And now, part two of a look at my headcanon for the Crystal Empire (as presented through an ongoing roleplaying game, playtesting the Fallout: Equestria pen-and-paper RPG.)

As mentioned previously, the reason this is not being posted as a story is because this is a fragment of a roleplaying game. This means is written by multiple people, and I do not have the right to post it as a story belonging to me. Moreover, this means that no one involved, including myself, are writing in story format or with the goals of creating anything other than a fun session of play. Therefore, this does not have the level of effort or quality that we would put into an actual fanfiction. Likewise, being just a fragment, it doesn’t tell a full story, put just provides a snapshot of one. Still, I hope it makes for a fun bit of reading, and gives a lot of insight into how I personally envision the Crystal Empire in the Fallout: Equestria world.

Again, this is only headcanon and should not impact or invalidate the viability of any other author’s stories. I hope you enjoy!

(Particularly since compiling this part from multiple pastebins and cleaning it up took about seven straight hours of work. Some alterations, primarily in posting chronology, have been made for storytelling. Dice rolls occurred in a separate channel.)

"Incoming!"

It is a shout only Kid can hear. Mare-Do-Well calls out the warning, adding "Eastern Avenue, from the civic center rubble!"

The translucent purple ghost cuts across the crisp blue morning sky, spotting for Kid, Shatara and CopyCat as the three spread out across the cracked battlements.

Below, near the Eastern Avenue, the lone figure of a Heartless can be spotted crawling out of the rubble towards the helpless throng of Crystal Ponies that crowd around the base of the Crystal Tower, trapped in wait for the spell that is finally about to come.

Bookwright and Noble Heart protect the Crystal Heart, ready to put it into place the moment they get the signal from Doctor Amore that the spell's retargeting is complete.

But they are not alone.

"Don't be afraid! We just want to play with you!" cry the eerily foal-like voices of the brainbots. The crazed robots, non-discriminate defenders of the Crystal Ponies, move above the crowd, an equal threat to the Heartless and to the would-be saviors of the Crystal Empire.

Centuries of torment and decay... centuries of wait... the fate of the Empire and all within it...

It all comes down to this.

Fallout: Beyond Equestria

Session 57: Northern Blues (Part 40)

Cast:

Golden Dream (aka "Kid") (Earth Pony) - played by Fridge

Get Lost Solaris (Earth Pony) - played by Mimizinga

CopyCat (Green Alicorn) - played by uSea

Shatara (Griffin) - played by Eridani

Noble Heart (Purple Alicorn) - played by Illushia

Bookwright (Unicorn) - played by Scorch_Mechanic

Kid is hyperventilating. "We got incomin' from th' east! Right by the civic whatever!" She parroted. Fuck if she knew what a civic center was.

Shatara readies his rifle, searching the rubble through his scope. CopyCat readies her rifle and peers over the battlements. "East? East! Oh dear..."

Meanwhile, down below, Noble Heart is moving as quick as she can down to the dias at the bottom of the tower. One of the great weapons pulled from her pack to sit against the stand where the heart would be held. A moment of concentration and she is encased in the impenetrable shield that was Twilight Sparkle's first gift to her children. Soon the Heartless would come, and she would be ready.

Get Lost mutters to herself for a bit, then smiles "Hey! If we attach the firetruck to the main water line we can use the fire hose to keep the heartless at bay!" She stares at Bookwright "Is there a way to bring that big guy down here?"

Bookwright is confused. "Which big guy? I don't understand."

"The fire truck!” she repeats, prompting his memory of the rather spectacular find. “It's on the roof, if we bring it down here we could use it to make some crowd control with its firefighting equipment. High pressure water is a great non lethal resort, you know"

Bookwright blinks. "Uh, yeah, just have one of the Princesses bring it down. And I can animate the hose so we won't have to man it separately." He looks to Noble Heart. "Can you fly up there real quick and bring the firewagon down? I think Miss Lost is on to something good here!"

Bookwright's wandering eye spots something of interest. A reflection of the setting sun off of something brilliantly red and chrome, barely visible between the broken houses. Could be nothing... could be interesting. "Hey! I think I just spotted something!" Breaking into a quick trot, he approaches the thing he spotted hastily with weapon drawn, eager for the distraction. Noble_Heart pauses briefly, watching as Bookwright heads in that direction, following after him. CopyCat does as well, perking up. "Ooo, what is it?" Bookwright "I don't know, but it's shiny and red and it has nothing to do with the last topic of conversation!" Shatara covers the sky, keeping up with the others as they investigate. Shatara can easily discern what the party is heading towards. The others weave through rubble, first coming upon a crudely painted sign, tattered and faded with age, pinned to a free-standing wall of what was once a market. The sign proclaims: "Get Clean with the Squirts! (one block)" Kid blinks. "Wut." Noble_Heart frowns. "We are not certain We want to know what that means..." Kid frowns. "I... Really don' wanna know, but ah think it's somethin' t' look int' on our way back. Stripey folk back at th' base might appreciate some water." Coming around the edge of the wall, Bookwright and CopyCat see before them a crystal lot strewn with motorwagons. A large, torn banner is strung up, proclaiming to nopony: "Crystal Empire Squirts 32 Annual Wagon Wash!" Kid blinks. Waitaminute. She brushes her mane away from her one organic eye, taking a moment to let two and two go together. Wagon wash. Wagons. Ride. Not having to walk. Letting some weight off of her still-sore hind leg. "We should totally get ourselves some wheels!" She said, quite enthusiastically. Shatara continues gliding towards the various wagons, looking over them with quiet interest. The lot is dotted with wagons, pony-powered and motorwagon alike, all in extreme disrepair. The most intact-looking is a vehicle of red an chrome, bearing ladders and a huge pump. Stenciled in the colors of Cadance's mane are the words "Crystal Firehouse Engine 3". CopyCat quickly shares in Kid's excitement. "Woohoo! We should get a red one. They go faster." Bookwright reads, "'Thirty-second annual wagon wash', huh? I wonder where the Squirts themselves went... Anyways, I bet that fire engine wagon still goes. Time to investigate!" Bookwright holsters his weapon and goes to inspect the fire engine. Noble_Heart tilts her head to one side as she looks over the crystaline wagons. "We have seen many wagons, but these are most impressive." She trots towards the fire-engine, curiously walking around it. Kid looks at the motor wagon. Firehouse engine. Water. This... Might just be jackpot. Kid takes a look at the waterline, and then tried to identify the fungal patches, and then tried to find some glorious loot! Shatara lands atop the firewagon, looking over its mechanisms. The firehouse engine's water tank is reading about a third full, which is still a sizeable amount of pure water. Scattered about between the wagons are barrels, rotting hoses, small fungal patches centered around what used to be spunges... and the remains of the dead. CopyCat 's exhuberance quickly drains. "Ohh... right." The lot holds the first noteworthy concentration of dead, not counting the occasional shattered ponies around the crystal tower. Several of the remains are skeletal... not crystal ponies, but Equestrian ones. Noble_Heart frowns and looks down at the skeletons. "They must have come from beyond this place to work here." She sighs quietly and shakes her head. "We should give them a proper burial." Bookwright nods in agreement with Noble_Heart. "Yes. They deserve it. Does anypony have a... shovel, or a pick, or something?" Shatara calls Bookwright over, pausing in his examinations long enough to pull out his shovel. He has already noted that while most wagons are in extreme disrepair, many have worthwhile parts that can be scavanged. Even better, the firehouse engine is an Equestrian design meant to be pegasus-flown, but has been refitted for use by earth-bound crystal ponies. A few of the right parts, and it could be made to fly again. Giving the firewagon a second look, Bookwright comes to a similar conclusion. While the engine lacks the matrix that would allow a single pegasus to pull this through the air, there is a clear place for it to be installed. Bookwright stands back from the fire engine. "So... it looks like this wagon won't fly. But we can fix that. We'll need a matrix from a flying wagon to get it flying again, plus some other things probably."

Get Lost likewise turns towards Noble Heart "Can you fetch the firetruck please?" Shatara had fixed the firewagon up beautifully, and now it was going to get the chance to be put to good use.

The conversation is interrupted with a crackling blast of electricity.

Bookwright groans. He dumps the stun grenades at his feet for easy access and unslings his MASER, charging the capacitors and taking aim at the nearest crazed robot.

Noble Heart looks up to the ceiling, then frowns. "We will bring it as quick as We can!" She spreads her wings and takes flight, circling the tower towards the roof to get the fire wagon. This should not take long. Hopefully.

Shatara spots the closing bots. "Ohdear." Looks like weapon juggling will be in order...

CopyCat calls out to Shatara. "I'll focus on the Heartless. You are much more capable than I against the robots."

Get Lost dives behind the dias. "I have an idea for the bots! Does somepony have a stealthbuck?"

Bookwright is the only other pony there. He shakes his head. "Sorry!"

Get Lost just nods, accepting the poor luck. "Okay, cover me while I try to get in hoof range of one of them... distract it if possible, yes?" With that, Get Lost starts moving towards the nearest brainbot.

Behind her, the spritebots Pink-E and Sweet-E follow. Bookwright considers stopping her, but lets her go. If she has a better solution, and she often does, then she is the right pony to take the risk. Still, this excursion into the Crystal Empire has already cost her dearly. More than any of the others. He still blames himself for that… he was the one who said it was safe…

