception.

It didn't get louder as I walked, but it did get noisier. More voices joined the mix, more sounds. Most were foals, but not all, and the further I walked more adult voices joined the nearly silent din. Until I hit the end, rather suddenly. The chains kept going to the horizon, but I was forced to stop at a cliff face.

There was a city below the cliff, grand and stretching. But it wasn't always... the same. It changed, twisting and morphing. At first it seemed like a huge seaside city with a giant pony statue out resting in a harbour. Then it appeared to be a inland city of smoke and grime, with pink balloons floating about looking almost like pony heads. It slowly transformed into what was almost unmistakably Eye Glow, complete with glowing crater.

Then, finally, it turned to a ruined city. Skyscrapers were topped over, resting on others precariously, and the rooftops were all linked up with hastily made bridges. Below the bridges, I could see, was water. This city was flooded nearly completely, and it was unlike anything I'd seen before. It stayed like that, the flooded city, until I looked away from it. I really hoped I didn't have to search through that to find Haze.

My eyes gaze down, looking perhaps for some path off the cliff into the city, but what I saw was a door. It was hanging perpendicular to the cliff face so that when I looked down it was staring back up at me. “You've got to be kidding me.” And just like any time anypony ever said that sentence, the door was not kidding. “Fuck.”

So I jumped. To tell the truth, I hadn't actually expected to fall, and I definitely hadn't expected to be suddenly plummet face first towards the door. If it were a real door it would have shattered under my girth, instead it just shook and opened slowly.

I landed on my hooves on the other side of the door.

After calming my nerves with a few quick breaths I looked up to gather my bearing. Just my luck, I was staring straight at a bullet.

I jumped back and swung at it, knocking the bullet away. It spun around through the air before stopping once more in mid air still pointing at me. Right. More dream trickery. I just... had to keep my head about me. Keep calm. Deep breaths. Figure this out.

There were many more bullets, and each and every one pointed directly at me. Ignoring them (and it was hard) I saw I was in... some kind of cavernous building. The floor was mostly clear of debris, and the regularly-spaced support pillars were still in good condition.

Something bright and yellow caught my eye from behind one of the pillars. I attempted to walk over there but the wall of lead facing me was blocking my way. It was silly, but the idea of walking into bullets even though they weren’t moving and all this was just a dream, still unnerved me. There was no time to be afraid though so I gritted my teeth and closed me eyes.

I could feel each individual bullet press against me, but the feeling didn’t last. When I opened my eyes, I saw that each bullet, once I pushed past it, bounced off my skin and spun away, then turned to face me again. It was... odd, but harmless, at least for now, so I kept walking, and soon got used to them bouncing away from me.

When I reached the pillar with the flash I saw what I expected to see. It was a gun, mid muzzle flash. I would say what gun, or even what type, but it changed and shifted, and I couldn't even begin to keep track. There was a floating set of barding close to the gun, but there was no pony inside it. The barding shifted too, but not nearly as fast, and seemed to linger on spiky blood-stained armour.

I looked around the room and suddenly more sets of floating armour and guns appeared. Enough that I could get a sense of the conflict that happened here. The armour that I was staring at continued to shift, and as it did every single piece of armour on that side changed with it, while the other side of the ghostly conflict didn't shift armour. It was always the same.

I walked over to the nearest set of ghostly armour that didn't change, and as bullets bounced off me I began to see what made that side different. Along with the shifting guns, and static armour, the ghostly form also had a collar on that looked like it was rigged with wires. It didn't take a genius to figure out what those collars were. “Fight or die,” I said to myself, imagining the orders they must have been given.

I turned to walk away from the collared ghost, but when I did I didn't hit anything. Where were the bullets? My eyes shot around the room to see they had all turned to point at something else, something on a nearby slate-grey wall. Another door.

This time it was a sliding metallic door that seemed to be trying harder to be fancier technology than it was. As I walked close a set of words written in red above it appeared to me.

If So, She Has Forgotten You. But I Have Not.



On the other side I was standing on the edge of a giant crater that reminded me of the one on the outskirts of Dise, though not nearly as large. Across the gaping hole was a large crumbling building that was half swallowed by the giant sink hole. Even with it half destroyed it looked like something resembling a fortress.

I tried to take a step towards the building, but suddenly the world twisted and turned and I ended up standing right in front of the equally impressive entrance. Etched above the entrance were the words, “Maripony: Ministry Of Arcane Science Hub.” As I read the name of the building, smaller red words wrote themselves before my eyes.

