"Oh, shut up..." I glared at all of them, Twintails and Fringe trying to keep straight faces as Nikolai rubbed a bit of snow out of his mane. Grumbling to myself, I lifted my saddle bags up onto my back, pulling out my plasma rifle and slinging it over. Twintails readjusted his machine guns as Fringe stood up, loosening himself and his armor after his long shift... did he even sleep? Uck, at least we know one of them isn't part robot. I let off a strong shudder - cuddling up to a zebra was NOT a good way to start the day.

The snow-covered paved path wound its way between more barracks, some of the buildings sporting such large holes I was honestly surprised they were still standing. Nikolai was walking closer to the front of our group, leading us to the large encampment embedded in the snow-blown hill nearest the big flat strip. Note to self, ask somepony what the heck an Airbase actually is sometime. Nikolai glanced behind himself as us, Ivan strung across his back as he pulled the hunting rifle out. "The front door ought to be easy to get through, but if not, there is a sewer system running underneath this place. Granted... I have no clue where we'd wind up inside, but we'd be in, at the very least." I felt my stomach lurch inside at that - so he's really just about as blind going in as we are? Great.

We walked to the front door, Twintails jiggling the lock for a moment, contemplating the holster on his hoof before stepping back. I bent down to peer into the keyhole myself, smirking at the honestly simple mechanism. "Psh, cakewalk. Step aside, no need for ballistic lockpicking..." Sliding out my trusty screwdriver and a bobby pin, I slipped them both into the slot with a smirk. Twisting the pin around, the tumblers began to give way as I continued to work it. As I continued, though, there was some large chunk of something inside the tumbler that really didn't feel like it belonged. I applied some pressure, but the pin snapped in half, ricocheting off my glasses and very nearly shattering them. Oooh, glasses I can replace or fix, I don't think I can find any augmented eyes. "It's frozen shut. Moment please..." Pulling out my plasma pistol, the electric prongs slipped easily into the hole. There was a splatter as I pulled the trigger, the ice inside melting. Twintails huffed - sorry, Twinnie, not all locks need a bullet to be opened~

A few moments of jiggling later, and the door popped open with a satisfying click. We entered the dark building, Fringe bringing his rifle to bear in front of himself, the lamp on his helmet automatically clicking on. Ooh, I really want a set of that armor... "What kind of security did'ya say this place had again?" His voice was muffled through the speaker, the helmet lighting up the forlorn and dusty waiting room. Before Nikolai could answer him, however, there was a beeping sound and whirr of electronics behind us. A turret began firing rounds at me, one grazing my horn - no, nonononono, I really don't want to know what happens when augmentations connected to my brain are shorted out! I dove into a hallway that led off of the area, Twintails firing off a grenade in the general direction. It hit dead-on, the turret exploding in a shower of flames and sparks - ooh, pretty. I thanked Twintails as I stood myself up, the wires and smoking hole where the turret once was sparking idly. "Well, that's one answer... if this place went into lockdown after your last visit, we're going to need to find a security terminal to unlock the doors."

“I think I may have seen one on the upper level. May be wrong, though.” Nikolai scanned the upper balcony of the reception area, Twintails and Fringe reconvening in the light of the lamp. Is there a light switch somewhere, or something? Heading up to the second floor of the facility, we continued down the hallway, Fringe checking around the corner before pressing on. The facility was actually still fairly intact, for being two centuries old; I guess somepony commissioned the right company to build these things, for once. Another ceiling turret had began firing at us through a doorway, but a quick shot by Nikolai managed to smash its targeting lens, and a blast of plasma from my own rifle finished it off by frying it's circuits. Eck, never liked that smell of shorted electronics... We came to another hallway, a few pieces of ceiling having fallen through to the lower floor. Nikolai lead us around the holes carefully, a twinge my gut still making me not exactly happy with this situation. Leading us blindly into a weapons facility with security fully armed is not a fast way to invoke confidence in my book...

The door swung open squeakily, a securi-mare trotting back and forth between a few cubicles. We all ducked out of sight, the robot’s gaze scanning the hall before returning back to it's pre-set patrol path. I lifted up my plasma rifle, preparing to jump in on the fray and give the robots a hot glowing ball of good news, but before I could even step out into the hallway... -something- pushed me out of the way. Stumbling a bit, I took a moment to look around for the culprit - nothing. Nothing was there, though I swear the air shimmered a little along the row of cubicles, as if something was there, but, wasn't. The same moment, I couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of a certain striped skin in our group. There was a loud crash, and the sound of wires sparking and a robot voice garbling out a generic threat before Nikolai walked around the corner, his cloak shimmering a bit and returning to it's normal black color. We all trotted up to him... some a little less enthusiastically than others... Twintails chuckling a little. “Well, I didn't see that coming.” The pegasus looked over at myself, bumping his foreleg against my shoulder playfully and grinning widely. Nikolai’s smug expression grew a bit more than a little irritated - well, I guess everyone hates puns.