Get_Lost takes a long look at the machinery, then at Noble_Heart transporting her and whispers "If something goes wrong... don't let Kid see, okay?" Noble_Heart frowns at that prospect, then nods her head a little. "We will do Our best." She sighs quietly and carefully levitates Get Lost up into the machine. Bookwright bites his lip and activates the nearest one. "I'll never ask you guys to do something I'm not willing to do myself... If you want, I'll go first. See if it works." “No. I go. If this doesn't work I'm dead anyway, so I'm the most logical choice... just put me on there, strap me to the table and activate the thing" Bookwright nods and steps back, allowing Noble_Heart to move Get_Lost. Get_Lost a bitter smile runs on her lips "Moreover, I'm a Solaris... we never tested things before we tossed them at ponies... it's time to start making up for it" Get_Lost waits for the apparatus to close and smiles at the others, trying to be strong, but unable to hide her fear. The "coffin" door slides shut, entombing Get_Lost in complete and utter darkness. Then the inside of the claustrophobic container fills with whirring and buzzing sounds as the mechanical arms -- totally unseen -- come to life all about her. A few dim, pulsing lights of magical energy shift across the roof, failing to truly illuminate anything haunting impressions as the arms glide about the mare in their alien, artifical movements. She feels sharp pain as several needles jab into her body... then nothing as the anesthetic takes effect, her body becoming numb as she hears a cutting tool buzz to life near her left ear. Bookwright silently hopes he and his friends haven't made a terrible mistake and consigned Get Lost to a horrible, dismembered fate. Shatara shudders, very thankful that a potion was sufficient for his wounds... Get_Lost mutters the same can't hurry love song until her mind goes numb. Outside, a little panel lights up. A smiley face pops up, next to an indicator saying everything is going perfectly fince. Then a pink butterfly appears next to a timer which starts ticking down. Estimated surgery time is one hour, fifteen minute. CopyCat is standing quietly with her eyes closed resting her forehead against the pod. Noble_Heart frowns, glancing towards her friends, then back to the pod. "We are not certain We trust it. But interrupting could be worse..." Bookwright tries vainly to ignore the horrific sounds of the machine. Not looking away from the possible end of Get_Lost, he speaks softly: "Kid... Do you want to use one?" Kid gulps. That was a sound coming straight from hell. But, well. Better dead than useless. "... Do I have a choice?" She said, spitting up a little red. Bookwright "Yes. Yes you do. We can heal you regular potions, or try to find super restoration potions and use those." CopyCat looks over at Kid, who was still floating in the air. "The noises are scary but she's not in any pain." Kid frowned and considered her options. "... But there's a chance I can't walk right again if I do it that way, right?" Fluttershy's voice chimes over the speakers, "Your friend is doing just fine. Soon, she will be as good as new. While you wait, would you like some lemonade? We have lemon and pink grapefruit." Bookwright bites his lips again, and with sudden movement opens another tube and steps inside. As the steel chamber of horrors closes, you hear, "...what I won't do myself..." CopyCat 's ears perk up. "Pink grapefruit? Yes please!" Noble_Heart blinks as Bookwright enters the machine, sighing quietly as she settles down to wait. "This is most likely not going to end well for everypony involved." She frowned. "Does this facility have conventional healing potions or super restoration potions?" Not that she was sure the voice would answer. Kid stared at Bookie as he went on in. The fuck got into him? Why was he... Oh, Celestia's left hind teat, he's seriously...! Kid sighed and looked around. Hell if she's going to be doing something this dangerous without knowing what ponies look like when they come out. It doesn't take long, only about fifteen minutes, before Bookwright's "coffin" dings like a happily finished microwave and opens. (Shatara scolds his subconcious for breifly believing Bookwright was dinner.) Bookwright emerges from his own private horror tube. He looks perfectly fine and healthy, save that he cannot move correctly. The anesthetic has yet to wear off. Kid examines Bookwright. "Y' feelin' alright?" Bookwright breathes slowly, "I... will never... complain... about doctors... again." “Is all yer bits where they should be 'r not?" The door opens. A little robot shaped like a bunny and about the size of a large poodle, glides into the room, holding a serving tray with a glass of pink lemonade. Complete with ice cubes. Bookwright "I... I think I'm okay. I really don't want to use one of those things again if I can avoid it." CopyCat bows to the long-eared waiter and picks up her lemonade. "Thank you very much." Noble_Heart looks up to the tray with a slight frown. Slowly levitating one of hte glasses off for herself, sniffing it briefly to see if it at least smelled right. Kid grimaces. Yeah, she wasn't looking forward to it either. "Copycat?" CopyCat sips her drink and nods. "I won't ask if you're ready, but know that we're all less than a hoof's length away." She floats Kid into the pod Bookwright just used, since that one seemed to work. Kid puts on a long face, and just hopes that it wouldn't be too bad. As she got in, yeah, it's pretty awful. The "coffin" door slides closes, plunging Kid into claustrophobic blackness. Kid frowns. Yeah, this isn't uncomfortable at all. Kid is a cheapskate. If one were to tell her that they could heal her with a non-risky super restoration potion that someone could use or sell, or a claustrophobic trip through a hellbox, she'd wonder if it were possible to take both said hellbox and the super potion and see what they could get for it. She didn't consider it a bad thing. It was just survival, in the end. If you can acquire one resource only now, and one can be stored for later, you use the resource that can be used only now. The question then remains, in her mind as she was anesthetized and was hearing the altogether horrifying sound of her skull being sawed into, was this really worth it? CopyCat watches Kid disappear into the device and glances over to one of the empty pods nervously. She was increasingly aware of the stinging sensation she felt from her own limbs but wasn't sure if she could go through with it. Bookwright wriggles and tries to massage more feeling into himself. The anesthetic made all his limbs feel abnormally light, and his head was a little fuzzy. He had found it terrifying, but ultimately safe. And that was a miracle they needed badly. After the disastrous engagement with the heavy military robot guarding the Social Re-Adjustment Camp, the lives of both Kid and Get Lost were hanging by a thread. Kid learned today that, no. It really wasn't in this case. But as the anesthetic kind of removed her ability to speak out against the matter, and she told the only person that could hear her through her head that she didn't want to have any visitors in her head. Which, come to think of it, was kind of ironic given the nature of her current situation. Noble_Heart takes the glass of pink lemonade from the little, bunny-like hospitality bot and sips it quietly a few moments, keeping watch towards the door with occasional glances back at the tubes. The robot wiggles it's "ears" and turns, gliding back out. Turning to the emerged Bookwright, "We trust that you are well? The Ministry of Peace was known for its healing magics for good reason." Bookwright nods, a little blearily, "Yeah, but this wasn't exactly magic, persay.” CopyCat casts her eyes down at the ground and takes a step away from Kid's pod, as if that meant anything. She joins Noble_Heart and Bookwright. "I know there isn't any pain when you're inside but I still wouldn't like to be trapped away from you all." Noble_Heart gently lays her wing across CopyCat's back, comfortingly, as she sips her drink with a touch of concern. "We are sorry. We are uncertain what these devices are. We have never seen them before." She looks up at the tube. "Perhaps they were built here first? Or tested elsewhere? Machines to heal a pony of the worst of damages would have been valuable indeed." Shatara takes a moment to clean his rifle. A clean rifle is a happy rifle, after all. Bookwright shakes himself out some more. It was like all of his limbs were asleep, and the pins and needles were just showing up. "Well, that was thoroughly unpleasant. If effective. Let's never do that again, okay? I'm gonna take a little look around this room." Noble_Heart looks towards the doorway and the passed cleaning robot. "We suggest perhaps searching other rooms while We wait for Our companions' return? There is little We could do without threatening their safety attempting to open the containers." She sips her drink briefly and looks down at it. "This lemonade is most exquisite." CopyCat nods, drinking her own. "It is isn't it. And wasn't it nice of that little robot to bring it to us. I liked his ears." Bookwright stretches and ambles slightly unsteadily down the hall into the final section in this area: Cybersurgery. Bookwright speaks over his shoulder as he walks, "I'm gonna look around in here. I'm a bit of a technophile, after all. Anyone else interested?" Shatara gives his rifle a quick function check before rising to follow Bookwright. Noble_Heart stands up and moves after Bookwright. "CopyCat? Will you stand guard here for Us? We do not feel comfortable abandoning Bookwright in his present state." She looks back towards the other Alicorn with a smile. "We trust you to call Us if something happens. But We are confident this place is safe." Bookwright slurs, "I'm fine, honesht. I just got drugsh left in my shsytem." CopyCat smiles, happy that she was useful. "Of course. I'll be here to help Lost and Kid when they get out." Noble_Heart bows her head briefly to CopyCat. "We thank you." She pulls the door closed with her magic and follows after Shatara and Bookwright. CopyCat sits beside Get's pod and sips her lemonade. The door to Cybersurgery slides open and lights flicker on... revealing a maze of bodies and parts of bodies, all synthetic and only some of them lifelike, looking like a few dozen hacked-up pony mannequins. Legs dangle from the ceiling -- some looking almost pony, others skeletal and mechanical. Metal pony skills embedded with crystals sit on platters.

Bookwright steps into the air-conditioned, stainless steel chill of the Cybersurgery module and takes a good look around. In lit glass cases, odder things are displayed -- wiring and tubing and artificial bone structures, all laid out like internal organs removed on an autopsy table. Noble_Heart strides down the hall, blinking her slitted eyes with a frown as her hooves made steady 'tack-tack-tack' against the hard flooring, moving after Bookwright into the cybersurgery wing. The purple alicorn takes a few moments glancing around the room. She seems remarkably passive about the state of their surroundings. "We are most impressed. We did not believe that such advanced prosthetics were available." She levitated one of the crystal-embedded synthetic pony skulls from its resting place to examine it with curiosity. Two terminals sit in opposite corners of the room, softly glowing. On the back wall, Bookwright can barely see the ghost of the word "prosthetics lab" which has been painted over in exchange for the word "Cybernetics Research". The cybernetics are all extremely primitive compared to the developments in Stable 101, and most include odd components, materials and gems. Bookwright walks on pins and slowly fading needles to a terminal and examines it. "All of this tech raises a question though: If this is what ponies were working on during the war, how come more of it wasn't put to use?” He nods back towards the Intensive Care module where Get Lost and Kid are entombed in those coffin-like healing pods. “There are plenty of those mechanical doctor tubes in the other room, why weren't they mass produced?" Noble_Heart frowns. "It is possible this place was used for testing of new technology. There were many projects undertaken by the Ministries in secret, not shared with the outside." She turned the skull over in her magic. "The Stables bore the fruit of some of those as well. We are certain you know the history of one hundred one, yes?" She turns her attention towards the other terminal, striding up to it curiously as well. Meanwhile, the timers for Kid and Get_Lost are counting down. Get_Lost's treatment clock suddenly adds more time. It looks like they will be done about the same time, despite Kid having entered her coffin several minutes later. Bookwright clicks, clacks, types, and gets lucky. Hacking this terminal was a breeze. Good Morning, Doctor Rose Bloom. Isn't it a beautiful day? > You may choose from the following menu items: 1) General Notices, 2) Current Projects, 3) Personnel Records and 4) Private Messages. Which would you prefer? Noble_Heart begins looking around the room again for anything of interest other than the cybernetic bits. Some of those were -definitely- interesting, but she could collect those before they left. And she had little use for them as of this moment. Meanwhile, Bookwright keys up what information he can from the terminal, starting with Current Projects. > The Phoenix Implant

> Intended Purpose: To allow medical ponies in the field to properly care for patients suffering egregious harm from magical energies and weaponry.

