Icarus

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

“Do it.” It was the first thing Flare said to me when I got back. He didn't ask where I’d been or what I’d done. Perhaps it was the look on my face, because nobody else did either. “I want to fly,” he said calmly, securely. “I need to fly. If I can't fly, what good am I?” I was going to point out what good he was, and how I would still be his friend and other such heartwarming crap but he cut me off. “Don't contradict me, just… let me.”

“Are you sure?” I was so sure at first he'd want to, but now I was second guessing myself.

“It worked for you right? An earth pony without legs is like a pegasi without wings.” He looked visibly pained just saying those words. Either that or he was pained from the pain. His chest rose heavily as he sucked in air between his teeth. “What's my pride compared to the sky?”

“Nothing?” I suggested, but I wasn't really sure. I’d never really been a big fan of flying, or heights, but he enjoyed it and that's what mattered.

“Nothing,” he agreed. He looked down at Serenity. “You're sure you can do this?”

The filly nodded excitedly. “Of course! I mean, I gots all the equipment here I need, just need time, yanno? Don't worry 'bout it!” She looked over at me and pointed an accusatory hoof. “You either. Haze said she needed you, so if ya'll need'a run off'n'stuff, don't worry about it. It's all handled here. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” I wasn't really sure what lemons had to do with it, but she seemed confident.

“Okay.” I leaned down to nuzzle her cheek softly. “I'm not sure what Haze wants, but we'll be back. As soon as possible.” Serenity waved me away with a dismissive hoof. I couldn't help but think she was slightly over-playing how nonchalant she was feeling. “And you,” I said turning back to the injured pegasus, still lying on the sterile hospital bed, “I think you made the right choice.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, leaning back on the bed. He wasn't even looking at me, just staring up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers he needed.

I didn't want to interfere though, and I had no doubt that I would if I stayed. There was still work to be done too. I needed to transfer control of the Ponitrons to The Finishers like I had promised, and then do whatever Haze had planned.

Luckily she wasn't hard to find, considering I bumped into her as soon as I left the hospital room. “Oh! We were waiting for you.” She said cheerfully. “We think we have been able to devise a spell as you desired.”

That was fast, like incredibly so. Perhaps I should have expected more from Haze considering her vast magical talent. “You can neutralize the orb?”

She nodded. “We have searched our memories and knowledge, and we believe we know a spell that when placed on a container would essentially cause the orb's magical effects to be reflected. It would be incredibly powerful inside the container, but the walls of the container would continuously reflect it so the magical field would be unable to exit.”

“Uh.” I wasn't entirely sure any of that made sense, but she looked incredibly confident about it so I knew better than to question her. Especially considering how little I knew about magic. “I thought your horn got worn out though?”

She nodded and sighed, lowering her head. “We are afraid we did not think that through. Considering the large amounts of magical radiation that has been expelled outside, if we were to stand near ground zero, we would quickly gain back our magical strength.”

“What about your wing?” I said looking over to the wing in question. Even folded against her body it didn't look right, twisting at an odd angle that made my stomach tie in knots.

“It has already healed incorrectly.” She stated simply, not bothering to look past it. “It… can be healed, properly. But the process will be painful, and we lack time for such an endeavour. For now, additional radiation will not harm it any more than it already has been. The damage is done, and all we can do is accept that fact and continue on until an opportunity to fix it presents itself.”

“You aren't upset?”

“We… were never proficient at flying. It was pleasant, but not something we cannot live deprived of. As well, we are confident we will be able to heal ourselves in time, as we are very resilient. If anything, we are more upset for Flare, if our shield hadn't failed…”

“You can't blame yourself for that.”

She looked conflicted for a minute, but let out a sigh, “We shall endeavour not to, but it can be difficult. Even if he is granted the gift of flight through artificial means we recognize that it is not the same, as you can attest to.”

Could I? On the rare occasion I had briefly flirted with the angst that came with finding bits and pieces of you lopped off and replaced with cold metal, but for the most part I took it in stride. I accepted what happened and moved on; I didn't look back on that, at least, with too much regret. Maybe if I had some sort of defining feature that had been removed, then maybe I could understand. The only thing appreciably close was my eye for which I still wore an eye patch most of the time, but my… feelings towards that was not on loss but regret.

Still, I was in no position to contradict her, so I smiled and agreed, “Yes. It is… weird.” That was true at least. “We should go, though… The Watchers are not pleased with me. Our time in the city might be short. If we want to get everything done, we need…” I searched for the appropriate term, “concurrent activity.”

“Yes, that is wise.”

---

When I left The BS, I commanded some Ponitrons to follow me as I walked down the main strip towards the gate that separated Dise from Parasite Mound. I wasn't sure how I was going to find Photo Finish in Parasite Mound, so the next best thing was to create a big enough scene to have her find me. This of course involved going past the remnants of the Moon, a fact I hadn't considered.

It was… odd seeing the city without the building, a fact that was hard to get over especially as I drew closer to the rubble. If I looked closely enough I swore parts of the rubble even looked familiar, pieces of the facade of the building that stuck out that I swore I could remember. Or maybe it was my imagination, trying to find sense in the senseless. A pattern in the chaos.

I hadn't expected the giant crater though, when really I should have. Much of the underground had been destroyed, and the wreckage of the upper building had fallen in, creating sinkholes of rubble, even less safe than a normal knocked down building. The crater was massive enough that buildings to the left, right, and behind The Moon (Well, those that hadn't also been reduced to rubble) were tilted, sliding towards the remains. I wondered how the tunnels fared underneath, no doubt the massive explosion did damage, and I was suddenly struck by the realization that ponies could be trapped underneath by cave ins.

This thought was prompted on by the fact I could see many ponies digging with their hooves through the rubble. They were far enough away I couldn't make out faces, but they looked dirty, maybe blood stained, as they risked their lives. How many ponies had been trapped in the building when it went down? The remainder of the Mustangs were there for sure, and the invading revolutionary forces. Was this what the Watchers planned? To weaken the revolutionaries and Mustangs both with this attack, forcing them to fall back to them?

Did it matter?

Platinum Haze looked down at me, sadness in her eyes. It hadn't even been a full day since the explosion, but the ponies looked so weary, I could tell how much she cared. “Well, go.” My pipbuck had been ticking ever since I got outside, but I chose not to worry about it, but closer to ground zero it ticked faster so she could help and heal, if there was anypony left in there to help. “Wait!” I said as she took a few steps.

I searched through my bags and pulled out all the Rad-Aways and Rad-X's I had. It wasn't much, but it would have to do, “For them.”

She nodded and I watched as she walked over the rubble gracefully. Okay, it wasn't so graceful, as she tripped a few times, but it still made for an impressive image when all the gathering ponies stopped to watch her in awe. They looked shocked, and one of them drew a weapon, and when she helped to dig they all implicitly understood and went back to their work.

I watched for a minute before looking down at my pipbuck. It only took a few clicks before the Ponitrons that made up my entourage rolled away from me and towards the rubble. Their wheels made it difficult, but they would have to do to help, at least for now. The ponies working accepted that too in turn, though they were more careful to keep their distance from the robot than from the Alicorn.

