I quickly made my way to where Twintails was standing next to the lowered door, holding his head groggily as he rose back to his hooves. Sheesh, how big of an impact would it take to actually destroy that thing? Buzzy and Featherweight followed closely behind, the little filly visibly shaken from the shockwave of the blast. I looked through the large hole where wall once was, following his gaze upwards. My jaw fell down as I looked upon the Pegasus, her skin hanging off of her hind leg loosely, revealing her blood stained bone. She was clearly panicked, somehow managing to flap herself around the room with her damaged wings. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” She darted this way and that, double checking all the things on the wall, some of which looked very delicately made.

I quickly rummaged through my saddlebags, pulling out my copy of “Rusty’s Electronics”. I flipped to the back, revealing the black & white picture of the authors; a dark grey earth pony with her hair pushed back by a band, and with a hoof around the shoulder of a lighter grey Pegasus. The caption benath the picture read, “Author: Rusty Wrench (left) with her sister and co-owner of R&G Manufacturing, Greasy Gears (right).” I looked back up at the Pegasus who was still inspecting pieces of metal. Sure, she was missing some hair and muscles were showing, but the two were unmistakably the same. “Um... G-Greasy Gears?” I asked.

The Pegasus turned to me, freezing for a moment. “W-What? Why do you know my name?? Who are you ponies!?” She spouted off, backing away from us. Featherweight raised an eyebrow to Twintails, who only shrugged in response. Greasy dropped the collection of stuff she was carrying, trying to bolt past us. Featherweight simply put a hoof up, letting her run into it and bounce back. “What’re you going to do? Torture me for information? I’m not giving you any!!” She jumped to her hooves, getting into a defensive stance.

“C-Calm down,” I said. “We’re not with Zebras. We were looking for... lift motors, right, that. We weren’t really expecting anypony to still be alive down here.” I guess our entrance didn’t exactly help our argument. Greasy calmed down a bit, but was still twitchy. “So, ah, how long have you been down here?” I asked, looking around the room. Various mechanisms lined the walls, none of which suffering visible damage, aside from a few scratches from flying rubble. They ranged from what looked like advanced weaponry to simple modifications to manufacturing devices. I trotted up to a set of bronze wings. “And... my Celestia, what are these?” I grinned as my eyes studied the sharp blades as they shimmered a bit in the light, the shiny surface clouded by dust from age.

“H-hey, don’t touch those!” She said, rushing over to push me away from them. “Those are Rusty’s! She’d kill me if she-” Greasy stopped short, her degraded ears falling back a little. “If she were...” She sighed. My grin faded as I looked at her. We stood silent for a moment before Greasy continued. “The bunker initiated the automatic lockdown when the first bomb hit, she was out gathering a few more schematics. We managed to get most of them, but...” The ghoulified pegasus' voice trailed off. We stood in silence for a bit, none of us wanting to be the one to break it. Greasy looked back at us, her eyes seeming a bit dampened, and distant. “Did... did we win?”

We all looked away, myself mumbling a little. “Not exactly.” Twintails said. Greasy’s pupils shrank as she started to hyperventalite. “Oh, no no, the Zebras didn’t win!” He said quickly, Featherweight rushing over and trying to calm her down some more. “The bombs just kind of, uh... wiped out nearly all the living things in Equestria. Everypon-... everybody, in all honesty, lost.” Greasy’s panting slowed as she put a hoof to her chest, Featherweight running a hoof down her straggly mane. Buzzy hopped off her brother’s back, walking over to me as I inspected some of the weaponry that had been set aside.

“Boy, you sure know how to pick ‘em.” She said under her breath, snickering. I ignored her and picked up something which looked like a cross between a plasma pistol and Ivan. “What the heck is this stuff anyway? Were you guys making stuff for the war?” Buzzy asked, turning back to face Greasy. She was holding some mechanical arm, no doubt meant to assemble robots and the like. Greasy jumped over, shooing us away from the pile and taking the gun from me.