> Project Stage: Live Pony Testing

> Project Classification: CCF Alpha. (See file: Cyberfetishes)

> Primary Researchers: Doctor Rose Bloom, Doctor Uguani. What follows is several images that make it easy to identify one of the showcased oddities as the described "Phoenix Implant". As Bookwright moves on to Private Messages, Shatara pokes his nose over Bookwright's shoulder. "Cyberfetishes?" "I'm guessing they're mechanical versions of the shamanistic fetishes that the zebras used in the war," Bookwright replies. Shatara blinks a bit. "Err, right..." He shiftyeyes and slinks back to...uhm...poke some cyberetic limb or something. Noble_Heart tilts her head to one side as she lifts one of the cyberlegs, looking it over curiously, before setting it back down and returning to watch the terminal over Bookwright's shoulder. There was an as-yet un-inspected terminal as well, but she would wait until this one was dealt with. > One (1) Saved Message

>From: Nurse Gentle Song

>To: Doctor Rose Bloom

> Doctor Rose:

> I want to again voice concern over disquieting rumors about the work of Doctor Fine. Ever since we lent his expertise to Equestrian Robotics, I can become increasingly disturbed by the research they have purportedly been conducting in that facility. What exactly is the nature of Peace's arrangement with ER? > One (1) Send Message

>From: Doctor Rose Bloom

>To: Nurse Gentle Song

> Equestrian Robotics is providing advanced crafted-to-order prosthetics and associated prototype designs to our labs in exchange for Doctor Fine Detail's expertise in duplication magic. I assure you that the work Doctor Fine is doing for Equestrian Robotics is perfectly above the board, and you would do well not to pay attention to the rumor mill. The coffins for Get_Lost and Kid open, almost simultaneously. Noble_Heart frowns a few moments at that notice, glancing back towards the cybernetic bits. "This sounds most worrying. But it still tells us little of what is going on here now." She sighs quietly, turning to head to the other terminal to check it over. CopyCat looks over and pays attention as her friends emerge. Bookwright frowns, "Well, that's disquieting. I wonder what those rumors were...? In the context of what these researchers seem to think normal is, I dread to think what they would consider 'disturbing'." Kid stumbles out of the coffin. Her breath is heavy, legs weak and unresponsive. Okay. Okay. Breathe. Breathe. Say something? "Grablegmrrphle." She mumbled out. Close enough. Get_Lost groans as the coffin opens and she struggle to regain senses; the mare shakes her head and mutters "i... why is everything blurred?" Noble_Heart swishes her tail in annoyance, frowning and looking back towards Bookwright. "Just because something seems dangerous does not make it so. Nor does it make the choice to attempt it a poor one. Of that We are sure." She turns her attention to the other terminal, attempting to access it. Shatara shuffles through the room for anything that might look useful. Bookwright attempts to pull up more information on cyberfetishes, but keeps getting responses of “file not found”. "That's curious," he mutters, moving on to General Notices. CopyCat looks between the two groggy mares and decides that Kid needed a hoof the most. She stands beside the smaller pony. "If you need somepony to lean on then I don't mind at all. Just until your balance returns, of course." She remains ready to nudge Get_Lost upright with magic if necessary. Get_Lost prods her face, trying to rube her eyes, but finds something metallic on her way; she tries to pull out the silly helmet from her head, but it seems to be stuck. > Announcement #1

> Grand Opening!

> Today marks the Grand Opening of the Ministry of Peace Hub and Equestrian Embassy in the sovereign city-state of the Crystal Empire.

> Our purpose here is to serve the ponies of the Crystal Empire. To see to their holistic well-being. To serve as representatives of and ambassadors from the great nation of Equestria.

> And to always strive to learn better how we might help the ponies here and at home.

> We are honored that Princess Luna chose the Ministry of Peace to serve in this function. > Announcement #7

> Every Friday will now be Bring Your Son, Daughter and/or Pet to Work Day. We welcome all the little ones.

> Please remember to take your child and/or pet home with you at the end of the day to avoid any further incidents with the sanitation robots.

> Also: lemon cakes and tea will now be available daily in the break lounge. > Announcement #24

> We are establishing a new module for Autopsy and Anatomical Research. Doctors working in this module will be tasked with researching the unique physiology of Crystal Ponies so that we might better understand how to serve their medical needs. Get_Lost can’t keep the worry from creeping into her voice. "I... there must be something wrong... I don't feel my eyes..." Get_Lost has a round helmet where the upper part of her head should be, and a series of short metal spikes run down her back, ut to the tail, where her spine should be; even her shoulders are different, encased in metal plates. Kid gulps down hard. The anesthetic was starting to feel uncomfortable. Her hooves felt off and unwieldy. "Ah'm... Ah feel sick." She managed to choke out, still looking at the ground. > Announcement #44

> I know this has been a big month of changes, between the new management and the refocusing of purpose for the North Wing modules. Please bear with us as the new administration gets settled in. We will be relying on you who have been here for over a year now to help guide and assist us until we are fully on our hooves. > Announcement #131

> Please welcome the addition of Doctor Uguani. Please greet him with warmth and smiles, and show him how pleasant Ministry of Peace hospitality can be.

> As many of you know, Doctor Uguani has recently been released from the re-adjustment center with a clean bill of health, and is eager to become a productive member of society. > Announcement #150

> The Prosthetics Lab module is being remodeled into a new lab for cybernetic research.

> Thanks to the wonderful work of Doctor's Rose Bloom and Doctor Uguani for making this leap forward in medical care possible.

> The South Wing beyond Patient Care will be shut down for two days during the remodeling.

> We will have a party next Tuesday to christen the new lab. We hope you like chocolate! Get_Lost keeps trying to take off the helmet, but it doesn’t' seem to be moving at all; the mare starts hyperventilating. CopyCat watches in horror as the compulsory science experiment fog dissapates around Get_Lost, revealing what has happened to her. She screams without sound, but inside their minds Noble_Heart, Bookwright and Shatara can hear it clear as day. Kid feels her head become rather uncomfortable. "C-Copuhca? Copaca. Hulp." > Announcement #172

> From now on, management kindly asks that those of you bringing small children on Fridays keep a close enough eye on them to ensure they are not attempting to flush inappropriate objects down the toilets. Thank you. > Announcement #175

> Doctor Fine Detail will be on sabbatical with Equestrian Robotics for the foreseeable future. Please wish him luck in the work they are doing over there. Intensive Care will miss his magical skills. > AnnOuNE #)))