I could have gone and helped myself, and perhaps I should have. But there was other work to be done, and I had to take it one step at a time. There wasn't time to help every single pony who needed it, not if I still wanted to help everypony by creating a safer city.

It was weird having that as a goal. It was so farfetched, so out there and nearly impossible to achieve, not to mention stupidly naive, and optimistic. Still, it was my goal, and if I took it one step at a time…

Eventually I made my way to the gate to find Ponitrons still guarding it. Unsurprisingly, they let me pass without issue, which really made sense considering I still had absolute control over them. I took a few steps into Parasite Mound to find it mostly dead and quiet.

My pipbuck was still ticking off steadily, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I could only hope the Finishers had enough medicine to keep their people alive a little bit longer… and it didn't take long for me to find out the answer when a rainbow coloured suit of power armour leapt from a building in front of me. “We've been waiting.” Screenshot, I recognized the voice even through the filter.

“Not for long. I hope.” She didn't seem to be in a very good mood the way her body was hunched over like a cat ready to pounce.

“Long enough,” the voice said sharply. “Another explosion. We have barely recovered from the last…” She wasn't even patient enough to do the accent. It was a little disappointing.

“Then maybe I can help your mood.” I held up my pipbuck, “I have the command codes. For every ponitron in the city.” Even through the bug-like mask, I could tell her eyes went wide. Her stressed posture instantly became more relaxed, though not too much.

“Dare I ask how?” One step at a time.

“Best not.” I licked my lips nervously. “But remember the deal.”

“Follow your ‘master plan’ was it?” You could almost hear the sarcastic air quotes around the words 'master plan'. Not that I could blame her.

“Yes.” I sucked in a deep breath. “Control them carefully. Help with them as you can. But nothing overt. Do not tip your hoof that they belong to you.” She looked at me carefully, it made me a bit nervous.

“Until when?”

“Until…” That was a good question, a question I should have thought about long before. “Until I say otherwise… week, maybe less.” That’s all it would take… if everything worked out. If I could decide on all the things that I needed to work out. There were a lot of ifs involved, but I figured that the longest I could force the Finishers to wait before they got impatient was a week, so that was the time frame I would go with.

“And what's to stop us from ignoring you?” Screenshot said, and I had to admire her honesty if nothing else.

“Nothing.” So I matched honesty with honesty. “Except I got it for you. You didn't believe I could. And here I am. If nothing else don't I deserve a little bit of trust?”

The power armoured pony seemed to regard me suspiciously before taking a step forward and fiddling with her hoof and pulling out a long wire from near her ankle, “Plug this into your pipbuck.” She said giving me the end of the wire, and I obliged. “The Finishers are choosing to trust you.” She said simply.

My pipbuck beeped and I looked down to see a series of files and programs being deleted or moved. There were a few warnings and I clicked through them without really reading. It was more important to get this done quickly before anybody noticed.

“It is done.” I said when it finished, unplugging the wire from my pipbuck. “Enjoy your new army.”

Screenshot nodded and moved to turn away but stopped and looked at me seriously. “When I first met you, you were a random merc with an attitude problem. Now… now I don't know what you are. Do you really think whatever your plan is will work?”

No. “Yes.”

“May Celestia grant you wisdom then.” She bowed her head and ran off.

I stood there for a minute, just long enough to feel drops of rain start to fall on my head. Looking up I could see an angry arrangement of grey clouds blowing in from the north. Another storm was coming, but there was still time to do what I needed to do without getting too wet.

---

The rain was still a light drizzle when I found my way back to the wreckage of The Moon. Platinum Haze was not hard to find in the wreckage, the way her body seemed to shimmer and glow, and the fact she was several inches taller since the last time I last saw her. It was amazing the effects radiation had on her.

“We are sorry.” She said when she walked back up to me. “How long have you been waiting for us-”

“Not very.” It was easy to forget, with everything that had been going on, just how beautiful Haze was, but it struck me at that moment. Perhaps it was the way her mane was frazzled, or her face flecked with dirt from her work. I was never good at articulating such things so I let it go, “Has your magic returned?”

“We believe so.” I’d been about to ask if she found any survivors, but I was already quite certain of the answer, so I didn't bother bringing the mood down. “We are ready… we are fairly certain this will work.”

“Okay… if there's time, you can come back up to help,” I said turning to walk away, letting Haze pad up beside me.

“Thank you.”

It was quiet for a while, and I imagine that was for the best as we both had a lot to think about. Still, it wasn't exactly unpleasant, except for the growing sickly feeling in my stomach the longer I stayed outside. Luckily we made it to the tunnels in short order using the same entrance I had used before to find Wallkirk, though this time there seemed to be no guards. Not that I minded, I didn't feel the need to talk to them again.

It didn't take long to find our way down to the half-finished dirt tunnel at the very bowels of the tunnels. It felt like as soon as my hooves touched dirt I could hear the whispering of the winds. I needed something to distract myself from the memories that always seemed to come near pieces of Simple Heart, and luckily Platinum Haze helped with that.

“May we ask, what is your plan?” It was a good thing to ask, it helped me think.

Survive

The wind wasn't wrong in this case. “I'm not sure.” She seemed to deflate, so I guess that wasn't the answer she was looking for. “The Watchers need to be stopped. But I'm not sure they can be. The city is little more than ash now. Their goal is to make it rise from the ashes. But in their image.” I took in a sharp breath. “So I'll stop that.”

“How?”

It was a good question, and it was the sort of question that gnawed at the edge of my consciousness because I knew I didn't have a full answer. Not yet. “By… turning the people against them.” That was the gist of it. “Revealing them for what they are. Showing a better alternative. If the Finishers and Molly can work together…” The plan was always sort of murky in my head, but as I walked it started to take shape, piece by piece. “Then maybe… I need to undermine them.” Then it was gone again, back into a formless fog in my head.

“But why Simple Heart?” She asked curiously, with a hint of nervousness in her voice. After the last time she was visited by that orb I couldn't blame her for not wanting to deal with it again.

“He holds the mountain. There's so many supplies there…” I could picture it. Stacks and stacks of lumber, and metal, and tools, and so much else in the main room alone. The facility had so much, and if I could get it… “We could rebuild the city.”

“We understand. How better to win the trust of those in the city by endeavouring to rebuild it with a plethora of supplies.” I smiled when she put words to what I was trying to think of. “It will be a dangerous endeavour, but we imagine that will be our next destination?”

“It has to be.” I looked down the darkened tunnel. Sliding the eye patch off my face provided a little light, but in an eerie green glow that didn't help matters. I knew what was down there, I could never forget, and I felt it tickling at the base of my neck the closer I got. “We will want to be rid of that as soon as possible.”

“We agree.” She looked round the darkened tunnels nervously, her horn's light doing little to penetrate the darkness that enveloped us. “We are certain our spell will work… but still.” She shuddered. “We can hear her, we dislike this feeling.”