“Don’t you touch this stuff! I’ve been working on these things for years, this is all I have left!” Greasy pushed the stuff over to a safe underneath one of the work benches. “Rusty was usually the one doing the fine tuning; I wouldn’t trust these things as anything more than a fancy bomb waiting to go off.” She spun the dial on the safe, opening it and revealing a huge collection of schematics. She inspected a few of the smaller weapons, placing them in the safe. “And, yes, but Rusty and I were hoping we could build things other than weapons, even if the Zebras didn’t seem to hold the same opinion.” She locked the safe before facing us again. “Now, what is it you planned on using those lift motors for anyway? They're designed for major industrial moving, and since it's probably safe to guess that every factory from here to Appleoosa is a smoking crater, well...”

Twintails bit his lower lip, trying to think of an excuse. I don’t think Greasy’d be too happy knowing we were planning on firing up another warhead flinger... “There’s, ah... a RobronCo factory nearby, near Mooscow. Some ponies are trying to rebuild it and needed the motors to fix the crane for all the... heavy bits.” Greasy didn’t look entirely convinced, but looked a little more interested at the mention of the factory. She started to look over some of the larger devices.

“RobronCo? Well, I’m not exactly a fan of their management staff, they weren’t exactly the nicest ponies to try to negotiate with.” She tossed a large chunk of broken glass over her shoulder, forcing Featherweight to duck. “But if you guys are serious, I’d be happy to help fix that place up. In case you haven’t noticed, R&G’s probably bit the dust at this point.” I tilted my head noncommittally. She did raise the question as to why this place seemed to have been hit so much harder than the old RobronCo place. I figured a robot factory’d be a bigger threat than nail guns and hammers. “Assuming this isn’t some elaborate trap you guys have to lead me into Zebra territory.” Well, aren't you just fun, missy paranoid.

Greasy finished her inspection, lifting a couple large pieces of machinery onto her back. “Believe me; I’d rather chop off my horn than ally with Zebras.” She raised an eybrow, looking at my metallic horn. I rolled my eyes. “Ok, chop it off again, I mean. Stable augmentation.” Featherweight offered to carry some of her things, and Greasy thanked him, but made it clear no one touched the wings on the wall but her. We all agreed, and she carefully removed them from their display hooks. The blades of the wings squeaked a bit from age as they were folded together. She gingerly laid the blades onto her back as I lifted up the safe containing her schematics with my magic. “So, um, where are the motors?” I asked as we made our way out of the room.

“I’ll give you the motors once we make our way to the factory. I’m already risking enough bringing all this stuff with me if you guys aren’t telling the truth. Though, I suppose I can’t leave these things here anyway, what with the door as it is now. Opening is one thing, closing the huge thing... well, we never got it to close tight enough. Which might explain some things...” I grumbled a bit. Being thought of as a Zebra spy was not at all flattering. We started to head up through the facility again, making our way through the decrepit halls and around the broken security robots.

Twintails walked to match my pace, him and I leading the group with Featherweight and Buzzy pulling up the rear. He glanced back at Greasy, seeing her struggling underneath her heavy load, but still swatting off Featherweight's advances to help. “We’re not really going to take her all the way back, are we? We’ve wasted enough time trying to find those motors, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Doc thought we were dead.” I grunted a bit, shifting my shoulders so my Cross Stitch plush wouldn’t slip off.

“No, but don’t tell her that.” I muttered under my breath. “We’ll take her to Sugar Rush. She seems to have some good connections about. Besides, she’ll probably be happy to help fix up some of the stuff too.” Twintails nodded as we came to the lobby of the factory, stepping over some large cockroach carcasses. Greasy made a soft retching sound, putting a hoof to her mouth at the sight of spilled bug guts. We opened the main doors, Greasy’s eyes watering as we stepped into the cold air, the unfriendly skies above beginning to gently drop radioactive snow.

Thankfully, nothing confronted us on our way back to the center of Trotisk, though a few loud roars were heard off in the distance as we trotted through the snow. Greasy shivered as we walked through town, the wind biting at her exposed skin and muscles. We soon approached the entrance to the Plasma Spaz, Greasy stopping for a moment, looking skeptical. “We’re picking up ammo. You can’t expect us to escort you all the way with nothing backing up these guns.” Greasy shrugged and followed us into the shop, the secure-mares gaze following us the whole while.

