I sat up in bed, groaning a bit, my vision cloudy for the few moments it took me to levitate back on my glasses. My left leg felt stiff, requiring a strong whack to break the thin layer of ice that’d formed around the rubber knee - did they ever make anti-freeze for augmentations? I looked over to Twintails, who was already up and eating some sticky oatmeal. He glanced over to me, as I shuffled up, a bit of the gunky stuff hanging around his mouth.

“You feeling better?” He bit into another glob of food, still looking over at myself with concerned eyes. I nodded slowly as I swung my hind legs over the edge of the bed, the door easing open. Doctor CA trotted back into the room, carrying another bowl of oatmeal with her. She placed it on the bed next to me, checking her clipboard and walking over to Twintails, inspecting his wing. She seemed pleased as she began to slowly take off the bandages. I scooped up a glob of oatmeal, suddenly realizing how hungry I was. The oatmeal was just as bland as the stuff back in the Stable, but I didn’t care much. I swallowed the ball of oatmeal, quickly finishing off the rest of it. CA looked me over, making sure I didn’t have any further injuries.

“You two seem to be doing fine, at least compared to the last week.” She said, smiling and sliding the pencil back into the crook of the clipboard. “If you two feel fine enough, you’re clear to leave. Your stuff’s in the hooflockers under the beds.” She nodded to the floor, walking out with a light smile. I looked over to Twintails, who was testing his wing. I hopped off my bed, digging around beneath the bed for the footlocker, dragging it out; surprised they’d managed to fit Ivan into it somehow. I pulled out my armor and weapons, slipping into the warm nylon. Twintails did the same, mounting his guns after fitting into his Kevlar vest and green duster - pff, wow, the poor thing's holding on by threads. Cross Stitch would've been amazed it was still holding together...

“Minty… are you sure you’re ok?” He walked over to me, looking concenerned and resting his hoof on my shoulder. I stifled a tear, rubbing at my eyes and tugging at the armor plating on my barding. I sighed, trying to find the right way to say what was going through my mind.

“I... I don’t know.” I hoisted my saddlebags onto my back, settling Ivan onto my shoulder. I turned to face him, seeing he was slipping his magnum into one of his bags. My ears were at the sides of my head as we prepared to head out. “I just hope Cross Stitch is alright.” Twintails hung his head a bit.

“I know... h-hey, we can stop by Stable 76, if you’d like.” He said, smiling weakly. We trotted out of the small clinic, the door ringing behind us as we were almost immediately greeted by a gust of cold air. Nice to see you again, wasteland. We walked through the snow as a few other ponies in white medical coats walked back and forth between exterior tents surrounding the lone structure. The small camp was surrounded by another crashed train, the entrance comprised of a gate of railway ties, set along wheels to easily roll it. We trotted through the gate, Twintails’ saddlebags jangling a bit from the collection of bullets and grenades.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him as we crunched through the snow, breathing in the frigid wasteland air again. We walked through town, passing by Buzzy and Featherweight’s small caboose of a house. The door opened as we passed, Buzzy zipping out, just as energetic as ever.

“Hey, you two aren’t dead!” She trotted up to us, Featherweight following behind. “I knew you guys’d be fine.” She said as Featherweight walked along with us as we started to walk towards the entrance to town. “You guys are heading out already? I thought we could have another game of poker!” She snickered.

“Buzzy, I thought we talked about taking money from other ponies.” He snapped the small filly a stern look, making her eyeroll and hover up onto his back as we trotted through town. There was a pony preaching about some kind of church of magical sparks or something. We approached the entrance to the Turnpike, passing by Stockcar Supplies. “Though, are you sure you guys want to head out so soon? I mean, we’d gladly have you stick around for a bit, if you wanted." Twintails looked towards myself, then over to Featherweight.

“Minty’s Stable was releasing a distress call. We’re planning on heading out there as soon as we can.” Twintails let out a breath, watching as Featherweight nodded and looked over at me. I tried to smile so I wouldn’t worry him, but it likely wasn’t too convincing... goddesses, I just wanted to see Cross Stitch again. Featherweight thought silently for a moment as we walked through the entrance to the Turnpike.

“You know, you might want a little extra firepower for the trip.” Featherweight said, smiling a little. “Buzzy and I haven’t checked that area out lately, and a distress call doesn’t make me too confident about what might be going on there. I could fly you two over there.” Twintails perked up, myself looking at him for a moment before letting off a chuckle, rolling my eyes a bit. Jeez, don’t get any ideas about this, I'm pretty sure getting kissed ten times like in an old fairy tale would've satisfied you more than enough.