Fringe let off a groan, taking a moment to place his hoof to his forehead and shake his head disapprovingly before stepping forth and continuing on. I took a moment to inspect the disabled robot, hoping for a couple energy cells at the very least, but unfortunately, everything of worth was destroyed. Yeesh, overkill, much? Even Twintails at least leaves a pile of salvagable scrap. I grumbled to myself idly, mentally wincing as the mare in my head gave me a small disciplinary whack to my wires. Yeesh, hey, at least I’m not holding a gun to his head, alright? She gave a less than approving roll of her eyes before going back to work on the jungle of wires and circuits that constituted most of my conscious brain. Twintails fired off another couple grenade shells, smacking a wandering robot square with a splash of greenish plasma. It slowly turned it's main armament towards us, but the central processing unit in it's head was quickly disconnected with a large rifle round courtesy of Fringe.

We walked down the hall and stepped over the robot, Nikolai pushing the switch to open the door at the end. The door slid down, revealing a large room full of computers, and unfortunately broken monitor screens. Another blast of plasma and broken turret later, and we were able to examine the room a bit more closely. Twintails moved to peek at the main monitor and switch boards, as I moved to the computers, Nikolai and Fringe rummaging through the printed files for anything. Most of the computers were busted, but every so often one of the screens still flickered occasionally. I lowered my horn to the port, slipping it in and making the connection; numbers and letter filled my vision, a wave of information crossing my mind. Come on, security, security… A few options appeared in the front of my vision;

> Disengage Lockdown
> Unlock Artillery Section
> Self Destruct.

Well, I certainly don’t feel like choosing that last one would lead to anything good. Highlighting and selecting the first one, a screen quickly appeared. Alright, Mr. Robronco security systems, here we go… A combination of words filled my vision, some being as random as 'ibuprofen' to 'oatmeal'. Alright, you wanna do this the hard way, you pile of circuits? Come on, show me what you've got… The computer beeped as the correct code was selected. 'Ascender', huh, weird. [LOCKDOWN DISENGAED, ARTILLERY RESEARCH ACCESS DAMAGED] the screen flashed, as I pulled my horn out of the socket, looking up at Twintails as he stumbled a little, bits of smoke trailing from his tailtips. Somepony have a shocking discovery? “The lockdown’s off, but it won’t let me through into the 'Artillery Research' section. Something’s broken.”

Nikolai spread out a collection of papers on the desk, a faint gleeful smile on Twintails' face at the mention of artillery. Rolling out a large blue piece of paper, the Zebra and my pegasus friend began to look it over, the former in concentration and the latter in excitement. “We found some schematics of the place, and a few user passwords in the files. Hopefully those will let us into the deeper parts of the facility.” I scanned over the papers idly, taking note of the location of the armory. Oooh, that was rather close~... and that was one huge elevator. “It looks like there’s another security station a couple levels lower. That should let us in.” He rolled up the papers, sticking them into his cloak with a crinkle of the old parchment as it folded further.

“Well, I still have a good amount of high explosives left, if it won’t~” Twintails chuckled as we headed out of the security office, Fringe letting off a disapproving huff and Nikolai falling a few steps behind the pegasus with the grenade rifle. I kicked a rock down the steps leading deeper into the facility, the clacking echoing off the cold walls. After a few moments of careful climbing, we soon reached the bottom floor, the sound of more robots stomping about from the other side of the door. “Ugh, of course the security robots are still working... for now, anyways~” Twintails let off a chuckle as he brought his grenade rifle up to bear, myself levitating out my plasma rifle and peering down the sights. Fringe kicked open the door - oh, I REALLY wanted a set of armor like that - allowing Twintails and myself to charge in, firing madly.