“Her?” I asked curiously, ignoring my own voices. Just keep moving.

“Mother.” Right, her. “She is telling us not to be afraid… then she tells us we should be afraid, and that she loves us, and for us to run.” Her gaze darkened and I could see the barest hint of a scowl forming on her face. “We do not like this place.”

You can't keep doing this, you can't ignore…

The voices on the wind chimed in, but I wasn't sure if it was talking to me or Haze. “It'll be over soon.” It was getting strong, the whispering, and the sounds. Images flashed in the corner of my eye, but I didn't dare to look, I knew there was nothing good to be found when searching for ghosts.

Yet they still found me, and where once only one voice whispered now many spoke louder and louder until I could hear nothing else. I looked to Haze frantically, my heart racing to see her mouth moving but nothing came out, just the roar of winds in my ears like a hurricane.

We must purge the evil from the—



Cunts, the lot of them, every one, let'em fucking burn—

What is the nature—

It was a matter of time—

The wasteland can't… it can't be saved by heroes. Only by ponies… ponies like me.

In the darkness I could see him, see his stupid fucking grin. He was smoke in the blackness, a vague apparition, but somehow so solid I could see the colour of his eyes. I charged forward, he had to die again, I wouldn't let Serenity finish the job this time. It would be me.

But when I charged into the darkness his form faded and shifted around me.

It took you long enough. You're already dead.

He's dead. I saw him die. Bullet through the head. Bang, done. I could almost taste the blood splatter, but then why was he still haunting me!

You're going to die a failure—

“Shut up!” Another voice, another apparition, more wind in my ears. All dead. I saw them all die, and they keep coming back, one after another. “I won’t!” They're dead! What do they know! All dead, they can't stop me…

I thought it was a trick… they killed me. Like you.

More and more, the dead started to rise from the ground, their visages made from fog and smoke but I knew the dead all by name.

I never wanted this job. A small ghost said, I could hear a sneer in his voice. You killed me for it.

Never saw you coming. A ghost made of green smoke said, and kept saying even as I swiped my hoof through her. Never had a chance.

They came. They call her a hero now. My murderer. I see, but nobody remembers.

What is the nature… A final ghost said standing before me as the others grew and circled. He didn't have to finish the question, I knew the question as well as I knew anything, but still I didn't have an answer for him. Living or dead he continued to mock me.

So many dead. Another ghost said. Time and again. We must do better, why can't you see… you want to be a hero.

Fucking hero they call me…

A hero I shall be…

This is not the time for heroes. Give up.

They wouldn't stop talking! They circled around me and spoke and spoke and spoke until I could hear no more. Their words became a jumble of memories half forgotten, and words I could barely discern. The smoke circled and slowly the ghosts merged with each other just as their words did leaving me in a prison of fog and guilt.

Survive.

A single voice pierced through the fog like a knife. A red form strode through my swirling fog cage, a smile on its ghostly lips. The first ghost, the last. “Survive.” The voice said, and all at once the fog faded.

I blinked.

The fog was gone. The ghosts were gone. The voices were gone. The only thing I could see was the dim image of Platinum Haze standing before me, holding my hoof in hers. Before I could say anything she learned down to kiss me, and I felt blood rushing to my cheeks. “H-haze.”

“It is done.” She lifted up a sack in her magic, and I could sense the orb inside, but its power was gone, shielded by the spells Haze had cast. “We are sorry you had to go through that, but it shall not happen again.”

“I'm sorry,” I said at once. “I let i—”

“You are a silly mare.” She leaned down to kiss my cheek this time. “We love you, and would never blame you for this horrendous magic. Let us go now, and never speak of this place henceforth.”

---

We did it. I couldn't help but feel a sense of elation as we left the tunnels. My plans were starting to come to fruition, as sketchy and vague as they were. One step at a time we were making progress, and I was sure the harder part would come when trying to bargain with Simple Heart for a piece of his soul, but when last we spoke he seemed so enamoured with the idea.

But forgetting all that, how could I not be happy that it worked? We beat those tunnels. Ever since the first time I entered them, when the winds whispered and I shivered and everything felt ill at ease, I thought they were unbeatable. Another blot on my memory I couldn't erase, that came back every time the winds blew.

But they were gone. Not the tunnels, obviously, but what made them so dark and terrifying. They belonged to me now, and they would never torment another living soul. It made me want to laugh, or cry, but mostly it just put a goofy smile on my face.

“You appear to be elated,” Platinum Haze said as we surfaced in the slums of the city.

“Of course.” I could skip. Everything was going so right.

“We are happy that you are happy. Recently you have seemed very despondent, and we wish it were not so, you look much more beautiful when you smile.”

“I…” Wasn't sure how to answer that. “I'm not beautiful. Smile or not. You don't have to lie to me.”

“Many things are beautiful, my dear.” She looked down the road to where The BS was waiting for us, shining like a diamond amidst the empty ruins. “The sun rising above the wasteland, the laughter of children, pretty mares to be sure, but not just that. You are not conventionally pretty, but do not sell yourself short, you have a strength and determination about you that is attractive, and you would do well to remember that.”

I had enough grace to blush. “Thanks…”

“And what beauty you have is your own,” she said solemnly, but I wasn't really sure what she meant at first. I eventually figured it out, but only after a long drawn out silence in which time we had reached the main doors of the BS.

“Haze…” I really should have thought of a cutesy nickname for her, but I was really bad at such things. Maybe Serenity had some idea… “You would be beautiful even if you never became an alicorn. I… I love you because of your heart, not your looks.” I paused. “I mean, the looks aren't bad either, just don't think—”

“We know.” She leaned down to kiss me on the nose. Another blush, great. “We were just feeling sorry for ourselves, a hobby we have had practice at. We are sorry if it caused you distress.”

“You need to stop apologizing.” I said, stepping through the door and into the BS.

I had nearly forgotten I had sent people inside the casino to escape the radiation, but as soon as I opened the door I was reminded. There were even more people than when I left earlier that same day, nearly two dozen by my count and those were just the ones I could see on the casino floor. They all looked sick, or old, or injured, but were doing their best trying to make living spaces out of the old camp that had sprouted when the first megaspell went off.

And they all stared at me as I entered.

I was used to getting stared at to be sure. I was freakishly tall and strong, and my cybernetics or scars tended to make an interesting first expression, but they weren't looking at me with fear or revulsion or curiosity. They were wide eyed, like they adored me or something. A few muttered things I could barely make out as I walked by in silence, but it sounded like thanks, or maybe a prayer.

I didn't get it. Why would they care about me? I didn't create the BS or the spells that kept it safe, all I did was show them the way, but some of them looked at me as if I had personally saved them from some great tragedy. I hated it.

Platinum Haze loving me was one thing, but this sudden outpouring from people I didn't know for trivial things just… bothered me. I wasn't a good pony; I was a murderer and worse, and they acted like I saved the… well I did save their lives from the radiation technically, but not in any overt way. Still, they had no reason to like me, I wasn't a pony used to be liked.