> CoRRupted. > End of General Notices Noble_Heart raises her head away from the terminal at the 'sound' of the scream. She wastes no time at all rushing through the door and back down the hall. Her hooves clattering against the ground as she slammed through the other door in a rush, her horn glowing menacingly and all thought of the terminal cast from her mind for now. "We are he-" she cuts herself off as she spots Get Lost. This was not a good thing. She calls back down the hall. "Bookwright! Your skills are needed, now!" Get_Lost mutter to herself, still trying to free herself from the damn visor covering her eyes "no... no please not this... no..." Shatara freezes at the silent scream, looking up from his random debris-poking and glancing urgently between his companions, rushing after Noble_Heart as she charges back to the others. Bookwright nearly twists his head off by jerking it around involuntarily to face in the direction of CopyCat. Feeling the panic rise, he gallops back into the Autodock room, abandoning the terminal as it scrolls along. He'd have to come back later and read the messages then, this was more important. CopyCat holds Kid close (for her own comfort more than anything) and stares in fear at the Lost-o-Tron. Kid starts to feel her hooves. Okay. Okay. Lots of pins. Pins. Lots of not very painful but probably- oh wow suddenly everything got very soft, very tense, and very aqua-green. "Copahca. Wha's wron'?" As a dim blue light in a long horizontal visor in the helmet blinks a couple of times, as if it is trying to adjust its brightness, the mare give one last desperate try to take that metal thing out, but she only succeeds in falling again inside the pod "EEEEP!" Noble_Heart reaches out with her magic as quick as she could to try and stop Get Lost from falling into the device again. Whatever it had done to her was not right. And who knew what it might do if it were allowed to function a second time? This was most distressing indeed as she trotted nervously in place. "We are not sure what to do. We have never seen technology do this." Kid pokes her head out of the Copycat fluff. "Copahca! Copahcaa! Wha' happen?" What's going on? Why's all this fluff here? Why is she so tense? What's with that weird feeling in her eye? What's wrong with ponies here? Where's Get_Lost? Get_Lost floats in the air, grabbed by Noble's magic, it's impossible to read her eyes, since she has no eyes at all, but the mare finally calms down a little, trying to smile weakly at whomever is in front of her CopyCat swallows, shaking nervously. "G-Get_Lost has had... an accident." Noble_Heart carefully sets Get Lost back down on the ground a safe distance from the pods, breathing a sigh of relief as the strangely cybernetic pony wasn't going for another 'ride'. "We are uncertain how to help. But We also do not think it would be wise to allow her to return to the pods without some information." She looks towards CopyCat. "Has Kid come through alright? Is she also Noble_Heart in need of help? We will not abandon her to such a fate either." Get_Lost seems to be trying to be smiling at all costs, and says the first thing that comes to her head "I... I can't blink..." Kid gulps. "Ah'm faa. I'm fa', jus' ca' move right." She forces out. She hoped the message that she felt fine, if not very odd came through. Bookwright arrives behind Noble_Heart and takes in Get_Lost's new appearance. CopyCat nods, then remembers she's supposed to ask first. She relaxes her hold on Kid, at least letting the other pony breath properly. Kid felt that pinned, needly, and pricky feeling all over now. But, hey. At least it was better than just hearing what went down. Get_Lost has a metal helmet covering the upper part of her head, the eyes and the skull, has no mane and has some sort of metallic backbone poking out of her real back, from the skull down to the tail; she also has a shoulder pad on the left side. Noble_Heart frowns a few moments as she looks CopyCat over. "We do not believe this was the intended result of these machines. We suggest checking the rest of the terminal entries in the other room. CopyCat, do you feel comfortable carrying Kid? We will carry Get Lost. With luck there may be information pertaining to the ponies who created these machines and their purpose. We shall not allow Our companions or those We care about to be harmed in this way. It must be answered." Bookwright comes to a faltering halt, "I... oh my. That can't be right. Get_Lost... do you think you even have eyes left?" Shatara eeks softly, glancing around the room nervously, seeing Get_Lost's...interesting outcome. Get_Lost tries shaking her head "No... I think I can trot, there's no need to move me with magic..." She turns her head towards Bookie "I.... hope so?" Noble_Heart nods her head. "If you are confident you can, We will provide help if necessary." She moved towards Get Lost's side and looked over in CopyCat and Kid's direction worriedly. Bookwright adds hesitantly, "Can you... uh... see?" Get_Lost nods, "Yes I can see, it's a bit blurry and... you know... full of pixels... the image sometimes blurs and jumps but I can see." Kid looked almost the same, if not for the fact that she was covered in surgical scars where there weren't already. But one difference she noticed right then was... Well. She could see. One of her eyes that had been previously bandaged over had an odd glassy look to it, like it had been replaced by a glass eye with an oddly octagonal iris, yellow in color as if it was inlaid with a light shade of Topaz. All Kid really saw out of it right now was this... Odd white light. "I'm... Fine." She said, breath normalizing slightly. Get_Lost continues "…and the colors are weird... and... I dont' think I can close my eyes and..." She starts hyperventilating again. Noble_Heart reached out a wing to carefully wrap it around Get Lost, comforting the stressed pony. "We shall try to find a way to fix this. Of that you have Our word." She looks back down towards Kid again, tilting her head to one side. "Are you sure you are feeling alright? One of your eyes is different. Perhaps it has been replaced as well..?" Shatara leans towards Bookwright. "Err, there wasn't anything in there about...uncybering a pony, was there?" Bookwright shakes his head, trembling internally. "Not that I saw, unfortunately. There may be more. I certainly didn't expect this..." He tries to reason with what he is seeing, what has happened to his friends. "I think that... I think that the bits of yourselves that were severely damaged by magical energy couldn't be salvaged by these coffin-doctors. I think they instead replaced the bits they couldn't heal." CopyCat holds a hoof out to Kid, wincing as Get starts to panic. "Can you move on your own? You can lean on me if your legs are wobbly, like... like I said before." Get_Lost closes herself in a thoughtful silence, letting the words of her companions slide away, while her head works on her own. Kid blinks. "Ah think ya'll're..." She blunk, and then all of a sudden, she could see. The fur around her new eye was slightly discolored, synthetic grey, along with some of the fur on her belly. But... She could see. "Ah c'n see." She stood on her own four legs, excitement kind of running up her spine. "Ah cn' see!" She was starting to feel a little manic before falling back into Copycat. "Hey,.. Get, look't this lil..." Oh. CopyCat smiles weakly, "Thats... thats wonderful, Kid." Get_Lost gets up, shuffling away from the alicorn's wing embrace and moving next to Kid, getting momentary control by going into doctor mode. "Are you feeling alright? Anything wrong? Legs, head, everything feels fine?" Noble_Heart frowns, gently pulling away from Get Lost and lowering her head to get a better look at Kid. She gave a smile to the filly. "That is wonderful news. Perhaps there are some things these machines do which are not so bad..." she looks up at the devices then back to Get Lost. "In moderation." She turns back to the door. "We recommend looking over the rest of the terminal Noble_Heart information. There may be some help there. With luck." Kid just takes in Get_Lost for a little while. "Um. Shit. Um." That could've happened to you. "Naw. I mean, shee-it. Ya'll are in more-" Language. She looked away in shame. "Uh. Yeah. Jus' a lil' prickly in places." Get_Lost tries smiling, here eyes now unreadable. "Good. Don't poke at that new eye, it could be tricky to fix, okay?" She takes a long breath "now... please... have you seen a bathroom around?... I need, ah... a moment for myself." CopyCat has to face the reality smiling in front of her. "Get... are you okay?" Noble_Heart frowns at that prospect, looking up to Get Lost. "Someone should go with you if you do. It may be shocking." She sighs and lowers her head again sadly. "We believe there may be some bathrooms around. But We did not pay much attention." Bookwright looks around, "No, actually I haven't seen a bathroom... Uh." He speaks loudly, addressing the seemingly omnipresent artificial intelligence that oversaw the Ministry of Peace and Equestrian Embassy, "Um, Fluttershy? Where is the nearest restroom?" A soft, Fluttershy-like voice pipes up. "Restrooms are at the beginning of the East Hall. Go out the door, turn left, go to the mane lobby, turn right." Get_Lost "Ah, no thanks I don't need company, really, I... I want just a few minutes to stay on my own and... I don't know what, just... hide... please..." Shatara blinks in concern towards Get_Lost. Kid looked away in shame of Get_Lost. And all of a sudden, she felt as if she had a world of guilt on her shoulders. Irrational, she knew, but... She could've ended up like that. "... Noble. I have words t' speak with you. Copycat in a bit." Screw Bookie, though. Bookwright needs to know precisely what these auto-docs are programmed to do. With a faraway look on his face, he canters quickly back to the Cybersurgery module and examines the terminal Noble_Heart hacked for clues. Get_Lost trots outside the room, trying to find a place to sit a moment alone and think. Noble_Heart blinks in confusion at that. "Words with Us?" She smiled to Kid, offering a forehoof to rub the filly on the head. "Well. If you insist, We might spare some time from Our busy schedule to listen." She gave a little bit of a smirk then relaxed a bit. "We will listen to whatever it is you have to say. Of that we promise." CopyCat trots after Get_Lost. Wanting to be alone didn't include her of course. Kid could still convey annoyance, it appears. She offers to go to the corner of the hallway, and rubs her leg. Pride was always the hardest thing for her to put down. And judging by her expression, she looked like she wasn't about to like what she was going to say. Get_Lost follows the instruction and when she finds the restrooms, she simply sits in one of them, trying to suffocate the sobbing. Noble_Heart follows along after Kid. Leaving Bookwright to look at the terminal for now. She would inspect it later, or peruse his information. One of the two. She sat patiently when Kid stopped moving, looking down at the smaller pony with a surprisingly warm and patient smile. Kid clenched her eyes shut. "Look. Ah'm... Ah'm... Look, whenever folks do this... I mean..." Words, Kid. You have them for a reason. "Ah mean, look. I'm sorry, alright? I don't hate you or anythin'. Don' get me wrong, I don' like a lot about you, but, well. Maybe I've been a lil' too abrasive considerin' th' circumstances, n' I'd like t' mend fences." That felt like she was trying to speak out her own diaphragm, but at least it was out there now. Kid immediately looks rather cross, then very tense. She stomps her hoof, and the pins reacted quite painfully to that. She winced in pain. "Ya'll know that ya'll're the only fuckin' pony that can piss me off n'..." She calms down with a heavy sigh as she hugged her. "... I dunno. Make me feel like there's still some reason I'm doin' all this other than shitty luck n' stubborn pride." Noble_Heart reaches out a forehoof to gently rub Kid's head. "We understand." She smiled a bit more. "We accept your apology. We would not expect a little pony to know such things when they are so young, after all." She couldn't help but let out a little bit of a snicker at that before sighing and sinking her head. "Do not feel bad on Our account. You are Our companion and Our friend, and we will accept whatever there is of you." Gently wrapping a forehoof around the little pony. "We are still proud of you for saying this." CopyCat enters the restroom and sits quietly beside Get_Lost. Get_Lost doesn't even protest to CopyCat's intrusion, but tries hard to put herself together "I... I'm fine, really..." Get_Lost taps at her brand new visor "See? I'm not even crying, no tears, see?" The voice is breaking again "I will never cry again, see? There, ali my wishes became true!" Shatara slumps outside Get_Lost's restroom. CopyCat leans her back against the other mare. "You don't have to pretend. It's just that I... I don't like to be alone. So I didn't want you to be alone." A voice from the bathroom speaker begs, "Please don't cry. It will be all right. We have counselors here to help you though this transition." Indeed, the East Hall has several modules of its own, including ones labeled "Gift Shop", "Physical Therapy", "Counseling" and "Employee Lounge" Get_Lost suddenly turns towards the speakers, “Don't worry, I won't cry, because, you know, I HAVE NO EYES!" The scream is somewhat helpful for the mare. She hugs CopyCat tight "I... I... sorry..." Bookwright snatches up the item that resembles a Phoenix Implant and sticks it in his pack as he walks past it to the terminal that Noble_Heart hacked. The Phoenix Implant feels pleasantly warm and leaves a tingle across Bookwright's hoof. Arriving at the terminal, he starts poking at it for clues as to what happened to Get_Lost and Kid. The terminal greets Bookwright just as it did before, and offers up no additional secrets. Bookwright gives up in frustration. Nothing useful to be found out in here. He returns, hanging his head, "I'm sorry. I would never have suggested using these machines if I'd known what they'd do." He turns his attention to modules on the East Wing, searching for another terminal that might shed light on what just happened to Get Lost and Kid. The module marked Counseling is an intimate room with light wood paneling. There is a desk, a couch and several chairs, as well as a few shelves holding toys and books. A terminal glows softly on the desk. He begins to hack into it, Noble Heart and Kid joining him. > Good morning, Gentle Song. It is a beautiful day, is it not?

> You have two (2) new patients. Would you like to view their files?

> Celestia be with you. Bookwright steps aside as Noble_Heart heads over to the terminal to take a look at it curiously. That's... An interesting opening statement. A password screen well disguised? Or a genuine question from the... Possible AI here? She took a moment to nod and typed in 'Yes'. That should work, right? > New Patient File #1: Jane Doe

> New Patient File #2: Jane Doe (no relation) Noble_Heart hrms quietly at that. She selected New Patient File #1 first. Might as well read them one by one. She could only assume they were the information on Kid and Get Lost. Probably automatically collected by the intelligence here in the building. Perusing the files makes it quickly clear that the patients are indeed Get_Lost and Kid. The files include extensive lists of their injuries and the repairs and replacements that were made to bring them back to full health. In the case of Kid, the system seemed to fail to differentiate old injuries from new, citing "No medical history" errors. Noble_Heart frowns, reading over both files steadily. Curious about what had been done to her friends. "We wonder what would be normal for these circumstances..." She spoke to herself aloud as she read over the files for anything pertinent to helping them. Get_Lost's file reads similar but much worse. Not only did the machine attempt to replace what it could not fix in an attempt to make her whole again, but it the surgical document is full of inventory errors. Apparently, failing to find the most ideal implants in it's retinue, the machine worked its way down until it found a cybernetic suite that would replace all the irreparably damaged parts of her body... even though it meant also removing perfectly working tissue and organs to install. Noble_Heart let out a quiet sigh, finishing reading over the two and hanging her head slightly. It didn't seem there was much help here at all. But it did explain a few things. She frowned slightly, maybe they could find better options in the cybernetics lab and provide the machines for a superior rebuild..? No, that sounded like a bad idea. Bookwright is reading over her shoulder. Speaking up, "Interesting. So that's why... goddesses, I regret this so much." He flips open a notebook and copies down the information on the screen.

Kid swiftly went back behind the walls to make damn sure that Louie was safe and inside and not in her saddlebags when she brought up her shotgun's sights. Shitshitshitshit. She tried to acquire her targets. It didn't work. She couldn't get a clear sight picture in the forest of crystal statues. So, she thought really, really hard. [Try to not speak! It'll fuck with 'em!]

Mare-Do-Well calls out again, "Got another one! Lower north-western street, coming from one of the ER buildings!"

The first Heartless clears the rubble, swiftly moving on the Crystal Ponies.

CopyCat takes aim at the nearest approaching Heartless and fires two darts, waiting to see if they connect. "Fuck with who?" she asks Kid, unsure of her friend's plan.

Kid frowns. [Can you relay stuff around with your head magic?]

Shatara blinks as he prepares to sight in. "I don't think it's a good time for fucking..."

CopyCat coughs quietly. "That isn't exactly what I meant..." Then the green alicorn aims her thinking at Kid. [Yes, we can head-magic talk. Would you like me to tell something to the ponies below?]

Kid just scowls. [Fuck with them, fuck with their heads by not-] Oh forget it. [Just tell them, please, that we have another incoming from the lower north-western street by a hospital building.] She'd feel pride that she knew about what an ER building was if she weren't scared out of her wits at the moment.

CopyCat relays Kid's warning to the ponies below. [Bookwright, Noble Heart, Get Lost, heartless are incoming from the lower north-western street by a hospital building].

But… wait, the hospital is the opposite direction. Northwest is where the robotics factory… oh, duh. Equestrian Robotics! The young mare facehoofs. But before she can correct herself, CopyCat is already relaying the confused information.