The large robot’s thick hull dented as it was pelted with plasma and explosives, a pressure tube connected to the hooves coming loose. It stumbled as it began firing off the mini-gun on its shoulder towards the both of us, prompting myself to duck down. Firing behind cover worked on biological things that flinched when a ball of steaming hot green goop flew past them - for all I was doing, I might as well have been using a plasma shotgun facing the opposite direction. Ooh, plasma shotgun, now there's an idea... to be saved for after the robot is dead! That round was way too close... Twintails managed to hit the exposed wiring with one of the plasma grenades, the robot falling to its knees and sizzling where it fell. There was a moment of happy pause, before the sound of a missile being fired at our left prompted us both to duck, the rocket-propelled package of high-explosive death flying over our heads. The second robot shot off a few lasers in our general direction as we reloaded, but before it could throw another missile at us, Nikolai appeared to materialize out of thin air behind it. He rammed the butt of his rifle into the uncovered processor unit, the robot sputtering before it fell over, still spouting errant warnings.

“Alright, the armory should be on this floor, which way now?” The zebra hopped over the robot carcass' legs, as Fringe caught up with us, the end of his large rifle reeking with the smell of burnt gunpowder. Nikolai pulled out the map, adjusting his cloak with the ornate designs idly. I shuddered a little - I really didn’t need the constant feeling that Nikolai could be hovering over my shoulder whenever he wanted with that thing. He flipped the map around before heading off down another hallway, reading it while walking along on his back hooves. Eeeech, that's really weird... Fringe took out a couple more turrets as we moved along, coming to another large door, a terminal hooked up to it. The power-armored earth pony booted it up, Nikolai passing him a torn slip of paper. He punched in the code, and the door slid open, granting access to a ridiculously expansive room.

The walls were covered in shelves and shelves filled with various weaponry, ranging from conventional pistols to rifles to Gatling lasers, nearly every single weapon imaginable. I walked in, gazing around at the vast supply, jaw agape. Twintails immediately zipped to the back, exploring the wide array of explosives with an almost too excited level of glee across his face. Nikolai trotted himself over to a shelf, lifting a large sledgehammer-like object in his hooves, grinning widely. “And here I thought I’d lost you forever.” He let off a chuckle, caressing it warmly - alright, that’s a little weird. As if on cue, the little yellow pegasus mare dug up a memory of myself hugging Ivan, crossing her hooves on her chest with a smug little smirk. Alright, fine, it’s not as weird as it could be. Still is pretty weird. “Thank you all for your help, I'd wanted to retrieve this for ages.”

As he shouldered the hammer and started wandering around the shelves, I trotted myself over to one of the unmarked crates, spotting a long, heavy case with a skeleton laying next to it; there was a note secured to the top. I stepped over the skeleton and lifted up the note, starting to read it;

Captain Sparks,

Here’s the experimental Model J01-T5 Ferromagnetic Rifle you requested. It’s still a bit temperamental and inefficient, but it should run smoothly with proper maintenance. Flip open the panel on the side to insert the MF Cells, it’ll require 3 to power up the CMB firing mechanism. We should be able to come up with a model for mass production soon, we hope the prototype meets your needs.

Setting the note aside with a little more than a bit of curiosity, I took a closer look at the case it had been laying on. It looked quite unnecessarily heavy-duty, the latches secured by a turnstile combination lock in the center. I leaned in, flipping a few numbers this way and that. Ugh, picking this kind of lock is a lot harder than a key one... Laying my ear against the case, I could just barely hear the tumblers shifting around inside it. There was a loud crashing from the back of the room, Twintails cursing a bit in pain. Jeez, don’t blow up this place, Twintails! I fiddled with the lock again, grunting in frustration. Come on, you stupid little piece of... there was a click, and the latches popped open slightly. I lifted the lid open further, the metallic braces keeping it propped and revealing to myself... sweet goddesses above.

Inside the lined case lay the intricately made rifle from the note, the untouched metal shining in the light and displaying the production number stamp on the casing. I lifted it out carefully, coils around the barrel reflecting my hooves just barely as I turned it over in my aura. I could feel the large grin creeping across my face as I inspected the cool blue-glowing rifle, fitting theb shoulder pad up to the top of my foreleg and looking through the scope. The red-tinted glass distorted the light slightly, the crosshairs just happening then to line up with Nikolai’s head. Letting off a slight snicker, I lowered the rifle back down, the yellow mare in my head in a full panic. Yeesh, I was only joking, calm down. I opened a rounded hatch in the side, revealing three large ports for Microfusion cells. Ooh, I so wanted to try this out now...

“What’s that, eh?” Fringe trotted over, the only one of us not gawking at the wide array of weapons - lighten up, old-timer. I chuckled, rolling it over still to get a look at it from every possible angle. The back had the model number carved into it as well, the symbol for high magical energy warning on the side only exciting me more. As I peered down the sights again, I found myself able to spot Twintails rummaging around in the back still, through the rows of shelves. Ooh, a luminosity spell to boot? I could feel myself grow a little… excited… by it. The yellow mare gave a slightly disgusted look - please, at least I'm not going to sleep with it. Maybe.