“They need somepony to look to,” Platinum Haze said to me as we climbed the steps towards the hospital ward.

“They should find somepony else.” I muttered, my good mood turning sour for what I admit was a fairly petty reason.

“Who?” I hated when she was all sensible like that. But she was right, the city was at a loss for people to look up to. The Revolutionaries had their leader, but he was probably dead now, along with how many of their people? Some people looked to the Watchers, but they caused the mess and eventually the people would realize that they were doing nothing to solve it. Pinprick was dead. The Batmare was dead. So who was left?

“Nopony noticed me before.” I replied eventually.

“How many ponies did you save before?” Another uneasy question.

“You're my marefriend!” I sputtered in disbelief as we finally reached the surgery room where Flare and Serenity were. “You're supposed to take my side.”

“We are, we simply think you have not chosen your side properly.” She smiled, but I couldn't tell if she was sincere or mocking me. With a huff I turned and opened the door.

Blood.

So much blood. On the floor, on the walls, on Serenity… all over Flare. I had never seen so much blood come from a living pony.

“Serenity…” She wasn't looking at me, she was scrambling over tools frantically. When she heard her name she looked up, her grey eyes bloodshot red and drenched with tears.

“IT'S NOT WORKING!” She screamed, choking back sobs. “I… there was… bits… left, I had to cut them out, b-but I c-cut too deep, and then there was blood, I, tried to a-attach the l-limb but… I stopped it, but I can't, it's not working!” She sobbed pitifully. “I fucked up… I fucked up.”

I looked from my crying daughter down to Flare who was barely conscious on the table, his eyes open but glazed over. The heart rate monitor was beating rapidly, and his body covered in blood.

I let this happened. I should have supervised… fuck.

Okay, calm, don't panic. Deep breath. This was my fault. Serenity had no knowledge of pegasus anatomy, no matter how well versed in medicine and cybernetics she was this was uncharted territory. I couldn't be mad, I needed to… okay. Plan.

“How bad is it?” I walked in as calmly as I could, checking over the unmoving Flare to see if he had any wounds that Serenity hadn't manage to fully close.

Serenity wiped her eyes, but seemed to recognize the seriousness in my tone and replied. “He lost… a lot of blood. Um including what he lost earlier? Uh… l-like, maybe… a third? Maybe more…” Okay, a third wasn't good. “He… I think he needs a blood transfusion, b-but I couldn't find any and—”

Platinum Haze chimed in. “It is our understanding that it would not be possible to find compatible blood here, as Pegasi, benefiting their unique physiological structure, have a vastly different blood type. We need pegasi blood.”

Okay, that was a problem. I looked down at Flare and swore under my breath at how pale he looked as I placed a hoof on his forehead to check his temperature. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with the information I got, but it seemed like the thing to do. “Pegasi blood.”

“We… may have an answer to that.” Serenity and I both looked over at Platinum Haze anxiously. “It is our understanding that Enclave ships are equipped with Med-bays to deal with traumatic injuries.”

My eyes turned to window in the room. It was hidden by window shades, but I knew what was beyond it in the sky, hovering over the city like a metaphorical and literal black cloud. The Raptor…

“Alright.” No point arguing the point. Flare had to live, and for him to live he needed blood, and this was the only option available to us. No point arguing or figuring out how, just go. “The Enclave home base is an old high rise apartment building.” I remembered that much, it was the setting of Flare's dream that I visited. “If they work with The Watchers. And we're sure that they do. They might have a dock… or we can threaten some pegasi.”

“Momma… how… it's dangerous! I can't… what if something happens… and we can't leave Flare.” Serenity had stopped crying, but it seemed only barely.

“Right, so we'll take him with us.” Serenity looked up at me bleary eyed. I had to stay calm, thing one step ahead. “It doesn't matter. What happened? All that matters now is we do what we can to help him. Feeling sorry for yourself can come later.”

“But—”

“No buts. You're the sneakiest.” Platinum Haze could turn invisible, but she was clumsy and loud and large so having her infiltrate a building with a lot of narrow hallways would not work out well. “We need you. If we all want to get through untouched, you need to go through first, find out which areas are used, which aren't, and how we can get onto the ship.” It was a lot to put on the filly, but it was our best chance.

“I…” She sniffled and nods, “Okay.” There was no time to debate, or worry, it was one thing, then another. Make a quick decision and follow through with intensity. That was how I was going to make sure Flare was alright.

---

The rain was coming down harder once we got outside, and there was a boom of thunder in the distance. I didn't mind so much getting wet, but it meant that Haze's invisibility would be less effective. The wind was also obnoxious, the way it blew my mane into my face reminding me how much I needed to get it cut. But those were worries for another day, far down my list of priorities.

It didn't take long for us to get to the apartment building on the south side of the city (It was basically across the street from the Watcher HQ, which made me uncomfortable). Luckily the ambient radiation all around us provided Haze with more than enough magical energy to keep us mostly invisible, still we were careful not to get too close as we waited for Serenity to return.

I didn't like the idea of sending her in there alone, but I couldn't really think of another option. We needed pegasus blood to help Flare from dying this, and this was the only way to get it quickly. And charging in there guns blazing with Flare lying limp on my back simply wasn't an option. So I had to rely on her… but if she wasn't back quickly, I had already resolved to turn the building into a crater to get her back. I was not a patient mare after all.

Luckily I did not have to wait long out in the rain, as it took less than twenty minutes for Serenity to slink back to us. I didn't even notice her arrival until she suddenly said, “There's no way onta the ship.”

I nearly jumped before I realized who it was. I didn't bother asking how she managed to sneak up on us. “What do you mean?”

“There's no bridge, or, anything. We can't just walk on…” Her mane was matted to her face from the rain, but she didn't seem to mind.

“There has to be a way onto the ship.” I looked up at the sky to find the Raptor. It was hard to see, as it blended into the dark clouds filling the sky, but the bits of metal that stuck out of it gave it away. Once I found it, it seemed to dominate the entire sky. If we were to walk under it, I bet we would stay dry… “Without having wings.” I clarified.

“Well, um.” She looked around thoughtfully. “I found a new map on the wall, that they use. There's some sort of taxi service near the top. For injured ponies, or people visiting, but. We'd need to get somepony to fly us. All the air vehicles I saw needed pegasi to fly them.”

I gave a stern nod. “Right. So we take a hostage.”

Serenity looked at me, uncertainty clear in her grey eyes, but when Flare moaned in pain on my back it seemed her mind was made up. “I can lead us there… yeah, just, you know, follow me.”

So I did. She led us around the building to a small door near the back with a computer lock that took her three seconds to hack through. Though I imagine she had already done that earlier so it was less hacking and more waiting for it to work; regardless of the specifics, the door slid open, revealing the revamped apartment building.

It was an interesting experience to walk into the building and realize it was all familiar. Though the hallway was dimly lit, and clearly not used often, I recognized its metal walls and the sliding doors used for every room. I had been there once, in a dream, and being there in reality brought a strange sense of deja vu. I took a few more steps in, and shook off the odd feeling.