Sugar Rush was tinkering with a plasma rifle, leaning back as sparks flew and a bit of excess plasma dripped from the tip. She wiped up the plasma as I walked to the desk. I'll never get used to seeing me... her... whichever one we were. “Hey, ah, Sugar Rush?” She looked up, blinking a few times, a small smile forming on her face. “You’d never guess who we ran into at R&G.” I chuckled a little, stepping aside. Sugar’s jaw dropped as she saw Greasy. She practically lept over the counter, rushing up to her.

“No friggin' way... is this real? It can’t be!” She trotted around Greasy, looking her over. Greasy was clearly a bit uncomfortable as her gaze followed the excited mare. “What’re you guys doing here? I mean, I'm more than elated that you're all back, but...” She asked, grinning widely. I placed Greasy’s safe onto the counter as Featherweight slid the other machines onto it. Her gaze followed the moving of pre-war technology with an almost orgasmic glee, bouncing on her hooves giddily. Her left forehoof thudded louder than the others as it impacted the wooden floor - again, sheesh, it was fifty shades of weird seeing her.

“Well, we were planning on heading back to the RobronCo factory, and Greasy said she’d be willing to help them rebuild the place.” I said as Sugar Rush stepped away from Greasy, now focusing on the various things that’d been placed on her counter. “But, well, we need to head up to Steel Creek to ‘seal the deal,’ as it were.” I looked over to Greasy. “Would you be willing to stay here?” Greasy looked horrified, her eyes twitching and darting about the room. Oh, this can't end well...

“I knew it! You're spies for the Stripes! All spies!! This isn’t a factory, you’re just planning on torturing the information out of me!!!” She ran to the door, dropping everything she had only to bounce off of Featherweight again. She jumped up, her eyes jumping back and forth between us. Buzzy raised an eyebrow at me as Greasy picked up one of the broken weapons from the floor, holding it over her shoulder, one of her feathers held on the trigger. The orb in the center began to glow, lasers arcing to needle-like prongs around the edge. “What’re you going to do? Water torture? Ripping my entrails out? Memory orbs? Plucking!? Well, not now you striped bastards!!”

She pulled the trigger, the end of the weapon flashing before there was a loud explosion and smoke filled our vision. I coughed, waving the smoke away, seeing Greasy laying on the floor, the end of the weapon releasing a cloud of dark smog, an acrid smell filling the store. Sugar rushed to Greasy, levitating the gun away from her. “Are you mad, girl!? You’re lucky that thing didn’t set off any the grenades in here!” She helped Greasy to her hooves, the pegasus weak on her hooves.

“Ow... s-sorry. I guess I... I'm just still a little paranoid.” She coughed into her leg, spitting up a little blood. Twintails made a ‘you think?’ face to me as Sugar helped Greasy over to behind the counter, leading her through the door. Twintails and I picked up the broken machines, placing them on the counter. Sugar soon returned, shutting the door gently behind her.

“She's lying in bed now, I’ll call up a doctor to patch her up.” I nodded and we turned to leave. Sugar chuckled a little, looking giddy again as she looked over the various machines on her counter. “I think you guys have more than made up for that Tesla Cannon repairs. Come on back if it starts breaking down again... which looks like it won’t be long the way you guys take care of everything.” She smirked as I rolled my eyes and we headed out of the shop.

“Where to now?” I asked Twintails. He thought for a moment as we walked through town. Snow blew off of the roof of the tall buildings, a few ponies that were milling about bundled themselves up some more. A couple parents called in their kids, looking up to the sky with a little worry as it darkened.

“Well, it’s going to be a while before Greasy’s probably willing to give us those motors.” Twintails said as he trotted a bit faster to lead us. “I was hoping we could head up to EQUAD to find more info about that Steel Ranger back from Quebuck.” I agreed, starting to wonder what exactly he’d been doing to be in the area, and feel the need to help us. Featherweight, on the other hand, paused for a moment.