“Some kind of experimental rifle.” I grinned widely, turning to look at him through the scope. He pushed the long barrel away from my face, giving me an 'I can see that' look mixed with quite an unamused glare - okay, yeah, maybe seeing through his armor was taking it a little far. I chuckled a little weakly, moving the rifle to hold it lengthwise between us both. “Okay, okay, so maybe it’s not the best of ideas to mess with an untested bit of military hardware, but, come on, Fringe! Look at this thing!” I practically shoved it into his chest, allowing him to look it over. He inspected the reloading mechanism before shutting it with a light grunt, holding it up to his head. He was forced onto his haunches to look down the scope, rolling his shoulder as the butt was pressed into it. After a moment of looking it over, he returned it to me, letting me holster it on my back.

“Well, you’re lucky you have that magic, that’s a pretty poorly designed rifle, practicality-wise. The butt isn't padded at all, and reloading three cells after each shot would be a nightmare with hooves, especially in close quarters like this. Not to mention any sort of sniper rifle’s going to have a hell of a kickback.” Well, note to self: keep magic well fueled. He paused for a moment. “If you’d like, I could show you how to use that thing more efficiently, when we get out of here. Used to help train some of the snipers in EQUAD.” I perked up a bit at this, grinning wider. Before I could thank him for the offer, however, Twintails came barreling from the back of the room, carrying a ridiculous-looking piece of... half-cut clear pipe on his back? Has he lost it?

“You two will not BELIEVE what I just found!” He said, grinning so widely it looked like his face would split in two. Nikolai trotted over as he hefted something off of his back, looking over at the excited pegasus in confusion, then worry. If the striped one is scared about what Twintails has... "A Balefire Egg Launcher! There was even a whole battle saddle mount for it, and I found a couple of the eggs in an unlocked safe!" His grin seemed to widen even further as he pulled out a black gem, the light warping around it in odd ways. Welp, there goes another pair of pants. Maybe I -should- ask Cross Stitch about those diapers he keeps playing with...

"O-oh, my..." Nikolai said, looking equally as worried. "Um... maybe, for the sake of those who want to keep living, don't try to use that in here." Twintails let off a small sigh and rolled his eyes, tucking the egg back into his loaded saddlebags. He hefted the launcher on his back, seeming to adjust it, spreading his wings and giving them an idle flap. Yeah, I don't think you'll be flying with that thing... "Aaaanyway," Nikolai turned to face me, as Twintails continued to silently gush over his new toy. "Thanks for helping me get here. You wouldn't believe what I could make with this stuff." He circled a bit, looking around the mass of weaponry with a smile.

I'd not wanted to respond, but the yellow mare nudged a couple wires about, making new connections. "You're, ah, welcome." I said, begrudgingly. She smiled, Nikolai looking a little surprised, but smiling lightly nonetheless as he turned to face myself, my own cheeks going a bit hot. "But if I hear you're starting a Zebra invasion with all this, I'm not against putting a hole through your skull." His smile faltered a bit, stepping away from myself and sliding up alongside Fringe, starting up a quiet conversation. Twintails stepped over to me, still beaming and giggling deeply, wearing a stupid grin on his face - it was the cruise missiles all over again.

"This place is amazing! We need to keep searching around, imagine finding another cache of balefire eggs! Or- or balefire eggs that split into smaller balefire eggs! Or even... even a Balefire warhead..." He giggled, blushing profusely as he quieted himself down, the launcher swinging with his body. I rolled my eyes, the pegasus sticking out his tongue playfully. "Oh, come on, like you're not just as excited as I am. There might even be a whole weapons factory deeper in, just think of aaaaall those Ivans you could have, not to mention the master mainframe all to yourself to tinker with~" I blushed, a smile creeping across my face. An Ivan for every day of the week... Celestia-damn it, Twintails.

“Alright, alright. Maybe the blueprints will show a way through. Hey, ah, Nikolai, could we see that map again?” He nodded, wearing a small smile, giving the large blue rolls over to us before turning back to Fringe. He'd layed his hammer on the workbench, pulling some kind of metallic hoof up from it and onto himself. I rolled out the blueprints flat, taking a look at the various passageways and staircases. I turned the map around, trying to get my bearings. Alright, if we’re here in weapons storage… and we walked this way for a few minutes…

There was a large pounding on the doors to the armory, all of us looking over to it in surprise. There was another pound, the door shaking against the force. Something roared from the other side, another joining in as the pounding continued. “Ah shit, the Hell Hounds must’ve found their way through the rest of the security robots! Is there another way out of here?” Fringe jumped forth with his rifle, sliding on his helmet frantically as Nikolai scooped up his hammer and the components of the hoof he’d disassembled, tossing the latter into his bag. The power armored pony shoved me aside, scanning the blueprints. “Alright, there’s a maintenance shaft in the back.” He scooped the diagram up haphazardly, starting to run to the back of the room. We all followed, save for Twintails, as he was sliding a gem into his launcher. It made a high-pitched *ding!* - I take it that's the noise that lets everyone in the general vicinity know somepony's about to do something very stupid...