I Have Seen Your Wounds, And I Have Wept.



The doors opened by themselves revealing a grand hallway that looked pristine. Not preserved like the mountain facility, but brand new, almost shining. I hadn't seen anything like it in my life, so I eagerly stepped inside the building. As I did the doors slammed shut behind me.

The cleanliness faded and turned into cracks and rubble. Without so much as a bright flash to signal their coming the hallway was filled with Alicorns. There must have been at least one hundred in the long hallway, each standing side by side with their wings outstretched, lining both sides of the hallway. Green, blue, purple, they went in order, the greens facing greens across the fall, the blues the blues and so on. I had never seen so many in my life, and the staggering number made me feel small and frail. I could only imagine how a regular pony would have felt.

Slowly and carefully, so as not to startle them, I made my way towards the end of the hall.

“You Are Not Alone. I Can End Your Pain.” One of the blue alicorns boomed at me nearly making me jump out of my skin.

“Right... good to know.” I kept to walking, my hoof steps echoing down the hallways, which I was sure were longer than the building was.

“I Can Set You Free.”



Another spoke at me, a blue one again. I tried to ignore it but a third blue spoke at me, then a fourth, until all I could hear was their voices booming.

“I Can Give You Life.”

“I Can Bring You Hope.”



“I Can Break Your Chains.”



“I Can Heal Your Wounds.”



“Celestia Does Not Care For You.”



“Not Like I do.”



“Join Us, And Be Happy.”



“At Last.”



“I Can Set You Free.”



The last word 'free' hung in the air for longer than it had any right to as I reached the end. The last door, and I was almost certain it was the last, was the same as the first. Above it were the words, written in red.

Unity Is Your Salvation



I opened the door and walked out onto a catwalk. The room looked like it had once been some sort of factory, but of what I couldn't even begin to guess. Two thirds of the ceiling had collapsed, revealing parts of the complex above, and most of the catwalks were destroyed, except for the portion I was standing on. The floor below me was.. well I'm sure there was a floor there at some point, but all I could see was a thick layer of sludge covered with dust and debris. I swear I saw something swimming in it. There were five vats of something in the room, but three were destroyed. Luckily for me the catwalk I was on ended right above one.

I didn't want to know what had happened here, but... but I had to know. I walked towards the end of the Catwalk, nervousness rising in my guts. When I reached the end I closed my eyes and pointed my head down at the vat, so that when I opened them I would be forced to see whatever it was.

My eyes opened to the sight of a strange green and purple liquid. It was... odd, but not... wait... there was something else. Slowly the liquid swirled and swirled until a pony’s face was staring up at me. It mouthed words at me, but I didn't know what, and I wasn't about to stay to ask it! I stood up and moved to turn, but something blocked me...

“This was a good memory.” Platinum Haze was beside me, and if she hadn't talked I would have mistaken her for another vision. “But it is faded. Polluted by other memories. So many memories, so many voices, and I can still hear them.” I... she said I, not we. “Sometimes I cannot remember what happened to me, and what happened to my sisters. Or perhaps my sisters are me...”

“This... this was a good dream?” I asked quietly, still not sure if she knew I was there or just talking to herself. For a good minute I was still not sure, as the blue alicorn stared into the vat with intense yellow eyes.

“Yes... my first one...” She did not stop staring at the vat.

“Those... things. Visions. Did those actually happen... or... what the fuck?” Swearing was probably not the best thing to do at that moment, but dammit I was confused.

“Yes. No...” She paused, her eyes not even glancing over at me. “They are a part of the memory. Things... memories, places. She showed them to me, and my sisters, to open our eyes. To see the blessing she was about to bestow.”

“Blessing?” I glanced down at the vat, but grimaced and had to turn away. “You call that a blessing.”

“Mother gave us purpose. She gave me a reason to continue my existence, to continue living. She gave me happiness, and family. She gave us immortality, and the power never to be hurt again. With her, with Unity, we were never alone.” She stomped her hoof so hard I swear it cracked metal. “Then the destroyer came and took it away!” She turned to me, her eyes fierce. “What right has a mortal to judge a goddess! What right did she have to take away our family! She took my home! She took Everything! And They call her hero! Lightbringer! She tossed us into a sea, confused and afraid, and she cared not!” Her eyes lowered and she looked to be on the brink of tears. “I can still see the flames of green... I can hear my sisters scream. So much pointless death, and for what and who? Do you... do you know what my mother’s last words were?”