I had to keep moving. One step at a time, and Serenity was already rushing forward, her horn glowing pink as she walked. It was an uneventful walk to be honest, as half of the Enclave forces had abandoned the building during their civil war, and many of the new Enclave recruited after their disastrous war in the north preferred the comfort of their raptor to a ground-bound building.

Though I imagine that without Serenity scouting earlier it would have been a lot more perilous with me and Haze bumbling around. We eventually found our way to the top of the building, and found ourselves outside a simple looking door with the word “docks” hastily spray painted over it, and the sound of wind whistling through the cracks of the doorframe. I carefully placed Flare onto Haze’s back and kicked down the damn door.

The poor pegasus on the other side was so surprised he dropped his weapon and stumbled onto his ass. I suppose it might have been a little bit of an overkill to send the door flying across the room and off the side of the building. “What ar—”

I wasted no time shoving the point of my gun down his throat, “Shut up,” I said venomously. “I don’t want to hurt you.” I kicked his MEW rifle across the floor and took a quick look around the room.

It seemed the top floors of the building had fared poorly, collapsing in on themselves and leaving only a little hallway that led to the door we entered intact, so the room was more of a roof with the barest hint that walls had ever existed before. The majority of the floor was covered with various vehicles, though most looked like waggons with overlarge engines, but there was one metal monstrosity that reminded me of a turtle. Nothing on the floor looked as sleek as the vertibuck I had used before, but that was probably too much to ask for.

“Do they work?” I asked the buck who was still gaping at me from the floor. Only one guard for all these vehicles, they must have been the dregs of whatever fleet the Enclave possessed.

The buck nodded his head slowly. Then shook. Scrunching up his muzzle he slowly and quietly started to speak, as if he was worried doing so would incur my wrath. “Uh, some. Not well, but I mean, uh, why?” I never did take a good look at the buck before. He didn’t seem the army type, but I suppose the Enclave took what it could get. He was all skin and bones, with a dark pink eyes, a mop of a messy green mane and a stupid looking jumpsuit on. Judging by the grease still on his nose he was probably a mechanic who got guard duty, a shame for him.

“I need to fly.”

The stallion gulped. Well, he was barely more than a foal, perhaps fifteen if I had to guess. “Well, I mean, I uh, you know, can’t fly you. On account of you breaking my door and probably being an enemy.” That seemed like a reasonable enough sentiment, but it wasn’t really on the table.

“I am nobody’s enemy.” That was a lie, so I followed it up, “So long as they aren’t mine. Where do you stand?”

“I don’t even know you…” The pony said stubbornly. “I could yell. People would hear, they’d come kill you.”

“But you’re not going to. You’re going to fly me and my friends to the raptor.”

“Why? You’ll die.” The pony frowned. “Besides. You can’t make me.”

That so? “Haze, Serenity.” The two of them entered the room at my word, Haze still faintly glowing from the amount of radiation she had consumed. “Get strapped up to the best waggon kid. We are going.”

The stubborn boy was about to complain again until he saw the body draped over Haze’s back and his pink eyes went wide. “Uncle?! What did you do to my uncle?”

“Uncle? Ya mean Flare?” Serenity said walking over to the boy confidently. “I call him that sometimes, but he ain’t really.”

The boy bolted to his feet. “He is! For real, my dad’s younger brother! What’d did you do to him!” The kid really needed to stop talking so loudly, as well as stop asking questions that were difficult to answer.

“We are trying to help him.” I found the best way to get around a difficult question was to ignore it. “He lost a lot of blood. He needs more. Medical stuff. But we didn’t have the right blood.”

The boy scrunched up his muzzle and turned sharply away from us to half dash towards the nearest sky waggon. Wordlessly he strapped himself to it and looked over at the three of us expectantly. I suppose that must have convinced him well enough that we weren’t going to kill him, so we climbed onto the vehicle and prayed the boy wasn’t leading us to danger.

---

Flare, as it turned out, had four siblings: three brothers and one sister; which totalled a half dozen nieces and three nephews, along with more uncles, aunts, and cousins than I cared to count. It seemed that with dwindling numbers, the Enclave Remnants were very passionate about breeding, a fact that was a bit of a shock to me. Flare mentioned family rarely, and the few times he did I am pretty sure contradicted themselves. The boy who helped us didn’t have an explanation for us as we travelled, but when he called his father up in secret as we landed we figured it out.

Flare’s brother had a similar colour to him, though his coat was light green not blue, and the colours in his mane were swapped.

“Flare is a liar,” the large stallion said. He called himself Flash, and he was about half a head taller than his brother, thicker of body, and about ten years older judging by the way he was starting to go bald. He also had a booming laugh which was uncomfortably loud considering we were sneaking into a ship. “Stories and lies are one and the same, and my bro has always been good at both. He ever tell you about the time he convinced our mom that it was my sister who accidentally set fire to his room?

“He never mentioned it,” I said, unsure. He never mentioned you at all, is what I wanted to say, but it seemed awkward.

“His room weren’t even burnt.” The stallion laughed again, his voice echoing through the halls of the raptor. “Mom never trusted him again, goddess keep her soul. Can’t blame her neither.” He was surprisingly unworried about his brother’s bloodied state. A fact Serenity, ever blunt, decided to bring up.

“He’s hurt!” She said, rushing towards the stallion. “You need to help!”

“Have no fear little one.” When the stallion smiled it was easy to see he was missing teeth. “I am a doctor; he is not in danger of bleeding out, I can tell. And he would want us to laugh, he always wants everypony to laugh.”

“My dad is the best medic in the Enclave! Don’t let anypony tell you different,” the boy who flew us to the raptor said. Apparently his name was Rain Dance, and he had a sister who was clearing the way for us called Moondancer. Ponies loved their themed names.

“Are you sure?” Serenity had some medical training I knew, and had saved my life on occasion, but she was young still and not a doctor by far. Yet part of me trusted her a lot more than this stranger who claimed he was brother to my friend.

“Trust me,” Flash said. It was the same thing his son had said when he flew us to the ship. Instead of flying us to the main dock, we were flown to a clouded wall of the ship and told to jump through. Trust me, he said. I made the jump, but I was certain it was a trick that was going to kill us. But it didn’t, so perhaps this large stallion was worthy of some small measure of trust.

“We kindly thank you for your assistance in this matter,” Platinum Haze said serenely. “We did not know that Flare had siblings, but we are grateful for your help.”

“Proud to help! I have never seen one of your kind before, I would help just to see your beautiful smile.” Platinum shuffled awkwardly as the stallion thankfully continued by changing course. “And Flare has always been… difficult. He and Father don’t get along, not since Mom died. They had a falling out, and then when his… Er… Preferences came to light my father took it poorly. Our family was loyal to the Enclave, he said, and loyal families should breed before the ground pounders drowned us out. Meaning no offense.”

“Uh. None taken?” I was unsure how that was not offensive, but I wasn’t in the arguing mood to be sure.