She turns and looks up for a moment towards the ghostly figure. Mare-Do-Well couldn’t have made that more clear? But then… gah. She wasn’t sure what to think. Before this week, the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well was only a comic book character to her. But after spotting her by chance in the ruins on their first day in the Crystal Empire, she had become Kid’s personal quest. The key, she had been certain, to everything here.

She had finally caught up with the ghost in the Embassy Wing of the Ministry of Peace.

Kid slowly operates the projector, viewing the slideshow of the Crystal Fair as Bookwright and Noble_Heart huddle in the next room, learning about Crystal Pony physiology. She watches solemnly as pre-apocalypse Equestria is shone on the nearby white sheet. She always had some sort of reverence that found its way in her heart and hung around when pictures of pre-war Equestria were brought to her attention. Something about seeing an age she couldn't possibly hope to understand filled her with something solemn and respectfully somber. CopyCat quietly watches the images on the screen. "Equestria looked beautiful in the past. Do you think that it'll be like that again one day?" Following the research of the Ministry of Peace, the research into the crystal ponies seems to divert into a study of something called "The Crystal Heart". After nearly half an hour of reading, Bookwright finds a researcher's document that states: "The unique, geometric layout of the Crystal Empire is not merely one of aesthetics. The entirety of the city-state is designed as a sort of conduit in a manner that bears resemblance to a magical matrix. The purpose of this specific design is singular, to allow the ponies of the empire to focus emotional energies to amplify the casting of a particular defensive spell, for which the Crystal Heart is the centerpiece and magical nexus. The use of positive emotional energies as a magical amplifier has long been documented -- perhaps most significantly in the 'communal casting' effect of the Elements of Harmony -- but the specifics of the design and scale of the effect seen for the emotional matrix and the Crystal Heart is beyond anything previously studied... One hesitates to even call such a 'spell' anymore. Until a proper classification for such intensified magic is determined, I shall hereby refer to such enhanced magic as a “mega-spell”. Needless to say, further study of the Crystal Empire matrix is suggested. As to how this ties to our current studies of Crystal Pony physiology: it would appear that the amplified power of a 'mega-spell' results in a side effect beyond that associated with the base magic. The casting of such a spell generates a subtle sub-energy that bleeds off into the surrounding area. A sort of 'magical radiation', if you will. The effects of this radiation are physically transformative. Temporarily so for a single exposure, as was apparently witnessed by the Ministry Mares themselves upon their first visit to the Crystal Empire. However, this 'magical radiation' accumulates in the body until a threshold is reached and the transformation becomes permanent. Furthermore, the transformation holds on a genetic level, and is therefore passed on to the next generation. It is worth noting that the Crystal Heart is activated annually. It is my conclusion that the Crystal Ponies were, originally, normal Earth Ponies. At this point, further study would require permissions to perform investigative autopsies on Crystal Ponies. I request that you obtain sanction from Princess Cadence so that this research may proceed.” Chief Caretaker Bedside Manner Noble_Heart frowns, furrowing her eyebrows. "We cannot help but wonder how this may have affected the zebras staying within this city's walls. We have seen what balefire radiation does. But this... This does not sound like the same thing." She blanches slightly at the prospect of sanctioned autopsies, as her mind works on something more... Disturbing. She shakes her head in an attempt to put it out of her mind. Bookwright isn't sure he wants to know, either. But further research is interrupted as Kid runs into the room and starts ushering them into the classroom next door. She attempts to manually flip back the slides to the one featuring the Crystal Heart. "This thing! This thing! I'm thinkin' we gotta grab this thing!" Noble_Heart tilts her head to one side, looking at the slide with a frown. "The Crystal Heart from the report, We would presume." She shakes her head. "The Heart alone would do Us no good. We would need the entire city to utilize its powers. Though Our magic may be mighty, We could not hope to transport an entire city! We doubt that even Celestia's magic could accomplish such a feat." She pauses briefly, "Perhaps the Elements of Harmony might manage such a thing. But We have Our doubts about even that. But moreso, the radiation would not be right. Ghouls are created by Balefire. They would need Balefire to remain healthy. This place creates crystal ponies, not ghouls." CopyCat puts a hoof on Kid's shoulder. "But it is pretty. Maybe we could grab it anyway?" Kid manages to flip the slides back, showing everyone the Crystal Heart. However, when Kid looks up, she sees something rather different... Standing in front of the movie screen, staring into the light, is a ghostly form wearing an outfit of purple and black with a full facial mask, a cape and a large-brimmed hat. Noble_Heart contemplated this a little harder, tapping her chin. "But... If the crystal ponies here are some kind of ghoul, and the ones we have seen are merely feral ghoul equivalents, perhaps activating the heart might be enough to return some semblance of normalcy to some of them..?" She certainly sounded skeptical about that prospect. Kid blinks, and then stumbles back in surprise. "Gah!" She falls back on some desks. "That pony! There's that fuckin' pony!" The caped pony cocks her head, narrowing her eyes at Kid's reaction. Noble_Heart blinks and looks down as Kid freaks out, then looks up at the screen again, then back down to Kid. "A pony in the picture? We do not recognize any of them." Kid created quite a clatter metallic clatter. "Ya'll don't see 'em? No, no. No! Fuck you, the zebra ghosts ain't real, but this one is!" He huffs. "You seriously don't see 'em? She's right there!" The ghost facehoofs. Bookwright continues to be as mild as possible, if only to annoy Kid further. "Ghost? What ghost?" Noble_Heart steps forwards, reaching a hoof out in the direction of Kid's ghost, waving it around in front of the screen. "We do not see anything. Perhaps your new eye is suffering from some kind of feedback?" Kid pointed at what seemed to be empty space. "Th' one right there! Th' one..." She cocked an eye. "Okay, that's a lil' rude." She shakes her head. "Naw, naw. I saw her before we got here. She jumped on th' robot that nearly killed us all a couple've times." She seems to feel a wave of fatigue hit her. "Ya'll seriously don' see 'em?" CopyCat closes her eyes, reaching into Kid’s mind to see what she sees.. "You mean the one wearing a fetching hat?" The ghost shakes her head, muttering, "They can't see ghosts, kid. Rare to find somepony who does." Kid nods. "Holy shit! You can see 'em?" She looks at the ghost. "Holy shit, ya'll can talk?" Her mind has been blown. /Twice/. Noble_Heart blinks and looks to CopyCat curiously, lowering her forehoof. She frowns slightly and moves away from the screen. She was definitely missing something here. The ghost blinks. Then spreads her wings and zooms across the room to (virtually) press her nose against Kid's, staring. "Wait, you can hear me?" CopyCat replies to Kid. "Well... no. You can see him and I can see that." Kid backs her head into the tile floor. "Y-yeah. I-I can. Sorta." Noble_Heart taps her chin and tilts her head to one side as Kid continues to treat the ghost-pony as real. "We believe you." She reaches out a forehoof to gently place it across Kid's shoulders. The ghost hang in the air, slowly flapping her wings. "Whoa." Kid blinks. She seems legitimately frightened, although a tad soothed that someone else believed her. She looked to the side, and then got up on wobbly hooves. "Y-yeah. Woah. Alright, so... Um. What's yer angle? Why are ya'll followin' me? What'd ya'll hop on that robot fer?" Kid announces last, but definitely not least. Not if a volume change and a crack of her voice meant anything. "Who are ya'll?" Bookwright offers the empty air, "Furthermore, what is your intent?" The ghost admits, "I figured helping you guys would be my best ticket outta here. I've been stuck in this place foreeeeeever." Bookwright patiently waits for Kid to relay what the apparition is saying. Kid blinks. "Uh. Okay, so you've been here a while, then? Um. So wait. Ya'll c'n even get trapped?" Her head was starting to feel a little light. "Um. Alright, alright. Again, who are ya'll?" Noble_Heart blinks and looks down at Kid curiously at the one-sided conversation, frowning a little bit. Kid spots the quizzical look on the other ponies' face. "Oh. Uh. They're sayin' that they think helpin' us is their way out of here. An' that they've been here, uh." She kicks her forelegs. "Foreeeeever." The ghost nods. "The shield keeps ghosts in. Kinda like the barrier keeps you in. Shut 'em both off, we all can go." Kid looks at the rest. "She says she's trapped here 'cause th' shield traps ghosts and us in." She looks at the ghost. "Noticin' ya'll ain't tellin' us who ya'll are." Bookwright muses, "Interesting. I've read stories about ghosts being tied to physical locations for various reasons, but they've always been stories. The ghosts, I mean. Why would an insubstantial entity, assuming it exists, not be able to leave a location?" Noble_Heart taps her chin, pondering that. "A means to trap ghosts..? That is strange. Either few ponies here have died in a very long time, or most of them have not left ghosts. Or perhaps you can only see this one ghost..?" She shook her head with a sigh. "We do not know. Ghosts and spirits are not something We have experience with." Bookwright "...oh." The ghost's eyes narrow, then she chuckles. "Kid, do I look like somepony who goes about tellin' people who I am?" Kid rubs her temples. "... Usually, when this happened back in th' bog, th' zebra ghosts don' bother you if ya'll pretend not t' notice they're there. But they c'n get nasty." She grimaced. Foalhood wasn't kind. "Uh. Naw. But, y'know. Guessin' ya'll have a name! An', well. Yer a pegasus! That's a start. Kinda. M'dad was one, too. So, if yer' one o' them Enclavers, please, uh. Don' get too angry?" Kid wrinkles her brows. "'Sides, ya'll have me at a disadvantage by knowin' my name, and me not knowin' ya'll's. Jus' not fair." The ghosts eyes widen, wings flaring. Then narrow. "Hell no I'm not part of the Enclave." The ghost blinks. "I don't know your name." Kid blinks. "Funny. Ya'll called me by what I go by." The ghost looks lost. Then, "Wait... your name's 'kid'?" <snicker> "Really?" Noble_Heart was definitely surprised by that, even more than the news of them being a ghost. A pegasus ghost, way out here? In the Crystal Kingdom? "I wonder what would have brought a pegasus here of all places..." She tilted her head to one side. Bookwright "Y'know kid, if this ghost is gonna be so recalcitrant to tell you its name, maybe you should just ignore it until it does?” Kid nods. "Uh. Good! My daddy was kinda a plot hole." She coughed. "Well, yeah. That's what ah go by, at least. Figured, y'no. Hey, everypony calls me Kid already, might as well make it official." The ghost clearly struggles against the urge to fall over laughing... but to her credit, she succeeds. "I can... respect that." CopyCat speaks up a little. "Can she hear us? I'd like to ask where she got her hat from." Kid tilts her head towards CopyCat. "I'm guessin' she can." Kid chuckles awkwardly, ears flattened against her head. "So, uh. What do ya'll go by? And what brought ya'll out here?" Noble_Heart contemplates a little more, tilting her head to the side. "We cannot imagine that spending very long in a state where none could see or hear you would do well for one's responsiveness to others. Nor for their happiness. To be cut off from every pony? It would be a nightmare. Worse, perhaps, even than the Unity." She shudders at the possibility that anything could be worse than that. Kid frowns. Yeah. Getting cut off from everypony you know. Nightmare. "... It must be rough on ya'll." The ghost pauses, shrugs, "I'm the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well." Kid looks at Noble_Heart. And with no sense of irony whatsoever, she says "She's th' Mysterious Mare-Do-Well." CopyCat nods as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The ghost looks about. "Enclave were headed this way. I thought if the Crystal Empire was still out here, somepony needed to warn them. Turned out, place is a trap." Kid nods. "She says she's against th' Enclave. She came here 'cause th' Crystal Empire needed warnin', and th' place turned out t' be a trap." Noble_Heart gets a deadpan stare before face-hoofing at the name. "Well, We suppose it is nothing if not direct." She sighs, then tilts her head to one side. "Has she been inside the palace, by any chance..?" Not that she expected to get any useful information without going there, but no sense in not asking, right? Kid furrows her brow. "Ya'll've been here since th' first Dashites left th' Enclave durin' th' Civil War way up there. That's... a couple hundred years ago. Shit." CopyCat looks excited. "Oh, yes, Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, have you been in the palace? Is the Princess still there? Is she nice?" Bookwright attempts to recall history, but gets distracted and begins to think about various pre-war comic books he's read. The ghostly pegasus stares. "The first what now?" Kid blinks and rears back. "Wait, ya'll don't know what a Dashite is? They're like, folks that get their hind-parts branded wi' Rainbow Dash's old cutie marks. M'dad used t' say that she started a rebellion up there by not wantin' t' leave th' surface ponies behind, an' when she did, a lot more came down too since they figured it'd been wrong." She scoffs. "Figures that's what helped kill 'em." Kid rolls her shoulder. "Dad used t' say that's what doomed 'em. If she hadn't have left, th' sky would'a never fell." Noble_Heart mostly remains quiet, doing her best to comfort and encourage Kid by her presence. Which... Probably wasn't much of a comfort considering their usual relationship. The ghost just stares blankly for a while. Then flaps her wings, flying upwards through the ceiling. CopyCat peers up at the ceiling, looking a little lost. Kid blinks, then all of a sudden attempted to leap after her. "Wait. Wait! Come back!" She was rewarded by a nasty fall. "Ow! Shit, she went right through th' ceilin'!" Noble_Heart blinks in surprise as Kid suddenly starts moving, reaching out to help Kid back to her hooves after flopping on the ground. "Perhaps you said something which upset her?" She shook her head. "We do not know. We have never met a ghost pony before. But if she believes We can help her escape, she may come back on her own." Kid coughs, rubbing her chin where she's clocked her jaw something good. "I didn't say nothin' too bad! She didn't know what a Dashite was, so ah told her!" Bookwright "Huh... Well, that was... odd." Kid frowns. "What kinda pegasus wouldn't know about Dashites?" She mentioned with the vacant cadence of somepony who said a thought out loud. The question hung in the air for a little while. Bookwright replies, "Clearly, her kind." Kid didn't respond to that. She just looked rather lost in thought. "... I must be lookin' mighty crazy."