“If you two don’t mind, Buzzy and I ought to head back to the Turnpike. We’ll stick around until you guys get to the first checkpoint, just in case we run into more of those bear things, but I don’t think the Steel Rangers’d be too happy to see us after our, ah... 'skirmish' last time.” We nodded as we continued through the street, a large gust of wind managing to dislodge an icicle from the roof of the Gun Runners. I flipped on the radio, a soothing voice filling the air.

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My dear, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.

I've lived a life that's full.
I’ve walked Manehatten, to Hollowshades
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

---

We approached the raised gate, Buzzy and Featherweight flying off into the distance as snow fell from the sky. One of the Steel Rangers made a mark on a clipboard, recording the traffic they’d experienced through out the day. We trudged up the hill towards the bunker, power armor-clad ponies miling about, firing at targets on the mountain for practice. “You see him?” I asked, looking back and forth between the ponies. Twintails shook his head as he scanned the crowd as well.

As we trotted up to the large metal doors, I started to hear a faint building of white noise. I shook my head, the static getting a little louder. Twintails looked back as I stopped in the snow, putting a hoof to my head. What the heck was going on? “Minty, are you feeling alright?” He asked. I tried to nod but the staic was giving me a headache. It felt like my horn was vibrating painfully. I shook my head again; hoping whatever was causing this would pass. I looked overlooking worried. I panted a bit as the static began to fade, my headache going with it. “W-what happened? Should we head back to Turnpike?” I stood up straight, shuddering lightly and resting a hoof against my temple. Don't tell me my augmentations could be loose...

“Ugh... I don’t know...” I said, swallowing the bit of acid that’d creeped up from my stomach to my throat. “I... think my horn just picked up something weird.” We trotted into the bunker, the doors sliding shut behind us. Trotting down the stairs, the sound of our hooves clanking on metal flooring echoed through the hallways. We came to the entrance hall, a squeal coming from the left. Before I could react, I was tackled to the ground. Oh, hi cousin.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re ok!” Nova said, hugging me tightly. “YouguysweregoneforsolongandoneofourscoutssaidtheysawtwoponiesbeingattackedbyaHellHoundandIthoughtyoutwoweregonersbutnowyou’rehereandfineandnotdead!” She said at a mile a minute. Twintails snickered a bit as I pushed Nova off. “Don’t scare me like that again! Write or something!” She said, letting me stand back up, the wide smile on her face giving way to an expression of light confusion. “What’re you guys doing back here, anyways?”

Twintails spoke up, trying to hide his chuckles. “W-we were looking for a ranger. He saved us from those big... dog things. I didn’t see his face, but he was using an anti-tank rifle chambered in point-five-o BMG, if that’s any help.” Nova tilted her head to the side as she thought for a moment, gently tapping a hoof to her chin. "This was in Trotisk, about a week ago. Just want to, well, say thanks."

“Hm... well, that really isn’t that helpful, honestly. There are a ton of guys here who use sniping weaponry, even exclusively, and most all of them are deployed at the same time.” Twintails' ears drooped, the pegasus looking a little disappointed. “We could head to the records to see if anything was reported lately. You two were spotted fighting that thing, but I don’t know if anypony reported helping out.” She trotted off down a hall, Twintails and I following. Well, isn’t everypony here just a big warm family.

We turned down a few halls, passing by a workshop before finding our way into another large room filled with terminals. A few scribes were reading the screens, typing in a few lines of data here and there. Nova walked up to one of the terminals, flipping a switch on the side. The screen flickered to life, a few green lines starting to scroll up it as Nova punched in a few commands. “If anything was reported, it should’ve been pretty recently.” Nova hit enter, the computer starting to search through its banks for anything relevant.

A few results popped up after some minutes of searching: “Scout Report: 09-23-68, Scout Report 09-27-68, [CORRUPTED FILE].” Nova opened the first document. “Scout 829, a couple scavengers were found wandering around the Snowdrop Test Site. Questioned, audio recording uploaded. Later had a run in with a Hell Hound, but managed to kill it with Scout 731 and Scout 284, who sustained minor lacerations through armor.” Nova closed it before opening the next. “Scout 432. Two ponies were spotted exiting the R&G facility before being attacked by a pair of Hell Hounds. Injured and killed one, before being attacked by the other. They injured it before it was brought down by an unidentified sniper, both passing out soon after.” Again Nova closed the file before attempting to open the corrupted one, a string of unintelligible characters filling the screen.