“We haven’t seen much of him since. Gosh, he was just a bit older than my colt.”

The colt frowned, “I am not a colt! Besides, he always showed up for birthdays, telling jokes. I just thought he was too busy. Grandfather said he was some sort of super soldier.”

I had to laugh, well it was more of a snort but the idea was there.

“Special operations,” Flash said. “My dad was proud of him for that at least, though he would never admit it. More than he was of me for going into medicine. He never knew how much it killed Flare though. I could see it inside his eyes, something happened and ever since, it felt like all his jokes were forced.”

He didn’t know about what happened. Considering the distance Flare kept from his family I shouldn’t have been surprised he never mentioned the Bitter Steel event to them. I wondered if they would still help him, if they knew about the foals he killed. Accident or no, that wasn’t something that could be overlooked. I bit my lip and held my tongue.

“War touches us all,” Platinum said quietly. “It is best we do not dwell on it.”

“No doubt, no doubt; which is why I stay far from it. Oh, I’ve been in scrapes, but I avoid all the gunfire and death.” He smiled broadly, still showing his missing teeth. “Told my kids the same thing, two of them listened.” He looked down on his son, who was smiling back up at him, “the last didn’t though. She was determined to put her best hoof forward for the Enclave. She’s a sniper now.”

“If you aren’t all war-y why are you here working for the bad Enclave?” Serenity demanded. The boy looked confused, but Flash just grimaced.

“That nasty bit of civil war? Didn’t even know what was what until the lasers started firing; it wasn’t my choice but we are stuck here now…” The stallion shrugged. “We defy them in our own small way, but we still want to live… my sister and her kids are stuck here too, but one of my brothers escaped… And the other.” He sighed long and deep. “The battle was nasty. We never got Fury’s remains, but high command here tells us he died a hero.” Flash spat. “What good is a hero? He had a wife and three little fillies. Will heroism bring their father back? I told him, a thousand times I told him not to take up arms, to look at the way it broke Flare, but he was determined to follow his big brother. I don’t begrudge Flare, it’s not his fault Fury wanted to be a hero, but it still hurts.”

“I never knew Uncle Fury much, he was always busy even on birthdays, but Dad told me a lot about him,” Rain Dance explained.

“Pah. Why brood over such things. You brought my brother home, so I can help him at least. He better have a good joke for me though.” He was taking the whole thing better than I would have, or he was simply hiding his pain, which was something I could relate to.

It didn’t take long for his daughter to reach us, peeking into the small supply closet we had hidden in. Moondancer was a skinny wisp of a thing, but obscenely tall to the point she could almost look at me eye to eye. Her mane was short cropped and styled in such a way it covered one of her eyes, and she seemed to be smiling constantly as if somepony just told a joke that only she got. Teenagers were want to do that I found.

“Path should be clear, Daddy. Everyone’s busy with the big move, but we should hurry; your friends aren’t inconspicuous.” She said that last bit grinning up at Platinum Haze.

“You would be surprised.” Haze said as I felt magic wash over me with a familiar burning sensation. In a blink of an eye we were gone.

“Will wonders never cease,” the mare said with a half chuckle.

The raptor was an interesting beast to admire. Made half of clouds and half of steel, the hallways were skinny and high, designed for vertical passage, not horizontal, and the way I heard it, some only had shafts instead of proper stairs. This one apparently was modified when families of soldiers also lived on it before the war, so kids and perhaps non-pegasi had to be able to travel through it as well. Beyond that it was mostly spartan in appearance, with little of the way of decoration or boast beyond the occasional poster espousing the glories of the Enclave.

Except, the Enclave barely existed anymore. The original Enclave in Dise were refugees who refused to participate in the mass slaughter of griffons many years before, but the true Enclave persisted above the sky. Until recently to hear Flash tell it. The Enclave came down in force in the north it was said, only to face such heavy resistance that the high command was scattered, slaughtered, and the sky cities torn asunder when the cloud cover was parted by half. Civil war raged above the sky it was said and most of the military might of the Enclave was downed when the sky exploded, save a few raptors. This was one of the last working raptors in all the world, a final shining reminder of the world that was.

It was a shame I was going to have to destroy it.

That could wait though, perhaps a few weeks as I placed everything else where they needed to go. Flare was my first priority and luckily one of the medical bays was not far away, and was empty. As soon as we entered, Moondancer locked the door behind us and Flash took his brother to the medical table with Rain Dance there to help.

The tall lanky mare looked at us warily for a time before saying. “How long have you known my uncle?”

That was a good question, though I wasn’t sure of the exact time. “Months, a few months. I didn’t keep track.”

She didn’t seem pleased by this answer, but she was careful to keep a smirk on her lips. “That so? How old are you three anyway?”

“Old enough to have my cutiemark!” Serenity said defensively.

“Sixty? No perhaps seventy, or eighty…” Haze hummed to herself for a minute before explaining, “It’s a complicated question truly.”

“Twenty… Odd. Why does it matter?” I wasn’t sure I liked being questioned.

“I’m seventeen. Are you sure you’re only twenty some? You’ve got so many scars. It’s cool, but also kind of ugly.”

“I’ve lived an interesting life.” It was the only way I could think to explain it, and it was the truth at any rate. If I couldn’t claim to have an interesting life who could?

“Truly. I had wanted to join the army like my sister, but my dad convinced me against it, now I’m his favourite. Calypso is still bitter about that, but at least she has an interesting life. All I do is paperwork, better to fight I say, not be some clerk.” She sighed slightly, but was still smiling. “Everypony says I’m big too, or could be. I thought so, too. Figured I was tall and could be beefy if I trained, until I saw you. Doubt I’ll ever match what you bring to the table.”

Serenity snorted derisively, “Nobody is stronger than Momma.”

“You don’t want an interesting life.” I tried to explain to her. “Being strong is good though. It helps.”

“You ever kill someone?” She asked bluntly. At the question, Serenity looked away guiltily, and I tried to distract from that fact by speaking back just as bluntly and quickly.

“Yes. Lots of people.” It was a bit of an awkward thing to confess to. “Lots of ponies. Some of them were trying to kill me but not all of them.”

The mare looked at me thoughtfully, as if she were unsure if she should believe me or not. Eventually she said in a whisper, “Me too…” She gulped a little bit, her smile wavering, “Don’t tell Daddy. He doesn’t know.” I wanted to ask her what happened, how she felt about it, and so many other questions, but I didn’t. I am not sure why she told me, but it wasn’t my job to pry, no doubt she just wanted to tell somepony who understood, and I looked the type.

“I won’t.”

“Uncle Flare knows. He never told either, he made a joke and made me smile and told me to never stop.” She was still smiling. “So don’t let him die, so I can keep smiling.”

---

Three times pegasi knocked on the door to the medical bay trying to get in, and three times Flash rebuked them and told them to find another place to go. It was a good thing that Flare’s brother was well-respected, or else our stupid plan may never have worked. But it did work, and it didn’t take long for Flash to properly treat Flare’s wounds and get him the blood he needed, though he stayed unconscious for a long time, leaving us waiting impatiently for him to wake.