Noble Heart beat her wings, moving as quick as she could towards the top of the tower. She didn't have long now, the firewagon was needed for Get Lost's plan. She spared a glance back down at the battlefield, before redoubling her efforts towards the highest point on the crystaline structure.

Bookwright mentally thanks CopyCat, but keeps his MASER trained on the nearest incoming crazy-bot.

Get Lost tries the mind thing while approaching the nearest crazy-bot. [Okay, I'll try gainig some more guns on our side, it's a bit of a wild guess so don't get mad at me if I get killed 'mkay?]

CopyCat goes wide-eyed at Get Lost's message. [Please be careful!]

Kid chucks a stun grenade far into the distance... And manages to clear the crowd! Hopefully, it even hit! The stun grenade lands expertly on-mark, the blast causing the Heartless to miss several steps and collapse... but she gets up on wobbly legs and lets out a howl of rage and pain, pressing on.

Kid smirked. [One down!] Then they got back up. [... One /almost/ down!]

Mare-Do-Well swoops about. "Crap! North! We got three more... no, wait, those are just those crazy Solaris guard-things. North is clear! (for now)."

Shatara slips into SATS and fires a dart into the staggering Heartless's head. His first shot bounces harmlessly off the Heartless's head, failing to pierce her crystal hide. "Really!?" He fires a followup shot. The second dart sinks in.

Shatara shifts his aim to the northwestern approaching heartless, firing the MoP tranquilizer rifle twice. Both of Shatara's shots against the second Heartless hit home, the poison in the darts beginning to take effect.

Below, Get Lost approaches the crazy-bot... she's very close and needs it to turn the other side. here it goes, all or nothing. "Tourist protocol! Please I'm lost, can you point East?"

Unfortunately, Get Lost’s attempt to get the brainbot to look away, only managing to focus its ("Hello! Let me hug you!") attention on her. But as the brainbot prepares to fry her, the air fills with a battle hymn... of sorts... as Pink-E swoops in, taking little laser pot-shots at the robot. Sweet-E is right behind. There is a loud CRACK as she lashes out at the robot with the RD-E lightning blast. "Stop being a meanie!"

The brainbot turns away from Get Lost, its full attention now on Sweet-E and Pink-E (although much moreso on the former).

Get Lost jumps on the robot as soon as it is distracted, cracks open the control panel and starts working on it "Sweet-E! get ready to broadcast!"

Pink-E oohs! "Ooh! Ooh! Let me! I'm best broadcasting not-pony!"

"Transmit on channel 57, broadband! use encoding language protectron!" The mare thinks for a moment, then starts, "Critical priority. Set weapon selection to crowd control. Set weapon parameter lethal false. Delete target list. Create new target list. Set list Crystal ponies true. Set parameter moving true. Set parameter armed true. Execute."

Pink-E proudly beams the new targeting instructions to the other brainbots! Within a couple seconds, each of the brainbots turns and begins moving towards the parameter, calling out in happy, filly voices. "Come play with us! We just want to hurt you!"

CopyCat thinks out loud to all her friends, [Brilliant idea Get Lost!]

Get Lost cries out, "Thanks, Pink-E!" Then mentally sends CopyCat, [Alright I think this will buy us time, I'll stay behind and heal the wounded from now.]

The Heartless to the northwest moves forward, sprinting down blocks of rubble, heading towards the Crystal Tower.

Bookwright can see that the brainbots are no longer a threat. He sets down his maser and picks up a stun grenade. He puffs. "Screwit. No time like the present, I always say." He closes his eyes, focusing on an extremely difficult spell. He’s never successfully cast this before…

When they open again, his eyes are shining liquid gold. Swirling honey mist surrounds him, and then tattered fading streamers blast away, revealing a delicate set of orange-and-black monarch wings.

Bookwright grabs the first three stun grenades from his pile on the ground and stuffs them into his pack, and he takes off. Unsteadily.

The Heartless to the east reaches the Crystal Ponies, lashing out with a supercharged Solaris Hoof! The blow against the helpless Crystal Pony is devastating, shattering her. The Heartless turns to strike at another, but wobbles, the poison from Shatara’s tranquilizer darts stealing her coordination. It's all she can do to keep from falling over.

CopyCat cries out as the crystal pony shatters and takes off, flying down closer to the ground as she fires another dart at the heartless, this time aiming for it's head.

CopyCat cries out as the crystal pony shatters and takes off, flying down closer to the ground as she fires another dart at the heartless, this time aiming for it's head. Her shot strikes true, causing the crystalline pony’s head to jerk back. The Heartless wobbles, flails weakly, and collapses.

Noble Heart finally reaches the top of the Crystal Tower and straps herself to the firewagon, mentally thanking Shatara for his work on the harness.

Kid frowns gravely. She had hoped that their target was just to get to the crystal heart. She realized, too late, that this was a falsehood. This, of course, did not put her in the best presence of mind. She realized after two more grenades, she's not going to be any help at all, regardless of equipment. And if it took five hits for them to tranquilize that one pony... [Copycat! We need to start doing strafing runs! You're almost out of ammo, and I can't grenade them more than two more times!]

CopyCat responds, her thoughts in panic. [She died, Kid! She died because I didn't stop the heartless!]

Kid snaps back, near instantaneously. [She died because that Heartless killed her, now get your winged flank over here so I can start shooting off of it!]

Mysterious Mare-Do-Well is swooping about. "Crap! Bad news! We've got a band of three coming in from the upper northeast! They're a ways off, but... wait, some good news! There's a hydrant on that street! We need your firewagon down there!"

Mare-Do-Well the lets out a slightly panicked, "South! One directly south! I didn't see her in time! She's almost at the ponies!"

CopyCat lands next to the shattered pony and the collapsed heartless, biting her lip as she saw all the broken bits of crystal. She tries collecting it all in a pile.

Kid winces as she hears the masked pony come along. Her mane was somehow more frazzled. She had a kind of angry, jaded shine in her eye that no filly her age should ever really have. [Three incoming from the upper north east! Hydrant along the way! Copycat, everyone else, get eyes to the northeast right this fucking instant!]

CopyCat cries to herself. [One very close to the south. Three farther away to the southeast. Be careful everypony!]

Kid corrects her. [Northeast! Copycat, now's the time to act like a princess!]

The green alicorn shakes her head to clear it. [The three are to the mortheast, sorry everyone. It's hard to... to think straight.]

Kid stands at the edge of the battlement. "Mare-Do-Well, be right back!" Kid thinks towards the taciturn griffin mechanic and sharpshooter, trusting the CopyCat to relay the message. [Shatara, get me to the south!]

Bookwright is flying! It's a whole 'nother bowl of cherries to be the one actually flying instead of some poor upchucking passenger! He wings his way towards the group coming in from the northeast, preparing a stun grenade.

CopyCat throws Kid’s message to the griffin with a distracted blast of telepathy, unable to really think about anything but the helpless Crystal Pony shattering under the Heartless’ blow. She scrambles to remember the medical spells she learned from the Ministry of Peace. The Phoenix magic…

Shatara starts to shift to engage the heartless with his rapidly dwindling dart supply, when he gets Kid's message. [uuuh...kay?] He moves towards Kid while aiming at the southern Heartless. He takes a shot only to hear the dreaded sound of his brush rifle jamming. What is it with this rifle? He even just cleaned it!

Bookwright flies. Flies hard. Flies fast. The wind in his mane and the bugs in his teeth but who cares!? He's flying!

Kid goes ahead and jumps on Shatara as he swoops by. This is a bad idea. She ties a rope around his back underneath his wings and swings down the little-less-than-fifteen foot rope. She then attempts to jump off his back and swings down. This is a suicidal idea. She then steadies herself, using the lasso loop on the bottom to hook her hind leg onto and hanging onto the rope for dear life, underlegs gripping the Riot shotgun and forelegs tangling herself around the and the trigger to keep her upright and prepared. And as she descended, she swoops in real close to the stupid heartless, gets right on top of him almost, and lets loose beanbaggy hell.