“That’d be great... ah, though, mind accompanying us to that old RobronCo factory north of Quebuck, first? I guess Sugar Rush fould us something a little less, ah, life-threatening to do to work off the debt. I've apparently got an invoice to fill for a couple robots for her, eheh... it’d also be nice to have a bit of extra firepower.” I chuckled weakly, bringing up the note on my pip-leg screen. When did she toss that in for us to do? Guh, losing a whole week to being knocked out really is disorienting as hell... Twintails and Featherweight nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.” Buzzy said, idly flapping her wings, a smile coming across her face. “Hey, that’d even give us time t' run back here for the firepower! Ol’ Feathers may be strong, but I don’t think he could carry all of us and his big guns.” She snickered, Featherweight smiling a bit. Twintails’ grin widened, no doubt excited for any excuse for more explosions. Featherweight lowered himself to the ground, letting myself and Twintails... well, myself, mostly... hop on. Oh, quit blushing, you atom happy pegasus. Buzzy flew into the air as Featherweight spread his wings and took off.

---

We landed a bit roughly just outside the factory, Twintails releasing the death hug he had around me and Featherweight, sliding off into the snow. I followed suit, if in a less graceful manner. Twintails was practically hugging the ground, still shaken from the heights we’d reached. I helped him up, smirking a bit at him. “Sheesh, if you were so worried, we could’ve walked. I thought you would've loved any chance to ride Featherweight~”

“Sh-shut up.” He said, blushing and shaking, but still smiling as we turned to face Buzzy and Featherweight. Buzzy had flopped down into the snow, exhausted from the flight. Featherweight showed equal signs of fatigue, rubbing his wings a bit. Twintails bit his lip, a little nervous. “Eheh... sorry... I'm not used to h-heights yet.” He rubbed at the back of his head, Featherweight passing on a gentle smile and nodding lightly.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve been through worse.” He picked up Buzzy, helping her onto his back. “We’ll just need a bit of time to relax before heading back.” We entered the factory, ponies and robots bustling back and forth. A mister handy floated over, sticking one of his robotic claws towards us. it's garbled voice speaking up. Aw, I missed that secretary ponybot... "Good afternoon, sirs! How may I serve you two?" I shook the outstretched claw as Twintails grabbed another one of the three shaking it.

"Ah, we have a payment invoice from the Plasma Spaz in Trotisk for some securimares." I said, digging out the sheet of paper. The eye stalk of the robot bent up and down, rusted metal grinding against itself. It turned and started to float towards the manufacturing door. A grin appeared on my face. A look at a completely fully operational RobronCo factory? How could I resist? Twintails and I followed the robot through the doors as Buzzy and Featherweight sat down on a bench near the enterance, seeming to rest back and watch the bustling.

My gaze flew around the large room as we walked down the steps of a narrow catwalk above the larger press machines. Huge machinery rumbled and groaned as mechanical arms methodically built Mr. Handys, Securi-mares, and mounted turrets. Ponies milled about, inspecting the moving parts, flicking various switches and knobs, and pouring scrap metal into large hoppers on the sides of the hulking constructors. The Mr. Handy led us to a brown-coated pony, her jumpsuit stained with grease, oil, and dirt. She shooed the bot away before stepping up to meet us. "So you guys are pickup for the Plasma Spaz's new security bot?"

We nodded. "Yeah, that sounds right. Ah, here’s the invoce for the caps.” Twintails said, pulling the slip of paper out of my magic and showing it to her. The mare nodded, leading us over to three deactivated robots leaning against one of the machines.

"Well, we got three models here. There's the Securi-mare Mark III." She motioned to a metallic pony with a laser emmiter mounted on the shoulder. "Basic model, comes with a laser rifle. Then there's Mr. Gutsy," She pointed to the robot in the middle. "Equipped with a Plasma rifle and flamethrower. A little less sturdy than the mark III, but a lot more fire power. Then there's the beauty." My gaze fell on the third robot, which matched the ones we had found in R&G. “The Mark IX Security bot, complete with gatling lasers, missile launchers, and metal so thick you need Anti-Tank rounds to pierce it!” The mare chuckled. “Of course, she costs quite the pretty cap. The invoice says two basic bots, so I’ll get them fired up for you.”