I shook my head, unable to form words. I'd never seen her so angry.

“‘Fly My Children. Save yourselves’...” She turned her head away from me back to the vat. “They call her a monster, but she was not. She was a mother, and everything she did, she did for us. And she did so much for us... she made a deal with the destroyer, knowing she could not be trusted. She risked herself, and sacrificed herself, in an attempt to save our species... mother wanted to make stallions. So we could reproduce, so we could have a larger family. For us. For that... ‘crime’... she was murdered. So many of my sisters murdered. Some of my sisters have forgiven her, the destroyer, but I shall not.”

“I... I am sorry.” Part of me wanted to ask more about this... Goddess. To see what she truly was. Because the last pony I met claiming to be a god was less than forthright. But it didn't matter, not then. The truth could wait.

“You need not be... you did nothing, and the past is past. I cannot fight the past, so I must live for the future. Mother is dead, she cannot come back, but her children live on, and I will do proud by her.” She looked back over at me, her eyes wet with budding tears. “I knew it was a dream. From the start. It was wrong, too many memories, too much.... I am glad you came for me.”

“Not surprised?”

“Should we be?” I opened my mouth to say something but she continued on a tangent. “If nothing else this vision has reminded me of something that once was... before Unity, I had a cutie-mark.” I'd assumed that. “Two chains, crossed in an 'X'.”

“Oh...” I said quietly, my mind racing trying to think of something positive that could represent.

“I think.” She lowered her head staring deep into the vault. I caught a sight of a tear dripping down from her eye and dropping into the vat below. “It's time to go home.”

She wrapped a wing around me, turned, and fell into the vat pulling me along with her. I screamed. We hit the face in the centre of the vat. I think it was smiling. There was a splash. But I didn't get wet.

---

The sound of whispering welcomed my return back to the world of the living. When I opened my eyes again I saw Wildfire standing in front of me, tears in her eyes. “We've been over this,” I said to the ghostly form.

“W-what?” Came a mutter from one side. I turned my head to see Flare staring at me. “Oh... phew, you’re awake. I thought I was hearing things, more things, how'd it go, is she-”

“We are fine,” Platinum Haze said, cutting Flare off. Hearing her speak seemed to calm the stallion down. “We are sorry about that...” I stood up first and offered a hoof to help the alicorn up. She grabbed onto my outstretched leg, and used it to hoist herself back up to all fours. “Thank you.”

“Right. So. We're all good...” He paused. “Should I even ask what happened?”

“Best not,” I said checking my pipbuck's radiation detector to distract myself from the voices in the air. “Not now anyway. We need to go.”

“We... must agree. This place is a danger. This magic, it is a terrible blight, and a lie. It begs us remember the past, live within it, but nothing comes from reliving the past, even the good parts.” Platinum Haze sounded more like she was trying to convince herself more than us.

“Right. Well. I can't argue there. But where are we going? We still don't know the right path, maybe we should just head back,” Flare offered as a solution.

“I think.” I flipped to the map on my pipbuck, and the answer came to me. It was stupid of me not to realize it sooner. There may have been three paths to choose from, but the map only had one, so all we had to do was choose the path that went the same direction as my map said we were suppose to go. Just because there were more tunnels than my map said, didn't mean the path we had to choose changed. As I berated myself internally I pointed to the leftmost tunnel. “This way.” I started walking down it, but neither of my comrades went to follow me. “Trust me.”

Platinum Haze and Flare looked over at each other and then, in silent agreement, started to follow.

We walked as fast as we could without breaking into a full gallop. As we moved down the tunnel we found it getting more and more complete and like the tunnels in the upper levels. The walls became more flat, and uniform, the ceiling was also smoothed down and lights were installed letting out of the oppressive darkness. Most importantly of all, the more we walked, the fainter the whispers of the orb became, until they had vanished altogether.

The tunnel was excessively long, taking us the better part of an hour to get through it, and was almost annoyingly twisty. Which made for a very long, very quiet walk (not counting the whispers). Though even after we left the range of the orb’s powers nopony really spoke for a while.

I eventually broke the silence, “I need to find a way to bring that orb back...”