Shatara focuses on delivering some angry filly. However his flight and Kid's heroic (suicidal) actions put the small mare virtually in the face of the Heartless. Kid delivers a face full of bean bags care of riot shotgun. The Heartless is thrown, and collapses, very unconscious.

Kid gasps and hyperventilates as she realized how absolutely stupid she just was. [Fucker's takin' a nap! Now take us back up so Mare-do-Well can keep us informed, Shatara!]

Shatara grunts and nods, climbing back towards the tower while looking around for additional threats.

Bookwright slows to a hover above the trio of Heartless and grins downward. Two of the trio look up at the beautifully-winged flutterpony and wave their Solaris hoofweapons hatefully. The third grins sadistically as he raises his trail carbine and takes aim. He fires twice. The first shot hits Bookwright square in the stomach. The second just barely misses his right foreleg... close enough he could feel it's passing parting his fur.

Bookwright positively cackles as he drops a stun grenade on top of the Heartless with the carbine. He follows up with the other two in his clutches. Three Heartless go down in a cavalcade of stunning booms!

Noble Heart spread her wings wide and takes to the air. The chaos of the battle was no doubt a problem. But right now she had a specific goal. To get this fire wagon back to the ground and hooked up as quickly as possible. Also not to miss her queue with the Crystal Heart. That would be embarrassing. And probably catastrophic.

The voice of Doctor Amore booms across the heavens. "READY THE CRYSTAL HEART! TARGETING WILL BE RESOLVED IN UNDER FIVE MINUTES!”

Noble Heart swoops down and lands beside a hydrant, hitting the latch on Shatara’s quick-release mechanism and pulling herself loose. "Bookwright! Get Lost! We have brought the wagon! But We must take Our position!" She gallops as quick as she can manage towards the pedestal at the center of the open area.

Bookwright flies as fast as fast he can for the firewagon, latching himself to it. Noble Heart had left it to the north, but he had already taken care of the foes there. However, the weapons factory was to the west. They were already amassing there, and that announcement of Doctor Amore’s certainly caught their attention. Looking westward, he sees the mass of Heartless, scores of them, pouring out of the crumbled structure with the giant SOLARIS above it. Bookwright breaks into a gallop, using his wings for extra speed.

Shatara grumbles as he cycles his rifle and checks the pneumatics before searching out approaching threats. He spots the horde coming in from the west, but they are well out of range, and he is running low on darts. Even if he flew out to meet them, there is little he could do. Stopping the few who were closer had to take priority. They wouldn’t lose another Crystal Pony. Not if he could prevent it.

CopyCat tries to concentrate as tears stream down her face. "Please work please work please work please work!" Her horn glows and her magic flows, surrounding the shattered shards of the former Crystal Pony.

Swirling motes of glowing golden energy pool around the shattered remains of the Crystal Pony. The brilliant light fills the shards of crystal, causing them to glow as a soft wind spirals about the destroyed mare. The crystals lift, rejoining in a cascade of flashes. Suddenly, the mare is whole again.

The Crystal Pony lets out a gasp, her hooves touching back to the ground. She blinks, looking around. "Where... what?"

Kid feels her heart pounding, as if it were a disgruntled prisoner in her rib cage. "CopyCat!" She seemed to sound weaker, but resolute. "You just saved a life."

CopyCat hugs the mare. "It worked! Oh, thank you! Now head towards the centre. My friends and I can keep you safe there." She takes off again, heading towards the crystal heart clearing herself. She was ready to face the next heartless at last.

The Crystal Pony mare follows CopyCat, trembling. "That... that pony tried to kill me!" She adds, unsure, "I... think..." Looking up, "Th-thank you!... Who are you? You don't look like the Princess. Are you Luna?"

CopyCat falters slightly, then calls back. "Yes I-- err, We are! Princess Cadance asked for Our help. She is preparing a spell to take away the sickness that is making those ponies angry. She should not be long, please stay safe!""

The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well swoops about. "The one from the northwest has fallen over! I think the darts got him! Good job, griffin!" She quickly adds, "Watch out. Two more, coming from the west – a couple minutes ahead of the rest of the horde, and well armed!" Then, "Crud! One from the upper southwest too! And that one's getting close!"

Kid nods. [Upper southwest! Two to the west, heavily armed! Noble, get your purple flank in the damn podium!] Kid looks up at Shatara. "Upper southwest, then to the west!" She slung the shotgun by wriggling her body a little, then does a little contortion to draw her sawed-off shotgun.

Shatara nods, banking towards the nearest to bring it in range of Kid's shotguns, doing his best to keep a stable glide as he lines up the others for his dart rifle. Shatara's shots strike true, the first just barely piercing his crystalline hide... to nick a major artery, sending the poison straight to his heart. The pony staggers.

The moment they get close, Kid blasts away with her beanbag rounds, introducing the lone Heartless to the crystal street. A moment later, Shatara’s flight path takes them nearly to the two moving in from the west.

Mare-Do-Well hovers a moment, whispering "ohcrudohcrudohcrud..." as she sees Shatara face off against two heavily-armed Heartless. Shatara's tranq darts seem to be doing a number on the first, but the second is already turning towards her, leveling a heavy automatic rifle in the griffin's direction, aiming at him and Kid...

Kid hears Mare-Do-Well’s "oh horseapples!" and witnesses as the ghost zooms towards the Heartless in a nearly-invisible purple blur, striking the Heartless and disappearing inside her. She flashes back to the one real conversation she had with the ghost, back while her friends were raiding the security office at the Stable-Tec facility.

Get_Lost cracks the pin inside the lock, then puts the screwdriver inside too, turns with all the weight she can put in the maneuver and is rewarded with a clean 'CLICK'. The cyberpony manages to open Stable-Tec's security like only a Solaris pony could. Pink-E cheers. "We knew you could do it!" As Bookwright steps into the security office and hungrily searches for a terminal, Kid starts going down the hallway. "Hey. I'm gon' look around. Somepony mind coverin' me?" Noble_Heart looks in the direction of Kid, then back to the door which was just opened, then to Kid again. Finally deciding to follow after the smaller pony instead. "We will trust this in your capable hooves." Get_Lost lets the others do the looting, going instead back to put the pins in her tail... she misses her mane a bit... sigh. CopyCat gives Get_Lost a big hug with hooves and wings. "Great job!" Get_Lost smiles back "Thanks, you helped a lot too, with all the cheers." Get_Lost follows the others inside the room, but doesn't interfere with whatever they are doing... she'll be there just in case... you know... in case you need to try an alternative... Kid searches the building's corners and hallways for the mysterious ghost. Noble_Heart sticks close near Kid. "Are you certain she will be here? We cannot see her." Kid exhales, then rolls her eyes. "Ya'll can't see her anyways." Noble_Heart frowns. "Yes. We are aware. That is why We are asking you if you think she will be here. Perhaps she has some reason to come here?" Kid seems to churn over how to best explain, eventually coming up with "Ah saw 'er headin' towards here. I ain't seen her around since, and I figure that's the last I'll be able t' easily track her." Noble_Heart nods her head. "Then We shall try to protect you while you search. Though Our magic is pushed quite hard..." Kid doesn't look back when she says "I don' plan on stayin' in any fights." It takes considerable looking, but Kid eventually spots the mysterious figure in a side office once belonging to the factory floor supervisor. Kid smirks. "There she is." She picks up her pace and tries to get to the office. "Hey, you!" She said, more confused and seeking answers than angry. Although, not for lack of looking the part. Noble_Heart follows after Kid, smiling just a little bit. "Perhaps We can get some answers now?" Mare-Do-Well steps away from a desk, raising her head towards Kid. On the desk, Kid can see small models of Enclave ponies, sky-tanks, even a Raptor. The sorts of wartime toys that patriotic little colts might play with. Above the desk are conceptual sketches, including one of Neighverro and another of a Thunderhead. A photo on a nearby wall shows two stallions, one in a Shadowbolts uniform, smiling for the camera. In the background is the actual Neighverro base as it once was long ago. In the picture, the SPP Central Hub is still under construction, cranes lifting blocks high above the clouds, and workwagons flying overhead. Kid blinks and, now looking absolutely confused and forgoing all irritation of having to look for her, simply sits down and tries to puzzle this one out. "You said you didn' like th' Enclave." She mutters. Mare-Do-Well points at the Neighverro sketch. Noble_Heart tilts her head and takes a look around the break room, then up to the photograph of Neighvarro and the SPP Hub. "An interesting find. It is rare to see such well preserved records. We have little doubt Bookwright will want to see this." It takes Kid a few minutes of studying the conceptual sketch before she realizes what Mare-Do-Well must be indicating. The Enclave had shield generators -- at the height of the war, Neighverro was completely surrounded by a blue shield that protected it -- but those shields aren't in place yet in the photograph. The conceptual picture includes sketches of what looks like an early design for those shield generators -- a design that bares clear resemblance to the pylons creating the lethal energy barrier that has trapped everyone inside the Crystal Empire. Mare-Do-Well stares at the pictures with Kid. "The Advanced Securities Department. They were building all kinds of ultra-tech security devices down there. RD-E. Crystal security monsters. The death fence." Kid ponders on this for a moment. "So yer sayin' that th' shields their usin' is like th' shields att Neighvarro, and that th' room behind Sweetie might be the key outta this cage!" Mare-Do-Well nods to Kid. Kid glee's for a little while, grinning a toothy wide grin. " Well, hot damn, then! Let's get..." She paused, then remembered why she was there. "Hey. Why'd you got an' ditch me like that? Not that I don't forgive y', but..." The Mare-Do-Well frowns. "Can't stay in one place too long,” she claims evasively. "Never could." Kid_ frowns with her, then sits by her. "Why not?" Kid_ blinks. Waitaminute. "Is it 'cause you haven't found true love 'r somethin' like that? 'Cause the Zebras said somethin' like that. Mare-Do-Well swoops up and stares at Kid, deadpanning, "What?" Kid_ shrugs. "I dunno. They said that you ain't found true love, so you can't be free of an evil curse or somethin' like that." There is much awkward in her voice. Kid_ looks off to the side. My, it's surprising how much red gets through that green fur. "Um. I ain't put much stock in that theory, but y' can't blame 'em. You don' exactly tell them who ya'll are or why y' do what y' do. They jus' see you sometimes an' y' beat up some bad thing and then ya'll get t' gettin'." Mare-Do-Well stares. And stares some more, flying in place. Then facehoofs. "The fate of the Crystal Empire does not depend on my finding a special somepony." She adds, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm kinda dead." Kid_ just clenches her teeth, gives her what must be the world's most strained smile, and then shrugs. "I don't know! That's just what they told me!" She loosens up and points at her, hoping to turn this around. "Hey, at least they got a story t' tell about you! And there are plenty of dead ponies out there lookin' fer somepony! I mean, hell, if it's th' nothin' I'm gettin' from you or th' somethin' I'm gettin' from them, at least they're entertaining." Mare-Do-Well blinks. Then flies closer. "What? I'm not entertaining?" There is an odd edge in her voice for a moment. Then she lands. "Sorry." Kid_ leans closer herself, returning her anger. "Maybe! Ya'll ain't told me nothin' about you, so ah wouldn't know!" She cooled off when she did, a wave of guilt hitting her. "Naw, naw. It's my fault. If ya'll don' wanna tell nothin' about you, it ain't my business. But I do wanna know who ya'll are. And, well. I'm likely th' last pony ya'll would get t' tell." Kid_ sits down by a wall, and lays back. "... Can ya'll keep a secret?" Mare-Do-Well looks around. "You're the only one who can her me. Who am I gonna tell?" She pauses, then nods. "Yeah, I can keep a secret." Kid_ grimaces, then rubs the back of her mane. "... I ain't never known nopony for a good long time. And, well. I... I'm doin' all this crazy shit t' find my brother, right?" She flops a hoof out. "But I ain't seen my brother in a year or two. And, well. When he left, things mighta been... Tense. So, I don't even know if he'd want t' find me back. And... I dunno. Ya'll been lonesome for a while, and ya'll seem t' have your shit figured out pretty good. But I don't. I don't really even remember why I started all this, other than that Miss Crimson asked me to." Kid_ looks at Noble off in the distance and motions for the ghost to scoot in closer. Mare-Do-Well watches Kid in silence for a few moments, then trots up and sits down next to her. The mysterious mare wraps a ghostly wing around Kid in an attempt to comfort then arrughs softly when the wing just passes through the living mare ineffectively. Mare-Do-Well tries another approach. "Hey, y'know, when we all get outta here... we could hang." Kid smiles a little and mimes hugging back. "Thanks. I got some history with them folks at them NCR. It'll be cool t have somepony 't talk with that won't care one ways or another." Mare-Do-Well chuckles. "Been a while since I've had a friend. Kinda missed it." Kid closes here eyes. "So, uh. You got any questions?" Mare-Do-Well waves a hoof. "Yeah, sure. Like, when are we getting outta here?"