Too long in the end, because a few hours later the floor beneath me suddenly lurched causing me to stumble before I found my balance. “What the heck.” The ship was moving, I could feel it just as well as I could feel my own anxiety rising.

“Is it that time already?” Flash frowned.

“Time for what?” I demanded, leaning against a wall to keep from toppling over. I hated flying.

“I had tried to move things along quickly… But we have been scheduled to move. We have learned of a vast cache of supplies, both military and civilian, hidden in the mountain base we used to call our home. We always heard it was haunted, but it seems high command has decided to ignore those warnings, half our forces are being sent to secure the rest of the base.”

Secure it from who I wondered, but I already knew the answer. The Steel Rangers never abandoned their little pet project, even after I gave them the slip, and I gave information on secret entrances to the building to the Bloody Hoof, The Hizai, and even The Watchers. Not to mention they all would have to contend with the facility itself and its two glorious overseers, Simple Heart and Baptisia. Like as not, the past would consume them all.

This was the last place I wanted to go, but it was exactly where I needed to be. I glanced nervously over at Platinum Haze, thinking of the package she held. Already I could hear the winds whispering to me, but I shook my head to drown them out. They weren’t real, just my imagination, but what an imagination it was.

“Good. How long will it be?” I looked down to the floor where serenity had been napping, and I decided not to disturb her rest until the last possible moment.

“Good?” Flash seemed unsure, “You better not be planning to take my brother with you on whatever fool mission, he needs to rest.” He started to speak more, but a faint quiet voice spoke up, and the stallion’s voice caught in his throat.

“Since when do you speak for me?” Flare stirred on the table, slowly starting to sit up, only to collapse back down. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

“Uncle!” The two teenagers said in unison, rushing over to hug at Flare only for him to bat them away with his remaining wing.

“No hugs, it hurts. The wound, not your love. Except your love, Moondancer.” He looked up at her. “Your love is likely to break me; how much have you grown since I last saw you?”

The mare blushed prettily, “Enough. Mum says I haven’t stopped growing yet, a few years and I’ll be as tall as a princess.” She looked over at Platinum Haze with a smirk, “Excepting I don’t have a horn, which I feel is cheating height wise.”

“Ah, you’ve met the lovely Haze, she is such a cheat.”

“What! We would never.” I don’t think she understood the subtleties of teasing.

“You stole Hired’s heart, and there’s no way to do that fairly.” As Haze blushed and stammered, trying to think of a good reply, Flare manage to push himself into a proper sitting position. He didn’t look back at his wing, so I could only assume he knew. “I see you have all met my family, I trust they’ve been hospitable. My brother is not much to look at, but at least he is friendly.”

“Says the sack of shit who looks like he had a building fall on him.” Flash said with a smirk.

“I did.” That shut his brother right up and brought even more concerned looks from the kids, though Moondancer continued to smirk. “Don’t look so bad considering…” He left a pause hang in the air before asking in an even more weary voice, “where is Dad?”

“On the bridge…”

“See we don’t go there.” He didn’t need to say more than that. “Are we moving? Where to?”

I decided to answer that one. “The facility.” Home sweet home. It was where The Watchers made me what I was, and where I had intended to destroy them. At least, it was the next step to their destruction.

“Oh good, I am sorely in need of a few more hallucinations.” Flare’s assembled family shared a confused look, but he didn’t bother to explain. It was something you had to experience, and if things kept going the way they were it was possible they might. I could only hope my peace offering was enough to make him tone down whatever the fuck he was doing, if that was even possible. There was a chance I was only making things worse. “You got the thing that we needed?” I gave an affirmative nod which made him smile slightly, “forgive me for not wanting to go with you, I am sure you can understand my trepidation.”

“And you are injured.” I added.

“Faking. I am a good actor, all to avoid the tunnels, please forgive me.”

“How long until you are able to leave?”

Before Flare could answer, Flash interrupted. “You can’t mean to take him away! He is gravely injured, he needs to rest and recuperate, not follow you in some fool’s errand.”

“Rest where?” Flare asked with just the hint of venom in his voice. “Not here surely, I am a traitor and Father would throw me out. Which leaves, where? The smoking pit that used to be Dise, or the hidden cave the rest of the rebels ran off to when Clear Skies ran us off?

“There are places we could hide you, once we get to the facility…”

“Brother, I love you, really, you were always my favourite, despite your ugly mug, but if I have to choose between you and Hired for protection, I have to choose Hired.”

“We can hide in the ruins of Timber,” I suggested, trying to push away the memories of how the burnt town had smelled when the Steel Rangers had torched it. “Nobody would look for us there. It’s close to the facility too. It’s a good choice.”

“A bit depressing though.” Flare sighed. “But it is a good choice, though we may need to work the décor as we wait.”

Before we had a chance to work out the finer details of our plan a sharp knock on the door helped us make up our minds. “Open the door!” A voice from the other side said. “We know you’re holding outsiders!” Guards, guards who knew too much, but I wasn’t sure how. Were there security cameras our hosts didn’t know about, or did one of them give away the game.

“Shit.” Flash turned away from the door, grabbed the nearest bed and shoved it bodily against the door, though I wasn’t sure that’d do anything but confuse them. “We need to get out of here!”

It was an obvious sentiment, but one I was happy to follow. Without asking for permission I grabbed Flare with a hoof and threw him onto my back. The medical room had a back door, but I had the sneaking suspicion it was guarded too.

“Well everything is going wrong today, isn’t it?” Flare said dryly from my back.

“It’s probably Curly Fries’s fault.” I said, trying to match his humour. “Platinum Haze.” I pointed to the back door and she got my meaning. As she moved to the door I quickly moved over to Serenity and nudged her, “Sweetie, time to go.”

“Wha.” The filly rubbed the sleep from her eyes, but when she saw me, and the panicked expressions of Flare’s extended family, she got the hint well enough. “Okay…”

When Haze opened the door the room became awash in bolts of green as the guards opened fire, and flashes of purple when the magic slammed into Haze’s shields creating ripples and light. The Enclave guards looked momentarily confused, and it was just long enough for me to charge them with all my weight, much to Flare’s chagrin.

I slammed into one, knocking them into and through a cloud wall.

The other I just nicked, but they stumbled and it was enough for Haze to grab her weapon with magic and toss it aside. Even in full power armour, the guard looked confused when I bashed her with my pipbuck hard enough to crack the glass eyes in her helmet. She went down, dazed.

“Go go go!” Platinum Haze was first, followed by Rain Dance and Moondancer, then Serenity with her little pistol out before finally Flash who had no weapon but a scowl on his face. I followed behind, watching our backs. “Faster!”

I hated the Enclave ship. The walls were clouds some of the time, and metal at other parts. The floor was usually solid, so that was good, but there were enough places where instead of elevators there was just empty shafts. The halls were all too tall, too, designed for pegasi to fly over each other instead of walk side by side. Altogether it seemed designed to remind anypony who was not a pegasi that they didn’t belong. This wasn’t my place, and just thinking about it made my stomach curl as I remembered just how high up we were.