Nova gave a grunt of frustration, banging the side of the terminal a bit. “I keep telling the head scribe to have these things looked over, they crash more often than a drunk parasprite.” She closed the terminal, looking annoyed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you guys out. You’re willing to try fiddling with it, but I don’t know if it’ll be much use. I’m going to go talk to Scribe Flare, she really needs to get these things fixed. I’ll see you guys later.” Nova trotted down the hall, her hoof steps quickly fading away.

Twintails looked over to me, a small glimmer of hope in his eyes. “You think you can get it to work?” He asked. I smiled a little, tilting my head towards the port, inserting my horn into it. That data won’t be corrupted for long. My eyes filled with streams of code as I felt electricity course through my horn and the interlocking wires in my head. I jumped over to the corrupted file, the useless numbers and letters flashing before me. A few words jumped out, Knight, Hell Hound, Pegasus, Fringe, Blunt Trauma... ugh, there’s no way I’m fixing this stuff. I removed my horn, powering the terminal back down.

“Well, that corrupted stuff’s an absolute mess, I don’t think I can touch that, but I managed to decode a couple words. Not sure how much it’ll help, but who knows.” Twintails nodded as I punched in the gibberish into my Pip-Buck. We turned to leave, my mane standing a bit on end from the extra charge. We wandered through the halls a bit, trying to find our way back out. Twintails had to drag me away from one of the workshops we passed. Come on, Twintails, it could make big explosions too, probably!

We were climbing up the steps back out of the facility as I started to hear the static again. This isn’t good... I felt dizzy again as we stepped onto the snow, the static growing louder in my mind. I fell to my rear, feeling sick. Twintails looked back at me, seriously worried. “Hey, are you ok? I don’t need you having another stroke!” He sat next to me, as I groaned a bit. As I sat, I heard a faint of list of numbers. 2… 8… 23… 51… 92… 85... 6…” Aargh, make it stoooop! I crawled to the edge of the hill again, the constant headache migrating to my stomach. Oh geez, not now. Queasiness overtaking, I deposited my lunch on the otherside of the hill. Were... were those numbers in my vomit? I shook my head as the static died back down, Twintails helping me to my hooves. “What’s going on with you? Maybe heading back today isn’t the best idea.” He said.

I groaned, putting a hoof to my head again. “I-I don’t know… I think something’s interfering with my horn. Radio waves from the atmosphere, maybe...” I started to walk down the hill. “No, we need to get going. Whatever’s doing it’s gone and reception should be worse if we’re not on top of a mountain.” I said. Twintails matched my pace as we made our way down. He looked a little concerned as he pulled up his Pip-Buck. Flicking through the screens, he blinked a few times, slowing down behind myself as he fiddled with it.

“Hey, there’s another signal here.” He said. He flipped to it. The static started to build again with my headache and the need to puke. For the love of Celestia, turn it off! Twintails noticed my discomfort and quickly flipped it back off. “G-gah! Sorry...” He apologized. “The station just says ‘SCH-184’. That mean anything to you?” I shook my head, still waiting for it to clear completely. Twintails looked back to his Pip-Buck, flipping on Hi-Fi. Tom’s voice came in clearly, accompanied by a piano, as we trotted back to Trotisk.

Be prepared! That’s the Colt Scouts’ solemn creed.
Be prepared! Wash your hooves before you feed.
Don’t sell away your sister, that’s not nice,
Unless we get a good percentage of her price.

Be prepared! And be careful not to do, your good deeds,
When there’s nopony watching you
If you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind,
And you come across a Filly who is similarly inclined,
Don’t be nervous
Don’t be flustered
Don’t be scared!

Be prepared!

---

I entered the Plasma Spaz alone, Twintails having gone off for more ammo. Sugar Rush trotted out of the back room, smiling as she noticed me. “Hey, perfect timing! Greasy’s been wanting to see you, she’s still in back.” I followed her through the door and up some rickety stairs. We entered a small flat on top of the store, Greasy sitting on a stained couch, leaning over a table, fiddling with the wings. She looked over as we stepped in, she smiled as I trotted up to her.