Shatara's final shot hits the other Heartless the same moment that an unseen Mare-Do-Well attempts to possess her. The Heartless facing Shatara aims her gun.... but then struggles to pull the trigger. Then lifts the gun, firing wildly into the air, a look of horror fighting across her face. Shatara trades his rifle for a cattle prod, diving down on the darted and soul-embattled Heartless.

Meanwhile, to the east, a Heartless that Mare-Do-Well failed to spot reaches the Crystal Ponies. And is greeted by twin blasts of stunning electricity to a chorus of "Play with us!!" One of the spells refracts through the Heartless, but the other wrecks havok on the mare's nervous system.

Get Lost smiles to herself. She’s being helpful. Well, her minions are being helpful. Which is the same thing, really.

To the west, Bookwright skids to a stop, the firewagon lifting off its wheels on one side, threatening briefly to tip before coming back down.

Again, a Heartless nearly makes it to the Crystal Ponies, this one from the lower northwest, only to be intercepted by Get Lost's reprogrammed brainbots. This time, one brainbot's lightning blast misses while the other's refracts harmlessly through the Heartless. However, the brainbots do succeed it turning the Heartless from his targets, successfully coaxing him to "play" with them.

Sweet-E flies up to Get_Lost, looking towards one of the Brainbots. The robot is rolling about, asking in its strange filly voice, "Won't someone play with me?"

Sweet-E suggests, "um, maybe we should just shut those all off now?" In seconds, if they were successful, the Heartless will become Crystal Ponies once more. The brainbot seems safe for now, but that could easily change.

Get_Lost frowns, but was worried about the same thing. Still… "Shutting them down, you say? It could.... ah.... be irreversible"

Sweet-E bloops sadly.

Get Lost remembers when she first met the pony behind Sweet-E, and they learned the truth behind a lot of the Crystal Empire. Including the brainbots.

A field of soft light shines down, and an image appears of a beautiful white unicorn mare with a curly mane of pink and purple. She gives a winning smile. "Hello, everypony!" There is a pause. "And every non-pony! Welcome to the Crystal Empire branch of Stable-Tec. We are making a lot of progress, and there is much to show you..."

CopyCat grins. The holograms here seemed much more friendly than the locals. "Hello to you too! We're taking the tour and our guide sadi we simply must visit Stable-Tec." Kid wonders if this one interacts as well. "Hello. Who're you?" She asked cautiously. She hoped she wouldn't look like an idiot in front of these ponies. She would've wove her hooves in front of her face, but her hooves vetoed that decision with an overwhelming, sharp ache. The holographic mare smiles the kind of smile that could brighten the cloudiest day. "My name is Sweetie Belle, and I'll be your guide for your visit." Kid blinks. "Yer that singer, right?" Bookwright bows courteously, "Good morning, Sweetie Belle." Get Lost keeps herself to the back. She is Solaris; best she is not seen inside Stable-Tec. She is not welcome here. Holo-Sweetie continues to smile and raises a hoof. "At Stable-Tec, we are constantly striving to provide and secure a better, friendlier and more stable future for all the people of Equestria. Here at the Crystal Empire facility, our ponies are hard at work developing the future of computer technology." CopyCat nods, paying complete attention. "That sounds wonderful. Oh, I can't wait, what do we get to see first?" Automated, a set of double doors open to the left. "This way, please?" Holo-Sweetie bids, pointing towards the doors. A moment later, the hologram dissipates in a burst of fuzz and a snapping sound that probably bids ill for the lifespan of the machinery. Another hologram activates in the next room. Inside that room, Sweetie Belle waits ever everypony. You can see displays set up along the walls. The first ones are both models of terminals. Bookwright is enjoying the tour already. She might be hundreds of years old and dead, but dang! She's even better in three-dee than in pictures! CopyCat frowns at the popping sound before eagerly following the friendly hologram. "She seems like such a nice pony." Bookwright steps inside the double doors, taking in the "informative" propaganda displays. Shatara quietly follows. Kid cautiously follows. The nerd stuff got a gloss over. She kind of hoped that she'd sing something at the end of the tour to make this whole thing worth while. "Not that we get t' know who she really is from a recording." CopyCat glances at Kid. "I do hope she gives us a song. That would be wonderful." Kid winces. She keeps on forgetting that there's a mind reader in the group. Friggin' mind readers. I mean, she can't hate her for it, if not for the fact that it's gotta suck being a crowd and hearing all that nonsense in two different ways. Holo-Sweetie points out the displays one-by-one. "Equestrian Electronics was a leading innovator in computational sciences. Here on your right, we have Equestrian Electronics' original Terminal design. Next to it is the first model produced after Apple Tree Architecture absorbed Equestrian Electronics -- the first step in what would become Stable-Tec." Bookwright tries something. "Do you have basic interaction protocols? Can we ask you questions? Or are you just a pre-recorded hologram, incapable of response?" "And here," she announces, "Is the second-generation of Terminals, produced wholey by Stable-Tec, based on advanced designs and modifications from our own President of the Company, Apple Bloom." The holographic Sweetie Belle pauses, the smiles. "Please save your questions until the end of the tour. I'll be happy to answer them then, to the best of my ability." Bookwright quiets down with a muttered "Shazbot". CopyCat shakes her head. "That's not how you ask out the pretty mare, Bookwright, you should at least introduce yourself first." Kid is getting prepared to be so bored right now. Bookwright gives Kid a little kick in the shin. He whispers, "Don't be rude. Museum tours are rare and valuable." The next display is a maneframe. Holo-Sweetie introduces it, going into how it is capable of so much more, so much faster, than a terminal. Then she moves on, showing off: "Now this display is a conceptual model of one of our star projects in development: the Personal Information Processor, or Pip! for short." Kid rolls her eyes and huffs. "They're computers. I never had t' screw with 'em before an' I never prolly will be any good screwin' with 'em. So why are they-" Pip!, what? "What?" Bookwright is loving every centimeter of this tour. Get Lost stares in an almost greedy wonder. The technology here… what she could do with it. CopyCat tilts her head. "Pips? What sizes do they come in?" "As you can see, this will be a highly advanced piece of ArcanoTechnology, a blending the most advance Earth Pony and Unicorn technologies. This conceptual model is designed to be worn around the neck like a collar, and was designed based on a famous fashion accessory favored by the heroic Big Macintosh!" Shatara tilts his head, glancing between the displayed model and the much smaller device on his wrist. "...Erf?" The design shown, to the best of Bookwright's knowledge, was never distributed -- possibly even never manufactured -- before the considerably more convenient PipBuck design was settled on. Kid looks up at the machine monstrosity. "I call bullcrap on this, I ain't ever gon' fit in that thing." Bookwright shakes his head, "I don't think that ever got made in any real quantity. It's certainly the predecessor to the PipBuck, but I've never heard of it." CopyCat turns to Kid. "Well, maybe you couldn't wear it, but with some adjustments perhaps you could drive it instead." Kid folds her forelegs. "I ain't that little." CopyCat nods. "But those Pip-collars are that big." Kid cocks her eye at CopyCat. "Are ya'll tryin' t' piss me off?" Shatara ponders. "They're talking like this is bleeding edge stuff, though..." Get Lost whispers, more to herself than to the griffin, “It was.” Holo-Sweetie again motions as another set of automated doors open. "This way, please." Bookwright eagerly goes through the newly opened doors. "This is So. Awesome!" Kid keeps ambling on, looking for something interesting in what she now coined as "Bookie porn". The next room has multiple empty display stand. As the party enters, more holograms flicker on from the ceiling above, creating virtual displays. Two of the displays are laced with heavy static and one simply never comes on at all. CopyCat smiles at Kid innocently and heads through the open doors. With a startling crackle, the hologram of Sweetie Belle shuts down, another turning on in the new room. This image of Sweetie Belle occasionally fuzzes into mostly static before coming back into focus. Kid jumps and nearly pulls out her shotgun. Well, now she's tempted to just have it slung around her side. Bookwright browses the holo displays. "Too bad these are holograms instead of physical dioramas and models... this stuff is probably lost forever now." "Here you can see representations of some of our latest resear..." The voice cuts out for almost a minute. ...ject Clean Slate, in conjunction with Equestrian Robotics." Sweetie Belle's hologram takes a somber expression. "Tell me, have you ever lost a beloved pet. Do you wish you could have her or him back?" Kid is... Cautious. "No." She answered honestly. CopyCat turns to Shatara. "Have I lost a beloved pet?" Shatara blinks at stares at CopyCat. First sandwiches in relationships, and now this!?" Kid was in a situation where food was tight enough that anything that could be considered a pet was more of a source of food. Holo-Sweetie smiles. "With Clean Slate, you could have that beloved pet forever..." Kid rose an eyebrow and looked at it. "How?" Bookwright hushes Kid. "It'll tell us in a second. Ever seen a promotional advert before?" Kid simply shook her