I tore the grate off of the ground, both Fringe and Nikolai sliding down the ladder. As I was about to jump in behind them, I looked over and saw Twintails grinning manically, taking aim with the egg launcher. The door broke open, a couple Hell Hounds running in, their metallic claws pounding loudly against the metal floor. Twintails let off a maniacal cackle and pulled the trigger, the egg flying out of the half-pipe and arcing through the air. We didn’t stay to see its effects, as I yanked Twintails down the stairs, pulling the hatch shut before we tumbled into the narrow passageway. There was a thunderous explosion above which shook the hallway and sprinkled dust and loose dirt atop us all. I stood up as the blast subsided, my Pip-Buck starting to click a little faster.

“Are you CRAZY?!” Nikolai shouted at Twintails, who looked a little disappointed he couldn’t see the blast. The pegasus blushed a little, chuckling nervously and looking up at the launcher. “Why would you EVER think-!!” Nikolai was cut off mid-scream by another roar from above. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me, there’s more?! We need to get out of here before those things grow a brain and find this hallway.” Without another word, we started to rush down the hall, the noise of the hounds scraping at the walls and floor, searching for us, fading as we charged further along.

We hurried down the maintenance shaft, taking a right as the Hell Hounds' roars echoed through the hallways. Pipes shook as machinery rumbled beneath the walkway, the errant hiss of steam adding moisture and clouds to the cool subsurface tunnel. "Oh, come on, where's the exit?!" I shouted, something pounding after us. Fringe pulled out the map from the crook of his rifle support, myself levitating it up to my face. The shaft we were in lead to a couple smaller rooms deeper down and one large one nearer to the surface. Oh great, the half-robot one is navigating... "Left!"

Nikolai cantered down the hall, turning and leaping down some steps. I glanced back, one of the Hell Hounds barreling through, tearing apart the walls with its claws. Too close, too close, down rover, down! I lifted the magnetic rifle up, plugging in the three cells frantically and pulling the trigger as the dog ran closer, not bothering to look down the sights. The rifle let off a loud zap, what looked like a bolt of blue energy flying out of the muzzle and striking the dog just above its eye, blood spurting as it howled in pain. After a moment of pause, it fell to the ground, twitching and clutching at the new hole before growing limp. I panted a bit, staring down at the dead beast, but was pulled along by Twintails as another roar was heard further off.

"Forward two, then right!" My shouts and their footsteps echoed in the corridors as they followed my commands, running down more steps before coming to a halt. Fringe was ramming his shoulder into a door, the familiar scraping of claws against metal returning in echoing, ominous fury. Nikolai pushed him aside, lifting up his large hammer - okay, even I have to admit shoving a whole suit of power armor aside was pretty impressive. Standing up on his rear haunches, he swung and the door practically flew off its hinges from the impact. We ran down the new smooth stone-walled hallway, passing by a few security robots. They started firing after us, but we only rounded another corner as the Hell Hounds crashed through. Well, at least they’ll keep each other busy for a while. The sounds of the hounds fell back with the robots, the echo of rockets and lasers, and howls and scrapes filling the cavern. Yep, really should ask Cross Stitch about those diapers!

We broke through a few more doors, desperately trying to find the way out. “Here!” I shouted as we passed by another large door, myself skidding to a stop outside it. Trying the door revealed, quite unfortunately though, that it was locked. I thought I disabled all of the locks! Fringe shoved me aside and placing the muzzlebrake to meet the bolt before firing, the door flying open, and my ears ringing. Ow, I hate ballistic lockpicking... Twintails fired off a couple grenades and emptied his machine guns down the hallway as a few surviving robots followed behind us. They promptly exploded in a shower of sparks, smoking where they stood, as we all ducked into the room. I panted, magically shutting the heavier entrance door behind us. Maybe if we’re really lucky they won’t bother searching for a while... I looked around, all the others frozen in awe as the stared up at a… ah…

“What the HELL is this doing here?!”

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