Of course, the worst part was how confusing it all was. Flash had to scream directions as we raced down the halls.

“Left!” Flash yelled and the whole train took a sharp left just in time for a confused Enclave soldier to stumble out into the hall in front of us. They weren’t so confused to not start firing a pistol though, the bolts whizzing past my ears singing my mane.

“That almost hit me.” Flare complained loudly from my back as I followed the rest of the ground around the corner.

“Shut up or I’ll hit you.” That seemed to work, because I didn’t hear another peep from him.

“What’s the plan?” Flash asked me as we sped down a corridor.

“Get to a skywagon. Fly to Timber. Hide.”

“I never wanted to get caught up in your fight, you know.” Flash complained. Flare and him had that in common, the complaining.

“We don’t have a choice now, Daddy.” Moondancer said as we reached the end of a corridor.

Haze burst through the door at the end of the corridor, her shield already up and ready to catch bullets, though none shot, which I am sure she was thankful for.

The room we entered was by far the largest I had ever seen. A cavernous hall completely devoid of support structures (being made of clouds and all) that made it look expansive beyond my imagining. On the floor were dozens and dozens of ships, ranging from sky waggons, to tanks, to vertibucks, lined up in neat rows. One wall was completely gone, a hole in the world looking out into pure sky and nothing else, which made my stomach lurch even more. Outside the rain was pouring down even harder, and I saw a crack of lightning out in the distance.

Rain Dance took charge, which was nice to see, running past us and over to the nearest sky waggon, which I think was his, and was already strapping himself in by the time we got there. “Get in!”

He didn’t have to tell me twice, I jumped aboard without question, as did Haze, Serenity, and Flash. For whatever reason Moondancer stayed outside, and when Flash tried to object she just slammed the door in her face. “Stubborn girl! She’s going to get herself killed!”

“She can handle herself,” I found myself saying, with no real proof.

The floor beneath our hooves jerked to life and we started to lift off, but not before I heard shouts from outside. Clearly our escape drew more attention than we had hoped, which was really not a surprise. Flash tried to open the door, but the sky waggon jerked suddenly, sending as all falling, and the big stallion slammed face first into a wall. I could tell we had left the Raptor, from the sudden sound of rain pounding on the roof of our cabin.

“Stay inside, daddy!” I heard Moondancer say through the MEW fire that started outside. “I have a gun; I’ll protect you. You’re not a fighter.”

“Where did you get a gun!” Flash demanded angrily to a wall.

“I know ponies!’ Moondancer said defensively as the sky waggon twisted and turned awkwardly under my feet. “I go-“ She started to say but cut herself off with a sudden gasp of pain followed by what must have been a war scream.

I stumbled my way over to a window of the waggon and stuck my gun out to see if I could help, but the Waggon kept twisting and turning, and the pegasi outside were speeding around too fast for me to get a decent shot. Though at one point an Enclave bastard happened close enough to my window that I could spray a gout of flame out the window. The pony was unharmed but screamed in shock, giving Rain Dance enough time to turn the waggon, swiftly sending it crashing it into the pegasi with such a forceful jolt that I bit my tongue hard enough to taste blood.

Before I could get my senses back the waggon took a sudden dive, sending me stumbling toward the front of the cabin, and then a sudden rise so steep I slid backwards, slamming into the rear wall with enough force that I heard something (either me or the wall) crack from the force. Then there was a sharp turn that sent me stumbling towards the window hard enough that somehow my head got forced out the window, which was good because the rocking was upsetting my stomach and I found myself retching. Unfortunately, I missed the Enclave pony who was flying right below me.

Thunder cracked as the ride calmed just long enough for me to get my bearings. I looked back and saw Haze grabbing onto a seat with her wing, her face looking paler than I have ever seen it, and Serenity was hanging onto her mane for dear life. Flash was stumbling back towards the door looking more annoyed than anything, while Flare, who must have fallen off my back at some point, was lying on the ground beside me laughing, though I didn’t get the joke. He might have tried to tell me, but I couldn’t hear him over the shouts and gunfire and rain.

I hated flying.

I got the chance to hate it more, when Rain Dance decided that he had to do a loop to escape our pursuers. One second I had all four hooves on the ground, the next I had to jab my sword into the wall of the cabin to keep myself from falling, leaving me dangling by one hoof, while holding Flare with the other. We flew upside down like that for what felt like minutes, but was probably just a few seconds.

“I thought I’d never fly upside down again.” Flare thought the whole thing was a game, and I was sorely tempted to let him go, or throw up on him.

Instead I laughed too and said, “I rode a dragon like this once.” Though with the dragon it was higher, and scarier, and I nearly broke my cybernetic sword leg thing right off.

Mercifully the Waggon started to right itself…

But then lightning flashed outside, suddenly and violently, and we started to dive.

“Rain… RAIN!” I heard Moondancer shout.

And we kept diving. Longer and longer. I looked out the window and saw blackened buildings rapidly approaching through the heavy rain. It was then I realized something had gone very dramatically wrong.

At the last second the cabin jerked and I felt like I was floating in midair, weightless. But it was too little too late as the ground came up to meet us with a devastating crack.

Blackness.

I don’t know how long I was out, lying amidst the broken buildings and broken ponies. A minute, an hour, a day? It was still light out and rain was falling gently on my head, so it couldn’t have been that long, or could it? How could I tell, everything was spinning. The whole world felt like a painting, unreal. I saw my friends lying, and there were cries, or screams. Blood, I smelled blood, that was certain. And smoke. Smells of pain and suffering all around.

Or maybe I imagined them.

I closed my eyes and opened them again. How long had passed, the cries had died down, was I even in the same place as before? It looked like the same painting, but something was off.

Oh, there was a pony standing above me. A marked change in landscape.

Power armour. Even in my delirious state I could recognize it. I panicked and started to move when the figure placed a gentle red hoof on me. Red. Not Enclave, it wasn’t Enclave. Steel Rangers? That could be worse, but something was weird. The colour wasn’t right.

The pony didn’t have a mask on. I could see her face. No, his face. I had thought for a second that it was Blackwater, the Steel Ranger that kidnapped me before. But she wasn’t pink.

And she never had a drooping green moustache either.

Level Up!

Skill Note: Sneak 85!

New Perk: Your ability to constantly get beat up has granted you even more life! I don’t know how this works, so you shouldn’t ask, but it gives you an instant increase of +30 HP.

((A/N: So… hey, been awhile, eh? This chapter is much more delayed than my ususal style, mostly due to the fact I spent the summer in a military training camp with no computer. I managed to write some on my iPad, but the quality was shoddy. Still, here it is, and the next chapter is half done so I pray I can release these faster! Only fives chapters left.

This is the part where I thank Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria and my lovely editors. They did an especially good job this time, as over half of this chapter was written on an iPad while sleep deprived, so kudo to them: theBSDude, Julep, and Menti. Three cheers eh? Until the next time.))