Platinum Haze said nothing, but looked down at me in confusion, but Flare responded. “Wait. You mean that deal with Simple Heart? Wasn't that whole thing like... abandoned? You know when he tried to kill us...”

“I know,” I said softly. “But that complex might be useful. Later. If I could get on his good side...”

“He doesn't have a good side.” Flare scoffed at the very idea. “He has a crazy side and a kind of depressing side.”

“We are confused once more,” Platinum Haze said softly, “Who is this 'Simple Heart' and what connection does he posses to that... thing?”

“Simple Heart is the self proclaimed 'god'...” Flare started, eliciting a confused and slightly upset look from Haze, “of the complex in the mountain near Timber. Some sort of science experiment gone wrong, now he's crazy and mind fucks anypony who enters. The way he spoke it seemed like before the war they somehow siphoned off some of his power and put them in orbs, and Hired agreed to get them back.”

“We must agree with Hired then, it may help him to have such an object back. Perhaps it could calm his mind...”

“Easy for you to say.” Flare shook his head. “But this isn't ordinary crazy. Besides, even if we wanted to, there's no way anypony is carrying that orb anywhere and staying sane.”

Platinum Haze seemed to think about this and responded in turn, “We may be able to come up with a spell to shunt out its powers... we will think on this.”

I hoped Haze would come up with something, because I could think of a lot of things to do with that facility if I could gain Simple Heart's trust. Sure, I would still need a way to kick the Steel Rangers out, but if I could... there was just so much technology stored there. And building materials. And if push came to shove and the radiation didn't go away quick enough, maybe the residents of the Dise tunnels could move into it. It had the infrastructure.

That was only if Platinum Haze was able to help, and if Simple Heart appreciated it. Mostly it hinged on him becoming less crazy with the orb...

So that was unlikely, but I'd liked to have some options for once.

I did not have time to think on the subject for long, because very soon the hallway ended. At the end of the hallway was not a staircase (like my map suggested, so it really needed an update) but a door, and a button beside it. It was fairly clear what the door was supposed to be, so I pressed the button and... waited.

“It seems to still be operational,” Platinum Haze said. “We wonder if it has seen maintenance, or if it is impressively resistant to the passage of time.” That was a good question. My theory was proven right as the elevator in the facility was also still working even though there was no way anypony went there to repair it, and they were both made (or at least paid for) by Wallkirk.

“Two hundred years isn't that long,” Flare said dryly.

The elevator dinged when it reached the bottom and opened up. It was much smaller than any other elevator I had seen, and the three of us were squashed together. There were only two buttons on the inside though, so I pressed the higher one. “This is... uncomfortable.”

“Yes.” Platinum Haze was hunched over awkwardly so her horn didn't go through the ceiling. “We summarize this elevator was designed for a singular pony.”

“Hopefully we're not over the weight limit,” Flare said, and when I checked the weight limit it occurred to me we actually were. This did not at all help with my previous (completely reasonable) fear of being dragged up a shaft in a rickety metal box.

I held my breath the entire ride up, and I nearly ran out of the box when the doors opened. Before I could even look around a voice spoke over a speaker.

“Welcome back Mr. Wallkirk. It has been seventy three thousand seven hundred seventy seven days, twenty one hours, thirty three minutes, and four seconds since your last visit.”



Platinum Haze closed her eyes when the numbers were recited before adding, “That is about... five days before the end of the great war.”

Wait... what. “How did you-?” Platinum Haze turned her head to me blinking in confusion. “Math. In your head. Nevermind.”

Flare chuckled and walked past, getting an eyeful of the room. “Maybe Mr. House was right.” That reminded me we were finally there.

I took stock of the room, well, it was more like a hallway. It was a sleek grey hallway that we were at the end of. Behind us there were two elevators, one the one we used to get here, the other presumably that led up into the Clips And Clops. On the ceiling, besides the lights, there were not-so-secret video cameras and speakers. At the far end of the hallway was a door, no doubt where we needed to go. There was also... oh... shit.

“Are those Ponitrons?” Flare asked as two robots rolled up to us.

“Do not move,” The two equine-shaped robots said in unison, guns unfolding out of their backs. “Any action will be taken as host-”



CRACK CRACK

Bolts of lightning flew from Platinum Haze's horn in quick succession, and faster than I could blink the Ponitrons were nothing more than smoking wrecks.

“I thought you were a pacifist!” Flare said, having at some-point jumped into the air out of shock.