“Hey, it’s good to see you again. Where’s Twintails?” She asked. I explained he’d headed over to the Gun Runners. She nodded before sitting back in the couch a bit. “So... s-sorry for getting freaked out earlier and trying to shoot you guys.” I smiled, Greasy chuckling a little as she thought back to the events. “Sugar Rush helped me fix some of my stuff up. It may not be the factory... or Rusty... but I wouldn’t mind staying here, at least for a bit, so I suppose I ought to fill my end of the bargain.” She leaned down, opening the safe next to the couch, pulling out a ring of keys. She pulled one off and tossed it to me. “If you guys dig around near my bunker, there’s another hidden door. There should be plenty of stuff in there; you’ll probably find some motors.” I nodded and thanked her, stowing the key in my saddlebags.

“And… well…” She stopped me as I turned to head out. “Sugar and I fixed up Rusty’s wings.” She lifted them up, the polished brass shining brightly. “I think she’d have liked it to get at least a couple uses out of it, and it does need to be tested anyway.” My grin widened. Was she serious? “I’d... I'd like you to try them out, just to make sure they work. Do not break them.” She said, a little uncharistalistically serious. Sugar lifted the wings up in her aura, levitating them over to me. She shifted my saddlebags a bit, resting the wings gingerly upon my spine and affixing the underbelly strap. The large Microfusion pack rested on my back, the metal bars and joints folded up into a resting position.The blades rested against my sides. Sugar flipped a switch on the pack, the levitation talismans whirring into life as a thick wire was rolled up to my neck and a receptor clicking onto the skin above my spine.

I felt just a bit lighter, shiting my weight as one of the wings unfolded itself. My grin grew even wider as I rotated the wing, giving it a few slow flaps before folding it back. “I... wow... t-thanks!” I said. Greasy smiled, insisting I test it out. “I’ll keep them safe!” I said before Sugar led me back downstairs.

“If you need any more ammo, just grab it on the way out, you wouldn’t believe how excited I am to rebuild all this stuff. I'm pretty sure my superiors wouldn't mind a few missing things.” She said, grinning just as widely as I was. She headed back upstairs as I grabbed a few microfusion cells before walking outside. Twintails was waiting outside the Gun Runners, his jaw dropping as he saw me trotting up, eyes wide. What, never saw an alicorn before, Twinnie?~

“You like them?” I asked, showing off the wings. He was speechless, just staring at the shimmering brass and gold. I chuckled. “Greasy wanted me to test them out. Oh, she also gave me the key to find the motors.” I began to almost skip to the R&G factory, Twintails running to catch up after he snapped back to reality.

“I just... wow... those things are awesome! I joked that you were a princess earlier, but I didn’t think it’d come true.” I glared a little at him as he snickered. “Well, I guess that’ll be a quick way back to NEAMO. Y'know, assuming you don’t crash on the way there~” I only rolled my eyes as we made our way to R&G. We trotted in, spotting a few giant roaches poking around the dead ones. Twintails pulled out his luger, shooting them both. “Whewe we goin’ ayway?”

I stepped over the roaches - egh, I’ll never get used to this stuff. “Greasy said there was another hidden door near her bunker, there should be some motors in there.” We walked down the hall, killing any other roaches we came across. Dust still seemed to be settling as we approached Greasy’s door, a securi-mare spouting random phrases in a garbled voice. Twintails started to run his hoof over the wall, looking for another chink in it. I dropped down, inspecting the floor for a trap door. After a few minutes of searching, Twintails spoke up.

“I think I found it.” He said. I stood up, brushing a cobweb off of my muzzle. I walked around the corner to him. He stood near a torn anti-zebra poster, running his hoof up and down a small seam in the wall. “There’s got to be a keyhole… here!” He pointed to the wall. I leaned in, levitating out the key, spotting the small hole he was pointing to and insterting it. It took a few moments of jiggling, but there was a little click and the door swung inwards. Twintails’ eyes widened as an excited grin popped on his face. I looked up, my heart rate increasing a bit and eyes widening in disbelief as Twintails laughed animatedly.

The room was full of missiles.

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