I nodded slowly, wearing a wide grin across my face and chuckling stupidly as the mare trotted over to the deactivated robots. She fiddled a bit with the two rather alluring robots, before the circuit boards and lights beneath the thick glass casing on their heads began to light up and hum with activity. The robots stood straight up, their heads turning towards us both. “Companion Protocol: Initiate.” The mare said.

The robot nodded and walked up to us. “Hello, Sir or Madam, I am ready to assist in any security related needs.” It said, its voice stopping and starting at odd intervals. We thanked the mare, and started up the stairs, the security bots following quickly behind. We left the manufacturing section of the building, noticing Buzzy and Featherweight had already left.

“Think we should ask for Jumper Cables? You need any more ammo?” Twintails asked idly as we reached the entrance to the factory floor. I shook my head, loking back at the pair of robots as they paused mid-step. Besides, she’d probably be asleep after those weeks of staying up... poor mare needs all that she could get. We trotted out the door, starting down the road. “So, we’ll stop by Stable 76 before returning the bots?” He asked.

I nodded. “Yeah... I just...” I didn’t finish the sentence, Twintails looking a little depressed. He nodded, giving me a gentle pat on the shoulder, trying to comfort me. I sighed, flipping on my radio. There was a crackle of static before Hi-Fi’s voice replaced the crunching of our hooves.

“-so bundle up out there, ‘cause it’s going to be cold! Though that’s not real news now, is it? In other news, there’s a new distress signal confirmed to be coming from Stable 76. How it’s so strong, nopony's really sure, but if anyone’s listening who’s willing to help them out, a friend of ours would be happy for the assistance. Be glad all that fallout kcked up by that bo-” I flicked the radio back off, feeling a pit forming in my stomach again; oh, that didn’t help at all. We continued on down the road in silence, soon passing outside of Mooscow and approaching the road leading into Emerald Ridge. My heart rate slowly grew faster as we approached the hill Stable 76 was embedded in, not sure what we would find... fearing the worst.

We began to climb up the hill towards the entrance; a little surprised nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I glanced at my Pip-Buck, trying to find the distress station, but it wasn’t on. No... no he has to be okay! I started to speed up towards the small door, my breath condensing heavily in the dry air. Please, he’s alright! He’s alright! I burst through the wooden door, running into the dark cave as Twintails followed close behind.

I charged up to the metal door of the Stable, still sealed. But, but this doesn’t make sense! Where is he? What happened?! I jumped over to the control panel, my glasses beginning to fog up with condensation, col tears pooling and running down my cheeks. Password... password, what was the password?! I punched in random numbers and phrases, each new one being met with the 'invalid' return on the display. With each passing moment, the button presses were more violent, the panel starting to bend and sound of cracking as I pounded away at it with my hooves. “Damn it, damnit, Damnitall! WHAT’S THE FUCKING PASSWORD?!" I shouted, slamming my hoof into the keypad. It sounded like it might've cracked as I fell to the cave floor, letting the tears flow from my eyes freely, sniffling and breathing heavily. Twintails wrapped a wing and hoof around me, gently rubbing my mane and resting his chin atop my head, softly 'shh'-ing into my ears. The sputtering slowed down, my vision clearing up enough to see him holding something in his hoof.

“Y-you missed this, it was by the door. He's f-fine... I think...” He handed me a crumpled note, myself adjusting my glasses and rubbing my eyes dry, sniffling again. It looked like it was written in a rush. As my eyes scanned the note, Twintails handed me something else, the tears starting to well up again as I got a good look at it. Oh, Cross Stitch... it was a small plushie of Cross, his purple mane falling over the shoulders of his jacket. The amount of care put into the toy… I felt myself breaking down again, setting the note to the side and squeezing the plush figure tightly in my hooves, leaning against the heavy steel door. Twintails wrapped his wing around myself again, gently embracing myself, a cool wind blowing in from the door.

'Minty, I’m sorry. I should’ve left when you first asked, I should’ve went with you. I managed to tap into the emergency broadcasting system, but I won’t know if you managed to pick it up or not. I tried to get out after you did, but the Overmare caught me. I’m honestly lucky she even let me write this... I just hope you find this letter. I hope you’re still ok, Minty. I’m sorry. Just know I wish I’d gone with you every day. I hope we meet again. Your special somepony, always and forever - Cross Stitch.'


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