“What?” Platinum Haze stepped forward to kick the scrap of the ponitrons out of the way. “We are indeed secure in our pacifist beliefs, but these are autonomous machines, and destroying them is not a violation. If they had some measure of AI, or the capacity to feel pain, our beliefs would be altered, but they do not, so it is a harmless act.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said quickly following after the alicorn. “Where did you even learn that spell?”

“Unity.” And that was all the answer I needed.

“Sure,” Flare scoffed fluttering after us, “be all cryptic and stuff... Hey Hired, aren't you forgetting that crown thing?” Oh right.

I dug into my saddlebag and pulled out the tiara. I turned it around to study the device to see if it had any, you know, on switch, but it didn't seem to. The only thing that it had was that black opal... well, I had to put it on eventually. I did it slowly, carefully. It was super magical, and expensive, and I was leery of memory magic for so many reasons.

“Did anything happen?” Flare asked when it was secure on my head.

“Uh...” I waited... nothing. I tried tapping at it with my hoof. Nothing. “I'm not sure...” Mr. House didn't really give me any instructions. It should have done, like, something, right? Or I should have felt something. It was just... normal, except for making me look gaudy. “Well. He should have given me better instructions.”

“We have no extensive knowledge of the recollector device, so we are unable to assist in this manner,” Platinum Haze said as we continued down to the door at the end of the hall. I was surprised she even knew what the thing was, but I shouldn't have been.

Then came the moment of truth. It was clear at that point that there was something down there, even if we didn't know what, so all we had to do was open the door to see if Mr. House was right, or if we had all just wasted our time. I cracked open the door, and when I was sure it wasn't about to explode or anything, I opened it all the way.

Inside was a computer. No, the computer. It was so large it filled up three of the four walls so that when I walked in I was surrounded on all sides. This put to shame every computer I’d seen in my life. I remembered one of the documents I found detailing computer technology stolen from Equestria, but I didn't expect... this.

“Woah...” I said breathlessly. It took me a minute to remember what I was suppose to be doing. My eyes scanned the whole room slowly so that when Mr. House saw the memory he'd see it all. If I couldn't find a port I'd look at it in greater detail, but until then a glance would do.

“The old kook was right.” Flare walked in behind me. “Colour me impressed.”

“This... this looks like something we have seen before, but we cannot recall.” Platinum Haze spoke her mind out loud.

“If you remember tell me.” Right, so I needed to find a port. Or whatever it was called. Something to hook my pipbuck to. If it was going to be anyplace it was probably going to be on what looked like access panels below the giant screen on the far wall across from the entrance.

I walked over to study the row of buttons and... stuff. It was all really really confusing, and way out of my league. I really did wish I'd brought Serenity then, because it was probably right up her alley. But I hadn't, so I had to do it myself. Somehow. It would have helped if I could have found a damn access port though!

“Do you like it?”



I jumped back as the voice boomed. My head shot up and my eyes scanned looking for whatever just did that!

“What the hell!” Flare asked loudly, just as confused as I was.

“It is called a Crusader Maneframe.” The Voice paused before continuing. “It was supposed to be anyway, but my spies were unable to steal complete design documents, so we had to improvise. It is as close as you'll find south of equestria though.”



“Who are you!?” I thought it was someone from the Clips and Clops toying with us over the speaker system. They’d seen us with the cameras, and now were letting us know how screwed we were. I was wrong.

The giant monitor flicked on.

On it was the moving image of a slightly overweight brown stallion. He was balding slightly and his hair was a deep grey. It took me a few seconds, but I realized I had seen that pony before.

“I am the true ruler of Dise,” The stallion on the screen said with a knowing smile. “I am Wallkirk.”

Level Up!

Skill Note: Survival 75

New Perk: Rad Resistance: Your natural resistance to radiation and its effects is now 25% better than a normal pony of your same health and size. If such a pony existed.

((A/N: Hey there everyone! Turns out I am back! First I would think Kkat for creating the FoE universe and letting people like me muck around in it, and thank my editors Julep, Menti, and theBSDude for making this crap writeable. Also I wanted to apologize for the delay. I started university, and that among other things slowed down production. I can’t promise the next chapters will come out faster (I will try though) but I will promise that I’m going to finish the story. I know some people were worried about Heroes becoming a dead fic, but that will not happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. ~No One~ ))